After 1855, the Austrian government held more economic conferences, and in addition to dealing with non-performing assets, the more important thing was currency reform.

Unlike at the beginning of the succession, Austria had insufficient gold and silver reserves, and the government's economic focus was to stabilize the value of the currency.

During the war in the Near East, a large amount of gold and silver flowed into Austria through trade with Russia, and the embarrassing situation of insufficient gold and silver reserves had been improved, and the necessary conditions for the reform of the gold standard had been met.

Monetary reform is too broad to be decided by Franz on the head, and the Cabinet government has been able to make many arguments but still has not been able to reach an agreement.

Nowadays, most countries use the gold and silver reset system, or directly use gold and silver as currency, and there are still very few countries on the gold standard.

In the government building, the proponents of the gold standard are debating the system of gold and silver restoration, and this is the last debate in Austria.

If the argument of the other side can be victorious, then what standard system will Austria achieve in the coming period.

In fact, it is not the system itself that is superior or inferior. The most suitable is the best, and the use of different standard systems in different time periods is the best choice.

In order to avoid becoming a martyr too far ahead, Franz left the final decision to the elite of this era, and the judgment of these professionals was always much stronger than that of a layman.

Franz instructed: "This meeting is only to discuss the monetary standard, and it is forbidden to involve any irrelevant topics, and personal attacks are prohibited."

Please think clearly before you express your opinion, your opinion will determine the future fate of the new Holy Roman Empire, and it is necessary to take into account all factors.

Prime Minister, you are here to preside over the meeting. ”

If you quarrel, let your younger brothers get on it!

If it were to convince cabinet ministers, Franz would not mind occasionally going out in person. Now in this kind of public occasion, the emperor personally went down to debate, which is too ungraceful.

Xiang Zhuang's sword dance was intended to Pei Gong, and this currency reform would naturally not be so simple, otherwise Franz would not have proposed the gold standard reform so early.

The deeper purpose of the monetary reform was to unify the currency of the new Holy Roman Empire and to co-opt the coinage rights of the various states.

When the time has come to seize power, Franz, who has always been cautious, will naturally pay attention to his appearance, and the respect for face must be given first.

It is obviously not advisable to turn Austrian currency into imperial legal tender directly. Franz wanted a united empire, not an empire full of contradictions.

Now, taking the opportunity of the reform of the standard system, we are issuing new currencies to replace the original currencies of various countries, just to take care of everyone's feelings.

Anyway, regardless of the final outcome, the coinage rights will be taken away by the central government.

Prime Minister Felix replied: "Yes, Your Majesty! ”

After a pause, he said, "The New Holy Roman Empire Monetary Standard Meeting, the last enlarged meeting is now open, and the delegates will speak in order. ”

There were quite a few people attending the meeting, but not many were qualified to speak, and apart from the Cabinet Ministers, only the representatives of the states were entitled to speak.

Württemberg, Saxony, Frankfurt, Hesse, Lombardy, Bavaria each and Austria represented four.

This is based on the principle of one representative per 10 million population (rounded off to the nearest extent), with no less than one representative from each state, and each state appoints a representative.

This was a system designed by Franz himself, and the main purpose was to avoid crowds and delays in meetings.

The final outcome of the meeting was decided by a joint vote of the representatives of the states and the five cabinet ministers. Well, that's political showmanship, a total of fifteen people can vote, eleven of them were personally appointed by Franz.

Hans, the representative of Frankfurt, said: "Ladies and gentlemen, the gold standard is not bad, the problem is that our domestic gold production cannot keep up with the growth of commodities.

At the current rate of growth of domestic industry and commerce, we need to increase our gold reserves by at least ten or twenty tons every year before we can issue enough currency to ensure the normal operation of the economy.

At present, the annual gold production of the new Holy Roman Empire can only meet a quarter, how to make up the remaining gap?

Relying on foreign trade to buy gold from the international market?

The war in the Near East is over, the opportunity for war money is gone, and it is almost impossible to achieve such a large surplus in international trade.

In order to ensure the development of the domestic economy, it is most suitable for us to continue to implement the current system of resetting the standard. ”

At the current value of Austria, this means an annual trade surplus of 14 million guilders, which is obviously just an ideal figure.

In fact, it is even more difficult to exchange it for gold and send it back to the country, which can be used as a reserve for issuing currency.

Jungler, the representative of Bavaria, objected: "Mr. Hans, you are worrying too much. The lack of gold production is not impossible to solve.

Now that the mixed gold and silver standard has been abolished, we don't need to store a large amount of silver, and we can use it to buy gold on the international market.

At present, many countries in the world are on a reset standard, and there are almost no obstacles to exchanging silver for gold.

No, we can also increase the leverage ratio, as long as the credibility of the government can be guaranteed, there is no deficit in international trade, causing gold outflows, inflation will not occur.

Whether it is the gold standard or the reset standard, in the final analysis, it depends on credibility, and if the government does not have enough credibility, unless it directly uses gold and silver as currency.

Moreover, the reset system is not so rosy. Ostensibly, with more silver as reserves, we can print more banknotes.

But in reality, we all know that the price of gold and silver can change all the time. The discovery of a new gold mine or silver mine is enough to change the gold-silver ratio in the market, thus bringing strong volatility to the currency market.

Under the reset standard, the currency market fluctuates from time to time, and changes in the value of the currency that may occur at any time seriously affect the development of domestic commercial trade. ”

The two of them almost said the advantages and disadvantages of the two standard systems, and if there are enough gold reserves, the gold standard will naturally prevail.

On the contrary, you can only make do with gold and silver to reset the standard. You don't have to think about the credit-based test, it won't work at all in this era.

When international trade settlement, if you don't use the gold and silver settlement method, who will recognize "credit"?

You can't just use the silver standard, right? Everyone knows that the world's silver production is increasing year by year, and the ratio of gold and silver exchange is declining.

If the silver standard is adopted, the money market is stable, but it is stable and in a state of long-term depreciation.

It's not that fast now, and by the end of the 19th century, more and more silver mines were discovered, and the currency didn't collapse by then?

Saxony's representative, Frank, asked: "Before you discuss this issue, do we have to find out how much gold and silver reserves the government has now?" ”

"The central government of the new Holy Roman Empire, plus the local government, has a total gold reserve of 382.6 tons and a total silver reserve of 8,728.9 tons." Chancellor of the Exchequer Karl replied

This figure is somewhat unexpected, and many people do not know that the new Holy Roman Empire already has so many gold reserves.

This is not surprising, since Franz took the throne, the Austrian government has subconsciously begun to increase its gold reserves.

Specifically, when settling externally, the gold expenditure should be reduced as much as possible and the silver payment should be used instead. Anyway, under the gold and silver reset system, governments have the same attitude towards gold and silver.

During the war in the Near East, the Russians contributed a large amount of gold and silver to Austria, increasing the Austrian government's gold and silver reserves.

The Austrian government accounted for 90 percent of the gold and silver reserves of the new Holy Roman Empire, which naturally increased the amount of gold reserves in the country.

This gold seems to be a lot, but in fact, after the gold standard reform, it is only enough for the early use, and with the continuous development of the economy, this reserve needs to continue to increase.

The total amount of gold in this era was limited, and most of the gold was kept in the form of luxury goods before the gold standard was implemented.

Hearing the good news, the Austrian representative Jürgen, who advocated the reform of the gold standard, said: "We already have a lot of gold reserves, and if we carry out the gold standard reform now, we can still buy gold from the private sector."

At present, most countries are practicing the gold and silver standard, and if we carry out the reform of the gold standard in advance, we can also take the opportunity to exchange silver for a batch of gold.

Once all countries begin to reform the currency standard, the price of silver, which has lost its currency status, will inevitably fall sharply, and it is estimated that it will not be able to maintain even one-third of its current value.

From a long-term perspective, stabilizing the value of the currency is crucial, and the British were the first to take the first step, and if we don't keep up, we will suffer later. ”

The gold standard was originally proposed by the British, and as early as 1823, the British began to practice the gold standard, they had enough overseas colonies, and the gold mined from the colonies was enough to support them to implement the gold standard.

This is something that most countries in Europe cannot do, although everyone knows the benefits of the gold standard, and they dare not follow it without sufficient gold reserves.

The gold and silver reset standard was a substitute for insufficient gold reserves, and the new Holy Roman Empire would not be able to avoid this topic if it entered the age of the gold standard.

Hans, the representative of Frankfurt, shook his head and said: "Monetary reform is a matter of great importance, and if you want to take it back in one step, you will not pay a fraction of the price."

Even now, when we sweep the international market, the amount of gold we can obtain is limited, and it is not easy to exchange it for 180 tons.

The gold standard system was established, and we could support it in the early stage. But what do we do when we find that our gold reserves are low in 10 years, 20 years, or even longer? ”

After listening to Hans's explanation, Franz finally understood why they were resolutely opposed to the reform of the gold standard, which in the final analysis was still a lack of gold reserves.

The new Holy Roman Empire was developing rapidly, and since the economy was growing, the amount of money needed in the market naturally increased.

In this era, increasing the amount of money in circulation is not just about printing bills, it is also necessary to have enough reserves, or in other words, enough gold and silver to be placed there, so that the people can be assured of the credibility of the government.

The idea of obtaining gold from the colonies became lingering as soon as Franz's mind came to mind.

This is the most effective and reliable method, South Africa has the most gold mines, but unfortunately the British have occupied the coastal areas, unless they can bypass it from the interior, they can only look at it from afar.

This unreliable method was dispelled by Franz after thinking about it. The interior of Africa is not a place to mix, it is a real wilderness.

Even if transportation is opened up and gold mines are finally developed, they will still be contested by European countries. Austria was not a British Empire, but it could not afford to cut off everyone from the sea to join the spoils.

Franz didn't want to make wedding dresses for others, so he invested a lot of money at a great cost, and in the end everyone came to divide it together, and the Austrian cost could not be recovered.

Rethinking other regions......