Holy Roman Empire

To fight a trade war does not mean allowing unchecked industrial expansion. Countless examples have proven that uncompetitive enterprises are the first to collapse when a crisis arrives.

Industries that are large but not strong struggle to survive in international competition. Austria has moved past the era of blindly pursuing quantity and now focuses on balancing quality and quantity.

To calm the market, the Austrian government issued a “Market Risk Warning” before Christmas of 1879, identifying thirty-nine industries as overcapacity sectors.

At the same time, investment entry barriers were raised. In addition to requiring registered capital, there were also technological requirements. Capitalists wishing to invest in these industries must adopt the most advanced technologies available at the time.

These barriers aren’t significant hurdles for capital. Outside of high-tech sectors, any industry can easily acquire advanced technology as long as there is sufficient money.

Franz didn’t expect investors to heed government warnings. In the face of profit, people tend to ignore risks.

By forcing investors to adopt advanced production technologies and enhancing product competitiveness, the goal was to help these new entrants endure longer when a crisis erupts.

This is crucial because, in a global overproduction crisis, companies will compete based on overall strength—costs and capital will determine who survives.

The king is the one who remains standing. In this context, the survivors are the true winners.

The same applies to nations: the country with more surviving, stronger enterprises will emerge as the new industrial hegemon.

Perhaps at the outset of the crisis, British and Austrian capital would join forces to eliminate competitors, but towards the later stages, the two nations’ industrial and commercial sectors would inevitably clash.

However, as colonial empires, both countries maintained exclusive colonial markets despite advocating free trade. With such an outlet for surplus goods, a complete economic collapse was unlikely.

The booming market gave the most straightforward impression: money was easy to make. Almost every industry benefited from the war economy, with one notable exception: the immigration industry.

That’s right, immigration was an industry in Austria. Driven by the Great Immigration Strategy, hundreds of thousands, even millions, of people migrated to Africa annually. From transportation to settlement, a complete industrial chain had formed.

Unfortunately, the immigration industry thrives inversely with economic prosperity. Only when economic development falters does the immigration sector flourish.

With large amounts of hot money pouring in and new job opportunities skyrocketing, people found it easier to earn money at home, and the willingness to emigrate naturally declined.

On the Vienna Ring Road, there stood an ancient building radiating Renaissance charm. However, it had lost its former bustle, with small groups of staff lazily basking in the sun.

If not for the sign above the entrance, no one would believe this was an Austrian government office. Indeed, it was the famous Immigration Bureau.

If such a scene occurred in any other government department, the audit office would have intervened long ago. But the Immigration Bureau was an exception.

During busy periods, its lights would burn around the clock; during slower times, ten minutes of work sufficed for an entire day, leaving the rest of the time idly unoccupied.

With ordinary staff now idle, Director Gold found himself deeply troubled. If everyone was sitting around with nothing to do, what would happen to the Great Immigration Strategy?

Even if the cabinet understood his predicament and did not hold him accountable, political blemishes caused by unfulfilled targets would remain indelible marks on his record.

In the conference room, Gold set down his report and addressed his team, “Everyone, since the outbreak of the Russo-Prussian War, the number of immigration applications has plummeted. This year’s immigration targets are already unachievable.

If we fail to act now, next year’s immigration efforts will likely face similar challenges. Year after year, if this continues, the government’s Great Immigration Strategy will collapse.

A failure of the immigration strategy will directly impact the economic development of the colonies and hinder the integration process of Africa. The consequences are far beyond what we can bear.

From now on, everyone must take action. Use your personal networks and do everything possible to promote immigration.”

The officials’ faces turned bitter. It was clear this was a thankless task. At that moment, many longed for the days of the economic crisis, when they didn’t need to say a word, and people would line up at their doors, begging for immigration opportunities.

A senior official objected, “Director, I’m afraid this won’t work. We’ve plastered immigration advertisements across the country. Even in the remotest mountain villages, people are well aware of our immigration campaigns.

After years of relentless promotion, the idea of immigration has already taken root in people’s minds. But the attachment to one’s homeland is a powerful force, and people simply aren’t willing to leave their native soil. Also, we cannot force them to emigrate.”

Not everyone is willing to go through such trouble. Many senior officials, having lost hope for further promotion, had little interest in these political tasks anymore.

But that wasn’t the main issue, as long as orders were given, they would still follow them.

What truly gave Gold a headache was the phrase “it’s unlikely to work.” If it wouldn’t be effective, then sending everyone out to promote immigration would be a pointless effort.

After a brief moment of hesitation, Gold spoke firmly, “If domestic efforts aren’t working, then go to other German states and promote immigration there. As long as they are ethnic Germans, they can count towards your performance metrics.

Focus especially on the Kingdom of Prussia, which is currently at war. Treat it as a key target area for promotion. Even if you get caught, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will bail you out.

Now, let’s set a target, form groups, and begin work immediately. Everyone in this meeting will be leading a promotional team, and I will be no exception.”

The Austrian Immigration Bureau already had a notorious reputation across the German states. Governments everywhere were on high alert, keeping a close eye on their activities.

For example, in the Kingdom of Prussia, Immigration Bureau staff had long been declared persona non grata. They couldn’t even obtain visas to enter the country.

However, where there’s a will, there’s a way. As a government agency, the Immigration Bureau had no trouble fabricating new identities to sneak past restrictions.

Promoting immigration wasn’t illegal, and even if their agents were caught, the Prussian government had no authority to punish them directly. In most cases, they would simply notify the Austrian Foreign Ministry to come and collect their personnel.

Austria was powerful enough that the Prussian government couldn’t openly retaliate, but they could still make life difficult behind the scenes.

Gold didn’t want to resort to such measures either, but he had no choice. If he didn’t at least appear to be making every effort, how could he convince others that they were trying their best?

There’s a world of difference between having tried and failed and having not tried at all.

By personally leading a mission, regardless of the results, it was better than watching his subordinates sunbathing all day.

Retirement? Gold was not even forty yet! As the head of the Immigration Bureau, one of the most important branches under the Ministry of Colonies, he still had a long political career ahead of him and plenty of opportunities for advancement.

Franz had no idea how much pressure the great immigration strategy had placed on the Immigration Bureau when he first formulated it.

In reality, it wasn’t just the Immigration Bureau under immense pressure, many Austrian government departments were overburdened.

In this era, civil servants weren’t as abundant as in later eras, yet the workload wasn’t much lighter.

Take the Immigration Bureau as an example: with fewer than 1,500 staff members, they managed operations across the entire European continent. At their peak, they had organized up to 1.3 million immigrants in a single year, sending them to overseas colonies.

Of course, a significant portion of these immigrants were organized by private colonial companies, with the Immigration Bureau mainly responsible for data collection and coordination among stakeholders.

What happens when there’s a shortage of manpower? The answer, naturally, is overtime. Forget about the eight-hour workday—it’s a pipe dream. During busy periods, working “996” (9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week) would already be considered leaving early.

There wasn’t much to complain about. In a society where overtime had become the norm, no one felt particularly out of place. After all, factory workers had it even worse.

According to statistics from the Austrian government, the average urban worker’s daily working hours were 9.1 hours, and this average included all 365 days of the year.

If you excluded holidays and rest days, many people worked well over 12 hours per day—an intense workload by any standard.

Of course, capitalists would never admit this. Many companies deducted essential breaks, meal times, bathroom trips, and even mechanical downtime from official working hours.

The purpose was clear: reduce overtime pay. With these adjustments, daily working hours could easily be shaved down by one to two hours, and the data suddenly looked much better.

The Immigration Bureau’s woes didn’t affect the average Austrian citizen. The public was still basking in the joy of rising incomes, working hard for a promising future.

There’s a saying: “Happiness is born from comparison.”

Compared to the war-torn regions of Prussia and Russia, the resource-starved French Republic, or the countless fragile small nations struggling for survival, Austrians naturally felt fortunate.

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