Holy Roman Empire

Vienna Palace

Foreign Minister Weissenberg said with a smile: "Your Majesty, in order to seek our support, both Russia and Russia have offered almost the same conditions.

The Russians promised that as long as we support them, Silesia can be obtained after the war; Prussia promised to cede Silesia as long as we remain neutral."

The Russians promised to be generous, and the tsarist government would not mind buying Austria with the benefit of Prussia.

The Berlin government promised that it was forced to do nothing, and they were also reluctant to give up Silesia.In order to win the war, they must stabilize Austria.

After winning this war, their contributions can be doubled back; after losing the war, Galicia can't keep it at all.

Despite all these years, the Austrians still have a grudge against the Silesia region.Especially in recent years, with the increase of strength, the call of the Vienna government to withdraw from the Silesia region has become increasingly high.

Once the kingdom of Prussia is weak, Austria will surely fall into disrepair, and now the Berlin government has to stabilize Austria.

Looking at the eloquent Felix, Franz asked: "What do you think of the Prime Minister?"

Prime Minister Felix replied: "Your Majesty, neither of these is the best option. What we need is for both Russia and Russia.

Now our alliance with the Russians is very obtrusive, and all European countries are working hard to split this alliance.If the Tsarist government continues to win, we will only encounter more troubles in the future.

For us, the Russian Empire is now strong enough.If the tsarist government completes internal reforms, it is hard to say whether the Russian-Austrian alliance has any value.

Similarly, a stronger kingdom of Prussia is not in our interest.Europe is too small to hold so many powerful countries."

This is the most ideal state for both Russia and Russia.Not only can the Prussian hands be used to interrupt the reform of Alexander II, making this reform of the Tsarist government more incomplete than in history; it can also interrupt the ambitions of the Prussians, and they will have no chance of rising after this defeat. .

But it is very difficult to achieve this, at least Franz does not think Austria has the ability to play this balance.

The Kingdom of Prussia loses once and loses. On the surface, the Russians can lose many times. In fact, this is very false. There are too many internal problems in the tsarist government. Franz is not sure about their ability to withstand losses.

This is not the same as the Near East War. At that time, the Russian army hit Constantinople at the door, and all the classes in the country were supporting the war. No matter how much the loss was, the tsarist government must insist.

Franz thought for a while and said: "There is no such idealistic plan, it is easy to crash, and the two sides are not pleased.

According to actual needs, we only need to do two things:

1. Using Prussians to disrupt the reform of the tsarist government, as long as the Russians cannot win in a short period of time, Alexander II will make concessions to the conservatives, and this reform will not be complete;

2. The Kingdom of Prussia cannot be made bigger. It is enough to have a strong country in the German region. There is no need to add another competitor.

The enhancement of Prussia ’s strength can be done by Britain and France. All we have to do is to give blood to the tsarist government when necessary, and strengthen their determination to fight down."

It's impossible to please both ends. If you do it that way, most of the final result will be disgusted by the two phases, and you will become a human being.

The role of the Russian-Austrian alliance is diminishing, but if the alliance is not lifted one day, Austria cannot openly stab the Russians.

This is related to Austria's credibility in international political diplomacy. A country without credibility should never want to be respected by everyone.

Fortunately, the Prussian government was smart enough to play nothing without fighting, nor did it actively invade Russia, or Austria was dragged into the war according to the covenant.

The current situation is that the Kingdom of Prussia invaded Denmark, and the Russians declared war on the Kingdom of Prussia in order to protect this younger brother.

This situation is not within the scope of the Russian-Austrian alliance that must participate in the war.

The Kingdom of Denmark is an ally of the Russians, which does not mean that they are also allies of Austria. The Vienna government does not need to stand with the Russians.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Karl reminded: "Your Majesty, the Tsarist government ’s finances are very bad, and the Russians’ slow action is largely limited by financial resources.

Not long ago, bonds issued by the Tsarist government were cold in the capital market, and investors were worried that the Russians would be delinquent.

According to the analysis of the information we have, if the Russians' finances are not improved, the tsarist government may declare bankruptcy again."

The Russian-Austrian League has a stipulation: it is obliged to provide material assistance to its allies without damaging its own interests.

Theoretically, the Vienna government has to help in this situation. This is a matter of selectivity.However, how to support depends on the actual situation.

Providing loans is assistance, and donating materials is also assistance. The specific situation depends on the benefits.

Without enough benefits, just picking up some weapons and ammunition from the warehouse and counting together can also cope with the past.

The attitude of the Chancellor of the Exchequer is very obvious, that is, the tsarist government ’s finances are very bad, and it is likely to go bankrupt after the war. Austria does not need to jump into this pit.

Financial bankruptcy has never been new in continental Europe.Especially the tsarist government, once the government debt exceeds the capacity, they will declare bankruptcy.

The bankruptcy of the government means that their previous debts are suspended indefinitely, which can also be understood as non-payment.This kind of thing has been done much more by the Tsarist government, and many creditors are crying without tears.

Of course, not every country is eligible to repay the debts. In this era, there is another way to collect money-to collect debts by force.

Even if a small country declares bankruptcy, it usually only relies on personal debts. The debts of the powers still have to be repaid. For example, the powers supervise finances.

Mexico is a negative example. If you do n’t have the strength, you dare to learn from others.In 1862, President Huárez announced a moratorium on debt payments, and then French creditors went to the door.

This method is not effective for the Russians, and no creditor has the ability to kill St. Petersburg to ask for money.After more pits, no one in the capital market lent money to the tsar.

Franz asked in surprise: "Russian finances have deteriorated to this extent?"

In his memory, although the tsarist government's finances were bad, they did not collapse to the point.Even if it is to fight a Russian-Russian war, it will not go bankrupt immediately.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer explained: "Your Majesty, in modern times, as long as ordinary European countries can persevere, they will try their best to repay their debts as much as possible, but the Russians are exceptional.

Based on past experience, when the debt of the Tsarist government reached a certain level, they would declare bankruptcy.We recently collected intelligence that the tsarist government has prepared a bankruptcy plan."

Franz had nothing to say. In fact, there were many things that the king declared bankruptcy in the Middle Ages, almost every few decades.

Many capitalists were pitted and cried, among which Jewish capitalists were the most pitted.This is because it is too rich. Most of the money is gathered in their hands. Who are they looking for without borrowing money from them?

Of course, there are also many pitted kings.Jewish capital hates people because they often bury nails in loan contracts, and many borrowing kings are fooled and have to pay a lot of interest.

Facts have proved that the rule is not easy to provoke, especially in the monarchy era, dare to deceive their money, all have to pay the price.This is how most of the anti-Jewish movements in continental Europe came about.

In the modern era, the power of capital has continued to grow, and governments of various countries have become less and less accountable through bankruptcy. In particular, international loans with strong backgrounds are even more afraid to pay.

The time when everyone was scorned together, naturally it didn't matter. Anyway, the crows were generally black.But suddenly others started to abide by the rules, leaving you alone to stand out.

As soon as the creditors publicized, the credibility of the Tsarist government was over.Without credibility, many things are not easy to handle. Only then did the Russians use gold coins and silver coins.

Franz thought for a while and said: "Then we have also tightened our monetary policy externally to remind the domestic financial community to be more vigilant.

Support for the Russians is mainly based on in-kind assistance.All large loans to Russia must have collateral."

This can be regarded as falling into the rock.These restrictions undoubtedly made it more difficult for the tsarist government to finance the Austrian capital market.But as long as the Czar ’s government is not bad, even if there is no more collateral.

With collateral, even if the Russians declare bankruptcy, it is impossible to rely on these debts.After all, the value of the collateral is usually more than the loan.

Franz had to do it too, to know that not long ago the Tsarist government used Alaska to offset the debt of 2.57 million Aegis, and also owed a favor.If it is not really unsustainable, the Russians will definitely not do so.

...

When Austria was worried about the bankruptcy of the Russians, the London government faced the same problem. As the continent of Europe is the poorest country, the Kingdom of Prussia is not a rich owner.

Now lending money to the Berlin government is no less risky than lending to the Russians.The war bonds issued by the Berlin government were cold in the London financial market.

If the Kingdom of Prussia wins by gambling, it may still be able to afford the money; if the Kingdom of Prussia loses, or loses both sides, these investments will be lost.

Not many people are optimistic about Prussia, and everyone is reluctant to take money to take risks.Even if bond interest has been raised to 15.8% per annum, sales are still not optimistic.

As the gold master of the Kingdom of Prussia, the London government cannot naturally watch this happen.Without enough money, what can the Kingdom of Prussia use to fight this war?

Chancellor of the Exchequer Agarwal said: "We have issued war bonds to the Prussians. So far, we have only sold 1.869 million pounds, which is too far from the 15 million issuance.

The people are not optimistic that they can win this war. Unless someone can provide them with a guarantee, there is no way to sell this bond.

The finances of the Kingdom of Prussia are very bad. From 1848 until now, they have been in deficit.

Many domestic financial institutions believe that Prussian finances are on the verge of bankruptcy and refuse to provide them with loans."

The gold master is not good, this is to invest in real money.The cost of the Russian-Russian war is destined to be a huge expense, and the possibility of losing money is still very high.

Prime Minister John Russell rubbed his forehead and said: "So, we have promised assistance to the Kingdom of Prussia. Have we not raised one-fifth in two months?"

According to the agreement, the British will provide the Kingdom of Prussia with 10 million pounds of loans, plus 15 million pounds of war bonds.

The reality is that apart from the London government's advance of 5 million pounds to the Prussian government, no one in the capital market is interested.

This is a sequelae of the Near East War. Neither Britain nor France won the Russians, let alone the Kingdom of Prussia?

Even the London government does not think that the Kingdom of Prussia can win this war.To support them, it was only to interrupt the reform of the Russians, not to expect the victory of the Kingdom of Prussia.

"Yes, Your Excellency. Everyone has no confidence in Prussia, so they are more cautious when investing." Finance Minister Agarwal replied

The British people are very supportive of supporting the Kingdom of Prussia against the Russians, but it will be different if you pay.

Some London newspapers are betting on when the Kingdom of Prussia failed.

The most optimistic estimate is only that the Kingdom of Prussia can support a year and then lose the war; the most pessimistic is that the Berlin government will surrender in less than a month.

The outside world generally believes that the Kingdom of Prussia will win this war, unless the British and French personally participate in the war, otherwise it is only a matter of time before defeat.