African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 54 Schönbrunn Palace Conversation

Habsburg Schönbrunn Palace.

Ernst comes to Franz for help.

To be honest, Franz has been very busy recently. In addition to the follow-up of the defeat, he also has to deal with the unreasonable troubles of the Hungarian Magyar nobles.

But Franz still found time to meet his future niece and son-in-law.

"Ernst, why come to Austria when you have time!" Emperor Franz asked.

"Your Majesty, I am here to hope that Austria can support me in the recruitment work in Austria." Ernst said frankly.

"You don't need to talk to me about such trivial matters!" Franz said puzzled.

For such a trivial matter as recruiting, you still need to go to the palace to tell yourself in person, isn't it an exaggeration that there are so many companies in Austria who have to report to themselves every day?

"It's actually like this, Your Majesty, I have recruited a little more people this time. And I hope the Austrian government can endorse this recruitment."

"How many people do you want to recruit?" Franz asked curiously. After all, there are few people and the government does not need to come forward.

"If possible, tens of thousands, or even tens of thousands of people." Ernst replied without changing his expression.

"Ernst, are you kidding me! Are you planning to arm an army? There are too many people!" Franz asked in disbelief.

Ernst explained: "Your Majesty, this is actually the case. I think you should know that I have a colony in East Africa. The current economic benefits are not bad, and I can barely make ends meet. The factors that hinder the development of the colony It is the population, because no one was willing to go to East Africa to develop, so I recruited a lot of people from Asia, just like the German population of the Austrian Empire, the number of white people in the colonies is very small, I think you know what this means!"

"So you wanted to recruit people from the Austrian Empire to balance the Asians in the colonies! But why didn't you recruit people from Prussia?" Franz asked curiously.

How can I answer the call?Ernst complained in his heart, could it be said that the cultural level of the Austrian people is low, so foolish!
"It's actually like this, Your Majesty." Ernst said bravely: "The Prussian army has solved the employment problem in Prussia very well over the years, so fewer people choose to go overseas for development. We all know that the size of the Prussian army is outrageous. So it has been difficult to recruit workers in recent years."

Of course Franz didn't believe a single word of this kind of nonsense, but he still decided to give Ernst a chance: "As long as you can tell me the reason why I am tempted, I may still support you."

Ernst said unhurriedly: "Your Majesty, may I ask if Austria is suffering from the headaches of the nationalists now?"

Franz nodded: "It's true, especially the Hungarians, who have been making progress recently, and have had a bad time with the Empire Central Committee!"

Ernst asked: "Then what does Your Majesty think the Hungarian Magyar nobles rely on to negotiate with the Austrian government?"

"Naturally, it is the strength of Hungary. Hungary has a large area and a large population. If the Hungarians become independent, Austria will also lose its position in Europe. It is impossible for the empire to abandon this place!" Franz said.

"That's right! Your Majesty." Ernst echoed: "The rise of European nationalism is actually a conspiracy by Britain and France against your country. Germans do not account for [-]% of your country."

"Germans account for more than 20.00% of the population, but Hungary has 20.00% of the population, and there are [-]% of the Poles in the empire, Slavic peoples such as Czechoslovakia and Croatia, and a small number of Romanians and Italians."

"Among them, the Hungarians alone have the ability to challenge the German nation, let alone the Poles and other Slavic nations in Galicia. In the past, the entire German region was backed by the empire, and the empire could still suppress these nations."

"But now the international situation is becoming more and more turbulent, and Austria can't be as powerful as it used to be in Europe. Clowns like Italy dare to attack the empire's territory. Once they instigate the Italians in the empire, then Trieste and The southern part of the Empire is very dangerous."

"The Poles have always been actively seeking support from European and American countries for the restoration of their country, but Poland is only a country that existed in history. What motivates the Poles is the cultural identity shaped by the glorious history of the Polish region."

"But are the Poles really just asking for the land in the territory of the Russians? They now concentrate on discrediting Russia in Europe because they need support, but they will not forget Prussia and Austria back then."

"Even if the Poles in the empire currently support the royal family, there is a good saying that they can enjoy the blessings together, but not share the adversity. Now they support your country's rule, which is set off by the suffering of the Poles in Russia. Once a certain If there is a problem with the economy of the Austrian Empire one day, they will put the blame on Austria."

"In addition, there are other Slavs in the empire. Now the Russians hate your country because of the Crimean War, and Russia's influence among the Slavs is obvious to all. The Ottoman Empire has suffered a lot in the past two years. suffered."

……

Franz frowned, listening to Ernst's tirade, and interrupted: "That's enough, of course I understand what you mean."

Franz got up, put his hands behind his back, looked at the territory map of the Austrian Empire, and said in a low mood: "I don't know the many shortcomings of the empire, but politics is not as easy as Ernst you think."

He said in a slow tone: "Maybe you are still young, and young people always have the courage to face difficulties, but Austria is too old, so that a small change may cause a catastrophe and kill the Austrian Empire. "

"For example, the guy Maximino was very aggressive, but he stumbled in Mexico, and he was aggressive and aggressive. He didn't want to ask me for help, and he didn't know how he was doing now!"

He walked up to Ernst and said with firm eyes: "The Austrian Empire was once the overlord of the European continent. Although it is facing unimaginable difficulties now, I think that my ability cannot solve Austria's problems, but I still have the ability. Support this great country to continue going forward."

He turned his back to Ernst and said: "When I get old, the future belongs to you young people. I believe that you and Austria's younger generations will use your wisdom to make Austria great again."

"Austria has indeed become turbulent because of nationalists, and the Austrian government itself wants to change this situation."

"But the pressure we are facing is unimaginable for ordinary people. The nobles of various ethnic groups in the country have far more control over the local government than the central government. Moreover, the problems of the Austrian central government itself are also very difficult. Finances have always troubled the government to promote Austria's reforms."

Speaking of this, Franz was a little lonely, and said to himself: "I also tried to learn from my ancestors to promote centralization and strengthen German education for the people."

"However, whenever the government made these proposals, the dignitaries in those places tried their best to stop them. At the same time, the economic situation of the empire has been getting worse and worse in the past two years, and the government has no extra financial resources to support reforms."

Of course Ernst is aware of these difficulties. Austria is indeed facing the problem of difficult transformation, and there is no such person who can turn the tide in contemporary Austria.

Just like Franz, although he is an emperor, he cannot be a radical reformer. His identity determines that the interests of the Habsburg family must be the most important.

If he implements reforms, it may shake the rule of Habsburg, so the royal family will not take the initiative to lead reforms.

And the present Austrian government does not have the kind of politician who is outstanding and has unrivaled influence throughout the empire.

Bismarck came out of Prussia next door, and William I and the successive monarchs of Prussia were relatively wise, which laid a good foundation for Prussia, and Bismarck established his personal prestige with the help of war victories and diplomatic achievements.

If Austria can produce a Bismarck-style character at this time, then Austria still has a chance. Unfortunately, Austria is not a gambler like Prussia, and has no spirit of self-innovation.

Of course, the purpose of Ernst's coming here was not to help Austria solve political problems, but to gain population for the colony.

"Your Majesty, the problems in Austria are indeed difficult, but we can choose to make things less difficult."

Ernst went on to say: "For example, when I recruited workers in the empire, I actually absorbed the unemployed peasants of the Austrian empire. They had just entered the cities from the countryside all over the country. The problem is that the jobs in Austria obviously cannot absorb so many people. "

"And once these people cannot be employed, it will aggravate Austria's social crisis and make reform more difficult. What's more, they will be used by those radical capitalists, after all, they have criminal records."

Franz sighed and said, "Okay, I understand your thoughts."

"You can recruit workers in the Austrian Empire. As long as you have the ability, you can recruit as many people as you want, but I want to warn you first, you can't attract the attention of the Germans. As for other nationalities, if you can charge more, we will not only Oppose it, and support it."

In this way, the two tacitly reached a verbal agreement. Austria reduced the number of other ethnic groups through Ernst, and Ernst gained the white labor force to develop Africa.

We all have a bright future...

(End of this chapter)