The War Court and Lap Pillow, Austria's Mandate of Heaven

Chapter 1234 Business (Part )

“I don’t need your money, I just need you to get me a license and set up a company in the name of the British royal family.

After we mine the gold, we can split the profits 50-50, or I can give you a dividend of 100,000 pounds a year."

The name of the British royal family cannot be easily lent to others, and no one could succeed unless Leopold I came in person.

However, Victoria and her husband owed Leopold I a huge favor, and the annual dividend of 100,000 pounds was too tempting.

According to Victoria and his wife, it would be best if Leopold I succeeded in his business, and they would also like to see their elder regain his confidence.

If Leopold I failed, they would not lose anything, and they would also have returned a favor to the other party.

In fact, most people in later generations would think that Victoria and her husband’s choice was stupid. If they had chosen to split the profits 50-50, they would have gained countless wealth.

But why did they choose 100,000 pounds a year? The answer is that 100,000 pounds is really a lot, even for the British royal family it is a huge fortune, because it is equivalent to the annual rent of 400,000 acres of land.

So in the eyes of people at that time, the choice made by Victoria and his wife was reasonable, while the choice made by Leopold I was a manifestation of a desperate measure.

All of this was already within Franz's expectations. The so-called 50-50 split was both a gesture of sincerity and a misleading move.

People all worry about the uncertainty of the future, and the richer and more powerful people are, the more they hate this feeling. They like a future they can be sure of.

Of course, even if Victoria and her husband really chose to split the profits 50-50, it would have no impact on Franz's plan.

In Europe, the property of the royal family and the government is often separate. Just because the British royal family makes money does not mean that the British government also makes money.

It's a bit funny to say, but the richer the British royal family is, the more wary the British government will be. It is much easier to let the British fight among themselves than to weaken Britain from the outside.

Moreover, gold was not Franz's main purpose. Making money was just a side benefit. Now Franz wanted to lay a wedge for the future.

At that time, the Southern Ming Dynasty was too small, so small that it could not accommodate too many Chinese.

The destruction caused by the impending Taiping Rebellion would be far greater in both intensity and severity than the Irish Famine, and the death toll is conservatively estimated to be between fifteen and twenty times that of the Irish Famine.

Given the land carrying capacity of the Southern Ming at that time, it would not take much, just a few million more people to cause a famine.

Under Zhu Qiongying's rule, the population of the Southern Ming Dynasty grew rapidly and was already in a state of serious oversupply.

The fact that the people lived and worked in peace and contentment and that the country was prosperous was just an illusion. As long as the food supply from the sea was cut off, the entire Southern Ming would immediately be shrouded in the shadow of famine.

Zhu Qiongying had been the emperor for so many years, so she naturally knew the predicament her country was in. It was a country that seemed strong, but in fact its weak points were firmly grasped by others.

So no matter what Franz wanted to do, Zhu Qiongying did not dare to refuse, because the former could turn the latter's so-called prosperity into purgatory in an instant.

The Southern Ming side also thought of many ways, but finally had to accept Franz's plan of exchanging rubber for food.

(The gold of the Southern Ming Dynasty was used to exchange for strategic materials, such as warships and munitions.)
They also considered growing food on the land of the Southern Ming, but the local acidic soil had not been improved and had very low fertility. It was okay to grow some cash crops, but it would be ineffective to grow food crops with high fertility requirements. However, Australia was completely different. With the carrying capacity of Australia's land, not to mention hundreds of millions, even if the entire southern part of the Qing Dynasty was emptied, it could accommodate them.

At this time, according to the technology tree of the Austrian Empire, Southeast Asia is too important, and Franz must not let it fall into the hands of others.

Although Australia is a precious land, it is too far away for the Austrian Empire and is just a flower in the mirror and the moon in the water.

In his opinion, exchanging Australia for Kalimantan is definitely a good deal, but the details still need to be polished to avoid going too far or too far.

Russia, St. Petersburg.

The Tsar never expected that a small country like Poland would produce so many monsters and demons, and that the British and French would dare to do things so blatantly.

Thinking of this, Nicholas I could not help but distrust his own country's civil servants even more. These guys were actually speaking for the British. They were really blind and stupid.

However, are those who stand out among the tens of thousands of civil servants in Russia really short-sighted and useless?

In the final analysis, it is just a different standpoint and angle.

On the other hand, although Louis Napoleon did nothing, in the Tsar's mind, just having the surname Napoleon was enough.

At this time, Nicholas I imagined that the British and French had joined hands to prepare for a war with Russia, and for this he had to deploy more troops.

Nicholas I had begun to regret not following Duke Uvarov's advice. If it was the action of the entire Holy Alliance, Britain and France would not have dared to be so arrogant.

However, it is too late to say this now. If I adopt Duke Uvarov's plan now, wouldn't it prove that I am wrong?
Although Britain and France are hateful, they do not border Poland after all, and can only transport troops and supplies by sea. As long as their sea routes can be blocked,
Nicholas I shook his head. At least with the current strength of the Russian Navy, this could not be done.

However, he has ordered five new sailing battleships from Austria, and believes that in the near future the Russian Navy will still be able to fight against the British Navy.

However, news from the front line brought back by Ivan Fyodorovich Paskevich soon after poured cold water on the Tsar's plan.

The situation in Russian Poland is worse than imagined. The problem for the Russian troops in Russian Poland is no longer whether they can defend Poland. They are now on the verge of being annihilated by the Poles.

As the whereabouts of the Polish Governor-General Wimberowski were unknown and the commander of the Warsaw garrison, Ryzniewski, was killed in battle, the entire Russian Poland was in a state of complete disarray.

What is even more terrifying is that the Poles also forged a number of political and military orders, directly disrupting the original deployment of the Russian army, and Khrekov, as the imperial envoy, gave reckless commands.

As a result, the Russian army was divided, surrounded, and defeated in the chaos, and some of them became bait for the siege. After several major battles, the Russian army in Russian Poland was already in a state of panic, and the remaining troops were fighting on their own.

However, this played into the Poles' hands, as they could take the opportunity to gather superior forces and continue to erode Poland to strengthen themselves.

Even a famous general like Marshal Paskevich was unable to gather the remaining Russian troops on the Polish battlefield at this time.

As a result, Europe's largest country was actually at a disadvantage in terms of military strength when facing a small Polish rebellion.