Chapter 1234 Business (Part 2)
"I don't need your money. I just need you to get a license for me and start a company in the name of the British royal family.
After the gold is mined, we can split the profits 50-50, or I will give you a dividend of 100,000 pounds a year."
The name of the British royal family cannot be easily lent out. If Leopold I did not come in person, no one could succeed.
However, Victoria and his wife owed Leopold I a huge favor, and the dividend of 100,000 pounds a year was too tempting.
According to Victoria and his wife's idea, if Leopold I succeeded in starting a business, it would be the best, and they would also like to see this elder regain his spirits.
If Leopold I failed, they would not lose anything, and they would also repay the other party a favor.
In fact, most people in later generations would think that Victoria and his wife's choice at that time was too stupid. If they chose a 50-50 split, they would have gained countless wealth.
But why did they choose 100,000 pounds a year? The answer is that 100,000 pounds is really a lot, even for the British royal family It is a huge fortune, because it is equivalent to the annual rent of 400,000 acres of land.
Therefore, in the eyes of people at that time, Victoria's choice was reasonable, while Leopold I's choice was a manifestation of a desperate move.
All this was already within Franz's expectations. The so-called 50-50 split was both sincere and misleading.
People will worry about the uncertainty of the future, and the richer and more powerful people are, the more they hate this feeling. They like a future they can be sure of.
Of course, even if Victoria and her husband really chose a 50-50 split, it would not have much impact on Franz's plan.
In Europe, the property of the royal family and the government is often separated. The British royal family makes money, which does not mean that the British government also makes money.
It's a bit funny to say that the richer the British royal family is, the more timid the British government will be. It is much easier to let the British consume internally than to weaken Britain from the outside.
Moreover, gold is not Franz's main purpose. Making money is just a benefit that he gets by the way. Now Franz wants to drive a wedge for the future.
At this time, the Southern Ming Dynasty was too small, so small that it could not accommodate too many Chinese.
The damage caused by the impending Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was far greater in both intensity and severity than the Irish Famine, and the number of deaths was conservatively estimated to be between fifteen and twenty times the number of deaths in the Irish Famine.
With the land carrying capacity of the Southern Ming at this time, it would not take much, just a few million more people to cause a famine.
Under the rule of Zhu Qiongying, the population of the Southern Ming grew rapidly, and was already in a state of serious oversupply.
At this time, the people lived and worked in peace and contentment, and the people were prosperous and prosperous, but it was just an illusion. As long as the food supply from the sea was cut off, the entire Southern Ming would immediately be shrouded in the shadow of famine.
Zhu Qiongying had been an emperor for so many years, and she naturally knew the plight of her country. A seemingly tough country actually had its weak points firmly grasped by others.
So no matter what Franz wanted to do, Zhu Qiongying did not dare to refuse. Because the former could turn the latter's so-called prosperity into purgatory in an instant.
The Southern Ming side also thought of many ways, but in the end it could only accept Franz's plan to exchange rubber for food.
(The gold of the Southern Ming Dynasty was used to exchange for strategic materials, such as warships and munitions.)
They also considered growing food on the land of the Southern Ming Dynasty. However, the local acidic soil had not been improved and had extremely low fertility. It was okay to grow some cash crops, but it would be ineffective for food crops with higher fertility requirements.
However, Australia was completely different. With the carrying capacity of Australia's land, not to mention hundreds of millions, even if the entire southern Qing Dynasty was emptied, it could accommodate it.
At this time, for the Austrian Empire's technology tree, Nanyang was too important, and Franz could never put it in the hands of others.
Although Australia was a treasure land, it was too far away for the Austrian Empire. It was just a flower in the mirror and a moon in the water.
In his opinion, exchanging Australia for Kalimantan was definitely a good deal, but the details needed to be slowly polished to avoid the situation of overdoing it.
Russia, St. Petersburg.
The Tsar never expected that a small Poland would blow up so many monsters, and the British and French dared to do things so blatantly.
Thinking of this, Nicholas I couldn't help but distrust his country's civil servants even more. These guys were still speaking for the British. They were really short-sighted and stupid.
However, are those who stand out from the tens of thousands of Russian civil servants really short-sighted and useless?
In the final analysis, it's just a different standpoint and angle.
On the other hand, although Louis Napoleon did nothing, in the Tsar's heart, as long as there is the surname Napoleon, it is enough.
At this time, in Nicholas I's imagination, the British and French have joined hands to prepare for a war with Russia, and he must invest more troops for this.
Nicholas I has begun to regret not listening to Duke Uvarov's advice. If it is the action of the entire Holy Alliance, then Britain and France will not dare to be so arrogant.
However, it is too late to say this now. If Duke Uvarov's plan is adopted now, wouldn't it prove that he is wrong?
Although Britain and France are hateful, they are not bordering Poland after all, and can only transport troops and supplies by sea. As long as their sea passages can be phased
Nicholas I shook his head. At least the current strength of the Russian Navy could not do this.
However, he had ordered five new sailing battleships from Austria. He believed that in the near future, the Russian Navy would still be able to fight against the British Navy.
However, the news from Ivan Fyodorovich Paskevich from the front line soon after poured cold water on the Tsar's plan.
The situation in Russian Poland was worse than expected. The Russian army in Russian Poland was no longer a question of whether it could defend Poland. They were now being annihilated by the Poles.
As the whereabouts of the Polish Governor-General Wenbetrovsky were unknown and the commander of the Warsaw garrison, Rizniewski, was killed in battle, the entire Russian Poland was completely in a state of being leaderless.
What was even more terrifying was that the Poles also forged multiple political and military orders to directly disrupt the original deployment of the Russian army, and the random command of Khlekov as the imperial envoy.
As a result, the Russian army was divided, surrounded, and defeated one by one in the chaos, and some became bait for siege and reinforcement. After several battles, the Russian army in Russian Poland was already in a state of panic, and the remaining troops were fighting on their own.
However, this was exactly what the Poles wanted, as they could take the opportunity to gather superior forces and continue to erode Poland to strengthen themselves.
Even a famous general like Marshal Paskevich could not gather the remaining Russian troops on the Polish battlefield at this time.
As a result, the largest country in Europe was at a disadvantage in terms of military strength when facing a small Polish rebellion.