Napoleon IV shook his head, picked up a newspaper and said, "Compared with all of you, these newspapers are all from the decline of France."

Even our domestic newspapers are equally pessimistic. What this means, I think you all know very well.

If we don't take countermeasures, we won't be able to do it even if we want to. ”

Although they don't want to admit it, everyone knows in their hearts that France is indeed going downhill.

Economically, in particular, after quelling the rebellion at home, the French economy regressed directly to 1860.

Although there has been some recovery in the last two years, it has only caught up with the level of 1870. It will take at least three or four years to return to the peak of 1881.

One step is slow, and the next step is slow. France, which itself is financially behind Anglo-Austrian, has been left even further behind by two rivals.

Now that Egypt is out again, most of the prestige that the French army has built up with great difficulty has been lost.

No matter how good the reasons for the defeat of Governor Adolf, a loss is a loss, and the people will not care about the specific reasons.

The triple blow of economy + military + politics is coming at the same time, and once it is not handled well, the foundation of the government will be shaken.

In order to consolidate his rule, Napoleon IV now had to take a tough stance and restore the majesty of France.

Thinking and doing have always been two concepts, and revenge on Britain and Austria is easy to say, but it must be carefully thought out when it is done.

Admiral Hamdi Halbowey: "Your Majesty, although Britain and Austria are strong, they are not completely without flaws.

The core of the British colonial system was India, and as long as they worked on it, a little thing was enough to make them uncomfortable.

We already control half of Indochina, and we can continue to expand our influence into Burma and let the British fall into the trap.

Although we can't touch the core colonies of Austria, we can still cause some trouble for them, such as supporting the Republic of Colombia. ”

It all sounds good, but in fact, these painless counterattacks can only add a little trouble to Britain and Austria at best.

However, this just shows that Hamdi Halbowey has the political acumen to fight back against Britain and Austria without completely tearing his face and keeping the contradictions under control.

Napoleon IV shook his head: "This is not enough. Expansion into Burma would still threaten the British, and we would be able to make it a little bigger.

Supporting the Republic of Colombia is far from being able to play a role earlier. But now Colombia has been intimidated and does not dare to confront Austria at all.

Moreover, with their modest strength, if a conflict broke out with Austria, it might have given the Viennese government a pretext to annex them. ”

It's not that Napoleon IV is demanding, the key is that now they must come up with a weighty counterattack to show the European countries and the people at home.

was bullied by others, and if you don't fight back, is that still a France?

The reason why great powers are great powers is because of their strength. Now France needs a chance to prove its strength, and chose to rub against Britain and Austria once, in order to re-establish the status of their three major powers.

The results are not important, but the momentum must be enough, so that everyone can see the demeanor of France as a great country.

After a while, the Minister of Economy, Elsa said with some trepidation: "Your Majesty, if you want to retaliate against Austria, you don't have to start from the military, but you can also do it economically.

It's just that if you do this, the consequences are a bit serious. We may face Russia and Austria at the same time, and we still can't solve it. ”

France is not England, and the strategic plan of killing two birds with one stone is not their highest pursuit.

Eat a trench, grow a wisdom.

The French government has clearly felt the aftermath of too high a hatred value, and it is no problem to cause trouble for Austria alone, and a small revenge is no problem.

It is not in the interests of France to directly form a mortal enmity with Russia and Austria and continue to oppose each other.

After listening to the words of the Minister of Economy, everyone was confused. Isn't it the next economic black hand for Austria, as for Russia and Austria to become an undying enemy?

Napoleon IV asked curiously, "Say, what plan is so terrifying?" ”

Economy Secretary Elsa explained: "The immediate launch of the Africa Agricultural Development Programme (ADP) is different from the previous plan, this time we are not thinking about the benefits.

When no one invests in the private sector, the government funds the establishment of state-owned farms to expand the area of grain cultivation.

In a short period of time, a large amount of grain will be produced and put into the international grain market, bringing down grain prices.

Agriculture has always been one of Austria's most important industries, with agricultural exports accounting for nearly 40% of Austria's total exports and contributing a large amount of tax revenue to the Vienna government.

Among them, the export of finished grain accounts for the largest share of agricultural exports, accounting for about 53 percent.

If our plan were to succeed and international food prices plummeted, Austria would surely lose a lot.

Seventy percent of the finished grain exported by Austria is imported from Russia, and the Russians will be the second most casual, second only to Austria, when international grain prices have plummeted. ”

There is no doubt that this is a common weakness of Russia and Austria. Once a third country dumps a large amount of grain and international grain prices collapse, enterprises engaged in the processing of agricultural products and farmers who grow grain will suffer heavy losses.

Enterprises are only facing the pain of a sudden price crash, and the big deal is to lower the purchase price of raw grain and pass on the losses, and the farmers who grow grain are the ones who really lose their money.

It's no secret that such an obvious loophole is no secret.

For colonial countries, there was naturally no technical difficulty in growing grain overseas and dumping it on the European continent.

The problem is that an increase in food production will inevitably lead to a decline in international food prices.

Fortunately, the grain that has been grown so hard will not only not make money, but will even have to pay for the freight, let alone recover the cost of land reclamation.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Roy Vernon hurriedly objected: "No! Africa is an undeveloped wasteland, while Russia and Austria are already developed land, and the cost of growing our grain will definitely be higher than theirs.

This means that we are inherently disadvantaged in the competition of the future. In order to ensure that grain is not unsalable, there is only one way to dump at low prices.

When the time comes, everyone will fight for financial resources, and see who can't hold on and fall down first, which is completely hurtful to people.

What's more, the collapse of international grain prices will also affect the country, causing domestic farmers to lose money together. ”

If you don't rush it, once this plan is launched, it will cost money like water, and the shriveled pockets of the Ministry of Finance will not be able to hold it at all.

Napoleon IV: "Roy was right to say that it is not advisable to hit the price of grain. This will only make us lose both sides with Austria and cheapen the British on the sidelines. ”

Hurt the Russians by mistake Napoleon IV doesn't care, anyway, relations between the two countries are not good, and offended is offended.

When it comes to the interests of the French peasantry, it is different. The French peasants were the staunchest supporters of the Bonaparte family, and it was with the support of the peasants that Napoleon III ascended to the throne.

Even if it hit Austria harder, Napoleon IV could not do such a self-destruction of the Great Wall.

The words of politicians have already been spoken, and naturally they cannot be easily withdrawn. Since Elsa has made this suggestion, she can only go on with her head.

"Even if not to fight Austria, it is necessary for us to start the African Farm Program.

Since the annexation of Italy, France has become one of the main food importers on the European continent, consuming a large amount of foreign exchange to import agricultural products every year.

If one day we turn against Austria, we will soon have a food crisis in the country. For the sake of national strategic security, it is also necessary to achieve food self-sufficiency.

In any case, we have withdrawn from the free trade system, and we can completely adopt tariff barriers to ensure that domestic grain prices are not interfered with by the international market, so as to protect the interests of the peasant class.

We can even take a step back and not compete for the international market for agricultural products, but only achieve domestic food self-sufficiency and reduce the hostility of Russia and Austria. ”

Hearing about "protecting the market", Napoleon IV's heart lit up. On the premise of ensuring that the interests of the peasants in the country would not be harmed, he was still happy to strike at the Austrian economy.

Although the economy is not equal to the strength of the country in these years, if the economy is developing well, the government will have money in its pocket, and if there is money, there will be soldiers.

Perhaps the middle and lower classes did not feel the threat of Austria, but after the Paris Revolution, the upper echelons of the French government realized that their former neighbors were not the same as they had been.

Suppressing Austria has become the consensus of the French high-level, and no action has been taken, that is, the French government is very busy. After the suppression of the civil rebellion, there is still a lot of mess waiting to be cleaned up.

Seeing that the domestic problem was about to be solved, the Egyptian rebellion broke out again. If it had not been forced to be helpless, the French government would not have chosen to fight back at this time.

To this day, the Empire of Greater France is second only to the British in importing grain. If this market is lost, there will inevitably be agricultural overcapacity in Europe.

At that time, Russia and Austria, the two major grain exporters, should not think of having a good life, and may even trigger a new round of economic crisis.