Chapter 605： Black technology

The eternal theme of this world is only-benefit. Britain and France have serious conflicts of interest, and without sufficient external pressure, it is naturally impossible to truly join forces.

Originally, the German and German empires put so much pressure on the French. The Paris government would rather spend a lot of money to win over the Russians, and it would not be the first time to approach the British.

After the Franco-Prussian War, the Germans and the British became both France's biggest enemies at the same time. In the decades that followed, Britain and France almost broke out on several occasions.

The contradiction between German and French can surpass the contradiction between English and French, or the death of William II, which has repeatedly stimulated the national mood of the French and was used by the British.

After realizing that the Germans threatened their own interests, the British took the initiative to release goodwill to the French.

Even so, the Paris government hesitated for a long time, then put down its face and became a younger brother, otherwise the two sides would not be so easy to compromise.

Now it goes without saying that if France could not feel the threat, why should he be a little brother to the British?

With this in mind, Franz was relieved. The most stable pattern is the interweaving of the conflict between Britain and France, the conflict between Britain and Austria, and the conflict between France and Austria.

In the case of serious conflicts of interest between each other, the three countries, Britain, France, and Austria, can sit together. It must be said that diplomacy is really delicate.

Once the external problem is over, it is the internal problem. In recent years, the Austrian economy seems to have wings, and has flourished with the help of the Second Industrial Revolution.

Not only Austria, the economy of the entire European continent is booming. Take the railway industry as an example. From 1870 to 1875, the total mileage of European railways increased by 58%.

Among them, the Federation of Popo and the Russian Empire grew the fastest, followed by the Greater France and the Nordic Federation. The British and Austrian railways developed earlier, and the growth rate has now eased.

Of course, this growth rate has something to do with the foundation. Therefore, the slow growth rate in Austria does not mean that the mileage of railways is less than that in other countries.

The growth rate of the Russians is the worst, and everyone else is a percentage increase. They directly use how many times to describe it.

This is not that the Tsarist government has built railways badly, mainly because the Russian railway industry is developing slowly. After the Russian-Prussian War, the total mileage of the Russian Empire's railways was less than 3,000 kilometers, and it is not difficult to double it.

In 1870, the total length of the Austrian railway opened to traffic in 1870 exceeded 60,000 kilometers. The base number was placed there, and the growth rate naturally slowed down.

The large railway plan that Franz originally proposed is no longer just a plan. After more than 20 years of efforts by the Vienna government, it is nearing its end.

Perhaps 20 years ago, the 100,000-kilometre railway was just a dream story. But today, the total number of railways in Austria + railways under construction has exceeded 100,000 kilometers.

As of the end of 1875, the total mileage of Austria's domestic traffic was as high as 76,000 kilometers, and the domestic railway mileage would exceed 100,000 kilometers within five years.

Of course, in addition to the rapid domestic economic development, the main factor causing the big data explosion is the "African Localization Strategy."

Up to now, there have been 23 cities and regions that have been approved to join the mainland by the Imperial Parliament, and the area of ​​this part of the territory is close to one million square kilometers.

The local area has grown, and the demand for railways has naturally increased. Nearly 10,000 kilometers of railways have been opened to traffic in this part of the territory, and the number of railways under construction is as high as 8,000 kilometers.

These data are strictly confidential, and once published, they will definitely shock the world.

Of course, confidentiality is relative to ordinary people. It is not a secret to politicians. Railroads cannot be hidden there. It is easy to investigate if you want to know.

In this era, railways did not represent national strength. Austria opened the world's largest railway mileage, followed by not John Bull, France, but the United States of America.

If it hadn't happened for the United States, they would be the ones with the most total rail mileage now, because the United States of America is the third largest in total rail mileage.

This makes people feel helpless. The European countries have limited domestic areas, and regional railways may be denser than Americans, but the total mileage cannot be compared.

Now the country with the highest railway density is Britain. The British Isles are surrounded by the sea, and there are an astonishing 23,000 kilometers of railways in operation.

This density makes Austria unmatched. Not to mention now, even Franz's big railway plan can't keep up with the British.

Knowing and knowing, Franz did not mean to follow. One of the main reasons why the British have such a high density of railways is the repeated construction.

It is important to know that the distribution of British railways is extremely uneven. Capitalists are only investing in railways in economically developed regions, while economically backward regions are not concerned.

The three islands of England are surrounded by the sea. They are just economically developed regions. Why do you need so many railways? If it is planned and allocated reasonably, British transport can go to another level.

Obviously, this is impossible. Capital is profit-seeking, profit-making businesses are robbed, and no-loss trading is not asked.

If Austria had not used Franz as a bait in the beginning, the capitalists had fled in and bundled the railways in the developed and backward regions, and now the domestic railway construction will probably follow the British.

Austria ’s railroad bundling plan encountered an economic crisis on the eve of dawn. Capitalists who thought they had made money because of a break in funds directly turned into a blood loss.

The same routine can only be played once. Prior to this, Austria had not completed industrialization and had no qualifications to enjoy the economic crisis. Everyone's vigilance was naturally weak.

The capitalists ignored the risk of long-term investment, and were fooled by the word "monopoly" again.

Not to mention that local capitalists are inexperienced. Even British and French international capitals are no exception. The word "monopoly" has been flickered. Hundreds of millions of SHIELD investments are directly tied to railway construction.

The strong financial resources persisted, and the insufficient sales force forced the Austrian government to copy the bottom and continue the unfinished railway plan.

Until now, railway investment is still popular, but it has nothing to do with madness. The most important thing is the policy. The Vienna government has already intervened in railway freight pricing.

There is a ceiling price everywhere. At the same time, the government also stipulates that railways are public infrastructure with a certain public welfare nature. The annual profit of railway companies must not exceed 30%.

Frankly speaking, this number is still very attractive. Except for the financial industry, few industries can make a 30% profit.

However, this and the huge profits chased by capitalists are completely two concepts. After all, railways are big investment projects, and profits are calculated based on turnover, not total investment.

If we calculate the total investment, there is no railway in Austria, with an annual rate of return of more than 30%, not even the whole world. This is impossible.

The only advantage is probably stable income. The turnover of the Austrian railways has been steadily increasing, and the annual growth rate is generally not less than 3%.

Affected by economic development, the turnover of some road sections has soared by tens of percent over the past year.

In addition to freight, railway companies have other profit models. For example, the real estate projects around the station are all industries of the railway company, or they are involved in investment.

The station is not anything tall and can be repaired in many places. The railway company is not stupid. If there is no interest, why should the station be repaired there?

Moving forward or backward does not affect the normal operation of the railway. There is no competition for planes, cars and railways these days. Even if the station is a few kilometers away, you still have no choice.

At first glance at the report, Franz smiled with satisfaction. Austria's economic growth rate exceeded 8% again in 1875, and the dividends brought by the second industrial revolution have begun to ferment.

Among them, the performance of the power industry is the most prominent, with an annual growth rate of a staggering 23.6%, which is completely unbeatable.

In comparison, the development speed of traditional industries is dwarfed. For example, the textile industry, which emerged at the beginning of the industrial revolution, now has a poor growth rate of only 1.8%.

Behind this figure, however, the Austrian textile industry's capacity increased by 5.6%. What this means is too obvious. The growth rate of production capacity far exceeds the growth rate of industry output value, which means that industry profits are declining.

Of course, technological progress has also led to a reduction in production costs. When it comes to a specific enterprise, profits may rise.

However, the slowdown in industrial growth is an indisputable fact. Competition in traditional industries is intensifying, and profit decline is the general trend.

This cannot be changed by manpower. The more science and technology are developed, the higher the added value of the product. The primary industries, which have no technological content, will only become thinner and thinner, and finally they can only fight for costs.

Of course, there are exceptions. For example, the iron and steel industry has a history of thousands of years and proper traditional industries, but the steel industry is still developing rapidly.

In 1875, Austria ’s steel output exceeded 8 million tons, leaving the British behind, ranking first in the world.

Steel production in major countries of the world in the same period:

8.23 million tons in Austria and 960,000 tons of steel output;

UK 7.42 million tons, steel output 760,000 tons;

2.74 million tons in France and 235,000 tons of steel output;

1.556 million tons of German Federal Empire and 315,000 tons of steel production (plus the Rhineland region)

1.54 million tons of the United States of America and steel production of 146,000 tons;

1.042 million tons of Russian Empire, 24,000 tons of steel output

The Commonwealth Federation has 968,000 tons and the steel output is 126,000 tons;

346,000 tons of the United States of America, 38,000 tons of steel output;

...

The rest of the country can be ignored. Big data show that the French have fallen behind, and the gap is still widening.

This is not because the Paris government will not develop the economy. It is completely forced by reality. French coal mines are buried relatively deep, coal seams are shallow, and they are accompanied by gas.

The mining cost itself is high, but the quality is not good. It can also be used for ironmaking. Forget about steelmaking. Import is the only way out.

In this context, the French also played with black technology, that is, charcoal ironmaking. According to Franz, French steel companies are still studying-charcoal steelmaking.

This is not a joke, a considerable part of French steel production is made from charcoal. Many French metallurgical experts vowed in the newspaper that the iron produced from charcoal is of the best quality.

Don't be surprised, charcoal ironmaking is a traditional process and has a history of thousands of years.

Now the French are still studying the charcoal steelmaking technology, and have also achieved staged results. In the laboratory, the French have made qualified steel with charcoal.

It is a pity that mass production cannot be achieved. In industrial trial production, not only the quality of steel made by this set of technology cannot be guaranteed, but even the cost is life-threatening.

These real problems have not dispelled the enthusiasm of the French capitalists, they are still working **** this road of no return.

The capitalists have such reasons. French coal production is inadequate and the quality is poor, but the forest resources are abundant. Once the charcoal steelmaking technology breaks through, the dilemma can be rid of it instantly.

If you study Britain and Austria, coke can only be imported. The cost of light has already lost the competitiveness of the French steel industry.

In France, a country with a developed financial industry, most steel companies are listed companies. Whether it can succeed or not, it must be drawn to convince investors that charcoal steelmaking is not surprising.

Under the trend of interests, capitalists must also firmly believe that this is correct, otherwise how to drive the stock price?

Compared with the same period in history, the development of the French steel industry in this era is quite good, the biggest impact is the post-split United States.

The United States of America has inherited most of the American industry, but its development has been very difficult. Without the market in the south, but also to make up for the wounds caused by the war, the United States economy is naturally not good.

It has inherited two-thirds of the United States of America, and its comprehensive national strength is less than half of the historical period. The shrinking market and insufficient labor force are the main factors restricting the economic development of the United States.

Affected by the butterfly effect, the number of European immigrants to the United States in the past two decades is less than one-third of the same period in history.

No one has no market, and the industry will inevitably shrink. This cannot be changed by manpower.

Coupled with political factors, the prestige of the federal government has been wiped out by the defeat, and many federal states do not rely on the central government.

Each federal state has a set of leadership teams, and everyone's policies are developed around the state. The so-called overall concept, sorry, this thing does not exist at all.

It is often seen that certain federal states have set up trade barriers to protect their own industry and commerce; it is also seen that some states have opened doors to let industrial and commercial products from around the world come in.

These policies are for their own benefit. The local government can set up trade barriers to protect the industrial products that can be produced.

Local products cannot be produced, and industrial products must be purchased from outside. Of course, whoever buys cheap is easy to use.

Affected by this series of factors, in order to restore the economy after the war, the United States of America, which lacked labor, had to introduce large numbers of people of color.

Especially cheap undercover workers are the most popular among capitalists. The labors provided by these labor export companies are essentially no different from slaves except for their nominal personal freedom.

The United States of America's steel industry can now have the same size, and these cheap foreign labor are also indispensable.

It is just that the sequelae are also quite serious. This kind of predatory exploitation has made the racial contradictions of the United States increasingly high.

To solve these problems cannot be accomplished overnight. At least a strong government is needed to bring the federal states together.

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