Austria's colonial strategy was not new, as the Vienna government had been funding expeditions to explore the continent several years earlier.

Leaving aside the inland areas, at least the basic situation in the coastal areas is still numerous, and it is not necessary to be in the dark when it comes to doing it now.

Not only on the African continent, but also on many parts of the world, the Austrian government has collected information from its own people and from second-hand dealers.

In this era, exploration was also a business, and many private expeditions sold the information they collected to the colonial government in exchange for high remuneration.

Selling once is selling, and selling twice is naturally selling. As long as the price is right, then everything is negotiable. Risking your life to go on an expedition will naturally be rewarded enough.

To be on the safe side, this time Franz sent three infantry divisions, which were enough to take only the coastal areas and not deep inland.

Guinea is not large, but it will not be long before it will be eaten by Austria, and the Congo region is not necessarily, and the Congo of this era also includes the DRC + Congo cloth in later generations.

The area is not ordinarily large, it is several times the size of Austria itself, and it is obviously impossible to occupy it with such a small number of people.

Like all colonial powers, priority was given to coastal areas, and the interior of Africa had not yet reached the time of development.

After sending this group of refugees over, with immigrants can build port cities, and then slowly develop these lands.

Franz decided to give the bureaucracy maximum autonomy and rule as much as it wanted.

In the evening, in a tavern in Trieste, a group of drinkers were chatting, and occasionally someone whistled at a few flamboyant women at the counter, and then received a burst of eyes.

Most of these people are begging for a living at sea, and their behavior is inevitably a little indulgent, and everyone is not surprised.

The women who appear here are naturally not serious people, they are all veterans of the party, and their social experience is ****

In short, as long as you have enough money, you can take it back for the night. Mouth flowers can't scare them, bitches are ruthless and unrighteous, these people were their benefactors yesterday, but today they have become passers-by.

The flirtation stopped at the mouth, which meant that they had no money in their pockets, otherwise they would have gone up and acted a long time ago.

Anyway, the habit of begging for a living at sea is straightforward, and the woman who does this business will naturally not mind, if you have money, you are a master, and it is not unheard of to directly rectify the Fa on the spot.

……

Wine is heroic courage, and when you drink high, anything comes out. It also happens from time to time that they will fight if they don't agree with each other.

The owner of the tavern is well-informed, and when he encounters this situation, he just watches quietly, and then goes up to ask for compensation after the fight.

Usually it has to be doubled, and it is not a problem to subdue a few sailors as a land snake, of course, if you encounter a ruthless character, you can only consider yourself unlucky.

A drunken middle-aged man opened his mouth: "Valen, so many troops are gathered here, this is going to war?" ”

Valen, who was also dazed, replied directly: "Nonsense, Tagore, when have you seen our navy fight, and who can they fight?" No, it's the army and navy that fight together? ”

The voices of the two of them were already somewhat incomparable, and under normal circumstances, they would not dare to be so indulgent, in case they ran into a few naval soldiers who were drinking, they would be beaten up.

Although the Austrian Navy was not taken seriously and did not have a good record, it was not something they could despises.

The geographical location and national policy have determined that the Austrian Navy has done nothing and can only serve as a background board for the army, which does not mean that the officers and men of the Navy have no temper.

Soldiers always want to be meritorious, and the Austrian Navy has not known how many years of rest, anyway, most of the wars in Austria have nothing to do with them, and the officers and men of the Navy can only lament that they were born at the wrong time.

It wasn't until Franz came to power, the army and navy were overhauled, and a group of unscrupulous officers were forcibly discharged, that everyone knew that the Vienna government's national policy had changed.

Under normal circumstances, the Vienna government would not have operated on the navy. In the absence of war, it is very abnormal to strengthen naval training and increase naval military spending.

There was also news from the top that they were going to open up overseas colonies, and many people thought that the opportunity had come, but they did not expect that the wait would be more than four years. In addition to the training intensified, the number of warships increased, and then there was no follow-up.

In this case, young people will inevitably be a little unable to hold their breath, and the slightest spark will burn, and fights and brawls will happen from time to time.

Of course, the fight was refreshing, but after the fight, it was a tragedy. It's good not to be caught by the Judge Advocate General's Office, but if you are caught, you won't have a good life for a long time in the future.

At this time, there happened to be a few Navy soldiers in the tavern, but they didn't have the time to care about a few drunks.

Does the navy and army need to dispatch most of the navy and three infantry divisions together for the joint exercise?

As soon as this order came, everyone was guessing who they would fight this time. Thinking about it, everyone still can't think of an opponent.

Britain and France, they can't win at all, even if the size of the navy is doubled, it is not an opponent, it can be directly ruled out, it is impossible for the Vienna government to give such an idiotic order.

Attack the Ottoman Empire? Don't think that everyone knows that the army has done its job and Austria has got everything it wants. The Sudanese government has moved its capital to Ankara, and if we look for their bad luck, we must also consider the reaction of Britain and France.

A young man whispered: "The authorities are obsessed with bystanders, you don't have to guess, it's better to listen to the answers of those drunkards." ”

A few people who were arguing stopped.

"Valen, you're stupid! Anyway, they are also begging for a living at sea, don't you know that there are such creatures as natives in this world?

Our navy is no match for Britain and France, and it is enough to deal with Spain, but it is not a problem at all to go out and bully the natives.

Even the troops assembled here now can wipe out a few small countries overseas. Tagore's man said with disdain

Not to be outdone, Valen retorted: "Fart, Tagore, you idiot, don't you know that the officials of Vienna have always been disdainful of overseas?" Is it difficult for you to change their attention? ”

"Can't they just figure it out all of a sudden? Our Austria, no, is our new Holy Roman Empire, how can it be that it is also one of the most powerful countries in Europe, what is wrong with grabbing a few colonies?

In those days, there were not many colonies, and they were embarrassed to go out, and perhaps the Viennese lords were stimulated and figured it out at once. Tagore argued

After a while, the two drunks quarreled and tried to solve the problem by force, but they were so dizzy that they didn't give them a chance to do anything, and two men appeared in the tavern and threw them out.

……

A young man asked uncertainly, "What they said shouldn't be possible, right?" ”

The first young man said: "That's more reliable than we guessed, I haven't heard of who we have a conflict with now, we can't just catch someone and beat them for no reason, right?" ”

A man in gray who couldn't hold his breath said excitedly: "I'm really going to open up a colony, doesn't that mean that our chance to make a fortune has arrived!" ”

In the eyes of many, colonies in this era meant wealth. This is undoubtedly an opportunity for those who aspire to make a fortune.

The young man at the head scolded, "Shut up, Thorin! What nonsense, it's obviously an opportunity to make a contribution, don't open your mouth all day long to get rich! ”

Thorin hurriedly replied, "Yes, Captain! ”

Obviously, this captain officer doesn't look down on this kind of person who opens his mouth and closes his mouth and says that he is rich. Born in an aristocratic background, he was supposed to serve in the army, but he didn't expect that there would be unforeseen circumstances and was escorted to the Navy Grassroots Officer Academy.

When he heard the news, he almost broke down. In this era, the Austrian Navy did not have the slightest opportunity to make meritorious contributions, and it was almost a place where people who did not learn and did not know how to go into the world.

Fortunately, he was lucky enough to catch up with the change in Austria's national focus. Now his idea is to obtain military merits as soon as possible and get the title of nobility.

After all, his family's title is not hereditary, and he can still be said to be a son of a nobleman, and the next generation will have no way to continue to claim to be a nobleman.

Austrian titles are not easy to obtain, especially hereditary titles. After Franz succeeded to the throne, more than 100 nobles were crowned one after another, most of them because of military exploits.

There are also a few scientists, a dozen engineers and a few government officials, except for the hereditary titles that appeared in military merit, the rest are lifelong nobles.

It's not Franz messing around, it's a rule. The lifelong aristocratic emperor can be sealed at will, and the actual nobles with military merits must have the merits to take it.

Of course, this rule was also formulated by Franz and was widely accepted by the military.

Differential treatment can reflect their status, and it just so happens that most of the nobles in the German region are military nobles, and they are also very concerned about maintaining their own status.

As a price for the transaction, the right of the great nobles in the country to divide the nobles from now on was taken back by Franz. Even in several states, the nobles canonized by the king had to report to the emperor for approval before they could be granted legal status.

The number of nobles was controlled by Franz, and the eldest son of the nobles did not care if he could inherit the title, and the second son had to fight again, otherwise the next generation would be the children of commoners.

This is still a hereditary nobility, not to mention a lifetime nobility, continuing the practice of continental Europe, if the next generation does not work hard, there will be no succession to the title.

But anyone who is ambitious will not be willing to be lonely, and when the opportunity comes, it will naturally come.

Franz's law of nobility, although it was not implemented, was not kept secret either, and the content had long since been circulated.

After all, colonies are different from native ones, and if the central government rules directly, the cost is a big problem. If the feudal is divided into meritorious ministers, the central government only controls a few core areas, and the rest is governed by vassals, so the administrative pressure is much less.

The main reason for not implementing it now is that there is no certainty of colonial success. If the colonization is successful and it is profitable to rule the place, there will naturally be nobles willing to go.

In any case, if the colonies were not profitable, the nobles would disdain even if they gave away the land.

The special circumstances of the new Holy Roman Empire dictated that there were three kings in the country, and Franz did not mind adding a few more overseas.

At least the problem of corruption can be effectively curbed, and Franz is not prepared to collect heavy taxes in the colonies, just collect a little symbolically, mainly to increase the market for Austrian industry and commerce, these people can't swallow their own money, right?

In addition to the blows of the United States and the Soviet Union, the high cost of the bureaucratic system was also an important factor in the collapse of the colonial system of the British Empire.

In order to reduce the cost of rule, they also created a Dominion. This measure has succeeded and failed.

The success lies in the fact that it does reduce administrative costs and increase the market for domestic industry and commerce; But the rights that were released could not be recovered, laying a hidden danger for the collapse of the colonial empire.

It is not surprising that the power of self-government is controlled by local capitalists, and capital knows no borders.

Franz is not sure that this kind of thing will happen, but it is still possible to increase the degree of acceptance and delay the time of the collapse.

Relying on the government bureaucrats to organize emigration, just look at the Germans, the people ran to the United States, Franz did not think that the Austrian bureaucracy could do much better.

It is better to let the nobleman organize himself, and if he succeeds, he will share the results, and it will not hurt if he fails. If you seal a few more, there will always be success.

It's not that Franz looks down on African countries and supports a vassal casually, they are among the best powers on the African continent, and the premise is not to blacken.

The nails of the future on the African continent were laid, and cultural traditions and economic interests were the natural ties that united the colonies and the country.

The centripetal force of the people towards the mother country has not dissipated, and they want independence, unless they do not want their own legal system.

As long as the ruling class is not crazy, it will not do such a stupid thing that destroys its foundations.

Attached to the Holy Roman Empire as a highly autonomous state, they had no small interests, and the imperial government was a source of strength to maintain their position.

Conversely, the kings of these states would also become the pillars of consolidation of the emperor's power. Even if the monarchy declines in the future, in order to keep this huge empire from dividing, no one dares to abolish the emperor's doctrine.

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