Located on the east bank of the Shannon River, the Irish royal palace covers a total area of 120,000 square meters, equivalent to two-thirds of Buckingham Palace, half of the Kremlin, the palace building has a magnificent appearance, but both the scale and luxury are far less than the British and Russian royal palaces, the simple and practical style seems to be the continuation of the Prussian style, and due to the large number of reinforced concrete materials, more than 8,000 workers spent six months to complete the entire palace project. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

After the coronation ceremony, Natsuki officially moved into this palace with more than 300 rooms, and the busy figures of the Praetorian Guard, royal servants and guests made it not lack popularity from the beginning, but this could not hide the strange status quo of the entire Irish royal family with only Natsuki as a "light commander".

If the king marries an English woman at this time, even if they have a strong emotional foundation between them, it will cause doubts and disgust from all walks of life in Ireland, leaving an opportunity for people with ulterior motives to wait for the opportunity to create chaos, and besides, there has not been a good opportunity on the British side, in this regard, Natsuki has to wait patiently and continue to wait for the opportunity.

The nascent Kingdom of Ireland opted for a parliamentary constitutional monarchy, with the main power of the state supposedly in the hands of the parliament and the cabinet, but through a series of bloodless personnel adjustments, Natsuki firmly held the power of life and death in the country's own hands. He doesn't have to **** go to the cabinet or parliament to listen to political affairs, and those dedicated followers will come to the palace to report and ask for instructions. As a result, the King's Office, with its floor-to-ceiling windows on three sides and a panoramic view of the garden, is the most utilised room in the palace, with the new Prime Minister Fritz Horders and Admiral Wilhelm Grientz being the most frequent visitors.

On this morning, Natsuki had just returned from a walk in the garden when Fritz Horders was already waiting in his large glass house.

"The morning cabinet meeting discussed the next quarter's trade exports, the additional budget for the construction of the R-03, and Ford's acquisition of the shares of Limerick Vehicles, which lasted an hour and a half, with an average of 30 minutes each, and in fact everyone paid the highest attention to the trade front." The Prime Minister's report sounds like a puppet mouthpiece, but as a former German government official, he bears the imprint of diligence, dedication, excellence and stubbornness, and he has his own independent views on national affairs, and his knowledge and ability are sufficient to deal with the political affairs of a small country like Ireland.

After receiving the fragrant tea from Natsuki's hand, the conscientious new prime minister continued: "In the first quarter of the coming year, our exports are expected to reach 160 percent of the same period last year, and the absolute growth rate is optimistic, but considering that nearly half of our exports are for Germany, and the income is basically used to offset the loans given to us by Germany, the actual foreign exchange brought by exports this quarter has decreased to a large extent compared with last year." In order to reverse this situation, we plan to appropriately reduce exports to Germany in the second quarter and sell some milk, meat and leather products to other countries. According to our research, the recent high prices of agricultural and livestock products in Spain are likely related to the frequent protests, strikes and riots in recent years. ”

Natsuki asked, "Is it on the rise in the near future?" ”

Horders, a man of incomprehension, is a favorite of any leader, and he replied: "You mean the civil strife in Spain?" As far as we know, the capital, Madrid, as well as several cities in Catalonia, are being affected by the strike, and there are fears that the strike will turn into a revolution, and that the Spanish army may have begun to impose martial law. If necessary, I can ask the diplomats accredited to Spain to gather further intelligence. ”

Natsuki nodded, indicating that he thought it was necessary, and then asked, "How was our trade with Spain before?" ”

Hordes thought for a moment: "We import coal and iron ore and flour from Spain, we export a small amount of dairy products to Spain, and as you know, two months ago we received an order from the Spanish Navy for two small submarines, and that's basically the case. ”

"Many years ago, when I was a cadet in the navy, I visited Spain with a training ship and had a meeting with His Majesty Alfonso XIII. I remember that the Spanish official who accompanied him said that agriculture and animal husbandry are the pillar industries of the Spanish economy, and in addition to meeting domestic demand, there are usually a large number of exports. Natsuki recalled.

"It still is today." Horders replied, "Spain's predicament with basic necessities is entirely due to the civil strife that has lasted for several years." For all European countries, revolution is as terrible as a plague, and even the slightest hint of it can lead to a national upheaval. ”

Even if all the monarchs of Europe were afraid of revolution, Natsuki was certainly the exception, and he said frankly: "Revolution itself is not terrible, the point is that every country has more or less accumulated defects, and it is precisely because of class antagonism and discontent that people living at the bottom of society are quick to embrace revolutionary ideas and hope to change the status quo with a revolution." ”

Hordes was not a man of an open-minded mind who could accept revolution, so he did not continue on the subject, but said: "In view of the poor financial situation of the Spanish government, we agreed that exports to Spain must be made in cash or in the spot, and that the other party should not be allowed to pay on credit." ”

Natsuki and the ill-fated king of Spain still have no friendship, he just always felt that with Spain's geographical advantages and historical heritage, it could play a more active and important role in the European pattern in the 20th century, and the fact is that Spain was cautious and abided by neutrality during the war, and did not dare to take sides in politics, diplomacy and even militarily, and even when the defeat of the Allies was assured, the Spanish royal family and government still refused the invitation of the Allies to participate in the war, and played the role of spectators to the end.

After a short period of consideration, Natsuki proposed: "Personally, I feel that whether it is for humanitarian reasons or to lay the foundation for deeper cooperation between the two countries, we try to sell all kinds of necessities related to people's normal life at fair prices in our dealings with Spain, rather than taking advantage of the civil unrest in Spain to raise prices." ”

"I agree with you," replied Horders, "but our tolerance and benevolence will not necessarily benefit the ordinary people of Spain, because after the taxation authorities and the merchants have made a profit, the price of these goods will still be unaffordable for them when they are transferred to the common people." This can happen in any country of chaos, and the Irish know it all too well. ”

Such an analysis is reasonable, and Natsuki is speechless to refute it at all.

Seeing that His Majesty was silent, Horders thought that he had not yet figured it out, and tirelessly explained: "International trade is so ruthless that even if you have reached the point where you are starving, and you have no cash or goods to pay for, you will either try to get a loan, or you can only wait for humanitarian aid." Regardless of the fact that Ireland's current foreign trade situation is relatively optimistic, it is because the consumption of the war has caused the international prices of milk, meat, and leather products to rise to a certain extent, and in fact, the price of grain has also increased by more than 30% compared with before the war. Last year's grain production in Ireland was a once-in-a-decade bumper harvest, so the demand for food imports was low, so we were able to buy food at the right time, and if there was a bad weather and crops failed in large areas, we would also have to import food from abroad at extra high prices. ”

"Yes, you just reminded me." "I thought about this issue many months ago, instead of exporting surplus livestock products and importing crops, why not adjust the ratio of domestic crop cultivation and livestock rearing, and consider exporting on the basis of fully satisfying domestic demand," Natsuki said. Once Ireland's industry is in shape, we will no longer have to rely on livestock products for foreign exchange. ”

"The Irish people's enthusiasm for raising livestock can be traced back to the legacy of the Great Famine, and it is not easy to change people's perceptions that dairy products, canned meats and heavily processed leather goods have brought considerable profits to Ireland and people are less willing to cultivate crops that are unpredictable. Moreover, I remember that His Majesty said before that the future development trend is the division of labor and cooperation between countries, and it is better to have a technological and scale advantage in a certain field than to be all-encompassing. ”

Natsuki did not intend to overturn his previous assertion, but defended: "That's right, that's indeed the future development trend, so our industrial layout is specialized in military and auxiliary fields, and from the current situation, livestock raised on the same land has a higher economic value than cultivated crops, and it is a good deal to import grain with the funds obtained in exchange for exporting livestock products and surplus food." However, from the perspective of national stability and national defense security, if we can achieve self-sufficiency in agricultural production, it is equivalent to building a new line of defense for our territory, and its strategic value cannot be measured by mere economic interests. ”

After a few minutes of thought, the Prime Minister responded: "As you have said, there is an extraordinary strategic value in adjusting the ratio of agriculture and pasture, if it is only to meet the food needs of the existing population, it is enough to reconvert the pastures confiscated from the British into agricultural land, and to reduce the number of livestock, so that the food used for livestock can be saved accordingly, which will achieve the purpose without harming the immediate interests of the people." ”

Xia Shu immediately clapped his hands and said, "Then let's do it!" ”

(End of chapter)