Chapter 503: A New Height of Painting the Flatbread

After leaving the Palace of Versailles, Alexandrovich had no interest in visiting. Obviously, this trip to Paris was not smooth.

Napoleon III's release of goodwill to Russia was just for pure political needs and to demonstrate to European countries, which does not mean that France really wants to win over Russia.

Without the humiliation of the "Frankfurt Peace Treaty", the arrogant French would still look down on Russia, a down-and-out barbarian.

Especially after the alliance of Britain, France and Austria, the pressure on French diplomacy no longer exists, and the world can no longer find an enemy that they can take seriously, at least on the surface.

Before Alexandrovich's visit to Paris, the St. Petersburg government still had high hopes, trying to use the opportunity of the French to win over Russia to obtain financial assistance.

The reality is very cruel, and the money of the usury empire is not easy to get. The bankers were shrewd, especially with the discredited tsarist government.

Even the loan of 500 million francs promised in advance is now in question, and the French require them to take gold and silver as collateral.

Don't be surprised that Alexander II was also carrying out currency reforms, but in small steps, and now the French are paying attention to their reserves.

Since the reform of Alexander II, the development of industry, construction of railways, and agricultural reform have become the three major strategies of the government.

Although the plan is good, it needs financial support. Because of the war, it led to a massive outflow of gold and silver from the Russian Empire, resulting in a serious lack of its own capital.

The solution that the tsarist government came up with was to attract foreign capital. Regrettably, European banks refused to provide them with loans, and even investment was very cautious.

Alexander II reforms are a little better than historically, and there is a ready-made example next door to learn from. You can think of ways to solve other problems, but you can’t learn by raising money.

Austria has developed to this stage, and has issued bonds several times in the middle, raising hundreds of millions of Aegis funds. Until now, the Vienna government has to repay tens of millions of Aegis debts every year.

Because of its credibility, the tsarist government could not borrow money at all. Even the right of way and the tax mortgage are of no use.

Forced by the debt crisis that year, Alexander II had to declare a default on the debt, and now the sequelae broke out.

It's not that Alexander II's decision was wrong. If he didn't default, his finances would be overwhelmed by foreign debt, and the situation would only get worse.

To put it bluntly, even if they don't break their debts, they can't borrow much money. Bankers are too shrewd to lend money to an incapable owner at all.

In the original time and space, the French borrowed money from the Russians, but they were forced to do so. The pressure on national defense is too great, and allies must be drawn to share the pressure.

After entering the late 19th century, France's comprehensive national strength suddenly fell behind, and this is the reason. The government has lent a lot of money out, leaving less money for domestic development.

Don't think about it now, the French will definitely not burst their livers to support them. Even with usury, the French will only lend money to those who can repay.

Austria, for example, now owes the French a huge debt. It is the development of the native land and the development of the colony. The revenue of the Vienna government is definitely not enough.

Austria's private capital accumulation is also not rich enough. Under this background, Franz naturally borrowed foreign debts. Of course, it is not purely international loans, and most debts exist in the form of bonds.

Most of the bonds here are raised in the name of projects, and not all debts are from the Vienna government.

It is similar to how Americans borrowed money to build railways, mortgaged the railways to British banks, and built the railways with the borrowed money.

In the event of an economic crisis, the railway company went bankrupt, and the British banks were locked up.

The same is true for many projects in Austria. They owe a large amount of debt to the bank and issue a bunch of bonds to the private sector. The government only invests the start-up capital.

Anyway, these projects are standard commercial operations. In case of an accident, the big deal is that a company goes bankrupt.

Economic closeness is also an important factor in the alliance between Britain, France and Austria. From the perspective of globalization, as long as there is an economic crisis in Britain and France, Austria will be implicated, and vice versa.

If you want to get out of this situation, it is actually very simple, just one word - wait. After domestic private capital has accumulated, there is no need to borrow money from outside.

Everyone also takes what they need. One party has excess capital and urgently needs to export, and the other party needs lack of funds for development. The two sides just cooperate.

This is how the original time and space Americans developed. If there was no world war, they would not have turned around so quickly, from a debtor country to a creditor country.

Of course, debtor and creditor countries are not absolute. Domestic enterprises and foreign banks have money, and domestic banks have also gone abroad to develop, and they are also issuing loans to foreign countries.

Even in the absence of capital in the Russian Empire, there are also banks exporting capital abroad. This is normal economic activity, mainly for profit.

After figuring out the position of the French, Alexandrovich did not continue to entangle. After visiting industry in France, he sailed directly to London.

This time he relaxed, and the tsarist government had no illusions about taking a loan from the British. This is unlikely to happen unless Britain's bankers get their heads wet.

Can't count on the London government to help guarantee it? The two sides are enemies. Even if the Russian Empire declines and ranks low among the British competitors, the hatred accumulated in the early stage is not so easy to resolve.

Moreover, the general

Lu Shi and Poland are both British's little brothers, even if it is to not chill the hearts of their subordinates, they can't do this.

...

The diplomatic actions of the Russians still attracted the attention of the Kingdom of Prussia. Even without Bismarck, William I still controlled the Kingdom of Prussia.

After a series of political struggles, the Junkers aristocracy, who had united for a short period of time due to the war, is now torn apart.

For example: Industrial Junkers, Financial Junkers, Operational Junkers, Court Junkers, House Junkers and Country Junkers.

The subordinates are no longer monolithic, and the power of the king will naturally be consolidated. The politics of the Kingdom of Prussia began to return to normal, and the military was still very powerful, but it was no longer a monopoly.

A new balance of power was formed within, and William I set his sights on the European continent. As an enemy, he knew everything about the Russians.

The Russians wanted to get rid of the isolated situation through diplomatic activities, and William I naturally could not agree.

In the Berlin Palace, the top military and political leaders of the Kingdom of Prussia gathered together to discuss how business disrupted this diplomatic operation of the Russians.

"The Russian crown prince's trip to Europe was invited by the French, and there must be an exchange of interests between France and Russia, but it is unlikely that the two countries will form an alliance.

Britain, France and Austria have already formed an alliance. At this time, the French have no basis for an alliance with the Russians. The French to win over the Russians should be self-proclaimed and want to gain a heavier voice in the Triple Alliance.

Now what the Russians lack most is money, and the French have a lot of capital. The main purpose of Alexandrovich's first visit to France should be for loans.

From an economic point of view, now that the credibility of the Tsarist government has been completely lost, no banker would be foolish enough to lend them money.

The only hope for the Russians is the usual exchange of political interests..."

Listening to the rhetoric of Foreign Secretary Mike Kate, William I frowned, not only the Russians were short of money, but Prussia was also short of money now.

The financial situation of the Berlin government was even worse than that of the Tsarist government. At least the Russians had defaulted on their debts and no longer had to pay their debts, while Prussia had to take on heavy debts.

In recent years, the number of people from the Kingdom of Prussia who went to Austria to seek a living has increased day by day, and a large part of the reason is that the tax burden is too heavy.

In order to repay the debt, the Berlin government had to increase the burden on the domestic population. The people who couldn't bear it, just ran away.

William I didn't dare to stop him. Most of the people who ran away had to settle down and lost their livelihoods in the country. It was a hidden danger to stay.

If it were not possible to immigrate nearby, there would be chaos in Prussia. Winning the Russian Empire brings only glory. The newly expanded land cannot be converted into wealth in a short time, and it is still in the investment stage.

The people have not gained practical benefits, and just being a big country, they still cannot deceive their stomachs.

Of course, the spiritual harvest is still very useful. Even if everyone's life is difficult, the people's support for the government is still very high.

Even if they couldn't get along, they just immigrated and left, not to make a revolution.

This aspect is somewhat similar to Japan, except that Japan does not have a flood discharge window. If you are hungry, you will still make trouble, such as robbing rice.

William I interrupted: "What plans does the Foreign Office have? Whatever the Russians have, all we need to do now is to destroy."

There is no need for any reason, what the enemy wants to do, let them do the right thing.

They could not get involved in the internal reform of the tsarist government, but Prussia could make trouble in international diplomatic activities.

Compared with other countries' diplomatic means, William I had no confidence, but compared with the Russians, he was still sure.

After a pause for a few seconds, Foreign Secretary McKate replied: "Your Majesty, it is unlikely that the Russians want to obtain funds from the outside world, and the biggest political purpose should be to improve diplomatic relations with other countries.

Now France and Russia are moving closer, which has also stimulated the Vienna government. Today, the Russian-Austrian alliance can no longer bring political benefits to Austria, but is a diplomatic burden.

It has been a few years since the end of the Russian-Austrian alliance, and the foreign ministry plans to amplify the rift between them and prevent Russia and Austria from renewing the contract. "

The destruction of the Russian-Austrian alliance is of great significance to the Kingdom of Prussia, which is directly related to the outcome of the next Prussian-Russian war.

Prime Minister Mao Qi shook his head and said: "This is not enough, the Russian-Austrian alliance is not only a political interest, but also accompanied by a lot of economic significance.

The current Russian Empire is almost a dumping ground for Austrian goods. Austria alone accounts for 63% of Russia's total import and export trade, and the Vienna government will not let go of such a large interest. "

Interests are always the best bond, and there is nothing that cannot be compromised in the face of interests. Even though Russia and Austria have had a lot of conflicts, they still maintain an allied relationship for the sake of interests.

Foreign Secretary Mike Kate explained: "That's right, Your Excellency. But we also have to look at a set of data. The total trade volume between Russia and Austria has continued to decline in recent years.

The tsarist government was trying to wean itself off of its economic dependence on Austria, and the Russians had repeatedly raised tariffs in order to develop domestic industry.

If it weren't for the fact that the Russian industry is too backward and the products are not competitive in the market, the Austrians would not be able to maintain their current market share.

The great land reclamation campaign promoted by Alexander II has already yielded results, and this year's unsalable sales of Russian agricultural products have become a foregone conclusion.

After the Russian crown prince's European trip, it is very likely to open the domestic market to Britain and France

, in exchange for domestic agricultural products to enter the international market.

After Austria loses its monopoly on the Russian market, it will also face the impact of Russian agricultural products in the international grain export market, and the relationship between the two countries will definitely be greatly affected.

Now the more agreements the Russians and Britain and France make, the more Austria loses. It may not be obvious in a short period of time, but after three or five years, the change will be very obvious.

As long as the Austrians see greater interests, it is not impossible to abandon the Russian-Austrian alliance.

For example:

Let them believe that as long as we win the next round of the Russian-Prussian war, they will gain access to Ukraine and the Russian Balkans, cutting off the Russians' food exports. "

Everyone's face changed greatly, and they were obviously intimidated by McKate's surprising remarks.

The room suddenly fell silent, leaving only the sound of everyone's breathing and the faint sound of heartbeats.

...