Holy Roman Empire

Perhaps out of disgust for Austria, France's large farm plan wasn't kept a secret. Soon after the Paris Government made a decision, the plan was announced to the public.

This was understandable, since the Rebel Army's Eighth Division led by Hutile and others had swollen to a massive eighty thousand strong and looked set to breach the one hundred thousand mark soon.

Regardless of their combat effectiveness, their destructive power had been felt by the French. This ragtag force did only two things on their journey: wildly expand their ranks and plunder estates.

Hutile and his fellows fully exhibited a style of bullying the weak and fearing the strong. They didn't touch the cities that the French staunchly defended, instead targeting the weaker countryside and small towns.

Even if most of the soldiers were armed with melee weapons, the advantage of their sheer numbers meant they were an unstoppable force everywhere they went.

In fact, many times they didn't need to attack at all. Just the sight of the Rebel army's numbers was enough for the defending troops to flee.

It wasn't that there was a lack of attempts to resist; it was mainly the severe disadvantage in military strength. The towns had too few French soldiers, and the Egyptian people were unreliable.

Concentrating forces to defend the major cities was the best option. Generally speaking, as long as there were more than a thousand French soldiers, the Eighth Division wouldn't bother making trouble.

There was no sense in a drawn-out battle; they weren't there to conquer the world. Looting was enough, leaving the seizing of territory to the Rebel army following behind.

With the Eighth Division running wild, the French forces in the Egypt Area lost the chance to regroup, each having to fight their own battles.

After all, there were few combat-ready French soldiers, and most of the troops were colonial forces—decent enough for defending a city but only a slight improvement over the Rebel army in open field battles.

Stirring up such trouble, the French government naturally was displeased. Embracing the spirit of shared misery, they decided to reveal their hand openly.

All agricultural stocks then started to plummet. A bunch of self-proclaimed experts and scholars came out one after another to sing doom about agricultural stocks, some even directly predicting a new round of agricultural crises right before their eyes.

Well, this time they guessed right. For a long time to come, enterprises involved in agricultural production would have a hard time, and describing their situation as declining day by day might be fitting.

Even without the French's interference, an agricultural crisis was bound to erupt. With the continual development of fertilizer technology, an oversupply of grain was an inevitable trend.

Even for grain exporting countries like Austria, if they didn't promote industrial fertilizer technology, the grain importing countries would push it forward.

Although the increase in yield wasn't as explosive as several times over like in later eras, an increase of several tens of percent was still possible.

While grain production capacity could increase substantially, the demand for grain in the market certainly couldn't skyrocket in a year.

Phosphorus fertilizers had already been born and were beginning to be used on a large scale; potassium fertilizers had been invented in the laboratories of the Royal Academy of Sciences, not promoted simply to maintain the stability of grain prices.

As for later fertilizers like ammonia and compound fertilizers, they were still nowhere to be seen. Human demand is the driving force behind technological advancement, but at this point, Austria was lacking motivation.

To gain more profits from the export of agricultural products, Franz was not very proactive in researching fertilizer technologies that would greatly enhance grain production.

For many green food advocates of later generations, this might be considered the best era, where pure green foods free of chemical fertilizers and pesticides were commonplace.

As a result of France's large farm plan, all the major grain exporting countries of the world experienced varying degrees of panic.

...

St. Petersburg, as the world's largest exporter of grain, the Tsarist Government was undoubtedly most troubled.

Alexander III personally experienced the agricultural crisis. It was during the last crisis that the panicked Tsarist Government foolishly signed the notorious grain for loan agreement with the British.

This was one of the dark chapters in the reign of Alexander II, who had been cheated by the British and entered the British Pounds-Gold standard.

Even though in the end they reneged on their debts to the British, in the grand scheme of things, the Russian Empire still lost tens of millions of Rubles, and the political loss was incalculable.

With that lesson learned, Alexander III understood the importance of agriculture to Russia and became extremely attentive to the fluctuations in the international grain market.

"What do you think about the large farm plan announced by the French?" he asked.

Minister of Agriculture Baolsha Ke spoke bitterly, "It is simply terrible. Currently, the main European countries and regions that need to import a large amount of grain are Britannia, North Germany, and the Italian Area.

The rest, like Switzerland, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, and other grain-importing countries, have very limited demands—all combined, they don't even make up ten percent."

"If the French succeed in their plan for grain self-sufficiency, the international grain export market will shrink by at least one-fifth.

Without this part of the market, a new round of oversupply in grain production is bound to erupt in Europe.

As Europe's largest exporter of unprocessed grain, should this happen, we would suffer heavy losses, possibly even triggering a new wave of peasant bankruptcies."

Alexander III frowned at this. These problems were well known—what he sought was a solution, not to listen to complaints.

"Is there a way to avoid the worst-case scenario?" asked Alexander III expectantly.

Sadly, identifying problems is easy, solving them is difficult. This was a trend of the times, something not easily resolved by individual capability.

Baolsha Ke shook his head: "The international market contraction is not something the Ministry of Agriculture can influence.

If possible, the best course would be to diplomatically convince the French to give up their large farm plan."

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Passing the buck, the Ministry of Agriculture had no way to cope with the agricultural crisis and had to pin their hopes on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

"This is impossible!

The French have already withdrawn from the free trade system, and even if the international grain prices plummet to rock bottom, they can still implement tariff barriers to protect their domestic market from shock.

By achieving grain self-sufficiency, the French government can save a substantial amount of foreign exchange expenditures every year and reverse the current trade deficit situation. I really can't see any reason why the French would give this up.

Instead of hoping that the French have taken leave of their senses and abandon the large farm plan, we might as well start thinking of ways to reduce grain production capacity or to expand market demand now."

Faced with the issue tossed over, Foreign Minister Oscar Ximenes didn't hesitate to hit back.

Both Russia and Austria are France's competitors on the European Continent. While striking at competitors, they can also gain substantial profits; the French government has no reason not to act.

To say nothing of Russia applying pressure in the past—even if all the countries of Europe were to pressure them—the French would not give up.

Agricultural Minister Paul Baolsak steadfastly refused, "The population engaged in agricultural production in our country amounts to fifty or sixty million people. It's simply impossible to get so many people to reduce production simultaneously.

Expanding the market is even more of a joke. Isn't the domestic grain demand market expanding?

However, as the market expands, our grain production capacity also grows in sync, and at times even faster.

This is under the premise that domestic agricultural production technology is still backward. If the latest agricultural production technologies are adopted, domestic grain production capacity could increase by a third.

If it weren't for the concern that increased grain production capacity would not find a market, the Ministry of Agriculture would have already promoted new technologies."

Although the words were harsh, Alexander III understood that these were the facts—reducing production capacity and expanding the market were both unrealistic.

"Once the French complete their plan, Austria will also suffer heavy losses. What is the Vienna government preparing to do?" Alexander III asked expectantly.

There's nothing embarrassing about it; if you can't handle it yourself, learn from others. The worst is when others don't know what to do either.

After hesitating for a moment, Paul Baolsak answered, "Your Majesty, the situation in Austria is different from ours.

As a major grain exporting country, Austria primarily exports finished and by-products, which have a stronger resistance to risk.

As early as 1884, the trade volume of Austrian exported agricultural by-products and food industry-related products accounted for 47.9% of the total agricultural product export volume, and this percentage is still growing.

A drastic drop in grain prices does not significantly impact canned goods, biscuits, snacks, and industrial chemical products; in fact, due to the reduced production costs, profits might even increase further.

The main impact is on the sale of finished grain products, such as flour, potato flour...

After a grain price drop impacts the retail market, there is still some time for processing businesses to lower grain purchasing prices and shift their own risks..."

Seeing Tsarist's increasingly displeased face, Baolsak's voice got lower and lower until he finally fell silent.

It was normal for Alexander III to feel unhappy, as he had thought there would be others suffering alongside him, but it turned out others had already prepared a way out.

Once Austrian businesses lower grain purchasing prices, most of the losses would fall on the Russian Empire, and they could not refuse.

After all, during an agricultural crisis, being able to sell at all is considered lucky. If they were unlucky, they could only let their products pile up in the warehouse and wait to go moldy.

Seeing the tension in the air, Finance Minister Alisher Gurov accidentally steered away from the topic: "No matter how they shift the losses, Austrian agriculture will be impacted; it's just a matter of degree.
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Given the scale of Austrian agriculture, even a drop of one percentage point is enough to make the Vienna government wince.

Once the agricultural crisis breaks out, even if their industrial chain is perfected, they will suffer heavy losses; the Vienna government can't possibly take no action.

If there is no move now, it's probably because they too have been rattled by the French's sudden action and don't know how to respond at the moment."

Upon hearing this explanation, Alexander III's expression eased slightly. Having others to share the burden felt better; being the only one in misfortune was indeed too tragic.

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will closely monitor Austria's movements and report to me immediately if there are any developments."

...

Alexander III did not have to wait long.

On June 11, 1885, Austria sent out invitations to Russia, Denmark, Argentina, the United States of America, Brazil, and other agricultural product exporting countries for the third Agriculture Summit to be held in Vienna in March of the following year.

This outcome made many people breathe a sigh of relief. Some reaction is better than none at all, and the worst fear is a complete lack of response.

The French's large farm strategy is still just a plan at this point, to be exact, an intention, without even a detailed planning.

Implementing it won't happen overnight. Apart from anything else, just choosing the location will take more than a month or two to sort out.

By the time the agricultural experts have selected a site and completed the preliminary design plans, the year would have passed without even time to level the land.

There is plenty of time; there's no need to rush. It'll be several years before it becomes a threat.

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