The facts proved once again that it wasn’t easy to be the boss. In a critical moment, you still had to take the hit for your subordinates. The debt between Prussia and the British was an open secret that no one could deny. “A debt must be repaid. That’s heaven’s law and earth’s principle.” Even if the political situation had changed, the Kingdom of Prussia still existed as the debtor, and so the debt naturally remained. If the British wanted to collect what was owed to them according to the loan contract, no one could say they were wrong. Originally, this had little to do with Franz. A state’s debt was not the central government’s debt, and the Empire had no obligation to bear it for them. Even if the British wanted to collect, they wouldn’t come to the Austrian government. But now, with the Prussian government playing dead and elevating the "”debt problem” to an issue of national sovereignty, the matter had landed squarely on the Austrian government’s shoulders. Fulfilling the contract was impossible. If the terms of the treaty were truly enforced, the public outrage would be enough to drown Vienna in spit. Giving them money was also out of the question. If they paid the debt for the Kingdom of Prussia today, who knew how many other state governments would go bankrupt tomorrow? When it comes to profit, politicians’ morals have always been very low. And defaulting was even more impossible. As a newly-risen hegemon, the Austrian government had to protect its international reputation. The Austrian government had a butt-load of debt to collect from others. If they took the lead in acting helpless, then in the future, others could use “international practice” as an excuse to default on them. The Austrian government was now forced into an extremely awkward position. Wilhelm II’s personal appeal to Austria was probably not just for help, it was likely more to apologize for his misdeeds. Causing such a huge mess and not giving an explanation would obviously be unjustifiable. Even with a high degree of state autonomy, the central government could still make things difficult for them. By coming to Vienna and playing the victim, his losses were minimal, even if he lost some face. Even if the Austrian government wanted to settle the score with them, after this move, there was no way they could take action. Rubbing his forehead, Franz asked with concern, “Is the cabinet ready to deal with Prussia’s debt problem?” Chancellor Karl said, “The most ideal outcome, of course, is for the British to make concessions and allow the Prussian government to defer payments or restructure the debt, with a portion of it offset by the reparations Prussia received from the Anti-French War. This is almost impossible to do. Britain is also in the midst of an economic crisis, and the British government needs funds right now. Without a much greater benefit, they have no reason to accept a debt deferment. Debt restructuring is even more complicated. The Kingdom of Prussia’s situation is not all that bad. If the Prussian government hadn’t pursued a bunch of unfinished projects, they wouldn’t be financially bankrupt. France is the real bottomless pit. From the looks of it, it will be a blessing from God if the French government doesn’t go bankrupt. As for war reparations, we can’t have high expectations for them over the next two or three years. We already tricked the British once with the German Federal government’s debt issue. I’m afraid that no matter what we say now, they will not accept a transfer of creditor rights again. Without violating the treaty or sacrificing national sovereignty, the only option is probably a secret exchange of interests to get the British to concede on Prussia’s debt issue.” While the gains from a successful gamble on national destiny are huge, the cost of failure is equally terrible. For the past few years, the Kingdom of Prussia has been paying the price for its failed gamble. Even though they were a winner in the Anti-French War, the reparations they received were still not enough to fill the hole left behind. Thinking of this, Franz suddenly understood Wilhelm II’s decision. Without getting rid of the great mountain of debt, the Kingdom of Prussia would forever be at the bottom of the Holy Roman Empire Yes, at the bottom. With tens of millions of guilders in reparations to pay every year, the Prussian government simply had no surplus financial resources for national development. After the Holy Roman Empire was re-established, a major event even occurred in the Prussian government: someone proposed transferring two domestic infantry divisions to the central army. There was no other reason, they simply could no longer afford to maintain them. Handing over the army to the central government would not only save them a huge expense, but the safety of Prussia would still be guarded by those very same people. From the perspective of the government officials, even if they kept their own army, the command authority would be taken by the central government anyway. Even if the King still had the right to command, it wouldn’t have anything to do with the Prussian government. This move, however, met with strong opposition from Wilhelm II himself. The command authority the central government took was only for wartime. In peacetime, the highest military commander of a state’s army was the King. Once it was converted into a central army, it would be different. Even if the constitution of the Holy Roman Empire stipulated that the monarch of a state was the highest military commander of the garrison in that region, the one they could truly command would only be their own state army. As for the central army, their military funds were allocated by the Emperor, and their generals were appointed by the Emperor. Wilhelm II was not so naive as to believe that after losing these rights, a mere nominal title would be enough to control the army. In normal times, it might seem fine, but if something were to actually happen and he needed to use the army, suddenly realizing he couldn’t command them would be all over for him. In a sense, losing military power meant losing the ability to change the game. The people below could brazenly sideline the King. If it was purely a matter of playing by the rules, few kings could outplay their ministers. Just look at the many states of the Holy Roman Empire. Any state with a decent financial foundation has not given up its army. This includes those major nobles with actual fiefdoms overseas, who have all formed their own private armies within the scope permitted by law. According to data from the Austrian government, the total military strength of the armies of the various states and the private armies of nobles accounted for about a third of the Empire’s total military. If you add in the various colonial groups and civilian armed forces, this proportion could very well exceed half. In other words, the number of these miscellaneous armed forces was on par with the central army. This was an inevitable outcome. The existence of the states was a historical legacy. If the Austrian government was too greedy, what reason would they have to follow them? Not to mention the private armies of the nobles and the civilian colonial militias. Without these people, where would the Empire’s colonies have come from? They fought for every inch of territory themselves. When it’s time to divide the pie, can you just kick them out? Even if you were to cross the river and demolish the bridge, that’s a problem to consider only after you’ve crossed the river. The Holy Roman Empire’s territory is larger than any country in history. If it tried to govern everything directly from the central government, it would be “played to death” by endless uprisings, if not dragged down by administrative costs. Do you really think Franz was willing to grant so many fiefdoms? It’s all a matter of practical necessity. If you don’t share the pie, why would people be willing to risk their lives for you? Just look at the results: while other major colonial empires are plagued by nationalist uprisings, the Austrian government has never had to worry about it. In fact, the Holy Roman Empire doesn’t have the most private armies. The British have the most private armed forces, only they’re given names like “companies,” “colonial governments,” or “dominions.” In simple terms, if you open up a new colony, the British government will authorize you to form a colonial government, like the East India Company. Of course, whether you can keep it depends on your ability to operate or your connections back home. If they had to manage everything directly, the British redcoats could at most rule over one Canada. They wouldn’t be able to handle any more. The rights and interests that everyone is working hard for, which Wilhelm II has already secured, he is naturally unwilling to give up. If you analyze it carefully, it’s not hard to see that the Prussian government’s bankruptcy was the result of a compromise between various factions within Prussia. After a moment of thought, Franz shook his head and then said, “Prussia owes the British a considerable sum of money. Even if the British government is willing to compromise, the financial groups behind them won’t give up. An ‘exchange of interests’ only works if we have interests to exchange. We can’t make major strategic concessions just because of a debt problem, can we? Let’s wait for the British to come to us, and then we’ll talk with them slowly. We should drag out the negotiations as much as possible. Maybe by the time the economic crisis passes, the Kingdom of Prussia will have the money to fulfill the debt.” In the face of interests, integrity and such are not worth mentioning. The situation is very clear now: solving the problem means a dilemma. If you don’t want to solve the problem, then there is no trouble at all. After all, the one not paying the debt is the Kingdom of Prussia, not the Holy Roman Empire. The fact that the current debt’s enforcement conflicts with Imperial law is not the Austrian government’s responsibility either. At worst, let the British sue them in the Imperial court and let those guys get a headache. This is a perfect opportunity to get the legislature to pass a “Law Prohibiting Local Governments from Mortgaging Public Assets for Debt.” Before this, Franz had already put out feelers for such a law, but he had delayed the proposal due to strong resistance from the state governments. Prussia’s debt crisis is an opportunity that has been delivered right to his doorstep. The definition of “public assets” is very broad. National sovereignty, government financial revenue, state-owned industries, and even government office buildings can all be considered part of public power. Once the law is passed, state governments will not be able to offer any collateral to take on debt, and the only thing they can rely on is government credibility. With purely credit-based loans, Franz won’t have to worry about them. It’s not a given that anyone would dare to lend a huge amount of money, but even if they did and a default occurred, it would not involve national sovereignty. If they can’t pay, they can’t pay. If they go bankrupt, they go bankrupt. There were plenty of local governments in continental Europe going bankrupt in those days. No matter how much they tried to pass the buck, it would never land on the central government. … The Prussian debt crisis was a minor interlude. The economic crisis was now ravaging the world, and Europeans were so anxious they could barely afford to eat, let alone spend time gossiping. Even if newspapers were being published, no one had the money to subscribe to them. Amidst the overwhelming wave of unemployment, what people were most concerned about were the job postings. Taking the Holy Roman Empire as an example, after the full-scale outbreak of the economic crisis, the domestic unemployment rate immediately quintupled, and there were signs that it would continue to rise. This was actually a good situation, because the Holy Roman Empire had a whole continent, Africa, to vent its pressure. Before the economic crisis, the domestic unemployment rate was already very low. Just like with previous crises, when this one hit, the colonial governments and noble lords came back to the mainland to recruit people. A look at the newspapers reveals a sea of job advertisements, all for work in the colonies. The ads now use the word “work,” because after so many years of immigration, most of the people who wanted to leave had already left. Those who remained didn’t want to leave their hometowns or couldn’t for some reason. In an effort to keep up with the times, the new recruitment ads no longer directly asked for immigrants. They only required people to sign a long-term labor contract for five or ten years. After all, time is the best catalyst. After spending five or ten years in the colonies, even if people wanted to leave, they would have to think twice. The reason? The benefits. The noble lords of this era were all such “good people.” Not only did they offer high salaries, but they were also very “charitable” and willing to stand up for their subordinates when they ran into trouble. They especially liked subordinates to bring their families along, and they were willing to provide free housing, guaranteed jobs for family members, and even solve the problem of children’s education. They were truly very “charitable.” Just look at the Imperial orphanages, most of which have been abandoned. The few that remain only have children with physical disabilities as all the able-bodied orphans have been adopted by these “charitable” people. A while ago, even the orphan refugee problem on the border, which had been a headache for the Austrian government, was also solved by these “charitable” individuals. After the economic crisis broke out, the scope of these “charitable” people’s activities expanded from the Empire to the entire European continent. Wherever they went, people no longer had to worry about having too many children to raise. In a sense, this was also a major bright spot in this economic crisis, as far fewer people were starving to death than in the past. If you were hungry, you could go to these “charitable” people for help. Of course, they didn’t just accept anyone. The “charitable” people were very tolerant of children, but they were very strict about vetting adults. Street thugs were not wanted, people with criminal records were not wanted, those with bad intentions were not wanted, those with a lot of social resentment were not wanted, those who were hostile... These requirements had nothing to do with a model young man like Ives. If he was willing to go work in the colonies, he had at least a hundred employers to choose from. Yes, to choose from. Almost all of the Holy Roman Empire’s feudal nobles were short on people, and they had tried every possible means to increase their labor force. If they weren’t worried about the language barrier making territorial management difficult, they probably would have started snatching people from other countries. In fact, intermediary companies that specialized in providing immigrants for feudal nobles had already been established. If they couldn’t get people from the mainland, they would find a way to get them from abroad. It doesn’t matter if the language is different as they can provide training. Different eating habits? They’re starving, what is there to be picky about? Even labor skills and obedience can be trained. Some of the immigrants trained by these agencies can be made to do whatever they are told. The only problem is that these highly-trained immigrants are too expensive. The vast majority of nobles can’t afford such high-quality service, so to save money, they would rather recruit people themselves. An honest and simple young man like Ives happened to be the most sought-after talent, so he didn’t have to worry about finding work. The problem was that Ives didn’t want to leave his hometown, he just wanted to find a job locally that could support his family. Unfortunately, there really wasn’t one. Before the economic crisis, it would have been no problem at all to find an ordinary job locally. But now it’s a time of economic crisis. Most companies and factories are scrambling to lay people off, who would be so foolish as to hire people at a time like this? After scanning every page of the newspaper, Ives finally found a job opening from a local company in a small corner. Before he could even be happy, his face immediately fell. The hiring requirements were simply too high. Not only did they require a high school education, but they also demanded professional work experience—things he didn’t have.
*** https://postimg.cc/gallery/PwXsBkC (Maps of the current territories of the countries in this novel made by ScH)
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