"Really? The French have really started to bring back weapons from the colonies? Chaspo rifles?"
Prussia has never slackened its intelligence work on France. There are more than 100,000 Prussian spies spread across France. Spies are present in almost every key department in Paris.
The French Prince Eugène Bonaparte was authorized to temporarily take over the military's fully authorized intelligence, which was telegraphed to Berlin in just over twenty hours.
Xiao Letian and Bismarck did not expect that at this critical moment, the French Emperor would actually dare to take the risk and let his son take command. It seems that the credit for quelling the Paris riots has indeed made the Prince rise to prominence.
"It's difficult! I didn't expect that this young prince is quite capable, and he actually discovered the gap in the rifle..."
"How is the production situation of our Mauser? Is it really impossible to change all the clothes?" Xiao Letian asked.
Old Moltke, the Chief of General Staff, shook his head, "The imperial finances are already stretched thin. If Britain hadn't provided a large amount of secret funds, I'm afraid we wouldn't even be able to maintain Krupp's artillery production!"
"The last bit of war potential in the empire has been completely drained. Now all domestic hot money has been drained away. The total amount of war bonds purchased by the people has exceeded 150 million pounds!"
"The floating wealth in the hands of the common people has also been thrown into the furnace of war. At this moment, the empire has no money, and there is no money anymore..."
Xiao Letian frowned. He knew that what the Chief of Staff said was true. Now the whole of Prussia has been completely kidnapped by this war. All the removable funds on the market have been borrowed, and the cash in the hands of the people has been turned into war bonds. The war funds provided by the British City and the British royal family have also been turned into various materials.
In the financial market and the commercial market, only the last bit of floating wealth is left to maintain the flow of commercial trade from collapse. At this moment, banks and companies cannot even conduct large-scale capital exchanges, and can only use IOUs and other methods to conduct transactions.
Even this money shortage has affected the lives of ordinary people, and the primitive trading model of barter has even appeared in many villages.
In the final analysis, money in this era is locked in precious metals such as gold and silver. Even the king cannot print banknotes without limit. When war, the gold-eating beast, eats up 90% of the cash on the market in a country, the money shortage will naturally end. There is no way to avoid it.
Bismarck also sighed, "Prussia's real industrial productivity is now approaching that of Britain. As long as the funds are in place, there is no problem in producing another 300,000 Mausers within three months!"
"But where is the cash? The empire no longer has any extra funds to purchase supplies. Now all the arsenals in the empire are just consuming the raw materials purchased before. Once these raw materials are produced, I am afraid these companies will have to stop production!"
"The war is a huge gamble. If we lose, Prussia will never recover, but if we win, we can use French flesh and blood to feed back our economy!"
"You can't afford to lose! The empire really can't afford to lose!"
Xiao Letian's palms were all sweaty. These things were not recorded in the textbooks of his previous life. He never thought that the rise of Prussia would be so difficult. It was actually the whole nation that squeezed out the last copper. Only the whole people faced the disaster together. won the war.
"Are financial resources already so tight? Will it affect our subsequent operations?"
Old Moltke put down the red and blue pencil in his hand and said with a little pride, "This head of state, please rest assured that the empire is just short of cash, and the money has long been turned into various war materials and is lying quietly. In the warehouse!"
"The money spent has turned into bullets, artillery shells, individual soldier rations, emergency medicines, war horse feed...including coal necessary for the railway, and even cigarettes and spirits rationed by soldiers!"
"Once the war breaks out, these supplies will be distributed to the troops in a planned manner! The military department has already made a budget. These supplies are enough for our army to fight at high intensity for three months!"
"Three months..." Xiao Letian pondered. If history did not change, three months of arms would be enough, because from the beginning of the Franco-Prussian War to the decisive battle of Sedan, a total of two months were not used.
But will history really continue its previous rhythm? God knows how much change he, as a time traveler, has brought. Now even the French prince, who should not have been in power, has jumped to the front line. What else will not happen?
As soon as the French prince showed up, he discovered the huge gap in the rifles between the two sides. Once this young man got enough new rifles, wouldn't there be another variable?
"Prime Minister, Chief of General Staff... can you think of some changes to remove this French prince from power? If he really gets 200,000 new rifles, the consequences will be disastrous!"
Bismarck and Moltke smiled at each other and said, "Haha... Head of State, you are a little over-worried. The French prince is indeed very ambitious, but reality will teach him a lesson!"
"If France's internal ills were so easy to cure, there wouldn't be a need for the French Emperor to worry about it for so many years. He's almost going crazy!"
"Napoleon III was restored successfully with the full support of the old aristocratic capitalists and the Holy See, and these supporters of the emperor naturally controlled countless real power departments in the empire!"
"That is a huge group that even the Emperor of France cannot easily shake, and the little prince wants to change everything? Head of state, just wait and see the joke!"
Facts have proved the judgment of Bismarck and Moltke. Just half a month after Eugène Bonaparte took over the logistics work of the French army, all kinds of incredible and bizarre events happened. The young prince was completely confused. .
"What did you say? Three ledgers in the logistics department were burned by candles? Just yesterday?"
"I ordered five days ago to provide bread subsidies to workers in all military factories and steel plants...all companies related to rifle production. Why can't the Ministry of Finance come up with the money now?"
"What about the surplus on the books? There is clearly a surplus on the books, why can't we get the money out?"
"Can anyone tell me why the Marseille military port cannot hire merchant ships? Why are all merchant ship owners unwilling to provide transportation services to the military?"
"Oh God! Why do some merchant ship owners come to me with IOUs from 1864 to demand payment? How did they owe all this money!"
"And here... please let me know clearly. On the 1st of last month, an elite battalion from Qatar was ordered to return to the mainland. How come Qatar still says that it has not received the telegram?"
"Who can explain it to me? Who can tell me what's going on with this empire!"
