Chapter 1,037 Second Acquisition of Bankrupt Railway
Under the personal deployment and command of Jérôme Bonaparte, the condolence team completed all preliminary preparations in only three days.
On January 8, 1859, a condolence team headed by Prince Montfort and assisted by Walewski set off from Paris to Vienna, the capital of the Austrian Empire, to attend the funeral of Marshal Radetzky.
In order to express the importance the French Empire attached to the funeral of Marshal Radetzky, Jérôme Bonaparte also held a medium-sized farewell ceremony for the condolence team, and personally sent Prince Montfort and others to the royal train.
Accompanied by the shrill whistle of the steam locomotive, the royal train began to accelerate.
Standing on the train platform and looking at the train that was about to disappear from sight, Jerome Bonaparte also turned and left.
Before riding back to the Tuileries Palace in a carriage, Jérôme Bonaparte called his aide-de-camp Burbaski.
"Your Majesty, what are your orders?" Burbaski stood up straight and asked Jerome Bonaparte in a humble tone.
"You should immediately go to the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Public Transport, and the Bank of France and ask Minister Achille Fuld, Minister Baros and Governor Bemini to come to the Tuileries Palace before 3 o'clock this afternoon.
!" Jerome Bonaparte gave an order to Burbaski.
After receiving the order, Burbasky immediately gave a military salute to Jérôme Bonaparte and said loudly, "I will inform you right away!"
"Um!"
Jérôme Bonaparte nodded and entered the carriage.
Burbaski watched Jérôme Bonaparte's car drive away, and waited until the convoy disappeared around the corner before riding his horse to call.
Burbaski first arrived at the Ministry of Finance, then went to the Ministry of Public Transport and the Bank of France.
By the time Burbasky gave all the notifications, more than an hour had passed.
Upon returning to the Tuileries Palace from the outside world, he immediately reported the completion of the notification to Jerome Bonaparte.
"Well! Thank you for your hard work!" Jerome Bonaparte said to Burbaski with a smile.
…
The time soon came to 3pm.
Achille Fuld, Baros and Bemini arrived at the Tuileries Palace.
Basilio, who was responsible for welcoming the two ministers and a governor, looked at the leather bags held under the arms of the three imperial ministers, with a hint of surprise in his eyes.
"Your Excellencies, please follow me!"
Under the leadership of Basilio, the three of them passed through the magnificent arches and arrived at a room at the back of the second floor of the Tuileries Palace.
Looking out through the windows of the corridor, you can clearly see the Louvre in the distance, as well as several corridors connecting the Louvre to the Tuileries Palace.
"Your Majesty is inside!"
Basilio spoke to the three important ministers and pushed open the closed door with his hand.
The figure of Jerome Bonaparte came into view of the three ministers the moment Basilio opened the door.
Jerome Bonaparte, who was sitting by the fireplace and reading a book, also raised his head after hearing the noise coming from the door of the room.
When he found Achille Fuld and others at the door of the room, he immediately put down his book and stood up to greet them.
Upon seeing this, Achille Fuld quickly came to Jerome Bonaparte's side and respectfully greeted Jerome Bonaparte, "Your Majesty!"
Jérôme Bonaparte looked at Achille Fuld and the briefcases under their armpits with a smile of relief on his face, and he couldn't help but joked, "You're already here! Why are you still sending big and small bags?"
Bring it here!
I told you in advance that I am quite picky and I will not accept gifts that are not expensive!"
Achille Fuld and others naturally heard Jérôme Bonaparte's ridicule, and they immediately replied, "Your Majesty, we can assure you that you will accept this gift!"
Jérôme Bonaparte couldn't help but feel a trace of expectation in his heart, "I am now looking forward to what kind of gift you can give me!"
Later, Jérôme Bonaparte arranged for Achille Fuld, Baros and Bemini to sit down.
The imperial economic (small) meeting, which had been suspended for several days, officially began with laughter and laughter.
As Chancellor of the Exchequer and the "Big Brother" of the trio, Achill Fuld was the first to speak.
Achille Fuld first handed over the financial information he compiled to Jerome Bonaparte for viewing. After Jerome Bonaparte took a rough look at it, Achille Fuld spoke.
He first claimed that the economic ups and downs of the empire were not only due to the empire itself, but also had an inseparable relationship with the global economic environment.
After all, the scope of the economic crisis of 1857 was so great that even if Jérôme Bonaparte tried his best to shrink his business, he would inevitably be affected to a certain extent.
Although this impact is equivalent to a small raindrop compared to the impact faced by the United States of America, if a raindrop of the times is evenly sprinkled on everyone, it is not as simple as a raindrop, but enough to swallow up a person.
of turbulent waves.
Otherwise, Jérôme Bonaparte would not have chosen to take the desperate risk last year (of course with the assistance of Orsini) to annex Savoy and Nice, and use the prestige brought by the expansion of the land to suppress the empire's opposition again
, and also stabilized the French stock market.
"As of January 1859, my country's steel production capacity had increased by 10% year-on-year (915,000 tons) compared with 1856, the financial market had increased by 20% year-on-year, and the agricultural product export market had returned to pre-crisis levels..." Ahir· Fuld first reported to Jerome Bonaparte the progress in production capacity issues, and then reported to Jerome Bonaparte the tax revenue for the whole year of 1858. "As of December 1858, France had Revenues are roughly 2.306 billion, expenditures are 2.213 billion...The total public debt expenditure is 9.417 billion."
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! After roughly comparing the data of 1856 and 1857 in his mind, Jerome Bonaparte said, "Although this year's fiscal revenue is higher than that of 1856 (1856
The annual income is 2.693 billion francs), but it is a big improvement compared to 1857 (2.179 billion in 1857)!
However, the increase in public debt is indeed not optimistic!
I remember our public debt in 1857 was 9.032 billion!"
"Yes! Your Majesty!" Ashil Fuld nodded and replied.
"Public debt has increased by 400 million in just one year. Will this cause inflation within a certain range?" Jérôme Bonaparte asked Achille Fuld.
As we all know, when a government's revenue, expenditures and public bonds increase at the same time, it means that the price of the entire country will also increase on a large scale.
However, according to a survey conducted by Jérôme Bonaparte in Paris a few days ago, prices in Paris do not seem to have been affected by inflation.
"Your Majesty, other provinces except Paris have indeed been affected to a certain extent!" Achille Fuld frankly admitted the inflation, "However, this impact will not last long!
As long as the global economy regains its vitality, inflation will soon be resolved!"
After listening to Achille Fuld's words, Jérôme Bonaparte realized that he had passed on the expansion of Paris to the provinces. This was just like the economic crisis in the United States caused a crisis in the United Kingdom, but the United Kingdom did not.
It was as if it had been cleverly transferred to the European continent.
Immediately afterwards, Achille Fuld told Jérôme Bonaparte that most of the extra 400 million spent on French public bonds was for the acquisition of some branch railways.
Due to the public-private partnership approach adopted by France's railways, all railways that are of great significance to the military and economy and are profitable are operated by state-owned (owned) railway companies.
And those railways that do not make money, or even lose money, are all left to "private companies" to operate independently. The government only needs to issue a qualification certificate to the private railways and conduct a proper review.
Under the guidance of the imperial government, those "private" railway companies that grew wildly sold some bonds that should have been ignored to some powerful bankers under the guise of high interest rates and high returns. Then there was the French "Patriotic" Bank
The traders then repackaged them and put them on foreign stock exchange markets again, of which Frankfurt, London, and Berlin bond markets absorbed nearly 70%.
Private companies contributed to the accumulation of capital, bankers earned the price difference, investors saw the rising fares, and the government completed the railway construction without spending a penny.
If there had not been this economic crisis, it would have been something that all four families would be happy about.
Because those secondary bonds that are put into the market may take about 10 years to be exposed (except for some unscrupulous capitalists who directly declare suspension and bankruptcy after peddling bonds).
It's a pity that the emergence of an economic crisis directly exposed the true face of those poor defective products.
The stock prices of private railways plummeted, and most private railway companies fell directly due to the turmoil in the London and Frankfurt markets and the attacks of bankers.
Naturally, the railways they had built in their hands were bought by the government at a price that was close to half of the price.
It is equivalent to Achill Fuld buying a railway branch line with a total value of more than 4 billion francs for 400 million francs. The only injured are the retail investors who were deceived by the high profits of railway bonds.
"What are you going to do with those railways?" Jérôme Bonaparte asked Achille Fuld curiously.
"Your Majesty, the government is unable to maintain the basic operations of those railways that are destined to be loss-making, so I hope to mortgage those railways to the banks again!" Achille Fuld said to Jérôme Bonaparte.
"The bank is really willing to take over those railways?" Jérôme Bonaparte looked at Bemini, the president of the Bank of France, with a critical look.