Chapter 407

After Christmas, the United Kingdom and Austria recognized the Greater France Empire, which was a tacit approval of France's annexation of the Regions of Italy.

Affected by this, European countries also recognized the legitimacy of Greater France in 1871 and re-established diplomatic relations with France. Napoleon Iii finally got rid of the diplomatic dilemma.

The international tension surrounding France's annexation of the Regions of Italy ended. However, the impact was far-reaching.

The undercurrents began to surge, the ambitious people became active, expansion became the theme of the times, and many small European countries lost their sense of security.

The era of imperialism came, and the French's actions once again refreshed the bottom line of the great powers. From now on, powerful countries did not need any excuse to annex a sovereign country.

There was no need for a fig leaf. The law of the jungle had never been so vivid, and the rules of the game had become more disadvantageous to the weak countries.

No one knew who released the news of the alliance between the United Kingdom, France, and France, which had just eased the international situation became tense again. At this moment, the remaining European countries couldn't sit still, and the foreign ministries of the United Kingdom, France, and France were all lively.

Even Alexander Ii Of Russia, who was busy with internal reform, sent a telegram to inquire. It was impossible to keep it a secret. Britain and France had publicly admitted that they were in the midst of alliance negotiations.

Originally, they were prepared to use this alliance to increase Austria's influence in the world, so Franz naturally wouldn't deny it.

As for what Alexander Ii Of Russia would think, it was no longer important. Not to mention the half-dead Russian Empire, even the Russian Empire at its peak had to retreat in the face of the Tripartite Alliance.

The formal alliance treaty between the three countries had not yet been signed, but the issue of building a new international situation had already begun to be discussed.

In the face of interests, everyone couldn't resist the temptation to make a game rule that was beneficial to themselves, and it happened to be the biggest benefit.

Even Franz, who had little interest in the Tripartite Alliance, was very interested in establishing a new international order.

Austria had experience in this area, and it had led the Vienna System twice. A set of game rules that were beneficial to themselves would bring benefits no less than the benefits of any colony.

Now everyone needed a stable Europe. The British needed the balance of the continent, the French needed to digest the victory, and Austria needed time to continue to develop.

Other countries were no exception. The Kingdom of Prussia needed to digest the victory, Russia was busy with reform, and the small countries wanted a stable Europe.

With the common will of everyone, a new international order was about to be born. This time, it was even crueler than before. After the three big countries set the rules, everyone else just had to follow them.

The second-tier powerful countries like Prussia, Russia, and the Nordic Federation still had a certain right to speak. Most of the smaller countries were reduced to nobodies.

As one of the vested interests, Franz didn't want to complain for them.

Now, he was busy with economic reforms. The Second Industrial Revolution was different from the First Industrial Revolution. Some of the economic policies in the past were no longer suitable.

The famous "Austrian School of Economics" also began to emerge, but it was still in its embryonic stage. Perhaps it was because of the butterfly effect and the influence of the environment, there were still changes.

Franz didn't know what exactly happened. Franz didn't know what was going on.

In the era of free market economy, Austria's economic policy was considered active. Of course, this active policy was limited.

The main thing was to let the market develop freely, and the government only provided the infrastructure and made some incentive policies when necessary.

As long as you had money, you could enter any industry. Whether you could survive or not was your own problem.

As a pragmatist, Franz always followed the principle of "the most suitable is the best." Under the big framework, Austria's economic policies were not exactly the same.

Different regions had different development directions, and the policies needed were different. If the central government had to worry about everything, it would be too busy.

In the Palace of Vienna, the economic report meeting that would determine Austria's next decade was being held. The economic reform was only a minor adjustment.

Overall, the previous economic policies were still the same. Only a few industries needed to be changed, and the scope of change was not large.

Economy Minister Andrew analyzed, "For the past two years, the domestic economy has been in a good state. The economic growth rate has maintained at 7.8%.

What's worth noting is the new energy industry, mainly the electric power industry. It grew from less than 10 million DND in 1868 to 200 million DND now.

The industrial chain involved many industries, including copper smelting, rubber, power generation equipment, and other upstream industries, as well as hardware, electric machinery, transportation, and other industries.

638,000 new jobs were created, making a significant contribution to getting out of the economic crisis. The most typical example is the copper smelting industry in Saxony and the Balkans, which achieved significant breakthroughs in production.

The Ministry of Economy believes that electric power will be the biggest economic growth point in the future.

Currently, only Vienna has fully popularized electric lighting. Frankfurt, Munich, Venice, Milan, and other cities have started projects, but it will still take some time to complete.

We have discovered many copper mines in Africa, all of which are rich and of high quality. The reserves exceed the total amount of copper mines in Europe.

We have already consulted with the shipyards in the country, and there are no technical problems to build large mining ships of 20,000 to 30,000 tons. Transportation costs can be reduced quickly, and the problem of insufficient copper production, which limits the popularization of electric power, can be solved immediately.

With the supply of cheap copper ore, the price of copper in the market will fall quickly, and the cost of popularizing electric lighting will be greatly reduced.

In addition, electric machinery also had great potential, and it was even possible that it could replace the current steam engine in the future. Currently, electric machinery is already being used in some fields.

Apart from that, another economic growth point is the number of newborns, and the sales of infant products continue to increase.

There are too many products involved in this area, and it is too troublesome to calculate. We can only make preliminary estimates. Currently, the annual market is about 35 million DND, but the growth rate is very fast, and it is estimated to increase by 12% this year.

In comparison, the traditional economic market is showing signs of decline. The previous economic crisis has proven that many fields in the country are saturated.

Currently, in the traditional economic field, the fastest growth rates are steel, mining, shipping, and construction, which are 13.2%, 9.6%, 10.1%, and 8.9% respectively. The textile industry, which used to grow rapidly, grew by only 3.1% last year.

Our best advantage, the food processing industry, is now facing a bottleneck. Even though it is still growing at 5.8%, the trend of decline is very obvious.

Based on these data, the development of new industries has become the pillar of economic development in the future. The Ministry of Economy plans to fully popularize electric lighting in the country, and encourage innovation in electric power technology. "

This is in line with the habits of the Government of Vienna. The popularization of electric power is inseparable from the government's policies. Without the government's promotion, it is estimated that no power company will selflessly contribute a set of power supply network.

In contrast, infant products are different. There is no need for the government to intervene at all, and the capitalists will do well. All the government needs to do is to supervise and regulate the market.

The experienced and prudent Prime Minister Felix took over the topic. "There is no problem in popularizing electric power technology. Everyone has personally experienced the benefits of this technology, and the electric lights above our heads are one of them.

However, when popularizing it, we also need to consider the cost of the early stage. The cost of building a set of urban power supply network is not a small number.

Not every city can afford it, and the government does not recommend popularizing it in cities with low financial income. If someone turns this policy of benefiting the people into a policy that harms the people, we will be held accountable. "

Is the electric power technology good? The answer is: very good. Unfortunately, it is too early, and the cost has not been reduced.

Big cities with higher local financial income can follow Vienna's example and popularize electric lighting. That is not a problem, as long as they can afford it.

For some cities that are extremely poor, it is a heavy burden. Take Vienna for example, the municipal government spends 1.2 million BD per year on electricity and lighting system maintenance.

For the prosperous Vienna, this money can be directly distributed to the merchants in the city. They are the biggest beneficiaries of the city that never sleeps, and the income generated by the night market is enough to cover this expense.

If it is some other small city, there are not many businesses, and the annual financial income is only a few hundred thousand BD, it is difficult to even maintain the operation of the government.

If they run to follow the trend, in the end, this expense will fall to the ordinary people. For the local people with low income, it is a disaster.

The lower the population density of the city, the higher the per capita cost of electricity. This account has long been calculated by the Government of Vienna.

In order to avoid the worst situation from happening, Prime Minister Felix stood up in advance to pour cold water. To prevent some bureaucrats from blindly following the trend for political achievements.

After listening to Felix's warning, many of the local officials attending the meeting are sweating over their previous ideas.

Sure enough, it is not easy to get political achievements. If they do not have the conditions and blindly follow the trend, it is estimated that their career will end when the report is submitted.

Except for a few states with greater autonomy, the rest of the cities that want to launch such a big project still need the approval of the Government of Vienna.

So far, the approval can only be obtained in the economically developed big cities or in the coal-producing areas, where the cost of electricity is unimaginably low.

For most of the cities, it is best to wait for technological innovation and further reduce the cost of electricity before considering this issue.

In the original timeline, the electricity revolution in Europe began in Germany. The most important reason is that Germany at that time had the largest copper production in Europe, and the largest coal production in Europe. The cost of promoting electricity technology is lower than Britain and France.

There is nothing to say about the United States, it is not lacking in anything. Whether it is copper production or coal production, they can have as much as they want.

Therefore, from the beginning of the second industrial revolution, the United States gradually walked ahead of Europe in the subsequent new technological innovations.

It is not that European countries do not have the technology, the problem is that European countries lack raw materials, the cost of overseas transportation increases, and do not have the ability to promote. Without waiting for the industrial technology to mature, Britain and France cannot afford the high cost.

Now Franz is carrying out the electricity technology revolution with great fanfare, there is no intention of secrecy at all, the main reason is that the cost of raw materials in Austria is lower than that of Britain and France.

In addition to the Russian Empire, Austria's copper reserves exceed that of all European countries combined, not to mention the production directly accounts for half of the world's share.

In the rubber production, Austria also has a very important share. The Southeast Asian colonies are not for nothing, almost every island can be planted with rubber, plus the rubber plantations opened in Africa, now Austria is the world's largest supplier of rubber products.

To promote electricity technology, Britain and France first import copper, followed by rubber imports. France is even worse, they have to import coal.

The cost has already determined that in this industrial revolution, Britain and France are at a disadvantage.