Chapter 842: Pretentious Techniques
Chapter 825 – Pretentious Techniques
The Austrian government is not the only one enjoying the dividends, all the European governments have made a fortune in this “anti-Semitic campaign”.
Even the smaller gains of the Russians, have realized in this campaign to turn a loss into a profit, which is the tsarist government nearly forty years for the second time in the financial surplus.
It is worth noting that the last time the Czarist government had a fiscal surplus, again, it was because of anti-Semitism. Once again, it has been proven that anti-Semitism is the way to get rich.
Looking at the daily increase in financial assets, Alexander III was refreshed.
The Tsar was in a good mood, and the Gatchina Palace was overflowing with joy.
After the joy, Alexander III began to worry again. This is the first time since he succeeded the throne, so rich in hand, how to spend the money, completely inexperienced.
It was not that there were fewer places to spend the money, on the contrary, there were too many places in the Russian Empire where money was needed.
Whether it’s reducing government debt, investing in domestic infrastructure, or updating armaments, money is needed.
Due to the time too close to the last anti-Semitic campaign, the leeks did not grow very well, and the tsarist government’s earnings are relatively limited, unable to support multiple projects at the same time.
Finance Minister Alisher Gurov: “Your Majesty, although the cash in the assets seized this time amounted to billions of rubles, most of this money belonged to depositors, and only a small portion of it really belonged to Jewish capitalists.
Foreign exchange and gold accounted for an even smaller portion of it, with a total value of about one hundred million rubles.
Considering that this year the government has nearly forty-three million rubles of international debt that will mature and need to be cashed, and that next year more than thirty-eight million more will mature, the Ministry of Finance recommends that all this foreign exchange be used to pay off the debt.
There are also nearly 80 million rubles of domestic debt coming due, which also needs to be set aside.
After subtracting these expenditures, theoretically speaking, the assets at the disposal of the government are still 6.4 billion rubles.
However, of these assets, only 80 million rubles in stocks and bonds could be quickly realized; the rest was mostly loans and a small portion of real estate.
The Ministry of Finance has already begun to dispose of the real estate, aiming to get rid of all of it within a year; the loans put out are troublesome, and will have to be recovered when they come due.”
There was no way around it; the favorite investment of Jewish capitalists was usury.
Especially in a country like Russia, where industry and commerce are not developed, loan sharking is much more profitable than investing in manufacturing, and Jewish capitalists are naturally attracted to it.
In a sense, this is also the reason why the tsarist government dared to be recklessly anti-Semitic. After all, Jewish capital piled into the banking industry, even if you want to do something, the economic impact on the country is relatively small.
If the Jewish capitalists were keen on investing in industry, with millions of workers under them to follow for food, any government would think twice before taking action.
Unfortunately, the Jewish capitalists have not realized this. One by one, they are thinking of profiteering by secretly controlling other industries through banking and financial means.
Alexander III frowned and asked, “That is to say, the only funds we can really utilize now are those eighty million rubles, right?”
Finance Minister Alisher Gurov: “Slightly more, before that we also prepared a sum of money to pay off the debt, only the amount is not too big.
Originally we had planned to negotiate with the banks to take out another loan to pay off these old debts, but that is no longer necessary.
Together with these funds, the government currently has about 1.1 billion rubles in cash at its disposal.
Considering that in the next few years, we may encounter an agricultural crisis, the Ministry of Finance suggests reducing the debt as much as possible, or setting aside a portion of the funds to cope with unforeseen circumstances.”
The era of Alexander III was a turnaround, and from the time he succeeded to the throne, the tsarist government was trying to turn around its international image, including paying its debts on time.
Of course debts that had been previously reneged on didn’t count, and it was natural that those who didn’t even want their faces before reneging on them couldn’t continue to do so.
Now the object of debt repayment, mainly Austria and the Nordic Confederation two major debtors, are the Russian Empire’s good neighbors.
Under the efforts of Alexander III, the total foreign debt of the Russian Empire fell by nearly one-fifth compared to its peak, and the financial situation improved somewhat.
In just five years, achieved such brilliant results, naturally, because of the “international trade”.
By selling off the spoils of the Third Near Eastern War and contracting the resettlement of Ottoman immigrants, the tsarist government succeeded in reducing its debt.
Even with this reduction, the Tsar’s government was still in a difficult financial situation. This anti-Semitic campaign was a timely rain.
It’s a pity that the bureaucracy was a little bit corrupt, otherwise Alexander III wouldn’t have been so worried.
The fact that only a small amount of assets were found in a raid was such an insult to the Jews’ ability to amass wealth that no one would have believed it.
Seeing that the Minister of Finance intended to keep the money, the Minister of the Navy, Anand Nicholas, hastened to say: “Your Majesty, the warships promised by the Austrians are ready to be delivered.
People have been urging for several times, and have been dragging their feet so much to collect the ships that our Navy Ministry is losing face.”
The navy is the gold swallowing beast, once the warships are gotten from the Austrian navy, the subsequent maintenance costs will have to be paid out by the Russians themselves.
The Russian navy is a typical poor man’s navy, most of the warships are built during the period of Nicholas I, the age of the ship even exceeds the average age of naval soldiers.
No one will believe that the Russian Navy does not need to board ships, not to mention the sea, the training drill is exactly the same as that of the army.
The reason for all of this is not that the Navy’s top brass is out of their minds, but that the warships simply can’t be driven.
Most of the warships have long since passed their service life, and if they go out to the harbor now, no one knows when they will sink.
Not to mention the sea live fire, it is estimated that a round of artillery fire, the recoil is able to make the warships fall apart.
In this context, not to take the army drill code, what else can be done?
According to the navy’s training standards, in case the warship is sunk after a round of live fire after leaving harbor, the Russian navy will be wiped out.
No one could afford such a horrible consequence. The Tsar’s government chose to remain invisible to the subtle changes in the Russian Navy.
In order to be able to get new warships as soon as possible, the Russian Navy has often launched petition activities, so that Anand Nicholas, the Minister of the Navy do not dare to go to inspect the Navy, for fear of being blocked by the Navy soldiers can not step down.
Now the opportunity has come, naturally, we must actively strive for it. Do not need more, as long as the allocation of a thousand million or so, the Austrian commitment to the warships back, so that the Russian Navy has warships can go to sea, he will be satisfied.
Glancing at each other, in the face of the eager gaze of the Minister of the Navy, Alexander III really can not say the words of refusal.
The Russian Empire is also the world’s fourth-ranked power, the navy even framed the doorway of the family did not have, how can not be said.
If the purchase of warships, Alexander III will certainly refuse, the tsarist government can not afford to play these luxuries. But the free gift of warships, and then refused to say it is not reasonable.
Alexander III is also ambitious, “a hundred years of naval” this word he has also heard. If the current situation continued, it would not be long before the Russian Navy lost its seed.
Secretly clenched his fists, seems to have gone through an assembly of heart struggle, half a sound after Alexander III slowly said: “First bring back the warships!
Austrians promised warships, are in active service equipment, in the world are in the advanced level, the Ministry of Finance and then allocated eight million rubles of warships maintenance funds, can not put these warships to waste.”
Everything depends on the comparison with whom, the former dreadnought appeared, Austria came up with these battleships are naturally not considered the most advanced.
But now has the former dreadnought countries only Britain and Austria, and only one experimental ship, the French because of the civil war relationship slowed down the progress of their former dreadnoughts are still in the construction of the construction.
Looking at the whole world, Austria took out these active warships, still in the top level.
The only countries that can produce warships of this caliber on a large scale are Britain, France and Austria.
After the Russians got this batch of warships, theoretically, they were back to the world’s fourth naval power, at least from the point of view of the tonnage of the main ship.
Finance Minister Alisher Gurov reminded, “Your Majesty, the warships Austria promised us are quite a lot, and after we receive them all back, we will have to add tens of millions of rubles per year in late maintenance costs.
This is still a considerable pressure on the government’s finances. Why don’t we take over a portion of the warships first and talk about the rest later.”
Just after saying that, Alisher Gurov realized that he had blundered. Receiving a portion of the warships first was certainly fine, it was just that the face of the Russian Empire would be lost in such a way.
The loss of face was not a big deal, but the key was that it would expose their weak nature to the outside world.
Other countries are weak, can play the grandson, but the Russian Empire can not.
For a country like them with poor interpersonal relations, high hate value, and many enemies, the weaker they are, the more they have to hold on, or else there will be a pack of wolves eating the tigers.
Without any surprise, Alexander III decisively chose to refuse.
“No way! All the warships must be picked up, in addition to keeping the government’s gains this time strictly confidential.
If necessary, a portion of false news can be released to make the outside world think that we have recovered.
Next month another 50,000 Cossacks will be relocated into Central Asia, there can be some conflict with the Central Asian Khanate, but we have to grasp that degree and not really start a war.”
The finance minister’s words still caused Alexander III’s alarm, dragging on for more than a year without going to receive the warships would surely draw suspicion.
At this time there had to be a way to make up for it, and the best way to do that was naturally to show strength to the outside world. Looking around the best to bully, the most suitable to establish the prestige of the Central Asian several khanates.
(End of chapter)