The blue sky is like washing, the wind and the sun are beautiful, the winter sun shines on the body warmly, this is a rare good weather for Shanghai in winter, a huge airship like a giant spindle slowly rises into the sky, flying higher and higher.

Yi Zhi, who was wearing a thick tweed coat, tilted his head and looked at the airship rising higher and higher with a worried face, he was worried about Yi Zhengde, the eldest son who was riding in the airship, no one knew better than him how high the probability of an accident on the airship was, but despite worrying, he did not prevent the eldest son from boarding the airship, and there were some things that he couldn't stop at all, so it was better to simply let go.

Seeing that the airship was flying higher and smaller and smaller, Yi Zhengxing said softly with a worried face: "So high, can the parachute ensure safety?" ”

"The use of a parachute requires a certain height to be safe." Yi Zhizu relieved him, although the parachute is still a novelty, but at the end of the last century, the French invented the parachute and successfully landed from a 600-meter-high hot air balloon, but it has not been widely promoted, after all, the application of hot air balloons and airships is not widespread.

However, during this time, Paris, which was besieged by Prussia, frequently used hot air balloons to transmit messages or carry people from Paris to break through the siege, but I have never heard of the use of parachutes.

Because of his concern for Yi Zhengde's safety, Yi Zhishu began to order people to design and make parachutes when Yuan Qi tried to build airships, and after trying, he deliberately formulated parachute diving training, but parachuting from the airship, today is the first attempt, to be honest, he is also sweating in his heart.

The airship stopped rising to an altitude of 600 meters and continued to rise, and then four small black dots jumped off the airship one after another, and soon, four parachutes spread out in the air, descending like four white clouds.

There are many people at home and abroad who pay attention to the airship, after all, the airship is still a rare thing in the Qing Dynasty, and it is also the nature of the Chinese people to love to be lively, when they see four umbrellas falling on the airship, and the umbrella is hanging under the living people, the whole Shanghai is boiling, people either climb on the roof or go to the balcony or rush to the place with an open line of sight to witness this never-before-seen Western scene.

On the balcony on the second floor of the British Consulate in Shanghai, the British Minister to China, Wittoma, followed the four parachutes with a telescope, he also saw the parachute for the first time, but he did not take it to heart, the hot air balloon and the airship themselves do not have much practical value, and the parachute naturally does not have much value.

In the past two years, Europe has been in turmoil, the United States has been in recession, Yuanqi has attracted a lot of scientific and technological talents with generous remuneration and huge research funds, and various research institutes in Shanghai are full of talents, showing great vitality, catching up with the ....... of London and Paris.

Paris, the Franco-Prussian war, Paris is afraid that it will not be difficult to recover its former prosperity in ten or twenty years, and now Shanghai may be second only to London, and even in many ways, London is far from Shanghai.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but sigh secretly, the result of the Franco-Prussian War has been doomed, the unification of Germany has been unstoppable, a European hegemon more powerful than France is rising strongly, Europe is only afraid that it will fall into endless wars again, with the development speed of the Qing Kingdom in the past 30 years, I am afraid that it will soon catch up with Europe, such a huge Eastern empire, for Europe, for England is not a good thing.

There was a soft knock on the door, and Wittuma turned around and walked back to the room and said, "Please come in." ”

Li Weihai, the consul in Shanghai, pushed the door in and handed over a telegram: "Your Excellency, the war in Gansu has subsided. ”

Glancing at the contents of the telegram, Wei Tuma sighed lightly, "With the telegraph and the railway, especially the existence of the Yuanqi New Army, it is impossible for the Qing Kingdom to have a civil strife as large-scale as the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. ”

After a slight groan, he put down the telegram and said, "Yuan Qi's intelligence on the construction of ironclad ships and new artillery in Qingdao has not been collected?" ”

"Nope." Li Weihai shook his head slightly, "Yuan Qi is very strict about Qingdao, and there is no way to contact it. As he spoke, he asked tentatively, "The Franco-Prussian War is almost over?" ”

"It should be almost over." "The Prussian army bombarded Paris with 500 heavy guns, the French Army Group North was defeated near Saint-Quentin, and the Eastern Army was defeated near Belfort, and the situation was difficult, and it should not be able to support it for long. ”

Li Weihai pondered and said, "In your judgment, after the end of the Franco-Prussian War, will the empire declare war on the Qing State?" ”

Slowly shaking his head, Wei Tuma said: "If a large-scale civil strife breaks out in the Qing State, maybe there is a little possibility, in the current situation, it is completely impossible, the strategic depth of the Qing State is too great, the war potential is beyond imagination, and it can threaten the security of India at any time, and it is impossible for the empire to declare war on the Qing State." ”

On the sixth day of the first lunar month, after the siege of Paris for four months, the French Third Republic and Prussia signed a treaty on the surrender of Paris, and an armistice was signed on the eighth day of the first month, and most of the batteries of the fortress of Paris were handed over to the German army along with artillery and ammunition, and an indemnity of 200 million francs was paid. The Franco-Prussian War officially ended.

On the tenth day of the first month, Yi Zhizhi received a telegram of the surrender of France, looking at the indemnity of only 200 million francs, he couldn't believe his eyes, the Franco-Prussian War, the French War reparations of 5 billion francs, he remembered this very clearly, how could it become 200 million? That's a big gap!

Seeing that his expression was different, Zhao Liewen said tentatively: "But what is wrong with it?" ”

Yi Zhizhi laughed and said: "It seems too merciful for Prussia to ask for an indemnity of only 200 million francs. ”

For Yuan Qi, this should be a good thing, right? Zhao Liewen glanced at him with some puzzlement, Yuan Qi bought a huge amount of French national bonds, and the less the war reparations, the more conducive to France's repayment of the national debts, where is there any reason to dislike the company? After a slight groan, he said, "The big shopkeeper is worried that France will quickly regain its strength?" ”

Hearing this, Yi Zhi couldn't help but smile, "If Germany wants to dominate the European continent, how can it be easy for France to recover, we don't need to worry about this, it is Germany that should be worried." After a pause, he instructed: "Ask the exchange, see what is the situation with French government bonds?" ”

The defeat and surrender of France can be said to be expected, but the war reparations of 200 million francs are more or less unexpected, although the Franco-Prussian War did not last long, but the scale of the war is not small at all, the Franco-French troops participating in the war are 550,000 and 500,000 respectively, and the casualties are not small, and the Prussian casualties as the victorious side are more than 100,000.

200 million francs is not a decimal number, but compared to such a large-scale war, it is really a little not enough to see, as soon as the news spreads, the price of French bonds has risen instead of falling, and a little bit of vision can judge that in the face of a small amount of war reparations, the new French government may not refuse to recognize the previously issued national bonds for the sake of credibility.

It is based on this judgment that some people began to take risks to eat a large number of French bonds with very low prices, but for most of the year, because France was defeated again and again on the battlefield, and also changed the government, French bonds plummeted all the way in the securities market of several major European financial centers, and now the actual value is only equivalent to 25% of the par value, once the new French government admits to repay, it will be four times the profit as soon as it changes hands, and the huge profit is enough to make many brokerage companies and speculators take risks.

For a time, French bonds became a sought-after commodity in the securities markets of major financial centers, and prices rebounded all the way, as did the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

As soon as the market closed in the afternoon, Huo Qizheng hurriedly entered the Zhennan Palace, entered the study, and after seeing the ceremony, he said directly: "Big shopkeeper, at present, the French national bonds are rising well, but the amount of money circulating in the market is not much, do we need to throw some, one is to activate the market, and the other is to recover some funds." ”

Because of the fear that the French treasury bonds would become worthless waste paper in their hands, when Yuanqi made a public large-scale acquisition at a price of 30%, the vast majority of people threw away the French treasury bonds they originally held, and Yuanqi's public acquisition only lasted for half a month, and the news spread, and in the last two trading days, many people who had been looking forward to it could not stand the torment and threw away the chips in their hands, and the chips circulating in the market were less than 20%.

After a little silence, Yi Zhizhi spoke: "If it is determined that the new French government will recover these bonds at par value, do you still insist on throwing them?" ”

Huo Qizheng has been following Yi Zhishu for some years, and he can figure out some of the other party's thoughts, and said with a smile: "The big shopkeeper has always disdained to compete with the small people for profit, and this manipulation has made a profit of thirty percent, and it doesn't hurt to throw some out." ”

"Then throw it away." Yi Zhixiang smiled: "Don't throw too much, at most two achievements are enough." ”

Only two percent? Huo Qizheng was a little surprised, and immediately said tentatively: "The big shopkeeper plans to maintain a high position?" ”

"How high can the price be maintained?" Yi Zhizhi said disapprovingly: "More than fifty percent of the face value, not many people have the courage to take risks, after all, there is a great risk, and enough profits are needed to stimulate them to take risks." ”

After a pause, he instructed: "Send a telegram to Hu Xueyan and tell him to sell at the price of 40% to 50% of the face value, and how much he can sell." ”

Hearing this, Huo Qizheng was stunned, if the purpose of selling in China is to cultivate the market in order to gather popularity, then what is the purpose of selling in Europe? You can't be so kind-hearted, is it because you are not at ease with the new French government's admission to the repurchase of national debt? Or will there be a recurrence of the French national debt?

After hesitating, he said with some hesitation: "Won't it be a repetition?" ”

"There will definitely be a repeat." Yi Zhi's contented tone was very firm, although Prussia only asked for 200 million francs in the war reparations of the Paris Armistice Agreement signed at present, but he was sure that he could not be wrong about the amount of reparations, 5 billion francs, and there was also a territorial cession, which could not be mistaken.

The next morning, as soon as the exchange opened, the hall was crowded with people, whenever there was a market, the trading hall would become very lively, for many brokerage companies, brokers, speculators, every wave of the market is an opportunity, the French national debt rebounded strongly, and the expectation of two or three times the profit stimulated everyone's nerves.

As soon as the market opened, when I saw a small amount of French government bonds selling, the entire trading hall suddenly became agitated, after all, although the French bonds rose yesterday but the trading volume was not large, those who held chips in their hands were reluctant to sell, and looking at the rally, now as long as they can eat it is a sure profit and no loss, of course, this refers to the short term.

After all, buying and selling can be more condensed, with the successive small amount of French bonds thrown, the atmosphere of the entire exchange has become warm, the price of French bonds has also risen steadily, by the end of the afternoon, the price has risen to six yuan and a half.

Compared with the increase in Shanghai's legal bonds, the City of London's legal bonds rose even more, and the price of 100 legal bonds soared from 25 to 40 before the rise slowed down, and by the time it closed, it had risen to 45, almost doubled.

Zhennan Wangfu, Changle Book House.

“....... After the defeat of Sedan and the surrender of the French army under siege in Metz, the French regular army can be said to have lost all its losses, but it was able to temporarily cobble together the army, without the support of allies, in the absence of food, clothing, training, and bad weather, it was able to maintain morale and the German coalition army for several months of fierce fighting, and inflicted huge casualties on the German army. ”

Yan Yangtian's expression was serious, and his voice was a little low, "If Metz's French army does not surrender, if France can work together, if Paris does not revolt frequently, the war may continue, and France will not lose so badly, this is a awe-inspiring nation with extremely high patriotic enthusiasm." ”

Yi Zhixiang smoked a cigarette and was silent for a while before he spoke: "Paris has been besieged for four months, and none of the European countries have lent a helping hand, isn't this the sorrow of France? Under these circumstances, it would be wise to end a doomed war as soon as possible. ”

After a pause, he continued: "Collect as much information as possible about this war, carefully sort it out, and summarize the gains and losses of the two countries in this war." ”

"Students understand." Yan Yangtian hurriedly responded.

After a slight sigh, Yi Zhizhi pondered and said: "Diplomacy has a great impact on the war, Prussia's diplomatic means in the three wars of unification are really remarkable, the reason why France lost so badly has a lot to do with diplomatic isolation, and the General Staff should be studied together with the Prime Minister's National Affairs Yamen." ”

"The students obeyed." Yan Yangtian bowed slightly, paused, and asked tentatively, "I heard that the Prime Minister's Yamen is going to move to Beijing?" ”

Yi Zhishu nodded, "Yes, move to Jingshi and merge with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs." ”