Holy Roman Empire

The Vienna government is not willing to break the current harmonious situation. As long as it can pay taxes on time, do not cause trouble, and do not cause trouble to the government, other problems are nothing.

Soltram nodded thoughtfully. As a technocrat, he just doesn't know much about these issues, which doesn't mean he is a political novice.

If the plan cannot be implemented, then modify it.Any major government plan will be introduced after several revisions and weighing the interests of all parties.

Chapter 5 Opportunity for War

The essence of opening up colonies is to make money. For the Austrian government, there are only two kinds of colonies that are valuable: those that make money and those that have strategic value.

There is no doubt that Lanfang Autonomous Province is profitable, but also has a certain strategic value.

Lanfang Autonomous Province together with other areas of Austrian Southeast Asia jointly established Austria's regional supremacy in the Southeast Asia region.

It is not that the Vienna government does not have the voice of directly governing the Lanfang Autonomous Province. The key point is that no one can guarantee that it will be able to obtain more lucrative benefits after directly governing the province.

The economic value of the Lanfang Autonomous Province to the Vienna government is far more than the annual 376.4 million Aegis.

Since joining the Austrian system, there has been no security threat, and Lanfang Autonomous Province has quickly entered the fast track of development.

Perhaps it is because Spain and the Netherlands have done a great job. As early as more than ten years ago, Lanfang Autonomous Province became the base camp of overseas Chinese businessmen.

The influx of a large amount of capital naturally drives the development of the local economy. If it is not restricted by geographical conditions, the development of Lanfang Autonomous Province will be even better.

Now Lanfang Autonomous Province imports tens of millions of Aegis industrial and commercial products from Austria every year, and at the same time exports raw materials such as rubber, sago, dried coconut, kachi dyes, sago powder, pepper, gold and silver.

If it is listed separately and ranked by trade volume, Lanfang Autonomous Province is enough to rank in the top five of all Austria's trading partners.

The greater the interests involved, the more cautious the Vienna government will be.

If the operation is wrong and the situation is turbulent, someone pries the foot of the wall and loses the hegemony in the Nanyang region, then all the money will be lost.

Driven by interests, the status of Lanfang Autonomous Province is naturally different, and it has become a special existence that is higher than colonies and lower than states.

If it weren't for the local ruling class being heavily influenced by tradition and not liking to participate in politics, a seat has now been added to the Imperial Parliament.

It is not that Lanfang Autonomous Province does not have insightful people. As early as more than ten years ago, some people proposed to build a railway. However, the power of tradition is too strong, and the "ancestral graves" cannot be avoided.

In addition, Lanfang Autonomous Province is an island with developed sea transportation, and there is not much development in the inland areas, and there is not much demand for railways, so it has been put on hold.

This also shows from the side that the ruling class of Lanfang Autonomous Province is garbage. These guys in Yuanshikong are compradors of the Dutch, so their integrity is naturally not that high.

Franz had no intention of interfering in Lanfang's internal affairs. He was a reputable emperor who used people's money to eliminate disasters.

Even for the sake of paying tribute to goods every year, Franz is also a supporter of Lanfang's autonomy.

This is not because Franz is greedy for money, but mainly because he understands the traditional culture of the East.If he, the emperor, doesn't take money, those guys will cry anxiously.

In this rotten age, as long as you don't engage in anger and resentment, you can be considered qualified.

I don't know how it will be written in the history books in the future, but now everyone gets what they need, and the cooperation is very pleasant.

……

Seeing that all parties have reached an agreement, Franz, as the arbiter, put forward a new request: "Let's do the railway plan first, but this is not enough.

The duration of this economic crisis should be relatively long. To get out of the crisis, the government must create more jobs while reducing expenditure as much as possible. "

It is easy to reduce spending and create jobs, but it is not easy to do both.

The construction plan of the Vienna government is essentially for better economic development, and investment projects must also consider profitability.

If the time is delayed to 20 years, Franz can upgrade the road and build a highway.

Not now, the car was born not long ago, and people's main means of transportation is still a horse-drawn carriage.

Horse-drawn carriage on concrete road?

It's very interesting to think about it, the problem is a waste horse!With such head-to-head confrontation, the horse's hoof can't last long.

Construction of water conservancy projects?

This thing has already been built in the previous economic crises.Those that have not yet started work have no economic value.

Not only have these projects been completed, but even urban upgrading has been basically completed, and there is no need to consider these issues for at least 30 years.

Austria is such a big place in Europe. After so many years of infrastructure construction, there is really nothing to worry about.

The continental area of ​​Africa is large enough, but unfortunately the population is limited and there is not enough demand.Government investment must also consider the economic rate of return, and it is impossible to build blindly.

This is a problem that a country will inevitably face after it develops to a certain level, but Austria faced it earlier.

Prime Minister Felix: "The domestic infrastructure is becoming more and more perfect, and the days of relying on government investment in infrastructure to drive the economy cannot last forever.

It is possible that our economic growth will slow down for a long period of time in the future. It is expected that the next period of high economic growth will be after the completion of the African localization strategy.

For the sake of long-term development, now we must launch as many projects with long-term and sustainable development as possible. "

This is a fact. At present, the major projects in Austria, namely the canal plan and the hydropower station plan, have already been launched, so it is naturally impossible to do it again.

After a pause, Prime Minister Felix continued: "Internal combustion engine technology has developed rapidly in recent years, showing great potential in many fields, and may even replace steam engines.

If this happens, then oil will replace coal as the most important industrial raw material.

The only question is whether oil production can keep up with demand, and as things stand, there is a dearth of crude oil production worldwide.

Especially in continental Europe, almost no large oil fields have been discovered.Even though we have Ploiesti, a traditional oil-producing region, last year we imported 11 tons of crude oil from the Russian Empire.

This figure seems very inconspicuous, based on the current international oil price, it is only a few hundred thousand Aegis.

But just three years ago, we were an exporter of crude oil.In just three years, domestic demand for crude oil has increased by at least 20 tons.

According to the estimates of scientists, our demand for oil will double in five years, and will double again in ten years, and the crude oil shortage in the market will be as high as millions of tons.

Many scientists in the energy field have issued an early warning of the energy crisis to the government.To solve this problem, the government organizes oil exploration teams.

Generally speaking, the harvest is good. Many oil fields have been discovered locally, but unfortunately the output is not high.

The biggest harvest was the discovery of a large oil field in the lower reaches of the Mesopotamia, with reserves exceeding the sum of all local oil fields.

After analysis by geologists, it is believed that a large amount of oil may be buried in the Mesopotamia, and the government sent an exploration team to verify it.

The recent discovery of oil on the border between the Ottoman Empire and Persia confirmed this speculation.As the area is outside our control, no further exploration was conducted for safety reasons. "

Needless to say the latter, the meaning is very obvious, if it is not within the scope of control, just find a way to get it within the scope of your own control.

The oil is buried underground and cannot be moved, so Austria can only expand the scope of control. This is the consistent style of the great powers.

Frankly speaking, Franz never thought that Austria would be short of oil, and he never cared about this issue from the beginning to the end.

There are also many things about the emperor, and unimportant things are naturally ignored.At present, Austria's sphere of influence has covered half of the world's oil reserves. Isn't the lack of oil a joke?

Yet the joke really happened.Oil in Africa has not been discovered, and oil in the Middle East has only emerged. After realizing the importance of oil, it is inevitable for the Vienna government to take precautions.

Then the Ottoman Empire is going to be a tragedy. There was a blood feud, and now it is a crime. If they are not unlucky, who will be unlucky?

Franz hesitated to speak, and it will be a matter of time before he takes action against the Ottoman Empire.The energy crisis just provided an opportunity to silence the anti-war faction in the government.

Prime Minister Felix did not directly say that he would launch a war, but the "sustainability and long-term" project, coupled with the repeated emphasis on the importance of oil, has already given the answer.

Compared with investing in other projects, launching a war against the Ottoman Empire is indeed the most economically valuable.

The most important thing is that the opportunity is rare. The European continent is caught in a wave of revolution, and all countries are busy putting out the fire.

They are too busy to take care of themselves, who can take care of the Ottoman Empire?

At this time, no one can stop the pace of war.Even if there is no oil as an opportunity, there will be other reasons.

Chapter 6 Undercurrents

War is not easy to fight. "Before soldiers and horses move, food and grass go first; before war starts, diplomacy goes first."

The political structure of many countries on the European continent determines the importance of diplomacy.

The Vienna government has not yet had the confidence to confront all European countries at the same time, so the role of diplomacy has come to the fore.

It is not required that all countries support Austria in launching this war, at least it must be ensured that most countries do not object.

That's all for a small country, most of them are nothing but grass.For them, Austria is already very strong, and it doesn't matter if it is a little stronger.

As long as their own interests are not harmed, even if they are upset, at most they will verbally condemn them.

The three big hooligans of Britain, France and Russia are the countries that really have the right to speak. Among the great powers, Spain, the far-reaching Nordic Federation, and the German Federal Empire next door barely count for one-third of the votes.

How to deal with these countries has become the most important task for the Austrian Foreign Ministry right now.

Foreign Minister Weisenberg analyzed: "The turbulent situation on the European continent is very beneficial to our next actions.

The French government, beset by revolution, is now preoccupied.

At the cost of not supporting the Italian independence movement and the French Revolutionary Party, in exchange for the acquiescence of the Paris government, our action is very likely to succeed.

Spain has always followed the pace of the French in the international arena. As long as the French government does not object, they will probably not take the lead.

Even if the German Federation does not support us, it will not oppose it.We can promote nationalism, emphasizing the hatred between the German nation and the Ottoman Empire, and it is not difficult to win their support.

The Nordic Federation is far apart, and their interests will not be involved in this war.Besides, we guaranteed a loan from the Nordic Federation for the Russians.

If they also need us to provide security for this loan, they will not stand against us.

The most troublesome are Britain and Russia.It is basically impossible to obtain the support of the British government. We don't have so many benefits to exchange.

The next work of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will focus on the Russians.If we can make certain concessions, or cede part of the territory of the Ottoman Empire to the Russians, the Tsarist government should not refuse. "

The core of diplomacy lies in interests, and now it is time to exchange interests.As long as the bid is high enough, there is nothing that cannot be bought.

Looking at the map of the Near East on the wall, Franz pondered for a moment before making a decision: "If the Russians are willing to send troops together, then the east will be bounded by the Arakus River, and the Asia Minor peninsula will be bounded by the Anatolian Plateau. .

If the Tsarist government is unwilling to send troops and only supports us diplomatically, then they can only obtain the territory north of the Greater Caucasus Mountains, and Asia Minor Peninsula will not have their share. "

There is no doubt that no matter which distribution method is used, the biggest benefit that Austria has taken away is no longer "the two countries share Ottoman equally".

The reality is so cruel, interests are always equal to strength.Franz's price was also based on the Russians' own strength.

Especially in the first option, the two countries carve up the Ottoman Empire together. The seemingly fair and reasonable bid is actually harboring evil intentions.

If you look at the border line drawn by Franz, you will know that Russia and Austria have always been good-neighborly and friendly. If one day the two countries turn their faces, there will be loopholes everywhere.

The Russian Balkan Peninsula and the Asia Minor Peninsula are directly exposed to the Austrian soldiers and will fall in an instant.

This is determined by both geographical location and strength. It seems that they are all connected to the Russian Empire, but that is only a geographical connection.

There are mountains in the middle, the railway is out of the question, and the transportation depends entirely on the Black Sea.

As long as Constantinople is lost and the Austrian navy enters the Black Sea, the lifeline will be cut off.

Even if the Russians defend Constantinople, it is useless, the Black Sea Fleet is gone.

Simply advancing to any port on the coast of the Black Sea on land in Austria, and putting a dozen submarines into the Black Sea can also achieve the goal.

In modern warfare, what is fought is logistics. Once the army loses its logistics supplies, it is nothing.

In a sense, this is a huge trap. The more power the tsarist government invests in these areas, the greater the losses it will pay.

……

In Paris, since the news that European countries will hold an international conference here to jointly curb the spread of revolutionary ideas, the situation has become out of control.

Hundreds of thousands of Parisians took to the streets to protest against the government's collusion with international reactionary forces to persecute the revolution.

The protests of the people were clearly transmitted to the Palace of Versailles, and Napoleon IV became haggard as a whole, as if he had aged 20 years suddenly.

There is no way, there are a group of people making noise outside every day, this kind of mental torture is really not something ordinary people can bear.

To mobilize troops to disperse the demonstrators?This didn't do anything, just dissipated and gathered again after a while.

The most important thing is that people are protesting legally, and the government has no right to suppress it before taking radical actions.

It wasn't that Napoleon IV followed the rules, it was mainly because he didn't know what to do, and he didn't dare to order suppression for fear of intensifying conflicts.

Those currently being suppressed by the French government are all extremists who have launched a rebellion, and the protesters and marchers are not among them, and they cannot be suppressed.

According to incomplete statistics, in the recent period, at least one-third of the people in France participated in demonstrations.

Throwing the documents in his hand on the ground, Napoleon IV roared angrily: "Who can tell me, when will this kind of day end?"

The emperor's temper is getting worse and worse. This is the clearest feeling for everyone.No matter how bad your temper is, you still have to work normally.

Foreign Secretary Terrence Burkin reported: "Your Majesty, news has just been received from Vienna that the Austrians are planning an invasion of the Ottoman Empire."

Napoleon IV shook his head: "My foreign minister, you can handle such a trivial matter as you see, and don't bother me with it!"

"Austrian invasion of Ottoman" has also become a trivial matter. If this standard is followed, it is estimated that there will be no major international events.

Terrence Bulkin bit the bullet and reminded: "Your Majesty, this is an extraordinary war, not an ordinary war, and the Austrians want to swallow the Ottoman Empire in one gulp.