Chapter 745 Opportunity for War

The essence of establishing colonies is to make money. For the Austrian government, there are only two kinds of colonies that are valuable: profitable and strategic.

There is no doubt that Lanfang Autonomous Province is profitable, but also has certain strategic value.

Lanfang Autonomous Province and other regions of the Austrian Southeast Asia jointly established Austria's regional hegemony in the Southeast Asian region.

The Vienna government is not without the voice of the Lanfang Autonomous Province directly under the jurisdiction. The key point is that no one can guarantee that the direct management will be able to obtain more lucrative benefits.

The economic value of Lanfang Autonomous Province to the Vienna government is far more than the annual 3.764 million Aegis.

Since joining the Austrian system, there has been no security threat, and Lanfang Autonomous Province has quickly entered the fast lane of development.

Perhaps the two neighbors in Spain and the Netherlands have done a good job. As early as more than ten years ago, Lanfang Autonomous Province became the base of overseas Chinese businessmen.

A large influx of capital has naturally driven the development of the local economy. If it were not limited by geographical conditions, the development of Lanfang Autonomous Province would have been better.

Now Lanfang Autonomous Province imports tens of millions of Aegis industrial and commercial products from Austria every year, and at the same time exports raw materials such as rubber, sago, copra, Kachi dyes, sago flour, pepper, gold and silver.

If listed separately and ranked by trade volume, Lanfang is enough to rank in the top five among all Austria's trading partners.

The greater the stakes involved, the more cautious the Vienna government has become.

In case of misoperation, the situation is turbulent, people are pryed, and the hegemony in the Southeast Asian region is lost, then it will be lost.

Driven by interests, the status of Lanfang Autonomous Province has naturally changed. It is now a special existence that is higher than the colony and lower than the state.

If it weren't for the fact that the local ruling class was heavily influenced by tradition and did not like to participate in politics, a seat has now been added to the imperial parliament.

Lanfang Autonomous Province is not without people of insight. As early as more than ten years ago, someone proposed to repair the railway. However, the traditional power is too strong, and the "ancestral grave" cannot be avoided.

In addition, Lanfang Autonomous Province is an island, with well-developed shipping, but not much development in inland areas, so the demand for railways is not large, so it was shelved.

This also shows from the side that the ruling class of Lanfang Autonomous Province is trash. These guys in the original time and space are all Dutch compradors, and their integrity is naturally not as high as that.

Franz had no intention of interfering in Lanfang's internal affairs, and he was a reputable emperor by taking people's money and people to eliminate disasters.

Franz is also a supporter of Lanfang autonomy, even in the face of the annual tribute.

This is not Franz's greed for money, but mainly because he understands the traditional culture of the East. If he, the emperor, doesn't accept the money, those guys will cry in a hurry.

In this relatively rotten era, as long as there is no anger and resentment, it is considered qualified.

I don't know what will be written in the history books in the future. Anyway, everyone gets what they need now, and the cooperation is very happy.

...

Seeing that the parties had reached an agreement, Franz, as the arbiter, put forward a new request: "Let's go ahead with the railway plan, but it's not enough.

This economic crisis should last for a long time. To get out of the crisis, the government must create more jobs while reducing expenditure as much as possible. "

It's not hard to cut spending and create jobs, it's not easy to do both.

The Vienna government's construction plan is essentially for better economic development, and investment projects must also consider profitability.

If the time is delayed to twenty years, Franz can upgrade the road and build the highway.

Not now, not long after the car was born, people's main means of transportation is still a horse-drawn carriage.

Horse carriage on the concrete road?

Thinking about it is very emotional, the problem is the waste horse! With such a head-to-head fight, the horse's hoof won't last long.

Building water conservancy projects?

This thing has already been built in the previous economic crises. It has no economic value if it has not started yet.

Not only these projects have been completed, but even the urban upgrading and transformation have been basically completed, and these issues do not need to be considered for at least 30 years.

Austria's European mainland is such a big place. After so many years of infrastructure construction, there is really nothing to worry about.

The native area of ​​Africa is large enough, but unfortunately the population is limited and there is not enough demand. Government investment also needs to consider the economic rate of return, and it is impossible to build blindly.

This is a problem that a country must face when it develops to a certain extent, but Austria faced it earlier.

Prime Minister Felix: "The domestic infrastructure is gradually improving, and the days when the economy is driven by government investment in infrastructure cannot last forever.

It may be that our economic growth rate will slow down for a long time in the future. It is expected that the next period of rapid economic growth should be after the completion of the African localization strategy.

For the sake of long-term development, now we must launch as many projects with long-term and sustainable development as possible. "

This is a fact. At present, the major projects in Austria, namely the canal plan and the hydropower station plan, have already been launched, and it is naturally impossible to do it again.

After a pause, Prime Minister Felix continued: "In recent years, the technology of internal combustion engines has developed rapidly, showing great potential in many fields, and may even replace steam engines.

If this happens, then oil will replace coal as the most important industrial raw material.

The only question is whether oil production can keep up with demand, and as things stand, the world's crude oil production is scarce.

In continental Europe in particular, few large oil fields have been discovered. Last year we imported 110,000 tons of crude oil from the Russian Empire, despite our traditional oil production in Ploiesti.

This figure looks very inconspicuous. Calculated at the current international oil price, it is only a few hundred thousand Aegis.

But only three years ago, we were an exporter of crude oil. In just three years, domestic crude oil demand has increased by at least 200,000 tons.

According to scientists' estimates, our demand for oil will double in five years, and double again in ten years, leaving a gap of millions of tons of crude oil on the market.

Many scientists in the energy field have issued an energy crisis warning to the government. To solve this problem, the government organized oil exploration teams.

In general, the harvest is good. Many oil fields have been discovered in the country, but unfortunately the output is not high.

The biggest harvest was the discovery of a large oil field in the lower reaches of the Mesopotamia, with reserves exceeding the sum of all local oil fields.

After analysis by geologists, it is believed that a large amount of oil may be buried in the two river basins, and the government sent an exploration team to verify it.

Oil was discovered not long ago at the border between the Ottoman Empire and Persia, confirming this speculation. As the area is not within our control, no further exploration has been undertaken due to safety concerns. "

Needless to say the latter, the meaning is very obvious, it is not within the control range, so try to find a way to get it within your control range.

If the oil is buried underground and cannot be moved, it can only allow Austria to expand its control area. This is the consistent style of the foreign powers.

Frankly, Franz never thought that Austria would run out of fuel, and he never cared about it.

There are also many things about the emperor, and unimportant things are naturally ignored. Austria's sphere of influence now covers half of half of the world's oil reserves. Isn't the lack of oil a joke?

But the joke really happened. The oil in Africa was not discovered, and the oil in the Middle East was exposed. After realizing the importance of oil, it was inevitable for the Vienna government to take precautions.

Then the Ottoman Empire is about to be tragic. There was a bloody feud, and now they are guilty. If they are not unlucky, who will be unlucky?

Franz was hesitant to speak, and it was sooner or later that he would do something to the Ottoman Empire. The energy crisis simply provided an opportunity to silence the anti-war factions in the government.

Prime Minister Felix did not directly say war, but the "sustainability, longevity" project, coupled with the repeated emphasis on the importance of oil, has already given the answer.

Compared to investing in other projects, launching a war against the Ottoman Empire is indeed the most economical.

The most important thing is that the opportunity is rare, the European continent is caught in a wave of revolution, and all countries are busy putting out the fire.

They can't take care of themselves, who can take care of the Ottoman Empire?

At this time, no one can stop the pace of war. Even without the opportunity of oil, there are other reasons.