Chapter 131

Everyone in the audience, although William IV would have a backhand, didn't expect it to be such a boomerang, and all looked at Jefferson Brin.

The latter smiled bitterly: "Look, I just have a hole"

"Hahaha"

William IV pressed his hands down, and the scene was suddenly quiet.

Seeing this, Brin said solemnly: "In my opinion, France is the most basic characteristic of a great country: why should you pay back the money you borrowed based on your ability?"

"Everyone, in Europe, apart from the distant Tsarist Empire in Eastern Europe, France was one of the most populous, territorial, and most agriculturally developed countries in Europe in the 18th century.

Geographically, France has numerous Mediterranean and Atlantic, domestic rivers, and inland shipping is extremely developed.

These innate advantages made Paris the political and economic center of France and even Europe. The French kings took advantage of Paris to build a central government.

A strong government gave the king of France the ability to levy heavy taxes and assemble a strong army.

In 1701, the king of France supported his grandson to become the king of Spain, and Spain became an ally of France, but because of this, European countries believed that France was too strong.

So throughout the 18th century, even the slightest expansion of France would trigger a collective anti-French coalition rebound in the rest of Europe.

These kings of France found that if they wanted to continue to expand their land hegemony, the scale of borrowing would be extremely large, and the problem of centralization in France became more and more prominent.

At the beginning, in order to quickly centralize power, Louis XIV turned nobles into vassals. The entire bureaucratic system lacked a professional civil servant team. Therefore, the high-level government officials could not manage financial management and the grass-roots levied excessively, and the taxation efficiency was very low.

When Louis XVI came, France finally found the right strategy, giving up the continental hegemony, developing the navy, relying on the resources of North America, and competing with Britain for maritime supremacy.

When France gave up the European War, the major powers were reluctant to become enemies with this power, and Britain found that it could not find any allies willing to contain France.

Britain also saw a tendency for maritime hegemony to be replaced again.

) Unfortunately, France's strategic change was too late, because the two financial bankruptcy during the Louis XV period made the French state discredited. Louis XVI borrowed the same amount of debt as the United Kingdom, but the interest was more than twice that of the United Kingdom. When France was about to usher in its third bankruptcy, at the end of the 18th century, a big fate occurred in France.

After the great fate, thanks to advanced political concepts and professional talents, France showed a strong overall combat effectiveness. However, France led by Napoleon was still dragged down by the wars of the European countries, and everything returned to the far point.

Ladies and gentlemen, it has been nearly 50 years since the defeat of the French Empire in 1815. France is still a strong country, but one of them has never been won. So, to form a bitter memory for France."

"Papapa" bursts of applause sounded, and waited until Brin sat down.

William IV looked at Davies, the ambassador to Great Britain.

"What could give us a better understanding of the history and process of these countries than this permanent ambassador, so what about the UK?"

"Everyone, I think the UK is exactly the opposite of France. The reason for the development of the UK is that it has endless financial resources and endless fighting."

William IV asked what everyone wanted to ask: "Oh? Endless wealth, endless battles? How do you say it?"

"Britain is an island country on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean in Europe, and the war on the European continent cannot burn the British Isle.

Therefore, the UK does not need a government with a high degree of authority, and local self-government and parliamentary sovereignty have become the traditions of British politics.

The UK's political structural tradition has had two fiscal implications"

First, the government's direct tax on housekeeping will cause strong resistance in the parliament. The government has to invent a lot of indirect taxes, such as stamp duty, tobacco and alcohol tax, customs duties, etc. The tax burden of the British is actually heavier than that of France, but the indirect tax is very annoying. The feeling is not as direct as in France, and the people will not be so heartbroken.

Second, the British government is always under the supervision of parliament and must strictly abide by fiscal discipline. Throughout the 18th century, the United Kingdom has always been the most indebted country in Europe, but its finances have never gone bankrupt, so the British credit rating is very good, which in turn lowered the British The cost of borrowing financing. "Everyone present nodded involuntarily, which is very understandable. Two people borrowed money at the same time a year ago, one repaid it on time, and the other didn't. When borrowing money again, although both of them have borrowed money, But when the second person borrowed money, many conditions were added, one of which was the requirement to increase the interest rate higher than the first one.

"Britain and France went from the Seven Years War to the American independence war, and both sides have debts of more than 200 million pounds, but the United Kingdom only needs to pay 7 million pounds in interest every year, while France alone needs to pay 14 million pounds. Doubled. Interest, in the end, in this money-burning competition, France was forced to kill itself with interest by the United Kingdom.

When the countries defeated Napoleon France in 1815, Britain was in debt of 800 million pounds, but because of its good reputation, the United Kingdom did not go bankrupt.

Therefore, when the Netherlands faces the United Kingdom, we should pay attention to the fact that the United Kingdom has such a strong solvency, which other countries do not have. This is mainly due to the huge wealth created by the industrial fate of the industrial British origin.

Speaking of which, I have to say that since we won the trade war with the Netherlands in the 17th century, Britain and the colonies have formed their own economic circles. The British mainland is the only consumer market for raw materials in the colonies, and the mainland processes raw materials into industrial products. Re-export to Europe.

After years of accumulation in the market and technology cultivated by the British, in the middle of the 18th century, an industrial destiny was born, and social wealth exploded.

Industrial products need a market. Everyone, what the British fear most is that the European continent unites and imposes trade sanctions on the United Kingdom~www.mtlnovel.com~ Therefore, the United Kingdom will never allow the European countries to appear hegemony. This is what the United Kingdom has been advocating for hundreds of years. The reason for the golden rule of 'Continental Balance of Power Foreign Policy'.

While playing the political balance in the Continent, you are actively expanding the colonies due to overheating. During the Napoleonic blockade, the British relied on the colonies to fight against the entire Continent. On the contrary, the Continental Shao Lei Britain's industrial products would have a hard time living.

However, because the total population is limited and the labor cost is much higher than that of the European continent, it is not cost-effective to maintain a strong army for interfering in the European continent. The most cost-effective way is to find an ally in the European continent as a strategic fulcrum. Just give money.

And this ally must have potential, strong military quality, be in a position that can strike Britain's enemies, and be short of money.

And this country, the final choice, is Prussia.

Pearson, it's your turn"

There was another round of applause from the audience.

Seeing William IV look away, Nicholas Pearson stood up, and he first performed an aristocratic manner to King William IV, and then said: "The most common saying in Prussia: I have a gun, do you have money? "