Chapter 553: Recognize it and you’ll be right.
Chapter 541: Recognize it and you’ll be right
On November 14, 1873, the Southwest African Railway was completed. With the completion of this major artery from Guinea in the west to Pretoria in the south, Austrian rule in South Africa was completely consolidated.
From exploration to completion, this strategic railroad took more than ten years of work, and is Austria’s longest, most difficult to construct, and highest investment railroad to date.
Of course, the completion of only the main road, along the branch line to repair another twenty years, are not necessarily able to repair. The main reason for this was not the difficulty of construction, nor the lack of labor, but the lack of money of the colonial government.
The African continent was relatively underdeveloped, and the government’s tax revenue was limited, so it could not afford to support the construction of the railroad. The construction of the main roads was a strategic necessity, allocated by the central government.
The total cost of the railroad, which was a whopping 7,476 kilometers in length, was a whopping 74,286,000 God’s rupees. On average, the construction cost per kilometer was actually nearly 10,000 Shendong, a cost that far exceeded that of the mainland.
This was still based on the premise of having free labor to use. In order to build this railroad, the colonial government had recruited millions of laborers and maintained a huge construction team of more than 200,000 people all year round.
Once the construction of the main road was completed, the branch railroads behind it had to come slowly. Railroads with high economic and strategic value were prioritized for construction, while railroads with low value were left as plans.
This Southwest African Railway has set many records, such as: the largest investment, the largest labor force, the longest distance, and the largest use of new technology development. ……
If you convert labor into money, you can add one more: the most expensive long-distance railroad.
It may be easy to build such a railroad in the 21st century, but in this day and age it is a well-deserved world record and a reflection of Austria’s comprehensive national power.
Despite the significance of the Southwest African Railway, Franz did not go to participate in the opening ceremony, seasickness can not be helped, in case of bad luck died in the middle of the road, the happy event into a funeral that would be a tragedy.
In order to show the importance of the Crown Prince Frederick and Felix Prime Minister personally went to participate in the opening ceremony. Frankly speaking, Franz is against it.
Felix Prime Minister are 73 years old, although the body is still good, but this era of medical technology is limited, if the way to a cold and flu, may be directly hanging.
No way, the old man has German stubbornness, must personally go to the African continent field trip, Franz can not stop.
This has to do with Franz’s “African localization strategy”, many people in the Vienna government are skeptical, and in recent years the government has been sending people over for field trips just to reassure them.
The best information is not as good as an on-site visit. In a responsible attitude, Prime Minister Felix has always wanted to go to the field to inspect the situation in person, but things have been delayed due to busy schedules.
Frederick can only be regarded as an accident, the original is not his turn, after all, he is only 17 years old, to go is only soy sauce, can not represent the emperor to make decisions.
It just so happens that the Habsburg family of the Grand Duke are very busy, the two younger brothers are not in the country, and can not let the railroad wait not open to traffic.
The only one who was more idle was Massimiliano, but after considering it, Franz felt that sending his son there would be more reliable than him.
Besides, Massimiliano is now also the Emperor of Mexico, no longer the Archduke of Austria, so call is also very rude.
Smaller is smaller, anyway, there is still Felix Prime Minister in, in case of unexpected major events can be decided by him.
In fact, after Franz so many years of teaching, Frederick’s ability is not bad, only lack of experience.
Franz’s body is fine, there is time to cultivate the next generation, naturally will not be in a hurry to pull the seedling to grow.
He himself is so far along, as a traveler are feeling a little strenuous. If it were not for the support of his old ministers, Franz would not have been able to come to power so easily.
So many years did not change the prime minister, in addition to the political continuity, when in a moment of crisis to build down the sentiment, is also an important factor.
When the gang of meritorious officials, even if the ability is not good, also by Franz high up. In addition to love and justice, actually also mixed with too much helplessness.
The emperor also needs to buy people’s hearts. Birds of a feather, yes, but from time to time to take out to show a little, highlight its glory to the later to see is also a must.
Franz can proudly say that “the rabbit is dead and the dog is dead” has not done anything, he also want to keep a dog to watch over the family. In this time of great strife, there is no such thing as a horse in the field.
……
Paris, compared to Franz’s calm and relaxed, Napoleon III is the hero of the twilight. Although there is no Franco-Prussian War defeat, he did not die depressed, but the body can not deceive people.
The aftermath of the indulgences of his youth was now on display. If not lucky, with Eugene as the Crown Prince, he was fortunate to struggle all his life, will have to do the graft for others.
European illegitimate children are not allowed to inherit the throne, Napoleon III’s youthful indiscretions in life, when he was in his forties, he began to suffer from a variety of illnesses, including kidney disease, bladder stones, chronic bladder disease, prostatitis, arthritis, gout, and obesity.
In the face of disease, there is no distinction between high and low. A lord of the world, Napoleon III was still struck down by illness and is now trying to instill his insights in his son.
This isn’t a brain-dead drama to make your son grow up happy. As heir to the French Empire, Louis XVI was an example of a man who could not do without a little finesse.
Napoleon III is proud of this, from the royal son in exile, all the way to the throne, his life is a legend.
The original time and space behind there is another, just a little bit close to complete this great work again. Only in the intervention of foreign forces, the last moment chose to retreat, did not force the restoration.
Napoleon III put down the newspaper in his hand and asked in an examining manner, “What do you think about the storm in the Balkans?”
Slightly pondering, Crown Prince Eugene: “It is too much of a coincidence that the Greek coup and the Bulgarian uprising happened almost simultaneously.
According to the intelligence we gathered, just a few days before the incident, the Austrian police also eliminated a Balkan independence organization in the Macedonian region.
Separately, there is no connection between these things, together they are very problematic. Initial judgment is that someone is behind this.
It’s just that the person behind the scenes miscalculated and overestimated the Balkan independence organization and wasn’t able to start a rebellion in Austria.”
Napoleon III nodded and shook his head again, “Good analysis, so who do you think did this? Or who is most suspected and what is the ultimate goal?”
Without any hesitation, Crown Prince Eugene made his judgment, “My guess is the Ottoman Empire. Affected by the agricultural crisis, both Russia and Austria suffered heavy losses, and they needed to transfer the crisis to the outside world.
The Ottoman Empire happens to be their common enemy, and the hatred between the two sides has continued for hundreds of years, and now that the Ottomans have fallen, they have become the meat on the lips of both countries.
Some time ago, there were rumors that the two countries were going to join forces to take revenge on the Ottoman Empire. Austria has not moved much, but the Russians are already preparing for war.
The news was as accurate as 80%, and the Sultan’s government sensed the crisis and acted in advance to give them trouble and buy time for themselves.
Then again, something didn’t feel right. The Bulgarians have a deep grudge against the Ottoman Empire, and even if they were going to make a move for independence, it’s only right that they would look for us or the British to support them.”
Napoleon III smiled slightly, “Not bad, on the surface the Ottoman Empire is the most suspected, but in reality the most unlikely is the Sultan’s government.
If they had this kind of strength, they wouldn’t have ended up in the current situation. It’s not easy to manipulate the Greek coup, the Bulgarian uprising, and the Balkan Independence Organization all at the same time without revealing anything.
Without long-term preparation, it would have been impossible. There aren’t many countries in the world that could have done it, and we’re one of them, but we certainly didn’t do it.
Then there’s England and Austria. They’re the experts. Remember kid, if there are any riots or revolutions in the future that can’t be traced to anything, more than ninety percent of them will be the work of Britain and Austria, just keep an eye on London and Vienna.”
As he spoke, Napoleon III also revealed a deep scorn. If possible, he also wanted to take out these two biggest enemies and leave behind a solid empire.
Unfortunately, both of these enemies were slippery and did not give Napoleon III a chance to strike at all. After twenty years as Emperor, for more than half of which, France was ostracized by the countries of Europe.
Responsible for leading is Britain and Austria, Napoleon III is sure that as long as their own move is not careful, the war against France will start.
Fighting alone, France does not fear any enemy, but the enemy wants to play group beating ah! This makes Napoleon III had to be careful, afraid of another war against France.
As a cool military emperor, life has not been able to live a handful of war hidden, have to say is also a kind of regret.
Eugene asked suspiciously, “Why is there Austria, this time the Balkan storm, they are also victims, there is no reason to do so ah?”
“Cough, cough, cough ……”
Napoleon III coughed for a while, and Eugene hastily patted his back. With that, he poured a cup of water and handed it to Napoleon III.
After drinking a mouthful of it, and pausing for a moment, Napoleon III: “Think carefully, what exactly did Austria lose, and what did it gain?
When dealing with Franz in the future, you must be more careful. Especially when it comes to the benefits, the benefits that come to the door, first weigh the pros and cons before deciding, do not think about it simply do not want.”
This is a lesson personally summarized by Napoleon III, since the annexation of the Kingdom of Sardinia began, France was forced to embark on the path of annexation of Italy.
Initially Napoleon III didn’t see the problem, but as time went on, he had gradually come to realize it.
The Italian regions were good for everything, but they had no resources. It looked fertile, but in reality it was not worth as much as the land west of the Rhine.
A Yang conspiracy to bring France into an embarrassing situation, now many resources in France need to be imported, especially the coke used in steelmaking, the production of the French African colonies can not meet the domestic demand, can only be imported from the United Kingdom or Prussia.
In the eyes of everyone, the annexation of the Italian region was a great victory for France. Now want to let go can not, can only be hard to digest.
Before the digestion of the Italian region, France needs strategic contraction. The pace of overseas expansion has slowed down, not to mention the continent of Europe, which affects the whole body.
Looking at Eugene’s thoughtful look, Napoleon III added: “The British are the same, and dealing with them can not be taken lightly.
Do not look at the present Britain, France and Austria are allies, in fact, we all hate to backstab each other to kill.
Franz is not a name and reputation of the generation, so many years have never violated the contract, not his good reputation, mainly because the interest is not big enough, not enough to make him violate the contract.
Not to mention the British, with whom you have to be more wary of being an ally than an enemy. The Near Eastern War is a case in point, if it wasn’t for them stabbing us in the back, we wouldn’t have lost.”
Even now, Napoleon III is still haunted by his defeat in the Near Eastern War and records the debt on the British head.
There was no way around it, who let the French army make a bad move back then and be sold out by the British and the Sardinians? Sardinia aside, they had paid the price and became part of France.
The British, who seemed to be the losers, became the winners after the war, and Napoleon III, who was screwed over, naturally couldn’t swallow this.
……
(Note: Eugène’s full name was Napoleon Eugène Louis Jean-Joseph Bonaparte, and Napoleon III’s first illegitimate son was also called Eugène, not a person)
(End of chapter)