On March 3, 1924, under the auspices of the British, this conference on German debt was held in London, with the participation of all the countries for which Germany was in charge of reparations, including, of course, Australasia.

There was only one theme of the meeting, and that was how to deal with Germany's demand for delayed reparations.

The proportion of reparations paid by Germany after the relief is around £15 billion, and more than £1 billion has been repaid so far.

Of course, this does not mean that everything repaid is money, including a large amount of equivalent industrial manufactured goods, mineral materials and even livestock.

There was no way out, after all, Germany's consumption in the war was already very large, and it was impossible for them to come up with a huge sum of more than 15 billion pounds in the next short period of time, unless other countries were willing to lend them money.

But the problem is that the reception of a defeated country with a large amount of money to help the country pay reparations is such an obviously loss-making business that even the French will not do.

What's more, the United States, the only financially well-off country, is also burdened with large reparations, which also makes it difficult for Germans to obtain loan support from other countries, and the pace of raising reparations has naturally slowed down repeatedly.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have already reduced the proportion of Germany's reparations four years ago, leaving Germany with three years to recover its domestic economy.

But the results have already told us that it is not enough to blindly back down, because it will give a country that should be punished hope of not being punished, and it will also deprive a country that should be compensated of the compensation it deserves.

I believe that the proportion of German reparations should be maintained, and I urge the German Government to repay this year's reparations as soon as possible within two months. If the German government fails to do so, we will be happy to receive the compensation we deserve ourselves. At the beginning of the meeting, the representative of France stood up and spoke impassionedly.

The last time we agreed to reduce the proportion of German reparations, some French people were already dissatisfied, and if we continue to back down this time, I am afraid that the spittle of the French people will drown the cabinet.

"Yes, we must not condone this kind of non-return of the money by Germany, which is a provocation to all the countries that have suffered great damage in the war.

According to the data, Germany's economy has grown to a considerable extent in the past four years, and the scale of industry has recovered to about 60% of its pre-war level.

I do not believe that Germany does not have the funds to pay reparations, let alone that it is worse off than Russia. The Russian representative also stood up and said with a very firm attitude.

This was Russia's first diplomatic voice since the civil war, and it was also the first step of Nicholas II's attempt to restore Russia's international status after the peace.

It is clear that Nicholas II was carefully chosen. Joining the crusade against Germany is on the side of justice for now, and Russia will not only lose nothing by standing up and speaking out, but on the contrary, it will be grateful by many small and medium-sized countries.

Compared with France, which has a more determined attitude, the attitude of the British is somewhat ambiguous.

On the one hand, the British were angry that the Germans were once again defaulting on their debts, but they did not want to squeeze the current Germany too much, leaving France without rivals in Western and Central Europe.

To put it bluntly, the current Germany is the opponent that Britain left to France. Germany must exist, and it should be well maintained, not survived.

"Gentlemen, can we think differently?" At this time, the British representative stood up and expressed his prepared opinion: "We will not mention whether the German government has the funds to pay reparations, but the current financial situation of the German government is not very good.

Rather than simply repaying the loan with mineral materials and funds, why don't we explore more ways to do so?

For example, the foundry model, we provide the corresponding raw materials, put the heavily polluting factories in Germany, and let Germany pay compensation for our processed products for free.

During this period, the salaries of German workers were set by us and the salaries were paid by the German government.

When will we be able to produce enough industrial products for reparations, and when will Germany be considered to have repaid the reparations? ”

The idea of the British representative is another way of thinking, which can solve the crisis of Germany's debt in a relatively peaceful and proper manner, and can also allow other countries to obtain their due interests.

Of course, such an idea of the British is impossible without a purpose.

In fact, although it seems that the heavily polluting industry is being placed in Germany, the scale of German industry is destined to increase as a result.

Although the benefits are clearly on the side of many countries in the short term, as long as the factory is in Germany for a day, the German side is the biggest winner.

This would restore Germany's industrial strength very quickly, and ensure that Germany would remain the powerful country that would shake France in the future.

The British proposal, which had left many countries pondered, seemed to be the best solution without the use of force.

In the end, it was the French representative who took the lead and asked his own question: "May I ask the British representative, how can such a model of production be explained?" We have so many countries, do we have to sign a contract production agreement like this? ”

"Not really." The British representative smiled and said: "We can unite and ask the German government to establish a centralized foundry system for us." We provide raw materials for some heavily polluting industries, and place heavily polluting factories in Germany to solve our domestic environmental pollution problems.

At the same time, we can also save unnecessary costs, and we can harvest the corresponding industrial products with raw materials, saving the trouble of building factories.

In order to ensure the unity of all our countries in terms of production, we should identify the specific industries in which we need to bring production, and what about the proportion of manufactured goods that are produced together in the same industry, according to the proportion of raw materials that each invests? The British representative said confidently.

Such a plan was the answer that the British Government had come up with after much deliberation, and the British delegates had already been familiar with it for a long time.

"Are the costs of both workers and factories borne by Germany? What if Germany does not recognize this plant? "It's time for the Russian representative to ask about the topics of concern to small and medium-sized countries.

"Of course, it's all borne by the German government." The British representative said with a smile: "This is a concession to Germany's inability to repay reparations, and I am sure that the German government will understand our helplessness." As for Germany's refusal to recognize such a system, I don't think it will happen, and Germany will take our opinion seriously. ”

"Even so, the German government must not impose any import and export taxes on our raw materials and manufactured goods. At the same time, the location of these corresponding heavily polluting processing plants should also be determined by us, and the ownership of the factories should belong to all of our countries, not to Germany. "The representative of France pondered for a moment and put forward his own conditions.

While it was true that such conditions would allow countries to obtain supplies equivalent to the reparations, the act of placing factories in Germany was too dangerous for the French delegates to be somewhat uneasy.

The proposal to clarify the ownership of the factory, to require the right to locate the factory, and even to require the German government not to impose any additional taxes, is to avoid the influence of the German government on such factories as much as possible.

As for whether such a factory will take away part of the investment of domestic capital, it is not something that these politicians should consider, after all, the term of office of each government is limited, and who will take the initiative to consider it for the next government?

Even the French did not develop this sense of crisis, otherwise the French government would not have become overly dependent on German manufactured goods, resulting in a mediocre recovery of its own industrial scale.

There is even a large amount of French capital that has spilled over to other countries for large investments.

At present, housing prices in European and American countries have increased several times, and there is a figure from the British and French consortium behind them.

Although the population of these countries is not large, it is still easy to speculate on housing prices in a particular area, especially in some important cities in these countries, housing prices are quite smooth, and prices are rising.

Before speculation, house prices in London ranged from tens to hundreds of pounds, but now the cheapest houses in the London metropolitan area have also come to more than a hundred pounds, and even every property transaction is bought and sold at a premium.

Although London's property speculation fever does not affect the suburbs and other small cities, as one of the most populous cities and one of the most developed cities, the popularity of property speculation still has a great impact on the British Empire.

Of course, the house speculation craze is not only in London, but also in big cities such as Paris, France, New York, and the United States.

At present, the highest house price should be New York, USA, and the house price has increased from less than $700 to more than $1,100, and even in a state of no market.

According to the proportion, the current housing prices in the New York area are twice that of the London metropolitan area, and it is worthy of Arthur's main real estate speculation city.

Thanks to the rising housing prices, one of the things that can be seen with the naked eye is that many consortia have controlled and built real estate.

In the past, in cities like London and New York, it was possible to build your own house, but now you have to go through a fairly strict approval process, otherwise you have to buy a built house.

A large number of new houses have been built, and they have been pre-sold before they are even completed, making many capitalists who invest in real estate a lot of money, and also making the industry attract more assets and capitalists.

The income from the sale of houses alone is obviously not enough, and some capitalists who see business opportunities have launched mortgage policies in an effort to squeeze all the value of ordinary people.

The seemingly unaffordable mortgage can make a $1,100 house actually cost more than $1,300, and it has also made a considerable number of Americans become actual house slaves, spending more than ten years of their youth on paying off the mortgage.

3000 words for the second update, ask for a monthly pass, ask for support!

(End of chapter)