Chapter 397 "Newcomers to the Alliance"

Prussia, Berlin.

William IV was the country in Germany that was most opposed to the Netherlands joining the Customs Union. It was because the Dutch were too strong in industry and commerce, and they also had overseas colonies. The only thing they lacked was a market.

Once left alone, the Sea Coachman might be resurrected. In this way, Prussia's advantage in the northern German region would be even smaller, and the most terrifying thing was that both were flying fish powers.

At this time, the country that consumed the most flying fish in the world was Austria. In the past, with the protection of the German Customs Union, Prussia could adjust the price of flying fish unscrupulously, and even if the Dutch flying fish was cheaper, it could not be imported.

But now it is different. After joining the German Customs Union, the Netherlands has obtained the same status as Prussia, and they have no reason to look at the money and not make money.

Then the result is that a large number of flying fish will flood into the German market, which will directly lead to a drop in the price of flying fish. This is a good thing for Austrians who have to fast on Fridays. After all, if the price of flying fish falls, more people can eat flying fish.

But it was not the same for Prussia, which meant that the market for flying fish would change from a seller's market to a buyer's market in the future.

As for reaching an agreement with the Netherlands to control market prices, not to mention that the relationship between the other party and Austria was far better than that between the other party and Prussia, it was impossible to let the flying fish that they had worked so hard to catch rot based on its own production and consumption.

The Netherlands' own consumer market was very small, and its fishery resources were extremely rich, so it was impossible for them to give up dumping.

Of course, it was almost impossible for Prussia to prevent the Netherlands from joining the German Customs Union, because the Dutch had a large number of colonies overseas, which was exactly what the German states lacked.

However, since the Dutch had a lot of capital in their hands, and they were very likely to use this capital to invest in the German region, those poor and weak small states were not so disgusted.

If Prussia wanted to maintain its position as the strongest state in northern Germany, it needed to oppose the Netherlands joining the German Customs Union, but one wave had not yet subsided when another wave arose.

Following the Netherlands, Hanover also requested to join the German Customs Union, on the grounds that they had drawn a line with Britain and stood on the side of the German Confederation.

Now Prussia was really in a big headache, because no matter what the relationship between Hanover and Britain was, the relationship between the Hanoverian royal family and the British royal family was very close.

If they wanted to engage in smuggling, it would be too easy.

The Hanoverians have been doing business with the British for many years, and they are very rich. Moreover, their shipping industry is relatively developed. Although their relationship with Denmark is very bad, their relationship with Norway and Sweden is good.

If Hanover joins the German Customs Union, there will definitely be a large number of imported goods entering the German market, which will also have an impact on Prussia's industry and commerce.

But these impacts are very weak for Austria, and it can even export culture and goods in the reverse direction.

Faced with this situation, William IV almost vomited blood, and his opposition was useless, because the Netherlands joining the German Customs Union was something Austria had already agreed with it, and as for Hanover, Austria had no reason to object.

At this time, the reputation of the Austrian Empire was at its peak, and other small states would naturally follow its lead.

At this time, the Prussian Finance Minister sadly discovered that they were transforming into an agricultural country. Even if they occupied the Rhine region, they had no advantage over Austria, especially after the Duchy of Liege joined, the Prussian market was further reduced.

The Prussian Foreign Minister proposed to borrow the power of the British, but this was collectively opposed by the Junker nobles and nationalists, because it was a dead end to get involved with the British now.

But William IV still tried it with a try-and-see attitude, but the newly appointed Robert Peel cabinet did not want to interfere too much in European affairs, because the internal workers' movement plus the economic crisis and the war in colonies around the world had already made it overwhelmed.

(As mentioned above, the number of British civil servants has always remained at 3,000, which is the pride of the British, but an organization of this size is obviously not capable enough to rule this huge empire.

As a result, a large number of temporary workers and external personnel filled the government. If the British Empire could remain strong or the leaders were smart, it would be fine.

But once there is a decline, they will accelerate the speed of collapse.)

Robert Peel was a reformer. He saw the crisis that Britain was facing at this time. He felt that the reason for the rise of the workers' movement was the huge gap between the rich and the poor.

So, the reformer imposed income tax and adopted a progressive tax rate. This may not be a big deal for the poor, but for those wealthy businessmen, it is more painful than killing them.

Many people protested, but Robert Peel's attitude was tough, which led to some wealthy businessmen fleeing to the United States and France, but in fact it greatly increased domestic taxation.

At the same time, Robert Peel also reorganized the Bank of England to make it more efficient and injected funds into some important industries and colonies. The drastic reforms quickly alleviated the crisis of the economic crisis, and the workers' movement also subsided.

In order to better implement the reform, he also specially established a well-trained police force to monitor the results of the reform.

Robert Peel pursued free trade, supported the reduction of import tariffs, protected the interests of industrial and commercial capital, and actively expanded the market.

In particular, trade with the United States has rebounded significantly. This is the first increase in trade between the two sides since the economic crisis in 1837.

He learned the lesson of the Whig Party and stopped dealing with European powers. Instead, he began to invade India, South Africa, Southeast Asia, Central America, South America and Ireland.

Among them, Ireland and Honduras were the areas that he exploited the most. The former was closest to Britain, while the latter had gold and few indigenous people.

(At that time, Honduras was considered a country with a large population in the Central American Federation, but it was still too small in the eyes of the powers.)

Robert Peel's reform of Ireland was to hope that it could completely become a pasture for the British Empire. Under his operation, the Irish had less land, and large tracts of land were labeled as exclusive to Britain.

The harsh tax rates were daunting, but the Irish did not seem to react because they had long been accustomed to it.

Prussia was at odds with other countries in the German Confederation, which was a good thing in Robert Peel's eyes.

However, rather than personally helping Prussia, he would rather watch Prussia struggle in the German Confederation. When the Confederation had internal rifts, Prussia could only rely on Britain.

And it is not just Britain that wants Prussia to be isolated in the German Confederation.

As for the growing strength of Austria, the first to worry should be the French.

This is a good opportunity to disintegrate their alliance. What Britain needs at this time is to recuperate, rather than confront the entire European continent.