Chapter 400 No Money, I Can only Kill Pigs

St. Petersburg, since the end of the East Prussian battle, the tsarist government at the center of the vortex has not had a good time.

Although the front-line generals were blamed, Alexander II still understood that the real cause of the Russian army's defeat was not the command of the generals.

Perhaps the East Prussian battle would have continued without that quick-fix order. According to the original strategy, the Russian army only needed to face off against the Prussians and rely on sea superiority to attack to win.

Offense and defense are not the same concept at all. If the Russian army adopts a defensive strategy, it will never lose so quickly. The sudden increase of the Prussian troops, at most, they lost a few lines of defense.

"Money" became the main culprit in the failure of the battle, followed by the poor traffic in the Russian Empire, thirdly the corrupt bureaucracy of the Tsarist government, and finally the "decision order".

"Your Majesty, we have mobilized, and the loss of troops on the front line can be replenished to full strength in the next two months.

For the lost weapons and equipment, the domestic military enterprises are preparing to work day and night. We have ordered the insufficient parts from Austria to ensure that they will be equipped to the troops before the spring of next year. "

Helamed wisely ignored the matter of accountability. Although the main officers on the front line were blamed, they were not dismissed or held accountable, but were ordered to take guilt and make meritorious deeds.

Overall, their performance is still passable. These officers are the biggest gains of the Russians in the Near Eastern War and are the elite of the Russian army.

Now there is still a war, and the shrewd Alexander II will naturally not do anything about self-destructing the Great Wall.

"It's still about the money, right?"

Alexander II asked helplessly, and it could be heard from his tone that the issue of "money" had not arisen once or twice.

Minister of the Army Heramed replied affirmatively: "Yes! We have owed too much payment for the goods, and many cooperative enterprises have also fallen into financial difficulties. Now they require that the arrears be paid before they can organize production. "

It was common for the tsarist government to owe money to companies, but it was rare for the tsarist government to owe money as badly as this time.

The capitalists are not fools. Knowing that the tsarist government has a financial problem, naturally they will not continue to owe money on credit.

In this regard, Czarist Russian officials and they are allies. If the company cannot make any money, what can they use as a kickback?

Not only military enterprises, but all the cooperative enterprises of the tsarist government now have a huge backlog of debts.

If these problems are not solved, the Russian Empire does not need to consider the war next year, and just bow its head and admit defeat.

Alexander II asked expectantly: "What plan does the Ministry of Finance have to solve the current crisis?"

Chancellor of the Exchequer Christan Wahl replied with a haggard face: "There are two solutions: one, another war tax; the other, borrowing foreign debt."

No bonds were issued and there was no domestic borrowing, which undoubtedly shows that the credibility of the tsarist government has collapsed, and domestic financial problems have also arisen.

In fact, when the Russian army just occupied East Prussia, many people in the outside world were optimistic about them. The Ministry of Finance took this opportunity to sell a batch of bonds.

Then there was no then, and now their bonds are nowhere to be seen again. Even the Chancellor of the Exchequer himself is not sure whether the bonds will be paid.

War is a beast of gold, and Russia is a feudal empire that is in transition to capitalism, and the funds that can be mobilized are very limited.

Of course, this does not mean that they have no money, but the shrewd financiers are pretending to be poor at this time, and they have no intention of pulling the tsarist government.

Alexander II sneered and said, "Can't the domestic financial community think of a way? As far as I know, they still hold the foreign debts of many European countries!"

There is nothing wrong with the tsarist government borrowing from foreign banks and Russian banks lending abroad. This is normal financial activity.

The only abnormality was that these banks were unwilling to lend money to the tsarist government.

Of course, it's not all a problem of the bank, it's more that the previous tsars played too hard, and there were many cases of borrowing and not repaying, and everyone was reluctant to continue to be fooled.

This topic is stuck. Now that the government's finances are collapsing, it is understandable that domestic banks dare not borrow money.

Seeing that no one answered, Alexander II did not continue the topic. He knows that for the bureaucracy: some things can be done, but cannot be said, otherwise it is easy to leave the political opponents behind.

"How much money can be raised?"

Chancellor of the Exchequer Kristan Wahl thought about it and said: "The preliminary estimate is that a war tax of 86 million rubles can be collected. As for the search for foreign bank loans, the specific amount cannot be determined.

It depends on how much collateral we can put up, as well as political factors, which also need to be taken into account. "

"86 million rubles" looks like an astronomical sum, but it is actually not enough to repay the debt of the company, and it is a drop in the bucket in the war.

It's not that the ruble is worthless. The point is that war is too expensive. Hundreds of tons of artillery shells are destroyed in a day. That's just a basic operation.

In fact, this has been very economical. Five or sixty thousand troops are fighting on the front line. Even if each person consumes 5 rounds of bullets per day, that is more than 3 million rounds.

With so many troops, on average, no matter how much you save every day, at least a few thousand shells will be fired.

Only the most basic ammunition consumption, hundreds of thousands of rubles per day are gone. Coupled with the consumption of various logistical materials, the daily expenses of several million rubles are indispensable.

After all, the cost of materials on the battlefield is not the cost price. Many strategic materials, since then

Fang delivered it to the front-line Russian army, and the price had already doubled.

Alexander II frowned and asked, "Tell me, what are you going to mortgage and how much can you borrow?"

Alexander II was very unhappy with this feeling of being out of control. Unfortunately, the reality gave him no choice.

Even the small kingdom of Prussia can't be settled. Russia's international status is probably going to go from the top to the UK, France and Austria, and it might even be ranked behind the Prussians.

Most of the political gains made in the Near Eastern War will be lost in this defeat.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Christan Wahl chose to play the ball without hesitation: "It depends on the outcome of the negotiations, now it's not what we give, but what the other party wants.

We can contact a few more countries and try our best to choose the most favorable conditions for us. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is professional in this regard. "

Foreign Minister Clarence Ivanov glared at Kristenvall, which was clearly cheating.

International loans have never been easy to borrow. There may be loans with no strings attached, but unfortunately the tsarist government could not borrow them.

Once an additional treaty that harms national interests is signed, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the target of the blame, and Clarence's mood is instantly bad.

"Your Majesty, the current funding gap is too large, and there are only a few companies in the world that have the strength to provide this loan, and our choice is almost non-existent.

If we rely on international loans to solve the financial crisis, we may have to pay a heavy price to be able to borrow money.

Why don't we think of a way at home, the huge Russian Empire will not even be able to raise hundreds of millions of rubles. "

Clarence's position was very clear that it was better not to borrow money. The funding gap this time is really too big, and even if you borrow money, you will not be able to repay it in the future.

Now they have few chips that can be used as collateral. Except for the vast territory, Clarence doesn't think that there is anything else that can be mortgaged for so much money.

Delinquency is not easy, but secured loans are different. Now there is no one who has the strength to provide them with loans, and there is no soft persimmon. When the time comes, people have to take away the collateral, so they can't fight a battle, right?

This is obviously impossible, if there is money to fight a war, they would have paid off the debt long ago. War is actually the most extravagant toy, not for the poor.

Rather than being embarrassed when the time comes, it's better to overturn the table in advance. If the government has no money, it will ask the rich to ask for it. Anyway, it is not the first time to do it, the ancestors have experience.

Doing a big vote can not only solve the debt crisis in one fell swoop, but also put a little bit into your pocket. The pigs are already fattened and can now be killed.

Alexander II nodded. This may not be the best choice, but it is the most suitable choice for the tsarist government.

Under the tacit understanding of the top of the tsarist government, the Jews began to have bad luck. The target of the upper class was only Jewish financial capitalists, but the Jews of the middle and lower classes also suffered.

The nobles will naturally not miss this opportunity to make a fortune. Whether they are reformers or conservatives, their positions on this issue are unprecedentedly consistent.