Chapter 544

The undercurrent of the international situation was surging, but Franz was at home playing with his grandson as if he didn't know anything.

It was obviously impossible that he didn't know. There were so many countries that the British wanted to win over, and there would always be a few traitors.

In international politics, there were always a few people who took the same path to the end. It was normal to be a snake and a rat.

The battle between Britannia and Shinra wasn't one-sided. Before the situation was clear, most countries wouldn't tie themselves to one side.

Shinra could rely on its land power to force the European countries to board; Britain could also rely on its sea power to pull allies around the world.

It was impossible to stop them. The grass on the wall would only fall with the wind. This was the way of survival for small countries.

It wasn't that the Government of Vienna couldn't make a move, but the main problem was that their power was limited, and they couldn't compete with Britain overseas.

The British had been operating overseas for hundreds of years, and Shinra had only entered the Age of Discovery for less than forty years. Its influence overseas was far behind the British.

What's more, it wasn't easy to get a follower. Overseas countries weren't monolithic. There were also many countries with deep hatred between neighboring countries. If one side was roped in, they would inevitably offend the other.

It was easy to pull people on board, but the trouble was that while pulling people, they would also be involved in regional conflicts.

Excessive involvement in regional conflicts, other than drawing hatred, had no meaning for Shinra.

Don't talk about the gratitude of allies. In international politics, only the benefits in hand were real, and "gratitude" was the least valuable.

In this context, instead of taking the initiative to attack and asking for trouble, it was better to watch the British perform first, and then strike after the enemy had made a move.

If anyone wanted to work with the British, they would just have to support their enemies. Shinluo would not lack allies anyway.

Peaceful days always passed in a flash. With the development of the times, the conflict between Shinra and Britannia also became more and more acute.

Unknowingly, the term "trade friction" suddenly became popular and became the favorite of the media.

With the dividends brought by the second industrial revolution, coupled with the cost advantage of industrial raw materials, Shinra's industrial and commercial products increasingly occupied an advantage in international competition.

In the increasingly cruel market competition, many industries that were once the world's factory had fallen into a difficult situation.

The "free trade" that Britannia was once proud of had become a complete joke under the impact of Shinra's industrial and commercial products.

Without any surprise, the Conservative Party, which advocated free trade, lost the 1902 general election. The Liberal Party's candidate, Henry Campbell Benavon, successfully entered Downing Street.

As the victor, Kanber didn't even have the time to be happy for a few days before he was shocked by the mess in his hands.

Great Britain was still the hegemon of the world, but it was a hegemon riddled with holes.

Frankly speaking, the previous government of Robert Cecil had also done a good job and achieved remarkable results in the field of politics and diplomacy.

For example, they had taken over the French Indochina Peninsula and expanded Britain's colonial territory. The strategy of diverting disaster to the East was successful. The Russians were lured into the Far East and cracks appeared in the Russian-Austrian Alliance. They had established the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, repaired relations with the American countries, and established strategic partnerships with many countries …

For example, the second industrial revolution began, and Britannia, which didn't keep up with the times, was now paying the price. Not only was the overseas market squeezed by Shinra's products, but even the domestic market was also affected. Even Britannia's textile industry couldn't be spared.

Not only was the overseas market squeezed by Shenluo products, but even the local market was also affected. Even Britain's fist textile industry could not be spared.

Aware of the danger, the United States couldn't help but move closer to Shinra.

Then, with the support of Shinra, the United States also launched an industrial revolution. Like most countries, the beginning of the industrial revolution in the United States was the textile industry.

Just like most countries, the beginning of the industrial revolution in the United States was the textile industry. How could Great Britain, which was founded on the textile industry, endure the fact that the country, which produced the raw materials, had started to weave their own cloth?

The textile industry was the largest industrial chain in Britannia. More than one-third of the British population could be related to this industry.

As the world's largest cotton producer, the United States had an unparalleled advantage in developing the textile industry. In terms of cost, they easily beat British textile companies.

Once the textile industry had a problem, Britannia's economy would collapse in minutes. Naturally, the British couldn't sit still.

Because of the United States, the United States led the United States to fall to Shinra. This was considered by the public to be the biggest diplomatic mistake of the Robert Cecil government. It was also one of the main reasons why the Conservative Party lost the election.

When he was in opposition, Campbell often used this issue to criticize the government. Now that he was in power, he found that it wasn't the case at all.

It seemed that it was a diplomatic mistake to rope in the United States, but in fact, the Government of the United Kingdom had no choice. Regardless of this matter, the United States would develop its own cotton textile industry. This was determined by interests.

As early as ten years ago, the United States planned to develop its own cotton textile industry. However, under the pressure of Britannia, they were forced to give up.

In recent years, with the strong rise of the Holy Roman Empire, Britannia's position as the hegemon was shaky. The suppressed United States once again had the ambition to develop the textile industry.

Unlike in the past, with the Holy Roman Empire stirring up trouble, Britannia no longer had the ability to stop the United States from developing the textile industry.

At this point, there was a gap between the two sides. No matter how much importance they attached to the relationship between the two countries, they couldn't overcome the conflict of interests.

The Government of Vienna could help the United States develop the textile industry, but the Government of London couldn't do so. Otherwise, the domestic interest groups would definitely stage a coup.

It was not cost-effective to rope in a country with a core conflict of interests as an ally. It was far less cost-effective to rope in a more powerful country with a relatively small conflict of interests.

After all, they had to contend for hegemony with the Holy Roman Empire, and they might even have to fight a war. It would be bad if their allies were not strong.

"A moment of pleasure in the mouth, but a crematorium afterward."

Now, Campbell had some of this feeling. He had a good time at the beginning, but after he took office, he actually had to continue the predecessor's foreign policy.

If it was just a diplomatic trouble, Prime Minister Campbell could handle it. As a politician, being thick-skinned was just a standard. "Saying one thing and doing another" was a common practice.

What worried Kanber the most was the steadily declining domestic economy, as well as the worsening social conflicts.

Of course, these problems weren't completely unprepared for Campbell. As the leader of the Reformist Party, Campbell had put forward the idea of reform a few years ago.

In this world, it was always easy to shout slogans, but difficult to do practical things.

"Reform" was never smooth sailing. Since ancient times, there were very few successful reforms, and most of them ended in tragedy.

After taking up the position, Kanber truly felt the difficulty of the current situation. Everything in reality told him that it wasn't that the previous government didn't want to reform, it was completely because the interests involved were too big, and they didn't dare to do it easily.

…

Trade Minister Lloyd George: "This is our statistics of the first half of the year's import and export trade report, the situation is very bad.

Compared to the same period last year, the total export volume in the first half of this year decreased by 0.46%, the total import volume increased by 2.67%, and the trade deficit increased by 3%.

This is our third consecutive year of export contraction, and the tenth consecutive year of trade deficit increase. To be precise, since the end of the European War, the empire's trade deficit has been increasing.

Due to the impact of the export contraction and the trade deficit, the international status of the pound has also been affected.

Especially in the European world, countries have used God Shield and gold to settle trade, and the pound has been marginalized.

The root cause of all this is mainly because domestic industrial and commercial products have lost competitiveness in the international market.

Among a series of new industries, such as machinery manufacturing, electrical equipment, internal combustion engine automobile industry, and so on, there is almost no trace of imperial goods.

Even in our homeland, it's filled with Shenluo products. If this continues in the long run, the empire's economy will have problems sooner or later. "

Trade deficit is nothing new, since the Fao completed industrialization, Britannia has gradually been in a position of international trade deficit.

With the advantage of the first industrial revolution, this kind of deficit did not bring disaster to the British, but instead pushed the pound to the international market.

But good times don't last long, as the trade deficit continued to grow, problems slowly appeared. The excessive trade deficit directly led to the outflow of wealth.

After all, not all countries were willing to accept the pound as settlement, to want to rely on printing money to harvest the world, Britannia did not have the ability to do so.

With the rise of the Holy Roman Empire, the God Shield began to steal the pound market, this situation became more and more obvious.

No one was stupid, seeing that Britannia's trade deficit was getting bigger, no one was willing to hold the pound on a large scale, and pay for the consumption of the British.

As time went on, more and more European countries were willing to accept the pound as settlement.

The pound's share in the international currency market decreased, and to solve the trade deficit, they could only use real money to fill this hole.

Although there were colonies to plunder, but the constant outflow of gold and silver still became a problem for the Government of the United Kingdom.

It was very simple to change all of this, either to take back the lost market, or to develop new products to open up new markets.

Unfortunately, the competitor this time was the Holy Roman Empire, military deterrence was useless, and relying on normal business methods to compete would not be able to take back the market.

Developing new products was even more unrealistic, if the British companies were that powerful, there would not be a decline in trade.

Minister of Labor Burns: "Due to the impact of the economic downturn, the domestic labor conflict and employment problems have become more acute.

According to our survey data, our unemployment rate increased by 0.3% in the first half of this year. It may not seem like much, but this has increased for five consecutive years.

Not to mention the conflict between labor and management. Just look at the people on strike outside. This year, there has been an obvious increase.

Take London for example, there were 16 strikes with more than a thousand workers in the first half of the year, and there were demonstrations almost every month.

If I wasn't sure that this is London, I would have suspected that I had accidentally entered Paris. The frequency of these strikes and demonstrations is simply beyond … "

It could be seen that Burns really wanted to solve the problem. As the first representative of the working class to enter the cabinet, even if it was just for his political career, Burns had to show results.

Before taking office, he thought that as long as the law protected the interests of the workers and prohibited the wanton behavior of the capitalists, it would be fine.

After learning the first-hand information, Burns once doubted his eyes.

Now the problem of Britannia was not only the wanton behavior of the capitalists, but the bigger problem was that the survival of the companies was facing challenges.

The emerging industries were scattered by the impact, and the traditional industries were facing cruel market competition, meager profits, excess production capacity, and a series of other problems.

The choice of the British capitalists in the original time and space was to compress production and play by themselves in the colonies. Anyway, the colonial market of Britannia was big enough for them to retire.

As for updating machinery and equipment, increasing investment in research and development, and facing international competition. Shouting a few exciting slogans was enough, if they took it seriously, they would lose.

Capital was the most realistic. If they could lie down and make money without any risk, why take the risk to participate in international competition?

The data didn't lie. No matter which country, radical and R&D companies died the fastest. On the contrary, conservative companies that didn't want to make progress had a longer lifespan.

Perhaps conservative companies would be eliminated by the market one day in the future, but before they were eliminated by the market, the capitalists had already made enough money.

In contrast, companies that continued to invest in research and development would be happy if they succeeded, but if there was a problem midway, then they would lose everything.

Capital hated risk, and making money steadily was the greatest happiness. Capitalists who were willing to bet their entire fortune to win a better tomorrow for their company were always in the minority.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Herbert Henry Asquith: "These problems have appeared for a long time. In order to solve the domestic economic problems, the previous government had twice reduced the tax rate of industrial and commercial enterprises.

If it wasn't for the veto of the parliament, they were even prepared to launch an export subsidy program to increase the competitiveness of the enterprises in the market.

But these can only treat the symptoms. To really solve the problem, it still depends on the efforts of our enterprises.

We have to admit that we are already lagging behind in many areas. Shinra's products are all over the streets. If we compare any of them with the domestic products of the same kind, our enterprises are indeed not doing well in terms of price-performance ratio.

The problem now is that the domestic capitalists lack interest in technological innovation, especially in the field of machinery and equipment. They lack the spirit of innovation.

What the capitalists want is to end free trade, restart trade barriers, and protect the market with tariffs.

Of course, they didn't say it so directly. They called it: use trade barriers to temporarily protect the domestic market and buy time for technological innovation.

But we all know that with the enthusiasm of domestic enterprises in the field of scientific research, I'm afraid that this situation will not change in the next century. "

It didn't matter what policy it was, it was all about profit. Because of profit, the Government of the United Kingdom established a free trade system; it was also because of profit that the British government now had to consider ending free trade.

Even if Asquith was very disgusted with all of this and felt that these people who didn't want to make progress were the parasites of Britannia, he still had to carefully consider their opinions.

Seeing the tense atmosphere, Prime Minister Campbell waved his hand and said, "These problems are the realities we will face in the coming days.

Britannia has come to this point because of these problems. Reality tells us that it is time for Britannia to reform.

If this continues, not only will we not be able to compete with the Holy Roman Empire, just the social contradictions in the country will cause us to lose half of our lives.

We can consider protecting the market, but how to protect it, to what extent to protect it, and what impact it will have, these must be carefully considered.

These problems will affect the whole situation. Once we adopt trade barriers, other countries are bound to follow suit, and our import and export trade will definitely be affected.

Domestic … "