Chapter 898: Diplomatic Relations That Cannot Stand the Test

  Chapter 880 – Diplomatic Relations That Cannot Stand The Test

The international storm clouds were no longer of much concern to Franz, who was now staring at the list of price changes in the first quarter.

According to common sense, the price of food and other rigid daily necessities in times of war is bound to increase, especially since Europe’s number one exporter of raw grain is involved in the war.

Because of the war, the total amount of grain exported from the Russian Empire to the outside world has been drastically reduced since last year, and the flow into Austria alone has been reduced by a quarter.

Undoubtedly, this shortfall was partially offset by the increased volume of Austria’s native grain production.

Although the promotion of potash fertilizer only just started last year, the private sector did not use it on a large scale, but Austria has state-owned farms ah!

In fact, the number of state-owned farms directly controlled by the government has been on the decline. Because of management costs, many small and medium-sized farms are rented out to individuals.

However, the land area occupied by state-owned farms is still not low. In Europe alone, state-owned farms occupy less than five percent of the arable land, but in the rest of the world it is a different story.

For example, in Asia Minor, except for the nobles’ fiefdoms and military grants, the rest of the arable land basically belonged to the state-owned farms.

It is not that Franz is willing to engage in so many state-owned farms, mainly because of practical needs. If the government doesn’t arrange for someone to take over, the farmland left behind by the Ottomans is going to be deserted.

Selling it to the people was impossible, which would weaken the allure of the military award and shake the foundation of Austria.

Apart from the initial redemption of land, and the opening of colonies, the best way for ordinary people to acquire land was through military awards.

Don’t ask why, but whoever knew that there was a continental war waiting had to prepare for it.

Without enough rewards, what would make soldiers sell their lives? If you don’t hoard enough land, what will you reward your soldiers with after the war?

The European continent is now densely populated, there has long been no unclaimed land, the spoils of war can not be counted on.

In this context, even if you know the high cost of running state-owned farms, Franz can only bite the bullet and admit it.

It is really a loss can not hold, but also can be contracted to individuals to operate. Anyway, as long as the land properties are still national, it will not affect the future to take out the bounty to individuals.

In fact, the French government’s big farm program, also was brought out by Austria.

Seeing a bunch of farms in the hands of the Austrian government, they followed suit. Only they are not clear, Austria’s farm is also barely supported.

Because of the supporting processing enterprises behind the cause of support, from the surface, it seems that the Austrian farms are operating well, every year to the government to pay profits.

In reality, the profits are contributed by the farm’s subsidiaries. Most of the farms are only able to maintain their own capital, and very few of them directly generate profits.

It is not a listed company, the financial statements of state-owned enterprises are also confidential, the public only announced the total profit, the specific corporate structure, asset allocation, the outside world simply do not know.

In the eyes of Napoleon IV, these are favorable data.

Some people propose to follow suit, then follow suit, there is no reason why the Austrian government can do things, France can not do.

Specific inside information below the bureaucrats do not report, the emperor in the inner courtyard of the deep palace, how could know it?

Especially after the trip to Algeria, Napoleon IV directly attributed all the problems to – bureaucratic malfeasance, corruption.

Although the state-owned farms have a lot of land, but the area of food cultivation is not large, the real significance is still the driving force.

The world is never short of smart people, the government is promoting potash fertilizer, state-owned farms and large-scale use, naturally, some people dare to take risks.

Especially the officials in the government were the first to accept potash fertilizer and use it on their own land.

The end result, naturally, was a substantial increase in Austria’s grain production capacity last year.

The final amount of increase in production was not three percent, as estimated by the Ministry of Agriculture, but six and a half percent.

This, of course, also includes the additional arable land area, which brought about an increase in grain production capacity.

Don’t underestimate this three point seven percent error, with Austria’s grain production capacity base, this is a few million people a year’s rations.

Together with the respective agricultural programs of Britain and France, this increased colonial food production and reduced food imports.

The end result is that the Russians have reduced their grain exports, and prices on the international grain trading market have fallen rather than risen.

If the price of food fell, it could still be received. Then the prices of textiles, steel, and many other commodities followed suit, which made Franz unable to see the point.

This is a war era, Britain and Russia two big countries in a fierce battle, how can the price of strategic materials fall?

Holding the document in his hands, Franz asked incredulously, “Are you sure that this list of prices has not been taken wrongly?”

Minister of Economy Reinhardt: “Your Majesty, we have made several confirmations, and the statistics above are indeed the average prices of the first quarter.

Not only have prices not risen domestically, they are actually the same throughout Europe. With the exception of a wave of price increases at the beginning of the war last year, the prices in the first quarter were the market returning to sanity.

The impact of the Anglo-Russian war on the European economy has not been as great as we had anticipated in advance. In particular, the demand for supplies was far less than we had planned.

The British, for the moment, could rely on domestic production. The Russians’ lack of imports was analyzed by the Ministry of Economy for two main reasons:

One, the Tsarist government has made early preparations for war, and many supplies have been purchased before the war, as our export trade list for last year can attest;

Two, the consumption of supplies on the battlefield in Afghanistan is much smaller than we expected.

I have consulted the staff, and the decrease in the consumption of Russian supplies is partly due to the terrain of Afghanistan, which is not favorable for the deployment of heavy weapons; and partly to the fact that the British army is too incompetent to break out into a major war of equal strength.”

This answer left Franz speechless. The war was not intense enough, and the consumption of supplies was naturally low.

Food, which would have been the most consumed, but of which the Russians had no shortage, need not be imported at all. The British could again raise it from India, and had no need to ship it from Europe.

After receiving the news of the outbreak of the Anglo-Russian War, capitalists all over Europe let go of their hands and feet to expand their production capacity, in an attempt to make a fortune.

Unable to capacity up, the two belligerent countries imported strategic materials but can not catch up with the expected, this is a tragedy.

Free trade era, whether it is commodities, once the market supply exceeds demand, the price decline has become inevitable.

If not for the Anglo-Russian war is still going on, the market confidence has not collapsed, the situation will be more serious.

After a sigh, Franz said helplessly: “Counting the time, a new round of economic crisis, and is about to come.

Capitalists are fantasizing that the Anglo-Russian War is more grandiose than the Russo-Prussian War, and all of them are aiming to make war money.

Now the situation is very obvious, the Anglo-Russian war how to expand, but it is impossible to appear several millions of large armies in the situation.

If the present situation is not changed, I am afraid that this Anglo-Russian War is the trigger for the overcapacity of the European countries.”

Every time there is overcapacity, it is a failure of capitalists to anticipate the market. If one is smart, there is still a chance to cut and stop losses now. If it lasts until the end of the Anglo-Russian War, it’s really going to be the end of the line.

Knowing it, Franz has no intention of interfering. This is the thing that is not pleasing to the eye, in addition to pulling the hatred and taking the blame will not have any gain.

Foreign Minister Weissenberg: “Overcapacity is only a minor problem, nothing more than a reshuffling of the industry, which can be overcome by gritting one’s teeth.

The trouble is that during this recent period, Britain, France, and Russia have all been making small moves. The British, in particular, are constantly creating direct friction between us and the French.

Once or twice will be fine, but if it happens more often, our relationship with the French will not stand up to this kind of test.

In particular, not long ago, the British government said very subtly that they would support our unification of the German region as long as we gave up our support for the Russians.

If nothing else, the British have given the French similar promises, and possibly even more.”

Never mind the Franco-Austrian relationship, the relationship between any two countries can’t withstand a long time of tossing and turning.

Knowing full well that this is a British plot, these conflicts are inherent in France and Austria themselves, or the kind that can’t be unraveled.

The French and Austrian governments no longer how to suppress, the heart will leave a lump. Under the accumulation of time, these contradictions will always explode.

Prime Minister Karl shook his head: ”The core of the problem is not on our side, the key depends on what the French think.

If the French can’t resist the temptation and accept the British offer, then a continental war is inevitable.”

According to the original plan, going step by step, Austria’s unification of the German region was only a matter of time, and the Vienna government could naturally restrain its desire not to take risks.

Changing France is different, the Central European strategy has been related to the question of whether France can go further.

If you can not expand to Central Europe, now is the peak of the era of France, and then after that can only go downhill.

In fact, France has already begun to go downhill. Looking around the world, the era when France had the highest international status and the strongest strength in horizontal comparison was between 1870 and 1881.

With the shot of the Paris Revolution, France was once again greatly wounded, and is now only just recovering.

Compared to Britain and Austria, France had directly wasted eight years. If there is a delay in solving the energy problem, the situation will be even worse in the future.

In this context, if the French government is not willing to fall down and choose to let go, it is only a matter of time.

Franz frowned and said slowly, ”This situation has to be considered, we also need to speed up our preparations for war, lest things happen and we are caught off guard.

Strengthen the monitoring of the French government, once we find signs of them preparing for war, we must report immediately.”

Austria’s preparations for war had long since begun, only for the sake of secrecy, the magnitude of movement had been small.

After all, this was not a good time for a decisive battle, Austria had not yet developed to its limits, and its national power was still growing at a high rate.

(End of chapter)