Chapter 499

The war in South Africa was over, and the Viennese government, on the victor's side, was not happy. The reality has once again proved that war is now transformed into war, and it is no longer possible to make up for losses by relying on war reparations.

Through the armistice treaty, the Vienna government received 3 million land ransoms, plus the captives' ransom, a total of 6,126,800 pounds, equivalent to 12,253,600 Aegis.

It seems that this is a huge sum of money, but compared with the war expenditure, it is a drop in the bucket, and even a quarter of the cost has not been recovered.

This is still based on the secret contribution of the French, otherwise, the price will be even greater.

The loot obtained is a barren land. Because of the war, the land acquired from British South Africa could not even be found by indigenous tribes, let alone immigrants.

If it hadn't strategically opened up South Africa's access to the sea, squeezed the British power into a corner, and ensured the security of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State, it would have been a complete loss.

When the war is won, no matter what the losses are, rewards for merit and deeds are indispensable.

But after all, it was played under the vest of the Boer Republic, and the settlement of military exploits in the later period would have to go around in circles, and then settle the settlement after Austria annexed these areas.

In the original Boer Republic, except for a few smart people who made the right choice, the rest have all disappeared in this round of shuffling.

This is the difference in size. In the original Boer Republic, those with hundreds of workers were the leading big capitalists. In Austria, this is the scale of township enterprises.

With the invasion of the British, their capital for negotiating conditions disappeared. The pit was dug by themselves, and the armament was abandoned, and the British had to ask for help in Austria when they invaded.

Originally thought that Austria had to rely on them, these bow-headed snakes, but they guessed the beginning correctly, but did not guess the end correctly.

The British were not as strong as they thought, which greatly reduced Austria's dependence on them. Smart people adjust their mentality in a timely manner and immediately take refuge in the past, and naturally they will not lose anything.

It will be a tragedy if the response is one step slow, and the economic loss will be put aside, and the political voice has also been weakened. The relationship that was originally in the Boer Republic government has now been shattered.

The reality is so cruel, how can people who are loyal to Austria be promoted to the top without shuffling the power?

These nobles who came to fight with their own dry food are not without interest demands, and obviously they also want to get a share of the power reorganization.

Even if the foundation is not here and will not stay for development, it is still possible to arrange for a family child to come and develop. Tree big branches, this is the way of survival for the old nobles.

These new interest groups are the foundation for future Austrian rule in South Africa. The original interest groups can only say sorry, who made them make mistakes in judgment?

With the signing of the Cape Town Treaty, the biggest obstacle to the establishment of the British, French, and Austrian Tripartite Alliance no longer exists. On July 1, 1871, representatives of Britain, France and Austria signed a treaty of alliance at the Palace of Versailles, and the era of great power hegemony came.

For various reasons, this alliance treaty was only five years old. It can be seen that the three countries have insufficient confidence in this alliance, and it can only be regarded as an attempt.

Whether to continue to renew the contract after five years depends on whether you can get more benefits in these five years. It is so realistic between countries, and only interests can maintain this alliance.

Even so, the European world was still in an uproar, and this conflicted alliance still frightened many people.

For a small country that originally relied on the contradictions of the great powers to survive, life has become more and more difficult. Dismantling this alliance has become the common goal of countless European countries.

At the Vienna Palace, Franz is holding a cabinet meeting to discuss plans for a railway network in Africa.

Prime Minister Felix proposed: "Your Majesty, considering operating costs, the African railway network plan should be delayed. For now, we only need to complete the two strategic railways, east and west, and southwest.

Blind construction of the railway network will bring a heavy burden to the finances. Take our local railway network as an example, despite the many preferential policies given by the government, many railway companies still go bankrupt.

Affected by this, the capital market is no longer keen on railway investment. Today, there are not many domestic railway companies that can make a profit.

If the African railway network plan is launched, it will be almost impossible to rely on financing from the capital market, and the burden will fall entirely on the government.

This huge railway project has exceeded our financial limit, and it may not be able to break even within a hundred years. "

The bankruptcy of the railway company is Franz's fault. In order to popularize the railway network in Austria as soon as possible, he used the Internet development methods of later generations.

Launch a concept, draw a big pie, and attract capital to enter. The railway network exists independently, and is naturally a monopoly operation. As long as the initial investment stage is passed, it is really not difficult to make profits later.

This pie is much more conscientious than the virtual concept of later generations, and it is not impossible to achieve this goal. It's just that the investment in the early stage is relatively large, and the profit time in the later stage is relatively long.

This does not rely on the power of capital, Austria has built the railway network in the shortest time. As for the railway companies that collapsed on the way, they all have a common feature—the capital chain is broken.

This is all due to their own mismanagement, definitely not for the government to take over, Franz did it on purpose.

Investment is risky, and you need to be cautious when entering the market. In a capitalist market economy, economic crises are not considered, and that is their own responsibility.

Don't give this explanation, Franz never

Some stood at the front desk, advocating that railway investment is an expert, and that it was the capitalist who bankrupted the railway company and had nothing to do with the emperor.

The surviving railway companies can prove that as long as their heads are not exhausted and high-quality railway lines are carefully selected, even if the branch lines are bundled, they can still be profitable.

Of course, the premise is that you need enough money to survive the long investment period, and the rate of return in the later period is still relatively considerable.

Don't compare profit to stock price, that thing is a bubble, and no company's profit can catch up with the rise in stock price.

At its peak, the total market value of Austrian railway companies once exceeded the myth of 20 billion Aegis. Is Austria's railway network worth 20 billion Aegis?

There is no doubt that this is impossible. The 20 billion Aegis Aegis in this era is an astronomical sum, and the gold that has been developed in the world combined is not enough.

If there is so much money, not to mention the local railway network, even laying a railway network in the inhabited areas of the world, it is almost enough.

You must know that the Austrian railway network is calculated together, and the annual profit is less than 100 million Aegis, to be precise, the pure profit of 5 million Aegis is less than.

Of course, there is still a lot of room for growth. Now the railway companies that have not continued to build have stabilized, and their annual profits have basically maintained a growth rate of more than 30%.

It's not that their profits are growing fast, it's just that the base is too low, and the growth is naturally rapid. A one-percentage-point increase in freight traffic could increase the profits of the railway company by four or five points.

It's not a question of the level of freight, but a complete lack of business, which has caused many railway lines to lose money. The business volume has been increased, and many branch lines have turned losses into profits. When the total profit is insufficient, it looks very impressive.

Taking the Draco Railway Company as an example, the profit in 1869 was 12,000 Aegis, and the total profit in 1870 was 1.386 million Aegis. On the surface, it appeared to have increased by more than 100 times, but in fact the annual business volume also increased. 5 points.

This seemingly explosive growth is actually still insignificant. You must know that the net assets of Draco Railway Company are 130 million Aegis, and the market value is as high as 530 million Aegis. At its peak, the market value once reached 1.68 billion Aegis.

Otherwise, the growth rate is fast, and the profit rate of this city is simply impossible to see. It is impossible to expect the profit to recover the investment cost without more than ten or twenty years.

The same method can only be played once, and the capitalists are not stupid. If you use the African railway network to fool people, you have to believe it?

It is a pity that these Filipino dishes have not grown up, and they can't cut much if they want to. Unless the financial management law is relaxed, small capital is allowed to enter the market.

Obviously this is impossible. If we do this, in the event of a stock market crash, the scope of the impact will be wide.

Life in this era is not easy. Ordinary people work hard every day to survive. These people do not have any ability to resist risks. If it is really trapped, isn't this sending cannon fodder to the revolutionary party?

Those who dig their own corners are absolutely impossible to do. As for the construction of the African railway network, it will be later.

Why is the colony developing so well? It is enough to provide industrial raw materials and markets. Even if it wants to develop greatly, it has to wait until after localization.

Franz nodded and said: "The construction of the African railway network is indeed too expensive. Now these two railways must be re-planned.

We already have some railways in Africa, and these cannot be wasted. The Southwest Railway can consider docking directly in the Congo region, and the East-West Railway can also dock in the middle of the Southwest Railway.

In this way, the strategic purpose can also be achieved. Perhaps in the long-term development, the planning distance is a little far, but in the short term, the investment can be compressed to a minimum. "

This is not Franz's short-sightedness, on the contrary, it is still meaningful to do so. Through this railway, resources from inland Africa can be shipped out and shipped back to the country from the nearest sea outlet.

The strategic purpose has been achieved. As for the railway is not the shortest route, it increases the cost of integrating resources across Africa, which is a means of checking and balancing the colonies.

Don't you see that the British still built a bunch of messy railways in India. In the 21st century, the Indians have not smoothed it out. It is a means to check and balance the colonies.

Franz's approach has been very restrained, at least not unified orbit standards. No, it is not a completely uniform standard, some railways specializing in ore transportation, and possibly narrow-gauge railways.

Shipped to the port and loaded on the ship, it does not need to be in line with the main railway. At least the mines not far from the coastal areas will build this kind of railway.

Otherwise, taking advantage of the local resource advantages, it is not prepared that after more than ten or twenty years, a complete industrial system will also appear in Austrian Africa.

The mainland could not hold back the colonies, and Franz didn't want to move the capital to the African continent in his lifetime and run to be a non-king. Even after shifting the strategic focus, it is not enough to unify the African continent and build the largest empire in the world.