Holy Roman Empire

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"Why is the budget so high?"

It wasn’t that Franz was making a big fuss, the initial investment for the Near East development plan was as high as 200 million Divine Shields. If calculated based on these expenses, the originally planned 1 billion Divine Shields wouldn’t nearly be enough to complete the infrastructure construction.

Without infrastructure, immigrants won’t settle, and private capital naturally won’t flow in. Without attracting private capital, relying solely on government funding for development would bankrupt the Vienna Government.

Prime Minister Felix explained, "The main war has severely damaged the Near East region, beyond the government’s prior expectations.

Majority of the cities are in ruins, and for many cities, the cost of repair is higher than rebuilding.

Mines, roads, bridges, and water conservancy facilities are all destroyed by the war and must be rebuilt.

The most troublesome issue is the complete loss of local production; many of the raw materials needed for the initial construction have to be transported from within the country."

Franz had nothing to say. Building a new city was not a big deal, but the vast Near East region – could it be managed by just one city?

To settle immigrants, it’s not possible to keep everyone in the cities. The sectors most likely to take root and recover were agriculture, mining, and factories.

Employment is necessary to retain people. In those days, the tertiary industry had not yet developed, and the primary industry was still the core pillar.

Money must be invested; taking over the Ottoman Empire was to secure a stable rear base. Without development, a blank rear base would be like Alaska to Russia.

After hesitating for a moment, Franz slowly said, "Announce the plan publicly, to see if we can attract some investors.

If we can restore some of the local industries, and reduce the transportation from the homeland, we should be able to press down the costs."

Times have changed, today’s Vienna Government is no longer the poor bloke that hated not to split a Divine Shield in half to spend twice.

Even if the initial budget overran by several tens of millions, Franz was just slightly surprised. An additional expense of tens of millions of Divine Shields would merely mean issuing tens of millions more in bonds, not yet a fiscal crisis.

It’s normal for the government’s previous budget to have errors. Everyone sits in the office, analyzing the data from the battle reports from the front, making budget estimations based on the map.

Now having taken over the Near East, and having collected firsthand data, it’s natural for a budget reevaluation to have discrepancies.

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Army Minister Feslav handed over a document, "Your Majesty, this is a list of officers and soldiers who have merited in the Near East war, as well as the Army Department’s post-war retirement, casualty compensation, and handling proposal.

In this war, a total of 286 servicemen accumulated enough military merits for ennoblement, of which 71 were for title promotions.

After the war, a total of 286,000 servicemen need to retire, among them 278,000 will enter the reserves, needing subsidies totaling 87.689 million Divine Shields.

In this war, a total of 14,134 soldiers were killed or maimed, requiring compensation totalling 67.6536 million Divine Shields.

Based on double the local military land reward standard, including soldiers killed in action, a total of 66,424 qualify to apply for military lands, with 84,376 partially qualifying for compensation to claim lands.

According to the will of the officers and fallen soldiers’ relatives, a total of 150,359 personnel have applied for military lands this time, requesting a total of 11.7648 million hectares.

Because some officers are applying for differential payments, this part of the funds can almost entirely offset the retirement subsidies and casualty compensations."

Without a doubt, the cannon fodder army wasn’t included in the statistics, otherwise the numbers of maimed or killed could increase tenfold.

In a country like Austria, war is the best opportunity to change one’s destiny. Another two hundred plus fortune-favored individuals have emerged from this Near East war.

Compared to ennoblement, promotions of nobility are actually more difficult. The military merits needed for the next step are often several times that of the previous, the higher one goes, the harder it gets.

But these are minor issues, the same in any world; the path narrows as one ascends.

Military lands still remain as popular as ever, putting Franz’s mind at ease. With the Near East region being largely unclaimed, Franz didn’t mind dispersing it all.

Military lands are popular not only because these lands enjoy tax privileges, but also because they come with a lofty social status.

As long as one is eligible to apply, no one would give it up. Though it couldn’t be sold, renting it out wasn’t a problem at all.

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The Near East, being somewhat more remote than the homeland, nevertheless had more relaxed standards and offered compensation at double the land area, with even higher compensation possible for mountainous and forest areas.

Compared to overseas colonies, regions adjoining the homeland were more popular. Not everyone likes to travel far; it is always good to be close to home.

Moreover, although the Ottoman Empire was a bit uncivilized, people still recognized it as being slightly better than the most remote and impoverished areas.

In this respect, serving the Austrian Emperor was not a bad deal. There was money to be had, as well as land.

As long as one didn’t die, after several battles one could become a farmer, and with a bit of luck, even rise directly to the nobility.

Even if military honors were insufficient, as long as one had that recognition, one could still apply for land grants, albeit with limited acreage.

In non-core territories, people were allowed to purchase land at a low cost, enjoying similar privileges as those granted for military service. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

This was a special policy adopted by the Vienna Government when it faced financial difficulties, and Franz could not afford to pay pensions.

This policy should have been canceled later on, but the Austrian Empire had expanded so greatly, resulting in vast ownerless lands.

Land that was not developed held no value; relying solely on the government’s strength for development was surely insufficient. Franz did not wish to be an ineffective large landlord, and so the policy continued.

An additional hundred thousand farmers, including their families, amounted to nearly two million immigrants. With these direct descendants as the ruling core, a few million more immigrants would ensure the stability of the Near East.

According to Austrian sociologists, farmers were the most successful at population growth, with the best among them capable of producing an entire soccer team.

With relatively superior material conditions, lesser life pressures, and fewer rural entertainments, they became the main force behind Austria’s population growth.

Against the backdrop of the global rise of the capitalist class, Austria’s agricultural ownership class continued to grow. The newly created Military Nobility injected fresh vitality into this class.

Austria consistently ranked as the world’s top exporter of agricultural products, monopolizing three-quarters of the European market, which provided a material foundation for the development and expansion of farmers.

Franz did not focus on the issue of the farmers’ class growing stronger; innate limits lay in place, constrained by land resources.

The ability to grow against the trend of the times was a result of Austria’s expansion and the acquisition of vast amounts of land. When these lands were fully developed, that would be the limit for the farming class.

Of course, as long as Austria did not decline and continued to monopolize the European agricultural market with its geopolitical advantage, the farming class would remain an important force.

Together with the political alliance formed with the nobility, suppressing the capitalist class would not be a problem for a considerable length of time in the future.

As loyal supporters of the imperial power, these individuals were ready to take up arms and head to battle at a moment’s notice, bearing the responsibility for the nation’s military strength.

With these pillars of support, even if suppression proved impossible, overturning the table was an option.

Theoretically, such a scenario should not happen.

The backbone of Austria’s capitalist class was not strong enough, not just because of a lack of military power, but also the presence of state enterprises and the Royal Consortium as effective checks and balances.

Should anyone get too carried away and lose touch with reality, within the confines of the rules, Franz had the power to bankrupt them in minutes, and the Consortium was no exception.

In a capitalist world, capital speaks volumes; if water, electricity, energy, and transportation were all controlled, even the most powerful capitalist could not withstand it.

Unless one chose to abandon physical assets and focus solely on finance, this approach would not lead to significant influence. The power of the Consortium lay in both their wealth and control over many people’s livelihoods.

Without these foundations, money becomes just a number. Its social influence would be greatly limited.

Taking the document, Franz glanced over it briefly, "First, distribute the cash, and ensure that the government promptly executes the land grant work.

Given the special circumstances of the Near East, regions can be determined first, with specific land distribution to be postponed. The related departments should prepare thorough explanations.

The nobility’s investiture ceremony will be held the day before Christmas. The Cabinet will take care of the arrangements."

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