The younger brothers have a fighting spirit, and Franz is happy to see it. Success or failure does not matter, the most important thing is that this positive spirit is worthy of encouragement and development.

Austria is now also a big business, with a much higher tolerance for error. The success or failure of the South African war has nothing to do with the overall situation of the country.

Of course, it is better to succeed and crush the ambitions of the British in one fell swoop. Lest after the gold mining, the British have unrealistic illusions about another war.

The colonists in these years had no resistance at all in the face of interests, and only after experiencing defeat did they know that the sky was high and the earth was thick.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Karl handed over a statement to Franz and said with a sad face: "Your Majesty, this is the military expenditure for the last two months of the South African War, totaling 12.486 million Aegis. ”

War is a gold-eating beast, and there is nothing wrong with that. It's just a local war, and on average, it consumes more than six million Aegis every month, and if it's a full-scale war, it's even better.

It is impossible to save military spending, and the weapons and ammunition of the labor expedition are all transported from the country, and the cost of transportation alone is a considerable expense.

In fact, the current military expenditure is already low. At least the cannon fodder troops do not need Franz to pay salaries, nor do they need to pay pensions, otherwise this figure will increase several times.

However, no matter how much they save, these people still have to dress and eat, and eliminate the old tooth muskets, broadswords and spears, which also have a cost.

Franz looked at the report, and found that the expenditure of the 100,000 cannon fodder troops accounted for about 23 percent of the total military expenditure, and the rest was the expenditure of the tens of thousands of troops of the "Boer Republic".

Although it is to protect the family and defend the country, the military salary is still indispensable. Including the private army of the nobles who brought their own dry food, they all had a military salary. Pensions are also paid on an equal footing in accordance with the standards of the Austrian regular army.

Franz did not save in this regard, and he personally vetoed the government's money-saving plan. Theoretically, if you don't give money, you can also recruit nobles to fight, and you only need to divide the spoils after the war, which has been how the European continent has been playing since ancient times.

But Franz knew that times were different. It's okay to recruit a fief nobleman to fight once in a while, but after a few more times, it is estimated that the emperor will not be able to call people.

Faithfulness cannot withstand wear, and the human heart will change. If the war is won, and there is enough spoils to divide up, then it's okay to say.

If the war loses money, and the spoils of war are not enough to make up for everyone's losses, then complaints are indispensable. If you suffer a loss once, the next time you will disobey the yin.

Naturally, there was no shortage of loot in the South African War, and the gold mines were taken out and everything was gone. But in this way, there is nothing to do with the government.

The aristocracy contributed money and efforts to fight down, so why did the government intervene? At least during the tax holidays provided for by colonial law, the Vienna government had no way to benefit from it.

Thinking about it from another perspective, without knowing that there is a large amount of gold buried underground, few nobles dare to invest so much.

With the cost of more than six million Aegis per month, even the last top nobles of the HRE Empire could not afford to take this risk.

In case the money is spent and the war is not over, then you can only cry your nose. There have been many such negative teaching materials on the European continent, and many noble lords have wars with others, and they have run out of money just halfway through the battle.

The ancestors of the Habsburg dynasty had emperors, and they were forced by creditors to dare not go home. Of course, the main thing is to save face, if you really don't pay off the debt, what can a few businessmen do?

Half of the anti-Semitic movement in Europe came about in this way. The aristocrats couldn't afford to pay back the money, and they didn't want to bear the bad reputation of defaulting on their debts, so they simply turned against the Jews and directly wiped off the creditors.

Now the government is different, everyone's risk is minimized, and there is no need to worry about losing money because of accidents.

There have been many nobles who have succeeded on the continent in recent years, but there have been many more who have failed. Those who don't know how to control risks and are greedy for merit are now grass on their graves.

Any colonial empire is made of vast white bones, and the collapse of colonial empires in later generations is that no one wants to continue to shed blood for the colony.

In the final analysis, it is a question of the distribution of interests, the bureaucracy and the capitalists have divided up almost all the benefits, and the rest of the people have not even had soup to drink, who wants to continue to work hard?

Looking at the major colonial empires, few people say that the colonies lose money in the early days of their business, but they often lose money after decades or hundreds of years of operation, when the empire goes downhill.

Is it because less wealth has been created? Or has the cost of governance really skyrocketed, to the point where revenue cannot cover expenditure?

Obviously, having been in business for decades, the colony was able to create more wealth. But the government's revenues have rarely increased, and the money has gone into private pockets.

On the contrary, expenditures are increasing. An example of this is the declining Portuguese, whose colonial system, as far as Franz knew, could no longer bring wealth to the government.

Not only Portugal, but also the major colonial empires were increasing the cost of rule, but most of the colonies' taxes were still able to cover this cost.

The decay of the bureaucracy and the greed of interest groups are almost unsolvable problems. Similar problems exist even in the homeland, let alone in the colonies?

The rise of free trade has begun to attack the colonial system, arguing that it would impose a heavy financial burden on the government.

It cannot be said that it was prescient, and this part of the population mainly did not directly profit from the colonial system, and stood on their toes from a moral point of view.

In Franz's view, this is a typical example of picking up a bowl to eat, putting down chopsticks and scolding his mother. It is clear that it is enjoying the dividends brought by the colonial system, but it does not admit it, and believes that the cost of maintaining colonial rule is high.

As everyone knows, the industrial revolution is to eat people, and the primitive accumulation of capital is bloody, either external or internal.

In the 19th century, there was no such thing as free trade, and the British were just shouting slogans and wanting countries to open their markets to them.

Of course, when it comes to maintaining a competitive edge, they don't mind opening their markets to countries as well. Once this advantage is gone, it will turn around and deny people.

Otherwise, why would the Germans challenge the Old World? It is not the lack of industrial raw materials, and the dumping market of goods, that is pushed by capital to drive the chariot.

When the British and French free-traders got their wish and got rid of the rotten colonial system, what was ushered in was not a new life, but a rapid decline.

The local area is small, the resources are poor, and the industrial development is congenitally restricted, so in the face of the cruel reality, we have to play de-industrialization to quench our thirst.

These problems are not too troublesome for the time being. Until the colonial system entered an era of great losses, such calls could not become the climate.

No matter how loud the free trade is shouted, we must let everyone cooperate. Now they are all playing trade protection, and your family is running to play free trade, are you afraid that you will not die fast enough?

Franz said calmly: "Don't worry, we have a preliminary understanding of the geological conditions in South Africa.

The local land is fertile, the climate is pleasant, and the mineral resources are relatively abundant, and the future development potential is still promising.

All things considered, South Africa should be the land with the most potential for development on the African continent. The investment made now can be recouped in the near future. ”

Franz did not mention the question of gold, and it is better not to make a fuss about it until the dust settles. Anyway, driving the British out of the African continent was also one of Austria's national policies.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Karl explained: "Your Majesty, whatever the development potential, it is a matter of the future, and we do not lack a piece of land with unlimited development potential.

In fact, this kind of land with most resources is not necessarily a good thing. If you don't prepare in advance, you may not be able to lose your tail in the future.

It is imperative to end this war as soon as possible. Now that the French have stabilized the situation in Italy, and our purpose of sharing the pressure on them has been achieved, there is no need to continue to wear it down with the British. ”

There is nothing wrong with this statement, and it is not necessarily a good thing to have too many resources. With all the resources, the dependence on the empire decreases.

Franz nodded thoughtfully, it seemed that a fragmented South Africa was imperative. It is necessary to implement the provincial system of management as soon as possible to replace the current Governor-General's Office of South Africa, so as to avoid the emergence of regional groups in the future in the locality.

"We don't have to worry about the war, the officers and soldiers on the front line still want to end the war as soon as possible for Christmas, and it will only be a month or so, so there is no need to increase the pressure on them.

The Foreign Office took an opportunity to remind the French that we had fulfilled our agreement, and this time we had held back half of the British Army for them. ”

There is nothing wrong with this statement, and in terms of numbers, the British have invested more than half of the total number of troops in South Africa.

Doing good deeds also requires a name, how do you know if you don't say it? The more you give, the greater the gain, this is an era of equivalent exchange.

Brothers have to settle accounts, let alone allies? This kind of thing is better to put it in the open.

Even if countries only talk about interests, when talking about Franco-Austrian friendship, this is also a testimony to the friendship between the two countries.

It doesn't seem to be very useful now, but maybe it will be needed in the future. Take it out and fool the second teenager, it's enough. This kind of propaganda material was needed at a time when pro-Austrian factions were being cultivated in France.

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