Holy Roman Empire

In St. Petersburg, after the outbreak of the agricultural crisis, it became the center of the storm.

European public opinion has accused the Russians of deliberately creating an agricultural crisis in an attempt to break the European agricultural production system and monopolize the European food supply.

This statement is also true. The Tsarist Government did have this plan, but the agricultural crisis broke out before it could be implemented.

Agriculture is the most difficult industry to monopolize. There are almost no thresholds, and anyone can grow land.The land suitable for cultivation this year is everywhere, and no colonial empire needs to be controlled by people.

The Tsarist government has a monopoly on European food supply, but has no capacity to implement it.Russian agricultural production costs are not dominant, and it is almost impossible to win the competition.

Facing the overwhelming accusations of public opinion, Alexander II decisively chose to ignore it.Anyway, in the European continent, the tsarist government has been scolded all the time, and he is used to it.

Public opinion can be ignored, but the reactions of European governments have no reason to worry about Alexander II.

As of April 1873, many politicians have publicly stated that they will impose tariffs on imported agricultural products to protect their agriculture.

All agricultural product import tariffs are added together. Behind the seemingly fairness, there is actually a thick malicious intention.

Among the four largest agricultural exporters in Europe, the Kingdom of Prussia has the smallest market share and the least impact.

The Kingdom of Poland is ranked second from the bottom, and has now been caught in an internal struggle. No matter how the situation deteriorates, it will not be worse.

Although the Russian Empire ranked second in terms of total exports, they are still well-deserved leaders in this volume.

Austria has the largest total export. In addition to local grain processing, it also imports agricultural products from Russia and Poland for processing, most of which is supported by product added value.

After the outbreak of the agricultural crisis, the Tsarist government also prepared to process it by itself, without leaving the Austrians with the opportunity to make a difference.

Unfortunately, the domestic industrial strength is too weak, resulting in high processing costs, losing competitiveness in the face of brutal market competition.

Affected by the agricultural crisis, Austrian agricultural products processing enterprises reduced their production capacity, and the total amount of agricultural products exported from Russia to Austria also declined, but they still accounted for more than half of the total foreign agricultural products exports.

From the point of view of interest, both sides can be regarded as both harmless and glorious.It was not just that Alexander II had just received a telegram from the Austrian Association of Agricultural Products Processing Enterprises, hoping that they would reduce their total grain exports.

A large amount of cheap raw grains are exported to the international market and directly flow into European countries. This is also a life-and-death battle for Austria's agricultural products processing enterprises.

Market competition has become increasingly fierce, and these processing companies will certainly not sit still.It is impossible to lose money and shout.

The capitalists are very savvy, the seemingly plain telegram is actually an ultimatum.

Capital is profit-seeking. If there is no profit in the processing of agricultural products, the capitalists will not mind the immediate abandonment.

Since 1872, savvy capitalists have been transforming.Now in the outbreak of the second industrial revolution, there are still many projects that can be invested, and there is no need to hang on a tree.

If the Russians are willing to reduce the total amount of grain exports, everyone's profits are guaranteed, and business can continue.

Otherwise, things won't be easy.Affected by the collapse of food prices, almost every grain capitalist's warehouse is filled with grain, waiting for the market to pick up.

If you can't see hope, everyone can only leave with pain.This is definitely not a good thing for the Russians, because of the relationship between the Russian-Austrian alliance, Austrian processing companies have always given priority to purchase Russian agricultural products.

In continental Europe, the situation is quite different. Under the same conditions, few capitalists are willing to cooperate with the Russians.

This is a sequelae of loss of credibility and cannot be remedied in a short time.Now the export of Russian agricultural products depends on cheapness.

International food prices continue to fall, in fact, it is dragged down by Russian grain exports.In order to sell the grain, they had to cut prices.

As soon as the Russians lowered their grain export prices, the market could only fall.The current international food price has been the lowest point in decades, and everyone's profits have been squeezed out.

Alexander II knew the consequences of doing so, but looking at the piles of grain, they could only sell them after losing money.

Moreover, the definition of "losing money" cannot be generalized. Foreign exchange is exchanged for exported grain, and paper rubles are exchanged for domestic circulation.

The paper ruble issued by the tsarist government is not recognized by the outside world.In international trade, gold, silver, pound sterling, Aegis, and Franc are currently the most used.

The international reputation of the ruble is not as good as the Krone of the Nordic Federation, nor the Dutch Guilder. Even the Swiss franc and the Prussian mark are more popular than the ruble.

From the perspective of national development, even if it suffers again, the tsarist government must obtain foreign exchange as much as possible, otherwise the trade deficit will not be balanced, which will lead to the outflow of gold and silver.

It is not the only way to keep on making compensation. In order to smooth the loss, the tsarist government has devalued the ruble twice.

This is undoubtedly a heavy blow to the ruble, which has just undergone the reform of the gold standard, and has severely hit market confidence.

The currency cannot depreciate all the time. Economists have issued a warning to Alexander II. If you continue to play like this, the market will be rotten by playing.

Adjusting his emotions, Alexander II: "What do you think of the telegram of the Austrian Association of Agricultural Products Processing Enterprises?"

An industry association can send a threat directly to him, which made Alexander II very angry.If it is not that there is no choice, he really wants to cut off the transaction between the two parties.

Of course, if you think about it, you really have to do it.Without this biggest buyer, their lives will be even more sad.

Chancellor of the Exchequer: "Your Majesty, unless countries reduce food exports together and jointly increase food prices, we must not reduce exports.

At present, there are still a lot of domestic agricultural products that are still unsaleable, especially in the newly developed Siberia region. There is no local food at all. The government's tax revenue is all food.

The Ministry of Finance is organizing manual transportation. If it cannot be sold, these taxes will be over.

If there is really no way to solve the problem of unsalable grain sales, it is better to use these grains to repay foreign debts.Whether they accept it or not, we only pay with food."

In Christenval's view, everyone in the past can bear it.Now that the Tsarist government is willing to admit its previous debts, this is already very face-saving.

Foreign Secretary Chris Basham shook his head again and again: "No, we finally reached an agreement with various countries. If we do this, we will immediately fall into diplomatic difficulties.

According to prior agreement, countries have agreed that we use agricultural products to pay off debts in batches. There is no need to be so extreme."

Food debt relief is the biggest achievement of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which repays all debts in 15 years.If all debts were repaid with food at once, they would have solved the agricultural crisis, but the creditors could not stand it!

Food that cannot be sold is worthless.Chris Basham did not want the achievements of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to be destroyed, but it would also be a disaster for the Russian Empire.

When it comes to reducing production capacity, everyone has tacitly agreed not to come forward.The call for production cuts initiated by Austria last year has become a joke.

In addition to Austria ’s own reduction in the area of ​​grain cultivation, the three countries of Russia and Russia all just shouted slogans and introduced several laws.

During the specific implementation, everyone realized that it was not the case at all.It is impossible for the law to stipulate which piece of land to grow grain and which piece of land cannot grow grain.

Any decree you want to implement is not a leap.Even if the fallow law is widely recognized by the society, when it is implemented, the officials below do not know which piece of land has been fallowed and which piece of land has not been fallowed.

If there is no statistics in advance, what about execution?In the face of reality, the tacit understanding of the choice of officials from all parts of the country will be counted from now on.

If food is planted this year, then this piece of land should be fallow next year.Everyone knows the statistics clearly, no one has anything to say.

As a result, this year's grain acreage has not decreased but increased, and the government is also powerless.It may take years to wait for regulation to work.

The role of market self-regulation may be more effective than government regulations.After losing money for several years in a row, ordinary people may not necessarily reduce the area of ​​grain cultivation, but the nobles will definitely reduce their production.

Agriculture Minister Manilov interrupted: "These two disputes are meaningless, unless the agricultural crisis is fundamentally resolved, otherwise the crisis will only become more serious.

Even if the food is forcibly lost to the creditors, it can only cure the symptoms but not the root cause. The agricultural crisis cannot be shaken off in a year or two.

According to the data released by the Austrian Ministry of Agriculture, if no measures are taken and the market adjusts itself, the agricultural winter may last for more than ten years.

Russia is a big agricultural country. If the agricultural crisis lasts for more than ten years, it is initially estimated that there will be tens of millions of farmers in the country who will go bankrupt, and it may even be 20 million to 30 million.

The process of industrialization of the empire is developing rapidly, but it is not possible to accomplish this in a short period of time if we want to accommodate so many bankrupt populations.

Our biggest problem now is not the domestic slow-moving of grain, but how to ensure that farmers do not go bankrupt on a large scale.

According to the current situation, the number of bankrupt farmers in China this year will be several times that of last year. About 50,000 to 80,000 families will go bankrupt. The agricultural crisis continues, and this number will increase geometrically every year."

It's almost impossible to say clearly: If you can't finish the food, let's fight!

It was not the time for the agricultural crisis to erupt. If it happened just a few years earlier and it just caught up with the period of the Russo-Prussian War, it might be rewritten.

Grey animals are worthless, as long as there is food in hand, the tsarist government can carry on the war.The tsar who can feed the soldiers is already a good tsar. Other problems can be overcome.

Don't look at the fact that the current Russian empire seems to be a little smaller. If a war breaks out, the Russians' war potential is far more than a few years ago.

This is the advantage of having more grain. No matter how slow the sale of grain is, as long as farmers do not go bankrupt on a large scale, the problem is within controllable limits.To put it bluntly, everyone is full, so there is no artificial reaction.

The agricultural crisis was so serious that Russian farmers did not blame the tsarist government, and Alexander II ’s prestige was intact, that is, the benefits of full meals.

After pondering for a while, Alexander II decided to succumb to reality."Dead friends don't die poor", others are better than bad luck.

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Government of Vienna have conducted in-depth communication. This time, at all costs, they will also be pulled into the water."

After a failure, Alexander II's arrogance has diminished a lot, and he has converged a lot in his actions.

This is a crisis, but also an opportunity.If the operation is good, the Russian Empire can also use Austria's power to kill an enemy.

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