Holy Roman Empire

Vienna in midsummer is still cool.

Schonbrunn Palace

Metternich said: "Your Majesty, the Russians have asked us to buy a production line for weapons, from pistols to artillery is almost everything."

Franz knew that Austria had robbed the interests of the Russian arms group. This group of people would definitely take action, but did not expect that their way was to buy a weapons production line.

It is also correct to think that in this era, the strongest mechanical equipment technology was the British. Austria and France followed closely behind, and the industrial systems of Belgium and Prussia were imperfect again.

The maintenance cost of the mechanical equipment produced by the Russians is not high, the performance of the equipment can only be said to be barely usable, and the production efficiency cannot be compared with its peers. The purchase of foreign production lines is also forced.

Britain and France are fighting the Russians, even if they can buy the production line from Britain and France, they dare not use it.Weapon production equipment is still very sensitive. It is not civilian materials, so smuggling is smuggling.

If you buy from Prussia and Belgium, it is not impossible.It is only in this way that they cannot accomplish the future maintenance of the Austrian weaponry equipped by the expeditionary forces.

With the financial resources of the Tsarist government, don't expect them to be able to discard weapons and equipment worth tens of millions of rubles. The annual maintenance of these equipment is also a business of millions of rubles.

Capitalists will not have trouble with money, and in order to maximize profits, it is normal to purchase an Austrian weapons production line.

Franz said indifferently: "Sell them. Even with the same equipment, the quality of weapons and equipment produced in the hands of the Russians will decline by one grade."

This is not the fact that he despised the Russians, but the facts.Because of the government's corruption, capitalists will definitely cut corners in order to obtain greater profits.

According to Franz, the Russian weapons and equipment purchased locally are higher than the prices on the international market.It's better to buy than to make, that's how it came.

The domestic budget for weapons and equipment imported from Austria has increased by 20% to 50% compared to the actual import price.This specific ratio depends on the morality and ability of the officials who handle it.

Metternich reminded: "Your Majesty, do you want to limit it? If the Russians get a full set of production lines, the future will also be a problem for us."

Although there is no technical blockade in this era, in the field of military industry, not all weapons and equipment can be bought, let alone weapons production lines?

Franz shook his head and said, "It doesn't matter. Now the technological changes are changing rapidly. These devices are still intact within ten years. If more than ten years later, I am afraid they will be eliminated again.

Now that the Russians are willing to buy, they will succeed.It is best to turn them into long-term customers and use the profits from the transaction to promote the technological upgrading of our military industry."

Russia is indeed worthy of fear, but Russia ’s industrial technology does not really need to care too much. Under the rule of the corrupt tsarist government, it is impossible for their industry to develop greatly.

Metternich continued: "Your Majesty, the Russians also applied for loans.

According to commercial trade, in the second and third quarters of 1852, our trade volume with the Russians nearly tripled.

The total trade volume between the two sides is up to 292 million rupiah, of which our total import is 88 million rupiah, total export is 204 million rupiah, and the trade surplus is 116 million rupiah.

This part of the trade surplus is mainly the export of arms and strategic materials. The export volume of these two items alone amounted to 83 million rupiah.

The rest is the civilian goods trade. Because of the war, British and French commodities have largely withdrawn from the Russian market, creating opportunities for us.

We have provided loans to the Russians, they have almost used it.The strategic materials purchased in the early stage will basically be exhausted after the battle.

If a big victory cannot be achieved, the military expenditure of the Tsarist government next year will probably continue to increase."

Franz figured it out. Everyone likes to do business with the Russians in this era, because they don't use paper money, but pay directly in gold and silver.(Paper rubles are deprecated, and international trade is only settled in gold and silver rubles)

The direct consequence of the trade between Russia and Austria is that a large amount of gold and silver flowed into the Austrian treasury, and then turned into paper money into the market.

From a monetary point of view, this part of the inflow of gold and silver, the risk of Franz allowing the central bank to print banknotes, has been digested by the market.(Banknotes, gold and silver are not issued 1: 1, and leverage is set according to economic conditions)

Franz thought about it and said, "Don't worry about talking to the Russians slowly, tell them that our financial resources are not rich, and we are unable to provide them with huge loans.

Try to keep the loan amount as low as possible, delay the loan time, and let the Russians pay more gold and silver for payment. Don't make too many demands on the loan interest, and can also give up the additional conditions.

We can also help them issue a part of the bond, which must be a government bond, preferably with collateral. The war bond is estimated to be unsaleable. This interest rate allows the Russians to set their own and sell it."

If the two countries were still on an equal footing before the outbreak of the Near East War, but with the outbreak of war, Austria ’s initiative has grown.

Due to the war, large amounts of gold and silver have flowed in, which has caused the abnormal prosperity of Austria's domestic economy. There are still a lot of hidden dangers behind this prosperity.

If Austria now provides too many loans to Russia, it must either withdraw funds from the domestic market or issue additional currency to continue.

The former is not conducive to the economic development of Austria, the latter is easy to cause inflation.This is caused by the size of the economy. Austria ’s total economic volume is so large that part of the currency market in Canada can be digested. Once the amount is exceeded, it cannot be digested.

The best way is to let Russia ’s gold and silver flow in first, the national treasury reserves increase, the market expands, and there will be no inflation when the currency is printed.

Metternich reminded: "Your Majesty, maybe we can ask the Russians to pay for the goods and take out part of the gold and silver to reduce our risk."

Franz shook his head and said: "It is not needed for the time being, our risk is still within the controllable range. Don't rush to remind the Russians that now their gold and silver flow into our country, but it is very fast.

The rapid development of our domestic economy depends not only on this war.

Mr. Metternich, you may not have noticed that in the past six months, British and French capitals have poured into Austria, and the total investment has more than doubled from the same period last year.In fact, there is no shortage of gold and silver in the Austrian market.

According to past practice, the Russian-Turkish war will last for a long time. These capitalists all hoped to get rich by this war and have invested and built factories in Austria.

Because of the lack of information, they do not know how many peers they have recently added, nor do they take into account the demand for supplies by Russian personalities, nor are they unlimited.

The market is crazy, and the guy Carl is almost terrified. Fearing the outbreak of the economic crisis, he has formulated several emergency plans.

Judging from the laws of the capitalist market economy, once the war is over, the Austrian economy will immediately face difficulties in transition.

Fortunately, the capitalists who entered the market for the first time are okay. They have made a profit and can support their transformation.The capitalists who came in later were miserable. They had to face transformation before they made any money. The bankruptcy wave was indispensable.

At this time, it is also a good choice to help the Russians digest some of the debt and cool the hot market."

Knowing the economic crisis, why hasn't the Austrian government stopped it?The answer is very realistic, in order to increase fiscal revenue and to accelerate the pace of domestic development.

If this economic boom continues, only after two or three years, Austria's economic aggregate can surpass France.Even if the bubble burst, these capitals also left Austria with a lot of money.

It's easy to put money in, but it's hard to get it out.Once it is turned into real estate such as factory buildings and mechanical equipment, it is not easy to realize it.

These trapped capitalists will either continue to contribute to the development of Austria, or they will cut off their flesh. This is how the United States developed in history.

As long as sufficient benefits are obtained in this war and the market capacity is increased, the impact of the economic crisis can be minimized.At that time, Franz did not mind letting the government interfere in the market and forcing the economy to land.

How many capitalists died in this way, but it has nothing to do with Franz, he is not a virgin.

Investment is risky and you need to be cautious when entering the market.

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When the Near East War attracted the attention of the outside world, Russia and Austria quietly reached a huge deal without causing any turmoil.

The arms trade is extremely profitable. Especially when selling weapon production lines and transferring production technology, it is even more profitable to add product added value.

The huge profits made the Austrian government very satisfied.

This is not a one-time business. If the relationship between the two countries continues to be friendly and the capitalists have the ethics, they are likely to package the subsequent upgrade business together with Austria.

The fundamental reason for "make better than buy" is that R & D and manufacturing costs are too high.Why do so many enterprises in the later generations keen on importing, do they not know the benefits of independent research and development?

The most important point is that R & D investment, harvest and effort are often not proportional, not only consume a lot of time, but also full of uncertainty.

For capitalists keen to make money, huge investments in this area really cannot maximize the benefits.If you are unlucky, you will fall on the eve of the harvest.

This is especially true for weapons research and development, and a supporting industrial system is also required.The Russians are lagging behind in these respects, and the risk of independent research and development is even greater.

If a certain military industrial enterprise does R & D and does not wait for them to produce results, the population import production line is put into operation.

How would the Tsarist government choose?Equip the military with advanced equipment with mature technology, or are they waiting for products with uncertain performance?

Austria has liberalized all arms export restrictions and allowed the Russians to freely choose production lines. The Tsarist government is naturally very happy. Such opportunities are rare.

It is important to know that in order to restrict the Russians, European countries mainly export finished products in the military industry, and are very cautious about exporting production lines.

If only the finished products were purchased, once the war was blocked, the weapons and equipment could no longer be obtained, and the tsarist government supported domestic military enterprises.

There is no such worry on the production line. Most of the equipment of Russian military industrial enterprises these years is imported. They do not mind continuing to import, as long as they can guarantee the supply of arms.

Everyone can't think so far in the future.In theory, as long as the overall industrial technology goes up, the military industrial system will naturally go up, and the two are complementary.

Historically, the development of Russian military industrial technology was when the relationship with the Western world deteriorated. The stronger the confrontation between the two sides, the faster their technological progress.

This is the age of war, and nobody even thinks so much. Even if someone sees a possible crisis, they ca n’t oppose it.

From the perspective of development, there are ready-made equipment in Austria that can be disassembled for learning, and their technological progress will be faster, and they can be copied even if they are not good.

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