After entering the living room and taking a seat politely, Wei Tuoma said euphemistically: "As the two great empires of the East and the West, your two countries have always maintained extremely close relations in the fields of politics, economy, culture and education, and the war that broke out in South Africa this time was a complete misunderstanding.

If your country had known of the situation and would not have declared war on the Transvaal, Your Highness should be well aware that we have always attached great importance to our interests in your country. ”

This is typical of talking nonsense with open eyes, England declared war on the Transvaal, under the pretext that the citizens of English gold mining were killed in the Transvaal gold mining area, and the British could not know who killed them?

Yi Zhishu secretly sneered in his heart, but he didn't want to dwell on this issue, he knew very well the real intention of Britain to start this war, but there were some things that everyone knew and could do, and if they really wanted to put it on the table, it would be tantamount to tearing their faces.

After all, England is still the largest foreign trading country of the Qing Dynasty, and the scale of British investment in China has been increasing over the years.

After a slight hesitation, he said unhurriedly: "China has always attached great importance to its relations with your country, and even if your country captured Maputo, our country's most important port in South Africa, our country has not openly declared war ........ ”

"Her Majesty does not want the Transvaal to affect relations between the two countries, much less the war in South Africa." "It is extremely unwise for both countries to expand the scale of the war in South Africa, so we hope to resolve the South African issue through negotiations. ”

"War is a means, not an end." Yi Zhizhi said: "My country is also in favor of resolving the South African issue through consultation. As he spoke, he glanced at Zhao Liewen, who understood and hurriedly handed over the draft text of the draft.

Yi Zhishu slowly pushed the text over, "This is a peace negotiation treaty drafted by my country, please take a look." ”

Even the treaty for peace talks has been prepared? Wei Tuma secretly said in his heart that it was not good, and sure enough, after a little look, his expression became solemn, and the condition offered by the other party was that it was not enough to describe it with a lion's big mouth.

First, Maputo was destroyed by the war, and England paid 30 million pounds for the reconstruction of Maputo.

Second, Pretoria was seriously damaged, and the compensation was 10 million pounds for repairs.

Third, the cession of the port of Durban.

Fourth, the Kimberley originally belonged to the Transvaal and Orange, and the Kimberley was returned to the two countries.

Fifth, the boundaries between the Qing Dynasty, the Transvaal, Orange and the British colonies in South Africa were re-defined.

Sixth, to compensate for the losses of the Qing Dynasty in the South African War, the British withdrew from the Persian Gulf.

Putting down the text, Wittoma said with a somewhat ugly face: "Your Highness, this is not going to end the war in South Africa!" ”

Glancing at him, Yi Zhifen said in a light tone: "The consequences of the continuation of the war in South Africa, I think your country should be very clear that my country does not want to completely expel your country from South Africa, but it does not mean that my country does not have this strength. ”

Wei Tuma was silent for a while, the land and sea battles were lost, and the Qing State could not be defeated in the short term, the power of the torpedo was too great a casualty, and the main battleship of the ironclad ship could still be sunk with only one torpedo, not to mention ordinary merchant ships? If the war continues, there is a real possibility that the British Empire will be completely expelled from South Africa, and this is definitely not an intimidation.

After a while, he spoke: "These conditions are not up to me at all, first stop all military operations, and then start negotiations in Cape Town, what does Your Highness want?" ”

"Yes." Yi Zhishu said with a smile: "Fight and talk, talk and fight, or talk and fight, you can do it." ”

Seeing that he agreed to a truce first, Wei Toma couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, as long as he was willing to agree to the truce first, it would be good to say, as for the sky-high price of the Qing Kingdom, you can bargain slowly, the war in South Africa is really going to continue, it will definitely be a disaster for the British Empire.

Seeing the back of Wei Tuma leaving, Zhao Liewen chuckled and said: "If we are tough to the end, the British will have to pinch their noses and admit these conditions, and the British will definitely not have the courage to fight again in the South African War." ”

"I can't do it." Yi Zhifu shook his head slowly, "All we want is the Persian Gulf, and everything else can be compromised." There is no need to tie too deep with the British, and in the future, the world should be at peace, and we still have a honeymoon period of several decades with the British. ”

After a pause, he continued: "Call Maputo, stay in Maputo for the time being, and go to Cape Town later to negotiate with the Qing people." Call Pretoria, resume gold mining as soon as possible, and speed up the construction of the railway. ”

As he spoke, he turned around and paced back to the study, the South African naval and land war can be said to have completely established the status of the Qing Dynasty as a world military power, at least in twenty or thirty years, this position will not be shaken, in other words, the Transvaal's gold mine Daqing can be mined for at least twenty or thirty years, and for China, it will usher in another golden period of development.

All the way back to the consulate, Wittoma has been wondering why the Qing Kingdom is so interested in the Persian Gulf. The Qing State is not Tsarist Russia, it lacks access to the sea, the coastline is long, and the Qing State has many ports, why does the northwest expansion want to hit the Persian Gulf, and now they are proposing to withdraw from the Persian Gulf, it is obvious that the Qing State wants to monopolize the entire Persian Gulf!

Was it to eliminate the British threat to Central Asia and weaken British influence on the Persian and Ottoman Turkish empires? Or is it intended to join forces with Tsarist Russia to carve up the two great empires in the Middle East, thus posing a threat to the whole of Europe?

In his opinion, among the six conditions, the last one, the seemingly most inconspicuous one, is the most important one, and the one that is most unlikely to agree to in China should be this one.

For the South African negotiations, Yi Zhixing completely lost it to Yi Zhengxing, and only put forward one request, the British must be allowed to withdraw from the Persian Gulf, and the others should be left to make their own decisions.

Not every economic crisis he remembers, but he has an impression of the economic crisis in 1872 and 1873, because this economic crisis has a significant feature, not only wide scope but also lasts for a long time, the ordinary economic crisis is only one or two or two or three years, but this economic crisis lasted for seven or eight years, and it was the first economic crisis that lasted so long.

The reason why he paid special attention to this economic crisis was not only because of opportunity, but also because he feared that the Qing Dynasty would not be able to stay out of it this time, and since the development of industry, the Qing Dynasty has experienced three major economic crises - three economic crises from 1847 to 1850, 1857 to 1858, and 1867 to 1868.

In the economic crisis of 1847, the Qing Dynasty was not yet qualified to break out of the economic crisis, and when the latter two economic crises broke out, the Qing Dynasty was in a period of rapid development, although it also suffered a certain impact, but the impact was very small and negligible.

However, now that the Qing Dynasty industry has formed a certain scale, and the economic crisis is wide in scope and lasts for a long time, the Qing Dynasty may also encounter a great impact, and he must take precautions and make arrangements before the economic crisis breaks out in various countries.

In his view, this economic crisis is not only a crisis for the Qing Dynasty, but also perhaps the most important opportunity, because each economic crisis has contributed to the bankruptcy of a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises, accelerating the development and adoption of advanced technologies, which is undoubtedly a rare opportunity to promote the popularization of electricity and internal combustion engines.

A beautifully decorated four-wheeled carriage slowly stopped outside the courtyard door of Changle Library, dressed in a Mao suit, energetic Hu Guangyong walked into the courtyard quickly, during this time, he can be described as a happy event, Kong Jian'an is old, originally retired at the end of last year, because the war is undecided, so it was delayed for a few months.

After the news of the great victory of South Africa on land and sea and the forced peace talks of the British, Kong Jian'an retired and took over as the president of Yuanqi Bank, the big treasurer, and the reputation of Yuanqi Bank is also on a higher level, and the big and small matters are very comfortable, and he is naturally in a very comfortable mood.

After passing the ceremony, he walked into the study, and saw that Yi Zhizhi and Zhao Liewen were talking, he hurriedly bowed his hand, and Yi Zhixiang smiled very casually: "Xueyan doesn't need to be polite, sit." After he was seated, he then asked, "Is the promotion of banknotes going smoothly these days?" ”

"It's going very well to go back to the big shopkeeper." Hu Guangyong smiled and said: "The silver is returned very quickly, and the rough step statistics have returned as much as 500 million yuan. ”

This is expected, Yi Zhizhi nodded and said, "If you issue an additional three or four hundred million yuan banknotes, is there a risk?" ”

An additional 300 million or 400 million yuan banknotes? Hu Xueyan couldn't help but be stunned, the run on the tide has just passed, and now is the time to vigorously regress paper money, this node will issue an additional 300 million or 400 million yuan of banknotes, once the leakage of the news, it will inevitably trigger the run again, a little groaning, he tentatively said: "But there is a new change?" ”

Yi Zhizu said slowly: "According to the feedback from Western countries, as early as this year, or later next year, a large-scale economic crisis will break out in the West, and this economic crisis may have a great impact on my country." ”

Hearing this, Hu Guangyong was even more puzzled, and said with a puzzled face: "Since the economic crisis has broken out, we should tighten the monetary system so as not to cause large-scale bad debts and dead .......debts." ”

"Xueyan is thinking from the perspective of the bank, but I can't just think about the bank, I have to think from the perspective of the whole Qing Dynasty." Yi Zhizhi said without hurry: "The economic crisis is so harmful that there is no need to repeat it, for the sake of the economic and industrial development of the Qing Dynasty itself, and for the sake of the interests of Chongyuanqi itself, we must try to avoid the occurrence of an economic crisis or reduce the degree of economic crisis to the greatest extent. ”

Hu Xueyan hesitated: "Can the additional issuance of banknotes avoid and alleviate the economic crisis?" ”

"The essence of the economic crisis is overproduction, and the cause of overproduction is the lack of purchasing power in the market, and what is the reason for the lack of purchasing power in the market? It is that the people have no money in their hands and no desire to buy. Yi Zhizhi patiently explained: "The issuance of additional banknotes and additional loans is to let the people have money in their hands, thereby stimulating the purchasing power of the market, thereby alleviating the situation of overproduction and achieving the purpose of avoiding the outbreak of economic crisis, which is called stimulating domestic demand." ”

Hu Xueyan said with some doubts: "It is so easy to alleviate and avoid economic crises, why do Western countries still have frequent economic crises?" ”

Hearing this, Zhao Liewen said with a smile: "No one in Western countries can study the economic crisis so thoroughly like the big treasurer, besides, even if you know this method, how can the imperial courts of Western countries have such great ability and courage?" ”

Hu Xueyan groaned before he said: "Will such a large amount of paper money be released, will it cause some adverse consequences, such as rising prices, and ......, and moreover, it is easy to release paper money, and it is not easy to take it back." ”

"What are you doing with it?" Yi Zhicontent said with a smile: "The Transvaal gold mine produces hundreds of tons of gold a year, and it is not easy to fill this hole?" As for triggering a rise in prices, this is inevitable, but the lesser of two evils, with rising prices far less harmful than the economic crisis. ”

After a pause, he continued: "The additional loans are mainly for infrastructure projects, building bridges and roads, and building farmland and water conservancy, partly guided by the imperial court and partly guided by Yuanqi. ”

After hesitating, Hu Guangyong said: "At present, there are many railway projects under construction in various provinces, and there are already many ........ ”

"Building bridges and roads is not just about railways, but also about roads." Yi Zhizu said slowly: "The first road is built, it is also more conducive to the promotion of the popularization of cars, even if it is not used now, after ten or eight years, it can be used after twenty or thirty years, and the top priority is to spread the money through infrastructure projects, so that the people have money in their hands and stimulate consumption." ”

Hu Guangyong nodded, and did not ask any more, he had seen the outbreak of economic crises in Western countries, a large number of banks and factories collapsed, a large number of workers lost their jobs, the market was depressed, the economy regressed, the harm was beyond imagination, if the outbreak of the economic crisis could be avoided through a large number of infrastructure projects, it was naturally very cost-effective.

After taking a sip of tea, Yi Zhizhi continued: "Inform overseas branches to withdraw all funds in the financial market as soon as possible, stop lending, recover funds, cut personnel, and compress outlets. ”

Hearing these words, Hu Guangyong realized that this economic crisis might be more serious than the one in 1867, and immediately said, "My subordinates will arrange it immediately." ”

Yi Zhishu added, "Keep your ideas secret, don't make a big fuss." ”