Chapter 624

The top brass of the Government of Berlin were mostly from the military and had always been swift and decisive. Since they decided to trick the Poles, they naturally wouldn't be lenient.

Because of the battle for the Polish throne, a nail was also buried between Poland and Poland. The Poles, who had finally gained independence, were unwilling to be annexed by Prussia.

Coupled with the interference of international forces, the contradictions between Poland and Poland continued to be magnified. If it weren't for the existence of a major enemy like Russia, the two countries would have separated long ago.

Even so, the radicals in the Polish government didn't want to see Prussia meddling and wanted to kick Prussia away.

The Government of Berlin saw these problems and was anxious. The radicals were not easy to deal with. One bad operation would cause a violent rebound.

The Government of Berlin had long had the idea of using a knife to kill people, but the hidden dangers of the operation were quite big. One bad operation would cause a disaster.

To deal with the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia needed Polish cannon fodder. They couldn't let Poland be crippled.

If it weren't for the rupture in relations between Russia and Austria, Mao Ci would never dare to make this proposal. Otherwise, Russia would take the opportunity to get involved and forcefully pull Austria into the water. Poland wasn't Russia's opponent.

Now that the Russo-Austrian Alliance had problems, Austria also needed to use Poland to weaken Russia. In this context, the Government of Vienna could at most teach the Poles a lesson, but it was impossible to really cripple them.

The Government of Berlin didn't care how much the Poles had to pay. Although they saw Poland as in the bag, there was a reality they had to face.

For the Kingdom of Prussia, Poland was too big. If they swallowed it, the end result would most likely be choked to death.

In the first Prussia War, the Poles suffered heavy losses because of Prussia. However, it was done more covertly and not known to the outside world.

It was really easy to motivate the teenagers. It was enough to stir up public opinion, and the newspaper was the most advantageous weapon. Overnight, the old matter of Poland being divided by the three countries of Russia and Austria was dug up.

Of course, the Kingdom of Prussia was hidden. The newspaper had become the Kingdom of Poland being divided by Russia and Austria, and Austria's role was artificially magnified.

…

St. Peter Castle. Ever since Austria started dumping and international food prices collapsed, Alexander II Of Russia was in a bad mood.

After so many years of hard work, they had finally solved the problem of the Russian Empire's land problem, but before they could reap the fruits of victory, they received a blow to the head.

Austria's revenge was too ruthless. If they couldn't overcome this agricultural crisis, the Russian Empire would soon face a catastrophe.

Russia was not an industrialized country, and agricultural taxes were the main source of income for the government, accounting for more than half of the total fiscal revenue.

The collapse of food prices meant that the finances of the Tsarist government were in trouble. The loans from the English were for the repair of railways and the development of industry, not for the maintenance of the government.

This was based on the fact that the British would honor the agreement. If John Bull did not honor the agreement, then the Czarist government would really go bankrupt. Even though they had just gone bankrupt a few years ago.

Even though the two countries had signed a contract, the loan was not a one-time payment. The British had loaned the money in installments, so the Tsarist government had only received a little more than five million pounds.

To an individual it was a huge sum of money; to the Russian Empire it was a matter of a few hundred kilometres of railway.

Don't think that it was expensive. The terrain was complicated, the weather was harsh, and the rails had to be imported from England. It would be strange if the final cost was not high.

John Bull's loan was not easy to obtain. Fifty percent of it had to be used to purchase British goods. The construction of the railway was also forced to purchase rails from Britain.

Foreign Affairs Minister Chris Basham took out a document and handed it to Alexander Ii Of Russia.

"Your Majesty, yesterday, the Austrians once again issued a 'Food Production Reduction Proposal' to the major grain exporting countries in the world. They proposed that all countries reduce their food production by 8% in 1873 to deal with the agricultural crisis."

8% of the food production capacity was not the 8% exported to the international trading market, but 8% of the total food production of each country. If converted into output, it would be a drop of tens of millions of tons of global food production.

If this could be done, then the agricultural crisis would be over by half. The 21% excess capacity announced by Austria was a theoretical figure calculated by a formula.

It only estimated the demand for food, wine, industrial use, and fodder.

In real life, it was inevitable that food would be wasted. For example: losses during transportation, food going bad due to weather, waste in daily life …

If several grain exporting countries reduced their production capacity by 8% at the same time, then the food that could enter the international market would basically return to the level of 1870.

Because the population was constantly increasing, in at most two to three years, the excess food on the market would be consumed, and food prices would normalize.

On the surface, there was no problem with the Austrian proposal. All the major grain exporting countries reduced their production in the same proportion to maintain market price stability. It was equivalent to accepting the Russian Empire as one of them. Austria also gave up a large part of the market.

As a matter of fact, it was very fatal for the Tsarist government. Reducing production was easy to say, but difficult to do. If they wanted the Russian Empire's food production to increase by 8% next year, it was very simple. They just had to expand the planting area.

Now the Russian people were very enthusiastic about growing food, and the production was rising steadily. As long as the transportation problem was solved, it wouldn't be a problem to replace Austria as the world's largest grain exporter.

But it would be difficult to reduce production. The government couldn't prohibit people from growing food, right? There were tens of millions of farmers in Russia, and no one could stop them from increasing their own planting area.

Even if they copied Austria's fallow law, it would be useless. Russia had plenty of land. As for Austria's land reclamation law, the Tsarist government wouldn't dare to copy it. That would cause trouble.

After pondering for a while, Alexander II turned his gaze to the crowd.

"What do you think? Is the Austrian proposal feasible?"

A fat middle-aged man stood up emotionally and said with righteous indignation: "Your Majesty, this is Austria's conspiracy. Reducing food production by 8% in one year, how could it be done?

Even if the international food prices were low now, it would be a long process for farmers to adjust their planting habits.

The government couldn't directly regulate what farmers should plant. Overcapacity in agriculture was similar to industrial overcapacity. After a crisis, the market would make a choice, and survival of the fittest.

If we forcefully reduce production, other than causing chaos, there would be no value at all.

The Austrians are demonstrating to us. They want to use low food prices to force us to compromise with them. "

Manilov wasn't stupid. As the Minister of Agriculture, he knew very well how enthusiastic Russia's farmers were. It would be futile to ask them to reduce production at this time.

Russia and Austria were completely different. The national conditions of the two countries were very different. After the Government of Vienna passed the law, it stopped the increase of land for planting food.

As long as the nobles in the government took the lead and changed their land to cash crops, there would be many people who would respond. It was different for the nobles in Russia. It seemed easy to change crops, but the problem was who would they sell it to?

This was the difference between an agricultural country and an industrial country. Austria had a complete industry, transportation, and communication were more developed, and information was relatively transparent.

It was very easy for the nobles in the upper class to understand the market. They knew what would sell.

It was different for the Russian Empire. The local industry had just started. The terrible transportation also cut off communication. Not to mention telephones, even telegrams couldn't reach every city.

Even if someone wanted to change to cash crops, they didn't know what to plant. Even if they planted it, they didn't know where to sell it.

Without an effective sales channel, they could only plant it conservatively. Regardless of the price, at least the food sold well and there were merchants buying it.

If they wanted to plant cash crops, then they had to think carefully. If there were corresponding factories nearby, then there was no problem. Everyone could plant without worry.

If there were no factories, then they had to scale. If there wasn't enough production, they might not even have enough transportation costs.

Foreign Minister Chris Basham said, "Marquis Manilov, please calm down. Don't forget that Austria is the largest agricultural exporter. If this goes on, they will lose the most.

After the price of raw food collapsed, the price of processed food also continued to fall. If this continues, these processing companies will not be able to escape the disaster.

In order to protect domestic companies, the Government of Vienna has already reduced taxes for these companies. However, Austria's share in the international market is still shrinking.

After getting the cheap raw materials, the food processing companies that were suppressed by Austria are now booming.

If the situation of oversupply doesn't change, and the price of raw food continues to be low, the food processing companies in Europe can soon develop.

From the perspective of interests, the Austrians' proposal is more to protect the domestic processing and manufacturing industry.

No matter what, Austria is still our most important food exporter. Even if we reopen the British market, it can't change this fact.

If Austria refuses to accept our agricultural products, then it will be the beginning of the disaster. No one in Europe has such a large-scale agricultural processing industry chain. "

Alexander Ii Of Russia reached out and slapped his forehead. The harvest of food was also a headache. The supply exceeded the demand in the international food market. This year's food was unsalable.

Once they lost Austria, the biggest buyer, then there was really no way to deal with the mountains of food in the country. Preliminary estimates show that this year, the Russian Empire will have more than ten million tons of food.

Other than the contract with Britannia, which they are not sure if they can fulfill, they currently don't have any large orders. In a situation where the price is the same, no one wants their food.

Everyone has a stable supplier. Why would they change the supplier for no reason, especially the one they hate?

It can't be helped. In recent years, the Russians have been badly criticized in Europe. Now 70% of Europeans don't recognize Russia as a European country. Naturally, Russians are not Europeans.

The remaining 30% who recognize them as Europeans include more than 74 million Russians. In this era, the total population of Europe is less than 300 million, so this ratio is quite touching.

Fortunately, with so much food, at least half of it can't be transported out. Otherwise, the competition in the international food market will be even more brutal.

This is completely different from Alexander Ii Of Russia's original plan. Originally, he wanted to use food as ammunition to pry open the European hegemony. In the end, before he could start, it was smashed into his own hands.

There is no problem with the plan, but the change is a bit sudden. The main food exporters in Europe are Austria, Russia, Poland, and Prussia. The rest are not worth mentioning.

Their overseas competitors were not strong enough for the time being. Because the American countries send more than one million tons of agricultural products to Europe every year, the market share is not high.

This is determined by interests. The American Union is still going further and further on the road of cotton cultivation, and their position as the cotton hegemon is still unshakeable.

Same price for quality, same quality for price. In this year, there is no region that can compete with them in cotton.

The British's cotton planting plan in Egypt was aborted early. After the French occupied Egypt, they wanted to develop the cotton industry, but under the impact of American cotton, the French finally gave up.

The British fiddled with Indian cotton, but unfortunately, the cost was crushed by the Americans. In the face of interests, there is no room for discussion, and Indian cotton cannot become mainstream.

Austria's West African cotton planting base is not much better. In recent years, the production has hardly increased, and the domestic capitalists are also loyal fans of American cotton.

There is no way, this is caused by the unique natural conditions. If the company does not use the cotton of the United States, the products produced will lack competitiveness in the market.

The government is not omnipotent, and it is impossible to support every industry. The result of diverting energy is often nothing. Austria has no advantage in the cotton market, and the Government of Vienna will naturally not invest in it.

If it is not for the lack of a strong opponent, everyone's life will be more difficult.

Currently, the major food exporters in America are Brazil and Argentina, but these two countries have a small population, limited food planting area, and not very large production capacity.

After getting up and pacing a few steps, Alexander II Of Russia suddenly had an idea and made a decision.

"Reply to the Austrians, tell them that the Russian Empire is also a responsible country, and we agree to reduce food production. The specific measures will follow Austria's, but it needs to be changed.

There is no problem with the land fallow law, just move it over. The wasteland reclamation law will be changed to: the newly reclaimed wasteland is not allowed to grow food within five years. "

Alexander II Of Russia has already seen the consequences of overcapacity. Since international food exports are no longer profitable, he does not want to continue to increase food production.

Since this is the case, he might as well give the Government of Vienna face. The Russian Empire temporarily will not increase food production, but it is better to reduce production. Such a challenging thing is not something the Tsarist government can do.