Xiao Letian looked at a bouquet of rose flowers that struggled to emerge from the ruins. The delicate flower bones had drunk enough blood and were blooming with a dazzling blood red color.
"Why is France nicknamed usurious imperialism... Don't be surprised, it was summed up by that great man who was exiled from Germany!"
"Actually, if you could have discussed the strategy with this fellow before the war, you wouldn't have made such a big mistake!"
"The fact that France has become a usury imperialist actually has a lot to do with you!"
The problem ultimately lies in the famous conversation between Raoul Rigault, Eugene and Andre!
In that reorganization of thinking, Xiao Letian pointedly analyzed a major problem in the French economy, that is, the reduction of production efficiency caused by backward technology!
In the French industry before the Franco-Prussian War, labor costs continued to increase, land rental prices also began to rise, and raw material and logistics costs also increased significantly.
What's even worse is that production efficiency has never been improved. In addition, the technological content of industrial products has lagged behind Prussia, which has caused the international competitiveness of French industrial products to continue to decline.
They were unable to engage in a price war with Prussia, nor could they rely on technological innovation to increase added value, so the entire French industry suffered a serious decline.
And this decline has intensified the contradiction between the working class and the capitalists, and various conflicts have gradually worsened!
Look, this is a vicious cycle, one link collapses after another, and in the end the problem becomes more intensified without being solved!
If industry is ruined, how about French agriculture? In fact, it is also full of problems!
During the French Revolution, the Republic divided land rights among farmers, dividing large pieces of land in the hands of feudal lords into small pieces and giving them to landless farmers.
Of course, this increases welfare for farmers, but the obvious flaw is that it creates a serious small-scale peasant economy, and French agriculture cannot be scaled up!
Not to mention that it cannot compare with the large-scale farm economy in the United States. It cannot even compare with the scale of pastures in the United Kingdom. The entire French agriculture is completely loose and household-based.
There were problems in agriculture and industry, but France itself accumulated a lot of wealth during the first industrial revolution!
What is wealth? Wealth is capital!
The nature of capital is to pursue profits. This nature cannot be suppressed. Capital is like a flood and must find an outlet!
French capitalists have money in their hands and nowhere to invest. Are you talking about investing in industry? The industrial virtues simply cannot compete with Germany.
Invest in agriculture? They are all small farm economies and cannot be scaled up at all. Do you expect that buying a few farms and wineries will solve the problem of capital chasing profits? It's just a joke.
It must be confirmed that the total amount of capital required to pursue profits is very huge. It is not tens of millions or hundreds of millions of francs. It would be great if it was really that small, and it could be absorbed by just expanding a few wineries.
The scale of capital required to pursue profits may be as high as 70 to 80 billion gold francs, and may approach hundreds of billions of gold francs!
So many capitals want to pursue profits, but no industry can accommodate them. In the end, they have no choice but to form a unique economic phenomenon in France.
That's lending, loan sharking!
This is nationwide loan sharking. Rich people with spare money pool their money together to attack all walks of life!
Do you need money? Do you want to expand your funds? My three points profit, my three points and five points!
In the end, this loan sharking business even went abroad, and many countries turned to French loan sharks to borrow money for war expenses!
Isn't it ridiculous? While Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States are importing their industrial products to the world, France is desperately exporting its own capital, luxury goods, and culture!
Capital itself has become a profitable commodity. This can be regarded as a little cleverness of the French!
Listening to Xiao Letian's detailed analysis, Bismarck felt a trace of worry and uneasiness in his heart!
"It seems that I was really wrong. My intelligence agency has always focused on the French Ministry of Finance and several large banks..."
"Although I can spy on every large-scale capital mobilization in France, when it comes to the huge private capital, I have become blind..."
"Maybe it's as you said, I should go see the fellow countryman who was exiled by us..."
Xiao Letian reached out and picked off the bloody roses that were blooming in the ruins and whispered, "My old friend, France's heritage is actually much stronger than you and I imagined!"
"This country is extremely rich, but the people's personalities are quite extreme... I can sum it up by saying that they have strong romantic sentiments, which are a bit... floating, just floating!"
"This kind of country is very evil. You can defeat it, but you cannot conquer it... And you have to be careful. Such a strong national power may one day bring you down!"
"Don't take it lightly, you and I are very relieved... I'm just afraid that your successor will suddenly become arrogant!"
"When a great power rises, it requires determination and patience... You can't be impetuous and think you are number one in the world!"
Xiao Letian's analysis of France is very precise. Facts have proved that France's real total capital is much larger than what he judged.
Historians once consulted data and made statistics, and finally found that at the beginning of the 20th century, France lent as much as 11 billion francs to Tsarist Russia.
During the same period, France's total global borrowing scale was as high as 60 billion francs. This is only external borrowing. If the larger domestic borrowing volume is included, the total scale may have exceeded 100 billion francs.
Compared with such a huge amount of capital, the 5 billion war reparations blackmailed by Prussia is nothing, and the 1.2 billion francs extorted by the Chinese is even more drizzle.
For France, 6.2 billion francs is just a little embarrassing in appearance, but in fact it won't hurt at all.
What France really can't stand is actually the cession of its two local provinces and overseas colonies!
There is no use regretting. After all, the Frankfurt Treaty has been signed, and there is no way to regret it at this time. Bismarck can only say goodbye to Xiao Letian with regret.
But before leaving, Bismarck said in a low voice, "Old friend, I suggest you return home early... Don't worry, I will supervise France's payment of the compensation that belongs to you, and you will not miss a coin!"
"There are many intelligence facts. The UK is full of vigilance against you at the moment... You already have a new nickname. Some people call you my European shit-trouble!"
"The limelight is too strong, you should hide for a while..."
Note: When writing about France, I suddenly thought of the reality. Nowadays, private lending in the country is very prosperous, and various p2p projects continue to explode, with tens of billions or even hundreds of billions.
As for loan sharks in gray areas, there are countless them!
Isn’t it a bit like France back then?
Capital is all about profit, because no one wants the money in their hands to depreciate or fall asleep, but due to lack of investment channels, these capitals can only run wild with evil fire!
Perhaps this is the pain of economic transformation!
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