Chapter 479: Witness of Friendship

The younger brothers have a fighting spirit, and Franz is happy to see it. Success or failure is irrelevant, the most important thing is this positive spirit, which is worthy of encouragement and development.

Austria is also a big business now, and the fault tolerance rate has greatly increased. The success or failure of the South African war has nothing to do with the overall situation of the country.

Of course, it is better to succeed, to crush the British ambitions in one fell swoop. Lest the British have unrealistic fantasies after the gold mining, another war will break out.

The colonists of this age have absolutely no resistance in the face of their interests. Only after they have experienced failure, do they know that the sky is high and the earth is high.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer Karl submitted a report to Franz and said with a frown: "Your Majesty, this is the military expenditure of the last two months of the South African war, which totals 12.486 million Aegis."

There is nothing wrong with the saying that war is the beast of gold. It's just a local war. On average, more than 6 million Aegis is consumed every month. If it is a full-scale war, it will be worth it.

It is impossible to save military expenses. The weapons and ammunition of the labor and division expeditions are all shipped from China, and the transportation cost is not a small expense.

In fact, the current military expenditure is already low. At least the cannon fodder troops do not need Franz's salary, nor do they need to pay pensions, otherwise this number will increase several times.

However, no matter how much they save, these people still have to wear clothes and eat, and eliminate the old-fashioned muskets, big knives and spears, and there is also a cost.

Franz looked at the report and found that the cost of the hundreds of thousands of cannon fodder troops accounted for about 23% of the total military expenditure, and the rest was the cost of the tens of thousands of "Boer Republic" troops.

Although it is to protect the family and the country, military pay is still indispensable. Including the aristocratic private army who brought their own dry food, they all have a child's army pay. Pensions are also distributed equally in accordance with Austrian regular army standards.

Franz did not save in this regard, and he personally rejected the government's money-saving plan. In theory, no money is given, and the nobles can also be recruited to fight. It only needs to divide the spoils after the war. This is how the European continent has played since ancient times.

But Franz knew that times were different. It’s okay to recruit fiefdoms once in a while to fight, but after a few more visits, it is estimated that the emperor will not be able to call anyone.

Loyalty can't be worn out, and people's hearts will change. If the war is won and there are enough spoils to be divided, so to speak.

If the war is at a loss and the spoils of war are not enough to make up for everyone's losses, then complaints are inevitable. After suffering a loss, the next time others will act in favor of yin and yin.

The South African war naturally does not have the problem of insufficient loot, and the gold mine has everything. But this way, there is nothing to do with the government.

Why should the government intervene if the aristocracy paid for it? There was no way for the Vienna government to benefit from it, at least during the tax-free period under colonial law.

Thinking from another perspective, without knowing that there is a large amount of gold buried in the ground, few nobles dare to invest so much.

The monthly expenses of more than six million Aegis, even the last top nobles of the Shinra Empire, cannot afford to take this risk.

In case the money runs out and the war is not over, you can only cry yourself. There have been many such negative teaching materials in the European continent. Many noble lords have fought with others, and they have lost money just after half of the battle.

The ancestors of the Habsburg dynasty had it, they were all emperors, and they were forced to go home by creditors. Of course, the main thing is to save face too much. If the debt is not repaid, what can a few businessmen do?

Half of the anti-Semitic movement in Europe came from this. The nobles couldn't pay back the money, and they didn't want to carry the bad reputation of defaulting on their debts, so they simply turned against the Jews and wiped out the creditors directly.

Now the government's bottom line is different, everyone's risk has been minimized, and there is no need to worry about losing the bottom line due to accidents.

There are many nobles who have succeeded in the African continent in recent years, but there are more nobles who have failed. Those who do not know how to control risks and greedily advance will now have grass growing on their graves.

Any colonial empire is made up of white bones. The collapse of later colonial empires is the main reason that no one wants to continue to bleed for the colonies.

In the final analysis, it is still a matter of distribution of interests. The bureaucratic group and the capitalists have divided almost all the interests, and the remaining people can’t even drink soup. Who is willing to continue to work hard?

Throughout the major colonial empires, few people say that the colonies lost money in the early days of their business.

Is the wealth created less? Or has the cost of domination really skyrocketed to the point where it cannot be covered?

Clearly, a colony that has been in operation for decades can create more wealth. But the government's revenue has rarely increased, and the money has gone into private pockets.

On the contrary, the expenditures are constantly increasing. An example is the fallen Portuguese, whose colonial system, as far as Franz knew, was no longer able to bring wealth to the government.

Not only Portugal, but the cost of domination of the major colonial empires is constantly increasing, but the taxation of most colonies can still cover this cost.

The decay of the bureaucracy and the greed of interest groups are almost unsolvable problems. Even the mainland has similar problems, let alone the colonies?

The rise of free trade now has begun to attack the colonial system, arguing that it will impose a heavy financial burden on the government.

It cannot be said to be prescient, these people mainly attacked from a moral point of view without directly benefiting from the colonial system.

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It seems that this is a typical example of eating with a bowl and putting down chopsticks to curse mother. He is clearly enjoying the dividends brought by the colonial system, but he refuses to admit it, and believes that maintaining colonial rule is costly.

As everyone knows, the industrial revolution is to eat people, and the primitive accumulation of capital is bloody, either externally or internally.

There was no so-called free trade in the 19th century, and the British were just shouting slogans, wanting countries to open their markets to them.

Of course they don't mind opening their markets to countries as well, while maintaining a competitive edge. Once this advantage disappears, it will turn its face and ignore it.

Otherwise, why should the Germans challenge the old world? It is not the lack of industrial raw materials, and the dumping of goods in the market, which is pushed by capital to start the chariot.

When the British and French free-traders got their wish and got rid of the rotten colonial system, they ushered in not a new life, but a rapid decline.

The local area is small, the resources are poor, and the industrial development is inherently limited. In the face of the cruel reality, it has to play to industrialization and drink poison to quench thirst.

These problems are not too troublesome for the time being. Until the colonial system entered an era of great losses, such voices could not become the climate.

No matter how loudly free trade is shouted, everyone must cooperate. Now you are playing with trade protection. Are you afraid that you will not die fast enough when your family goes to play free trade?

Franz said calmly: "Don't worry, we have a preliminary understanding of the geological conditions in South Africa.

The local land is fertile, the climate is pleasant, and the mineral resources are relatively abundant, and the future development potential is still promising.

After a comprehensive assessment, South Africa should be the land with the most development potential on the African continent. The investment made now can be recovered in the near future. "

Franz didn't mention the gold issue. Until the dust settles, it's best not to make any extras. Anyway, driving the British out of the African continent is also one of Austria's national policies.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Carr explained: "Your Majesty, no matter what the development potential is, it is a question of the future, and we do not lack a piece of land with unlimited development potential.

In fact, this kind of land with most of the resources is not necessarily a good thing. If you don't prepare in advance, you may end up getting too big in the future.

The top priority is to end this war as soon as possible. Now that the French have stabilized the situation in Italy, our goal of sharing the pressure for them has been achieved, and there is no need to continue to consume with the British. "

This statement is not wrong, too rich resources may not be a good thing. All resources are available, and the dependence on the empire is reduced.

Franz nodded thoughtfully, it seemed that fragmenting South Africa was imperative. It is necessary to implement the provincial system management as soon as possible to replace the current South African Governor's Office, so as to avoid the occurrence of regional groups in the future.

"We don't have to worry about the war. The officers and soldiers on the front line want to end the war as soon as possible for Christmas, which is only about a month away, so there is no need to put more pressure on them.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs found an opportunity to remind the French that we have fulfilled the agreement, and this time we have held up half of the British Army for them. "

There is nothing wrong with this statement. From a quantitative point of view, the army invested by the British in South Africa has exceeded half of the total army.

If you do good deeds, you also need to leave your name. If you don't say it, how will others know? The more you pay, the greater the gain. This is an era of equal exchange.

Brothers have to settle accounts, not to mention allies? This kind of thing is better left out in the open.

Even if the countries only talk about their interests, when they talk about the friendship between France and Austria, this is also a testimony of the friendship between the two countries.

It doesn't seem to work much now, and maybe it will be needed in the future. It's enough to take it out to fool the second-year junior. This propaganda material was needed when pro-Austrianism was being cultivated in France.