110 Sure Jailbreak(1)
In June 1828, an armistice conference was held in North America.
The United States, Mexico, France, and Spain had gathered to end the war of attrition.
The amount of war supplies consumed in North America recently exceeded 1/3 of each country’s fiscal budget, causing nearly 50,000 casualties in one month alone.
All of this was to secure the territory, so no matter how explosively increasing the population could keep up with it, it was a long way off.
Since there are no soldiers now, mercenaries were recruited from abroad to fight, so it was questionable whether there was any reason to continue this war.
On the morning of the 11th, representatives of each country gathered in Utah and agreed.
“Let’s end the war by keeping our borders as they are now.”
“Hmm… … .”
“Anyway, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado and Arizona are neutral areas owned by East Stellar, and since the Demilitarized Zone has been formed, I don’t think there will be any fights over the borders with each other anymore.”
Everyone looked at each other’s eyes at the American proposal.
This was a battle over who would lower the tail first, but more than that, it was essentially a regret for the money poured out so far.
But no one could deny that the time had come to end the war.
“As you know, it is not easy to even finance war these days. As the international community chooses the central currency as the key currency, the value of the country’s currency is virtually meaningless. Nevertheless, if we continue to engage in war, we will lose the place for people’s livelihoods due to inflation.”
“… … Yes. The circulation of central currency made it difficult to raise funds these days.”
Until now, weapons had been purchased mainly with gold or silver, and when it became difficult, they traded on credit with bonds or promissory notes denominated in their own currency.
However, recently, as the economic center of the international community gradually moved from Europe to the occupied territory of East Stellar, foreign trade began to become difficult.
As the amplitude of the gold price changes sharply from day to day, there are many financial losses, such as losses on foreign exchange and the sale of bills.
So, it was a time when it was profitable to buy the currency called Central and carry it with you.
The risk of Central was relatively low because the market price was determined by the basket that recorded the weight of each country’s currency fluctuations.
Central’s market price was selected by carefully calculating the weight of the base interest rate and money supply, so it was somewhat different from the gold price simply determined by market demand.
However, this was not as easy as I thought, as gold was absolutely necessary to secure the central currency.
“Territorial expansion is ultimately for the benefit of one’s own country, but honestly, I don’t think it’s a little bit. It’s Portugal, which dominates Texas and Florida. Based on the foundation we have created, we are picking up silver coins for the tribe, but we have a different position, don’t we?”
“but… … . Portugal is in control of the southern coast, where a naval battle is inevitable just by bringing a piece of bread to the settlement.”
The North American powers were in a position to almost control the southern coast area due to Portugal’s occupation of the Gulf of Mexico area.
Now, trade was also recording a huge negative, and there were many vendors who imported goods even after paying taxes to the Portuguese authorities.
As a result, the prices of imported goods often went up, and factories that had difficulty sourcing raw materials often closed their doors.
“Rather than go to war, wouldn’t it be better to share the coast and promote economic development at this time? I can earn some silver coins by cultivating the frontiers that are currently developing well.”
“That’s it. It was a war because I wanted to eat my stomach, but only someone is doing good things.”
Among the five major powers that are currently at war in North America, only Portugal has a current account surplus.
Perhaps if this continues, everyone will be unable to get out of the swamp of deficits and become a default state.
“You may lose the wealth you have accumulated so far in an instant. Let’s all be alert and close the negotiations by contributing to our country’s economic development.”
“… … good. Let’s sign an agreement.”
These countries realized that no matter how good the land is, everything is useless when there is no food.
However, there was one problem with this peace agreement.
The point was that the Portuguese delegation did not attend the agreement.
“By the way, if Portugal doesn’t agree even if we sign an agreement between us, it’s absurd.”
“Does anyone know what Portugal’s position is?”
Among the delegations, Mexico raised its hand.
They recently opened a letter from Portugal to everyone.
“This is a letter from just over a week ago. It has been expressing its position to us through the telegram of the Baron Easterfield.”
“What does the letter say?”
“It is said that Portugal will never stop fighting until the whole of America is united.”
“… … great!”
“To them, the blood we shed is money. My eyes are turned on money, and I will never stop.”
“Well, Portugal’s economy is like that, so it’s not unreasonable to struggle.”
Portugal’s collapsed economy was being revived by the silver coins it earned in North America, and relations with Britain, the most indebted, were slowly recovering.
Portugal hoped to grow into a great power once again through this war, and the goal was to run the largest colony in history.
In short, they said they would never want peace. Nevertheless, the agreement could not be stopped.
“Still, we have to make a deal.”
“you’re right. Peace must come without Portugal.”
“Hmm, then there is a way.”
“How?”
“The Baron Easterfield is the organizer of the peace agreement, the witness and guarantor of the agreement.”
“Aha! That would be it. No matter how ignorant the Portuguese pirates are, they can’t do anything about the Easterfield Baron.”
If they are right, Portugal will have no choice but to join the sentiment.
***
Robin Idins, an official from the British Ministry of Finance, visited Lee Hwan.
He secretly received Lee Hwan’s invitation and took a speedboat to Ritterkirk, and how he spends his day would change his life in old age.
Robin Idins was an illegitimate bastard from a fallen aristocratic family. After graduating from college after studying hard, he entered the Ministry of Finance and rose to the upper class.
However, London’s aristocratic society was not as easy-going as I thought it would be, so it was struggling.
Then, Roger Morgan, a financier of East Stellar, recruited him and brought him to Lee Hwan.
Robin Idins is an unusual figure, entrenched somewhere between a politician and a financier.
Its uniqueness was also an advantage that increased the utility value of Robin Idins.
“… … Is it a way to keep Britain in check while still being involved?”
“Seeing that they sided with Belgium in the succession to the throne, I think there was a connection with the House of Representatives. But I don’t know exactly what it is.”
Yi Hwan asked if there was any way to prevent the expansion phase while attracting Britain to the Elizabethan succession.
Robin Idins found the answer in money.
“Please trouble the British Treasury.”
“… … financial?”
“You probably know that the UK’s financial situation these days is at its worst. That’s why we even started a war on purpose, but it wasn’t enough to ameliorate the deterioration of the balance. That’s why we even started a war in North America.”
“You mean to push the cannons to Portugal?”
“Besides that, there are many other areas where the UK has intervened. It’s like encouraging Spain to join the war, or giving Portugal financial support, or something like that.”
“… … Weren’t you just selling cannons?”
“The British Treasury is more sloppy than you think. Just thinking about it like that would be perfect for getting stabbed in the back.”
The fact that Britain had intervened in the war in North America was partly aware of it.
However, the fact that they have intervened so deeply is truly astonishing.
“These days, the silver coins Portugal brings from North America are fueling the UK economy quite a bit. Thanks to this, Portugal is also coming out of its fiscal deficit. In my opinion, for this purpose, Spain and France were instigated and sent to North America, and implicitly supported Portugal to complete the picture as it is now.”
“So everything was just a play driven by their will?”
“It’s like that.”
After all, North America is nothing more than a British chess board.
Robin Idins was convinced that Britain’s rejection of Elizabeth in this succession would ultimately be in their own interests.
“I don’t even know what the gains were in the succession to the throne. But it is clear that the British royal family and the Treasury are doing their best to get a man who fits their will to the Dutch throne.”
“… … It’s a craft.”
Britain was desperate to seize European hegemony.
Willem I’s strategy for Great Britain may have been to prevent this painting from being completed.
“There is no law that says Europe can’t be like North America.”
“I think the Austrian reunification of Germany has nothing to do with the problem. There is no other force that can contain Russia as clearly as Austria now, right? Perhaps the Ottomans might come up.”
“Are you going to block all sides tightly and increase your size and fight against Russia for supremacy?”
“I don’t think that’s the most convincing argument for now.”
“Hmm.”
Robin Idins insisted that Britain had to torment them as hard as they could to get them to renounce interference in the succession to the throne.
“At this point, you have to set a good example for England. Whether it was a military action or an economic move.”
“then… … .”
There were plenty of ways for Eaststellar to harass the British Treasury.
However, it was only a matter of how to hold the timing.
Lee Hwan decided to slowly create the timing.
“I have a way. We have the power to sit and kill them.”
“As expected, something is a little different with the financial emperor.”
“A financial emperor?”
“Isn’t that how you call a baron in London these days?”
“Huh, was it?”
He was planning to show clearly what kind of disaster he would cause if he touched the heart of the financial emperor at this time.