Chapter 807

Even though the UK government didn't follow up directly, they went into parliamentary brawl mode, which spooked a lot of people.

Anyone with a little political savvy knows who this is aimed at.

Once the two grain consumption markets of Britain and France are lost, Austria's total exports will drop by one-sixth.

The Russians, which are dominated by agriculture, are even worse. It is God's blessing to keep half of their trade exports.

Under the fierce market competition, Russian agriculture with backward productivity will directly lose its market competitiveness because of the production cost.

However, the Tsarist government did not dare to promote new agricultural technologies, because production capacity does not equal profit, the grain cannot be sold, and the high yield is useless.

Even the industrial upgrading, the tsarist government did not dare to engage in, this is similar to Austria in the last agricultural crisis.

Constrained by the level of domestic economic development, Franz has to take his time to develop animal husbandry, for fear of another overcapacity in animal husbandry.

The great development of animal husbandry in Austria has only emerged in the last two or three years. The main reason is because of economic development, the purchasing power of the people has increased.

There is market demand first, and then there is commodity production. This order can't be reversed, otherwise there will be a big mess.

The Tsarist government was in a hurry, and so was the Vienna government. It's just that the Russians are really anxious, and the Vienna government is just pretending.

The diplomatic slogans were loud and earth-shattering, and the government's actions were as fierce as tigers, but the actual effect was 0.5.

For example: after the French announced the big farm plan, the Vienna government announced: suspending the qualification approval of agricultural products processing enterprises.

When it was informed that the British Parliament began to discuss whether to follow up, the Vienna government once again issued a notice of agricultural transformation, advising the public to reduce the area of ​​food planting to deal with the agricultural crisis.

The direct consequence is that the stock prices of domestic agricultural companies have plummeted, and even some food production companies that have little impact have also been implicated.

Of course, not long after the economic crisis passed, the current stock price is not high, and it will not fall anywhere.

To put it bluntly, the French just announced a plan, and the Paris government has not yet figured out how to implement it.

Capitalists are unwilling to invest, and the government must make a loss-making business, which is not as simple as it sounds.

How to do it, we have no experience. The government directly sends officials to manage, which will greatly increase the administrative cost, and corruption is also a big problem.

If, in the end, a sky-high price of food is produced and the people cannot afford it, it will be a big trouble.

Contracting to the capitalists seems simple, but the problem is the integrity of the capitalists, which is really difficult to reassure.

Taking an empty shell project, defrauding the government for subsidies, and finally importing cheap food from abroad to fill the hole, the Paris government has become a big loser.

Supervision sounds simple, but the problem is that the farm is built in a colony, and although the French government directly manages it, the place where the sky is high and the emperor is far away is destined to be insufficient control by the central government.

In addition to the management problems, the natives in the colonies were also a headache. French Africa is not Austrian Africa, and most of the land is owned.

Avoidance is unavoidable. You can't put all the farms in the uninhabited desert, right?

Desert agriculture is still in the research stage in the 21st century, and the French are still unable to open it.

Direct expulsion is also not enough, and a bad colony will be in chaos. With the lessons of the Egyptian rebellion, the French government had to be cautious.

After all, the indigenous rebels are easy to deal with, and the indigenous rebels with external support are different. If there were a few more rebellions in Egypt, the French government would have no money for a big farm project.

There are so many issues to consider, if a bad operation, the French farm plan will become a laughing stock.

Not to mention the British. Anyone who knows a little about the British Parliament knows that if they can unify their opinions within a year and a half, that is a super-level performance.

This kind of grand strategy is possible for three or five years. In particular, the major food-producing countries have mobilized their forces to lobby the British Parliament.

Many people are still looking forward to a comeback, and some even believe that Britain and France are just waiting for the price, using the "food self-sufficiency plan" to force Russia and Austria to make concessions in international politics.

There are many people who support this statement, including many people in Britain and France who think so.

At the Vienna Palace, Franz also felt the pressure as the British and French "food self-sufficiency plan" came out.

From the private sector to the government, there is a call to negotiate with Britain and France to resolve disputes.

After all, this is a secret plan. Except for a few high-level people, everyone else knows nothing. This kind of thing is almost inevitable.

Affected by this, on August 16, 1885, the Vienna government also sent a note to the British and French ministers in Austria, and conducted an in-depth communication.

After the Vienna government deliberately showed a hint of compromise, Britain and France, who thought they had found Austria's weakness, naturally asked the lion to speak up.

Then there is no then, and if we can't talk, we can't talk. The Vienna Foreign Office is in a state of anxiety and in the water. It seems that a lot of work has been done, and it is still tough in the substantive negotiations.

Franz said in disbelief: "The Russians want to withdraw from the free trade system, is the news sure?"

The French have already withdrawn from the free trade system, and the United States has also withdrawn from the free trade system. If the Russians withdraw from the free trade system again, it is estimated that this thing will come to an end.

Foreign Minister Wesenberg nodded: "To be precise, the Russians only

There are signs of withdrawal, and it may also be a pretense of the tsarist government.

Yesterday afternoon, Alexander III summoned the British envoy to Russia, and Britain's food self-sufficiency plan was commercialized, which ended in unhappy end.

This morning, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a note to Britain, warning the London government not to play with fire, accusing the British food self-sufficiency plan of seriously undermining the free trade system.

If the British did not abandon the food self-sufficiency plan, the Russian Empire would impose trade sanctions on Britain. "

Destroying the free trade system is probably possible. Anyway, it depends on who is on the side.

In theory, as long as the British do not raise tariffs and suppress their competitors by political means, but adopt a fair competition method to realize the food self-sufficiency plan, it will echo the spirit of free trade.

Of course, it is reasonable to criticize the British government for investing in agriculture and interfering with the normal development of the market, which violates the principle of "freedom".

After all, Britain advertises "absolute freedom", and if you say it yourself, you must be responsible.

It's just that on this issue, the Russians can say that Austria has no right to speak.

From beginning to end, Franz did not speak out on the issue. It's not that I didn't see it, the problem is that Austria has gone too far.

Isn't it a state-owned farm, so there's still a lot of Austrian stuff? Do you really think that in the last agricultural crisis, the rapid reduction of Austrian grain production capacity was due to the fact that the people voluntarily reduced the area of ​​grain planting?

too naive!

Tens of millions of peasants, at most one-tenth of them at the government's call, have cut some of their production capacity.

It's not a question of obedience, the key is not to grow food, let them grow what?

Economic crops are easy to say, but they also require technology. If you don't sow the seed, you will surely reap.

At most, the price of grain will drop, and if you can't sell it, you can keep it for yourself or feed the animals.

Cash crops, once misjudged and unable to sell, can only be left in rotten fields.

The government's encouragement and promotion also promote vegetable cultivation in the surrounding areas of the city, which is not a concern at all in remote mountainous areas.

It's not a question of thinking, the key point is that Austria is a market economy, not a planned economy, and the government doesn't know the demand for every cash crop in the market.

Rather than handing over the decision to bureaucrats and making people angry, Franz prefers to let the people continue to grow food.

As a big deal, the problem of adjusting production capacity is left to state-owned farms. I really don't know what to plant, the big deal is to leave the land fallow for a few more years.

After thinking about it for a while, Franz asked, "How likely are the British to compromise?"

After finally flicking the British to the edge of the cliff, he almost kicked them off the door. Franz didn't want the British to be pulled back again.

I don't know anything else, as long as the British start the food self-sufficiency plan, they will start a loss model for many years, which is even worse than the French.

Restricted by the free trade system, Britain must treat food from all countries equally, and continue to maintain the current low tariffs that are close to zero.

This means that Britain cannot support a younger brother as a granary and squeeze Austrian agricultural products out of the market.

Setting up a farm in the colony seems to be easy for the British, but in fact the cost is not low.

The first is population. Australia, New Zealand, Canada and other regions are typically vast and sparsely populated.

Even mechanical farming requires a lot of labor. At least until the construction of water conservancy projects and the improvement of road traffic, the demand for labor will not be low.

Recruiting labor from China, the labor cost alone is enough to make the British government hurt, amortized to the cost of food production, which is absolutely sky-high.

There are no barriers, the more this kind of food is planted, the more it will be lost. It is estimated that after a few years of loss, the British people will realize that there is no "money way" to grow food.

When the opposition party comes to power, this money-losing strategy will be cut in half, leaving behind a pile of unfinished projects to prove the incompetence of the previous government.

Of course, India has a large population and fertile land, which is very suitable for agricultural production. The problem is that there are too many Indians. It is a problem to develop agriculture here and feed the local people.

It is estimated that before supporting the country, the food produced will be eaten up. It is not impossible to give priority to domestic satisfaction, the key is that people are very hungry, and people will rebel.

The cotton planting in the front has triggered a major uprising, and now there are two new neighbors from Russia and Austria. At this time, the British government will definitely not dare to mess around.

After pondering for a while, Wesenberg replied slowly: "Half to half!

Although the Russian market looks huge, its purchasing power is actually very limited. Nearly 70% of this limited market is still occupied by us, and the British are only given some leftovers.

Even if the Russian market is lost, the total export volume of the British will drop by one or two percentage points at most, which the British can bear.

However, the British government is not keen on the food self-sufficiency plan. Gladstone has left the choice to parliament, and the cabinet has not even stated its position, which is enough to illustrate this point. "

This answer is equal to no, half to half, which is not so much an analysis and judgment as a gamble.

I have to admit that although the Russians' methods are a little rough, the effect is very good.

The tsarist government gave the British a 50% chance of giving up. Under normal circumstances, the Austrian

With a little effort, in the end the British Parliament rejected or shelved the motion indefinitely, and the matter was over.

Several plans appeared in Franz's mind, and he rejected them again.

"At this point, we are no longer fit to do anything.

Next, let's watch the French performance. Presumably Napoleon IV will not give up this opportunity. "

As soon as he finished speaking, Franz felt something was wrong. I don't know when it started, but Austria has spent more time cooperating with its enemies than with its allies.

Whether this is a moral decline or a distortion of human nature is a question worth pondering.

But what is certain is that the operation of this opening is wrong, and if it goes on like this, Franz will doubt whether he can distinguish between friend and foe.

"There are only eternal interests between nations, no eternal enemies." Franz's practice now fully explains this sentence.