A reduced version of the African railway network plan was released, and in line with the principle that if you can save money, you will save money, except for half of the central government for the construction of main roads, the construction of other regional railways will have to be done by the colonial government itself.

The main road is a strategic necessity that connects the colonies and increases their resilience. Even in the event of a world war, Austria would have been able to keep the continent.

Not to mention the gold mines in South Africa, it is a problem, and if you want to block the prying eyes of various countries, you can't do it without strength.

The Portuguese did not dare to join forces with the British, and that was because the benefits given by John Bull were not large enough to make up for the price to be paid. If they discover that there are large gold mines in South Africa, will they still be able to restrain their desires?

To put it bluntly, colonies are only one type of wealth in this era. As long as the benefits are large enough, it will be worth it even if Austria retaliates and loses colonies elsewhere.

Otherwise, why would Franz have to fight the British in South Africa? As long as the Viennese government announced the annexation of the Boer Republic, and the Governor of Delphi was not stupid, how could it be possible to continue the war?

The greatest value of the Anglo-Boer War was to make the London government soberly realize that they really couldn't fight on land.

As for the colonial government of Cape Town, it is estimated that it will not be able to emerge from the shadow of this war for decades.

As soon as the railway was connected, even if the gold reserves were exposed, the colonial government of Cape Town did not have the courage to do anything, and this was the effect of the war.

Including the government in London, there is also no desire to fight. Because Austrian Africa, which was connected to Austria, could mobilize hundreds of thousands of troops at any time, the price to pay to seize the gold mines from Austria was too great to exceed their limits.

Overall, Franz already values the African continent more than Europe, and he sees it as Austria's future.

There is no way, it is too difficult to expand on the European continent. If there was no colony in Africa, then the European continent would not have been so peaceful for so many years, and Franz would have done things a long time ago.

Not to mention anything else, with the grievances of the Habsburgs and the Ottoman Empire, they will definitely not survive until now.

Austria didn't attack them, it was because of its own lack of strength. Because of diplomatic mistakes, coupled with fierce domestic political struggles, which led to successive military defeats on the European continent, he was only able to barely defend himself at this time.

Because of the opening of the Austrian African colony, which had enough resources for Austria to digest for many years, Franz gave up the idea of provoking a war on the European continent.

This is a matter of return on investment, and none of the belligerents of the First World War in the original time and space had a victor, and each of them was seriously injured, and in the end it was cheaper.

The Second World War was even more miserable, and the European countries that participated in the war were no longer a matter of vitality, almost all of them were wiped out, and only the lying corpse of France was barely escaped.

The risks are too great, and the benefits are too small. After all, the territory on the European continent is not easy to digest, and if you choke on it, it will be over.

Just look at the French, in order to digest the Italian region, they had to concentrate their strength, and their overseas colonial expansion activities were affected.

The most likely Fa-Austrian collision is now without any signs. Due to the change in strategic focus, the French have greatly reduced the rate of expansion on the African continent, and there is still enough buffer between the two countries.

There are also some on the African continent, and the expansion of the French is slow, and Austria will naturally not be polite.

Even if the two countries divide their spheres of influence, there is no satellite map in this era, and the African continent is so big, even if it is advanced by one or two hundred miles, no one will know.

A line on the map has a huge error when it comes to the actual boundary. Fortunately, at the junction of the spheres of influence of the two countries, there are mostly vast deserts, otherwise the territory of the French would have shrunk long ago.

It was not only Austria that took advantage of the opportunity to seize territory, but the British also stepped up their infiltration into the Sudanese region. If the Anglo-Boer War broke out suddenly, dragging down the energy of Britain and Austria, the interests of the French in Sudan might not be able to be preserved.

Of course, with the alliance of Britain, France and Austria, these problems will gradually fade, and everyone will try to refrain as much as possible.

Paris, with the French political decision to shrink the strategy, the forces invested in this side were also weakened. By now, the situation in Mexico has been suppressed.

Napoleon III was now in a big headache, and he was still hesitating to give up the Mexican Empire. This decision is not good, and in recent years the French government has invested too many resources in Mexico, and it is a pity to give it up.

If it weren't for Austria's continued lack of influence in Mexico, Napoleon III would have wondered if Massimiliano I had sent spies from the Habsburgs to cause trouble for France.

Of course, this thought was only fleeting. From the point of view of family interests, if the Habsburgs were interested in Mexico, they could not have allowed Massimiliano I to make a foreigner crown prince.

When Napoleon III received the news, he was stunned by this divine maneuver, and he wondered for a moment whether it was the illegitimate son of Massimiliano I.

In his opinion, even if the descendants of the Habsburg family have no interest in the Mexican throne, it is better to abduct a member of the collateral family to become the heir than to support an outsider to ascend to the throne.

If it weren't for the fact that the influence of the Bonaparte family was too weak to be recognized by the local constitutionalists, or Napoleon III would have supported his own people to the throne.

Napoleon III regretted it, if he had known that Massimiliano I was so incompetent, he would not have supported this idiot to ascend to the throne.

The rich old man who passed the sixtieth year saw the emperor's embarrassment, after all, this political investment was led by Napoleon III, and now to give up Mexico, it must not be proposed by the emperor himself.

"Your Majesty, the investment in Mexico has failed, and if we continue to invest, we may not be able to recoup the cost, and now what we need to do is to stop the loss.

Taking advantage of the opportunity of the alliance between the three countries, we can deter the Americans, and we need to find a next home to take over as soon as possible and strive to sell at a good price. ”

Selling the interests of Mexico, it is indeed a good option, at least better than losing all your money.

In order to crush the rebels in Mexico, the French have lost tens of thousands of soldiers and borrowed more than a billion francs.

This loss is almost as big as the British loss in the Anglo-Boer War. However, the effort does not necessarily pay off, and the rebels in Mexico are repressed more and more, and the situation is still deteriorating.

After pondering for a while, Napoleon III asked suspiciously: "Mexico is not our colony yet, the situation is still deteriorating, who can we sell our interests over there to?"

Spain had a civil war over the throne, and it was impossible for Spain to intervene in Mexico at this time; The British calculated too much to overprice; The Austrians' strategy for running overseas colonies was focused on the African continent and had no interest in Mexico.

The rest of the countries either do not have the strength and are simply impossible to take over; Either it's a poor ghost who has no money, and it will be too expensive to give it to them. ”

That's the crux of the matter, they can't control the situation, who can they expect to take over?

Everyone is not stupid, as long as you know the situation in Mexico, you know that this is a mess, and you will not jump into this fire pit at all.

After a pause, as if thinking of something, Napoleon III scolded: "Marquis Ficker, don't tell me I'm an American?" It's impossible.

It can be sold to any country, except to the United States of America and the Confederated States of America, as agreed in the Four-Power Convention.

Once the treaty is violated, we will face sanctions from the other three countries, and the newly established British, French and Austrian Triple Alliance will immediately collapse! ”

On the issue of balancing the Americans, Britain, France, and Austria all have the same position. France is now a responsible power, and it must not be messed with.

In order to sell for a few bucks, it was necessary to break up the Triple Alliance of England, France and Austria, and Napoleon III was not so short-sighted.

He was very aware of the diplomatic dilemma faced by France, and on the surface everyone was reconciled, but the secret exclusion of European countries has always existed.

Especially after the annexation of Italy, their life was not easy. If the Triple Alliance is torn up, Britain and Austria may retaliate, and it will be another anti-French alliance.

Seeing that Napoleon III was angry, the old man immediately shut up. This is already worthy of the Americans' money, and the emperor has no choice but to put himself in if he doesn't agree.

As if sensing the Marquis Ficker's plea, Chancellor of the Exchequer Allen opened his mouth to relieve the siege: "Your Majesty is right, Mexico must not fall into the hands of the Americans.

However, the issue of Mexico must also be resolved as soon as possible, and if it drags on, we will only lose more.

It is a personal suggestion that whoever accepts the Mexican Empire can obtain the benefits we have on the ground as long as it can guarantee the proper performance of our debt to the Mexican government. ”

Obviously, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Allen, is sober, and he knows very well that with the chaotic situation in Mexico, it is impossible to sell for a good price, as long as the debt can be guaranteed to be fulfilled normally, God forbid.

Even he didn't have much hope for this, after all, there were too few people willing to take over at this time. Unless the Americans were brought in at the risk of breaking with Britain and Austria, this unjust culprit would be basically impossible to find it.

The Mexican government's debt to France is not a small amount, and with Mexico's fiscal revenues, it will take decades to repay even if it does not have any expenses.

After a moment of contemplation, Napoleon III spoke: "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs shall contact the European countries as soon as possible to test which of them is interested in taking over the Mexican Empire."

Now I can't care about so much, I don't ask for how much money to sell, as long as I can get rid of it as soon as possible to avoid losing all my money. ”