Chapter 678

St. Peter Castle. After the agricultural crisis broke out, it became the center of the storm.

European public opinion accused Russia of deliberately creating the agricultural crisis in an attempt to take the opportunity to collapse the European agricultural production system and monopolize the European food supply.

This statement was not wrong. The Tsarist government did have this plan, but before it could be implemented, the agricultural crisis broke out.

Agriculture was the most difficult industry to monopolize. There were almost no barriers, and anyone could farm. Land suitable for farming was everywhere these days, and no colonial empire needed to be controlled by others.

The Tsarist government wanted to monopolize the European food supply, but it did not have the ability to implement it. Russia's agricultural production cost did not have an advantage, and it was almost impossible to win in the competition.

In the face of overwhelming public criticism, Alexander II Of Russia decisively chose to ignore it. Anyway, on the European continent, the Tsarist government had always been scolded, and he was used to it.

Public opinion could be ignored, but the reaction of the European governments could not be ignored by Alexander II Of Russia.

By April 1873, many politicians had publicly stated that they would impose tariffs on imported agricultural products to protect their own agriculture.

Adding import tariffs on all agricultural products seemed fair, but there was actually a strong sense of malice behind it.

At present, among the four major agricultural exporters in Europe, the Kingdom of Prussia had the smallest market share and suffered the least impact.

The Kingdom of Poland ranked second from the bottom and was now involved in internal strife. No matter how the situation worsened, it could not be much worse.

Even though the Russian Empire ranked second in terms of total exports, they were still the undisputed leader in terms of export volume.

Austria's total exports were the largest. In addition to local food processing, they also imported Russian and Polish agricultural products for processing, most of which were supported by the added value of the products.

After the outbreak of the agricultural crisis, the Tsarist government also prepared to process the products themselves, leaving no opportunity for the Austrians to make a profit.

Unfortunately, the domestic industrial strength was too weak, resulting in high processing costs. In the face of cruel market competition, they lost competitiveness.

Affected by the agricultural crisis, Austria's agricultural processing enterprises reduced production capacity, and the total amount of agricultural products exported by Russia to Austria also decreased, but it still accounted for more than half of the total agricultural exports.

From the perspective of interests, both sides could be considered to be in the same boat. Alexander II Of Russia just received a telegram from the Austrian Association of Agricultural Processing Enterprises, hoping that they would reduce the total amount of food exports.

A large number of cheap raw grains were exported to the international market and directly flowed into European countries. This was also a battle of life and death for Austria's agricultural processing enterprises.

The market competition became more and more intense, and these processing enterprises would certainly not sit and wait. It was impossible for them to make a loss and earn a profit.

The capitalists were very shrewd. The seemingly ordinary telegram was actually an ultimatum.

Capital was profit-driven. If the agricultural product processing lost its profits, the capitalists would not mind abandoning it immediately.

Since 1872, the shrewd capitalists have been transforming themselves. Now that they were in the second industrial revolution, there were still many projects that they could invest in. There was no need to hang on to one tree.

If the Russians were willing to reduce the total amount of grain exports, everyone's profits would be guaranteed, and the business could continue.

Otherwise, things would be out. Affected by the plummeting food prices, almost every food capitalist's warehouse was filled with food, waiting for the market to recover.

If there was no hope, everyone could only bear the pain and leave. This was definitely not a good thing for the Russians. Because of the Russian-Austrian alliance, Austrian processing companies had always prioritized the purchase of Russian agricultural products.

This was not a good thing for Russia. Because of the Russo-Austrian Alliance, Austria's processing enterprises had always prioritized Russia's agricultural products.

This was the consequence of losing credibility, and it could not be compensated in a short time. Currently, Russia's agricultural products were exported at a low price.

The international food prices had been falling, and it was actually Russia's food exports that pulled it down. In order to sell their food, they had to lower their prices.

When Russia lowered their export prices, the market could only follow suit. The current international food prices were the lowest in decades, and everyone's profits had been squeezed out.

Alexander II Of Russia knew the consequences of doing this. But looking at the mountains of food, they could only sell it at a loss.

Moreover, the definition of "losing money" could not be generalized. The exported food was exchanged for foreign currency, and the domestic currency was paper rubles.

The outside world did not recognize the paper rubles issued by the Tsarist government. In international trade, the most commonly used currencies were gold, silver, British pounds, EDF, and French francs.

The international reputation of Rubles was not as good as the Nordic Federation's Koruna or the Netherlands' Dutch Guilder. Even Switzerland's Franc and Prussia's Mark were more popular than Rubles.

From a country's development point of view, even if they suffered losses, the Tsarist government must obtain as much foreign currency as possible. Otherwise, they would not be able to balance the trade deficit, and it would lead to the outflow of gold and silver.

But continuing to lose money was not a solution. To compensate for the losses, the Tsarist government had devalued Rubles twice.

This was a heavy blow to Rubles, which had just undergone the gold standard reform, and it severely impacted the market's confidence.

The currency cannot continue to depreciate. Economists had already warned Alexander II Of Russia. If they continue to play like this, the market will be ruined. They should continue to use gold and silver as their currency!

Alexander II Of Russia adjusted his emotions and asked: "What do you think about the telegram from Austria's Agricultural Processing Association?"

Alexander II Of Russia was furious that an industry association could directly send a telegram to threaten him. If it was not because he had no other choice, he really wanted to break off the deal.

Of course, it was one thing to think, but not to do it. Without their biggest buyer, their lives would be even more difficult.

Minister of Finance Kristanval: "Your Majesty, unless all the countries reduce their food exports and work together to raise the food prices, we cannot reduce our exports.

Currently, there are still a lot of unsalable agricultural products in the country, especially in the newly developed Siberia region. No one is interested in the local food, and the government's taxes are all on food.

The Ministry of Finance is organizing people to transport the food. If they cannot sell it, the taxes will be gone.

If there is no way to solve the problem of unsalable food, we will use the food to pay off the debt. It doesn't matter if they accept it or not, we will only pay with food. "

From Kristanval's point of view, everyone could accept the debt. Now that the Tsarist government was willing to admit the debt, it was already giving them a lot of face. Did they still want to be picky?

Foreign Minister Chris Basham shook his head repeatedly. "No, we finally reached an agreement with all the countries. If we do this, we will immediately fall into a diplomatic dilemma.

According to the previous agreement, the countries have already agreed to use agricultural products to pay off the debt in batches. There is no need to go to such extremes. "

Paying off the debt with food was the biggest political achievement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia. All the debts were paid off in a total of 15 years. If they used all the food to pay off the debt, they would solve the agricultural crisis, but the creditors would not be able to bear it!

Food that couldn't be sold was worthless. Chris Basham did not want the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' achievements to be destroyed. That would be a disaster for the Russian Empire.

Everyone tacitly did not bring up the topic of reducing production. Austria's call to reduce production last year had become a joke.

Other than Austria, which reduced the area of food planted, Russia, Prussia, and Poland only shouted slogans and issued a few laws.

When it came to the specific implementation, everyone realized that it was not the case at all. It was impossible for the law to stipulate which land could grow grain and which land could not.

Any law could not be implemented in a flash. Even though it was a fallow law that was widely recognized by society, when it came to the specific implementation, the officials didn't know which piece of land had been fallow and which hadn't.

How could there be implementation without doing statistics in advance? In the face of reality, the officials tacitly chose to start the statistics now.

If they planted food this year, the land would be fallow next year. Everyone had done the statistics clearly, and no one said anything.

In the end, this year, the area of food planted by all the countries did not decrease, but increased, and the government was also powerless. It might take several years for the regulation to take effect.

The role of market regulation might be more effective than the government's decree. After losing money for several years, the ordinary people might not reduce the area of food planted, but the nobles would definitely reduce production.

Agriculture Minister Manilov interrupted, "There is no point in arguing about this. Unless the agricultural crisis is fundamentally solved, the following crisis will only be more serious.

Even if the food was forcefully thrown to the creditors, it would only treat the symptoms and not the root cause. The agricultural crisis could not be solved in a year or two.

According to the data released by the Austrian Ministry of Agriculture, if no measures were taken and the market was allowed to adjust, this agricultural winter could last for more than ten years.

Russia was a large agricultural country. If the agricultural crisis continued for more than ten years, it was estimated that there would be tens of millions of farmers going bankrupt. It might even be twenty to thirty million.

The industrialization of the Empire was developing very fast, but it was not possible to accommodate so many people going bankrupt in a short period of time.

Our biggest problem now was not the lack of food sales, but how to ensure that the farmers would not go bankrupt.

According to the current situation, the number of farmers going bankrupt this year would be several times more than last year. There would be about fifty to eighty thousand families going bankrupt. If the agricultural crisis continues, this number will increase exponentially every year. "

The only thing that was lacking was to say: If we can't finish the food, let's go to war!

The agricultural crisis broke out at the wrong time. If it happened a few years earlier, it would be during the Prussian war, and the result of the war might have been changed.

Gray livestock was worthless. As long as they had food, the Tsarist government could continue the war. Tsar that could feed the soldiers was already good Tsar. Other problems could be overcome.

Don't think that the Russian Empire seemed to be smaller now. If a war broke out, the potential of Russia's war power would definitely be much stronger than a few years ago.

This was the benefit of having more food. No matter how unsalable the food was, as long as the farmers did not go bankrupt, the problem was controllable. To put it bluntly, when everyone was full, no one would rebel.

The agricultural crisis was so serious, but the Russian farmers did not blame the Tsarist government. Alexander II Of Russia's prestige was not damaged at all. This was the benefit of having enough food.

After thinking for a while, Alexander II Of Russia decided to give in to reality. "It's better for you to die than for me." It was better for others to be unlucky than for him.

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Government of Vienna are in deep communication. This time, we must drag them down at all costs."

After experiencing a failure, Alexander II Of Russia's arrogance had decreased a lot. He was more restrained in his actions.

This was a crisis, but it was also an opportunity. If it was handled well, the Russian Empire could still use Austria's power to kill an enemy.

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