Chapter 338

Franz was happy to see his subordinates have a fighting spirit. Success or failure didn't matter. The most important thing was this positive spirit, which was worth encouraging and carrying forward.

Austria was also a big country now, and the tolerance for mistakes was greatly increased. The success or failure of the war in South Africa had nothing to do with the country's overall situation.

Of course, it would be better if it succeeded, as it could crush the British's ambition in one fell swoop. This was to prevent the British from having unrealistic fantasies after the gold was mined, and another war would break out.

These days, the colonists were completely defenseless in the face of benefits. Only after experiencing failure would they know the immensity of heaven and earth.

Finance Minister Carr handed a report to Franz and said with a frown, "Your Majesty, this is the military expenditure for the last two months of the war in South Africa, and it totals to 12.486 million DND."

There was nothing wrong with the saying that war was a gold-swallowing monster. It was just a local war, and on average, more than six million DND were consumed every month. If it was a full-scale war, it would be even worse.

It was impossible to save on military expenditure. The weapons and ammunition for the expeditions were all transported from the country, and the transportation cost alone was not a small amount.

In fact, the current military expenditure was already considered low. At least the cannon fodder troops didn't need Franz to pay salaries, nor did they need to pay pensions. Otherwise, the figure would be several times higher.

But no matter how much they saved, these people still had to eat and wear. There was also a cost to eliminating the outdated firearms, broadswords, and spears.

Franz looked at the report. The expenditure of more than a hundred thousand cannon fodder troops took up about 23% of the total military expenditure, and the rest was the expenditure of the tens of thousands of Boer Republic troops.

Even if it was to protect the country, the military's pay couldn't be reduced. Even the private armies of the nobles who had brought their own rations were given a share of their pay. The pension was also distributed in accordance with the standard of the Austrian army, and it was distributed equally.

Franz didn't save on this aspect, and he personally rejected the government's plan to save money. In theory, they could still recruit nobles to fight without paying them, and they only needed to divide the spoils of war after the war. This was how things were played in Europe since ancient times.

But Franz knew that times were different. It was fine to recruit nobles to fight occasionally, but after a few more times, the Emperor probably wouldn't be able to recruit anyone.

Loyalty couldn't be worn down, and people's hearts would change. If they won the war and had enough spoils of war to divide, then it would be fine.

If the war was a loss, and the spoils of war were not enough to make up for everyone's losses, then there would be no lack of complaints. After suffering a loss once, the next time, the other party would pay lip service but oppose in secret.

The war in South Africa naturally did not have the problem of insufficient spoils of war. As long as Jinkuang took out a portion, he would have everything. But in this, the government had nothing to do.

The nobles paid with money and fought, so why did the government have to intervene? The Vienna government had no way of benefiting from it, at least during the period of tax exemption provided by the colonial law.

If they were in each other's shoes, not many nobles would dare to invest so much money in a situation where they did not know that there was a large amount of gold buried underground.

Even the most elite aristocrats in the Shenluo Empire couldn't afford to spend more than six million Divine Dukes every month.

If they had to fight after the war after the war, they couldn, would have, they would would would crying. This kind of negative example had appeared many times on the European continent. Many noble lords fought with others and ran out of money in the middle of the war.

The House of Habsburg had an ancestor who was an emperor, but he was forced to go home by his creditors. Of course, the main reason was that he was too prideful. If he didn't pay, what could a few merchants do?

Half of the European anti-Semitism movement came about this way. The nobles couldn't pay, and they didn't want to bear the bad reputation of going back on their words, so they might as well be anti-Semitic and get rid of the creditors.

Now that the government was backing them, it was different. Everyone's risk was reduced to a minimum, and they didn't have to worry about losing everything because of accidents.

Over the years, there were many nobles who succeeded in Africa, but there were even more who failed. Those who didn't know how to control their risks and were greedy for success were now buried.

Any colonial empire was built from a sea of bones. When the colonial empires collapsed, the main reason was that no one was willing to continue bleeding for the colonies.

In the end, it was still a problem of profit distribution. The bureaucrats and capitalists divided almost all the profits, and the rest didn't even get a share. Who was willing to continue working?

Looking at the major colonial empires, very few people said that the colony was losing money in the early days. On the contrary, after decades or hundreds of years of operation, when the empire went downhill, there would be frequent losses.

Was it because the wealth created was less? Or had the cost of governance skyrocketed to the point where the income couldn't cover the expenses?

Obviously, a colony that had been in operation for decades could create more wealth. However, the government's financial revenue rarely increased, and the money went into private pockets.

On the contrary, various expenses were increasing. The declining Portuguese was an example. As far as Franz knew, the Portuguese colonial system could no longer bring wealth to the government.

Not only the Portuguese, but the ruling costs of the major colonial empires were increasing, but the taxes of most colonies could still cover the expenses.

The bureaucratic group was becoming more and more decadent, and the greed of interest groups were almost unsolvable problems. Even the natives had similar problems, let alone the colonies.

The rising free trade doctrine had begun to attack the colonial system, believing that it would bring a heavy financial burden to the government.

It couldn't be said to be foresight. This group of people mainly did not directly benefit from the colonial system, so they stood on a moral point of view and arrogantly attacked it.

In Franz's view, this was a typical case of picking up the bowl to eat and putting down the chopsticks to curse. They were clearly enjoying the dividends brought by the colonial system, but they didn't admit it and thought that the cost of maintaining colonial rule was high.

They didn't know that the industrial revolution was man-eating, and the primitive accumulation of capital was bloody, either externally or internally.

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

Of course, when maintaining a competitive advantage, they didn't mind opening their markets to other countries. Once this advantage disappeared, they would turn their backs on him.

Otherwise, why would the Germans challenge the old world in the original time and space? It was because of the lack of industrial raw materials and the dumping of goods in the market, which was pushed by capital to start the war.

When the British and French free traders got their wish and got rid of the decadent colonial system, what ushered in was not a new life, but a rapid decline.

The local area was small and poor in resources, and industrial development was inherently limited. In the face of cruel reality, they had to resort to deindustrialization to quench their thirst.

These problems were not troublesome for the time being. Before the colonial system entered an era of great losses, this kind of call would not be heard.

No matter how loud the call for free trade was, everyone had to cooperate. Now they were playing trade protection, and you went to play free trade. Are you afraid of not dying fast enough?

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

The local land is fertile, the climate is pleasant, and the mineral resources are relatively rich. The future development potential is still expected.

After a comprehensive assessment, the South African area should be the land with the most development potential on the African continent. The investment now can be recouped in the near future. "

Franz didn't mention the issue of gold. Before the dust settled, it was best not to complicate matters. Anyway, driving the British out of the African continent was also one of Austria's national policies.

Minister of Finance Carr explained, "Your Majesty, no matter what the development potential is, that is a problem for the future. We don't lack a land with unlimited development potential.

In fact, this kind of land with most of the resources is not necessarily a good thing. If we don't prepare in advance, we may not be able to escape in the future.

The top priority is to end this war as soon as possible. Now that the French have stabilized the situation in Italy, our purpose of sharing the pressure for them has been achieved. There is no need to continue to waste time with the British. "

This statement was not wrong. Having too many resources was not necessarily a good thing. With all the resources, the dependence on the Empire would be reduced.

Franz nodded thoughtfully. It seemed that fragmentation of South Africa was imperative. It was necessary to implement the provincial system as soon as possible to replace the current South African Governor-General's Office to prevent the local regions from clinging in the future.

"We don't have to worry about the war. The officers and soldiers at the front still want to end the war as soon as possible for Christmas. It's only about a month, there is no need to increase the pressure on them.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs should find an opportunity to remind the French that we have fulfilled the agreement. This time we have held back half of the British Army for them. "

There was nothing wrong with this statement. In terms of numbers, the British had invested more than half of the total army in South Africa.

Doing good deeds also needed to leave their names. If you don't say it, how will others know? The more you pay, the greater the harvest. This was an era of equivalent exchange.

Even blood brothers had to settle accounts clearly, let alone allies. It was better to put this kind of thing in the open.

Even if the countries only talked about interests, when talking about the friendship of the Fao, it was also a proof of the friendship between the two countries.

It did not seem to be of much use now, but it might be needed in the future. It was more than enough to fool a chuunibyou teenager. When France cultivated the pro-Austrian faction, this kind of propaganda material was needed.