In the lakeside water pavilion

After talking about the war on the Eastern Front for a while, Li Fushou and the ministers chatted for a while about domestic economic construction.

The music outside the water pavilion is melodious, through the light gauze curtain is the graceful scenery, savor exquisite refreshments, and talk about the world's major events, it is really pleasant.

"Zhong Aiqing, how long do you think this war will last?"

"The Holy Grace of the Enlightenment, Wei Chen secretly believed that the current world war was about to enter its fifth year, the scale was unprecedented, the social and economic damage was unparalleled, and the vast territory of the Russian Empire could not withstand the collapse of the bang, and a large-scale civil war ensued. The predicament encountered by Tsarist Russia exists to varying degrees among the warring countries, and Weichen expects to be clear in the third and fourth quarters of next year, and not in the first quarter of the next year at the latest. ”

The Minister of Finance is very reasonable, but he is still a little conservative, and the "showdown" prepared by the Entente next year will shatter the illusion of victory for the Allies and put an end to this unprecedented human catastrophe once and for all. From a military point of view, there is hope for an end to the war by the end of next year. ”

"I have a different opinion on the judgment of the marshal, the German Empire and Austria-Hungary have upheld the indomitable fighting spirit of the Germanic people, and they are not so easy to defeat, and even if the war spreads to German territory, I do not think that the war can be resolved in a year, at least two years."

"After two more years, the French will collapse first, the empire has imposed a total embargo on the Allies, and they will not last that long."

"This is inappropriate, the victory of the Allies on the Eastern Front is already a sure thing, and the 2nd Army can only be trapped in the western battlefield of Ukraine, and this battle is still to be fought."

Since the outbreak of the world war, as many as 36 countries have participated in the war, affecting 1.5 billion people in the world, and the number of officially confirmed casualties has exceeded 15 million. The reality is that the number of war casualties has more than doubled. Taking the Russian Empire as an example, its population of 160 million before the war is now less than 147 million, and everyone will die if it continues to fight, and even old empires like Britain and France cannot withstand such huge consumption. ”

"On the whole, Europe really can't fight, and if it weren't for the superiority on the Eastern Front and a little hope for the final victory, the Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary on the side of the Central Powers would have fallen apart long ago."

"I agree with the marshal's professional opinion, the end of next year should be a watershed moment when the war is clear, and it will not drag on for long."

Weichen seconded.

"Seconded."

Debated for a while

The ministers were generally unanimous, and after several years of war, the level of strength of all parties was on the surface.

The Entente bloc of 32 countries surrounded the Allied bloc of Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottomans and Bulgaria, and while occupying absolute maritime superiority in an all-round way, the main battlefield on the Western Front had advanced to the border areas between Belgium and France and Germany, and it was only a matter of time before the flames of war burned into Germany.

The world wars were mainly fought on the Eastern Front and the Western Front, all of which were located in Europe, and Europe was the core area of the entire world war.

The battlefields of the Southern Front in Europe, the battlefields of North Africa, the battlefields of West Asia, and the Far East were all insignificant in terms of scale and intensity of war, and were not enough to affect the overall situation.

The Western Front was the main battlefield, where Germany invested more than 80% of its total troops, and the total number of casualties exceeded 3 million.

The battlefield on the Eastern Front was only a flank battlefield, with the Austro-Hungarian forces as the main force, supplemented by the German army, and the two surrounded and beat Tsarist Russia, and the war was also bloody and tragic.

Austria-Hungary alone lost more than 3.6 million troops on the Eastern Front. The losses of the Russian army exceeded 9 million.

Such a large number of casualties is unbearable for any country.

When discussing the casualties of other countries, the ministers of the Ocean Empire were quite sensible, because the Ocean Empire's army had a dazzling record on the European battlefield and had not yet suffered major casualties.

Therefore, the mentality of the ministers pointing out the country is quite strong, and it is quite condescending.

Since the Imperial Expeditionary Force participated in the war, there have been hundreds of battles of all sizes, with losses of about 41,000 people, of which about 10,000 were killed, and the others were minor and serious injuries of varying degrees.

This was only a slight loss for the expeditionary corps, which had arrived in the European theater of more than 1.2 million people.

Li Fushou looked around at the ministers and pointed out the crux of the next problem; "Since all the Aiqing believe that the war will be seen at the end of next year or so, and today is December 5, 20 days before Christmas, and less than a month before New Year's Day in 18, should we take precautions and plan the rhythm of the overall national economy one step ahead to avoid the serious impact caused by the abrupt wartime economy?"

As soon as this statement came out

All the ministers suddenly realized, looked around left and right, stood up together, and bowed their hands; "Your Majesty Shengming, you can see thousands of miles, and the ministers are ashamed."

"All Aiqing sit down, a country is a family, I, as a family, will inevitably think more, everything is foreseen, and if you don't want it, you will waste it, that's the truth." Li Fushou greeted everyone with a warm expression and sat down, picked up the teacup and took a sip, then said unhurriedly;

"Since we are sitting and talking, let's discuss how to safely withdraw from the wartime economy."

When this topic was pointed out, all the ministers sat down and thought about it.

At present, although it is a pavilion and a water pavilion to gossip, there are still royal secretaries to record the words and deeds of the ministers, and the matters on which opinions are agreed upon, which will then be implemented by the cabinet and various departments, in fact, it is a court meeting, but it is just carried out in a relaxed and comfortable environment.

Therefore, we must not take our word for it.

Think about it for a moment

Chancellor of the Exchequer Tang Zhaoyi was the first to speak;

"Enlighten the Holy One;

Wechen secretly believed that the withdrawal from the wartime economic policy should be financed first, and the Imperial Federal Reserve Bank should gradually tighten its purse strings, implement a conservative economic policy, and gradually reduce the current economic heat.

This includes raising the reserve requirement ratio, reducing the size of currency issuance, and raising bank interest rates in several steps to send a clear cooling signal to the market.

In order to cooperate with the monetary policy, all departments of the cabinet should introduce relevant measures, including but not limited to regulating market behavior, severely cracking down on related financial illegal and criminal activities, sorting out the tax payment behavior of factories and mining enterprises according to regulations, strictly managing the import and export system, tightening bank loans for the production and export of military weapons, and tightening loans for certain industries that blindly expand production capacity, such as iron and steel, mining, machinery and equipment in the military field and chemical plants that produce explosives.

Through the above measures

It can send a clear signal to society to get rid of the wartime economy one step ahead of schedule and return to normal social and economic operations.

The Imperial Ministry of Finance will conduct a comprehensive study on this issue, deploy targeted fiscal policies, unify and regulate the market, and promote a stable landing of the overall economy.

Weichen is a little foolish, please correct Your Majesty. ”

Tang Zhaoyi's remarks were very dry and were highly praised by Li Fushou and the cabinet ministers.

The Holy Lord's Words; "What Zhaoyi said is very much in line with my heart, and this should be the words of Lao Cheng to seek the country!"

This evaluation is not high, and it immediately aroused the hearts of the ministers under the table, competing for advice, and for a while, you sang and I appeared on the stage, which was very lively.

Count Pham Chung Chai, Speaker of the House of Nobles, said; "At present, the wartime economy is like cooking oil on fire, there have been a lot of violations of law and discipline, and economic chaos is abundant, so it is necessary to strengthen legislative work, and implement as soon as possible the "Ocean Empire Trademark Law", "Import and Export Control Law", "Commercial Product Quality Law", "Imperial Household Registration Law", "Traffic Law", "Tobacco, Alcohol and Firearms Control Law" and other bills under review will be promulgated as soon as possible, so that the relevant departments can have laws to follow, administer according to law, and further promote the improvement ......of the social system under the rule of law."

Viscount Jia Donghe, Minister of the Colonial Department, said;

"In view of the transition from a wartime economy to a peaceful economy, the enormous impact of withdrawing from an overheated economy must not be underestimated.

The empire's millions of people engaged in the military industry, as well as the more than 16 million employees in the related industrial chain, will inevitably suffer a serious impact. The disappearance of overseas orders and demand may cause a large number of enterprises to go bankrupt and lose their jobs.

The specific situation requires a comprehensive screening conducted by the Colonial Office in close coordination with the relevant cabinet departments before authoritative conclusions can be drawn.

But before that

The empire should tighten its immigration policy across the board, reduce the impact of the migrant labor force, and leave more jobs for workers within the empire.

The temporary shortage of workers was bound to be radically alleviated by the large number of unemployed people who withdrew from the wartime economy, and the impact on the empire's economy and society was reduced.

According to the statistics of the previous year

With more than 3.69 million new births a year, the empire already has a strong capacity for population growth, and it is necessary to control the entry of a large number of low-quality immigrants in the face of economic transformation.

At present, the immigrant population is about 200~2.1 million per year, and after taking effective measures, the inflow of 40~500,000 high-quality people can be controlled every year.

So

It is expected to reduce the employment demand of about 3 million adults next year and the year after, which is a powerful measure to greatly enhance the empire's ability to resist the risks of economic transformation.

After the empire's economy fully recovers, the policy of strict control of immigration will be gradually relaxed......"

Viscount Jia Donghe, who served as Minister of Industry and Minister of Communications, had been engaged in the macroeconomic field of the empire for many years, and was a senior cabinet member.

The so-called low-quality immigrants are young people who have no money and no education, and can only engage in simple repetitive labor in factories, or low-wage labor such as dock transportation, urban cleaning, or agriculture and animal husbandry, and belong to the people at the bottom of society.

From the point of view of economic development

It is an indisputable fact that now that the Ocean Empire has entered a highly industrialized society, the demand for low-quality labor has decreased correspondingly, and the demand for literate and high-quality labor has increased.

The so-called high-quality immigrants refer to some students from mainland China who went to Australia for further study, the old and the young of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, the families of wealthy businessmen, landlords, scholars, and educated newcomers.

Therefore, the concept of high-quality immigrants refers to immigrants with a certain level of education and economic ability, and does not cover moral standards and political inclinations, which is beyond the scope of the colonial ministry.

Open the window

With the wind comes not only the singing of birds and flowers, but also dust and dross, which is unavoidable.

Li Fushou saw that this proposal was seconded by the majority of the cabinet ministers, and hesitated for a while, then nodded in agreement.

For two years

He rarely overturned the results of court deliberations, and even if some did not conform to his philosophy of governance, he would not easily use the authoritarian power of the emperor to veto, but fully respected the democratic agenda and carefully maintained the general trend of gradual decentralization.

After the war, the empire will implement major political reforms, enter the process of full decentralization, and gradually move towards a British constitutional monarchy.

There will also be several major initiatives, including the Affirmative Action Law, which concerns the vital interests of every citizen of the Empire, which aims to promote equal rights for the aristocracy and commoners, whether high or low before the law, before human rights, whether civic duties and obligations, or whether there is any access to political and social resources, all of which are in the making.

At this time, it is not suitable to make any big noise.

7017k