Vienna Palace

Franz asked in surprise: "France and Russia are getting closer?" ”

Franz was not surprised that France and Russia would move closer, and to his surprise the two countries had come closer too soon.

An agricultural crisis is brewing, but it has not yet erupted. If you are in a hurry to go to the doctor, you will not fall into a panic until the condition is serious.

It's still early, the French have only one plan for the big farms, and the British have not even determined the place of origin of the grain.

Even if it will hit international food prices, it will have to wait until they grow food.

This kind of indispensable rigid demand products are not futures and stocks to bet on future market changes.

Whether it is bad or good, the demand in the market is indispensable. Before the occurrence of grain overcapacity, even if there is turbulence in the international grain market, there will be no major changes.

At least until the major grain-exporting countries abandon the implementation of a harmonized grain sales price, the international grain exchange market is unlikely to change significantly.

Foreign Secretary Wessenberg: "Your Majesty, the Tsarist government is also forced to do so.

Although the problem could be solved by expanding domestic demand after the outbreak of the agricultural crisis, the debt pressure of the tsarist government was too great.

The Russian Empire was also severely short of foreign exchange, and after losing the source of grain exports, its financial system would soon collapse.

The French were willing to let the Russians grain into their own market, and the tsarist government simply had no way to refuse. ”

There is no way, no matter how much you open up sources and reduce expenditure, the debt still has to be repaid, and you can only choose to pay foreign exchange or gold, and the ruble is basically unpopular in the international currency market.

Every year, a large amount of foreign exchange has to be used to pay off debts, and the tsarist government naturally has to work hard to earn foreign exchange, otherwise it will have to fill the hole with a large amount of gold.

As soon as there is a shortage of foreign exchange and a large amount of gold flows out of the country, the value of the ruble is finished. When a country's currency loses its credit, the financial system is doomed.

The tsarist government had experienced the sufferings of this firsthand, and could even say that it was experienced.

Every financial collapse is accompanied by the bankruptcy of the government.

What seems to be a very effective method of defaulting on debts is actually full of troubles. It's just isolation and exclusion from the international community, the key is what about mortgages?

You can't just get rid of the debts of the Nordic Confederation and Austria at the same time, refuse to fulfill the loan mortgage contract signed in advance, and fight with the two countries to smooth off the debt, right?

Naturally, the tsarist government would not reject this approach, which had no lower limit, and the allies were always worthless in the face of interests. But the current problem is that one enemy is two, and it really can't be beaten!

In this era of the jungle, the winners on the battlefield can rely on their accounts, but I have never heard of the losers being able to rely on their debts.

If you can't repay the debt, then you can only find a way to make money.

The French offered real benefits, and even though they knew that it might be a poisonous bait, the tsarist government had no way to refuse.

Franz nodded and said slowly: "It seems that we all underestimated the French, maybe the Paris government's big farm plan is a cover."

France itself was the largest producer of grain in Western Europe, and if it weren't for the annexation of Italy, they would not have been short of food at all.

These peasants were the foundation of the Bonaparte dynasty and would not harm them as long as Napoleon IV was not insane.

Politically, it has been decided that the price of grain in France will be at a high level in order to safeguard the interests of the peasant class.

The French's large-scale farm plans can reduce their dependence on food from the outside world, but they do not mean that they will be completely self-sufficient.

Once all the grain is self-sufficient, driven by interest groups, the price of grain in France is doomed to fall, and the interests of the peasant class can hardly be guaranteed.

Only by leaving a certain gap and importing food from overseas can we provide a justification acceptable to all parties to keep food prices high.

Wooing the Russians may have been part of their plan in advance. Our indulgence has only accelerated the development of the situation.

Next, how is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs prepared to respond? ”

The facts are in front of us, whether the French prepared in advance or had an idea, and the final situation developed in France's favor.

Under the condition that the interests of domestic peasants are not harmed, the large-scale farm plan will not only reduce the loss of foreign exchange, but will also help promote the development of the domestic grain processing industry.

Since the development of the industrial revolution, there are actually only a few mainstream economic sectors, namely: light industry led by the textile industry and agricultural product processing industry, and traditional heavy industries including shipbuilding, iron and steel metallurgy, and mining.

Next is transportation, and finally the new power industry. As for the automobile and internal combustion engine industries, they are still infants and young children, and they account for a very small proportion of the social economy.

France's foundation is still very thick, the industrial chain is basically complete, and the only regrettable lack of leading industries is the lack of leading industries.

The British occupy the hegemony of the financial, textile, and shipbuilding industries, and also occupy an important position in the mining, iron and steel metallurgy industries.

Austria is the dominant position in the agricultural product processing industry, power industry, transportation and other fields, and has also surpassed the British by a narrow margin in the fields of mining and iron and steel metallurgy, becoming the industry leader.

The French are tragic, there is no one in the important industry who can resist the flag, which is quite a bit of comprehensive mediocrity.

Not to mention heavy industry, innate resources have determined that it is difficult for the French to make a difference in this field, and it is already very hard to be able to rank third in the world.

The textile industry, which the government focuses on developing, has been beaten by the British in international competition, and it seems that the industry is very large, but in fact the total amount is not as good as that of Austria, which is not visible next door.

France's transportation industry is developing very well, and since Napoleon III has been overhauling railways, but unfortunately other industries have not kept up.

Capitalists have to consider returns when investing, and railways that have no hope of profitability for a long time will be ruthlessly abandoned even if they are built.

Frankly speaking, the development of emerging industries in France is still very good, but unfortunately the congenital restrictions are too great.

For example, in the electricity industry, the French entered very early. Unfortunately, the French are short of coal and rely heavily on overseas imports, and the high cost of power generation restricts the promotion of electricity.

It is difficult for the real economy to dominate, even if it can't become the industry leader, it can also be very nourishing to be the second in the industry.

Now the big farm plan seems to be just for food self-sufficiency, and it is enough to rely on farming.

In fact, because of the existence of tariff barriers, domestic agricultural product processing enterprises have the advantage of tax costs, as long as the grain production capacity increases, these enterprises will develop.

While promoting the development of the domestic economy, it also dealt a blow to competitors, and it can be said that this large-scale farm plan is beneficial to France.

Foreign Secretary Wesenberg replied: "We have no way to destroy the French ranch plan.

However, what they want to do to win over Russia must not be successfully accomplished, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is looking for a suitable point of intervention to interrupt France and Russia to continue to move closer. ”

If you say you are not afraid, it must be false.

France alone, or Russia, each with its own obvious shortcomings, was able to deal with it calmly, but if the two were together, the situation would change.

Franz has not forgotten that beyond the channel, there is a-stirring John Bull's. The First World War of the original time and space was detonated after John Bull joined the Entente.

In a sense, if there were no John Bull and no teammates, the Russians would not have hit the streets so quickly.

The material aid was timely, the tsarist government did not fall so early, the German Second Empire could not last so long, and the First World War had nothing to do with the Americans.

"It's hard to do, the French are willing to open up their domestic market, that's a real benefit, and it's hard for the tsarist government to refuse.

If we want to stop them from coming closer, we will have to pay a price, even if we add political influence, at least not much less than the French.

Unlike the French, they can toss and turn at will, and if they succeed, they make a lot of money, and if they fail, they cause us trouble.

If you come a few more times, I'm afraid you won't be able to stand it. In the long run, the French were not suppressed, and the appetite of the Russians was first raised.

Unless we can win with one blow, it will be very bad for us to continue to be entangled like this. ”

Herein lies the conundrum, the purely mischievous action of the French, whether it succeeds or fails in the end, the result will not be worse than it is now.

Austria, by contrast, cannot continue to play like this. For a long time, this will create an illusion for the Russians that Austria cannot do without Russia.