The Fox of France - Chapter 544 (Patreon)

Chapter 544: Horizon and Empire

To speak frankly, after the peace agreement was reached, at the request of the French, England began comprehensive reforms of its domestic political economy. The first step was to rectify the chaotic financial order within the country.

It was clear that the British pound notes had completely lost their credibility. In this era of the gold standard, a currency that could not be converted into gold was essentially worthless paper.

Therefore, the first major task in rectifying Britain's financial order was to reform the pound. Convert pound notes to gold coins on a one-to-one basis? How could that possibly happen? Not to mention that the British didn't have that much gold; not even the French, nor the rest of Europe, had that much gold. And if such a conversion were to happen, who would then be the victor of the war?

So, the French proposed a plan. According to this plan, the British government would deposit all its gold reserves in the Bank of Rome and authorize the bank to issue new pounds. These new pounds would be exchanged for old pound notes at a ratio of one to one hundred thousand. At the same time, old pounds, including old gold coins, would gradually be phased out of circulation.

To ensure the value of the new pound, it would be pegged to the franc, not gold. The new pound could not be directly exchanged for gold but could be exchanged for francs at a fixed ratio (with a fee, of course). Then, holders could exchange francs for gold at the Bank of Rome.

Why not directly exchange new pounds for gold, but instead go through the franc? This was, of course, to prevent a massive run on gold.

Firstly, you should know that the Bank of Rome is not quite like other banks; its main clients are not ordinary people or even typical businesses, but major commercial banks from various countries.

This meant that the Bank of Rome had very few branches worldwide. Also, due to the limited number of branches, one needed to make an appointment and queue to exchange francs for gold, which limited the volume of exchanges.

On the other hand, francs could not be directly used within Britain (though, in fact, many British businesses were willing to accept franc notes). Although the franc was highly credible, it was still inconvenient to use, and the exchange involved a not insignificant fee. (Of course, if you went to France to exchange it, there would be no fee, but travel costs would be incurred.) Since it was always possible to exchange, and it was only paper for paper, the general public's desire to exchange would decrease.

By pegging the new pound to the franc, it also helped to boost British confidence in the new pound.

Of course, the Bank of Rome wasn't running a charity. The benefits of securing the rights to issue the new pound were significant. And storing Britain's gold reserves in its vaults was highly advantageous. Although after the war, Britain's gold reserves were actually quite depleted, the mere credit gained from this move was substantial.

With the issuance of the new pound, Britain's financial order began to recover. However, the circumstances of the British changed in curious ways.

Firstly, due to the complete opening of capital and markets, British businesses, especially medium and small enterprises, faced tremendous shocks. Many of these businesses, already struggling during the war, faced direct competition from European industry after the war, leading to widespread bankruptcies.

Compared to medium and small enterprises, large businesses were slightly better at weathering the shock, but they were also the primary targets of French efforts, especially the heavy industries, which often had close ties to the British military. Now, with major reductions in the British military, their future was equally challenging. Fortunately, these businesses still had value to be harvested, so they could be revitalized through capital restructuring. However, the outcome of capital restructuring often meant that the businesses might still bear their old names, but the bosses might have become French. Or, the businesses might still have the same name, and the old bosses might still manage them, but the major shareholders had become French, with the visible bosses possibly retaining only a tiny share of the business. This resembled the post-Southeast Asian financial crisis scenario, where the Beacon Country used instruments like the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to harvest major businesses from the Cosmic Country.

Logically, such shocks should have resulted in widespread starvation among the lower-class workers—because factories were either bankrupt or suspended. In economic life, the risks borne by workers and capitalists are quite different; when the economic situation deteriorates, workers risk starvation; while capitalists risk losing money, and the more substantial the capital, the smaller the actual loss might be. In fact, they might even profit, as Morgan said, "When a crisis comes, valuable stocks return to their rightful owners."

However, in Britain, the situation had somewhat changed because British workers found another way to earn money—working for the French.

Now, with free movement of capital and personnel between Britain

 and France, British workers could freely work in France. Compared to Germans, British workers were better trained, more efficient, and had lower wage demands, so the French were keen to employ them. Not just the French, but business owners across Europe generally favored British workers. The optimization of the market meant that the few struggling British businesses suddenly found themselves in a labor shortage, unable to recruit enough workers.

This situation was nearly devastating for British industry. In fact, it was the same for all of Europe; workers were drawn to more industrialized France, and capital, no matter which country it came from, also naturally flowed towards France. Thus, the two pillars supporting industrialization—labor and capital—began to move away from Britain.

In Britain, a return to the old medieval lifestyle seemed to be resurging; the noise of capital and industry began to move away from them, and both cities and countryside became simpler and quieter. Perhaps the Lake Poets would have preferred this version of Britain.

The only downside was that in Britain, there seemed to be fewer young people, especially in the villages, where you could hardly see any young people. There were only aging elderly and sometimes underage children, whose parents were absent. For these children, their parents were like Santa Claus, appearing suddenly before Christmas, bringing various small gifts. Then, after Christmas passed, they disappeared again.

Perhaps one day, their parents would suddenly appear and tell them, "We are moving to a distant place to live a better life." Then, the family would leave the village, board a ship, and depart from Europe.

Most British did not head to North America. The French did not wish to send more British to North America. Over the years, Napoleon had implemented policies encouraging population growth at home, primarily to ensure that French speakers in Louisiana outnumbered German speakers.

Thus, most British immigrants headed to routes towards India, Africa, and South America.

"India is a great place. Especially its culture, which is really good," Joseph said while discussing India.

"Really?" Napoleon knew little about Indian culture.

"Bullshit! What else would come out of Joseph's mouth?" Lucien remarked, indicating that Napoleon was too young and naive.

"Indian culture naturally divides people into many levels and uses a miraculous invention to explain all the inequalities in the world," Joseph continued. "Napoleon, how does Catholicism handle the issue of inequality in the world?"

Napoleon thought for a moment and replied, "First, it considers that all people are spiritually equal and that anyone who is devout in faith can go to heaven, to pacify people; then it talks about original sin, so suffering is justified; then it says that life on earth is not the purpose of life, heaven is, so people no longer focus on the pains of reality; and finally, it beautifies suffering, saying that it's easier for the poor to enter heaven, as long as they endure their suffering devoutly. I think Catholicism replaced Roman polytheism because Roman polytheism made people too concerned with the gains and losses of reality—which is not beneficial for those in power."

"Indians have gone a step further," Joseph laughed. "Indians replaced heaven and original sin with reincarnation. They believe that after a person dies, their soul reincarnates into a newly born child or animal. What treatment you receive in the new life cycle depends on your actions in the previous reincarnation. Hmm, what a great invention. This way, if someone complains, 'Why do I work hard from morning till night and still can't afford food, while those who do nothing live in luxury?'

Napoleon, you know, if someone in France asked this question, a revolution would be imminent. But in India, it's different. If an Indian raises such a doubt, others would tell him it's because he did too many bad deeds in his previous life, so he must pay for the sins of his past life. So—what exactly happened in the previous life cannot be proved or disproved, but with such a system, all inequalities and even all evils in the world can be justified.

Indians have accepted this thinking, so they can endure various oppressions and abuses that we find unimaginable and intolerable. So I say, Indian culture is excellent for those in power.

However, this culture also brings a small problem: it easily makes people complacent. Because, in their view, whatever state they are in is determined by the good or bad deeds of their previous lives, so those in lower positions do not think of rebelling, and naturally have no ambition. And those in higher positions, well, since their days are good without threats, naturally, they will be as lazy as they wish. That's why India has always been easy to conquer."

"You make India sound so great, I almost want to become an Indian prince," Napoleon said sarcastically.

"If there were no other countries in the world, being an Indian prince would indeed be a very good thing," Lucien half-seriously

 said.

"India is a place that can turn people into waste. So although we can now plunder India, I do not hope for French people to immigrate there in large numbers; that would create a bunch of waste," Joseph said.

"So you think sending all the British there also means we don't have to worry about them creating a new Britain over there?" Napoleon said.

"In North America, if we don't intervene, the United States could indeed become a new Britain. But in India, they will quickly discover the benefits of India and then all become new Brahmins."

"So just let the British go to India and eventually turn into waste?"

"Exactly. By the time they're ready to emigrate, they won't be working for us anymore," Joseph replied. "But we still need to intervene in India. We must urge all countries to respect India's traditions, especially the widespread tradition of its princely states, to avoid unifying it and preventing it from transforming from a geographical and cultural concept into a national concept."

"Ah, that way, the British will pose no threat to us at all," Napoleon said. "Now looking around, there is no power in Europe that can challenge France. We can finally say, France is invincible under the heavens! And now, the land under French control spans the entire globe. When the sun sets in one part of our territory, it also rises in another. The new, invincible, sun-never-sets millennium empire has appeared on the horizon..."

Napoleon was waxing emotional when he suddenly saw Joseph unable to hold back his laughter.

"What's wrong, Joseph? Did I say something wrong?" Napoleon asked.

"Ah, Napoleon, I just want to ask, what does 'horizon' mean?" Joseph barely held back his laughter as he replied.

"You don't even know what the word means? The horizon is a line that you can never reach, no matter how far you walk," Lucien laughed heartily.

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