After seeing Edel handling the documents about the reconstruction of northern Moldavia, Prime Minister Bretianu immediately pretended to be concerned and asked: "Your Majesty, what should we do with this batch of gold?"
When Edel heard that the meat show was coming, he also pretended to be confused and said: "Put it in the Reserve Bank first, and we will talk about it after the war is over."
Upon hearing that Edel planned to wait until the end of the war to consider the use of this gold, Prime Minister Bretianu no longer pretended. "Your Majesty, currently due to the procurement of war supplies, to appease the people of the newly occupied territories, and the Northern Moore
The government has almost exhausted funds for the resettlement of people returning to their hometowns in Davia. We must obtain new funds to continue, so you can see if you can allocate part of it to solve the current difficulties first."
Faced with Prime Minister Bretianu's request, Edel was somewhat silent. In fact, he had his own ideas about this batch of gold. In Edel's opinion, the current gold from Kazan is not the best time to use it.
After the end of World War I, the pacification of Romania's newly occupied territories and the acquisition of German industry were the times when its value was best demonstrated.
Thinking of the huge debt that Germany carried after the war and the suppressed environment, the large number of experienced technicians and the ridiculously cheap factories, Edel believed that it was his responsibility to allow them and these factories to continue on Romanian soil.
Playing a role. This is also the greatest contribution he can make to these poor German people as a member of the Hohenzollern family.
As for the anxious people who were about to be annexed to Romania, Edel also believed that they needed to feel that the new kingdom valued them, so it was appropriate to give them some economic benefits. However, both of these required huge amounts of funds, and
The current batch of gold is the biggest capital he plans to use to do these two things.
Therefore, Eder was somewhat reluctant to the Prime Minister's suggestion to use this batch of gold.
Prime Minister Bretianu saw that the king was calm about his proposal, and said a little impatiently: "Your Majesty, there are too many supplies that need to be purchased at present. Our government's finances are quite tight, and we really need a sum of funds to alleviate this situation.
.”
Faced with the Prime Minister's urging, Eder asked instead: "Can't the government issue another national debt to provide some relief?"
Faced with the king's careless behavior, Prime Minister Bretianu smiled bitterly. Did the king think they had not considered this method? In fact, the government had already made this idea, but it was unfortunately unrealistic. The current domestic capital is not considered
It is powerful, and many entrepreneurs are resentful about the Kingdom joining the Entente camp, and will not be active in purchasing (they are resentful about whoever allows them to make big profits or lose money. This has nothing to do with loving or not being patriotic, capital is all about profit)
Moreover, these companies basically relied on the war fortunes they made in recent years, and many of those who made money invested it in expanding production, so it is impossible to expect the country to digest this batch of national debt.
So the Prime Minister said bluntly: "Your Majesty, it is difficult for the domestic economy to bear the issuance of this national debt. This is not a small amount of money, but a war bond of nearly 2 billion lei."
Eder was also shocked when he heard what the Prime Minister said. How did you calculate so much money?
Seeing that the king did not believe it, the prime minister immediately explained his reasons: "This batch of money includes the cost of continuing to purchase war supplies, as well as pensions for fallen soldiers and resettlement fees for disabled soldiers. You must know that the current staff
The number of reported dead soldiers and disabled veterans has reached more than 70,000, which requires a lot of money."
Edel knew about this. When the Plesan News came out, he was also shocked. Because except for Romania, which suffered some losses when facing the German army in northern Moldavia, the other fronts were going well.
Why are there so many casualties?
When Pleshan explained to the king, he realized that although the war situation was favorable to Romania, the number of casualties was really quite large. First, in the Battle of Transylvania, Romania suffered more than 40,000 casualties and missing persons.
Among them, more than 25,000 soldiers died or were unable to continue fighting after being treated. The Bulgarian campaign had the smallest number of casualties in Romania, with more than 24,000 casualties and missing people. The number of soldiers who died and could no longer continue was
The number of soldiers fighting also reached more than 11,000. As for the Battle of Northern Moldavia, which suffered the most heavy casualties for the Romanian army, the number of casualties and missing persons reached more than 80,000, of which 45,000 were killed and retired due to injuries and illnesses.
Multiple people.
According to the standard of Romanian soldiers killed in action of 6,000 lei and disabled soldiers of 5,000 to 3,000, this means that more than 300 million lei are needed. This money cannot be delayed, as this is a major matter for the morale of the army. Therefore, Prime Minister Bretianu
I was also anxious and had no other choice, so I came up with the idea of this windfall.
Although the prime minister had good reasons, Edel was still a little unwilling, so he came up with another way.
"The government can go to London or New York to issue war bonds."
Faced with another suggestion given by the king, Prime Minister Bretianu said directly, "Your Majesty, we have already considered it, but this cannot fill the funding gap."
Seeing that the king did not believe it, the prime minister gave the reason. "Currently, the national debt of Britain and France is not easy to sell in the financial markets of London and Paris. As for the United States, we have contacted banks such as Morgan Stanley and Citigroup. They said that our country
They can only purchase US$100 million in issuance of war bonds, and the interest rate must be one percentage point higher than the British and French bonds. This is because the American people are worried about our country's ability to repay."
Edel sighed secretly when he heard the Prime Minister's merciless words. This is all due to the short development time, and Romania is not well-known in the world. But this is already much better. If the situation of Romania in history is followed,
Fifty million US dollars is probably enough, and the UK and France will probably be required to guarantee it.
After hearing the Prime Minister's explanation, Eder thought for a moment and said, "Well, the issuance of war bonds still has to go ahead. Just issue 100 million U.S. dollars of war bonds in the United States in accordance with their requirements, and then issue 500 million lei domestically and in Britain and France."
war bonds. For the remaining one billion shortfall, part of the gold will be used as guarantee, and one billion lei banknotes will be issued to fund the war."
After Eder finished speaking, he looked at the Chancellor of Finance who was standing behind the Prime Minister. Lord Albert, who had worked in the Ministry of Finance for many years, immediately understood the King's intention. He stepped forward directly and asked: "Your Majesty, what is the name of this banknote?"
Proportional gold issuance?”
Everyone present understood the intention of Lord Albert's words. Although it is now a gold standard, it is not a classical gold standard. 100 million lei of gold is used to issue 100 million banknotes. Which country is not issuing excessive banknotes now? Although banknotes are
It is still possible to exchange for gold, but the complicated procedures have blocked a large number of ordinary people, and exchanging banknotes for gold between countries also requires consideration of all aspects. If you don’t believe it, the debts owed by Britain and France after the war in the original time and space have long since exceeded their domestic gold reserves.
If there is not enough to repay, the United States, as the main creditor, still dares not force them to repay, and can only discuss exchanging benefits.
Romania did not have this strength, so Edel thought about it and said: "Let's issue it at a ratio of three to one."
After finishing speaking, Edel sighed secretly. This batch of gold had just arrived in Romania, so it was missing one-tenth. Who could bear it a few more times?
When the Prime Minister saw that he had received the money, he quickly left the palace with the Minister of Finance. The government was very busy with work. If it weren't for the important matter this time, he would not bother to come over and bargain with the King.
After the Prime Minister left, before Edel could take a break, the guard came in again and reported: Chief of General Staff Puleshin is coming. (To be continued)
