Chapter 999: Chapter 13, “Benevolent” People Erge
Once again, it was proven that being the leader was no easy task; at crucial monts, one must take the thunder for their subordinates. The debt between Prussia and the British was common knowledge, undeniable by anyone.
“Repaying debt is a matter of course.”
Even though the political situation had changed, the Kingdom of Prussia as the creditor still existed, and so did the debt. The British were to collect the debt according to the loan agreent, and no one could dispute that.
Initially, this had little to do with Franz. The debt of the sub-states wasn’t the Central Governnt’s liability; the Empire wasn’t obligated to bear it for them. Even if the British were to pursue the debt, they couldn’t hold the Vienna Governnt responsible.
The problem was that the Berlin Governnt was now playing dead, elevating the “debt issue” to a matter of national sovereignty, which landed the issue squarely on the shoulders of the Vienna Governnt.
Fulfilling the contract was impossible; if they truly followed the treaty, the people’s saliva alone could drown Vienna.
Paying the money was out of the question; if today they helped the Kingdom of Prussia repay the debt, who knows how many sub-state governnts would go bankrupt tomorrow. In the face of interest, politicians’ integrity was always low.
Defaulting was even more unlikely. As a newly erging hegemon, the Vienna Governnt had to maintain its international image.
Especially since the Vienna Governnt had its own debts to collect externally—if they openly displayed helplessness, others could later use “international custom” as an excuse to default.
It’s safe to say the Vienna Governnt was now pushed into an extrely awkward situation. Wilhelm II had personally co to Vienna for assistance, which likely wasn’t just to seek help but probably more to “seek forgiveness.”
With such a ss caused, it was evident they couldn’t leave without making so sort of deal. Even though the sub-states had a high degree of autonomy, the Central Governnt could still make things difficult for them.
Now, by displaying their plight, aside from so embarrassnt, the actual losses were minimal. Even if the Vienna Governnt was intent on settling scores, after this debacle, they no longer had the ans to act.
Such were the rules of the ga; Prussia had indeed acted unethically this ti, but with the King himself coming forward to apologize, matters would likely settle down, and pursuing it further would seem overly aggressive.
Rubbing his forehead, Franz asked with concern, “Has the Cabinet prepared to handle Prussia’s debt issue?”
Pri Minister Carl, “The most ideal outco would naturally be for the British to make concessions. Allowing the Prussian Governnt to delay paynts or restructure the debt, with part of it offset by the reparations Prussia received from the anti-France war.
Almost impossibly, Britain too was continuing its financial crisis, and the London Governnt was in dire need of funds. Without significant benefits, they had no reason to accept a deferral of debts.
Debt restructuring was even more troubleso. The situation in the Kingdom of Prussia was still sowhat stable; had it not been for the Berlin Governnt’s previous failed projects, financial bankruptcy wouldn’t have occurred.
France was the real disaster. From the current situation, it would be a Godsend if the Paris Governnt did not go bankrupt. As for the war reparations, one shouldn’t hold too much hope in the next two or three years.
We had previously tricked the British in the debt issue within the German Federation, and now they would likely accept no form of debt transfer.
Without breaching contracts or sacrificing national sovereignty, the only possibility was to secretly conduct a deal to extract concessions from the British on Prussia’s debt.”
While betting on the nation’s fortune could yield great profits, its failure would equally bear a grievous cost. Over the past years, the Kingdom of Prussia had been paying the price for previously gambling on their national fortune.
Even though they erged as victors from the anti-France war, the reparations they received were still insufficient to fill the previous deficits.
Thinking of this, Franz suddenly understood Wilhelm II’s decision. Without shedding the mountainous “debt,” the Kingdom of Prussia would always be at the bottom in the Holy Roman Empire.
Indeed, at the very bottom. Having to pay tens of millions of Divine Shields in reparations each year, the Berlin Governnt simply lacked extra financial power for national construction.
After the re-establishnt of the Holy Roman Empire, a major event had occurred within the Berlin governnt: soone proposed converting two divisions of infantry into the Central Army.
There was no other reason, but sheer unaffordability. Handing the army over to the Central Governnt not only saved money, maintaining Prussia’s security was still ensured by these sa people.
In the eyes of governnt officials, even if the army was retained, the command would be taken by the Central Governnt anyway. Even if the King still had command rights, it had nothing to do with the Berlin Governnt.
However, this move faced strong opposition from Wilhelm II himself. The command taken by the Central Governnt was only during warti. In peaceti, the highest military officer of the state army was still the King.
Once converted to the Central Army, it was different. Even though the Holy Roman Empire’s constitution stipulated that the state monarch was the highest military officer of the local stationed army, those who could truly command were still the state’s own army.
As for the Central Army, its military expenses were allocated by the Emperor, and its generals appointed by the Emperor. Wilhelm II was not naïve enough to believe that losing these rights, rely a nominal supre command, would enable him to control the army.
It seed inconsequential in normal tis, but when sothing did happen and there was a need to use the army, suddenly finding oneself unable to command the troops would be disastrous.
In a sense, losing military power ant losing the ability to overturn the table. Subordinates could recklessly bypass the King, simply playing by the rules of the ga, and few kings could outplay their ministers.
Just look at the nurous sub-states of the Holy Roman Empire; none with any substantial family assets ever gave up their army, including the major nobles vested overseas who, within the legal limits, had ford their own private armies.
According to data compiled by the Vienna Governnt, the total military strength of the various state armies aristocratic private armies in the Holy Roman Empire amounted to about a third of the total number of Empire troops.
If various colonial groups and civilian militias are included, this ratio might well exceed half. In other words, these miscellaneous ard forces were nurically on par with the Central Army.
This was an inevitable outco; sub-states are a historical issue. If the Vienna Governnt doesn’t pay attention to appearances, why would anyone bother to follow them?
It goes without saying for aristocratic private armies and civilian colonial militias; without these people, where would the Empire’s colonies co from?
The territories were fought for and won blade by blade, gun by gun; when it ca ti to divide the spoils, could they possibly kick these people out?
Even if they were to burn bridges, that would only need to be considered after crossing the river. The territory of the Holy Roman Empire had already exceeded that of any nation in history. If they were to truly implent direct central governnt control, even if not dragged down by administrative expenditures, they would be killed off by endless rebellions.
Did Franz really want to distribute vast fiefs? It was all out of practical necessity. Without dividing the cake, why would subordinates risk their lives for you?
Just look at the actual results; every major Colonial Empire was troubled by nationalistic rebellions, only the Vienna Governnt had never been bothered.
In fact, the Holy Roman Empire did not have the most private armies. The most were under the British, only masqueraded as companies, colonial governnts, or dominions.
Simply put, if you opened up a colony, the British Governnt would authorize you to establish a Colonial Governnt, for instance, the East India Company.
Of course, whether you could keep it depended on your operational capabilities, or perhaps your dostic political connections.
Direct managent, with only the limited number of Lobster Soldiers, could at most govern a Canada. No more than that, any more would be too much to handle.
Everyone was struggling for their rights, and Wilhelm II, having already secured his, naturally was unwilling to give them up. If one were to analyze seriously, it would not be hard to see that the bankruptcy that befell the Berlin Governnt was the result of compromises within various factions in Prussia.
After a mont of reflection, Franz shook his head, “Prussia owes the British a huge sum, and even if the London Governnt were willing to compromise, the consortium behind them would not let it rest.
There must be an exchange of interests, but we need to have interests that they would want to exchange. We surely can’t make major strategic concessions just because of debts, can we?
When the British co knocking, we’ll talk to them slowly. Try to delay as much as possible, and perhaps when the economic crisis is over, the Kingdom of Prussia will have the funds to pay off the debts.”
In the face of interests, morals and such aren’t worth ntioning. The situation is very clear now, to solve the problem is to face dilemmas. If you don’t want to solve the problem, then there are no troubles.
After all, it’s the Kingdom of Prussia that is defaulting, not the Holy Roman Empire. The current debt service contradicts imperial laws, but that’s not the responsibility of the Vienna Governnt.
They might as well let the British take it to the Imperial Court for litigation, let those people in the court deal with the headache. This could be a good opportunity to push the legislators to introduce a law “Prohibiting Local Mortgage Public Rights Debt.”
Before this, Franz had already leaked hints, but seeing the strong resistance from the state governnts, he had hesitated to propose it. The Prussian debt crisis provided a perfect opportunity.
The definition of “public rights” is very broad—state sovereignty, governnt fiscal revenues, state-owned assets, even governnt office buildings can be seen as part of public rights.
Once the law is passed, the state governnts seeking loans could not present any collateral, and the only thing left to rely on would be governnt credibility.
Pure credit loans, that wouldn’t require Franz to worry anymore. Not to ntion whether anyone would dare to lend such huge amounts of debt, even if soone did lend and there was a default, it wouldn’t involve state sovereignty.
If they can’t pay back, then they can’t pay back; if they go bankrupt, then they go bankrupt. Nowadays, local governnt bankruptcies on the European Continent are all too common. No matter how much they dodge responsibility, they can’t toss it into the lap of the Central Governnt.
…
The Prussian debt crisis was just a small episode in the global economic crisis ravaging the world, and the people of Europe were too anxious to care about gossip; they were soon going to be without food.
Even if newspapers reported on it, most couldn’t afford to buy one. Amid the sweeping wave of unemploynt, what people were most concerned about were job postings.
Taking the Holy Roman Empire as an example, after the full outbreak of the economic crisis, the dostic unemploynt rate skyrocketed by five tis, and there were signs that it would continue to grow.
That was still a relatively good situation because the empire had a part of the African Continent to relieve pressure. Before the economic crisis, the dostic unemploynt rate was very low.
Like previous economic downturns, after this crisis erupted, colonial governnts and aristocratic lords still ca to the mainland to recruit people.
One could see from the newspapers, advertisents for jobs in the colonies were everywhere.
It’s simply “going to work.” After so many years of immigration, those who wanted to emigrate had mostly already left, and those remaining either didn’t want to leave their hotowns or couldn’t for so reason.
To keep up with the tis, the current recruitnt advertisents no longer explicitly required immigration. They only asked for signing long-term labor contracts to work for 5 or 10 years.
After all, ti is the best catalyst. After mixing in the colonies for five or ten years, even those who want to leave would have to think thrice about it.
There is no way around it—treatnt. These days, aristocratic lords are all “good people,” not only offering high salaries but also very “kindhearted,” willing to stand up for their staff if problems arise.
They especially liked staff to bring their families along, not only offering free housing but also guaranteeing job placents, and even taking care of children’s education.
Really very “kindhearted.” Look at the Empire Orphanage, most have been abandoned, and the few remaining ones house only so physically unwell children, normal orphans have all been adopted by these “kindhearted” folks.
Even the recent problem of refugee orphans at the border that troubled the Vienna Governnt had been solved by these “kindhearted” individuals.
After the outbreak of the economic crisis, the activities of these “kindhearted” people had expanded from the empire across the whole European Continent. With them around, no one needed to worry about affording to raise children anymore.
In a way, this was also a major bright spot in this economic crisis; fewer people were starving to death. If you’re hungry, you could seek out these “kindhearted” people.
Of course, they don’t take just anyone. The “kindhearted” are very lenient with children, but they are quite strict with adults.
They don’t take street thugs, those with criminal records, those with ill intentions, those with great resentnts towards society, those who bear grudges…
None of these requirents affected Eves; as an all-around good youth, if he were willing to work in the colonies, he would have at least a hundred employers to choose from.
That’s right, choosing an employer. Nearly all the fief aristocrats of the Holy Roman Empire were short of people, and they had tried all ans to increase their workforce.
If they weren’t worried about language barriers and the detrint to territory managent, they might have started poaching internationally.
In fact, agencies specializing in providing immigrants for fief aristocrats had already erged. If they can’t recruit people locally, they’d try to find a way internationally.
Language barriers were no issue; they could provide training; different dietary habits, everyone’s starving, so who’s picky?
Even labor skills and obedience could be trained. So agencies’ trained immigrants could even be directed to do anything.
The only problem was that these trained immigrants were too expensive. Most aristocrats couldn’t afford this high-standard service, and to save costs, they’d rather recruit people themselves.
A straightforward local youth like Eves was exactly the kind of talent everyone welcod, so naturally, he had no trouble finding a job.
The problem was that Eves did not want to leave his hotown; he just wanted to find a local job to support his family. Unfortunately, there truly were none.
If it had been before the economic crisis, finding a regular job locally would have been no issue.
Unfortunately, it was during the economic crisis, and most businesses and factories were too busy laying off staff to think about hiring.
After flipping through today’s newspaper, Eves finally found a local business recruitnt ad in a small corner.
He had not even had ti to rejoice when his expression imdiately fell. There was no way around it, the recruitnt conditions were simply too high.
It required not only a high school education but also professional work experience, both of which he did not have.
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