In London, affected by the collapse of domestic food prices, the capitalists who had signed contracts with the Russians were not ready to fulfill their contracts.

It is certainly not possible to breach the contract openly, not only in violation of British law, but also in diplomatic matters.

Moreover, the money from these grain purchases was used to pay off the debts of the Russians in domestic banks. The previous loans were all released, and if they defaulted, the Russians would be able to legally repay their debts, and the bankers would certainly not agree.

Taking rye as an example, the price of rye in the British market is about 6~7.5 pounds/ton, and the price agreed in the contract with the Russians is as high as 9.1 pounds/ton.

This means that not only will they not make money on this deal, but they will lose money in it.

Of course, even at a price of £9.1 per tonne, these capitalists would not lose money. The added value of the finished product is still enough to offset these price differences.

However, qualified capitalists are definitely unwilling to suffer this loss, which means that they will earn 1.5~3 pounds less per ton of rye.

It seems that this number is inconspicuous, but if it is enlarged to tens of thousands of tons, hundreds of thousands of tons, it is an astronomical amount.

You can't just pay the bills, which is difficult for the capitalists. That's what members of Congress do, and it's also a good way to guide public opinion. In short, it is necessary to find a reasonable and legitimate reason to repay the debt.

The anti-Russian wave is rising, which is not a good thing for the newly appointed Gelston cabinet.

The "pound-gold system" established monetary hegemony, and if the Russians were forced out at this time, they would be immediately beaten back to their original shape.

The previous government relied on this achievement to nearly turn around in the general election. If they hadn't dug over the old accounts in time and instigated the families of the soldiers killed in the Anglo-Boer War to make trouble, Gerston might not have been able to stay in Downing Street.

Throwing away the newspaper in his hand, Prime Minister Gelston chattered and complained: "Damn it, it's not easy to leave, and you left us such a bomb!" ”

This kind of thing is very common at the time of the change. They are members of the Conservative Party and the Liberal Party, and they are inherently opposed politically, and their identities determine their positions.

If you don't cheat Gelston, how can you let your party win in the next general election? If it were to change places, Gelston would probably make the same choice.

Anyway, it's all within the rules of the game, and the mess left by Benjamin's cabinet is completely in line with the law. Gelston could do nothing but complain in private, and he couldn't even blame the previous president with the question.

"Prime Minister, the biggest problem now is not the people on the outside, not the MPs, but the capitalists who don't want to fulfill the contract.

At current food prices, under the treaty with the Russians, they could make millions of pounds less a year, which is not a small amount even if it is divided.

What's more, it's not just a year, it's five years in a row. For such a long time, if something happens in the middle of the way, they will be replaced. ”

As he spoke, Chancellor of the Exchequer Laruch Lloyd picked up the newspaper on the ground, folded it twice, and tore it up and threw it in the trash.

Obviously, he is not as relaxed as he seems. In the face of interests, it is too difficult to make the capitalists back down.

Even if the government wanted to take the means, it could not find an excuse. From beginning to end, these people hid behind the scenes, and it was the agitated peasants who were charging outside.

The reason for the collapse in food prices was attributed to the Anglo-Russian grain loan agreement, which was seen as a sequelae of government intervention in the market.

It's obviously the political achievements of their predecessors, but now they need to clean up the mess. It's still the kind of person who doesn't have merit for doing a good job, and will be scolded if he doesn't do a good job.

After calming down, Prime Minister Gelston sat back in his seat and asked, "What do they want?" Default is out of the question, and now we still need the Russians. ”

The hegemonic system of the pound has just been established, and the reform of the gold standard system of the Russians has just begun.

This will take at least five or six years, so the Anglo-Russian loans will also last for five years, and the London government will bind the Russians through the loans. It cannot be said to be a loan, but it is more appropriate to describe it as a grain trading contract.

Compared with the huge benefits of monetary hegemony, the losses of these grain capitalists are not worth mentioning. Although most of this achievement was taken away by the previous term, Gelston still has to continue.

Otherwise, the bankers in the country will send him to God. Do not think that just because the United States has a habit of assassinating presidents, the capitalists in Britain dare to do the same.

It's just that the British aristocracy still has a certain amount of power, and the capitalists have not been able to fully control the government, otherwise these grain capitalists would not have done it in a roundabout way.

The era of the big monopoly is approaching, and the time for the big explosion of the capitalists is not far away, and when the consortiums are established, they will completely enter the era of oligarchy.

Relatively speaking, the British prime minister of this era is still happy. In the era of oligarchy, politics has been reduced to the game of capital, and that is the real tragedy.

"They want the government to pay for this grain and follow the example of Austria in building a strategic grain reserve. Theoretically, there is no problem, Britain is only an island country, its own grain production is limited, and there is no big problem in stockpiling a batch of grain. ”

Britain in this era is at its peak, and wealth is the best way to describe them.

Even though the London government was already heavily indebted because of the war, they did not panic at all.

The huge wealth brought by the colonies was enough for them to cope with easily, and they even had the spare money to build a strategic reserve system.

Gelston had no objection, and although he did not see the need for Britain to establish a strategic reserve of grain, he was not prepared to prevent everyone from making a fortune.

Britain's heyday was also the most corrupt. Once this kind of big project is promoted, it will bring a lot of money.

Gelston smiled indifferently and put his hands on the table with his palms facing the sky: "If they can convince Congress to allocate funds, I don't have any opinion." ”

Obviously, this is impossible, and if it had been possible to persuade Congress to allocate funds, the capitalists would have done it a long time ago, and they would not have done so much.

To put it bluntly, the grain capitalists involved have a limited say in the British capital market, and they can't even represent the grain processing industry.

There are people in the Diet, but it is very difficult to influence the decisions of the Diet. If nothing else, competitors won't let them get their way.

The momentum that can be created is all with the help of the current social environment. If it weren't for the collapse of domestic food prices, so many peasants would not have been able to organize so many peasants to participate in the demonstration.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Larouch Lloyd shook his head: "If they could convince Congress, they wouldn't have come to us." They made a commitment to fund our £200,000 campaign as long as the plan was passed by Parliament.

In addition to this, there are other benefits. The details are not easy to say and need to be communicated privately. ”

Politics also needs money, and behind every election there are many behind-the-scenes deals. If there is only investment and no return, who will sponsor it for free?

How can political parties survive without income? If you don't have money to support your campaign team, you don't have money to brush up on public favorability, so what do you rely on to win the election?

In the face of reality, politicians are usually less disciplined. Prime Minister Gelston was no exception, and the parties needed the support of capital, and the two sides were intertwined from the beginning.

……

Under the impetus of the Liberal Party, on October 21, 1872, the British Parliament narrowly passed the proposal for the establishment of a strategic grain reserve.

On October 24, the London government halted the Anglo-Russian grain loan deal on the grounds that it needed to stabilize the domestic grain market.

After some symbolic negotiations, a week later, the London government reluctantly bought the grain within the treaty at a price above the market price.

There is no doubt that this is all for the public to see. The real reason is that in order to deal with the aftermath of the food capitalists, the government took over the loss.

The Anglo-Russian deal went smoothly, and Franz was not disappointed. The benefits of monetary hegemony are even greater, and the London government naturally knows how to make trade-offs.

The only surprise was that he did not expect that the British would actually build up a strategic reserve of grain. You must know that the Royal Navy is crisscrossing the seas, and there is no country in the world that can match it, and there is no enemy who can blockade Britain.

It's all a minor problem, but the ultimate goal is achieved anyway. Although it was not able to disrupt the Anglo-Russian trade, the collapse of the international grain market still hurt the agricultural vitality of European countries.

In this era, there is no talk of food subsidies, and even various taxes cannot be reduced, and the government is willing to reduce or reduce agricultural taxes, which is to pay attention to people's livelihood.

For big farmers, the agricultural crisis is a good time for mergers, so why should agricultural taxes be reduced? Without these taxes, how can the peasants be bankrupt as soon as possible? If the peasants are not bankrupt, how can they carry out land annexation?

Tax cuts are inevitable, but they must wait until everyone completes the land annexation, otherwise they will be cut off from their financial resources.

The mass bankruptcy of the European peasants was also what Franz wanted to see, and the Austrian colonies were short of people.

He doesn't want immigrants from Britain and France, and he doesn't expect immigrants from Portugal, Spain, and the Netherlands, and the rest of the countries can always make up their minds.

Unlike in the past, Austrian rule in the colonies is now stable, and it is possible to absorb some of the immigrants.

Unlike at the beginning, except for native immigrants and German immigrants, Franz did not dare to accept immigrants from other countries in large numbers.

On the issue of national assimilation, there are usually more people and fewer assimilating people, and it is not easy to do the opposite.

This can be regarded as exchanging grain for people, which is equivalent to Austria selling a batch of grain out in exchange for a group of laborers.

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