St. Petersburg, since the end of the Battle of East Prussia, the tsarist government at the center of the vortex had not had a good time.

Despite the fact that the generals at the front carried the black cauldron, Alexander II understood that the real cause of the defeat of the Russian army was not the command of the generals.

Without that quick order, perhaps the Battle of East Prussia would have continued. According to the original strategy, the Russian army only needed to confront the Prussians and rely on the superiority of the sea to attack and win.

Offense and defense are not the same concept at all, and if the Russian army adopts a defensive strategy, it will definitely not be defeated so quickly. The sudden increase of the Prussians' troops would have left them with a few lines of defense at most.

"Money" became the main culprit for the defeat of this battle, followed by the poor transportation of the Russian Empire, again the corrupt bureaucracy of the tsarist government, and finally this "decisive battle order".

War Minister Helamed reported: "Your Majesty, we have already carried out mobilization, and the losses of troops at the front can be replenished in the next two months.

The lost weapons and equipment, the domestic military-industrial complex is preparing to rush to work day and night, and we have already ordered the shortfall from Austria to ensure that it will be equipped to the troops before the beginning of spring next year. ”

Helamed very wisely ignored the matter of accountability, and although the main officers at the front were responsible for the black pot, they were not removed from their posts and held accountable, and they were all ordered to make meritorious contributions.

Overall, their performance was passable. These officers were the greatest gain of the Russians in the war in the Near East and were the elite of the Russian army.

Now there is still a war, and the matter of self-destruction of the Great Wall, the shrewd Alexander II will naturally not do it.

"It's still a matter of money, right?"

Alexander II asked helplessly, and it could be heard from his tone that the question of "money" did not come up once or twice.

War Minister Helamed replied in the affirmative: "Yes! We have defaulted on too much payment, and many of the companies we work with have fallen into financial difficulties. Now they demand that the arrears be paid before production can be organized. ”

It was not uncommon for the tsarist government to owe money to corporations, but it was rare for the tsarist government to owe money so badly as this one.

The capitalists are not stupid, knowing that the tsarist government's finances are in trouble, naturally they will not continue to pay on credit.

In this regard, the officials of Tsarist Russia are allies with them, and the enterprises can't make money, so what can they use as kickbacks?

Not only the military-industrial complex, but also all the cooperative enterprises of the tsarist government now have a huge backlog of debts.

If these problems are not solved, the Russian Empire will not have to think about next year's war, and will directly bow its head and admit defeat.

Alexander II asked expectantly: "What is the plan of the Ministry of Finance to solve the current crisis?" ”

Chancellor of the Exchequer, Cristianval, replied with a haggard face: "There are two solutions: first, another war tax; Second, borrowing foreign debts. ”

The lack of bond issuance and the lack of domestic borrowing undoubtedly shows that the credibility of the tsarist government has collapsed and that there are financial problems in the country.

In fact, when the Russian army had just occupied the East Prussian region, there were still many people in the outside world who were optimistic about them, and the Ministry of Finance took advantage of this opportunity to sell a batch of bonds.

And then there was no then, and now their bonds are again unattended. Even the Chancellor of the Exchequer himself is not sure whether the bonds will be able to be paid.

War is a gold-eating beast, and Russia is a feudal empire that is transitioning to capitalism, and the funds that can be mobilized are very limited.

Of course, this does not mean that they have no money, but the shrewd financiers are pretending to be poor at this time, and they have no intention of pulling the tsarist government at all.

Alexander II sneered and said: "Can't the domestic financial community think of a way?" As far as I know, they still hold the foreign debt of many European countries! ”

There was nothing wrong with it, the tsarist government borrowed money from foreign banks, and Russian banks lent money abroad, and this was a normal financial activity.

The only abnormality was the reluctance of these banks to lend money to the tsarist government.

Of course, this is not all a problem of the bank, but more of a problem that the previous tsars played too hard, and there were many things that happened without repayment, and everyone was unwilling to continue to be fooled.

This topic is stuck, and now that the government's finances are collapsing, it is understandable that domestic banks do not dare to borrow.

Seeing that no one answered, Alexander II did not continue the topic. He knew that for the bureaucracy: there are things that can be done, but they cannot be said, otherwise they can easily be left to political opponents.

"How much money can be raised?"

Chancellor of the Exchequer Cristanval thought for a moment and said: "According to preliminary estimates, a war tax of 86 million rubles can be levied. As for the search for foreign bank loans, the exact amount cannot be determined.

It depends on how much collateral we can come up with, and there are also political factors, which also need to be taken into account. ”

"86 million rubles" looks like an astronomical amount, but in fact it is not enough to pay off the debts of the enterprise, and it is completely a drop in the bucket in the war.

It's not that the ruble is worthless, the point is that the war is too expensive, knocking out hundreds of tons of shells a day, that's just a basic operation.

In fact, this is already very economical, five or six hundred thousand troops are fighting on the front line, even if each person consumes 5 rounds of ammunition per day, that is more than 3 million rounds.

With so many troops, no matter how much they save every day, they have to fire at least a few thousand shells every day.

The most basic ammunition consumption alone, hundreds of thousands of rubles per day is gone. Coupled with the consumption of various logistical materials, the cost of several million rubles per day is indispensable.

After all, the cost of materials on the battlefield is not the cost price. Many strategic materials, delivered from the rear to the hands of the Russian army on the front line, have already increased several times in price.

Alexander II frowned and asked: "Say, what are you going to mortgage and how much can you borrow?" ”

Alexander II was very unhappy with this feeling of being out of control, but unfortunately the reality made him have no choice, he couldn't give away the hegemony of the European continent, right?

Even the small Kingdom of Prussia could not handle it, and Russia's international status was probably going to fall from the top to Britain, France, and Austria at once, and it would be ranked behind the Prussians.

Most of the political gains made in the war in the Near East would have been lost in this defeat.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Cristanwal chose to play the ball without hesitation: "It depends on the outcome of the negotiations, now it is not what we give, but what the other side wants."

It is possible to contact several more countries and choose the most favorable conditions for us as much as possible, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is professional in this regard. ”

Foreign Minister Clarence Ivanov glared at Cristanval fiercely, which was clearly cheating people.

International loans are never easy to borrow, and loans without strings attached may exist, but unfortunately the tsarist government can't borrow them.

Once an additional treaty was signed that harmed the interests of the country, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was the object of the blame, and Clarence's mood was instantly bad.

"Your Majesty, the current funding gap is too great, and there are only a few companies in the world that have the strength to provide this loan, and our choice is almost non-existent.

If we are to rely on international loans to solve the fiscal crisis, we will have to pay a lot of money to be able to borrow.

It's better for us to think of a way at home, the huge Russian Empire will not be able to raise even a few hundred million rubles. ”

Clarence's position is very obvious, it is better not to borrow money. This time, the funding gap is too big to be able to repay even if you borrow money in the future.

Now they don't have much leverage to use as collateral, and Clarence doesn't think there's anything else to mortgage out of so much money other than the vast territory.

It's not easy to repay the debt, but secured loans are different. Now the financiers who have the strength to provide them with loans, there is not a soft persimmon, and when the time comes, people will take away the collateral, and they can't fight, right?

This is obviously impossible, if there was money for a war, they would have paid off their debts long ago. War is actually the most extravagant toy, not for the poor.

Instead of being embarrassed by the time, it is better to overturn the table in advance. The government has no money, so it asks for it. Anyway, it's not the first time I've done it, and the experience left by my ancestors is there.

If you do a big job, you can not only solve the debt crisis in one fell swoop, but you may also be able to stuff some money into your pocket. The pigs have been fattened and can now be killed.

Alexander II nodded, this may not be the best option, but it is the most suitable option for the tsarist government.

With the tacit agreement of the top brass of the tsarist government, the Jews began to be unlucky. The upper classes were only targeted by the Jewish financial capitalists, but the Jews of the lower middle classes suffered as well.

Naturally, the aristocracy would not let go of this opportunity to make a fortune, and both reformers and conservatives were unprecedentedly unanimous on this issue.