Darkstone Code-Chapter 767 - 0765 Borrowing Money to Get By [This - sponsored by: Pear Blossom Watching Crabapple, Extra Content Added - 11/15]
When the Emperor proposed to use the national treasury to cope with the current crisis, the first to stand up was not the Prime Minister, nor the Minister of Finance, but the Minister of Defense.
The Emperor did not immediately argue with him but looked at the others, he needed to understand if there were any changes in the attitudes and positions of each minister here.
When his gaze met the Minister of the Army, the Minister of the Army hesitated slightly before meeting his gaze, "Your Majesty, my view is the same as the Minister of Defense; it’s already nearly the end of the year."
"End of the year?" The Emperor’s lips twitched slightly, "What’s so special about the end of the year?"
He knew they were just making excuses, and he felt a sense of urgency; only an Emperor who firmly grasps power is a true Emperor.
Those Emperors who don’t grasp all the power are merely puppets. Although he wasn’t a puppet that could be easily manipulated by others, watching these people constantly oppose his ideas made him very angry.
This anger didn’t show on his face; whether in his expressions or his tone, there seemed to be no trace of anger.
A bit indifferent, a bit cold.
The Minister of the Army displayed a somewhat troubled expression, he whispered, "There needs to be a unified disbursement of death benefits to the families of fallen soldiers for the second half of the year, the local stationed troops need to be rotated with the homeland troops, armaments also need maintenance, coupled with some equipment upgrades..."
One sentence silenced the Emperor who was thinking of refuting the Minister of the Army, he remained silent for a long time, there was not a sound in the Ruler’s Hall, even breathing was faint to the point of being inaudible.
Indeed, it was time to issue death benefits.
The number of soldiers killed in the Amelia Region was almost catching up with the number of soldiers lost in the World War, these useless ones, dead as they were, were just wasting food in the Emperor’s view.
Taking the Empire’s most advanced standard weapons, enjoying the most complete logistics, yet unable to defeat a group of armed civilians!
No matter how much he detested the Army, he had to face this unavoidable problem.
Though they were useless, they sacrificed their lives for the country.
According to the current compensation system executed by the Gafura Empire, they needed to issue a one-time death benefit of three thousand five hundred dollars to the family of each soldier killed, followed by an additional salary each quarter.
The salary standard was issued at eighty percent of the current serving military rank’s salary, this money would be distributed for three to six years, intended to help these families who had lost family members through the most initially difficult times.
This was quite a significant expense, and besides this expense, there were other military expenditures, all of which were troublesome.
The Emperor’s head started to ache again, he endured the pain, looking at the others, "Anyone else wishes to say something?"
He looked at the others, to see if anyone wanted to oppose him again.
The result was disappointing, or perhaps as he expected, someone expressed a different perspective.
Standing up was the Minister of Construction, he slightly bowed to show respect to the Emperor, though standing up itself embodied the greatest disrespect towards the Emperor.
The Emperor gazed at him with a calm look, yet he unhesitatingly opposed the Emperor’s idea, "Your Majesty, there are many reconstruction projects underway in the Amelia Region, and after spring, they might need to quickly raise money to prepare for spring sowing."
"Besides these, the reconstruction of the cities, important public facilities, and military installations require a lot of money."
"If we use up the remaining funds in the treasury, it is likely to slow down the development speed of the Amelie Province, and there may even be reversals in certain policy issues."
"The local people are eager for some favorable changes; if we cannot achieve everything quickly, perhaps it may trigger a second round of confrontations."
The Minister of Finance was not entirely speaking nonsense, the shift in the Empire’s development focus was also one of the core contradictions among the Emperor and the nobility, privileged ruling class, and society’s lower middle class.
With such immense pressure to develop Amelia, if we temporarily cease funding support for there now, it might lead to the situation which had already improved to relapse into chaos again.
Lagging and poverty are the biggest temptations for people to venture; once the local development speed lags behind, with people having no expectations for the future, trapped in hunger and cold, some among them might be tempted by external forces again, forming or joining resistance organizations.
Besides, the investment in Amelia over these years has been so substantial, it is impossible to hit a snag now, the words of the Minister of Construction indeed required consideration.
The Emperor knew well he was not wrong, yet he was displeased internally.
He said with mock sincerity, "This place lacks money, that place lacks money, if it really can’t work, just issue another batch of currency..."
As soon as his words finished, the Prime Minister immediately raised objections, whether or not this was a probe by the Emperor, at this time, the Prime Minister must stand out.
He had already grasped certain initiatives, if he continued to remain silent, do nothing, saying nothing, acting as a mascot, then the nobility surrounding him might start worrying.
Worried that the imagined ’ambition of the Prime Minister’ and the Prime Minister’s actual ’ambition’ weren’t the same thing, this was a very terrifying suspicion, potentially leading to even more terrifying outcomes.
Therefore, at this moment, the Prime Minister knew he needed to say something.
"Your Majesty, it’s not suitable to issue more currency at this time..."
The Emperor looked at the Prime Minister, who remained expressionless, "Let’s hear your opinion."
The Prime Minister tilted his head down slightly, a gesture of acknowledgment, "Currently, the run on the banks has already caused disturbances in our economy, and the cause of these disturbances is the shortage of currency in circulation in society."
"In fact, this issue was planted as early as four years ago."
"When we fully took over the Amelia Region, we should have issued more currency to meet the market’s circulation needs first."
"A whole province with over ten cities and eight million people, we forgot how the shortage caused by these spaces and people would affect our domestic economic order."
"If we issue more currency now to ensure everyone can withdraw their deposits, rapid depreciation of the currency will exacerbate market turmoil, disrupt the stable market structure, and people will begin to doubt us because of this."
"In principle, I strongly agree with issuing more currency to address the new domestic and international situation. However, we should be more cautious with issuing currency, and at least under the current external economic damage, it’s not very suitable to do so!"
Indeed, currently, many raw materials in Gafura are imported, and after currency depreciation, people will need more money to import the same amount of raw materials as before.
This will greatly affect industries that rely on imported raw materials, and some of them may shift from making profits to incurring losses.
The living conditions of people are similar. Printing enough money to cope with this run on the banks will inevitably lead to a rapid increase in market prices. People who could previously have a full meal will soon only be able to eat until they are seventy percent full.
Those who are not supposed to go hungry will soon start to experience hunger.
The wages paid by factories cannot support entire families, and if Factory Owners pay more, they will incur losses, so the Prime Minister will certainly not agree with the Emperor’s plan.
If he wants to hold onto power, he cannot be too "foolish," as the system of the Gafura Empire does not allow a mediocre and stupid Prime Minister to hold office.
This point is somewhat different from the Federation, where even if the President is a fool, it doesn’t matter. They have a whole system that can keep the government running as before, but Gafura does not.
He must oppose the Emperor to demonstrate his "integrity" and thus gain public support.
Opposing the Imperial authority is no simple task. Noble support and public opinion are both indispensable.
"Neither this nor that, then tell me, what can be done, and how can we calm this storm?", the Emperor tossed the question to the ministers.
The ministers remained silent, as resolving the situation in one go was not an easy task.
But if one were to say how complex it really is, perhaps not so much, it’s just a matter of money to solve it.
In history, there have been more than one run on the banks, but previous ones were minor, often targeting banks owned by some declining nobility or some commercial banks.
However, nothing on this scale has ever happened before.
Yet this "money" stumped everyone.
No one spoke, and a trace of mocking sarcasm appeared on the Emperor’s face as he looked at the Minister of Finance, "Minister of Finance, do you have any good ideas?"
After a moment of silence, as the Emperor was about to pass him by, the Minister of Finance suddenly spoke.
"Your Majesty, we can borrow money."
Uh...
The Emperor looked somewhat surprised at the Minister of Finance; they had thought of the same idea.
The Minister of Finance had already absolutely failed, losing in this struggle. Who would have thought the Prime Minister would be willing to destabilize the Empire’s economic order to bring him down, and facing the now crazed Prime Minister, the Minister of Finance had no way at all.
It’s like those merchants facing their own death, who want to drag everyone to death with them. The Minister of Finance could only retreat step by step.
Since defeat was already certain, the Minister of Finance was now not fighting to stay but to ensure his family might still have a slim chance, a minuscule possibility.
"Let’s hear your thoughts...", the Emperor mused slightly and said.
The Minister of Finance stood up and bowed slightly to show respect to the Emperor, "Currently, the situation we are experiencing has many coincidences, and if it can’t be resolved internally, we can try to resolve it externally."
"There is a lot of idle capital internationally. Those bankers active in various countries, or even governments from other countries, can also provide us with certain assistance."
"As long as we can reach some agreements with outsiders and secure some funds, the situation can quickly stabilize."
The Emperor nodded ambiguously, glanced sideways at the Prime Minister, who was tightly furrowing his brows, and asked, "What do you think we should do?"
