Chapter 646 Rewards and Tests

"The crazy depreciation of the franc is a problem we have to worry about, and we must also eliminate the possibility of other countries learning from France's devalued currency." At the diplomatic talks between the United Kingdom and Australasia, officials from the Ministry of Finance talked eloquently and told other countries The risks posed by currency depreciation to Britain and Australia.

You know, compared to France, whose currency is less stable, the value of the British pound and the Australasian Australian dollar is relatively stable.

Depreciation has definitely occurred, but the proportion of depreciation has basically remained below 10%, which is a completely acceptable range.

But the franc is different. If the purchasing power of the franc before the outbreak of the war is considered to be 100%, then the purchasing power of the franc now accounts for less than 25% of its former value.

Before the war, 25 francs could be converted into 1 pound, and the conversion ratio between the two was relatively stable.

But now, the exchange rate between the franc and the pound has plummeted to 247:1. In fact, 300 francs may be equivalent to 1 pound.

With the exchange rate of the franc and the pound plummeting, will the French still adhere to the gold standard?

It is the government's business to discuss the possibility of adhering to the gold standard and to negotiate alliances in this currency competition, while William's task is to sell off the Australasian royal family's assets in London and convert them into gold and other value-preserving assets as much as possible. thing.

Although Arthur sold off all the assets of old Duke Arthur after he went to Australasia, the expansion of the royal family consortium over the past 20 years cannot completely avoid the huge city of London.

As the current financial capital of the world, London's stock exchange is a frequent place for major capitalists, and the royal consortium has also listed many companies here.

The most famous one at present is probably the British branch of the Benz Automobile Factory, which was jointly opened with the British aristocrats. This automobile factory generates millions of pounds in revenue every year and monopolizes more than 70% of the British automobile market, giving British local forces and Australians All of Greater Asia brings in a lot of revenue.

That is to say, cooperation with the local nobles, coupled with the relatively good relationship between Australasia and the British, prevented the covetousness of the British government.

Without these two relationships, this enterprise that is making money every day would have basically no room for resistance in a foreign country. In front of the national government, a targeted enterprise is like a lamb waiting to be slaughtered.

Of course, the property sold this time is not the British Benz Automobile Factory, but some unimportant investments, including some London real estate companies and so on.

Although London's economy is growing day by day, the stock market is absolutely booming. But how long can this prosperity last? If you don't evacuate in advance, it will be too late to exit when the stock market fluctuates in the future.

Arthur cannot guarantee that the economic crisis will happen as it happened in history, and it is still necessary to sell some properties in advance.

Once an economic crisis occurs, some companies will shrink several times overnight, and may even be at risk of bankruptcy if they are not careful.

But the withdrawal from the London Stock Exchange will also need to be gradual. It is impossible to sell all these assets at once.

Putting aside whether it would arouse suspicion, all the assets were sold together, and even the London stock market could not absorb so much property.

More importantly, a large amount of asset selling may cause turmoil in the stock market, or even cause the stock market to crash early and allow an economic crisis to occur.

Although Australasia was prepared for an economic crisis, it was the London stock market crisis caused by Australasia's asset sell-off, which would have been a lot of fun.

After all, wherever an economic crisis occurs, it will be most affected. If the British economy is accidentally destroyed, there will be no money to provide military spending in the future World War II.

The first to be sold were real estate companies and enterprises. The real estate speculation operation has been quite successful.

Although the national conditions in Europe and the United States are different from those of later generations, it is still relatively easy to speculate in real estate in some economically developed cities.

No matter how sparse the population of the entire country is, when it is gathered in a certain city, the population is still prone to overpopulation and saturation.

Especially in big cities like London and New York with a population of more than 7 million, a little push can help the popularity of real estate continue to grow.

The London Real Estate Company, established in London by the royal consortium, has built more than 50,000 properties and has earned more than 2 million pounds in profits.

The price of a property in London has also skyrocketed from the original tens of pounds to around 150 pounds, and the price of a slightly larger and more luxurious apartment has exceeded 200 pounds.

Under the influence of such exaggerated real estate prices, the British economy is also rising steadily, with an annual growth rate of more than 7% and continues to prosper.

Of course, compared to London, which is not particularly hyped in Australasia, New York’s real estate prices are the most exaggerated.

Housing prices in New York were originally below US$700. Currently, the prices of the cheapest second-hand houses have increased to more than US$1,000, and even every unit is a target of competition.

Those newly built houses are basically priced at more than 1,500 US dollars, and the better ones have exceeded 2,000 US dollars, which is equivalent to twice the price of London housing prices.

Fortunately, Americans do have money. Even if the price of a house exceeds $2,000, Americans' enthusiasm for buying houses has not wavered.

The royal consortium's real estate company in New York is the largest investment. It builds more than 20,000 properties every year, and its annual profits have even exceeded 10 million US dollars.

That's not all. Behind the rising housing prices, some American capitalists have seen business opportunities and influenced the government to promote various policies to restrict self-built houses.

Nowadays, it is very difficult to build a house by yourself in the suburbs of New York in the United States. Not only do they need to pass government qualification approval, but they also have to spend a lot of money to connect water and electricity, build connecting roads, etc.

These are all regulations written in the qualifications for self-building houses, and they are also the price Americans must pay when choosing to build their own houses.

As a result, self-building a house may not necessarily be a suitable and cost-effective option. Not to mention the difficulty of completing various conditions, the additional cost of connecting water, electricity and roads alone is enough to prohibit some ordinary families.

It is worth mentioning that this real estate company in London, invested by the Australasian royal family consortium, now completely belongs to William.

This is Arthur's turn in William's Property, a real estate company with a market value of more than 3 million pounds.

The concept of private property in the West is still relatively deep. Even between father and son, William cannot spend Arthur's money unscrupulously without permission.

This also means that in addition to the fixed annual royal family members' funds, William has to earn additional expenses and income on his own.

The annual annuities for members of the Australasian royal family are fixed, and the funds William can get are only 50,000 Australian dollars, which is the same level as the Duke's dividends.

Although fifty thousand Australian dollars seems like a lot, it is actually not much when it comes to maintaining the luxurious life of the royal family.

Even if William is not extravagant, he spends more than tens of thousands of Australian dollars on food, clothing, housing and transportation every year. Plus other expenses, he must spend at least more than 20,000 Australian dollars.

This is because William is not an adult and has not met too many friends, so he does not need to spend additional funds such as private banquets.

For example, Queen Mary often holds small banquets between nobles. Each banquet costs tens of thousands of Australian dollars. The cost of drinks alone is enough to consume a duke-level annuity.

As the first heir to the throne, it is impossible for William not to hold a banquet when he comes of age.

Especially with Arthur's permission to cultivate his own power, the cost of the banquet cannot be too low, which is also a test of William's earning ability.

Even if William had saved enough before, the total annuity he received from Queen Mary for temporary custody was only about 500,000 Australian dollars.

But if you add this real estate company with assets of more than 3 million pounds, William's net worth will instantly exceed 7 million Australian dollars, making him a well-known rich man in Australasia.

What is the value of 7 million Australian dollars? According to the exchange rate between pounds and gold that has not yet changed, 7 million Australian dollars is equivalent to 3.5 million pounds, which is equal to 25.655 tons of gold.

According to the market price of gold, 25 tons of gold is equivalent to tens of billions of yuan. Whether now or in future generations, he will be a wealthy man.

Of course, just because the real estate company is worth up to 3 million pounds, this does not mean that William will get the full 3 million Australian dollars after selling the real estate company.

Even if it is not handled well, it will become extremely difficult to sell the real estate company, and it is very likely that it will be dragged down in the stock market crisis.

Real estate companies seem valuable now, but if the economic crisis breaks out, the market value of real estate companies may even shrink by more than half.

After all, the economic crisis has broken out. Will anyone still use their valuable things to buy a house?

No matter how important a house is, it is not as important as the food and materials that can protect one's life in times of crisis.

At that time, many people will even sell their houses at low prices and use the income from selling their houses to buy enough food for themselves and their families.

As a result, real estate prices will also experience a sharp drop. After the market is disrupted, the value of real estate companies will also plummet.

Although it seems that Arthur's handing over the London real estate company to William is a reward, how to sell the company inconspicuously and get the first pot of gold for himself is also the biggest test for William.

If he couldn't handle a small real estate company well, then how could Arthur trust William to handle the huge country of Australasia?

The total value of the real estate company is only 3 million pounds, but the GDP of Australasia is in the billions, and the fate of more than 30 million Australasians is related.

From the beginning of this diplomatic visit, Arthur's test of William had officially begun. As long as he passes the test, William will be the crown prince of Australasia and the inevitable next heir to the throne.

But if he fails to pass the test, for the sake of the development of the royal family, the future of the country and tens of millions of people, Arthur will have to reconsider the heir to the throne.

In order to provide William with manpower, he was accompanied this time by the Minister of Royal Affairs, Ajedine Blanc.

The Minister of Royal Affairs is also a relatively special position in the cabinet. Basically, candidates are extremely loyal to the royal family. The loyalty requirements for this position are far greater than ability.

The previous minister of royal affairs was the current finance minister Hunter. Hunter is the younger brother of the former prime minister Kent and the second son of the palace steward Kent.

Of course, Yajdine Blanc's identity is also quite special. This is the first confidant Arthur cultivated in the true sense, rather than the power inherited from the old Duke Arthur.

When Arthur first came to Australia, he trained a large number of Australian orphans and trained them in a more suitable direction as a great help for himself and the future heirs to the throne.

The power passed down through the old Duke Arthur also made Arthur understand that it is important to train the heir to the throne, but it is also very important to cultivate a large number of loyal and capable subordinates for the heir to the throne.

Arthur came to Australia and was able to rule so smoothly. The large number of subordinates passed down to Arthur by the old Duke Arthur were not unimportant.

The reason why the royal consortium expanded so smoothly was because Arthur had a large number of loyal confidants, which was completely different from those of the government officials.

Although the Kingdom of Australasia also belongs to Arthur's territory, government officials and the king's private ministers are completely different concepts.

Government officials tend to be more biased towards the country when thinking. Although most of the time they are loyal to Arthur's rule, there are inevitably exceptions.

The king's private ministers were completely different. The meaning of private ministers is very simple, they are the subjects who belong to the center of Arthur. When they think about problems, they will give priority to the interests of Arthur and the royal family, followed by the interests of the country.

This is also where the monarchy divides over the importance of the monarch and the country. Those who are country-oriented believe that the country is above all else, and the king is only the ruler of the country.

However, private ministers who regard the monarch as the main body will feel that the monarch is above everything else. The monarch is the master of the country, and the interests of the monarch are far greater than that of the country.

From different perspectives, these two concepts naturally have different truths. For the monarch of a country, how to better control these two forces is the key to governing the country.

There are many ways for European monarchies to check and balance the government, one of which is the two-party system. That is to say, two parties with completely opposite ideas are introduced, and the competition between the two major parties is used to find opportunities for the monarch to control power.

However, this method is not available in Australasia. There are many political parties in Australasia, such as the National Party, Fine Gael Party, Country Party, Liberal Party and so on.

But when it comes to the most specific party ideals, a considerable number of parties are relatively conservative royalists.

Because of Arthur's great prestige, Arthur has also become a symbol of Australasia. No one in Australasia would ask for the abolition of the king and royal family, because this would also be equivalent to the abolition of the Kingdom of Australasia and turn the country they love into a war field for separatism.

This is the update today, editor-in-chief on the 21st, 21-27, 10,000 per week.