Chapter 333: Ocean Fleet
Chapter 323 – Ocean Fleet
On June 18, 1861, the Austrian Ocean Fleet visited Korea. The two sides agreed on friendly exchanges between the two countries and diplomatic relations were upgraded to ministerial level.
Joseon, which was under a feudal system during this period, excluded foreign trade. Previously, Austria had little interest in Joseon and did not have an embassy, only an office.
After this friendly visit, Hummel signed a friendly trade agreement with the North Korean government, in which the two countries granted each other most-favored-nation status.
This was customary now, and along the way Austria had signed commercial MFN treaties with about a dozen countries, including Britain and France.
By the way, it also made a few military purchase orders, in addition to the army equipment, Hummel also sold out five ironclad ships.
Thailand and Vietnam each ordered one, and the Manchu government ordered three in one fell swoop. Obviously, they were intimidated by Britain and France and wanted to consolidate sea defense. Iron armor ship no matter how expensive, or better than being a lost dog.
Austria is not prepared to expand in the Far East, business on the door naturally. As to whether this will bring trouble to the European colonial empire, it is not in Hummel’s consideration.
Not able to fool the North Korean government, Hummel still have a few points of reluctance, can only look at the last East Asia, Japan can not make gains.
After all, the army equipment everyone is selling, competing with each other, the profit has been pressed down. And the sale of ironclad ships only one Austria, twice the net profit is really not high.
If someone is willing to pay a high price, active equipment can also be sold. For example, this ocean fleet, as long as someone bid more than 30 million guilders, Franz would not mind packing up and selling off.
Anyway, the production cost of these warships wouldn’t exceed 7 million divine guilders, and it would only take more than a year to build such a fleet.
With the adoption of the gold standard in Austria, the international gold and silver ratio has also been impacted, silver against gold has depreciated to 15.3:1, and now 1 guilder is equivalent to 1.5 taels of silver in the flat treasury.
Obviously, the country that has the strength to come up with 45 million taels of flat treasury silver at one time in this era is a phoenix in the sky. Unless forced to do so, no one would come to be the wrongdoer.
……
Edo, Hummel just had a friendly visit with the Shogunate government, and Austria’s Most Favored Nation has increased by one.
Charade, the minister to Japan, asked suspiciously, “Your Excellency the Count, why don’t we take the opportunity to expand our interests in Japan?”
Hummel said with a slight smile, “Hasn’t it already been expanded? We signed the Mutual Most Favored Nation Treaty, and any power that expands its interests here, we enjoy the same treatment directly.”
It was a fact that treaties that were completely equal on the surface ended up differently because of the disparity in national power between the two sides.
The MFN with Britain and France, that was a purely equal treaty, with both sides getting what they wanted. Anyway, no one in this era is capable of forcing them to sign an unequal treaty and sell out their domestic commercial interests.
With Japan it was different, the Japanese government gave any country commercial privileges, then Austria was automatically entitled to them.
However, comparing the practices of various countries, Austria was actually quite moderate. There was no force to bully and forcefully take over, there was no damage to everyone’s sovereignty, and it was merely limited to commercial cooperation.
Minister Charade shook his head and said, “Your Excellency the Count, this is not enough. We can absolutely establish a lease or harbor here, or occupy a few islands.”
Hummel explained in a serious manner, “Your Excellency the Minister, right now we do have the strength to do so. The Ocean Fleet is currently the strongest arm in East Asia, even turning Japan into a protectorate is not a problem.
However, the Ocean Fleet can’t be stationed here forever, and it won’t be long before we leave. When that time comes, will Britain and France watch us take up so much interest?
Will the natives accept our rule without force? With only our power in the Far East, we can’t eat that much profit.
If that’s the case, then we might as well make good relations with everyone from the start. East Asia is not the center of gravity for our expansion, doing business here is fine.”
Minister Charade said unwillingly, “Aren’t there still Russian allies? It won’t be a problem to hold onto those interests if our two countries join forces.”
Not long ago Charade helped the Russians occupy Tsushima Island with this in mind. Bringing in the Russians’ power was for the two countries to join forces to take the biggest cake.
Hummel sighed and said, “The Russians are too greedy, one Japan cannot satisfy their appetite. If we cooperate with them, we will be tied to their chariot in the future.
This is too far away from Austria, more than we can commit our forces to. Don’t forget that the ocean fleet was able to reach East Asia without any problems, borrowing ports in various countries along the way for supplies.”
That the Russians were too greedy is a fact recognized by all. In the matter of territorial expansion the Czarist government never seems to be satisfied.
The dissolution of the Russo-Austrian alliance also had a high voice in the Vienna government. Many Austrians thought that they had more to gain than to lose by cooperating with the Russians than they could gain by cooperating with Britain and France in suppressing the Russian Empire.
After contemplating for a while, Minister Charade said, “Well, you’ve convinced me. Only if we do nothing, it won’t be long before the Russians are in big trouble.”
Pit the Russians? That shouldn’t count, and Charade was a veteran of diplomacy who had never given the Russians any promises.
It was only out of allied obligation that he unconditionally helped the Russians occupy Tsushima Island. Now that the Nagasaki area has fallen into the Russian sphere of influence, Austria hasn’t gained anything at all.
After the departure of the Austrian fleet, whether the Russians could resist the pressure and keep the Nagasaki area was the question of the Russians themselves.
After the departure of the fleet, the Austrian fleet is far away from the South China Sea area. By then the support Austria could provide would really be limited to lip service.
Charlemagne took stock of the situation and determined that there were no hidden dangers left behind, and could not help but breathe a sigh of relief.
Hummel smiled slightly, stood up and took two steps forward, turned his back to Charade and said, “Your Excellency the Minister, don’t you think the recent Anglo-Russian relations are a little too good?”
Charade was slightly stunned, and then reacted. It was also one of the responsibilities of the Austrian Foreign Ministry to stir up conflicts between Britain and Russia.
Not only the Anglo-Russian contradiction, including the Anglo-French contradiction, Anglo-Spanish contradiction, and Franco-Russian contradiction …… were all the work of the Austrian Foreign Ministry.
Foreign Ministries of all countries are doing this, if not for European countries stabbing each other, where would there be so many conflicts in the world.
It’s just that all of this work is done in secret, and in the open everyone maintains a gentlemanly demeanor. In this day and age, there are still many people who think that the countries of Europe are one.
(End of chapter)