Seeing that the Russians had the upper hand on the battlefield, the Berlin government, which had been prepared for a long time, was able to calm down, and the financiers behind couldn't sit still.

"It's the uncle who owes the money". This sentence may be a bit exaggerated here. But the essence has not changed, once the Popo Federation is defeated, it will be difficult for the creditors to get the money.

The "collateral" promised by the Berlin government in advance depends on whether the Russians are willing to accept it.

According to the usual style of the tsarist government, the probability of pretending not to see was as high as 80 percent, and the remaining 20 percent was seen and would not admit it.

In order to win this battle, the Berlin government is doing its best to borrow money, and I don't know how many secret treaties have been signed.

If the Pop Federation is finished, I don't know how many financial institutions that lend out their debts will follow. If a consortium wants to transfer losses, a financial crisis is essential.

It's not just financial institutions that are out of luck, but the real industry is not much better. Many companies seem to have made a lot of war money, but in fact, many of them are profits on the books, and they are in arrears for a lot of final payments.

There is no way, arrears of final payments are the biggest stubborn disease in commercial circulation, which runs through almost every link of the capitalist market economy. This is a difficult problem that all production enterprises have to face.

No one knows how long this war will last, let alone how much it will cost. In order to last longer, the Berlin government naturally had to spend as little as possible.

It doesn't matter if you owe a lot of debt, and it doesn't matter if the interest rate is high, it's all a happy trouble. Only by winning this war will they have the need to think about these issues.

After the outbreak of the Russo-Prussian War, the export prices of all strategic goods in Europe rose sharply.

Nominally, enjoying the dividends of this wave of rising commodity prices, enterprises have earned huge profits; In fact, the Berlin government only paid part of the money, and many even paid only the deposit, and the rest of the production costs had to be paid in advance by the capitalists.

The Berlin government is rich, there are still a lot of them lying in bank accounts, and well-informed people have heard about it.

It's just that the purchase of materials is in the deposit, usually when the next batch of goods is purchased, the previous batch of payment is settled.

For the sake of high profits, the capitalists naturally will not refuse. Many economically weak enterprises have to borrow from banks in order to make advances.

To some extent, the Popo Federation has hijacked the British economy through debt, and both sides are at a loss.

Everyone knows the "risk", but it can't stand the huge benefits. In addition, the Pop-Polish Federation had already won a Russo-Prussian war, and the newspapers in London continued to belittle the Russians, which invisibly increased everyone's confidence.

All this changed after the Battle of Smolinsk, when everyone suddenly discovered: "The Russian Empire is still the European military police, and the Popo Federation seems to be unable to hold on".

This can't be done, it's already invested so much, no matter what, you can't let the Popo Federation finish! If the Berlin government were to finish, everyone would be unlucky.

The capitalists do not want the end of the Pop Federation, and the London government does not want to see the end of the Pop Federation. finally supported a chess piece, but it was gone, and no one wanted to see it.

For a time, the pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin increased, and domestic interest groups demanded that the government take action to avoid the worst.

Putting down the documents in his hand, Benjamin asked in disbelief: "The situation has reached this point, Britain was actually kidnapped by Prussian barbarians?" ”

The thick contempt between his eyebrows is enough to prove how bad his mood is, the relationship between Britain and Prussia has always been very good, and under normal circumstances, he would not use such an insulting word as "barbarian".

Chancellor of the Exchequer Garfield: "It's worse than that. I suspect that even if the Popo Federation had won the war, they might not have been able to pay these debts.

The arrears of the material balance are not mentioned for the time being, they have also paid part of the money, as long as the enterprise is not too greedy, it is basically enough for the production cost, even if it is a loss, it will not lose much.

The trouble was the loans and bonds, and once the Pupo Federation was defeated, almost all the collateral was not secured.

The gold they took out was not enough to pay off a tenth of the debt. Even if you add the overseas assets of all the people of the Pop Pop Federation, it will not be able to fill this hole.

In the case of incomplete statistics, we have even found cases of multiple mortgage loans, especially the loan agreements signed by the Berlin government and financial institutions privately, and the situation of multiple mortgages is very serious.

The debt owed to us by the Popo Confederation is far more than the 180 million pounds on the surface, and the real figure may be 200 million or 300 million, and no one knows about it except the Berlin government. ”

In those years, Britain's financial regulations were lax, and financial institutions issued loans privately, and the London government had no control over them.

Bond sales are even more chaotic, and it is not uncommon to report 1 million on the surface, but in fact issue 3 to 5 million.

In this era of manual oversight, it is too difficult to accurately count these figures, and as long as there are no problems, the British government will not bother at all.

If something really goes wrong, the British government can't do anything about it. Financial problems, small problems will not be exposed at all, and once major problems are exposed, the institution will not be far from bankruptcy.

"Bankruptcy" is the best weapon to evade responsibility, and the government will only catch a few scapegoats at most, and more often than not, even a scapegoat will be found.

The specific debt figures of the Berlin government, which Prime Minister Benjamin has not bothered to delve into, do not make any sense.

In terms of investment, this investment is already a junk asset, and timely stop loss is the best choice.

Unfortunately, this is not possible. Everyone doesn't want to see their money go down the drain, and the London government must take responsibility for the aftermath.

Britain and France used this trick to successfully pull the Americans into the chariot, and now although they have not reached that point, it still gives Prime Minister Benjamin a headache.

"Damn brute, how did you suddenly become so insidious!" Prime Minister Benjamin complained

"No, are these situations just for us, or are they for all countries?"

This question is very critical, and if all the countries are held hostage by the debts of the Pupo Federation, then the problem is no longer a problem.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Garfield shook his head: "It's a pity, Prime Minister. Although similar problems have occurred in other countries, the number involved is not large.

Probably the debt that the Popo Federation owes to all the other countries together is less than a third of ours.

In addition to us, the second largest creditor of the Pupo Confederation should be the French, then the German Federal Empire, and the rest can be ignored.

The government in Berlin does not yet have the ability to borrow money from all over the world. ”

Benjamin nearly fainted at the news, and he swore it was the worst news he had heard this year.

The main reason for this situation is that the British are too rich, and the people have a lot of idle money; The second is the foreign policy of the London government. Without the support of the government, private financial institutions would not be so enthusiastic.

Everyone took it for granted that the government would not let the Popo Federation lose the war. In that case, what is there to worry about, does the Berlin government dare to pay its debts?

Other countries are different, not everyone is optimistic about the Popo Federation, and not everyone has the confidence to ensure the security of debts.

For example, the financial community in Austria does not lend money to the Pop-Polish Confederation for a very practical reason – the Vienna government is supporting the Russians.

Due to political influences, everyone is not optimistic about the Popo Federation, and naturally no one will lend them money.

Not to mention small European countries, not to mention whether the money can be guaranteed to be recovered, the key is that they don't have much in their pockets!

Against this backdrop, it is not surprising that France has become the second largest creditor and the German Confederation has become the third. Who made you have money in your pocket and a good relationship with the Berlin government?

Benjamin asked unquestioningly: "And what about the Russian Empire?" Don't tell me, the tsarist government also borrowed a lot of money from us! ”

Garfield nodded helplessly: "It's a pity, Your Excellency, Prime Minister." The tsarist government did owe us a large sum of money, certainly not as much as the Popo Federation, about fifty or sixty million pounds.

A large part of this was borrowed before the war, which can also be counted as advance payments for the import of Russian agricultural products, and some of them are the balance owed for the purchase of materials after the outbreak of the war.

We have taken a rough count of the foreign debts of the Russians, and there is no surprise that their largest creditor is Austria, and the total debt should be no less than what we have lent to the Poppo Federation.

Most of them are loans, as well as a small number of bonds, and there are very few final payments for the purchase of supplies. Because the tsarist government had a precedent of defaulting on its debts, most Austrian companies demanded cash settlement. ”

It seemed that the message was too heavy, and after a pause, Prime Minister Benjamin relented.

"This is the worst-case scenario. We can't watch the defeat of the Pop-Polish Confederation, nor can the Vienna government watch the defeat of the Russians, this war is no longer just a matter of the Prussians! ”

Anglo-Austrian confrontation, or a proxy war between Britain and Austria through Prussia. Either way, the final outcome is not optimistic.

Especially now that the Popo Federation is at a disadvantage on the battlefield, it is even more passive for Britain. The price to pay for the reversal of the Popo Federation is too great.

Foreign Secretary Edward: "The situation is not so bad, in fact it is mainly us who have been hijacked by debt, Austria has also retained the initiative.

The Russians had only a few big banks involved in their loans from Austria, and they had territory as collateral, and although the valuations were a little higher, they would not have lost their money as long as they could cash them in.

Judging by the current situation, I do not believe that the tsarist government had the capacity to default. On the contrary, we are in big trouble, and the same debt involves hundreds of thousands, or even millions. ”

It's not okay if you don't have a headache, and lending money to two families at the same time seems to be beautiful, but in fact there are hardships. No matter who wins or loses, there will be a default on the debt, which is nothing more than a question of how much.

However, the London government has no control over the financial world, and the bankers invest according to their own interests, and the interests of the country are not in their consideration.

It is only enough to be able to recover it smoothly, and once there is a debt default, these consortia will come out of their shells and send out the almighty "bankruptcy" law.

Of course, there are also fools who have bad brains, or slow reactions, who do not transfer risks in time, and play themselves to death.

Fortunately, the Russians have a bad reputation, and there are few capitalists willing to lend them money, otherwise the London government would have to experience what a real dilemma is.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Garfield shook his head: "I don't think it makes any difference, even if the Vienna government has more options, they can't let the Pop-Pop Federation win the war."

They would even be happy to use our hand to weaken the Russians and remove a major obstacle to their unification of Germany.

Think about it, what could be a better situation than the collapse of the Pop-Po Federation, the loss of the Russian Empire, and the devastating devastation of our economy by defaulting on our debts?

From the point of view of the beneficiaries, I have reason to believe that the Austrian government is orchestrating the current situation.

Of course, it could be France, but I don't think Napoleon IV was a kid who had the ability. ”

……