In Paris, a luxury club closed to the public, several of the major oligarchs of the French financial community gathered.

A kind old man asked with a smile: "I heard that Nino's little guy is in trouble, how is it now, has he completed the task?" ”

If you are not familiar with it, no one will know that this kind old man is the biggest vampire in the French financial world.

The most frightening thing is that no matter what the situation, he has a smiling expression, including killing.

"Okay, old Duke put away your face, everyone is an old acquaintance, who doesn't know who! I'm acting every day, you're not tired, we're tired of watching it. ”

It was Dumas who spoke, and the two often clashed because of their interests.

Contradiction is contradiction, but this does not affect everyone to work together to make money, for the Panama Canal project, now everyone is sitting up again.

In order to avoid the escalation of the conflict, Bales, the host of the party, decisively cut to the chase: "The two of us are important, let's talk about the canal project first!"

Everyone knows that the Suez Canal project was thought to be a loss-making project has recouped its entire investment in less than seven years after its opening.

It now offers investors handsome returns every year, and the returns are growing with overseas trade, and if nothing else, this will continue for hundreds of years.

Of course, this is a special case. This special terrain of the Mediterranean Sea is not available everywhere, and it is almost impossible to replicate the success of the Suez Canal.

The Panama Canal should be the closest to the Suez Canal, and once it is opened to the East and West Pacific, the distance will be shortened, and the benefits can be imagined. ”

Old Duke shook his head: "It's not that simple, the Panama Canal is not the same as the Suez Canal, and politically we don't get support."

The Austrians did not want to see the canal navigable, the British did not want the canal to be navigable, and even the Parisian government did not necessarily support the Panama Canal.

The reasons for this should be clear to you. The Mediterranean countries benefited the most from the opening of the Suez Canal, both France and Austria, and the two countries pushed forward the project under pressure from the British for strategic reasons.

What about the Panama Canal? The largest beneficiary was the United States of America, followed by the Republic of Colombia, and other countries in the Americas also benefited to some extent.

But we and the British and Austrians gained so little that France had almost nothing to gain except for the canal itself.

The territory of Austrian Central America is not large, and the construction of railways can meet the transportation needs, without this demand, otherwise they would have dug their own hands, and the Nicaraguan region can also dig canals.

Not to mention British Canada, which is typically vast and sparsely populated, simply doesn't have that many goods to transport.

In the eyes of politicians, it is better not to start such a cheap project.

As for the benefits of the canal, I'm sorry, I don't think the Panama Canal will catch up with the Suez Canal.

Judging from the economic situation in the Americas, perhaps the number of ships passing through each year is not as large as the number of ships passing through the Suez Canal in our own family.

If the economy of the Americas develops later, it may still be profitable, but according to the current situation, the project will lose almost 100 percent. ”

It is a fact that there are hidden interests behind the Panama Canal, but the hidden interests are not something that the government can get their hands on.

Compared with the high investment, just charging navigation fees, the opening of the Panama Canal in this era is indeed a big loss, otherwise the original time and space will be delayed until before the First World War.

Without the involvement of the government, it is no wonder that the Panama Canal can be successfully navigated without the participation of other countries.

Bales smiled slightly: "Whether the Panama Canal is profitable or not, whether it can be navigated, what does it matter to us?"

It is enough to make the outside world think that the project has great potential, like the current Suez Canal, and can make a lot of money.

I have made a preliminary estimate that if this project is put into operation, it can leverage more than 10 or 2 billion francs of capital. If you add the peripheral gains, the number is even larger.

It is enough for us to bite a piece of meat from it, and it is up to God to decide whether the canal project succeeds or fails. ”

There is no doubt that this is a shocking scam, but this is also the most basic operation of capital, if you don't make up a dream, how can investors be willing to enter the pit?

For financial capital, they never care about the success or failure of the project, as long as they can operate and go public, they can get rich returns, and long-term operation has never been a problem they need to consider.

Old Duke nodded: "What you said is very reasonable, we are not God, how do we know if the Panama Canal project can be successful?"

I think it's better to get the canal development rights as soon as possible, and then put it into operation.

If possible, it is best to bring in British and Austrian capital to do it together. When we make the cake bigger, we can get the most delicious portion.

On the Austrian side, in particular, someone had to lobby the Vienna government, or at least delay their intervention. ”

Bales: "That's why I asked you to come over, because there are so many relationships that need to be coordinated for such a big project, and it takes a lot of cooperation to get it done. ”

Obviously, this is not as simple as it seems, and just one Panama Canal project is not worth the cooperation of so many bigwigs in the French financial community.

As long as the cowhide is blown up, it is not a canal project. It will also involve maritime transportation, processing and manufacturing, and banking......

Maybe when this project is put into operation, it will be a new round of bull market; When the project is finished, that's when the stock market crash erupts.

……

There are still a lot of smart people, and Morgan, who is far away in New York, quickly discovered that something was wrong with his keen sense of smell in the financial markets.

The Panama Canal does not require the participation of the United States at all, and even if they do, they will not be able to do anything but provide money.

The United States was riddled with internal contradictions, and the federal government was weak, and it was simply not in a position to mobilize the real strength of the country. Moreover, there are also Allied countries watching from the sidelines, and they do not dare to act rashly at all.

If it really confronts Austria, the federal government will be unable to do anything other than protest. Without the government's intervention, what can these consortia do? Is it possible to organize mercenaries to defend the Panamanian region?

It's not that Morgan underestimates himself, the power of the consortium is indeed great, but it depends on what it does. If you organize mercenaries to confront a great power, it is estimated that they will die a very miserable death.

Not only the United States, but also Spain is not much better. It seems that Spain has a lot of influence in the Caribbean, but in fact, the colonies in this region have long been spied on by the Allied countries.

On the one hand, they were afraid of the strength of Britain, France, and Austria, and feared that they would be hostile to European countries; On the other hand, it is to contain each other with the United States, and it is easy for the enemy to take advantage of the opportunity to send troops.

No matter how lucrative the Panama Canal was, the Spaniards would not be able to offend Austria and cause themselves big trouble now.

If nothing else, the Philippines in the South Seas is right under Austria's nose. The Spaniards were able to hold on to this land because of good diplomatic relations between the two sides, not on so-called military strength.

Since neither of the two rivals is strong, and the French still want to pull them in, the problem is very obvious.

The truth was speculated, which only increased Morgan's determination to cooperate with France. The money sent to the door is not earned in vain, and as for who cheats who in the end, it depends on their own means.

You must know that the Morgan consortium has been able to develop to this point by pit the British, the British can be pitted, and the French naturally have no pressure.

……

Vienna Palace, looking at the information in his hand, Franz hesitated, he didn't know whether to cooperate with these consortiums.

Purely from the perspective of interests, he seems to have no reason to refuse. The benefits promised by the French are still very rich.

But when he did it, he broke his bottom line again. Although the Imperial Power Consortium is also engaged in financial business, it has never played a shocking scam.

After much hesitation, Franz made a decision: "Tell the people below that it is possible to cooperate with the French, but the Panama Canal cannot be listed in Austria, and they decide to participate in that step." ”

As long as the Panama Canal Company is not allowed to list in Austria, even if it has an impact, the consequences will be too serious.

If an investor runs to buy stocks, they deserve to be sheared.

The Austrian Securities Regulatory Commission is still very strict, and this kind of company without a single hair, unless it is endorsed by the government, will not pass the listing review at all.

Franz did not think that the Vienna government would endorse the Panama Canal, and the top government knew very well that the project would not succeed unless Austria changed its national policy.

The French tried to pull the Austrian consortium into the market, and the most important thing was to let Vienna not sabotage, and they did not think about listing in Austria at all.

The reason is very simple, according to the latest securities law of the Vienna government: companies listed in Austria have strict performance requirements, unless the project is approved by the government, other companies must make a profit of more than 100,000 Aegis for three consecutive years.

No matter how the Panama Canal project is played, it is impossible for the capitalists to produce financial statements that have made profits for three consecutive years before the canal is opened.

Of course, the benefits are not so easy to take. There must be strings attached, and it is impossible to pick up money for nothing. What needs to be done needs to be further negotiated and determined, which is not what Franz is concerned about.

The effort is proportional to the benefit, and this plan was planned by the French, so they will naturally take the lion's share. The other participants will have to share the spoils according to the size of their contributions.

This is only a preliminary distribution intention, and how much income can be obtained in the end is actually based on the means. Capital is bloodstained, and competition is everywhere.