My Italy

Chapter 68 Dividers

"Your Majesty, our current statistics show that this treasure contains 33.421 tons of gold, including 341 kilograms of various gemstones, and 241 kilograms of diamonds, the largest of which reaches 67 carats. In addition, we have also cleared out many agates and Buddha statues..."

Carlo listened to the palace steward Alejard counting the specific data of this wealth. The long list was very impressive at first glance. "Tell me the total value of this wealth."

"According to our estimates, the total value of this batch of wealth reaches 672 million lire, but there are too many religious symbols in it. Only 391 million lire can be sold directly, and the rest can only be sold slowly."

Carlo understood what the palace manager meant. Currently, only 391 million lire can be used for this wealth. If you want to fully obtain the 672 million lire, it will take at least several years, especially those gold products with Hindu symbols. . Now because of the bloodbath of Padmanabhaswamy Temple, the whole of India is in turmoil. In order to appease these people, the British are trying their best to track down the murderer. At this time, a large number of gold coins with Hindu symbols appeared. Silverware, doesn't this indicate who the murderer is?

Unless he melts down the gold products with religious symbols and turns them into gold nuggets, it is impossible to sell them all. However, the consequence of doing so is that the value of these treasures will be greatly reduced, and Carlo is not willing to do this.

In this case, he currently has only 391 million lire at his disposal. However, Carlo does not plan to use these treasures now. It is thanks to the Internet that he can know about this temple. A treasure. Of course, Carlo, like most people, only remembers first place and doesn’t know who is second or third, let alone the others.

He didn't know that he would encounter time travel. If he had known about it, he could memorize famous treasures from all over the world like taking notes before an exam. Then wouldn't he have a lot of wealth that would be jealous of all the countries in the world?

But there are no ifs in everything, so when it comes to windfalls, Carlo knows this. Since there is only this windfall, Carlo must maximize its use value. This maximum use value is not only for Italy, but also for him.

It seems to Carlo that only the alternating current system that Tesla is researching is eligible for him to use the money. So he is not in a hurry at all, he still needs to wait for good news from Tesla.

Although Carlo was willing to wait, there was someone who didn't want to wait. The person who didn't want to wait was Prime Minister Despretis.

Not long after listening to the report from the steward Alejard, before Carlo could get over the excitement, a guard came over to report. "Your Majesty, Prime Minister Despretis is here."

"Please."

Although Carlo didn't know the purpose of the Prime Minister's arrival, Carlo still needed to pay enough respect to this powerful Prime Minister.

It's just that after Carlo heard what the Prime Minister said, he planned to withdraw the respect he gave him.

"Your Majesty, I heard that the Guards have just been dispatched to protect a group of properties in Rome."

Carlo did not intend to deny the Prime Minister's words, because it was impossible to hide this matter from others.

"Yes, because the amount of business my family made abroad was quite large, I asked the Guards to protect it."

Although it was impossible to hide it from others, Carlo would not be stupid enough to admit that he had received a windfall and it was a good idea to shift it to the family business.

Faced with the explanation given by Carlo, Prime Minister Despretis stopped asking any more questions. He immediately picked up his words and said. "Your Majesty, you know Italy's finances very well at present. Because in order to reach an alliance with Germany, we made huge concessions on tariffs, so the financial situation is very bad."

Carlo also knows what Prime Minister Depretis said. Last year, due to the reduction of tariffs, Italy's total tariff revenue dropped by 3%.

Don’t think this is a small decrease. You must know that last year, Italy’s imports increased by 9.1% compared with the previous year. The largest increase was in goods from Germany, which increased by 17%. Since the imports from Germany exceeded the average, it must It will squeeze the commodity markets of other countries. Among them, France has experienced the largest decrease. Italy reduced its imports by 27% last year. Affected by the surge in imported goods from Germany, imports from the United Kingdom also decreased by 4.1%. Other countries have it

Moreover, behind the huge increase in German imports, it is not just Britain and France that have been harmed. Other countries have been affected to some extent, but it is not as obvious as Britain and France.

In addition, there is another party that is also affected, that is, Italian companies. Currently, a large number of high-quality and low-price German products are emerging on the market. Similar companies in Italy that previously received tariff protection have also suffered heavy losses. The number of companies closing in Italy is currently 3.7% higher than in previous years. Although this number is small, it means that thousands of jobs have been lost in Italy, which has an impact on all aspects of Italy. Although the Italian government can still deal with this impact, if German products continue to impact local Italian companies, it will be very difficult for the government to deal with it. Depretis is already a little worried about this.

Carlo thought that the Prime Minister was here for the royal appropriation, so he immediately spoke. "So the Prime Minister plans to postpone funding for the royal family?"

Italy's current allocation to the royal family is 15 million lire per year. Although it is not as good as other wealthy countries, it is good for Italy, so Carlo thought that the prime minister had this idea.

"Your Majesty is overly worried. It is the government's responsibility to support the royal family. How could I, as Prime Minister, make such a decision?"

Carlo breathed a sigh of relief at Depretis's words, but he was still too happy because the Prime Minister continued. "Your Majesty, the government plans to issue a national bond to ease financial pressure. If the royal family can take the lead in setting an example, then everyone will surely feel His Majesty's kindness to the people."

After Despretis finished speaking, he looked at Carlo expectantly. After all, Carlo was not as thick-skinned as the Prime Minister. Faced with the Prime Minister staring closely at him, Carlo couldn't bear it and asked.

"So how large is the government's plan to issue this national debt?"

"Your Majesty, the government plans to issue 500 million lire for this national debt. If your Majesty can buy 100 million or 200 million, he will be admired by the world."

One or two hundred million?

Carlo looked at the prime minister with shameless eyes and a face that was concerned about the royal family, and wanted to spit on his face.

You must know that the royal family has purchased national debt before, basically just a few million lire as a show. Unexpectedly, Prime Minister Depretis actually asked for one to two hundred million lire. Why didn't he grab it?

Although he couldn't say this, Carlo felt that he couldn't hold back his anger, so he said it coldly. "I'm sorry, I have to live up to the Prime Minister's expectations. At present, the royal family cannot afford that much money. This can only be done if the royal family sells off its properties. But if you want to sell one to two hundred million liras, the Prime Minister may have to wait for two or three years."

Faced with Carlo's cold rejection, Prime Minister Despretis was not angry. He just shook his head and said. "Actually, Your Majesty doesn't have to go to so much trouble. You only need to sell part of the treasures obtained from the temple, which will be enough to raise one or two million lire."

The Prime Minister's words made Carlo stare at him. Faced with Carlo's cannibalistic gaze, Despretis accepted it frankly, and the atmosphere in the room became more and more depressing.

Although Carlo stared at the Prime Minister, he kept thinking in his mind about which joint went wrong and let the Prime Minister know about it.

Although Carlo does not think that the Prime Minister has the courage to make this matter public, it is still a very troublesome matter after all. Think about it and you will know how much damage it will do to Carlo if the news of a monarch looting temples in India spreads out. Of course, it will also damage the image of Italy. It caused a sensation not only in Europe, but also around the world. And this incident will definitely be recorded in history, and the damage to Carlo will be even more serious.

However, considering that time was running out, Carlo gave up thinking about what went wrong. This could be discussed later. Now the priority was to cover up this matter.

"The royal family can only contribute 80 million liras, which is the limit of what we can contribute."

"No, I think the royal family can afford 150 million lira."

Soon the two entered into bargaining mode, and finally reached an agreement on a price of 110 million lire.

Despretis left the palace with a satisfied expression, followed by an angry Carlo.

In fact, being discovered by the Prime Minister is also the reason. As the most powerful person in Italy, he naturally needs to pay more attention to the monarch, not only openly but also privately. Then develop a hidden line from Carlo's attendants. It's not a big problem, but this hidden line doesn't know the specific value of these treasures. They just know that many cars were transported, and they were basically gold and silverware.

Of course, this news was also known to Depretis. The Prime Minister, who was struggling with the fiscal deficit, thought it was an opportunity, so he used this news to defraud Carlo. Carlo, who was not experienced enough, did not cheat. Bottom exposed.

In the end, he still suffered the loss of experience, but on the other hand, he gained nothing. At least he divided the money, so the prime minister has the obligation to ensure that the news cannot be known.

This incident was completely covered up, and the only thing that was damaged was the shrinkage of funds in Carlo's hands.

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