Chapter 564

St. Peter's Fortress. Ever since the end of the Battle of East Prussia, the Tsarist government, which was at the center of the whirlpool, had been having a hard time.

Although the generals at the front line had taken the blame, Alexander Ii Of Russia understood that the real reason for the Russian Army's defeat was not the generals' command.

If it had not been for the order to end the battle quickly, perhaps the Battle of East Prussia would still have continued. According to the original strategy, the Russian Army only needed to confront the Prussia and rely on their superiority in the sea to attack and win.

Offense and defense were two completely different concepts. If the Russian Army had adopted a defensive strategy, they would not have been defeated so quickly. With the sudden increase in Prussia's troops, they would at most lose a few lines of defense.

"Money" became the main culprit for the failure of this battle, followed by the Russian Empire's terrible transportation, followed by the Tsarist government's corrupt bureaucratic system, and finally, the "decisive battle order."

Minister of War Helamed reported, "Your Majesty, we have mobilized the troops at the front line. The losses in the front line will be replenished in the next two months.

The domestic military enterprises are preparing to work day and night on the lost weapons and equipment. We have ordered the insufficient parts from Austria to ensure that the troops will be equipped before next spring. "

Helamed was very wise to ignore the matter of accountability. Although the main officers at the front line had taken the blame, they were not dismissed or held accountable. They were all ordered to atone for their crimes with meritorious service.

Overall, their performance was still passable. These officers were the Russian's biggest harvest from the Near East War. They were the elites of the Russian Army.

Now that they still had to fight a war, the shrewd Alexander Ii Of Russia would naturally not destroy the Great Wall.

"It's still a problem of money, right?"

Alexander Ii Of Russia asked helplessly. From his tone, it could be heard that this was not the first time the problem of "money" had arisen.

Minister of War Hramed replied affirmatively: "Yes! We have already owed too much money, and many of our partners have fallen into financial difficulties because of this. Now they are demanding that we pay the debt first before they can organize production. "

It was common for the Tsarist government to owe companies money, but it was rare for them to owe so much this time.

The capitalists were not fools. They knew that the Tsarist government's finances were in trouble, so they naturally would not continue to owe.

In this regard, the Russian officials were their allies. if the companies could not make money, what could they give them as rebates?

Not only the military enterprises, but all the companies that cooperated with the Tsarist government, but they also had a lot of debt.

If these problems weren't resolved, the Russian Empire wouldn't even need to think about next year's war.

Alexander II asked expectantly, "What plans does the Ministry of Finance have to solve the current crisis?"

The solution: There were two solutions, Kristanval, Kristanval, Minister., Minister, Kristanval of the Finance Ministry, Minister, Kristanval Minister

Helplt. of Kristanval, and Kristanval, Kri, Kristanval. Minister, Kristanval, Treasury, and Kristanval.

In fact, when the Russian Army first occupied East Prussia, many people in the outside world were optimistic about them. The Finance Ministry used this opportunity to sell a batch of bonds.

Then, there was nothing. Now, no one was interested in their bonds. Even the Minister of Finance himself was not sure if these bonds could be redeemed.

War was a gold-eating beast. Russia was a feudal empire that was transitioning to capitalism, and the funds that could be mobilized were very limited.

Of course, this did not mean that they had no money. It was just that the shrewd financiers pretended to be poor and did not have the slightest intention of helping the Tsarist government.

Alexander II Of Russia sneered. "Can't the domestic financial community think of a way? As far as I know, they still hold the foreign debts of many European countries! "

There was nothing wrong with it. The Tsarist government borrowed from foreign banks, and Russia's banks lent overseas. This was all normal financial activity.

The only abnormal thing was that these banks were not willing to lend money to the Tsarist government.

Of course, this was not entirely a problem with the banks. It was more because the previous Tsar governments were too ruthless. There were many cases of borrowing without repayment, and no one was willing to continue to be fooled.

This topic was stuck. Now that the government's finances were collapsing, it was understandable that the domestic banks did not dare to lend money.

Seeing that no one answered, Alexander II Of Russia did not continue this topic. He knew that for bureaucrats, some things could be done, but not said. Otherwise, it would be easy to give political enemies something to use against them.

"How much money can we raise?"

Minister of Finance Kristanval thought for a moment and said, "Preliminary estimates are that we can collect 86 million rubles in war tax. As for finding foreign banks for loans, the exact amount is uncertain.

It depends on how much collateral we can come up with. There are also political factors that need to be taken into account. "

"86 million rubles" may seem like an astronomical number, but in fact, it was not enough to repay the company's debts. It was a drop in the bucket in a war.

It was not that rubles were worthless. The key was that the war was too expensive. Firing hundreds of tons of artillery shells a day was only a basic operation.

In fact, this was already very economical. There were 500,000 to 600,000 soldiers fighting at the frontline. Even if each soldier used five bullets a day, it would still be more than three million rounds.

With so many troops, on average, no matter how economical they were, they had to fire at least a few thousand rounds a day.

Just the basic ammunition consumption alone would cost hundreds of thousands of rubles a day. Coupled with the logistical consumption, it was inevitable to spend millions of rubles a day.

After all, the cost of materials on the battlefield was not the cost price. Many strategic materials were transported from the rear to the hands of the Russian Army at the frontline, and the price had increased several times.

Alexander II Of Russia frowned and asked, "Tell me, what are you going to use as collateral, and how much can you borrow?"

Alexander II Of Russia was very unhappy with the feeling of being out of control. Unfortunately, the reality was that he had no other choice. He could not just hand over the hegemony of Europe, right?

If he could not even handle the small Kingdom of Prussia, Russia's international status would probably fall from the top to the Fao, and it might even be behind Prussia.

Most of the political gains from the war in the Near East would be wasted in this failure.

Kristanval, the Minister of Finance, chose to play the ball without hesitation. "It depends on the results of the negotiations. Now, it's not about what we are giving, but what the other party wants.

We can contact more countries and choose the most favorable terms for us. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the professional in this area. "

Clarence Ivanov, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, stared at Kristanval. This was clearly a scam.

International loans were never easy to get. Loans with no strings attached might exist, but the Tsarist government could not borrow from them.

Once they signed an additional contract that harmed the country's interests, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would be the scapegoat. Clarence's mood instantly turned sour.

"Your Majesty, the current funding gap is too big. There are only a few countries in the world that have the ability to provide this loan. Our options are almost non-existent.

If we rely on international loans to solve the financial crisis, I'm afraid we will have to pay a high price to borrow the money.

Why don't we think of a way in the country? The Russian Empire is so big that it should be able to raise a few hundred million rubles. "

Clarence's position was very clear. It was best not to borrow money. This time, the funding gap was too big. Even if they borrowed money, they would not be able to pay it back in the future.

Now, they did not have a lot of chips to use as collateral. Other than the vast country, Clarence did not think there was anything else that could be used as collateral.

It was easy to renege on a debt, but a loan with collateral was different. Now, no one had the ability to provide loans to them. When the other party wanted to take away the collateral, they could not fight a war, right?

This was obviously impossible. If they had the money to fight a war, they would have paid the debt a long time ago. War was actually the most extravagant toy. It was not suitable for the poor to play with.

Instead of being put in a difficult position, it was better to flip the table in advance. If the government had no money, they would ask the rich for it. Anyway, it wasn't the first time he had done it. His ancestors had left him some experience.

If they did this, not only could they solve the debt crisis in one fell swoop, they might also be able to stuff some money into their pockets. The pigs were already very fat, and it was time to kill them.

Alexander Ii Of Russia nodded. This might not be the best choice, but it was the most suitable choice for the Tsarist government.

Under the tacit agreement of the Tsarist government, the Jews began to be unlucky. The upper class only targeted the Jewish financial capitalists, but the middle and lower class Jews also suffered.

The nobles naturally would not let go of this opportunity to get rich. Whether it was the Reformist Party or the Conservative Party, on this issue, their stance was unprecedentedly consistent.