The international situation is changing, and Franz has not paid much attention to it. Now he is staring at the list of price changes in the first quarter.

According to common sense, the prices of daily necessities such as food and other urgently needed goods will inevitably rise in the war, especially the European first raw grain exporter was involved in the war.

Because of the war, the total amount of food exported by the Russian Empire to the outside world has been greatly reduced since last year, and the light flow to Austria has decreased by one quarter.

There is no doubt that this part of the gap was offset by the increase in Austria's local grain production.

Although potash fertilizer was just promoted last year and it was not used on a large scale among the people, Austria has state-owned farms!

In fact, the number of state-owned farms directly controlled by the government has been decreasing. Due to management costs, many small and medium-sized farms are rented to individuals.

No matter how much it is reduced, the land area occupied by state-owned farms is still not low. Just counting only in the European part, the area occupied by state-owned farms is less than 5% of the arable land area, but it is different from other areas.

For example: In the Asia Minor Peninsula, except for the noble fiefs and military merits, the remaining arable land basically belongs to state-owned farms.

It was not that Franz was willing to build so many state-owned farms, but mainly because of a realistic need. If the government did not arrange for people to take over, the farmland left over from the Ottoman would be abandoned.

It is impossible to sell to the public, which will weaken the temptation of military merit and shake the foundation of Austria.

In addition to the initial land redemption and the period when colonies were opened, the best way for ordinary people to obtain land was to give land to military merits.

Don’t ask why, who knows there is still a continental war waiting, and you must prepare in advance.

If there is not enough reward, why should soldiers work hard? If they do not hoard enough land, what rewards will be given to soldiers after the war?

The European continent is now densely populated and has no homeless land long ago, and there is no hope for spoils.

In this context, even though Franz knew that the operating costs of state-owned farms were high, he could only grit his teeth and admit it.

If you really can't hold on to the losses, you can still contract it to individuals for business. Anyway, as long as the land attribute is still from the state, it will not affect the future of giving it to individuals.

In fact, the French government's farm plan was also brought out by Austria.

Seeing that the Austrian government had a bunch of farms in their hands, they followed suit. But they didn't know that Austrian farms were also trying hard to support them.

Because of the support of supporting processing enterprises, on the surface, Austrian farms are in good operation and can pay profits to the government every year.

In essence, the profits are contributed by the farm's affiliated enterprises. Most farms can only guarantee capital, and a very small number of them directly generate profits.

It is not a listed company, and the financial statements of state-owned enterprises are also confidential. The publication is only about publishing the total profits, and the specific corporate structure and asset allocation, and the outside world knows nothing about it.

These are good data in the eyes of Napoleon IV.

Some people suggest that they follow the example, so they should follow the example. There is no reason why France cannot do what the Austrian government can do.

If the bureaucrats below do not report the specific information, how could the emperor in the deep palace know?

Especially after his trip to Algeria, Napoleon IV directly attributed all the problems to bureaucratic dereliction of duty and corruption.

Although there is a lot of land in state-owned farms, the area of ​​grain planting is not large, and the real meaning is still the driving effect.

There is never a shortage of smart people in this world. The government is promoting potash fertilizer and state-owned farms are being used on a large scale, so naturally some people dare to take risks.

In particular, officials in the government first accepted potassium fertilizer and used it on their own land.

The final result is naturally that Austria's grain production capacity has increased significantly last year.

The final increase in production is not three percent estimated by the Ministry of Agriculture, but six.7 percent.

Of course, this also includes the increase in grain production capacity caused by the addition of new arable land.

Don’t underestimate this error of 3.7%. Based on Austria’s grain production capacity base, this is the annual ration for millions of people.

Coupled with the respective agricultural plans of Britain and France, the colonial grain output increased and grain imports decreased.

The final result is that Russians' grain exports have decreased, and prices in the international grain trading market have fallen instead of rising.

If grain prices fall, they can still be accepted. Then the prices of various commodities such as textiles and steel also fell, which made Franz unable to understand.

This was a war era, with the fierce battle between Britain and France, how could the prices of strategic materials fall?

Holding the document in his hand, Franz asked in disbelief: "Are you sure you're not getting the wrong price list?"

Minister of Economic Affairs Reinhardt: "Your Majesty, we have made many confirmations. The above statistics are indeed the average price in the first quarter.

Not only did domestic prices not rise, but in fact it was the same throughout Europe. Except for the wave of price increases in the early stages of the war last year, the prices in the first quarter were the market recovered rationality.

The impact of the British-Russian War on the European economy was not as great as we had expected in advance. In particular, the demand for materials was much less than we planned.

The British are not allowed to rely on domestic production. The Russians have insufficient imports, and the Ministry of Economic Affairs analyzed that there are two main reasons:

First, the Tsarist government made war preparations in advance, and many of the materials were purchased before the war, which our list of export trades last year can prove;

Secondly, the amount of material consumption on the battlefield in Afghanistan is much smaller than we expected.

I consulted the General Staff. The reduction in material consumption of the Russian army was limited by the terrain of Afghanistan, which was not conducive to the deployment of heavy weapons; on the other hand, the British army was too incompetent and did not break out evenly."

This answer left Franz with nothing to say. The intensity of the war was not strong enough, so the consumption of materials was naturally not high.

Originally, the food consumed the most, but the Russians did not lack it and did not need to import it at all. The British could raise it from India, so there was no need to transport it from Europe.

After receiving the news of the outbreak of the British-Russian War, capitalists across Europe relaxed their hands and feet to expand production capacity, attempting to make a big profit.

However, the production capacity has increased, but the strategic materials imported by the two belligerent countries cannot keep up with expectations, which is a tragedy.

In the era of free trade, whether it is a commodity, once the supply in the market is oversupply, the price decline becomes inevitable.

If the British-Russian War had not continued and the market confidence had not collapsed, the situation would have been even worse.

After sighing, Franz said helplessly: "Count the time, a new round of economic crisis is coming again.

Capitalists all fantasized that the British-Russian War was even more grand than the P-Russian War, and they all went to make money in the war.

The situation is very obvious now. No matter how the British-Russian War expands, it is impossible for millions of troops to fight.

If the current situation cannot be changed, I am afraid that this British-Russian War will be the fuse for overcapacity in European countries."

Every overcapacity is a mistake in capitalists’ expectations for markets. If they are smart people, there is still a chance to cut their losses and stop losses. If it continues until the end of the British-Russian War, it will be really over.

Even though I know, Franz didn't mean to interfere. This is a thankless thing, and there will be no benefit except to attract hatred and take the blame.

Foreign Minister Wesenberg: "Overcapacity is just a small problem, it is nothing more than an industrial reshuffle, and it will be over even if you grit your teeth.

The trouble is that in recent times, Britain, France and Russia have been making small moves. Especially the British, they are constantly creating friction with the French.

It would be fine once or twice, but if it were too many times, our relationship with the French would not withstand this kind of test.

Especially not long ago, the British government stated very vaguely that as long as we give up our support to the Russians, they will support us in unifying the German region.

If nothing unexpected happens, the British have made similar promises to the French, and may even make more promises.”

Don’t talk about the relationship between Austria, the relationship between any two countries cannot withstand long-term tossing.

Even though we knew that this was a conspiracy by the British, these contradictions were the ones that existed between France and Austria themselves, but they were still unresolved.

No matter how much the French and Austrian governments suppress them, they will leave knots in their hearts. Over time, these contradictions will always erupt.

Prime Minister Carl shook his head: "The core of the problem is not our side, the key depends on what the French thinks.

If the French could not withstand the temptation and accepted the proposals of the British, then the European War would be inevitable."

According to the original plan and proceed step by step, it is only a matter of time before Austria unifies the German region, and the Vienna government can naturally restrain its desires and not take risks.

It would be different if it were replaced by France. The China-Europe strategy has already been related to whether France can go further.

If we cannot expand to China and Europe, now is the peak of France, and we will have to go downhill.

In fact, France has begun to decline. Looking around the world, France has the highest international status and the most powerful horizontal comparison is between 1870 and 1881.

With the gunshot of the Paris Revolution, France was once again seriously injured and has just recovered.

Compared with Britain and Austria, France has directly wasted eight years. If the energy problem cannot be solved for a long time, the situation in the future will be even worse.

Against this background, it is only a matter of time if the French government is unwilling to fall and chooses to give it a try.

Franz frowned and said slowly: "This situation has to be considered. We must also speed up the preparations to avoid being caught off guard.

Strengthen monitoring of the French government and report immediately once they find signs of preparation for war."

Austria's preparations have already begun, but for the sake of confidentiality, the range of movement has always been very small.

After all, now is not a good time for a decisive battle, and Austria is not ready yet.
Chapter completed!