War Palace and Knee Pillow, Austria’s Destiny

Belgrade, No. 1 Royal Paper Products Factory.

This is Franz's most solid backing when fighting a public opinion war, and it can also be regarded as a gift from the Austrian Empire to this city.

Due to the existence of the Royal Paper Mill, a large number of related industries developed around it, thus creating a large number of jobs, and the locals also lived a prosperous life.

The most important reason why Franz chose this place was not the convenient transportation, cheap raw materials, or cheap local labor, but that it was far enough away from Vienna and on the lower reaches of the Danube River.

In fact, very few countries exported paper to foreign countries in this era, because all countries had very low papermaking capabilities and could hardly meet their own domestic needs.

But at the same time, there is a strange phenomenon, that is, the market’s desire to buy is also very low. Even the United Kingdom, the country with the highest paper production in the world at this time, rarely exports paper.

Historically, the British paper production in 1844 was 200,000 tons, and the export volume was only 10,000 tons. The French paper production was 110,000 tons, the United States was 11,000 tons, Prussia was 6,000 tons, and the huge Austrian Empire was only a pitiful 0.4 Thousands of tons.

In fact, this historical phenomenon is caused by different processes. The traditional papermaking industry in Europe still uses circular wire papermaking machines, while Britain and France have adopted more advanced fourdrinier wire papermaking machines, and the United States is because the papermaking industry has just started.

Fourdrinier wire papermaking itself is more suitable for large-scale production than rotary wire papermaking, but what really enabled the large-scale development of the papermaking industry was the development of chemical pulping technology.

Franz didn't know the specific process of this technology, but he knew that caustic soda (sodium hydroxide) was needed. In fact, the scientific name of this pulping method is caustic soda pulping.

The process is basically the same as the modern common sulfate method, but caustic soda solution is used for cooking, and sodium carbonate or caustic soda is used in the alkali recovery system to supplement the loss of alkali during the production process.

This method is commonly used to cook hardwood and non-wood plant fiber raw materials. The quality of the resulting pulp is close to that of sulfate pulp, but it is still a very big improvement for the papermaking industry at this time.

Historically, this method was invented by the British in 1851, but with the support of Franz's financial resources and "prophecy", a few unknown chemists tinkered with it.

After all, even the caustic soda and steamer are ready. If these people can't get it out, they will be worse than pigs.

Due to the application of the Fourdrinier paper machine and the caustic soda pulping method, the paper output of the Austrian Empire had reached 130,000 tons at this time, surpassing France to become the second in the world and the first in Europe.

At this time, Austria's paper was not only self-sufficient but also used to seize the international market. Its most important trading partners were Russia and the Ottomans.

Franz actually liked the feeling of importing wood from Russia and the Ottomans at low prices and then selling paper to them at high prices to make a profit.

After all, this will not only recover costs, but also promote the development of the country's economy.

In fact, what was returned to them was not only paper, but also a large amount of waste water. Although it was a bit bad, it was still a bit cool.

Vienna, Schönbrunn Palace.

In addition, Franz also did some market research and found that the demand for paper products in the market is single, and 70% of paper is used for newspaper and book printing.

Government office paper only accounts for 2% of the total demand, and the rest is paper for account books, educational paper, writing paper, and other uses (toilet paper, packaging paper.).

Although Franz only felt that he had done an insignificant thing, it shocked Kagura and Adjani.

Especially Kagura's mouth seemed to be able to fit an egg, so Franz peeled one off and stuffed it in, making the former dance and roll his eyes.

"Don't show your emotions, that will become your weakness." Even in this situation, Franz did not forget to teach the envoy who was about to set off.

Kagura immediately knelt down and leaned over and answered neatly, "Yes."

"You are clearly teasing others, but you still say it so seriously." Adjani kept complaining in her heart.

She was confused by this Eastern model, and rolled her eyes at Franz to express that she would never kneel on the ground and do that kind of thing.

But I still think what Franz did is incredible. After all, there was no concept of market research at the time, let alone proposing changes to the market, product structure, etc. It was simply unbelievable.

Franz is very clear that in the future, news paper will far exceed the paper used for printing books, and cheap paper specially used for printing newspapers will occupy half of the paper products market.

In fact, until the 1980s, newsprint accounted for half of the paper products market in major European and American countries.

Moreover, the paper product market will continue to expand in the future, including packaging and daily life paper product markets, which will appear and continue to expand.

So Franz knew very well that the 130,000 tons at this time was not a number to be proud of. On the contrary, it was too little.

Franz’s plan is to double the company’s growth in one year. Adjani would definitely sneer at such words if spoken to others.

But she didn't dare to underestimate the young man in front of her. After all, in the past three years, she had witnessed how the Austrian Empire's paper production increased thirty-fold.

Adjani joked: "Just double? Don't you think it's too little? It's not like what you said."

"The market can't digest it, so what's the use of having so much?" Franz asked rhetorically.

Although human demand for paper is increasing rapidly with the development of society, thinking inertia and consumption habits are not so easy to change.

And paper is a commodity after all. Once the supply exceeds demand, the price will drop, leading to a series of problems.

Franz is still more willing to enjoy the market dividends for a while. At the same time, in order to ensure that Austrian paper is sufficiently competitive, it must also maintain technological leadership.

The Royal Society of Science has invested millions of florins in development funds for this purpose. Where did this money come from? Of course it’s the market!

Only in this way can a virtuous cycle be formed. Otherwise, even if Franz hollows out all the gold mines in the world, there will be a day when the holes cannot be filled.

Of course, those millions of florins cannot all be used to develop papermaking technology. After all, the times are limited, and some things cannot be done. Instead of wasting resources on useless efforts, it is better to develop new products instead.

Franz is interested in the packaging paper market, toilet paper market and corrugated paper market, as well as the letter paper market, which is the most fiercely contested.

In fact, historically, Austria's paper industry was mainly concentrated in the high-end paper market. After all, this is the most profitable. However, with the development of the times, the amount of paper used has increased dramatically, and traditional handcrafts cannot keep up with the development of the industrial era. This led to the overall backwardness of the Austrian paper industry.

Franz does not intend to obliterate all traditional craftsmanship. He will acquire those traditional technologies through acquisitions, cooperation, etc., try to industrialize them, or turn some of the valuable ones into real luxury goods.

As for the "dross" among them, Franz will directly write those technologies into a book and then throw them into the torrent of history.