Chapter 1002
Facts have proved once again that it is not easy to be the boss, and he must fight thunder for the younger brother at critical moments. The debt between Prussia and the British is well known and no one can deny it.
"It's only natural to pay back debts."
Even if the political situation has changed, the creditor of the Kingdom of Prussia is still there, and the debt naturally exists. The British have to collect the debt according to the agreement in the loan contract, and no one can say that it is wrong.
Originally, this had little to do with Franz. The debts of the states were not the debts of the central government, and the empire had no obligation to bear them. Even if the British were chasing debts, they couldn't find the Vienna government.
The problem is that now the Berlin government is pretending to be dead, raising the "debt problem" to safeguarding national sovereignty, and the matter has fallen to the Vienna government.
It is impossible to fulfill the contract. If it is implemented according to the treaty, the people's spitting stars can flood Vienna.
It is impossible to give money. If you help the Kingdom of Prussia pay off its debts today, how many state governments will go bankrupt tomorrow. In the face of interests, the integrity of politicians has always been very low.
A breach of contract is even more impossible. As a newly rising hegemon, the Vienna government must maintain its international image.
In particular, the Vienna government still has a lot of debts to collect outside. If they take the lead in being helpless, they can use "international practice" as an excuse to renege on debts in the future.
It can be said that the Vienna government is now forced into an extremely embarrassing situation. William II personally came to Vienna to ask for help, probably not only for help, but more for "pleading guilty".
Such a big mess has been caused, it is obviously unreasonable not to give an explanation. Even if the states have a high degree of autonomy, the central government can still give them small shoes.
Now that he has come here to sell miserably, apart from the face being a bit embarrassing, the actual loss is very small. Even if the Vienna government intends to settle accounts with them, after this wave, there is no way to do it.
The rules of the game are like this. The Kingdom of Prussia did something immoral this time, but the king came to apologize in person. Even if the matter came to an end, it would be aggressive to pursue it any further.
Rubbing his forehead, Franz asked with concern: "The cabinet is going to deal with Prussia's debt?"
Prime Minister Karl: "The most ideal result is naturally that the British make concessions. The Prussian government is allowed to postpone payment, or carry out debt restructuring, and part of it will be compensated by the reparations received by Prussia in the anti-French war.
This is almost impossible to do. Britain has also continued the economic crisis. Now is the time for the London government to need funds. If there is no greater interest, they have no reason to accept the debt extension.
Debt restructuring is even more troublesome. The situation in the Kingdom of Prussia is not bad. If the Berlin government had not engaged in a bunch of unfinished projects before, it would not have suffered financial bankruptcy.
France is the real giant pit. Judging from the current situation, it is God's blessing that the Paris government can not go bankrupt. As for war reparations, in the next two or three years, we should not have too much expectations.
On the debt issue of the German Federation, we cheated the British. Now I am afraid that they will no longer accept the transfer of creditor's rights.
Under the premise of not breaking the contract and not sacrificing national sovereignty, I am afraid that there is only a secret deal of interests in exchange for the British to make concessions on the Prussian debt issue. "
The benefits of betting on the success of the national fortune are great, but the cost of failure is also very heavy. In recent years, the Kingdom of Prussia has been paying the price for the failure of its previous bet on national luck.
Even if they became the victors of the anti-French war, the indemnity they received still couldn't fill the hole left before.
Thinking of this, Franz suddenly understood William II's decision. Without getting rid of the mountain of "debt", the Kingdom of Prussia will always be at the bottom of the Holy Roman Empire.
That's right, the bottom line. Tens of millions of Aegis indemnities are paid every year, and the Berlin government simply does not have the extra financial resources for national construction.
After the restoration of the Holy Roman Empire, another major event occurred in the Berlin government. Someone in the government proposed to transfer the two domestic infantry divisions to the Central Army.
For no other reason, I really can't afford it. Losing the army to the central government not only saves a fortune, but it is still these people who guard the security of Prussia.
In the eyes of government officials, even if the army is retained, the command power will be taken away by the central government. Even if the king still has the power to command, it has nothing to do with the Berlin government.
It's just that this move was strongly opposed by William II himself. The military command power taken away by the central government is only during wartime, and the highest military officer of the state army in peacetime is the king.
Once it is converted to the central army, it will be different. Even though the Constitution of the Holy Roman Empire stipulates that the monarch of the state is the highest military officer of the garrison in the area, but it is the own state army that can really command.
As for the Central Army, the military expenditure was allocated by the emperor, and the generals were appointed by the emperor. William II would not naively think that after losing these rights, only a nominal supreme command can control the army.
It seems to be nothing in normal times, but if something happens, when you need to use the army, you suddenly find that you can't command the army, then you will be finished.
In a sense, losing military power means losing the ability to overturn the table. The people below can unscrupulously ostracize the king and play purely according to the rules of the game. I am afraid that few kings can play better than the ministers below.
If you look at the many states in the Holy Roman Empire, you will know that no one who has a family background has given up the army. including those sealed
The great nobles who went overseas formed their own private armies within the scope permitted by law.
According to the statistics of the Vienna government, the armies of the various states in the Holy Roman Empire + the private armies of the nobles accounted for about one-third of the total number of the imperial army.
If various colonial groups and civilian armed forces are added, this proportion is likely to be more than half. In other words, these miscellaneous armed forces are equal in number to the Central Army.
This is an inevitable result, and the state is a problem left over from history. If the Vienna government doesn't pay attention to eating, why should they mess with you?
Not to mention the noble private army and civilian colonial armed forces. Without these people, where did the empire's colonies come from?
The country was shot down by someone with a knife and a gun. When it's time to share the cake, can you still kick them out?
Even if it's crossing the river and demolishing the bridge, it's something that needs to be considered after crossing the river. The territory of the Holy Roman Empire has surpassed any country in history. If it is really under the direct control of the central government, even if it is not dragged to death by administrative expenditures, it will be killed by endless uprisings.
Do you really think that Franz is willing to wantonly distribute the seals? Not all realistic needs. If you don't share the cake, why should the people below work for you.
You can see from the actual effect that the major colonial empires were plagued by national uprisings, but the Vienna government never worried about it.
In fact, the private army of the Holy Roman Empire is not the largest. The British have the most private armed forces, but they are called companies, colonial governments, and dominions.
To put it simply, you opened up a colony, and the British government ordered you to form a colonial government, such as the East India Company.
Of course, whether you can keep it in the end depends on your ability to move, or your backstage background in China.
If it is really managed directly, with the number of lobster soldiers, at most one Canada can be ruled. There can be no more, no more will be taken care of.
Everyone is working hard for the rights and interests, and William II, who has already obtained them, is naturally unwilling to give up. If you analyze it carefully, it is not difficult to find that the bankruptcy of the Berlin government is the result of a compromise between all parties in Prussia.
After contemplating for a while, Franz shook his head: "Prussia owes the British a lot of money, even if the London government is willing to compromise, the financial group behind it will not give up.
The exchange of interests requires that we have interests to exchange with them. You can't make major strategic concessions just because of the debt problem, right?
Wait for the British to come to your door, and then talk to them slowly. Delay as much time as possible, maybe after the economic crisis passes, the Kingdom of Prussia will have the money to pay off its debts. "
In the face of interests, no morals are worth mentioning. Now the situation is very obvious, to solve the problem will be a dilemma. If you don't want to solve the problem, then there is no trouble.
Anyway, it is the Kingdom of Prussia, not the Holy Roman Empire, that owes its debts. The current debt performance is in conflict with imperial law, and that is not the responsibility of the Vienna government.
The big deal is to let the British go to the Imperial Court to sue, and let the guys in the court have a headache. Just took advantage of this opportunity to push the Legislative Council to promulgate a law "Prohibiting Local Mortgage of Public Power to Borrow".
Prior to this, Franz had already released the rumors, but seeing the strong resistance of the governments of various states, there was no proposal for a long time. The Prussian debt crisis happened to be an opportunity that came to our door.
The definition of "public power" is very broad. National sovereignty, government fiscal revenue, state-owned industries, including government office buildings can all be regarded as part of public power.
Once the law is passed, the governments of various states will not be able to provide any collateral if they want to borrow money. The only thing they can rely on is the government's reputation.
If it's a pure credit loan, Franz doesn't need to worry about it. Not to mention whether anyone dares to lend a huge amount of debt, even if it is really borrowed and the debt defaults, it will not involve national sovereignty.
If you can't afford it, you can't afford it, and if you go bankrupt, you go bankrupt. There are so many bankruptcies of local governments in continental Europe these days. No matter how much you play football, you will not be able to hit the central government.
...
The Prussian debt crisis was just a small episode. The economic crisis swept across the world. The European people are now very anxious.
Even if there are newspapers published, it can't stand that everyone has no money in their pockets to order newspapers. In the overwhelming wave of unemployment, people are now most concerned about the job advertisements.
Take the Holy Roman Empire as an example. After the economic crisis broke out, the unemployment rate in the country directly increased by five times, and there are signs of further expansion.
This is still a good situation, after all, the Shenluo Empire has an African continent where it can vent its pressure. Before the economic crisis broke out, the unemployment rate in the country was already very low.
Like previous economies, after the outbreak of the economic crisis this time, the colonial government and aristocratic lords still came to the mainland to attract people.
Just look at the newspapers and you will know that there are overwhelming job advertisements, all of whom are going to work in the colonies.
That's right, it means "going to work". After so many years of immigration, people who want to immigrate and leave have long gone. The rest are those who don't want to leave their hometown, or cannot leave their hometown for some reason.
In order to keep pace with the times, the current solicitation advertisements do not directly ask for immigration. It is only required to sign a long-term labor contract, and it is enough to work for 5 or 10 years in the past.
After all, time is the best catalyst. After five or ten years in the colony, even if you want to leave, you have to think twice.
No way - treatment. The aristocratic lords these days are all "good people", not only the
The salary is high, and the key is that they are very "caring", and they are willing to help their subordinates when they encounter problems.
I especially like the fact that my subordinates bring their families with them. Not only are they willing to provide free housing, but they can also guarantee resettlement work, and even the education of children is also solved.
They are really "loving". You can see from the Imperial Orphanage that most of them have been abandoned, and the few remaining ones have only some children with disabilities. All orphans with healthy limbs are adopted by these "caring" people. up.
Even some time ago, the problem of orphans and refugees on the border that troubled the Vienna government was solved by these "caring" people.
After the outbreak of the economic crisis, the scope of activities of "caring" people has expanded from the empire to the entire European continent. With them, we no longer have to worry about having too many children and not being able to support them.
In a sense, this is also one of the bright spots in this economic crisis. Fewer people starved to death than before. If you are hungry, you can go to these "loving" people.
Of course, not everyone wants it. "Caring" people are very tolerant to children, but the review of adults is still very strict.
Don't want street gangsters, don't have a criminal record, don't want people with evil intentions, don't want people who have a lot of resentment towards the society, hate...
None of these requirements have anything to do with Ives. As a good-natured young man, if he is willing to work in the colonies, there are at least hundreds of employers to choose from.
That's right, choose your employer. Almost all the feudal nobles of the Holy Roman Empire are short of people. In order to increase the labor force, everyone has tried their best.
If it weren't for worrying about the language barrier, which is not conducive to the management of the territory, it is estimated that everyone would go abroad to snatch people.
In fact, intermediary companies specializing in providing immigration for feudal nobles have been born long ago. If you can't attract people locally, go abroad to find a way.
It doesn't matter if you don't understand the language, they can provide training; the eating habits are different, and you are all hungry, so why are you picky?
Even labor skills and obedience can be trained. Immigrants trained by some intermediary companies can even do what they are asked to do.
The only problem is that the cost of immigration from this kind of training is too high. Most of the nobles can't afford this kind of high-standard service. In order to save costs, everyone would rather recruit people by themselves.
An honest local young man like Ives happens to be the most popular talent, so naturally he doesn't have to worry about work.
The problem is that Ives doesn't want to leave his hometown, he just wants to find a job locally that can support his family. Unfortunately, not really.
If it was before the economic crisis broke out, it would be no problem to find an ordinary job in the local area.
It's a pity that it's a time of economic crisis, and it's too late for most companies and factories to lay off workers. Who would not figure out how to recruit people at this time?
After searching through today's newspapers, Ives finally found a job offer from a local company in a small corner.
Before he had time to be happy, Ives' face suddenly collapsed. No way, the above recruitment requirements are too high.
Not only did he require a high school education, but he also required professional work experience, which happened to be something he didn't have.