Vienna, Schönbrunn Palace.

Franz looked at the two reports on the table with some regret, but he was not surprised.

At this time, the interior of Africa was still considered a no-go zone for whites, and Franz's hired Congo and East African expeditions were once again wiped out, and only the guides brought back their expedition logs.

Poisonous insects, pestilence, frequent wild beasts, hostile indigenous tribes, complex terrain, and chronic mental and psychological stress have all contributed to the repeated failures of expeditions.

Due to the abundant supply of allicin and quinine, the number of clumps due to disease is greatly reduced.

Historically, the price of quinine in the world before 1870 was still very high, and it was necessary to wait until around 1900 for quinine to enter thousands of households.

However, Franz had long cultivated quinine on the islands of Chenla and Kalimantan, so the reserves of the Austrian Empire were still very rich.

As for why it is not planted in West and East Africa, because the cinchona tree is very delicate and can die in large areas if you are not careful.

Given the level of agricultural technology at this time, it could only be compensated by a large number of skilled workers.

Franz simply could not find that many skilled agricultural populations in his colonies in West and East Africa to tend to this delicate plant.

As for the training of indigenous Africans, the cost would probably be about the same as that of Franz transporting people from the mainland, and the latter would be a little more reliable.

Even today, African agriculture is still appallingly crude in its technology.

What's more pitiful is that "orange is orange in Huaibei, and orange is orange in Huainan", and the quinine content of cinchona trees planted in Africa, including India, is seriously insufficient.

This is also the secret of why the Dutch have been able to control the world's quinine for 100 years (more than two-thirds of the world's production has long been produced), a bottleneck that was only broken through by genetic technology in the 90s of the twentieth century.

However, Franz was not an expert in genetic engineering, and with the current pace of scientific development in the Austrian Empire, he probably could not wait for that day.

To get back to the point, to deal with poisonous insects and beasts, in addition to the necessary mosquito nets and anthelmintic drugs, Franz asked the Royal Society of Science to develop some pyrethrum spray and fish vine spray.

Pyrethrum is native to Europe and is now the most widely used natural insecticide, not only has a good effect, but also its toxicity is only for insects, and the damage to mammals is negligible.

As for the fish vine, it is also a specialty of Southeast Asia, and the toxicity of this thing is much greater than that of pyrethrum. This is especially true for relatively primitive creatures such as insects and fish.

As long as a small amount of fish vines is crushed and thrown into the pond, the whole pond will soon be poisoned. Normally, there is nothing wrong with people eating it, but in the early years of folklore, there were examples of people and fish dying together.

However, Franz designed the two pesticides not so much to get them to catch fish to eat, but to reduce the potential resistance of insects.

As for why we have to use natural pesticides, it's not that Franz pays attention to protecting the environment, but that the science and technology of this era are very limited, and DDT can't do it at all.

If Franz had dichlorvos, he wouldn't mind spilling all the way from West Africa to East Africa.

As for the predators on the continent, in addition to bringing a flora and fauna expert, Franz also added professional hunters to the expedition, who could also act as soldiers when necessary to prevent native attacks.

In addition, Franz approved a plan to strike up aggressive natives who were close to the colony.

The Omani Empire in East Africa immediately expressed its support, and they were even willing to send troops to help the Austrian Empire with the clean-up work.

In addition to the shock of the latter's powerful neighbor to the former, the Omani Empire itself was also in great demand for slaves.

Participating in this kind of war kills two birds with one stone, and Saeed is a smart man, so naturally he will not miss this opportunity. While the governor of East Africa felt that this might be a ploy for the Omanis, Franz thought it was unlikely.

After all, East Africa was not so fragile, and the Austrian Empire was not to the point of humiliation, and intelligence bought from Omani merchants showed that Said was very afraid of Austria and did not dare to do anything out of the ordinary.

However, for security reasons, Franz suggested that the troops of the Omani Empire follow the route designed by the colonial government of East Africa.

Saeed didn't have that kind of idea, so naturally he had no objections, but the merchants in Oman were a little dissatisfied with the temporary change of route, after all, they still wanted to make an extra profit.

However, they thought that they could catch a large number of slaves and sell them back to the Americans and the French, and they had no complaints, after all, the slave trade was the most profitable business at this time.

As for the problem of food and water, Franz also had his own solution.

Compressed biscuits were a product of the late World War I, but the technical content of this thing is really limited.

As a result, in addition to oil extraction and instant coffee, the hydraulic press of the Austrian Empire now has another job of compressing biscuits.

Some people say that the invention of the hydraulic press was a great step forward in the history of the food industry in the Austrian Empire.

As for water, Franz had in mind siphon filtration, which is also a very simple technique. The phenomenon of siphoning was discovered as early as the first century AD, but the siphon filtration method was not officially proposed until after 1850.

But for Franz, a later generation, it was not very difficult to design a siphon water filtration device, not to mention that he had enough talents under him, and he only needed to put forward ideas and directions.

After being fully prepared, Franz began to recruit explorers, who must have strong psychological qualities and excellent survival skills, as well as enough experience, and the rest can only be left to God.

"Grand Duke Franz, the explorer who met your conditions is almost dead. After several painful failures, the rumor that the interior of Africa is off-limits to life is increasingly accepted.

The French and the British have switched to exploring the North Pole, would you like to join them? ”

Adjani has always been in charge of recruiting expeditions, and she is confident in the number of people she recruits, but each time it doesn't end well.

Franz even developed some equipment for this purpose, and invested several times more money than Britain and France. Adjani kept wondering if it was really worth it?

After all, it was considered impossible to penetrate deep into the interior of Africa at this time, and Austria's colonies were all built on the coast, and the areas relatively far from the coast could only rely on the natives who depended on Austria.

And as the population of the colony increased, so did the cost of maintenance, and at the same time, the former natives began to stir up again.

In Adjani's view, using the natives for colonization seemed the wiser option, as the British did, as it would have reduced the cost of maintaining the colony.

There is no need to allocate large quantities of materials and people from China and Asia to support local construction, and the money saved can be used to wage more wars.

In Adjani's eyes, Franz is a person who is very fond of invading other countries, and feels like a Russian with an insatiable desire for the land.

"Why go to the North Pole? Do you think I'm like my father? Franz said impatiently.

The exploration of the North Pole may be a big deal for all of humanity, but it did not have much practical significance for the Austrian Empire at this time.

(End of chapter)