A New Backyard
Joseph smiled. "In truth, when we are capable of exerting tremendous influence over Northern Italy, military occupation is the least efficient method."
As early as when Napoleon had yet to finish fighting in Alexandria, he had already sorted through all those twenty-first-century European and American tricks. Now, meeting Talleyrand and Segur's expectant yet doubtful gazes, he explained unhurriedly:
"We will begin from two aspects—economics and propaganda.
"Let us speak of economics first.
"For example. If we want to strengthen our control over Milan, we can first provide them with a large loan..."
The corners of both chief officials of the financial system's eyes twitched.
Throughout history, it had always been The Conquerors who plundered occupied areas for money. This was the first time they had ever heard of doing the reverse and giving loans to occupied areas.
Segur said cautiously, "Your Highness, do you mean forcing them to accept loans at extremely high interest?"
If the interest exceeded thirty-five percent, and physical goods were used as collateral, then it could indeed be counted as a good business deal.
Joseph shook his head. "No, no. Interest that is too high will only meet resistance. Mm, three percent interest will be about right."
"Three percent? How, how can that work?!" Segur cried out in alarm. One had to know, even the interest the French Reserve Bank paid to take deposits was more than three percent. Lending at such low interest—would that not mean losing money on every loan?
Joseph smiled. "Actually, I wanted to make them interest-free loans, but doing that would arouse others' vigilance, so I set it at three percent."
"But..."
Joseph gestured for him to calm down, then explained, "We will use low interest to attract the Northern Italian States to actively request loans, and use