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The essence of establishing a colony is to make money, and for the Austrian Governnt, there are only two types of valuable colonies: those that make money and those that hold strategic value.
Without a doubt, Lanfang Autonomous Province was profitable and also possessed certain strategic value.
Together with the other Austrian territories in Southeast Asia, Lanfang Autonomous Province firmly established Austria’s regional dominance in the area.
The Vienna Governnt had calls to directly administer the Lanfang Autonomous Province, but the key issue was that no one could guarantee a richer return from direct managent.
The economic value of Lanfang Autonomous Province to the Vienna Governnt was far more than just the 3.764 million Divine Shields it contributed annually.
Since joining the Austrian system, without security threats, Lanfang Autonomous Province quickly entered a fast track of developnt.
Perhaps due to the prosperous neighboring Spanish and Dutch, the Lanfang Autonomous Province had beco the major base for overseas Chinese rchants more than a decade ago.
A huge influx of capital naturally drove local economic developnt. Had it not been for geographical limitations, the province’s developnt could have been even better.
Now, Lanfang Autonomous Province imports tens of millions of Divine Shields worth of industrial and comrcial products from Austria every year, and exports raw materials such as rubber, sago, dried coconuts, cutch dyestuffs, tapioca flour, pepper, and precious tals.
If listed separately for trade volu ranking, Lanfang Autonomous Province would be among the top five trading partners of Austria.
The greater the involved interests, the more cautious the Vienna Governnt beca.
If there was a misstep that caused turmoil and soone undercut their position, losing dominance in Southeast Asia would an a total loss.
Driven by interests, the status of Lanfang Autonomous Province naturally beca special, ranking above colonies but below sub-states.
If it were not for the local ruling class being heavily influenced by tradition and not keen on politics, there would have already been an additional seat in the Imperial Parliant.
Lanfang Autonomous Province was not without insightful individuals. More than a decade earlier, soone proposed building railways, but traditional forces were too strong and the issue of "ancestral graves" was inescapable.
Furthermore, Lanfang Autonomous Province, being an island with developed mariti transport and little developnt in inland areas, had little demand for railways, so the plan was shelved.
This also indirectly showed the incompetence of Lanfang’s ruling class—in the original tiline, these people were the Dutch compradors, and naturally, they had little integrity to speak of.
Franz had no intention of intervening in Lanfang’s internal affairs. As an Emperor with a reputation, he was soone who took people’s money to eradicate their disasters.
Even taking into account the annual tribute, Franz supported the autonomy of Lanfang.
This was not because Franz was greedy for money, but mainly because he understood Eastern traditional culture. If he, the Emperor, didn’t accept money, those individuals would be agonized to tears.
In an era where comparisons of incompetence abound, as long as one doesn’t create extre outrage or widespread warfare, that’s considered competent.
How future history books will describe it is unknown, but for now, everyone has what they need, and the cooperation is very pleasant.
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Seeing that all parties had reached an agreent, Franz, acting as the arbitrator, put forth new demands, "Let’s leave the railway plan as is for now, but this is still not enough.
Given that this economic crisis will likely be prolonged, the governnt must create more job opportunities while reducing expenses as much as possible."
Reducing expenses and creating job opportunities are not difficult, but managing both is not easy.
The construction plans of the Vienna Governnt are essentially for better economic developnt, and the investnt projects also need to be profitable.
If we were to delay twenty years, Franz could easily upgrade the roads and build highways.
Not now—the automobile has only recently been invented, and the main ans of transportation for people are still horse-drawn carriages.
Running horse-drawn carriages on cent roads?
It sounds impressive, but the problem is, it’s hard on the horses! With such a hard surface, horseshoes wouldn’t last long.
Developing irrigation projects?
These, already largely constructed during the previous economic crises, are nearly complete. Those not yet started, simply lack economic value.
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Not only were these projects completed, but even the urban upgrading and renovation were essentially finished; at least for the next thirty years, there was no need to consider these issues.
The Austrian holand on the European continent is such a small place, and after so many years of infrastructure developnt, there really was nothing left to fuss about.
Africa’s holand is indeed vast, but unfortunately, the population is limited, and there is not enough demand. Governnt investnt also has to consider the rate of economic return and cannot build blindly.
This is a problem that a country inevitably has to face after developing to a certain level; it’s just that Austria faced it a bit earlier.
Pri Minister Felix said, "The dostic infrastructure is becoming more and more perfect, and the days of driving the economy through governnt investnt in infrastructure cannot continue forever.
It is possible that for a very long period in the future, our economic growth rate will slow down. The next high-speed economic growth period is expected to be after the completion of the Africa’s holand strategy.
For the sake of long-term developnt, we must now launch as many projects as possible that have sustainability and long-lasting developnt."
This is the reality. Currently, Austria’s major dostic projects, including the canal plan and the hydroelectric station plan, have already kicked off, and naturally, they cannot be repeated.
After a pause, Pri Minister Felix continued, "In recent years, internal combustion engine technology has developed rapidly, showing impressive potential in many fields, and might even replace the steam engine.
If this situation occurs, then oil will replace coal to beco the most important industrial raw material.
The only problem is whether oil production can et demand. From the current situation, the world’s crude oil production is very scarce.
Especially on the European continent, there have hardly been any major oil fields discovered. Despite owning the traditional oil-producing region of Ploiesti, last year we still imported 110,000 tons of crude oil from the Russian Empire.
This number may seem unimpressive; calculated at the current international oil price, it’s only a few hundred thousand Divine Shields.
Yet, rely three years ago, we were an oil-exporting country. In just three short years, dostic oil demand has increased by at least 200,000 tons.
According to scientists’ estimates, our demand for oil will double in five years, and double again in ten years, with the market’s oil shortage reaching over a million tons.
Many scientists in the energy field have issued energy crisis warnings to the governnt. To solve this problem, the governnt has organized oil exploration teams.
Overall, the results have been good; quite a few oil fields have been discovered in the holand, but unfortunately, their production is not high.
The biggest discovery was a large oil field found downstream in sopotamia, with reserves surpassing the total of all dostic oil fields.
After analysis by geologists, it is believed that sopotamia may be hiding a vast amount of oil, and the governnt has dispatched exploration teams to verify this.
Not long ago, oil was discovered at the border of the Ottoman Empire and Persia, confirming this speculation. Since the area is not under our control, for safety reasons, no further exploration was conducted."
There’s no need to ntion what cos next; the implication is crystal clear—if it’s not within our control, then we must find a way to bring it under our control.
If the oil can’t move from beneath the ground, then it’s only logical for Austria to extend its control over the area. This is the consistent practice of the great powers.
To speak frankly, Franz had never imagined that Austria would lack oil; he had never concerned himself with this issue from start to finish.
An Emperor has many affairs to deal with, and naturally, he must disregard the unimportant ones. Currently, Austria’s sphere of influence already covers half of the world’s oil reserves; isn’t the idea of lacking oil nothing but a joke?
Yet, this joke really happened. No oil was discovered in Africa, and only the tip of the iceberg was uncovered in the Middle East region. Once the importance of oil was realized, it was inevitable for the Vienna Governnt to take precautions.
Then, it was a tragedy for the Ottoman Empire. Already there was a deep-seated hatred, and now they were encumbered with guilt; if they didn’t suffer, who would?
Franz stopped short; taking action against the Ottoman Empire was a matter of ti. The energy crisis simply provided an opportunity, causing the anti-war faction within the governnt to hold their tongues.
Pri Minister Felix did not directly say that war must be waged, but the ntion of "sustainable, long-lasting" projects, along with repeatedly emphasizing the importance of oil, already gave the answer.
Compared to investing in other projects, waging war against the Ottoman Empire indeed has the highest economic value.
The most crucial point is that such an opportunity is rare; the European continent is caught in a wave of revolutions, with countries busy extinguishing fires.
With everyone preoccupied, who would care about the Ottoman Empire?
By this ti, no one could stop the march of war. Even if oil hadn’t provided the trigger, there would have been other reasons.
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