Welcome to 19th-century Europe, where strength reigns supreme

Deflation in the UK not only impacted the British market, but the sharp rise in the pound caused serious losses to many countries that trade with the UK.

The first is the member countries of the Commonwealth, which have suffered the most severe trauma. Their own customers can only be the United Kingdom or other countries in the Commonwealth system.

The sharp rise in the pound will lead to continued decline in commodity prices and food prices. Companies have no money to pay workers and can only choose to lower wages or lay off employees. The British unemployment rate rose to [-]% in February alone, and it is still Keep rising.

The prices of enterprise products have fallen, and some goods cannot be sold at any price. Enterprise profits have been severely damaged. In order to survive, a large number of enterprises can only borrow money or reduce expenses and suspend production. The price of currency is too high, and some enterprises have been unable to survive. The interest was not paid and the bank went bankrupt. The bank could not collect the loan and eventually went bankrupt. The increase in unemployment rate brought a burden to society, and eventually all industries were depressed.

Stock prices plunged one after another, and the Dow Jones Index began to plummet after growing to a peak, and the Great Depression that began in the United Kingdom began.

The British pound is very versatile in the international market. British territory is spread across every corner of the world. As the world's most powerful industrial country and a major import and export country, Britain's depression has also driven other capitalist countries, including Prussia.

As a small country in Europe, Prussia has a small population and pretty good industrial strength. It relies entirely on import and export. Prussia's biggest customer is the United Kingdom. Now the British have too much time to take care of themselves. No matter how cheap Prussian goods are, they cannot sell them.

USA? They are still fighting a civil war and it is impossible to expand domestic demand in the short term. Italy? Its economy is basically non-existent. There is indeed domestic demand, but there is no money. People cannot even afford wood, let alone steel.

However, August, as a veteran, was very resourceful in the face of deflation. Now Prussia's industry was on the rise. In Prussia Malaya, August built dozens of factories, which was Prussia's main industry. The raw material import market, and the local aboriginal people here do not have that kind of nationalism. After the British left, Prussia built roads, houses, and schools for them. Although the wages were not as high as those in Prussia, they still had three people every month. The income of more than [-] Prussian marks may seem very small, but in Malaya, this salary cannot be considered too high, but it is enough for you to eat, clothe and live, and even half of the surplus is left. How can you say this is valuable?

Although Prussian Malaya was part of Prussia, in order to have better control over the area, Augustus did not update the currency there. They still used the Prussian mark.

Of course, the time has not yet come. In the future, Malaya will definitely be included in the Euro system. Although it sounds strange to use the euro in Asia, but the United States can bring China into NATO, then I will immediately It's not a big problem to come to Asia and enter the EU.

This land is really a geomantic treasure. The Prussian fleet can use this place as a springboard to project naval power towards the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. Of course, August also plans to acquire a few more islands in the Pacific Ocean. Of course, he can only treat it as Picking up islands that the British don't want, this is actually enough. Anyone who has played OTL knows that no matter how strong Britain is, it is fake. In a hundred years, the Europeans will be the masters, and those outside Europe will be aboriginals.

France: Tell me loudly, who is the colonial empire?

French Quiana, Puerto Rico: Of course it’s me!

Of course, Auguste was not idle in terms of cultural colonization. She directly said that the people in Malaya were also Prussians. The people in Prussia all lived under the same constitution, and there was no distinction between high and low.

Of course, even if August announced this, there was actually nothing in Prussia. The people at the bottom didn't care. Instead, they secretly rejoiced, hey, there is another group of good brothers who are suffering together.

The nobles think, isn't it just a little more unruly people? It doesn't matter, there is no essential difference between white gray animals and yellow gray animals.

As for the Malayans, what kind of treatment is this? It would be even more honorable to show off to the Dutch East Indies next door. What do the honorary Europeans say?

In the face of deflation, August's method was to provide work-for-work relief, issue additional currency to activate the market, and encourage consumption. Prussian banks are not like private banks like the United Kingdom. Prussian banks are serious state-owned enterprises, even if they are August also did not relinquish control of the banks during the Prussian privatization.

Led by the National Bank, the interest rate and repayment date were adjusted in a timely manner, and then the consumption tax was reduced. If this set of operations continued, Prussia quickly got over it, but the problem was not solved. If Prussia's foreign trade could not return to normal, then the problem would still have.

The shortcomings of this small European country with a small population are exposed. If Prussia could be as big as the Ming Dynasty, this set of operations would at least allow the economy to continue to take off.

But there is no way now. Prussia is still the younger brother of the British. Compared with August's ease, the British seem to be a little stretched.

……

"This deflationary crisis is unprecedented. Britain's manufacturing industry has shrunk by [-]%, industrial output has fallen by [-]%, and unemployment has increased by [-]%."

Tina reported on the consequences of deflation. This was just the prelude to the storm. Deflation and inflation did not happen once or twice in the UK. At first, the British people were actually okay, and they were not people who had never seen strong winds and waves, but they were very Apparently, Americans are also guilty of this.

The British stock market started quite early and was one of the earliest countries. With the vigorous development of capitalism and the continuous expansion of colonies, Britain has the world's largest navy and the most powerful industry.

The reason why everyone thinks there is no relationship is still their trust in the empire. They are so smooth. England and Scotland, two countries that torture each other, have begun to call themselves brothers. You will know how smooth it is.

"Really? It's much lower than expected. It is indeed the most powerful country in the world, and this economic crisis has only had such a small impact on it." August sighed and Tina asked.

"August, do you know something? This crisis is very abnormal. Almost all countries that trade with Britain have been hit hard, and Prussia's measures can only alleviate it at best, but cannot cure it. What on earth happened to Britain? What's going on?"

August said, "A new war has started. Didn't I ask Lister to import three boxes of devices to the UK last week? It cost us fifty thousand euros. Do you know what that is?"

"I don't know, I don't know anything about this kind of thing."

"It's the disc generator...you remember Lillian, right? The little girl following Victoria."

"The British Foreign Secretary, right? I have the impression that she seems to have exchanged letters with you. Does this crisis have anything to do with her?"

"Yes and no. The point is that she promoted a person to the position of Minister of Science and Education last year. That person was named Michael Faraday..."

The Faraday of this world developed the disc generator later, and his invention was not very popular at first. The British called his invention useless and inconsistent with historical logic, but Lillian took a fancy to him and decided to It took it under its wing.

The Faraday of this world was only in his forties in 1862. Under Lillian's recommendation, the British Royal Academy of Sciences discovered after several months of testing that the generators and motors invented by Faraday were thin in all aspects. steam engine.

The Times and the London Morning Post all published articles praising Faraday. Faraday also received a doctorate from Oxford University, and it can be said that he rose to prominence in the scientific community.

And this old model was also sold to Prussia by Lilian at a very high price. Of course, this was a friendly price. Unlike OTL, Britain was not only the first country in the world to complete the first industrial revolution. , and was the first country to start the second industrial revolution.

While the European countries had not yet reacted, while the United States was still in the civil war, Britain took the lead. Lilian's contribution was indispensable, and she obviously had greater ambitions, just like August.

If August is a prudent politician, carefully seeking balance between various forces, then Lilian is the most extreme politician. She is not the first heir to the throne, and even if she inherits the throne, it will be useless. It can only be used as a vase.

And she was unwilling to take the conventional electoral route. She directly chose to manipulate the economy, causing the British economy to completely collapse. When the British politics were in chaos, she initiated a vote of no confidence and forced the Conservative Party to step down so that she could seize the fruits of victory.

She seemed to have a very similar personality charm to August, but her approach was indeed too radical. She and August had already established an evil alliance by writing letters, which even Victoria was not aware of. Know.

Of course, August wouldn't help her in vain. He had to pay more. Lillian was also very wise and offered a condition that August would never refuse.

Lilian assigned the entire Japanese island country to Prussia...