After Christmas, Britain and Austria recognized the Empire of Greater France, which was a tacit acquiescence to France's annexation of Italy.

As a result, in 1871, European countries recognized the legitimacy of Grand France and re-established diplomatic relations with France, and Napoleon III finally got out of his diplomatic predicament.

This is the end of the international tensions surrounding the annexation of the Italian region by France. But the impact is far-reaching.

Undercurrents began to surge, careerists became active, expansion became the theme of the times, and many small European countries lost their sense of security.

The era of imperialism has come in full swing, and what the French did this time has once again refreshed the bottom line of the great powers. From now on, a strong country can annex a sovereign state without any excuse.

There is no need for a fig leaf, the law of the jungle has never been so vivid, and the rules of the game have become even more unfavorable to the weak.

I don't know who released the news of the alliance between Britain, France and Austria, which made the international situation that had just eased tense again. At this moment, the rest of the European countries could not sit still, and the foreign ministries of Britain, France and Austria were lively.

Alexander II, who was in a hurry to reform the interior, personally sent a telegram asking for it. Secrecy is impossible, and both Britain and France have publicly admitted that alliance negotiations are underway.

Originally, he was going to use this alliance to increase Austria's influence in the world, and Franz naturally did not deny it.

As for what Alexander II would think, it doesn't matter anymore. Not to mention the half-dead Russian Empire, even the Russian Empire at its peak had to retreat in the face of the Triple Alliance.

The formal alliance treaty between the three countries has not yet been signed, and discussions have begun on the issue of building a new international situation.

In the face of interests, everyone can't resist the temptation, and formulating a game rule that is beneficial to them happens to be the greatest benefit.

Even Franz, who had little interest in the Triple Alliance, was very interested in building a new international order.

Austria has experience in this area and has led the Vienna System twice. A set of rules of the game that is beneficial to oneself will bring no less benefit than the benefit of any colony.

Now everyone needs a stable Europe, the British need continental balance, the French want to digest the results, and Austria needs time to continue to develop.

The rest of the country was no exception, the Kingdom of Prussia needed to digest the results of the war, the Russians were busy reforming, not to mention the small ones, and everyone wanted a stable Europe.

With the common will of all, a new international order is about to be unveiled. This time it is more brutal than ever, and it will be enough for the three major powers to join after the rules are made.

The second-class powers, Prussia, Russia, and the Nordic Confederation, still have a certain say, and more small countries have completely become echo worms.

As one of the vested interests, Franz had no intention of crying out for them.

Now that he is busy carrying out economic reforms, the second industrial revolution has changed from the first, and some of the economic policies of the past have now become anachronistic.

Later, the famous "Austrian School of Economics" also began to emerge, but it was still in the embryonic state. Perhaps because of the butterfly effect, it has been affected by the environment, but it has changed.

Franz couldn't say exactly what was going on. He did not study economics and was not very clear about these issues.

In the era of the free market economy, Austria's economic policy was already positive, but of course it was very limited.

It is mainly free to develop by the market, and the government only provides a sound infrastructure, and formulates some incentives when necessary.

As long as you have money, you can enter any industry, and whether you can survive or not is your own problem.

As a pragmatist, Franz has always believed that "what is best is what is best". Within the broader framework, the economic measures in Austria are not exactly the same.

Different regions have different development directions and require different policies. If the central government is left to worry, it will not be too busy.

At the Vienna Palace, a conference to decide on Austria's economic report for the next ten years is taking place, and this economic reform is only a fine-tuning.

Generally speaking, the previous economic policy is still the same, and only individual industries need to be changed, and the scope is not large.

Economy Minister Andrew analyzed: "In the past two years, the domestic economic development has generally been in a good state, and the economic growth rate has remained at 7.8%.

Among them, it is worth noting that the growth rate of the new energy industry, mainly the power industry, is particularly prominent, from less than 10 million Aegis in 1868 to 200 million Aegis now.

The entire industrial chain involves many fields, driving upstream industries such as copper smelting, rubber, and power generation equipment manufacturing, as well as downstream hardware accessories, power machinery and equipment, transportation and other industries.

638,000 new jobs were created, making a significant contribution to the recovery from the economic crisis. The most typical is the copper smelting industry in Saxony and the Balkans, where significant breakthroughs have been made.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs believes that in the future, power and energy will become the largest economic growth point.

At present, only Vienna has fully popularized electric lighting in China, and although Frankfurt, Munich, Venice, Milan and other cities have started projects, it will take some time to complete.

We have found several copper deposits in Africa, all of which are rich ores, with ore of high quality, with reserves exceeding the total amount of copper being mined on the European continent.

We already have domestic shipyards to build large ore carriers of 20,000 or 30,000 tons without any technical problems. Transportation costs can also be reduced, and copper, which restricts the spread of electricity, can be solved immediately.

Solving the problem of raw materials, the price of copper in the market will soon fall, and the cost of promoting electric lighting will be greatly reduced.

In addition, there is a lot of potential for electric machinery and equipment, and it is even possible to replace the current steam engine in the future. At present, in some fields, electric machinery and equipment are already being used.

In addition, another economic growth point is that the number of newborn babies has reached new highs, and the sales of baby products continue to grow.

There are too many products involved in this aspect, and it is too troublesome to count, so we can only make a preliminary estimate. There is now a market of about 35 million Aegis per year, but it is growing rapidly and is expected to grow by 12% this year.

In contrast, the traditional economic sector market has shown signs of decadence. The last economic crisis has proven that many areas of the country are saturated.

At present, in the traditional economic field, the fastest growth rate is the steel, mining, shipbuilding and construction industry, which are 13.2%, 9.6%, 10.1% and 8.9% respectively, and the textile industry, which has grown rapidly in the past, grew by only 3.1% last year.

Our most advantageous food processing industry is also experiencing bottlenecks, and although it is still growing at a rate of 5.8%, the downward trend is very obvious.

Judging from these data, the development of emerging industries has become a pillar industry for future economic development. The Ministry of Economic Affairs plans to comprehensively promote electric lighting in the country and encourage innovation in electric power technology. ”

This is very much in line with the habit of the Vienna government, if the popularization of electricity is inseparable from the government's policy, if there is no government to promote, it is estimated that no power company will selflessly contribute a set of power supply network.

In contrast, baby products are different, there is no need for the government to intervene at all, the capitalists will do a good job, and all the government needs to do is to regulate and regulate the market.

Prime Minister Felix, who has become a serious veteran, took up the topic: "There is no problem in promoting electricity technology, and everyone has experienced the benefits of this technology, and the electric lights above our heads are one of them."

However, when promoting, it is also necessary to consider the upfront cost. The cost of building a city power supply network is not a small number.

Not every city can afford it, and the government does not recommend promoting it in cities with lower fiscal revenues. If someone turns this policy of benefiting the people into a policy that harms the people, we will be held accountable. ”

Whether power technology is good or not, the answer is: very good. Unfortunately, it was too early and the cost has not yet come down.

Large cities with higher local fiscal revenues follow the example of Vienna to popularize electric lighting, and there is no problem with it, and it can be done if it is affordable.

For some poor cities, that's a heavy burden. In Vienna, for example, the municipality spends 1.2 million per year on the cost of electricity and the maintenance of the lighting system.

For the bustling city of Vienna, the money can be distributed directly to the merchants of the city, who are the biggest beneficiaries of the city that never sleeps, and the income generated by the night market is more than enough to cover this cost.

If you change to some small cities, there is not much business, and the annual financial income is only a hundred thousand Aegis, and it is difficult to even maintain the operation of the government.

If you run to follow the trend, in the end this cost will fall on the heads of ordinary people. For the local people, who already have low incomes, it is a disaster.

The lower the population density of the city, the higher the per capita cost of electricity, and the Vienna government has already calculated this account.

In order to avoid the worst, Prime Minister Felix stepped forward in advance to pour cold water. lest some bureaucrats blindly follow the trend in order to brush up their political achievements.

Listening to Felix's warning, many local officials who attended the meeting sweated for their previous thoughts.

Sure enough, it is not easy to pick up cheap political achievements, if you don't have the conditions, run to blindly follow the trend, it is estimated that the report will be typed, and your career will be over.

Except for a few states that have greater autonomy, the rest of the cities still need to be reviewed by the Vienna government to launch such large projects.

So far, only large cities with developed economies, or in coal-producing areas, have been able to obtain approval, and the cost of generating electricity is unbelievably low.

For most cities, it is better to wait for technological innovation and further reductions in the cost of electricity before considering this issue.

The most important reason for the power revolution in Europe began in Germany was that Germany was the first in Europe in terms of copper production and coal production at that time, and the cost of promoting power technology was lower than that of Britain and France.

The United States has nothing to say, it lacks nothing. Whether it's copper production or coal production, that's how much or how much.

Therefore, starting from the second industrial revolution and the subsequent new technological innovations, the Americans gradually came to the front of Europe.

It's not that European countries don't have technology, the problem is that European countries lack raw materials, and transportation from overseas increases the cost and does not have the ability to promote. Regardless of the maturity of industrial technology, Britain and France cannot afford the high cost.

Now Franz is making a big fanfare about the revolution in electric power technology, and there is no secrecy at all, the main reason is that the cost of raw materials in Austria is lower than that of Britain and France.

With the exception of the Russian Empire, Austria has more copper reserves than the countries of Europe combined, not to mention production, and directly accounts for half of the world's share.

Austria also has a very important share in rubber production. The colonies in the South Seas were not occupied for nothing, rubber could be grown on almost every island, and with rubber plantations in Africa, Austria was now the world's largest supplier of rubber products.

Britain and France wanted to promote power technology, first to import copper, and then to import rubber. France is even worse, they still have to import coal.

The cost has been decided, and in this industrial revolution, Britain and France have fallen behind.