The shipbuilding plan of the Kingdom of Prussia surprised Franz. He could never have imagined that Prussia, which was bent on bringing down the army, would suddenly run to develop the navy.

However, looking at the developments of the Kingdom of Prussia in recent years, Franz understands what they are doing.

Domestic industry and commerce needed cheap raw materials and markets, the European continent had stabilized, and the Kingdom of Prussia had no hope of growing.

According to the current situation, if it continues to be delayed, even if the German regions are reunified, they will be the object of unification.

No one wants to wait for death, and take advantage of the outbreak of a wave of navy in peacetime, and maybe they can survive.

In order to get the Junker aristocracy to accept this harsh reality, Wilhelm I himself acted as a lobbyist and promised benefits.

It is unknown whether the overseas colonial expansion government will be able to make a profit, but the capitalists at home will certainly be able to make a profit.

If the nobles are willing to act as the main force of colonization, they will naturally have a share.

This is also the reason why many colonial empires are losing money financially. Vested interests take too much, are unwilling to pay taxes to the government, and dump administrative expenses on the government.

This is even more pronounced in older empires, where governments are powerless to suppress these interests and fail to collect taxes. Coupled with the corruption of the bureaucracy, which devoured the wealth and ended up with losses.

In the short term, the losses were acceptable, but for a long time, the government's financial limits were exceeded, and domestic interest groups were unwilling to continue to pay for it, so they simply allowed the colonies to become independent.

The most typical representative is the British who made up the Dominion, who would have thought that the local colonial governments of South Africa, Australia, and India would actually lose money?

The Americans also suffered this loss at first, and the Philippines and Cuba, which could still make tens of millions of dollars a year in the hands of the Spaniards, have been losing blood since they arrived.

In the end, I lost more than a billion, and I really couldn't stand it and just let it go. It is the result of the joint action of the capitalists and the bureaucracy.

After this lesson, the US government clearly realized its own shortcomings, and could not suppress even the capitalists at home, let alone the overseas colonies.

This is why Franz defined the African colonies as Germany's second home from the beginning.

Since it is a second home, it cannot be a simple colonial rule, and when the number of immigrants reaches a certain number, it will be indigenized.

It is also a good time to catch up, telegraph technology has made a breakthrough, and the submarine cable to the African continent has been almost laid.

Convenient communication is a necessary factor for local management. This is only effective for the newly established colonies, which have not been established for a short period of time, and the local interest groups have not had time to build and grow, and the bureaucracy has not yet degenerated.

If the old colonies have formed interest groups, they can only rely on force or a great purge.

To do this, there must be a strong government and the ability to suppress the rebellion.

……

Taryn, the intelligence chief, handed over a document to Franz and whispered: "Your Majesty, the French have waged a rampage in the Balkans and purged many of those who oppose them. This is the detailed information, please take a look. ”

After flipping through the information, Franz looked confused. I don't know which genius gave Napoleon III a good idea, and he actually wanted to use Balkan immigrants to develop overseas colonies.

It's really a good idea. The people of the Balkan Peninsula are fierce, and it is naturally not so easy for these people to rule if they stay where they are. Once you go to the colony, it's different, you don't know the place, you have no choice but to cling to the French.

Anyway, the French have many colonies, and if they are scattered and resettled, they will not become the mainstream in any place.

Franz was well aware of this, and that the Balkans were not many other than many ethnic groups, which also meant that the population of each ethnic group was not large.

There are only two ethnic groups, Bulgaria and Romania, and the Greeks are about to reach one million.

In addition to the most influential war factor, this was also related to the immigration policy of the Vienna government, which directly made the Bulgarians the largest ethnic group in the Balkans.

The French Balkan Peninsula has no Juche ethnic group, and there are more than 20 ethnic groups large and small, with a total population of less than 4 million, and there are many internal contradictions.

Franz hesitated, he didn't know if he wanted to do something to make a mess of the French now.

After all, the current immigration methods of the French are a bit rubbish, and relying on the poll tax to increase immigration can easily cause a backlash. Just push in the back and an armed explosion will happen.

"Continue to pay attention to the actions of the French, who, if given the opportunity, can provoke contradictions between the principality of Montenegro and them."

Franz is not John Bull, he did not do things that hurt others and did not benefit himself. The emigration of the French from the Balkans was also good for Austria, and when did this source of unrest in the province break out again and spread to Austria.

However, the instinct of the great powers is still there, and not destroying the French immigration does not mean that they cannot be stabbed.

The Duchy of Montenegro is not the lord of peace, but the two neighbors around it are too terrifying, and they have temporarily restrained their ambitions.

For the sake of stability in the Austrian Balkans, Franz did not hesitate to decide to turn the tide of trouble.

It was only a minor trouble that did not affect the plans of the French, and even if there was a conflict, I believe that Napoleon III would be able to hold it.

Maybe they don't need to provoke, they themselves have contradictions. The arrival of the French deprived the Duchy of Montenegro of the opportunity to annex Albania, and relations between the two sides have not been good.

……

On the island of Kalimantan, a major event that shocked the South Seas region was taking place, and on September 12, 1861, the flag of the double-headed eagle was raised over the Republic of Lanfang.

Anyone who knows a little bit of international knowledge knows what this flag means.

The Republic of Lanfang was also downgraded to become the autonomous province of Lanfang under the banner of the new Holy Roman Empire, and the title of the Republic was lost to history.

No, the title of Lanfang Republic was given by Europeans, and the name in the Chinese circle has always been Lanfang Company.

From its own private company to an autonomous province, it can only be considered to be co-opted. Liu Asheng, the governor of Lanfang, was appointed as the first governor.

Outside the grand celebration banquet, Governor Liu was unprecedentedly absent. He was still studying the statutes of the New Holy Rome, and he didn't think it had already been added, but in fact he still had no idea what he was doing.

The culture of the East and the West is different, and what seems very normal to Europeans is very shocking to Orientals.

In the eyes of many Orientals, aren't these states vassal kings? Even the power of the state government is greater than that of the vassal king, and it is almost close to the princes divided by Zhou Tianzi.

One year the young man smiled and said, "Father, you are studying these codes again. ”

Governor Liu nodded and said, "Chun'er, the more you look at these codes, the more frightened you become, won't the emperor cut the domain?" ”

The young man said confidently: "Father, don't worry, Europe attaches great importance to legal principles. I learned about the history of the Holy Roman Empire while studying in England, a system that has been in place for hundreds of years.

Even in the War of Unification that broke out a few years ago, the Bavarian king sided with the emperor and only transferred the title of Lombardy.

If the emperor wanted to cut the feudal domain, he didn't need to do that at all. Austria was much more powerful than the states combined, but His Majesty Franz still strictly adhered to the Code.

Let's not worry, if this is still the case in the homeland, how could the emperor violate the code he made for the sake of an overseas dominion? ”

People are profit-seeking, and if there are not enough interests, the top management of the Lanfang Company will not join the new Holy Roman Empire.

In addition to being able to obtain security protection, the most important thing is to protect everyone's interests. Except for the sharing of military expenses and the payment of royal annuities, their substantial interests have not been damaged.

When it is external, it can instead wave the banner of the HRE to block the peeps of other colonial empires.

At least the Dutch, who were pressing on them step by step, stopped now. The Vienna delegates also made a commitment that the prerogatives of the countries in Lanfang would be handled by the Imperial Foreign Office.

Governor Liu said: "It's better to do this, otherwise we will pay this protection fee in vain." ”

Consciousness is not so easy to change, in the minds of the older generation, it is to spend money to buy peace, with the help of Austria's strength to protect their own security.

Anyway, all affairs are handled by themselves, and they also have their own army, and all their autonomy is retained.

It was just right for them to throw out diplomatic affairs, so they didn't bother to deal with foreigners, and they were the ones who suffered from almost every contact.

Educated in the Western way and knowing how to use the rules to protect their interests, the younger ones were the most supportive of joining the new Holy Roman Empire.

Originally, everyone wanted to join the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and even the attached content could be accepted, but unfortunately the Qing government was too troublesome to accept it.

In this era, the Chinese in the Nanyang region have a sense of crisis, for fear that they will cause a catastrophe if they are not careful.

Without strength, wealth is the source of disaster.

As the first to open their eyes to the world, they knew very well that Lanfang was in danger. Without a powerful backstage, they simply can't survive with their own strength.

That is why after the signing of the agreement with the Vienna government, there will be a big celebration outside.

It's not that you really enjoy joining the New HRE Empire. In essence, it is still to pull the tiger's skin, and the bigger the momentum, the greater the benefits.

This time, the Lanfang government sent invitations to the representatives of various countries in Nanyang, just to tell everyone that now the Lanfang Republic is already the Lanfang Autonomous Province of the New HRE Empire, and if you want to take advantage of it, go to the Vienna government to talk to it.

Governor Liu did not attend the banquet and also had a political purpose. In this way, the representatives of the countries were told that as high-ranking officials of the New HRE Empire, they were qualified to say no to them.