Vol 5 Chapter 81: Horrible debt

Genius remembers this site address in one second: (Vertex Chinese), the fastest update! No ads!? St. Petersburg
Nicholas II was worrying about the funding for the next war. The war has been carried out now. Not only the Russian Empire is impoverished, but even the wealth accumulated by the Saudi royal family over hundreds of years has been exhausted.
Even supporting his nobles and officials, the family properties of these people have become real estate. In order to raise funds, Nicholas II sold everything that could be sold.
For example: State-owned enterprises in St. Petersburg, confiscation of the opposition’s property, mines...
These real estates are all being sold at discounted prices, and the things that were originally invaluable are now worthless.
The export of grain and mineral resources was the largest source of wealth in the Russian Empire, but they no longer exist.
Years of war have brought their food production down to the lowest point in history. If the Russians hadn't had a large enough land area and fertile enough, they would now become food importers.
The same is true for the development of mineral resources. Under the influence of the war, production cannot be guaranteed, and the international market is gradually lost. Now this only buyer is left.
But after the end of the World War, Bulgaria expanded too much, and the vast colony was able to provide most of the resources. With the continuous development of the colony, the mineral resources imported from Russia continued to decline.
The most obvious is oil exports. Before the World War, Bulgaria was the largest importer of Russian oil, and half of the countries in the entire European continent were importing oil from the Russians.
The Baku oilfield has become the largest foreign exchange earning industry of the Czarist government. After the outbreak of the civil war, the little Nicholas also stationed a heavy army in the Baku area, worried that Bulgaria would make plans there.
He was soon disappointed. As new oil fields were discovered, international oil prices fell again and again, and then there was no rebound.
The Russian Empire, which was originally the largest oil exporter in Europe, suddenly discovered that oil could no longer be sold. Because of transportation costs, the oil produced in Baku gradually lost its competitiveness.
After the world war, Bulgaria, the largest buyer, developed oil fields in Romania, Iraq, Syria and other regions, and turned from an oil importer to an oil exporter.
And under Ferdinand’s deliberate control, international oil prices have always been at a very low level, and many oil fields with high mining costs have been forced to close. Up.
Naturally, the Baku oil field is no exception. When Nicholas II’s army took down the Caucasus, it immediately seized the Baku oil field, and found embarrassingly that it was a chicken rib.
Due to the backward extraction technology and outdated refining technology, coupled with the terrible transportation hub of the Russians, the oil produced from the Baku area is transported to St. Petersburg, and then refined products are more expensive than the refined oil directly imported from Bulgaria.
In this era, the Russians did not build oil pipelines, and oil transportation relied on train skins, camels, and horse-drawn carts for transportation. It's no wonder that the cost was low.
In the end, in order to save money, Nicholas II had to reduce the production of the Baku oil field. The oil produced could only be used in the Caucasus, and there was no need to ship it out to lose money.
Without these sources of foreign exchange, the life of the Tsarist government will of course be difficult, and weapons and ammunition have to be imported. Self-reliance is not suitable for the tsarist government to play now, otherwise it will go bankrupt.
"Prime Minister, where else can the government move a certain amount of money? Anyway, we have to ensure the smooth progress of the spring offensive. This time, we can no longer support it.
Otherwise, after this spring, these rebels will regain their vitality again, and the John Bull will not let us complete the reunification easily.
Now we must be fast, otherwise the weapons and ammunition from Europe will be sent back to our enemies again! "Nicholas II said carefully
Now that the battle has been fought, he has understood that his biggest enemy is no longer these rebels, but the European countries that support them behind the scenes.
Among them, the British are the most prominent. It is precisely because of the emergence of the British that the government of the Little Nicholas Tsar can support it until now, otherwise they would have compromised.
"Your Majesty the Great Tsar, I'm afraid this won't work. Now, more than 70% of our government's expenditures are spent in the war, and other departmental expenditures have been suppressed to the lowest point.
You know, in order to support the war, we have embezzled a lot of funds, and even the funds for repaying Bulgaria’s loan have been embezzled by us! "The Prime Minister said with a wry smile
The government’s financial crisis has long appeared. As early as half a year ago, he suggested to Nicholas II to borrow a loan to return. Unfortunately, Nicholas II had a fluke mentality, and he thought it might end this winter. Drop this war.
Then stick to it and you don’t have to borrow international loans anymore. After all, that interest is really high! The tsarist government is already in debt, and once the country is unified, it is time for Britain and France to come to force their debts.
When the time comes, just to repay the loans of the three countries, the government will squeeze every ruble in the national treasury and save a fortune. After all, borrowing is now a usury, which is an international loan without any preferential treatment.
If it were not for the French debts, most of them were low-interest or interest-free loans. The Tsarist government would not be able to repay the debts. The debts of hundreds of billions of francs would probably not even be paid off.
(Note: After the French government abandoned the gold standard, the franc depreciated, but international loans are linked to gold, and the debtor is fully responsible for inflation)
Now Nicholas II knew he regretted, but it was too late. When you are short of money, don't you want to borrow money and send it to your door to be robbed?
If possible, Nicholas II would not want to borrow money from Bulgaria. The main reason is that the cost of refusing the account is too high. Based on his understanding of Ferdinand, once the Russian government announces that the account is evasive, the probability of Bulgaria directly sending troops to occupy Ukraine is as high as 9 Layer nine.
You can’t just fight with them just because they’re squandering the account and others come to take the collateral? If this battle is fought, the Russian Empire will suffer a big loss. Not only will it lose its last ally, but its international credibility will also be ruined.
Therefore, even if you want to go wrong, you must choose a good target. For example, when Ferdinand set up a group to shame the Americans, this is justified. There are no hidden dangers, and now the graves of the US government are growing grass.
Compared to Bulgaria, borrowing debts from Britain and France is a bit safer. Anyway, everyone is far apart, and they can't call it over. If it really gets to the point of repaying it, everyone can still wrestle slowly.
If it doesn't work, we will drag it back. It's a big deal to pay back a portion of the interest every year, and we will slowly grind with the British and French governments until they compromise.
Nicholas II was also very experienced in this regard. After all, this is an ancestral skill. The Russians are so bad in Europe, and it has nothing to do with them.
"Then speed up the contact with the international consortium, and strive to get a loan back as soon as possible!" Nicholas II thought for a while and said
"Your Majesty, I'm afraid this won't work! All the consortia we have contacted have rejected our loan applications!
Even through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, we have direct contact with governments of various countries without the consent of any government! "The Prime Minister said with a wry smile
"Is it impossible to issue bonds and let them sell for us?" Nicholas II asked angrily
"Your Majesty, have you forgotten the bond we issued five years ago?" the prime minister reminded
Nicholas II's face turned sullen, and it was a deep shame to speak of the bonds issued by the tsarist government.
In 1919, the Tsarist government issued 200 million pounds of bonds to the world, and the final result was very moving, with less than one million pounds sold.
Most of the sold items were sold inside Russia. His subordinates were afraid that the Tsar's face would be too ugly. Everyone gritted their teeth and bought a part. No one was interested in the international market.
Of course, this is mainly because there is no support from the bank consortium. No one wants to help them issue bonds. Even if the handling fee is high, no one will take over. The Russians will go to the international market to sell bonds on their own whimsically.
Excluding the issuance of bonds by banks, the bank consortiums from various countries unanimously decided to teach them a lesson. In the end, sales in the international market were less than 10,000 pounds.
They didn't even bring it back. The people who bought the debt finally came back and demanded to return the goods. If they didn't return the goods, they would sue the Russians for fraud. In order not to continue to lose face, they could only calm down.
Since then, the issuance of bonds has become a taboo for Nicholas II, and no one dared to preside over him.
Now the Prime Minister reminded him, mainly to tell him not to be ashamed. A few years ago, the credibility of the Russian Empire was gone. Isn't it funny to issue bonds now?
When most of the banks in the Russian Empire declared bankruptcy, the then tsarist government failed to take timely measures, and the credibility of the Russian Empire went bankrupt.
A large number of depositors' funds were swallowed up by bankers, not only pitted the Russians, but also killed many foreigners doing business in Russia. They went to the Czarist government to protest, but they ended up to no avail.
In the context of the joint efforts of various governments to pit the Russians, it has become a collusion between the tsarist government and bankers to annex the money of depositors, and the international credibility of the tsarist government is bankrupt.
This did not wrong them. When Nicholas II reacted, he seized a lot of banks, and also caused a wave of anti-Semitism in Russia, and took back a large part of the funds that had not been transferred.
It is a pity that the money was used in the war and was not returned to the depositors.
Even Ferdinand, an outsider, admires the ethics of the tsarist government a little bit. He is really unscrupulous and dare to swallow any money!
At that time, the ruble had depreciated hundreds of times, and it was a big deal to print more tickets and return the money to the depositors. Anyway, the cash is worthless, and all the responsibilities can be dumped to the rebels.
Now the Czarist government is about to pay the price. The French were the most embarrassed at the beginning. Who made them invest the most in Russia?
Secondly, it is Bulgaria. The trade volume between Bulgaria and Russia is the largest. Many merchants have deposits in Russia. Fortunately, most of them deposit their money in Ferdinand's bank.
Although the value of the banknotes has depreciated, after all, after the bankruptcy of the Russian Empire branch, the head office continued to complete the payment.
The result was that the culprit was carried away by the tsarist government and unscrupulous Russian bankers. Ferdinand not only made a fortune from the devaluation of the ruble, but also gave the bank a wave of prestige.
"All rejected? How is this possible? Did Bulgaria reject our loan request?" Nicholas II asked angrily
"Yes, Your Majesty! The Bulgarians have assessed our ability to repay. They think that the risk of lending us money is too great, and they are worried that we will fall behind!" the Prime Minister said nervously.
"Humph!"
Nicholas II snorted coldly. At this moment, he didn't want to go wrong. Especially for the loan with Bulgaria, the collateral is the Ukrainian region, how could he fall back on this loan?
"Aren't the conditions we gave them enough? You should know that we have all taken out so much tax as collateral, and they are afraid that we will run the bill?" Nicholas II said angrily
"Your Majesty, according to the assessment of the Bulgarians, they think the collateral we have given is worthless.
They think that even if these taxes are mortgaged to them, the right to collect taxes is still in our hands. As long as we do some tricks, they will not get the money in the end! "The Prime Minister explained
Nicholas II was embarrassed. It seemed that his predecessors had already done this kind of thing, and the salt tax was mortgaged. The final repayment was very shamelessly announcing the exemption of salt tax, and then announced the introduction of salt tax.
The mortgage to the merchants is salt tax, which has nothing to do with the salt tax. The collateral has already been handed over, so everyone has cleared both of them.
With such a lesson learned, it is obviously not easy to use Nicholas II here, no matter how much he promises, people have reason not to believe it.
"Well then, what conditions did the Bulgarians offer? Prime Minister, speak directly, I know that Ferdinand must take advantage of the fire!" Nicholas II said helplessly
"Your Majesty, there are no conditions. They directly rejected our loan request, and they also included a detailed evaluation report!
I have read that report. They listed all our debts, including the salaries of government officials and soldiers' casualties that we owe!
Adding all these debts together, the Russian Empire now owes a debt of 9.85 billion pounds, and we no longer have the ability to repay it! "The Prime Minister said embarrassingly
"How is this possible? How could we owe so much money, it is all fake!" Nicholas II roared
"Your Majesty, the data given by the Bulgarians is very watery. It is estimated that their calculation method is somewhat different from ours, but the data they give are still meaningful.
We owe more than five million people to the casualty pension alone! If we follow the Bulgarian pension standards, we will have to pay more than 85 billion levs, which is equivalent to 3.4 billion pounds.
If calculated according to our standards, this number will be much smaller. For example, many soldiers’ families have left Russia, and this part of the expenditure has been saved, about 1.5 billion pounds, which can be done.
The second is our foreign debt~EbookFREE.me~ We are very aware of this, about 2.33 billion pounds, of which one third is interest-free loans, and about 40% Low-interest loans, and the rest are ordinary commercial loans.
The remaining part is our internal debts, as well as the money the government owes to various departments. This is very complicated to calculate and changes every day.
One of the biggest sums of money should be the military pay. From the World War to the present, we have owed a large amount of military pay, and the exact figure is difficult to calculate.
But now we have to add 80 million pounds of soldier salary debt every year, and now we can actually only pay about eight months of military pay.
The 900 million pounds estimated by the Bulgarians is probably no problem, but in fact we don’t need to pay so much money. Many creditors don’t know where they are going. This is a mess. "The Prime Minister explained
Nicholas II rubbed his forehead and was startled if he didn't know it. If calculated according to this figure, the debt of the Russian Empire has at least exceeded 5 billion pounds.
Even if the government is thicker and darker, and relies on part of the pension, part of the military salary, and deducts the internal debt that does not need to be repaid, then at least the debt of more than 4 billion pounds must be repaid.
With the current fiscal revenue of the Russian Empire, it is obvious that this huge debt cannot be afforded, and even the interest of the foreign debt is not enough.
"Damn Ferdinand, he wants to take advantage of the fire again!" Nicholas II complained helplessly.
Obviously, he knew that Bulgaria gave this detailed list for a reason. It is impossible to help them do financial statistics for no reason, right?
...
https:
Genius remembers this site address in one second: .. Mobile version reading URL: m.