During the 39th year of the empire, Li Junwei spent his entire empire in Shenjing. All the Li family members who had lost their loved ones were reunited, which was also a comfort. This year, Li Junwei was not satisfied, not only because of sadness, but also because of domestic politics that the continental strategy he led failed.

On September 14, 19th year of the Empire, an impeachment case was voted at the State Assembly composed of the Imperial Senate and the House of Parliament. Twelve House representatives impeached Prime Minister Chen Ping for negligence and violation of imperial laws in the "Spanish Loan Case".

The so-called Spanish loan case was when Li Junwei authorized the Spanish American colonial customs income as collateral to borrow 15 million from Spain. This was done by Li Junwei, but all the procedures were handled by Prime Minister Chen Ping, and the two houses had never impeached the imperial royal family. Therefore, the one who went to the Financial Committee for questioning became Prime Minister Chen Ping.

The first question and defense went smoothly. In the vote on September 14, except for more than a dozen abstentions, the other veterans and members of parliament voted against it, that is, the Spanish loan case did not violate imperial laws, and the imperial officials involved in the loan case were not negligent.

It seemed like a happy situation, but in fact it was a complete conspiracy. When Chen Ping was questioned, he cited a series of legal provisions such as the Imperial Constitution, Financial Law, Diplomatic Regulations to prove that the Spanish loan case was justified, but this was exactly what the representatives of the House who promoted this matter needed. They wanted to use Chen Ping's mouth to prove that it was reasonable and justified to provide loans to the belligerent countries, thus paving the way for the next bill.

That is, the House of Parliament promotes that the empire will provide loans to the great alliance countries such as the Netherlands, Britain, and Austria, which are also belligerent countries.

This is a complete open plot, so even if you see through it, you can't interrupt it.

However, this is contrary to the empire's continental strategy. For the empire, since the continental war is fought, the longer the battlefield is, the greater the loss of the countries, the less these European countries are, the less power they lack in America, Africa challenges the interests of the empire, and the greater the casualties in the war, the deeper the hatred between the countries, and European countries cannot unite together.

The best outcome is that both sides are evenly matched and the fight is difficult to resolve. Then the greater the political demand for the empire, and ultimately, the empire can dominate European politics without spending one soldier.

However, the capitalists of the empire did not care about these political interests and long-term considerations. They only knew that the war in Europe promoted the development of the empire's industry and agriculture. From the 35th year of the empire, in order to prepare for the Spanish throne succession war, countries began to purchase various materials from the empire on a large scale. When Carlos II died, the export volume of various products increased sharply.

From raw materials such as grain, wood, tobacco, to guns, ammunition, machinery, parts, steel and other industrial products, countries in the war had demand for any product. The Empire's exports to Europe increased by more than three times from the 35th year of the Empire to the 39th year of the Empire.

This directly promoted the development of all walks of life in the empire, and played a decisive role in the development of Xijin, America, and the growth of imperial industry. When the war reached this level, the finances of various countries were generally tight, so they could not afford to buy supplies. Therefore, it was crucial to provide loans to the belligerent countries and maintain the continuation of orders in the empire in Europe.

In early October, the Empire reached an agreement with the Netherlands, Austria, Britain and Prussia. The four countries used fiscal taxes as collateral to lend 24 million silver dollars to the Empire, which was a reduced share. At the beginning, the Grand Alliance demanded 40 million.

And for these 24 million miles, there are 13 million to purchase supplies directly from the empire, and for countries in a state of war, this is not an unreasonable clause.

If in normal times, countries would definitely not agree. They would try their best to use the empire's funds to develop their own industries, and at least protect their own industries. However, during the war, resources are everything. The barrel of a flintlock gun, and the price of industrialized products from China is only one-third of that created by European handicraft workshops. Is it possible that in order to protect their own handicraft workshops, front-line soldiers are left without guns?

In normal times, countries have to use tariffs to protect their textile industry, but as soon as the war begins, the prices of various textiles soar. Do people have to rebel and soldiers have barely butts in order to protect their textile industry? All laws in peacetime can be used as compromises during wartime, and if it were not for Austria's request, then the 24 million loan would have at least 20 million left to purchase supplies in the empire.

The reason why Austria asked for cash was because in Vienna, a man named Samuel Oppenheimer died. This Oppenheimer was a banker who usually provided financial services to the Austrian emperor. As an autocratic country and without overseas colonies like Spain, it was difficult for the Austrian emperor to raise funds like Britain and the Netherlands. In the eyes of merchants, the emperor's supremacy was no credibility.

So, the rich people in Austria lent the money to Oppenheimer, and Oppenheimer lent the money to the Austrian emperor. Now, Oppenheimer is dead, and a lawsuit for triangular debt will be launched in Vienna. It was Jewish bankers in Amsterdam who took out part of the funds and solutions, and based on the Vienna City Bank as the main body, establish a national bank similar to the Bank of England, supporting war financing with national credibility. The six million loans from China are crucial in this triangular lawsuit, revitalizing Austrian merchants' confidence in the country and their confidence in the victory of the war.

This is a great improvement on the strength of the Grand Alliance. You should know that in the original historical time and space, Oppenheimer's death caused the turmoil in Vienna. Finally, Prince Eugen, who fought on the front, returned to Vienna. Together with the Austrian crown prince, he suppressed the emperor's financial team and improved the national finances, which made Prince Eugen unable to appear on the battlefield for a whole year.

The loan of 24 million silver dollars completely broke the strength of both sides of the war, and the actual impact was much greater. At least the fence-in-laws of the Holy Roman Empire turned to the Great Alliance, among which the Principality of Savoy was the main representative.

European feudal lords, merchants and bankers believed that both sides of the war could obtain war resources equally in China, so France and Spain had absolutely no chance of victory. These two countries were both feudal autocratic countries, and their credibility was much lower than that of the Netherlands and Britain. More importantly, the two countries originally carried more than 300 million imperial silver dollars, which greatly reduced their debt repayment ability.

Royal Palace.

The State Council ended, and the ministers and several attending members left. Everyone was respectful to the emperor and Prince Yu, and their attitude was beyond reproach. After today's meeting, the matter of lending to the participating countries was confirmed. Li Junwei did not speak any. He understood the four words of the general trend.

Moreover, Li Junwei found that even the emperor did not support his continental strategy very much and believed that its prospects were unclear. For example, Britain, Li Junwei interrupted their glorious revolution. Who would have expected that they would come again? Who could guarantee that nothing unexpected happened in this war? Moreover, European countries have faintly united to fight against the empire together, whether it was the Second Glorious Revolution or Sweden and Portugal's participation in the war.

If there is too much conflict with major European countries, the situation will be even harder to say.

"The meeting is over, how do you arrange dinner today?" the queen walked in and asked with a smile.

"I'll go home to eat." Li Junwei responded casually and was about to leave.

Li Junhua held his younger brother's hand: "Let's eat here tonight. There are only three brothers, and the children are so bad. Go to your place to play."

Li Junwei knew that the emperor had something to say to him, but he also said, "It depends on what delicious food is there."

"We call it Dongxinglou's dish, which tastes slower." The emperor said with a smile.

Soon, the restaurant was set up, and there were five dishes in three people. Lin Junhong poured wine, and Li Junwei was busy picking the dishes in his mouth. Li Junhua moved the two things his brother liked to him and said, "Third brother, don't be depressed, what a big deal."

"That's right, there are opportunities to deal with those Europeans." Lin Junhong also said.

The three brothers grew up together since childhood, but their styles of doing things are completely different. Li Junhua and Lin Junhong are both stable and do not care about gains and losses, while Li Junwei is very particular. In the emperor's opinion, as long as the empire develops well, it will have an advantage over Europe and be at ease in handling things, that is, "He is strong, and the breeze blows on the hills." "If he falls and breaks, I will remain as calm as a mountain." But Li Junwei is not like this. As long as he has the chance, he will have to kill his opponent.

Seeing that Li Junwei was not speaking, Lin Junhong sighed and said, "To put it bluntly, this matter is early and late. If you don't do it this year, you will do it next year. In essence, the empire cannot accept the victory of France and Spain, nor can it accept its disastrous defeat."

"What does it mean?" Li Junwei asked.

"Last brother, the Great Alliance borrowed money from us. Have you read the list of supplies you bought?"

"I didn't see what else could it be. The only thing about food, ammunition, steel and some military equipment." Li Junwei said for granted.

"Wrong!" Lin Junhong said with a smile. He called the attendant and found a list. When Li Junwei saw it, he was really unexpected. Because the other countries ordered food and other people's living materials that were in short supply due to the war, the rest were all military equipment, not only from flintlock rifles, bayonets, smoothbore cannons, but also very comprehensive in military uniforms, military boots and even socks, and the proportion was quite interesting.

Li Junwei dripped some water and calculated it on the table. Before he finished writing, he was wiped off by Lin Junhong: "Don't forget it, this is equivalent to the equipment needed to fully arm the 40,000 troops and the materials for subsequent combat."

Li Junwei then remembered that the expansion orders submitted by Shaojie in Ceuta were similar to this one. This was a built-in procurement of equipment and combat materials, and many of them were also produced in Europe.

"When they purchase supplies in such a comprehensive manner, they will use the surplus finance to pay the owed balance to their factories and workshops. If the current intensity of the war is maintained, the finances of various countries will be guaranteed to not go bankrupt." Lin Junhong said.

“Is this related to what we are discussing?”

Li Junhua said: "It's very relevant. In your eyes, the Faspis alliance and the Grand Alliance are equal and equal, but on the empire, it is completely unequal. You should know that before the war, the empire's exports to Portugal were more than to France and the West, and Portugal was only ranked third among the empire's European partners.

When the war reached the thirty-nine years of the empire, the trade volume between the Grand Alliance and the Empire was eleven times that of the Fa-Swiss and the two countries. Of course, all the figures I mentioned did not include overseas colonies of various countries. Therefore, the empire can offend France and Spain, but cannot offend the Grand Alliance."

"Just for this financial benefit?"

"This is not a point. In fact, in the past few decades, European countries have traded the most with us by the Netherlands, Portugal, Prussia and Austria. Although the UK has a stumble with us, the trade volume has always been good. France and Spain have restricted trade to us, so our businessmen speak English, German and Latin, far more than those who speak French.

As soon as the war started, Europe's demand for imperial goods expanded, and merchants from all over the world came to visit, but the merchants of the Grand Alliance could directly find familiar Empire factory companies to cooperate, but the order volume was only increased. However, many French and Spanish merchants could not even find the factory door when they arrived in Xijin and Penang.

When the Imperial merchants and French people do business, they have to pay cash and ship goods when they see money. The French also pay money when they see goods, but because everyone is unfamiliar. But the merchants of the Great Alliance are different. Many of them have traded with the Imperial merchants for several years or even twenty years, and they have a high degree of mutual trust. The Empire can restrict loans to the government, but they cannot restrict loans to legal foreign merchants......"

Li Junhua said: "Junhong is a bit complicated. Let me tell you this. The governments of the Great Alliance cannot get loans from us, but they can hand over the orders to their merchants. The merchants of their merchants can go to the imperial factory to pay credit or borrow money to buy imperial supplies. The government owes European merchants, European merchants owe to our merchants, Chinese merchants ow banks, and banks owe to investors, one by one.

If the Great Alliance loses, many banks and factories in the empire will go bankrupt, and many people will line up to jump off buildings, and in the end these people will put pressure on us. This is not just a matter of a few ambitious capitalists, it may be related to the property of millions of people in the empire.
Chapter completed!