Chapter 538
2021-01-06
Chapter 538 Mysterious Guest (middle)"It is true, but this world... It does not operate according to 'reason'." With a mysterious smile, the ambassador dragged a seemingly profound philosophical statement and continued: "The risk control department of the Iron Vault has determined that Queen will reject this request after personality analysis. But at the same time, she also found that she does not have a full-time Master of Coin yet, but she is a monarch who can humbly accept advice, and attaches great importance to the opinions and opinions of those around her - if we can first communicate with Lord Commander, Prime Minister Petyr and Varys If senior officials like Seneschal communicate well and even reach an agreement, then there is still room for manoeuvre.”
At least this risk control department didn’t get paid in vain, and the two judgments they made were both That's right: asking Daenerys Targaryen to pay back the money her foe borrowed and squandered was a whim, but she would probably be outraged if three of her most esteemed members of the royal court agreed that the debt should be inherited. But he did so angrily.
But here comes the question: what does oneself figure, unfathomable mystery, to persuade the Queen to repay a sum of money she never borrowed? !
"Inheriting this debt is related to the national credit of the Kingdom of Westeros. If the Queen is willing to express goodwill and sincerity, her new kingdom will be recognized and accepted by Free Cities as soon as it is established, and various trade exchanges will be resumed immediately. Even more prosperous than ever." Tycho did not wait for Igor's statement, but continued to persuade him with a smile: "In addition, the Iron Vault will also contribute to support Queen Your Majesty's war to retake the Seven Kingdoms. Of course, considering the arrears It is true that she was not applied for or obtained by her, and she is not directly responsible for the overdue default. The great characters of the Iron Vault are also very considerate to provide grace: this loan will erase interest and stop accruing interest, Queen only needs to When repaying her own loan, she can pay off the principal with a little bit of money - the amount of two million seems huge, but with the Seven Kingdoms tax back, and then spread it over several decades, it is not so heavy. Burden.”
As a professional negotiating ambassador, Tycho Nestoris is euphemistic enough, but Igor is also experienced in the battlefield, so he still extracts a large number of subtexts from it with no difficulty.
The first sentence "Inheriting this debt is related to the national credit of the kingdom of Westeros", which means: if the Queen does not recognize this debt, then Braavos will judge that the credit of the new kingdom she built is poor , there is no way to borrow money; the second sentence is equivalent to saying: If Queen does not acknowledge the account, then she will have difficulty getting the recognition of Free Cities after she regains power, and the trade between Westeros and Essos will also be affected or even be affected. cut off.
The first half of the second half of the sentence is a very subtle hint: if the Queen does not agree, then the iron treasury will likely continue to support her enemy... Finally, uphold the principle of businessman and anger to make money , Iron Vault did not patronize the threat, and finally took a step back, saying: If Queen is willing to pay back the money, you can discount it.
......
No wonder this guy didn't dare to go to Daenerys directly. If the Queen understood the call, if it was bad, he would be caught and fed to the dragon!
A nameless fire in Igor's heart, but it was suppressed by reason before the fire reached its peak: whether to inherit this bad debt of Robert Baratheon seems to be just an economic dispute, but in fact it is a divorce It is a major event suspended at the height of the country at the ordinary level - and when making political decisions at this level, it is taboo to substitute personal emotions, or use the brain of an ordinary person such as "this money is not borrowed by Laozi, so Laozi will not pay it back". thinking in a loop.
The core of this matter is not "Should Daenerys repay the money that Robert borrowed", but - "After overthrowing the old regime, should the new regime inherit the legacy debts of the old regime"!
Simplify the modeling of things without the distraction of narrow emotions, and this question suddenly becomes worth discussing.
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Igor doesn't know much about the history of the Ice and Fire world, so he can only refer to the history of the Earth world before crossing for the time being - after searching around in his mind, the answer is no Unexpectedly counter-common sense: in regime change, not only theoretically debt should be inherited, but in fact most new governments do exactly that.
Then why are these new regimes willing to admit debts not owed by oneself?
There are many reasons, mainly economic and political.
Economic: Unrestricted Cash Borrowing Unlike nasty debts like "war reparations" and "unequal treaties," the Targaryen Dynasty was overthrown by the time Robert Baratheon started borrowing money from the Iron Vault— —In addition to the initial small part of the two million Golden Dragons being used to quell the Balon rebellion, they were basically spent by the "snatchers" to hold various events, reward meritorious nobles, maintain the dignity of the Royal Family, improve and increase infrastructure, etc. Peaceful use. Although millions of silver coins have been squandered, they have basically not flowed out of Westeros - and this means: after Daenerys unified the Seven Kingdoms in the future, although the King's Landing treasury may be empty, the money is actually empty. It has already flowed into every pipeline and gear of the country's machine in various ways, lubricating its operation and prospering its development...
It is also in the popular sense: wealth in the folk .
As far as Igor knows, all the loans issued by the Iron Vault are authentic real gold, white silver instead of paper money, except that the interest rate is slightly higher (he doesn't know the exact number, but it is obviously It seems that the new regime has not received a penny, but it should be noted that what it inherits is not the treasury, but the entire country, and the new king is actually able to Enjoy the benefits brought by the inflow of real gold and white silver into China.
This is also the main reason why the simple logic of "I don't borrow money from Lao Tzu, so I don't pay it back" works at the individual level, but it is not widely recognized internationally at the national level. .
In addition, the turbulent period of regime change is often the period when the new ruler is most short of money. If there is a big outsider at this time, "If you admit the legacy debt, I will lend you some more money to tide over the difficulties." , then this is a very attractive condition.
Politics, that's a bigger factor: the first thing a new regime does when it's established is to gain international recognition—both in word and in fact, unless the country is a hooligan It does not require external recognition, and it is powerful enough to not fear external interference... Otherwise, the best way to gain recognition is to protect other countries' legitimate property and interests in their own countries, including inheritance of debts.
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After thinking about it for a moment, Igor realized that oneself is too complicated. Before the establishment of a real power "world government", all sovereign countries are It is the top-level organization. In addition to being afraid of other more powerful countries, it is not actually bound or forced to inherit legacy debts by a "upper Level 1 unit".
This debt, Queen will admit it if she wants to, and no court staff will come to her for tea with a note.
Therefore, the real simplified result of this question is not "should inherit", but "whether to inherit".
After putting aside the narrow emotions, I further removed the morality, law, etiquette, righteousness, and this thing. Like a political machine of Taimodo's feelings, it took interests as the only consideration, and things finally became clear.
Those new regimes that are willing to inherit the debts of the old regime either seek creditors or fear the interference and sanctions of their martial power. In this case, let alone the good debt of cash borrowing, even if there is any bad debt such as war reparations, it must be obediently acknowledged...
Conversely, if the new regime does not ask for , Are you not afraid of creditors?
Of course, it is a non-acknowledgement that can be done without the slightest hesitation, not to mention a bad debt, even a good debt that everyone in the world thinks should be repaid, and it can also be relied upon—if you have the ability to kill me, if you don’t have the ability, then Just act like that money never existed!
Whether the Queen will inherit the legacy debt of the Baratheon Dynasty after taking back Iron Throne depends not on who borrowed the money or whether she is happy to pay it back, but - whether the new Targaryen Dynasty wants and fears Don't be afraid of the free trade castles across the narrow sea!
So, are there any requests, are you afraid?
Igor also hoped that the answer would be no, but unfortunately, after thinking about it carefully, it seems to be counterproductive.
Unlike the Celestial Dynasty, Westeros does not have a long history of unification and an excellent national spirit of unity and tenaciousness. In the process of implementation, it will inevitably encounter resistance and counterattacks from the old forces, and the domestic situation does not know how many years it will take to completely stabilize. In such a situation that the internal struggle is not small, it is really called internal trouble and outside aggression, and it is very difficult to win the external allies.
"Lord Commander." Looking at Igor's thoughtful expression, Tycho Nestoris briefly smiled - he likes dealing with people who are not emotional, and can complete missions in most cases. "You must already have a few points in your heart, but I came here to say hello first, not to ask the adults to meet the Queen immediately and persuade her to admit the debt, so the adults are relieved... In addition, the great character above me Before I left, we also added one last sentence, so that I can only talk to you."
Seeing that Igor looked up at him without any intention of answering, the messenger did not dare to continue to sell his words after laughing: Instruct me to tell you: If the Queen finally agrees to inherit the arrears of the Baratheon Dynasty, whether or not the decision is made based on your opinion, the Iron Vault will forgive the Night's Watch Legion's one hundred thousand Golden Dragon arrears."
......
Ho, what do you mean, trying to bribe me?
Igor sneered: The people in the iron vault are really a bunch of selfish calculations, and they put it nicely, "whether it is a decision made by your opinion or not", but in fact, oneself is the Queen The comrade in mind, the most powerful follower under his command, if he bites to death and opposes inheriting this debt, Daenerys will agree to take over this bad debt.
The Iron Vault wants to use these 100,000 Golden Dragons to buy oneself to protect its interests, or at least not to raise objections!
Thinking about it carefully, most of Tycho's companions also put forward similar or similar conditions when they went to see Petyr and Varys. Even if it is equivalent to 100,000 Golden Dragons per person, as long as Daenerys can be won by the curve in the end, 300,000 is exchanged for 2,000,000 + one Long-term customers and three hidden allies, it's a business that doesn't lose money.
But the problem is that the 100,000 Golden Dragon was borrowed by Night's Watch Legion to fight against Others. It is an official debt, and the repayment will come from the public account. In the future, there will also be subsidies for defense spending. Also, it's not from oneself's private pocket, so it's inevitable, and how much does it have to do with him?
As if seeing through the thoughts of Night's Watch, Tycho then added: "Of course, if Lord Commander is not satisfied, there is actually another plan - we will not announce it on the surface. Debt decisions are still collected as usual, but the money is not credited to the iron treasury account... Where to send it or whose account is credited, it is up to you, Lord Commander, to decide, what do you think?"
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【Request a recommendation ticket】
(end of this chapter)