Chapter 276: Protecting the environment is everyone’s responsibility
Chapter 267: Protecting the Environment is Everyone’s Responsibility
Vienna Palace
Prime Minister Felix Prime Minister proposed, “Your Majesty, the number of our colonies is in the midst of increasing, it is necessary to establish a colonial ministry that specializes in managing colonial affairs.”
Taking stock of the situation, Franz snapped to the realization that Austria had also turned into a colonial power, at least in terms of the size of its colonies.
From 1854 until now, in just over a year, more than thirty colonial positions had been opened on the continent, sending more than 200,000 immigrants.
Among the European countries, Austria was the most active in developing the African continent. At this time, if there was no specialized department to manage it, it would easily cause confusion.
Franz asked after thinking about it, “Now we do need to set up a colonization department, who does the prime minister think is capable of handling this position?”
Prime Minister Felix proposed, “Your Majesty, how about Count Josip Jelacic as Colonial Minister?”
Count Josip Jelacic Croatian, one of the three fathers who saved the Austrian Empire in history, led the Croatian militia to suppress the Hungarian rebellion.
With the passage of time and the advancement of national integration, it was inevitable that the government of Vienna would also have to activate high officials of ethnic minorities to show the equality of all ethnic groups.
Against this background, Josip Jelacic stood out as a loyalist of the Empire.
Franz thought for a moment and said, “Then Josip Jelacic will be the colonial minister. I remember that he also served the Empire well in the War of Counterinsurgency in 1848.
In these recent years, he has also done a good job as a high Croatian official. Both road construction and economic development have achieved considerable success.”
The cabinet could not be held by Germans all the time; it was not conducive to national unity. In Franz’s view, as long as one’s loyalty is over the top and one’s ability is up to par, no matter what one’s origins are, one can be promoted and reused.
Josip Jelacic like this could well exist as a typical example; Franz had only just come to power a few years before, and still needed the support of the aristocrats of the German region, with whom he inevitably had to make compromises.
Now that his position was secure, it was not a problem to promote people according to his own will.
Just to Franz’s surprise did not wait for him to act, Felix Prime Minister actually took the initiative to mention it. In this way, the prime minister will have to bear the pressure from the Vienna nobility.
After thinking about it, Franz gave up this worry. Prime Minister Felix is now a national hero in the eyes of the Germans, and is no longer the butcher prime minister he was at the beginning.
With this aura, even if the conservative aristocrats were no longer satisfied, they would not be able to shake his position.
The better the new Holy Roman Empire develops, the brighter the halo on Prime Minister Felix’s head will be, and a little opposition will be enough to suppress it.
Archduke Louis was about to say something, now the reformers are in power, as the leader of the conservatives, his presence in the cabinet is getting lower and lower.
It will not do him any good to go against the emperor at this time, or his political life will end prematurely.
The Minister of War, Prince Wendy Schlegelz, said with some hesitation, “Your Majesty, the Sinai Peninsula is a large desert, and there are only a few oases on the island where nomadic tribes exist.
We can’t get any harvest here at all, and I’m afraid that if we set up an administration here, our tax revenue won’t be enough to pay the tax collector.
It’s a waste for us to station two infantry regiments on the island, the locals can’t even feed themselves, and when it comes to the dry season water is a problem.”
It was a headache, and in this day and age Franz didn’t have the luxury of man-made fresh water to supply to the garrison.
But to secure influence over the area was impossible without a garrison. The strength of the two infantry regiments had been reduced and reduced again.
Without a garrison now, once the Suez Canal is dug, it will not be so easy to think of a garrison again.
Franz asked, “The government has its own considerations for cost, food can be transported from home, I never thought of being self-sufficient in the Sinai Peninsula, so the only problem is water right?”
“Yes, Your Majesty!” Prince Windischgretz replied
With a garrison of several thousand people, every day’s food and drink consume a large amount of water. The most crucial problem for the lack of population growth on the Sinai Peninsula was the lack of water.
Without being able to solve this problem, even if one wanted to deploy heavy troops, there was no way to do so.
Looking at the map, Franz continued to ask, “Prime Minister, how many aborigines are there on the Sinai Peninsula?”
After thinking about it, Prime Minister Felix really couldn’t find an accurate number and helplessly replied, “Your Majesty, the Egyptians haven’t conducted a census of the nomadic tribes on the island, so we can only make a preliminary estimation of about 30,000 to 50,000 people.”
Hearing this number, Franz revealed a smile.
“The problem of water sources is better, as far as I know the locals all live by herding camels and sheep, and rarely grow food.
These livestock are big consumers of water, if the hundreds of thousands of livestock on the island are gone, then the water source that everyone is worried about won’t be a problem.”
Prime Minister Felix reminded, “Your Majesty, these livestock are the livelihood of the local people, if they are not allowed to raise livestock, I’m afraid it will be difficult for the locals to make a living.”
Franz said with a sanctimonious face, “This is a small problem, just a few tens of thousands of people. Ask the Egyptian government if they are willing to accept them, and if they won’t accept them, they will be resettled in the West African colonies.
With the local population gone, the water resources used by these tens of thousands of people should be enough for our two regiments of soldiers to consume, right?
The natural environment of the Sinai Peninsula has been devastated by the locals, and at one time in history it was a fertile land of green trees and sheep and cows.
If we don’t protect it and let them destroy it, it won’t be long before the natural ecology of the area is finished and the once beautiful Sinai Peninsula will become a dead island.
By relocating the population, prohibiting agriculture, and banning the raising of livestock, we can save the precious water resources of the area.
Our garrison can plant trees or grass on the island in their spare time after training, constantly expanding the area of the oasis and doing their part to beautify the earth.”
At this moment, Franz seemed to have turned into an environmentalist. It was definitely not for the sake of solving the water supply problem for the garrison that he wanted to carry out the migration!
Hundreds of thousands of livestock were big users of water, consuming a large amount of water resources every year.
If these precious fresh water resources were used for afforestation, every year it would be easy to increase dozens of square kilometers of mountain forests, and if they were used to plant grass, it would increase even more.
Although it seemed so insignificant now, it was a virtuous cycle! Theoretically working this hard for a few hundred years, the desert oasis program on the Sinai Peninsula would be complete.
Seeing the opportunity, Archduke Louis slapped on a horse’s ass: ”Your Majesty, your words are reasonable. For the sake of the Sinai Peninsula’s natural environment, we must take immediate action.”
For this proposal from Franz, of course everyone would not object. Developing the African continent required a large number of people, and relocating the people on the Sinai Peninsula to break up and resettle them was a complete two-for-one endeavor.
Of course, if the Egyptian government was willing to accept this population, then it would be even better, and the Vienna government could save another sum of money.
Minister of Finance Karl said with a face of flesh pain, “Your Majesty, the issue of immigration from the Sinai Peninsula, let’s put it on hold for the time being!
The refugees we received from the Dalmatian region haven’t even all been shipped over yet, and if we blindly increase immigration now, the logistical pressure on the colony is just too great.
Last year, our colony’s net loss was 588,000 God’s Rupees, and this year, our colony’s net loss is expected to exceed 1.2 million God’s Rupees, so it’s imperative that we turn our losses into profits as soon as possible.”
There was no way around it, Austria’s colonization activities were at the net investment stage, and to get a return, one would have to wait at least until the colony was in production.
Right now, the African colonial strongholds, apart from opening up farms in the area, the only thing they could do was to go down to the sea and fish, or else go hunting to make up for the lack of food.
A logging farm is already in the works, but because of the attacks by the local indigenous tribes, it is still in the process of being cleared, and will not be able to go into production for a short time.
As for, the so-called cotton plantation, rubber plantation, coffee plantation …… are all in the planning, not capitalists, nobles have sent people to visit.
In the short term, all these industries will not see a return. If no minerals appear, it will be difficult to break even in three or five years.
This is also the reason why countries are not willing to invest in colonies, this return on investment cycle is really too long, there is this time is not as good as looking for colonies with gold and silver minerals to develop, or directly squeeze the local natives.
This is the difference in business philosophy, Franz developed the African continent, the main purpose is to solve the lack of domestic resources, and reduce the outflow of domestic immigrants.
Although the African colonies opened up a period of time, terrible in the Vienna government’s advocacy, the domestic spontaneous join the immigrant army of more than 30,000 people.
These talents are the main force in the development of the African continent, now as long as the registration can be employed by the government, take more than double the local salary, but also can serve as the grass-roots officials of the colonial government.
If you want to get rich, just join the Expansion Unit. All the loot from the clearing of the indigenous tribes belonged to the individual, and a bounty could be collected upon completion of the mission.
Franz said confidently, “Don’t worry, our colonies on the African continent are still in a primitive state and have never been developed.
According to the geologists, there is a high possibility of alluvial gold deposits along the rivers. There are also trace elements of gold in the river sand collected so far, and the chances of having gold mines are high.
As long as a large gold mine is discovered, we will have recovered all our investment, and there is a large area of fertile land, so how can it be a big profit.
There is no hurry for the immigration of the Sinai Peninsula, we have plenty of time, it’s fine to act after two or three years, and the garrison can be increased slowly.”
……
(End of chapter)