Chapter 100 Second Investment
Vienna, Graben Street.
This is the most prosperous street in Austria. In the attic of a watch shop on the corner is the home of Baron Bruck.
As the second-in-command of the Austrian Empire's finances and the former chief financial and taxation adviser of the royal family, his home seems a little shabby.
The furniture is only an old single bed and a simple set of tables and chairs. There is a full bookshelf in the corner. There are four sets of clothes and two hats hanging on the hanger at the door.
Talia felt uncomfortable stepping on the creaking floor. The musty smell in the air made her cover her mouth and nose, but she respected Baron Bruck very much.
After all, with Baron Bruck's status and identity, as long as he wants, it is not difficult to earn one million florins a year, just like Friedrich Liszt did back then.
After the death of the old emperor, he can live easily whether he joins the Metternich faction or the Korolov faction.
Baron Brooke took the letter to the window. The sun shone through the window on the letter. He took out a monocle from his jacket pocket and stuck it on his eye socket.
The way to wear a monocle in this era is still to stick the lens on the eye socket. The disadvantage is that it is easy to fall off if your expression is exaggerated.
It will take decades for nose clip monocles to be accepted by people. People in this era are not used to sticking glasses on the nose because it does not look noble enough.
Baron Brooke was full of joy when he first received the letter, but soon he frowned, and frowned even tighter after reading for a while.
"I don't doubt Archduke Franz Karl's investment vision, but I want to make sure, is this a decision made by Archduke Franz Karl himself?"
"Of course, without the authorization of Archduke Franz Karl, I can't have so much money to give you."
6.3 million florins, although it is an expected bill, there are not many people in Vienna who can take it out. This bill of exchange from the Austrian Empire Chartered Bank cannot be fake.
But this made Baron Brooke even more confused, because he knew the handwriting of Archduke Franz Karl, and the signature on this bill of exchange was obviously not his. There was only one Franz on it, and the handwriting was very neat and looked like it was written by a child.
Baron Brooke handed the letter and check in his hand back to Talia.
"Miss Talia, I think you know that the price of grain in the empire has been falling for six consecutive years. The Hungarian region even deliberately abandoned the land to prevent the grain from rotting in the fields."
The construction of the German Customs Union and railways had a great impact on Hungary, because the emergence of railways led to a decrease in transportation costs. In areas with developed transportation, Hungary's grain could not even compete with Prussia's grain.
The unsalable grain that Prussia had expected did not happen. Instead, because of the decrease in transportation costs, Prussia opened up more markets, and for a time, the Junker landlords' grain was in short supply.
The biggest contributors were the three southern German countries. Bavaria itself was a piece of rotten land. Although it was an agricultural country, it had a low self-sufficiency rate and relied on imported grain for years. After the opening of the railway, Bavaria discovered a new business opportunity, which was to sell cheap grain in the German region to the French at a high price.
At this time, French agriculture was at its lowest point in history, and urban workers were constantly revolting. Louis Philippe had to order relief for the poor.
Although Thiers was dissatisfied with this, France had to fight against the counterattack of the Carlos faction in Spain and restore the glory of New France in North America. There could be no more chaos at home, so he had to accept using money to buy the "peace" of the poor.
Guizot praised this conciliatory policy. He felt that problems that could be solved with money were not problems. The economic situation of the Orleans Dynasty was much better than that of the Bourbon Dynasty, thanks to him, Guizot, an excellent financial capitalist.
Although France's agriculture is in a downturn, after decades of peace, France's trade has grown rapidly. Coupled with the large amount of wealth plundered from the colonies, the rich in France live very well. He thinks that as long as the rich people's wealth is divided a little bit to the poor, the crisis facing France can be solved.
In fact, in the initial stage of the relief law, the French government tried to give money to the poor, but this practice caused prices to soar, and finally had to give up. After all, the wool always comes from the sheep.
Later, the French government decided to collect taxes to buy food and provide relief to the poor, in order not to be exploited by domestic grain merchants, and in order not to let the domestic grain prices be too high, creating more people who can't afford bread.
Guizot came up with a good idea, which is to import food from foreign countries, and southern Germany is their first choice.
First of all, during this period, the German region had a bumper harvest and low prices.
Secondly, trade with the three southern German countries is conducive to France's influence on the three southern German countries. From a historical perspective, the three southern German countries are still very helpful to France.
In particular, France has never given up its ambitions for the Rhine region. After the discovery of a large amount of iron and coal in the Rhine region, the French were even more sleepless.
At Baron Brook's home.
"Mr. Brook, you must know that the goddess of harvest cannot always favor Austria." Talia said.
"But in the past six years, the bodies of merchants with ideas like yours can be piled up into the Alps." Baron Brook replied.
Hoarding and price gouging have a long history, but the abnormal weather has caused countless merchants who wanted to rely on hoarding to make a profit to go bankrupt, because grain can only be stored for a limited number of years, and beans usually have a shelf life of only about two years. They have to be sold at a low price when the year is approaching, which further depresses the market price.
And six years is enough for many people to go bankrupt several times.
"Mr. Brooke, please rest assured. We have found a way to extend the storage time."
"Oh? How many years can it be extended?"
"About a year."
"What about a year later?"
"Now Mexico and Spain are in civil war. After the war, there will be devastation. They will need our food."
"It's hard to say who will win the civil war between Mexico and Spain. How do we know who to sell to?"
"No matter who wins or loses, he needs food."
Talia handed the letter and check back to Baron Brooke. Baron Brooke did not refuse. He thought about it and wrote his name on the note and returned the power of attorney in the letter to Taliae.
"Since it is the order of the Grand Duke, I will do it well, but I want to know what it means to make a bigger splash?" Baron Brook asked.
"The Grand Duke means to use your influence to make as many people as possible participate in this acquisition." Talia explained.
"But this is unreasonable. If more people buy, the price of grain will rise, which will affect our profits. This is not a wise move." Baron Brook said.
"Not for individuals, but it is a good thing for the country. The Grand Duke once said, "If you want to benefit, why do you want to?" Talia said.
"If you want to benefit, why do you want to?" Baron Brook murmured, and couldn't help but sigh that a person with such a broad mind and temperament was actually regarded as a fool.
However, Baron Brook seemed to finally understand the logic of Archduke Franz Karl's behavior. He was a fool, so he was fearless and didn't need logic.
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