The tense international situation has not only pushed up prices, but also affected international trade, which has declined in almost all countries.

In particular, France and Austria, at the center of the storm, suffered the heaviest losses. Businesses engaged in international trade between France and Austria are busy collecting accounts and no longer accept reservations, and must trade in cash.

There is no way, no one knows when the war will start. Once you become a belligerent, don't expect the other side to pay.

The contract has no role here, the destructive power of the war is amazing, and even if it is won, the other party will not have the money to pay the final payment; If you lose, it's even worse, and there is never a winner who pays the loser.

This is true for the state, and it is also true for businesses. An armistice treaty can erase all previous debts.

Anyway, the outbreak of the European war is imminent, and the capitalists have long been grinding their fists to make a fortune, and they don't care about the small profits in foreign trade.

At Versailles, since the finalization of the Central European strategy, the spirit of Napoleon IV was highly strained.

Self-confidence is self-confidence, but the lessons of Napoleon's failures are a lingering shadow in his mind.

Napoleon IV asked expectantly: "Where is the diplomatic work, and how many countries are willing to accept our goodwill?" ”

Pulling allies Napoleon IV is no longer counting on it, and the European countries will not do anything at all.

France also did not have enough interests to buy everyone into the war, and the best option was to divide the countries of Europe and prevent them from uniting against France.

Foreign Minister Karel Kadlec replied calmly: "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has preliminarily completed its task, and we have persuaded Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, and the Nordic Confederation to remain neutral.

If the military had no plans to send troops from Switzerland, then Switzerland would have remained neutral in this war as well.

The British were on our side, the Russians wanted to mediate the war, and when we refused, the tsarist government was very angry and might side with Austria.

However, before the war is decided, they will wait and see the situation neutrally, and only after the defeat of the Austrian army will the Russians intervene.

It may affect our earnings, but it will not affect the outcome of this war. For the tsarist government, a strong Austria was not in their interests.

In addition to these countries with a little influence, the remaining Greece and Montenegro have very limited strength and are not qualified to influence the war, and they are seriously influenced by Austria and have no value in attracting them.

The only enemies we really need to face are Belgium, the German Confederation and Austria, and the specific gains are all up to the military to go to the battlefield. ”

Carel Kadlec was an optimist, and even with three outs, he was sure that the French would be victorious.

As for diplomatic work, it is not easy to get to this point. Even with the help of the British, Karel Kadlec was able to achieve such results in a period of time, and Karel Kadlec was very creditable.

The two countries were the target of French expansion, and Austria was France's biggest rival, and it was impossible for these three enemies to get around.

In fact, the French government also thought about dividing the three countries, for example: annexing Belgium first, digesting it and then seizing the Rhineland.

Unfortunately, the British, who were hiding behind the scenes, did not agree, and Austria, which had signed an alliance with Belgium, would not tolerate such a thing either.

Of course, if the German Confederation were to attack first, Belgium would still be very likely to be neutral, after all, as a small country, the first priority is to survive.

It's a pity that Belgium has a good geographical location, and if you want to attack the German region, it is best to borrow from Belgium, otherwise you will have to go over the mountains.

Not only is the delay long, but the success rate is also very low. In contrast, it would be better to take out Belgium as well, and their plans to annex Belgium were included anyway.

Napoleon IV nodded and affirmed: "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has done a good job this time, and your next job is to stabilize these countries so that they don't come to cause trouble." ”

Dealing with the three countries alone, France will have to bear the pressure of fighting on two fronts, and with other European countries joining in, the war will not be able to be fought.

It's not that the French army can't fight, it's really not enough to take care of so many places. Although the French army has mobilized millions of people, the main force is still the original hundreds of thousands, and the other new troops will follow suit.

Once the division of troops on multiple fronts was carried out, the superiority of the French army in combat effectiveness was not obvious. No matter how elite the troops are, if they are not enough in number, they will be worn to death on the battlefield.

Not carried away by Napoleon IV's verbal praise, Karel Kadlec analyzed: "Your Majesty, we are about to encounter a new trouble.

The Minister in Vienna received news that a week earlier the Austrian Government had reached an agreement with the Russians to buy out the grain that the Russian Empire planned to export this year at a direct premium of 25 percent.

Two days ago, Austrian Foreign Minister Wessenberg held a secret meeting between the British and German envoys, and it was suspected that an agreement had been reached.

By all indications, this agreement is certainly aimed at us. If nothing else, the three countries will impose a material embargo on us in the near future.

Everything else is easy to say, but the problem is coal and grain. Once the three countries imposed a material embargo on us, we would have to rely on the British for coal, and we would have to find a way to find a way to get food from overseas. ”

The French government does not have a perfect emergency reserve system, and even if there is grain and coal in storage, it is the capitalists who spontaneously hoard it in order to make war money.

For individuals, perhaps an astronomical amount; But for a country, that's a drop in the bucket.

Failure of either energy or food can lead to fatal damage, let alone a problem with both.

It's good to say that Britain and France are now allies, and the London government wants both France and Austria to lose, so naturally they can't watch the French collapse because of the lack of coal.

The big deal is to take advantage of the fire to rob and sell it for a sky-high price. The sky-high price of coal is not unused by the French, after withdrawing from the free trade system earlier, France was retaliated by sky-high coal prices.

Grain will not work, the British themselves are grain importers and simply cannot support the French.

Of course, the grain production cycle is not long, as long as the most difficult period is passed, it can be solved later.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Roy Vernon was shocked and said: "Twenty-five percent of the premium, are the Austrians crazy?"

Could it be that the Vienna government has too much money to spend, even if it wants to win over the Russians, there is no need to toss so much. ”

Because of the tense situation in Europe, international food prices have soared sharply, and at this time, the premium is 25 percent, and the price of grain purchased is fully double that of before.

You must know that grain may be traded in large quantities, and the total amount of grain exported by the Russians every year is in millions of tons, and doubling the price means that the Austrian government will lose tens of millions, or even hundreds of millions of Aegis.

Prime Minister Terrence Bulkin shook his head: "No, the Austrians are not crazy. If they don't grab the food, it may fall into our hands.

If nothing else, the grain that was snapped up was not only from Russia, but also from the Americas.

They can't win us on the battlefield, so naturally they will resort to such despicable means. Moreover, the cost they pay may not be as high as we think.

Both the Russians and the Americas were debtors of Austria, and as creditors they could directly offset their claims.

But they thought it would break us, and they took it for granted.

In recent years, we have not been in vain. The large-scale farm program has been able to provide millions of tons of grain to the country every year, enough to meet most of the country's needs.

In times of war, we can also resort to extraordinary measures. The government could call on the population to save food and introduce a temporary bill to prohibit the use of grain for livestock feeding and the use of grain for winemaking......

Just hold out for a few months, and by the time we defeat the enemy, these problems will be solved. ”

If the grain reserves are insufficient, and there is not enough grain to be bought overseas, what can we do except find a way to intercept the flow?

To start the war in advance, of course!

It's not that France doesn't produce food, but the output is not enough to consume, which does not mean that there is no imported food, and it is about to run out of cooking.

The domestic food supply will last for a few months, and as long as the war is won before the crisis erupts, then all the problems can be solved.

Hearing this bad news, Napoleon IV's face suddenly darkened.

At this time, he had to be glad that he insisted on promoting the big farm plan, otherwise it would have been a tragedy now.

He doesn't know how much grain the capitalists have stored, anyway, the storage time of a batch of grain usually does not exceed half a year.

On the one hand, the storage time is too long, which increases the storage cost and loss, if the grain is unsalable, the new grain becomes old grain, it is worthless;

On the other hand, squeezing too much grain in hand will take up a lot of liquidity and increase the risk of operation.

After pondering for a while, Napoleon IV said slowly: "The Prime Minister is right, now we must find a way to save food, and the government will make an announcement as soon as possible."

From now on, the Foreign Office is rushing to buy grain all over the world, and I don't believe that the Austrians will be able to buy it all. ”

……