Chapter 827

After successfully establishing the Guinea colony, Austria did not stop colonizing. They set their sights on the Congo region.

Anyway, in this day and age, there were no owners everywhere. Whoever occupied it could own it. Franz naturally would not be polite.

By October 1854, Austria had opened up 13 colonies on the African continent and sent more than 40,000 immigrants to the colonies.

…

Franz asked doubtfully, "Prime Minister, why did you stop sending immigrants to the colonies?"

According to Austria's original plan, they had to send all the refugees over, but they had only completed less than one-tenth of it.

Prime Minister Felix explained, "Your Majesty, the plague in the Balkans has already spread. If we urgently send immigrants now, I'm afraid the plague will be brought to the colonies.

Although we have tried our best to recruit doctors, the medical and health facilities in the colonies are still not optimistic. Once the plague spreads, the consequences will be unimaginable. "

Franz shook his head and said, "Prime Minister, you are worrying too much. There are not many people in the colonies. Even if there is a plague, it is very easy to isolate them.

Moreover, winter is coming soon, and the plague should be over. Even if it is brought to the African continent, the situation will not be too serious.

From the information we have gathered, the death rate of the Russian Army soldiers infected with the plague is only seven or eight points. This is not as high as the natural death rate in the African colonies.

The war in the Balkans is about to end. At that time, most of the refugees will choose to return home. It will be difficult for us to migrate in the future. "

This was not an exaggeration. In this era, the death rate of immigrants to the African continent was so abnormal. Many would die on the road.

Would the death rate be lower if the refugees stayed in the Balkans? The answer was no!

In fact, the death rate would only be higher if they stayed in the Balkans.

Without enough benefits, the Government of Austria would not spend a lot of money to help the refugees. It was even more impossible for the Osman Empire to help the refugees. How could they expect the French to be Virgin Mary?

In this day and age, everyone was working hard to fill their stomachs. Helping millions of refugees in the Balkans would consume a lot of money and resources. Without enough benefits, who would do it?

Without enough relief, these refugees would become roving bandits, and then they would wreak havoc in even more regions, turning even more people into refugees.

Before the 20th century, human productivity was limited. There were only two ways to deal with the refugee tide: relief or killing.

Most of the time, it was solved by killing. The feudal dynasties could not provide relief at all. There was no good or evil, right or wrong. Everyone was trying to survive. If there wasn't enough food, then it was the law of the jungle.

Austria's African colonial movement was very cautious. The number of immigrants was about 5,000 to 8,000 at a time, and they were scattered to a dozen settlements. It was not that they did not want more, but food restricted the number of immigrants.

If they only wanted to send people over, they could easily send tens of thousands of people by organizing 80 to 100 cargo ships. Then, logistics would become a big problem.

The development of the African continent was limited, and the indigenous tribes were too lazy to farm. They completely relied on natural resources to survive. The colonists who went to Africa also relied on the local resources to survive.

In, there, there, they also relied on to Africa. There were thousands of people in each colony. It wasn't that Francois didn't have enough people, but he was worried that the logistics of the colony would be cut off.

When the number of people was small, they could still take risks and get enough food from the local people to survive. Once the population grew, it would not work.

Prime Minister Felix continued to explain, "Your Majesty, our immigration speed is already very fast. In terms of the number of immigrants, other than the French, even the British don't have that many immigrants in Africa.

There is not enough local output to support the immigrants, and there is not enough return in the short term. If we can't find precious mineral resources, these areas will bring heavy financial pressure in the future. "

If he did not know the local resources, Franz would naturally worry about this problem, but this reason was obviously not useful.

It was even more impossible to be stubborn. Without the cooperation of the government, it would become the emperor's colony in the end. The final result would be tragic.

Franz said calmly, "Then, find a way to solve this problem. Our colonial strongholds are all in coastal areas. Send them a group of fishing boats and teach the immigrants to fish.

There is so much fertile land around. Anything they plant would be enough to feed themselves. As long as they get through the initial period, the food problem can be gradually solved.

The colony does not raise lazy people. If they don't want to do anything, they can be organized to be cannon fodder, whether sent to fight the local indigenous tribes or used to explore the inland.

After solving the food problem, there will not be much pressure later. After the colony is stabilized, we can explore the local mines. As long as we have one or two strongholds, we can recover our costs.

These colonial strongholds can also provide logistical supplies to overseas merchant ships and earn some fees to subsidize administrative expenses.

If we can't find minerals, we can cut down trees. I don't think there are even wood resources. The plains can be used to grow food, cash crops, and livestock to maintain the operation of the colony. "

This was not Franz bragging. Farming and animal husbandry could not make a fortune, but it was still possible to be self-sufficient.

This kind of industrial operation would not make much money, but it would definitely not lose money. One of the main reasons why the colony had lost money in history was that there were not enough immigrants.

The number of immigrants was insufficient, and the local natural resources could not be effectively developed. The basic industries could not be developed, and the colonial government could not earn enough taxes. It was normal for them to lose money.

Prime Minister Felix reminded, "Your Majesty, this requires a lot of investment. Now that we have invested more than a million dun in the colony, to achieve a balance of income and expenditure in these areas, this investment will exceed ten million dun."

Franz replied with a smile, "Of course, I know very well what we are doing. With this investment of ten million dun, the Guinea and Congo regions will be completely under our control.

With such a large piece of land, I can grow coffee, palm, cotton, cocoa, rubber, tobacco, and tea on it, and earn a profit of a few million dun every year.

This does not include the mineral resources. It can't be that we are so unlucky that we do not gain anything, right?

This is easy to calculate. The colonial powers like Britain and France did not do this, not because they did not want to, but because they did not have enough immigrants.

Now, there are four to five hundred thousand refugees in the Dalmatian region, waiting to be settled.

We can first provide relief work, keep them there, improve the local transportation, and then slowly migrate them to the African colonies.

Everything is difficult at the beginning. As long as the investment in the first stage is completed, the harvest will follow. If the government does not have enough financial resources, we can raise funds from the private sector.

The colonies are different from the mainland. There is no need for the government to directly participate in the management, and it is the same to leave these operations to private companies.

I am even considering whether to allow individuals to participate in the colonial enterprise and encourage the nobles to open up colonies overseas. "

Prime Minister Felix was convinced. The colonial enterprise was different from other things. As long as the cost could be recovered, the government had already made a profit.

In the management of the colonies, there might not be a lot of profits, but it could provide enough industrial raw materials for the domestic industry. The newly opened market would also promote the development of the domestic industry and commerce.

Another benefit of the colonies was to reduce the outflow of the local population. This situation was not obvious now, but it would become more serious after industrialization was completed in the future.

Especially after the outbreak of the economic crisis, people could not find jobs in the country, and people had no choice but to migrate overseas to make a living. At this time, the role of the colonies would come into play.

As long as the development was satisfactory, the government would be able to attract a large number of immigrants to the German Region and prevent the outflow of the population.

Currently, the number of immigrants in the German Region was not small. As long as one-third or even one-fifth of them were tricked into the Austrian colonies, they would not be afraid of any enemy challenges in the African continent.

In order to keep these immigrants, it was necessary to develop the local economy. Without sustainable basic industries, it was obvious that it would not attract people to settle down.

There was strength in numbers. As long as the population of the Austrian African colonies was enough, Austria would have the advantage in the new round of African colonial partition.

This advantage would be directly reflected in the domestic economic development in the future, promoting the development of domestic industry and commerce.