Mediterranean Hegemony Road

Major events:

In 1882, Germany, Austria and Italy held negotiations in Vienna, and on May 20 of the same year, the Treaty of the Triple Alliance was signed, marking the formation of the Triple Alliance.

September 30 -- The world's first hydroelectric power plant begins operations (the dam on the Fox River in Appleton, Wisconsin, was the site of the world's first hydroelectric plant).

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On January 14, Ferdinand convened its management staff to hold an industrial development planning meeting.

The conference staff included not only the emerging industries established by Ferdinand, but also the heads of traditional industries of the Kohari family.

Mainly, Ferdinand found that many traditional industries still have great potential to tap. In his plan, there are many places to communicate, which can complement each other.

For example: Like many great nobles, the Kohari family also has its own wine estate, dedicated to serving its own family.

Ferdinand usually drinks a little of it himself, and it tastes very good. He felt that it was a waste. It was too wasteful to raise a large group of people just by serving a few people in his own family.

It is completely possible to expand the scale and sell to the market. Even if the output is expanded and the taste is reduced, as long as it is not lower than the popular goods on the market, he can sell it.

For example, the wheat and potatoes produced by the manor can no longer be sold from the beginning of this year, and their own factories can completely digest them.

There are also cattle and sheep from the pasture, which can completely build a slaughterhouse and send them to the supermarket to sell.

For another example, you can set aside a piece of land near your own city to grow vegetables, produce and sell them yourself, and so on.

The pomp of the great European nobles is often beyond the imagination of ordinary people.

Just like Ferdinand now has more than a dozen exclusive maids, and a team of chefs no less than five-star hotels in later generations, and can cook any cuisine from more than a dozen countries such as Italy, France, and India.

In the castle where he lives, there are no less than three hundred guards and servants. The clothes he wears are kept by special tailors who only serve him. There are seven or eight of his own luxury carriages.

The milk he drinks has his own dedicated pasture, and the best quality cows are selected for him alone. There are also standard wine estates, which only use the highest quality grapes to make wine and so on.

Of course, his ostentation was nothing, but Princess Clementine's style was big, and it completely matched her status as a French princess.

Anyway, the income of the Kohari family, in addition to the necessary expenses, is no less than 100,000 pounds a year, which is spent on their ostentation, and this cost is still increasing year by year.

This is also the source of the transformation of big aristocrats into big capitalists. The income of traditional industries can no longer meet their increasing consumption needs.

Ferdinand hated these bad habits and was eager to change all of them. As for whether he would lose face of the nobles, he said that he would wear a vest.

Ferdinand has no plans to challenge the aristocratic system, his butt decides his head, and he himself is the beneficiary. On the bright side, Ferdinand was still a loyal supporter of the aristocratic system, and his pomp and circumstance had not changed. At most, the maid was a part-time secretary.

While Ferdinand's restructuring of the industry was happening, the Vienna retail scene was changing. Squeezed by Volvo, the profits of many grocery stores have plummeted, and behind-the-scenes capitalists have transformed and entered the supermarket industry.

Beginning in February, a department store called Little Ding-Dong opened, breaking Volvo's monopoly and starting a hundred schools of thought in the retail industry.

Until October, Vienna, an international metropolis, opened more than 80 new department stores and supermarkets.

At the beginning, everyone kept a certain distance in choosing the site, and deliberately avoided short-term confrontation. Although there is competition with each other, they get along harmoniously, and everyone's profits are passable.

However, after entering 1883, rising stars have sprung up one after another.

Can no longer be avoided. In some areas, there are seven or eight department stores and supermarkets on one street, and some supermarkets are directly door-to-door, directly grabbing business.

Since there is no technical content in the supermarket industry, capital matters swarmed. By the end of 1883, the density of supermarkets in Vienna was comparable to that of later generations.

Cruel competition has begun, and various means have emerged one after another. The price war is naturally the first choice. The streets are full of discounted advertisements, and everyone's good days are over.

Volvo is the dominant player in the industry, with stores in cities across the Austro-Hungarian Empire, as well as in Germany and Italy. Although it has also been hit, the Vienna store has remained profitable.

It was not until 1884 that the Cote Philips Department Store announced its reorganization in March, and the department store giant officially entered the supermarket field.

Ferdinand was very surprised. The competition in Vienna's supermarkets was brutal.

It was also very successful before. Although Volvo’s stores in Vienna were affected, in other cities, relatively conservative capitalists were stopped by this impact. Volvo's losses in Vienna were doubled in other cities.

Ferdinand knew the background of the Cote Philips department store very well. The Kohali family was also one of the large consortiums of the Hungarian Kingdom behind the scenes.

Since the dominant one is Hungary, the capitalist interest group engaged in the flour processing industry. Although Ferdinand also has a flour processing factory, most of them are produced and sold by themselves, so they usually don't pay much attention to the situation in this regard, but this time they were caught off guard.

Ferdinand, who reacted, immediately used his family relationship to figure out the ins and outs.

Due to the rapid expansion of Volvo, its share in the retail industry is increasing, and the Shuanghui Flour Processing Plant has naturally risen with the tide, and its market share has continued to grow.

The sales of Hungarian flour in the Austro-Hungarian Empire plummeted, and the capitalists in the flour industry could not sit still. If Ferdinand was an ordinary person, he could naturally find a way to make him submit, or send him to see God.

However, Ferdinand was also a great Hungarian nobleman, which belonged to internal competition, and many methods could not be used. Except for these capitalists who are suffering from skin pains, others have watched on the sidelines.

Yu is to support the entry of Cote Philips department store, to change Volvo's dominance in the retail industry, and to force Ferdinand to make concessions.

Ferdinand was relieved, as long as it was not the intention of the entire Hungarian consortium, then he would not be afraid of a mere Cote Philips department store.

And the news came so quickly, and it clearly showed the meaning of reconciliation, indicating that the other party did not intend to fight with him.

This incident also taught Ferdinand a lesson that it is necessary to strengthen the construction of intelligence work. Transmigrators are not omnipotent. If I usually pay more attention to these old family relationships, it is estimated that the two sides have already made peace, and this incident will not happen.