The layout of the industrial industry is not only the steel industry. With the advent of the Second Industrial Revolution, copper became more versatile.

In 1870, Austrian copper production reached 580,000 tons, while the market demand was as high as 720,000 tons, a gap of one in six.

The main reason for this is the advent of the electricity age. As a pioneer in the electric revolution, Austria's demand for copper is increasing day by day.

In order to regulate the market supply and demand, the Vienna government did not hesitate to use an executive order to ask state-owned enterprises to increase production, but this supply and demand relationship is still not something that can be changed in a short period of time.

There is no way to do this, if there is a lack of steel, it can be purchased in the international market, but copper is not to be counted on.

Austria produced more copper than all European countries combined, and even the British, who produced a pitiful tens of thousands of tons of copper in this era.

It's not that you don't want to increase production, the problem is that there is no mine at home, raw materials need to be imported, and if you want to increase copper production, you must first solve the problem of copper ore.

It's a pity that the reserves of this thing in Europe are really not high, otherwise Chile would not have been able to get rich by exporting copper ore.

This is very discordant for Austria, where there are not enough local reserves, copper ore is imported too far away, and the increased transportation costs make the company's profits thin.

The Ministry of Industry is preparing to look for copper mines in the African colonies to make up for the shortage of raw materials, and now there are a lot of copper mines, and transportation is still a big problem.

……

Franz put down the information, shook his head and said: "The plan to smelt copper ore locally in Africa is too radical. It is not yet time for Africa to develop industry, at least until it is indigenized, and the continent cannot have industry.

Besides, smelting copper in Africa will definitely reduce costs? I remember that the Ministry of Industry's recent report on energy reserves also mentioned the lack of coal mines on the African continent.

At present, we have found that several large coal mines are concentrated in South Africa, and if local smelting also requires transportation of ore, the cost may not be lower than that of domestic smelting. ”

Undoubtedly, it is another political temptation. In recent years, more and more capitalists have entered the African colonies, many of whom are no longer satisfied with providing raw materials for the country, but want to develop industries in the local area.

However, due to congenital deficiencies, the distribution of resources on the African continent is extremely uneven, and under the suppression of the Vienna government, it has not been successful.

Now these people want to use the power of the Vienna government to develop industry in the area and make greater profits.

This kind of pediatric political trick naturally can't hide Franz's eyes. If it is a resource-rich region such as the United States and Australia, it is still difficult to suppress the development of local industries.

On the African continent, the situation is completely different, with more than 90 percent of the coal mines concentrated in South Africa, and the rest of the regions have to solve the coal supply first if they want to develop industry.

This will require the construction of roads, but the Austrian Mega-African Railway is still slowly underway. The original plan was only to go from Guinea to the Congo region, but now although the planned road section has been added, it will not be built in a day or two.

The main roads have not been completed, let alone the branch lines. Without the transportation of raw materials by rail, Africa's industry would not naturally develop.

Now, taking advantage of the lack of copper in the country, many people are starting to make a move again, but they ignore the general distribution of Africa's resources, and Franz knows it better than anyone else.

I don't know which mine it is, but what resources there are in that large area are not a secret in the future generations, as long as you are slightly interested, you can search for information on the Internet.

It is not without areas on the African continent that are suitable for industrial development, and South Africa is the best choice, and there is almost no shortage of various resources.

However, isn't this still at war? When the war is over, it's time for gold to come out again. As soon as a large gold mine appears, who cares about investing in other industries.

Capital is profit-seeking, and it naturally flows to areas with high profits. As soon as the gold mine is developed, the resources will be robbed, and it will be difficult to invest in other industries.

In the future, South Africa did not develop industry, to a certain extent, the resources are too rich, and you can make a fortune by selling mines, who is willing to take the risk of investing in industry?

The Minister of Industry, Kaschin-Tsübeck, explained aggrievedly: "Your Majesty, the period of localization in Guinea is coming to an end, and we continue to suppress the development of local industry, which may cause criticism.

We all know the distribution of resources, and these people are on the African continent, and it is impossible not to be unaware of these issues. They still made an application, which was mostly a temptation.

Even if one or two coal mines are found, and they happen to be suitable for industry, at most one or two factories will be added.

As long as the government does not solve the transportation problem, no matter how much they toss, it is impossible to build an industrial system without raw materials, so why should we stop it? ”

The African continent is not only lacking in an industrial system, but also completely poor. Not only are raw material resources not in place, but even manpower is lacking.

On the sparsely populated African continent, the cost of finding hundreds of thousands of workers and establishing a large industrial conglomerate integrating mining and smelting would be prohibitive for any capitalist.

Franz asked uncertainly: "You mean to open up the mining industry, but when you build the railway, you deliberately set up obstacles."

So that the origin of raw materials and raw materials can not be directly connected, increasing the transportation cost of industrial development? ”

If this is done, it is estimated that African industry will be finished. If you want to develop minerals, there is no problem, and in areas where resources are concentrated, the government will build railways so that the ore produced can be transported.

However, this kind of railway is mainly a single line, and it is not a complete railway network. In particular, there is no direct railway connection between iron ore and coal mines, which suppresses the development of Africa's indigenous industries at the source.

Admittedly, this approach is more than a step above a direct ban on industrial development in Africa. In the future, there can also be excuses, for example: the exploration technology is not in place, and the resource reserves are miscalculated.

The huge mine with 100 million tons of ore reserves, which is shown on the report as one million tons, naturally does not deserve the attention of the government, and it is necessary to plan the railway line.

Or: ignoring technological progress.

Due to the limitations of the times, it is understandable that the development value of the mine was misjudged and neglected when building the railway.

……

In any case, it is all caused by special circumstances, and it is definitely not the central government that is suppressing the industrial development of the African continent. In the end, the continent's industry has not developed, and that is beyond the reach of human beings.

After a few decades, localization was completed, and Austrian rule on the continent became entrenched. It is not too late to correct these special historical mistakes.

The Minister of Industry, Kaschin-Tsübeck, replied: "Yes, Your Majesty. Now we have to concentrate on the development of the homeland, and there is no way to make the colonies sacrifice. ”

Kaschin-Tsübeck emphasized the word "colony", since it is a colony, it is natural that it cannot be compared with the mainland. It is inevitable that the treatment will be inferior.

Austria's economy would not have been able to sustain high growth for a long time without sucking blood from the colonies. Before the advent of the era of free trade, colonies were sacrificed.

This "mistake" that is limited to the times is no longer a mistake, and the mistake in the construction of the railway network on the African continent has become inevitable.

Franz finally understood why there were so many pits in the Indian Railway, and it turned out that the root cause had been planted as early as the colonial era.

It's not that designers don't plan well, it's that reality needs to be unreasonable. The future seems to be an unreasonable plan, but this era is the best choice.

Franz nodded and said: "Speed up the construction of the colonial railway, take advantage of the time point of information asymmetry to create an established fact, and do not attract the attention of the people." ”

The Vienna government has a map of resources in its hands, and it is inevitable that it will be imperfect, but it still knows more than the private government.

Industrial development is inseparable from coal, and the concentration of coal mines on the African continent in South Africa is doomed to the real need for design errors.

To do this, it's very simple, just take the top tank of the gold mine. It is understandable that the rail network prioritises the mining and smelting of gold and neglects other areas.

……

This kind of concealed plan naturally had to be kept as secret as possible, and when it was implemented, it naturally fell to the Ministry of Railways.

In the Ministry of Railways, Stein, who received this special order, was directly dumbfounded. This work is not easy to do, and it is clear that you must be prepared to be scolded.

No matter how good the excuse for preparation is, in the future, the people will still scold the railway designer, and it will become a difficult problem for who will carry this pot.