Out of the Palace of Versailles, Alexandrovich was no longer interested in touring, and it was clear that this trip to Paris was not smooth.

Napoleon III's goodwill to Russia was only for the sake of pure political needs, demonstrating to European countries, and it did not mean that France was really trying to win over Russia.

Without the humiliation of the Frankfurt Peace Treaty, the arrogant French would not have looked down on the down-and-out barbarian of Russia.

Especially after the alliance between Britain, France and Austria, the pressure on French diplomacy ceased to exist, and the world could no longer find an enemy that they could take seriously, at least on the surface.

Before Alexandrovich's visit to Paris, the St. Petersburg government still had high hopes and tried to take advantage of the opportunity of the French to win over Russia and obtain financial assistance.

The reality is very cruel, and the money of the usury empire is not easy to take. The bankers were shrewd, especially against the discredited tsarist government.

Even the loan of 500 million francs, which had been promised in advance, was now in question, and the French demanded that they take gold and silver as collateral.

Don't be surprised, Alexander II was also carrying out currency reforms, but the steps were small, and now the French are paying attention to their reserves.

Since the reform of Alexander II, the development of industry, the construction of railways, and the reform of agriculture have become the three major strategies of the government.

Although the plan is good, it needs financial support. Because of the war, it led to a large outflow of gold and silver from the Russian Empire, resulting in a serious shortage of its own capital.

The tsarist government came up with a way to attract foreign capital, and unfortunately the European banks refused to lend to them, and even the investment was very cautious.

Alexander II's reforms are a little better than in history, and there is a ready-made example to learn from next door. You can find a way to solve other problems, but you can't learn it by raising money.

Austria has developed to this point, and has issued bonds several times in the middle of the process, raising hundreds of millions of Aegis funds. Until now, the Vienna government has to repay tens of millions of Aegis debts every year.

Because of its credibility, the tsarist government simply could not borrow money. Even if it is to take the right of way and tax mortgages, it will have no effect, and the tsarist government will pay the debts when it says that it will pay the debts.

Forced by the debt crisis that year, Alexander II had to declare a default on his debts, and now the aftermath has exploded.

This is not to say that Alexander II's decisions were wrong, but if he did not pay his debts, the finances would have been crushed by foreign debts, and the situation would have only gotten worse.

To put it bluntly, even if they don't pay their bills, they can't borrow much. Bankers are too shrewd to lend money to a lord who has no ability to repay.

The French borrowed money from the Russians in the original space, and they were forced to be helpless. The pressure on national defense is too great, and allies must be enlisted to share the pressure.

This is the reason why France suddenly fell behind in terms of overall national strength after entering the late 19th century. The government has lent a lot of money, and there is less money for domestic development.

Now there is no need to think about it, the French will definitely not burst their livers to support them. Even if it is a loan shark, the French will only lend money to the owner who can repay the loan.

Austria, for example, is now in debt to the French. It is the development of the territory and the development of the colony, and the financial revenues of the Vienna government alone are certainly not enough.

Austria's private capital accumulation is also not rich enough, and in this context, Franz naturally borrowed foreign debt. Of course, it's not just international loans, the vast majority of debt is in the form of bonds.

Most of these bonds were raised in the name of the project, and the debt was not all owed by the Vienna government.

It's similar to the Americans borrowing money to build railroads, mortgaging them to British banks and using the borrowed money to build railroads.

In the event of an economic crisis, the railroad company went bankrupt and the British banks were trapped.

The same is true for many projects in Austria, where a large amount of debt is owed to the banks, a bunch of bonds are issued to the private sector, and the government is only investing start-up capital.

Anyway, these projects are standard commercial operations, and if something unexpected happens, the big deal is that a company goes bankrupt.

The economic proximity is also an important factor in the alliance between Britain, France and Austria. From the perspective of globalization, whenever there is an economic crisis in Britain and France, Austria will be implicated, and vice versa.

If you want to get out of this situation, it's actually very simple, just one word - wait. After the accumulation of domestic private capital is completed, there is no need to borrow money from outside.

Everyone also takes what they need, one side needs excess capital and needs to be exported, and the other side needs to lack funds for development, so the two sides are cooperating.

This is how the Americans developed in the original space-time, and if there was no world war, they would not have turned over so quickly, turning from a debtor country to a creditor country.

Of course, debtors and creditors are not absolute. The money of domestic enterprises and foreign banks, and domestic banks have also gone out to develop, and they are also issuing loans to foreign countries.

Even in the Russian Empire, where capital was scarce, there were banks exporting capital abroad. These are all normal economic activities, mainly for profit.

Having figured out the position of the French, Aleksandrovich did not continue to entangle. After visiting the industry in France, he sailed directly to London.

This time he relaxed, and the tsarist government had no illusions of getting loans from the British. This cannot happen unless the bankers in the UK have their brains in water.

You can't count on the London government to guarantee it, right? The two sides were enemies, and even if the Russian Empire had fallen and was already at the bottom of the British rivals, the hatred accumulated in the early stage was not so easy to dissolve.

Besides, Prussia and Poland were both the younger brothers of the British, even if it was to keep their subordinates from chilling, they could not do so.

……

The diplomatic actions of the Russians still attracted the attention of the Kingdom of Prussia. Even without Bismarck, Wilhelm I still controlled the Kingdom of Prussia.

After a series of political struggles, the Junker aristocracy, united for a short time because of the war, is now torn apart.

For example: Industrial Juncker, Financial Junker, War Junker, Court Junker, House Junker, and Country Junker.

His subordinates were no longer monolithic, and the king's power was naturally consolidated. The politics of the Kingdom of Prussia began to normalize, and the military was still very powerful, but it was no longer a monopoly.

A new balance of power was formed within, and Wilhelm I set his sights on the European continent. As an enemy, he knows everything about the Russians.

The Russians wanted to get out of isolation through diplomatic activities, and Wilhelm I naturally could not agree.

In the royal palace of Berlin, the military and political leaders of the Kingdom of Prussia gathered to discuss how business could sabotage this diplomatic operation of the Russians.

"The Russian crown prince's trip to Europe was invited by the French, and there must be a bargain of interest between France and Russia, but an alliance between the two countries is unlikely.

Britain, France and Austria had already formed an alliance, and at this time the French had no basis for an alliance with the Russians. The French should have raised their own value to win over the Russians, and wanted to gain a heavier voice in the Triple Alliance.

Now the Russians are most in need of money, and the French have a lot of capital, and the main purpose of Alexandrovich's first visit to France should be to take out loans.

Economically, now that the credibility of the tsarist government has been completely lost, no banker will be stupid enough to lend them money.

The only hope for the Russians is the usual exchange of political interests......"

Listening to the rhetoric of Foreign Secretary MacKket, Wilhelm I frowned, not only the Russians were short of money, but Prussia was now short of money.

The financial situation of the Berlin government was even worse than that of the tsarist government. At least the Russians were in debt and no longer had to pay their debts, while Prussia had to take on heavy debts.

In recent years, the number of people from the Kingdom of Prussia who have gone to Austria to earn a living has increased, in large part because of the excessive tax burden.

In order to repay the debt, the Berlin government had to increase the burden on the population at home. The people who couldn't bear it ran away.

William I did not dare to stop it, most of the people who ran away were ruined, and they lost their livelihood in the country, and staying was a hidden danger.

If it weren't for the possibility of immigrating to the nearest place, Prussia would be full of smoke. Winning the Russian Empire brought only glory, and the newly expanded lands could not be converted into wealth in a short time, and were still in the investment stage.

The people have not gained practical benefits, and the status of a great power still cannot deceive the stomach.

Of course, the spiritual harvest is still very useful, even if everyone's life is not good, the people's support for the government is still very high.

Even if they couldn't get along, they just left and didn't go to make a revolution.

This aspect is somewhat similar to Japan, except that Japan does not have a flood window, and if you are hungry, you still have to make trouble, such as grabbing rice.

Wilhelm I interrupted: "What are the plans of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs? Whatever the purpose of the Russians, all we need to do now is sabotage. ”

There is no need for any reason, what the enemy wants to do, let them not do it right.

The internal reforms of the tsarist government, they could not interfere, but in international diplomatic activities, Prussia could disrupt it.

Compared with other countries, William I was not confident, but compared with the Russians, he was still sure.

After a pause of a few seconds, Foreign Secretary McSkate replied: "Your Majesty, it is unlikely that the Russians want to obtain funds from the outside world, and the greatest political purpose should be to improve diplomatic relations with various countries.

Now France and Russia are moving closer, which also stimulates the Vienna government. To this day, the Russian-Austrian alliance can no longer bring political benefits to Austria, but is a diplomatic burden.

It has not been a few years since the end of the Russian-Austrian alliance, and the Foreign Ministry plans to widen the rift between them and prevent Russia and Austria from renewing the treaty. ”

The destruction of the Russo-Austrian alliance was of great significance to the Kingdom of Prussia, which was directly related to the outcome of the next Russo-Prussian war.

Prime Minister Moltke shook his head and said: "This is not enough, the Russian-Austrian alliance is not just a political benefit, but also accompanied by a lot of economic significance."

The current Russian Empire is almost a dumping ground for Austrian goods. Austria alone accounts for 63% of Russia's total import and export trade, and the Vienna government will not let go easily with such a large interest. ”

Interests are always the best bond, and nothing cannot be compromised in the face of interests. Even though there is a big conflict between Russia and Austria, the two sides still maintain an alliance for the sake of interests.

Foreign Secretary McSkate explained: "That's right, Your Excellency Prime Minister. But we also have to look at a set of data, in recent years, the total trade volume between Russia and Austria has been declining.

The tsarist government was trying to get rid of its economic dependence on Austria, and the Russians had repeatedly raised tariffs in order to develop domestic industry.

If it weren't for the fact that Russian industry was too backward and its products were not competitive in the market, the Austrians would not have been able to maintain their current market share.

Alexander II's campaign to open up the land has already borne fruit, and this year's unsalable Russian agricultural products have become a foregone conclusion.

After this trip to Europe, the Russian crown prince is very likely to open the domestic market to Britain and France, in exchange for domestic agricultural products being able to enter the international market.

After Austria loses its monopoly on the Russian market, it will also have to face the impact of Russian agricultural products on the international grain export market, and the relations between the two countries will certainly be greatly affected.

Now the more the Russians and Anglo-French came to an agreement, the greater the benefits to Austria would lose. It may not be noticeable for a short time, but after three or five years, the change will be very obvious.

It is not impossible to abandon the Russian-Austrian alliance, as long as the Austrians see the greater good.

For example:

Let them believe that as long as we win the next round of the Russo-Prussian War, they will be able to gain access to the Ukrainian regions and the Russian Balkans, cutting off the Russians' grain export routes. ”

The faces of the crowd changed dramatically, apparently frightened by McKnight's astonishing remarks.

The room suddenly fell silent, except for the sound of everyone's breathing and the faint sound of heartbeats.

……