Holy Roman Empire

Chapter 280: Chapter 29, Encourage Immigration

Longing for news as one yearns for the stars and moon, the tidings of the Great Indian Rebellion finally reached Vienna in July, and Franz knew that the British were in trouble.

During this period, 40,000 British soldiers and 230,000 Indian troops controlled the Indian subcontinent. Since the beginning of 1857, there had been continuous reports of mutiny among the Indian Corps, but all had been suppressed by the British.

On May 10th, three Indian regiments initiated the rebellion, capturing the ancient city of Delhi and declaring the restoration of the Mughal Empire, which sent shockwaves throughout India and the uprising rapidly spread across the nation.

Without question, Franz fulfilled his obligations as an ally and immediately informed the St. Petersburg Government of the news. What would happen next was now unpredictable.

If negotiations between Anglo-Austria proceeded smoothly, the Vienna Government would be very compliant in the future and do nothing; if the negotiations broke down, then supporting the Indian people’s independence movement might be a possibility.

Prime Minister Felix, brimming with determination, said, “Your Majesty, the time is ripe.”

“The British are still entangled in the war with Persia, and now the Great Indian Rebellion has erupted; St. Petersburg will probably be unable to restrain its ambitions for India any longer.”

“With the London Government preoccupied with its own troubles, we should consider a friendly state visit to the Ottoman Empire to enhance our mutual friendship.”

Friendship? When had the Habsburg dynasty ever had friendship with the Ottoman Empire?

Turning the pages of the family history, it was a chronicle of blood and tears with the Ottoman Empire, with more than one ancestor aspiring to bring it to its knees.

In Franz’s generation, at last, he could see the dawn. The Ottoman Empire had been driven out of the Balkan Peninsula; what once was a colossal entity threatening the survival of the Habsburg dynasty, had now turned into a weakling.

Franz smiled and said, “Then let us pick a day with gentle breezes and clear skies for our state visit to the Sultan Government!”

In view of the long-standing traditional friendship between the two countries, it was a sacred duty inseparable from the Habsburg heir to add insult to injury to the Ottoman Empire, to be executed without any discount.

Minister of Colonization Yosip Yelacic suggested, “Your Majesty, it’s time for us to take action in the African Continent as well. The French have already accelerated their expansion in Africa, and if we delay any longer, we will fall behind.”

Interest is always the best catalyst; it was only three years ago that, with Franz’s support, the Vienna Government barely passed the national policy on overseas colonization with a slight majority.

Now, even the traditional Conservatives no longer opposed overseas colonial activities.

On the surface, Austria’s colonies were still operating at a loss, but that’s not the correct way to do the accounts. The colonies increased the market for domestic industrial and commercial products, and the gold that was mined solved Austria’s embarrassing lack of gold reserves.

In this era, the mined gold deposits were easy to exploit, and tens of tons of gold flowed into Austria annually, stabilizing the value of the Divine Shield currency.

It could be said that without the gold from the Gulf of Guinea, the Vienna Government’s gold standard monetary system reform would not have gone as smoothly.

Beyond that, it reduced the number of domestic destabilizing elements. The colonies provided careerists with a platform to showcase their ambitions and allowed many to make their fortunes.

After some thought, Franz said, “That’s feasible, but the Tekrul Kingdom in the Nigeria region is ambitious, seeking to further establish an empire by launching so-called holy wars. We had better not be hasty in getting involved.

“Let the locals fight amongst themselves for now. When they’ve weakened each other sufficiently, then we can make our move. We can sell them some outdated weapons.”

Setting aside the underground resources for the moment, the region of Nigeria lies near the equator, with fertile land and abundant rainfall, making it suitable for growing tropical crops such as peanuts, palms, cocoa, and rubber…

For those keen on opening farms, this place is truly a treasure trove. The cultivable land area that can be developed amounts to over sixty million hectares, sufficient to sustain a population of hundreds of millions.

The domestic nobility, many of whom lost their lands during the great revolution, are currently the ones pushing for action in Nigeria, seeking overseas compensation.

This is a result of the Vienna government’s guidance—leaders set examples that followers emulate, a universal principle in any country, and in this respect, the Vienna government has done exceptionally well.

High-ranking government officials have successively established plantations overseas, convincing many others of the profitability, and triggering a rush to join this enterprise.

The Royal family was the first to stake claims in the colonies of Guinea and Congo, and currently, plans have been laid out for seven or eight plantations, including rubber, cotton, coffee, and cocoa plantations… covering a total area of over 1.5 million hectares.

Of course, these are theoretical plans whose completion remains an unknown variable.

As of now, the Royal family has only developed a little over fifteen thousand hectares of land, with the remaining areas still being labored over by a team of lumberjacks.

First, the trees must be cut down, the grass on the land burned, the water in hollows drained, and the local poisonous insects eradicated before farmland can be developed.

Without sufficient labor, the use of local people as workers is inevitable, but this makes it difficult to improve work efficiency.

Franz has even sent people to East Asia to bring in laborers. Farming is a skillful trade, especially pioneer farming, which requires technical expertise, and clearly, the local natives are not fit for this job.

Austria prohibits the use of slaves, and for the peace and security of the colonies, the colonial government also bans slavery; even the Labor Protection Law is demanded to be strictly enforced.

Of course, “strict enforcement” varies depending on the situation—immigrants from the homeland are certainly well-protected, as they are valuable assets.

For local workers, oversight is naturally not as strict, with the biggest issue being a fine. Unless someone produces a mixed-race child, there’s no risk of prison time.

Essentially, this also serves to limit capitalists’ reliance on local labor and prevent the spread of disease.

The Labor Protection Act clearly indicates to everyone that once the issue of insufficient colonial labor is resolved, then the Act must be strictly enforced, so it’s better to use local labor as little as possible.

To reduce conflicts between the colonial government and native tribes, the Colonial Government enforces an immigration encouragement policy, which includes two parts: one is to encourage domestic citizens to migrate to the colonies; the other is to motivate local natives to immigrate to America.

On this matter, the Vienna government has already reached immigration treaties with the United States, Brazil, Argentina, Portugal, Spain, and other countries.

The treaties stipulate that these nations can freely introduce native immigrants to Austrian colonies without any restrictions from the colonial government.

For individuals or organizations that have performed exceptionally in the immigration work, the Vienna government will even grant rewards, with the current standard being: 2 Divine Shields for every ten local immigrants taken away.

Under these favorable conditions, over a hundred thousand black immigrants leave the Austrian colonies each year, significantly reducing the conflicts between the colonial government and the local native tribes.