One day in mid-March 1940, a Deutsche Air Heinkel He-39 took off from Berlin's Hohenzollern International Airport and arrived at Limerick's No. 2 Airport after more than four hours of non-stop flight. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Although the twin-engine airliner did not stand out from the outside, the Irish rolled out the red carpet to the gangway and arranged for a small military band out of special respect for the passengers on board.

The sun was shining brightly in Limerick on this day, but when he walked out of the hatch, the German Imperial Chancellor of the Exchequer, Count Alfred von der Schulenburg, was full of gloomy faces, followed by Dr. Arms von Struensee, Chief Financial Adviser to the German Imperial Parliament, and Count Rutz Graf Schwerin von Kolochk, Chancellor of the Prussian Exchequer, all with solemn expressions.

In contrast, the 61-year-old Irish Prime Minister, Earl Patrick Pearce, was still in good spirits, while the Irish Chancellor of the Exchequer and German aristocratic Earl Herbert von Brentano bowed his head slightly and showed a confident look. The storm of the financial crisis swept Europe again after 13 years, and those countries that were extremely optimistic about the economic situation a few months ago fell one after another, and as a trade export country, the Kingdom of Ireland and its brother and friend, the Kingdom of Wales, were also affected, in just two months, Ireland's exports fell by 70% compared with the same period last year, a large number of orders were cancelled, the goods in the terminal transit warehouse were piled up, a large number of payments were in arrears, and entrepreneurs were worried...... Even so, social order in Ireland and Wales remained relatively stable, with no mass protests or mass suicide jumpers, and prices rose within acceptable limits thanks to effective government intervention. In order to maintain economic and financial stability, the two kingdoms across the sea adopted coercive measures to control foreign exchange markets and financial transactions at the same time, which attracted strong protests from many foreign investors, and many countries in the Allied camp also expressed dissatisfaction with the "forced closure" of Ireland and Wales, but these protests and accusations did not shake the current strategy of Ireland and Wales, two close allies who are struggling to maintain their independence in the turbulent times.

In front of the gangway, Schulenburg held Pierce's hand, and the two exchanged pleasantries for a full minute before shaking hands with each other's entourage in accordance with etiquette. After that, Schulenburg and Pierce were in the same car, and Struensee, Kološik and Brentano were in the same car, and the group left the airport and headed straight for the "Forest Palace" on the outskirts of the city.

In view of the unstable domestic situation in European countries, Xia Shu canceled the plan to take his family to Bavaria for a spring outing, but fortunately, the plants in the greenhouse are growing well, and as the temperature rises, his greatest pleasure after work every day is to accompany his wife and daughter to transplant seedlings and flowers outdoors one by one, waiting for tulips and spring flowers to bloom.

Of course, in the face of this sudden financial crisis, Natsuki had to lead his subjects to go all out, so the daily working hours were much more than before, and he had to constantly receive panicked representatives of entrepreneurs, and frequently spoke out on the radio or in the press, using his special prestige to appease the people of the whole country to tide over the difficulties. In the past two months, Ireland and Wales have been the least harmed European countries outside of Switzerland by intervening in advance to control the capital markets and increase their gold reserves, and the Irish government's capital reserves remained above the safety line at the end of February, and it was sitting on more than $50 billion in US Treasury bonds converted from war reparations and arms purchase arrears, which means that they retain valuable strength to fight back decisively if the situation deteriorates.

For the arrival of Count Schulenburg, Dr. Struensey, Count Kološik and others, Natsuki expressed seven points of welcome and three points of regret. Through two major wars separated by 19 years, Germany plundered vast colonial territories and huge war reparations, essentially solved the problem of resources and labor that restricted industrial development, and always maintained a leading position in the world in scientific and technological research and development and application, it is said that the immunity to the economic crisis has been greatly enhanced, but the short-sightedness and utilitarianism of the ruling class have laid a fatal hidden danger for the invasion of the financial turmoil, although this terrible crisis will not hurt the country's fundamentals, but it is enough to make its development stagnate or even regress.

So far, we can only make amends, stop the decline, and reduce losses as much as possible.

After some polite greetings, Count Schulenburg, who was the Reich's Chancellor of the Exchequer, euphemistically said that Germany hoped that the Central Bank of Ireland would buy at least 50 billion marks of German government bonds in gold to help the German government stabilize the financial markets.

At the real-time exchange rate, 50 billion marks is about 120 billion dollars, equivalent to 2.3 times Ireland's GDP in 1939 or 8 times the Irish government's fiscal revenue that year, and if all bought in gold, it would cost 60% of the Central Bank of Ireland's gold reserves.

During the conversation, the Earl of Schulenburg spoke more than once of the help he received from Germany in the early days of the Kingdom of Ireland. Twenty-four years ago, in addition to the 20 million marks provided by the royal family, the Central Bank of Ireland relied on free aid and preferential credit from the Germans, and today, the Central Bank of Ireland can be among the top 10 European banks, although it is the result of Ireland's national efforts, and the long-term support of German capital is also inseparable.

However, in Xia Shu's eyes, the friendship of allies belongs to the friendship of allies, and the interests of the country belong to the interests of the country, and the two cannot be confused after all. When the war broke out, the fundamental reason why Ireland entered the war against the wind was that Germany could become the victor, and although the course of the war reverberated with twists and turns, with the joint efforts of the military and civilians of the two countries, it still succeeded in defeating the United States and Britain, which had a larger economy and population, and Ireland's direct benefits were close to 100 billion US dollars, which can be said to be an out-and-out war windfall.

On the other hand, at the end of the 30s, the German Empire nominally had more than 5,000 tons of gold reserves, ranking first in the world, almost equivalent to the sum of other European countries, but after the outbreak of the financial crisis, these gold reserves were magnified nearly ten times in the face of the leverage is difficult to play a role in stabilizing people's minds, not to mention that a considerable part of these gold only exist on paper, and the physical goods are lent in various ways, and it is not easy to return to Zhao in a short period of time. Under the current circumstances, even if Ireland offered all the more than 600 tons of gold with both hands, it would at best ease the crisis in Germany, and it would be difficult to turn the tide.

"As a member of the House of Hohenzollern, I have an obligation to help every member of the family to the best of their ability, and as the monarch of the Kingdom of Ireland and Wales, I have an equally duty to ensure their safety, so I must find a way to get the best of both worlds in the matter at hand."

With that, Natsuki glanced at everyone. As Chancellor of the Exchequer of the German Empire, Count von de Schulenburg had a steady demeanor, and when the "King of the Double" spoke on the other side, he always looked at him with expectation, but did not take it lightly. Dr. Mös-von Struensee, the chief financial adviser to the Imperial Diet, was at first glance a learned expert, listening with great attention to every word and even syllable that Natsuki spoke, ready to explain or refute. As for Count von Kološik, the Chancellor of the Prussian Exchequer, this man with a wide forehead, a high nose and bright eyes had already caught the attention of Natsuki. He studied law and politics at Halle, Lausanne and Oriel College, Oxford (Rhodes Scholarship), joined the army during World War I, was awarded the Iron Cross for his bravery in battle, retired from politics after the war, and became an expert in the financial sector for a long time. In Natsuki's eyes, this extraordinary man also has another special experience - the old time and space history from 1932 to 1945 as the German finance minister, after the German surrender to the position of chief minister (equivalent to the chancellor) of the provisional government, that is, he was the elder of the three dynasties throughout the Weimar Republic, the Third Reich and the post-war provisional government, considering the ups and downs of many strongmen and the prominent position of the finance minister, his experience can only be described as magical.

"With Your Majesty's unparalleled ingenuity, you must have found such a solution." The Count of Schulenburg replied flatteringly.

Natsuki continued to sell Guanzi: "To put it simply, it is to apply certain military strategies in the war to the economy. I am completely sure of the battle on the battlefield, but for an economic war in which we cannot see the smoke of gunpowder, I can only say that I will do my best, and whether or not I can succeed in the end depends on all of you who are familiar with the laws of economic operation. ”

Count Schulenberg and Dr. Struensea had deferential expressions, while Count Kološik nodded slightly.

Natsuki raised the corners of his mouth and smiled: "The Kingdom of Ireland and the Kingdom of Wales can announce to the outside world that they will subscribe to German government bonds of 1500 to 200 billion marks within a certain period of time, and most of them will be paid in hard currencies such as gold and silver. ”

As soon as these words came out, the two counts opposite and Dr. Struensee, an expert in economics, all showed surprise.

Natsuki explained unhurriedly: "If we force the United States to pay the remaining war reparations and trade arrears in hard currency, plus the existing gold reserves in Ireland and Wales, it is perfectly feasible to subscribe to 150 billion marks of German government bonds, but in reality we don't need to complete such a large-scale transaction, only a symbolic delivery of 5 billion to 10 billion marks, which can play a stabilizing role." As for the follow-up, you can also adopt this model, using one mark to play the role of five or even ten marks. Extraordinary methods in extraordinary times, everyone, as long as you can't be caught by the outside world, this kind of strategy will definitely be able to pass. ”

After thinking for a long time, the two counts suddenly had an epiphany, and then they were in awe of Natsuki, and as for Dr. Struensy, an old pedant, he thought about it again and again, and only after a long time did he cast a look at his two companions, "This method seems to be feasible".

(End of chapter)