The establishment of a grain reserve system by the British also affected the international grain trading market, and the price of grain, which had been falling, finally stabilized.

However, this is useless, and the situation of oversupply has not been resolved. Although the black cauldron of plummeting food prices fell to the Russians, intelligent people knew that the Vienna government was also to blame.

Since he is a smart person, he will naturally weigh the pros and cons. Black Russians don't matter, even the tsarist government itself is used to being hacked.

Austria is different, and the grain dumping of the Vienna government in the first half of the year would not have gone so smoothly without the participation of the capitalists within the countries.

Once the lid is lifted, the interest groups involved will be much larger. This kind of offending thing is something that few people are willing to do.

Christmas is approaching and Vienna is already in a festive mood. The winter of 1872 in Vienna was exceptionally warm. There was no snow, and even cold winds were rare.

On December 21, 1872, the Polish government sent a note to Austrian diplomacy demanding that Austria surrender the land it had forcibly occupied in Poland or face the consequences.

Well, after receiving this diplomatic note, the Vienna government was stunned, and Franz was also frightened, he really could not understand what the terrible consequences would be.

Recently, Poland's anti-Austrian arrogance has been on the rise, and Franz knows it. But he didn't take this seriously, the strong never cared what the weak thought.

In his opinion, no matter how noisy the Poles are, they will shout a few slogans at home, and if they die, they will submit a few diplomatic protests, and then they should do whatever they want.

In order to recover the old land that was divided between Prussia, Russia and Austria, the Polish government also made many demands to the Vienna government after it was established.

Franz understands this kind of behavior, no matter whether it is collected or not, the government must behave like it, otherwise how can it be explained to the people?

The Viennese government never responded to the Poles, directly as if they did not exist. What Franz never expected was that the Polish government would dare to submit such a strong diplomatic note.

This is not a trivial matter, and a formal diplomatic note is not the same as a private complaint, which needs to be responsible.

There was nothing to say, Franz immediately convened a cabinet meeting, ready to seek out the bad luck of the Polish government.

"What is the Poles stimulating, or is there someone who has emboldened them to think that they can be arrogant to us?"

Anyone who knows Franz knows that he is angry. Poland was able to become independent, and Austria also secretly contributed, and it was just a matter of asking for something in return, and now the Polish government is actually rubbing its nose and face.

If you open the history books, you will find that the territorial dispute between Austria and Pos is a bad debt. In this case, it is natural that whoever is strong is justified.

Foreign Secretary Wessenberg explained: "Your Majesty, Poland is a large agricultural country, and after the outbreak of the agricultural crisis, the import and export volume of agricultural products in Poland fell sharply.

Some time ago, in response to the crisis, we raised tariffs on the import of Polish agricultural products, which caused strong dissatisfaction from the Polish government.

About 34 percent of Poland's agricultural products are exported to Austria and processed before being sold to the international market, and the tariff hike has reduced the value of agricultural trade between the two countries by two-thirds.

This has directly led to the unsalable large number of agricultural products in Poland, which has caused a serious social crisis and the political situation in Poland has become unstable.

The diplomatic note sent by the Poles at this time may have something to do with the situation in their country, and the government wants to take the opportunity to specialize in domestic conflicts. ”

There is no way to do this, the international market is shrinking, Austria has to reduce production capacity, and many capitalists engaged in the processing of agricultural products have begun to transform.

In this context, it is inevitable to protect domestic agriculture and reduce the import of agricultural products.

Long before the outbreak of the agricultural crisis, the Vienna government was ready to abandon the agro-processing industry. There is no way, this industry does not have much technical content, it can only be used as a first-generation industry.

In recent years, agricultural product processing enterprises in European countries have sprung up like mushrooms after a rain, and market competition has become more and more fierce. Austria was able to maintain its dominance in the agro-processing industry, mainly by controlling most of the raw grain production capacity.

Obviously, this situation cannot be sustained, and since the outbreak of the agricultural crisis, the agro-processing industry in various countries has stopped worrying about raw materials, and Austria's cost advantage no longer exists.

In this context, it is better to invest in emerging industries and promote the second industrial revolution to open up the gap in strength.

Without the government's key support, the agricultural product processing and manufacturing industry with higher profits can continue to survive, while the enterprises lacking technical content in the flour mills will have a hard time.

This is the inevitable result of economic development, the higher the technology content of the enterprise, the more obvious the advantage in the competition. Enterprises without technical content can only fall into the vicious circle of price war, and it is difficult to go further.

At this time, enterprises must either transform or upgrade their technology. For example, the development of more new products, and the dazzling variety of foods in supermarkets in later generations are forced out by reality.

In order to survive, agricultural product processing enterprises must not simply process a product, but must increase links, improve technical content, and increase the added value of products.

In the long run, the agricultural crisis also led to the upgrading of the Austrian agro-processing industry. In 1872 there were more biscuits, canned food, and all kinds of junk food on the market in Vienna than in the previous five years combined.

The emergence of these high value-added products has brought many companies into a new lease of life and rejuvenated. Businesses that are slow to respond are still struggling.

From the perspective of later generations, the competition in this era is nothing at all. Even the most competitive flour mills, as long as they are properly managed, still have good profits, and they are still far from losing money and making money.

Prime Minister Felix said sternly: "Whatever the reason, the Poles must give a tough response to our provocation and let them know that it is powerful." Military action can be taken if necessary, to sober up the Poles. ”

Take military action, Franz frowned. He felt that things were not as simple as they seemed, and that even if the Poles had a cerebral convulsion, there was no reason to provoke Austria.

Before Franz could speak, Chancellor of the Exchequer Karl raised objections.

"It's easy to teach the Poles a lesson, it's not hard to conquer Warsaw, the question is what do we gain?

The present international situation is not suitable for foreign expansion, and the Kingdom of Poland is so poor that we will not even be able to recover our military expenses unless we accept Polish agricultural products as compensation. ”

Anger and rejuvenating the division is a taboo for soldiers.

Although the land in Poland was good, Franz really had no ambitions. After the War of Independence, Polish nationalism had risen, and it was too difficult to digest them.

Just for the sake of a land suitable for growing grain, it is completely worth the loss to bury the hidden danger of division in the empire. This time bomb, whoever loves it, will go to whomever it wants, anyway, Franz is not ready to put it at home.

It was even more of a joke to accept Polish agricultural products as compensation. Just like after World War I, Britain and France accepted German industrial products to pay off their debts.

The Germans failed to open the markets of Britain and France for domestic industry and commerce by relying on the war, but achieved their goal through post-war reparations.

Britain and France, greedy for temporary gains, also paid a heavy price for this. Hit by cheap industrial and commercial products from Germany, British and French industries went into decline.

At the beginning of World War II, as the side of the defeated countries, German industry actually surpassed the combined value of Britain and France, which has to be said to be an irony.

The Vienna government could not do such a stupid thing. It is too late to protect domestic agriculture, how can it be for the sake of some profits, and ignore the fundamentals.

"First of all, warn the Polish government and order them to quell the anti-Austrian movement in the country before Christmas, or we will parade in Warsaw."

The lack of interest in Poland does not mean that the threat of force cannot be used. If the Polish government really got into the water, then Franz didn't mind fighting a war head-on.

It's just that in this way, the Russians are cheaper. If Poland is disabled, Franz is very skeptical that the Kingdom of Prussia will rely on what to fight in the next Russo-Prussian war.

Neither Alexander II nor Alexander III were easy to match, and the war potential of the Russian Empire was far superior to that of Prussia.

After suffering a loss, it is difficult for the Russians to be greedy for merit. As long as the tsarist government was steady and the war turned into a war of attrition, the Kingdom of Prussia could not consume the Russians.

At this time, the Kingdom of Poland became crucial. If you are ruthless and recruit millions of cannon fodder from the Kingdom of Poland, then Prussia will not be drowned in the tactics of the sea of people in the face of gray cattle.

The other Franz was not sure, but one thing was certain, and that was that this time the tsarist government would not be short of food.

Even if the Russian Empire's communications were still unsettled, the tsarist government would have stockpiled enough strategic supplies before the outbreak of war.

This time the Prussians could not be caught by surprise by the Russians, and it was impossible for the tsarist government to take the initiative to provoke war until preparations were completed.

The Russian-Austrian alliance was still a few years away, and during this time, the Kingdom of Prussia could not take the initiative to attack, otherwise it would drag Austria into the water.

Shaking his head, Franz dismissed the jumbled thoughts. No matter what so many things are done, the international situation is ever-changing, and no one can guarantee what will happen tomorrow.

Perhaps by the time the Russo-Prussian war broke out, the situation had changed again. Now Austria's power is also growing rapidly, and perhaps by the time the Russo-Prussian War broke out, Austria had left them far behind.

As long as you are strong enough, you should not worry about any challenges. Perhaps the time comes, and the outcome of the Russo-Prussian War will also become irrelevant for Austria.