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

Chapter 1271 Loan
Earl Derby frowned. This seemingly joking proposal was not impossible to consider.

In fact, Britain was the largest creditor of the Austrian Empire at that time, but the latter probably did not intend to repay the money. However, it had already recovered its costs many years ago.

The two parties did not even have a tacit understanding, but instead signed an agreement to only repay a certain percentage of interest.

Of course, if they wanted to lend it to the Austrian Empire again, they would have to sign a new agreement, but the relationship between the two countries was very bad at the moment.

Especially in the competition for colonies, although the Austrian Empire had no direct competitive relationship with Britain, its allies and the so-called German Confederation colonies had many frictions with Britain.

Add to that the Mediterranean naval battle, the Greek hatred, the French issue, the Balkan issue, the Polish issue, and the fact that the Austrian Empire was an ally of Russia, and the two sides had accumulated deep resentment.

In addition, the Austrian Empire has already had a precedent of threatening Britain with debt. If we lend money to the Austrian Empire at this time, would we be suspected of walking into the tiger's mouth?

However, the armistice between Britain and the Austrian Empire was not due to expire in 1853, and war was unlikely to break out between the two sides during this period, and the latter was already deeply mired in the quagmire of Spain.

Today, Britain is already in the midst of an economic crisis, with the main problem in the financial industry being the fear of spending money.

Although the financial crisis caused by the insurance industry was resolved, a large number of insurance companies still went bankrupt or filed for bankruptcy protection.

Funds in the financial industry are dead money if they don't move, which means losses.

These are the ideas that the financial families instilled in Earl Derby. Although he did not think of becoming a helper of these people, he was still influenced by them imperceptibly.

Therefore, both the Baring family and the Rothschild family are willing to spend a lot of money to make friends with the powerful.

With just a slight policy tilt, they can use their advantageous position to make a fortune.

As a British man, Earl Derby was very superstitious about financial alchemy. He felt that this might be a good opportunity to save the British economy.

"Gentlemen, perhaps this proposal is worth our consideration. But we need professionals to analyze it for us."

Chancellor of the Exchequer Disraeli looked confident. In fact, he also thought this proposal was good, because the Earl of Derby was not the only one affected by the City of London.

If money could be lent to the Austrian Empire, it would certainly greatly alleviate the crisis of excess capital in the British financial industry.

In fact, the financial crisis did not occur because the wealthy people in Britain had no money. On the contrary, it was because these people were too rich. They invested in railways and factories everywhere, and ordinary people could not afford to consume them.

When the economic bubble burst, these people ran away with their buckets, and then cut another wave of leeks. Unfortunately, the leeks were cut off from the roots, which triggered the financial crisis.

The government had hoped that the war between Britain and Austria would boost demand and shift the debt to the government.

But the Irish issue, the unrest of the Chartists, and the successive failures in the Mediterranean naval battles made the British government dare not fight with all its might.

France is facing a similar situation, so some people thought of the United States.

However, the storm of 1848 also swept to North America. Revolution broke out in France, Texas was isolated and helpless, and the United States, Mexico, and Austria were preparing to join forces to divide up the French land.

It was thought that the French would give up resistance when surrounded by powerful enemies and without external support.

However, the Americans suffered a Waterloo in Dallas. Under the desperate resistance of the local French army, the US military failed to break through Dallas until the Texas colonial government announced its surrender.

Dallas is the most important strategic hub in northern Texas. The U.S. military suffered nearly 20,000 casualties in the Battle of Dallas, but failed to capture the Dallas Fortress, which had less than 10,000 garrisons, so they only got a small amount of spoils when the spoils were divided after the war.

The fortress that had been elusive for so long was transferred to the hands of the German Confederation, which made the Americans feel ashamed, but they also knew that the US Army at that time was no match for the German and Mexican coalition forces.

In line with the principle of never giving up, the United States chose to compromise. This may be the wisdom of politicians, but in the eyes of businessmen, it is a sign of weakness.

In the 19th century when ferocious beasts were rampant, a weak country was considered an original sin, and businessmen would not choose a country that could not protect their own interests.

Only a small number of people transferred their assets to the United States, but it was a timely relief for the United States.

Without further ado, in the face of insufficient demand at home, the British could only look overseas, and the Austrian Empire was undoubtedly the best choice at this time.

The Austrian Empire was large enough and had enough troubles, but most importantly, its credibility and repayment ability were far stronger than Russia's.

Thinking of this, Finance Minister Disraeli was about to step forward when he heard what the Earl of Derby said.

"Let's ask Councillor Lionel of the Rothschilds to speak."

The crowd applauded loudly. The British were not unfamiliar with the name Rothschild, and everyone wanted to hear what the current head of the Rothschild family had to say.

In fact, Lionel Rothschild has always been anti-Austrian, and the whereabouts of his uncle Solomon Rothschild and his family are still unknown.

More importantly, the Rothschild family’s intelligence network in the Austrian Empire and possible huge assets were also missing at this time.

These hatreds made Lionel extremely hostile to the Austrian Empire, but as a businessman, he would not go against money.

The economic crisis that occurred in the UK at this time also led to a financial crisis. Banks' business volume dropped sharply and bank runs occurred frequently.

Lionel knew he had to save himself, otherwise it would cause bigger problems than the shrinking assets.

Lending money to the Austrians is undoubtedly a good choice. Given the current situation in the UK, it is likely that there will be no improvement in the next few years. At least lending money to the Austrians can earn interest.

As for the Austrian Empire's default on its debts, Lionel was not too worried. After all, he was a financier of the British Empire, and he was not the one who lent the money to the Austrian Empire.

"Gentlemen, although it is somewhat difficult to accept the sentiment of lending our money to our enemies, the greatness of Britain lies in not choosing the object of trade based on our likes and dislikes.

In order to get out of the shadow of the economic crisis as soon as possible and for the sake of peace in the whole of Europe, we in Britain lend money to the Austrian Empire, but the annual interest rate cannot be lower than 8%.

At the same time, we need the Austrian Empire to use Namibia’s gold mines as collateral. If Austria cannot repay the money on time, then we have the right to take over Namibia’s gold mines and reserve the right to pursue further charges.”

Everyone present was smart. They knew what Lionel meant. The Austrians were not fools and would never lend money at high interest rates.

But we in the British Empire are not in the business of charity, and an annual interest rate lower than 8% would be more than worth the cost.

In this economic downturn, it is better to lend money to Austrians than to let it gather dust at home or pay storage fees in the bank.

Except for the Chancellor of the Exchequer Disraeli who was somewhat dissatisfied, everyone else was very satisfied with the decision. After all, everyone present had some extra money at home.

Naturally, no one cared about the harsh words Disraeli uttered in anger. People cared more about profits.