Chapter 251 Persuasion

After successfully opening up the Guinean colony, the Austrian colonization did not stop, and set its sights on the Congo region.

Anyway, in this year, there are no lords everywhere. Whoever occupies it will belong to whoever owns it. Naturally, Franz will not be polite.

By October 1854, Austria had successively opened thirteen colonial strongholds on the African continent, sending more than 40,000 immigrants to the colonies.

...

Franz asked suspiciously: "Prime Minister, why did you stop sending immigrants to the colonies?"

You must know that according to Austria's original plan, all the refugees were to be transported there, and now less than one-tenth of this has been completed.

Prime Minister Felix explained: "Your Majesty, the plague in the Balkans has spread, and if immigration is urgently needed now, it may bring the plague to the colonies.

Although we have worked hard to recruit doctors, the medical and health facilities in the colony are still not optimistic. Once the plague spreads, the consequences will be unimaginable. "

Franz shook his head and said, "Prime Minister, you are overthinking it. There are only so many people in the colony. Even if there is a plague, it is very easy to disperse and isolate.

Moreover, winter is coming soon, and this plague should also come to an end. Even if it is brought to the African continent, the situation will not be too serious.

From the information we have collected, the mortality rate of Russian soldiers infected with the plague is only seven or eight points, which is not as high as the natural mortality rate of African colonization.

The war in the Balkans is about to end, and most of these refugees will choose to return home. It will be difficult for us to immigrate in the future. "

This is not an exaggeration. The mortality rate of immigrants to the African continent in this era is so abnormal. Usually, a lot of people die on the way.

Let refugees stay in the Balkans to reduce the mortality rate? the answer is negative!

In fact, their mortality rate would only be higher if they remained in the Balkans.

Without sufficient benefits, it is impossible for the Austrian government to spend a lot of money to help refugees, and it is even more impossible for the Ottoman Empire to help refugees. Can we still expect the French to be the Virgin Mary?

In this day and age, everyone is working hard to feed themselves. Relief for the millions of refugees in the Balkans requires a lot of financial and material resources. Who will do it if there are not enough benefits?

Without adequate relief, these refugees will turn into rogues, then go to scourge more areas and turn more people into refugees.

Before the twentieth century, human productivity was limited, and there were only two ways to deal with the refugee wave: relief or killing.

Most of the time, it is solved by killing, and the feudal dynasties can't be rescued at all. There is no right or wrong, everyone is for survival, if there is not enough food, then the weak will only eat the strong.

The African colonial movement in Austria was very cautious, sending about 5,000 to 8,000 immigrants at a time, and then dispersing them in a dozen settlements. It's not that they don't want more, but that food restricts the number of immigrants.

If it is just to send people there, then tens of thousands of people can be easily sent away by organizing 180 cargo ships at a time, then logistics has become a big problem.

The development of the African continent is limited, and the local indigenous tribes are too lazy to cultivate the land and rely entirely on natural resources to survive. The first colonists to Africa also depended on local natural resources to survive.

Obviously, this is only suitable for a few people who have colonized activities. There are thousands of people in a colony. It’s not that there is no population in Franz’s hands. It’s more that he is worried that unexpected situations will occur and the logistics of the colony will be cut off.

They can also take risks when the numbers are small and get enough food from the local area to survive, but not when the population is overpopulated.

Prime Minister Felix went on to explain: "Your Majesty, our immigration rate has been very fast, and in terms of immigration numbers, apart from the French, even the British immigrants on the African continent are not so many.

There is not enough local output to support the migrants, and there will not be enough returns in the short term. If precious mineral resources cannot be found, these areas will bring heavy financial pressure in the future. "

If you don't know the local resource situation, Franz will naturally worry about this problem, but this reason obviously can't be used.

It is even more impossible to go it alone. Without the cooperation of the high-level government, it will eventually become a colony by the emperor alone, and the final result is obviously tragic.

Franz said calmly: "Then, let's find a way to solve this problem. Our colonial strongholds are all in the coastal areas, send them a group of fishing boats, and teach immigrants to fish.

There is so much fertile land around, and they can grow anything they want to support themselves. As long as the initial period of time has passed, the food problem can be gradually solved.

Colonies don’t keep lazy people. If they don’t want to do anything, they organize themselves to be cannon fodder, whether it’s sent to fight local indigenous tribes or used to explore the interior.

After the food problem is solved, the pressure in the back will be less. Once the colony is stabilized, we can prospect locally, and as long as one or two strongholds yield something, we can recoup the cost.

These colonial strongholds can also provide logistical supplies to overseas merchant ships and earn some fees to subsidize administrative expenses.

If you can’t find minerals, you will go to logging. I don’t think there are even timber resources in the local area. Whether it is to grow grain, cash crops, or livestock in the plains, it is still possible to maintain the operation of the colony. "

This is not Franz's bragging. You can't get rich by farming and animal husbandry, but you can still be self-sufficient.

This kind of industrialized operation will not make any money, but it will definitely not lose money. One of the main reasons why colonies lost money in history is that

There are not enough immigrants.

The number of immigrants was insufficient, the local natural resources could not be effectively developed, the basic industries could not be developed, and the colonial government could not obtain sufficient tax revenue, and it was normal to lose money.

Prime Minister Felix reminded: "Your Majesty, these all require a lot of investment. Now we have invested millions of dongs in the colonial cause. To achieve the balance of payments in these areas, this investment will exceed tens of millions of dongs."

Franz replied with a smile: "Of course, I know very well what this is doing. With the investment of tens of millions of dongs, Guinea and the Congo region are completely under our control.

So much land on which I grow coffee, palm, cotton, cocoa, rubber, tobacco, tea, and earn millions of rupiah in profit every year.

This has not yet calculated the mineral resources, we will not be so unlucky, we have nothing to gain, right?

This account is easy to calculate. The colonial powers such as Britain and France did not do this, not because they did not want to do it, but because they did not have enough immigrants in their hands.

There are still 400,000 to 500,000 refugees in Dalmatia, waiting to be resettled there.

We can do cash-for-work first, keep them there to improve local transportation, and then slowly immigrate them to African colonies.

The beginning of everything is difficult. As long as the first stage of investment is completed, the harvest period will follow. If the government has insufficient financial resources, it can raise funds from the private sector.

The colony is different from the mainland, and does not require the government to directly participate in the management, and it is the same as handing over these businesses to private companies.

I am even considering whether to allow individuals to take part in the colonial cause and encourage nobles to go overseas to establish colonies. "

Prime Minister Felix was persuaded that the colonial enterprise was unlike any other and that the government had already made money as long as it could guarantee cost recovery.

In the management of the colonies, it may not have made a lot of profits, but it can provide enough industrial raw materials for the domestic industry, and the newly opened market has promoted the development of domestic industry and commerce.

Another benefit of colonization is the reduction of native population exodus. This situation is not obvious now, and it will become more serious after the completion of industrialization in the future.

Especially after the economic crisis broke out, there was no job in the country, and people had to immigrate overseas because of their livelihood. At this time, the role of the colony came out.

As long as the development is ok, the government can guide a large number of immigrants and avoid population outflow.

Now there are quite a lot of outflows from the German region, as long as one-third, or even one-fifth, of them have been fooled into the colonies of Austria, they are not afraid of any enemy challenge on the African continent.

To retain these immigrants, it is inevitable to develop the local economy. Without sustainable development of basic industries, it is obviously impossible to attract people to settle down.

As long as the population of the Austrian African colonies is large enough, Austria will have an advantage in the new round of African colonial partitioning.

This advantage will be directly reflected in the domestic economic development in the future, and promote the development of domestic industry and commerce.