On March 22, 1872, Britain and Russia signed the Anglo-Russian Bilateral Trade Agreement, the Anglo-Russian Grain Mortgage Agreement, and the Anglo-Russian Agreement on Financial Mutual Trust......

In addition to the absence of an alliance, it became a fact that the tsarist government was economically close to the British.

According to the terms of the treaty, the Russians were already a member of the British pound-gold system, and the hegemony of the British pound as an international currency was formally established.

In return, the British were to provide the tsarist government with an interest-free loan of 150 million pounds over the next five years, and the Russians paid off their debts entirely with agricultural products.

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

It was nothing more than that the prices of these agricultural products from Russia were lower, and the London government exempted them from import duties. Through low prices, it has seized the market of other countries that export agricultural products to the UK.

The first to bear the brunt is Austria, which is undoubtedly the largest exporter of agricultural products in the world. Sixty-five percent of the total agricultural imports of the British each year come from Austria, and this market can now almost be declared to be non-existent.

"Free trade", just listen to it, if it is serious, it will be over. The British shouted earth-shatteringly, involving specific interests, but they were decisively thrown aside.

If Austria wants to keep the British market, the price of agricultural products must be cut at least in half now if it is to survive the competition.

Under the influence of the Anglo-Russian treaty, the international agricultural market began to plunge in April. The capitalists have gone to stock, sold off, and accumulated cash flow, for fear of being frozen to death in the next cold winter of agricultural products.

As the protagonist of the center of the whirlpool, Franz is not so nervous. Although the British did not expect a sudden attack, the Vienna government had already expected the impact on the international agricultural market.

At the last annual work conference, the Vienna government drew up a plan to reduce grain production, mainly focusing on wheat, corn, beans, agricultural products that the Russians had a large production capacity.

At the Vienna Palace, at the special economic meeting on agriculture, Franz took the baton and drew a curve on the world map.

"The Russians are menacing, the British are fueling the flames, and the agricultural winter is coming. This is a challenge for Austria, and we have to do everything we can to the best possible. Halls, let's start with the Department of Agriculture's plan. ”

The Minister of Agriculture, Halls, stood up from his seat, straightened his clothes, and put on a serious and nervous expression, obviously the topic was 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 structure of the agricultural product industry, reducing the output of staple grains, clearing stocks, and developing animal husbandry.

These measures can only alleviate our losses, but they cannot cure the root cause of the problem. The international agricultural market is so big that we can't get through the crisis by cutting production capacity.

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

The collapse of agricultural market prices was mainly caused by the Russians, so we will push the boat and make the crisis more violent.

The Ministry of Agriculture plans to halve international food prices in the next three years, crushing agricultural production in European countries.

Although Russia's agricultural production capacity is large, they lack the ability to resist risks. The tsarist government had limited financial resources and could not provide security for the peasants.

Once grain prices collapse, it will inevitably lead to a wave of peasant bankruptcies. If we are lucky, we can also wreak havoc on the Russian agricultural system.

In order to compensate for the losses of the country's peasants, the Ministry of Agriculture proposed to suspend the collection of agricultural taxes, taxes on grain transactions, export duties on agricultural products, and a ban on the collection of tithes by churches. At the same time, a minimum grain price will be set to ensure that farmers will not lose money. ”

In addition to the fear of being profited by the fishermen, the destruction of the agricultural production systems of European countries is more due to the fact that the Vienna government does not want to pull this hatred.

Austria has taken the lion's share of the international grain export market, and it has taken the lion's share of the benefits anyway, so why bother to do something desperately?

Now it's easy to do, it's the Russians who jump out, and with a casual publicity, you can dump the black pot on the tsarist government, and by the way, black a wave of British. Anyway, their reputation is already stinking, and they don't care about Dora's hatred.

The Anglo-Russian agreement is the best proof of this, as they directly discounted the price of grain exports by seven and exempted them from tariffs. The direct involvement of the two governments in trade undermined the free trade system, which is the source of the loss of money in the food production of European countries.

Proper dumping at low prices cannot be washed away by anyone. Someone takes the lead in reducing prices, and the following ones are inconspicuous, and if a price war accidentally breaks out and the price is lower, there is no way to do it.

Britain and Russia joined forces to crack down on Austrian grain exports, and instead of letting domestic grain go unsalable, it was better to hit the price to the lowest point.

Once the international grain price is cut in half, I don't know if the British grain merchants will fulfill the contract, and this kind of loss-making business is not liked. In case the British break the treaty, there will be a good show to watch then.

It seems that it is only impacting the food production systems of various countries, but in fact it is also undermining the close relationship between Britain and Russia. Nothing breaks down an alliance more than a conflict of interest.

Moreover, Britain and Russia are not yet allies. It is only for the sake of interests that they are close, and once the conflict of interests of both parties exceeds the interests brought by the partnership, it is difficult to part ways.

The crowd fell into deep thought and began to digest what Hall had just said.

"How big will the impact of the halving of grain prices have on the country, and will it lead to a large number of bankruptcies of farmers? Will it involve the entire agricultural system? How much money do I need to invest? ”

The question was asked by Prime Minister Felix, who said that agriculture has always been a pillar industry in Austria and should not be ignored by the Vienna government. In case the game collapses, the sequelae can be very serious.

"Your Excellency the Prime Minister, please rest assured. Our Ministry of Agriculture has conducted a special assessment, and after suspending the collection of agricultural taxes, tithes, grain transaction taxes, and grain export duties, international grain prices have been cut in half, and the impact on the country has been minimized.

Reflecting on the grain purchase market, the grain purchase price will drop by about 20 percent. The Ministry of Agriculture will supervise it, and if the market is volatile beyond that, we will directly intervene in the acquisition.

Since the cost of grain production varies from place to place, it is not possible to generalize. In the Wallachian plains, where the natural conditions are better, there are even small profits. And some provinces with poor natural conditions may have to lose money.

Peasant bankruptcies are bound to occur, and with the development of the times, the smallholder economy is bound to be destroyed, and this primitive mode of production is too costly to compete with mechanized farms.

Farmers in the country have a high per capita land area, and usually they grow a variety of crops in parallel, so they have a certain ability to resist risks, and large-scale farmers' bankruptcies will not break out in Austria.

To complete this plan, the amount of money needed is still relatively large, at least 120 million Aegis needs to be invested, and at the same time, the financial needs to be reduced by about 21 million Aegis every year, and the government needs to fill the hole of another 15 million Aegis in education. ”

In the end, the problem is still a money word. Once this program was launched, the era of agriculture supplementing industry and education came to an end.

In fact, Austria's agricultural taxes have always been low, at just 5 percent, which is the lowest among the continent's major agricultural producers.

The grain export tariff is as high as 15%, but the export tariff on refined finished grain is only 3%~5%, which is adjusted according to the actual situation, and 1% has been levied at the lowest time.

As a result of this policy, Austria exports almost exclusively refined grain, with very little direct export.

Other related taxes are also very low, such as 5% grain transaction tax, direct exemption from vehicle and vessel transportation tax, and almost no additional taxes.

Even so, these taxes, which account for an important part of Austria's fiscal revenue, have declined in recent years and are still a significant figure.

Franz fell into the calculation, investing 120 million Aegis operating funds is easy to do, a one-time investment will be crowded, and if it is not possible, you can also take out bank loans, or issue bonds, which is not enough to make Austria.

The trouble is that fiscal revenues have decreased, education spending has increased, and this 36 million Aegis is not a one-time thing, but lost forever.

"Temporary exemption", in fact, this is temporary is permanent, after the end of the dividend period in agriculture, it is time for industry to subsidize agriculture.

This means that Austria's fiscal revenues have shrunk by 8.3 per cent and fiscal expenditures have increased by another 6.1 per cent.

Listening to the plan of the Ministry of Agriculture, Chancellor of the Exchequer Karl frowned, and after a moment of silence, he put down the water glass in his hand.

"It's too radical, and there is no need to be so extreme in order to crush the agricultural production systems of European countries. It is enough to raise international grain prices to the point where the peasants of all countries are unprofitable, and there is no need to do it in one step.

In the field of agricultural production, we have an advantage, and the cost of food production is the lowest on the European continent. We also have a complete industrial supporting system, which can get more profits.

Farmers in all European countries have begun to lose money, but in fact, domestic farmers still have a certain amount of profit, and as long as we drag on, they will not be able to hold on.

From an economic point of view, the Russians are likely to be the first to hold out. Unless the tsarist government paid for agriculture, the high cost would make Russian agricultural products uncompetitive in the market.

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

The Russians' grain has not yet been exported to Britain, so now we will release our grain reserves first, hit the international market and hit the price to the British-Russian transaction price, and then see if the British will fulfill the contract.

If they don't, the Russians will be in bad luck. I don't know if the tsarist government's wallet can afford it, and the mountain of grain can't be sold, and the consequences are very serious. ”

It is not the price of food that has been broken, but the finances of the tsarist government. In the event of a large-scale unsalable grain, Alexander II was out of luck.

There is no way, there is only grain left in the hands of the peasants. Either the government directly requisitioned the grain and then rotted in the warehouse; Either that, it's tax-free.

Once the market is full, no one dares to take over, even if it is cheap. Every time the economy explodes, there are capitalists who pour milk into the river just to avoid a price collapse.

Now Carr's plan is to crush the price of grain in Britain before the Anglo-Russian deal is completed.

Naturally, international food prices will not be spared, and Austria will also suffer greatly. But as long as the British default, then the Russians, who have suffered heavy losses, will certainly not rest on their laurels, perhaps without the London government, but the exit from the pound-gold system is inevitable.

At that time, even if the tsarist government is unwilling, it can only join the Aegis - the golden system. Losses in the grain market can be recouped in the financial market.

Halls frowned and questioned, "What if the British fulfilled the contract?" The benefits of monetary hegemony are not a fraction of the time, and they have no reason to give it up. ”

Karl smiled calmly: "That's nothing more than all grain exporting countries this year, living a hard life together." Even if the international grain price is discounted by 7%, the impact on Austria, which exports refined grain, will not be so great.

Don't forget that the food finishing industry itself still has more than a dozen points of profit, and these enterprises can also share a part of the losses.

Generally speaking, the price of raw grain has fallen by 70 percent, and domestic agricultural production can still maintain its capital. That's enough, I don't think that at the current price of grain exports, Russian peasants will be able to make money.

The price that the government needs to pay is only a part of the grain reserves, as well as a reduction in fiscal revenue of 800~10 million Aegis.

If it directly impacts the agricultural systems of European countries, and uses the Russians to carry the black pot, it can only fool ordinary people, and politicians are still clear.

If they take countermeasures and artificially raise tariffs on grain imports, what can they do with cheap grain in addition to increasing their fiscal revenues? ”

This is the 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.