February 3, 1873.

Vienna, Austria.

For the Austrians, the whole of 1872 was unforgettable, and in 1872, like the rest of the world, the Austrian market was unprecedentedly prosperous, and Austria defeated Italy and recaptured Venice, which made the Austrians even happier.

The economic and military victories were the most confident for the citizens of any country, and the Austrians were less enthusiastic about emigrating abroad, as the economic overheating created a large number of jobs, and the outbreak of war led to the initiation of military recruitment.

The direct manifestation is that in 1872, the number of Austrian immigrants to East Africa fell off a cliff to less than 5,000, because the Austrian government intended to import the German population to Venice, so the migration changed from flowing to East Africa to the cities and Venice.

Since 1848, the only major setback for the Austrians was the defeat of the Austro-Prussian War and the expulsion of Prussia from Germany.

However, the economy of Austria was not affected in the slightest, and Austria's industrialization was slower than that of France and Prussia, but it was also developing rapidly.

The construction of railways was a direct reflection of this economic situation, and between 1859 and 1872 the entire Austro-Hungarian Empire built more than 7,000 kilometers of railways, which may not be as numerical as other powers, but it was also staggering, and this period was also the privatization of Austrian railways.

But this all took a turn for the worse in late 1872, when 76 Austro-Hungarian railway companies defaulted on their bonds. Of the 384 listed railway companies, 279 do not have any dividends.

But railroad stocks are still popular, and the market is applauding, which gives fanatical investors the illusion that they can't buy without grabbing.

By February, the bad news came.

On February 4, Balclay Railroad defaulted.

On 5 February, Cook Railroad defaulted.

On Feb. 6, Kenyongx Bank defaulted.

On 7 February, all railway stocks fell, and then the shares of the Vienna Stock Exchange poured down like a waterfall under the watchful eyes of the stockholders, and many gamblers took to the rooftops that night.

The Viennese court.

"Your Majesty, according to statistics, more than 400 million dong evaporated from the Vienna Stock Exchange in one day, countless shareholders were impoverished overnight, and yesterday's preliminary statistics showed that there were 17 people who committed suicide in 24 hours, and the total collapse of credit and the suspension of securities trading are coming, and Austria's economic winter is coming."

Franz listened to the Chancellor's report with a blank face, and as a mature emperor, Franz was obviously much more stable.

Franz asked directly: "How far will this crisis affect the Reich?" ”

"We don't know for sure, but the impact may be above 1848, because the scale of the crisis is much larger, and the entire railroad industry is at risk of paralysis except for a few state-owned enterprises, and the crisis itself is now spreading from the railroad to other areas."

1848 was a terrible number for Franz, when the Habsburgs were almost overthrown, Franz came to power in a storm, and in the following ten years, Austria's development was also quite unsmooth, that is, it has only recently changed its decline, and as a result, the economic crisis broke out again before a few days of comfortable life.

It is not surprising that the capitalist economic crisis was the first to erupt in Austria, since it was a game of drumming and passing flowers. In recent years, with the deepening of the industrialization of Austria-Hungary, Austria-Hungary naturally could not avoid the cyclical rate of capitalist development.

The prosperity before the economic crisis was a typical case of data falsification and over-eating, the financial market and the stock market were deformed and distorted, and they were abnormally high for a long time.

The economic crisis of 1873 was a far-reaching world economic crisis, which first broke out in the industrial countries and then spread to other countries, but all countries that joined the world market were the first to be affected.

And not affected is the Far East, South America and other regions, originally historically Africa was not affected, but because of the East African Kingdom variable, now it will also be affected, the East African Kingdom is not large, but it represents nearly one-third of Africa, plus Egypt and other North African countries, this economic crisis can not run away.

As for why Austria became the first outbreak place, it was entirely due to the national conditions of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which was originally one step slower than other countries, and the development of the financial industry was relatively chaotic.

The capitalists of other countries can also hug together before the thunderstorm, first fool the leeks, and withdraw safely, the Austro-Hungarian Empire is full of nationalities, and there are more factions, so the Austrian capitalists are relatively unmartial, lack of communication, and mutual suspicion under vicious competition, which makes the Vienna Exchange the first to thunder, and the dead friends are not dead and poor!

Although there are problems in the economies of all countries, and everyone is cheating, and whoever has the highest level of deception will break out later in the crisis, it is obvious that the banks and entrepreneurs in Vienna are not as good as the old foxes in Britain, France, and the United States.

With the outbreak of the economic crisis in Austria-Hungary, which will inevitably affect the business of the Hexingen consortium first, it is certain that East African grain exports will inevitably suffer, because the crisis is accompanied by a powerful agricultural crisis.

The international food crisis will be even more powerful because of the fierce competition for the output of newly opened land in North America, Tsarist Russia, and Australia, and the new player of the Kingdom of East Africa.

On the day of the Vienna Stock Exchange's crash, Ernst received news that all the companies under Heixingen began to lower the prices of their products and were the first to join the dumping war.

It should be noted that the food enterprises under the Heixingen Consortium are not only doing business in East Africa, but also doing business in Germany and Austria-Hungary, and are the largest grain distributors in the whole of Germany, so the dumping of the enterprises under the Heixingen Consortium is not just a matter of the East African Kingdom, but the Heixingen Consortium is dumping the agricultural products of East Africa, Germany, and Austria-Hungary together.

East Africa, Germany, Austria-Hungary, the three countries are all internationally important grain producing countries, starting from the Heixingen consortium to start the grain dumping war, the three countries huge quantities of cheap agricultural products poured into the whole of Europe.

At the same time, East Africa itself also stepped up its time to negotiate (order) with the Sultanate of Zanzibar to export grain to the entire Arab region and parts of Southeast Asia through the channels of the Sultanate of Zanzibar.

The Heixingen consortium caught the world off guard at the first moment of the crisis, and international food prices were directly exploded.

Ernst had nothing to fear about this, even if other countries wanted to liquidate, they would have to bring Germany and Austria-Hungary with them, and the Junkers and Hungarian landlords were actually passive beneficiaries, which was obviously not possible, and as for the food crisis being exacerbated, that was exactly what Ernst wanted to see, because East Africa was not a free economic market, and the crisis would not have any negative impact on East Africa.

Although the collapse in food prices will cause Ernst to make a lot less money, it would be good to be able to make money now, as long as it is a little later, it is not a question of whether to make money or not, but that he cannot sell it at a loss, unless it is really given away for nothing.

In fact, as long as the grain exported from East Africa can be sold for a penny, the Hexingen Foundation can get a penny of profit, which is the result of the special economic system of the East African Kingdom.

From the moment the grain was shipped out of East Africa, it was decoupled from the East African kingdom, but directly divided into the hands of the Hexingen consortium, and the labor and production costs of these grains were almost non-existent, because the grain was not given economic value in East Africa, the land was grabbed, and the labor force was directly prostituted by the indigenous laborers, and the East African farmers could maintain the basic food and clothing needs, but their needs were not worth mentioning compared to the income they created for the Heixingen royal family.

(End of chapter)