After some research and discussion, Franz finally came up with an unexpected answer - the British could not hold on.

This "untenable" does not mean that the British are about to be finished, in fact the British Empire is at its peak, and no one has yet been able to threaten their world empire.

It's just that colonial empires are essentially about making money, and now there are too many international conflicts, and countries are stabbing each other and digging holes, which greatly increases the cost of colonial maintenance.

The investment is increasing, but the benefits are not growing in tandem, and sometimes they are decreasing because of unrest. Against this backdrop, it is not surprising that the London government wanted to stop this unnecessary struggle and reduce the cost of colonization.

There was also a colonial council (the Berlin Conference) in the original plane, but it was made by the Belgians, and Leopold II took advantage of the contradictions between the great powers to successfully obtain the Congo region.

Now that the Congo region has fallen into the hands of Austria early, and the African continent is almost divided, Leopold II naturally will not do useless work.

The Berlin Conference is now no longer available, and the major colonial empires still lack an opportunity for in-depth communication and mediation of conflicts.

Although Britain, France and Austria formed an alliance, they only reached agreement on the core issues, and the details of each colony were not yet discussed.

Don't look at the dominance of the three major powers in the colonial partition and think that they can do whatever they want, in fact, the major colonial empires are not easy to mess with.

They may not be as strong militarily as the Three Kingdoms, but they can still do it with a stab in secret, for example: spreading nationalism and supporting the colonial independence movement.

The recent years have seen a surge in the colonies as proof of this. If anyone counts, they will find that the number of uprisings in the colonies is increasing year by year.

If this situation continues, everyone should not want to make money happily. In particular, the British, who have the most colonies, also have the highest cost of rule.

The Vienna government did not feel it obviously, it was due to Austria's colonial policy and special geographical environment.

Although Austria has a large colony, it has a small indigenous population. There are not many people, no matter how chaotic it is, where can it be chaotic?

The rebellion, which can be suppressed by the police, is not worth mentioning at all. In contrast, the British are tragic, not only in terms of territory, but also in terms of population.

Nearly half of the colonial uprisings that have erupted in recent years have taken place in the British colonies, and the London government would have had problems if it was not in a hurry.

This is the result of the British pulling hatred everywhere, and everyone does not dare to do anything to them on the surface, but secretly stabs them but there is no pressure.

Not to mention, Austria alone invests millions of Aegis every year, specifically to export all kinds of doctrines and ideas to the outside world, most of which are aimed at the British.

It was not that the London government did not fight back, the problem was that they could not find a suitable pawn, otherwise the British would not have made great efforts to keep the Ottoman Empire.

The British ate the most in the colonial campaign and offended the most people. Now not only Austria, but almost all the major colonial empires in Europe are secretly making small moves.

This kind of thing, as long as there is no evidence, except for secretly retaliating, the London government can do nothing on the surface.

Even if they want to find an excuse to exert diplomatic pressure on small countries, France and Austria will jump out to play a round, so that they have nowhere to vent.

The total population of the British colonies is as high as four or five hundred million, the total population of the French colonies is only forty or fifty million, and the total population of the Austrian colonies is less than thirty million.

In the colonial movement, the British received the greatest rewards, but also paid the highest cost of rule.

The phrase "population is wealth" is not always true, and it needs a process of transformation. Wealth can only be created by harnessing the population.

There was no doubt that the British could not have taken advantage of so many people in the colony. Otherwise, don't say France and Austria, even the European countries together are no match for them.

In the development of the colonies, Austria made the most full use of labor. This is not Franz's hanging, nor is it how well the Vienna government manages, it is entirely determined by the quality of the population.

The population of the Austrian colony was small, but European immigrants and their descendants accounted for more than half of the total population.

This figure is incomparable to Britain and France, and the population base determines that they cannot take out so many immigrants. There are not enough immigrants, and the local indigenous productivity is very backward, and the wealth created is naturally limited.

This is something that the French should feel most deeply, and purely from the perspective of the colonial revenue, the French colonies have lost money for many years.

It is not surprising that the loss of money in the colonies was not only experienced by the French family, but by almost all colonial empires.

However, it is usually at the beginning of the development of the colony, and after the development reaches a certain level, it will turn a profit, and only a few colonies have been losing money.

Austria is one of them, at its peak it lost tens of millions of Aegis every year, and even now there are still many places that are losing money, and on the whole, it is only breaking even.

Of course, this is only a simple calculation of the direct fiscal revenues of the colonial government. If you calculate the bonus of the colonies to the domestic economy, then the situation changes.

The British are hated, and that is because they occupy the most fertile land. Even the most backward forms of governance can make direct profits, and earn more than everyone else.

In contrast, the French were tragic, and they carried out the "desert empire" more thoroughly than the same period in history.

Since it is a desert empire, naturally don't expect how fertile the land is. Before the natural resources of the underground were exploited, French Africa was a concentration camp in rotten land.

If it weren't for Napoleon III's immigration from the Balkans and Italy, and the development of North Africa to a certain extent, I am afraid that the loss would have been even worse now.

Of course, more deserts are not without its benefits. At least in terms of the cost of rule, the French did not spend much.

In other areas, rebels can wander around and drill ravines, and desert areas will die as long as they are far away from the oasis. Therefore, the rule of the French in North Africa was quite solid.

After clarifying his thinking, Franz knew very well that it was the general trend to mediate international disputes and reduce international conflicts through negotiations.

Driven by profits, almost all colonial empires had a desire to reduce the cost of colonial rule. In this context, if you stand in the way, you are on the opposite side of everyone.

Franz doesn't like to block cars with mantis, and since it's a common appeal of everyone, it's better to get involved.

Austria was also a member of the colonial empire, and it was also a beneficiary to reduce some strife, but not as much as the British.

Franz: "De-escalating international conflicts and reducing the cost of maintaining colonies is good for everyone, and we don't need to be this villain."

Now let's think about how much we can benefit this time. ”

Can the cost of maintaining a colony really be reduced?

Deep down Franz didn't believe it!

It may indeed be possible to reduce in the short term, but it is destined to increase in the long run. Especially in densely populated areas, the cost of future rule is bound to increase dramatically.

Everything else is easy to handle, but ideas and doctrines are uncontrollable, and as long as they are passed on, they cannot be taken back.

The seeds have been sown, and no one knows when they will take root and sprout, and then blossom and bear fruit.

Prime Minister Felix: "Your Majesty, in fact, we have become spectators at this partition meeting. There are too few places for us to be able to get our hands on.

The only areas available for colonization are the Ottoman Empire, Persia, the Far East, parts of Indochina, and parts of East Africa.

South America is barely counting, but they are already independent, and for the cost of rule, they are only suitable as economic colonies.

The most suitable for us is the Ottoman Empire, and other regions are either too strong competitors or too far away, and we can't get enough of it.

Britain and France will not let us annex the Ottoman Empire, so it will be difficult for us to gain anything from this feast. ”

"Economic colony" is a new concept proposed by European scholars as the cost of colonial rule has become increasingly high.

Put simply, direct rule is too costly, and instead it supports proxy rule and grabs wealth through unequal trade agreements.

There are still many supporters of this concept, and in everyone's perception, colonies are for making money, and as long as they can make money, it doesn't matter how they rule.

Prime Minister Felix proposed large colonies, and in addition to that, there were many leftovers, but because the area was too small, or the economic value was too low, it was not worth paying attention to.

Of these, the richest is undoubtedly the Far East, but the situation is the most complicated, with a large concentration of powers.

Austria has no local roots and has missed the opportunity to get involved. Moreover, the distance was too far to exceed the limits of Austria's power projection.

Persia was regarded as a bag by the British, and in the area near India, John Bull looked at it to death, and whoever touched it would turn against him.

The Kingdom of Prussia occupies a corner, the British are involved, and the French are desperately fighting.

For Austria, the East African region is already a dispensable "chicken rib". The economic value is limited, it will lose money for a long time, and the strategic points are preempted by the British, and it is almost impossible to get their hands on them.

Although South American countries are suitable for economic colonies, because of their distance, Britain and France have greater influence in the region, and Austria has influence close to Colombia, a Central American colony.

Franz nodded helplessly, Austria is no longer the protagonist of this last colonial feast. If you take the liberty of joining in, you will be excluded by the union.

"It's because I'm too greedy, Austria has gotten enough benefits, it's already very hated, it's time to digest it.

In this feast, it is enough for us to keep our existing interests. Having a harvest is a windfall, and don't be sad if you don't have one. For some leftovers, it's not worth the effort. ”

Adjusting his mentality in time, Franz was a lot more relaxed. Greed is the original sin of human beings, and if you can't control your greed, sooner or later you will go to the point of no return.

There are many countries participating in this feast of spoils. It seems that there is a lot of interest left, but in fact it is not much that is distributed to a specific country.