Welcome to 19th-century Europe, where strength reigns supreme

While the fighting was going on in the United States, Prussia was not idle at home either. August was busy thinking of ways to raise more money for the Prussian government. What he had to do now was to expand his military and prepare for war. Austria had a large share of the army. A huge advantage, and if you say that its equipment is worse than that of the United States, that's not right. But if you say that its equipment is better, Austria's technology seems to come from the same examination room as that of the United States.

She took advantage of the American Civil War to open banks in Washington, New York, Boston and other areas. The American trade and economic system could be said to be very imperfect in this era. There were countless comprador private enterprises, and some monopoly businesses had emerged. signs of.

Although it is still limited to business now and is not as outrageous as in later generations, someone has to make a fortune anyway, so why can't it be Prussia?

The combat effectiveness of the Prussian army shocked Lincoln greatly. He had never seen European armies fighting, and he did not know what the average combat effectiveness in Europe was. He was also busy with the civil war and had no time to deal with European affairs. .

August promoted a British threat theory to him, which was still aimed at the Conservative Party. She once said in a letter to Lincoln, "The British Empire ruled by the Conservative Party has the idea of ​​​​re-incorporating the United States into its territory. They strive to bring the United States into its territory. It merged with Canada to form the North American Autonomous State, and the United States is still in the civil war. The most dangerous thing is the Northern Army and has gained the upper hand. If the Southern Army joins forces with the British and attacks the United States from both sides, the United States will easily be defeated. defeat.

The more cost-effective option is obviously to let Prussia continue to support the United States and arm the American army with Prussian weapons. For the sake of Prussia, the British will also have reservations and dare not act rashly. "

This rhetoric swayed Lincoln. He first agreed to arms-related transactions and allowed Prussia to build arms factories in the United States, but the quantity needed to be slightly limited.

But later on, with the Prussian army winning consecutive battles, they captured Richmond as soon as they arrived, and entered Atlanta within three months. The operations on the Western Front were as smooth as diarrhea. August continued to extend his olive branch. , while Lincoln was still wavering, the Democratic Party had already reached several py deals with Prussian companies, and even matters related to the election.

Lincoln saw that the Democratic Party was on the rise. If Prussia supported the Democratic Party, it would threaten the interests of the Republican Party. He had no choice but to bring the Republican Party into the game. He first agreed that Prussian companies could conduct legal operations in the United States. Then it agreed to expand the military-industrial complex for more weapons.

When the United States was in the civil war, the industrial output in the north also fell sharply. The government could not pay for it, so it asked Prussia for another loan. However, Prussia did not have the service to exchange euros for dollars, and Lincoln did not want to find other powers. It was better to hire a father than to Please be friends with several fathers.

Lincoln agreed that Prussia could open a bank in the United States and evaluated the price of the euro against the U.S. dollar before finally borrowing money from Prussia.

Do you think Lincoln had other options? Of course he did, but he couldn't stand the pressure from someone within the party, and the hostile party had already made some operations, which made him uncomfortable. He originally wanted to find France, but France had invaded Mexico before, which made Lincoln a little alarmed.

Almost all the powerful countries on the European continent went to the American continent to fight in groups, but they couldn't get away. If any European powerful country targeted them, the consequences would be disastrous, so it would be better to choose to obey.

Lincoln also obtained some Prussian things for the United States, but compared to what he paid, it can be said to be a drop in the bucket, and Prussia's industrial strength is slightly stronger than that of the United States. American companies have no competitiveness in Prussia, so Lincoln still has A little bit of a loss.

But if by the time of the Second Industrial Revolution, the United States could overtake Prussia in industry, then the trade agreements signed by Lincoln could be used to dump goods to Prussia.

The premise is that the United States can really seize the opportunity in the second industrial revolution.

But these are only later gains, and Prussia is also facing a huge problem, that is, all the money has been used to support the American Civil War. The Prussian government has no money again, but it is not that it has no money, it just has no cash.

When the financial statements were delivered to the desk of Finance Minister Lister, he was confused. How could the cost of participating in the American Civil War be higher than the cost of the Prussian War?

Lister even specially asked people to go to the United States to ask General Manteuffel. After investigation, it was found that there was no basis for this. It really cost so much money, various expenses, plus loans to the United States. The total amount spent is as high as [-] million euros.

This price is almost the same as the expenditure for the first half of the year. The monthly salary of a relatively senior civil servant in Prussia is only a few hundred euros. In the EU system established by Prussia, the value of the euro is very high. As long as money is not printed indiscriminately, , still very valuable.

Although Prussia opened a bank in the United States, it would be difficult to make money in a short period of time. Most American refugees would borrow money to live. Moreover, Prussia was supporting the United States in the war this time and did not issue war bonds. Even if it did, It is estimated that not many people will buy it.

And those seemingly prosperous capitalists actually don’t have much money in their pockets. All of it has been used by Prussia to cause trouble. The remaining money of the Prussian government still has to be used to maintain the operation of the country, but there is still What to do about military expansion? This thing also requires a lot of money.

Liszt himself would definitely not be able to handle such a large amount, so he could only hand it over to Prussia's Prime Minister Tina to see if she could get money to expand the army.

........

When Liszt stepped through the door with his left foot, Tina felt something was wrong. Apart from the report at the end of the month, Tina never imagined that Liszt would do anything good for her at this time.

According to the good memories of the past few times, this man was definitely looking for me because he ran out of money, or he wasted his money, but no matter what the reason was, it definitely couldn't be a problem other than lack of money.

As Chancellor of Finance, Liszt does not know how to make money at all. He can only do theoretical planning. But the problem is that he dares to operate. He dares to plan for anything. If the operation is not good, then it will be buried. If he succeeds in the operation, , then the confidence of his whole life will overflow the screen next time, and he will never give the person above him to wipe his butt a rest. In short, he is a very troublesome person.

"Prime Minister, the financial expenditures in the past few months seem to be a bit excessive. We can't afford to expand the army!"

"No money again? Didn't I just get [-] million euros from the Prussian Foundation for you to operate last time? Have you spent all this money?"

Tina looked at Liszt's face, wondering if this pushy man's poor supervision allowed his subordinates to become corrupt. Didn't he need to pay more attention to him? In the past few months, Prussia has carried out some crackdowns on corruption. Although the effect is average, most people will not corrupt a lot openly. In most cases, they still eat a little free money, and no more.

"That's not the problem. The main reason is that the money allocated by the Prince Regent to the United States is more than this. All the money for military expansion in the second half of the year has been given to the United States. We really can't afford it now!"