Holy Roman Empire

At that time, let's not talk about shearing the wool of other companies. Maybe the Morgan consortium itself will have to accept the participation of French capital and lose its autonomy again.

Morgan shook his head: "Mr. Nino, this matter is too involved, and our family alone can't push it forward. We must find others to join forces. With more people involved, how much more do we have the right to speak?

Take the liberty to ask, how many shares are you willing to pay, if it is too little, you don't have to waste your time. "

After hesitating for a while, Nino gave a self-confident answer: "The development of the Panama Canal involves too many countries. We must have more partners. The United States can get up to 21% of the shares."

The development of the Panama Canal is indispensable for the cooperation of the local snakes. No matter what, the Colombian government will have a share, and the Spanish will also have a share.

From the standpoint of the French, in order to control the dominance of the canal, it is impossible to have more than half of the shares, and only the remaining half is left for the three countries to divide up.

In fact, this is only an ideal figure. If capital from other European countries participates, part of the shares will inevitably be released.

This 21% is an empty check. In the end, the United States can only get fewer shares. After the listing and financing, the proportion will be further diluted.

Morgan waved his hand: "Sorry, Mr. Nino. Morgan will not be involved in this business.

With only 21% of the shares, it is simply impossible to convince all parties that the risks we need to take are not proportional to the benefits.

As far as I know, Austria has always been very interested in the Panama region.There are also a large number of immigrants in the local area, which may change the Panama region at any time.

Once Panama fell into the hands of the Austrians, there was no guarantee of our investment.Will your country go to war with Austria for our benefit? "

Nino frowned: "Mr. Morgan, the chance of this happening is very small. The Panama Canal involves the interests of Colombia, Spain, us, and your country.

The power of the four countries joining forces to invest in the Panama region is no weaker than the Austrians.

The Vienna government is not a reckless man. If they are not sure, even if they have ambitions for the Panama region, they will not act rashly. "

Nino didn't make random promises, everyone understands, and it's too difficult to fool each other.

If it really promises: France will protect everyone's investment, it is estimated that Morgan will drive people out.

What qualifications does a capitalist representative have to represent the French government?Even though the French capitalists are very powerful, they do not have the ability to arbitrarily decide the political direction of the country.

Don't say that now, even in the heyday of consortium power, it can only influence government decisions, not for the government.

Chapter 195 Capital Operation

In Paris, in a luxury club that is not open to the outside world, several oligarchs from the French financial world gathered together.

A kind-hearted old man asked with a smile: "I heard that little guy Nino is in trouble, how is he doing now, has he completed the task?"

If it is not a familiar person, no one will know that this kind-hearted old man is the biggest vampire in the French financial industry.

The most dreaded thing is that no matter what the situation is, he is always smiling, including killing people.

"Okay, old Duke put away your face, everyone is old acquaintances, who doesn't know who! You are acting every day, you are not too tired and we are tired of watching."

It was Dumas who spoke, and the two often clashed because of their interests.

Contradictions return to contradictions, but this does not affect everyone working together to make money. For the Panama Canal project, everyone is now sitting up again.

In order to avoid the escalation of the conflict, the host of the meeting, Bells, cut to the point decisively: "The two business affairs are important, let's talk about the canal project first!

Everyone knows that the Suez Canal, which was originally thought to be a loss-making project, recovered its entire investment in less than seven years after its opening.

Now it can provide investors with rich returns every year, and the income also grows with the development of overseas trade. If nothing else, this income will continue for hundreds of years.

Of course, this is a special case.The special terrain of the Mediterranean Sea is not available everywhere, and it is almost impossible to replicate the success of the Suez Canal.

The Panama Canal should be the closest to the Suez Canal. Once the east and west coasts of the Americas are opened, the distance between the east and west coasts will be shortened, and the benefits can be imagined. "

Old Duke shook his head: "It's not that simple, the Panama Canal is not the same as the Suez Canal, and we don't get support politically.

The Austrians do not want to see the canal open to navigation, the British do not want the canal to be navigable, and even the Paris government may not support the opening of the Panama Canal.

You should know the reason for this.The Mediterranean countries benefited the most from the opening of the Suez Canal, and both France and Austria were the beneficiaries. For the sake of strategic needs, the two countries pushed the project against the pressure of the British.

What about the Panama Canal?The biggest beneficiary is the United States of America, followed by the Republic of Colombia, and other American countries have also gained to some extent.

But we and Anglo-Austria have gained too little, except for the canal itself, France has little to gain.

The area of ​​Austrian Central America is not large, and railways can be built to meet the transportation needs. If there is no such demand, otherwise they will dig it themselves, and Nicaragua can also dig canals.

Not to mention British Canada, which is typically vast and sparsely populated, and simply doesn't have that many goods to transport.

In the eyes of politicians, it is better not to start this kind of cheap project.

As for the benefits of the canal, sorry, I don't think the Panama Canal can catch up with the Suez Canal.

Judging from the economic situation in the Americas, perhaps the number of ships passing through each year is not as many as our family's ships passing through the Suez Canal.

If the economies of the American countries develop later, they may still be able to make profits. According to the current situation, the loss of this project is almost [-]%. "

It is a fact that there are hidden interests behind the Panama Canal, but hidden interests cannot be obtained by the government.

Compared with the high investment, only the navigation fee is charged. The opening of the Panama Canal in this era is indeed a huge loss. Otherwise, the original time and space will be delayed until before the First World War.

Without the participation of the government, and facing the stabs of other countries, it is no wonder that the Panama Canal can sail smoothly.

Bells smiled slightly: "Whether the Panama Canal is profitable or not, can it be navigable, what does it matter to us?

As long as the outside world thinks that this project has great potential, just like the current Suez Canal, it can make a lot of money.

I made a preliminary estimate that if this project is put into operation, it can mobilize a capital of more than ten or two billion francs.If the peripheral income is added, this number will be even greater.

All we have to do is bite a piece of meat out of it. Whether the canal plan succeeds or fails is left to God to decide. "

Everyone has calculated how much profit they can make. There is no doubt that this is a shocking scam, but this is also the most basic operation of capital. If you don’t create a dream, how can investors be willing to enter the pit?

For financial capital, they never care about the success or failure of the project. As long as they can operate and go public, they can get rich returns. Long-term operation is never a problem they need to consider.

Old Duke nodded: "What you said is very reasonable, we are not gods, how do we know whether the Panama Canal project will be successful?

What I think is still to win the right to develop the canal as soon as possible, and then put it on the market.

If possible, it is best to pull Ino Capital to work together.The bigger the cake, the more delicious we can get.

On the Austrian side in particular, someone has to lobby the Vienna government, or at least delay their involvement. "

Bells: "This is also the reason why I invited everyone to come here. Such a large project requires too many coordination relationships. It must be completed with sincere cooperation from everyone."

Obviously, this is not as simple as it seems. Just a Panama Canal project is not worth the cooperation of so many bigwigs in the French financial world.

As long as the cows are blown up, it is not a canal project.It will also involve maritime transportation, processing and manufacturing, banking...

Perhaps when the project is operational, it will be a new round of bull market; when the project is finished, it will be the time when the stock market crash will break out.

……

There are still many smart people. Morgan, who is far away in New York, quickly discovered something was wrong with his keen sense of smell in the financial market.

The Panama Canal didn't need the United States to participate at all, and even if they did, they wouldn't be able to do anything other than provide money.

The United States has many internal contradictions, and the federal government is weak, and it has no ability to mobilize the real strength of this country.Moreover, there are the Allied countries staring at them, and they don't dare to act rashly.

If it is really against Austria, the federal government can do nothing but protest.Without the government's intervention, what can these consortiums do?Is it possible to organize mercenaries to defend the Panama region?

It's not that Morgan underestimated himself. The power of the consortium is indeed great, but it depends on what it is doing.If you organize mercenaries to confront a foreign power, it is estimated that they will die very miserably.

Not only the United States, but even Spain is not much better.It seems that Spain has a lot of power in the Caribbean Sea, but in fact, the colonies in this region have long been spied on by the Confederate States.

No action was taken, on the one hand, they were afraid of the strength of Britain, France, and Austria, and feared that they would be hostile to European countries;

No matter how rich the benefits of the Panama Canal are, the Spaniards are unlikely to offend Austria and cause themselves big trouble.

If nothing else, the Philippines in the Southeast Asian region is under the nose of Austria.The Spaniards were able to keep the land, relying on good diplomatic relations between the two sides, not the so-called military strength.

Since the two friends are not strong enough, the French have to pull them, the problem is very obvious.

The truth was speculated, but it increased Morgan's determination to cooperate with France.The money delivered to the door is not made for nothing. As for whoever cheats in the end, it depends on the means.

You must know that the Morgan consortium has been able to develop to this stage, and it broke out by cheating the British. The British can cheat, and there is no pressure to cheat the French.

……

The Vienna Palace, looking at the information in his hand, Franz hesitated. He didn't know whether he should cooperate with these consortiums.

It seems that he has no reason to refuse just from the point of view of interests.The benefits promised by the French are still very generous.

But when he did, it broke his bottom line again.Although the Imperial Consortium is also engaged in financial business, it has never played a shocking scam.

After hesitation, Franz made a decision: "Tell the people below that they can cooperate with the French, but the Panama Canal cannot be listed in Austria, and they will decide for themselves to participate in that step."

There is no reason not to take the money delivered to the door. As long as the Panama Canal Company is not allowed to list in Austria, even if it has an impact, the consequences will not be too serious.

Any investor who goes to Paris to buy stocks deserves to be sheared.

The Austrian Securities Regulatory Commission is still very strict. Unless it is endorsed by the government, such a company with no hair will not pass the listing review at all.

Franz did not think that the Vienna government would endorse the Panama Canal, and the top government officials knew very well that unless Austria changed its national policy, the project would not succeed at all.

The French tried to pull the Austrian consortium into the market. The most important thing was to keep Vienna from sabotage. They never thought about listing in Austria.

The reason is very simple. According to the latest securities law of the Vienna government: companies listed in Austria have strict performance requirements. Unless it is a government-approved project, other companies must make profits of more than [-] Aegis for three consecutive years.

No matter how the Panama Canal project is played, before the canal opens, it is impossible for capitalists to come up with financial statements that have been profitable for three consecutive years.

Of course, the benefits are not so easy to take.There must be additional conditions, and it is impossible to pick up money for nothing.What needs to be done needs to be further negotiated and determined, which is not what Franz cares about.

The pay is proportional to the income. This plan was planned by the French, and they will naturally take the big bucks.Other participants will be divided according to the size of their contributions.

This is only the initial distribution intention, and how much income can be obtained in the end actually depends on the means.Capital is blood-stained, and competition is everywhere.

Chapter 196 Human Nature

In 1877, Britain, France, and Austria launched wars of expansion on the African continent, and Sudan, Ethiopia, and the Somali peninsula fell into war at the same time.

Compared with the sweeping of France and Austria, the British were in trouble.The famous "Warrior Emperor" has become a nightmare for the British army.

Because the enemy was underestimated, the British army was ambushed shortly after the outbreak of the war, and the troops suffered heavy losses.

Looking at the battle report in his hand, British commander Ismail trembled with anger.Less than a month after the start of the war, more than 5000 troops were killed or injured.Forget about the cannon fodder of the colonial army, the key is that a British infantry regiment was maimed.

"Rice buckets, all are rice buckets!"

"You can't even beat a bunch of natives, and you have lost all of Britain's face. What's the use of the country supporting you?"

……

A young officer bravely explained: "General, the indigenous people of Ethiopia are extraordinary. They also have modern weapons and have received formal military training."

"Snapped!"

Ismail Meng slapped the table and scolded angrily: "It must be the Austrian native and the French, no one but them is so shameless!"

Everyone did not answer this topic. You must know that the British were the first to help Ethiopia train its troops. After the last Ethiopian war, the French and Austrian countries infiltrated their forces.

Ethiopia has a well-trained army, and the British also have a share of the credit. If this layer of window paper is pierced, the government will face greater pressure from public opinion.

It is the best choice to directly put the responsibility on France and Austria. It is not that they do not work hard, but that the enemy is too "strong".

After venting, Ismail calmed down.

For this war, they prepared completely according to the experience of the previous war.Obviously, this is out of date.

Today is different from the past, Menelik II was able to unify most of Ethiopia, and it was also played all the way.How can a battle-hardened army be easy to mess with?

The Paris Conference did not come to a conclusion. In the absence of treaty constraints, France and Austria secretly stabbed the knife, which is perfectly normal.

Ismail is very suspicious that the Ethiopian army is now commanded by Commander Fao, otherwise how could the British army lose to the natives?

After taking stock of the troops in his hand, Ismail reluctantly came to the conclusion that it is difficult to win with the current strength, and even if he could win, it would be a tragic victory.

If a war breaks out with the European powers, a "tragic victory" is acceptable. The current enemy is the African indigenous people. If such a victory is achieved, it will be subject to a military court.

Needless to say, in order to win, Ismail decisively chose to seek domestic help.

……

In Paris, after several years of political struggle, Napoleon IV gradually took control of the state power by playing a balance.

In this respect, Napoleon III's original plan succeeded.Taking advantage of the opportunity for power struggles between all parties, the imperial power can be successfully handed over.

There are advantages and disadvantages. After several years of political struggles, the rest are old foxes who are used to political struggles.

After taking control of the power, it was impossible for Napoleon IV to replace all these people. Infighting has seriously become the biggest problem of the French government.

As a last resort, Napoleon IV could only continue to play balance.He is powerless against the infighting of the bureaucracy.

Perhaps for the imperial power, bureaucratic infighting is a good thing, but there is a premise that it must be limited to a certain range.

Once the bottom line is broken, it ends up being a disaster.Everyone stabs each other, how can the country develop normally?