Chapter 400： No money, I can only kill pigs (1/2)

Saint Petersburg, the Tsarist government at the center of the Vortex has had a hard time since the end of the East Prussian campaign.

Although the generals on the front line carried the blame, Alexander II understood that the real cause of the defeat of the Russian army was not the command of the generals.

If there was no such a quick order, perhaps the East Prussian campaign would continue. According to the original strategy, the Russian army only needed to compete with the Prussians and rely on the maritime superiority to win.

Offense and defense are not a concept at all. If the Russian army adopted a defensive strategy, it would definitely not lose so quickly. With the sudden increase in Prussian troops, they lost at most a few lines of defense.

”Money” became the culprit for the defeat of this battle, followed by the poor traffic of the Russian Empire, again the corrupt bureaucracy of the Tsarist government, and finally this ”decisive battle order”.

Secretary of the Army Heramede reported: ”His Majesty, we have mobilized, and the loss of troops on the front line can be filled in the next two months.

Weapons and equipment that have been lost are being prepared by domestic military enterprises to work day and night. We have already ordered from Austria for the shortfall, and will ensure that they will be equipped to the army before the spring of next year. ”

Hramed very wisely ignored the matter of accountability. Although the main officers on the front line have not been dismissed and held accountable, they have been ordered to commit crimes.

On the whole, they have passed. These officers were the greatest gains of the Russians in the Near East War and were the elite of the Russian army.

Now we still have to fight, and the savvy Alexander II will naturally not do the matter of self-destructing the Great Wall.

”It's still a question of money, isn't it?”

Alexander II asked helplessly, and he could tell from his tone that the question of ”money” had not appeared once or twice.

Secretary of the Army Heramede replied affirmatively: ”Yes! We have already owed too much money, and many of the cooperative companies have fallen into financial difficulties. Now they require that the arrears be paid before they can organize production. ”

It is common for the tsarist government to owe corporate money, but it is rare that it owes so much this time.

The capitalists are not fools, knowing that the tsarist government's finances have gone wrong, naturally they will not continue to owe credit.

In this respect, Tsarist officials and their ally are allies. Enterprises cannot make money. What do they give them as rebates?

Not only military industrial enterprises, but also the cooperative enterprises of the Tsarist government are now backing up a large amount of debt.

These problems are not resolved, and the Russian Empire does not have to consider next year's war and directly bows its heads.

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

Chancellor of the Exchequer Kristanval answered with a stern expression: ”There are two solutions: one is to levy a war tax again; the other is to borrow foreign debt.”

No bond issuance and no internal borrowing are undoubtedly an explanation: the credibility of the Tsarist government has collapsed, and domestic financial problems have also occurred.

In fact, when the Russian army just occupied East Prussia, many people were optimistic about them, and the Ministry of Finance took this opportunity to sell a batch of bonds.

Then there is no more, and now their bonds are left unattended again. Even the Minister of Finance himself is not sure whether these bonds can be paid.

War is a beast of gold, and Russia is a feudal empire that is transitioning to capitalism. The funds that can be mobilized are very limited.

Of course, this does not mean that they have no money, but savvy financiers, at this time pretending to be poor, have no intention of the Tsarist government at all.

Alexander II sneered and said, ”Can't the domestic financial community think of a solution? As far as I know, they still hold the foreign debts of many European countries!”

There is nothing wrong. The Tsarist government borrows from foreign banks, and Russian banks lend abroad. This is normal financial activity.

The only exception is that these banks are unwilling to lend money to the Tsarist government.

Of course, this is not all a bank problem. Most of the previous tsars played too hard, and there are many things that have not been repaid, and everyone is unwilling to continue to be fooled.

This topic is stuck. Now that the government's finances have collapsed, domestic banks are afraid to borrow.

Seeing no one answered, Alexander II did not continue the topic. He knew that for the bureaucrats: there are things that can be done, but they cannot be said, otherwise it is easy to leave them to the hands of political opponents.