.

Of course, in addition to the political economy, there is also a very effective exploitation of the Germans, which is a trade system. A century ago, the world used a currency, which is silver coins. Although silver had a large share in the earth, it could be completely replaced by goods under the circumstances at that time. At that time, the British implemented the gold standard system, and then gradually eliminated the silver standard system. Although there was no smoke of gunpowder here, the benefits generated were amazing. Originally, Western society could not say that there was much wealth, but after the implementation of the gold standard system, it developed quickly. During this period, it was not as good as that of the gold standard system.

Trade played a crucial role. Because it controlled the exchange rate of gold and silver, Europeans made a profit of 500 million taels of silver from China in a hundred years, which was equivalent to every Chinese making ten taels of silver. This income was equal to about 40% of the British finance in the same period. Considering the interest rate, the final number is likely to be as high as 13 billion taels of silver, which is higher than the UK's century-old fiscal revenue. In this way, how can China not be weak and how can Britain not be strong? Now the Germans have obviously learned this and started to implement trade with marks as hard currency in their own ruling areas.

International trade must have a specific monetary system and monetary policy before payment and settlement can be implemented. Until World War II, the most effective monetary system in international trade was the gold standard. Therefore, the trade problems arising from countries under the gold standard should also occur under the clearing system, such as the exchange rate problem.

For example, a Romanian exporter who earns Lei from the Romanian National Bank for wheat is of course very concerned about how many Lei to exchange for a German mark. A Danish importer also has to care about how many krones he has to pay to his own bank to pay the mark that should have been paid to German merchants. No matter how simple and effective the liquidation system is, the import and export volume between two or more countries will not always be exactly equal. One country must have a balanced account to collect when trading settlements, and the debtor must use funds, or some other currency, or credit loans to clear the accounts.

Finally, there is another point: even under the liquidation trade system, there is still a loan between countries. If there is a certain unit of currency that is unanimously recognized and accepted is available, the international capital transaction will definitely be more convenient. Germany may not be able to use a "European economic common currency" to solve the above problems in one fell swoop. However, doing so will cause other difficulties: the adoption of a common currency in each country will lead to greater political unity, greater economic equality and greater trade freedom among the various parts of the "European economic space". In this process, development in more backward regions will cause the highly developed German economy to suffer disadvantages. Therefore, the theory of "establishing a European currency" is not accepted by Germany.

Because no matter whether gold and silver are used or gold is used, Germany does not have these precious metal real estates, so it cannot take the initiative. Therefore, Germany advocates putting the currency of various countries under the domination of Germany and using the German mark as the "highest currency" in Europe. Countries that join the German group will maintain their own currency system, but their monetary policies will be guided by Germany. Several German scholars use political reasons to explain why the German mark should be used as the "highest currency in Europe". This defense is in line with two ideas of Germany: one is the general concept of "politics is higher than economy", and the other is the German monetary theory of "the power of a currency is determined by the political force behind it". They say that European countries have attached their currencies to the German mark one by one, which is both the largest importer and largest exporter in Europe. This economic status and political rights have created the current dominance of the German mark.

What will the exchange relationship between the German Mark and other European countries be based on? Germany's answer to this question is: it will never be based on gold. Germany says that Germany only regards the gold standard as a "historical question" and that it is impossible to resurrect the gold standard. European countries will no longer allow their economic life to be ruled and commanded by the supranational factor of gold.

"For us, gold is not a problem... Gold's days as an economic dictator have passed, and it will be used at best as a commodity to balance accounts. As for whether the gold standard has a future, it is not a gold problem. It is a problem that the United States has to deal with."

According to Germany's opinion, the "basic value" of the currency units of European countries after the war will be determined by "the production performance of laborers in that country". Under this plan, countries do not use gold as a stable currency factor. Instead, accept the Mark deposit provided by the German National Bank as a fund, Deutsche Bank accepts the currency of this country at the prescribed exchange rate. The German National Bank has the full power to manipulate the Mark, and can use this to manipulate the currency of European countries. Some people may oppose this system, saying that it will limit the

By, Germany's reply was: Restricting the economic freedom of small countries is exactly the essence of Europe.

After the German army occupied a certain country, Germany "coordinated" the currency of that country with the German mark without exception. As for the areas directly annexed by Germany, such as Austria, Sudet, Danze, Luxembourg, etc., the mark has become the only currency, or at least used as fiat currency with local currency.

When Germany stipulated the exchange rate between these unabolized local currencies and marks, it deliberately increased its exchange value to marks, artificially raising local currencies, and could exchange for more marks. The measure was intended to adjust the prices and wage levels of each annexed land to match the prices of Germany's local prices, so that their competitiveness with German industry was eliminated. In the nominally independent countries, Germany manipulated the exchange rate to cover up the cheaper Germany obtained from prices. In most countries occupied by Germany, its central banks cooperated with the German National Bank in Berlin and engaged in business under its command and supervision.

The "New European Order" will only have one master, one "leader" and one "center", and this master will be Germany. So now Europe is actually a huge Germany, and all countries will either become slaves to the Germans or become German farms."

After Liang Zhixing finished speaking, Zhao Gang nodded. In fact, this situation is almost inevitable. If a country wants to be strong, it must make a choice. Even if Germany can expand the "European region" to the maximum extent, Europe's self-sufficiency economy still has serious restrictions. Europe's cooking oil, textile fiber, oil, rubber, cereals and several metal resources are all insufficient. If Germany controls Africa and makes great efforts in Europe, it may make up for the lack of food oil, increase cotton harvest and wool production, and expand the cereal planting area. However, neither Europe nor Africa is a satisfactory source of rubber, and neither Europe nor Africa can supply all kinds of metals and oil needed. If Germany can control oil fields in the Near East and increase oil production in Romania and Russia, then Germany may be able to obtain enough oil to supply Europe's needs. However, this will take years to achieve.

A completely closed European self-sufficiency system will have unfortunate economic consequences, depriving millions of people of some essential items in their daily lives, such as coffee, cocoa, tea, rubber overshoes, etc. It will disrupt Europe's industrial system that is highly coordinated and reliant on non-European raw materials, which will cause fatal political consequences, because if the standard of living in Europe is reduced, it will soon make Germany and Europe prone to revolution and social unrest. Germany must never establish its empire on a purely European basis. Germany often argues that it was not them who mobilized national self-sufficiency economists: before 1901, the world's production and trade were established on an expanded international division of labor. This system brought more benefits to Britain than any other country in the world.

At the end of the war, the system was almost destroyed. Germany believed that Britain's blockade had destroyed international division of labor, so countries had to create their own "greenhouse industries". After the end of World War I, no country was willing to sacrifice these "greenhouse industries". The result was that after 1920, especially after 1912, all countries were willing to expand export trade as much as possible and minimize import trade, and tariff barriers appeared. Germany's actions in Europe were just to do better work by other countries. Germany's self-sufficiency economy is the product of objective needs, not the result of subjective choice. Just as Europe's resources cannot fully supply its own needs, the European market cannot fully absorb German industrial products.

In the coming period, Europe seems to be unable to absorb the machines, textiles, cameras, radios, chemicals, ophthalmology equipment, cars, etc. "So", Germany commented, "If someone says that Germany opposes world trade, it would be foolish." On the contrary, Germany's enthusiasm for participating in world trade is not reduced to Germany before 1913, but Germany will never be willing to endanger its own "political survival" for international trade, nor will it divert the joys, angers, likes and dislikes of other countries since world trade.

Germany does not object to the international division of labor itself, but as far as it is enough to endanger Germany's "political security", they oppose it. Germany's words mean that Germany must organize Europe and the world in a self-sufficiency manner, so that Germany can control the process and methods of world trade.

Therefore, this German-style trading method may not be a good opportunity for the Chinese, and a good opportunity to completely defeat the Germans.
Chapter completed!