Chapter 640

The establishment of a food reserve system by the British also affected the international food trading market. The falling food prices finally stabilized.

However, this was of no use. The oversupply situation was still not solved. Although the blame for the plummeting food prices fell on Russia, smart people knew that the Government of Vienna was also the culprit.

Since they were smart people, they would naturally weigh the pros and cons. It didn't matter if Russia was slandered. Even the Tsarist government was used to being slandered.

Austria was different. The Government of Vienna's food dumping in the first half of the year wouldn't have gone so smoothly without the participation of the capitalists in each country.

Once the lid was opened, the interest groups involved would be huge. Few people were willing to do this kind of offending thing.

Christmas was approaching, and Vienna already had a festive atmosphere. In the winter of 1872 in Vienna, the weather was exceptionally warm. There was no snow, and there was very little cold wind.

It was at this time that trouble came. On December 21, 1872, the Polish government sent a note to the Austrian Foreign Ministry, demanding that Austria hand over the seized Polish land or bear the consequences.

Well, after receiving this diplomatic note, the Government of Vienna was shocked. Franz was also frightened. He really couldn't understand the terrible consequences.

Recently, Poland's anti-Austrian sentiment had been rising, and Franz knew about it. However, he didn't take it seriously. The strong never cared about the thoughts of the weak.

In his opinion, no matter how noisy the Poles were, they would only shout a few slogans at home. At most, they would submit a few diplomatic protests, and then they would do what they had to do.

In order to recover the old land that was divided between Poland, Poland, Russia, and Austria, the Polish government had repeatedly made requests to the Government of Vienna after it was established.

Franz understood this behavior. Whether or not it could be recovered, the government had to put on an act. Otherwise, how could they explain to the people?

The Government of Vienna had never responded to the Poles and directly treated them as if they didn't exist. What Franz never expected was that the Polish government dared to submit a diplomatic note with such a strong tone.

This was not a small matter. A formal diplomatic note was not the same as privately grumbling. This was a matter that needed to be held responsible.

There was nothing much to say. Franz immediately convened a cabinet meeting, ready to find the Polish government's bad luck.

"Did the Poles suffer some kind of provocation, or did someone give them the confidence to think that they can be arrogant in front of us?"

People who knew Franz knew that he was angry. Austria was also secretly contributing to Poland's independence. They didn't ask for anything in return, but now the Polish government actually dared to take advantage of them.

If one opened the history books, they would find that the Austrian territorial disputes were a mess. In this case, they would find that the Austrian territorial disputes was a mess.

Foreign Minister Wesenberg explained, "Your Majesty, Poland is a large agricultural country. After the agricultural crisis broke out, Poland's agricultural imports and exports fell sharply.

Some time ago, in response to the crisis, we raised tariffs on Polish agricultural products, which caused strong dissatisfaction from the Polish government.

About 34% of Poland's agricultural products were exported to Austria. After being processed, Poland, Poland, and of Poland. After, they were, they, Poland.

This directly led to a large number of unsalable agricultural products in Poland, which had caused a serious social crisis, and the political situation in Poland was already unstable.

The Poles' diplomatic note at this time may have something to do with their domestic situation. The government wants to take the opportunity to divert domestic conflicts. "

This was something that couldn't be helped. The international market was shrinking. Austria had to reduce production, and many capitalists engaged in agricultural processing began to transform.

In this context, it was necessary to protect domestic agriculture and reduce imports of agricultural products.

Long before the agricultural crisis, the Government of Vienna was ready to give up the agricultural processing industry. There was no other way. This industry didn't have much technical content. It could only be used as a first-generation industry.

In recent years, agricultural processing companies in European countries had sprung up, and the market competition had become more and more fierce. Austria could maintain its dominant position in the agricultural processing industry mainly because it controlled most of the raw food production.

Obviously, this situation couldn't continue. After the outbreak of the agricultural crisis, the agricultural processing industry of various countries no longer worried about raw materials. Austria's cost advantage no longer existed.

Under such circumstances, instead of continuing to invest in this area, it would be better to invest in new industries to promote the second industrial revolution and widen the gap between everyone's strength.

Without the government's focus on support, the more profitable agricultural processing industry could continue to survive. However, the flour mill, which lacked technical content, had a hard time.

This was the inevitable result of economic development. The higher the technical content of the enterprise, the more obvious the advantage in the competition. The enterprises without technical content could only fall into the vicious circle of price war, and it was difficult to go further.

At this time, the enterprises had to either transform or upgrade technology. For example, the development of more new products. The variety of food in the supermarket in the future was forced by reality.

In order to survive, agricultural processing enterprises couldn't simply process a product. They had to increase the links, improve the technical content, and increase the added value of the product.

In the long run, the agricultural crisis also promoted the upgrading of Austria's agricultural processing industry. In 1872, the increase in biscuits, canned food, and various kinds of junk food in the Vienna market was more than the total increase in the past five years.

The emergence of these high value-added products made many enterprises fall into a new life and rejuvenated. The enterprises that were slow to respond were still struggling.

From the perspective of future generations, the competition of this era was nothing at all. Even the most competitive flour mill, as long as it was properly managed, had a good profit. It was still far from losing money.

Prime Minister Felix said sternly, "No matter what the reason is, we have to give a tough response to the Poles' provocation and let them know how powerful we are. If necessary, we can take military action to wake the Poles up. "

Take military action. Franz frowned. He felt that things weren't as simple as they seemed. Even if the Poles were crazy, there was no reason to provoke Austria.

Without waiting for Franz to speak, Minister of Finance Carr raised an objection.

"It's easy to teach the Poles a lesson. It's not difficult even to conquer Warsaw. The problem is what benefits can we get?

The current international situation is not suitable for external expansion, and the Polish Kingdom is poor. Unless we accept Poland's agricultural products as compensation, I'm afraid we won't even be able to recover the military expenses. "

It was a military taboo to attack in anger.

Although the land of Poland was good, Franz really couldn't raise the ambition. After the War of Independence, the Poles' nationalism had risen, and it was too difficult to digest them.

It was not worth the loss to bury the hidden danger of the division of the Empire just for a piece of land suitable for growing food. This time bomb could belong to whoever wanted it. Anyway, Franz wasn't going to leave it at home.

Accepting Poland's agricultural products as compensation was even more of a joke. Just like after World War I, Britain and France accepted German industrial products to pay off debts.

The Germans couldn't open up the British and French market for domestic industry and commerce through the war. Instead, they achieved their goal through post-war reparations.

Britain and France, who were greedy for temporary benefits, also paid a painful price for this. Under the impact of cheap industrial and commercial products from Germany, the industries of Britain and France declined.

At the beginning of World War II, as the defeated party, the German industry actually exceeded the sum of Britain and France. This had to be said to be ironic.

This kind of stupid thing, the Government of Vienna couldn't do. It was too late to protect domestic agriculture. How could they ignore the root for a little profit?

"First, warn the Polish government and order them to quell the anti-Austrian movement in the country before Christmas, or we will parade in Warsaw."

Not being interested in Poland didn't mean that they couldn't use force. If the Polish government was really out of their mind, then Franz didn't mind fighting a war.

It was just that in this way, it would benefit the Russians. If they crippled Poland, Franz was very skeptical about what the Kingdom of Prussia would rely on to fight the next Prussian-Russian war.

Whether it was Alexander II Of Russia or Alexander III, they weren't easy to deal with. The Russian Empire's war potential was far above that of Prussia.

After suffering a loss, it was difficult for the Russians to be greedy and advance rashly. As long as the Tsarist government was steady and the war became a war of attrition, the Kingdom of Prussia couldn't outlast the Russians.

At this time, the Polish Kingdom was crucial. If they were more ruthless and recruited millions of cannon fodder from the Polish Kingdom, then when facing the gray livestock, Prussia wouldn't be submerged in the human wave tactics.

Franz wasn't sure about other things, but one thing was certain. This time, the Tsarist government wouldn't be short of food.

Even if the Russian Empire's transportation problem still couldn't be solved, the Tsarist government would store enough strategic supplies before the war broke out.

This time, the Prussia people couldn't catch the Russians off guard. Before the preparations were completed, the Tsarist government couldn't take the initiative to provoke a war.

The Russo-Austrian Alliance still had a few years. During this time, the Kingdom of Prussia couldn't take the initiative to attack, or else it would drag Austria into the water.

Shaking his head, Franz dispelled these messy thoughts. Why care so much? The international situation was ever-changing, and no one could guarantee what would happen tomorrow.

Perhaps when the Prussian-Russian war broke out, the situation would change again. Austria's strength was also growing rapidly. Perhaps when the Prussian-Russian war broke out, Austria would have left them far behind.

As long as one was strong enough, any challenge was nothing to worry about. Perhaps at that time, the outcome of the Prussian-Russian war would become irrelevant to Austria.