Hearing Minister Gray's statement about the lack of markets caused by the collapse of the German economy, French Prime Minister Millerand was still a little moved.

At present, in Europe, France is definitely the largest importer of cheap industrial products from Germany, and the proportion of French imports of German products is much higher than that of Britain and Italy, after all, it also has the advantage of geographical location.

This has also led to the current extreme dependence of France on cheap industrial products from Germany, after all, German industrial products are not only of good quality, but also very cheap.

If the collapse of the German economy leads to a significant reduction in the output of German industrial goods, will French industrial products be able to fill the gap in the market?

The answer to this is actually obvious, if the development of French industry had really been so smooth, it would have returned to the pre-war level long ago, how could it still be in a state of stagnation.

If it wants to fill the gap in German industrial products, the current France will definitely not be able to do it, even if it has an advance layout.

Seeing that French Prime Minister Millerand did not say a word, Minister Gray knew that his persuasion had paid off, and continued: "Prime Minister Millerand, we only need to cut the loan by 5 billion pounds and reduce the German government's share of reparations in three years, so that we can save Germany and avoid an economic crisis."

I understand that the reduction of reparations will cost your country, but it is not only the reparations that are valuable, do I?

Only a stable Germany can produce more benefits, and saving Germany is a good thing for us, after all, a stable Germany can guarantee the smooth repayment of reparations.

If Germany collapses, it is a question of whether this reparation can be repaid, and I believe that your country does not want to see such a situation. ”

In addition to the threat of force from Britain and France, there is also a very important point why Germany has been able to repay the reparations smoothly, that is, the current German government still has the ability to pay reparations.

But if the German economy really collapses, or even triggers an economic crisis, will Germany still have the ability to pay reparations? The problem is obvious.

At that time, Germany will also have a reason to repay its debts, after all, the country has gone bankrupt, and the debts are justified.

Prime Minister Millerand was silent, but he could not deny that there was some truth in what Minister Gray said.

Compared with the protagonists of this meeting, Britain and France, Italy and Australasia seem a little indifferent, quietly watching the performance of Britain and France.

In the end, under the arguments of Minister Gray, French Prime Minister Millerand finally agreed to reduce Germany's reparations from 20 billion pounds to about 15 billion pounds, and reduce the share of German government reparations in three years to save the German government from the current crisis.

Of course, the British also paid a considerable price in order to convince the French.

The first was that the British wanted to unconditionally support French policy in Alsace and Lorraine, and to acquiesce in France's further control over the Franco-German Mandate Republics.

Secondly, the British wanted to support the division of the French in the size of the navy, in other words, to increase the size of the French navy as much as possible.

Fortunately, both of these points were acceptable to the British government, and in the handshake between Minister Gray and Prime Minister Millerand, an agreement was made that would affect the situation in Germany.

The reason why Prime Minister Millerand agreed to Minister Gray's proposal to reduce the proportion of German reparations was actually for France's sake at a deeper level.

After the defeat of the war, the situation of these defeated countries in Germany was very bad, but this did not mean that the victorious countries like Britain and France were better off.

Fortunately, the UK has no impact on the mainland, and the loss of the economy is acceptable, which is why the depreciation of the pound is not large.

But this is not the case in France, whose losses in World War I and its policies after the war led to a major depreciation of the franc, France's official currency.

According to French folk statistics, before World War I, one franc could buy about 7 kilograms of flour, but now one franc can only buy less than 4 kilograms of flour, and the depreciation rate has been as high as 47.1%.

Before World War I, £1 was equivalent to about 25 francs, but now £1 is worth 53 francs.

Although the depreciation of the franc is far less severe than that of the mark, France's policy on paper money is relatively loose, and the depreciation of the franc is still intensifying, which will lead to more severe inflation.

If Germany's economy were to suffer a major crisis at this time, France, as Germany's neighbor, would inevitably suffer serious consequences.

Moreover, France is flooded with a large number of German industrial products, which are cheap treasures in normal times, but are life-threatening scythes in times of economic crisis.

France's economy simply cannot withstand the great turmoil, which is the real reason why Prime Minister Millerand agreed to back down.

I have to admit that the First World War was a purely internal conflict between Europe. After World War I, two European countries were on the verge of collapse, Germany and Russia, and France suffered heavy losses.

Only Britain is still struggling to hold on, but apart from Britain, the most European power that can take it is France.

This is also the real reason for the rise of the United States in history, after all, all European countries have serious internal friction, even if the United States does not take any action, the ranking of comprehensive strength will naturally increase.

Of course, the current situation is quite different from history. The Americans have taken the blame for the flu, and their international status and influence have not improved much.

On the contrary, Australasia has now become recognized as the fourth power in the world (second only to Britain, France and the United States), and there is neither the oppression and occupation of the colonies by the old powers such as Britain and France, nor the dirty methods (flu) of the Americans, and the current international reputation is still relatively good.

This is also the reason why Britain was able to control the majority of the voice after the First World War, and Britain avoided suffering too many losses in the First World War, while at the same time saddling the United States, its biggest rival after the First World War, with a huge infamy, and no single country can pose a threat to Britain anymore.

Coupled with the support of its ally Australasia, and the support of the entire world alliance, it should now be the most glorious moment of the British Empire since the 20th century, and British authority even reached the Victorian era.

But that doesn't mean there aren't any problems in the UK. The strength of Britain at this time is, to put it bluntly, not the strength of Britain, but the weakness of other countries.

At present, the second largest country in the world in terms of overall strength should be the United States, but at this time the United States was far less powerful than Germany before World War I.

To put it bluntly, the threat posed to Britain by the United States today is not as strong as that of Germany before the First World War, which is why Britain will support Australasia against the United States, rather than directly against the United States.

As soon as the French backed down, the meeting went smoothly. In just one day, the four countries present reached a tacit agreement, unanimously agreed to reduce the proportion of German reparations, and agreed to propose it at the next meeting of the World League, and jointly vote on it.

As permanent and elected members of the World Alliance, the four countries together are enough to control the entire World Alliance.

As for the loss of the interests of other small and medium-sized countries, it is no longer within the scope of Britain and France that can be considered.

After all, saving Germany's economy is the most important thing compared to these small and medium-sized countries.

Arthur was not surprised by the outcome of the conference, as the British could not allow the German economy to collapse, which meant that the result of reducing the reparations was necessary.

It is nothing more than how much the British have made concessions and the French have retreated, but this is completely unimportant compared to the result.

Arthur was still more concerned about the situation in Europe, and naturally knew that it was impossible for the French not to back down, after all, the French economy was not very good.

Even the French in history abandoned the gold standard in 1926 because of the policy of paper money inflation.

Over the next decade or so, a large number of countries also gave up their position on the gold floor, which brought the dollar onto the stage of history.

But in fact, currency depreciation is not a bad thing at some point. Although the franc depreciated sharply, the benefits of currency undervaluation led to the relative appreciation of the currencies of other countries, which led to imported deflation.

It was precisely because of this deflation that the French economy remained relatively stable after the start of the Great Depression.

Historically, there were around 4.5 million unemployed people in Germany and 2 million in Britain after the Great Depression began.

Logically speaking, France is bound to suffer a major impact, but the number of unemployed people in France at that time was only about 200,000, which is the reason why France took the initiative to devalue its currency.

It can only be said that governments are not all fools, although sometimes the policies of some countries seem outrageous, but to be able to become a great power, it is true that they all have their own advantages.

At present, the United States is the absolute number one in the world in terms of industry and economy, and it is simply impossible to cross the gap between the United States and rely on its own development.

After pondering for a long time, Arthur set his sights on the very famous real estate policy of later generations.

The current currency is still very valuable compared to the future market, which also leads to the fact that the housing prices in various countries are actually not high.

Taking the British Empire as an example, house prices in London are generally tens of pounds to hundreds of pounds, and you can buy a single-family house for 200 pounds, which is still quite cheap.

According to the per capita income of the British Empire, a person who works hard for about 4 years can buy a single-family house in London with full payment and have a foothold in a world-famous big city.

While this estimate is not exact, it is not far from the bottom line for those with a secure income.

Housing prices in the United States are lower than in the United Kingdom, which is much larger than the United Kingdom.

As the most economically and industrially developed country in the world, housing prices in the United States generally remain below $700, and even housing prices in remote areas and small cities are less than $400, which Arthur does not want to see.

As the most economically developed country in the world, the United States must lead by example, such as raising its own housing prices.

After all, real estate can drive the development of various industries, and it is also very rapid for the development of the economy.

Out of kindness to the people of the United States, Arthur felt the need to take the initiative to raise housing prices in the United States to help Americans develop better and become a better power.

Of course, this will definitely not admit that speculating in real estate is just to make money for yourself. After all, speculating in Americans' real estate, what's the matter with Australasia?

As long as the real estate industry in the United States is booming, those capitalists will find huge business opportunities.

As long as the capitalists enter the market quickly, no one else will think that the real estate is driven by Arthur.

When real estate is really developed, even if the US government wants to control it, it will definitely not be so easy.

The huge profits brought by speculating in real estate are enough to make capital crazy. However, the United States, a capitalist country, cannot escape the influence of capital at all, and if the US government wants to control the price of real estate, it depends on whether the American capitalists agree with it.

After all, after the rise of real estate, there are many employees engaged in the real estate industry. The unemployment of these people is also the reason why real estate must be maintained.

3400 words for the second update, ask for a monthly pass, ask for support!

Today, 10,000 days have been changed to 7400/10000, ask for a monthly pass, ask for support!

There is a little more or so.

(End of chapter)