Oil Fields

What happened in Egypt was naturally unknown to Franz. Such a trivial matter did not require the Emperor's personal attention.

Recently, aside from the bleak outlook for agriculture, Austria's economy as a whole had been flourishing.

Barring any surprises, it would be restored to its peak level from before the economic crisis by the end of the year.

Looking at the latest economic report, Franz let out a sigh of relief. The Near East Development Plan was, in essence, built by throwing money at it; no returns could possibly be seen in the short term.

To raise funds, the Vienna Government had successively issued 500 million Divine Shields in construction bonds. Interest payments alone amounted to as much as 1.86 million each month.

This was only the beginning. As the Near East Development Plan continued to advance, government debt would continue to rise in the days ahead.

Adding in the old debts from before, Franz was surprised to find that surpassing the Russians in total government debt was now only a matter of time.

"How far has the development of the oil fields in Iraq progressed?"

There was no helping it. In the short term, the only project in the Near East where returns could be seen was the oil field discovered in Iraq.

With so many oil fields in the Middle East, Franz had no idea which one it corresponded to in later generations.

Those were minor details. Whoever discovered it first would extract it first; whoever discovered it later would extract it later. The oil buried underground was not going anywhere.

Prime Minister Karl replied, "The extraction equipment has already been installed. We are currently laying the oil pipeline, and it is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

"Once production begins, Iraq's oil will