Chapter 653

In St. Peter's Castle, Alexander III was not happy when he received a positive answer from the Government of Vienna.

"Franz has always been a man of his word. This time he agreed so readily without any conditions. Do you think there is a conspiracy in this?"

Alexander III could not be blamed for being suspicious. In recent decades, the Russian Empire had suffered too many losses, and it had left a psychological shadow on him.

The Foreign Minister, Oscar Jimenez, replied, "Your Majesty, you worry too much. It seems that the Government of Austria is helping us, but in fact, they are also helping themselves.

In the first place, the Englishmen's desire for an arms race was directed against France and Austria. Now the three countries, the Fao and Austria, are in a difficult position. They can't stop until the winner is decided.

Regardless of the Afghan issue, the Government of Austria has to passively join this arms race.

Now that they support us, they not only cause trouble for their competitors, but they also do us a favor. "

There was nothing wrong with the Government of Vienna agreeing to help contain the British. In fact, they didn't need to do anything other than shout.

The arms race itself was ongoing. Many warships had already been started. They couldn't stop and put it aside, right?

Even if the British wanted to suspend the game because of the Central Asian issue, the Fao and Austria, which were already involved, wouldn't agree.

The three countries, the Fao and Austria, had competed for decades. No one thought they were worse than the others. If they stopped just because you said so, where would everyone put their faces?

The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Although this saying was not completely applicable, there was no obstacle for Russia and Austria to work together to fight the British.

After listening to this reasonable explanation, the uneasiness in Alexander III's heart eased a little, and then he had a headache.

"Alas! Even with the support of the Government of Austria, we are at a disadvantage in the competition with the British in Central Asia.

Afghanistan is separated by the Khaganate of Central Asia. Because of the European War, we have reduced our attention to Afghanistan in recent years.

Afghanistan has not fallen to the British because of the hatred left by the last Anglo-Afghan War.

If the British take a soft approach, the Government of Afghanistan may not resist. After all, we can give them too little support. "

After listening to Tsar's complaints, Oscar Jimenez secretly breathed a sigh of relief. It was good that Tsar could be rational. If he ignored everything and fought, it would be a big problem.

The Russian Empire really didn't have the ability to fight the British in the Regions of Afghanistan. They were seeking Austria's support because they wanted to solve the problem through negotiations.

"Your Majesty, rest assured. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is making diplomatic efforts. If we can get the French support, it will be easy to maintain stability in Central Asia.

What we need now is time. As long as we can drag on for a few more years, the situation will be completely different. "

It had been some years since the end of the Prussian War, and the Russian Empire had recovered some of its strength. The most critical moment was over.

The problem now was that he didn't want to fight, not that he couldn't fight.

They might not be a match for the British in Afghanistan, but they still had the ability to deal with a few underlings supported by the British.

They didn's military action because they didn's didn't have didn. had. Alexander III was a rational person. Naturally, he would not blindly go against the British before he was ready.

Alexander III was rational. He didn't want to fight the British before he was ready.

Accompanied by the whistling of the machines, dust was kicked up into the air. A group of dispirited laborers began another day of work under the whipping of a leather whip.

Suddenly, a large number of guards appeared. After a brief exchange, the managers mercifully ordered the laborers to rest for the time being.

The guards dutifully inspected the construction site and confiscated the "weapons", including the shovels, before sending the laborers to an empty space.

There was no doubt that a big shot had come. They had to eliminate any hidden dangers.

The flying dust was also a hidden danger. It might dirty the clothes of the big shots, so they had to be let down first.

Time passed quickly. It was noon. The sound of horses galloping could be heard. From a distance, the dust stirred up by the cavalry could be seen.

Lindgren, who was in charge of the site, got excited. He pointed to the front and whispered to the guard captain, "Did His Majesty come in person?"

The only response he got was a few cold words, "I don't know!"

They really didn't know. The specific time of the emperor's trip was not something they should know.

Especially for this kind of inspection, many places were decided at the last minute. It was still unknown whether the emperor would go or not.

Looking at the approaching troops, Lindgren breathed a sigh of relief. Even if it wasn't the emperor himself, it must be a big shot accompanying him.

…

A blond old man in his fifties pointed to the construction site and said, "Your Majesty, this is the Shirif River Dam under construction.

Once the project is completed, more than 150,000 hectares of land downstream will be effectively irrigated, and people will no longer have to rely on the weather.

At the same time, it will protect the towns and farmland downstream from the threat of floods. It's one of the key projects in the agricultural plan. "

Napoleon IV nodded his head slightly, and gazed at the river, which flowed away into the sea, never to return, and at a procession in ragged clothes, but barely in order, in the distance.

He frowned and asked, "What's going on? Why did they suddenly stop? Is there a strike here? "

Seeing the emperor's ugly expression, the old man in charge of the introduction hurriedly explained, "No, how could there be a strike here? They should be taking a break.

Your Majesty, look at the newly dug soil. They were still working just now. Why don't we call the person in charge of the project … "

Napoleon Iv waved his hand and interrupted, "I've said it before, don't do this messy formalism.

The farm project is related to the future of France. It won't be good if it's delayed because of my inspection.

The site is right here, and the progress can be seen at a glance. I don't know much about the project, so I won't cause trouble for them.

Let them resume the construction immediately. We'll go to the next site. "

After saying that, Napoleon Iv turned around and left on his horse, leaving Lindgren, who had been waiting bitterly, to feel sad.

The opportunity to get close to the emperor flew away just like that.

After the guards left, Allengren immediately waved his whip and walked to the workers. He scolded them sternly, "You bastards, get up and work immediately."

As if to vent his dissatisfaction, Lindgren also used the whip to deal with a few workers who were a step slower.

Seeing that the boss had started to take action, the surrounding supervisors also joined in. For a moment, the site was noisy again.

The inspection of Algeria was a sudden idea of Napoleon Iv.

The main reason was that he didn't trust the bureaucrats under him. He was afraid that someone would embezzle the project's public funds and cause the farm project to fail.

It turned out that his judgment was correct. The progress of the farm project was far lower than the official's report.

For example, the construction of the Chelief River Dam had just started, and the report said that the project was nearing completion.

There were many similar cases. In theory, in 1887, the state-owned farm could deliver 1.2 million tons of wheat and 580,000 tons of corn to France …

After the delivery of these agricultural products, France's food shortage would be reduced by one-third, greatly reducing the country's foreign exchange expenditure.

In reality, the state-owned farm's food supply was in place, and even exceeded. It was said that this year's grain harvest was abundant. However, the country's foreign exchange expenditure did not decrease much. Instead, it increased slightly.

Needless to say, it was obvious what the problem was. The grain smuggled from abroad entered the grain market under the banner of the state-owned farm's own production.

Because of the tariff barrier, the officials who handled the matter would earn a lot of money just by entering and exiting the city. It was far more profitable than if they were to run the farm.

Due to the trend of profits, similar incidents continued to increase. Almost all the projects related to the farm were progressing at an astonishing speed.

The most impressive of them all was a farm named Talos. It took less than half a year to develop 50,000 hectares of land from the time it was established to the time of the harvest, and it even achieved a great harvest of 1,000 catties per mu.

Greed was the devil. In order to obtain greater benefits, the bureaucrats who handled the project were not even professional in falsifying the data.

They probably thought that as long as the money was in place, the higher-ups would play dumb with them.

Needless to say, the Government of France naturally found this kind of project that was full of loopholes and treated the government as fools.

Napoleon Iv had always hated this kind of digging up the country's foundation.

The state-owned farm that was built with a huge amount of money was mainly to achieve food self-sufficiency, reduce foreign exchange outflow, and balance the trade deficit.

But now, it had become a money-making machine for the bureaucrats. In a rage, Napoleon Iv personally went to Algeria.

No matter how fake it was, it was impossible to create so many projects in one night.

Then one project after another, like the dam of the Chelief, which had been falsely reported, was wrecked before Napoleon IV's eyes.

As the lies were exposed one after another, Napoleon Iv's mentality was about to collapse.

It was already a feat of self-restraint to be able to hold back and not take down these officials on the spot. Don't even think about being nice to them.

…