Due to the forcible intervention of the U.S. alliance, the South American Pacific War came to an abrupt end, and the two sides of the war launched the second round of peace negotiations in Panama under the mediation of the Tang Empire.

meanwhile

Peru and Bolivia received the second tranche of war loans of 42 million and 15 million Tang Yuan, respectively, to purchase large quantities of weapons, equipment and materials from the Tang Empire to rearm and rearm for war.

Chile's request for a follow-up loan was rejected by several major financial consortia of the Tang Empire, which caused a great panic in the upper echelons of the Chilean government, and various speculations and rumors flew everywhere.

In any case, the war in the Pacific was forcibly put to rest, and the Chilean army continued to occupy a large amount of enemy territory.

It is very difficult to see any results in this kind of tug-of-war negotiations in half a year or a year, and it is not uncommon for it to drag on for two or three years.

A few months later

August 26, 1889

Emperor Richard, who was on vacation in Jinghu Palace in Taoyuan City, suddenly sent a secret letter to Baron Tang Dezhao, the imperial prime minister who remained in Chang'an, ordering the imperial government;

Immediately cancel the plan to expand the colonization in the East Indies and concentrate all efforts on preparing for the North American Incident.

After receiving the secret order, the government of the Tang Empire immediately stopped the expedition under preparation, and the relevant field troops of the overseas military regions and some of the royal guards stationed in the Luzon Islands also received orders to suspend military operations.

The expansion and colonization plan of the East Indies, which had already been prepared with supplies and fleets, was temporarily suspended, much to the disappointment of many enthusiastic officials and army generals.

I don't know when I will wait for the next restart?

The sudden change in North America stems from the collapse of the international debt restructuring plan, which has been struggling to advance.

The Benjamin Harrison administration, which was sworn in as president on March 4 this year, broke the pot and officially declared the U.S. government bankrupt after negotiations on an international debt restructuring plan collapsed, unable to pay off the remaining debt.

As soon as the news came out, it immediately triggered a sharp collapse in the stock market on Wall Street, prices soared across the United States, and the situation inevitably went to division.

The unification that the previous US President Grover Cleveland had worked so hard to maintain was directly smashed by the new president, Benjamin Harrison, and the division of the country was inevitable.

On August 17, the collapse of the United States' international debt restructuring negotiations immediately caused a serious ripple effect.

The Wall Street stock market has been plunging for four consecutive days, losing nearly half of its market value in just four days, and bankrupt financial speculators have jumped from high-rise buildings.

The financial turmoil triggered an economic crisis, with thousands of factories shut down and city dwellers rushing to buy food, which in turn led to a sharp rise in food prices.

On August 23, New York State, which accounts for 56.7% of the population of Chinese descent, was the first to announce;

From now on, state taxes and other payments will no longer be paid to the federal government, and these funds will be used for emergency food purchases for state residents, disaster relief and strengthening the police force. The state legislature passed a resolution that gave the governor greater powers.

From August 25th to August 26th, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Formont, and New Jersey also made official announcements;

Following New York's decision, the state's tax revenue will no longer be paid to the federal government, but will be prioritized for the state's efforts to help the needy and strengthen the National Guard.

In just a few days, the states of the United States have been torn apart and are sliding sharply into the abyss of division.

The French Expeditionary Force was helpless in the face of a rapidly deteriorating situation, and was powerless to prevent the division of the states, and could only watch as the United States rapidly slipped into an irreparable catastrophe.

I really want to talk about it

International creditors, led by French loan sharks, are one of the main culprits, who are inescapable of the dire situation in the United States today.

Beginning in June 1887, international creditors were intransigent and unwilling to make substantive concessions.

The greed of French loan sharks was the main reason for the breakdown of debt restructuring negotiations.

From June 1887 to mid-August 1889, the difficult negotiations broke down, causing an immediate wave of panic selling in the US financial markets.

Investors could not see the future of the United States and rushed to sell their stocks to flee, resulting in a stampede crash, and the stock market on Wall Street was flooded......

Among them, there is no international capital making waves.

Why did the new president, Benjamin Harrison, break the jar and declare the U.S. government bankrupt?

A hard-line white populist, President Benjamin Harrison began his presidency with great ambitions to save the United States from peril, racking his brains in negotiations with international creditor committees to reach a new debt restructuring agreement.

It's a pity that the cruel reality poured cold water on the head.

He saw

Since the signing of the North American Peace Accords in February 1862, the United States has been mired in debt.

The loss of sovereignty in many countries has turned the United States into a playground for international capital, with federal and state finances unable to make ends meet for decades, and the burden of debt is getting heavier and heavier.

In June 1887, the principal and interest of the war reparations of up to 500 million Tang Yuan were completely repaid (Note; The 25-year principal and interest totaled 921 million Tang Yuan), and the rest is international debt.

It could have been easier, but it wasn't.

In recent years, the United States has been under huge pressure to repay debt and interest, and in most years it cannot even pay interest, let alone principal.

Therefore, for a long time, the United States could only tear down the east wall and make up for the west wall, and fooled the past by borrowing new debts to repay old debts, which led to the debt becoming heavier and heavier.

Rather than decreasing, the total size of debt has expanded.

The customs control that the United States desperately wants has not returned to its own hands, and under such circumstances, it will not be able to repay so many debts in another 50 years or even longer.

The greed of the French loan sharks and the collapse of international debt restructuring negotiations shattered his last hope, forcing him to declare the government bankrupt.

The United States is like a snail with a heavy shell on its back, which can no longer climb.

Without money and without an army, the Government of the United States of America is a mere ornament and cannot do anything.

The power to dominate the economy is constrained by international capital and states, and national security and diplomacy are tied to the chariot of the Tang Empire, which is simply a muddy and stiff puppet.

This continues

President Benjamin Harrison has foreseen the outcome of this administration, just like President Grover Cleveland in the previous administration, or like all previous U.S. administrations after the defeat, just a puppet on the surface.

If you want to break this dilemma, you can only break it and stand up.

So the U.S. government flipped the table, stopped playing, and the real problem was in the hands of France......

Paris, Elysée Palace

"God, let all the damned usurers go to hell, I curse them." President Marie François Sadie Cano said with his nose crooked, waving his hands and feeling nervous.

The Parisian government has been keeping an eye on international creditor negotiations and has done a lot of work to do so, but in the end it has not been able to impress the greedy French loan sharks.

As a matter of fact

The United States has repaid the principal and interest of its debt for 27 years as scheduled, and the principal amount of the original loan has been fully withdrawn, and there is a small surplus, and the international creditor committee does have room for substantial concessions.

The U.S. government wants to cut interest rates in half from the original 6.6% to no more than 3.3%, and at the same time, set up a three-year buffer period to allow the U.S. federal treasury to recover slightly.

At the same time, it is necessary to take back control of U.S. Customs.

It stands to reason that these demands are reasonable, anyway, the repayment period of the next 22 years will be profits, and the French loan sharks will be between 650 million ~ 700 million Tang Yuan, which is still a huge amount of money.

The problem is that greedy usurers cling to vested interests and do not let go, in their opinion;

Every 1% reduction in the interest rate on loans means an economic loss of hundreds of millions of dollars, accounting for about 400 million francs, and on average, it is a loss of tens of thousands of francs on each usurer, that is, cutting meat with a knife.

Therefore, the international creditors' committee insisted that the interest rate should only be cut to 4.9%, and the two sides were so divided that the most important article could not be agreed.

Now that debt restructuring talks have broken down, the U.S. government has declared bankruptcy, and the states are beginning to split, the biggest problem has fallen into the hands of the French government.

Should we continue to send more troops to North America, preserve the unity and integrity of the United States of America, and safeguard the interests of the more than 4 million French usurers, or should we let it go completely?

The United States, a regional power with a total population of more than 30 million, continued to build troops into North America would mean going to war with the divided states.

The 37,000 French expeditionary forces stationed in North America are certainly not enough, so how many conscripts are enough?

How long will this war last, and the Paris government will have to pay a huge amount of war funds for it, maybe 1 billion francs or even 2 billion francs, and the French treasury will not be able to come up with such such a large amount of money.

If only everyone were not forgetful

It should be remembered that after the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, the French government raised a huge war reparations of 5 billion francs from the private sector in just two years and handed it over to the German Empire, which led to the withdrawal of German troops.

The French government is still tightening its belts to repay the money, which it has repaid more than half of so far.

Now to fight for the unity of the United States, for the interests of France's 4 million usurers, no matter how you look at it, it looks like a wronged leader, and it is no wonder that President Carnot scolded him bitterly.

"Mr. President, you see...... What should we do? Is there a need for additional troops to North America? ”

"Of course, immediately order an increase of no less than 15,000 troops to North America, France must show a tough attitude, we have no way back."

"What do you mean...... Is it to fight a war to stop the division of the United States? ”

"No, no, no...... We need to show the French the resoluteness of the government. But taking taxpayers' money to defend the interests of usurers and sacrificing the lives of thousands of French soldiers for it is believed that the vast majority of French people will not agree. ”

"Got it, what do you mean...... It's just a gesture. ”

"Yes, François, it's not a good idea to rush into war, but there must be a few battles in North America." President Marie François Sadie Cano seemed to contradict himself, but his men knew it as soon as they heard it.

The actions of the French army were only for the majority of the population in the country, and also for temporary comfort to the usurers.

It's like a pacifier for a child, although it doesn't relieve hunger, but it retains hope.

(End of chapter)