Holy Roman Empire

This can be seen from the economic development of France in recent years.Since the death of Napoleon III, the rate of economic development in France has dropped sharply, and the Paris government has done little.

It is better to do nothing than to act indiscriminately.In general, France is stable, but its economic development is slow.

This made the arrogant Napoleon IV unacceptable. After taking control of power, he began to focus on economic construction.

The slowdown in France's economic growth is due to various reasons. It is not just that the government wants to catch it, and it can go up.

The biggest problem is the energy crisis. Domestic coal production is seriously insufficient to meet the growing economic demand.

Not only is there a shortage of coal in the country, but even the French colonies in Africa are short of coal.If not, it can only be imported, which undoubtedly raises the cost of industrial production.

As the cost goes up, the market competitiveness will naturally come down.In international trade, France's market share is falling sharply.

At its peak, France once accounted for one-fifth of the total global import and export trade, but now it has dropped to 15.00%.

It's not over yet, the French's market share continues to decline, and perhaps it won't be long before their position as the third largest trading nation will not be preserved.

Napoleon IV asked: "Are you sure that the opening of the Panama Canal will stimulate the export of domestic industrial and commercial products?"

I have to say that the French capitalists are very powerful, and they do their work to the emperor.

Allen, Chancellor of the Exchequer: "Your Majesty, the situation between the Panama Canal and the Suez Canal is very close, and the opening of the Suez Canal has brought about the last round of economic prosperity.

After the opening of the Suez Canal, the domestic import and export trade increased by more than 7% for five consecutive years, which greatly promoted the domestic economic development.

The same is true now for the Panama Canal. Once the canal is opened, the distance from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean will be shortened by tens of thousands of nautical miles, which will greatly stimulate the growth of domestic export trade. "

Lying without blinking, I have to say that the integrity of politicians is low.The opening of the Suez Canal did greatly stimulate the economic development of France, but the Panama Canal did not have such a great effect.

From the map, we know that the biggest beneficiary of the Panama Canal is the United States of America, followed by Colombia, and other countries can only pick up some leftovers.

It's not completely useless. If the Panama Canal was opened more than ten years ago, it is estimated that the French government would not have to give up Mexico.

Time cannot be turned back, and the development of the Panama Canal will at most shorten the distance to the West Coast.

In this era, the economic development of the West Coast of the Americas, even if it stimulates exports, this growth is very limited.

Moreover, there is competition from other European countries.French industrial and commercial products are losing their international competitiveness, with little benefit at all.

In this context, investing huge sums of money in the development of the Panama Canal, for the French, is actually not worth the loss.

Napoleon IV shook his head: "No, my Chancellor of the Exchequer. You only see the benefits for us, but not the consequences. In fact, the biggest beneficiaries are not us.

As you can see from the map, the biggest beneficiary is the United States of America.Suppressing the development of American countries is the common national policy of Britain, France and Austria, and the United States is the focus of suppression.

In the Three-Power Covenant, it is clearly stipulated that the three countries must maintain the balance of the American continent and prohibit unilateral enhancement of the strength of a certain country.

Whether we support the United States or not, this kind of strengthening of the United States is a betrayal in Ino's view.We cannot ignore long-term development for the sake of short-term interests. "

Obviously, Napoleon IV is not good at fooling, and this kind of flawed statement cannot deceive him.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Allen: "Your Majesty, this is only a clear interest, the potential interest is actually greater.

The opening of the Panama Canal in the short term will be of the greatest interest to the United States.But the Panama Canal was in our hands, and as trade increased, so did the economic lifeline of the United States.

The benefit behind this is our greatest gain.In the future, we can use the Panama Canal to open the doors of countries in the Americas and grab more benefits for the empire.

The development of the Panama Canal did not directly enhance the strength of a certain country. "

The potential benefits are indeed tempting. Now that the world is almost divided up, the remaining independent countries are not allowed to act rashly.

Grabbing benefits through economic means has become a necessity in the future world.Controlling the economic lifeline of the American countries will undoubtedly give France a favorable position in the new round of competition.

Napoleon IV: "How do we guarantee the dominance of the Panama Canal? In Colombia, whether it is the British or the Austrians, we can't compete!"

This is the crux of the matter, France is not strong enough in Colombia to guarantee control of the canal.

It is true that Britain, France and Austria are allies, but this is only a combination of interests. When the interests are large to a certain extent, allies can also become enemies.

If Britain and Austria are allowed to join the canal plan, the dominance will change in an instant.Napoleon IV would rather not do this kind of wedding dress for others.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Allen: "Your Majesty, in fact, this does not require the government to come forward, it would be better for private capitalists to do it.

If we cooperate with any country in the UK and Austria alone, we will not be able to take the lead, but with more countries participating, the situation has changed.

As the initiating country, we may not be able to get the dominant power, but it is not difficult to get the biggest voice.

The government just needs to…”

……

With much effort, Chancellor Allen managed to persuade Napoleon IV.Deep in his heart, he has made up his mind, whoever likes to do this kind of thing can do it, he is not going to do it anyway.

Although the benefits promised by the capitalists are great, the risks are not small.If Allen hadn't known that Napoleon IV intended to change people and wanted to make a fortune before leaving, he would not cooperate with the capitalists.

You must know that on the bright side, he is a representative of the grassroots class.With the restoration together with Napoleon III, the counterattack in life was achieved.

The personality of politicians cannot be broken. As a representative of civilians in the government, he ran to cooperate with capitalists. Once the news leaked, Allen would immediately fall into a situation of betrayal and separation.

It is precisely because of this identity that Allen can propose to Napoleon IV that if he replaces a minister who represents the interests of the capitalists, it is estimated that it will not be so easy to succeed.

Chapter 197 Political Art

The energy of the French government is much greater than that of a few capitalists. After obtaining the authorization of the Paris government, Minister Tom's confidence was all at once.

In less than a month, the right to develop the Panama Canal was obtained from the Colombian government, and the price paid was only a batch of material assistance.

The main thing is arms. Colombia's domestic armed forces have not fought, and the most important thing is to be forced by external pressure.

Everyone is afraid that the civil war will break out, and people will take advantage of it and become a colony again.

In particular, they are afraid of the neighboring Austria, which is a colony in Central America, and already has a military force that threatens their survival.

Due to the lessons learned from Central American countries, the Colombian government does not dare to accept European immigrants, for fear of being overthrown from the inside.

Colombia itself has a small population and dare not accept a large number of European immigrants, so its economic development is naturally unhappy.

Now the authorization of the Panama Canal to the French, in addition to material assistance, also means introducing French power to check and balance Austria.

These are small issues, and neither France nor Austria take Colombia seriously.If you want to play a balance, you also need to see if you can control it. If you can't control it, you will be attacked.

If the Panama Canal has been navigable, then for the sake of profit, a conflict between France and Austria may indeed break out. Unfortunately, the current canal is only on paper.

It is impossible for two great powers to clash over possible interests.To put it bluntly, digging a canal also requires prerequisites. If the geological conditions are not suitable, it is not surprising that the canal cannot be dug.

Everyone is very realistic, and it is far-sighted to be able to consider things ten or twenty years later.

If you think about what will happen in a hundred years, it is nonsense.The world is changing so fast, who knows what will happen in the future?

The price offered by the French was good, and the Vienna government did not interfere.

The establishment of the Canal Company was very smooth. Nino, the president of the pot man, organized the personnel to explore the terrain in high spirits.

The headquarters of the Paris Canal Company has already begun preparations for listing and financing.There are no exploration reports, and the design plan has not been released, so the listing plan came out first.

This is not a joke, but reality.In the face of interests, these procedures are not important, and capitalists have ways to avoid them.

There are still many such scams in the capital market. As long as you can make money, the success or failure of the project does not matter.

Nino still has some abilities, otherwise he wouldn't be able to take the blame.Looking at the investigation report in his hand, President Nino got a headache.

The Panama Strait has a tropical marine climate with abundant rainfall and loose soil.

From a purely construction point of view, loose soil seems to be a good thing, and it is easy to excavate earth.But for the canal project, it was a disaster.

In the opinion of President Nino: "sufficient rainwater + loose soil = landslide + silt", this not only means that the cost of the canal development process will increase, but even the operating cost will increase in the later stage.

In addition, there are many poisonous insects in the local jungle, and diseases often occur, which is also a trouble to be encountered in the construction of the canal.

"Dead man" President Nino doesn't care. There is a classic case of the Suez Canal. He knows very well that if the Panama Canal does not have tens of thousands of lives, he may not be able to dig it out.

The Panama Strait seems to be narrower, as long as it is only 61 kilometers short, it is only slightly more than one-third of the Suez Canal, and the construction difficulty is actually higher.

After a preliminary assessment of the incomplete information in the opponent's hands, Nino reluctantly came to the conclusion he least wanted.

Secretary Ralph Shen Shenghui reported: "President, the embassy has just received news that the Colombian government has refused to provide us with labor under the pretext of lack of labor."

Everyone knows that digging the canal has a lot of casualties. In order to dig the Suez Canal, it is no secret at all that 10,000+ laborers died.

Naturally, the Colombian government has also heard about it. The Egyptian government jumped into this huge pit and made the domestic people feel miserable, so that the French took advantage of the situation and occupied Egypt.

Colombia has a smaller population, and it is simply impossible for them to provide hundreds of thousands of laborers.

It is enough to recruit indigenous laborers. If you dare to use white people as laborers, it is estimated that if there are not enough laborers, there will be chaos in the country first.

Nino frowned: "Contact the embassy and let them continue to communicate with the Colombian government. In any case, they must first provide a batch of emergency workers.

The board is trying to find cheap labor, and once the project is over, they won't be needed later. "

No way, there are too many pits these days, and investors are not easy to cheat.You have to start work earlier so you can get money more easily.

How can a project on paper be compared to a project that has already been implemented?The Canal Company's IPO plan was bragging to the sky, and the board of directors urged him to start work every day.

Secretary Ralph: "Yes, President."

Just as he was about to leave, Nino added: "Wait, report the information we have surveyed to the board of directors.

Remember, leave out the possibility of a disease outbreak.Even if there is a possibility of disease outbreaks in the local area, shareholders will not want to see such a remark. "

Without doing a cost analysis, Nino also knew that the canal plan had exceeded the original cost estimate, and it was a fool's errand to build a canal with one-third of the cost of the Suez Canal.

After finally becoming the head of the project, Nino didn't seem to see the canal plan die.If he misses this opportunity, he may never have the chance to go further in this life.

The best way is to let the canal plan start first, and then the capitalists will be reluctant to give up and have to bite the bullet and continue.

As for whether the big guy behind the scenes will cause trouble, Nino is not worried at all.The Panama Canal Company is going to be listed for financing, and these costs can be passed on to investors.

It is normal for there to be loopholes in the work. As long as it can bring rich returns to everyone, everything is not a problem.

Nino is very confident about the Panama Canal project. As long as the canal is open to navigation, he is confident that the cost will be recovered within ten years.

This is only an obvious benefit, and the secret revenue should be several times the general shipping fee.Such a generous return is enough to quell the grievances of shareholders.

……

In London, Prime Minister Benjamin is worrying about the battle paper. He has already thought about what will be written in the newspaper tomorrow.

The opposition party will definitely take the opportunity to do things and attack the prestige of the government.

This is what everyone does. When they are on stage, they work hard, implement their own political propositions, and profit by the way; when they are offstage, they try their best to demolish their competitors.

At the cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Benjamin threw the telegram on the table: "This is the help telegram from that trash Ismail. The war has just begun, and we have lost one-fifth of our troops, including an army regiment that was killed." The establishment has been destroyed.

As for the results of the battle, it was really brilliant, annihilating 20 enemy troops.

I would rather believe that the sun will rise from the west than believe that this result is real.20 enemy troops have been wiped out, and there are still requests for reinforcements. Does the enemy have millions of troops? "

False reporting of results has become a chronic problem for the British Army.Especially when losing a battle, in order to escape responsibility, it is necessary to produce a brilliant victory.

It's just that this time I played a little too much. If I reported [-] to [-], the London government would recognize it.After all, if the lid is lifted, the government will also be scolded.

In line with the principle of making big things small and small things small, usually when this kind of thing happens, everyone quietly covers up the past.

The Secretary of the Army, Fox, said with an embarrassed expression: "Your Excellency Prime Minister, it may be that the operator made a mistake and gave an extra zero.

We have sent people to verify that our army suffered 5876 casualties, three-quarters of which were Indian colonial troops, and annihilated a total of 15796 enemy troops, which is [-] rounded up. "

This data is much more acceptable.More than 5000 people were killed or injured, and nearly three times as many enemies were wiped out, which is barely justified.

Chapter 198 Complex Politics

Political struggle is cruel. This Ethiopian war was promoted by Benjamin's cabinet. If you dig a hole yourself, you have to bury it yourself.

The British people are arrogant. They can tolerate losing to any European power, but they cannot accept losing to African natives.

In order not to be seized by the opposition parties and cause public criticism, the military's false battle report, Benjamin's cabinet could only recognize it by pinching its nose.

"Kick out the losses of the Indian colonial army from the casualties, and don't announce all the casualties first, and distribute the losses to subsequent wars.

Unleash all our strength, guide public opinion as much as possible, and suppress the influence to a minimum.If the situation cannot be controlled, create a big news to divert public attention. "

There was no way, Benjamin didn't want to be kicked out of office just as he took office.

After listening to Benjamin's words, War Minister Fox: "I'm sorry, Prime Minister. I got the wrong report just now. It was the last Anglo-Boer War.

This is the battle report sent back by the front line. After a month of hard fighting, our army wiped out 351 enemy troops at the cost of 1126 dead and 9568 wounded.

However, Ethiopia is really too big, and France and Austria are staring at them again. In order to occupy Ethiopia before France and Austria, the front-line troops requested 8 domestic reinforcements. "

Seeing that the Minister of War brought out a new battle report, everyone was surprised.There are so many wonderful things in politics, how can you do it without a few preparations?

This is the third time that Fox has served as Minister of War. Even after losing so much in the Anglo-Boers War, he was able to retreat completely, not to mention this small defeat?

If the cabinet wants to be held accountable, it is estimated that Fox will sell the officers on the front line; now that the cabinet government is not ready to be held accountable, as a good leader, Fox will naturally help cover up.