Holy Roman Empire-Chapter 999 - 13, "Benevolent" People Emerge

Chapter 999: Chapter 13, “Benevolent” People Emerge

Once again, it was proven that being the leader was no easy task; at crucial moments, one must take the thunder for their subordinates. The debt between Prussia and the British was common knowledge, undeniable by anyone.

“Repaying debt is a matter of course.”

Even though the political situation had changed, the Kingdom of Prussia as the creditor still existed, and so did the debt. The British were to collect the debt according to the loan agreement, and no one could dispute that.

Initially, this had little to do with Franz. The debt of the sub-states wasn’t the Central Government’s liability; the Empire wasn’t obligated to bear it for them. Even if the British were to pursue the debt, they couldn’t hold the Vienna Government responsible.

The problem was that the Berlin Government was now playing dead, elevating the “debt issue” to a matter of national sovereignty, which landed the issue squarely on the shoulders of the Vienna Government.

Fulfilling the contract was impossible; if they truly followed the treaty, the people’s saliva alone could drown Vienna.

Paying the money was out of the question; if today they helped the Kingdom of Prussia repay the debt, who knows how many sub-state governments would go bankrupt tomorrow. In the face of interest, politicians’ integrity was always low.

Defaulting was even more unlikely. As a newly emerging hegemon, the Vienna Government had to maintain its international image.

Especially since the Vienna Government had its own debts to collect externally—if they openly displayed helplessness, others could later use “international custom” as an excuse to default.

It’s safe to say the Vienna Government was now pushed into an extremely awkward situation. Wilhelm II had personally come to Vienna for assistance, which likely wasn’t just to seek help but probably more to “seek forgiveness.”

With such a mess caused, it was evident they couldn’t leave without making some sort of deal. Even though the sub-states had a high degree of autonomy, the Central Government could still make things difficult for them.

Now, by displaying their plight, aside from some embarrassment, the actual losses were minimal. Even if the Vienna Government was intent on settling scores, after this debacle, they no longer had the means to act.

Such were the rules of the game; Prussia had indeed acted unethically this time, but with the King himself coming forward to apologize, matters would likely settle down, and pursuing it further would seem overly aggressive.

Rubbing his forehead, Franz asked with concern, “Has the Cabinet prepared to handle Prussia’s debt issue?”

Prime Minister Carl, “The most ideal outcome would naturally be for the British to make concessions. Allowing the Prussian Government to delay payments or restructure the debt, with part of it offset by the reparations Prussia received from the anti-France war.

Almost impossibly, Britain too was continuing its financial crisis, and the London Government was in dire need of funds. Without significant benefits, they had no reason to accept a deferral of debts.

Debt restructuring was even more troublesome. The situation in the Kingdom of Prussia was still somewhat stable; had it not been for the Berlin Government’s previous failed projects, financial bankruptcy wouldn’t have occurred.

France was the real disaster. From the current situation, it would be a Godsend if the Paris Government did not go bankrupt. As for the war reparations, one shouldn’t hold too much hope in the next two or three years.

We had previously tricked the British in the debt issue within the German Federation, and now they would likely accept no form of debt transfer.

Without breaching contracts or sacrificing national sovereignty, the only possibility was to secretly conduct a deal to extract concessions from the British on Prussia’s debt.”

While betting on the nation’s fortune could yield great profits, its failure would equally bear a grievous cost. Over the past years, the Kingdom of Prussia had been paying the price for previously gambling on their national fortune.

Even though they emerged as victors from the anti-France war, the reparations they received were still insufficient to fill the previous deficits.

Thinking of this, Franz suddenly understood Wilhelm II’s decision. Without shedding the mountainous “debt,” the Kingdom of Prussia would always be at the bottom in the Holy Roman Empire.

Indeed, at the very bottom. Having to pay tens of millions of Divine Shields in reparations each year, the Berlin Government simply lacked extra financial power for national construction.

After the re-establishment of the Holy Roman Empire, a major event had occurred within the Berlin government: someone proposed converting two divisions of infantry into the Central Army.

There was no other reason, but sheer unaffordability. Handing the army over to the Central Government not only saved money, maintaining Prussia’s security was still ensured by these same people.

In the eyes of government officials, even if the army was retained, the command would be taken by the Central Government anyway. Even if the King still had command rights, it had nothing to do with the Berlin Government.

However, this move faced strong opposition from Wilhelm II himself. The command taken by the Central Government was only during wartime. In peacetime, the highest military officer of the state army was still the King.

Once converted to the Central Army, it was different. Even though the Holy Roman Empire’s constitution stipulated that the state monarch was the highest military officer of the local stationed army, those who could truly command were still the state’s own army.

As for the Central Army, its military expenses were allocated by the Emperor, and its generals appointed by the Emperor. Wilhelm II was not naïve enough to believe that losing these rights, merely a nominal supreme command, would enable him to control the army.

It seemed inconsequential in normal times, but when something did happen and there was a need to use the army, suddenly finding oneself unable to command the troops would be disastrous.

In a sense, losing military power meant losing the ability to overturn the table. Subordinates could recklessly bypass the King, simply playing by the rules of the game, and few kings could outplay their ministers.

Just look at the numerous sub-states of the Holy Roman Empire; none with any substantial family assets ever gave up their army, including the major nobles vested overseas who, within the legal limits, had formed their own private armies.

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According to data compiled by the Vienna Government, the total military strength of the various state armies + aristocratic private armies in the Holy Roman Empire amounted to about a third of the total number of Empire troops.

If various colonial groups and civilian militias are included, this ratio might well exceed half. In other words, these miscellaneous armed forces were numerically on par with the Central Army.

This was an inevitable outcome; sub-states are a historical issue. If the Vienna Government doesn’t pay attention to appearances, why would anyone bother to follow them?

It goes without saying for aristocratic private armies and civilian colonial militias; without these people, where would the Empire’s colonies come from?

The territories were fought for and won blade by blade, gun by gun; when it came time to divide the spoils, could they possibly kick these people out?

Even if they were to burn bridges, that would only need to be considered after crossing the river. The territory of the Holy Roman Empire had already exceeded that of any nation in history. If they were to truly implement direct central government control, even if not dragged down by administrative expenditures, they would be killed off by endless rebellions.

Did Franz really want to distribute vast fiefs? It was all out of practical necessity. Without dividing the cake, why would subordinates risk their lives for you?

Just look at the actual results; every major Colonial Empire was troubled by nationalistic rebellions, only the Vienna Government had never been bothered.

In fact, the Holy Roman Empire did not have the most private armies. The most were under the British, only masqueraded as companies, colonial governments, or dominions.

Simply put, if you opened up a colony, the British Government would authorize you to establish a Colonial Government, for instance, the East India Company.

Of course, whether you could keep it depended on your operational capabilities, or perhaps your domestic political connections.

Direct management, with only the limited number of Lobster Soldiers, could at most govern a Canada. No more than that, any more would be too much to handle.

Everyone was struggling for their rights, and Wilhelm II, having already secured his, naturally was unwilling to give them up. If one were to analyze seriously, it would not be hard to see that the bankruptcy that befell the Berlin Government was the result of compromises within various factions in Prussia.

After a moment of reflection, Franz shook his head, “Prussia owes the British a huge sum, and even if the London Government were willing to compromise, the consortium behind them would not let it rest.

There must be an exchange of interests, but we need to have interests that they would want to exchange. We surely can’t make major strategic concessions just because of debts, can we?

When the British come knocking, we’ll talk to them slowly. Try to delay as much as possible, and perhaps when the economic crisis is over, the Kingdom of Prussia will have the funds to pay off the debts.”

In the face of interests, morals and such aren’t worth mentioning. The situation is very clear now, to solve the problem is to face dilemmas. If you don’t want to solve the problem, then there are no troubles.

After all, it’s the Kingdom of Prussia that is defaulting, not the Holy Roman Empire. The current debt service contradicts imperial laws, but that’s not the responsibility of the Vienna Government.

They might as well let the British take it to the Imperial Court for litigation, let those people in the court deal with the headache. This could be a good opportunity to push the legislators to introduce a law “Prohibiting Local Mortgage Public Rights Debt.”

Before this, Franz had already leaked hints, but seeing the strong resistance from the state governments, he had hesitated to propose it. The Prussian debt crisis provided a perfect opportunity.

The definition of “public rights” is very broad—state sovereignty, government fiscal revenues, state-owned assets, even government office buildings can be seen as part of public rights.

Once the law is passed, the state governments seeking loans could not present any collateral, and the only thing left to rely on would be government credibility.

Pure credit loans, that wouldn’t require Franz to worry anymore. Not to mention whether anyone would dare to lend such huge amounts of debt, even if someone did lend and there was a default, it wouldn’t involve state sovereignty.

If they can’t pay back, then they can’t pay back; if they go bankrupt, then they go bankrupt. Nowadays, local government bankruptcies on the European Continent are all too common. No matter how much they dodge responsibility, they can’t toss it into the lap of the Central Government.

…

The Prussian debt crisis was just a small episode in the global economic crisis ravaging the world, and the people of Europe were too anxious to care about gossip; they were soon going to be without food.

Even if newspapers reported on it, most couldn’t afford to buy one. Amid the sweeping wave of unemployment, what people were most concerned about were job postings.

Taking the Holy Roman Empire as an example, after the full outbreak of the economic crisis, the domestic unemployment rate skyrocketed by five times, and there were signs that it would continue to grow.

That was still a relatively good situation because the empire had a part of the African Continent to relieve pressure. Before the economic crisis, the domestic unemployment rate was very low.

Like previous economic downturns, after this crisis erupted, colonial governments and aristocratic lords still came to the mainland to recruit people.

One could see from the newspapers, advertisements for jobs in the colonies were everywhere.

It’s simply “going to work.” After so many years of immigration, those who wanted to emigrate had mostly already left, and those remaining either didn’t want to leave their hometowns or couldn’t for some reason.

To keep up with the times, the current recruitment advertisements no longer explicitly required immigration. They only asked for signing long-term labor contracts to work for 5 or 10 years.

After all, time is the best catalyst. After mixing in the colonies for five or ten years, even those who want to leave would have to think thrice about it.

There is no way around it—treatment. These days, aristocratic lords are all “good people,” not only offering high salaries but also very “kindhearted,” willing to stand up for their staff if problems arise.

They especially liked staff to bring their families along, not only offering free housing but also guaranteeing job placements, and even taking care of children’s education.

Really very “kindhearted.” Look at the Empire Orphanage, most have been abandoned, and the few remaining ones house only some physically unwell children, normal orphans have all been adopted by these “kindhearted” folks.

Even the recent problem of refugee orphans at the border that troubled the Vienna Government had been solved by these “kindhearted” individuals.

After the outbreak of the economic crisis, the activities of these “kindhearted” people had expanded from the empire across the whole European Continent. With them around, no one needed to worry about affording to raise children anymore.

In a way, this was also a major bright spot in this economic crisis; fewer people were starving to death. If you’re hungry, you could seek out these “kindhearted” people.

Of course, they don’t take just anyone. The “kindhearted” are very lenient with children, but they are quite strict with adults.

They don’t take street thugs, those with criminal records, those with ill intentions, those with great resentments towards society, those who bear grudges…

None of these requirements affected Eves; as an all-around good youth, if he were willing to work in the colonies, he would have at least a hundred employers to choose from.

That’s right, choosing an employer. Nearly all the fief aristocrats of the Holy Roman Empire were short of people, and they had tried all means to increase their workforce.

If they weren’t worried about language barriers and the detriment to territory management, they might have started poaching internationally.

In fact, agencies specializing in providing immigrants for fief aristocrats had already emerged. If they can’t recruit people locally, they’d try to find a way internationally.

Language barriers were no issue; they could provide training; different dietary habits, everyone’s starving, so who’s picky?

Even labor skills and obedience could be trained. Some agencies’ trained immigrants could even be directed to do anything.

The only problem was that these trained immigrants were too expensive. Most aristocrats couldn’t afford this high-standard service, and to save costs, they’d rather recruit people themselves.

A straightforward local youth like Eves was exactly the kind of talent everyone welcomed, so naturally, he had no trouble finding a job.

The problem was that Eves did not want to leave his hometown; he just wanted to find a local job to support his family. Unfortunately, there truly were none.

If it had been before the economic crisis, finding a regular job locally would have been no issue.

Unfortunately, it was during the economic crisis, and most businesses and factories were too busy laying off staff to think about hiring.

After flipping through today’s newspaper, Eves finally found a local business recruitment ad in a small corner.

He had not even had time to rejoice when his expression immediately fell. There was no way around it, the recruitment conditions were simply too high.

It required not only a high school education but also professional work experience, both of which he did not have.