The War Court and Lap Pillow, Austria’s Mandate of Heaven

Vol 3 Chapter 55: A farmer working in Pomerania

Berlin, Charlottenburg Palace.

Since the establishment of the German Customs Union, Prussia's fiscal revenue has maintained a steady upward trend, and the total tariff has nearly tripled, from 18 million florins to 54 million florins, accounting for 39% of its total revenue. .

But this favorable situation did not bring relief and pride to the faces of its sovereign, William IV, and his advisers.

Because the excessive financial burden of this "army-owned country" means that if one day war suddenly comes, its financial situation will deteriorate sharply, and a large deficit may even directly crush the country.

And what is even more frightening is that the domestic factories and commodity production structure in Prussia are quietly changing, and it is a farmer from Pomerania who realizes all this.

In a survey report written to the Prussian government, he pointed out that although the output value of the Kingdom's textile industry nearly doubled after joining the German Customs Union, 25 of the 97 textile factories in the territory closed down within seven years.

80% of the reasons for the closure of these 25 textile factories were due to poor management. And in this era of rapid development of the textile industry, how to define "poor management"? What is the main reason behind it?

The answer is obvious: the Austrian competition. Anyone who has entered the emerging industry and wants to get a share of the blue ocean will be wiped out by these guys who see every bit of it. And the blood of those pioneers quickly dyed the ocean red.

The sudden increase in the entry threshold caught the Prussian factory owners and businessmen by surprise. They either succumbed to being bought by the Austrians, or could only keep their one-acre three-point land through blood transfusions.

However, behind the Austrian colleagues is the state endorsement, and the methods used are endless. In addition to common business practices, they can even manipulate raw material prices and bribe officials of other countries...

There is a terrible logic behind this kind of behavior, that is, if you don't want to stay as a dog, then you don't want to do it.

In fact, this is not surprising. After all, in order to make money in this era, let alone those capitalists, even countries that call themselves "order defenders" have long used everything.

But this keen farmer gave his analysis. The Austrian Empire is deliberately turning the Kingdom of Prussia into an agricultural-based source of raw materials. It is not difficult to see their attitude towards this matter when they speak.

"However, the foundation of a strong country lies in self-reliance."

Every word of this farmer's words is heartbreaking. But it also aroused the dissatisfaction of other Junker landlords. After all, they didn't think it was taking advantage of Austria, but just profiting from free trade.

"Your Majesty, this rough farmer is too arrogant. What kind of identity does he dare to talk about state affairs?"

Minister of War Gustav von Rauch frowned and said, in his eyes, this uninformed countryman is threatening the interests of the entire Junker nobility.

After the latter tasted the sweetness of the food crisis, they discovered that too much food should not be planted, because too much grain will lead to a drop in food prices, so the best way to keep prices stable is to reduce the area of ​​grain planted.

But simply reducing the grain planting area will cause a lot of land and labor to be idle. Coincidentally, due to the conflict with Hungary, Austria needs to import a large amount of Prussian sugar beet and fodder, and the improvement of the German Confederation railway network has greatly reduced the export cost of crops in the kingdom.

Naturally, the short-sighted Junkers had no reason to give up this opportunity to make money, and one after another switched to planting sugar beets and fodder. As for the potential food shortage threat, they confidently believed that it could be solved by the Russians next door. After all, their monarch’s brother-in-law was Tsar Nicholas I, and no matter what method or channel was used, the problem was properly handled.

Under the guidance of this idea, the arable land of the Prussians was planted with a large number of crops such as grass, barley, oats, black beans and sugar beets.

Of course, the source of their self-confidence has a lot to do with their eastern allies. After all, Imperial Russia was the largest exporter of agricultural products in Europe at that time, and it would be beneficial for them to earn more trade surpluses.

The top and bottom of the tsarist government did not mention the previous betrayal, and the Junker nobles who traded with it would naturally selectively forget it. For the tsarist government, the international situation faced at this time has not been fundamentally changed.

The people of the archipelago to the west continued to cling to the issue of the strait, but if they really gave up the "Wenkar-Inskelesi Treaty", it would be tantamount to giving up the dominant position they had gained in the strait over the years.

In fact, the real beneficiaries behind the so-called "international condominium" proposal of the United Kingdom will only be themselves. At this time, other major powers have neither the mind nor the strength to get entangled in the competition for hegemony in the Black Sea.

What's more, there are still many imperfections in their proposal. For example, the substantive content of international co-management has always been unclear, and there is no mention of its wartime status. It can be said that the "Straits Convention" proposed by the British was the fuse of the Crimean War.

However, the domestic Polish Restoration Movement and the Polish Democratic League are constantly causing troubles for His Majesty the Tsar. Although the power of the two seems ridiculous now, the several suppression campaigns against them all ended with little effect, which is enough to prove their strong vitality .

The most fundamental reason why the Poles in Russia are able to fight and fail repeatedly like an unbeatable Xiaoqiang is that they stand behind the three powers of Britain, France and Austria.

The friendship between France and Poland has a long history. During the Napoleonic Wars, France once helped Poland to restore its country. Although Louis-Philippe did not like the Bonaparte family very much, he coveted their inheritance for a long time.

In the eyes of high-level French officials, of course the Poles should make good use of such an easy-to-use pawn. As the saying goes, "Tianyuan determines the universe with one hand", after all, Poland has the final say on whether Eastern Europe is chaotic or not at this time.

The predecessors of France in all dynasties have never concealed their ambitions for the Rhine region and Northern Italy. Now these two places are occupied by the enemies of the Anti-French Alliance, not to mention their solid ally Russia is the biggest culprit that once led to the decline of the French First Empire.

(Before the Napoleonic Wars, France was a very powerful colonial empire. After the defeat, almost all overseas interests belonged to the British, so it is wrong to say that the Vienna Peace Treaty did not weaken France. Although the British paid a lot, he was also the biggest winner. .)

And as long as Poland does not give up its dream of independence, the Russian, Pu and Austrian families will have no peace for a day. As long as their momentum is loud enough, it may eventually evolve into the Greek War of Independence, when the initiative to intervene with Britain will further weaken the Holy Alliance, a stumbling block that has existed for many years.

At the same time, the July Dynasty is pro-British from the king to the cabinet. It has always been their dream to stand with Britain~www.wuxiaspot.com~John Bull can choose to support Yinberia for their mainland balance of power policy Of course, the Carlist faction in the peninsula can also support the Polish restoration forces. Coupled with the conflict with Mao Xiong in the Near East, they are very happy to see the Tsar's Queen's House on fire.

Although the British never really fulfilled their promises to them from after the first subjugation of Poland to the Second World War in history, the latter has always believed in the former.

And Austria is the biggest contributor to the Polish insurgents being able to retreat several times. Due to the existence of the natural barrier of the Free City of Krakow, Russia has never been able to completely wipe out the Polish insurgents.

Krakow was nominally a free city, but was protected by the Austrian Empire. Sending troops there without authorization is declaring war on this ancient empire that has occupied Central Europe for hundreds of years.

In fact, Krakow was reserved by the Austrians to disgust the Russians. Its main function is to prevent the continued spread of Great Slavism.

Moreover, this city was actually included in Austria's sphere of influence long ago. Because of this, Krakow became the center of the Polish independence movement and the largest sanctuary for its returnees.

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