Chapter 420

The electric revolution was not only limited to lighting, but also small electrical appliances with little technical content.

For example, the electric fan was an accidental product, and the inventor was a technical worker.

The reason was to cool down the equipment. He disliked the mechanical fan and wanted to create a fan that did not require manual operation.

He had an idea and added an iron plate to the motor. After connecting it to the power source, the blade spun quickly, and the first electric fan was born.

At first, Franz thought that another great scientist was born, but after investigation, he found out that the inventor was just an ordinary technical worker. Other than accidentally inventing the electric fan, he had no talent in scientific research.

Once again, real cases proved that technological inventions were full of coincidences. There were many similar cases. Many practical technological inventions were made by ordinary people.

This strengthened Franz's determination to increase hands-on classes in education. Therefore, from 1871 onwards, Austrian students had an additional practical class.

Just like a joke in the future: A real genius could build a nuclear reactor in his garage.

This kind of talent was what Austria needed the most. At the forefront of the technological revolution, there was no one in Austria to copy. The original imitation empire had to innovate on its own.

Franz rarely interfered in this aspect. If a country wanted to be truly strong, it must have the ability to research and develop independently and not be led by the nose by the emperor.

The results of his previous life could be used to avoid detours, but it could only be used as a support for a country. Once it became dependent, it would be a disaster.

Usually, Franz only mentioned the requirements. How to implement it was up to the scientists. It was good if they succeeded, but it was okay if they failed. Scientific research was never smooth sailing. It was impossible to not experience storms.

Of course, this was also related to Franz's bad grades in his previous life. As an ordinary person, he had always enjoyed the convenience brought by technology. Who would care about how these technological products were made?

It was fine if he didn't use the knowledge he read on the internet. If he really used it, it would only ruin things.

The economic conference continued. At this time, everyone was discussing how to popularize electric power technology. There were two points to summarize:

First, reduce taxes for companies engaged in the electric power industry. This way, reduce the operating costs of the electric power company.

Second, reduce the price of raw materials, copper and rubber, thus reducing the cost of the electric power promotion process.

His methods were just that crude, without much technical content. The first problem with the promotion of any new technology was the cost.

Only when the cost was within a controllable range would it have economic value. Only when it had economic value could it be promoted in the market.

Electricity had been around for many years. Why was it only promoted now? It was because of the invention of high-power generators, which reduced the cost of electricity to an affordable range.

Currently, one kilowatt of electricity only required about 500 grams of coal. If it was high-calorie coal, the consumption would be even lower. The cost was already within the acceptable range of the market.

Franz couldn't help but want to speak up when he saw everyone arguing. But he held back. During the intermission, Franz summoned the Prime Minister alone.

Austria had no shortage of coal. In terms of reserves, it was second only to the Russian Empire in Europe. This was the benefit of having a large territory. However, the quality of the coal was hard to say.

"Prime Minister, I suddenly found a problem. Most of the coal mines in the country are lignite. This coal can be used to make fire or electricity, but it can't be used to make steel.

Now the domestic demand for steel is increasing. In the future, the demand for bituminous coal will also increase sharply. For long-term development, we need to divide the types of industrial coal. "

(Note: There is only a small amount of coking coal in nature. It can be used directly to make steel. Most of it is produced after the processing of bituminous coal.)

Prime Minister Felix thought about it and shook his head. "Your Majesty, it's not necessary! The domestic coal reserves are still quite rich. At the current consumption rate, it is enough for 500 years.

Although the reserves of bituminous coal for steel are not too high, it is enough. Even if the demand for steel increases tenfold, the coal is enough for hundreds of years. We still have so much time. It is too early to consider these problems.

Now that we are forcing the classification of industrial coal, there are many problems involved. Many areas that produce bituminous coal have to buy lignite from the outside world at a high price. This increases the cost of industrial production and is not conducive to economic development. "

This was a practical problem. If they forced the classification of coal, they would have to face this economic problem.

In this era, the demand for coal resources was not too high. The problem of energy had not entered the public's attention.

Moreover, although steel and iron were often connected together, in fact, the coal used for "steel" and "iron" were different.

Currently, Austria produced more than six million tons of steel every year. In fact, the first six million tons were iron, and only the last few hundred thousand tons were steel.

With such low steel production, the demand for bituminous coal was naturally low. Even if it increased tenfold, the actual production of steel would only be a few million tons. This amount of steel would not consume much coal.

Franz began to hesitate. The actual situation seemed to have exceeded his expectations. Austria's bituminous coal reserves were not too high, but the demand for industrial coal was even smaller.

After some thought, Franz decided to continue to promote the classification of industrial coal. However, he changed the method and was not as radical.

This was not a matter of course, but a decision that Franz made after serious consideration. He believed that Austria's demand for steel would increase rapidly in the future. Perhaps by the end of the century, the demand would exceed ten million tons.

Then the demand for bituminous coal would increase correspondingly. If the Rhineland area was successfully acquired before that, there would be no shortage of coal with the Ruhr area's coal resources replenishment.

But there were accidents. If there were changes midway, and Austria acquired the Ruhr area's coal mine in a short period of time, would the domestic bituminous coal production be able to meet the demand?

No one could answer this question. In this case, Franz certainly had to prepare for a rainy day. Even if it was useless, it was better than discovering that the supply of high-quality bituminous coal was insufficient when it was needed.

After a great deal of effort, Franz barely convinced Prime Minister Felix. Perhaps Felix now felt that this was nothing more than a fuss, and that he had only accepted it out of respect for the Emperor.

It did not matter. Franz only cared about the results. As long as the goal was achieved, it did not matter if there were some twists and turns in the process.

Naturally, no one knew the content of the conversation between the two. Because of this little episode, the intermission of the meeting was also extended.

The Emperor and the Prime Minister were both absent, so the meeting naturally could not continue. This was similar to an ordinary meeting. They had to wait for the important leaders to arrive before they could start.

The staff was very perceptive. During the break, coffee, cakes, and newspapers that had just been published today were sent to everyone.

Perhaps it was not good to let so many people wait. After about twenty minutes, the two walked into the conference room and the meeting continued.

When the meeting was about to end, Prime Minister Felix said with a depressed face,

"Everyone, don't forget that coal is needed to generate electricity. Although the domestic coal production is not small, we also have to prioritize steel making.

In the future, the domestic demand for steel will usher in a surge. In the domestic coal production, more than 80% is lignite. The production of bituminous coal suitable for steel making is less than 20%, and the quality coal is less than 5%.

Now it is necessary to introduce an energy law to ensure the safety of coal for steel making. Of course, this cannot be forced by administrative means. The main thing is to rely on economic means to regulate the market supply.

In general, it is to let the most suitable coal for steel making be used in steel making so that the best quality steel can be refined and the remaining ordinary coal will flow into the market. "

It could be seen that Prime Minister Felix was not so petitioning. Of course, this was only limited to Franz. In the eyes of different people, the answer was also seen differently. Many officials directly interpreted this as "worry." It was because they were worried about this problem that they had this expression.

This statement was still a bit far-fetched, but it was more acceptable than Franz's statement. Only the best quality coal could be refined into the best quality steel. This was basic common sense.

Economic means of regulation were very simple and crude. The Government of Vienna also had a similar successful experience, which was to increase taxes on high-quality coal.

If these high-quality coal flowed into the steel mill, then there would be a tax refund; if it flowed into other fields, naturally there would be no tax refund.

The benefits of doing this were very obvious, which was to increase the price of high-quality coal. The higher the price, the lower the market competitiveness, at least the power plant would not buy these high-quality coal.

Under the stimulation of interests, the capitalists would carry out market regulation themselves. The only problem was supervision and could not let them evade taxes.

In contrast, this was a small problem. There was a law and there was no law were two different concepts. Even if there was tax evasion, it was only on a small scale.

Only with a small number of participants could it be kept secret. If the scale was large, it would be difficult to escape the supervision of the tax authorities.

Moreover, even if the coal seller was willing to take the risk, the coal buyer might not necessarily be willing.

Even if it was tax evasion, the price of high-quality coal could not be lower than ordinary coal. For many people, the difference was not big, but the risk was very high.

It was fine if they could not be caught, but once they were caught, the consequences would be serious. It was common to be punished to the point of bankruptcy, and they might even be sent to prison to reflect.

Prime Minister Felix's proposal had a lot of opposition, but it was reluctantly passed at the meeting. Franz's little trick was just short of saying that the Emperor supported this proposal.

Bringing this issue up at the economic conference was actually to share the pressure. According to the usual practice, the contents of all high-level meetings in Austria were confidential.

The officials attending the meeting could not announce to the outside world: I am against the law. It had become a law, and it was not something an official had the right to oppose. All they could do was comply.

The outside world did not know how much opposition existed in the government, which would make many people misjudge. The resentment of those whose interests were harmed would be borne by everyone.

There were too many officials involved, so no one dared to do anything. This policy had no impact on ordinary people, who had always been loyal users of cheap coal.

Almost no one would be affected except for the coal boss. After all, the government only regulated the best quality of bituminous coal, and it would not affect the interests of other people.

If there was a loss, it was Franz himself who suffered the most. Unknowingly, he had become Austria's largest coal supplier.

This was the benefit of buying in the beginning. At that time, the railway had not yet been built, and the mines in the deep forests were not valuable.

But with the completion of the Great Railway Plan, there was now a railway in every city in Austria, and the original traffic problem was no longer a problem.

The traffic problem was solved, and the mines could be transported out. This made many mines buried in the mountains have economic value, and the mining tycoon was raised.

Franz did not care about this little loss. After all, this policy also had beneficiaries — the steel industry. The problem of the left hand moving to the right hand.

The loss of the coal mine was recovered from the steel industry, and he also secretly invested in the heavy industry.

This was the scary thing about consortiums. They had a complete industrial chain, and their ability to resist risks far exceeded ordinary companies.

Today, a huge royal financial group has been lurking in Austria. If all the assets were exposed, it would be enough to make all the consortiums in the world feel ashamed.

Obviously, this was not going to be exposed, and the more hidden the cards, the better. Although the royal consortium was vaguely connected, in fact, it had long been divided into several parts, or rather, the existence of several consortiums.

Franz was only secretly controlling these separate consortiums. These separate consortiums also had a large group of allies, forming a community of interests.

On the surface, some consortiums were still opposed to each other, often fighting because of interests. To say that they were a family, even if the evidence was placed in front of them, probably not many people would believe it.

This was just the beginning. With the rise of new industries, these consortiums would snowball in the future, increasing Franz's control over the country.