I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 746: Greed has its limits

In 1908, Stanley Baldwin's father died. Since Baldwin's father was a member of Congress, Baldwin took the opportunity to participate in the by-election and was successfully elected, inheriting his father's seat, entering the British House of Commons and starting his political career.

During the World War, Baldwin served as Bonar Law's private secretary and in 1917 was appointed Financial Secretary to the Treasury.

During his tenure as Financial Secretary, Baldwin advocated that the wealthy voluntarily donate money to the British government to alleviate the British government's financial crisis.

This move caused an uproar in Britain at the time. The Times publicly questioned whether Baldwin, a wealthy man, was willing to donate his property.

Baldwin took the initiative to hold a press conference to prove to reporters that he not only set an example, but also donated money equivalent to 20% of his total net worth, which made him famous.

Baldwin not only contacted George, but also notified the canal company and requested a joint meeting to discuss how to resolve the canal crisis.

Prior to this, the Suez Canal Company, Dolgorukov Line, and the now-closed Anglo-Persian Oil Company had held several rounds of consultations, but due to huge differences, they had not been able to reach an agreement.

As time goes by, the canal company and the shipping company have made higher and higher demands to compensate for their losses. Now, even if the two companies divide the oil on the ship, it will not be able to make up for the losses of both sides.

Darcis was very hurt. I just want to do business honestly, why is it so difficult?

In order to completely resolve the canal crisis, the British government and Russia each sent representatives to attend the joint meeting.

The British sent Foreign Secretary Curzon.

The Russian side sent Alexander.

Due to the intervention of Britain and Russia respectively, the level of representatives sent by the Canal Company and Shipping Company was also raised accordingly.

Representing Dolgorukov Shipping Company at the meeting was Mario's eldest son Sergei, the next head of the Dolgorukov family.

Representing the Canal Company at the meeting was William Rothschild.

William Rothschild had never attended the meeting before and was not even a member of the Canal Company's board of directors.

But this is normal. In Europe, the Rothschild family is everywhere.

William's uncle is L. W. Rothschild, another protagonist of the Balfour Declaration.

After George learned about this situation, he took the initiative to ask Guchkov whether the Rothschilds had any assets in Russia.

“Before the Empire nationalized the railways, 80 percent of the railways in Russia were controlled by the Rothschilds.”

Guchkov's answer startled George.

"Everyone hates the Hebrews, but we have to admit that the Hebrews are very smart. Before the outbreak of the World War, Rothschild's assets in Russia were basically sold out."

Guchkov had a sinister smile; he himself was also a victim.

When Rothschild sold off his assets, Guchkov took over some of them.

"More than 50% of the bonds we issued in France were subscribed by Rothschild - and the loans we received from Germany were also raised by Rothschild."

“When it comes to borrowing, I think we need to do more to monitor Deutsche Bank.”

Guchkov showed George a more authentic Germany.

In his previous life, George had too many questions about World War I, and he couldn't find the answers in history books.

As an eyewitness in this life, George thought he had a deep enough understanding of the world war, but he didn't expect there would be surprises.

Following Guchkov's explanation, George only now realized that Deutsche Bank was actually controlled by the Hebrew consortium headed by Rothschild.

Therefore, it was the Hebrews who controlled German finance, and it was the Junker aristocracy who controlled the German Wehrmacht.

George couldn't help but gasp.

This structure seemed familiar to George.

Sibirbank injected capital into Deutsche Bank to stabilize German finance.

Deutsche Bank issued new marks, the price of Berlin bread once stabilized at around 160 marks, and the German economy gradually began to recover.

However, the good times did not last long. Starting from the spring of this year, prices in Germany began to soar again. Now the price of bread has skyrocketed from 160 marks at the beginning of the year to 50 marks.

"Before this year, Germans' salaries were paid monthly—"

Guchkov himself found it difficult to understand: What good was it for the Hebrews to have caused such great suffering to Germany?

"At the beginning of this year, Germans' salaries were already being settled on a weekly basis, but now on a daily basis, and it is expected that this will soon be shortened to hourly basis."

George's understanding of weekly salary is to avoid taxes.

Germans' weekly wages are designed to keep up with rising prices.

“Is Germany still short of food?”

George really didn't know where all the food Russia exported to Germany went.

"Theoretically, there is no shortage of—"

Guchkov was very meaningful.

George suddenly realized that the Hebrews, just like in another time and space, were committing suicide again.

This is not true either. The national character of the Hebrews is there and it will never change no matter what time it is.

Apart from usury, the things the Hebrews were best at were hoarding and profiteering.

Deutsche Bank, which is controlled by the Hebrew consortium, will definitely give priority to Hebrews when issuing loans.

The Hebrews who received the loans would most likely not invest honestly in industry, but would instinctively choose a faster way to accumulate wealth, so the price of bread rose from 160 to 50.

This is far from the end. It is estimated that in a few months, Deutsche Bank will issue a 100 trillion mark note.

"The Germans are really patient!"

George couldn't help but sigh.

"Germany is now like a boiling oil pot. All it takes is a spark, BOOM——"

Guchkov was not optimistic about Germany's future.

George frowned. This wouldn't do.

George still hopes that Germany will charge into battle and cannot be killed by the Hebrews.

From that day on, George read the newspaper every day, focusing on news related to beer.

With the intervention of Britain and Russia, the negotiations between the Canal Company and the shipping company were finally effectively advanced.

The fundamental reason why the "Suez" ran aground is that the canal has not been dredged for a long time and can no longer meet shipping needs.

It would be easy to get the Suez away.

But if we want to solve the problem fundamentally, we have to dredge the canal.

The reason why the canal company was unwilling to dredge the canal was mainly due to economic considerations. After all, dredging the canal would not only affect the canal company's profits, but also require a large investment.

The directors of the canal company were unwilling to invest in the canal due to their own interests.

多尔戈鲁科夫家族提出的方案是：由多尔戈鲁科夫家族出资10亿卢布，将运河从现在的不足60米拓宽到130米，深度从现在的6米增加到15米。

To ensure the safety of the Dolgorukov family's investment, Sergei demanded management rights of the canal.

After internal consultations, the canal company agreed to share management rights with the Dolgorukov family, but did not agree to transfer all management rights to Dolgorukov.

Sergey’s response was that if it was to be shared, then the investment would be made in proportion to the voting rights, 1 million rubles for one vote.

The canal company rejected this plan as it did not want to lose all its voice but also did not want to pay the money.

"Then there's nothing to discuss—"

Sergei announced that the negotiations had broken down, so let's continue blocking them.

Curzon and Alexander were dispatched urgently to do the work of the Canal Company and Alexander respectively.

It was already July 7th, nearly four months since the canal was blocked, causing losses of more than 16 million pounds to the world.

The canal company lost more than 1000 million francs in tolls.

On the 19th, negotiations resumed, and the Canal Company was only willing to give up 40% of the voting rights in exchange for the Dolgorukov family's investment.

It is just voting rights, not company shares.

Sergei believed that this proposal was insincere and the negotiations broke down again.

On the 25th, the British troops stationed in the canal area were attacked again. This time, two outposts were completely eliminated and all the British troops in the outposts were killed in the battle.

When the news reached London, the canal company's overbearing behavior once again sparked widespread discussion.

The vast majority of the canal's profits go to the canal company, and have nothing to do with the British troops stationed in the canal area, let alone the British people.

The pensions of the British troops were paid by the British government, but this part of the loss had to be shared by all British people, so the canal company's model made the rich richer and the poor poorer.

On the 29th, The Times exclusively disclosed the negotiation process between the Canal Company and the Dolgorukov family, and the Canal Company finally aroused public outrage across Europe.

From 1869 to the present, the canal company has earned more than 30 billion francs through the canal. Not only is the company unwilling to pay for dredging the canal, it also sets up obstacles for companies willing to invest, exposing the greed and shamelessness of capital.

Seeing that the canal company's behavior was about to affect the image of Britain, Curzon finally took tough measures and demanded that the canal company accept the conditions of the Dolgorukov family.

Curzon believed that the conditions proposed by the Dolgorukov family were reasonable and took into account the interests of the shareholders of the Canal Company to the greatest extent, so the Canal Company was enough.

William Rothschild was unhappy and believed that Curzon did not protect the overseas interests of British companies to the greatest extent possible.

Curzon went straight to the hospital and completely ignored the canal company's business.

On August 8, Alexander and Sergei returned to Constantinople, and the negotiations once again reached a deadlock.

William Rothschild finally became anxious and took the initiative to contact Sergei and asked to continue the negotiations.

Sergey said that the New Year is coming soon in Russia, so let's talk about it next year.

New Year?

It’s only August, and there are still 8 months until the Chinese New Year!
This is not true either, the Russian New Year is four and a half months later than the Gregorian New Year.

Sergey can wait, but the canal company cannot. How much does it cost to block the canal for a day?

On August 8, William Rothschild arrived in Constantinople to restart negotiations.

Sergey has a new plan.

The canal company tightly holds on to management rights because it is worried that transferring management rights to the Dolgorukov family will harm the interests of the canal company.

Sergei joined American capital to invest in the Suez Canal, with management rights shared by Britain, France, the United States and Russia.

Now William Rothschild was finally speechless.

(End of this chapter)