Franz has not paid much attention to the changes in the international situation, and now he is staring at the list of price changes in the first quarter.

According to common sense, the price of daily necessities such as grain during the war years will inevitably rise, especially the first exporter of raw grain in Europe, which was involved in the war.

As a result of the war, the total amount of grain exported by the Russian Empire to the outside world has been greatly reduced since last year, and the amount of grain flowing into Austria alone has decreased by a quarter.

Undoubtedly, this shortfall was offset by the increase in grain production in Austria.

Although potash fertilizer was only promoted last year, and the private sector did not use it on a large scale, there are state-owned farms in Austria!

In fact, the number of state-owned farms under direct government control has been decreasing. Because of the cost of management, many small and medium-sized farms are rented out to individuals.

No matter how much it is reduced, the land area occupied by state-owned farms is still not low. In Europe alone, state-owned farms already account for less than 5 percent of arable land, but this is not the case with other regions.

For example, in Asia Minor, except for the fiefs of the nobility and the fields awarded by the military, the remaining arable land is basically state-owned farms.

It was not that Franz was willing to build so many state-owned farms, mainly because of practical needs. If the government does not arrange for someone to take over, the farmland left by the Ottomans will be abandoned.

It would be impossible to sell to the people, which would weaken the allure of military merit and shake the very foundations of Austria.

Aside from the initial period of land redemption and colony, the best way for ordinary people to obtain land was through military merit.

Don't ask why, who knows that there is still a continental war waiting for you, and you must also prepare in advance.

If there is not enough return, why let the soldiers die? If you don't hoard enough land, what will you give to the soldiers after the war?

The European continent is now densely populated, and there has long been no borderland, and there is no hope for loot.

In this context, even knowing that state-owned farms are expensive to run, Franz can only grit his teeth and admit it.

It's really unbearable to lose money, and it can be contracted to individuals to operate. Anyway, as long as the land attribute is still state, it will not affect the future to take it out and reward it to individuals.

In fact, the French government's big farm plan was also brought out by Austria.

Seeing that the Austrian government had a bunch of farms in their hands, they followed suit. It's just that they don't know that the farms in Austria are also struggling to hold on.

Because of the support of supporting processing enterprises, on the surface, Austrian farms are operating well and can pay profits to the government every year.

In essence, the profits are contributed by the farm's affiliates. Most farms are only able to protect their own capital, and very few directly generate profits.

It is not a listed enterprise, and the financial statements of state-owned enterprises are also confidential, and the external announcement only announces the total profits, and the outside world does not know anything about the specific enterprise structure and asset allocation.

In the eyes of Napoleon IV, these were good statistics.

Someone proposed to follow suit, then it would be better to follow suit, there is no reason why what the Austrian government can do, France cannot do.

If the bureaucrats below the specific inside story do not report, how can the emperor in the inner courtyard of the deep palace know?

Especially after the trip to Algeria, Napoleon IV directly attributed all the problems to - bureaucratic malfeasance, corruption.

Although there is a lot of land on state-owned farms, the area for grain cultivation is not large, and the real significance is to play a leading role.

There is no shortage of smart people in this world, the government is promoting potash, and state-owned farms are using it on a large scale, so naturally some people dare to take risks.

Government officials, in particular, were the first to accept potash and use it on their own land.

The final result, of course, was a significant increase in Austria's grain production capacity last year.

The final increase in production was not 3 percent as estimated by the Ministry of Agriculture, but 6.7 percent.

Of course, this also includes the increase in food production capacity due to the increase in arable land.

Don't underestimate this error of 3.7 percent, given Austria's grain production capacity, this is the annual ration of several million people.

This, combined with the respective agricultural plans of Britain and France, increased the production of grain in the colonies and reduced grain imports.

As a result, the Russians' grain exports decreased, and prices on the international grain exchange market fell instead of rising.

If it is said that the price of food has fallen, it can still be accepted. Then the prices of textiles, steel and other commodities also fell, which made Franz incomprehensible.

This is the war years, the fierce war between Britain and France, how can the prices of strategic materials fall?

Holding the document in his hand, Franz asked in disbelief: "Are you sure that this price list is not wrong?" ”

Minister of the Economy, Reinhardt: "Your Majesty, we have made many determinations, and the above statistics are indeed the average prices for the first quarter.

It's not just that prices haven't risen in the country, it's actually the same in all of Europe. Except for a wave of price increases at the beginning of the war last year, prices in the first quarter were a return to rationality in the market.

The impact of the Anglo-Russian war on the European economy was not as great as we had anticipated. In particular, the demand for supplies is much smaller than we planned.

The British leave it aside for now, they can rely on domestic production. There are two main reasons for the lack of imports of Russians, according to the analysis of the Ministry of Economic Affairs:

First, the tsarist government prepared for war in advance, and many materials were purchased before the war, as evidenced by our export trade list last year;

Second, the consumption of materials on the battlefield in Afghanistan is far smaller than we expected.

I consulted with the General Staff and found that the reduction in the material consumption of the Russian army is, on the one hand, limited by the terrain of Afghanistan, which is not conducive to the deployment of heavy weapons; On the other hand, the British army was too incompetent to break out into a close battle. ”

This answer left Franz speechless. The intensity of the war is not enough, and the consumption of materials is naturally not high.

It was supposed to consume the most food, but the Russians did not lack it, and there was no need to import it at all. The British, again, could not be transported from India.

After receiving the news of the outbreak of the Anglo-Russian war, capitalists all over Europe were free to expand their production capacity in an attempt to make a fortune.

It is a tragedy that the production capacity has gone up, but the strategic materials imported by the two major belligerents cannot meet expectations.

In the era of free trade, once the supply of commodities exceeds demand in the market, price decline has become inevitable.

If the Anglo-Russian war had not continued, the situation would have been even more serious if market confidence had not collapsed.

After sighing, Franz said helplessly: "Calculate the time, a new round of economic crisis is coming soon."

The capitalists fantasized that the Anglo-Russian War was even grander than the Prussian-Prussian War, and they all rushed to make war money.

The current situation is very obvious, no matter how much the Anglo-Russian war expands, it is unlikely that there will be a situation in which millions of troops will be in a melee.

If the current situation is not changed, I am afraid that this Anglo-Russian war will be the fuse of overcapacity in European countries. ”

Every time there is overcapacity, it is a mistake of the capitalists to anticipate the market. If you are a smart person, you still have a chance to cut the meat and stop the loss. If it lasts until the end of the Anglo-Russian war, it will really be the end of the calf.

Knowing is knowing, but Franz has no intention of interfering. This is a thankless task, and there will be no gain except for pulling hatred and carrying the black pot.

Foreign Secretary Wesenberg: "Overcapacity is just a small problem, it's nothing more than an industrial reshuffle, and it's over with gritted teeth."

The trouble is that in recent times, Britain, France and Russia have been making small moves. The British, in particular, are constantly creating friction between us and the French.

Once or twice is enough, and if there are too many times, our relations with the French will not be able to withstand such a test.

In particular, not long ago, the British government made a very vague statement that as long as we gave up our support for the Russians, they would support our unification of the German regions.

If nothing else, the British made similar promises to the French, and possibly even more. ”

Don't talk about Franco-Austrian relations, the relationship between any two countries can't withstand a long period of tossing.

I know that this is a conspiracy of the British, but these contradictions exist in France and Austria themselves, or they cannot be resolved.

No matter how much the French and Austrian governments suppress it, they will leave a pimple in their hearts. Over time, these contradictions will always erupt.

Prime Minister Karl shook his head: "The core of the problem is not on our side, the key depends on what the French think."

If the French could not resist the temptation and accepted the British proposal, then a continental war would have been inevitable. ”

According to the original plan, it was only a matter of time before Austria unified the German regions, and the Vienna government could naturally restrain its desire not to take risks.

It is different with France, and the Sino-European strategy has already related to the question of whether France can go further.

If it can't expand into Central Europe, it's the peak of France, and then it's going downhill.

In fact, France has already begun to go downhill. Looking at the world, the era when France had the highest international status and the strongest horizontal contrast was between 1870~1881.

With the sound of a gunshot in the Paris Revolution, France was once again devastated and was only recovering from it.

Compared to Anglo-Austrian, France wasted eight years. If the energy problem is not resolved, the situation will be even worse in the future.

Against this backdrop, it is only a matter of time before the French government is unwilling to fall and chooses to give it a go.

Franz frowned and said slowly: "This situation has to be considered, and we must also speed up the preparation progress, so as not to catch things off guard."

Tighten surveillance of the French government and report any signs of war readiness as soon as they are detected. ”

Austria's preparations for war had already begun, but for the sake of secrecy, the range of action had been very small.

After all, now is not a good time for a decisive battle, Austria is not ready.