Holy Roman Empire

On the one hand, the lack of labor in the colonies caused high labor costs; on the other hand, it was mainly newly developed land, and the output in the early stage was not high.

The most important thing is that the two major grain-growing regions in Austria currently have very fertile land, and infrastructures such as water conservancy and transportation are complete, which cannot be compared with the colonies.

As for the future?Franz can say responsibly that once chemical fertilizers are produced, the profits of farming will decline further.

Indigenous agriculture will be affected with or without a colonial agricultural shock.Many grain-importing countries have used chemical fertilizers to increase grain production, and the international grain market will shrink sharply in a short period of time.

From this point of view, Austria cannot develop chemical fertilizers, and even if they are developed, they cannot be put into production.

The longer the delay, the better for Austria.Before the industry has developed to a certain level, making rash changes can easily lead to disasters.

The more grain output is not the better, the market capacity is so large, once the limit is exceeded, we will be disappointed by the grain.

This point can be explained from the historical fact that the inventor of chemical fertilizer is a German.The United States, Austria-Hungary, and Russia, the grain-exporting countries, didn't they ask for trouble when they invented chemical fertilizers?

Of course, the Germans never dreamed that they invented chemical fertilizers, but the biggest beneficiary was France, the number one enemy, which directly made the French one of the most important grain exporters in Europe.

Chapter 66 Safety First

The tax policy is only an intention, and the extent to which it will be achieved in the end depends on the actual situation.Except for the parties concerned, most people are indifferent.

The integration of colonies and natives is different.As soon as the Vienna government got wind of it, it quickly aroused heated discussions in the society.

Supporters and opponents fought each other in the newspapers every day, and even hot topics such as the Russo-Prussian War, the US negotiations, and the Russian Navy being bullied by pirates were suppressed.

Public opinion is not one-sided, supporters and opponents are evenly matched.This reassured Franz that it seemed that integration had a relatively high chance of being passed in the Imperial Parliament.

As the emperor, although he has the ability to force a decision to be passed, Franz has never done it.

On the surface, it looks very imposing to do so, showing the authority of the monarchy, but in fact the potential political threat it brings is very large.It should be right to make a decision, and the emperor will be responsible for a wrong decision.

No one can guarantee that no mistakes will be made, not to mention that the right decision appears at the wrong time and place, which is also a mistake.

The Imperial Council is the highest authority of the new Holy Roman Empire, and one of them plays the role of a scapegoat. Usually, major political decisions need to be made here.

This is the political backhand prepared by Franz. If there is a big problem and the cabinet is not wanted to leave, the Imperial Parliament can also be held responsible for it.

After so many years of reorganization, the current imperial parliament is no longer the few people it was at the beginning, and the number of members has increased significantly, but the state-based system has not changed.

Even the smallest free city has at least one seat, and then one seat will be created for every 300 million people. In order to take care of small states, one seat will be added directly after the population exceeds 300 million.

Anyway, no matter how you do it, Austria occupies half of the seats.However, a bill can be vetoed if one-third of the members oppose it. To amend the constitution, more than 90.00% of the members must agree.

It is worth mentioning that the issue of the constitution was not created by Franz, but was requested by the states.

Because the imperial constitution guarantees their autonomy, in order to prevent the possibility of Austria interfering in their internal affairs, it directly puts forward an almost unsatisfiable condition.

Of course, the favorable clauses in the constitution to protect the emperor and the king are also one of the reasons for this provision.We are all smart people, so of course we must support the terms that are beneficial to us.

The rights of the central government are naturally restricted, and no matter how powerful the bureaucratic group is, their rights are legally restricted.

Every state government has a set of teams, and now the cabinet of the new Holy Roman Empire government has great power, which is based on the premise that they also serve as the Austrian cabinet.

If one day Franz is unhappy, he can directly ask them to separate.Then the imperial cabinet will be embarrassed to find that they can't do anything without the cooperation of the state government.

The army belongs to the emperor and the king below, and the cabinet has no right to mobilize it; states have a high degree of autonomy, and the central government has no right to intervene in internal affairs.

Only part of the financial power is left, and the central government can print banknotes, but this also requires the approval of the Imperial Parliament; the seigniorage and tariffs collected by the central government need to pay administrative expenses, military expenses, royal annuities, etc., and the insufficient part is provided by the state. Government apportionment.

Of course, the diplomatic power is in the hands of the central government, and the colonial management power is also in the hands of the central government, but these are inseparable from the cooperation of the states.

Especially when it comes to the internal affairs of the state government, all policies can only be implemented with the cooperation of the state government.

For example: Now that the government plans to give tax rebates to textile factories, it must obtain the cooperation of the state government.

If a state government objects, then they can still act on their own and continue to collect taxes according to their own laws, regardless of the central government's decision-making.

This is only theoretical, in fact now the new Holy Roman Empire economy has been integrated.Many economic issues need to be resolved through the coordination of the central government, and there is no reason for everyone to reject terms that are beneficial to themselves.

This is also Franz's positioning of the central government, an organizational coordinator that connects all states together.

It is somewhat similar to the Second German Empire in history, except that his emperor has much greater power.The central government has no right to interfere in the internal affairs of states, which does not mean that the emperor has no right to interfere.

It is one thing to have the right, but another to control it or not.

Franz would only intervene unless the government of a certain country was so angry and the people rose up that the emperor had to intervene.

This has never happened since the establishment of the new Holy Roman Empire, so Franz has always been paid only for his salary.

He is not a power madman, why should he do such a thankless thing?As the emperor of the new Holy Roman Empire, it is enough to be a good referee.

What's more, Franz also served as Emperor of Austria and King of Bavaria. Even if he had a strong desire for power, he had nowhere to vent his desire.

If it doesn't work, you can still toss the colony, anyway, things can never be done.If you are not afraid of sudden death, you can work 24 hours a day.

Having more part-time jobs is not without its benefits. In Europe, a society where property is clearly divided, Franz can naturally get a lot of salary.

The annuity of the new Holy Roman Emperor, the annuity of the Emperor of Austria, and the annuity of the King of Bavaria. If the integration process of the colonies is completed in the future, he will probably have to add a few more titles, which is another large amount of income.

As for the annexation of the colonies to Austria?This is completely impossible.

It is very expensive to open up overseas colonies, and the Austrian family obviously cannot afford it. In the end, the new Holy Roman Empire paid for it.

In other words, it was all the states that contributed money together to establish the current colonial empire.

If all the funds were transferred to Austria, the donors who contributed the money would definitely not agree.It is even more impossible to divide a family into one piece. The colonies are far overseas and are destined to decentralize.

It is enough for the states to get economic benefits, even if they get the nominal management rights, they have no way to manage them.

Franz encouraged everyone to open up overseas colonies. The colonies that the state government wants to open up can be done by themselves.

After considering the horrible capital investment and risks, everyone unanimously decided to let the central government go!If you want to earn, everyone makes money together, and if you want to lose, everyone loses together.

The most important thing is that there is no way to do it alone without the central government. Without the protection of the imperial navy, how can the security of the colony be solved?

Didn’t you see that the colonial strongholds established overseas by the capitalists of Prussia and the German Federation all volunteered to join?

Even now that Prussia and the German Federation are joining the colonial movement, they are inseparable from the support of the New Shenluo Empire.

This cannot be solved by hugging the thighs. Overseas colonies are another world.Each country has a large number of civilian colonial groups overseas, and these groups are not completely under the control of the governments of each country.

In the event of a conflict, governments will side with their own people.

In the end, it is all about talking with your fists. If you have strong strength in a certain overseas region, you can occupy a dominant position in that region, instead of simply looking at the strength of the country.

This is also the reason why the Netherlands and Portugal were able to keep a large number of colonies. Although their countries are not strong, they are strong enough in certain areas.

Since the colonial empire was established by everyone contributing money and efforts, the ownership of the colonies naturally belonged to the empire.How to incorporate into the empire is also a question that needs to be studied.

Autonomous provinces, autonomous cities, autonomous territories, provinces directly under the Central Government, states, noble fiefdoms...

These are all alternatives, and different titles represent different systems.

A municipality means a fragmented colony, a dominion means a larger territory reserved for the colony, a province means direct control by the central government, and a state is the same as the state is now...

From the perspective of interests, Franz is of course more willing to merge the colonies into the empire as states, which will help consolidate the imperial power.

To put it bluntly, regardless of whether it is a principality or a kingdom, Franz can directly serve as the king. The bond of the empire is the emperor first, and economic integration second.

The more part-time jobs, the more stable the throne will be. Unless all the states rebel against the emperor together, it will be safe.

Under normal circumstances, no one would dare to take the emperor down at the risk of splitting the country.What's more, before the abolition of the emperor, there must be a civil war.

The opposing states must be subdued by force, otherwise the Imperial Parliament will not be able to pass it.Without amending the constitution, the new regime cannot gain legitimacy.

In the European political system, the legitimacy of the regime is very important. Generally, the lower the legitimacy, the shorter the life of the regime.

A regime without legitimacy, prepare to suppress rebellions every day!No, if the regime loses its legitimacy, it cannot be considered a rebellion, and it is reasonable for people to rebel.

On the question of the revolution, Franz was very relieved.As long as the army is not rebelling, it can be easily handled.

Just look at Vienna, where there is no basis for revolution.Even if revolutions are happening all over Europe, there won't be trouble here.

Since Franz succeeded to the throne, there has been no general strike in Vienna. Even if there is a strike, it is limited to a scale of less than 80 or [-] people. This is enough to explain many problems.

This is not without reason.Since more than ten years ago, the Vienna government has banned any factories in Vienna, and the established factories have been relocated one after another.

In a city without industry, large-scale strikes naturally do not exist.

Now Vienna's economy is mainly based on the service industry, scientific research, and finance.The economic structure determines the superstructure, and the income of employees in these industries is relatively good.

Without industrial pollution, Vienna became the most beautiful city in Europe and the first large city in Europe without slums.

Small cities cannot be counted. A small city in this era is itself a large slum, and there is no need to distinguish it.

As a price, Vienna's population growth rate is slow, and the city's development rate lags far behind London and Paris.

Even within the new Holy Roman Empire, there are now many cities that surpass Vienna in terms of population, such as Milan and Munich.

Of course, the population is not equal to the economy. Now the total population of Vienna is only 68, and the urban population is only 31, but the total economic volume is only lower than that of London and Paris.

With a small population and a developed economy, people's living standards are among the highest in Europe, and social conflicts are naturally reduced.With fewer social conflicts, the people's desire for revolution will also be reduced.

As the basic board of the Habsburg family, Franz attaches great importance to it.As the capital of the two empires, Vienna has unique advantages and does not need to develop any industry at all.

Although Greater London and Greater Paris seem to have face, they are actually self-aware.London became the capital of smog, Paris the capital of revolution.

What's more, big cities are not suitable for industrial development. Land prices and living costs far exceed those of small and medium-sized cities, which has raised the cost of industrial production from the very beginning.

Take Vienna as an example. If you invest and build a factory here, the land price will be three times higher than that in small and medium-sized cities, and the labor cost will also increase by at least one third.

This has not considered the problem of raw material transportation. If various factors are combined, the production costs of these factories will usually increase by 10% to 30%.

Franz can only lament that the competition in this era is not fierce enough, and capitalists do not know how to optimize industrial allocation, let alone do their best to save costs.

You know, the capitalists of later generations will move their factories wherever the production cost is the lowest.Anyone who insisted on staying in a big city was either kicked out or closed down.

Of course, Franz is very clear that everyone is keen to squeeze to the capital, mainly because it is close to the center of power and can gain political benefits.

However, Franz, who disliked capital interference in politics, turned the tables from the very beginning and refused to give them this opportunity.

Vienna has enough resources and does not need these industries, but many small and medium-sized cities do.Under this policy, Austria added another seven or eight industrial cities.

In this way, perhaps the total industrial volume of Austria has not increased much, but the industrial competitiveness has increased, which is very beneficial to long-term development.

In this era, strikes are prone to occur in big cities. In many cases, capitalists pass these increased costs on to workers in order to ensure their own interests.

The worse the economic situation is, the more strikes there will be and the more intense social conflicts will be.

From the perspective of the ruler, as long as there is no chaos in Vienna, Franz's rule is stable, and if there are problems in other areas, troops can be dispatched to suppress them.

This is a lesson of history. Most of the successful revolutions in Europe were realized in the capital.There may be exceptions, but they don't exist in Franz's memory.

In short, Franz realized de-industrialization in Vienna, whether it was due to industrial development or to maintain the rule.

This is also to plan for a rainy day. With a stable capital and a sound system, it can be said that Franz has put safety first to the extreme.As long as you don't try to die, you really won't die.

Chapter 67 Challengers and Maintainers

In the early morning, the roar of the steam engine rolled over.No one is surprised, this is the Port of Venice, the largest trading port in the new Holy Roman Empire, with more than three-digit ships coming in and out every day.

The roar of the steam engine here has become a part of people's life.The workers on the pier have gathered together, waiting for the ship to dock.

Life is not easy. In this era of limited productivity, it is not easy to fill the stomach.

Arnault is an ordinary dock worker. He has been working here for three years, and his young dreams have been wiped out in front of reality.I wanted to go overseas for several times, but after thinking about my wife and children, I finally gave up.

The work on the dock is very tiring and hard work, and requires a lot of physical strength.People who can't carry a hundred and eighty kilograms can't eat this bowl of rice.

This is not a problem for Arnault. He is not afraid of suffering or tiredness. He just wants to take on more work, earn more money, and let his family live a better life.

It is best to send the kid at home to school to read some books.Don't look at Austria has implemented compulsory education, but it has no part for Arnault.

Just because he is not a local resident and does not have Austrian citizenship.In daily life and work, it has no effect at all.

After all, he was working as a coolie, and no one would care what country a low-level laborer was from.But when it comes to social welfare benefits, it has nothing to do with Arnault.

As early as more than ten years ago, he followed his father from Ancona to Venice to discuss life.Over the years, he has returned to his hometown three times, one of which was to get married, and the other two were with the boat.

Austria is very strict about nationality management. If you are also a German nationality, as long as you have no criminal record, naturalization is very simple.

Other nationalities are different. Even though Arnault has been in Venice for more than ten years, he still does not meet the requirements.

Except for scientists, designers, engineers, and doctors, there are a lot of restrictions for other occupations who want to immigrate to Austria.

Arnault memorized clearly:

1. No criminal record, correct political thought;

2. Have lived in Austria for 20 years, or were born in Austria and lived here for a long time;

3. Have a certain contribution to society (significant contributors can be directly naturalized);

4. Not less than a university degree (for outstanding students in science and engineering, other standards can be lowered);