Chapter 234 Balkan Peninsula Development Plan
In a quaint castle in Prague, an elderly man over fifty asked solemnly, "Holst, are you really ready?
Once you accept the government's deployment, you will have to live a hard life for a long time in the future, and it will be too late to regret it. "
Holst replied earnestly: "Father, the Vickers family has fallen. In the last power struggle, our network in the government suffered heavy losses.
If you want to get a job in the government, you can only pass the civil service exam. There are too many competitors on this road. Besides, our family has always developed in the army, and there is no advantage in this regard. I am not sure to get ahead.
The situation on the European continent is stabilizing, and there will be no war in Austria for a long time in the future, which has cut off the opportunity to fight on the battlefield.
Now is an opportunity. With the military merits accumulated on the battlefield, now I stay in the country and become a knight of glory at most.
The family can make up some money to exchange for a manor from the government, but now in the Balkans, you can become a hereditary knight and directly own a manor that doubles in size.
Under normal circumstances, I may not be able to succeed in my 20 years of struggle in China. That being the case, why not take the plunge? "
To strengthen control over the Balkans, the Vienna government mobilized domestically. As Prime Minister Felix expected, the low-level nobles who wanted to go further could not resist this temptation.
Compared with the development of overseas colonies, the Balkan Peninsula is also at the doorstep. Even if it is a little poor now, future development can still be expected.
As one of the strongholds of conservatism, Austria still maintains the ancient tradition of the eldest son inheriting the family business and the second son going out to venture.
The great nobles still have the ability to provide enough titles to their immediate descendants, while the children of the side branches or the minor nobles can only fight on their own.
In order to limit the number of nobles in the country and ensure the quality of nobles, the Vienna government is still considering the introduction of a "Noble Law".
Once this law is implemented, the inheritance of nobles must be assessed by the noble council, and it will be difficult for playboys to inherit titles.
In addition to the eldest son who inherits the title, even the non-military title obtained by the children of the great nobles will lose the hereditary ability.
Because the influence is too great, it is still under discussion in the noble council. After all, this law is too unfriendly to the declining nobles, and it is too difficult for them to pass the assessment.
Franz plans to implement this law when he opens up the colony, and let these declining nobles go to the colony to fight for wealth.
The domestic plate is so big, obviously it is not enough for everyone to share, even if the territory of the Balkan Peninsula is increased, the cake is still not big enough.
The collapse of the British and French colonies was largely due to the uneven distribution of benefits. The capitalists took too many benefits, but they needed others to work for them. How is this possible?
Since ancient times, the enfeoffment system has been a powerful tool for expansion. The counties and counties directly administered by the central dynasty were often lost; but the lands that were enfeoffed were rarely divided again. Even if it is independent, it is inseparable from the influence of local culture.
Of course, this is only one factor, and the bigger reason is class solidification. Either make the cake bigger and leave a way for everyone to rise, or it can only be a revolution. This multiple-choice question is easy to do.
After pondering for a while, the old man said: "Well, I respect your choice of child. Now the family can't give you much help, but you can recruit a group of people from the manor to leave, just to relieve the population pressure.
These people depend on family life for generations. Loyalty is not a problem. With their help, I believe you will soon be able to open up the situation. "
The influence of the nobles in this era is not only because of their status, but also because of the fact that they have a group of vassals.
Although serfdom was abolished, this influence has not dissipated.
Now the Austrian government encourages these nobles to go to the Balkans for development, but not just for the nobles themselves. If you are fighting alone, in an unfamiliar place, who may rule whoever is.
Besides, everyone's early-stage industries are all land, so they can't be cultivated by the nobles themselves, right?
It is much easier for these people to organize immigration than for the Austrian government.
The densely populated German region has reached the limit of its population capacity in the era of the agricultural country, and now diverting some people to leave is just to ease internal conflicts.
In any case, industrialization does not require much labor these days. Austria is still the second most populous country in Europe, and the population of the Balkans is approaching the 50 million mark.
The most important thing now is to promote ethnic integration. Against the background of the unified language and writing, there will be a large number of mixed-race children in the next generation. Who can use nationalism to do things?
It can be said that the future of the new Holy Roman Empire is promising as long as Franz does not waver.
An unexpected benefit of developing the Balkans is the reduction in immigration to the United States.
After all, it is also risky to travel across the oceans in this era. Compared with the unknown America, the risk of the Balkan Peninsula at the door is much lower, and the Danube is connected with convenient transportation, and you can come back in ten days and a half months.
Especially if you have a small family, immigrating to the Balkans can still bring your family with you. If you go to the United States, it will be life and death.
After the Great Revolution, there has been an upsurge in immigration in Germany, with an average of 60,000 to 70,000 people leaving every year, and about 20,000 to 30,000 people in Austria leaving every year.
These immigrants made the people of America
The population soared. In 1850, the United States received 310,000 immigrants, and in 1851, the United States received 379,000 immigrants. In 1850, the national population of the United States was only 23.192 million. In 1860, it increased to 31.443 million.
Immigrants in this era are young and strong, the old, the weak, the sick and the disabled can’t bear the turbulence of the sea, and they are all high-quality laborers.
Every time he thinks of this, Franz can only sigh that the South American countries are not up to the mark, obviously their own conditions are not bad, but they don't know how to fight with Americans for immigrants.
Don't say they act together, as long as several countries focus on attracting immigrants and divert the population of the United States, Americans cannot develop so fast.
In this case, Franz is also powerless. European countries have not yet realized the threat of the United States, and have not taken measures to limit the growth of their power.
Of course, he didn't do nothing at all, at least every once in a while in the newspapers, he blackmailed the upstarts in the United States. This is also an entertainment program that the European people love to see, and it is very popular.
In any case, the number of immigrants to the United States can be reduced by tens of thousands, and it is not a small number when accumulated over time. This can also be regarded as weakening the strength of competitors.
You must know that thanks to these immigrants, the Germans came to the top and became the largest nation in the United States. It can be said that the rise of the United States The Germans have made great contributions.
Vienna
Franz is carefully reading the "Development of the Balkan Peninsula Plan" submitted by the cabinet.
The strength of a country is not only due to its large territorial area, large population, and rich resources, these are only one of the necessary conditions, but also the degree of territorial development.
The Russian Empire is big enough, bigger than the two Europes. From the perspective of land area, resources, and population, their strength should be like a strong Qin, sweeping across Liuhe and embezzling the world.
The reality is that the Russian Empire, with so many advantages, not to mention embezzling Europe, any two major powers joining forces can make them go unnoticed.
The biggest problem is that the level of local development is too low. If the Russian Empire has now completed its industrialization, then there is no doubt that appropriating the European continent is not a dream.
The New Holy Roman Empire is not as arrogant as the Russians, and it can become a member of the top powers by relying on an extensive management system.
In Franz's view, if the acquired territories cannot be effectively developed, then these territories that cannot be converted into national power will become a heavy burden.
It is difficult to continue to expand on the European continent, and intensive cultivation and development of the existing land is the kingly way.
Prior to this, the Vienna government had formulated many development plans. Except for a few states with a high degree of autonomy, the rest of the regions had entered the government planning outline, and many places had already begun to organize and implement them.
The current development plan for the Balkans is only a preliminary idea, and there is still a long way to go before it is actually implemented.
Franz thought for a while and said, "Prime Minister, according to this development outline, the two principalities of the Danube River Basin will be the second granary of the empire in the future.
But we have to consider a problem. Once the Russian-Austrian relationship deteriorates, the products exported from these regions can only be sold to the German region along the Danube, or transported to the sea by land.
There are also supporting industries, which look more like Russian customized business. I doubt that the Russians have such strong purchasing power?
Now they are still a serf empire. Even if social reforms are carried out in the future, I think the purchasing power of their ordinary people will be at most half that of the Austrian people.
If targeting the industry in the Russian market, it is best to take two routes, either high-end to sell to their nobles; or low-end route to sell to civilians, the prices of these commodities must be cheap enough. "
Hesitating about the geographical location, the economies of the two principalities in the Danube River Basin will inevitably be affected by both Austria and Russia. Internally, it is the Austrian local market, and externally, it is the Russian market.
Economic development must also be centered on these two markets, and other European countries will be considered further afield.
Prime Minister Felix explained: "Your Majesty, no one can tell the future of Russia-Austria relations. But even if the relationship deteriorates, the possibility of them blocking us is very low.
Even if the tsarist government wanted to do this, their domestic interest groups would not agree to it. With the executive power of the tsarist government, it would not be able to carry it out at all.
This can be seen from the current situation. Because of the war, the Russians cut off trade with Britain and France, but in fact they also cut off Ukraine and central Russia.
The main reason for the cessation was not because of the blockade orders of the tsarist government, but because the war blocked the Black Sea shipping routes, and these areas were taken away from the market by our goods.
Commodities entering Russia, Britain and France from the Baltic Sea have never been cut off. The main reason for not entering the central and southern regions is that the transportation cost is too high and the competitiveness is lost.
As for the issue of the industry, these are only preliminary assumptions. The final choice is in the hands of the capitalists, whose sensitivity to the market is definitely higher than ours.
The government only formulates corresponding policies and will not directly invest in these light industries. I believe the capitalists will do better. "
Franz nodded, he never had any illusions about the execution ability of the tsarist government, and the possibility of being blocked is really low.
After the breakdown of Russian-Austrian relations in history, the Russians did not block the Danube. Obviously, the tsarist government would not be so reckless for such a practice that might provoke war.
Not to mention industrial problems, since the cabinet government is not going to invest in itself, it will
Let the capitalists do it by themselves, and the consequences of profit and loss are at their own risk. This does not need him, the emperor, to worry about it.
From the perspective of development, Russia and Austria may become competitors economically in the future. The pillar industry of the Russians is grain export, which is also the pillar industry of Austria.
It's just that Austria exports refined agricultural products, while Russia directly exports raw agricultural products, but the competition between the two sides also exists.
If this situation is not resolved, it is almost inevitable that the competition of interests will affect the relationship between the two countries.
From this aspect, Franz also has to be thankful that the Tsarist government is a dictatorial government, and this kind of contradiction will not break out in the short term.