The War Court and Lap Pillow, Austria's Mandate of Heaven

Chapter 1442 Wildcat Bank
The entire Austrian Empire, from high-ranking officials to ordinary people, was not the least bit surprised that war was about to break out.

After all, Otto I was both a relative and an ally to Franz. On the surface, the Holy Alliance was to "guide subjects and soldiers to defend religion, peace and justice, and require people to abide by the doctrine and perform their duties", but in fact it was to maintain the monarch's rule.

Many people knew this, but no one said it out loud. Of course, those who didn't even know this would not delve into the nature of the war, and they would believe whatever the Austrian imperial government preached.

So is there no one who objects to the continuous wars?
It is impossible for no one to object, but except for the civil war, all other wars took place abroad. In this era, people's sources of information are quite single, and the real grassroots will not care about foreign affairs.

As long as the war does not reach their doorstep, most people will continue to struggle for their lives.

At this time, some people must have thought of the issue of war taxes. After all, Russia and the Ottoman Empire were brought down by war taxes. Are the Austrians emotionless machines, or are the Austrians' economic conditions so good that they don't care about this little money?
In fact, the civilians of the Austrian Empire didn't really feel anything about war taxes. First of all, the Austrian Empire adopted a progressive tax system, and the taxes paid by the civilians at the bottom were almost negligible.

Secondly, as a time traveler from a later generation, Franz is very clear about the routine of shifting conflicts. Merchants and capitalists can shift conflicts to the country because of the power-for-money transactions with politicians.

Austria was an imperial country, and Franz was the boss of it, so how could he fall for these tricks from more than a hundred years ago?

Franz imposed high war taxes on companies, enterprises, large landowners, and high-income groups. Naturally, those capitalists wanted to shift the contradictions or costs. The minimum wage and ten-hour work system in the "Austrian Imperial Labor Law" had already set the lower limit.

If cost reduction doesn't work, then raise the price. Capitalists from all walks of life in the Austrian Empire united to fight Franz. As long as the price rose to a point that ordinary people could not afford, the resentment in society would force the emperor to bow his head.

But Austria was a power-based country, and Franz shattered this so-called alliance with a price limit order.

At this time, some people raised such questions based on their half-understood understanding of the textbooks.

"The Austrian imperial government intervened in the market in this way, and the capitalists and businessmen's profits decreased, their enthusiasm decreased, and factories closed down and companies went bankrupt. Without capitalists and businessmen to optimize the allocation of market resources, wouldn't the country's economy be doomed?"

Franz said the same thing.

"They don't make this money, but there are people who are scrambling to make it."

What if the Austrian Empire's enterprises united to resist passively? If they didn't invest, they would just put the money in the bank and earn interest. Franz couldn't just go to someone else's house and rob them, right?
Franz can really do it. But there is no need for that. In a country with an annual growth rate of more than 10%, it is acceptable for ordinary people to keep their money in the bank, but for capitalists, it means losing money and even their lives.

In this era, except in the East, the interest rates on bank deposits were far lower than those in later generations.

At this time, the Frankfurt Bank, which had the highest deposit interest rate in continental Europe in history (4%), had been taken down by Franz. The deposit interest rates of other banks mostly ranged from 1% to 3%, and some banks even required custody fees.

The public security in the 19th century was not as good as it is today. It was almost impossible for an ordinary person to never be robbed in his life, just like it was almost impossible for him to never have a fight.

The deposit interest rate in the Austrian Empire was low, so wouldn't it be better to deposit the money abroad? Regardless of how the assets left the country, the deposit interest rate in the entire European continent was generally around 2%. The only government-backed bank in the United States had a relatively high interest rate of about 3%-4%.

If you want a higher interest rate, you can only look for some so-called "wildcat banks". These banks, as the name suggests, are very wild and are usually located in the wilderness deserts of the United States.

Although the deposit interest rate is high, the risk is extremely high. If this kind of bank is also counted, then in the East, some banks in India can even offer an annual deposit interest rate of more than 15%, while some money houses in the Qing Dynasty have a monthly interest rate of 24%, with an annual interest rate of up to %.

Ideally, Franz would have deposited all his money into these banknotes, and by the time World War I came around, he could have used the money to buy the whole world.

In fact, in order to prevent someone from taking desperate measures, Franz actually opened a number of wildcat banks in the United States. He was even too lazy to change the name and just called it "Wildcat Bank."

Because of its wild approach, it is deeply loved by the American people. Since it almost never makes loans, its credibility and reputation are better than those of the American National Bank.

European politicians also like this bank because of its unique confidentiality services.

Although at that time the European banking industry generally adhered to a principle that customer information should not be disclosed under any circumstances.

This principle has always been regarded as a guiding principle by the banking industry, and confidentiality is actually one of the basic functions of banks. However, with the development of the times, the so-called secrets are no longer so secret.

As a result, private foreign banks providing confidential services came into being, but almost no private bank had the good reputation and big appetite of Wildcat Bank.

A large, formal bank with a throughput of just 100,000 pounds could suffer a cash flow shortage and die on the spot, but a wildcat bank's throughput could exceed one million pounds.

Therefore, the efficiency of Wildcat Bank in attracting deposits was amazing, which is why Franz always had endless money to spend. The rapid development of the California colony of the Austrian Empire was also thanks to the American people and their deposits.

In fact, the reason why Wildcat Bank was able to develop so smoothly was that in addition to the support from the Austrian Empire and the California Colony, former US President John Tyler also played a significant role.

After all, John Taylor was promoted by Franz, so it was possible for him to do some small things and look after a reputable bank.

The huge cash flow of Wildcat Bank naturally attracted the attention of some big guns, but no gang was able to succeed.

Even a 200-man American militia had tried, but they also failed. The scene was like a war, and an entire battalion-level organization did not leave a single survivor.

There is a lot of speculation among Americans about Wildcat Bank because there are Indian faces in the team and they often pass through Indian territories.

So some people speculate that it may belong to a mysterious Indian tribe; others say it may belong to a tycoon or noble in the East, because some people see an Asian face in it; some even think it may belong to a Mexican.

But they would never have imagined that it was Franz who was behind it, and that its real headquarters was in Vienna.

But even if those capitalists deposited their money in wildcat banks, they still could not keep up with the development speed of the Austrian Empire.

(This paragraph is not over yet. Some of the remarks are indeed outrageous. Please let the bullets fly for a while.)