Chapter 833: Puffy Candy
Chapter 816: Cowhide Candy
Vienna Palace
Franz was surprised and asked, “France and Russia are closing in?”
Franz was not surprised that France and Russia would be drawing together, what surprised him was that the two countries were drawing together a little too early.
Agricultural crisis is brewing, but in the end has not yet broken out. Sickness is urgent, that also have to wait until the seriousness of the disease, will be in a panic.
It’s still early, the French have only one plan for their big farm program, and the British food self-sufficiency program hasn’t even identified the origin of the food.
Even if it will hit international food prices, that will have to wait until they have grown the grain.
This kind of indispensable and rigid product is not a futures or stock betting on future market changes.
Regardless of the negative, or positive, the market demand is less. Before the grain overcapacity occurs, the international grain market, even if there is turbulence, there will be no major changes.
At least before the major grain exporting countries give up the implementation of uniform grain sales prices, the international grain trading market will not be able to change greatly.
Foreign Minister Weissenberg: ”Your Majesty, the Tsarist government has no choice.
Although everyone can still solve the problem by expanding domestic demand after the agricultural crisis has broken out, the Tsarist government is under too much debt pressure.
The Russian Empire is also seriously short of foreign exchange, and after losing the source of grain exports, their financial system will soon collapse.
The French were willing to let the Russians’ grain enter their own market, and there was simply no way for the Tsarist government to refuse.”
There was no way around it, no matter how much you cut costs, the debt still had to be repaid, and with only a choice of whether to pay for foreign exchange or gold, the ruble was essentially unchallenged on the international currency market.
Every year, we have to take out a large amount of foreign exchange to pay off the debt, the tsarist government naturally have to work hard to earn foreign exchange, or we have to take a large amount of gold to fill the pit.
Once the foreign exchange is insufficient, a large number of gold out of the overseas, the value of the ruble is also finished. A country’s currency lost credit, the financial system is doomed.
The suffering of this, the tsarist government is personally experienced, can even be said to be experienced.
Every financial collapse is accompanied by – government bankruptcy.
What seemed to be a very effective method of reneging on debts actually had a lot of consequences. Isolation and rejection by the international community is just a matter of course, but what about mortgages?
You can not rely on the debt of the Nordic Federation and Austria at the same time, refused to fulfill the loan collateral contract signed in advance, and the two countries and the war to wipe out the debt, right?
This kind of practice without limits, the tsarist government naturally will not be excluded, allies in the interests of the front has never been worthless. But now the problem to one against two, that is really can not fight ah!
In this era of the weak and the strong, the winner on the battlefield can renege on the debt, but have not heard of the loser can also renege on the debt.
Can not renege, then we can only think of ways to get money.
The French came up with tangible benefits, even if they knew that it might be a poisoned bait, the Tsarist government still had no way to refuse.
Franz nodded and said slowly, “It seems that we have all underestimated the French, perhaps the Paris government’s big farm program is a front.
The French region itself is the largest grain producer in Western Europe, and if it wasn’t for the annexation of the Italian region, they wouldn’t be short of grain at all.
These farmers are the roots of the Bonaparte dynasty, and as long as Napoleon IV isn’t crazy, he won’t jeopardize the interests of this group of people.
It had been politically decided that food prices in France would be at a high level to protect the peasant class.
The French program of large farms would reduce dependence on outside food, but it was not the same as going all the way to self-sufficiency anymore.
Once fully self-sufficient in food, driven by interest groups, French food prices are doomed to slide and the interests of the peasant class can hardly be guaranteed.
Only by leaving a certain gap and importing food from abroad can we provide a reason for food prices to remain high that is acceptable to all parties.
Pulling in the Russians may also be part of their prior plan. Our indulgence has only accelerated the situation.
What is the Foreign Ministry going to do next?”
The facts were in front of us, and whether the French had prepared in advance or had been inspired by a bright idea, in the end the situation had moved in the direction of favoring France.
Without harming the interests of domestic farmers, the large farm program not only reduces the loss of foreign exchange, but also helps to promote the development of the domestic food processing industry.
The industrial revolution has developed to the present, the mainstream economic plate is actually so few, respectively: the textile industry, agricultural products processing industry as the first light industry, as well as including shipbuilding, iron and steel metallurgy, mining, including the traditional heavy industry.
Transportation came next, and finally the newly emerging power industry. As for the automobile and internal combustion engine industries, they are still infants and occupy a very small proportion of the socio-economic volume.
The bottom of France is still very thick, the industrial chain is basically complete, the only regrettable lack of leading industries.
The British dominate the financial, textile, and shipbuilding industries, as well as the mining and iron and steel metallurgy industries.
Austria, on the other hand, is the hegemony of the agricultural products processing industry, the power industry, transportation and other fields, and in the field of mining and iron and steel metallurgy, it has also surpassed the British by a narrow margin and become the industry leader.
The French were a tragedy, with not a single one of the important industries able to resist the flag, and quite a bit of mediocrity across the board.
Heavy industry, not to mention, innate resources have decided the French in this field is difficult to make a difference, can ranked third in the world, has been regarded as a very hard work.
The government focuses on the development of the textile industry, in the international competition by the British hanging, it seems that the industry volume is very large, in fact, the total amount is not comparable to the next door of the nondescript Austria.
France’s transportation industry is doing very well, since Napoleon III has been in the railroad repair, but unfortunately other industries did not follow.
Capitalist investment is to consider the return, a long time can not see the hope of profitability of the railroad, even if the repair will be mercilessly abandoned.
Frankly speaking, the development of new industries in France is still very good, but unfortunately the innate limitations are too great.
For example: the power industry, the French entered very early. Unfortunately, the French lack of coal, heavily dependent on overseas imports, the cost of generating electricity is too high constraints on the promotion of electricity.
The real economy is very difficult to one dominant, even if it can not become the industry leader, do the industry second can also live very well.
Now the big farm program, it seems to be just for food self-sufficiency, rely on farming is enough.
In fact, because of the existence of tariff barriers, domestic agricultural processing enterprises have the advantage of tax costs, as long as the food production capacity up, these enterprises will develop.
In the promotion of domestic economic development at the same time, but also hit the competitors, it can be said that this large farm program, for France is embracing all the benefits and no harm.
Foreign Minister Weissenberg replied: “The French big farm program, we can not reach, there is no way to destroy for the time being.
But their attempts to draw Russia in can never be allowed to go through, and the Foreign Office is looking for a suitable point of intervention to interrupt the continued closeness of France and Russia.”
To say that there is no scruple is surely a lie.
A single France, or Russia, each with obvious flaws, Austria was still able to deal with them comfortably, if the two hugged each other, the situation changed.
Franz did not forget that beyond the strait, there is a shit-stirring John Bull’s. The first world war in the original time and space, it is John Bull joined the Allied Powers before the detonation.
In a sense, without John Bull, the pitbull who didn’t pitbull his teammates, the Russians wouldn’t have pounced so quickly.
Material aid in time, the tsarist government does not fall so early, Germany two empire also can not hold out so long, the first world war will not have the Americans anything.
“It’s hard to do, the French are willing to open up the domestic market, that’s a tangible benefit, the Tsarist government is hard to refuse.
To stop them from leaning in, we’d have to pay the price too, even if we add in political influence, at least not too much lower than the French.
Unlike the French, they can just toss it around, and if they succeed, they make a big profit, and if they fail, they add to our problems.
A few more times, and I’m afraid I won’t be able to take it. In the long run, the French have not been suppressed, and the Russians’ appetite has been fed first.
Unless we can win at one blow, it will be very unfavorable to us if we are so entangled.”
Herein lies the difficulty; a French strike of a purely disruptive nature, whether successful or unsuccessful in the end, could not have turned out worse than it is now.
Austria, by contrast, cannot keep on playing around like this. In time, it would create an illusion in the Russians – that Austria could not stay away from Russia.
(End of chapter)