Before proposing the gold standard reform, Franz considered the issue of gold reserves. The best choice was naturally to occupy the gold production area and organize manpower to mine it himself.

Unfortunately, the major gold origins in the world have nothing to do with the New Holy Roman Empire, most of which are in the hands of the British.

The gold mines that are easy to mine in this era are mainly distributed in South Africa, Russia, Canada, Australia, the United States, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Brazil, Colombia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea and other regions.

There is no way. The entire European continent lacks gold mines, and even if there are, most of them have been developed. Now the remaining gold mines are buried underground, and open-pit gold mines no longer exist.

Franz is not an encyclopedia, so it is impossible to remember the location of every gold mine clearly, so it is naturally impossible to find all the gold mines that exist in China.

Compared with the low output of gold, Austria's silver production is much better. Under the gold-silver reset system, silver is the one that supports the value of Austrian currency.

After a difficult game, the new Holy Roman Empire barely passed the gold standard reform system. This was the result of Franz's lack of intervention, and some people within the Austrian government also voted against it.

In any case, the gold standard reform is a matter of time. You can also grab some gold if you start it in advance. If everyone starts to grab gold, the price will be high.

Large gold mines are not within the control range, but small gold mines are not without them. In addition to their local areas, there are also many gold mines in Guinea and Congo, two Austrian colonies.

Not to mention the underground gold mines, open-pit gold mines generated by riverbed alluvialization can always be mined, right?

Franz’s expectations are not high, and there are several tons of production every year, just make up for the domestic gold gap.

As for other gold mines, we should wait until the British suppressed the Indian uprising before making small moves. Now we should be more settled so as not to become a target.

At that time, Austrian railway ships would also come out and have the first advantage. Once several ironclad ships were released into the colony, they would have different opinions after they had the advantage of the regional naval forces.

Don’t look at the British navy as the world’s number one, but they have many colonies to guard. After being scattered around the world, in addition to being dominant in important seas, the remaining areas also depend on the investment of various countries.

Before gold mines were discovered, the value of these regions and after discovery were completely different concepts, and it was not worthy of desperate efforts by countries.

According to Austria's business model, as long as you operate in the local area for more than ten years and send more than 100,000 immigrants, you will not be afraid of your competitors.

War also requires costs. Unless it is a huge mine like South Africa, the gold mine with a reserve of 800 tons is really not enough for the expense of a local war between two major powers.

Even if South Africa's gold accounts for half of the world, the most important colony of the British was India. The reason is very simple, and gold mining also has costs.

Even at its peak, the British gained less than one-fifth of that in India, and the two were simply incomparable.

Naturally, Franz could not put the cart before the horse and was determined to make gold, so he would do anything to do. To put it bluntly, gold is just a manifestation of wealth, and other industrial raw materials are also wealth.

The most critical core is to develop domestic industries. In history, Germany has lacked gold reserves, so hasn't it developed?

In the industrial age, the speed of human beings creating wealth is far from comparable to a few gold mines. The most important thing is to develop oneself.

After the two world wars, the British still held India, South Africa, Australia, Canada and other regions in their hands. In the end, they obediently gave up world hegemony?

After confirming the reform of the gold standard, Franz left the rest to the cabinet.

...

Franz still underestimated the impact of the gold standard reform. Not only is there a hot discussion in China, it has also caused a sensation in the European continent.

London

The new Holy Roman Empire suddenly began the gold standard reform, which immediately attracted the attention of the British government. From the perspective of the development of the capitalist market economy, the gold standard system will be more conducive to international trade.

For the British, the joining of the new Holy Roman Empire in the gold standard was undoubtedly another big step forward in their monetary hegemony.

In this era, the British had the largest gold reserves in the world, and London was the world's largest financial center. Once all countries adopted the gold standard system, the settlement system of pound gold they established would become the mainstream of the world.

Countries that lack gold reserves have to buy pounds as reserves to stabilize the value of their reserves. In international settlement, using pounds to settle is naturally indispensable.

Once the pound becomes the world currency, the benefits it brings will not be a little bit, which will lay the foundation for the British world hegemony.

Even if you know, it is a conspiracy. Even if you know the British plan, Franz still has to pinch his nose and accept it.

In order to avoid the establishment of hegemony by the British, we should ignore the domestic economic development. The exchange ratio of gold and silver often changes, which is obviously not conducive to the development of industry and commerce.

No. 10 Downing Street, affected by the failure of the Near East War, the owner was changed here again. In the domestic power struggle, the George Cabinet was already out of order, and now it is Lord Granville Cabinet of the Whigs.

The Prime Minister Parmeston in history was unfortunately overwhelmed by the last political storm. In addition to the failure of the Near East War, he himself was the initiator of the war, so naturally it was impossible for him to make a comeback.

As a political party that represents the interests of the financial and business community, the Whig Party is also a pioneer in implementing the gold standard system. Later European countries have inevitably carried out gold standard reforms.

Prime Minister Granville said in surprise: "The always conservative Austrians actually took the lead in the reform of the gold standard this time.

I don't deny that Austria's accession to the gold standard will be beneficial to Great Britain, but this sudden change is still a bit unacceptable. Do you think this reform of the Vienna government can be successful?"

Foreign Minister John Russell replied: "His Excellency Prime Minister, the Vienna government's gold standard reform is more due to the struggle for power, and the central government wants to strengthen its control over the state government.

The new Holy Roman Empire was essentially inheriting the legal system of the Holy Roman Empire, and naturally inevitably was restricted. The governments of various states were very independent.

So far, the Vienna government has only obtained unified diplomatic power and wartime military command. Now that the Vienna government wants to regain the right to mint coins, it has launched a reform of the gold standard system.

Although time is a bit rushed, Austria made a war fortune during the Near East War, and now the Vienna government should have enough funds to carry out monetary reforms.

Without accidents, there should be no major problems with the new Holy Roman Empire joining the gold standard system.”

After pondering for a while, Prime Minister Granville asked: "In addition to capital, the reform of the gold standard also requires a large amount of gold reserves. I believe that the Vienna government will soon acquire gold in the international market.

However, the international market is changing and gold is a scarce resource. Now it should be time to raise prices, and Austrians may not be able to buy enough gold reserves.

But considering the relationship between Britain and Austria, how about we provide Austrians with a loan to help them achieve gold standard reform?”

There is no doubt that Prime Minister Granville is preparing to make trouble. As a dealer in the international gold market, the pricing power of gold to silver is in the hands of the British.

As long as the British manipulate the price of gold, it will be difficult for Austria to acquire enough gold.

Once enough gold is not obtained, the Vienna government can only accept loans from the British and then establish a standard system of "GBP gold system".

This will greatly improve the international status of the pound and lay the foundation for settlement in pounds in international trade.

Friendship between Britain and Austria is a joke. When it is in line with the interests of Britain, it is deep friendship; once interests are contrary to each other, even the deepest friendship can become enemies.

Historically, Britain and Austria have always been quasi-alliance relations. Supporting Austria's opposition to Russia is the national policy that the British Empire has implemented for nearly a hundred years.

From the beginning of the 20th century, in order to curb the Germans, the British turned around and compromised with the Russians and abandoned this traditional ally.

After a long silence, Chancellor George Gray replied: "The Prime Minister's proposal is good. If the new Holy Roman Empire is added to our monetary system, the subsequent things will be easier."

Obviously, whether Austria accepts loans is just a small problem. The most important thing is to make the Vienna government recognize the "GBP gold system" and join the GBP as the international currency settlement system they dominated.

In order to make the huge benefits brought by the pound becoming an international currency, in the mid-to-late 19th century, the British began to export the pound pound crazily and use various means to make governments recognize the hegemony of the pound.

The world hegemony of the British Empire in history was actually based on the monetary hegemony of the British pound. The British seized a large amount of benefits through the obscure means of the British pound.

Later generations, the colonial empire of the British Empire collapsed, and the first thing that collapsed was also currency hegemony. In order to compete for currency hegemony, the Americans also used the ultimate move of exporting US dollars.

From investing in Europe after World War I, transfusion of blood to the Germans to restore their vitality; to the European aid programs after World War II, they were all fighting for monetary hegemony.

The Americans gave up the vast colonies of the British, but they only grasped the hegemony in their hands, and the interests here can be seen.

Granville asked with concern: "Sir Russell, how likely do you think the Vienna government will accept our kindness."

After pondering for a while, John Russell replied with a smile: “It depends on how high our bid is!

Although the economic size of the New Holy Roman Empire was large, it was at a disadvantage in gold reserves. On the road to establishing international monetary hegemony, they were not qualified to participate in competition.

Now, except for the French who may threaten us in this regard, no European country has this strength. Of course, if the Russians complete internal reforms, it will be a threat."
Chapter completed!