Holy Roman Empire

St. Petersburg, since the end of the Battle of East Prussia, the tsarist government in the center of the vortex has had a hard time.

Although the front-line generals were blamed, Alexander II understood that the real cause of the Russian army's defeat was not the command of the generals.

If there is no quick order, perhaps the East Prussia battle will continue.According to the initial strategy, the Russian army only needed to confront the Prussians and rely on the advantage of maritime attack to win.

Offense and defense are not a concept at all. If the Russian army adopts a defensive strategy, it will definitely not lose so fast.The Prussians suddenly increased their troops, and they lost at most a few lines of defense.

"Money" became the culprit in the defeat of this battle, followed by the poor transportation of the Russian Empire, again the corrupt bureaucracy of the Tsarist government, and finally this "decision of war".

Army Secretary Hramede reported: "Your Majesty, we have already carried out mobilization, and the frontline loss of strength can be refilled in the next two months.

For the lost weapons and equipment, domestic military companies are preparing to work around the clock, and we have already ordered the shortfall from Austria to ensure that they will be equipped to the troops before the spring of next year."

Hramed wisely neglected the issue of accountability. Although the main officers on the front line were blamed, they were not dismissed and held accountable.

Overall, their performance is still passing.These officers are the Russians' greatest gain in the Near East War and are the elite of the Russian army.

Now there is still a war to destroy the Great Wall. The wise Alexander II will naturally not do it.

"It's still about money, right?"

Alexander II asked helplessly, and he could tell from his tone that the question of "money" had not appeared once or twice.

Army Secretary Hramed replied affirmatively: "Yes! We have owed too much money for payment, and many cooperating enterprises are in financial trouble. Now they are asking to pay the arrears before organizing production. "

It is common for the Tsarist government to owe corporate money, but it is very rare that such a situation of owing such a ruth this time has happened.

Capitalists are not fools, knowing that the tsarist government's finances are in trouble, they will naturally not continue to owe credit.

In this regard, officials of Tsarist Russia and they are allies, and companies cannot make money. What can they give them as rebates?

Not only military enterprises, but all cooperative enterprises of the tsarist government now have a large backlog of debt.

If these problems are not solved, the Russian Empire will not have to consider next year's wars, just bow and admit defeat.

Alexander II asked with anticipation: "What plan does the Ministry of Finance have to resolve the current crisis?"

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Christanval, said with a haggard expression: "There are two solutions: first, to impose a war tax; second, to borrow foreign debt."

No bond issuance and no domestic borrowing, which undoubtedly shows that the credibility of the Tsarist government has collapsed and domestic finances have also experienced problems.

In fact, when the Russian army had just occupied East Prussia, there were still many people who were optimistic about them. The Ministry of Finance used this opportunity to sell a batch of bonds.

Then there is no more, and now their bonds are uninterested again.Even the Chancellor of the Exchequer is not sure whether these bonds can be redeemed.

War is a beast of gold, Russia is a feudal empire that is transitioning to capitalism, and the funds it can mobilize are very limited.

Of course, this does not mean that they will have no money, but the savvy financiers are pretending to be poor at this time, and there is no meaning of the La Czar government.

Alexander II sneered and said: "Can't the domestic financial industry think of a way? As far as I know, they still hold the foreign debts of many European countries!"

There is no problem, the tsarist government borrows from foreign banks, and Russian banks lend overseas, which is normal financial activity.

The only abnormal thing is that these banks are reluctant to lend money to the tsarist government.

Of course, this is not all a problem of the bank. More often, the previous czars played too hard. What happened with borrowing and not repaying happened so much that everyone did not want to continue to be fooled.

This topic is stuck. Now that the government's finances are collapsing, it is understandable that domestic banks are afraid to borrow.

See no one answered, Alexander II did not continue this topic.He knows that for bureaucrats: there are certain things that can be done, but they cannot be said, otherwise it is easy to leave the political opponents in charge.

"How much money can be raised?"

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Christan Val, thought about it and said: "The preliminary estimate is that a war tax of 86 million rubles can be levied. As for looking for foreign bank loans, the specific amount cannot be determined.

This depends on how much collateral we can take out, as well as political factors, which also need to be taken into account."

"86 million rubles" seems to be an astronomical figure, but in fact it is not enough to repay the debts of the enterprise.

This is not ruble worthless, the key is that the war is too expensive, and hundreds of tons of artillery shells are destroyed in a day, which is just a basic operation.

In fact, this has already been very cost-effective. Five or six hundred thousand troops are fighting on the front line. Even if each person consumes five bullets per day, that is more than three million.

With so many armies, on average, no matter how much the province saves every day, at least thousands of shells must be fired.

The most basic ammunition consumption is only hundreds of thousands of rubles a day.Coupled with the consumption of various logistical materials, the daily expenditure of several million rubles is indispensable.

After all, the cost of materials on the battlefield is not a cost price.Many strategic materials are transported from the rear to the front of the Russian army, and the price has doubled.

Alexander II frowned and asked, "Say, what are you going to mortgage, and how much can you borrow?"

Alexander II was very uncomfortable with this feeling of being out of control, but unfortunately the reality gave him no choice, and he could never send out the European hegemony?

Even the small kingdom of Prussia can't figure it out. I am afraid that Russia's international status will fall from the top to the British and French, and it will be ranked behind the Prussians.

Most of the political gains made during the Near East War will be lost in this defeat.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Christanval, chose to play without hesitation: "It depends on the outcome of the negotiations. Now it is not what we give, but what the other party wants.

You can contact more countries and choose the conditions that are most beneficial to us as far as possible. In this regard, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is professional."

Foreign Minister Clarence-Ivanov gave Kristanvar a fierce glance, which was clearly pitting.

International loans are never easy to borrow. Loans without conditions may exist, but unfortunately the Tsarist government cannot borrow them.

Once an additional treaty that harms national interests is signed, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the target of blame, and Clarence's mood is instantly bad.

"Your Majesty, the current funding gap is too large. There are only a few of them in the world who can provide this loan. Our options are almost non-existent.

If we are to rely on international loans to resolve the financial crisis, we may have to pay a large price before we can borrow money.

We might as well think about ways at home. The huge Russian empire does not even raise hundreds of millions of rubles."

Clarence's position is very obvious, it is best not to borrow money.This time the funding gap is too large, even if the borrowed money will not be able to afford it in the future.

Now they have very few chips to use as collateral. In addition to the vast territory, Clarence doesn't think there is anything else that can mortgage so much money.

It's not easy to deny accounts, but secured loans are different.There is no gold persimmon who has the strength to provide loans to them now. When there is no soft persimmon, when someone wants to take the collateral, can't they fight?

This is obviously impossible. If they have the money to fight a war, they will have already repaid their debts.War is actually the most luxurious toy, not suitable for the poor.

Rather than embarrassing the time, it is better to overturn the table in advance.When the government has no money, it asks the rich to ask for it.It was n’t the first time anyway, the ancestors left behind with experience.

A big vote will not only solve the debt crisis in one fell swoop, but may also be stuffed in the pocket.The pigs are very fat and can now be killed.

Alexander II nodded. This may not be the best choice, but it is the best choice for the tsarist government.

Under the tacit agreement of the high-level tsarist government, the Jews began to suffer.The goal of the upper class is only Jewish financial capitalists, but the lower middle class Jews also suffered.

The nobles will naturally not miss this opportunity to make a fortune, whether they are reformers or conservatives, on this issue, their positions are unprecedentedly consistent.