Holy Roman Empire

Now that the goal has been achieved, the two factions are fighting for rights.At present, the nobles who control most of the army have the upper hand. Perhaps Ludwig may ascend to the throne without Austria sending troops.

Looking at the information in his hand, Franz didn't know how to evaluate it.The promised revolution is coming, why did it end before it started?

After a little deduction, Franz knew that someone was up to something.Greece itself is a small country, and the current Greece is less than half of the future Greece.

The territory is small, the resources are scarce, and the population is only a million at most. In this case, how can capitalists develop and grow?

Not having enough strength and superior geographical location is not a good thing.Since independence, Greece has been deeply influenced by the great powers.

The heavy debt has kept the Greek government in a state of being unable to make ends meet for a long time, and has to step up its plundering of the people.

Greece's domestic market has long been reduced to a dumping place for the goods of the great powers.National capital has always been hovering on the edge of life and death. Perhaps all of them added up, there is not a single big capitalist.

The economic strength of the Greek nobles is not good, at least they still have an army in their hands.Now the capitalists have also formed an army. Although they are still at a disadvantage, this has exceeded their strength.

Franz doesn't think that capitalists can destroy their families for the country.Even if some individuals are morally high, it is impossible for the whole group to be like this.

Politics is complicated, and what you see may not necessarily be true.Austria can make smoke bombs to fool people, and other countries are doing the same.

Who was responsible for the sudden turmoil in Greece? Without definite information, Franz could not make an accurate judgment.

A wave of unrest, a wave of up again.

Before the Greek issue was resolved, Bulgaria was in chaos again. On September 1873, 9, the Bulgarian Revolutionary League launched an anti-Russian uprising in Sofia.

……

Bulgaria, this is a tragic country.After finally driving out the Ottoman Empire, another Russian Empire came.

Thanks to the efforts of the bureaucrats of the tsarist government, the pro-Russian factions in those days have basically become anti-Russian factions.

Seeing the independence of Poland and the three Central Asian countries, it is definitely impossible for the Bulgarians to say that they are not moved.It's just that the Russians attach great importance to Constantinople, and stationed heavy troops here, dispelling the idea of ​​independence for many people.

In any case, the rule of the Russians is still stronger than that of the Ottoman Empire, and the exploitation is not so severe. The two sides are almost the same in terms of culture and religious beliefs.

If the tsarist government intends to promote national integration, it will only take a generation.It can be said that the St. Petersburg government does not have such thoughts, otherwise the Russian Empire would not have so many ethnic groups.

No one is good for a thousand days, and no one is good for a hundred days.

The tyrannical Russian Empire eventually fell.Since the defeat of the Russians in the Russo-Prussian War, the idea of ​​national independence has taken root in Bulgaria.

The agricultural crisis is another catalyst.Bulgaria's industry has just started, and the economy is entirely supported by agriculture.Farmers in the Bulgarian region suffered heavy losses last year as international food prices plummeted.

Seeing that the autumn harvest is approaching, but no one cares about the food, this aggravates the panic of the people.

Now there are gossip reports that in order to protect local grain exports, the Tsarist government banned grain harvesting in Bulgaria.

There are quite a few people who are willing to believe such obviously false news.Ordinary people don't have that much knowledge, they just see that no one has come to collect grain this year.

Not only in Bulgaria, but in almost the entire European continent, food capitalists have slowed down.It's another bumper harvest year, and no one knows how much the price of grain will drop. What if we pay for the early purchase?

You must know that the price fluctuated violently last year, and many people lost a lot of money.Before the food is available, the loss can be passed on to the farmers. If the food is bought, it can only be carried by oneself.

In order to protect their own interests, capitalists choose to wait and see which direction the wind blows.After the market stabilizes, we will collect grain from the private sector.

Anyway, there are still a lot of stocks, which can't be digested in a while, so don't worry about being robbed of food by others.

The Russians have not done nothing these years. With the removal of the shackles above their heads, Bulgaria's education industry has flourished.

The new intellectuals were the first to be affected by nationalism, and they soon forgot the credit for the Russians driving out the Ottomans, and now only remember the Russian slavery.

Of course, the tsarist government would definitely not admit to enslaving Bulgaria, because Alexander II's reforms treated everyone equally, and many Bulgarian farmers were beneficiaries.It's just that before this wave of dividends can be felt, the agricultural crisis broke out first.

In July 1869, the Bulgarian Revolutionary League was secretly established in Greece.To drive out the Russians, almost all Bulgarian revolutionary groups joined the alliance.

Many people can't imagine that the real reason for the alliance is actually: the reform of the Russian land system.

The revolutionary party was worried that the tsarist government had bought off the peasants, and the revolutionary cause would die prematurely.Therefore, the reforms carried out by the tsarist government in Bulgaria were resisted by both conservatives and revolutionaries.

In this process, the two sides achieved confluence, and the revolutionary forces began to grow.

……

After reading the basic information on Bulgaria, Franz fell into deep thought.This uprising was a bit too coincidental. It had just decided to join hands with the Russians, and revolutions took place in Greece and Bulgaria almost at the same time.

To say that there is no connection behind this is completely a coincidence, and Franz would not believe it even if he killed him.He would rather believe that this was premeditated, that someone wanted to target Russia and Austria, or to delay time.

The Greek revolution is easy to solve, even if it is solved by force, it is nothing more than a problem of one or two divisions, which is only a small problem for Austria.

The only trouble is international pressure. Austria can't just send troops to interfere in Greece's internal affairs for no reason. This is related to the international image.

It's not a joke, but an obvious need to be a bitch.Any country is packaging itself, which is nothing more than a question of how much resources are invested.

In the case of insufficient interests, everyone is still willing to maintain a good international image.Even Britain and France are no exception. They have to find an excuse in their overseas expansion, and few of them go straight ahead regardless.

Franz would not be troubled by such a small problem, and a different agent would do the same.For example, the current Greek royalists are a good partner for cooperation.

As long as they support Ludwig's succession and guarantee the interests of Austria, it is not bad for them to rule Greece.

Bulgaria is in trouble. During the Near East War, the Bulgarian guerrillas showed good combat effectiveness. Although this army is old, it is still alive. It may not be able to keep up with the physical strength of the charge. It is not a big problem to impart experience and command operations.

Franz was very skeptical that the Russians would be able to put out the rebellion.It's not that the Russians are not powerful, but that the tsarist government has no money.

"Has the black hand behind the scenes been locked?"

Intelligence chief Tai Lun: "The initial judgment is the Ottoman Empire. Whether it is a Greek coup or a Bulgarian uprising, the weapons are sponsored by Ottoman businessmen."

Franz was not surprised that the Ottoman Empire wanted to fight back.It's about to hit the door, can you not let others fight back?

Who knows the truth?There are still some Greeks and Bulgarians in the Ottoman Empire. These "Ottoman merchants" are apparently patriotic merchants from Greece and Bulgaria.

Even if the news is leaked, only the Sudanese government refuses to admit it, or insists that these people are not Ottomans. It is difficult for Austria to make use of this issue.

Nationality is such an easy thing to get in this day and age, which international businessman doesn't have many nationalities?Everyone needs to use whichever they need. Without the Internet, even if multiple nationalities are not recognized, it is difficult to find out.

Since we are going to do something, we naturally have to tidy up the first and last, and maybe we will investigate further, these people still have Austrian nationality.

Franz is suspicious of anyone behind the scenes.On the surface, the Ottoman Empire is the most suspicious, the Russians are the least suspicious, and Britain, France and Austria are almost the same.

After hesitating for a while, Franz said, "Forget it, just keep watching. If the black hands behind the scenes continue to act, they will show their feet sooner or later; if they stop here, the result now is not too bad."

There is no way, the Greeks and the Bulgarians are all fools, and they didn't know who the supporters behind the scenes were, so they did it in a daze.

How to track down this?Don't think that these actions must be planned by the government. Bureaucrats, capitalists, and nobles may also be the real culprits.

In terms of motivation, there are too many suspects.

For example: In order to buy time to prepare for the war, the Sudanese government provoked troubles to distract Russia and Austria;

Or Britain and France want to help the Ottoman Empire;

It is also possible that Austria did it, with the purpose of attacking the Russians and gaining an advantage in the distribution of benefits. This item can be crossed out, and Franz can prove that he did not do it.

In terms of interests, of course domestic arms dealers, agricultural capitalists, and big nobles are all suspects.

It's just a batch of arms, which is very difficult for people without channels, but for those with connections, it's only a matter of tens of thousands of Aegis.

No matter how high the price of arms is on the international market, ordinary guns and ammunition are actually worthless.You can buy a second-hand rifle for only three or four Aegis, and wholesale can be even cheaper.

In the current chaos, arms dealers, agricultural capitalists, and aristocrats who produce food are all beneficiaries.Among other things, grain prices have probably stabilized this year.

It is not to say how much food was consumed by the war, nor is it to say that Bulgaria and Greece are important food exporters, but mainly to give confidence to the market.

The main reason for the collapse of international food prices is the loss of confidence in the market. Otherwise, the capitalists will still try to maintain the stability of food prices through artificial speculation.

So what about overcapacity, as long as the trading market is under control, it can also send a signal to the outside world that the supply is in short supply.

As long as there is a reasonable excuse to make everyone believe that there will be a shortage of food in the market this year, enough speculators can be fooled into coming in and artificially raising the price of food.

If nothing else, just look at the news published in the newspaper.Since the Vienna government's call for production reduction, the media has continued to sing praises, as if the agricultural crisis has passed.

European newspapers are almost all news about the reduction in grain production. The so-called experts and scholars are over-exaggerating the role of the "Land Fallow Law".

This is all a trick played by interest groups. No one knows how many people can be fooled.Anyway, smart people can't be fooled. If it's really impossible, go deep into the countryside and investigate, and you'll understand everything.

Speculators who don’t know about market research will be cheated to death sooner or later. There is no essential difference between dying one day earlier and dying one day later.

After the news of the coup in Greece and the revolution in Bulgaria spread, on September 1873, 9, the price of grain on the London futures market rose by 13 percent that day.

Chapter 1 Ten Feudal Remnants Are Strong

Changes in the grain futures market have directly affected grain prices, and capitalists have unanimously raised prices.

This price increase is limited to the transaction price, and the purchase price of grain has not changed much. It will take time to ferment from the downstream market to the upstream market.

Raising the price of grain transactions is essentially to make a fortune.Since last year, the long-term low food prices have seriously affected everyone's interests.

The improvement in food prices has no real meaning, and the problem of overcapacity in food production has not been fundamentally resolved.It is nothing more than capitalists who want to take the opportunity to make a fortune to make up for the losses in the agricultural crisis.

Franz is not optimistic. If the people in charge of trading are all grain capitalists, then it is in their best interest to super-high and stabilize grain prices for their own benefit.

Regrettably, in the three major grain futures markets in Europe, apart from the Austrian grain capitalists who are relatively strong and have a certain right to speak, Britain and France are dominated by financial capital.

Even the Austrian grain capitalists do not have the strength to operate, even with the addition of related agricultural product processing industry capital, they barely have this strength.

Not to mention Britain and France, unless the capital of the entire real economy is tied together, otherwise the futures market will always be the domain of financial capital.

Short, smooth and fast is always the best pursuit of capital. It is not the purpose of financial capital to settle down and do business. This means that the grain market may collapse again at any time.

Now everyone is still working together to raise the price of food. When the price rises to almost the same level and enough speculators are attracted to take the market, the end will come.

……

At the Palace of Vienna, Franz summoned Hals, Minister of Agriculture.

"Food prices are recovering, but the problem of overcapacity remains unresolved, and the Ministry of Agriculture's next job is still to reduce production.

Don't worry about not having enough food, even if there is an emergency, we have enough strategic reserves for emergency. "

The government cannot intervene in the market at will, and the futures market, an international capital gambling game, is not something that the Austrian government can intervene in.Unless the governments of Britain, France and Austria intervene in the market at the same time, it will only have side effects and cause greater losses.

Affected by the agricultural crisis, Austria also experienced unsalable grain. The government implemented a minimum protection price policy and quickly purchased a large amount of grain.

The Vienna government itself is a large food consumer, so it doesn't worry about storing too much food at all.There are millions of people in government agencies, schools, and the army who need to eat.

Influenced by Franz, the government has long had the habit of storing grain.In addition to satisfying self-use, they are usually eaten when grain prices are low and thrown away when grain prices are high.

Of course, this is just a normal period. After the agricultural crisis broke out, the Vienna government did not dare to open up the acquisition.If you continue to play like that, you will really go bankrupt.

Minister of Agriculture Hals: "Your Majesty, we are planning an agricultural summit and invite the big capitalists and large farmers in the agricultural field in Europe to participate. Unite everyone's strength and work together to stabilize food prices."

Franz was taken aback for a moment, and then he reacted.This is a normal operation. As the world's largest exporter of agricultural products, how can it be passive to deal with the agricultural crisis?

We must know that before the outbreak of the agricultural crisis, the pricing power of the international agricultural trade has always been in the hands of Austria.

The Russians did not follow the rules and played with the British in bundled loan sales, breaking Austria's monopoly on pricing power, which caused food prices to plummet.

After going through this wave, the capitalists naturally realized the terrible consequences of this kind of irregular competition, and it is almost inevitable to unite again at this time.

The Ministry of Agriculture's efforts to make this plan are probably inseparable from the influence of capital.Or nobles engaged in agricultural production, or capitalists in related fields, may be behind the scenes.

If you know it, you know it, and Franz didn't mean to get to the bottom of it. This kind of thing is inevitable.There are many ways for capital to influence government decision-making. In many cases, the parties involved are caught up in the rhythm before they can react.

"It sounds good, but why implement it? Even if there are more achievements at the agricultural summit, how effective can it be without mandatory binding force?

If this problem cannot be solved, it is better to find a way to push up the tariffs on raw grain trade and increase the cost of competitors.

Get in touch with the big farmers, I believe they will have the same interest, and encourage them to mobilize the broad masses of farmers to put pressure on the government together. "

This idea is very insidious, and it is very unfavorable to countries with backward industries.Perhaps in the end, it may evolve into imposing tariffs on all agricultural products.

However, Franz is not worried at all. The only ones affected are primary processing enterprises with lower profits.In the short term, it will have some impact on Austria, but in the long run, it will help to further promote industrial upgrading.

You can't expect to grind noodles for a lifetime, can you?This kind of enterprise with little technical content will be squeezed out sooner or later and become unprofitable.

If they do not develop new products with higher added value, such low-tech processing enterprises that stand still and are unwilling to move forward will not survive for long in this cruel world.

These are all just on the surface. If there is no other benefit, this is a tactic that kills one thousand and hurts eight hundred. How could Franz use it?

The industry is most affected by the increase in food prices. Enterprises have to pay more wages if prices rise, otherwise workers will not be able to survive.

This is the fundamental purpose of Franz. Perhaps in the short term, this effect is not obvious, but as time goes by, more and more import tariffs on agricultural products will be imposed, and the sequelae will emerge.

High labor costs will make labor-intensive enterprises unprofitable. For higher benefits, capitalists will inevitably invest funds in the financial field with higher returns.

It was the French who were the first to be unable to support the original time and space.After the Franco-Prussian War, without the government's suppression of capital, France began to run wildly along the road of no return to the usury empire.

The British also followed closely behind, and then abolished their martial arts.Otherwise, during World War II, the German Air Force would not be able to plunder over the British Isles, let alone rely on submarines to block maritime transportation.

Looking at the Minister of Agriculture who did not understand, Franz did not explain.This kind of obscure method cannot be explained clearly in a few words at all.If it is leaked out, it will arouse the vigilance of all countries, but it will not be beautiful.

It doesn't matter if it is exposed after it happens.The government can lower tariffs, but it depends on whether domestic farmers agree.

Even if it is forcibly implemented, can it be expected that the capitalists who have tasted the sweetness in the financial field will not be able to turn back?

Don’t even think about those who haven’t tasted the sweetness. Unlike the real economy, it’s commonplace to lose money when playing with finance.