The King

  Chapter 341 Too many smart people

  Others are holding on, and the mountain leader is no exception. In the face of the price of blood collapse, there is nothing Hudson can do except to reduce production.

   Loss-making transactions must also be done, otherwise the market will be thrown out, and it will be difficult to get it back.

  This wave of crisis has come so violently, in addition to the overcapacity of the industry, there is also the reason why the giants took the opportunity to reshuffle the industry and strangle their competitors.

  Perhaps the breach of contract that triggered the crisis was not only the intention of the major chambers of commerce, but also some mining giants behind it.

  It is very common for a certain nobleman to be both a shareholder of the chamber of commerce and a steel giant.

   It's a pity that Hudson's rise is too short, and the relationship with the major chambers of commerce in the mainland is limited to a cooperation in the war.

  Everyone gets what they need in a fair deal, and no one owes anyone else. These secrets, people will naturally not send someone to deliberately inform him.

   Just be envious. The establishment of a chamber of commerce is simply impossible with the current network of contacts of the Koslow family.

   When interests are involved, a little friendship can't be done at all. Those chambers of commerce all over the mainland have a large group of partners behind them.

   Even the immigrant team protected by heavy soldiers was attacked by people. If they ran to form a chamber of commerce, wouldn't they be robbed every day?

   In fact, the crisis is not limited to the steel industry. After the war ended, all industries that revolved around the war were impacted to varying degrees.

  At this moment, the price of steel products has plummeted, and it has also affected other industries, such as: the coal mining industry, horse-drawn carriage manufacturing and other related industrial chains, all of which have ushered in a cold winter.

   Fortunately, the industry and commerce of the Alpha Kingdom is underdeveloped, and it does not account for a large proportion of the kingdom's economy. Most of the practitioners were serfs attached to the nobility. Even if the economic crisis broke out, there was no such thing as layoffs and salary cuts.

  The impact of the crisis on the lives of the people at the bottom is almost zero. However, the chill was still passing, and the first to feel the chill was Caesar III.

  The nobles who suffered heavy losses in the crisis took the bonds issued by the kingdom to offset their taxes. Originally it was only the loss of noble gentlemen,

   "Just for the autumn tax, there are war bonds as high as 4.5 million gold coins. Are they crazy?"

  Caesar III almost roared behind the scenes.

  He has been unwell these days, and many government affairs have been handed over to his son, and he has not paid much attention to the private actions of the big nobles.

   Just after taking a nap, the people below broke a big basket for him.

  It is theoretically feasible to use the war bonds issued by the kingdom to offset taxes. Anyway, for this kind of early redemption, the kingdom only pays the principal, and the interest on the face of the bill is directly in vain.

  Generally speaking, only minor nobles with poor financial resources would do this. As long as it is not swarming, it is also a relief for the kingdom to pay some war bonds in advance.

  For the orderly operation of the kingdom’s finances, and to earn bond interest. The great nobles who hold a large number of kingdom bonds have reached a tacit agreement long ago to hold the war bonds in their hands for a long time.

  According to normal circumstances, as long as the reputation of the kingdom does not collapse, there will be very few nobles holding bonds to offset taxes.

   At most, it will be hundreds of thousands of gold coins, which will not exceed 10% of the total tax payment. By repaying this debt in advance, the Ministry of Finance gritted its teeth and survived.

   But the situation is obviously different now. Affected by the war, the Alpha Kingdom received a total of seven million gold coins in autumn tax this year, of which more than four and a half million were war bonds.

   It is obvious that a number of big nobles broke the tacit understanding and wantonly threw out the war bonds in their hands. Otherwise, the total amount of taxes contributed by the small nobles would not have been so much.

   "Your Majesty, this may be related to the domestic economic turmoil. After entering the second half of the year, there were problems in the iron products market. In November, there was an avalanche of prices.

  Under the chain reaction, in December, the crisis spread to the upstream and downstream industrial chains, which in turn affected multiple industries.

  Many nobles suffered heavy losses in this crisis. Driven by panic, everyone wanted to keep more cash in their hands, and this happened. "

  Marquis Delgado bit the bullet and explained.

   As Chancellor of the Exchequer, he is a tragedy. Not long after taking office, he caught up with the orc invasion.

  It is true that you have a high position and weight, but you have to worry about money every day, and it is difficult to sleep peacefully.

   "Why didn't you report to me in advance?"

   Caesar III asked.

  If he had been notified of such important information in advance, he would have taken countermeasures long ago, and would never let the situation develop to this point.

  There is room for change until the taxes are collected. Now looking at the pile of bonds in the treasury, he is very worried.

  After the year, the loan interest will be paid. The creditors outside only recognize gold coins, but they will not accept a bunch of bonds as interest.

  If the interest payment cannot be carried out normally and the reputation of the Alpha Kingdom is ruined, then it will be in big trouble.

   No one answered, but it can be seen from the eyes that everyone kept sweeping over Crown Prince Caesar that it probably has something to do with his precious son.

   "Little Caesar, as the supervisor, shouldn't you give me an explanation?"

   Caesar III said rather disappointed.

   Whatever the reason, messing things up is political stain.

   If a reasonable explanation cannot be given, the future path of Crown Prince Caesar will become more and more difficult.

   "Father, you were unconscious at the time, and I didn't dare to disturb your recuperation with these troublesome things, so... so I dealt with it on my own.

  In order to let everyone focus on the overall situation, I wrote a personal letter to each of the great nobles in the kingdom, stating the pros and cons in detail.

  I thought they would save face, but I didn't expect each of them to go too far. They obviously didn't take my royal family seriously! "

   Crown Prince Caesar said indignantly.

   One by one, they promised him in private that everything will be done with the overall situation in mind. Unexpectedly, in the blink of an eye, a bunch of bonds were sent up to offset taxes.

   The feeling of being fooled by his subordinates is really infuriating. If it weren't for the fact that he hasn't taken the position yet, he would have to take revenge one by one!

"enough!"

   "Don't care how wronged you are, this kind of thing happened now, it's your dereliction of duty as a supervisor.

  Little Caesar, you are no longer a child, how can you believe what others say so easily?

  Go back and carefully read their reply letter. Who has guaranteed you in the letter that they will not use war bonds to offset taxes?

   will focus on the overall situation, that is just a cliché to deal with you. What is really needed is to see what they do, not what they say!

   That's all, it's useless to say these now. It just so happens that your big wedding day is not far away, so I simply invited them to the capital for a talk on the grounds of holding a wedding. "

   Caesar III said after sighing.

  My son's filial piety is filial piety, but he obviously lacks political experience. If there is no problem with his health, he can train his son for another ten or eight years, and he will definitely exceed the average level of the monarch.

  It is a pity that his health is not as good as before, and he doesn't have so much time at all. Let Crown Prince Caesar learn gradually, and the matter may not be so easy to solve. What happened this time was so sudden that even the omens were vague in advance.

   If you are not careful, you will be ignored. The traces of human manipulation behind the scenes are too obvious.

   Sudden attack at such a time, most likely came prepared. Even if people are called, they may not buy it.

   After all, according to the kingdom's decree, the taxes were successfully transported to the capital and handed over to the treasury, and they fulfilled their obligations. "

  The Prime Minister, the Grand Duke of Newfoundland, reminded solemnly.

  No matter how powerful Caesar III is, facing the nobles of the kingdom, it is also the relationship between major shareholders and small and medium shareholders.

  Everything must be tossed within the scope of the rules. Whoever crosses the line will need to bear the backlash from the rules.

   Now that they have fulfilled their obligations for this year, if the great nobles of the kingdom do not agree, Caesar III will not be able to do anything to them.

   "Relax, Prime Minister. I know what they want!

   No great nobleman is willing to see the kingdom collapse. The plan of the Warcraft Legion has only just begun to be implemented, and it is self-evident what they want to do with such a big commotion.

   Calculate the numbers. The war bond they used to offset taxes this time happens to be exactly the same as our annual military budget. Do you think there is such a coincidence in the world? "

   Caesar III mocked disdainfully.

  If you don't see the naked hint, then you don't have to play politics.

   But being able to see it doesn’t mean being able to say it.

   As King Caesar III, it doesn’t matter if you say a few words of sarcasm. If another person speaks nonsense here, once it is spread, you will immediately feel what the iron fist of a great nobleman is.

   "Your Majesty, if they really came after the cubs, do we have to compromise?"

   Archduke Afiero asked unwillingly.

  Everyone wants to increase their strength. According to the previous agreement, the Warcraft cubs bred by the Alpha Kingdom will be divided equally between the Kingdom's military and the nobles participating in the cooperation.

   It is obvious that the nobles are no longer reconciled to this distribution ratio and want to obtain a higher quota when the cake is difficult to continue to grow.

   After all, the threat of the orcs was gone, and in the eyes of the nobles, there was no need for the kingdom to maintain a strong standing army.

  Although the army has always been under the indirect control of the nobles, after the military gets these magical beast cubs, a considerable part of them will return to their clansmen who served in the army.

  The power that can be controlled indirectly is ultimately inferior to direct control. Many nobles huddled together, and with everyone restraining each other, the army has always been firmly in the hands of Caesar III.

  Even if the king's control over the army was weakened in this war, Caesar III still had the heaviest voice.

   "That depends on their determination. If they are determined to weaken the military and strengthen their own military power, no one can stop them!"

  While speaking, a trace of loneliness appeared on Caesar III's brow. It's not that he doesn't want to stay strong all the time, but his body doesn't allow it.

  The most important thing is that he can be strong when he is in power, because he has made great contributions to the kingdom and his prestige in the country is high enough.

  If the Crown Prince Caesar is replaced, the situation will change fundamentally, and there will be a dispute at that time.

  Perhaps ten or twenty years later, Crown Prince Caesar, who is politically mature, will be able to try to wrestle with all the great nobles in the country, but it is obviously far away now.

   For a long period of time to come, the political pattern of "declining kingship and growing aristocracy" has almost taken shape, and Caesar III can't do anything about it.

  However, with his good foundation, the power of the royal family is growing rapidly. Even if the royal power declines, it will not decline too much.

  When the political wisdom of Crown Prince Caesar matures, the discourse power lost in the early stage can be slowly regained later.

  This kind of power game will happen every time the dynasty changes. Caesar III has seen too many ups and downs.

  He thought he could face it calmly, but he didn't expect it to happen to him, and he was still not reconciled.

  …

  The city gate caught fire, which affected the fish in the pond.

   Also experiencing an economic crisis, the situation in the Principality of Moxi is obviously much more severe. It's not that the nobles of the Moxi Principality are more infighting, the main reason is that they lost too much in the war.

  The large piece of land to the north of the royal capital was almost turned into white ground. There are very few noble fortresses that have survived.

  The major provinces to the south of the capital were also seriously injured. It can almost be said that every family wears mourning and everyone weeps bitterly.

  The war not only impoverished the principality government, but even the pockets of the nobles were clean.

  The economy, which was already fragile, was so stimulated that it collapsed at a very fast speed. Everyone didn't even have the courage to die, so they just raised their hands and surrendered.

  Looking at the taxes collected, which are almost all war bonds, George's mood is full of flavors.

   "All the collected war bonds will be destroyed. Now everyone's life is hard, let's work together to tide over the difficulties!"

  It is rare for such a caring king, but it is inevitable that George would not be caring. Gold coins accounted for less than 20% of the taxes in the first half of the year.

  After compromising once, it is much easier to compromise a second time. Doomed to borrow new to pay back the old, then simply borrow more.

   "Your Majesty, the situation seems to be a bit bad. Although the construction bonds we issued this time were also sold, the time it took was several times longer than before.

  The big nobles who were keen to buy bonds also stopped this time, and most of the buyers were small and medium nobles.

  According to the information we have collected, recently, the amount of privately traded bonds has also been increasing, as if someone is quietly shipping.

   Not only our bonds, but also the war bonds issued by the Alpha Kingdom frequently appear in major auctions.

  The only good news is: the transaction price is still firm, and there is no sign of a collapse yet.

  Maybe they have already sensed the risk, but the amount of bonds held in their hands is too large to get out of it for a while, so they choose to continue to cooperate with us in issuing bonds to delay the crisis of the collapse. "

   Count Renato said worriedly.

  As the Minister of Foreign Affairs, but with the heart of the Minister of Finance, it is quite strange to think about it.

  However, it is necessary to coordinate the relationship with all parties to raise funds by issuing bonds to the outside world, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the main force in the work.

   As a front-line management department, seeing the principality's ever-expanding debt figures, he almost couldn't sleep well.

   There is nothing wrong with the concept of borrowing new ones to return old ones, but the prerequisite for this kind of genius idea to be realized is that there are enough funds outside and they are willing to lend them a steady stream.

  Once the capital chain is broken and the routine can no longer be played, it will be the time of collapse.

   "We have no way out, if they notice a problem, we should borrow more before they finish shipping.

  If they wait for them to complete the risk transfer, I am afraid that someone will not be able to help but pierce the bubble.

   After all, they have gained enough benefits from it. Getting out at this time is undoubtedly the best choice. "

   George said indifferently.

  Before choosing to embark on the path of "borrowing the new to repay the old", he was ready for the bursting of the bubble.

  The nobles are not fools. They know how to send people to collect information about the Principality of Moxi, so as to estimate their financial income.

  Even if there is a certain error in this figure, government operations still have costs. When the fiscal revenue is lower than the interest expense, anyone can easily draw the conclusion that the fiscal is about to go bankrupt.

   It is the uncle who owes a lot. Even if they realize that there is a financial problem in the Principality of Moxi, the creditors dare not come to collect the money in advance, lest they accidentally detonate this huge debt mine.

  In order to protect their own interests, they had no choice but to build momentum for the new bonds of the Principality of Moxi, and to take advantage of them to delay the debt storm; on the other hand, they sold the bonds in private to pass on the crisis.

   "Your Majesty, if we continue to borrow like this, our debt burden will only become heavier and heavier, and the consequences of bankruptcy will become more terrifying.

  It is better to take advantage of the fact that our debts have not yet exploded, communicate with a group of creditors in advance, and try our best to persuade them to reduce the interest on the bonds to ensure that they can be paid normally. "

   Prime Minister Herceg said with trepidation.

  He was really scared. As long as I think of the scene of being chased and killed by all the creditors after the debt thunderstorm, I can't help but feel my scalp tingle.

  Who made him the prime minister of the Principality of Moxi?

   When it comes time to use force to collect debts, if the creditors don’t chop him off, who else can they chop him off?

   You can't go after King George!

  Killing the king is the number one taboo on the continent of Aslante. Even if George stood in front of the creditors, no one dared to shoot him.

   "No, at least we can't do this until they sell the bonds in their hands!

   It is also a debt default. Money owed to a group of big nobles and money owed to a group of small and medium nobles are two completely different concepts.

  Just do as I said, increase the number of bond issuances, and get cash back as much as possible.

   and other major forces have withdrawn from the debt crisis, and we will decide whether to have a showdown! "

   George said with a serious expression.

  In order to escape smoothly, he could only carry out this silent transaction. If you don't feed the major forces involved first, it will be a matter of minutes to arm and collect debts later.

  (end of this chapter)