As the capital of Britain, London has been at the forefront of the world since the first industrial revolution.

It has too many halos, such as: the largest city in the world, the most prosperous city, and the world's political center, financial center, commercial center, industrial center...

Overnight, it seemed to have become a small countryside. This sudden change made the arrogant Londoners unbearable.

They had a proud capital in this era, as described by the British newspapers:

The plains of North America and Russia are our cornfields;

Austria is our granary;

Canada and the Baltic Sea are our forest farms;

Australia Argentina is our ranch;

Peru, Mexico shipped its silver;

The Far East grows tea for us;

And our coffee, sugar cane and spice plantations are all over the Indian Islands;

Spain and France are our vineyards;

The Mediterranean is our orchard;

The Union of America is our cotton field;

...

Therefore, the places outside London are all rural areas, and the areas outside the British Isles are all backward areas. Only the British will take on the sacred mission of leading mankind's progress.

Under this understanding, the impact of the emergence of Vienna's never-sleeping city on the people of London can be imagined.

The pressure of public opinion surged overwhelmingly towards the new government, and the Benjamin Disraelli government felt that it was under great pressure.

Now they are very envious of the John Russell Cabinet who has stepped down. Don’t think that they have resigned early. In fact, the John Russell Cabinet is only two months away, and the two terms will be over.

When the term ended, they encountered an economic crisis, so of course they would not take the final say for their competitors. The early resignation of the John Russell cabinet made all the blame on the next administration.

Originally, in the economy, the life of Benjamin Disraelli's cabinet was very difficult. The international dispute over the Spanish throne and the Polish throne all involved everyone's nerves.

Now another city has emerged, which makes Prime Minister Benjamin even more trouble. Electric lights are not high-tech and they have been using them for a long time, but it is not easy to popularize them all over the city.

Prime Minister Benjamin Disraelli asked: "My Chancellor of the Exchequer, is it budgeted?"

Chancellor Molito replied seriously: "Preliminary estimates are that it will take at least £75 million to popularize electric lights in London, and £440 million to popularize electric lights in the British Isles. Considering the actual situation, the investment may be even greater.

This is just equipment investment, and the electricity cost will be more investment in the future. In London's street light system alone, we need 150,000 generators and at least 300,000 people to provide logistical support for this."

Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli waved his hand and interrupted: "Stop, tell me directly that London cannot popularize power equipment. But why can the Austrians do it?

Even if Vienna is much smaller than London, it is a metropolis with a population of over one million. I don’t believe that the Vienna government will devote all its efforts to save face.”

Minister of Finance Molito explained: "It is said that the Austrians used high-power power generation equipment to ensure the lighting system in Vienna. It only takes two hundred generators.

This high-power generator reduces the power generation cost by 80%, and greatly reduces the maintenance personnel required. It only takes about three or four thousand workers to maintain this power network.

In fact, the lighting system in Vienna is a masterpiece of the Austrian New Energy Electric Company, and it is said that there is also royal investment.

The Vienna Municipal Government only needs to pay the electricity bill, and it costs about £100,000 a month to use this power supply network worth more than £7 million."

Molito was also very troubled. British Electric Power Company was very salty and was just keen on supplying power to the rich and had no interest in building a lighting system across the city.

If he hadn't read the newspaper, he wouldn't have known that the generator technological revolution had already happened. If he had just established a street light lighting system, then he would have gritted his teeth and passed.

Obviously, this is impossible. London citizens need more considerate power delivery services, which requires a huge increase in investment.

The simple electricity bill of 100,000 pounds is obviously not enough to support the Austrian New Energy Power Company. Even if you enjoy tax-free treatment, this is still far from enough.

Now it is just to capture land, and directly invest in a complete power supply network of components, which means a monopoly on power supply in Vienna.

Vienna has no industry, and the ultimate profit point of power companies is still the use of electricity for residents and commercial electricity. These high-quality customers are long-term cash cows.

Compared with the previous electricity bill of 8 shillings per kilowatt-hour, Vienna's electricity bill has now been reduced to 1.5 shillings. This is the advantage of the power supply network, which greatly reduces the loss of electricity during transmission.

There is no doubt that this price is huge profits, but if you want to promote new technologies, it still needs to be created by huge profits.

If you want to further reduce electricity prices, you must wait until the electricity is fully popularized. Otherwise, who will pay for this power supply network?

The Vienna government cannot afford this expense. Once the government invests, it will not be a problem for a city, but will be popularized nationwide. This is the core of the fairness system.

Everyone is a taxpayer, so why should we supply electricity to big cities first?

If the central government does not invest, who can afford the initial investment?

Is it a loan? If you really have to do that, it will take not long before the Austrian local government will go bankrupt collectively.

It is a dream to expect the bureaucrats to control costs. It is better to throw it to the enterprise for free development first, and then go back to consider the issue of popularization after the technology has further developed.

The same problem was encountered by the British. The central government did not approve funds, and the city government could not afford it at all. The people in other regions did not agree.

Without waiting for the people to cause trouble, the Congress will not be able to pass the qualifying level. Originally, the capital occupied more resources, and the central government will make fiscal tilts, which will intensify conflicts and in serious cases, it may lead to national division.

Prime Minister Benjamin Disraelli rubbed his forehead and said helplessly: "Then throw this problem to the London Municipal Government! The Austrian government has not allocated funds. What qualifications do they have to ask us to allocate funds?

As for how they do it, it is their own business. It is unsuccessful for the municipal government to fail to fulfill its local responsibilities and put its responsibilities on the central government."

Paining the ball is the most common method used by politicians. If it weren't for the excessive pressure on public opinion outside, Prime Minister Benjamin Disraelli would not be able to pay attention.

The cabinet asked about this matter and just expressed its importance, which did not mean that it would intervene.

If the investment is small, Prime Minister Benjamin Disraelle will be happy to make a wave of political achievements and make the British Isles light up.

Now that the investment is so big, then forget it! If you really start this big project blindly, the UK's fiscal revenue may not be enough to fill this hole.

...

Paris, the tragic Paris city government was once again surrounded by the marching people, which is enough to prove that the people of Paris understand the rules.

Renovating urban infrastructure is the responsibility of the municipal government, and the central government cannot pay for it.

Including Napoleon III's transformation of Paris, the funds were mainly borne by the Paris municipal government, rather than being dumped by the French central government.

The French are very clear in this regard, and the accounts are always separate. Local governments also have their own fiscal revenue, rather than relying on all grants to the central government.

For example: the salary of the municipal government’s employees and the operating expenses of each government agency are borne by the local government.

Otherwise, the fiscal revenue of central governments in various countries in this era would not be enough to maintain government operations.

Of course, some European countries are directly managed by the central government, but they are all small countries, with a small land area and a small population, so they do not need so many institutions.

If the local government cannot bear the administrative expenses, the central government may still subsidize it. For example, the Austrian government has subsidized the Bosnia and Herzegovina, otherwise this poor province would not even pay the salary of civil servants.

There are exceptions, such as the United States. They play with each state. They spend money on their own and find solutions for themselves if they don’t have money. Anyway, don’t expect the central government.

Looking at the protesting crowds outside, Paris Mayor Barco was heartbroken. You should know that the Paris reconstruction project has brought huge debts to the Paris government, which makes them almost breathless.

The verbal party speaks lightly, improving public infrastructure will help develop the economy and get rid of the economic crisis.

In fact, this is all about money. What should I invest if I don’t have money? Napoleon III ordered the reconstruction of Paris, but the Paris municipal government is paying for it.

The debt is too high, and in order to increase fiscal revenue, the Paris municipal government has raised taxes many times.

This tax cannot be counted on ordinary people. They themselves have a lot of money and cannot plunder them, so the big deal still falls on the company.

Napoleon III encouraged the development of industry, so financial capitalists bear most of the taxes. Frankly speaking, this tax distribution model is reasonable.

The profits of the financial industry are higher than those of the manufacturing industry, and there is nothing wrong with bearing high taxes with high profits. Therefore, this period is the golden period for French industrial development.

There are also many electric power companies in France, but unfortunately they are not big. Usually, a power company has only a few hundred customers, and those with thousands of customers are large companies.

After summoning these power companies, Mayor Barco directly gave up asking them to take on the heavy responsibility of building a Paris power supply system.

Nothing to say without strength is nonsense. He has no money and no skills. Who dares to let them do it?

There are many capitalists who are interested in taking on this important task, but these giants have too much appetite, which makes Barco afraid.

For example: financial tycoon Rosschild is interested in investing, not only asking for free, but also asking the Paris government to bear half of the construction costs free of charge.

It is better to just pay half of the construction costs without compensation. It is better to just make up for the state-owned business. Obviously, capitalists know the pressure of public opinion and want to get the greatest benefit from it.

As a beacon of the free world, how can you not light up? The attitude of the people of Paris has already explained everything.

Franz probably never dreamed that investing in the construction of the Vienna power system would actually bring so much trouble to Britain and France.

Even if you know it, it is useless, and he can't help. The popularity of electricity in this era is still a bit ahead of the times. The best time is to wait until the generator technology goes further and copper smelting technology takes a step further.

The cost of promotion is too high now. It is okay to promote it in a special city like Vienna. If you change to other cities, you will be lucky.

With a electricity bill of 1.5 shillings per kilowatt-hour, only 10% of the people in Austria can afford it, and the same proportion is similar to Britain and France.

The situation in Vienna is special. It is not an industrial city, and the pillar industries are all industries with relatively high incomes. The people's income is high, and most people can afford electricity.

But other cities are not good. Europe is different from the East. Not all rich people are in the city, and a large number of local nobles are in the manors around the city.

These high-quality customers are dispersed, which directly increases the cost of popularizing electricity. Most of the nobles have used electricity for a long time, and they have their own small generators.

Of course, if the power company is willing to supply power, they will not refuse. After all, the small generators of this era only say that they are small in power and are not small at all, which is very inconvenient to use.

However, the cost per kilowatt-hour will continue to rise. In most cities, the final power supply cost will be greatly increased due to insufficient number of users or not concentrated enough.

This is also the reason why Austrian New Energy Power Company stopped and deeply cultivated the Vienna market without blindly expanding.

In the power technology revolution, it is enough to have Vienna as a benchmark. If you want to promote it nationwide, it is not too late to wait for another three to five years.

In this ever-changing era, new technologies are progressing almost every day. From 1866 to now, Austria has added more than 300 new patents on electricity.

Franz didn't know that there were so many professional technologies involved in electricity. You should know that this was the 19th century, and the use of electricity was still at its initial stage.

The biggest effect now is lighting. Mechanical equipment driven by electricity is still theoretically still. It will take at least thirty years to become the main energy source for mankind.

Without any surprises, after Vienna took the first step in the new era, the Paris government announced the establishment of the Paris Power Company, which would light up Paris.

The lighthouse of the free world is not good.
Chapter completed!