Holy Roman Empire

"The agricultural self-sufficiency plan involves an investment of tens of millions of pounds, and it is still too hasty for us to make a decision.

The Ministry of Agriculture prepares a plan and submits it to the parliament for deliberation, and first listen to the opinions of the members. "

……

Chapter 67 Friend and Foe

Although the British government did not directly follow up, they went into parliamentary rowdy mode, which still scared a lot of people.

Anyone with a little bit of political savvy knows who this is aimed at.

Once the two food consumption markets of Britain and France are lost, Austria's total exports will drop by one-sixth.

The Russians, who are dominated by agriculture, are even worse. It is God's blessing to keep half of their trade exports.

Under fierce market competition, Russian agriculture with backward productivity will directly lose its market competitiveness due to production costs.

However, the tsarist government did not dare to promote new agricultural technologies, because production capacity is not equal to income, and food cannot be sold, and no matter how high the output is, it is useless.

Even the tsarist government did not dare to upgrade industries, which is similar to Austria in the last agricultural crisis.

Restricted by the level of domestic economic development, Franz has to take a leisurely pace in the development of animal husbandry, for fear of another overcapacity in animal husbandry.

The great development of Austria's animal husbandry has only emerged in the last two or three years.The main reason is that economic development has increased the purchasing power of the people.

There is market demand first, and then commodity production.This order cannot be reversed, otherwise there will be big troubles.

The Tsarist government was in a hurry, and the Vienna government was also in a hurry.It's just that the Russians are really anxious, and the Vienna government is just putting on a show.

The diplomatic slogans were earth-shattering, and the government operated like a tiger for a while, but the actual effect was 0.5, which seemed to be in a hurry.

For example: After the French announced the large farm plan, the Vienna government announced that it would suspend the qualification approval of agricultural product processing enterprises.

When it was learned that the British Parliament had begun to discuss whether to follow up, the Vienna government issued an agricultural transformation notice again, advising the public to reduce the area of ​​food planting to deal with the agricultural crisis.

The direct sequelae are that the stock prices of domestic agricultural companies have plummeted, and even some food production companies that have little influence have been implicated.

Of course, not long after the economic crisis has passed, the current stock price is not high at all, and it will not fall much.

To put it bluntly, the French only announced a plan, and the Paris government has not yet figured out how to implement it.

Capitalists are unwilling to invest, and the government must personally conduct a loss-making business, which is not as simple as it sounds.

How to operate, we all have no experience.The government directly sends officials to manage, which will greatly increase administrative costs, and corruption is also a big problem.

If the sky-high price of food is produced in the end, and the people can't afford it, then it will be in big trouble.

Contracting to capitalists seems simple, but the problem is the integrity of capitalists, which is really hard to reassure.

Taking an empty shell project, defrauding government subsidies, and finally importing cheap food from abroad to fill the hole, the Paris government will be taken advantage of.

Supervision is easy to say, but the problem is that the farm is built in a colony. Although the French government directly manages it, the central government is doomed to have insufficient control if the sky is high and the emperor is far away.

In addition to the problems of management, the natives in the colony are also a headache.French Africa is not Austrian Africa, and most of the land is owned.

Avoidance is unavoidable, we can't put all the farms in the deserted desert, can we?

Desert agriculture is still in the research stage in the 21st century, and the French can't open it these days.

Direct expulsion is not enough, and a bad colony will be full of flames.With the lessons learned from the Egyptian rebellion, the French government had to be cautious.

After all, the indigenous rebels are easy to deal with, but the indigenous rebels with external support are different.If there are a few more Egyptian rebellions, the French government will not have the money to start a large farm project.

With so many issues to consider, if one operation is not done well, the French's large farm plan will be reduced to a laughing stock.

Not to mention the British, anyone who knows a little about the British Parliament knows that to be able to unify opinions within a year or so is a super-level performance.

This kind of grand strategy is possible for three to five years.In particular, the major food producing countries have mobilized their forces to lobby the British Parliament.

Many people are still looking forward to a comeback, and some even think that Britain and France are just up for grabs, using the "food self-sufficiency plan" to force Russia and Austria to make concessions in international politics.

There are quite a few people who support this statement, including many people in Britain and France who think so.

In the Palace of Vienna, with the news of the British and French "food self-sufficiency plan", Franz also felt the pressure.

From the people to the government, there is a call to negotiate with Britain and France to resolve the dispute.

After all, this is a secret plan. Except for a few high-level people, everyone else knows nothing about it. It is almost inevitable that this kind of thing will happen.

Affected by this, on August 1885, 8, the Vienna government also sent a note to the British and French ministers in Austria for an in-depth communication.

After the Vienna government deliberately showed a hint of compromise, Britain and France, who thought they had found Austria's weakness, naturally asked the lion to speak up.

Then there is no more, and if there is no agreement, there will be no agreement.The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Vienna is anxious and paddling. It seems that they have done a lot of work, but they are still tough in the actual negotiations.

Franz couldn't believe it: "The Russians are going to withdraw from the free trade system, is the news confirmed?"

The French have already withdrawn from the free trade system, and the United States has also withdrawn from the free trade system. If the Russians withdraw from the free trade system again, it is estimated that this thing will come to an end.

Foreign Minister Weisenberg nodded: "To be precise, the Russians are only showing signs of withdrawing, or it may be a cover played by the Tsarist government.

Yesterday afternoon, Alexander III summoned the British envoy to Russia to discuss Britain's food self-sufficiency plan, which ended in disagreement.

This morning, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent a note to Britain, warning the London government not to play with fire, accusing the British of food self-sufficiency plan to seriously damage the free trade system.

If the British do not abandon their food self-sufficiency plan, then the Russian Empire will impose trade sanctions on Britain. "

It is probably possible to destroy the free trade system, anyway, it depends on whose standpoint you stand on.

Theoretically speaking, as long as the British did not raise tariffs and resort to political means to suppress competitors, but adopted a fair competition method to realize the food self-sufficiency plan, it would be in line with the spirit of free trade.

Of course, it is reasonable to criticize the British government for investing in agriculture, interfering with the normal development of the market, and violating the principle of "freedom".

After all, Britain advertises "absolute freedom", and you must be responsible for what you say.

It's just that on this issue, the Russians can talk about it, and Austria has no say.

From the beginning to the end, Franz did not speak out on this issue.It's not that I didn't see it, the problem is that Austria has gone too far.

Isn't it just a state-owned farm? Isn't there such a thing in Austria?Do you really think that during the last agricultural crisis, Austria's grain production capacity decreased rapidly, because the people took the initiative to reduce the grain planting area?

too naive!

Tens of millions of farmers, at most one-tenth of them under the call of the government, have cut some of their production capacity, and the rest still have to do what they want and continue to do what they do.

It is not a matter of listening or not, the key is not growing food, what should they grow?

Cash crops are easy to say, but they also require technology.If you sow the seed, you will surely reap.

The price of grain will drop at most, and if you can't sell it, you can keep it for yourself or feed your livestock.

Cash crops, once misjudged and unable to be sold, can only be rotten.

The encouragement and promotion of the government also promotes vegetable planting in the surrounding areas of the city, and remote mountainous areas have no scruples at all.

It is not a question of whether you want to or not. The key point is that Austria is a market economy, not a planned economy, and the government does not know the demand for each economic crop in the market.

Instead of handing over the decision-making power to the bureaucrats and causing anger and resentment, Franz would rather let the people continue to grow food and forget it.

As a big deal, the problem of adjusting production capacity should be handed over to the state-owned farms.I really don't know what to plant, at worst let the land lie fallow for a few more years.

After thinking for a while, Franz asked, "How high are the chances of the British compromising?"

After finally fooling the British to the edge of the cliff, he almost kicked them off. Franz didn't want the British to be pulled back again.

I don’t know anything else, as long as the British start the food self-sufficiency plan, they will start a long-term loss model, which is worse than the French.

Restricted by the free trade system, Britain must treat food from all countries equally when importing food from various countries, and must continue the current low tariff that is close to zero.

This means that it is impossible for Britain to support a younger brother as a granary and squeeze Austrian agricultural products out of the market.

It seems that it is not difficult for the British to open up farms in the colonies, but in fact the cost is not low.

The first is the population. Australia, New Zealand, Canada and other regions are typically sparsely populated.

Even mechanical agriculture requires a lot of labor.At least until water conservancy projects are built and road traffic is improved, the demand for labor cannot be reduced.

Recruiting labor from the country, the labor cost alone is enough to cause pain to the British government, amortized to the cost of food production, it is absolutely sky-high.

Without barriers, the more you grow this kind of food, the more you will lose.It is estimated that after a few years of losses, the British people will realize that there is no "money way" to grow food.

After the opposition party comes to power, it will cut this money-losing strategy in half, leaving a bunch of unfinished projects to prove the incompetence of the previous government.

Of course, India has a large population and fertile land, which is very suitable for agricultural production; the problem is that there are too many Indians, and it is a problem to develop agriculture here and feed the local people.

It is estimated that before supporting the country, the food produced will be eaten up.It is not impossible to give priority to satisfying domestic needs. The key is that people are extremely hungry, and people will rebel.

Cotton planting in the past triggered a big uprising, and now there are two new neighbors from Russia and Austria. At this time, the British government will never dare to mess around.

After contemplating for a moment, Weisenberg slowly replied: "Half to half!

Although the Russian market looks huge, its purchasing power is actually very limited.Nearly [-]% of this limited market is still occupied by us, and what the British get is just some leftovers.

Even if the Russian market is lost, the total foreign export trade of the British will drop by at most one or two percentage points, and the British can bear this fluctuation.

However, the British government is not keen on the food self-sufficiency plan. Gladstone gave the right to choose to Parliament, and the cabinet did not even express its position, which is enough to illustrate this point. "

The answer is no, half to half. This is not so much an analysis and judgment as it is a gamble.

I have to admit that although the Russians' methods were a little rough, the effect was very good.

The Tsarist government gave the British half the chance of giving up.Under normal circumstances, if Austria makes a little more effort, the British Parliament will eventually reject or shelve the bill indefinitely, and the matter will pass.

Several plans in a row appeared in Franz's mind, but he rejected them again.

"At this point, we are no longer fit to do anything.

Next, let's watch the performance of the French. Presumably Napoleon IV will not give up this opportunity. "

As soon as he finished speaking, Franz felt that something was wrong.I don't know when it started, but Austria spent more time cooperating with its enemies than with its allies.

Whether this is the loss of morality or the distortion of human nature is a question worth thinking about.

But what is certain is that the opening operation method is wrong. If this continues, Franz will doubt whether he can distinguish friend from foe.

"There are only eternal interests between countries, and there are no eternal enemies."What Franz did now fully explained this sentence.

Chapter 68 The Final Blow

"Ugh!"

Returning to the ancient city of Cairo, Governor Adolf seemed to have passed away, and the thousands of words in his heart converged into a sigh.

Egypt at the moment has become a mess.Naturally, no one would rush to take the blame for such a mess, so Adolf still had to continue to perform his duties as governor.

Said to be the governor, but in fact his decree can no longer leave the city of Cairo.The outside of the city is already the scope of activities of the rebel army, and the external contact has been cut off long ago.

Ever since the news of the defeat came, the Governor's Mansion, which was originally full of traffic, fell silent all of a sudden.

Even when reporting work, everyone came and went in a hurry, as if staying here for a moment would cause plague.

Seeing a familiar figure, Adolf asked suspiciously: "Fidos, why are you here?

Now this place is not a good place, if you are implicated, don't regret it. "

This is the truth.Although the wall was overthrown and pushed by everyone, as a governor, Adolf still had a few cronies who would never leave him.

It is precious when it is lost. In order not to take all these connections into account, Adolf took the initiative to draw a clear line with his subordinates.

I don't know how the effect will be, anyway, keeping one is one.As long as one of the people who survived is willing to appreciate it, it will not be considered a loss.

Fidos smiled wryly and shook his head: "Your Excellency, according to the current situation, as one of the military commanders, do you think I can survive alone?"

The defeat in this war was too embarrassing. Even if Adolf took the initiative to stand up and take responsibility for the failure of the war, other officers in the counter-insurgency army would inevitably be held accountable.

The best result is nothing more than retiring and going home. It is impossible to retire unscathed.

Since he couldn't avoid it, Fidos simply didn't bother to hide.Anyway, being held accountable ended up retiring and going home, but it was a bit embarrassing.

Including Governor Adolf, who was the most responsible person for the war, most of them retired from the military after going through the court-martial.

Essentially, this defeat was an accident. Logically speaking, they did not make too many mistakes in command.

Adolf nodded helplessly: "Okay, then I can only wish you good luck, and may God bless you!

Now tell me, why are you here today?

Don't say nonsense that you are here to visit me or visit me. You should know that I am in a very bad mood right now. "

Fidos: "Your Excellency, the situation is completely corrupt now, do you dare to take another gamble?"

Adolf smiled helplessly and said: "It's come to this point, do you think there is anything I dare not do?

Anyway, the situation in Egypt has been completely corrupted, no matter how bad it is, how bad it can be.Come on, what are your plans? "