Holy Roman Empire

The international situation is changing, and Franz has not paid much attention. Now he is staring at the price change list in the first quarter.

According to common sense, the prices of daily necessities such as grains during the war will inevitably rise, especially the first raw grain exporter in Europe was involved in the war.

Because of the war, the total amount of grain exported from the Russian Empire to the outside world has decreased significantly since last year, and the amount of light flowing into Austria has decreased by a quarter.

Undoubtedly, this part of the gap was offset by the increase in grain production in Austria.

Although the potash fertilizer has just begun to be promoted last year, and it has not been widely used by the people, there is a state-owned farm in Austria!

In fact, the number of state-owned farms directly controlled by the government has been declining.Because of management costs, many small and medium-sized farms are leased to individuals.

No matter how much it is reduced, the land area occupied by state-owned farms is still not low.Calculating only the European part, the area occupied by state-owned farms is already less than 5% of the cultivated area, but it is different when other regions are added.

For example: In the Asia Minor Peninsula, apart from the nobles confiscating land and granting military power, the remaining cultivated land basically belongs to state-owned farms.

Not that Franz is willing to engage in so many state-owned farms, mainly because of practical needs.If the government does not arrange for people to take over, the farmland left by Ottoman will be deserted.

It is impossible to sell to the private sector, which will weaken the temptation to award military power to the fields and shake the fundamentals of Austria.

Except for the initial land redemption, and the period when the colony was opened, the best way for ordinary people to obtain land was through military merit.

Do n’t ask why, for who knows that there is a European War waiting, you must also prepare in advance.

Without enough rewards, why should the soldiers sell their lives?If you don't hoard enough land, what reward will you give to the soldiers after the war?

The European continent is now densely populated, and there has been no land for a long time, and loot cannot be expected at all.

In this context, even knowing that the operating costs of state-owned farms are high, Franz can only grind his teeth.

It is really unsustainable and can also be contracted to individuals for business.Anyway, as long as the property of the land is still national, it will not affect the future rewards to individuals.

In fact, the French government's ranch plan was also brought out by Austria.

Seeing a bunch of farms in the hands of the Austrian government, they followed suit.It ’s just that they do n’t know. Austrian farms are also trying to support it.

Because of the support of supporting processing companies behind the surface, on the surface, Austrian farms are in good operating condition and are able to pay profits to the government every year.

In essence, the profits are contributed by the subsidiary companies of the farm.Most farms are only able to protect their capital, and few directly generate profits.

It is not a listed company. The financial statements of state-owned enterprises are also kept secret. The external announcement only publishes the total profit. The specific enterprise structure and asset allocation are completely unknown to the outside world.

In the eyes of Napoleon IV, these are good data.

Someone suggested to follow suit, then follow suit, and there is no reason why the Austrian government can do what France cannot do.

The bureaucracy under the specific circumstances does not report, how could the emperor in the inner courtyard of the deep palace know?

Especially after the trip to Algeria, Napoleon IV directly attributed all problems to bureaucratic malfeasance and corruption.

Although there is a lot of land on state-owned farms, the area of ​​grain cultivation is not large, and the true meaning is still leading.

There is no shortage of smart people in this world. The government is promoting potash fertilizer and state-owned farms are using it on a large scale. Naturally, some people dare to take risks.

In particular, officials in the government first accepted potash fertilizer and used it on their own land.

The final result is naturally a substantial increase in Austria ’s grain production capacity last year.

The final increase in output is not 3% estimated by the Ministry of Agriculture, but 6.7%.

Of course, this also includes an increase in the area of ​​cultivated land, resulting in increased food production capacity.

Don't underestimate this 3.7% error, based on Austria's grain production base, this is the ration for millions of people a year.

Together with the respective agricultural plans of Britain and France, the colony increased grain production and reduced grain imports.

The end result is that Russian grain exports have decreased and prices in the international grain trading market have fallen instead of rising.

If the food price falls, it is acceptable.Then the prices of various commodities such as textiles and steel also fell, which made Franz unable to understand.

In the war years, how could the price of strategic materials fall in the battle between the two great powers of Britain and France?

Holding the document in his hand, Franz asked in disbelief: "Are you sure you have made the correct price list?"

Economy Minister Reinhardt: "Your Majesty, we have made several determinations. The above statistics are indeed the average price in the first quarter.

It's not just that domestic prices haven't risen; in fact, it's the same across Europe.Except for a wave of price increases early in the war last year, prices in the first quarter were a return to rationality in the market.

The impact of the Anglo-Russian War on the European economy is not as great as we had expected.In particular, the demand for materials is much less than what we planned.

For the time being, the Britons can rely on domestic production.The Russians have insufficient imports, and the Ministry of Economic Analysis has two main reasons:

First, the tsarist government prepared for the war ahead of time, and many materials were purchased before the war. Our export trade list last year can prove this;

Second, the consumption of supplies on the battlefield in Afghanistan is much smaller than we expected.

I have consulted the General Staff. The reduction of Russian military material consumption is on the one hand limited by the terrain of Afghanistan, which is not conducive to the deployment of heavy weapons; on the other hand, the British army is too incompetent and there is no evenly matched war."

This answer leaves Franz with nothing to say.The intensity of the war is not enough, and the consumption of materials is naturally not high.

Originally consumed the highest amount of grain, but the Russians are not short of it and do not need to import it at all.The British can raise money from India, and they can't transport it from Europe.

After receiving the news of the outbreak of the Anglo-Russian War, all European capitalists have opened their hands to expand production capacity in an attempt to make a fortune.

But because of the increase in production capacity, the strategic materials imported by the two major belligerent countries failed to keep up with expectations, which is a tragedy.

In the era of free trade, no matter it is a commodity, once the supply exceeds demand in the market, the price decline becomes inevitable.

If the Anglo-Russian war continued, the market confidence would not collapse, and the situation would be even more serious.

After a sigh, Franz reluctantly said, "For the time being, a new round of economic crisis is coming soon.

The capitalists imagined that the Anglo-Russian war was more magnificent than the Russian-Russian war, and all of them ran to make a fortune.

The current situation is very obvious. No matter how the British-Russian War is expanded, it is impossible to have a battle between millions of troops.

If the current situation is not changed, I am afraid that this British-Russian war will be the fuse for excess capacity in European countries."

Every time overcapacity is a mistake made by capitalists on market expectations.If it is a smart person, there is still a chance to cut the meat and stop the loss.If it continues until the end of the Anglo-Russian War, it will really be over.

Knowing to know, Franz didn't mean to interfere.This is a thankless thing, and there will be no gains other than pulling hatred and scorn.

Foreign Minister Weisenberg: "Overcapacity is only a small problem, it is nothing more than an industrial reshuffle, and the bite is gone.

The trouble is that in the recent period of time, the three countries of Britain, France, and Russia have been making small moves.In particular, the British are constantly creating friction between us and the French.

Just once or twice. If there are more times, our relationship with the French can't stand this test.

Especially not long ago, the British government also very vaguely stated that as long as we give up support for the Russians, they will support our reunification of the German region.

If nothing goes wrong, the British have made similar promises to the French, and may even promise more."

Don't talk about Austrian relations anymore. The relationship between any two countries can't stand the long struggle.

Knowing that this is a conspiracy of the British, but these contradictions exist in France and Austria, and they are still unsolvable.

No matter how the French and Austrian governments suppress it, there will be pimples in their hearts.Over time, these contradictions will always break out.

Prime Minister Carl shook his head: "The core of the problem is not on our side, the key depends on what the French think.

If the French can't stand the temptation and accept the British proposal, then the European War is inevitable."

In accordance with the original plan, it was only a matter of time before the Austrian unification of the German region was carried out step by step. The Vienna government can naturally restrain its desires without risking.

Changing to France is different. The China-EU strategy has already related to the question of whether France can go further.

If it is impossible to expand to Central Europe, it is now the peak era of France, and then it can only go downhill.

In fact, France has already begun to go downhill.Looking at the world, France has the highest international status and the strongest horizontal comparison strength between 1870 and 1881.

With a gunshot of the Paris Revolution, France was seriously injured again, but now it has just recovered.

Compared with Yingao, France directly wasted eight years.If the energy problem cannot be solved for a long time, the future situation will be even worse.

In this context, if the French government is not willing to fall, it is only a matter of time to choose to let go.

Franz frowned, and said slowly: "This situation has to be considered, and we have to speed up the preparation of the battle, lest something should happen to us by surprise.

Strengthen the monitoring of the French government and report any signs of war preparations immediately."

The preparations for war in Austria have already begun, but for the sake of confidentiality, the movement has been very small.

After all, it is not a good time for a decisive battle. Austria has not yet reached its limit, and its national strength is still growing rapidly.