"What a coincidence, Your Excellency Prime Minister, I didn't expect you to be here. ”

"Good evening, Mr. President, how was the conversation?"

"There are some minor troubles, but they have been solved, after all, we are all reasonable adults. ”

The doors of the box are closed, the soundproofing is set to work, and the opera "The Merry Widow" is reaching its climax on stage, and the actors who play the roles of diplomats and widows are singing. But for the big men in the box, who could decide the lives and deaths of tens of thousands of people and the fate of the country, it was only a noise to drown out the conversation - whether this soap opera, as greasy as Albion's sweets, sang well or not, it was only a murmur for the "accidental" meeting between Li Lin and Richelieu.

This was not an accident at all, it was a secret event that had been arranged, and just a few minutes earlier, Li Lin and Queen Antoinette had a "pleasant", "cordial", and "in-depth" exchange, and after the end of this "unexpected encounter", a more important and substantive meeting began.

This is not to say that the queen is not important, or that the queen is not as powerful as the prime minister, so she is treated with contempt. It was simply the queen's own attitude that led to such a result.

The nervousness of menopause, jealousy, distorted maternal love, the lust for power - when these things are concentrated in one woman, when she is still an old woman, it is a great trouble and disaster.

"Even I occasionally feel at a loss for that Majesty, and the late Medici Empress Dowager was a difficult person to convince, but at least she is not unreasonable in anything......

The cardinal looked at the actors who were dancing on the stage and continued:

"How did you convince her?"

"It's simple. Think of her as a customer and tell her what she can get out of the deal. ”

Li Lin shrugged his shoulders and announced the answer.

Both men and women are very obsessed with power, but in this era of machismo, except for the all-knowing and all-powerful Mother Goddess, there is no woman who holds great power without being criticized. Like Queen Elizabeth of Albion, and the United Duchy of Rus', who was about to become Queen Mother, they all relied on the strong support of their ministers and secret services to maintain the situation. Queen Antoinette did not receive such support, so she had to seek a compromise with the monopoly consortium in exchange of interests. In exchange for Li Lin's containment of the crown prince.

This can also be considered a business practice. The queen paid the price, and Li Lin sold a guarantee, and the two sides were just a simple relationship between the customer and the business, and there were not too many personal feelings mixed in it. Negotiations proceeded naturally and smoothly.

Furthermore. There is another important reason. It was enough for the queen to leave behind her negative feelings for Li Lin.

"It's great that the Queen and the Crown Prince have agreed to support the Occupy Zone Banknote issuance plan, Your Excellency. ”

Beautifully shaped fingers unscrew the cap. The aroma of brandy wafted through the air, and Richelieu's throat rolled as he took the glass from Li Lin's hand.

The so-called "banknotes of the occupied territories" are, to put it bluntly, military tickets.

Simply put, it means printing numbers and words on paper, and then telling you that this is money, which can be used to buy things, and can be used to spend money and drink. At first glance, there is no difference between paper money and paper money, but paper money has a certain amount of valuable physical deposit to prove its value, and the things that can be used to ensure the value must be hard currency that can be accepted and used by all countries, generally gold, silver and other precious metals, like the earth in the old era There are also examples of using oil as a basic energy source to be linked to currency, and the current Wilt, the only paper money in circulation is the V.E company voucher known as the "gold mark", which acts as a store of value is the various industrial products of the V.E company.

As for the military stamps, they are not linked to anything to preserve their value, and the only thing that guarantees the value of these pieces of paper is the bayonets of the occupying army. And the only role of military tickets is economic aggression.

With the help of bayonets and bullets, the occupying forces could exchange their military tickets for all kinds of goods from the merchants of the occupied countries, and if they were not enough, they could start the printing press to reprint them. However, merchants could not use military tickets to purchase goods from suppliers, nor could they be exchanged for huàn into circulating currency, and only if the issuing country won the war, these military tickets could be exchanged from the issuing country, and if the issuing country failed, then these military tickets would be worthless. In this way, the merchants of the occupied country were looted, and their fate was tied to that of the occupying forces.

For Charlemagne, that's a good thing.

"As soon as the crown prince begins to march in full force, enough military tickets will be brought over, and we will be able to replenish the treasury with very little force, and at the same time, since the economy of the occupied territories is tied up with military tickets, in order not to go bankrupt, the revolt will be greatly reduced. ”

Li Lin said unhurriedly, he had already shown this wonderful prospect to Richelieu before, and had told the queen that he had repeated it again in order to ensure the success of the plan.

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. ”

Richelieu nodded. Yes, this is a great opportunity, but it is not just a small group whose wallets can quickly bulge, it is also a great opportunity for the economy of the whole country.

The Prime Minister's vision was not limited to a successful economic plunder, and the old Richelieu had a more long-term vision than the Queen and the Dauphin, and he wanted to take the opportunity to issue Charlemagne's own banknotes.

From the beginning of the issuance of vouchers by V.E., Richelieu was keenly aware of the huge benefits contained in them, and when the kings, nobles, merchants, and priests of other countries were still immersed in the brainstorming of "it turns out that money can be printed", Archbishop Richelieu began to investigate and study the possibility of the state issuing paper money and becoming the base currency of the whole world.

After carefully studying the process of currency circulation and regulation of V.E. Company, Archbishop Li concluded: yes, but not at the moment.

V.E's vouchers are built on the full monopoly of financial, technological and industrial production capacity, they control the circulation and production of raw materials, commodities and money, and can intervene in the market as they wish, determine the price of commodities, as long as the price of various products is ensured, the value of the voucher can always be stable. As countries become more and more dependent on "Made in V.E". As the pricing power of consortia becomes more secure, the use of vouchers expands and becomes more valuable, and one day it may become a currency used around the world.

A near-perfect cycle, but Charlemagne could not have replicated this means.

The reason is not complicated: Charlemagne's industrial capacity is the industrial capacity of V.E, and without the consortium, Charlemagne's industry and commerce will be completely ruined.

With the two absolute trump cards of "industrial capacity" and "financial leverage", any attempt to challenge the monopoly position of the consortium has invariably failed, and the hope of breaking this monopoly is very slim in the foreseeable future.

Most people will give up when they encounter this situation. But Richelieu was no ordinary man. When the consortium blocks the door, he will think of opening a window, and the military ticket is the opportunity for Richelieu to open the window.

The land of the principality has a lot of resources, including minerals, food, forests, labor. The sheer number of them. It is enough to offset the resources at the disposal of the consortium. Under the guise of "cooperation". The Royal Government can use these resources in the palm of its hands as quickly as possible, without interference from the consortium. With these resources, Archbishop Li was able to carry out his long-standing plan: to use gold and silver as a deposit. The Charlemagne Prince's government issued its own banknotes. If companies resist and force the government to stop by disrupting the market and driving up prices, these resources will be used to counteract the consortium's offensive, and eventually the consortium will have to make concessions and give up some of the markets and companies.

With this beginning, it will not be a dream to finally weaken and dismantle V.E, although it will take time, but this future will be inevitable.

The Prime Minister hoped that he would live long to see that day coming, but for now, he could only try to be as patient as possible, and continue to confuse and perfunctory the pesky profiteers around him.

Li Lin looked at the stage casually, his fingers tapping silently on the armrest.

(The issuance of a national currency is a good plan, but using a military ticket as an opportunity is not a good idea.) ）

Richelieu's secrecy was perfect, and with the exception of a handful of henchmen who knew a few words, those involved in the implementation of the currency plan did not even know what they were doing. The only fly in the ointment is that the Prime Minister's hole cards have long been seen through by Li Lin.

There is not much evidence needed, just the orders of the printing press and ink, the unknown metal engraver, the subtle discrepancies in and out of certain materials, the beginning of the recovery and recasting of a large number of gold coins, the abnormal dispatch of gold in the treasury, and the crate full of gold ingots that were secretly transported -- from these seemingly unrelated evidence, combined with the information in Li Lin's head, it is not difficult to deduce the conclusion of the "banknote deposit".

It is not surprising that on Earth, until the first half of the 20th century, the world's currency was secured by precious metals, until a certain imperialist bald eagle pegged his dollar green paper to oil, and everyone did so. Prime Minister Richelieu's actions are nothing more than a plan ahead of the curve of history, with a sound and creative conception that has nothing to blame.

Except for the military ticket.

Indeed, the low cost of military tickets, which only required paper and ink money, could convey a large amount of wealth from the occupied territories to Charlemagne in the shortest possible time, and tie the merchants with military tickets to Charlemagne's chariot. It sounds almost all good, but throughout the history of the planet, no country that has indiscriminately printed military tickets has ever won a war.

Military tickets cannot be circulated, merchants can not take colorful military tickets to buy, the more goods come in, the more military tickets in their hands are also backlogged, rather than the backlog of worthless waste paper, merchants would rather let the shelves empty. Business stagnation would then lead to a collapse in the production industry, with a large number of factories forced to shut down, workers laid off, massive unemployment leading to a decrease in purchasing power, and a further deterioration of the business environment, followed by a terrible vicious circle. Eventually, not only the occupied countries, but also the issuing countries themselves will suffer severe blows, not to mention social problems such as fierce resistance due to economic deterioration.

These are only long-term problems, and in the short term, the military ticket will also cause Charlemagne huge problems.

The most direct and practical problem: in case the orcs engage in scorched earth tactics, and take villages, farmlands, forests, mines, crystals and ...... before retreating What's the point of transporting the military tickets if all the qiē that could be used by the enemy are burned out?

In connection with the precedent of Marshal Kutuzov, the famous general of the principality, who burned thousands of miles of land to the ground without blinking an eye, as well as the hairy bears' talent for arson, this situation is very likely.

Not only that, but a large number of misuse of military tickets will also cause conflicts of interest between Charlemagne and other countries, and Charlemagne is not the only one who fights on the territory of the principality, when Charlemagne's military tickets not only rob the wealth of the principality, but also flow to the occupied areas of other countries, and divide the cheese that should belong to them, can everyone still discuss the holy war as calmly as now?

Considering that the fortress of Riga, which other countries sacrificed greatly but failed to conquer, was easily captured by Charlemagne's army, and then hyped it up without regard for the feelings of other countries...... I have to say, that was a really interesting situation.

Taking 10,000 steps back, even if Archbishop Li and Charlemagne succeed in overcoming all kinds of difficulties, getting the resources they want, and successfully launching official banknotes? As long as the consortium firmly grasps the channels of the real economy and the circulation of resources, and the corrupt officials in the financial department and the hidden stakes planted by the consortium, it will not be difficult to turn one official banknote issued by Charlemagne into a second legal tender or gold yuan. You must know that in August 1948, when the Nanjing Nationalist Government was carrying out currency reform, there was only one Great Communist spy Ji Chaoding to convey Xibaipo's instructions, and Charlemagne's Ministry of Finance almost did not communicate with the Communist Party...... Well, it's through the consortium, and you can plunge the country into hyperinflation anytime and anywhere, and taste what it's like to buy a stone of rice with 400 million yuan coupons.

"Speaking of which, I think Your Excellency the President should also know that tomorrow Her Highness will hold an important ceremony in the cathedral. ”

Richelieu suddenly spoke, and Li Lin's gaze turned slightly sideways.

After a series of unexpected events, the saint finally failed to accomplish what the Pope wanted her to do, and due to the sudden start of war, naval negotiations had de facto stopped, and until the end of the war, negotiations would be suspended indefinitely. However, the saint did not return home, but stayed in the church of St. Augustine in Lüdes, until a few days ago there was a rumor that a prayer service would be held for the holy warriors who were fighting the infidels on the front line.

Yes, it was an important ceremony, a blessing to the front-line servicemen, and an important spiritual sustenance for the military families in the rear. But why is Richelieu mentioning it here? It doesn't seem to have anything to do with their cooperation.

"At the end of the blessing ceremony, Her Highness will convey the Pope's appeal to the royal families and nobles. ”

With a gray beard like a goat, the prime minister said calmly.

"In order to deliver the gospel of the Mother Goddess, secular monarchs and nobles should send chaste women who have not yet left the court to the front lines to comfort the warriors who are fighting against the infidels. Your Excellency, who do you think our royal family will send?"

His fingers continued to tap on the armrest, staring at the old fox's eyes narrowed.

The preface is withdrawn, which does have a heavy relationship with their cooperation. (To be continued......)