Before proposing the reform of the gold standard, Franz had considered the issue of gold reserves, and the best option was naturally to occupy the gold producing areas and organize his own mining by manpower.

Unfortunately, the world's major gold sources were not related to the new Holy Roman Empire, most of which was in British hands.

The gold mines that are easy to mine in this era are mainly distributed in South Africa, Russia, Canada, Australia, the United States, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Brazil, Colombia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea and other regions.

There is no way, there is a shortage of gold mines throughout the European continent, and even if there is, most of them have been developed, and now the remaining gold mines are buried in the ground, and the open-pit gold mines no longer exist.

Franz is not an encyclopedia, it is impossible to remember the location of every gold mine clearly, and it is naturally impossible to find out all the gold mines that exist in the country.

Compared to the low production of gold, Austria's silver production was much better, and under the gold-silver reset system, it was silver that supported the value of the Austrian currency.

After a difficult game, the new Holy Roman Empire reluctantly passed the reform of the gold standard. This was the result of Franz's lack of intervention, and there were also people within the Austrian government who voted against it.

In any case, the reform of the gold standard is a matter of time, and if you start it early, you can also grab some gold, and if it is too late, everyone starts to grab gold, then the price to pay will be great.

Large gold mines are not under control, but small ones are not absent, and in addition to the mainland, there are also many gold mines in Guinea and Congo, two Austrian colonies.

Not to mention the underground gold mines, the open-pit gold produced by the alluvium of the riverbed can always be mined, right?

Franz's expectations are not high, with a few tons of production per year, it is enough to make up for the domestic gold shortfall.

As for the other gold mining areas, it is better to wait for the British to suppress the Indian uprising before making small moves, and now it is better to settle down a little, so as not to become a target.

At that time, Austria's railway ships also came out and occupied the first-mover advantage, and a few ironclad ships were released to the colony, and after having regional naval superiority, it was different to snatch the colony's right to speak.

Don't look at the British navy as the first in the world, but they have many colonies to defend. After being dispersed around the world, in addition to dominance in important sea areas, the remaining areas depend on the input of various countries.

Before the discovery of gold, the value of these areas and the value of these areas after discovery are completely different concepts, and they are not worth the desperate grabbing of countries at all.

According to the Austrian business model, as long as you operate locally for more than ten years and send more than 100,000 immigrants, you are not afraid of competitors.

War also requires costs, unless it is a huge mine like South Africa, otherwise the gold mine with reserves of 800 tons is really not enough to cover the expenses of a local war between the two major countries.

Even if South Africa accounts for half of the world's gold, the most important colony of the British is India, for a very simple reason, gold mining also has a cost.

Even at their peak, the British gained less than one-fifth of India's benefits in South Africa, and there was no comparison between the two.

Franz naturally couldn't put the cart before the horse, and he would do whatever it took to get gold. To put it bluntly, gold is only a manifestation of wealth, and other industrial raw materials are also wealth.

The most critical core is the development of domestic industry, and Germany has been so short of gold reserves in history, hasn't it also developed?

The speed at which human beings create wealth in the industrial age is far from being comparable to a few gold mines, and the most important thing is to develop itself.

After the two world wars, the British still held India, South Africa, Australia, Canada and other regions in their hands, and in the end did not obediently cede world hegemony?

After the reform of the gold standard was determined, Franz left the rest to the cabinet.

……

Franz still underestimated the impact of the gold standard reform, and not to mention the heated discussion in China, also caused a sensation on the European continent.

London

The new Holy Roman Empire suddenly began to reform the gold standard, which immediately attracted the attention of the British government. From the point of view of the development of the capitalist market economy, the gold standard will be more conducive to international trade.

For the British, the new Holy Roman Empire's entry into the gold standard was undoubtedly another big step forward in their monetary hegemony.

At this time, the British had the largest gold reserves in the world, and London was the world's largest financial center.

Countries lacking gold reserves have to buy pounds sterling to stabilize the value of their reserves. In international settlement, the use of pound sterling is also indispensable.

Once the pound becomes the world currency, the benefits will not be a fraction of the time, and this will lay the foundation for the world hegemony of the British.

Knowing is knowing, this is a scheme. Even if he knew the plans of the British, Franz still had to pinch his nose and admit it.

You can't ignore the economic development of the country in order to avoid the establishment of hegemony by the British, right? The ratio of gold and silver exchange changes from time to time, which is obviously not conducive to the development of industry and commerce.

10 Downing Street, affected by the defeat in the Near Eastern War, has changed owners again. In the struggle for power at home, George's cabinet has gone out and is now the Whig Cabinet's Cabinet of Lord Granville.

The prime minister of Palmerston in history was very unfortunate to be finished in the last political turmoil, coupled with the defeat of the war in the Near East, and he himself was the initiator of the war, so it was naturally impossible to make a comeback.

As a political party representing the interests of the financial and business circles, the Whig Party was also the vanguard of the implementation of the gold standard system, and their shadow was indispensable for the gold standard reform carried out by European countries in later generations.

Chancellor Granville was a little surprised and said: "The Austrians, who have always been conservative, have taken the lead in reforming the gold standard this time.

I do not deny that Austria's entry into the gold standard would be good for Great Britain, but this abrupt change is still somewhat unacceptable, do you think the Vienna government will succeed in this reform? ”

Foreign Secretary John Russell replied: "Your Excellency, the reform of the gold standard in the Vienna government is more due to a power struggle, and the central government wants to strengthen its control over the state government.

The new Holy Roman Empire was essentially inheriting the legal system of the Holy Roman Empire, and naturally it was inevitably restricted, and the autonomy of the governments of the states was very large.

Up to now, the Viennese government had only obtained unified diplomatic power and wartime military command, and now the Vienna government wanted to take back the coinage rights, so it carried out the reform of the gold standard system.

Although the time was somewhat rushed, Austria had made a fortune in the Near Eastern War, and the Vienna government should now have enough money to carry out currency reform.

Without incidents, the new Holy Roman Empire should not have a big problem joining the gold standard. ”

After pondering for a moment, Prime Minister Granville asked: "In addition to the need for funds, the reform of the gold standard also requires a large amount of gold reserves, and presumably the Vienna government will soon buy gold on the international market."

However, the international market is changing, gold is a scarce resource, and now it is time to increase prices, and the Austrians may not be able to buy enough gold reserves.

But given the Anglo-Austrian relationship, how about we give the Austrians a loan to help them achieve the gold standard? ”

There is no doubt that Prime Minister Granville is ready to do something. As the bookmaker in the international gold market, the power to price gold for silver is in the hands of the British.

As long as the British manipulated the price of gold, it would be difficult for Austria to buy enough gold.

Once there was not enough gold, the Vienna government had no choice but to accept loans from the British, and then establish a "pound-gold system" system.

This will greatly improve the international status of the pound sterling and lay the foundation for the settlement of international trade in pounds.

Anglo-Austrian friendship, that's a joke. When it is in the interests of Britain, it is a deep friendship; Once interests are opposed, even deep friendships can turn into enemies.

Historically, Britain and Austria have always been quasi-allies, and supporting Austria against Russia has been a national policy of the British Empire for nearly a century.

From the beginning of the 20th century, in order to contain the Germans, the British turned around and compromised with the Russians, abandoning this traditional ally.

After a long silence, Chancellor of the Exchequer George Grey replied: "The Prime Minister's proposal is good, let the new Holy Roman Empire join our monetary system, and the rest will be easy." ”

Obviously, whether Austria will accept the loan or not is only a minor issue, and the most important thing is to get the Vienna government to recognize the "pound-gold system" and join the sterling as an international currency settlement system that they dominate.

In order to bring huge benefits to the British pound as an international currency, in the mid-to-late 19th century, the British began to export the British pound frantically, using various means to get governments to recognize the hegemony of the pound.

Historically, the world hegemony of the British Empire was actually based on the monetary hegemony of the British pound, and the British seized a lot of benefits through the obscure means of the British pound.

In later generations, the colonial empire of the British Empire collapsed, and the first to collapse was also the monetary hegemony, in order to compete for monetary hegemony, the Americans also sacrificed the big trick of exporting dollars.

from investing in Europe after the First World War, giving blood transfusions to the Germans to restore their vitality; Until the end of World War II, the European aid package was a struggle for monetary supremacy.

The vast colonies of the British were abandoned by the Americans, but only the monetary hegemony was firmly grasped by them, and the interests in this were obvious.

Prime Minister Granville asked with concern, "Sir Russell, what do you think is the chances of the Vienna government accepting our goodwill?" ”

After a moment of contemplation, John Russell smiled and replied, "It depends on how high our bid is!"

The new Holy Roman Empire, despite its large economy, was at a disadvantage in terms of gold reserves, and they were not qualified to compete on the road to establishing international monetary hegemony.

Now no country in Europe has such strength, except that the French have the potential to threaten us in this regard, and of course the Russians are also a threat if they complete their internal reforms. ”

After a moment of hesitation, Prime Minister Granville decided: "Then we need to go faster, and we must bring more countries together before our competitors can react." ”