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

After the trade agreement with the United States was signed, in less than half a month, Prussian commercial ports were full of merchant ships carrying the Stars and Stripes, more than the British.

Many Prussian companies began to work together to keep warm. The first was the textile industry. They joined together to design new clothing and began to build momentum for it.

Then the news in the newspapers became weird, and both the United States and Prussia showed a smell of gunpowder in their respective newspapers.

They were arguing with each other, with Prussia scolding American products for being of poor quality, and the United States scolding Prussian products for being expensive. Anyway, the newspapers were always one-sidedly praising how good their own country's products were, or belittling the other side. This was just the beginning of the excitement.

But the bickering between the two sides in newspapers certainly doesn't matter. After all, this kind of bickering about whose quality is better will usually be used as material by funny bloggers.

In order to deal with the invasion of American capital, August has long been fully prepared. Her ideas are very radical. She wants to use this high-pressure environment and the tension brought by market pressure to force private enterprises to operate under controllable conditions. expand under certain circumstances and form a monopoly.

And what she wants to do is to create monopolies, let them compete with foreign companies, and let those street lamp pendants worry and get involved in involution. This is the best thing.

For this matter today, August summoned all current shareholders of state-owned enterprises, including Rheinmetall, Maritime Trading Company, Königsberg Shipyard, etc., and even people from the Prussian National Bank.

Representatives of various companies stared in the conference hall, and many private companies that the Prussian government had invested in also came. The medium-sized conference hall was full of people.

There were many Prussian soldiers standing in the conference hall. They held rifles in their hands and surrounded the venue.

Some shareholders among the representatives of these companies are also prominent figures, including some big nobles and capitalists, but they are all a little nervous now.

After everyone sat down, Auguste came belatedly in a formal dress. Behind her were senior officers from the Prussian Army General Staff, including Ron and Moltke.

When those capitalists saw August like this, they had to take a breath. If they were to say who they feared most now, it would definitely be August.

Auguste took control of the army and gained the support of the people. All the generals surrounded her, all showing her majesty like an emperor.

Her expression looked very calm, "I heard that many of you are very dissatisfied with me recently. The Parseval family has an ancestral motto, which is to humbly accept the teachings of others. So what do you have to say?"

... There was silence on the field. The capitalists said that they were selling the batch. You should remove these soldiers and officers first. Do you dare to be dissatisfied? If you dare to say no when someone is pointing a gun at you from behind, you may be able to drink tea with Jesus tomorrow.

"Why aren't you talking? It's boring when I'm the only one talking."

August casually knocked on the table twice with his little hand, and the capitalists immediately trembled three times.

"Of course not. Your Highness is a generational hero of Prussia. Your policies are the country's policies, your will is the country's will, and we obey your orders." One of the capitalists said.

August suddenly smiled and said, "Really? I didn't expect that I'm quite popular, so it's time to get down to business. The Prussian government has also loaned you a lot of money for construction over the years, right? You must have heard about it in the newspapers these days. I have also seen it. In the past few weeks, Prussia has reached a trade treaty with the United States. The United States is a trust-imperialist country. You may not know what a trust is or what imperialism is, but since I have called you here, there must be a reason. .”

August handed out some materials, "This is everything controlled by the giants of the American monopoly capitalist class. Now I give you a chance. You can also become a giant like this. I just don't know if you are happy with it."

Everyone looked at each other. Auguste's anti-monopoly methods were very violent. Many policies clearly stated that they did not allow the emergence of monopoly companies. She always supported the weak and suppressed the strong, which was even worse than Theodore. It was the Prussian trust blaster.

But it is a bit unreasonable for people like her to suddenly turn to support capitalists in establishing monopolies.

"You may still have some questions now, but it doesn't matter. Everyone wants the American market. We are not a colonial empire without a market or conditions. Everything must be fought for by ourselves. For this reason, I need innovative companies to drive Prussia's growth." Development, and those enterprises that lie flat and rotten are moths, and Prussia does not need such moths!”

"I have decided to adjust the development direction of state-owned enterprises. I will not engage in public ownership. You can rest assured on this. Not only that, I can also privatize state-owned enterprises so that you can earn more and greater profits from them. If you agree My request, then it is necessary for us to continue talking. First of all, in terms of equity. In order to ensure a competitive environment, the Prussian government will generally choose to take shares and then control the buying and selling of shares. However, after privatization, the government will no longer control the buying and selling of shares. Interference, whether you want to split or annex, this is your business.

But if you want to do this, you have to sell [-]% of the shares of the Prussian National Bank. Isn't this much more cost-effective than before? "

This group of people were all shocked. It used to belong to the government, and now it is in the hands of the National Bank. But the Prussian National Bank is essentially August’s institution. August is dispersing the government’s equity. Take it all in at once.

Of course, from a formal point of view, the transfer from the government to the National Bank is equivalent to the left hand to the right hand, father to son.

But for the capitalists, August gave up some shares in disguise, and these money-hungry capitalists immediately sensed business opportunities.

They wanted to become the giants of monopoly companies, and August also allowed them to establish monopolies within a controllable range. Under Prussia's national conditions, the power of capitalists could be controlled by the army. Although the Junkers and nobles were very rigid, If they join forces, they still have some fighting power.

The short-term gains that these capitalists saw did not include these options. August knew that they were taking the bait, and then said.

"I hope everyone can compete in a healthy way. Victory belongs to the surviving companies. And I still have a project on hand. I hope I can see you again at the next meeting."

The day after the meeting, many state-owned enterprises were privatized, and a large number of shares originally owned by the government were vacated. A large number of shares were injected into the accounts of the Prussian State Bank, and the remainder was put on the stock market.

Prussia's stocks ushered in a new wave of climax. Many capitalists, politicians and nobles rushed to buy stocks. Countless funds poured into the stock market. Some former state-owned enterprises immediately split and were immediately merged by other companies.

The scale of this privatization was large, including almost all enterprises, but August was not completely without back-ups. The shares she gathered were the reins that held back those capitalists.

The market's feedback was as expected. In less than a month, Berlin was full of new things, and everything was moving in a good direction.