The Irish Palace, located on the east bank of the Shannon River, covers a total area of ​​120,000 square meters, equivalent to two-thirds of the Buckingham Palace and half of the Kremlin. The palace buildings have a grand appearance, but in terms of scale and luxury, they are far less than the palaces of Britain and Russia. The simple and practical style is a continuation of the Prussian style. Moreover, due to the large amount of reinforced concrete materials, more than 8,000 workers completed all the projects of the palace in six months.

After the coronation ceremony, Xia Shu officially moved into this palace with more than 300 halls. The busy figures of the Imperial Guards, royal servants and guests made it impossible to lack popularity from the beginning, but this cannot conceal the unique status of Xia Shu, the "bare commander" in the entire Irish royal family. Every time in the dead of night, lying on the wide and soft bed, looking at the starry sky through the unique glass skylight, Xia Shu's heart is full of longing.

The political situation in Ireland was initially decided, and the people were still worried about the German officials and military generals occupying a prominent position. If the king married a British woman at this time, even if they had a strong emotional foundation, it would arouse doubts and disgust from all walks of life in Ireland, leaving an opportunity for those with ulterior motives to create chaos. Besides, there is no good opportunity in the UK yet, in this regard, Xia Shu had to wait patiently for the opportunity to continue waiting for the opportunity.

The new Ireland Kingdom chose a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. In theory, the main power of the state is controlled by the parliament and the cabinet. However, through a series of personnel adjustments without bloodshed, Xia Shu firmly grasped the power of life and death of this country in his own hands. He did not have to go to the cabinet or parliament to listen to political affairs every day. Those dedicated followers would come to the palace to report and request instructions. Therefore, the King's Office, which uses large floor-to-ceiling glass windows on three sides and the garden landscape, became the most utilized room in the palace. The new Prime Minister Fritz Halders and the Navy Minister William Grientz were the most frequently seen visitors.

On the morning of that day, Xia Shu had just returned from a walk in the garden, and Fritz-Holdes was already waiting in his large glass house.

"The cabinet meeting in the morning was planned to add the construction budget for the next quarter's trade exports, and Ford's acquisition of shares in Limerick Vehicle Company was discussed. The three issues lasted for an hour and a half. Each issue lasted 30 minutes on average. In fact, everyone paid the highest attention to the rise in trade." The Prime Minister's report sounded like everything was fine, as if it was just a puppet soundtrack. In fact, it was not the case. As a former German government official, he was imprinted with diligence, dedication, excellence and stereotypes. He had his own independent opinions on state affairs, and his knowledge and ability were enough to cope with the government operations of a small country like Ireland.

The new prime minister who took the fragrant tea from Xia Shu continued: "In the first quarter that is about to pass, our exports are expected to reach 160% of the same period last year. The absolute growth rate is optimistic, but considering that nearly half of the exports are supplied to Germany and the income is basically used to offset the loans given to us by Germany, the actual foreign exchange brought by exports in this quarter has declined to a large extent compared with last year. In order to reverse this situation, we plan to appropriately reduce exports to Germany in the second quarter and sell some milk, meat and leather products to other countries. According to our survey, the recent high prices of agricultural and animal husbandry products in Spain are likely to be related to their frequent protests, strikes and riots in recent years."

Xia Shu asked with the trend: "Is there a rising momentum in the near future?"

Haldes is a good figure of thinking, which any leader likes, replied: "You mean the civil strife in Spain? As far as we know, the capital Madrid and several cities in Catalonia are being affected by strikes, and people are worried that the strike will turn into a revolution, and the Spanish army may have begun to take martial law measures. If necessary, I can let the diplomats stationed in Spain collect intelligence further."

Natsu nodded, saying that he thought it was necessary, and then asked: "How was our trade with Spain before?"

Haldes thought for a while: "We imported coal, iron ore and flour from Spain and exported a small amount of dairy products to Spain. In addition, as you know, two months ago we took over the order for the Spanish Navy to order two small submarines, and this is the basic situation."

"Many years ago, when I was a naval cadet, I visited Spain with a training ship and met His Majesty Alfonso XIII. I remember that the Spanish officials who accompanied me said that agriculture and animal husbandry are the pillar industries of the Spanish economy. In addition to meeting domestic demand, they usually have a large amount of exports." Xia Shu recalled.

"It's still the case now," Haldes replied, "The reason why Spain is trapped in the shortage of basic living supplies is entirely due to this civil strife that has lasted for several years. For all European countries, revolution is as terrible as a plague. Even if it is a little sign, if you don't pay attention, you may cause turmoil that swept across the country."

Even if all the monarchs in Europe are afraid of revolution, Xia Shu must be the exception. He said frankly: "Revolution itself is not terrible. The key to the problem is that every country has more or less atrocities. It is precisely because of class antagonism and dissatisfaction that people living at the bottom of society will quickly accept revolutionary ideas and hope to use a revolution to change the status quo."

Haldes is not an open-minded person who can accept the revolution, so he did not continue to discuss this topic, but said: "Considering that the financial situation of the Spanish government is not optimistic, we agree that exports to Spain must be cash or spot transactions, and the other party is not allowed to ow money on credit."

Xia Shu couldn't have a relationship with the Spanish king with a lot of fate. He just always felt that with Spain's geographical advantages and historical background, he could play a more active and important role in the European pattern in the 20th century. The fact is that Spain cautiously adhered to neutrality during the war, and did not dare to favor either side in politics, diplomacy and even military affairs. Even when the Allies were defeated, the Spanish royal family and government still declined the invitation from the allies to participate in the war and played the role of bystanders to the end.

After a brief consideration, Natsuki proposed: "I personally feel that, whether for humanitarian reasons or laying the foundation for deeper cooperation between the two countries, in our transactions with Spain, we try to sell all kinds of necessities related to the normal lives of the people at fair market prices, rather than taking advantage of the civil unrest in Spain to raise prices."

Haldes replied realistically: "I agree with your point of view, but our tolerance and kindness may not benefit the ordinary people of Spain, because after the taxation departments and merchants make profits, when these goods are transferred to the hands of civilians, the prices are still unbearable. This will happen in any chaotic country, and the Irish people have a deep understanding of this."

This analysis is reasonable, and Xia Shu has no choice but to refute it.

Seeing that His Majesty the King was silent, Halders thought he had not figured it out, so he explained tirelessly: "International trade is so cruel and ruthless. Even if you have reached the point where hungry people are everywhere, there is no cash or goods used to compensate for the payment of goods, you either try to get a loan or can only wait for humanitarian aid. Although Ireland's current foreign trade situation is relatively optimistic, it is because the consumption of war has caused the international price of milk, meat and leather products to rise to a certain extent. In fact, the price of grain has also increased by more than 30% compared with before the war. Last year, Ireland's grain production was once a decade, so the demand for grain imports was low, so we were able to buy it calmly and at a time. If we encounter a harsh climate and crops are under a large area of ​​harvest, we also have to import grain from foreign countries at an additional high price."

"Yes, your words just reminded me." Xia Shu raised his head, "I had considered this issue several months ago. Instead of exporting surplus livestock products and importing lacking crops, why not adjust the proportion of domestic crop cultivation and livestock feeding, and consider exports on the basis of fully meeting domestic demand. After the industry in Ireland takes shape, we no longer have to rely on livestock products for foreign exchange."

"The reason why the Irish people are keen on raising livestock is the sequelae left by the Great Famine. Nowadays, dairy products, canned meat and deep-processed leather products have brought considerable benefits to the entire Ireland. People are even more reluctant to cultivate crops with unpredictable income. It is not easy to change people's concepts. Furthermore, I remember His Majesty once said before that the future development trend is division of labor and cooperation between countries, and it is not as good as having technical and scale advantages in a certain field in all aspects."

Xia Shu did not intend to overturn his previous argument, but argued: "Yes, that is indeed the future development trend, so our industrial layout is to specialize in military and auxiliary fields. From the current situation, livestock raised with the same land has higher economic value than farming crops, and funds exchanged for export of livestock products are still surplus, which is a good deal. However, from the perspective of national stability and national defense security, if the self-sufficiency of agricultural production can be achieved, it is equivalent to building a new line of defense for our territory, and its strategic value cannot be measured by simple economic interests."

After thinking for a few minutes, the Prime Minister responded: "As you said, appropriate adjustment of the proportion of agriculture and animal husbandry has extraordinary strategic value. If we only aim to meet the food needs of the existing population, it is enough to re-transform those confiscated and confiscated pastures from the British into farmland, and reduce the number of livestock in stocks. The food used for livestock can be saved accordingly, achieving the goal without damaging the current interests of the people."
Chapter completed!