Governing a country is like running a family. As the head of the family, the prime minister, no matter how the political system operates, must still provide the head of the family with some discretionary funds.
The British Prime Minister has to engage in debates with Congress one after another almost every year, especially regarding the right to use financial allocations. The Prime Minister cannot do whatever he wants. His various proposals must be voted by the Parliament before they can be approved. implementation.
This is a very effective way to avoid dictatorship. It blocks the money at the source and prevents the head of the family from expanding his power without limit.
However, everything has two sides, and running a country is not that simple. As the prime minister of a country, he must deal with some emergencies and deal with them flexibly. Many emergencies require money. If you stick to the old ways, If we go through parliamentary procedures, it will be too late.
Therefore, successive governments will prepare some pocket money for the Prime Minister to make a break.
At present, the total amount of funds that Gladstone can use directly without the approval of Congress is about 40 million pounds. This amount of money is a huge amount of money for many countries, but compared with the national strength of the United Kingdom, this amount of money is actually small. many.
As soon as he heard that the prince asked him to dig out his personal money, Dresden's face suddenly became bitter. "Oh... My Prince, you are cutting my flesh with a knife! War is a gold-eating beast, I will give it to you." If the money is too little, it won’t make any difference. If I give too much money, I’m afraid our government won’t be able to function!”
"Twenty million! You always have twenty million, right?" Edward held out two fingers. "Twenty million pounds is only for short-term use. I guarantee you that as long as the war is over, Prussia will give you priority to return these two thousand pounds." You can borrow tens of thousands of yuan, and the interest rate will be higher than that in the Financial City!"
"Your Highness! I'm not coveting the interest...Okay! Since you have already spent 20 million of your private money, if I, the Prime Minister, don't make some sacrifices, I'm afraid it will be difficult for me to get through. So, two Ten million pounds!”
"But let me remind you, 40 million pounds won't change anything. It can make his war last one more month. I think that's it..."
Gladstone was right. Prussia's available funds at the moment are only 89 million pounds. Adding these 40 million pounds, it is only about 120 million pounds.
What effect would delaying the war from one month to two months have? Could it be that with this extra month, Prussia would definitely be able to defeat France?
All the senior officials present sighed secretly in their hearts. They all agreed that this matter was very suspenseful!
Prince Edward saw the doubts in everyone's hearts, and he expressed generously, "There are no outsiders here. We are brainstorming. If you have any ideas, please come forward!"
The Duke of Newcastle was the first to speak, "Well...if we have to borrow money, I think the Chinese should provide some funds to Prussia. If the Chinese can provide 30 to 40 million pounds, I think the war can last for three months." …”
Before he finished speaking, the Duke of Newcastle shook his head and denied his remarks, "No, no, no, the Marshal and the Prime Minister have just analyzed it. France will become stronger and stronger in this war, and the longer it takes, the more French national power will be mobilized." The more!”
"With all due respect, I still have a pessimistic attitude towards this war. It may be difficult for Prussia to defeat France. We must consider the risks of doing this!"
The Duke of Newcastle spread his hands and smiled bitterly and said, "Prince, Prime Minister, I'm afraid your money will be wasted. Even I think the 50 million pounds lent by the City of London will be wasted. Is this really good?"
The Duke of Newcastle's life talents are basically all focused on business. He is a very profitable nobleman, but his political talents are far less than his business talents. In the process of analyzing this war, he used all the It's the way a businessman thinks.
Once he found out that the risk of this business was too great, he would immediately back down and said with a slightly angry look on his lips.
"Why do we have to support Prussia? Of course I know what the continental checks and balances policy is, but have you ever thought about this issue? We spent so much money to support Prussia and let Prussia defeat France, don't we? Will it create a bigger enemy?"
"What if Prussia becomes stronger and becomes more difficult to deal with than France?"
Seeing the Duke of Newcastle's mouth pursed in anger, everyone present shook their heads, but no one could come up with anything. After all, his thoughts represented the true thoughts of a large part of the British business class at that time.
During the process of underwriting the 50 million war bonds, there was constant opposition in the City of London. If the royal family had not come forward to coordinate, then Prussia's financing would have really failed.
Once a businessman no longer wants to spend money or take the risk, he will naturally find various reasons and excuses, just like the Duke of Newcastle today even made an extremely ridiculous statement.
Prussia would actually become a problem for Britain. This joke couldn't be colder!
Gladstone waved his hand, "Oh! My dear Duke, I'm afraid you have misunderstood! This war is doomed to lose both sides. Even if Prussia can win by chance, it will be severely damaged. There will be no twenty or thirty years." Recuperating and recuperating will definitely not be able to take this breath away!"
"Do you think Prussia will pose a threat to Britain? It's really hard for me to agree. But don't forget, Prussia has not even unified the South German Federation. Germany is a loose federation. I am afraid that the ultimate goal of the Kingdom of Prussia in the next hundred years is just It’s just about unifying the German Federation!”
"What if Prussia used the victory in this war to forcibly annex the South German Federation? What if he unified the entire Germany?" the Duke of Newcastle asked.
Hahaha... The field marshal also laughed. "Your Majesty the Duke, are you fantasizing too much? How can Prussia forcibly unify the South German Federation?"
"Even if they really win this war, do you know how high their casualty rate will be? When Prussia loses 100,000 or even 200,000 brave men on the battlefield, when their wounded camps at home are filled with wailing wounded soldiers, when all their arsenals have been emptied, and the last bit of copper among the people has been drained..."
"How can he unify South Germany? In this context, do you really think they can unify South Germany? Hahaha, you really love to joke, it made me laugh to death!"
Everyone in the room laughed. They all thought that the Duke of Newcastle, a businessman, was so cute that he would make such unreasonable remarks!
