Chapter 131: Cruel Society

  Chapter 129: Cruel Society

No matter how flowery Karl said, in essence, he couldn’t change the fact that he was prepared to sacrifice agriculture in order to accelerate the pace of industrial development.

The primitive accumulation of capital is bloody, outside the expansion of the market at the same time, but also inevitably to the internal squeeze.

This is the times doomed, as an aspiring to become a thousand years of the emperor of the Lord, Franz is destined to eat, on the surface of the Austrian government can not squeeze the farmers.

Only 5% of the agricultural tax, in this era is almost the lowest on the European continent.

In fact, while paying the agricultural tax, there was also a ten percent tithe, which was collected in the name of the church.

It couldn’t be more, the Austrian government was dominated by the aristocracy, and the policy had to be tilted toward the ruling class. To be able to get them to pay their taxes together would have been very difficult.

However, for the majority of the population, they also had to pay a land redemption payment, which was the biggest burden, and it was the burden that they voluntarily bore.

The Austrian government did not force the peasants to redeem their land, but relied on their own free will, and the rent of the land held by the government was only thirty percent, and after deducting the tax it was only fifteen percent, which was not at all meant to be a big exploitation and oppression.

If the land was to be redeemed, a redemption fee of twenty percent of the land’s yield was to be paid for forty years, or in cash.

If the government forced the farmers to pay the land redemption money, to bear such a big burden, it is expected that people’s hearts will be very resistant, and many people will make a fuss.

But by letting them buy the land voluntarily, the situation was different, and the peasants were instead grateful to the emperor who let them acquire the land.

Even if the burden was no longer heavy, everyone was much better off than in the serfdom era. While filling their stomachs, they also had a certain amount of disposable free property.

Of course they were also more tired, working for the nobles was a grind, and they could work as little as possible. Now that they are working for themselves, naturally no one is lazy. If you can plant ten acres of land, you won’t be able to plant only five acres of land.

Everyone wanted to earn more money to pay off the ransom for the land earlier so that they could live a better life.

That’s right, in the minds of the farmers, as long as they own land, they will have a good life.

After Franz came to power, the Austrian government simplified the tax system and abolished all kinds of taxes.

Apart from the five percent agricultural tax, other taxes would have nothing to do with the peasants and would not be charged to them anyway.

The tithe did not count, it was collected by the Church and had nothing to do with His Majesty the Emperor.

Now, the government wanted to buy off the interests of the states with low grain prices, which was favorable in the long run, increasing the market share of Austrian agricultural products.

The fact that the Americans are playing around with low price dumping in later times is proof enough that it is profitable. Although they didn’t make money in agriculture, they have been well rewarded elsewhere.

Otherwise, the Americans would have quit a long time ago. They are not doing charity, who can stand to lose money year after year?

United major food-producing countries, together to raise food prices, the Americans are not unable to do. It is not that there is a greater interest in, they have been dumping at low prices.

On the surface of the Austrian government wholesale low-priced food, to the local interests of the loss. But after Austria controls the food supply of the states, the situation will be different.

Governments, whether they wanted to or not, had to move closer to Austria politically, and it was not their choice.

No matter how great the strategy was, the peasants and nobles who planted food in the early stages became victims, and the Austrian Empire did not subsidize food.

“How to grasp this degree? If it’s only slightly lower than the international food prices, then it’s not unacceptable, if it’s too much lower, I’m afraid it will discourage domestic food production.” Prime Minister Felix frowned and said

From the perspective of personal interest, he should oppose this measure, but as Austria’s prime minister, he couldn’t just consider the immediate interests.

Karl’s flimflam was still successful, everyone knew that Austria’s grain production would skyrocket, the domestic demand would definitely not be able to consume it, and if they didn’t find outlets outside, they would be ready to rot in the warehouse.

Everyone’s thinking has been biased, this kind of thing happens, the solution is not just so one, for example: cut taxes on agricultural products, increase the competitiveness of food prices.

Or developing supporting industries, such as brewing wine, developing animal husbandry, and deep processing of grain ……

“Prime Minister, this kind of loss, that is, in the first few years. Considering the actual situation, we are now entering early to seize the market in accordance with the international food price drop of twenty percent.

After we have occupied the market, we can slowly raise prices upwards, and the losses that everyone pays now will be earned back in the future.

At the same time, the government also encourages the export of refined products, as far as possible, export high value-added products, to protect everyone’s interests.” Karl seriously analyzed

This deal, only the Austrian government dared to do so. Other grain exporting countries, there are not so many state-owned enterprises that can manipulate grain export prices.

Capital is profit-seeking, and the threshold of the agricultural industry is low, so who cares about the future interests of capitalists?

First take care of the immediate say, or not wait for the future, has been competitors shot dead in the middle of the road.

……

The strategy of “low price dumping” has been formulated in this way. It’s a yang plot, who can resist the temptation in front of the interests?

Franz just frowned and expressed his acquiescence. The reality is so cruel, without enough benefits, how can we pull others on board?

It is good that in this era, people still do not attach much importance to industry, the capitalists under the feudal system do not have much say, otherwise Austria wants to establish this economic alliance, the price to pay will be even greater.

……

It is easy to make a plan, but not so easy to implement it. The Austrian civil service exams, which made a lot of noise, opened on December 21, 1848, the curtain.

In order to avoid the mountain high emperor far away, supervision difficulties, serious fraud situation, the Austrian government will be all set up in the examination room in Vienna.

The first to start the examination was the Ministry of Finance, not that they did not want to start the examination at the same time, but the Austrian government did not have such a large venue.

Unlike the latter days of the school is full of, just borrow a part of the classroom can be examined. Now can not find so many sites, many people had to conduct the examination in the open square.

Even the square in front of the Franz Palace was borrowed by the government to serve as an examination room.

On top of the Vienna Palace, Franz took out his binoculars and looked at the long line of candidates waiting to enter, and was overwhelmed with emotion.

Once upon a time, he had also been a member of the examination army, failing again and again, trying again and again, and before the last result came out, his fate had been rewritten.

After sighing, Franz put down the binoculars in his hands and walked down to the castle, this time the exams had already started.

In the examination room, the candidates were all answering the questions carefully, some were thinking down, some were writing furiously, some were scratching their ears, the invigilators were walking back and forth in the passageway gently, it was quiet.

This is the first civil service examination in Austria, the invigilators are very businesslike, but the pressure they cause to the candidates is very great.

A soldier with a loaded gun to act as an invigilator, if the quality of the heart is not good people, it is estimated that look at this situation are going to play out of order.

Time passes by, “ding, ding, ding” the bell of the end of the examination rings.

“All people stop writing immediately and leave the examination room, violators’ examination results will be nullified.” The icy cold voice of the invigilator rang out

One by one, they had to leave the examination room with their heads hanging down in shame, obviously most of them felt bad about themselves, and many of them left a large blank space on their papers.

Outside the exam room, it was already crowded with people, gathering in groups of three or five, screaming in agony.

“Weigel, how was the exam?”

“What else can it be, who knows why the Ministry of Finance came up with questions that are so biased, how come it seems like they’re testing everything, don’t you?” Wigel laughed bitterly

Politics, history, culture, economy, military, religion, geography, numbers, music, art, international events …… all appeared on the exam paper.

Even though it was professional knowledge that dominated, these varied topics had severely demoralized everyone.

“I? Am preparing for the next exam, anyway, no matter what the position is, you have to take one, otherwise there is no way to explain it back home.” Raul said with a serious face

The opening ratio of this exam has already been announced, as high as half of the passing rate, if you can’t pass it, you belong to the half that is eliminated.

The nobles but want to face, bright competition to become the eliminated batch of people, a long time will not be able to raise their heads.

Fortunately, there are not many commoner students in this era, otherwise they would have lost to the commoners, and the pressure on them would have been even greater.

“You’re afraid that you won’t be able to explain yourself at Elena’s place, right? You’ve blown your cowhide in front of her.” Weigel spoke the truth with great nonchalance

Being poked through the lie, Raul said indifferently, “So what, I’m a scum anyway, it’s normal for me to fail the exam.

With a high achiever like you, who graduated from the University of Vienna, taking the exam with us, it wouldn’t have been fair.”

Weigel said calmly, “Are you trying to say that if I don’t pass, you can mock for the rest of your life. Don’t worry, that won’t happen!”

Passing the exam, this bit of confidence Weigel still had, except that what he was fighting for was the ranking ah. Passing with a hundred points, and passing with fifty points, the treatment was definitely different.

It was almost an open secret that those with good grades stayed at headquarters and those with poor grades went down to the local level. No one can say that it is unfair, the results are from their own examination.

The Austrian government is concerned about efficiency, in the end of the examination at the same time, marking work has already begun. After the results came out, they were immediately publicized to the public, and the admissions were determined according to the scores.

The same results, then fight father, high birth priority, there is not so much reason can be said.

(End of chapter)