Holy Roman Empire

Compared to passenger cars, trucks and tractors actually enjoy more favor with consumers in the market.

The former are luxury items, capable only of consuming wealth; the latter are means of production, able to create even more wealth.

Rich people aren't fools, they can clearly distinguish what is more important. When faced with a choice, they will, of course, decide based on their own needs.

Generally speaking, city capitalists tend to favor cars. Because cars can showcase their esteemed status and bring convenience in the business world.

Well, this is just a psychological illusion. Unless you're going out as a con artist, deliberately flaunting wealth to deceive others, it might have some use.

In normal business settings, negotiations proceed as they ought to. No one concedes easily when interests are at stake.

The true function of cars, perhaps, is to impress one's subordinates. Operating through an invisible display of wealth, it signals to everyone: the boss is rich, no need to worry.

The buyers of trucks and tractors, aside from transportation companies, are mostly farmers from the countryside, as well as some of the nobility.

Farmers have real needs. Unlike the expensive cars, tractors were defined as budget vehicles from their inception.

This isn't Franz's concern. In an agricultural powerhouse like Austria, it would be problematic if the Vienna Government did not intervene after discovering such a godsend as the tractor.

Starting from 1883, the Vienna Government has issued decrees to exempt tractor manufacturers from taxes, encouraging them to sell to farmers at low prices.

Up to now, several state-owned enterprises have ventured into tractor production, directly driving down sales prices.

Compared to the high profits from cars, tractors really are dirt cheap.

Dual-purpose tractors for hauling and plowing are priced around 200 to 300 Divine Shields on the market, and single-purpose ones can be bought for as little as 150 Divine Shields.

Of course, you get what you pay for. Their practical value is not low, but comfort is not to be expected.

To cut production costs, some manufacturers even skip seats, requiring consumers to install them themselves after purchase.

The pungent fumes, the jarring "putt, putt, putt…" noise when running if there were a user experience rating, many would probably give it a zero.

In comparison, trucks can be considered an improvised version of cars. They're essentially cars with an added carriage at the back, and a few more cylinders underneath for power.

Comfort-wise, they are much better than tractors but can't compare with cars. In terms of price, they are in between the two.

As they are larger, their production isn't as technically difficult, so the cost is slightly lower.

If it weren't for transportation limitations, it's estimated that the proliferation of trucks would be much faster than that of cars, which only operate within the city or in surrounding areas.

As soon as they were introduced to the market, they won over the nobility. Whether hauling grain and vegetables to the city for sale or carrying possessions on hunting trips, trucks are much more convenient than horse-drawn carriages.

Showcasing one's social status is something only the nouveau riche need. Since the revolution of 1848, the Austrian nobles have become more low-key.

The new class of capitalists has taken over their role as the target of public enmity, as can be seen from daily newspapers.

Most news stories exposing social realities cast either the upstart capitalists or their second generation as the villains.

In contrast, the proportion of degenerate offspring among the nobility is much lower. Of course, this might be due to social constraints limiting their chances to misbehave.

Noble offspring have many commitments, and after reaching adulthood, they each spend years honing themselves in the military.

By the time they return home, they are no longer young and not the rash teenagers of before, learning to think before acting.

In fact, there is no shortage of scandals among the nobility, with all sorts of bizarre pregnancies emerging one after another.

These individuals have to consider their family's reputation, and except for the occasional fool, most know to keep their affairs out of the spotlight.

In comparison to the old nobility, the newly risen Military Nobility, lacking experience in dealing with such matters,

Many have caused more trouble after gaining power, succumbing to the intoxication of authority and failing to extricate themselves.

To Franz, these are minor problems.

If an issue hasn't come to light, then everyone is fine, and naturally, as Emperor, he wouldn't be aware of it.

If an issue does come to light, then everyone involved should be dealt with according to Austrian law. That's it.

After witnessing chicken after chicken being slaughtered, it's had an effect. Whether it frightened the monkeys is uncertain, but the remaining chickens definitely got the scares.

With the vigorous development of the automotive industry, many surrounding industries have also benefited from this new production chain.

Steel, machinery manufacturing, petrochemicals... and a number of other industries have notably accelerated their development over these years.

Take the steel industry for example. It seems that the current car production isn't high and consumes only a little steel each year.

But the automotive industry now requires fine steel or the special steel widely used in the military, not a heap of scrap iron that needs to be melted down and remade.

The customer is always right—where there is market demand, service will follow. As long as the money is right, everything is negotiable.

There is no Austrian law stipulating that military-grade special steel cannot be used for civilian purposes. Before this, no one used it because it was too expensive.

Now it's different. Low-end cars can't afford this high technology, but it must be included in the luxury models.

Influenced by this positive news, in just the first half of 1885 alone, Austria's special steel production broke through 50,000 tons, while the entire year of 1880 had only a meager production of just over 30,000 tons of special steel.

…

Economic development does not always go smoothly, time flies by, and by the end of 1885, trouble came knocking.

Franz asked in surprise, "A problem with the transportation, what problem?"

It's not boasting to say that at this time, transportation within Austria itself was known as the second best in the world, and indeed no one dared to claim they were the first.

The extensive railway network connected Austrian cities, large and small; on the map, it looked like a dense spider web.

The Austrian economy was able to grow rapidly, and this "railway spider web" played a huge part in that success. It could be said that without convenient transportation, the Austrian Empire as it is today would not exist.

The Minister of Transportation, Styrons, explained, "From an overall perspective of the Empire, our transportation situation is still at a world-leading level, but some areas are already experiencing severe congestion.

It is primarily in several of the Empire's major industrial cities, which have seen a continuous influx of population over the years, leading to an ever-increasing pressure on transportation.

Especially since the invention of the automobile, the original urban planning can no longer keep up with the pace of the times.

Currently, the main problems are concentrated in old industrial cities such as Prague, Pilsen, Brno, Ostrava, Munich, Stuttgart, Kaunice, Linz, and Milan.

Due to overpopulation, the rush hour congestion during commutes is common, with many people wasting up to half an hour just squeezing onto a bus.

In comparison, the situation is much better in the newer industrial cities in the south of the Empire, such as Belgrade, Sarajevo, Zagreb, and Bucharest.

Besides the cities, another issue is that the roads we previously built are not wide enough, with many sections too narrow to allow two large trucks to pass each other easily."

These problems are all inevitable outcomes. Even if the old industrial cities underwent upgrades and renovations, it was still based on their original structures without significant changes to the city's architecture.

Looking back thirty years, those changes were sufficient for the needs at the time. The designers did not possess the ability to predict the future and couldn't have imagined how fast Austria would develop.

Franz wasn't a professional urban designer, so even if he wanted to intervene, he wouldn't know where to begin. Moreover, by that time, the Vienna Government was already heavily in debt, so Franz's wallet was too empty to entertain the idea of large-scale demolitions and constructions.

Thirty years on, these problems have come to light, and now it was up to the government to find solutions.

The industrial cities in the south were established later on when the Vienna Government's finances gradually improved.

Moreover, since their foundations were weak and without many historical burdens, demolishing them wasn't much of a loss. Therefore, these southern cities are more modernized, and their traffic capacity is much higher.

"Congestion" is relative; compared to the congested cities of later ages, spending half an hour on a bus is hardly worth mentioning.

It is much better than spending half an hour at a bus stop during your commute, only to move a few hundred meters forward, which is even slower than walking.

City transportation needs improvement, and so does the traffic outside the cities. Before the automobile was invented, Austria's roads were also considered top-notch in Europe.

However, a road and a highway are two different concepts. The former was for horseback, at best accommodating horse-drawn carriages.

The automobiles of thirty years ago were all hefty steam-powered ones, suitable for hauling mining cargo but not designed with road travel in mind.

The lifespan of a dirt road is quite long; many years have passed with patches and repairs, and those roads from years ago are still in regular use.

There was no issue of building highways too early, as highways also have a lifespan; if built too soon, they might have retired even before cars became prevalent.

To solve these issues, the government would again need a major round of infrastructure construction.

Prime Minister Karl opposed, "In the short term, we are not suited to initiate another round of major infrastructure construction. At least until the first phase of the Near East development plan is completed, the government should not be distracted.

The issue of urban traffic congestion can be addressed by the Department of Transportation improving management, or by increasing the number of buses to release more transport capacity as much as possible.

Although this doesn't solve the problem at its root, delaying the problem for a while is still feasible.

The roads outside the city were not originally designed for automobiles, so it is inevitable that they don't meet the needs. Theoretically, to meet these needs, all of the country's roads would need an upgrade.

But we all know that this is impossible. If we were to build a highway network that covers the entire country, the construction costs would probably be only slightly cheaper than our railway network.

This exceeds the government's financial capacity, and we cannot issue bonds for financing indefinitely.

These issues are not urgent; we can start planning, and it's not a big deal to delay the actual implementation."

The problem emerged, and it was then Franz realized that Austria was still poor. Replanning and upgrading the old industrial cities would cost almost as much as building a new city from scratch.

With a dozen or so projects already underway in the Near East development plan, the Vienna Government really didn't have the financial ability to start another wave simultaneously.

Regarding highway network construction, there are no existing examples to follow, but referring to Austria's railway network could essentially illustrate the point.

If it weren't for cheating a bunch of international investors with friendly sponsorships, relying solely on the Vienna Government to build, it's questionable whether these routes would even be open right now.

"Once bitten, twice shy."

Having been conned once, international capital learned its lesson. It would now be quite difficult to find so many "enthusiastic individuals" for friendly sponsorships by pulling the same trick again.

Highways differ from railways; the prospects for investing in railways are bright. Endure the long investment period, and the returns will be substantial.

Highways, on the other hand, present a muddled prospect for profitability, with no precedents to follow.

In these times, when there aren't many cars to begin with, even charging tolls in the most economically developed regions might not be enough to cover the salaries of toll collectors.
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It is truly hard to convince investors to put money into a business with no clear path to profitability.

Forget the investors; even Franz, a transmigrator, wasn't optimistic about the profitability of highway projects.

There was no choice; the widespread adoption of cars takes time. Only when the market reaches a certain level could tolls potentially recover the investment costs and yield returns.

However, capitalists can't wait that long. Even "value investing" wouldn't work because the highways built earlier might be obsolete before recovering the costs.

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