The sudden economic crisis has made the stormy Sudanese government even more difficult.

Although the Ottoman Empire was still an agricultural country, the withdrawal of funds from British and French capital still caused a heavy blow to them.

In helplessness, the Sudanese government was forced to make concessions, and the only problem was money.

Beng Ade strives to win: "Her Count, your offer is too low, and there is no such cheap land in the world!"

Johannes said calmly: "Don't worry, your quotation is based on the international market's large-scale land transaction price.

Not long ago, we negotiated with the Russians. They were interested in selling more than 1.5 million square kilometers of land in Alaska. The Tsarist government only offered 4 million Syrian shields. Our bid was already very sincere."

That's right, the Russian Foreign Minister proposed to sell Alaska. This land would not make much money at all, but he was worried that the British would come over.

However, when Nicholas I opposed it, the great Tsar felt that selling the land would damage his glorious image, and the matter was put on hold.

This incident has also caused a lot of controversy internationally. As a diplomat who cares about international affairs, Beng Ade is naturally familiar with it.

"Her Earl, Alaska is just a big cube of ice, and it's not worth anything at all!"

Johannes shook his head and said, "Alaska still produces leather at least, the Bering Strait has abundant fishery resources, and the southeast and south central and southern regions have temperate climates, rich in wood.

In addition, there is an inland basin, which we sent people to inspect. The Matanuska Valley area has fertile land, which is very suitable for agricultural production.

Referring to the Nordic region, this land is not a problem to support tens of millions of people. In contrast, Libya is full of sand.

The land we want to purchase is only a few islands that are truly valuable. If your country is worried that the price is too low, we can kick out the Libyan region and calculate it separately.

So we will bid for a total of more than 20,000 square kilometers of island areas, which has broken the world record of the transaction price of the Great Comprehensive Land."

Beng Ade was confused. In his impression, Alaska was just a cube of ice, and the population living in this era may not necessarily exceed 10,000.

As a result, Johannes actually found such valuable things, which were not made up and were completely provided by the Russians.

Wang Po knows how to boast about selling melons, and the Russians are of course no exception. To sell them at a good price, it is very natural to exaggerate them a little.

If there is nothing, why should I sell it for money? Even with so many resources, the Russians still offer only 4 million Syrian shields, so I know how valuable the land in this era is.

To put it bluntly, now everyone is not short of resources, only the developed land is valuable. No matter how many resources are, they are worthless until they are developed.

Whoever had a brain in his mind went to Alaska to fish, log and farm? It would be fine if he froze into a dog, but the key is that the local land development cost is still high.

The land of the chosen country is too fertile. After developing the Great Plains of the United States, there is too much food to eat, and I have to worry about unsalable food every year.

Under this background, Alaska's land naturally loses its value of agricultural development, and only idiots will invest in agriculture.

Not to mention this era, the coastal plains have not been developed, and the development cost of inland basins is so high that fools will go over to develop.

Otherwise, the Russians would have organized immigration to the public long ago, so why should they worry about being snatched by the British?

Anyway, the negotiations are bragging, so Johannes naturally doesn't mind describing Alaska better, omitting land development costs and devalueing Libya's value, thereby reducing the price.

Fen Ade argued: "Empress, Libya has such a large area, even if it is inland, it is desert, but the coastal areas still have tens of thousands of square kilometers of fertile soil.

There are more than 500,000 people in the local area and have ready-made labor. Your country can develop it directly. The value is much higher than that of the deserted Alaska. The 8 million ASUS is really not high.

There are also these islands, and the most important thing about them is not their economic value, but their strategic value.

Cyprus is the junction of Asia, Europe and Africa, and its strategic position is very prominent; Crete is located in the core position of the Mediterranean Sea and radiates to the Aegean Sea...

These islands are definitely not simply economic value, and after the strategic value, they will need at least 35 million Syrian shields."

Johannes replied with a smile: "Your Excellency, this price is too high. We don't need the so-called human resources at all. If this is the case, all the population on our trading land will belong to you.

Since you think strategic value is important, we don’t want other islands except Crete and Cyprus.

Everyone can accept this. I will raise the price again. How about the 30 million ASCH? This price is not low!"

The price of 30 million SHIELD is indeed not low. If the Vienna government does not use the so-called debt offset, Beng Ade will directly agree.

Obviously, from the beginning to the end, Johannes was not ready to pay much money. He used the bonds purchased at a bargain price as the land purchase payment, and it was acceptable to have a higher price.

Beng Ade directly showed his trump card and said: "Old Earl, we can make concessions again. The debts of the two countries are written off, and your country will pay another 10 million SHIELD to buy land. How about it?"

If gold and silver are paid, the Vienna government will not agree to the price. If it can be offset in kind, then the problem will not be big.

As the economic crisis broke out, Austria had a large backlog of surplus products, and being able to deal with it was also a good choice.

Johannes calculated and replied: "If your country can repatriate the people on these lands, then the transaction will be completed. We can pay the bills with the materials that your country needs, and compensate them with cash if they are insufficient."

After a moment of silence, Beng Ade gave the answer: "The immigration costs are all borne by your country!"

There was no way, first lost the Balkans, and then a civil war broke out. Now the population of the Ottoman Empire has dropped to its lowest point in a century, with a total population less than 13 million.

Once the civil war is over, insufficient labor will become an urgent and realistic problem. Although the population on the trading land is not large, it is also a supplement to them.

Johannes replied, “Yes!”

...

The two reached an agreement, but it did not mean that the matter was over. Britain and France could not watch Austria occupy many islands in the Aegean Sea. Next, Johannes had to continue arguing with the British and French representatives.

Especially with the British, Johnniu still had Kofu Island in his hands. If he didn't take this portal, the Vienna government would be unable to sleep or eat.

In comparison, the French were easy to pass. The two sides agreed in advance. They sold several islands to make military bases for them, and everyone shared the interests of the Aegean Sea, and the matter was settled.

Anyway, there are not many other islands in the Aegean Sea, with a total of five or six thousand islands, and hundreds of suitable for human survival. The Vienna government was not prepared to occupy this place at the beginning.

...

British representative Nigel said dissatisfiedly: "Your Excellency, it is too much for your country to trade territory with us in the Ottoman Empire!"

"No, we have reached an agreement with the Ottoman Empire. We invested more than 450,000 Syrians to buy them in the many islands and Libya areas of the Aegean Sea.

Now we are using Austria to exchange the Ionian Islands in the Aegean Sea. This is a map of the Aegean Sea. You can see that the red dots are all Austrian islands, and the remaining are the islands of Greece and the Ottoman Empire."

Johannes deliberately missed Cyprus, during which the British had already started colonial activities in Cyprus. Of course, this is a civil organization and has nothing to do with the London government.

Nigel did not pay attention to this little detail. Cyprus did not have much strategic value in this era. Before the plane appeared, the strategic value of this island was not high.

In contrast, the Aegean islands have higher strategic value. Once the Russians break out of the Dardanelles, this is the island chain blockade.

In order not to overstimulate the Ottoman Empire and avoid forcing the Sudanese government into anger, their offshore islands were not within the scope of the transaction.

Now that we are dealing with the British, the Vienna government has not produced many valuable islands, and we are more about the issue of India.

From 1857 to the present, the Indian rebellion has not only not been extinguished, but has become even more serious. The London government has no idea of ​​delaying time.

This is naturally the credit of the Russians. Without the selfless assistance of the Tsarist government, the Indians could not cause such a big wave.

It is hard to say what role the Vienna government played. In short, Austria did nothing on the surface, and at most it provided a small loan to the Russians.

This is a symbol of friendship between the two countries' allies, and it is definitely not about spending money to support the Indian rebellion. What the Russians did with this money had nothing to do with the Vienna government.

Nigel has no time to continue to waste it. Now, Austria supports the Indians' weapons and ammunition for one million Syrians, and they may not be able to suppress them if they spend 10 million pounds.

There are too many people in India. Any group of people can be encouraged to bring them great trouble with the help of Russian instructors.

"To reach this deal, your country must immediately give up support for Indian insurgents, including providing financial assistance to the Tsarist government."

Johannes replied with an innocent look on his face: "Your Excellency is too worried. The Vienna government is a peace-loving government. How can it support the Indian rebels?

As for the issue of supporting the Russians, it is even more nonsense. The Vienna government's finances are not rich, but it does not have such great ability."

It is okay to make small moves in secret, but it is absolutely impossible to admit it on the surface. All countries do it like that. Now the British also smuggled arms into Nigeria and supported the indigenous kingdom to cause trouble for Austria?

Anyway, there is no evidence, so everyone pulls each other, so they will pull it. The moral integrity of the great powers is so high that if you don’t stab each other on the surface, then everything is easy to say.

Nigel heard Johannes's implicit meaning that everything was easy to talk about, and it was inevitable that he could not make such a mess.

"Then it's best. As long as your country promises to support us in suppressing the Indian rebellion, this land transaction case will be easy to negotiate."

Johannes cooperated very well and promised: "Please rest assured that the colony is also part of a country's sovereignty.

The Vienna government firmly supports your government's practice of safeguarding national sovereignty and opposes all external intervention."

This is international politics, everything is spoken by interests. In West Africa, Britain and Austria reached a tacit understanding in the Mediterranean, and the British accused Austria of expansion, so the Vienna government would naturally give up its actions in India.

On March 12, 1858, the New Holy Roman Empire signed the Mediterranean Land Transaction Treaty with the Ottoman Empire. The Vienna government invested 458.68 million Syrian shields to purchase Libya and more than 300 islands including Crete and Cyprus.

Among them, 358.68 million SHIELDs are all compensated by debt and late payment fees, and the remaining 10 million SHIELDs are paid in kind. Don’t think about cash, it is not difficult to collect 10 million SHIELDs’ supplies at all.

The next day, Johannes signed the "Aegean Island Transaction Treaty" and the "Territorial Transfer Treaty" with Britain and France respectively.

The highly anticipated Mediterranean conflict was resolved, and Britain, France and Austria once again made it clear that it was in the Mediterranean sphere of influence, and North Africa was officially included in the French sphere of influence.

Obviously, John Bull suffered a lot this time and gave up a lot of interests in the Mediterranean in exchange for support from France and the Austrians on the issue of India.
Chapter completed!