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

Tina met Hamlin at noon. In order to successfully deceive him, Tina made a lot of preparations. She not only did a lot of work on the contract, but also did a lot of things in reality.

She first took Hamlin to visit the industrial area in Brandenburg, and then the civil area. Brandenburg is the core industrial area of ​​Prussia, and its level of development is not inferior to that of Liverpool.

Hamlin looked at the many factories, the rich types of buildings, and the neat clothes of the workers, which deepened his impression of Prussia.

Of course, you need to know what a country is like, look at what passers-by are wearing, or do some questionnaires to ask if you are happy? are you happy? This is all very stupid. To understand the actual situation, it is useless to just look at it. You have to live with them for a period of time and enter their working environment and spiritual world to understand the true face of a country.

But this is actually nothing, because Hamlin doesn't know this, and he will not contact those civilians at all. The vice president's life is so wonderful, why should he talk to those grassroots people.

After showing the powerful side of Prussia to Hamlin, when the two returned to the negotiating table, Hamlin's tone of voice was much more polite.

Tina's information skills are very good. She shows the good side and hides the bad side tightly. As long as he can't see the hidden dangers of the country, then in his eyes, this is a developed country. s country.

Hamlin also expressed admiration after seeing this, and he began to look forward to what kind of treaty Prussia could give.

The contract given by Tina is that the United States and Prussia can establish a trade alliance, but they cannot use the international currency pound, and must use the Prussian mark as the standard currency.

Tariffs can be reduced, but the specific reduction needs to be determined according to the Prussian constitution. Of course, U.S. tariffs can also be determined according to the U.S. Constitution, but both parties must obtain the consent of the contracting states when modifying tariffs.

Then Prussia needed to establish an embassy in the United States and open banks to develop the financial industry.

The United States can also set up embassies, banks and other factories in Prussia.

Both sides open their markets to each other, and law enforcement agencies need to protect businessmen from both countries. If businessmen commit illegal acts, each country can sentence them according to law.

The next few clauses supplement and improve the above clauses.

However, the United States would not recognize Prussia's dominance over Germany, nor would it sign a mutual defense treaty with Prussia.

But Prussia and the United States can cooperate in the military. Prussia can sell military intelligence and high-tech blueprints, and the United States also needs to provide some of their technologies to Prussia. Of course, the price is negotiable.

Naturally, Hamlin was not particularly happy to get such a treaty, but at first glance it seemed quite fair, at least as an American.

In fact, the United States can obtain a lot of benefits from Prussia without making much concessions. There is only one thing that Hamlin does not understand very well, and that is why the Prussian mark is used for settlement.

The reason given by Tina is that Prussia does not have many reserves of pounds, and everyone's currencies have enough credit anyway, and the market is so stable, so it doesn't seem to be a big problem to avoid the pound a little bit.

Hamlin accepted this statement. Of course, it was all nonsense. Tina just didn’t want to use pounds to trade with the United States because Prussia had withdrawn from the gold standard. The Prussian mark had long stopped being riveted with gold, but the U.S. dollar was still on the gold standard. .

This situation is equivalent to exchanging a piece of paper for equivalent gold. Hamlin's inertial thinking is to judge the price based on the market. For example, an egg sells for one cent in the United States and one and two marks in Prussia. Then the U.S. dollar exchange rate Mark's ratio was one to one point two, and he didn't calculate the cost.

Under the gold standard, US dollars can be directly exchanged for gold, but marks cannot be exchanged for gold. If the value is really calculated, US dollars are really gold, and marks are really just pieces of paper.

In fact, Tina didn't know that she could play like this at first. It was the evil way August taught her. Although it was a bit mean, in the game between great powers, isn't it normal to occasionally dig two pits?

There are also some big cakes, such as freedom of navigation, freedom of trade, national self-determination and other beautiful-sounding empty words, which can be regarded as a disguised distinction between the United States and other old colonial powers.

Hamlin studied this contract over and over again. From his point of view, there is not much problem with these things. If the social systems and economic structures of both parties are similar, then this is a fair treaty.

But it’s hard to say how big the difference is between the United States and Prussia. At present, only the use of mark transactions made Hamlin pay a little attention. The rest are two-way. Prussia can do it and the United States can do it, and there are no outrageous requirements. , based on the above, you can sign it.

But Hamlin had one more request.

"I have fully seen how advanced and powerful Prussia is, but in order for both of us to cooperate and achieve win-win results, I still need Prussia to make some commitments. Shouldn't these be no problem?"

"Of course, as long as it does not involve the sovereignty of Prussia or other countries, then it can be discussed." Tina replied.

“First of all, we need Prussia, as a European country, to recognize the independence and unity of the United States, and to stand with the United States of America from an international perspective. At the same time, whether now or in the future, we need to have some trade, cultural, and military exchanges with the Confederate States of America. They should all stop. The United States has only one government, and that is Washington. If Prussia recognizes this, it should treat U.S. affairs reasonably and fairly in accordance with the U.S. Constitution. If the United States discovers that Prussia still has contacts with the Confederate States of America, then it will Is this okay that all dealings with the Kingdom of Prussia will cease?”

"Of course Prussia can do this. Prussia recognizes the unity and territorial integrity of the United States. The United States has only one government, and that is the government of Washington. Prussia does not recognize the Confederate States formed by other states in the United States."

Tina's promise was recognized and personally confirmed by the Prussian Prime Minister. Hamlin was very satisfied with Prussia. This was a very good political capital, and he might be able to rely on it to run for president in the future.

But the contract he got was full of surprises, but it couldn't be seen through. Tina successfully won the US market in this diplomatic game, which could finally alleviate the problems of Prussia's industrial products market.