Chapter 534

The continuous victories on the African battlefield did not make the French happy for long. Defeating the rebels did not mean that things were over. Dealing with the aftermath was the real trouble.

Regardless of the defeated soldiers scattered in the countryside, the Egyptian region had been almost destroyed anyway. The French immigrants who escaped the disaster ran to the city to avoid the disaster, so there was nothing to worry about.

But the flooding Nile River could not be ignored. It was now the dry season, and the damage was not too shocking.

If the river could not be dredged in time, when the flood season arrived, including the most fertile delta, the Nile would not have any harvest.

Looking at the reconstruction plan of Egypt in his hand, Napoleon Iv's face became gloomy. Even the good news of the defeat of the main rebel force on the front line could not make him feel a little relieved.

"Why did it cost so much money?"

Napoleon Iv had also seen big scenes, and it was naturally not a small number that could move him.

Egypt's post-war reconstruction plan was close to one-fifth of the reconstruction plan of France after the civil war, requiring billions of francs to be invested.

This was a colony, not a native country. Spending such a high price could only restore the social order of Egypt, and it could not be considered a real development.

The new Prime Minister Terence Burkin hurriedly explained, "Your Majesty, the rebels have done too much.

Egypt's largest river, the Nile River, has been destroyed. More than a hundred river channels have been blocked, forming seventy-three large and small lakes.

Due to the serious blockage of the river, the river continues to flood both sides, and many farmland along the Nile River has been destroyed.

The cost of dredging the river alone needs hundreds of millions of francs, and to restore these farmland, the investment required is even greater.

Because of the war, small towns and plantations in the Egyptian region have been destroyed, and the local economy has been destroyed.

Affected by this, many agricultural insurance companies in the country were in crisis and needed government funds to rescue them.

The capitalists, plantation owners, and ordinary immigrants in the Egyptian region who had suffered heavy losses needed government funding to rescue them.

Apart from that, the biggest expense was relief for the refugees.

According to incomplete statistics, two out of three people in Egypt are refugees, and the total number of refugees may exceed the two million mark.

If these problems cannot be solved, the situation in Egypt will be difficult to stabilize.

The government has included these necessary expenses, together with the military expenses to maintain local stability after the war, into the post-war reconstruction budget. "

After hearing this explanation, Napoleon Iv still did not feel relieved. No matter how many reasons there were, it could not change the fact that money still had to be spent.

Without waiting for Napoleon Iv to speak, Roy Vernon, the Minister of Finance, denied it first. "This is impossible!

Egypt is just a colony. No matter how important it is, it is not worth us spending so much money.

The government's financial resources are limited, and we still have more meaningful things to do. We can't waste our precious funds. "

This was the truth. The Government of France did not have money. Due to the Egypt rebellion, the French, the French economy suffered heavy losses.

The revenue had decreased, but the financial expenditure had not. In particular, the military expenditure had increased by a large margin.

Not long ago, the Paris government launched a large farm project, planning more than a hundred farms in French Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and other areas.

One. Unsurprisingly, all the farm projects were funded by the government.

As for private capital?

Unfortunately, the plantation owners in Egypt were France's most enthusiastic representatives of agriculture. Now they were all busy licking their wounds. Who dared to use money to fill the bottomless pit of agriculture?

Prime Minister Terence Burkin glared. "We have to do it even if we can't! Other projects can be postponed, but the Nile River must be dredged as soon as possible.

This year, the agriculture in Egypt was less than a third of the normal year. The autumn grain along the Nile River was almost a failure.

According to the colonial government's estimates, the population of Egypt had fallen by at least a quarter due to war, hunger, and disease.

If the river could not be dredged before May, the grain along the Nile River would fail again next year, and the famine would continue for another year.

Once this happened, the situation in Egypt, which had just been stabilized, would fall into chaos again.

When the incident was over, it was unknown whether a third of the local population would be left.

Without enough people, there would not be enough labor force. What about our cotton plantations? "

Having just suffered from the lack of cotton supply, a large group of domestic cotton industry capitalists were urging the government to stabilize the situation as soon as possible so that production could resume.

Looking at the people protesting outside, seven out of ten of them were workers in the cotton industry chain.

Because of the lack of raw material supply, most factories could not operate normally. The business was not doing well, and the lives of the workers were even worse.

Terence Burkin could not care less about the lives of the Egyptians, but he could not ignore the consequences of a lack of labor force.

The current French Egypt also included half of Sudan, with a territory of two million square kilometers.

However, in such a large territory, including the indigenous tribes living in the deep mountains and forests, there were less than five million people.

This was the number before the outbreak of the rebellion. When the situation stabilized, it would be a blessing from God if there were 3.5 million survivors.

If the famine continued, it would not be a dream for thousands of miles to be uninhabited. After all, the only rich land in Egypt was the Nile River Delta, and the rest was mostly desert.

If they wanted to survive by hunting and picking wild fruits, it was a pity that they had gone to the wrong place. Most North African countries did not have this ability.

Whether it was dredging the river, helping plantation owners resume production, or repairing damaged towns, they all required a lot of labor.

In essence, these projects were disaster relief. In order to prevent the local people from starving to death, there would be no cheap labor to continue to exploit.

Knowing the seriousness of the consequences, Napoleon Iv could not sit still. France could not afford to be without cotton fields when the heavy industry was struggling to pick up.

"The work of dredging the river must be started as soon as possible. Order the frontline troops to speed up and not let the rebels continue to destroy the upstream river.

The national bank will issue low-interest loans to the plantation owners to help them resume production as soon as possible. The farms originally planned to be established in the Egyptian delta area will also be started immediately.

Send electricity to the colonial government and let them distribute some relief food. We can't let the local people starve to death. "

In a sense, Napoleon Iv was really suffering. Although he was the second generation of the Emperor and was born to be the Emperor, what he inherited as the Emperor was a huge mess.

Napoleon III's glory was limitless. He had a smooth journey, and in the end, he won the title of "Great Emperor". However, the aftermath was left to Napoleon IV.

Huge debts, complicated ethnic conflicts, a declining economy, and international relations that were ridiculed by the public were all exposed at once.

In such a terrible situation, to be able to stabilize the situation and not let France collapse, Napoleon Iv was enough to be ranked in the top few among the contemporary monarchs.

Whether it was the African development plan or the current large farm plan, they were all measures adopted by Napoleon Iv in an attempt to reverse the decline of France.

Unfortunately, time waited for no man. His competitors kept causing trouble for him and did not give France a chance to make a comeback.

The African development plan encountered an artificially created economic crisis and even triggered a civil war. The outcome was self-evident.

The large farm plan was born during the war. Originally, Napoleon Iv was very optimistic. After all, this move hit the soft spot of Russia and Austria.

However, the plan did not change quickly. It had just started, and the government ran out of money first.

After a pause, Napoleon Iv added, "The Ministry of Finance will issue another five billion francs of government bonds to raise funds."

Even though the current France Empire was much larger than it was at the same time in history, it was still an astronomical figure. It was equivalent to the annual revenue of the French government.

Hearing this news, Roy Vernon, the Minister of Finance, was dumbfounded. He wondered if there was something wrong with his ears.

In recent years, the debt of the Government of France had been soaring, and it was about to cross the 25 billion mark. At this time, another five billion bonds would directly exceed 30 billion.

"Your Majesty, even if we put aside the financial pressure of the government, ignore the interest of the funds, and even ignore the sequelae of the monetary tightening, the Ministry of Finance will not be able to complete this fundraising task.

In recent years, the government has issued a large number of bonds and absorbed a large amount of idle funds from the market. In the short term, it is impossible to raise so much money in the domestic financial market. "

In the era of the gold standard, due to the limit of gold reserves, the amount of money issued by each country was very limited.

Countries that produced gold, such as England and Austria, had enough gold reserves, and the market was confident in them, so they could increase leverage.

Even if they printed more banknotes, as international currencies, British pounds and Aegis could still be digested by the international market. As long as they did not play too much, it would not affect the value of the currency.

Countries that imported gold like France could not do this. If they did not control the ratio of issued currency to reserves, it was easy for international hot money to take advantage of the situation.

The French had personally experienced this once. Before the financial crisis, the Government of France played high leverage with England and Austria, and the franc even occupied an important position in the international monetary settlement system.

Unfortunately, the Government of France did not have enough gold reserves to deal with the crisis, and the status of the franc as an international currency fell into the dust.

Napoleon Iv asked, "If we can't do it domestically, isn't there the international market?

I remember that Austria issued bonds to the whole of Europe and received a lot of funds.

It was with the funds raised from the international market that Austria completed the industrial revolution and revived again. "

Roy Vernon, the Minister of Finance, shook his head. "Your Majesty, we are different from Austria, and the current international situation is also different from that year.

What the Government of Austria can do doesn't mean that we can do it. At least, we can't solve the political interference of other countries. "

It wasn't easy to borrow money these days. International loans had additional conditions, so how could the issuance of international bonds be an exception?

Austria issued huge amounts of bonds to Europe, and in addition to the Government of Vienna providing enough collateral, the key was a good international environment.

Most of the agreements between Austria and European countries were reached in that era. After a series of secret agreements, Austria's relationship with European countries was not only that of allies, but also that of quasi-allies.

With a good relationship, naturally, no one would choke them. If it was the Government of France, it would not work. It was estimated that as soon as the bonds entered the market, political interference would come before they could be sold.

The ball was kicked to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Under the expectant gaze of Napoleon Iv, the Foreign Minister, Karel Kadlec, directly lowered his arrogant head.