Franz was credible. After signing the treaty with the Ottoman Empire, he imdiately paid in supplies worth 10 million guilders.
This ti, the Austrian governnt did not reduce the amount at all. With the lingering effects of overproduction, there were too many stockpiles that could not be sold. Franz was not so wasteful as to destroy them directly.
Selling these surplus goods to the Ottoman governnt was an ideal solution. If possible, he even hoped to make a similar deal with the Russians. Anything was better than letting these goods rot in warehouses.
These processed goods, especially perishable agricultural products, had a short shelf life. At the ti, preservatives were crappy, and using too much could be deadly.
Even if food safety wasnt a priority, poisoning people was out of the question. How could they do such things that could destroy their reputation?
When it ca to reputation, the Austrian governnt maintained very strict controls. Not poisoning people was the bottom line for food safety, even for exported products.
Of course, this is only the basic standard. Higher standards belong to high-end foods, such as those labeled exclusively for the nobility. The quality of these products is not much lower than later generations.
The price difference between the two tiers of goods was usually many tis, even dozens of tis, proving that cheap goods are not good stuff.
In the Vienna Palace, after listening to the Minister of Agricultures report, Franz pondered and said, Since agricultural exports are declining, lets create an artificial market. Didnt we just make an agreent with the Ottoman Empire to take the population out of these lands?
Well, lets organize ship transport imdiately. At worst, we can offer them a years supply of provisions as compensation for their early resettlent. I believe the Ottoman governnt won't refuse such a good deal.
Once the Ottomans are gone, we can organize immigrants to fill the void and completely control these areas.
In this way, shipping companies will have a new business, and we can also reduce the pressure of food surplus and help stabilize dostic food prices.
The diterranean was different from other overseas colonies. The Austrian governnt could control it directly. Even without the transoceanic telegraph, the delivery of ssages was only a matter of a week.
As long as the local Ottomans have all been evacuated and replaced by dostic immigrants, there will be no concern about governance.
Minister of Agriculture Christian replied, Yes, Your Majesty.
After a pause, Franz added, Rember to ship out the population of the Ionian Islands and the Sinai Peninsula along with the Ottomans. If there are any problems, bribe the officials of the Ottoman governnt.
After all, the Ottoman Empire did not keep detailed records of its population, so it should be relatively easy to manipulate the numbers.
The immigration issue must be resolved as soon as possible. During an economic crisis, this is the most cost-effective task. It can even alleviate the crisis, killing two birds with one stone.
This was not speculation. At that ti, the Ottoman Empire was known as the most corrupt empire in the world. As long as you paid, there was nothing these bureaucrats would not dare to do.
When Colonial Minister Josip Jelai heard about the need to speed up the immigration process, he felt a headache coming on. The demand for immigrants this ti is considerable. To maintain control over these newly acquired territories indefinitely, a significant influx of people is necessary.
Crete needed at least 30,000-40,000 immigrants, Cyprus 30,000-40,000, the Ionian Islands 20,000-30,000, Libya over 100,000, and the Sinai Peninsula just 5,000. In total, that was another 200,000 people.
These regions needed people, and the African colonies still needed people. The Congo and the Gulf of Guinea could be put on hold for now, their populations were already substantial.
But the newly acquired Nigeria and the currently being infiltrated Caroon and Benin were in dire need of immigrants.
Otherwise, as soon as John Bull had caught his breath, they would make trouble again. The best example was what is now the Gulf of Guinea. Although the British coveted it, they lost interest after seeing the masses of German immigrants moving in.
In this era, no one who immigrated to the colonies for profit was easy to bully. Especially the nobles who opened farms and plantations were all gentlen who could ride a horse with a rifle.
On land, the British simply could not compete with them. If a colony had only tens of thousands of people, if relations with Britain and France soured one day, the colony would change hands imdiately.
The Austrian governnt was thinking not only about establishing colonies but also about how to retain them. Without 100,000 to 200,000 immigrants, it was really not possible.
In addition to these regions, the Balkan Peninsula had to be considered. To control Wallachia, Moldavia, Serbia and Bosnia, the Austrian governnt had also formulated a plan for 1 million immigrants.
This immigration can only co from the German region to ensure the smooth progress of ethnic integration, which is also an urgent task.
To avoid contradictory policies competing for immigrants, all immigration work was entrusted to the Colonial Ministry for unified administration.
Josip Jelai explained: Your Majesty, as the dostic economy improves, the number of people willing to immigrate overseas is decreasing. We wont be able to attract enough immigrants in the short term.
As you know, to facilitate assimilation, whenever we organize immigration, we have to scatter and disperse them, not allowing minority groups to gather in one region.
Including refugees resettled from the Balkans, they are all distributed in fixed proportions to ensure that they cannot form a dominant advantage locally.
This has created difficulties for the immigration work. At present, the number of people who are willing to apply for immigration is less than 200,000, and together with the total number of applicants from all over Germany, it does not exceed 550,000.
Most people prefer to emigrate to the Balkans. Civilians willing to go overseas make up less than half.
Franz nodded. That was quite normal. How could ordinary people be willing to leave their hotowns unless it was absolutely necessary?
Immigrating to the Balkan Peninsula might be tolerable because its still within the country and you can travel back and forth along the Danube River in just a month. However, its different overseas.
Even though the Austrian governnt offers favorable conditions, such as opening farms and plantations in overseas colonies, direct recognition of land ownership, and even policy loans, many people still have concerns.
The economic impact has only recently reached the German region and will continue for so ti. The number of bankrupt citizens will increase in the future, and thats our opportunity.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has already contacted the governnts of several countries, and they wont interfere with your actions. Before the economic crisis ends, its the peak period for immigration.
You must now race against ti and send the immigrants away as quickly as possible. Those who cannot go overseas are to be sent to the Balkans. When the economic crisis ends and people find employnt again, the situation will be different.
Reality is that cruel. In an economic crisis, the unemployed are seen not as an asset but as a social liability. Governnts of various countries are eager to see them go.
In this context, the Austrian Foreign Ministry has also coordinated its efforts with countries in the German cultural circle, such as Switzerland and Belgium. The governnts of these countries have welcod Austrias recruitnt of immigrants.
Of course, this is only possible during economic crises. Once the economy returns to normal, even if other governnts dont oppose it, local capitalists wont agree to it.
Only when labor was abundant would it be cheap. This was also the reason why European governnts found it difficult to organize large-scale immigration.
If the Austrian governnt was not powerful enough, and unable to coerce dostic capitalists, Franz could not have organized immigration with such fanfare.
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