Europe is in trouble, and the Americas will naturally not be able to escape. With the boom in international trade, the economic ties between countries are also getting closer.

After the outbreak of the economic crisis, not only the downstream manufacturing and retail industries suffered heavy losses, but also the intermediate wholesalers and upstream raw material suppliers, and no one could escape.

Then, Argentina's beef and soybeans were not sellable, Chile's copper mines and saltpeter were unsalable, and the cotton of the Allied countries was rotten, and the United States of America, which had gone the farthest on the road to industrialization, suffered the heaviest losses.

There is no way, as soon as the economic crisis breaks out, the big dumping comes. In this respect, the interests of Britain and Austria are identical, and it can be regarded as the common will of European countries, and the Americans after the split have no confidence to refuse at all.

Not only was the market shocked, but the most tragic thing was that British capital withdrew its investment in the United States at a critical time in order to cope with the domestic crisis.

Strikes, unemployment, and populist agitations spread like wildfire. In particular, the "Free Bank" movement of 1892 exacerbated the crisis.

It has not been a day or two since the price of silver has fallen, and the "free silver" policy has undoubtedly put the dollar on the path of depreciation and inflation.

It's not that Americans are unaware of the consequences of the "free silver" policy, the main thing is to force it out. In the face of competition from European industrial and commercial products, domestic companies in the United States are almost powerless to fight back.

In order to protect domestic industry, the U.S. government had to adopt stimulus policies. As for the sequelae brought about by this, it is naturally the ordinary people who pay the bill, and the heaviest losses are undoubtedly agriculture.

However, the United States was divided once, and the strong agricultural states almost all followed the Union states, and the remaining states were dominated by capital, so naturally no one cared about these small problems.

When inflation meets an economic crisis, the situation is very different. The decline in the purchasing power of ordinary people directly led to a further contraction of the market, and a vicious circle of the economy began.

The withdrawal of British capital exacerbated the crisis, and a strange scene appeared. On the one hand, there is serious inflation, and on the other hand, there is a shortage of money in the market.

The United States of America, which is seriously short of gold reserves, is in a monetary crisis at the same time as an economic crisis.

In response to the crisis, President Cleveland, a Democratic Party on his way out of the Great Depression, took decisive measures: issuing government bonds to buy gold.

Naturally, bankers will not give up this opportunity to make a fortune. On the one hand, they provide gold for these high-interest bonds, and on the other hand, they exchange paper money for gold reserves.

Just like this, gold is still the original gold, reserves have not increased much, and the interest rate differential in the middle has made the bankers make a lot of money.

Looking at the information in his hand, Franz was very suspicious that Cleveland had been bought by the bankers, and this kind of brain-dead monetary policy was taken out.

Suspicion is suspicion, and it does not affect him to go in and get a piece of the pie. The only pity is that the United States of America is not fat enough in these years, the plate is too small, and there are too many people who share the cake, and even less as a cross-river dragon.

The spread of $680,000 is the result of a month's operation of the Americas branch. It's a huge sum of money for ordinary people, and for Franz, it's better than nothing.

Subsequently, Franz no longer cared. No brain-dead policy is sustainable, and this money-giving policy is no exception, and if Cleveland continues to play like this, the U.S. government may be crushed by debt before the end of its term.

No matter how bizarre the gold bond policy is, it cannot affect that Cleveland is a "good president". Just because he repealed the McKinley Tariff Act, known as the "Mother of Trusts," he had to be a "good president."

……

According to the financial world, if everyone is tied to risk, then it is not risk. The same can be applied here, the economies of all countries in the world are declining together, or they can be about the same as not declining, at least in terms of relative national strength.

The goal was achieved, but Franz was not happy. In any case, there is always a way to get through the economic crisis.

Countries have been dragged into the water, leaving no chance for competitors to take advantage of their rise, strategically successful, but it has become more difficult to recover their economies.

Looking at the world map, Franz said helplessly: "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is ready to mediate the war between Japan and Spain, the Spaniards are about to be unable to hold on, and the situation of the Japanese is not much better."

If the war continues, I am afraid it will turn into a war of attrition between us and the British. With the intensity of the Philippine campaign, it may not be possible to distinguish the winner in another three or five years.

There is no need to continue wasting money in a game that is destined to be fruitless. Now is the best collection meeting, and it is estimated that the British are not willing to take the money to waste. ”

The war between the two poor ghosts, once it continues, the last unlucky one is the gold owner. Although this year has not developed to the point of "owing money is the uncle", but when encountering the owner who has no money, everyone is still powerless.

Spain is relatively better, at least a few rich colonies, which are worth a little money; Japan is really poor and white. If you get the Philippine Islands, it will be fine, and there will always be a day to pay back the money; If they don't get it, the British will lose all their investment.

The oil yield of soybeans is 20 percent, the oil yield of rapeseed is 36 percent, and the oil yield of sesame seeds is 45 percent.

In exchange for Franz's position in the British government, it is now necessary to consider whether it is worthwhile to continue to invest in the Japanese.

Relying on capital to kill the enemy, if the opposite side is the Russians, it is almost the same, but unfortunately this time the opponent is the HRE Empire, there are no billions of pounds into it, and it can't even bubble out.

Even though the capital of the British is stronger, the staying power of the HRE is stronger! Wars of attrition test not only capital, but also staying power.

Foreign Secretary Wesenberg frowned: "Your Majesty, the key to mediating the war between Japan and Spain is the ownership of the Philippine Islands. At this point in the war, Japan and Spain will probably not give in easily.

If you choose to make peace and let the two countries jointly manage the Philippine Islands, you can end the war now, but in a few years the two sides will fight again.

We don't have so much time to dwell on it, and on the side of the Empire, the best thing to do is for the Japanese to give up.

If we want the Japanese government to make concessions, it will certainly not be enough for us and Spain alone, and even if we pull the whole European Union together, we will not necessarily succeed, unless the British also support us.

Just ......"

Franz interrupted: "No, it's just that! The protagonists of the Philippine War are Japan and Spain, don't you think we have mixed too much?

At this time, it's time for the Spaniards to work on their own. No matter how unbearable they are, as a European country, they will never lose to the Japanese in the struggle for the right to speak in European public opinion, right?

Let them unleash their influence and build momentum for themselves in Europe, and by the way, describe Japan as a bit barbaric, and that's pretty much it.

Now is a time of economic crisis, and the British Parliament is not idle, there are so many pairs of eyes staring, where does the London government get so much money to support the Japanese.

After the end of the Sino-Japanese War, without this gold-swallowing beast, government finances can also breathe a sigh of relief. This is very beneficial to the next economic construction. ”

War costs money, and the Philippine campaign has been going on so far, and both Japan and Spain need "a lot of money" and "a lot of supplies." Mere lip service is meaningless.

Once public opinion is hyped up, and the British government contributes money to Japan, the British people with croaking bellies will definitely make them unable to eat and walk around.

The opposition parties are the natural allies of the Spanish government when it comes to controlling the government, and if problems come to light, they will certainly be in trouble in parliament.

Even if the British government could suggest that the consortium would lend money to the Japanese, but they did not guarantee the safety of the debt, who would lend money to the Japanese government, which at first glance knew that it could not repay?

The Japanese government, which has no money, has a hard time not compromising. If we don't take advantage of the fact that there is still a little bit of negotiation conditions in our hands now, we will not even have the capital to negotiate the conditions when we drag it out.

The only regret was that the War ended in Japan, and the Holy Roman Empire was unable to maximize its benefits. In terms of return on investment alone, the Vienna government is losing money this time.

However, in order to get out of the economic crisis as soon as possible, Franz can no longer care about the question of losing money or not losing money. The consumption of more than 10 million Aegis every month can be used to restore the economy and create tens of thousands of jobs.

After all, the Vienna government is really poor now. Not only does the domestic economy need to recover, but it also needs to take money to help a few younger brothers.

Bankruptcy is bankruptcy, and the government still has to have it. The debt problem can be put aside, but the social order of all countries must not collapse.

Today, unlike in the past, the Holy Roman Empire, as the boss of the continent, has become the guardian of order. The "beautiful" era of not being a big deal to watch the excitement is gone forever.

……

Prime Minister Karl: "Your Majesty, in view of the current special situation, the Cabinet is ready to increase investment in infrastructure, start the Asia-Africa-Europe Ring Railway ahead of schedule, and promote the recovery of the domestic economy with the infrastructure industry.

Considering the huge investment in this project, the cabinet plans to split it into multiple sub-projects, and take out the section with a higher rate of return to finance the construction to reduce the cost of investment.

The remaining sections of the road where construction is difficult and there is no return on investment will be invested and constructed by the government itself. The main expenses were covered by bank loans and the issuance of government bonds.

The current situation is very favorable to us, and recently more than a dozen European countries, including Russia, Spain, Belgium, Sweden, Slovakia, and Romania, have borrowed a large amount of money from us.

The Aegis settlement system has already been established on the European continent, and it happened to catch up with the economic crisis, and the British are now taking care of themselves.

As long as we can get out of the economic crisis first, in the struggle for monetary hegemony, Aegis will have the absolute upper hand.

As long as Europe is stable, it will be simple to go from Europe to the world. It is nothing more than a matter of buying, buying, buying, and no matter what the governments think, the capitalists are very much welcome to Aegis. ”

The strategic railway, which loses money, is destined to have to be paid by the government. There is no way, the trick can only be used once. As early as more than 30 years ago, during the construction of domestic railways, the capitalists were fooled once, and now everyone has become smarter.

No matter how good your story is, if you don't see the ROI, no one will pay attention.

The "Asia-Africa-Europe Ring Railway" sounds domineering, but that's actually what it is. It is nothing more than connecting the original railways in series and making up for the missing part of the line in the middle.

Counting on this "money", perhaps the population of the Holy Roman Empire will increase by four or five times, we can see such a loss of hope.

This is only a nominal "money", that is, the operating income is greater than the operating costs, and if you want to recover the investment costs and obtain a considerable rate of return, it is estimated that the population will have to increase by seven or eight times.

I don't know if the future can be realized, anyway, Franz is impossible to see in his lifetime. It doesn't matter if you lose money, the key is to lose money.

Theoretically, as long as the HRE Navy can master the Mediterranean, this seemingly strategically important railway has no practical significance. After all, sea transport is cheaper, and after a large circle by rail, merchant ships have run several round-trips.

Judging from the current international situation, the hegemony of the HRE Navy in the Mediterranean has been fully established, and even the British cannot shake it.

If the British really had the courage to send the main forces of the Royal Navy into the Mediterranean, Franz would have dreamed of laughing. The bathtub is no joke, and no one dictates that naval battles can only be fought by the navy.

As the world's largest air power, Franz can arrogantly declare that the coastal area is a forbidden area for warships of various countries.

Whether it is taking off from the Asian-Africa-Eurasian continental circle, or from the Italian peninsula, the HRE Air Force can make them walk around without food.

It doesn't matter if the hit rate is low, as long as the number goes up, there will always be a gain. It's really not good, and the Japanese "kamikaze" brigade is not bad.

In addition to planes in the sky, there are also submarines underwater. Originally, the HRE was not very good at developing submarine technology, but with the end of the war against France, the situation improved.

On the basis of inheriting the submarine technology of the French, the HRE Navy also had its own submarine formation. The only regret is that the technology has not been able to break through, and we can only play offshore operations.

With so many advantages, the Vienna government's demand for the "Asia-Africa-Europe Ring Railway" is naturally not high. If it hadn't happened to catch up with the economic crisis, it is estimated that this railway would not have been able to even establish a project.

There is no what if, and since it happens to catch up, then the Circle Line Railway will be born. Waste, perhaps. However, compared with the positive significance of the launch of the railway line, it is not worth mentioning.

After all, reviving the economy is the immediate priority of the Vienna government. If we can get out of the economic crisis one day earlier, Aegis will be able to have an extra advantage in the struggle for monetary hegemony.