Holy Roman Empire

On March 22, 1872, Britain and Russia signed the "British-Russian Bilateral Trade Agreement", "British-Russian Food Mortgage Loan Agreement", "British-Russian Financial Mutual Trust Agreement" ...

In addition to the lack of alliances, it has become a fact that the tsarist government is economically close to the British.

According to the provisions of the treaty, the Russians are already a member of the pound-gold system, and the status of the international currency hegemony of the pound is officially established.

As a price, the British will provide a 150 million pound interest-free loan to the Tsarist government in the next five years, and the Russians will use agricultural products to repay their debts.

People with a discerning eye know that the so-called loan is just a pretext.The annual loan, which is exactly equivalent to the agricultural products exported by the Russians, is essentially a huge order contract.

However, these agricultural products from Russia are cheaper, and the London government has exempted import tariffs.Through low prices, it seizes the markets of other countries that export agricultural products to the UK.

The first to bear the brunt is Austria. As the world ’s largest exporter of agricultural products, Austria ’s losses are undoubtedly the biggest.Sixty-five percent of the total amount of agricultural products imported by the British each year comes from Austria, and now this market can almost be declared non-existent.

"Free trade", just listen to it, if it's serious then it will be over.The British population screamed terribly. When it came to specific interests, it was still decidedly thrown aside.

If Austria wants to keep the British market, the price of agricultural products must be at least slashed before it can survive the competition.

Affected by the Anglo-Russian Treaty, the international agricultural product market has been diving since April.Capitalists have gone to inventory, sold off, and accumulated cash flow, fearing that they will be frozen to death in the next winter of agricultural products.

As the protagonist of the center of the vortex, Franz is not so nervous.Although the British did not expect a sudden shot, the international agricultural product market was hit, and the Vienna government had long expected it.

At the last annual working meeting, the Vienna government formulated a plan to reduce grain production, mainly focusing on wheat, corn, beans, these Russian agricultural products with large production capacity.

At the Vienna Palace, at the special economic conference on agriculture, Franz picked up his baton and drew a curve on the world map.

"The Russians are on the verge, the British are helping again, and the winter of agriculture has come. This is a challenge for Austria. We must take all possible measures. Halls, let me talk about the Ministry of Agriculture's plan first."

Secretary of Agriculture Halls got up from his seat, sorted out his dress, and put on a serious and nervous expression, obviously this topic was very heavy.

"Since two years ago, the Ministry of Agriculture has been preparing for the return of Russian agricultural products to the international market.

To this end, we have adopted a variety of measures, including adjusting the industrial structure of agricultural products, reducing the output of staple food, clearing inventory, developing animal husbandry, and so on.

These measures can only alleviate our losses, but they cannot cure the problem from the source.The international market for agricultural products is so big that we ca n’t survive the crisis by cutting production capacity.

The outbreak of winter in agriculture has made agriculture in all countries uncomfortable and there is no need for us to pay for it.

The collapse of agricultural product market prices this time was mainly caused by the Russians. In this case, we will push the boat and make the crisis even more violent.

The Ministry of Agriculture plans to reduce international food prices by half in the next three years, which will overwhelm agricultural production in European countries.

Although Russia's agricultural production capacity is large, they lack the ability to resist risks.The tsarist government's financial resources are limited, and it is impossible to provide protection for farmers.

Once the grain price collapses, it will inevitably lead to a bankruptcy of farmers.If we are lucky, we can also reinvent the Russian agricultural production system.

In order to make up for the losses of domestic farmers, the Ministry of Agriculture proposed to suspend the collection of agricultural taxes, food transaction taxes, agricultural product export duties, and prohibit the church from collecting tithe taxes.At the same time set a minimum guarantee price of grain to ensure that farmers will not lose money."

Apart from destroying the agricultural production systems of European countries, in addition to worrying about being profited by fishermen, the government of Vienna does not want to pull this hatred.

Austria has all obtained the largest share of the international grain export market. Anyway, it has taken the biggest piece of interest. Why should it be necessary to do everything?

Now it's easy to handle. The people who jumped out are the Russians. If you just publicize it, you can throw the black pot to the tsarist government.Anyway, their reputation was already stinky, and they didn't care about Dora's hatred.

The Anglo-Russian agreement is the best evidence. They directly cut the price of grain exports by 30% and also exempted them from customs duties.The governments of the two countries directly participated in the trade and destroyed the free trade system, which is the root cause of the loss of food production in European countries.

Dumping at a proper low price will not be in vain for anyone.Some people take the lead in lowering prices, and the followers will be inconspicuous. If a price war breaks out and the selling price is lowered, there is no way.

The United Kingdom and Russia have joined forces to crack down on Austrian grain exports. Instead of letting domestic grain go unsold, it is better to hit prices to the lowest point.

Once the international food price is cut, I don't know if the British food merchant will fulfill the contract. This kind of loss-making sales, I don't like it.If the British break the contract, there will be a good show.

It seems that it is only impacting the food production systems of various countries. In fact, this is also destroying the closeness between Britain and Russia.Nothing is more capable of disrupting an alliance than a conflict of interest.

Moreover, Britain and Russia are not allies.It is only for the sake of interests that once the conflict of interests of the two parties exceeds the benefits brought by the partnership, it is difficult to think apart.

The crowd fell into contemplation and began to digest what Hols had just said.

"Half the grain price fell, what is the impact on the country, will it cause a large number of farmers to go bankrupt? Will it involve the entire agricultural product system? How much money will be invested?"

The question is about Prime Minister Felix. Agriculture has always been a pillar industry in Austria, and the Vienna government must not ignore it.If the play collapses, the sequelae will be very serious.

"My Excellency, please rest assured. Our Ministry of Agriculture has conducted a special assessment. After the suspension of agricultural taxes, tithe taxes, grain transaction taxes and grain export tariffs, international grain prices have been cut, and the impact on the country has been minimized.

In response to the grain purchase market, the grain purchase price will drop by about 20%.The Ministry of Agriculture will supervise and if the market turbulence exceeds this range, we will directly intervene in the acquisition.

Because the cost of food production varies from place to place, it cannot be generalized.In the Wallachia Plain with better natural conditions, there are even slight profits.Some provinces with poor natural conditions may lose money.

Farmers' bankruptcy will definitely happen. With the development of the times, the small peasant economy will be destroyed. This original production model is too costly to compete with mechanized farms.

The per capita land area of ​​domestic farmers is relatively high. Generally, when planting, all kinds of crops are in parallel, and they have certain ability to resist risks. Large-scale farmers' bankruptcy will not erupt in Austria.

To complete this plan, the capital required is still relatively large, at least 120 million Aegis is required, and at the same time, it will be reduced by about 21 million Aegis annually. Education requires the government to fill the hole of 15 million Aegis."

At the end of the question, it was still a word of money.Once this plan is launched, the era of relying on agriculture to make up for industry and education is over.

In fact, Austria ’s agricultural tax has always been low, as long as it is only 5%, which is the lowest among the major agricultural producers in continental Europe.

The export tariff for grain is as high as 15%, but the export tariff for finished grain after refined processing is only 3% to 5%, which is adjusted according to the actual situation, and 1% was levied at the lowest time.

Affected by this policy, Austria basically exports refined processed grains, and few directly export them.

Other related taxes are also very low, the grain transaction tax is 5%, the vehicle and ship transportation tax is directly exempted, and there are almost no additional taxes.

Even so, these taxes have played an important role in Austria ’s fiscal revenue, which has declined in recent years and is still a significant number.

Franz fell into the calculation, investing 120 million Aegis of operating funds, this is easy to handle, and one-time investment will be crowded out. It is really not possible to use bank loans or issue bonds. This is a lot of money. Austria.

The trouble is that fiscal revenue is reduced and education expenditure is increased. This 36 million Aegis is not a one-off, but is lost forever.

"Temporary exemption" is actually permanent for the time being. After the end of the agricultural dividend period, the industry should subsidize agriculture.

This means that Austria's fiscal revenue has directly shrunk by 8.3% and fiscal expenditure has increased by 6.1%.

After hearing the plan of the Ministry of Agriculture, Chancellor of the Exchequer frowned, and after a moment of silence, put down the glass in his hand.

"It's too radical. There is no need to be so extreme in order to defeat the agricultural production systems of European countries. As long as the international food prices are hit to the point where farmers in all countries are unprofitable, there is no need to go all in one step.

In the field of agricultural production, we have an advantage, and the cost of grain production is the lowest in continental Europe.We also have a complete industrial supporting system and can get more profits.

Farmers in various European countries have started to lose money. In fact, domestic farmers still have a certain profit. As long as we drag on, they will not be able to sustain it.

Inferred from economics, the Russians are probably the first to bear.Unless the Tsarist government pays to subsidize agriculture, otherwise high costs will make Russian agricultural products lose market competitiveness.

As long as we grasp this degree, we don't need to pay too much.Now it is only necessary to reduce grain export tariffs and exempt agricultural taxes, so as to withstand the first wave of shocks.

The grain of the Russians has not been exported to the United Kingdom. Now let ’s release our grain reserves first, impacting the international market and hitting the price to the British-Russian transaction price, and then see if the British will fulfill the contract.

If they do not comply with the contract, the Russians will suffer bad luck.I do n’t know if the Tsarist government ’s wallet can bear it, and the piles of grain cannot be sold. The consequences are very serious."

The professionals had to be ruthless enough, and it was not the food price that collapsed, but the tsarist government ’s finances.Once there is a large-scale unsalable grain sales, Alexander II will be unlucky.

If there is no way, the farmers will have grain left.Either the government directly collects food and then rots in the warehouse; or it can only be exempted from tax.

Once the market is full, no matter how cheap it is, no one dares to take over.Every time an economy breaks out, capitalists pour milk into the river just to avoid price collapse.

Now Carl's plan is to defeat the British grain price in a step before the completion of the UK-Russia transaction.

International food prices cannot be spared, and Austria will suffer heavy losses.But as long as the British default, the Russians who have suffered heavy losses will certainly not be willing to give up. Perhaps the London government will have no choice but to withdraw from the pound-the golden system is inevitable.

At that time, even if the Tsarist government was unwilling to do so, it could only join the Aegis, the golden system, with its stubborn head.The losses in the grain market can be recovered in the financial market.

Halls frowned, questioning: "What if the British fulfilled the contract? The benefits brought by currency hegemony are not a little bit, they have no reason to give up."

Carl smiled calmly: "That's nothing more than a hardship for all grain exporters this year. Even a 30% discount on international grain prices will not have that great impact on the export of refined grains in Austria.

Do n’t forget that the food finishing industry itself still has more than a dozen points of profit, and these companies can also share some of the losses.

In general, the price of raw grains fell by 70%, and domestic agricultural production can still be guaranteed.This is enough. I do n’t think that at the current price of grain exports, Russian farmers can make money.

The price the government needs to pay is only a part of the grain reserves, and the fiscal revenue is reduced by 8 to 10 million Aegis.

If the direct impact on the agricultural systems of European countries, the Russians can only be ignoring ordinary people, politicians are still clear.

If they take countermeasures and artificially increase food import tariffs, what can cheap food do in addition to increasing their fiscal revenue?"

This is a reality, and it is common to overturn the table in front of interests.In order to protect the country's agriculture, it is normal to adopt trade barriers.