Holy Roman Empire

Most high-ranking government officials are from the military, and they have always been resolute in their work. Since they decided to pit the Poles, they will naturally not be weak.

Because of the dispute over the Polish throne, the nails were also planted between the Pope Pass.The Poles, who finally achieved independence, were reluctant to be annexed by Prussia.

Coupled with the interference of international forces, and constantly amplifying the contradiction between Pu and Po, if there is no major enemy of the Russians, the two countries will have parted ways.

Even so, the radicals in the Polish government did not want to see the Prussians pointing their fingers and wanted to kick Prussia alone.

These problems, the Berlin government is looking at it anxiously.Radicals in the second and second groups are not easy to deal with, and a bad operation will trigger a sharp rebound.

The Berlin government has long been thinking of killing people with a knife, but the hidden dangers of operation are quite large. A bad one is a disaster.

To deal with the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia needed Polish cannon fodder, but Poland could not be disabled.

If the Russian-Austrian relations were not broken, Mao Qi would never dare to put forward this proposal.Otherwise, the Russians took the opportunity to join in and force Austria into the water, Pupo is not Russia's opponent.

Now that the Russian-Austrian alliance is in trouble, Austria also needs to use Popper's hand to weaken the Russians. Under this background, the Vienna government has taught the Poles at most, and it is impossible to really kill them.

How much the Poles have to pay for this, the Berlin government does not care at all.Although Poland is regarded as something in its pocket, there is a reality that they have to face.

For the Kingdom of Prussia, Poland's size is too big, if swallowed, the final result is mostly choked to death.

In the first Russian-Russian war, the reason why the Poles suffered heavy losses was that of Prussia.It's just that it's done more concealed and not known to the outside world.

It is really simple to agitate the Junior Two students, it is enough to provoke public opinion, and the newspaper is the most advantageous weapon.Overnight, the old matter of the three Russian and Austrian nations sharing Poland was discovered.

Of course, the Kingdom of Prussia has been hidden, the newspaper has become the partition of the Kingdom of Poland between Russia and Austria, and the role of Austria has been artificially amplified.

...

St. Petersburg, since the dumping of Austria and the collapse of international food prices, Alexander II has been bad for the whole person.

After struggling so hard for so many years, the land problem of the Russian Empire was finally solved. Before it was time to reap the fruits of victory, we ushered in the first blow.

Austria ’s revenge is too cruel. If it is not possible to survive this agricultural crisis, the Russian Empire will soon be in trouble.

The main problem is financial. Russia is not an industrial country. Agricultural taxation is still the most important revenue of the government, accounting for more than half of all fiscal revenue.

The collapse of food prices means that the tsarist government's finances are cold.The loans received from the British were used to build railways and develop industries, but not to maintain the government's daily expenses.

This is still based on the British performance of the contract. If John Bull does not recognize the account, then the Tsarist government will really go bankrupt.Although they only went bankrupt once a few years ago.

Don't look at the contract signed between the two countries, but the loan is not a one-time payment.The British made loans in batches, and now the tsarist government has only received more than five million pounds.

For individuals, this is a huge sum of money; for the Russian Empire, this money is a matter of hundreds of kilometers of railways.

Do n’t think it ’s expensive, because of the complicated terrain and bad weather, railroad tracks have to be imported from the UK, and it ’s a ghost if the final cost is not high.

John Bull ’s loans are not easy to get. 50% of them must be used to purchase British goods, and the construction of railways is mandatory to purchase rails from the United Kingdom.

Foreign Secretary Chris Basham took out a document and handed it to Alexander II.

"Your Majesty, the Austrians once again issued the" Grain Capacity Reduction Initiative "to the world's major grain exporters, and they proposed that countries reduce their grain production capacity by 8% in 1873 in response to the agricultural crisis."

8% of the grain production capacity is not 8% of the international export market, but 8% of the total grain production of each country. When converted into output, it means that global grain production has fallen by tens of millions of tons.

If this can be done, then the agricultural crisis will be more than half over.Austria announced a 21% overcapacity, which is the theoretical figure calculated by the formula.

It only estimates the demand for food, wine, industrial use, and feed.

In actual life, food will inevitably be wasted.For example: the loss in transportation, the mold caused by the weather, the waste in daily life ...

If several grain exporting countries cut their production capacity by 8% at the same time, the grain that can flow into the international market will basically return to the level of 1870.

Because the population is growing, for a maximum of two or three years, the extra food on the market now will be consumed, and food prices will be normalized.

On the surface, there is no problem with the Austrian proposal.All major grain exporting countries are reducing production at the same rate to maintain market price stability, which is equivalent to accepting the Russian Empire as a member. Austria has also given up a large market.

In fact, this is very terrible for the tsarist government.Cutting output is easier said than done.If the Russian Empire is to increase its grain output by 8% next year, it is simply a matter of expanding the planting area.

Now the Russian people are highly motivated to grow grain, and their production is increasing. As long as the transportation problem is solved and Austria is replaced as the world ’s largest grain exporting country, there is no problem at all.

But if we want to reduce production, this is not easy. The government can't stop people from growing grain, right?There are tens of millions of peasants in Russia, and they cannot increase the area of ​​food planted by themselves.

Even copying Austria's fallow law is useless, and Russia has land.As for Austria ’s wasteland development law, the tsar ’s government did not dare to follow suit.

After pondering for a while, Alexander II turned his attention to the crowd.

"What do you think, is the Austrian proposal feasible?"

An obese middle-aged man stood up emotionally and said indignantly: "Your Majesty, this is an Austrian conspiracy. Within a year to reduce food production capacity by 8%, how is this possible?

Even with the current low international food prices, waiting for farmers to adjust their planting habits is a long process.

The government cannot directly dictate what farmers should be allowed to grow.Overcapacity in agriculture is similar to overcapacity in industry. After a crisis, the market will make choices for survival of the fittest.

If we forcefully cut production capacity, it will have no value at all except for causing a major chaos.

The Austrians are demonstrating to us that they want to use low food prices to force us to compromise."

Manilov is not stupid. As the Minister of Agriculture, he is very aware of the current enthusiasm of Russian farmers for growing grain. At this time, if they are asked to cut output, it is not a good idea.

Russia and Austria are completely different, and the national conditions of the two countries are very different.After the Vienna government enacted laws, it curbed the increase in the area of ​​land for growing food.

As long as the nobles at the top of the government take the lead and switch to cash crops on their own land, many people will still respond.Russian nobles are different. It seems easy to change cash crops. The question is who are they selling to?

This is the gap between an agricultural country and an industrial country. Austria has a complete industry, transportation and communications are relatively developed, and information is relatively transparent.

These nobles at the top of the society, it is still very simple to understand the market conditions, and know what kind of sales will be sold.

The Russian Empire is different. The local industry is just getting started. Poor traffic has isolated communication. Not to mention the telephone. Even the telegram has not been able to reach every city.

Even if someone wants to switch to cash crops, they do n’t know what to plant?Even if it is planted, I don't know where to sell it.

Without effective sales channels, everyone can only conservatively grow.Regardless of the price of food, at least the food is easy to sell, and some merchants buy it.

If you want to grow cash crops, you must think clearly.If there are corresponding factories around, there is no problem, everyone can rest assured to plant.

If there is no factory, it must be scaled up. If the production capacity is insufficient, even the transportation cost may not be enough.

Foreign Minister Chris Basham: "Marquis Manilov, please calm down first. Don't forget that Austria is the largest exporter of agricultural products, and their losses are the biggest in this way.

After the collapse of raw grain prices, the prices of finished grains have also continued to fall.If it continues, eventually these processing enterprises will not escape.

In order to protect domestic companies, the Vienna government has reduced taxes on these companies, but the share of Austrians in the international market is still shrinking.

After getting cheap raw materials, grain processing companies in various countries suppressed by Austria are now beginning to flourish.

If the situation of oversupply does not change and the prices of raw grains continue to slump, grain processing enterprises in various European countries will soon be able to develop.

From the point of view of interest, the proposal issued by the Austrians is more to protect the domestic processing and manufacturing industry.

In any case, Austria is still our most important grain exporter. Even if the British market is reopened, this fact cannot be changed.

If Austria refuses to accept our agricultural products, that is the beginning of the disaster, and no one in Europe has such a large-scale agricultural processing industry chain."

Alexander II reached out and patted his forehead. The bumper grain harvest was also a headache.The oversupply in the international grain market has led to a slowdown in grain sales this year.

Once the biggest buyer in Austria is lost, there is really no way to pile up the domestic grain.According to preliminary estimates, there will be tens of millions of tons of extra food from the Russian Empire this year.

Except for Britain's contract, which is uncertain whether it can be fulfilled, they currently do not have any large orders.At the same price, no one wants their food.

Everyone has a stable supplier. Why would they change people for whatever reason or someone they hate?

No way, the Russians have been hacked in Europe in recent years.Now 70% of Europeans do not recognize Russia as a European country, and Russians are naturally not Europeans.

The remaining 30% admit that they are Europeans, including more than 74 million Russians.At this time, the total population of continental Europe is less than 300 million, so this ratio is quite touching.

Fortunately, at least half of so much food cannot be shipped out, otherwise the competition in the international food market will be even more brutal.

This is completely different from the original plan of Alexander II. He originally wanted to use grain as ammunition to pry up the European hegemony.The result didn't have time to start yet, it fell into his own hands.

There is no problem with the plan, but the change is abrupt.The main grain exporters in continental Europe are Austria, Russia, Poland, and Prussia, and the rest are not worth mentioning.

Overseas competitors are temporarily unattractive.Because American countries deliver more than one million tons of agricultural products to the European continent every year, their market share is not high.

This is determined by interests. The United States of America is still farther and farther on the road of growing cotton. Now their position of cotton hegemony is still unbreakable.

With the same price and quality, the same quality and price, no cotton in any region can compete with them this year.

The British cotton planting plan of the British died long ago. After the French occupied Egypt, they once wanted to develop the cotton industry, but under the impact of American cotton, the French finally gave up.

The Indian cotton, which the British were tinkering with, regretted that the cost was completely exploded by the Americans.Without discussing the benefits, Indian cotton cannot become mainstream.

Austria's cotton planting base in West Africa is not much better.Production has hardly increased in recent years, and domestic capitalists are also big fans of American cotton.

No way, this is caused by unique natural conditions.If the enterprises do not use cotton from the alliance countries, the products they produce lack market competitiveness.

The government is not omnipotent, and it is impossible for all industries to go to support it. As a result of dispersing energy, it is often impossible to achieve anything.Austria has no advantage in the cotton textile market, and the Vienna government will naturally not invest in it.

Without this strong opponent, everyone's life will be even more sad.

At present, the major grain exporting countries in the Americas are mainly Brazil and Argentina, but these two countries have few people, limited grain cultivation area, and not very large production capacity.

After getting up and wandering for a few steps, Alexander II made a decision and made a move.

"Responding to the Austrians, telling them that the Russian Empire is also a responsible big country, and we agreed to reduce the grain production capacity. The specific measures would follow the example of Austria, but only need to be changed.

There is no problem with the land fallow law, just move in.The wasteland reclamation law was changed from now on: newly reclaimed wasteland shall not be grown for five years."

Alexander II has already seen the consequences of overcapacity, and since international grain exports have become unprofitable, he does not want to continue to increase grain production capacity.

In this case, simply give the Vienna government a face.For the time being, the Russian Empire is not increasing its grain production capacity, but let's forget about reducing its production capacity. Such a challenging task cannot be achieved by the tsarist government.