I have the spirit of fighting, and Franz is happy to see it. Success or failure is irrelevant. The most important thing is that this positive spirit is worthy of encouragement and development.

Austria is now a big family and a big business, and its fault tolerance rate has increased greatly. The success or failure of the South African war has nothing to do with the overall situation of the country.

Of course, it would be better if it succeeded, and the ambitions of the British could be shattered in one fell swoop. So that after gold mining, the British would have unrealistic fantasies and another war broke out.

These days, colonists have no resistance to interests at all. Only after experiencing failure can they realize that the sky is high and the earth is thick.

The Chancellor of the Finance Minister Carl submitted a statement to Franz and said frowningly: "Your Majesty, this is the military expenditure of the South African War in the past two months, totaling 12.486 million Syrians."

War is a gold-swallowing beast, and this sentence is not wrong at all. Just a local war, it consumes more than 6 million Syrian shields per month on average. If it is a full-scale war, it would be fine.

It is impossible to save military expenses. The expeditionary weapons and ammunition of Lao Shi were transported from China, and the transportation cost alone was a considerable expense.

In fact, the current military expenditure is already considered low. At least the cannon fodder troops do not need Franz to pay their salary, nor do they need to pay pensions, otherwise this number would have to be increased several times.

However, no matter how much you save, these people still have to dress and eat, and eliminate old muskets and big swords and spears. It also has a cost.

Franz looked at the report and found that the expenses of the cannon fodder troops accounted for about 23% of the total military expenditure, and the rest were the expenses of the "Boer Republic" troops.

Although it is to defend the country, military pay is still indispensable. Including the noble private army who brought their own dry food, there is a military pay. The pension is also paid equally according to the standards of the regular Austrian army.

Franz did not save money in this regard, so he personally rejected the government's money-saving plan. In theory, if you don't give money, you can also recruit aristocrats to fight. You only need to divide the spoils after the war. This is how the European continent has been playing since ancient times.

However, Franz knew that the times were different. It was okay to recruit fiefdom aristocrats once and fight. After a few more times, the emperor probably won't be able to call anyone.

Loyalty cannot withstand the extermination, and people's hearts will change. If you win a war and have enough spoils to divide it up, it's okay.

If the war loses money and the spoils are not enough to make up for everyone's losses, then complaints are inevitable. If you suffer one loss, the next time you will be disobeyed.

The South African War naturally did not have the problem of insufficient spoils. There was a penny of gold mines. But in this way, there would be nothing to do with the government.

Why should the government intervene when the nobles contribute money and efforts? At least during the tax exemption period stipulated by the colonial law, the Vienna government cannot get benefits from it.

Thinking from the perspective of others, without knowing that there are a lot of gold buried underground, few nobles dare to invest so much.

Even the last top nobles of the Shenluo Empire cannot afford this risk if they have more than 6 million spys per month.

If the money is spent and the war is not over yet, I can only cry. There have been many negative textbooks in Europe, and many noble lords have fought with others, and they have no money when they are halfway through.

The ancestors of the Habsburg Dynasty had it, they were all emperors, and they were forced by the creditors to not dare to go home. Of course, the main thing is that they are too face-saving. If they really rely on the debt and don’t pay it back, what else can a few merchants do?

This is how the European anti-Semitism movement came about. The nobles could not afford to pay back their money and did not want to bear the bad reputation of tying back their debts. They simply turned against the creditors and wiped them out.

Now the government guarantee is different. Everyone’s risk has been reduced to a minimum, so there is no need to worry about losing money due to accidents.

There have been many nobles who have succeeded in the African continent in recent years, but more have failed. Those who do not know how to control risks and make progress have now grown grass on their graves.

Any colonial empire is made up of vast white bones. Later colonial empires collapsed, and the most important thing is that no one is willing to continue bleeding for the colony.

Ultimately, it is the issue of interest distribution. The bureaucratic group and capitalists have divided almost all the interests, and the rest of the people have no need to drink soup. Who is willing to continue working?

Looking at the major colonial empires, few people said that the colonies were in the early stages of their business. Instead, they were in business for decades, or hundreds of years, and when the empire went downhill, they frequently suffered losses.

Is the wealth created less? Or is the cost of domination really soaring, reaching a point where the revenue cannot be offset?

Obviously, the colony that had been operating for decades could create more wealth. However, the government's fiscal revenue increased slightly, and the money went into its private pockets.

On the contrary, various expenditures are increasing. The declining Portuguese are an example. As far as Franz knows, the Portuguese colonial system can no longer bring wealth to the government.

Not only Portugal, but also the ruling costs of major colonial empires are increasing, but the taxes of most colonies can still bear this expense.

The increasingly corrupt bureaucratic groups and the greed of interest groups are almost unsolvable problems. Even the local areas have similar problems, let alone colonies?

The emerging free tradeism has begun to criticize the colonial system, believing that it will bring heavy financial burdens to the government.

It cannot be said that it is foresight. These people mainly did not make direct profits in the colonial system, but instead criticized them from a moral perspective.

In Franz's opinion, this is a typical example of holding up a bowl to eat, putting down chopsticks and cursing. He was clearly enjoying the dividends brought by the colonial system, but he did not admit it, and he also believed that the cost of maintaining colonial rule was high.

Little do they know that the industrial revolution is about to be cannibalistic, and the primitive accumulation of capital is bloody, either to the outside or to the inside.

There was no so-called free trade in the 19th century, and the British just shouted slogans, wanting countries to open their markets to them.

Of course, when maintaining a competitive advantage, they don’t mind opening up the market to other countries. Once this advantage disappears, they will turn against each other.

Otherwise, why did the Germans challenge the old world if they were in the original time and space? It was not that there was a lack of industrial raw materials and the market for dumping goods, and they were pushed to start the chariot by capital.

After the British and French free traders got what they wanted and got rid of the decadent colonial system, they did not usher in new life, but instead quickly declined.

The local area is small and the resources are poor. Industrial development is inherently restricted. In the face of cruel reality, we have to play with industrialization and drink poison to quench thirst.

These problems are not troublesome for the time being. Before the colonial system entered the era of great losses, this kind of call could not become a climate.

No matter how loud the free trade is, everyone must cooperate. Now everyone is playing trade protection. Are you still afraid that your family will not die fast enough?

Franz said calmly: "Don't worry, we have a preliminary understanding of the geological conditions in South Africa.

The local land is fertile, the climate is pleasant, and the mineral resources are relatively abundant, so the future development potential is still promising.

After comprehensive evaluation, South Africa should be the land with the most development potential on the African continent. The current investment can be recovered in the near future."

Franz did not mention the issue of gold. It is best not to cause trouble before the dust settles. Anyway, driving the British out of the African continent is also one of Austria's national policies.

Secretary of the Finance Minister Carl explained: "Your Majesty, no matter what the development potential is, it is a future problem. We do not lack a piece of land with unlimited development potential.

In fact, this kind of land with most resources is not necessarily a good thing. If you don’t prepare in advance, you may still be too big in the future.

The most urgent task is to end the war as soon as possible. Now that the French have stabilized the situation in Italy, our goal of sharing the pressure for them has been achieved, and there is no need to continue to waste with the British."

This statement is correct. It may not be a good thing if the resources are too rich. With all kinds of resources, the dependence on the empire will be reduced.

Franz nodded thoughtfully, it seemed that fragmented South Africa was imperative. Provincial system management should be implemented as soon as possible to replace the current Governor's Office of South Africa, so as not to see regional groups in the future.

"We don't have to worry about the war anymore. The officers and soldiers on the front line want to end the war and celebrate Christmas as soon as possible. It will only take a month to stay. There is no need to add pressure to them.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs found an opportunity to remind the French that we had fulfilled the agreement, and this time we held half of the British Army for them."

There is nothing wrong with this statement. In terms of number, the British have invested more than half of the total army in South Africa.

Doing good deeds requires leaving a name. How can others know if you don’t say it? The more you pay, the greater the gains you will gain. This is an era of equivalent exchange.

Brothers have to settle the score clearly, let alone allies? It is better to put such things in a clear place.

Even if countries only talk about interests, this is a testimony to the friendship between the two countries when discussing the friendship between France and the Austrians.

It seems that the effect is not very good now, and maybe it will be needed in the future. It is enough to take it out and fool the middle-aged boy. When France trains pro-Austrian factions, this kind of publicity material is needed.
Chapter completed!