Bury the Qing Dynasty

Old Sir Edward pointed at Old Justin who was in charge of England's treasury with a pipe in his hand: "England has made a lot of money in the past few years, whether it is the copper mines in Sri Lanka, or the trade of those Kunlun slaves, or the export of agricultural products. Bringing a great deal of revenue to the treasury of England."

"But, Mr. Justin, can you tell me, where is the money in the treasury? Except for the military expenses prepared for France this time, where did the rest of the money go?"

"Don't you tell me that all the money in the treasury has grown wings and flew away?"

As old Sir Edward's words fell, other aristocratic lords also pointed their finger at Old Justin: "In addition to the income that Sir Edward said just now, the East India Company did not make less money, right?"

"There are also taxes in these years. Our tax rate in England is not low. After the reform of His Majesty George, the tax rate has become higher-so, where is the money? Where did it go?"

"If Mr. Justin appropriated the money, why wasn't Congress notified?"

"Mr. Justin, I think we need your explanation."

Looking at the group of aggressive nobles and officials, Old Justin's face couldn't help but become ugly.

England has indeed made a lot of money in the past few years, and George III's imitation of the tax reform carried out by Ming Dynasty has severely scraped a layer of oil from these nobles.

As old Edward and those nobles and officials said, if there is no particularly large expenditure, England's treasury should not be out of money.

The problem is that England's treasury does have a large expenditure, and it has been secretly allocated before George III fell insane, without the approval of Parliament at all.

Now old Sir Edward and the others are suddenly attacking the lack of money in the treasury, and old Justin is really not easy to explain.

The old Sir Edward simply snorted and said: "I think we need to submit a proposal to Congress to impeach Mr. Justin, unless you can explain clearly why the treasury has no money."

Seeing that the atmosphere was getting worse and worse, George III simply winked at his confidant minister Pete, then coughed and said, "I asked Justin to allocate the money in the treasury alone. If you have any questions, you can wait After Pete explained it, he asked me about it."

Hearing that George III had even said such things as initiating an inquiry, old Sir Edward had to give up his plan to continue targeting old Justin, and smoked his pipe sullenly after a cold snort.

Pete coughed and said, "It is true that a large portion of the money in the treasury of England was allocated secretly, but His Majesty George did not use this money for pleasure, but spent it on the research and development of firearms. "

"Gentlemen, I think you should know that, including us in England, various countries in Europe have purchased a large amount of guns and artillery from the Ming Dynasty."

"It can be said that the annual cost of purchasing muskets and artillery even occupies one-twentieth of the entire military budget of England."

Speaking of this, Pete couldn't help but sighed: "Even so, we still have no way to gain an advantage over France or other countries militarily, because other countries are also constantly buying guns and artillery from the Ming Dynasty."

"Of course, if it's just like this, it's actually nothing. Anyway, we always need to purchase ordnance."

"But gentlemen, have you ever thought about what kind of situation we will face in England if the Ming Dynasty stops supplying us with armaments?"

"The guns in the hands of our soldiers will become inferior to wooden sticks because there are no bullets, and our artillery will become decorations or even living targets because there are no shells."

"So, after discussing with our cabinet, His Majesty George decided to secretly allocate a sum of money to develop our own guns and artillery."

Old Edward sneered, and asked: "Then what? We know that a large number of English-made muskets and cannons were used in the war against the French frogs this time, but the results on the battlefield can prove that their power is not as powerful as that of the French frogs." The guns and cannons of the Ming Dynasty are very powerful."

"We can even say this - if it weren't for the large number of English-made muskets and artillery that slowed down, the short guy from the Japanese country in Tojo 28 actually had a chance to get France within three months."

"Moreover, Mr. Pete, you said that if the Ming Dynasty stopped supplying us with armaments, our muskets and cannons would become decorations—then, where did you get the news that the Congress stopped supplying us with armaments? supply?"

Old Edward took two puffs of his pipe, and said with a sneer: "Facts can prove everything, respected Mr. Pete, even during our war with France, the Ming people did not stop supplying us with armaments, because they still Need to earn silver from us."

Pete was furious immediately: "You stupid groundhog, you are as stupid as Gargamel! The reason why the Ming people did not stop supplying us with arms is because we are at war with France—if we fight against Ming How about fighting a war in China? If we don’t have full independent production capacity, what do we use to fight?”

With a slap, the pipe in Old Edward's hand fell directly onto the table, and the expression on his face was enough to perfectly explain what it means to be stunned: "Follow, Mingguo? God, there must be something wrong with my ears, damn it Did a donkey kick your head, Pete?"

Seeing that the atmosphere was getting worse and worse, Fox, another confidant of George III, could only bite the bullet and stand up to smooth things over under the gaze of George III: "Suppose, suppose, what Mr. Pete said is just a hypothesis, gentlemen Don't take it seriously. Besides, the most important thing now is not to discuss how to redeem Edward and Richard?"

Old Edward snorted coldly and said, "They went to war on the orders of His Majesty George, and they were captured because of wrong command on the battlefield. Why do you ask their families to pay the ransom?"

Fox rolled his eyes and said with a smile: "Of course, they are fighting for England. I think England has the responsibility and the obligation to redeem them—maybe, we can still make a fortune from it?"

Make a fortune?
After hearing that England had the responsibility and obligation to redeem Little Edward and Richard, Old Edward and Old Sir Richard were relieved, and now they heard that they could make a fortune...

Sir Edward was holding a pipe, and asked with a smile: "Tell me, how do you make money?"

Fox glanced at King George III, and after getting a signal from George III, he said directly: "You should have heard that Khamis in Benghazi said a lot at the small pot meeting, um, it's not suitable to say if."

Upon hearing Benghazi, old Sir Edward, old Sir Richard and others immediately lost interest, and old Edward said unceremoniously: "Benghazi is considered the sphere of influence of France, even if Khamis of Benghazi says It has nothing to do with us."

The old Sir Richard also echoed: "That's right, the poor in Benghazi have to leave with tears in their eyes even if the thieves go, so what if they snatch it from France? Still make money? Don't lose money It's not bad!"

Seeing that the group of nobles and lords had a tendency to riot again, Fox's complexion suddenly darkened, and he said angrily, "I know Benghazi is very poor! We can't attack Benghazi either!"

After the nobles and officials calmed down, Fox also took a few deep breaths and forced himself to calm down: "I mean, Khamis from Benghazi said something that shouldn't be said in the small broken pot, and revealed A big basket, the French frogs will not let him go easily."

"It just so happens that we have a lot of ordnance that we eliminated before, such as matchlock guns and flintlock guns."

"It's no use keeping these things in our hands, but selling Khamis to Benghazi will make him a little bit stronger, enough to give those damn French frogs some fun."

Old Sir Edward shook his head and said, "Mr. Fox, Benghazi is too poor. Even if the ordnance in our hands is obsolete, those Kunlun slaves cannot afford it."

However, to the surprise of old Edward and others, Fox also shook his head with a smile, denying old Edward's statement: "Poor? Maybe they can't afford food or clothes, but they are definitely not poor."

All the nobles and officials present were in an uproar.

Old Sir Richard retorted unceremoniously: "If not being able to eat, wear clothes, and often starve to death is not really poor, then what is real poverty?"

Fox chuckled and said, "Please calm down, Sir Richard."

"Perhaps you are not clear, there are a large number of diamonds in Benghazi - yes, it is the diamonds that King Louis IX of France stipulates that only the king can own, and the reserves are far larger than those in India."

That's right, Benghazi is so poor that even thieves can't bear to patronize it, but Benghazi really produces diamonds, and Benghazi people don't know the value of diamonds.

In other words, the Benghazi people are not really stupid enough to know the value of diamonds, but Benghazi and even the entire West Kunlun has always been a colony of France-just like the tributary pricing power at the entrance of the Central Plains, the French do not He would be so stupid as to tell the Benghazi people the real value of the diamond, let alone buy the diamond at the market price.

Fox said with a smile: "Believe me, gentlemen, we only need to take out some obsolete ordnance and firearms, plus a little black bread, it is enough to exchange a lot of diamonds from the Kunlun slaves in Benghazi, and London Those merchants from the Ming Dynasty in the city will only wave the Dragon Yuanbao banknotes in their hands and buy diamonds like crazy."

Hearing this, all the nobles and officials present became excited.

Following the advertising slogan of "Diamonds are forever, one piece will last forever" by the merchants of the Ming Dynasty, there was a wave of diamond craze in the whole continent of Europa. If any nobleman did not have a pair of diamond rings when he got married, he would be ashamed to say hello to others when he went out!

The hateful thing is that those greedy merchants from the Ming Dynasty always try their best to hype up the rarity of diamonds, so as to sell diamond rings extremely expensive!

If there really are a lot of diamond mines in Benghazi...

Perhaps, England can not only make a fortune, but also may even intervene in the diamond market?
Thinking of this, the breathing of old Edward, old Richard and other nobles and officials could not help but become rapid.

Fox went on to say: "However, although there are a lot of diamonds in Benghazi, and we also have a lot of obsolete ordnance in England, this kind of transaction cannot be completed in a while, and it happens that there are not so many diamonds in our treasury. A lot of money can redeem little Edward and little Richard..."

Old Sir Edward's face darkened, and he asked in a deep voice, "What do you mean? Are you just giving up on them?"

Fox said: "They are heroes who fought for England. Of course, we can't give up on them. In order to solve the difficulty of having no money in the treasury, I have already discussed with Mr. Justin. I plan to issue a batch of war bonds first, and wait until the ordnance and diamonds The bond will be redeemed after the trade is completed."

"Gentlemen, this is not only to solve the problem of paying compensation to France, but also to redeem Little Edward and Little Richard. It is also to give us all a chance to make money, so..."

Old Sir Edward snorted and said, "We, the Edward family, are willing to buy a bond worth 100 million pounds."

The old Sir Richard also said: "Our Richard family is also willing to buy a bond of 100 million pounds."

"..."

As a large number of nobles and officials, large and small, expressed their willingness to buy a batch of war bonds, George III quickly gathered about 1000 million pounds on hand.

After the nobles and officials left, George III couldn't help but shook his head and sighed: "1000 million pounds may not even be enough to compensate France for military expenses, let alone redeem little Edward and the others. gone."

Fox shook his head slightly, persuading: "According to Justin's calculations, the military expenditure of France this time is about 600 million pounds, so we can definitely bring the military expenditure to 800 million pounds."

"In other words, we still have 200 million pounds that can be used to redeem Little Edward and Little Richard."

"Besides, I heard that Pierre is in charge of this negotiation. He should know that the Ming Emperor will definitely not sit back and watch our England completely decline. Everything is still up for discussion."

"As for the rest... Sri Lanka will definitely not be able to keep it, so just cut it off."

George III snorted coldly and said: "These conditions are all right, but England is only allowed to keep [-] troops for self-defense. You must not agree to them, even if you pay a higher price!"