Chapter 667: The Continuation of the Hegemony Struggle

  Chapter 652 – The Continuation of the Hegemony Struggle

Inside the British Foreign Office parlor, the atmosphere was extraordinarily bizarre. One party in the negotiations was tense, but had to put on a smiling face; the other party was clearly uninterested, but also pretended to listen attentively.

This bizarre scene is the scene of the negotiations between the British and the Prussian countries. From the moment the negotiations began, the two sides were in an unequal position.

It was similar to an ordinary person who had no money in his pocket and was hungry and had to borrow money from someone to eat. In order to borrow money, that is ……

British Foreign Minister Edward waved his hand: ”I am sorry, Your Excellency the Earl. Forgive me for not being able to do anything about this matter. Loans are the business of banks, you should go and talk to the bankers.”

It was obvious that one couldn’t borrow money just by attitude alone. Without enough benefits, how could John Bull shell out the money?

Friedman, Foreign Minister of the Pupo Federation: “Sir, we have already communicated on the bank’s side, and we need your government to provide an endorsement. Please rest assured that we are very, very sincere this time.

The interest rate can be raised by 30% on top of the average international rate, and we can also use fiscal revenues, colonies, railroads, mines, and ports as collateral.”

Although international loans were lucrative, the risks involved were enormous. Without the government’s “endorsement”, whoever dares to make an international loan is a fool.

Government “endorsement”, once the debt default, the government will intervene to collect. Although there is no guarantee that it will be able to recover the money, it will also increase the cost of default for the other party.

If there is no government “endorsement”, then they go to the debt! There are many similar precedents, such as: the previous czarist government debt default.

Debt with governments to provide “endorsement”, and finally through negotiation, more or less able to recover part of the settlement. Debts that were not “endorsed” by governments were simply wiped out.

This time the Russo-Prussian war is difficult to predict, after the war there is no Prussian-Polish Federation is an unknown, and then there is no endorsement of the government in London, bankers naturally do not dare to take this business, the interest rate is even higher can not be.

These days the government regulation of the financial market is almost lax, but in the absence of government support, want to raise hundreds of millions of pounds from the financial market, that is also impossible to do.

British Foreign Minister Edward shook his head: ”Your Excellency the Earl, I feel your sincerity, but it doesn’t serve any purpose.

Everyone knows exactly how destructive war is. Now that the Russo-Prussian war is imminent, the debt can only be honored if your country is victorious.

And that is only possible. The Russian Empire is not so easy to deal with, even if your country is able to defeat them again, it will cost you a lot, and after the war what will your country use to repay these debts?

War reparations?

With all due respect, if the Tsarist government had the money, the war would not have ended.

The spoils of war that your country was able to acquire were nothing more than land, population, and factories, which are indeed valuable, but unfortunately not realizable.

Even because of the war, your country has to invest a lot of money in reconstruction. It will be financially burdensome for a long time to come.

This is still the ideal state. If the war falls into a scorched state and turns into a long-term confrontation, the situation will be even worse.

If one day your country really can’t fulfill its obligations, should we let everyone live with this collateral?

You, Your Excellency the Count, should be well aware that to the bankers, the collateral that your country has taken out does not exist in substance.”

Edward’s words had been very restrained, not saying anything about the defeat of the Pupo Federation, but the reality had to be considered.

Winning the war couldn’t even guarantee that the debt would be properly honored, losing the war was even worse.

Friedman still had confidence in the war. However, his confidence does not mean that the British also have confidence.

Whether it is admitted or not, the Russians are above the Pope’s Federation in terms of overall national strength.

They were able to win the last war because all the European countries wanted the Russians to lose, and the Tsarist government really put at most half of its forces into fighting them.

Nowadays, the weakened Russian Empire is not as scorned by everyone, and if you want countries to contribute to their help, you have to talk in terms of benefits.

After hesitating for a moment, Friedman directly asked, “Sir, what does your country want to obtain?”

Pupo Federation now has no bottom to talk about conditions, rather than wasting time in negotiations, it is better to directly show the cards, anyway, as long as the British are willing to pay, everything is negotiable.

British Foreign Minister Edward waved his hand, “His Excellency the Count has misunderstood. We are not trying to gain anything, you have to believe that the friendship between our two countries can stand the test, it is just that the bankers need a guarantee.

If your country can deposit its reserves into the Bank of England as a guarantee, everyone’s confidence in you will definitely increase greatly, and your country will be able to obtain a loan of at least 60 million pounds.”

Friedman’s face instantly hard to see, 60 million pounds loan sounds very tempting, in fact, now the Pupo federal issue currency reserves are 478.6 tons of gold.

Of course, because of the relationship between the international settlement, the Pupo federal hands or to retain a portion of the gold, can be deposited in the Bank of England’s gold, the value of the value of about 60 million pounds up and down.

This is not just a question of gold, but also involves the issue of currency. Once the gold fell into the hands of the British, want to get back again will be difficult.

Reserves in the hands of the British, the future of the Pupo federal currency issuance, will have to be affected by the London government. Somewhat similar to the Federal Reserve in later years, it can influence the world economy through monetary policy.

Nothing strange, itself the Americans are learning from the British. It is only that the United States is more powerful, the hegemony is much more stable than Britain.

Due to Franz’s butterfly effect, the S.H.I.E.L.D. killed strongly, and the British pound could not monopolize the monetary hegemony. Against this backdrop, it’s not surprising that the Brits are eyeing the Puppo Federation.

For the Berlin government, depositing gold in the Bank of England was not only a simple loss of monetary autonomy, but also a political stand.

By choosing to support the British, it naturally offended France and Austria. No, I should say it offended Austria.

Because of insufficient gold reserves, the franc has taken the lead in this round of the struggle for monetary hegemony.

Did not hesitate for a long time, Friedman gave the answer: ” 60 million pounds of loan is too little, the value of the gold in our hands is not less than this number. Not to mention the additional political and economic value.

Once the gold is deposited in the Bank of England, we are bound to offend the Austrians. In the ensuing Russo-Prussian War, Austria’s voice is the heaviest.

Just a short while ago, the government of Vienna made a similar request, and the conditions they offered could be much more generous.”

Whether the Vienna Government had made a demand or not, as a rival, the British had no means of seeking to prove it. Even if it hadn’t, the Berlin government would have been willing to send for it, and the Vienna government wouldn’t have refused.

Edward smiled slightly, he was not surprised that Friedman had used Austria as a front to raise the price, such things were common in diplomacy.

But the fact that Wilhelm I had placed the first stop of his trip in London meant that the Berlin government was more inclined to cooperate with them.

Tentatively said: “His Excellency the Count, this issue can be talked about slowly, we are not going to let our friends suffer.

As for the Vienna government to offer a higher price, that also requires them to be able to fulfill their promises. Although the Russo-Austrian alliance has been terminated, the relationship between Russia and Austria has not been broken.

In the last thirty years, the economies of Russia and Austria have been bound together. Even if the Vienna government was willing to abandon the tsarist government, it would not be possible to do so in a short time.

No matter what choice your country makes, it is impossible for Austria to make a cut with the Russians just for the sake of your country, as interests dictate.”

Friedman nodded, it was an indisputable fact that economically Russia and Austria did stand together. The Russian-Austrian alliance would not have been dissolved if both countries had not harbored ambitions for hegemony.

The fact that the Berlin government preferred to cooperate with the British, who had a much worse reputation, rather than turn to Austria, who had emerged from the same source, was due to a deep-seated fear of the Russian-Austrian relationship.

After a pause, Eduard continued to add: “Your country needs more supporters if it wants to win this war. As a friend, we are happy to help your country.”

Edward said this with a bottom line, despite Britain’s bad reputation in Europe, its influence in diplomacy was still enormous.

Smaller countries were not to be mentioned, the most crucial thing was the influence on France. From the beginning of Napoleon III’s restoration, the Paris government had been filled with a large number of pro-British factions.

If the British government is willing to step in to take care of these people, the difficulty of the Poupon Confederation in seeking French support will be greatly reduced.

Friedman moved, not a shallow eye, it is really the Poupo Federation in the hands of too few chips.

The so-called colonies, but also a small piece of the Central and Southern Peninsula, the Berlin government did not run much, it is not worth it.

The so-called “revenue” is a joke. In the last ten years, except for the year when the land was sold, when has there been a surplus?

Even if you take out a mortgage, the same to maintain government operations ah, or bankers to collect taxes?

Railroads, mines, ports, and that’s all you can hear about. Most of these properties are privately owned, and only a very few really belong to the Berlin government.

Private property is sacrosanct, the government naturally has no right to dispose of, the Berlin government can mortgage, are assets belonging to the government.

……

(End of chapter)