The negotiations between the North and the South have not yet ended, but the American Civil War has actually ended. Neither the European powers nor the American people want this war to continue.

This is not something that can be reversed by the will of an individual, and the rest is nothing more than talking about conditions.

In a show of goodwill, both the North and the South have halted military operations, including ongoing military mobilizations.

Strategically, the goal of weakening the United States has largely been achieved. Now it's just a final treaty to divide the United States.

This is not just a good thing, it also comes with a series of problems. For example, Austria's cotton and cotton spinning industries are affected.

Taking advantage of the shortage of cotton in the international market during the American Civil War, the Austrian cotton spinning industry, which had an abundant supply of cotton, sprung up and vigorously seized the British market in Europe.

Now in Eastern Europe, Southern Europe, and Central Europe, the cotton products of the British are gradually being squeezed out of the market.

Previously, because of the insufficient supply of cotton, cotton spinning products were in short supply for a time, and the British could not do anything about being robbed of the market by Austria.

It's no longer the case, and with the end of the Civil War, cotton production in the United States will soon recover. With an abundant supply of raw materials, the British capitalists naturally had to make a comeback.

The market is the lifeblood of every industrial country, and as the first country to complete the industrial revolution, the British have accumulated enough advantages, and their industrial strength once exceeded half of the world's.

With the completion of industrialization in France and Austria, the share of British industry in the world's total industry has declined, but it still ranks first in the world.

However, an embarrassing thing is that the British Empire, the world's factory, has been in a state of superpower for a long time.

In 1864, the British exported £215 million and imported £275 million, leaving a trade deficit of £60 million.

During the same period, France's exports totalled 2,963 million francs, imports totalled 2,523 million francs, and its trade surplus was 440 million francs. (about £17.6 million)

Austria's total exports were 285 million Aegis, while total imports were 226 million Aegis, with a trade surplus of 59 million Aegis. (approx. £29.5 million)

In 1864, the Russians exported 187 million rubles, imports 175 million rubles, and had a trade surplus of 12 million rubles.

In this era, the volume of international trade was small, and the Russians exported more than half of the total grain exports, and by virtue of this advantage, they achieved a trade surplus.

Austria can have such a large surplus, and the export of agricultural products also occupies an important position, after all, people always have to eat, and the British are one of the main food importers in Europe.

In order to solve the problem of trade deficit, successive British governments have broken their hearts. There is no way, the lack of local resources determines that the British have been in a state of overtaking for a long time.

Fortunately, John Bull has many colonies, and this gap can be filled by plundering colonial wealth, otherwise ordinary countries would not have been able to hold on.

The Opium War in history was fought by the British in order to smooth out the trade deficit.

Now that the market has been robbed by Austrian capital, the British will certainly not rest on their laurels. It's not enough to overturn the table, and this little conflict doesn't need to tear the two countries apart.

Of course, it is useless to turn the other cheek, this is a fair competition in business. The British were not in sufficient supply of cotton spinning products at that time, so Austria took advantage of the situation, and John Bull did not have the ability to keep the market waiting.

Now that the American Civil War is over, cotton production in the South may return to normal next year. Thanks to the export of labor, this output is even likely to increase further.

The Confederate States of America are blessed with unique geographical conditions, and their cotton yields per acre are usually higher than those in other regions.

Of course, the lack of yield per mu can be made up for by expanding the planting area, but the corresponding labor input has increased.

Historically, the North has won, and the southern planters, who have been the losers, have lost cheap labor, and cotton production has been severely affected, and India and Egypt have encountered cotton to grab the market.

Of course, the main thing is that the capitalists in the north need cheap industrial raw materials, and use the means of raising tariffs and rail freight to make American cotton lose its market competitiveness.

At present, India's cotton production has not increased, and the British have been blocked from promoting cotton cultivation in Egypt in order to compete for labor to dig the Suez Canal.

At this time, the only competitor of the United States in the cotton market was West Africa.

There is no surplus of cotton on the international market, and in the short term such competition is not wise, and Austria itself will be able to absorb most of the cotton production capacity in West Africa.

However, in the future, when Indian cotton and Egyptian cotton enter the market, this competition will become white-hot.

Franz had to consider in advance a series of economic problems in the cotton textile industry to compete with the British, and in the cotton market with the United States, Egypt, and India.

Schönbrunn Palace

"There are only two topics today, one is how to maintain the market share of our cotton textile products on the European continent; Second, how to protect the interests of cotton farmers? ”

In this era, there were fewer industrial and commercial products, and the textile economy dominated the economy. Austria's core industry did not include the cotton textile industry, but because of the American Civil War, the cotton textile industry had sprung up, and it was impossible to give up.

At present, in Bavaria, Württemberg, Lombardy, Venexi and other regions, there are more than 1.2 million workers in the cotton textile industry, and more than 2.5 million employees in the industrial chain.

So many people pointed to the textile industry for dinner, which directly determined that the Vienna government must protect this industry, and this Anglo-Austrian trade dispute was inevitable.

Not to mention protecting the interests of cotton farmers, most of the plantation owners in the colonies were nobles.

This is determined by the national conditions of Austria, and the common people are limited by economic strength, even if the area of plantations is not large; The capitalists have no love for farming.

Because of the redemption of land in the country, many nobles lost their land and obtained a ransom money, which obviously could not be put on the sitting.

After the colony was opened, many conservative aristocrats set their investment targets on plantations. Farming may not be very profitable in later generations, but in this era, the rate of return on investment in plantations is not much lower than that of other industries.

The cotton plantations were no exception, with a large number of aristocrats gathered, and as the spokesperson of the aristocratic interest groups, Franz naturally had to consider their interests.

It is also about the enthusiasm of the people to open up the colony. In a profitable situation, the ruling class will certainly desperately maintain the colonial system, and vice versa.

The Minister of Economy, Andrew, replied: "Your Majesty, our Ministry of Economy has prepared an emergency plan. We can use political means when necessary, and it is not a big problem to hold the domestic and Russian markets.

Southern Italy was in the midst of a civil war, and the already small market was now further shrinking, and would not be the focus of the British counteroffensive.

The rest is Central Europe, including the German Confederation, Prussia, Switzerland, the Netherlands and other regions, which are the main battlefields of this trade war.

French capital is also likely to join, and the French economy has developed very well in recent years, and their cotton spinning products are also competitive in the market under the condition of ensuring the supply of raw materials.

In order to improve the market competitiveness of cotton textile products, the Ministry of Economic Affairs believes that these first-line production enterprises can be given tax rebate subsidies when necessary. ”

Simple, brutal, yet very effective. Everyone's production technology is almost the same, the quality of the product can not distinguish the advantages and disadvantages, the production cost is still not much advantage, to gain an advantage in the market competition, then you can only fight the policy.

Historically, the British cotton spinning industry was washed away by subsidies from various countries. The manufacturing industry is fighting for cost and quality, and once it loses its technological advantage, the competition becomes cruel.

Franz can't do anything in this regard, and he has a time difference to grab a part of the British market, and now the time has come to compete, and everyone can only fight for strength.

The only good thing was that the British had a much larger cotton spinning industry, and once the financial subsidies were played, the British would have to pay three million for every million Austrians spent.

This kind of lose-lose style of play, under normal circumstances, everyone will not play. After all, there are so many industries in a country, it is impossible to concentrate resources on one industry.

Agriculture Minister Christian said: "Cotton and the cotton textile industry are closely linked, and as long as the domestic cotton textile industry does not collapse, the cotton plantation economy in West Africa will not collapse."

In order to increase the competitiveness of West African cotton, we can think of ways to reduce taxes on trade between the colonies and their homeland, for example, by reducing or even eliminating taxes on trade between the colonies and their own countries. ”

Looking at the countries of Europe, Austria definitely attaches the most importance to the economic development of its colonies. But no matter how much attention is paid to it, it can't compare to the local.

In order to avoid the impact of cheap crops on the native agricultural market, there was a trade tax between the native and the colony from the beginning, but at a slightly lower rate than the foreign tariff.

There had always been a call for economic integration in the Vienna government, and the aristocracy that invested in the plantations had always wanted to incorporate the colonies into the country for their own benefit.

At present, the ruling model of West Africa, Congo, and Nigeria has begun to move closer to the domestic one, and some colonial cities are adopting the same laws as in China.

As the first generation of colonists, everyone's feelings for the local people are still very strong. Many people are pushing for integration, and Franz himself is one of the supporters.

However, because of the various aspects involved, the Vienna government did not dare to declare the colony into the mainland, but the best developed colonies had already begun to implement the provincial system.

These colonial provinces had greater rights than at home, and even had certain military rights. The reduction of the colony's right to trade with the mainland is undoubtedly another step in the integration process.

After pondering for a moment, Franz questioned: "Theoretically, there is no problem, but the reduction of the trade tax between the home and the colonies also involves the process of integration between Germany and the mainland."

This question will first let out the wind and test the reaction of all walks of life in China. At the same time, it is necessary to organize economists to conduct comprehensive arguments, and it is necessary to understand how big the impact this will have on the local area. ”

This is to make the problem clear, and before that, the legal basis for the process of colonial and indigenous integration is Franz's proposal to recreate Germany's second homeland.

Since the African colonies had been Germany's second home from the beginning, there was no problem in merging with the first homeland.

However, these are all speculations from the people, and the official has not made a statement. The main force driving the integration process was also the private sector, and groups and individuals involved in colonial interests were promoting the plan.

The impetus is not small, and the opposition groups are even more powerful. Mainly the local small and medium-sized nobles and peasants, they were afraid that the cheap agricultural products of the colonies would be sold back to the mainland and damage their interests.

However, the situation is somewhat surprising, and the agricultural products of the Austrian colonies are not cheap, at least not competitive with the local ones.

On the one hand, there was a lack of labor in the colonies, which caused high labor costs; On the other hand, it is mainly newly developed land, and the output in the early stage is not high.

The most important thing is that the land in Austria's two major grain-growing regions is very fertile, and the infrastructure such as water conservancy and transportation is complete, which is not comparable to that of the colonies.

As for the future? Franz can responsibly say that once fertilizer is born, the profit of farming will decline even further.

With or without a colonial agricultural shock, native agriculture will be affected. Many food-importing countries have increased their grain production with chemical fertilizers, and the international grain market will shrink sharply in a short period of time.

In this respect, Austria would not be able to develop fertilizers, and even if they did, they would not be able to put them into production.

The longer it drags on, the better it will be for Austria. Before the industry has developed to a certain level, it is easy to cause disaster if you make bold changes.

The more grain output is not as good as possible, and the market capacity is so large, once the boundary is exceeded, we must look forward to the grain and sigh.

This is illustrated by the fact that the inventor of the fertilizer was a German in history. The United States, Austria-Hungary, and Russia, several grain exporters, are not asking for their own hardships in inventing fertilizers?

Of course, the Germans never dreamed that they invented fertilizers, but the biggest beneficiaries were the French, which directly freed the French from the food dilemma and became one of the main grain exporters in Europe.