Chapter 758: Taking by Force
Chapter 741: Taking by Force
In a sense, the civil unrest in France delayed the process of the Austrian naval outbreak.
The former dreadnought is only a transitional product, the economic life is very short, the glory of the former dreadnought in the original time and space is only a dozen years.
By the time the warships were decommissioned, they were already behind the times, and economically it was very uneconomical.
Knowing that this warship is not cost-effective, Franz still wants to build it, and to build it on a large scale.
Before the birth of the Dreadnought, the former Dreadnought battleships were still very impressive, at least more than all the warships on the sea now.
As long as Austria builds on a large scale, Britain and France will have to follow suit, and because of sea power they will also have to build more warships.
If you lose money, you lose money, and as long as your competitors lose more, Franz doesn’t mind letting this game of losing money go on and on.
Nah, this time to suppress Franz, underestimated the revolutionary enthusiasm of the French people, coupled with a bit of a shaky hand, accidentally hit a little too hard, causing the French government to almost die.
This background, play the navy big construction, the French even if they want to follow the trend, the reality does not allow ah!
Forced to do so, Franz can only slow down the pace of naval expansion, waiting for the French government to stabilize the situation, and then continue this money-losing game.
The financial strength of the French do not have to worry, at least not in the short term. Although in this crisis although heavy losses, but the outflow of wealth is not too much.
The most serious impact is the industry, manufacturing, this part of the industry in the French economy as a whole accounted for slightly more than one-tenth, other industries impact is relatively low.
The loss brought by this impact is similar to the loss of the French in the Franco-Prussian War in the original time and space.
Now the volume of the Great French Empire is much larger than the original time and space, and there are overseas colonies to support, want to restore the economy is not difficult.
It seems that there is a lack of money, that is because most of the wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few people. Especially those consortiums that colluded with international capital have made a fortune.
Sometimes too much money is also a kind of trouble, in the domestic run, at the same time, the consortium also need more investment channels, loan sharking is definitely the favorite of the financial bigwigs.
The French government is undoubtedly the best customer, the repayment ability is a small problem, the consortium lending money to the government is not interested in interest earnings, what we need is to strengthen the influence on the government through financial means.
“Taking people’s hands is short, eating people’s mouth is soft.” Influencing the government through debt is the usual tactic of capitalists.
With such a big mess in the country, France’s fiscal revenue this year is nearly waisted, and the Paris government is not even short of money, which is the truest portrayal.
Owing money owed more, the government will gradually become dependent on the consortium, and even develop to the end, completely inseparable from the support of the consortium.
At that time, when the government formulates policies, there is inevitably a certain tendency.
Judging from the current situation, the French economy will not be optimistic for a long time to come. If the government wants to stabilize the situation, it must increase the number of jobs and reduce the unemployment rate.
Shipbuilding is not the best choice, but the most suitable choice. Not only can stimulate domestic demand, but also do not have to worry about investment in the water.
As long as the British and Austrian start to do, the Paris government will certainly follow. When the former dreadnought is almost built, it can start the era of dreadnoughts again, and then another wave of money-burning games.
The only regret is that John Bull gave up the two-strong standard early, or the arms race would have dragged them to death.
Without the two-power standard, the British were only aiming for sixty-five percent higher than second. Austrian naval gross tonnage was 84% of the French, which meant that the British shipbuilding program was reduced from 1.84 to 1.65.
Seemingly a reduction of only 0.19, which represents less than 11 percent, is a matter of a few million pounds based on current British shipbuilding costs, and doesn’t seem to put pressure on the London government.
In fact, this is far from the problem of a few million pounds, the Navy is not the most expensive shipbuilding expenditure, the subsequent port construction, warship maintenance, officers and men’s salaries, these are far higher than the cost of shipbuilding.
The former is a one-time millions, the latter is an annual increase of several million. Even the rich and powerful John Bull, in this issue must also be cautious.
From the current situation, the first to be unable to hold out should be the French.
This is determined by the comprehensive national strength, their financial strength was already at the bottom of the three countries, and then encountered so many bad things, the gap between everyone’s financial strength is even more disparate.
……
In the small town of Mordor, West Prussia, the townspeople were gathered around a notice. From the gloomy faces of the people, one could tell that it wasn’t good news.
After the Russian soldiers who posted the notice walked away, a young man opened his mouth to break the silence, “Early taxes again, this is the fifth time, still not letting people live!”
After the Russians occupied the West Prussia region, the Tsarist government, in order to gather the hearts of the people, announced tax relief at the first opportunity, abolishing most of the taxes that were in place during the Kingdom of Prussia.
There is no doubt that this one policy ended in failure. The good or bad of a policy does not lie in the policy itself, but most importantly in the implementation.
With the terrible military discipline of the Russian army, even the best policy could not withstand their tossing, and under the trend of the power of hatred, the local people rushed to support the Berlin government.
During the war, local guerrillas emerged, and these moves gradually wore out the patience of the Tsarist government.
Once the war was over, the Russians gave up their plans to bring in the local populace and went into czarist mode.
In less than a year, the Russians taxed the West Prussian region up to 1886.
If you can’t afford to pay the taxes, you can take land against your debts, and if you don’t have land, you can just be a bonded laborer. This was true not only in West Prussia, but in almost all the newly occupied territories.
It was the nobility, which had been divided up by the Tsarist government, that caused all this to happen. The fiefs given by the Tsar were essentially just a name, and having a fief was not the same as having land.
These areas were well developed and the land originally had owners. According to the legal interpretation of the sanctity of private property, this belonged to the private treasury and no one had the right to take it away at will.
If the nobles wanted to truly turn the fiefdom into their own property, they still needed to find a way to take it from the original owner themselves.
After the reforms of Alexander II, the power of the local government and the nobility was weakened to a certain extent.
Changes in tax rates and new taxes had to be reported to the central government for approval.
It was easy to raise the tax rates and add new taxes. The Tsar’s government was running short of money, and as long as the local governments could collect the money and stay out of trouble, there was no problem.
The trouble was that it would be harder to change it back in the future. Everyone saw the land as their own property, and if they couldn’t change it back, they would have to pay more taxes, which they were naturally reluctant to do.
Against this background, the traditional mode of operation of “early tax collection” has taken on a new luster in the newly occupied territories.
An old man in fancy clothes who looked extraordinary sighed and said sadly: “If it’s not possible, just hand over the land!
The Russians are coming for the land, and this is just the beginning.
Even if they get the money together to pay the 1886 tax, there’s the 1887 tax next, and they won’t rest until they get there.
No matter how big the family business is, it can’t stand up to this kind of tossing and turning. It’s not too late to let go now, lest we fail to keep the land by then and incur a huge debt.”
After saying that, the old man turned around and left, not giving the crowd a chance to debate at all.
He had already said similar words more than once, only that everyone always held on to their luck, fantasizing that they could keep the land.
(End of chapter)