Chapter 269: The Divine Shield
Chapter 260: Divine Shield
The wedding celebration was over, Franz became busier, with so many guests coming over, how could he not entertain them as the host?
Banquet, banquet, or banquet, these days Franz welcome banquet to attend want to vomit. There was no way, etiquette could not be minimized.
Several younger brothers, the Habsburg family of a group of grand dukes, have become a hard labor, but these people seem to enjoy it, so Franz has nothing to say.
In Franz’s wedding of the good news impact, the Vienna government acquisition of gold blocked the news have been covered up. In the minds of the general public or the Emperor’s wedding is more worthy of attention, the acquisition of gold blocked, only professionals in the attention.
A series of busy work for more than a month, only to send away all the guests, during the period of how many promises and guarantees made, Franz himself do not remember. But it doesn’t matter, there are specialized staff records.
These kings came to personally participate in the wedding, surely it can’t be a simple visit to relatives, otherwise in this era of inconvenient transportation, the nobles have many relatives, all year round there are relatives getting married, they are not busy to death?
Franz did not prepare to make a storm in the European continent, naturally, he had to make good relations with everyone.
Don’t look at these small countries strength is not good, there is not much right to speak, but precisely because it is so everyone can rest assured to be friends ah!
As a respect for a pacifist emperor, Franz favorite or we do good friends, fighting and killing what can not do, or do not do good.
Europe is peaceful, the world is not peaceful, idle Britain and France, and began to do things in the world.
In 1852, Lambert, the acting commander of the East India Company, set his sights on Burma and extorted 100,000 pounds from the Burmese king on the grounds that the Burmese administrator of Pakokku did not receive him and issued a war ultimatum.
Such a stifling excuse also came up with, Franz are speechless. Whether he wanted to receive him or not, that was his freedom. It’s normal to not want to receive a bad guest.
However, in this era, the British practiced hegemony in the East, and even the British diplomat, Ogasu, openly declared, “We can’t be turned away anywhere in the East.”
The King of Burma was lucky that the Near East War suddenly broke out, and the London government’s energies were focused on the European continent, with the inevitable contraction of overseas colonial opening and expansion activities.
With a payout, the Burmese government survived a crisis.
Unfortunately, the Near East War did not last, and the corrupt Burmese government did not seize the opportunity to enrich and strengthen the country.
Now the idle British came to the door again, and this time there was nothing to attract the attention of the London government, so there was no doubt that war had broken out.
The war continued, and the British diplomat Ogasu had already openly declared that Burma was now a colony of the British Empire.
This kind of brutal approach directly refreshed Franz’s three views and made him realize once again what colonialism was.
In the Pacific region, Britain and France also engaged in a fierce struggle. Overall it was still the British who took advantage and the French who gained something.
Looking at the British and the French running around, Franz only envy the part, colonization of the Pacific region is still very challenging for Austria.
Axiom is always within the range of artillery, Austrian artillery can not shoot so far, run over the very easy to be taught to do.
This aspect of the Netherlands, Portugal is an example, as the pioneer of the colonial movement, this time to face the competition of Britain and France, they had to be careful.
Of course, the tiger’s mouth is also rare. The Dutch then took the rich and scintillating Indonesian region in the competition between Britain, France and the Netherlands.
This certainly has the relationship of international politics, more or in the Indonesian region of the Dutch occupy a first-hand advantage, operating for a longer period of time, compared with the British and French colonial power in the region has an advantage.
The Dutch if there is no strength in the local, no matter how the diplomatic operation, Britain and France are not likely to give up the rich Indonesian region, whether it is spices, or a variety of minerals, are not everyone can give up.
Now is the climax of the division of colonies, the world is still a lot of unclaimed land, everyone’s competition is fierce, but not yet to the end of the 19th century so cruel.
Austria did not join in this wave of division, the government’s main focus is still on currency reform, at most the African colonies are beginning to slowly expand outward.
This is a small problem, countries are looking overseas, poisonous insects and beasts everywhere in the African continent has not yet attracted everyone’s attention, Austria’s small action naturally no one noticed.
Vienna Palace
Finance Minister Karl said angrily, “Your Majesty, the price of gold has suddenly fallen, the London stock market has triggered violent turmoil, the British consortium has begun to reap the rewards, and we are considered to be the fish in the pond.”
Extrapolating from the logic that whoever profits is the mastermind, the Vienna government naturally believes that the mastermind this time is the British consortium.
As for the London government’s little maneuver? It’s obvious that it’s either being played, or it’s a real economic idiot.
Now the result is obvious, the Vienna government has to pay more money to buy gold. But this loss, no matter how great, is not as great as the price paid by Britain itself.
The tactic of killing a thousand enemies at their own expense is one that some people dare to use, and the tactic of killing a thousand enemies at their own expense is one that only a true military idiot would dare to use.
A stock market turmoil down, London’s stock market fell seven percent, tens of millions of pounds of wealth was evaporated. The number of bankrupt companies increased by several, and the number of unemployed people increased by more than 100,000 people.
After paying such a big price, the only profit maker is the British consortium. Not only did they make a huge profit, but they also strengthened their monopoly in the industry.
After analyzing the big data, Karl naturally thought that Austria was the victim of the disaster. The amount of gold purchased was lower than expected, the government’s work on currency reform was affected, and the loss paid was mainly in time.
Franz thought about it and said, “Don’t worry about them, as soon as the price of gold returns to normal, we’ll start buying, and as soon as the gold and silver exchange price rises more than five percent, we’ll close immediately.
As much as we can collect, after all this fuss, we must be prepared for a protracted war. Gold prices fall we will acquire, rise too much we will sell.
Since the British dare to stir up the gold market, let this market continue to be disorganized and see who loses more in the end.”
Others do not know the harm of blindly rising currency value, Franz can not know? The price of gold went up, the value of the pound naturally went up, the cost of British industrial and commercial products rose.
Don’t look at these few points seem insignificant, in fact it means that the profits of British export trade decline. The capitalists’ profits are reduced, so it is inevitable to reduce investment and increase the oppression of the working class.
A day or two is fine, but over time social contradictions build up. Even though the British had a big family to hold on to, there was no solution to the slowdown in economic development.
This problem is also good to solve, either wait for the Vienna government completed the gold standard reform, then for their own interests, naturally for the maintenance of the stability of the gold market.
Either let the government of Vienna to acquire enough gold, the number of enough nature does not need to continue to buy down.
“Yes, Your Majesty!” Karl replied.
After a pause, he added, “Your Majesty, the currency of the new Holy Roman Empire has been designed, here is a sample please take a look.”
Receiving the new version of the Rhine Shield, on the front was the symbol of the Habsburg dynasty and his head as an emperor, and on the back was the Miles of Mountains and Rivers, which could be seen as an artistic version of the map of the New Holy Roman Empire.
Aesthetically pleasing or not, Franz did not care, the most important thing is the political allegory. As long as the moral was there, it didn’t matter if it was a little ugly, everyone would like it anyway.
After scrutinizing it once, Franz asked, “How was the value of the new version of the Rhine Guilders determined?”
When issuing currency, the high or low value is often determined by market demand. A coin value that is too low won’t work, that means increasing the face value; too high won’t work either, it will be very inconvenient to exchange.
Karl replied, “After our preliminary research, we have designed three options:
One, 1 Rhine guilder is equivalent to 3.66 grams of gold, about half of the British pound;
Second, the equivalent of the Rhineland guilder and the pound sterling, which is about 7.32 grams of gold;
Third, the equivalent of the Rhenish guilder and the franc, about 0.29 grams of gold.
The main reason for this design is to settle in international trade is convenient. Now our biggest trading partners are Britain, France and Russia, and the Russians use metal currency directly, there is no need for exchange.”
Indeed, this is the easiest way to determine this. The value of the British pound and the franc, both determined by the British and French studies, are currently circulating very well in the market, and are the two most mainstream currencies in the world today.
If the Vienna government is innovative, run to get a new currency value out, is not impossible, just that again need to carry out a lot of research, consuming valuable time.
Franz thought about it and said: “We and Britain and France to get exactly the same, still do not know how the outside world will spit, simply adopt 3.66 grams.
It’s easier to settle the bill, and the number is more auspicious. The face value of the issue will be temporarily set at 1 guilder, 5 guilders, 10 guilders, 20 guilders, 50 guilders, and 100 guilders, and if there is still a need for it later on, it can also continue to increase.”
It was so casual that Franz determined the value of the new currency.
The full name is the Holy Roman Empire Rheinland Shield, short: “Rheinland Shield” or “Divine Shield”, just short of the word “Bureau” another movie.
The name has its origins in the fact that the Rhine is the mother (father) river of the German region, and the most used currency in the German region was the Rhine Guilder, which was issued by the Rhine Confederation.
In order to show the Vienna government’s determination to unify the German region, the Rheinland Shield naturally can not be canceled, otherwise the nationalists in the German Federal Reich will be unhappy again.
The purchasing power of the guilder was still very strong in this era, and it was natural to have smaller currency units in addition to the guilder.
1 guilder = 100 shillings = 10,000 groschen.
So many units would ensure that the cheapest goods, all of which could be paid for in currency.
(End of chapter)