Holy Roman Empire

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Domestic sales are out of the question, but it’s negotiable in the colonies. Despite appearing to manage its territories domestically, in reality, many regions of the Tsarist Government exhibit colonial characteristics.

One could specifically refer to the tax-farming system. Even after Alexander II had completed tax reform, many places in the Russian Empire continued to use this tax-farming system.

It’s not that the Tsarist Government was blind to the dangers of the tax-farming system, but the Russian Empire was simply too vast. In many remote areas, tax revenue wasn’t even sufficient to pay the salaries of tax collectors.

To prevent its already fragile finances from collapsing, the Tsarist Government had no choice but to sell the tax collection rights to capitalists.

Even to save costs, some regions’ administrative powers were directly handed down to the local nobility.

Of course, these were special products of wartime, with time limits. If the financial situation improved, the Tsarist Government would reclaim them when the time expired.

Alexander III, appearing nonchalant, said, "Let’s just talk for now. Whatever the Austrians are planning, as long as we take care of ourselves, that’s all that matters.

"This time, we must learn from our mistakes and must prospect the resources in the area in advance to negotiate prices with the Austrians. We can’t let them take advantage again."

The Tsarist Government wasn’t short on territory, and Alexander III was amongst the most peace-loving of the Tsars, with the least desire for land expansion of his predecessors.

If Austria hadn’t been so pushy, he would not have initiated the Russo-Turkish War at this time.

Newly occupied territories could not generate wealth in the short term; on the contrary, they required substantial administrative expenses, and would not break even for a long time to come.

For the financially strained Tsarist Government, increasing territory effectively meant increasing its burden.

As long as the price was right, carving out a piece of territory from the spoils of war for the Armenians to establish an independent nation was naturally not a problem. n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Foreign Minister Oscar Ximenes said, "Your Majesty, we just received a message from the Vienna Embassy.

A plague has broken out on the Asia Minor Peninsula, highly contagious and suspected to be the Black Death. Many medical experts believe the region is no longer suitable for human habitation.

To reduce loss of life, the Vienna Government has initiated the Emergency Risk Avoidance Act, preparing to evacuate the population from the newly occupied territories.

They intend to outsource this task and have offered a high resettlement subsidy. Depending on the distance, the specific standard varies from 15 to 40 Divine Shields per person.

As long as you transport these people away from Austria and settle them, you could receive a subsidy of at least 15 Divine Shields per person.

If the government’s finances are tight, perhaps we could consider..."

Of course, there was an outbreak, but not a large-scale plague, and certainly not the Black Death; otherwise, Austria wouldn’t be taking action at this time.

While capitalists are greedy, they value their lives even more. The profits from human trafficking are high, but so are the risks.

With already high mortality rates during sea voyages, adding a plague meant potential annihilation at any moment. Even if the group didn’t wipe out completely, if most of the people died, what would be left to earn from?

Essentially, using the guise of resettlement was for reputation. If people died en route, recruiting butchers would suffice; why bother spending a lot of money?

Alexander III frowned, instinctively repulsed by such business. The Russian Empire was one of the four great powers of the world; how could it stoop to the level of human trafficking?

Yet, reality is cruel. Seeing the eager eyes of those around him, Alexander III knew they hoped to make a profit to subsidize the treasury.

After all, the price offered by Austria was too tempting. Even at the lowest standard of 15 Divine Shields per person, a million people amounted to 15 million Divine Shields.

The purchasing power of the Divine Shield was not low. With current grain prices in Russia, 15 Divine Shields could buy 3 tons of rye or 5 tons of potatoes.

The actual price would be even higher, and Alexander III was very aware of Franz’s style. To gain a good reputation, that man was definitely willing to spend the money.

Calming down, Alexander III expressed his doubts, "Does anyone know why the Austrians want to move these people away?"

Paying such a high price just to clear space was something Alexander III could never believe.

Oscar Ximenes shook his head, "The specific reason is still unclear. There are rumors that oil has been discovered in Mesopotamia.

However, the argument is not very convincing. Although Austria’s demand for oil has grown rapidly in recent years, oil is not a precious mineral, and the annual import cost is only a few hundred thousand Divine Shields.

To save a few hundred thousand Divine Shields in expenses by spending tens or even hundreds of millions of Divine Shields to move the population just doesn’t add up.

Moreover, securing an oil field is all that’s needed for oil extraction; there’s no need to make such a big fuss.

Another theory is that the Vienna Government intends to build a railway to Baghdad, preparing for an advance into the Persian region and worried about Ottoman sabotage.

This explanation still seems insufficient. As a colonial empire, Austria is not exactly a saint either.

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If the Ottomans kept themselves to themselves, that would be fine, but if they dared to stir up trouble, the Vienna Government would not mind painting the river red with their blood.

The war has brought great casualties to the Ottoman region, with scarcely one in ten of the young and strong surviving. As long as a portion of the nobility is allotted there, it will still be quite easy to govern the area."

"Feudal enfeoffment", though primitive, is the most effective means. Austria, renowned as a stronghold of the Conservative Nobility, is still widely employing it in their colonies.

After the Tsarist Government recaptured the Polish Region, they adopted this policy as well, which seemed to be effective in the short term.

News that is "true in falsehood and false in truth" is the most confusing, and Alexander III found himself disoriented as well.

The benefit obviously did not match the output; he would rather believe that the decision made by the Vienna Government was delusional than trust these two "rumors."

After some moments of perplexity, Alexander III slowly said, "We need to use our resources to investigate, and not having clear intelligence on the Austrians’ true intentions is indeed worrisome."

"Yes, Your Majesty!" replied Foreign Minister Oscar Ximenes.

The eager Finance Minister Alisher Gurov couldn’t help but interject, "Your Majesty, if the Austrians don’t have any tricks up their sleeves, should we consider selling some of the newly occupied territories to them?"

Seeing Alexander III did not respond immediately, Alisher Gurov continued, "According to the prior agreement, after the war, we would obtain half of the Asia Minor Peninsula and parts of the Greater Caucasus mountain range.

As a result of the war, these areas are largely desolate and will rely on financial grants from the Central Government for the next decade or so.

Only the western plains near Constantinople are of value to us; the rest can be sold."

If the deal goes through, not only could we obtain a substantial amount of revenue from the sale of the land, but also from resettling immigrants.

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Theoretically, we could gain a one-time cash revenue of hundreds of millions of Divine Shields.

Even if the Vienna Government wants to deduct debt from the payment, we could still reduce a considerable amount of debt and alleviate the government’s financial pressure."

Alisher Gurov did not wish to sell land, but the Ministry of Finance was truly destitute. If an economic crisis were to erupt and Austria agreed to postpone debt payments, the Tsarist Government would already be bankrupt.

Under such circumstances, taking on new burdens could only be sending ourselves deeper into the abyss.

If a debt default occurred, the Austrians would, as per the contract, take the collateral, which would not just be these worthless lands on the Asia Minor Peninsula.

Seeing Alexander III hesitate, Minister of Army Parladro Wald quickly objected, "No! Although the Russian Empire is vast, not a single inch of land is superfluous.

If we can sell the Asia Minor Peninsula today due to financial issues, we might sell the Balkan Peninsula tomorrow, and then Ukraine the next day. Are we going to sell off the Holy Land after that?"

Staring at the indignant Army Minister, Alisher Gurov was fuming, feeling as if the label of ’traitor’ was being affixed to him.

He retorted fiercely, "Nonsense! Who’s selling the Holy Land? Wald, don’t slander me here!

The Asia Minor Peninsula is Ottoman territory; what’s wrong with selling the enemy’s land?"

Selling one’s own land and selling someone else’s, particularly an enemy’s, are entirely different concepts.

Wald disdainfully said, "Any land reached by the Russian Army’s blade is Russian Empire territory."

Alisher Gurov fired back undaunted, "Fine then, you all can cling to the Asia Minor Peninsula for a living, but don’t come to me asking for post-war pensions."

Financial backers are always powerful; threatening with post-war pensions, Wald couldn’t help but falter.

Though he felt cornered, he didn’t soften his stance, responding fiercely, "If you dare to withhold the pensions, I will lead my men and block the doors to the Ministry of Finance every day…"

Before he could continue, Alexander III cut him off, "Silence, both of you! This is not the place for arguing, take it home if you want to quarrel.

You were called here to discuss matters. Whether to sell the Asia Minor Peninsula or not is a complex issue and should not be decided by someone’s subjective judgment."

Though unspoken, it was clear that the Tsarist was inclined to sell the Asia Minor Peninsula.

After all, it was a chance to turn over two sums of money; you don’t get this kind of opportunity very often. Timings could change, and there’s no guarantee of fetching such a good price later on.

A single penny can be a stumbling block for a hero, let alone a gap of several billion Gold Rubles.

To achieve industrialization, financial support is indispensable. Not to mention, the most basic infrastructure is still a necessity.

Unfortunately, the losses from the Prusso-Russian war were too grievous, leaving a huge mess for the government to clean up, especially with a vast amount of debt that cramped the Tsarist Government, making it hard to breathe.

And they still could not default, as this time the creditors were formidable—the Nordic Federation and Austria, north and south, both would recover the debts in a binding manner, leaving no room for default.