As everyone knows that the empire has a serious fiscal deficit, and the recent pessimistic remarks on the debt problem by the Mueller cabinet, it is conceivable that a default on government debt will become a high probability event. The capital market reacted immediately, and the 200 million gold duga bonds have become a hot potato that is difficult to trade, and sellers can't find anyone who dares to take over at a discount.

By the end of June, the circulation of imperial gold banknotes was still not improving, and when they were used to buy vegetables in the market, they had to be discounted at face value, otherwise they would not be spent at all, let alone creditors should be expected to accept the repayment of public debts in gold banknotes.

With less than a week to go before the deadline to repay the debt, Frank made a final effort to invite major creditors to a meeting at the Palais de la Puai to discuss the "debt restructuring" problem that had tormented both borrowers and borrowers for a long time.

To the public's surprise, Jacob Fogel, one of the largest creditors of the Imperial Government, was the first to change his position at this meeting, generously declaring:

"When the country is in trouble, everyone is responsible!"

"Money can cross borders, but businessmen have their own homeland!"

"You can't force the government to go bankrupt just to make money!"

"If the government declares a default on its debt, what is the difference between the bonds in our hands and the waste paper?"

"Rather than a stalemate between the borrower and the borrower to the point where both sides lose, it is better for both sides to take a step back and complete the debt restructuring as soon as possible, so that the government can travel lightly and devote all its energy to the implementation of the reform!"

Old Fogel wasn't really just talking, and after an impassioned speech, he immediately made a deal that stunned the attendees:

"If the Imperial Treasury agrees to give me a seven-fold discount, I am willing to exchange all the public bonds worth 30 million gold dugas in my hand into gold banknotes!"

Before everyone could recover from the shock, Old Fogel dropped an even more shocking bombshell.

"I also know that the various reform policies currently implemented by the government need to spend money, and the recovery of national debts alone is not enough to raise funds for reform, and I am willing to contribute to the great cause of reform, in addition to 30 million bonds, and take out real money equivalent to 30 million gold dug, and exchange it for gold money at the same discount!"

"Mr. Fogel, are you serious?" Frank stood up excitedly.

"The most important thing in doing business is integrity, how dare I brag in front of His Royal Highness the Prince." Old Fogel looked sincere.

"Great!" Frank was overjoyed, "Mr. Fogel, you are the great benefactor of our country!" ”

There was an uproar in the venue. All of you here are veterans in the business field, and you are all top people. They would rather believe that the sow will go up the tree than that Jacob Fogel is a good man who is willing to sacrifice his own interests for the sake of the country.

However, when things go wrong, there must be demons, and people naturally ask: why is Jacob Fogel willing to take over when he knows that gold money is very unreliable?

In addition to the pressure of defaulting on the national debt, does this fat old man have other intentions?

Smart people always think similarly, and Jacob Fogel is not the only smart man in the world. Creditors quickly guessed that the Fogel family intended to speculate on the gold money and make a profit.

In fact, most of you here have had the same idea, but the amount of gold banknotes issued is too large, and millions of speculative funds have been invested, and I am afraid that they will not even be able to make waves. The investment is too high, and the risk is high, so people just think about it in their hearts and don't dare to take it seriously.

However, the situation has changed. The wealthy Fogel family took the lead in blowing the "charge", and even the bonds and cash were smashed into a full 60 million gold dugga at once! This huge amount of money accounts for nearly a quarter of the total denomination of the current gold banknotes, which is enough to set off stormy waves, and at the same time, it also stirs the nerves in people's hearts that are eager to follow the trend and speculate.

"Mr. Fogel is for the country and the people, and the wind is bright! I was deeply moved and volunteered to follow Mr. Fogel to take over for the country! ”

"Count me in!"

"And me!"

……

The crowd in the meeting was passionate, and the creditors present were all "iron roosters" a few minutes ago, but now they have changed their nature, and one by one, the martyrs who seem to have sacrificed their homes to serve the country have expressed their willingness to accept Frank's debt restructuring plan and exchange the bonds in their hands for imperial gold money.

This is a successful congress, a victorious congress, a congress full of patriotic feelings!

The Imperial Government, with the support of all the benevolent and righteous people, recovered the public debt totaling more than 100 million yuan with gold money on the same day, and finally survived the crisis of the debt explosion without danger.

And that's just the beginning. Early the next morning, the Empire's major newspapers published the minutes of the debt restructuring meeting on the front page, and the picture of Frank shaking hands with old Fogel was quite eye-catching.

Within a day, it was known throughout the country that the Imperial Government had successfully navigated the debt crisis, and the key factor in solving this dilemma was that creditors collectively changed their stance and accepted the repayment of debts with gold money.

Public opinion is naturally led to a consensus: if the deep-pocketed creditors are still willing to hold the gold money, what do ordinary people like us have to worry about? If the value of gold banknotes is as reliable as real gold, and now that the government is willing to exchange gold money at a discount, what are you waiting for? Hurry up and grab it!

A rush to exchange gold money was spearheaded by the nobility of the Holy City and quickly spread to the middle class and even the lower middle class. In this era of great change, in this impetuous era when the concept of capitalist money worship has replaced traditional morality and increasingly become the mainstream trend of thought in society, most people are eager to get rich overnight, and countless turbulent hearts are beating violently, and once they find opportunities for speculation and profit, they will swarm and pounce, like bloodthirsty sharks.

Initially, people were cautious about exchanging money only for public bonds that were maturing and inconvenient to trade. As gold banknotes became more and more popular, the attitude of the Frank and Muller cabinets also changed, on the one hand, secretly printing gold banknotes to meet the people's growing demand for exchange, and on the other hand, raising the exchange threshold, the initial promise of a 70% discount was no longer appropriate, the face discount was first reduced to 80%, and then to 9% in less than a week.

The reduction of the discount on gold banknotes stimulated people's speculative psychology of "chasing the rise and killing the fall", and the crowd of people exchanging gold money outside the door of the Imperial Central Bank lined up from morning to night, so that the charging to queue for people became a profitable business, and the street homeless were very satisfied with this.

By the end of July, a dramatic scene had emerged. The Imperial Cabinet and the head of the Central Bank jointly announced that the gold banknotes issued from now on will no longer be discounted. To put it bluntly, "Lao Tzu's banknotes are not discounted, do you want to love it"!