Chapter 279: Gold Rush
Chapter 270: Gold Rush
No one can resist the lure of gold, and ever since Baron Fikeni discovered the first gold mine, it was as if God had opened the door, and gold mines, large and small, were discovered one after another.
The scope has long been not limited to the region of Guinea, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Mali and other regions, there are gold mines have been discovered.
Even the most conservative aristocrats in the German region could not help themselves, and they sent their family sons to organize overseas expansion groups to compete for this piece of fat cake.
Vienna Palace
Lopez, the president of the Cultural Exchange Society of the German Region, said, “Your Majesty, in recent times many German nobles have expressed their goodwill to us, hoping that they can join in this battle for the gold mines, do you think it’s a good idea to let them join in as well?”
The German Regional Cultural Exchange Society was formed by Franz’s order after the Paris Conference, with the main purpose of continuing to fight the flag of unification.
It was very marketable in the German region’s youth groups, literary circles, and educational circles, and through the tandem of this organization, the Vienna government was holding the German Regional Cultural Exchange every year.
Not only were there participants from the New Holy Roman Empire, the German Federal Reich, and the Kingdom of Prussia, but in fact from independent countries such as Switzerland, Belgium, and the Netherlands.
The venue of the conference also rotates among the various states in the German region, and the funds nominally come from private donations, but in fact are mostly allocated by the Vienna government.
Lopez proposed the German region aristocracy, naturally, will not be the new Holy Roman Empire within the aristocracy, these families are interested in, has long joined in, more or other regions.
“As long as identify with the German culture can join, whether it is the nobility or civil organizations or individuals, this aspect you can publicize.
The lands we are expanding on the continent are not just for the new Holy Roman Empire, but for the survival of the entire Germanic nation.
We welcome every one of our compatriots to join and contribute to the building of our second home.
The government in Vienna is working on a bill to encourage everyone to emigrate, and all emigrants from the Germanic regions will enjoy the most favorable conditions.”
Franz was still worried that there weren’t enough immigrants, so how could he refuse them to join?
In this era, the nobles ran to the gold rush, but not just single-handedly on the battlefield, do not organize an armed team, run to the African continent even if you found a gold mine, you can not keep.
German region of serfdom was abolished not long ago, the influence of the aristocrats has not dispersed, have them come forward to organize the armed immigrants, can be more efficient than the government propaganda.
As long as the people were fooled over, Franz was not afraid of them leaving. The big deal is to give out land, which is not tempting to the capitalists, but to the poor ordinary immigrants, it is not the same.
Is a farm still afraid of not being able to keep people? Anyway, the African continent has little else, but a lot of unclaimed land. Logging is done first to sell the wood, and then a farm plantation is started.
If you fool around with one, you fool around with a family. People who can’t even get enough to eat in their native land suddenly have a farm of their own, are they still afraid that they won’t emigrate?
Although the conditions in the United States are better, but that is also full of uncertainty, want to get a farm of their own, many people struggle all their lives are not necessarily able to realize.
The African continent was much better, and Franz the Great had land to give out. The prerequisite was to overcome the local diseases, and the personal risk factor was high.
In order to increase the number of immigrants, Franz had to mobilize everyone’s patriotic fervor, recreate the second home, is the government immigration propaganda slogan.
……
Guinea.
The Royal Bank had been settled on the African continent for over a year now, having opened a branch here since the colonial stronghold had been stabilized, and was the first bank to enter the Austrian colony.
Now it has added another business, granting loans to undercapitalized mine owners. Developing a gold mine also requires a large investment, and most gold miners can’t come up with that kind of capital, so the need for loans arises.
As everyone ran off in search of gold, Franz didn’t follow the trend. He knew very well that people looking for gold mines could not necessarily make money, but they could certainly make money doing logistics.
The exploding households who had just discovered gold mines were the bank’s highest quality customers, and with the gold mine title as collateral, there was no need to worry about their ability to repay the loan.
……
Bank account manager Tedis said smilingly, ”Your Excellency the Baron, this is already the most generous loan conditions.
If you don’t believe me, you can go out and ask around, in the New Brook area, are there any financing channels with lower interest rates than the Royal Bank?”
Baron Fikeni shrugged his shoulders and said, “Mr. Teddis, there is only one bank in the entire New Brook, the Royal Bank, where do you want me to ask around?
If there are any financing channels out there, they must be the loan sharks of the underworld. You can’t possibly learn from them, it would be detrimental to the glorious image of the great His Majesty Franz!”
Baron Fikeni was also aware that he didn’t have much room to bargain, there was only one bank in the entire Austrian African colony at the moment, and there was no way he could run back to his homeland for financing.
For developing gold mines, time is life. If you develop it one day earlier, you will be able to dig out the gold one day earlier and realize the profit one day earlier.
He did not forget that he still has a buttload of debt in his own country, but the collateral is the family fiefdom, even though the income from the land is not high, he does not want to become a loser in the eyes of the people, and lose the ancestral property.
Tedis said without changing his face, ”His Excellency the Baron, you are in good humor. Is there any need to doubt the credibility of the Royal Bank?
You should be clear that the cost of operating a bank in the African continent is much higher than in the mainland. Now that New Brook is in a state of disarray, we basically don’t have much business.
The current interest rate is a little higher than the mainland, mainly because of the amortization of the operating costs, and when New Brook’s economy enters into a regular state in the future, and our customer base grows, this interest rate will naturally come down.”
Baron Fikeni said helplessly, “Mr. Tedis, but your loan interest rate is not just a little bit high, one and a half percent monthly interest rate, this is fully three times higher than the domestic loan interest rate.
Even the highest risk commercial loan interest rate is just like this. I have taken out part of the property rights of the gold mine as collateral, so you don’t have to worry about default.”
Tedis shook his head and said, “Baron Fikeni, the accounts can’t be calculated like that. This is the African continent, and risks will always exist.
The threat of the indigenous tribes to the gold mines, the threat of diseases in various countries, and although your gold reserves are good, the environment in which they are developed is not good, and accidents can happen at any time.
Once the worst happens, we’re out of blood.
The Royal Bank is a humane bank, in the event of force majeure that makes you unable to perform, we will only take away the collateral, and will not hold you personally liable.
In fact, we have already shared the risk for you. When that happens, the title to the gold mine will be worthless.
Moreover, if you run into some trouble during the mining process, the Royal Bank will also block the pressure from the outside world for you, and if you give up this service, then the interest rate is not non-negotiable.”
The last clause was what moved Baron Fikeni the most, pulling the Royal Bank in would block the prying eyes of hungry wolves.
As for whether or not it would be swallowed in one bite by the Royal Bank, he wasn’t worried at all. A mere gold mine wasn’t worth it, and the Royal Bank had hitched a ride on its own credibility.
After hesitating for a few moments of effort, Baron Fikeni said, “I can pay with gold, I can always get a certain discount, right?”
Tedis replied with a smile, “Of course, we can settle the payment at 98% off the price of gold in the international market, which is already the biggest discount.
I can guarantee that the future price of gold in New Brook will not exceed 95% off the international gold market, which is a common situation in all gold-producing regions.”
After a moment’s effort of contemplation, Baron Fikeni, who felt that this price was not bad, did not continue to hesitate and directly picked up a pen to sign his big name on the contract.
After the transaction was completed, Tedis continued to sell, “Baron Fikni, I think you still need mining machinery and equipment, there are ready-made ones in New Brook.
We have cooperation with the Austrian Machinery Group, if you haven’t purchased it yet, you can go over there and take a look, it’s definitely not inferior to any similar products in terms of quality.”
Baron Fikeni politely replied, “Thank you, I’ve heard of the Austrian Machinery Group’s great name long ago at home. As long as the price is right, I’m happy to cooperate with them.”
The relationship between the Royal Bank and the Austrian Machinery Group was not something Baron Fikeni was interested in caring about. How big people made money was not something he could consider.
However, right now he did need machinery and equipment, and ordering them from the country wouldn’t even arrive without a few months.
As long as the price wasn’t too perverted, he would accept it. The profit from the gold mine was enough to wipe out all this investment, all he lacked was time.
……
The gold rush erupted when large quantities of gold were discovered. As we entered 1856, the local situation was out of the control of the Vienna government, and the British, French, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, and Americans all joined in the gold rush.
Almost every day there were gold seekers coming from all over the world, and in just one year the population of the Golden Gulf of Guinea increased by nearly 200,000 people.
This number was just the beginning, there were more people coming from all over the world, and the conflicts between immigrants, along with the disputes between governments, became more numerous.
Especially in the Ghana region, where the powers are intricately intertwined and the most gold mines have been discovered, it has become the center of conflict between the powers of various countries.
The earliest to start the action Austria, undoubtedly occupy the advantage, at least in the number of immigrants occupy an absolute advantage.
This time the propaganda came into play, the German Federal Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia in this round of competition in the voice is too low, most of the German immigrants, are converged to the new Holy Roman Empire’s banner.
Together with the local immigrants in the early stage, the total population of the New Holy Roman Empire in the colony of the Golden Gulf of Guinea exceeded 200,000, more than the sum of the gold diggers of various countries.
The saying that there is strength in numbers is not wrong at all, at least in the search for gold mines, it took the advantage and occupied a large number of gold mines first.
In order to cope with the colonial strife, Franz appointed the governor of the Gulf of Guinea, and included all the gold seekers from the German region in the reserve, and added an infantry division to the garrison at home.
It could be said that Franz could mobilize an army of 100,000 men at a single command, which was enough to sweep away all the colonies of various countries in this region.
Austria has the advantage of land, Britain and France have the advantage of the sea, Spain, Portugal, Holland, these countries are not good in strength, but they occupy a small share of the interests.
How to deal with the relationship between the countries became the first task of all the countries involved. It was impossible to take it all alone, and no one was capable of dealing with so many enemies.
In addition, the interests of the gold mine looks very attractive, because of the relationship between the mining technology, this area can only be mined at most one hundred and eighty tons of gold out every year, after deducting the cost of the remaining profits, obviously not enough to pay for the war funds.
Thanks to the Volga’s furry bears furry bears, plus more 6 chapters, currently owed a total of 9 chapters, will soon pay off ????
(End of chapter)