Chapter 49: 5 billion in compensation is freshly announced
Under the influence of the Paris citizen uprising, the French Defense Government quickly signed a new compensation clause with the Germans.
This compensation clause was more exaggerated than the previous draft, and the scale of the compensation alone reached a terrifying 5 billion francs.
In mid-April 1870, the two sides signed this new compensation clause in Frankfurt, also known as the "Frankfurt Peace Treaty".
The contract stipulates that France will cede Alsace and Lorraine together with the Metz Fortress to Prussia, and voluntarily give up the sovereignty of Alsace and Lorraine.
In the next three years, the French government must pay Germany a compensation of 5 billion francs. This compensation will be discounted at 3 francs and 50 centimes per Prussian silver coin.
The reason for the discount to Prussian silver coins is to prevent the French from paying less money by devaluing the franc.
There is no doubt that the French can definitely do it.
5 billion francs is not a small number, and it is still as high as 200 million pounds when converted into pounds.
200 million pounds, what an exaggerated concept is this?
The main warships now are ironclad ships, which generally cost between 100,000 and 100,000 pounds.
If all this money is used to build ironclad ships, it will be enough for Prussia to have hundreds of powerful ironclad ships.
Although building a navy is not so simple, it takes a long time to train naval soldiers, familiarize soldiers with the operation of warships and cultivate qualified combat effectiveness.
But this can already prove the huge amount of this money. For Prussia, which has just defeated France, this money is like a timely help, which can help Prussia quickly carry out industrial construction and become one of the world's top powers.
In fact, from this aspect, it can be seen that the French have made great efforts to enable Prussia to grow into the German Empire and become the second largest power in the world after Britain.
Prussia's industrial foundation is not strong, and the French sent Alsace and Lorraine, which have quite strong industries.
In particular, the Lorraine region has a large amount of iron ore resources. The Germans relied on the iron ore in Lorraine and the coal mines in the Ruhr area to make the industry of the German Empire surpass France in a short period of time.
The development of industry requires a lot of funds, and the French also thoughtfully prepared 5 billion francs for the Germans.
If it weren't for the French's thoughtful help, Germany might still be able to rise, but the speed would definitely be much slower.
However, this also shows the foundation of old colonial powers such as Britain and France in some ways.
The French need to pay a full 5 billion francs in compensation within three years, which also means that the Prussians believe that France has the ability to collect 5 billion francs within three years.
Just this point alone, France has surpassed most countries in the world.
At least Spain is currently unable to collect 5 billion francs. Not to mention three years, even if it takes ten years to collect, it may not be able to collect it.
Although it has long been clear that the French need to pay a compensation of 5 billion francs, after truly learning the terms of the contract signed by Prussia and France, Carlo still couldn't help but be a little surprised and envious of Prussia.
That's a full 200 million pounds of funds.
At present, what Spain lacks most is funds, which is also the only factor that troubles Primo's reform.
After defeating the Carlos faction, the voices opposing reform in Spain have gradually weakened. However, due to the lack of funds, the progress of reform has been very slow, and it is impossible to realize Primo's expectations for reform.
Fortunately, Primo is still rational enough. In addition, there have been frequent rebellions in Spain during this period, so the reform plan formulated by the government is not too radical, and the overall trend of Spanish reform is still stable and progressive.
After Prussia received a compensation of up to 5 billion, Carlo's idea of holding Prussia's thigh became stronger.
Now Prussia or Germany has all the conditions to become a top power, and it will be a top power in Europe in the next 40 years.
If it can hold Prussia's thigh and obtain Prussia's support in industry and funds, Spain's reform will be smoother.
As for the support of Britain and France, Carlo never thought about it.
The British don't want to see Spain rise at all, because once Spain rises, it will inevitably have the idea of taking back Gibraltar.
Gibraltar is related to the British control of the Mediterranean, and they will never give up the occupation of Gibraltar.
This also means that Britain and Spain have irreconcilable contradictions. Unless one of the countries is not among the great powers, it is impossible for Britain and Spain to maintain peace.
France naturally needs no further explanation. As a neighbor of France, the weaker Spain is, the better.
No country wants to see its neighbors become very powerful, and the French naturally cannot support Spain's reforms and industrial expansion.
Looking at the whole of Europe, only Germany, Russia and Italy can support Spain's reforms and industrial construction.
Germany and France have fierce conflicts, and even if they just want to cause some trouble for the French, the Germans will support Spain's reforms.
Russia and the British have conflicts, so they are naturally willing to see Spain rise. But Russia at this time is not much better than Spain. Its own reforms are not thorough, let alone providing financial support for Spain.
The remaining Italy can get together because Carlo comes from the Italian royal family, and Italy and Spain have a common enemy in North Africa, France.
But the Italian royal family is originally the family, and the only great power that can marry is Germany.
However, Carlo will not force such a marriage. Although there are also political interests, Carlo does not want to marry a wife he does not like.
If he can meet a marriage partner that he likes and is helpful to the royal family and Spain, then everyone will be happy.
A few days passed quickly, and Carlo still had some gains.
The first is the situation of the Royal United Bank, a financial enterprise that Carlo attaches great importance to.
Within a week of opening, the total number of depositors has exceeded 5,000, the total savings are as high as 29.13 million pesetas, and the per capita savings are 5,787.31 pesetas.
Although the per capita savings have dropped from 40,000 on the first day to less than 6,000 now, it is a good thing for the Royal United Bank.
Because this means that there are more and more civilian depositors, and the Royal United Bank has gradually gained credibility in the hearts of Madrid citizens.
After all, the population of Madrid is not large, and the fact that there are more than 5,000 depositors in a short period of time has proved the trust of the people.
Although the nobles contributed more, the trust of the people was more of an incentive for Carlo, at least proving that the Spanish people's support for the Savoy dynasty and Carlo was gradually increasing.
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