Chapter 510: Working hard to not be a Non-Emperor

  Chapter 499: Working Hard to Not Be a Non-Emperor

The South African war is over, as the victor side, the Vienna government is not happy. Reality once again proved that modernized warfare, relying on war reparations could no longer make up for the losses.

Through the armistice treaty, the Vienna government got 3 million land redemption money, together with the ransom for the prisoners, the total was 6,126,800,000 pounds, equivalent to 12,253,600,000 divine guilders.

It seemed a huge sum of money, but compared to the war expenses, it was a drop in the bucket, and not even a quarter of the cost was recovered.

This was still based on the French secretly contributing, otherwise the cost would have been even greater.

The spoils of war gained were a barbaric land. Because of the war, the land obtained from British South Africa, even the indigenous tribes can not find to a few, let alone immigrants.

It would have been a total loss if it had not been for the strategic opening up of South Africa to the sea, the compression of British power into a corner, and the security of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State.

The war was won, and no matter what the losses were, the rewards were inevitable.

However, after all, it is the top of the Boer Republic vest fight, late war settlement will have to go around in a circle, such as the Austrian annexation of these areas before settlement.

The original Boer Republic within the power elite, in addition to a few make the right choice of smart people, the rest are in this round of reshuffle in the dead.

This is the difference in volume, the original Boer Republic, with hundreds of workers are the premier big capitalists, to Austria this is the size of the township enterprises.

With the British invasion, their capital to negotiate terms disappeared. This pit is their own digging, desertion of armaments, the British invasion must turn to Austria.

Originally, they thought Austria must rely on them, the groundlings, however, they guessed the beginning and not the end.

The strength of the British was not as strong as they had imagined, which made Austria much less dependent on them. Smart people adjusted their mindset in time and immediately defected to the past, so naturally they had nothing to lose.

Those who reacted one step slower were tragic, economic losses aside, the political discourse was also weakened. The original relationship in the government of the Boer Republic has now been impacted to pieces.

Reality is so cruel, without power shuffling, how to promote people loyal to Austria to the throne?

These nobles who brought their own dry food over to fight the war are not without interest, and obviously want a share in the reorganization of power.

Even if the roots are not here and will not stay and develop, arranging for a family son or daughter to come over and develop is still possible. Trees with big branches, this is the way for the old nobles to survive.

These new interest groups are the roots of the future Austrian rule in South Africa. The original interest group, then can only say sorry, who let them misjudgment?

With the signing of the Treaty of Cape Town, the biggest obstacle to the establishment of the Anglo-French-Austrian Triple Alliance no longer existed. on July 1, 1871, the representatives of Britain, France and Austria signed a treaty of alliance at the Palace of Versailles, and the era of great power hegemony came to an end.

For various reasons, this treaty of alliance lasted only five years. It can be seen that all three countries did not have enough confidence in this alliance and it could only be regarded as an attempt.

Whether or not to continue to renew the treaty after five years depends on whether or not everyone can obtain more benefits within these five years. Between countries is so realistic, can maintain the alliance only interests.

Even so, the European world is still in an uproar, this contradictory alliance, or scared a lot of people.

For the small countries that originally relied on the contradictions of the powers to survive, the days became increasingly difficult, and breaking up this alliance became the common goal of countless European countries.

Vienna Palace, Franz is holding a cabinet meeting to discuss the plan of the African railroad network.

Prime Minister Felix proposed, “Your Majesty, considering the operating costs, the African Railroad Network plan should be delayed. At present, we only need to complete the two strategic railroads of East-West and South-West and that will be enough.

Blindly proceeding with the construction of the railroad network, this will put a heavy burden on the treasury. Take our local railroad network as an example, despite the many incentives given by the government, there are still many railroad companies that have gone bankrupt as a result.

The capital market has been affected by this and is no longer keen on investing in railroads. To this day, there are few profitable railroad companies in the country.

If the African railroad network plan is launched, it is almost impossible to rely on financing from the capital market, and the burden will fall entirely on the government.

This huge railroad plan has already exceeded our financial limits, and we may not be able to break even in a hundred years.”

The bankruptcy of the railroad company was Franz’s pot. In order to popularize the railroad network in Austria as early as possible, he applied the means of Internet development in the latter days.

Launch a concept, draw a big pie, and attract capital to enter. Railroad networks are all separate, naturally monopoly business, as long as you get through the pre-investment stage, it is really not difficult to make a profit in the back.

This big cake is much more conscientious than the latter-day virtual concept, and it is not impossible to realize this goal. It is just that the pre-investment is relatively large, and the later profit-making time is relatively long.

This does not rely on the power of capital, Austria built the railroad network in the shortest possible time. As for the railroad company that collapsed halfway, all have a common characteristic – the capital chain is broken.

This is all their own mismanagement, definitely not for the government to take over, Franz deliberately.

Investment is risky, and you need to be careful when entering the market. In a capitalist market economy, there is no consideration of economic crisis, that is all its own responsibility.

This explanation don’t say it, Franz never stood on the front stage, advocating the railroad investment are experts, the railroad company operating bankruptcy is a capitalist, and the emperor has nothing to do with.

Surviving railroad companies can prove that as long as the head does not jerk, careful selection of high-quality railroad lines, even if it is bundled with branch lines, can be profitable.

Of course, the prerequisite is that you have to have enough money to last through the long investment period, and the rate of return in the later stages is still relatively substantial.

Don’t compare profits to share prices, that stuff is all a bubble, and no company’s profits have ever been able to keep up with the rise in share prices.

At its peak, the total market value of Austria’s railroad companies once exceeded the myth of twenty billion guilders. Austria’s railroad network is worth 20 billion guilders?

Without a doubt, this is impossible. This era of twenty billion guilders, but an astronomical sum, the world has developed the gold together are not enough.

If there was so much money, not to mention the local railroad network, even if it was to lay a railroad network for the inhabited areas of the world, it would be almost enough.

To know the Austrian railroad network together comprehensive calculation, the annual profit is less than 100 million guilders, to be exact five million guilders of pure profit are not.

Of course, there is still a lot of room for growth, and now the railroad companies that have been stabilized and not continued to build, basically maintain an annual profit of more than thirty percent growth rate.

It’s not that their profit growth rate is fast, it’s entirely that the base is too low, and the growth is naturally rapid. Freight volume increased by one percentage point, the railroad company’s profits are likely to grow four or five points.

It’s not a matter of high or low freight rates, it’s entirely the lack of business that causes many rail lines to lose money. Increased business has turned many of the branch lines around, and with the lack of total profit, it looks impressive.

In the case of the Draco Railroad, for example, the profit in 1869 was 12,000 shillings, and the total profit in 1870 was 1,386,000 shillings, which on the face of it looks like an increase of more than a hundred times, but in reality the annual business increased by only five points.

This seemingly explosive growth remained in reality insignificant. It was important to realize that the Draco Railway Company’s net worth was all of 130 million shillings, its market value was as high as 530 million shillings, and at one point during its peak the market value reached 1.68 billion shillings.

Otherwise, the growth rate is fast, this market win rate can not be seen at all. Expect profits to recover investment costs, no ten or twenty years is simply impossible.

The same tactic can only be played once, capitalists are not stupid. Take the African railroad network to fool people, also need to be believed, right?

Counting on the private small retail investors, unfortunately, these Philipino vegetables have not grown up, want to cut can not cut much. Unless it is to relax the financial management law, allowing small capital into the market.

Obviously this is not possible, if this is done, in case of a stock market crash, the ripple effect will be wide.

Life is not easy in this day and age, ordinary people are struggling to survive every day, and these people don’t have any risk resistance. If they were really pitched in, wouldn’t this be sending cannon fodder to the revolutionaries?

Digging in their own corners, things that can never be done. As for the construction of the African railroad network, it is better to be late.

Colonial development is not good enough to provide industrial raw materials and markets. Even if we want to have a big development, we have to wait until after the localization.

Franz nodded and said: “The construction of the African railroad network is indeed too expensive. The two railroads now have to be re-planned.

We originally had some railroads in Africa, and these can’t be wasted either. The Southwest Railway can consider docking directly in the Congo region, and the East-West Railway can also dock halfway through the Southwest Railway.

This will also achieve the same strategic purpose, perhaps in the long run, such a plan is a bit far away, but in the short run, it can compress the investment to the minimum.”

It’s not that Franz is short-sighted, on the contrary there is a deeper meaning in doing so. Through this railroad, Africa’s inland resources can be transported out, from the nearest sea port to ship back to the country.

The strategic purpose had been achieved, and as for the railroad not being the shortest route, it increased the cost of integrating resources from all over Africa, which was supposed to be a check on the colonies.

Don’t you see that the British also built a bunch of messy railroads in India, which the Indians haven’t smoothed out by the 21st century, a means of checking the colonies.

Franz’s approach has been restrained, at least not by standardizing track standards. No, it wasn’t exactly a uniform standard, certain railroads that specialized in transporting minerals, and possibly narrow gauge railroads.

It was shipped to the port and loaded onto ships, without the need to meet the main railroad tracks. At least the mines not far from the coast would have built such railroads.

Otherwise take advantage of local resources, did not prepare for a decade or two later, Austrian Africa also appeared in the perfect industrial system, then if there is no time to complete the localization, it will be a big problem.

Native pressure can not be colonized, Franz does not want to move the capital of the African continent in his lifetime, run to be a non-emperor. Even if after shifting the strategic center of gravity, he was able to unify the African continent and establish the largest empire in the world, it would not work.

(End of chapter)