"Your Excellency, Sir Davis, Mr. Johnson, and Baron Anderson have requested to meet you."

The embassy assistant walked into the backyard of the legation and reported to Williams.

"How long have they been here?"

"About ten minutes."

The assistant replied: "According to your instructions, if you receive an application for a meeting between the three consortiums of Lloyds Bank, Jinbas Group, and Barclays Bank, find a reason to send them away as much as possible."

Only this time they seemed to have an urgent matter to discuss with you, and they stayed in front of the legation and were unwilling to leave. ”

"What a bunch of nasty guys, they're like flies, they're boring!"

Williams was clearly tired of dealing with these financial jackals, and his words were filled with a deep sense of disgust.

"Tell them that I am not feeling well today, and if there is anything important, let them discuss it with Mr. Torres, Counsellor of the Legation."

"Three gentlemen have asked me to convey to you that they have come to discuss with you how to deal with the investment of the Empire's property in the Republic of Brazil, and if you can help them solve their difficulties, the three consortiums are willing to jointly fund the purchase and transfer to you of a villa in the heart of Oxford Street, London."

"Every time these bastards come to the legation, nothing good happens."

After listening to the assistant's explanation, Williams's tone changed slightly, and the expression on his face was not as excited and bored as just now.

"Tell them to let them rest in the living room first, and when I change into my formal dress, I'll go see them immediately."

"Yes, Your Excellency." …………

Lloyds Bank, Kimbas Group, and Barclays Bank are three emerging capital consortia, probably in the 1850s, the founders of the three consortia took advantage of the opportunity of the British government to sign a trade agreement with the Brazilian Empire, with tens of thousands of pounds raised in the London stock market, into the Brazilian Empire's commodity market, and then relying on the extrajudicial jurisdiction and commercial privileges of British businessmen, the founders of the three consortia opened up the situation in the fields of minerals and finance respectively, and gradually expanded the scope of business from Rio de Janeiro, expanding to the rest of the Brazilian Empire.

Although the divided and turbulent international environment in South America has caused serious damage to the economic development of South American countries, with the support of the British Empire's maritime military power and political hegemony all over the world, British businessmen like Lloyds Bank, Kimbas Group, and Barclays Bank are like fish in water, and they wantonly use the privileges in their hands to seek attractive economic benefits for themselves in countries dominated by white descendants in Latin America.

Because of the intervention of the British, since Latin America was freed from Spanish colonial rule in the 1810s, almost every war and conflict has had the shadow of the British side.

In these conflicts, British merchants and capital consortia did not look at the land itself,

Rather, it is a natural resource and industrial market with huge economic benefits.

After 1850, with the expansion of American capital, British capital investment in South America increased significantly.

Until then, Britain had positioned Latin America as a pure exporter of goods, not capital.

Britain's interest in Latin America, as in Asia and Africa, is to find markets for its own industrial firms.

However, by the middle of the 19th century, the Second Industrial Revolution had entered its explosive period, and Britain's domestic capital had increased several times in a few decades, and the discovery of gold in California and South Africa had saturated traditional financial markets.

In order to achieve higher profits, Britain had to invest increased capital in the mining and export of mineral raw materials and basic products from Latin America, in order to ensure the transportation and distribution of products.

British capital began to develop the necessary transport lines (railways. highways and ports), as well as a variety of service facilities.

At the same time, the loans of the British financial consortium to Latin American governments have multiplied.

Once the loans are obtained, Latin American Governments use them to cover a variety of costs, including military and non-military costs.

Due to the financial and economic penetration of the United Kingdom into Latin America, especially Brazil,

As a result, Brazil and other Latin American countries have greatly increased their dependence on British capital.

However, the indigenous countries of Latin America are different from the Han state, in which the Han government is able to develop a self-reliant industrial economy through general regulation and borrowing imported foreign capital, while other Latin American indigenous countries can only create a situation of debt bondage.

This situation continues to deteriorate, and the serious consequence is that the government and private individuals are unable to repay foreign debts, and then British capital, in order to secure the safety of early loan investments, can only risk intervening in the internal affairs of other countries, directly participating in the political and economic operations of the indigenous countries of Latin America, and then, in order to maximize their capital interests and let the economies of the countries receiving foreign debts develop according to their interests, they will always use all their influence, through pressure and bribery, Tailor the country's policies to the interests of powerful individuals.

Both the British capitalists and the local comprador merchant oligarchs wanted to pursue a conservative national policy and thus preserve the privileges of the financiers and comprador merchants.

In this way, they have to mobilize their political and military pawns to overthrow nationalist governments or governments of social transformation against the oligarchs.

Sometimes, they also push the countries that depend on them into international conflicts that are beneficial to them.

Whenever a nation rose up against their control, they had to induce the hegemonic British government to send an expeditionary force to intervene in the disobedient country.

All this is done in the name of defending "civilization" (the civilization of monopoly imperialism) and against "barbarism" (all words and deeds that doubt the leadership of the British capitalist consortium, financiers and merchant oligarchs).

In 1865, Britain came forward to reconcile the contradictions between Brazil and Argentina, and instigated the two countries to form an alliance to suppress the Paraguayan government.

In 1879, the British Expeditionary Fleet directly intervened in the Argentine War, also for this purpose.

It's just that the British are too barbaric and greedy for economic colonization, and it will be difficult to last for a long time after all.

While Britain's capital plundering investment aggravated the semi-colonial degree of Latin America,

It has also made the contradictions between the indigenous countries of Latin America and Britain more and more acute.

In 1886, Balmaceda, who advocated the expulsion of British capital and the nationalization of saltpeter and mineral resources, was elected as the new president, and after a year in office, he won the allegiance of Chilean army officers.

The election of Balmaceda as president of Chile was a heavy blow to the power of British capital, and many Chilean comprador businessmen who were dependent on British capital were suppressed by the presidential faction and the army faction, and the situation of British capital in Chile became more and more difficult.

Similar to Chile, the situation of the British capital consortium in the Republic of Brazil is not good, and the government of the Republic of Brazil invests most of the capital obtained through loans into military build-up operations, and the infrastructure and transportation construction projects that should have been led by the Brazilian Republican Government are assigned to businessmen from the United Kingdom, the United States, and other countries.

Although the Republic of Brazil imitated the policy of attracting foreign capital to develop its own economy, the Republic of Brazil, which was unstable both at home and abroad, did not have the same strict security situation as the Han State.

Due to the poor basic transportation and deteriorating public security, the real industry invested by the British consortium is not only unable to use road traffic to transport raw materials to other regions, but also faces the risk of raw materials being looted.

It is precisely under this severe test that the three capital consortia, Lloyds Bank, the Kimbas Group, and Barclays Bank, which have suffered economic losses for several years, cannot wait to request a meeting with Williams, the British Minister to the Republic of Brazil.

"What? Do you want to suspend economic support for the Republic of Brazil and withdraw the financial loans promised to the Government of the Republic of Brazil? ”

Williams walked into the meeting room and was incredulous when he heard the demands of the three consortiums.

"Yes, Your Excellency, you heard me right. The three consortiums, Banco Lloyds, Gimbas and Banco Barclays, are ready to suspend the loan program and no longer provide financial support to the Government of the Brazilian Republic. ”

Davis, manager of the old Ed Bank, confirmed.

"Why are you doing this?"

"Loans to the government of the Republic of Brazil can no longer bring due economic benefits to the consortium, and as a businessman, when the commercial projects handled show signs of loss, it is the most rational choice to terminate the cooperation plan and stop the loss in time."

"Well, this is your freedom, and I have no right to interfere."

Williams received the benefits promised by the three consortiums and had no intention of seeking benefits for the Brazilian republican government, but he was still curious as a diplomat: "The mines in the south-central region of Minas Gerais and the railways passing through the Belo Horizonte transit station are very high-quality economic industries, why did you suddenly change your mind and prefer to abandon these high-quality industries rather than terminate the loan agreement?" ”

"Railways and mining fields are indeed very high-quality economic industries, but now these industries do not bring the desired economic benefits to the consortium."

A well-dressed middle-aged white man with a so-called gentlemanly demeanor on his face replied: "Your Excellency should be aware of the current predicament of the Brazilian Republic, more than 100,000 Brazilian troops have entered Paraguay for three months, but have not achieved a decisive victory, Asunción is still in the hands of the Paraguayans, and with the Han ** team entering Paraguay to fight, the situation of the Paraguayan war will also change drastically, according to the analysis of the combat experience of the Han and other countries in South America, None of the more than 30 shareholders of the Golden Bas consortium believed that the Brazilian Republic would be able to defeat the Han ** team and win the Paraguayan War.

Therefore, in order to prevent the terrible consequences of the defeat of the Brazilian Republic, the Golden Bas consortium decided to suspend the loan transaction plan and abandon the commercial expansion plan in the Brazilian Republic for the next few years. ”

"Barclays also intends to shrink its commercial presence in the Republic of Brazil and cease its loan transaction agreements with the Government of the Republic of Brazil."

"The security of the Republic of Brazil is protected by the Imperial Government. Even if the Republic of Brazil was defeated in the war, the imperial government was able to stop the Han invasion of the Republic of Brazil proper.

The three of them were a little unwarranted. ”

Williams explained, frowning.

"Any unexpected situation can happen in the war, and no one can predict what the worst outcome will be after the war, so the safest way to deal with it is to suspend the loan program and shrink the business layout in the Brazilian Republic for the safety of investment funds."

"I hope your worries are unfounded, otherwise the situation in South America will change dramatically."

"We also hope that the worst will not come." …………