The third more

At the behest of Frederick III, Bismarck had to deal with the British side first, and he had to make sure that the Transvaal did have capital worthy of German investment before he could intervene in the dispute. Otherwise, even if a direct war breaks out between the two countries in the southern hemisphere, it will not be Berlin's business.

In 1816, Britain passed the Gold Standard Act, which recognized gold as a currency standard in the form of law to issue paper money. The Bank of England's banknotes were required to be convertible into gold bars in 1821 and gold coins in 1823, and restrictions on the melting of gold coins and the export of gold bars were removed. Since then, Britain has implemented a true gold standard.

By the late 19th century, the gold standard had been widely adopted in capitalist countries, and it had taken on an international character. Due to Britain's prominence in the world economic system at that time, it was actually an international gold standard system centered on the pound sterling and based on gold.

In the heyday of the gold standard, gold was the most important international reserve asset of all countries, and the pound sterling was the most important means of international liquidation. The reason why the pound is as important as gold is that of gold.

Obviously, Napoleon wanted to break Britain's position in the financial world with great ambition, and historically London controlled the gold mines of Teresa until the end of the World War, during which a steady stream of gold was sent to the world's financial center, laying the foundation for Britain's world hegemony.

France was originally one of the European economies, and with the Transvaal gold mines, they could regain their lost glory. If you want to swallow Witwatersrand greedily, it's okay to just rely on France to fight with a mouth, if you really want to fight with a real gun, the Imperial Navy will teach the French how to be a man in minutes.

Napoleon looked at the feedback from London with a serious expression.

"The German is clearly dragging his feet, and he needs to understand if the Transvaal gold mine is as exaggerated as we say it is."

In fact, the data that Napoleon gave them was already modified, and he actually did not want the other side to know the real data. In this contest with Great Britain, both sides treated the Germans as pawns and were unwilling to pay a high price.

Both Bismarck and Frederick III were in the dark, and only Napoleon, the initiator, was in control.

"Now the British are really angry, and they will never allow France to stab them in the back."

Finding things difficult, Dekaz said to Napoleon, "Either we make peace with the British, for they will blockade the port and our fleet will not be able to advance." The Transvaal would turn into an island, an island surrounded by the British. ”

But Napoleon did not show any panic, as if he had expected anything.

"Rest assured, now we are waiting for news from the Germans. Although Frederick III was a member of the democratic liberal faction, his diplomacy was more tactful than Bismarck's. As soon as it realized that the benefits promised by France were genuine, Berlin immediately reverted to a greedy look. ”

For Napoleon's vows, Dekaz could only agree with his approach.

"So what are we going to do?"

"Wait."

"Wait for the telegram from Berlin."

The British were also sending troops stationed in other colonies in the direction of the Transvaal, including preparing to blockade the coastline with fleets, cut off the support of the French volunteers, and force them to the point of running out of ammunition and food.

At this time, the German delegation had also arrived in the area of Dereland, and at the risk of a hail of bullets, they had launched a scientific expedition in the area in the hope of fulfilling the gold mines that the French had recounted in the telegram.

However, the richness of the gold deposits in this area was beyond the imagination of the Germans, and the richness of the resources was even more exaggerated than the French described in the telegram. Whoever owns this gold mine will be the leader of the future financial world.

When Frederick received the news, he realized that this was an opportunity, and even if there was not enough colony plunder, if he could develop this gold mine with the French, the benefits to Berlin would be considerable.

In this regard, he immediately asked the Berlin ambassador to France to negotiate with Napoleon in secret, and prepared the relevant matters for the next step.

Napoleon's offer was very generous, and he said to the German delegates, "If you are willing to send troops to the Transvaal, and to crush the English as a protectorate, then the French will promise to give 10% of the amount of gold produced in return, and then Germany will have to do nothing, and you will receive nearly 70 to 100 tons of raw gold ore." ”

The German representative gasped,

"What do you say, that the French are willing to cede ten percent of the annual production of gold to Germany, as long as Germany is willing to send troops? Is this sincerity? ”

"The premise is that the Transvaal become our colony, and if we can't, the Transvaal will still be British. And the secret about the gold mines has already spread, and sooner or later it will reach the ears of the British. When the time comes, they will fight back even more frantically, telling Frederick III that if he hesitates any longer, Berlin will lose a very considerable fortune. ”

With that, Napoleon no longer paid attention to the shocked expressions of the German delegates and walked out of the office by himself.

He believed that no one would refuse a tempting offer.

The German delegate returned to the embassy almost trembling on his feet, and the first thing he did when he returned to the embassy was to send a telegram to Frederick III III, telling him about the generosity of President Napoleon.

After Frederick III received the telegram again, he closed his eyes for a long time before he calmed down. Napoleon's agreement to send more German troops to the Transvaal meant that both France and Germany were acting as protectors of the Boers.

"Well, I can accept the French proposal, and now Napoleon is forcibly tying the fates of the two countries together. If Prime Minister Gladstone forced a war, would we be able to resist the advance of the British Army, the advance of the British fleet? ”

Frederick III said to himself, and had also considered this problem, they imagined that the size of the fleet could break the British blockade, but it did not have the strength to blockade Britain, because based on Britain's favorable geographical location and British naval strength, the force needed to blockade Britain was too strong. It would take too many resources to build a fleet capable of blockading Britain, and Germany did not have the capacity to build such a fleet.

There is little problem with Germany's determination to build a strong navy, and all that remains is whether Germany has the financial resources and resources to build such a powerful navy. Germany's desire to gain more wealth is also based on this question.

Great Britain's ocean-going fleet was maintained by colonies all over the world, but by what means could the Germans' ocean-going fleet be maintained?

One way Napoleon sought to challenge the British order was by signing an agreement with Germany to build a fleet of two continental European nations to deal with the British.

For the British, they could only unite the two empires of continental Europe, and not fight alone.

The Navy may support this task, but it is debatable whether the Conservative Army is willing to cooperate with the French.

"It seems that Napoleon is forcing me to purge the army leaders who oppose the Franco-German alliance...... The British could not give us enough benefits, they just wanted to use Berlin as a pawn, and it seemed that there was only one way to go. ”

Frederick III rubbed his hands, he hesitated. Because the first to bear the brunt was Prime Minister Bismarck, as well as a group of Conservative Party officers who were implicated with him.

However, the interest in gold made the Kaiser moved, and with the idea of naval construction in his mind, he was more and more inclined to form an alliance with the French and get the gold mines.

The French are like demagogic devils who lead him into the abyss step by step.

"If the Second German Reich, established ten years ago, was a great feat, then everything that His Majesty the Kaiser did was also a feat."

Secretary of War Ron was in a wheelchair and was pushed in. He saw the hesitation in Frederick III's eyes, and at the same time encouraged the other party to do so.

"This is the Imperial Army you built ......"

"I didn't say that I wanted to reduce this army, Your Majesty the Kaiser, purge and dismantling are two different things."

Ron coughed twice, a smile on his pale face, and he said slowly, "I mean go after those unfashionable old guys, they can't keep up with the times. ”