There was a buzz here, and Prime Minister Humphrey over there had already put up a copy of the accounts: " The following are the small expenses: Frederick is preparing for the first phase of enrollment at the Imperial Non-commissioned Officer School, with a budget of 9,000 gold; it is planned to add 14 public primary schools, two public middle schools, and eight night schools for workers, and it is necessary to import English movable lead printing presses for printing primary teaching materials, which will cost 72,000 gold, and Frederick has raised 43,000 gold and applied for an appropriation of 29,000 gold; and he will optimize agricultural breeding, introduce high-efficiency steam engines, and establish a national conscription system, with a total expenditure of 12,000 gold. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info totaling 41,000 gold. ”

Snow was drifting outside the palace, and the chill was pouring into it. This early arrival has washed the whole world, turning Wiener into a silver city covered in silver.

Winter was not suitable for marching, and brought a brief and comfortable peace. The central bank took advantage of this brief respite to neatly kick Frederick out of the decision-making level, and the empress did not declare Frederick present at this royal meeting.

Elena raised her head from behind the mountain of musicals, picked up a copy and threw it at the Prime Minister's feet: "To build a railway, it will cost 20 million yuan for bidding? I remember that the year before last, I sold a well-maintained mine railway to the central bank, and the transaction price was 9.6 million yuan. At present, coal transportation is subject to lease and use fees. ”

Braischroeder was not in a hurry, and came out and knelt down: "That year, the war was tight, and it was difficult to raise military funds, and the lower officials did their best, but they only raised 9.6 million yuan to enrich the treasury in the form of purchasing railways. Please the Empress Mingjian. ”

He spoke brilliantly, and described the bad deeds of buying national assets at a low price as if he had done his best.

Elena was in dire need of money, and it was inconvenient to tear her face with him, so she ignored him and raised her chin to Prime Minister Humphrey: "What is the total budget of the cabinet? ”

Humphrey admired the empress's actuarial ability, and hurriedly reported: "The six expenditures of agriculture, industry, military, education, transportation, and mining, totaling 36 million, are indeed correct. And the treasury has 34,000 gold left, which is difficult to support. ”

"Stop talking nonsense, I know what you're going to say. Elena said lightly, lowered her head and signed an agreement, calmly held her hands to seal the payment, raised her head and announced softly: "I have discussed it with the executive officer in the study." It is planned to issue 20 million government bonds at an interest rate of 3.5%, which will be sold mainly in the financial markets of Paris, London and Frankfurt. ”

"If interest rates are too low, there will be slow sales of government bonds...... "The prime minister reminded the empress.

The empress remained silent, lowered her head and "rustled" to keep flipping through the documents, signing in different places, and did not raise her head when answering: "I have said everything, I have discussed with the executive, and this treasury bond is entrusted to the Breschroeder family to underwrite, and the agreed handling fee is 8%. ”

Braischroeder can use the Bank for International Settlements to mobilize the financial downline of the Bank of Paris and the Bank of England to jointly eat this profiteering business, so he relied on the sales channel to sit on the ground and raise the price and pay three times the handling fee.

He was accustomed to calculating as accurately as a mechanical watch, and as ruthlessly as a jackal, pressuring Elena to squeeze the maximum profit out of the business.

"8%?!" Admiral Farina was struck by lightning. 20 million times 0.08, if Breschroeder sells this treasury bond, he will directly receive 1.6 million, which is about equal to the entire three years of the empire's taxes!

Farina felt that this fiscal model was too deformed, and he came out angrily and openly objected: "If Frederick was here, he would not allow ......"

"This is my empire!" Elena glanced up at Farina, as if she had been stabbed, and said in a cold voice, "Who is the emperor?"

Farina noticed that the Empress was angry when she heard Frederick's name, and did not dare to suffer the immediate loss, and when she was speechless, Prime Minister Humphrey turned back and asked: "Don't forget, out of the budget of 36 million, the expenditure of the military department for stockpiling military rations, replacing war horses, casting cannons, recruiting soldiers, and pensions is almost enough for 10 million. The Empress raised money for you, but you refused, didn't you deliberately make things difficult for Your Majesty?"

Admiral Farina hated the mouth of the civil official, so he had to bow his head and confess his guilt, and then retreated: "The minister doesn't dare." Your Majesty Shengming. ”

Elena was a little tired, signed the paper, and continued with her forehead: "If the treasury bonds are sold for four months, about half of them can be sold, and about 10 million can be realized. For the rest of the deficit, he borrowed from the central bank in the name of the royal family, and borrowed four million from the central bank at the interest rate of 11% per annum agreed upon last time. ”

At this time, Paul and Farina looked at each other, and suddenly realized that Elena had given up on the future for the present - the empress must know that she would never be able to pay off her debts, and that her children and grandchildren would continue to work in the shadow of the central bank, like tenant farmers.

However, the Empress was raising money for the Cabinet. So Farina and Paul are not in a position to make trouble.

"That being the case, at the beginning of the year, 14 million funds were put into the treasury to revitalize the four major fields of workers, peasants, and military education. Prime Minister Humphrey sang aloud, like a play giving an opening speech.

"Let's deal with it like this first, and the remaining 18 million will be slowly raised. Elena made a final decision, closed her eyes and lowered her head, and shook her hand gently, and Lily, who was observant, turned to look at the cabinet and said softly: "The empress is tired, everyone should dismiss." ”

Cabinet Shane, turned around and hugged Braischroeder and left. Humphrey held Breschroeder's hand intimately and smiled: "You have won the trust of the Empress, and it is not far off to be knighted." ”

When the four cabinet ministers came out of the palace, the old prime minister raised his head and saw the snow all over the sky, like ashes falling after a fire. He sighed and stretched out his hand to catch the snowflakes: "As soon as this debt is on its back, the finances will enter a perpetual frozen winter, and there will be no spring in the empire." ”

Prime Minister Humphrey turned a deaf ear, pulled the banker, laughed and ran into the creamy snow, defiling a line of messy footprints.

Farina held an umbrella for the old prime minister, and the three ministers snuggled out of the palace, and suddenly saw more statues in the snow, and when they looked at it, the statue was wearing a black coat and a blue ribbon, and it turned out to be a cabinet minister.

Frederick's request to see the Empress was denied, and he stubbornly stood outside the palace for a day, and before he could move the Empress, he was crushed into ice by the snow.

Paul, who had always liked Frederick, was so frightened that his umbrella rolled in the snow, and he rushed over to sweep the snow off his back, and hurriedly shouted: "You young man!

Frederick's face froze into a piece of frozen soil, and the snow was swept away from his body, and when he shook it, his lips "clicked", and he breathed out the heater, and his eyes turned to look at Paul and asked, "Is the emperor broken?"

Farina came up with an umbrella to escort the old prime minister, and told the truth: "The emperor has broken the can." If we sign and sell 20 million treasury bonds, we can discount 16 million yuan a quarter; and if we borrow a sum from the central bank, although the interest rate is higher than sky, all kinds of projects can be built vigorously; we just don't know who we are building for, and I hope that our generation will work hard all their lives, and our children and grandchildren will all be paying off their debts, and the new empire will be all the assets of the capitalists. (To be continued.) )