Chapter 834: Kettle’s Catch ……
Chapter 817: Kettle’s Catch……
Prime Minister Karl: “If you can’t pull it, then you have to suppress it.
Russia and Austria alliance for so many years, the Russians have gotten too many benefits, if they still do not know enough, then there is no need to continue ……”
It’s only a matter of time before Russia and Austria are in conflict, people’s desires are never filled, and Austria can’t keep satisfying the Russians’ desires.
Despite early preparation, Franz still did not expect it to come so soon.
Now out of just the French, it is so troublesome; if the back of the British are also involved, things will be even more difficult to get.
Basically, it is certain that as long as Britain and France are willing to pay blood money, the Russians will turn back sooner or later, because Austria can not afford to pay the price.
This was determined by geographical location, Austria blocked the westward path of the Russians, the Vienna government had no way to continue to concede on this issue.
Once the international situation changed drastically, the huge debt between Russia and Austria was one of the factors that induced the two countries to flip.
Can not pay the foreign debt, get the debtor dead, this kind of thing in the European continent but there are precedents. With the Russians’ modesty, Franz is not surprised that this kind of thing happened.
Foreign Minister Weissenberg shook his head and laughed, ”Things are not that bad, there are three main reasons that prevent the Russians from falling back now:
One is that Britain and France have not paid enough attention, the price offered to the Russians is not high enough, and the bargaining chip for betrayal is not enough;
Secondly, the friendship between Russia and Austria had continued for three generations from the time of the war against France, and the pro-Austrian faction dominated from the civil society to the government;
Thirdly, the economic and trade relations between the two countries, once they went to the opposite side, the nascent Russian national industry would be devastated.
Failing to solve these three problems, they would at best have eased relations, and the Russo-Austrian alliance could still have continued.
From the current situation, the French only want to alienate the Russian-Austrian alliance, not to the point of pulling the Russians and us to war.
Even if Britain and France come together, the Russians will not fall back for a while. I can responsibly say that the Russians don’t want to meet us on the battlefield.”
This explanation made many people breathe a sigh of relief, trying to solve three major problems at the same time was almost impossible.
Especially the latter two, the friendly Russian-Australian relations which was determined after three generations and six monarchs together.
Politicians can change their position at any time, but it is not possible to change the position of the people in a day or two.
The “pro-Austrian” group, too, is not a trick, but a real binding of interests.
Once Russia and Austria turn against each other, this group will become the biggest victim. On the other hand, there is also a pro-Russian faction in Austria, which has a vested interest in the friendship between Russia and Austria.
When it comes to interests, you certainly can’t convince people by talking. If the Tsarist government wants to turn around, it must first suppress the pro-Austrian faction in the country.
Problems in the industrial system were even more troublesome, even with the help of Britain and France, it was not possible to change back in three or five years.
If Austria suddenly blockaded the Russians, it would take less than half a year for half of the factories in Russia to shut down because of machinery and equipment problems.
Of course, this is something that many people do not realize. After all, there was no precedent for this, and no one knew that controlling a country’s industry could also start with spare parts for machinery and equipment.
On the issue of constructing a security moat, Franz was still satisfied, with so many layers of protection in place, it was much more reliable than the German Second Empire in the original time and space.
From the current point of view, as long as Austria does not do things that people are angry, Britain, France and Russia can not unite.
The French feel the threat of Austria, need to draw in the Russians to share the pressure, but the problem is that the British now feel the pressure of the Russians ah?
As for Austria, although a little stronger and more active, but after all did not offend their core interests.
In the minds of the vast majority of Britons, the French are Britain’s greatest enemy, the Russians are the second enemy, Austria is ranked at most four or five, in front of the nasty Yanks.
This ranking has no substantive value, and there is too much national sentiment mixed in.
On the eve of the outbreak of World War I in the original time and space, the biggest enemy in the minds of the British public was all France, so it’s not for nothing that John Bull ripped off his allies in the Great War and dug holes and buried land mines for them after the war.
After weighing the pros and cons, Franz slowly said: “Since there is no situation in a short period of time is still in a manageable range or so, then wait and then strike.
The Ministry of Agriculture is ready to promote the new potash fertilizer once the results of the French large farm program, directly to the bottom of the payroll.”
Since Austria can’t make any money in food production anymore, it’s simply better for no one to make any money at all.
There are still technical difficulties in trying to mass produce synthetic ammonia, there are not many technical difficulties in mining the potash buried in the ground.
Phosphate fertilizer has long appeared, and then add a potash fertilizer out, too much to guarantee, in the existing grain production increased by more than ten percentage points, or easily.
Facing the whole world to promote is not yet realistic, but within three to five years to let most of Europe increase food production, or very hopeful.
Needless to say, the outbreak of the agricultural crisis that is proper, and will even be unprecedentedly tragic.
Open-minded French people, has always been at the forefront of world agriculture, the promotion of fertilizer is still very enthusiastic.
France’s local agricultural production increased by more than ten percentage points, plus the contribution of the colonial farms, the domestic food is basically enough to eat, the government of Paris can not suppress the country’s agriculture, to the Russians to make room for the market, right?
Agricultural crisis broke out, the international food prices blood avalanche, coupled with the French default, I do not know whether the tsarist government can still withstand this double blow, Franz has been in advance for Alexander III silence.
Having been dealt a severe blow, the Russians were sure to hold a grudge, and this was Austria’s chance.
Interests or strategy, it was people who decided it all. As long as they are human beings, they are inevitably influenced by their own personal feelings, and it is impossible to be 100% rational.
There is no harm in fooling around a little, how do you know if it works without trying? In case of success, it is blood money; failure, as nothing happened, anyway, thick skin fearless.
……
With Franz’s order, the Ministry of Agriculture was busy. “The discovery of potash was not a day or two ago, but the news was blocked by Franz.
At present, only agricultural experts are studying it in the experimental area, but it has not been applied to agricultural production, and Holls, the minister of agriculture, has only heard of it.
After getting the report, Holls realized the specific composition of this stuff.
Agricultural demand for potash can be said to be massive, this is not a little grass ash can fill, there is no other way to hurry to find the mine!
With Franz’s memory, he was able to know that the grass ash was equivalent to a weaker version of potash, thanks to the news of the ban on burning straw before crossing the border, which made a lot of noise.
So the result of this achievement is for scientists to study the components of grass ash that are beneficial to agricultural production, and then go back to nature to compare and find.
What potassium ore looks like, Franz doesn’t even know, let alone the exact area of distribution.
But this is a small problem, the Austrian government has the habit of counting the resources, but all the minerals found, whether useful or not will be registered.
Knocked on the door of the Mining Bureau, Holls was not calm, according to information, Austria is actually a potassium-poor country.
“Director Rogers, could it be that a large Austria can’t even find a few large potassium mines?
Look at the information on this, it hasn’t been updated for seven or eight years, can’t you guys just be more ……”
The official level presses people to death, although it is not directly under the leadership, in the face of the chattering minister of agriculture, Rogers also lost his temper.
Resistant to explain: “Your Excellency, potassium ore is not an important resource, the Mining Bureau naturally did not organize manpower to specialize in detection.
These discoveries are the accidental findings of the exploration team, and the above reserves are only a preliminary estimate, and do not represent the real reserves.
If the Ministry of Agriculture needs it, we can send people to conduct detailed exploration to determine the final reserves.”
It couldn’t be helped, there were too many types of ores in nature. Even the same kind of ore could have different characteristics because of the different contents.
Common ores were naturally recognizable by the prospecting teams, it was common for certain niche ores to be misjudged, and there were even thousands of mines in the archives that could not be identified with the type of ore and were directly labeled as unknown.
Of course, these thousands of unknown mines are not the same as thousands of unknown ores.
There were only two reasons why the exploration team did not recognize them, either they were cold ores that were particularly rare but did not have any use in a short period of time, or they were ores that had not yet been discovered by mankind.
Sometimes too much territory can be a burden for the mining authorities. The number of large and small mines registered in Austria had long been in the hundreds of thousands.
If the mines with economic value can not be developed, who cares about the “potash mines” with little value, it is normal that the Mining Bureau does not care about them.
Halls nodded: “Then hurry up, anyway, no matter what, you have to find me enough potassium ore in three years or so.
Don’t make excuses, I don’t believe that the huge Austrian Empire doesn’t even have a few potash mines.”
……
(End of chapter)