Holy Roman Empire

However, it is even more problematic not to interrupt the telegram connection, because it will be exposed every minute.

Will nodded: "This is already very good, and it is surprising to be able to buy so much time.

There is not much time left for us, now everyone go to arrange, close the position in the shortest time, and recover the loss as much as possible. "

There was no way, the Berlin government suddenly overturned the table and caught them off guard.

Unlike the stocks below, they are shorting Mark this time. If they don't run away quickly, they will lose a lot.

……

Compared with the gloomy clouds of Will and others, the atmosphere of the neighbor Bedford Securities Company next door is much more harmonious.

Everyone is shorting Mark, but people are different. Bedford Securities Company is not so greedy, and withdraws after making a fortune.

Thales said regretfully: "Will, the old fox, is finally on his way, but if we stop the loss in time now, it shouldn't hurt his vitality."

The peers are the naked hatred. Regardless of the frequent joint actions of the four major securities firms in Frankfurt, the outside world feels that this is an alliance. In fact, it is their allies who want the other party to die the most.

Fairrose laughed and said, "That's not necessarily true. When you're on the sidelines, you lose. The situation is different now.

There are signs that an economic crisis is coming.There is not enough cash in hand at this time, who knows what will happen later? "

Skvizka, the executive president of Bedford, interrupted the two right-hand assistants: "Okay, you two, Will is not unlucky, that's a matter of the future, and it's not yet time to make things worse, and the rumors will have a bad influence."

"Mr. Skwirzka, call from Vienna!"

"coming!"

After speaking, Skwirzka walked over quickly.

……

After a while, Skvizhka came out with a blank expression.

"You two, here comes your job. From now on, sell all the stocks and bonds in our hands as much as possible.

Cash, now we need a lot of cash. "

Phil Ross said puzzledly: "President, the domestic economic situation is still good, even if it is affected by this incident, it will not collapse.

Recently, we have successively cashed out 8000 million Aegis, which is enough to deal with any crisis.

Something happened that we don't know about, or is the headquarters short of money? "

As a cross-river, Bedford Securities can become one of the four major brokerages in Frankfurt, and has never been affected by outside the rules. It can be seen how powerful the background is.

Economically, it has close cooperative relations with many banks in Austria, and has never been short of money. This is all handled by the headquarters. Phil Rose does not think that the headquarters will be short of money.

After hesitating for a while, Skwirzka nodded: "Okay, let me tell you, anyway, you will know later.

This time we want to make a big deal, the headquarters decided to short the franc, and you are all one of the traders.

Not only we are going to participate, but half of the top [-] securities companies in the world will participate.

This is a joint operation of Anglo-Austrian Capital, and you may have heard of the international banking syndicate that was making a fuss not long ago.

I don't know more details, but you just need to be mentally prepared. "

"Shorting francs", the two were so bold that they were also stunned by the news.

The franc is different from the mark, and France's economic plate is much bigger.Prior to this, there were many short-selling francs in the world, but they all ended in failure.

The scale of the organization is so large this time, and even using Prussia as a cover, it must not be as simple as it seems on the surface.

Thales waved his hand and said, "It seems a bit difficult to short francs, can I pretend I didn't hear anything?"

Skwirzka smiled slightly: "Unfortunately, it's too late to say this now.

I don't think it will be long before someone will come over to protect our safety. You can talk to them about it.

But I personally suggest that you better keep your mouth shut, if something bad happens, it will kill you. "

The two nodded helplessly, curiosity killed the cat.If they don't know anything, they still have the opportunity to refuse to participate.

Now that I know "short francs", if I want to quit, I can only lie down and go out.

Anyone with a little common sense would know that the buzzing international banking consortium can be regarded as an Anglo-Austrian financial union, with thirteen large banks participating.

Seeing that the two were not in a good mood, Skwirzka comforted: "Don't be so pessimistic, it's just shorting the franc, and it doesn't mean to kill you. As for that?"

After adjusting his mood, Thales quickly recovered and said with an exaggerated expression: "No, my Mr. President.

With such a big business, we don't know how many important people are involved. If we mess up, who can guarantee that we won't be angry? "

……

Chapter 3 and Four: People Are Forced Out

In order to force the government to make concessions, on November 1881, 11, the Prussian bourgeoisie organized a massive strike and strike movement.

This move thoroughly angered Frederick III. After repeated negotiations to no avail, on November 11, the Berlin government declared martial law across the country.

The public security brigade, composed of retired officers and soldiers, took over the work of the police, blocked the traffic arteries, and sealed up all the shops, warehouses, and factories of participating capitalists, and the government uniformly allocated supplies across the country.

Immediately afterwards, Frederick III ordered the resumption of factory production.Many retired military officers turned into managers of factories.

There is no technical content, and I don't know how to manage it, so I copied it according to the method of managing the army.

Ordinary workers don't care who their boss is as long as someone pays them.It doesn't matter if the management is strict, as long as the money is in place, everything is easy to talk about, and factories one after another have started to resume work.

From production to sales, it is all handled by the government.It looks like a planned economy, and the capitalists really panicked.

The reality tells them that they don't seem to be that important, and the country is still functioning normally without them.

Although there are still many disturbances in the middle, this is only the initial stage, and it can be changed slowly later.

It's too late to regret it now, and it's all torn, so Frederick III will naturally not be polite.

There is no need to frame them, just look over the old accounts one by one, and soon a large number of people will be imprisoned.

Prime Minister Leo von Caprivi said anxiously: "Your Majesty, we can't go on like this, or there will be big troubles."

He has no objection to taking the capitalists as the knife, since everyone is not the same way anyway.

But the plan couldn't keep up with the changes. Before that, everyone was not prepared to let the army take over the country.

It was only later that it was discovered that the capitalists could not be dealt with by the police, so they were forced to use retired officers and soldiers to organize a security brigade.

After solving the capitalists, everyone found that the domestic order had collapsed.In order to restore social order, the government had to resort to the military once again.

It turns out that the Kingdom of Prussia is a country owned by the military, which means that the military has great influence and controls the country politically.

Now the situation has changed, the military's influence at the top has been weakened, but its influence at the bottom has greatly increased.

Frederick III nodded helplessly: "My Prime Minister, everyone knows that the current situation in Prussia is wrong, but the problem is how to solve it?

People have been arrested, homes have been copied, and factories have been confiscated.

Now to resume factory production, we simply cannot find enough management personnel in a short time.

Do we have other options besides letting retired officers manage it?

You can't let those moths go out again, and continue to make trouble for us, right? "

It has to be admitted that militarized management of factories can only be used as an emergency measure.Not long after it started, a series of disturbances broke out.

After hesitating for a moment, Leo von Caprivi gritted his teeth and said, "Just organize an auction!

We will definitely not be able to manage so many factories. We will sell most of the small factories and keep only a few large factories. We will turn them into state-owned enterprises and learn from the Austrian management model. "

The industry in Prussia is still in a state of contention. More than 80.00% of the factories in the country have a scale of less than [-] people, and the number of large factories with more than [-] people is only in the single digits.

The Kingdom of Prussia is a capitalist and militaristic country, and not all capitalists jumped out to fight against the government. This time the table was overturned, and naturally it was impossible to wipe out all the capitalists.

Theoretically speaking, as long as the confiscated small and medium-sized factories are sold out, the management problem will be solved.

Frederick III said slowly: "This is a way."

Obviously, he was moved.Don't look at the fact that the Kingdom of Prussia has resumed production, but this production capacity is really touching. The production efficiency has generally dropped by 15.00%, and the defective rate remains high.

Such an enterprise, unless it closes its doors and plays by itself, once it joins the international competition, it is doomed to fail.

The current calm in the market is supported by the government's reputation.The Berlin government took timely actions to ensure material supply and employment. Everyone believes in the government's execution.

Minister of War von Rothwald suggested: "Your Majesty, if so many factories are sold together, even if someone buys them, they may not be able to sell at a high price.

Instead of this, it is better to directly distribute the factory to the retired officers and soldiers to deduct their severance pay or pension.

Not only can the government reduce a certain amount of expenditure, but the problem of job placement can also be solved by the way. "

It is true that the price cannot be sold. Most of the people with purchasing power in the Kingdom of Prussia are still in prison.

The rest of the capitalists, even if they had money in their pockets, were so frightened at this time that they didn't dare to stand up easily.

Affected by the depreciation of Mark, the original severance pay and pension standards are obviously out of date.

The Berlin government dared to take money from the capitalists, but they did not dare to discount the money from the soldiers.

Although the Berlin government has repeatedly raised the standard, it can't hold back the severe inflation, and the government can't bear it if it continues to increase.

Frederick III asked with some doubts: "Can the soldiers accept it? You must know that the benefits of these small factories are very average. If the operating capacity is not enough, it is easy to lose money."

"Losing money" is not a loss in the hands of capitalists, but rather a recent period of time, based on the management of the Berlin government.

Minister of War von Rothwald was uncertain: "It should be acceptable, we can set the price of the factory cheaper, and let them decide whether they want factory shares or cash.

As for the management issue, I don't think there is a big problem with the production process. They are all their own factories, and they will definitely not mess around.

The problem is sales, but the government can help.We have an agreement with the British that we can pay the debts in kind, and we can use the products of these factories to offset them. "

Frederick III fell into deep thought, he didn't care about the price issue, it was all for nothing anyway.

If these small factories can be used to appease the military and get the military to agree to the government's reorganization plan, he doesn't mind giving them away for nothing.

"Then try it, and remember to do a good job of coordination. There are dozens of shareholders in a factory. If they are not arranged properly, it is easy to go wrong."

Von Rothwald's joyful expression disappeared, and he could already imagine how much work he would have to do next.

No matter how the factory price is pushed down, it cannot be taken down by a single soldier. Unless a family dies in battle with more than a dozen, otherwise multiple shareholders are inevitable.

When interests are involved, can everyone still be so harmonious?These problems need him to solve.

……

Chapter 3 The Run on the Franc

The whole European world was stunned by the Berlin government's brash operation.

For the bourgeoisie, it was a blow to the head.Prussia can play in this way, and other countries can naturally follow suit. This is simply a sharp sword hanging over everyone's heads.

Public opinion is full of criticism, but this has no effect.Since it dared to overturn the table, the Berlin government will naturally not be afraid of being scolded.

Prussia's approach not only caused heavy losses to domestic capitalists, but also wailed from overseas investors.

Since the news spread, the number of people in Frankfurt who want to jump off the building has increased a lot.

Including the well-known Flores, who accidentally took the order because of an error in the information, and was hesitating whether to go to the rooftop.

Fortunately, after the end of the Russo-Prussian War, the stocks of all Prussian companies fell to the bottom, and they were in a locked state.

As long as you don't foolishly run to go long, the receiving order is also a low-level receiving order, and the loss is not too serious.

The Berlin government only confiscated the shares of criminals. In theory, the shares held by overseas investors are still valid.

This is also the main reason why the big powers did not interfere. Although the Berlin government's methods were a little too radical, they were still dealing with internal affairs after all.

The most important thing is that the established facts have already been created, and interference will only make things more troublesome and increase everyone's losses.

As long as the business is in business, the stock has value.It is nothing more than the change of the major shareholder to the Berlin government, making the investment prospects confusing.

……

Vienna Palace

"Your Majesty, the situation has changed. Prussia's approach is likely to trigger a chain reaction. If the French follow suit, our plan will hardly succeed." Chancellor of the Exchequer Karl worried

The sudden change was also a huge blow to the short-selling franc plan conspired by Britain and Austria.

Prussia can turn the tables, so can the French.Perhaps the Parisian government dare not follow suit, as long as there is a financial regulation, it will be enough for everyone.

Franz shook his head: "This is different, the Berlin government was forced to do nothing, and had no choice but to give it a go.

Where is the size of France? At most, we will suppress the value of the franc and make a fortune by the way. Otherwise, the Paris government will not be so extreme.