Chapter 993 The Ruthless Leopold II

In the Grand Hotel Vienna, the heart-touching side appeared. The two hapless guys shared their pains with each other. That scene made the listener sad and weep when he heard it.

And then there was no more, no matter how much Maximiliano wanted to help, it didn't make any sense.

Over the years, in order to restore the country, Maximiliano not only exhausted his personal connections, but also owed a lot of favors. Today, his own influence on the Vienna government has infinitely approached zero.

Apart from his good looks, Massimiliano, the Mexican emperor in exile, was nothing but an empty shell. The only function is probably that the status is high enough to help speak at critical moments, but I don't know if it can play a role.

With such a little help, Leopold II was still unwilling to give up. In any case, it is better to have someone to help you speak than to have no one to help you.

No matter how low Massimiliano's voice in politics is, he can still directly exert influence on Franz. The best proof is that hundreds of thousands of restoration funds can be obtained every year.

But people will grow up. Although he is very moved and willing to help Belgium, Massimiliano is no longer the boy he used to be.

"Leopold, I personally advise you not to get your hopes up too much. As far as I know, the government of Vienna has run into deficit again this year.

If you really want to get money from Vienna, it's better to go private. Although the capital interest that needs to be paid is a little higher, there is no need to pay too much politically. "

This is Maximiliano's sincere words. It is too embarrassing for aid and interest-free loans. It is no longer the period of the European War, the importance of Belgium to the Shenluo Empire has been greatly reduced, and the Vienna government is not being taken advantage of.

If the number is small, perhaps it is useful for Belgium to cry poor and sell miserably. The problem is that Belgium currently has a huge funding gap, and the interests involved are huge.

Leopold II naturally wanted to solve these problems, but now there is no way. Ordinary international financing not only has high interest rates, but also comes with a lot of political strings attached.

The most important thing is that the Belgian government has already mortgaged everything that can be mortgaged in the previous loan. Now it can't provide enough collateral. It relies purely on the government's credit guarantee, and the financial consortium simply doesn't buy it.

Not only Vienna, but the Belgian government in all major financial markets in Europe has borrowed money. Now all the larger banks and financial companies in Europe are creditors of the Belgian government.

In order to raise enough funds, the Belgian government did not do less to repeat mortgages and cheating.

It's a pity that financial institutions are too smart, and they are not at ease about the Belgian government's repayment ability. Every time, the collateral is too high, but the money borrowed is very little.

The post-war reconstruction expenses greatly exceeded the budget, and normal commercial channels were not available, which led to Leopold II's trip to Vienna this time.

"Maximiliano, don't you know who those vampires are? Given the current situation in Belgium, do you think it is possible to get a normal commercial loan?"

Seeing Leopold II's helpless expression, Maximiliano nodded sympathetically. After all, he was also an emperor, so he naturally knew what a bank was.

"Borrow an umbrella on a sunny day, and collect an umbrella on a rainy day." It's not just kidding, Massimiliano suffered a lot when he was the emperor of Mexico.

On the surface, loans that look very conscientious are only used to fool ordinary people, and the real interest rate has always been horribly high.

So far, Maximiliano clearly remembers the first time he got a loan. He took Mexico's silver mines as collateral and got a seemingly generous loan.

On the surface, the annual rate is only 2.5%. In fact, there are a lot of various handling fees. Even worse, the loan is issued in installments, but the interest has to be calculated in full. The final converted real interest rate is directly as high as 14.62% per year.

This is a loan of conscience given by Napoleon III after personally communicating with the French consortium out of support for him.

If there is no government intervention and the banks are allowed to play freely, that is the real usury. No one knows how much the highest is, anyway, Maximiliano has borrowed international loans with a 50% discount on the principal, an interest rate as high as 46.9%, and a lot of additional conditions.

Of course, Maximiliano is not at a disadvantage. Although the interest rate is a little higher and the additional conditions are 100 million points more, it is a high-risk loan. With the collapse of the Mexican Empire, these debts became bad debts.

The aftermath is that when Maximiliano wanted to raise funds for the restoration of the country, no bank was willing to lend money to the government-in-exile anymore. Even if he borrowed money in his own name, no bank would lend him money.

The debt of the government is not equal to the debt of the emperor, and there is no joint and several liability between the two parties. Theoretically speaking, as a direct member of the Habsburg family, Massimiliano was still a high-quality customer in the eyes of the bank, and it would be no problem to borrow more than 1.8 million.

It's a pity that Franz let go of the financial world early on. Whoever dares to lend money to Maximilian himself will have trouble with the Habsburg Dynasty.

Capital is profit-seeking and weak, and no bank is strong enough to compete with the Habsburg dynasty for a little interest income.

As a result, Maximilian, who didn't know it, hit the wall again and again, only thinking that he had become a down-and-out phoenix, and was hit by vampires.

After hesitating for a while, Maximiliano said slowly: "Leopold, on this issue, I can only help you convey the difficulties your country has encountered.

Ultimately it is the Vienna government that can make the decision, and you'd better not get your hopes up. My elder brother rarely gets involved in this kind of thing. "

Politics is such a reality, but anything that offends people is always blamed on the cabinet. Franz the Great, who really makes decisions, usually only appears when everyone is happy.

Based on Maximiliano's understanding of his brother, unless the Belgian government can provide enough benefits in exchange, otherwise such a matter of making efforts for nothing will probably not pass.

"thanks!"

"If the Vienna government can provide us with the assistance we need, then all international trade settlements in Belgium in the future will be conducted using Aegis."

Leopold II gritted his teeth and said.

In a sense, this is a betrayal of national sovereignty, but Belgium has no better choice.

The post-war reconstruction funds were insufficient, and the French could not get the indemnity. In order to raise funds, Belgium had already mortgaged all that could be mortgaged, and now there are only a few bargaining chips left in its hands.

If it hadn't been discovered that the Vienna government was planning to turn Aegis into an international settlement currency, Leopold II would not have known that the settlement currency could also be traded.

After all, most of the international trade settlements before this were done with gold, and sometimes with silver. When Aegis is used for settlement, that is when countries start trading with the Holy Roman Empire.

All use of Aegis for trade settlement not only means that Belgium has given up gold and silver settlements, but also means that Belgium will link its currency to Aegis, changing from a pure gold standard country to a mixed standard of Aegis and gold.

It's just that Aegis and gold are freely convertible, and the value of the currency is relatively stable. There is not much difference between this mixed standard and the pure gold standard.

The fact that the gap is not big now does not mean that the gap will not be big in the future. Once Aegis and gold were decoupled, things changed drastically.

There is no doubt that these problems are not yet recognized by anyone. Normal people dare not imagine the decoupling of Aegis and gold. No one knows that the future economic development will be so fast that the output of gold cannot meet the actual demand.

If he had known this, Leopold II would never have made it so carelessly as a condition. After all, the negotiation has not yet officially started, and the current offer can only be regarded as sincerity, and the final price to be paid will definitely be greater.

Massimiliano nodded, feeling relieved. The battle for currency hegemony between Aegis and the British Pound has not been a day or two, and even he, an exiled emperor who is far away from politics, has heard of it.

Belgium's current position is not only about economic interests, but more importantly, its political team.

As early as a few years ago, Britain and Austria had developed their own settlement systems, and they had also wooed European countries. It's just that the conditions at that time were not mature enough. Even if there was a tendency, no country dared to announce that all settlements would be made in a certain country's currency.

If Belgium stands up now, it will be the first country in the world to publicly announce that all settlements will be made with Aegis. Based on this alone, it can gain a lot of goodwill from the Vienna government.

Such a thing is currently only dared to do by Belgium, which is poor and white. Using Aegis for settlement in an all-round way not only offends the British government politically, but also excludes its own products from the British market.

Whether it is for the sake of face or profit, it is impossible for the London government to accept Aegis as the settlement currency for British-Belgian trade. You must know that the Anglo-Austrian trade is now mainly settled in gold.

Even if the Vienna government wants to make Aegis an international settlement currency, it is not so radical. Right now it is only planning to make Aegis the internal settlement currency of the European Union.

Knowing that the consequences would be serious, Leopold II did it anyway. The reason is very cruel. Only Britain and Austria have the strength to provide funds to Belgium.

Don't look at the fact that the Vienna government seems to be financially tight, that's a relative term, and the money will come out after a squeeze.

Moreover, the fact that the government has no money does not mean that it cannot afford money. After more than a year of buffering, no matter how tense the financial market of the Holy Roman Empire was, it would not be impossible to get tens of millions of funds out.

The funds for post-war reconstruction were not spent in one day. As long as there is an emergency of RMB 8 million, the remaining funds can be allocated next month.

The situation in Europe has become clear, and Belgium cannot help but continue to be half-hearted. If he went to hook up with the British for a loan right now, it would definitely be a sign that he was tired of work.

He wanted to be a horse boy anyway, so Leopold II decided to take a gamble and grab the position of number one horse boy. Although the number one pony needs to charge forward, which is a bit dangerous, the benefits are huge!

Prior to this, high-level Belgian government also carefully studied.

With the current trend of the Holy Roman Empire, as long as the Vienna government does not die, the status of the European hegemon has been stabilized, and the probability of replacing the British as the maritime hegemon is also very high.

Belgium's size is limited. If they don't get close immediately, their value will be gone once they are taken by other countries.