Holy Roman Empire

The international situation was in turmoil, but Franz was at home playing with his grandchildren, as if he had no idea.

It is obviously impossible not to know, because there are so many countries that the British want to bring together, there will always be a couple of second-fifths.

In international politics, there are always a few who go from one way to the other, and it is only normal for the snakes and mice to operate in both directions.

The rivalry between Britain and Shinra is not one-sided, and most countries will not tie themselves to one country until the situation is clear.

The British are also relying on their sea power to pull allies around the world.

It is impossible to stop them, and the walls will only fall with the wind.

The Viennese government was not unable to do anything, but the main problem was that it had limited power input and could not compete with the British overseas.

The British have been operating overseas for hundreds of years, while Shinra has entered the age of the great sea for less than forty years, and its influence overseas is far behind the British.

Moreover, the little brother is not easy to accept. The overseas countries are not a single piece of iron, neighboring countries have a deep hatred between the same few, pulling this one is bound to offend that one.

It is easy to pull people on board, but the trouble is that while pulling people on board, they are also involved in regional conflicts and strife.

Excessive involvement in regional conflicts, in addition to being able to pull hatred, has no meaning for Shinra.

Don't talk about the gratitude of allies. In international politics, only the benefits you get are tangible, and "gratitude" is the least valuable.

In this context, instead of taking the initiative and asking for trouble, it is better to watch the British show first and follow the latter's lead.

Whoever follows the British, should finance their enemies, and Shinra will not lack allies anyway.

The peaceful days always passed by. Along with the development of the times, the conflict between Shinra and Britain also became more and more acute.

Without realizing it, the term "trade friction" suddenly caught fire, and was once the darling of the media.

With the dividends of the Second Industrial Revolution and the cost advantages of industrial raw materials, Shinra's industrial and commercial products became increasingly dominant in international competition.

In the increasingly cruel market competition, the former factory of the world has now fallen into a difficult situation in several industries.

The "free trade" that Britain was once proud of has now become a complete joke under the impact of Shinra's industrial and commercial products.

Not surprisingly, the Conservative Party, an advocate of free trade, lost the 1902 general election. The Liberal candidate, Henry Campbell Bannerman, succeeded in taking Downing Street.

Campbell, the victor, hadn't had a few days to rejoice before he was stunned by the mess in his hands.

Britain was still the world's hegemon, just a hegemon with holes and leaks everywhere.

Frankly, the previous government of Robert Cecil did very well, too, and achieved remarkable results in the political and diplomatic fields.

For example: the annexation of the French Peninsula and the expansion of Britain's colonial possessions; the success of the diversion strategy, the introduction of the Russians into the Far East and the emergence of cracks in the Russian-Austrian alliance; the establishment of the Anglo-Japanese alliance, the repair of relations with the Americas and the establishment of strategic partnerships with a number of countries .......

No amount of diplomatic success could conceal the economic hardship that Britain was experiencing. The Second Industrial Revolution had begun to take hold, and Britannia, which had not kept up with the times, was now paying the price.

Not only was the overseas market squeezed by Shinra goods, even the local market was impacted, and even Britain's fist textile industry was not immune.

There was no way around it. Who let the London government choose to bring the United States together?

Perceiving the danger, the Union State could not help but draw near to Shinra. Then, with the support of Shinra, the Industrial Revolution was launched in the Union State.

Like most countries, the beginning of the industrial revolution in the Union State was the textile industry. The origin of raw materials played with weaving itself, and how could this embarrass Britain, a nation founded on the textile industry?

It should be noted that the textile industry is the largest industrial chain in Britain, and more than one-third of the British public can be associated with this chain.

As the world's largest cotton producer, the Confederate States had an unparalleled advantage in developing the textile industry, which easily beat British textile enterprises in terms of cost.

Once the textile industry had problems, Britain's economy would collapse in a matter of minutes, and the British naturally could not sit still.

Because of the United States of America, the alliance led to the collapse of the United States of America to Shinra, which was considered by the public to be the biggest diplomatic blunder of Robert Cecil's government and a major factor in the Conservative Party's election loss.

When he was in opposition, Campbell did not hesitate to criticize the government on this issue, but now that he is in office, he finds that this is not the case at all.

It seemed like a diplomatic blunder to bring the United States together, but the British government simply had no choice. With or without this stall, the Confederacy would have developed its own cotton textile industry, which was in its interest.

As early as ten years ago, the Confederacy had planned to develop its own cotton textile industry, only to be forced to abandon it under pressure from Britain.

In recent years, with the rise of the Holy Roman Empire, Britain's position as the dominant power was crumbling, and the ambition to develop the textile industry was renewed by the suppressed Allied Powers.

Unlike in the past, with the Holy Roman Empire in the mix, Britain was no longer able to stop the Allied powers from developing the textile industry.

At this point, a gap was created between the two sides. No matter how much importance was attached to the relationship between the two countries, they could not resist the conflict of interests.

The government in Vienna could help the Allied powers develop the textile industry, but the government in London could not, or else domestic interests would have to stage a coup.

The government of Vienna can help the alliance countries to develop the textile industry, but the government of London can not do anything, otherwise domestic interest groups have to coup.

After all, the next to compete with the Holy Roman Empire for supremacy, may have to fight a war, allies do not give force can not.

"Mouths are cool for a while, but the crematorium is afterwards".

Now Campbell, there are a few of these feelings. The first sprayed cool, to their own in power, actually have to continue the previous foreign policy.

If it's just diplomatic trouble, Prime Minister Campbell can handle it. He is a politician with a thick skin. "He said one thing and did another, which is a standard practice.

Campbell was most distracted by the steadily declining domestic economy and the growing social tensions.

Of course, Campbell was not entirely unprepared for these problems. As a reformist leader, Campbell had been proposing reforms for years.

In this world, it has never been easy to shout slogans, but hard to do real things.

"Reform", never smooth sailing, since the ancient times of reform has been the success of the few, the vast majority of them ended in tragedy.

It was only when he got into office that Campbell truly understood that times were tough. The reality of the situation tells him that it is not that the previous government did not want to reform, but that the interests at stake were too great to do so easily.

.........

Minister of Trade Lloyd George: "This is the first half of the year for which we have statistics, and the situation is very bad.

In the first half of the year, total exports were down 0.46 percent compared to the same period last year, while total imports were up 2.67 percent and the trade deficit grew by three percentage points.

This is the third year in a row that our export trade has shrunk, and the tenth year that the trade deficit has grown. To be exact, the empire's trade deficit has been increasing since the end of the European War.

As a result of the contraction of exports and the trade deficit, the position of the pound in the international arena has also been affected.

Especially in the European world, countries have adopted the pound and gold for trade settlement, and the pound has been marginalized.

The root cause of all this has happened, mainly the domestic industrial and commercial products, lost competitiveness in the international market.

Machinery manufacturing, electrical equipment, the internal combustion engine automobile industry, etc., a series of new industries, there is almost no trace of imperial goods.

Even in our own country, we are now flooded with Shinra products. If this continues in the long run, the empire's economy will have problems sooner or later."

Trade deficits were nothing new, and since the completion of Fao's industrialization, Britain had been gradually running a deficit in international trade.

With a head start in the first industrial revolution, this deficit did not spell disaster for the British, but rather pushed the pound internationally.

But the good times were short-lived, and with the growing trade deficit, problems slowly emerged. The deficit was so large that it led directly to an outflow of wealth.

After all, not all countries were willing to accept the settlement of the pound, and Britain did not have the power to harvest the world by printing tickets.

Along with the rise of the Holy Roman Empire, the Holy Shield began to seize the market of the pound, this situation became more and more obvious.

No one was foolish enough to see Britain's trade deficit growing, and no one was willing to hold pounds on a large scale to pay for British consumption.

Over time, more and more European countries have become reluctant to accept the British pound for settlement.

The pound's share of the international currency market has decreased, and the only way to quell the trade deficit is to fill the hole with real money.

Despite having colonies to plunder, the constant outflow of gold and silver continued to be a problem for the British government.

To change all this was very simple: either take back the lost markets, or open up new markets with new products.

Unfortunately, the competitor this time was the Holy Roman Empire, and deterrence by force had no effect, and the market could not be regained by normal commercial competition.

It is even more impractical to develop new products, as British companies are so powerful, and there will be no shrinkage in export trade.

Secretary of Labor Burns: "The economic downturn has sharpened labor conflicts and employment problems in the country.

According to data from our survey, our unemployment rate rose another 0.3 percentage points in the first half of this year. It may seem insignificant, but this is the fifth year in a row that the rate has risen.

Not to mention labor strife, as you can see by looking at the strike marchers outside. This year, there has clearly been an increase.

In London, for example, there were 16 strikes of more than 1,000 people in the first half of the year alone, with demonstrations taking place almost every month.

If I wasn't sure this was London, I'd wonder if I was in Paris by mistake. The frequency of these strikes and marches is just beyond ......."

It was clear that Burns really wanted to solve problems. As the first representative of the working class in the cabinet, Burns had to get things done, if only for the sake of his political career.

Before taking office, he believed that all he needed to do was to legislate to protect the interests of labor and to prohibit capitalists from doing whatever they wanted.

After learning about this firsthand, Burns doubted his own eyes for a time.

Britain's problems were no longer just the result of unbridled capitalist greed, but also the challenge to business survival.

Emerging industries have been shaken to pieces, and traditional industries are facing brutal market competition, meager profits, overcapacity, and a host of other problems.

The choice for British capitalists in the former space-time was to compress production capacity and play in the colonies themselves behind closed doors. Anyway, Britain's colonial market was large enough for them to retire.

As for updating machinery and equipment, increasing investment in research and development, and facing international competition. A few exciting slogans on the lips will do, but if you take it seriously, you lose.

Capital is the most realistic. Why take the risk to compete internationally when you can make money lying down with no risk?

The numbers don't lie. Aggressive, R&D-heavy companies die the quickest, regardless of country, and conservative, unmotivated companies live longer.

Perhaps conservative companies will one day be eliminated from the market, but capitalists have already made enough money from them before they are eliminated.

In contrast, companies that continue to invest in research and development are happy when they succeed, but if something goes wrong in the middle of the process, it's all over for nothing.

Capital hates risk, and the greatest happiness is to make money steadily. There are always a few capitalists who are willing to gamble their own fortune to win a better tomorrow for their companies.

Chancellor of the Exchequer, Herbert Henry Asquith: "These problems, they have been there for a long time. The government of the Republic of Korea, in a bid to solve the country's economic problems, has twice lowered the tax rate for industrial and commercial enterprises.

They were even prepared to launch an export subsidy scheme to increase the competitiveness of the companies in the market, if not rejected by the parliament.

But these are only stopgap measures, and it's up to our companies to really solve the problem.

We have to admit that in many areas, we have been behind. Shinra's products are all over the street, and if we compare any of them with similar products made in China, our enterprises are really not doing well in terms of cost performance.

The trouble now is that domestic capitalists are not interested in technological innovation, especially in the field of machinery and equipment, and lack the spirit of innovation.

What the capitalists want is an end to free trade, the reintroduction of trade barriers, and tariffs to protect the market.

Of course, they don't say it so directly. The beautiful name is: using trade barriers to temporarily protect the domestic casualty market and buy time for technological innovation.

But as we all know, with domestic companies' enthusiasm for investing in research, I'm afraid this situation won't change in the next century."

Regardless of the policy, it all boils down to profit. Because of this interest, the British government has established a free trade system; it is also because of this interest that the British government now has to consider ending free trade.

Even though Asquith resented all of this and felt that these unthinking guys were the assholes of Britain, their opinions must be carefully considered.

Seeing the tension, Prime Minister Campbell waved his hand and said, "These issues are the realities that we will face in the coming days.

They are the result of the problems that have built up to this point, and they tell us that the time has come for Britain to reform.

The social tensions in the country alone could toss half our lives away if we continue to compete with the Holy Roman Empire, not to mention the other half.

Protecting the market could be considered, but how to protect it, to what extent, and what impact it would have, had to be carefully considered.

Once we adopt trade barriers, other countries are bound to follow suit, and our import and export trade will definitely be affected.

Domestic ......"