Wild North America 1846

Chapter 564 The Weak Giant

The Tang Empire has always been a country rich in agricultural products. In addition, the imperial family and the government have established a relatively complete grain storage system. The prices of agricultural and animal husbandry products such as grain and oil have always been relatively stable, with little fluctuation.

Since the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War

The sharp rise in grain prices in the international market was caused by the fact that European countries were worried about the huge shortage of grain harvests, and they poured into the Tang Empire to buy grain, and the price impact on the domestic market was not significant.

It has been more than three months since the siege of Paris, which has caused a huge food panic in European countries.

In order to stabilize grain prices in the international market, the imperial government successively sold millions of tons of grain in 11 batches at the Chicago Bulk Grain and Oil Exchange, almost all of which were snapped up by international buyers.

According to the "Chang'an Times" report;
As a responsible member of the international community, the government intends to sell six more batches of grain totaling 12 million tons between December and January next year in order to stabilize the persistently high international grain market.

Basically, they are sold every other week, with a total volume of 50 to 55 tons. A collective bidding mechanism is introduced, with 1 tons as a single order. It is expected to be delivered to European customers successively from February to March.

This is a measure of the imperial government's transparency in government affairs. It is intended to eliminate corruption caused by black-box operations, and to use market forces to balance fluctuations instead of administrative means.

So much food seems to be a lot, but in fact it is not enough at all.

About 1/3 of France's land is occupied by the army of the Kingdom of Prussia. A large number of refugees caused social unrest. Moreover, the northeast and northwest of France are the traditional main agricultural production areas. This season's winter wheat is completely finished.

Paris has been besieged for more than three months, and has been relying on the southern provinces for food support. This situation cannot last long.

The "National Self-Defense Forces" established by the armed forces of 10,000+ Parisians, together with logistics personnel, totals more than 50. If you count the government forces of more than 7 under the emergency government composed of bourgeois and Orleanists, the entire Paris All armed.

The result is that so many young and middle-aged men are not engaged in production, but guard the barricades with guns all day long. The city is full of fanatical patriotic enthusiasm and various ideological trends, and even teenagers aged [-] and [-] have taken to the streets.

The turbulent situation in France will not end for a day, and there will always be a huge food gap.

All kinds of anarchism, bourgeoisie and workers' movements came and went one after another, brewing a Paris Revolution that shocked China and the world.

There are so many Parisians and their family members as high as more than 230 million. Since September, they have been sitting on the mountain and relying entirely on the southern provinces to deliver various supplies. This situation is bound to be unsustainable.

sitting in a teahouse

Li Cha flipped through the newspaper with a leisurely expression, and saw from the lines that the turmoil in Europe was far from over in a year and a half. The "vacation plan" reported by Prime Minister Dong Jie had been successfully implemented for more than half, and there was no need to worry about the remaining stock of old grain.

It's like a huge reservoir has emptied its storage capacity, and it can cope with the grain harvest for at least 10 years, regaining the ability to regulate the market.

The huge amount of funds for clearing the inventory will be earmarked for new grain purchases and storage in 1871, and the 3-5 year rotation storage system will be improved. Depending on the type of grain, the storage period will also be different.

There will no longer be a situation where the storage period exceeds 10 years, so that a large amount of grains will become mildewed, hardened, and insects and rats will cause a lot of losses.

Taking advantage of the opportunity to clean up the inventory, large-scale repairs will be carried out to the storage warehouses in various places, the foundation will be raised, the warehouse will be strengthened, a complete inventory ledger will be established, and the storage area will be cleaned and beautified.

In addition, it is necessary to repair the sewer pipes and add fire-fighting facilities, so that we can better undertake the heavy responsibility of storage.

The imperial government’s purchase and storage plan for 1871 has not yet come out, and it is estimated to be between 180 million and 300 million tons.

The government will take 8 to 9 years to refill the inventory, some years more, some years less, depending on the specific situation.

Recently, the large sum of money withdrawn from the Imperial Treasury has been loaned to the French, totaling about 3600 million Tang Yuan, with a loan period of three years and an annual interest rate of 6.5%.

The reason why the loan interest rate is so favorable is that the French are not short of money at all.Its background is extremely deep, and everyone knows that the Frenchman is very rich, so there is no need to worry about not getting it.

in the original history
After the victory of the Franco-Prussian War, France assumed 50 billion francs in war reparations, which were worth 2.5 million pounds, or about 10 billion Tang yuan. The French gritted their teeth and paid it back in two years.

Now the French borrow money because there is no legal government recognized by the whole people, and it is difficult for the Paris government to go out of the city. Even many people in Paris do not recognize it.

The southern provinces are chaotic, and it can be said that there are many heroes. There is no way to twist the power of France into one rope. Those French bourgeoisie, usurers and wealthy classes who dare to take out their money?
Seeing this golden opportunity, the major consortia and powerful institutions of the Tang Empire had frequent contacts with the French, and the total amount of several loan plans under discussion was hundreds of millions.

Everyone likes to lend funds to rich people, not poor ghosts like Tsarist Russia and Fusang.

The vacant funds in the special account of the Ministry of Finance will also participate in it, which can be effectively used to lend to the French to earn interest and realize the rolling appreciation of funds. It is definitely a profitable business!
After browsing "Chang'an Daily", Li Cha picked up a copy of "The Times" from three days ago and read it. This is also the latest edition of "The Times" in the imperial capital Chang'an.

Before the trans-Atlantic cable connection, newspapers published in Europe arrived in North America via cruise ships across the Atlantic in the form of bulk mail. Even in New York and Philadelphia, where the fastest speed was, European newspapers were seen half a month ago.

As for the imperial capital Chang'an, it was at least a month old newspaper.

After the transoceanic cable connection, the newly published "The Times" was sent to the other side of the Atlantic by telegram, and was printed and sold in New York, Chicago, Chang'an and other international metropolises. Many readers.

In this way, the timeliness is stronger, the sources of information are more diverse, and it is more popular with readers.

Unlike the ordinary people of the Tang Empire who didn't care about the world on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, the turbulent situation in Paris always attracted the attention of the British Isles. This can be seen from the length of the "Times".

On-the-spot reports from Paris, the German-occupied areas in the north, and the free areas in the south are full of large chapters on the front page, second page, third page, and fifth page of The Times. The international situation is only briefly discussed on the sixth page. Compared with the former, the level of attention can be seen.

From this alone, we can see where the policy center of the UK is?

The "Times" basically outlined the whole picture of the Franco-Prussian War through comprehensive reports, and the focus of all contradictions was still in Paris;

The continuous bombardment of Paris by the Prussian army greatly intensified the dissatisfaction of all sectors of society and deeply hurt the high patriotic enthusiasm of Parisians.

The citizens of Paris, especially the working class and the lower middle class, had always hoped for a democratic republic, expressly demanding that Paris should be self-governing, have its own elected parliament, and enjoy the same rights as other small French towns.

The Orleanist government categorically refused out of fear of a more turbulent situation, and the conflict between the two sides was quite sharp.

There was also a call for a more equitable, even communist, way to manage the country's economy, summing up into one slogan: the establishment of a social democratic republic.

And this is a policy proposition that the bourgeois-dominated Orleanist government can never accept. The big oil pot in Paris is boiling, and the cold water poured in from time to time has exacerbated the chaos.

In this situation

Bismarck, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Prussia, expressed his concerns in public. He said: "The war imposed on Prussia by the French Empire is gradually moving in an unpredictable direction, and it may trigger a workers' revolution that shocks Europe. This is what I am most worried about. .”

That being said, the Army of the Kingdom of Prussia did not relax its bombardment of Paris for a day, let alone lower the asking price.

The siege lasted more than three months
The ruling Orléanist government of France has been seeking to sign a ceasefire agreement with the newly declared German Empire, but due to the huge differences between the two sides and the strong opposition of the citizens of Paris, it has been unable to reach an agreement.

The Germans demanded a clause in the peace treaty;
The German army had to enter Paris in a triumphal ceremony to show the military glory of the nascent German Empire, which is the noble treatment due to the victor.

Despite being besieged for more than a hundred days, the vast majority of Parisians still resolutely opposed the Prussians announcing their occupation of their city with any ceremony, and vowed to defend this beautiful metropolis with rifles and their lives until death.

Facing today's Greater Paris, the German Empire is also deeply troubled;
Taking further military action will inevitably arouse the full resistance of the citizens of Paris. This is an international metropolis with two million to hundreds of thousands of citizens. Tens of thousands of people have taken up guns to fight against the aggression. Just thinking about it makes one's scalp tingle.

But the citizens of Paris refused to admit defeat, and they would definitely not be able to fight. The current strategy is to continue to besiege.

During this time

The nascent German Empire was not without gains. The trains from the occupied areas to Germany were loaded with looted materials, including exquisite French furniture and artworks. On the return journey, they were filled with industrial products produced in Germany and dumped on the French market. .

In the fields that the Germans are not good at, such as kerosene, diesel, lubricants, petrochemical products, automobiles and agricultural machinery, food and frozen meat, etc., let the massive products of the Datang Empire enter, and at the same time collect a dividend of collusion.

at the same time
The Germans are also showing favor to the UK, allowing the woven cotton, steam engines and steel products that the UK is good at to enter the French market unimpeded, and at the same time receive a dividend of collusion.

Therefore, although the Franco-Prussian War was fiercely fought, there was no serious shortage of supplies in the market, but the price of food more than doubled, and the prices of various civilian goods also rose to varying degrees.

Although it is more expensive, you can buy everything if you have money, and it will not affect the life of the wealthy middle class and capitalists. Ordinary French people will be out of luck.

Today's France is like a wounded and bleeding giant. The frame is still there, but the body is much weaker.

(End of this chapter)