These Rothschild family magnates, their understanding of Qin was largely derived from bitter memories of head-splitting defeats.
Take the Rothschild family, for instance.
The Rothschild family, lauded by countless sensationalist pulp fiction in later generations, was not as mysterious as imagined.
In the thirty-fourth year of Qianlong's reign, Mayer Rothschild became an official court agent. Due to the prevalent state of principalities in Germany at the time, each with its own monetary system, Mayer's profession was virtually equivalent to that of a foreign exchange dealer.
Later, when Emperor Zhu's rebellion overthrew Qianlong, Nathan Mayer Rothschild officially left Frankfurt for England, and then, when George III went mad and attacked France, he made his way to the Eagle Country.
With wealth and connections, the Rothschilds naturally thrived in the Eagle Country, dressing in fine suits and prospering. They not only engaged extensively in lending but even sought to invest in the Eagle Country's railway construction.
What's more, the current head of the Rothschild family, Amslor Rothschild, intended to make a comeback in England by becoming a Member of Parliament.
Of course, Amslor Rothschild had also considered infiltrating the neighboring Qin Kingdom—compared to the Eagle Country and France, Qin was the one dripping with wealth!
Like many of the other Rothschild magnates, Amslor Rothschild believed that as long as his family could penetrate Qin, they would surely feast on riches.
As for the matter of the Jews being purged in Tiaojin Hutong, Kaifeng, Da Ming… was that even a problem?
However, a fallen scholar from a Central Plains sect once said: Ideals are plump, but reality is gaunt.
The Rothschild magnates had indeed envisioned a beautiful scenario, but they overlooked the most crucial point.
Qin had no intention of accepting these Rothschild magnates.
Long ago, Joseon, Da Ming's most filial vassal state, once lamented: Among all vassal states, the Jurchens gained the most.
Yet, it was precisely these Jurchens, who gained the most, who conveniently picked up Da Ming's legacy and seized control of the Central Plains.
In the original history, the Jurchens ruled for three hundred years, even proclaiming their lofty ambition: Better to give to a foreign friend than a domestic slave.
Fortunately, the Jurchens had only ruled for about one hundred and fifty years, and the resistance gene within the Central Plains had not been completely eradicated. Coincidentally, they also remembered the bitter lesson: Those not of our kind have different hearts.
Did the Rothschild magnates of the Eagle Country want to extend their reach into Qin?
Let alone that Emperor Zhu himself was an emperor who greatly emphasized the principle of "Those not of our kind have different hearts," even if Emperor Zhu didn't care, the Central Plains, having been deceived by the Great Qing for over a hundred years, would not forget the bitter lessons of the past.
Therefore, Qin could allow them to earn money honestly according to Da Ming's rules, but as soon as any anomaly was discovered, Emperor Zhu Er Dan and the Qin ministers would strike ruthlessly.
After severely punishing some of the Rothschild magnates who had tried to infiltrate the Qin court, the Rothschild magnates of the Eagle Country were immediately displeased—if they couldn't get into the court, earning money honestly according to Da Ming's rules would only yield meager returns. Why else would they travel all the way to Qin? Of course, the Rothschild magnates were not pushovers. After a batch of them were dealt with through execution and confiscation of property by the Qin king and his ministers, these Rothschild magnates naturally thought of other strategies.
For example, using economic means to destabilize Qin's market, or spending money to support an army to attack Qin.
Unfortunately, Qin's economic model was synchronized with Da Ming's domestic economic model and was completely different from the economic models of the Eagle Country and various European nations.
Da Ming and Qin operated on the principle of doing only as much as the treasury could afford, always maintaining an extra budget for emergencies.
When the Rothschild magnates waved their banknotes and goods, preparing to impact Qin's market, they found that Qin's market simply ignored their methods.
If the Rothschild magnates intended to hoard goods and create inflation, Qin's market would eagerly swallow their orders and simultaneously release massive production capacity to fill the gaps.
If the Rothschild magnates wanted to unload their hoarded goods, Qin's market would gleefully absorb them at low prices, either as reserve supplies or to be resold and consumed in Da Ming's interior.
The minor disturbances created by the Rothschild magnates could barely make a ripple.
As for supporting an army to attack Qin…
The first batch of immigrants chosen by Emperor Zhu and Zhu Er Dan consisted of 100,000 retired soldiers, a significant portion of whom were conscripted from the Sichuan region.
Although the retired soldiers from Sichuan usually appeared listless, many of them would tremble like quails when their wives yelled at them. However, these henpecked men, once on the battlefield and tasting blood, were undeniably fierce.
It was precisely because both economic and military means proved ineffective, and they suffered a severe blow from Qin, that the Rothschild magnates of the Eagle Country gradually gave up their ambition to extend their reach into Qin, and consequently deepened their understanding of Qin.
The Rothschild magnates present all knew that not only could the armies they supported not defeat the Qin army, but even the regular army of the Eagle Country was by no means a match for the Qin army.
The gap between the two sides in terms of equipment, individual combat capabilities, physical fitness, tactics, and strategy was too vast; it could be described as a difference between heaven and earth, or at least between clouds and mud.
Let's not forget that the Eagle Country's ability to break free from English colonial rule was primarily due to French support, not the Eagle Country's own military strength.
If the King of Qin were truly provoked…
James Rothschild furrowed his brow and said, "Then, as the Commander-in-Chief suggested, let's temporarily abandon other ideas and focus on supplying the European countries' wartime consumption?"
James's statement was a question, directed at the leading families among the Eagle Country's Rothschild conglomerates, the Rockefeller family.
William Avery Rockefeller, the envoy from the Rockefeller family, nodded almost imperceptibly and said, "The Rockefeller family agrees with Mr. Commander-in-Chief's proposal."
With William Avery Rockefeller's endorsement, the envoys from other Rothschild conglomerates also expressed their support for classmate Adams. Adams, while smiling and accepting their flattery, posed a new question: "The topic we need to discuss next is closely related to all of you—the Emperor of Ming suddenly announced he would use his own money to subsidize the Ming treasury and increase interest on deposits in Ming banks. Do you have any good solutions?"
As soon as Adams finished speaking, the Rothschild magnates present could no longer smile.
While the Rothschild magnates might have been unsatisfactory in other aspects, for instance, if they were put in charge of governing, they would likely make a mess, and if they were made to fight, they would probably be quite inept. However, when it came to sensitivity to money, perhaps no one on this tiny planet could match them.
Upon hearing Emperor Zhu's decision to raise interest rates, these Rothschild magnates immediately felt that things were beginning to spiral out of control—Ming's decision to increase interest rates on Ming Dragon Dollars meant that many people would deposit their Ming Dragon Dollars into Ming banks. With more money deposited in Ming banks, it meant a reduction in Ming Dragon Dollars circulating in the market. A reduction in Ming Dragon Dollars in circulation, in turn, meant the devaluation of currencies in other countries.
This included the US dollar in the Eagle Country.
Of course, if it were merely the devaluation of other countries' currencies, it wouldn't be a major issue. After all, everyone held a considerable amount of Ming Dragon Dollars. Even if it couldn't fully offset the losses from the US dollar's devaluation, it would at least ensure their wealth didn't diminish too much.
However, the crucial point lay in the impact of the interest rate hike.
The appreciation of the Ming Dragon Dollar and the depreciation of the US dollar, on the surface, would promote the Eagle Country's exports. However, the accompanying harm was that the cost of the Eagle Country purchasing Ming goods would also increase. Goods that originally cost only ten US dollars might now require fifteen US dollars to acquire.
In this situation, Adams had two choices: either announce that the US dollar would be delinked from the Ming Dragon Dollar banknotes, ceasing all exchanges between the two, or he would have to seek help from his backing, the Adams family, as well as the Morgan family, the Rockefeller family, and the Rothschild family, and start printing US dollars frantically.
Announcing a delinking from the Ming Dragon Dollar banknotes and settling future trade with other countries using precious metals like gold and silver was the simplest and most straightforward method, and the easiest to understand. However, this was clearly impossible. While this tiny planet was not yet fully integrated, other countries had long been accustomed to, or rather, conditioned to using Ming Dragon Dollar banknotes as a settlement currency, and no country dared to use gold and silver for settlement.
Furthermore, there was an even more important reason: the Rothschild magnates of the Eagle Country held vast quantities of Ming Dragon Dollar banknotes. Once a delinking was announced, those Rothschild magnates would tear Adams to shreds.
As for frantically printing US dollars, that involved a different kind of strategy—no matter how much the Ming Dragon Dollar banknote appreciated, as long as one had enough US dollars, one could eventually exchange them for the desired Ming Dragon Dollar banknotes.
The key lay in the hidden dangers of this strategy.
Frantically printing US dollars meant an increase in the circulation of US dollars in the market. An increase in the number of US dollars in the market, in turn, meant that goods, which had already become more valuable due to Ming's interest rate hike, would once again become less valuable, or even lead to price inflation.
This situation would not be a problem for the country at a national level, but what about the common people? The amount of currency held by the public would remain unchanged; it would not increase because Adams and the others printed more US dollars. This would mean that the public would need to spend more money to buy necessary items, and it might even be the case that they couldn't buy what they needed even with money.
Some might argue, why not simply distribute the printed money to the public to offset the inflation caused by devaluation?
The answer is no.
The theory that "distributing money to everyone is equivalent to distributing money to no one" is undoubtedly the simplest, most direct, and perhaps even somewhat absurd explanation. However, from another perspective, it is quite understandable: what would happen after the money is distributed? Would the cycle of "inflation, then more money" lead to an increase in the cost of living?
Those who already have money would use the distributed money for investment through their existing channels, thus increasing their assets. The rising cost of living would have little impact on them.
Those who do not have money would invest it or consume it? Would the rising cost of living be within their capacity to bear?
Or, one could say: for the wealthy, whether money is distributed or not makes little difference; distributing money would only accelerate the growth of their wealth. For the poor, distributing money would only cause their wealth to evaporate faster.
This is not a conclusion derived from algorithms or models, but simply a conclusion based on human nature.
Reality is just that cruel and merciless.
Especially in the Eagle Country, where the wealthy Rothschild magnates control the Eagle Country, hold the discourse, and even possess the power to print and distribute money. If money were to be distributed to everyone, who do you think they would give it to? Or rather, who would receive more money?
Therefore, direct distribution of money would not solve the problem.
Moreover, the Rothschild magnates of the Eagle Country had no intention of distributing money directly—although the inflation caused by Ming's interest rate hike would affect the lives of ordinary people, it presented an excellent opportunity for the Rothschild magnates to amass wealth!
After silently pondering for a moment, William Avery Rockefeller, the envoy from the Rockefeller family, furrowed his brow and said, "If we are to cope with the impact of Ming's interest rate hike, I believe our best course of action is to expand production capacity and then transfer this excess capacity to Europe."
James Rothschild also nodded in agreement, saying, "That's right. As long as the inflation is transferred to Europe, it's as if there's no inflation. Europe is about to go to war everywhere, so transferring the inflation to them is the most appropriate."
This was indeed a plausible method—transferring suffering to others means one does not suffer oneself, which has always been the Eagle Country's usual approach.
As for the fate of Europe… who cared?
The Eagle Country certainly didn't care.
However, after discussing how to transfer the Eagle Country's inflation to Europe, William Avery Rockefeller once again furrowed his brow and said, "Besides transferring inflation to Europe, we must also make other preparations—the Emperor of Ming can announce an interest rate hike, and he can certainly also announce the printing of more Ming Dragon Dollars."
(End of this chapter)
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