Chapter 523

Prime Minister Carr said, "If we can't stop them, then we can only suppress them.

The Russo-Austrian Alliance has been around for so many years and the Russians have gotten too many benefits. If they are still not satisfied, then there is no need to continue … "

It was only a matter of time before there was a conflict between Russia and Austria. People's desires were always insatiable. Austria couldn't always satisfy the Russians' desires.

Despite being mentally prepared, Franz still didn't expect it to come so soon.

It was only the French who made a move now, and it was already so troublesome. If the British also joined in, things would be even more difficult.

It was basically certain that as long as Britain and France were willing to pay, the Russians would change sides sooner or later because Austria couldn't afford the price.

This was determined by geography. Austria blocked the westward path of the Russians, and the Government of Vienna couldn't continue to make concessions on this issue.

Once there was a major change in the international situation, the huge debt between Russia and Austria would also be one of the factors that would tempt the two countries to turn against each other.

If they couldn't pay their debts, they would kill their creditors. There were precedents of this kind of thing on the European continent. With the moral integrity of the Russians, Franz wasn't surprised at all.

Foreign Minister Wesenberg shook his head and smiled, "Things aren't that bad. There are three main reasons that prevent the Russians from changing sides:

First, Britain and France haven't given enough attention. The price they offered to the Russians wasn't high enough, and the bargaining chips for betrayal were not enough.

Second, Russia and Austria have had a friendship for three generations since the anti-French war. From the people to the government, the pro-Austrian faction has the advantage.

Third, the economic and trade exchanges between the two countries. Once they go against each other, the nascent Russia's national industry will be destroyed.

If they can't solve these three problems, they can at most ease their relations, and the Russo-Austrian Alliance can still continue.

Judging from the current situation, the French just want to drive a wedge between the Russo-Austrian Alliance and not to the point of pulling the Russians into a war with us.

Even if Britain and France make a move together, the Russians won't change sides in a short time. I can responsibly say that the Russians don't want to meet us on the battlefield. "

This explanation made many people breathe a sigh of relief. It was almost impossible to solve the three problems at the same time.

Especially the last two. The friendly relationship between Russia and Austria was established after three generations and six emperors.

Politicians could change their stance at any time, but it wasn't something that could be done in a day or two.

The "Aurelian Faction" wasn't a group formed by bluffing. They were truly bound by interests.

Once Russia and Austria had a war, this group would be the biggest victim. On the other hand, there is also a pro-Russian faction in Austria. These are the vested interests of the Russian-Austrian friendship.

When it came to benefits, it was impossible to convince people with words alone. If the Tsarist government wanted to turn around, they had to first suppress the pro-Austrian faction in the country.

The problem with the industrial system was even more troublesome. Even with the help of Britain and France, it would take three to five years to fix it.

If Austria suddenly imposed a blockade on the Russians, in less than half a year, most of the factories in Russia would be shut down because of mechanical problems.

Of course, many people didn't realize this. After all, there was no precedent in this area. No one knew that one could control a country's industry from the spare parts of machinery and equipment.

Franz was quite satisfied with the construction of a moat. With so many layers of protection, it was much more reliable than the German Empire in the original Space-Time.

From the current situation, as long as Austria didn't do anything, Britain, France, and Russia wouldn't be able to unite.

The French felt threatened by Austria and needed to draw Russia to share the pressure. But the problem was that the British were feeling the pressure from Russia.

As for Austria, although it was stronger and more active, it didn't violate their core interests.

In the eyes of most people, the French were Britannia's biggest enemy. Russia was the second biggest enemy. Austria was at most fourth or fifth, and there was the annoying Americans.

This ranking didn't have any real value. It was mixed with too much national sentiment.

Before the outbreak of World War I in the original universe, the biggest enemy in the eyes of the British was France. Therefore, John Bull dragged his allies down during the World War II and dug mines for his allies after the war.

After weighing the pros and cons, Franz said slowly, "Since the situation is not under control in a short period of time, then we will wait.

The Ministry of Agriculture should be prepared. Once the French's farm plan is successful, we will promote the new potash fertilizer. "

Since Austria couldn't make money from food production, then no one should think about making money.

If they wanted to mass produce ammonia, there would be technical difficulties. But mining the buried potassium mine would not be that difficult.

Phosphate fertilizers had already appeared, and if they added potash fertilizers, they wouldn't be able to guarantee that they would be able to increase the current grain output by more than ten percent.

It wasn't realistic to promote it to the whole world, but it was possible to increase food production in most parts of Europe in three to five years.

Needless to say, an agricultural crisis was inevitable, and it would be unprecedentedly tragic.

The open-minded French people had always been at the forefront of the world's agriculture. They were still very keen on promoting fertilizers.

France's local agriculture increased by more than ten percent. Coupled with the contribution of colonial farms, the domestic food was basically enough to eat. The Government of Paris couldn't suppress their own agriculture and open up the market for Russia, right?

The outbreak of the agricultural crisis, the collapse of international food prices, and the French breach of contract. It wasn't known if the Tsarist government could withstand this double blow. Franz already mourned for Alexander III in advance.

After being tricked, the Russians would definitely hold a grudge. This was an opportunity for Austria.

Whether it was profit or strategy, the people were the ones who decided everything. As long as one was human, it was inevitable to be influenced by personal perception. It was impossible to be 100% rational.

There was no harm in tricking them. How would they know if it would work if they didn't try? If they succeeded, it would be a huge profit. If they failed, they would pretend nothing happened. Anyway, they had no fear.

…

With Franz's order, the Ministry of Agriculture became busy. It wasn't the first or second day that the "potash fertilizer" was discovered, but the news was blocked by Franz.

Currently, only agricultural experts were researching in the experimental area and hadn't been applied to agricultural production. Holls, the Minister of Agriculture, had only heard of it.

After getting the report, Holls knew the specific composition of this thing.

The demand for potash fertilizer in agriculture could be said to be massive. This wasn't something that could be made up for with some plant ash. There was nothing more to say. Hurry up and find a mine!

With Franz's memory, he could know that plant ash was equivalent to a weakened version of potash fertilizer. It was all thanks to the news that burning wheat straw was prohibited before he transmigrated.

Therefore, this result was for scientists to study the composition of plant ash that was beneficial to agricultural production and then compare it with nature.

Franz didn't even know what potassium ores looked like, let alone the specific distribution area.

However, this was all a small problem. The Government of Austria had the habit of counting resources. Any discovered mineral would be recorded, regardless of whether it was useful or not.

Holls knocked on the door of the Bureau of Mining. According to the data, Austria was actually a potassium-poor country.

"Director Rogers, can't such a big country like Austria even find a few large potash mines?

Look at the data here. It hasn't been updated for seven or eight years. Can't you guys … "

Although he wasn't a direct leader, Rogers lost his temper in the face of the endlessly chattering Minister of Agriculture.

He explained patiently, "Minister, potash is not an important resource. Naturally, the Bureau of Mining didn't organize people to specifically explore it.

These discoveries were accidental discoveries by the exploration team. The reserves on it are only preliminary estimates and don't represent the actual reserves.

If the Ministry of Agriculture needs it, we can send people to conduct a detailed exploration to determine the final reserves. "

This was something that couldn't be helped. There were too many types of ores in nature. Even if it was the same type of ore, due to the different content, it might have different characteristics.

The exploration team could naturally identify common ores, but it was common for some minor ores to be misidentified. There were even thousands of mines in the archives that couldn't be identified and were directly marked as unknown.

Of course, these thousands of unknown mines didn't mean that there were thousands of unknown ores.

There were only two reasons why the exploration team didn't recognize it. It was either a particularly rare but unpopular ore that didn't have any value in the short term, or it was a mineral that hadn't been discovered by humans.

For the Bureau of Mining, sometimes having too much territory was a burden. The number of large and small mines registered in Austria was already in the hundreds of thousands.

They couldn't even develop the economically valuable mines, so who would care about the worthless "potash" mines? It was normal that the Bureau of Mining didn't care.

Halls nodded. "Then hurry up. No matter what, you have to find enough potash ore for me in three years or so.

Don't make excuses. I don't believe that the huge Austrian Empire doesn't even have a few potash mines. "

…