Holy Roman Empire

This is good news. Austria lost in the competition for currency hegemony, and the lack of gold standard is also an important reason.

Franz naturally knows how rich South Africa's gold reserves are.If you know it, you know it, but if you say it, you can't explain it clearly.

The religious atmosphere in Austria is already very strong, and Franz doesn't want to continue to build momentum for the church.After being reborn for so many years, he has not shown any flaws, relying on caution.

Anyway, the gold is buried in the ground and cannot escape.South Africa is occupied, and these gold mines will be discovered sooner or later, and they will eventually flow into Austria.

In fact, Austria's golden edge is also very good, and almost every colony has gold.This was not specially chosen by Franz, it was entirely reality that led Austria's expansion direction there.

When he first expanded his African colony, Franz did not expect to have the foundation he has today.If it weren't for European countries not paying attention to the African continent, how could Austria be cheaper.

The expansion to Southeast Asia was completely an accident, an unexpected success; the existence of the Central American colonies was only to intervene in the Civil War, and today's scale also exceeded Franz's plan.

Before taking action, Franz didn't know that the small countries in Central America were such scum.

Originally, he was just planning to borrow a place to stay, but he accidentally tricked a group of German immigrants from the United States to come here, and he turned back directly.

Of course, it is estimated that those in power in those small countries will not accept this statement.There are only tens of thousands of white people in a country, and the army never exceeds one regiment. How can they resist Austria?

Not to mention Alaska, it can be regarded as forced by the Russians.That's true if you ignore Franz secretly sending a PR.

Austria has developed to the point where it is today. In addition to hard work, luck is also very important.Franz can only lament that reality is full of legends.

I picked up the file and flipped through it, without any surprises.The historical missions of the two republics of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State have come to an end, and they can now return to the embrace of Austria.

There is nothing wrong with this, and the local people have become supporters of Austria.The republicans may have gone to see God. The report didn't say what happened, and Franz didn't know.

"When you're ready, let's stage a farce and let these two republics dissolve! Since we want to develop South Africa, we can't keep them in the way."

Franz wanted face, but he would not directly annex sovereign countries.If the Transvaal and the Orange Free State are disbanded and the local people return to the embrace of Austria, then there will be no problems.

Franz believed that Viscount Fickney could handle this issue well.After such a long time, if the powerful local factions did not go to see God, they must be their own people.

Even if something goes wrong, that's not a problem.These days, the African colonies are very chaotic, and any accidents are normal.

……

Chapter 93 Calculations

The development of South Africa is also one of Austria's measures to deal with the agricultural crisis. The new jobs are just to accommodate bankrupt farmers and avoid unemployment.

European people have always been very interested in gold, and gold mining is the easiest way to make a fortune in this era.As long as you are lucky enough, you can make a fortune.

Austria was the first to immigrate to Africa, and five out of ten of them started their business through gold mining, and two of the remaining five did logistics services for gold mining.

In this era, the colonies of all countries are short of immigrants. If you want to stand out from the competition, publicity is the key.

A beautiful picture cake is essential, as for whether you can find gold mines and make a fortune when you get there?Franz can say with certainty that 90.00% of people will not make a fortune.

There is a good joke: Two brothers ran to find a gold mine, only to find out when they got there that they didn't know how to prospect.

This is the case, unless it is an open-pit gold mine with a particularly high gold content, which can be seen at a glance, otherwise ordinary people will not be able to find it even if they encounter it.

Now that the gold mine has been discovered, there are not many prospecting teams in South Africa. The dignitaries in the country are also organizing prospecting teams, and most of the gold mines are also owned by these people.

If the Vienna government hadn't opened the gold mine acquisition function, ordinary people would have discovered that gold mines could be sold directly to the government.Otherwise, even if they found a gold mine, they would not be able to mine it, and they might even get killed.

Seeing that everyone is very positive, Franz is very salty.Everyone else wants to find gold mines to make a fortune, so he invests in local farms and plantations.

Facts have proved that the traverser is not omnipotent. A point on the map is thousands of square kilometers in place, and the deviation is one hundred and eighty kilometers.

Whether you can find a gold mine depends on luck. Although the scope of gold mines in South Africa is large, it is not so large that there are deposits of tens of thousands of square kilometers.

Finding gold mines by talking on paper is not much different from relying on luck.The very famous gold mining area in later generations doesn't even have a name in this era.

Even if the name appeared, after Franz's butterfly effect, only God knows how big this error is.

That being the case, it is better to forget about salted fish.Gold diggers may not be able to make money, but those who do logistics will definitely make money.

Investing in nearby farms and plantations to sell bread, cheese, fruits, vegetables, meat products and other daily necessities will definitely not lose money.

Regardless of the outbreak of the agricultural crisis, the prices of agricultural products have plummeted everywhere, but this has little impact on the inland areas of Africa.

Food can be brought in from outside, cheese, fruits, vegetables, fresh meat products, these things can't be shipped from outside, right?

Although canned food has appeared, few people can bear it if they eat it every day.

If you are lucky, there may be a gold mine under the farm.Who can say for sure?When in West Africa, minerals were discovered more than once under the royal plantation established by Franz.

Not to mention in South Africa, gold mines are all clustered together.It is right to buy land near the gold mines. There are gold mines underground, and you can make a small profit without gold mines.

The news of the discovery of a large number of gold mines in South Africa is still circulating in small circles, and the outside world is still deeply in the panic of the agricultural crisis.

In Berlin, after the outbreak of the agricultural crisis, the Prussian government became tense.This is related to self-interest, and there is no room for carelessness.

I don't know when Austria has become the vane of European agriculture, and William I is also keeping a close eye on the Vienna government.

Seeing that the Vienna government introduced the fallow law to limit the increase in grain planting area, it called on all countries to reduce production together.William I did not feel relaxed, but even more headache.

Reducing food production is not a one-sentence issue, it also involves the interests of all aspects, the most important thing is that it involves the interests of the agricultural Junker nobles.

Today is different from the past. Prussia was a grain importing country back then, so naturally they would not worry about these issues. Now they have become a grain exporting country.

If the Russians are the craziest land reclamation, followed by Austria, then the Kingdom of Prussia ranks third.In recent years the acreage of the Kingdom of Prussia has also increased by half.

Everyone is very enthusiastic about growing food. The land that was wasted in the hands of the Russians is now being used efficiently by the Junker nobles.

Now the trouble is coming, overcapacity of grain.This is not a slight surplus. According to the data released by the Austrian Ministry of Agriculture, the excess grain production capacity in Europe exceeds 20.00%.

No matter how excess grain production capacity is, it is impossible for grain-importing countries to reduce their own production capacity, and only grain-exporting countries need to reduce production.

Even if some of these grains are wasted due to various reasons, the production capacity that needs to be compressed and distributed to all countries is still not a small number.

The culprit for this is the Russians.Estimated according to the agricultural planting area of ​​Russia, if all the grain can be shipped out, even if other agricultural exporting countries stop grain export, Europe will still not be short of grain.

The reality is so cruel, the international market is too small.

With the increase of the agricultural population in various countries, the amount of reclaimed land is also increasing, and the improvement of agricultural technology, the food production of all countries is increasing, but the growth rate of the market is far behind.

Take Greater France as an example. Due to the increase in local food production in France, it is expected that its foreign imports will drop by two percentage points this year.

These data are released by the Austrian Ministry of Agriculture, which is published once a year. Word of mouth has already been established, and William I has no doubts about the accuracy.

This is not the first time that countries have been called upon to jointly reduce food production capacity.Since 1870, the Austrian Ministry of Agriculture has issued warnings of overcapacity in grain production.

However, it has no effect. Even Austria itself has not been able to reduce production capacity, let alone other countries?

"The agricultural crisis has really come. The Austrians have taken practical actions to reduce production capacity. We are here today to discuss whether we should follow up."

From the bottom of his heart, William I agreed with the reduction of food production capacity.If the market is not restored to normal, none of us can expect to have a good life.

"Your Majesty, Austria is the world's largest agricultural exporter, and after the outbreak of the agricultural crisis, they were also the hardest hit.

Cutting production now is actually a last resort.The price in the international grain market has collapsed, and now the more you export, the more you lose.

On the surface, it was the Anglo-Russian agreement that triggered the agricultural crisis. In fact, Russian grain had just flowed into the international market, and it was Austria’s dumping activities in the first half of the year that caused the price collapse.

According to the information we have collected, so far, Austria has released about 3420 million tons of agricultural products to the international market, of which more than 3000 million tons of grain alone.

This has exceeded 1871% of their total turnover in the international grain market in 81.If the Vienna government does not restore its strategic reserves in the second half of the year and purchases grain from the market, prices will continue to plummet.

It seems that it is just to stop the Russians and prevent them from returning to the international market. In fact, this is an excuse to drag everyone into the water together.

If no measures are taken, international food prices will remain depressed in the next two to three years.During this period, the more food you sell, the more you will lose. If you don't sell it, you won't be able to get your money back.

Our share of international food exports is only 6.6%, and even cutting production capacity will not save the situation.Unless the Russians are willing to cut production accordingly, the crisis will not end in a short time.

The top priority is to protect the local market.I suggest reducing or exempting agricultural tax and export tax on agricultural products, while increasing import tariffs on agricultural products. If necessary, we can follow the example of Austria and adopt a minimum grain purchase price to protect farmers' income. "

Moltke's opinion is very clear, the government cannot interfere with everyone's free planting.The reason is very simple. If Prussia cuts production and the Russians don't, they are making wedding dresses for the enemy.

"Prime Minister, it is easy to raise import tariffs on agricultural products, but the chain reaction caused must be considered.

The relationship between Poland and Poland is at a critical moment. Now that the import tariffs on agricultural products are being raised, what will the Poles think?

If they raise the import tariffs on my country's industrial and commercial products tit for tat, then the agricultural crisis will also affect the industry.

Don't forget that our financial situation is already very bad.If we do this, this year's fiscal deficit will increase significantly.It may not be long before we can declare bankruptcy. "

It's not that Gorman is unwilling to protect agriculture. The problem is that, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, he is very aware of how dangerous Prussia's finances are.

Just reducing or exempting agricultural taxes and export duties on agricultural products will reduce the fiscal revenue of the Kingdom of Prussia by more than 5600 million marks, which is already very dangerous.

If higher import duties on agricultural products led Poland to raise import duties on Prussian manufactured goods, the fragile Prussian industry and commerce would also be hit hard.

This will trigger a chain reaction, and it may be an industrial crisis, and the final loss will not be a small number.

Prussia does not have a colonial market to release floods, and its products cannot compete with Britain, France and Austria in the international arena. The Polish market is very important to them.

Moltke smiled lightly, and explained nonchalantly: "It's not that serious, the Poles dare not turn against us.

It's easy to deal with them, just encourage the Polish radical groups to make territorial claims to Austria, and we will come out to deal with the aftermath.

After offending two behemoth neighbors, does the Polish government have any choice? "

This explanation left Gorman with nothing to say. There was no other way. Poland is not a normal country now, and the country is in chaos.

This move has little effect on other countries, and no one would be so overwhelmed, but Poland is an exception, they can do this kind of thing.

Chapter 94 Coping

Most of the top executives of the Berlin government are from the military, and they have always acted vigorously and decisively. Since they decided to cheat the Poles, they would naturally not be soft-hearted.

Because of the dispute over the Polish throne, nails were also planted between Pubo.The Poles, who had finally gained independence, were unwilling to be annexed by Prussia.

Coupled with the interference of international forces, the conflict between PPP and Poland has been constantly amplified. If there is no such great enemy as the Russians, the two countries would have parted ways long ago.

Even so, the radicals in the Polish government did not want to see the Prussians pointing fingers, and wanted to kick Prussia away to go it alone.

The Berlin government is anxious about these issues.Secondary radicals are difficult to deal with, and a bad operation will trigger a violent rebound.

The Berlin government has long wanted to borrow a knife to kill people, but the hidden dangers in its operation are quite serious, and a bad one is a disaster.

To deal with the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia needs Polish cannon fodder, but Poland cannot be disabled.

If it weren't for the breakdown of Russia-Austria relations, Moltke would never have dared to make this suggestion.Otherwise, the Russians took the opportunity to join in and forcibly drag Austria into the water. Pubo is not Russia's opponent.

Now that there is a problem with the Russia-Austria alliance, Austria also needs to use Popo's hand to weaken the Russians. Under this background, the Vienna government can at most teach the Poles a lesson, and it is impossible to really cripple them.

How much the Poles have to pay for this, the Berlin government doesn't care at all.Although Poland is regarded as something in the bag, there is a reality that they have to face.

For the Kingdom of Prussia, Poland was too big. If it was swallowed in one gulp, the final result would probably be choking to death.

In the first Russo-Prussian War, the reason why the Poles suffered heavy losses was because of Prussia.It's just that it's done more secretly and is not known to the outside world.

It's really easy to agitate middle school teenagers, it's enough to stir up public opinion, and newspapers are the most beneficial weapon.Overnight, the old story of the partition of Poland among the three countries of Prussia, Russia and Austria was revealed.

Of course, the Kingdom of Prussia has been hidden, and the newspaper has turned into Russia and Austria dividing up the Kingdom of Poland, and the role of Austria has been artificially magnified.

……

In St. Petersburg, since Austria kicked off the dumping and international food prices collapsed, Alexander II was in a bad mood.

After working hard for so many years, they finally solved the land issue of the Russian Empire. Before they had time to reap the fruits of victory, they received a blow to the head.

Austria's revenge is too harsh. If it cannot survive this agricultural crisis, the Russian Empire will soon be in trouble.

The main issue is finance. Russia is not an industrial country. Agricultural taxation is still the most important income of the government, accounting for more than half of the total fiscal revenue.

Food prices collapsed, which meant that the Tsarist government's finances were cold.The loans obtained from the British were used to build railways and develop industries, not to maintain the daily expenses of the government.

This is still based on the British fulfilling the contract. If John Bull refuses to accept the account, the Tsarist government will really go bankrupt.Although a few years ago, they only went bankrupt once.

Don't look at the contract signed by the two countries, but the loan is not in place at one time.The British issued loans in batches, and now the Tsarist government has only received more than 500 million pounds.

For individuals, this is a huge amount of money; for the Russian Empire, this money is a matter of hundreds of kilometers of railways.

Don't think it's expensive. The complex terrain, harsh climate, and rail tracks have to be imported from the UK. It would be a ghost if the final cost is not high.

John Bull's loan is not easy to get, 50.00% of which must be used to purchase British goods, and the construction of railways is even more mandatory to purchase rails from the United Kingdom.

Foreign Secretary Chris Basham produced a document and handed it to Alexander II.

"Your Majesty, the Austrians once again issued the "Proposal to Reduce Grain Production Capacity" to the world's major grain exporting countries yesterday. They proposed that countries reduce their grain production capacity by 1873% in 8 to deal with the agricultural crisis."

8% of the grain production capacity is not 8% of the international export trading market, but 8% of the total grain production of various countries. Converted into production, the global grain production has dropped by tens of millions of tons.

If this can be done, then most of the agricultural crisis will be over.The overcapacity announced by Austria is 21%, which is a theoretical figure calculated through a formula.

It is only an estimate of the demand for food, wine making, industrial use, and feed.

In real life, food will inevitably be wasted.For example: loss during transportation, food mold and deterioration due to weather, waste in daily life...

If several grain exporting countries cut their production capacity by 8% at the same time, then the grain that can flow into the international market will basically return to the level in 1870.