Berlin, Charlottenburg Palace.

Since the establishment of the German Customs Union, Prussia's fiscal revenues have been on a steady upward trend, with total tariffs nearly tripling, from 18 million florins to 54 million florins, accounting for 39% of its total revenues.

But this favorable situation did not give relief and pride to the faces of its monarch, William IV, and his advisers.

Because the excessively heavy financial burden of this "army-owning country" means that if war suddenly strikes one day, its financial situation will deteriorate dramatically, and a large deficit may even directly crush the country.

What is even more frightening is the fact that the structure of factory and commodity production in Prussia is quietly changing, and it is a farmer from Pomerania who is aware of all this.

In a report to the Prussian government, he pointed out that although the value of the Kingdom's textile industry had nearly doubled after joining the German Customs Union, 25 of the country's 97 textile mills had closed down within seven years.

Eighty per cent of the closure of the 25 textile mills was due to poor management. And in this era of rapid development of the textile industry, how to define "poor management"? What is the main reason behind this?

The answer is very obvious: competition from the Austrians. Anyone who has entered an emerging industry and wants to get a piece of the blue ocean is all wiped out by these guys. And the blood of those pioneers quickly stained the ocean blood-red.

The sudden rise in the barriers to entry caught the Prussian factory owners and merchants by surprise, and they either chose to succumb to the acquisition of the Austrians, or they had to keep their one-third of an acre of land through blood transfusions.

However, behind the Austrian counterparts is the endorsement of the state, and the means used are also endless. In addition to common business practices, it can even manipulate the price of raw materials and bribe officials in other countries.

There is a terrible logic behind this behavior, which is that if you don't want to stay as a dog, then don't do it either.

In fact, there is nothing surprising about this, after all, in order to make money in this era, not to mention those capitalists, even countries that claim to be "defenders of order" have long resorted to everything.

But the perceptive farmer gave his analysis that the Austrian Empire was deliberately turning the Kingdom of Prussia into a predominantly agricultural source of raw materials, as evidenced by the fact that the Junker landlords, who had made a lot of money, even spoke for the Austrians.

"However, the foundation of a strong country lies in self-reliance."

The farmer's words are heart-wrenching. But it also aroused the resentment of the other Junker landlords, who did not see this as an advantage for Austria, but only for the benefit of free trade.

"Your Majesty, this boorish farmer is too arrogant. What is his identity that dares to discuss national politics? ”

War Minister Gustav von Rauch frowned, in his eyes this uninformed hillbilly was threatening the interests of the entire Junker aristocracy.

The latter, having tasted the sweetness of the food crisis, found that they should not grow too much grain, because too much grain will lead to lower food prices, so the best way to maintain price stability is to reduce the area under cereal cultivation.

However, simply reducing the area under grain cultivation will result in a large amount of land and labor being idle. Coincidentally, due to the conflict with Hungary, Austria needed to import large quantities of Prussian sugar beet and fodder, and the improvement of the railway network of the German Confederation greatly reduced the export cost of crops in the kingdom.

The short-sighted Junkers naturally had no reason to give up this opportunity to make money, and they successively switched to sugar beets and fodder. As for the potential threat of food shortages, they confidently believed that it could be solved by the Russians next door, after all, their sovereign's brother-in-law was Tsar Nicholas I, and the problem was properly dealt with by whatever means or channels.

Guided by this idea, the Prussian cultivated land with a large number of crops such as pasture, barley, oats, black beans and sugar beets.

Of course, the source of their self-confidence also has a lot to do with the eastern allies, after all, Imperial Russia was the largest exporter of agricultural products in Europe at that time, and it would be beneficial to let themselves earn more trade surpluses.

The Tsarist government did not say a word about the previous betrayal, and the Junker nobles who traded with it naturally chose to forget about it. For the tsarist government, the international situation facing it at this time did not fundamentally change.

The people of the archipelago to the west continue to gnost over the issue of the strait, but to abandon the Treaty of Winkar-Iskelesi would be to give up the dominant position in the strait over the years.

In fact, the real beneficiaries of the UK's so-called "international condominium" proposal can only be themselves. At this time, the other powers had neither the mind nor the strength to dwell on the struggle for hegemony in the Black Sea.

Moreover, there are many imperfections in their proposals, such as the ambiguity in the substance of international condominium and the absence of any mention of their wartime status. It can be said that the Straits Convention proposed by the British was the trigger for the Crimean War.

At home, the Polish Restoration Army and the Polish Democratic League are constantly causing trouble for His Majesty the Tsar, and although their strength seems ridiculous now, several purge campaigns against them have ended with little success, which is enough to prove their strong vitality.

The most fundamental reason why the Poles in Russia can be defeated again and again like an unbeatable little power is that behind them are the three great powers of Britain, France and Austria.

Franco-Polish friendship has a long history, and France helped Poland recover during the Napoleonic Wars. Louis Philippe, though he had little affection for the Bonapartes, coveted their legacy.

In the eyes of the French leadership, such a useful pawn of the Poles must of course be put to good use. is the so-called "one-handed Tianyuan determines the situation", after all, at this time Eastern Europe is chaotic and Poland has the final say.

Successive French kings had undisguised ambitions for the Rhine region and northern Italy. And now both places are occupied by the enemies of the anti-French alliance, not to mention their staunch ally, Russia, which was the biggest culprit in the decline of the First French Empire.

(Before the Napoleonic Wars, France was a very powerful colonial empire, and after the defeat of the war, almost all overseas interests went to the British, so it would be wrong to say that the Peace of Vienna did not weaken France.) Although the British gave a lot, he was also the biggest winner. ）

As long as Poland does not give up its dream of independence for a day, the three Russian-Austrian families will not be at peace for a day. As long as they make a big enough noise, they may eventually turn into the Greek War of Independence, at which point the initiative and British intervention will further weaken the long-standing stumbling block of the Holy Alliance.

At the same time, the July Dynasty was pro-British from the king to the cabinet, and it had always been their dream to stand with Britain.

John Bull could choose to support the Carlos faction in the Iberian Peninsula for the sake of their continental balance of power policy, and of course they could also support the Polish Restoration, which, combined with the conflict with the woolly bear in the Near East, made them happy to see the Tsar's Queen's House on fire.

Although the British never really fulfilled their promises to them from the time of Poland's first demise to World War II, the latter have always believed in the former.

Austria, on the other hand, was the greatest contributor to the Polish insurgents' retreat several times, and because of the existence of the natural barrier of the free city of Krakow, Russia was never able to completely destroy the Polish insurgents.

Krakow was nominally a free city, but it was protected by the Austrian Empire. To send troops there without permission is to declare war on this ancient empire that has been entrenched in Central Europe for hundreds of years.

In fact, Krakow was kept by the Austrians to disgust the Russians. Its main role was to prevent the continuation of the spread of Great Slavism.

Moreover, the city was actually included in the Austrian sphere of influence. Because of this, Krakow became the center of the Polish independence movement and the largest refuge for its regents.

After all, I stopped for a day, and I didn't want to mess up, so I changed it a few times and delayed the time, and I ask for your forgiveness.

(End of chapter)