Holy Roman Empire

Of course, what's even more tragic is that this prince didn't even have the chance to take power, and what he was waiting for was just a rubber stamp crown.

……

Vienna Palace

Foreign Secretary Frankel: "Your Highness, the United States of America has sent a diplomatic note, hoping to obtain the right to dig the Panama Canal."

The "Panama Canal" was excavated by the French decades ago.Unfortunately, when Napoleon III was busy expanding to Italy, the Panama region fell into the hands of Austria.

Encountering an uncooperative colonial government, the excavation of the Panama Canal will naturally not go smoothly.It went on and on for several years, and finally ended with the bankruptcy of the canal company.

The fact that the French are gone does not mean that the Panama Canal is over.In fact, many people in the Holy Roman Empire also wanted to dig this golden waterway.

Unfortunately, no matter what kind of excavation plan was in the hands of the Vienna government, it was finally rejected.

Anyone with a discerning eye knows that this is a political issue.The capitalists in Shinra have all experienced social beatings, and they don't have the courage to confront the government.

In the days that followed, the Panama Canal seemed to be forgotten, and no one mentioned it again.

This situation has continued until recent years. With the vigorous development of the capitalist world economy, transportation has become an important factor restricting the development of the western states of the United States.

Railway transportation cannot meet the demand, and sea transportation has to circle half a circle around the earth. The United States urgently needs to dig a canal to shorten the distance between the east and west coasts.

Hearing this unsurprising news, Frederick said with a smile: "What conditions have the Americans given, you can't have nothing, just want to come here empty-handed, white wolf?"

Negotiating conditions is necessary. Pressing the Panama Canal not to develop is itself a means for Shinra to suppress the development of the Americans.

Now that the U.S. government has opened its mouth, even if it is only a test, it is impossible not to open any conditions.

It is enough for a white wolf to bully a small country with empty gloves, but to play with a hegemony is to seek abuse.Not only will it not work, but it will also deteriorate the diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Foreign Secretary Frankel smiled slightly: "The Americans did not give clear conditions, but during the contact process, their Secretary of State made hints.

As long as we give up the Panama Canal Zone, they will support us in the next battle for supremacy.

Of course, this should be part of the conditions, and they should want more.

After all, it is not common for great powers to compete for hegemony. Americans probably think they are important and want to take the opportunity to tear off a piece of meat. "

To put forward such a condition, the United States is naturally not aimless.

Purely in terms of economic aggregate, the United States of America is already the fourth most powerful country in the world after Shinra, Britain, and the Russian Empire.

The total amount of industry is even higher than that of the Russians, second only to Shinra and Britain.Because of its rivalry with the Confederate States, the United States also maintains a Continental Army.

According to the current internationally accepted view, the United States of America is the fifth largest country in the world after Spain, and many people even think that the United States is stronger than Spain.

With such a strong family background, in the next battle between Shinra and Britain, the United States will naturally have the confidence to stand in line.

At least in the Americas, whichever one the United States supports will have an advantage in the competition in the Americas.

Especially in recent years, the continuous wooing of the London government has made Americans realize their importance and want to take advantage of the opportunity.

Undoubtedly, for sellers, the more buyers the better.The bid from the British alone is obviously not as good as the bid from Shinra and Britain.

Frederick nodded: "The Americans don't have a big appetite, and they didn't ask us to support them in annexing the Confederate States. It should be regarded as restraint.

It's a pity that we don't need them now, let alone help them carry their sedan chairs, and get benefits from their British masters for them. "

It can be seen that Frederick doesn't have any affection for this kind of boy.The closer he was to the world hegemon, the deeper Frederick studied.

On the issue of choosing allies, Frederick still prefers countries that can form alliances for a long time, rather than two or five boys who are destined to jump back.

The Vienna government has never wooed the United States, not because the United States has no strength, but mainly because there are serious conflicts of interest between the two countries.

The reason is very simple. Once the Holy Roman Empire becomes the world hegemon, it will have far stronger control over the world than the British.

After all, the British are only a country with sea power, while Shinra develops together with sea power and land power.Not only is the military strength stronger, but Shinra's overall national strength is stronger.

For small and weak countries, this is not a bad thing.At least the Vienna government's food is much better than that of the British, and they don't like to make troubles. Everyone's small life will be better.

Things are less rosy for a regional hegemon like the United States of America.

"American America", go back to sleep first, you will have everything when you fall asleep.

If nothing else, at least unification is hopeless.

If the British want to prevent the reunification of the United States, at most they will support the South with economic sanctions and weapons and equipment; if it is the Holy Roman Empire, they will send troops to go on their own.

Facing an opponent with low potential like Britain, you can slowly catch up by farming; if you encounter a giant like Shinra, you will always be suppressed.

The facts are before our eyes, so when it comes to winning over overseas allies, the Vienna government is quite Buddhist.

In general, when the British government finishes pulling people, the Vienna government will directly accept their enemies.

For example, before the United States was wooed by the British government, the Allies went to Shinra by themselves, saving even the cost of wooing allies.

Although it is slightly weaker in strength, the Vienna government itself is not prepared to use the power of its allies in this hegemony struggle, as long as someone follows the flag and shouts.

Prime Minister Chandler reminded: "Your Highness, we should contact the United States. At least we must act as if we are very sincere, so as to put pressure on the Confederate States.

As far as I know, the Confederacy has not been very peaceful recently, and has extended its hand to northern Mexico.Don't beat it, maybe someday they're going to invade Mexico again. "

"Ambition" is something that every country has, it's nothing more than a matter of size.

The United States wanted to reunite, and the Confederacy also wanted to strengthen itself.Especially in recent years, the land of the Confederacy has almost been developed, and the farmers have set their sights overseas.

When you open the map, you can see that there are only a few neighbors in the Confederate States, and they have no choice at all.

Frankly speaking, farmers have a much stronger desire for land than capitalists.For farmers, land is wealth.

In contrast, capitalists have little demand for land, and they are more interested in economic interests.

Of course, this is also directly related to the force value.Generally speaking, capitalists are usually more afraid of death, and it is too embarrassing for them to go to the battlefield with guns.

After contemplating for a moment, Frederick said slowly: "If that's the case, then we should simply grant the right to dig the Panama Canal to the Americans.

Anyway, the canal cannot be dug out in a day or two. We can also impose some restrictive conditions to delay the progress of the project.

It is estimated that before the canal is opened to navigation, the game between us and the British will come to an end.

If the United States really falls to us, that's all. If they flirt with the British, then as a punishment for standing on the wrong team, it is logical for us to take back the Panama Canal. "

The premise of all this is that Shinra wins this hegemony struggle, and the winner has the right to speak.But if you really lose in the game, the Panama region will not be able to keep it.

It is not the first time that the Vienna government has done something about the ownership of the canal.The Suez Canal was originally shared by France and Austria. After a European war, the canal had nothing to do with the French.

In the long run, the Panama Canal will be opened sooner or later.Once the hegemony of the Holy Roman Empire is stable, the Vienna government will also dig canals.

This is determined by interests. The golden waterway is not only gold, but also the lifeline of the American economy.

Holding this lifeline, coupled with Shinra's powerful strength, the Americans can't help being disobedient.

Chapter 84 The Evil Free Trade

The spring breeze of reform has blown all over the British Isles, but Britain has not been able to change its face.It's not that reform is impossible, the crux of the problem is how to reform.

The domestic economy continues to decline, which has stimulated the British. The elite group knows that Britain has reached a fork in the road and must carry out social reforms.

Despite the economic troubles, Britain is still at the top.It is not popular in the European world to talk about prosperity and decline. If you look through the history books of Britain, they will be awesome this time.

If it weren't for the rise of the Holy Roman Empire, which added pressure to them, it is estimated that most British people would not even have a sense of crisis.

In fact, even now the British do not have a strong sense of crisis, and do not think that the powerful British Empire is at risk of overthrowing.

There is no way, Shinra is too quiet.Even if a super battleship is produced, it will only come out for a while and then go back.

The originally expected arms race, because the Vienna government did not follow up in time, made the British lose interest.

After all, there are still a lot of old warships in Britain. If the "dumpling contest" is started at this time, all the old warships in front will be scrapped.

The landlord's family also has no surplus food, especially during the downturn of the domestic economy, the government's fiscal revenue has not increased but decreased, and the budget has to be saved.

Anyway, with the protection of the strait, as long as the advantage of the Royal Navy is still there, everyone will not panic.

If external pressure is not enough, internal unity will naturally fail.After all, reform is also a double-edged sword.Some people benefit from it, while others suffer from it.

Vested interest groups are unwilling to give up their interests, and conflicts arise.From the beginning of the reform, the British Parliament has fallen into a noisy mode.

The British government in these days has very limited powers.There are not only parliamentary constraints, but also the king's pressure.

As Britain's king who remade the monarchy, Edward VII was no rubber stamp.It is simply impossible for the cabinet government to mess around casually.

The conservative faction is strong, and the internal constraints of the government are so strong, the reform progress of the Campbell government will naturally not be fast.

For a big country, it is natural that reform should be delayed rather than rushed.It doesn't matter if you go slow, but if you go too fast, there will be big problems.

But for enterprises, the situation is completely different.Fortunately, the traditional industry has built a moat itself, and it can survive even if there are shocks.

What is really unlucky is the emerging industry.Constrained by the narrowness of the British domestic market, it is inherently deficient, coupled with a slow start, and before it has time to fully develop, competitors will come over.

The most typical ones are machinery and equipment manufacturing and the automobile industry chain. The related companies have either gone bankrupt or are on the verge of bankruptcy.

……

Stepping out of the government office building, McCall's smiling face has disappeared.As the boss of Britain's leading manufacturer of high-end machine tools, it stands to reason that McCall's small life should be very nourishing.

The reality is just the opposite, as McCall's machine tool shop has been concentrating on traditional areas because of misjudgment during the Second Industrial Revolution.

Not only his family, but the British machine tool manufacturers have all plunged into the field of steam engines, and have not laid out in the emerging electric power field at all.

With the large-scale popularization of electricity, electric power has also emerged, gradually occupying a dominant position in industrial production.

One step at a time, one step at a time.

By the time McCall reacted, competitors' products had entered the British Isles.With excellent performance and low running costs, it quickly took a big piece of the pie from them.

Thanks to the conservatism of the British capital, it was not diligent in replacing equipment, and the steam engine still had merits and was not completely eliminated. McCall's factory survived.

It's just that with the strong entry of competitors, a large part of their orders has been robbed, especially almost all overseas markets have been lost.

The market share has decreased. In order to survive, the British machine tool companies that chose the wrong path have been passively caught in a brutal price war.

Even leading companies are no exception.After all, now they are just the leader of Britain, not the leader of the world.Compared with international counterparts, McCall's enterprises have fallen behind in terms of comprehensive technology.

Changing the track is easy to say, but it is not so easy to do it on a new track.

In order to survive, McCall had to turn to the government for help.

Don't talk about "free economy, oppose government interference in the market", those are slogans shouted when needed; now they are no longer needed, so naturally they have to be thrown away.

As a "high-tech" industry leader, there are always some privileges.Regardless of whether the technology has lagged behind the international counterparts, McCall's machine tool factory is still a big brother in China.

As long as the London government does not want to see the field of high-end machine tools falling under the control of competitors, it must support local enterprises.

For his own personal benefit, McCall, a teenager who advocated free trade in the past, has now become a staunch supporter of "trade barriers".

There is no way, without resorting to extraordinary measures, normal commercial competition simply cannot compete with competitors.

Even if McCall was determined to increase the research and development budget by [-] pounds, it would be far from being able to compare with the investment of competitors.

The technology itself is backward, and the investment in research and development is insufficient. It is obviously a big dream to rely on technological breakthroughs to overwhelm competitors.

It is not impossible to continue to increase investment, but McCall is first and foremost a capitalist.For capitalists, profit comes first.It doesn't matter if you outperform your competitors as long as you can make money.

If it is really unlimited investment, it may be able to catch up technically, but the return on investment will definitely not be impressive.

If you can't make money, it's useless to be number one in the world.

Investors have only one requirement for a company—making money; and there is only one indicator for evaluating whether a company is excellent—whether it makes enough money or not.

McCall has already passed the age of the second year of middle school, so naturally he will not put all his wealth on the stud just for the sake of a name.

Instead of conducting scientific research trade, it is better to conduct political public relations and directly block competitors from the country.

The domestic market alone may not be able to make a lot of money for the company, at least it can guarantee long-term profitability.

As long as there is enough time, McCall believes that his company will definitely catch up and then compete with international competitors for the market.

As for how long this time is, no one knows.It may be three to five years, or it may be 20 or 30 years, anyway, there is always hope.

……

No matter how the situation changes, as long as life can go on, there will always be a banquet.

Leaving Government Avenue, McCall drove a limousine made by Shinra to the suburbs, and the destination was a manor named "Peter".

Tonight, there is a banquet organized by business leaders here.As an important member of the business community, McCall was also invited.

Even though they arrived early, the manor was still full of voices, apparently there were quite a few people who suspected the same thoughts.

I don't know when it started, "banquet" is no longer just a "banquet".Most of the time, the people who attend the banquet have their own purpose.

Stepping into the venue, McCall found his inner circle.In the past, McCall was also the focus of banquets, and there were a bunch of people flattering him wherever he went.

It's a pity that the good times don't last long. With the intensification of competition in the machine tool industry, the voice of machine tool companies in the market is constantly decreasing.