Chapter 801 African Farm Project

Napoleon IV shook his head, picked up a newspaper and said: "Compared to you have read these newspapers, all of them say that France has fallen.

Including our domestic newspapers, they are also pessimistic. What this means, I think you all know.

If we don't take countermeasures, we will not be able to do it even if we want to counterattack later. "

Although reluctant to admit it, everyone knows very well that France is indeed going downhill.

Economically, especially, after the domestic rebellion was quelled, the French economy retreated directly to 1860.

Although there has been some recovery in the past two years, it has only caught up with the level of 1870. It will take at least three or four years to get back to the peak of 1881.

One step slowly, followed by one step at a time. France, which itself lags behind Britain and Austria economically, has been left further behind by the two rivals.

Now that they are out of Egypt again, most of the prestige that the French army has finally built up has also lost most of the toss.

No matter how good the reason for Governor Adolf's defeat, a loss is a loss, and the people will not care about the specific reasons.

The triple blow of economy + military + politics will come at the same time. If it is not handled properly, the foundation of the government will be shaken.

In order to consolidate his rule, Napoleon IV must now take a tough stance and restore the majesty of France.

Thinking and doing are always two concepts. Taking revenge on Yingao is easy to say, but it must be carefully thought out.

Minister of the Navy Hamdi Halbaugh: "Your Majesty, although the two countries are strong, they are not completely free of flaws.

The core of the British colonial system is India. As long as they work hard on this and mess around with things, it will be enough to make them uncomfortable.

We have already controlled half of the Indo-China Peninsula, and we can continue to expand our power in Burma, and let the British cast their arms.

Although we can't move the core colonies of Austria, it's okay to cause some trouble for them, for example: supporting the Republic of Colombia. "

It all sounds good, but in fact, these painless counterattacks can only cause a little trouble for Britain and Austria at most.

However, this just shows that Hamdi Halbowi has political savvy, and he not only fought back against Britain and Austria, but did not need to completely tear his face and control the contradictions within a controllable range.

Napoleon IV shook his head: "This is far from enough. The expansion into Burma can also make the British feel threatened. We can make it work by making it bigger.

Supporting the Republic of Colombia is a long way off, and maybe earlier, it could play a little role. But now Colombia has been intimidated and dare not confront Austria at all.

Moreover, with their little strength, if a conflict broke out with Austria, it might have provided the Vienna government with an excuse to annex them. "

It's not that Napoleon IV is demanding, the key is that now they have to come up with a weighty counterattack and show it to European countries and the people at home.

Being bullied by others and not fighting back, is that still the arrogant France?

The reason why a great power is a great power depends on its strength. Now France needs a chance to prove its own strength, and choosing to rub against the British and Austrian once is to re-establish the status of their three major powers.

The results are not important, but the momentum must be enough, so that everyone can see the demeanor of France as a great country.

After a while, Elsa, Minister of Economic Affairs, said with some trepidation: "Your Majesty, you don't have to start with the military to get revenge on Austria, you can also start with the economy.

But doing so has serious consequences. We may face Russia and Austria at the same time, but it is still the kind that cannot be solved. "

France is not England, and the strategic plan of killing two birds with one stone is not their highest pursuit.

learn from mistakes.

The French government has clearly felt the aftermath of the high hatred value, and it is no problem to cause trouble to Austria alone, and a small revenge is fine.

It is not in the interests of France to directly form a deadly feud with Russia and Austria, and continue to confront each other.

After listening to the words of the Minister of Economic Affairs, everyone was dumbfounded. Isn't it the next black hand for Austria in the economy, as for becoming an undead enemy with Russia and Austria?

Napoleon IV asked curiously: "Tell me, what plan is so terrifying?"

Economy Secretary Elsa explained: "The immediate launch of the African Agricultural Development Programme, unlike previous programmes, this time we do not consider the benefits.

With no private investment, the government will fund the establishment of state-owned farms to expand the area of ​​grain cultivation.

In a short period of time, a large amount of grain will be produced, put into the international grain market, and the price of grain will be brought down.

Agriculture has always been one of the most important industries in Austria. The export of agricultural products accounts for nearly 40% of Austria's total exports, contributing a large amount of tax revenue to the Vienna government.

Among them, the export of finished grains accounts for the largest share of agricultural exports, accounting for about 53%.

If our plan is successful and international food prices plummet, Austria is bound to lose a lot.

Of the finished grains exported by Austria, 70% of the raw grains are imported from Russia. The international grain prices have plummeted, and the Russians will be the victims after Austria. "

There is no doubt that this is the common weakness of Russia and Austria. Once a large amount of grain is dumped by a third country and the international grain price collapses, the enterprises engaged in agricultural product processing and the farmers who grow grain will suffer heavy losses.

Businesses are only faced with sudden price surges

The pain of falling, the big deal is to lower the purchase price of raw grain and pass on the loss. The farmers who grow grain are the real losers.

Such an obvious loophole is naturally no secret.

For colonial countries, there was no technical difficulty in growing grain overseas and dumping it on the European continent.

The problem is that an increase in food production will inevitably lead to a drop in international food prices.

Fortunately, the food that has been planted so hard is not only unprofitable, but even has to lose shipping costs, let alone recover the cost of land reclamation.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Roy Vernon hurriedly objected: "No! Africa is all undeveloped wasteland, Russia and Austria are already developed land, and our food planting costs will definitely be higher than theirs.

This means that we are inherently disadvantaged in future competition. In order to ensure that the food is not unsalable, the only way to go is to dump it at a low price.

At that time, everyone will be fighting for their financial resources, and it will hurt people on their own to see who can't hold back first.

What's more, the collapse of international food prices will also spread to the country, causing domestic farmers to lose money along with them. "

No need to hurry. Once the plan is launched, it will cost money like water, and the shriveled pockets of the Ministry of Finance will simply not be able to support it.

Napoleon IV: "Roy is right, it is not advisable to hit food prices. This will only make us and Austria lose both, and the British on the side of the cheap."

Napoleon IV doesn't care if he accidentally hurts the Russians. Anyway, the relationship between the two countries is not easy, and if you offend, you will be offended.

It is different when it concerns the interests of the French peasants. The French peasants were the most staunch supporters of the Bonaparte family. It was with the support of the peasants that Napoleon III ascended the throne.

No matter how hard the blow to Austria was, Napoleon IV could not do this kind of self-destruction of the Great Wall.

The words of politicians have already been exported, and naturally they cannot be easily taken back. Since Elsa made this suggestion, she could only bite the bullet and go on.

"Even if it wasn't to hit Austria, it was necessary for us to start the African Farms program.

Since the annexation of the Italian region, France has become one of the major food importing countries in the European continent, consuming a large amount of foreign exchange to import agricultural products every year.

If one day we turned against Austria, a food crisis would soon break out in the country. For national strategic security, food self-sufficiency must also be achieved.

Anyway, we have withdrawn from the free trade system, and we can completely adopt tariff barriers to ensure that domestic food prices are not disturbed by the international market, so as to protect the interests of the peasant class.

We can even take a step back, not to compete for the international agricultural market, but to achieve self-sufficiency in domestic food and reduce the hostility of Russia and Austria. "

Hearing "protect the market", Napoleon IV's heart lit up. On the premise of ensuring that the interests of domestic farmers are not damaged, he is still willing to attack Austria's economy.

Although the economy is not equal to the strength of the country these days, but if the economy develops well, the government will have money in its pocket, and if there is money, there will be soldiers.

Perhaps the middle and lower classes have not yet felt the threat from Austria, but after the Paris Revolution, the upper echelons of the French government realized that their former neighbors were not the same as before.

Suppressing Austria has become the consensus of the French high-level, and no action has been taken. That is because the French government is very busy. After the suppression of the domestic rebellion, there is still a lot of mess waiting to be cleaned up.

Seeing that the domestic problems were to be resolved, the Egyptian rebellion broke out again. If not for being forced into resignation, the French government would not have chosen to fight back at this time.

Today, the French Empire is the second largest importer of food after the British. Once this market is lost, Europe is bound to experience excess agricultural capacity.

At that time, Russia and Austria, the two major grain exporting countries, will not want to have a good time, and may even trigger a new round of economic crisis.