Life of Being a Crown Prince in France - Chapter 1218 - 1123: Beasts of Eastern Europe

Chapter 1218: Chapter 1123: Beasts of Eastern Europe

Amshel held down his brother’s hand reaching for the teapot and stared at him, “Once the war in England doesn’t go well—just like a few years ago—the banknotes the British pay us will be as worthless as fallen leaves everywhere, and the family will go bankrupt because of it!”

Salomon picked up the teapot with his other hand, filled the cup with water, and then handed the brewed tea to his brother, “My dear brother, you must have faith in the British.

“They have vast colonies in India and North America, controlling most of the maritime trade, so even if they fail once or twice, they can quickly regain strength.

“Trust me, the outcome of the war will surely be a British victory.

“Even if their army finds it hard to defeat the French, they can exhaust the opponent through attrition warfare.”

Amshel took the teacup but still shook his head, “I’m afraid you are overly optimistic. The British are quite passive at the moment…”

Salomon poured himself a cup of tea and smiled, “Passive? No, according to the news I have, they are already preparing to counterattack.”

“Oh? Really?”

Salomon leaned forward a bit and said in a low voice, “You probably haven’t realized that the entire European continent is actually dissatisfied with France.

“In the last war, Prussia lost control of Cologne and Nassau, and Austria lost all of Italy and Southern Germany. As their economic situation worsens, anti-French sentiment is rising domestically.”

“Indeed,” Amshel nodded, “and the Netherlands, they’ve lost a third of their territory.”

Salomon took a sip of tea and continued, “Even in the Italian region, which seems to have joined the French common market, the Italians actually don’t like France.

“I visited Turin two months ago, where you can see French goods everywhere, from clothes to ironware, from furniture to wine, while local workshops have closed down due to being unable to compete with French products.

“People are complaining that the French have taken all their money. If war breaks out between England and France, they are unlikely to side with France.

“In my judgment, as long as British diplomacy is effective, France could once again find itself under siege from all of Europe.”

“You’ve forgotten about Russia.” Amshel reminded, “They’ve already married into the family.”

Salomon showed a disdainful smile, “Their new Tsar is a fool—he inexplicably gave up vast lands in the Transcaucasia, spent hundreds of thousands of rubles on a group of Maltese scammers, and even forced the army to equip themselves with long spears, you know, the kind used in medieval warfare.

“What kind of support do you expect such a Russia to provide for France?”

When the carriage stopped in front of the villa Salomon purchased on the north side of St. James’s Palace, Amshel was already enjoying his tea, “This is a huge gamble for the family, I hope you’re right. Oh, how much sugar did you add, it’s quite expensive these days…”

Ten Downing Street.

Second Finance Minister Henry Petty was reporting to the Prime Minister about recent financing conditions:

“The interest rate demanded by Baring Bank is way too high, so I’ve decided to borrow only 4.5 million British Pounds from them.”

Lord Grenville frowned immediately, “Along with the 3 million pounds from the Bank of England, we will have only 7.5 million pounds in additional funds over the next two years. This is utterly insufficient…”

According to England’s established strategy, they would launch a war against France within the next two years when the opportunity arises.

However, Britain’s finances were currently very tight—just to preserve the Bolton-Watt Company and the Chat Han Shipyard, over 700,000 pounds had been consumed. Frequent riots throughout the country worsened the financial situation.

Of course, it was the high sugar prices that devoured the most funds.

Lord Grenville estimated that stabilizing England’s economy this year alone would require an additional two to three million pounds, and pulling in and arming allies would need millions more, with preparation for war being another huge expense.

Two years with 7 million pounds was simply not enough.

Petty quickly said, “Prime Minister, the reason I reduced the amount of bank loans is that there is a better option.

“The Rothschild consortium is willing to provide us with 8 million pounds at a significantly lower interest rate than the banks…”

After he explained the loan agreement with the Rothschild family, Grenville finally breathed a sigh of relief and nodded, “Excellent. I think we could grant them the title of ’Royal Agent’ if they are willing to provide more funds.”

“Yes, Prime Minister, I will negotiate with them as soon as possible.”

While they were talking, the Prime Minister’s attendant knocked and entered with William Pitt Junior and the Foreign Minister.

Fox quickly bowed to Grenville, then said with great joy, “Good news. There has been serious unrest in Poland last month, with a large number of Eastern Orthodox believers being purged.”

He placed a report on the table, “Reportedly, over a thousand people have been imprisoned. The Third Infantry Division of the Warsaw Guard is rushing to the eastern provinces to control the situation.”

Grenville was surprised, “What are the Poles doing?”

“It seems some representatives from the eastern provinces demanded to resume trade with Russia.”

Grenville frowned with some confusion, “Is it Saint Petersburg planning to interfere with the Polish Parliament?”

“That is not clear,” Fox said, “but there are also reports that the Russians are seeking to restore relations with Persia. It appears that this new Tsar is a pacifist.”

“A pacifist? Those Tatars?”

Grenville and Petty laughed together.

As the laughter died down, William Pitt Junior immediately looked at the Prime Minister and said, “This is a perfect opportunity for us.”

The latter was taken aback and frowned, “You mean to draw Russia into the war?”

“Yes.” William Pitt Junior nodded, “We should take advantage of the chaos in Poland and support Russia in sending troops to occupy Poland.

“Of course, there’s also Prussia and Austria. They are facing some financial problems and are desperately in need of expansion to relieve domestic pressure, so they won’t refuse this opportunity.

“And we can use this to build an alliance with Prussia and Austria, while also stirring up Russia’s ambitions to control the European Continent.”

Grenville was also brightened up.

If Russia quickly defeats Poland, it would be filled with confidence, and at this moment, Britain offers it the “Continental Overlord” crown, the Russians would find it irresistible.

And for Russia to prove its overlord status, it must defeat the currently strongest nation on the continent—France.

With some diplomatic maneuvers and financial assistance, Britain could likely pull Russia into the Anti-French Alliance.

But he soon expressed some concern, “I’ve heard that Paul I is somewhat of an eccentric ruler.”

William Pitt Junior stated confidently, “As long as he accepts our strategic proposal, the war can be entirely controlled by our officers. Even logistics does not need to be a concern for the Russians.”