Tell Britain and France the fact that Yuanqi took a subsidized price reduction to resist low-price dumping by Britain and France? Yi Xun raised his head violently and glanced at Ci'an behind the bead curtain, Yuan Qi's move was not just for Yuan Qi's selfish interests, but for the sake of the Qing Dynasty, the court was powerless to help, and he actually wanted to stab a knife in the back? No wonder it is said that the chicken Si Chen is not a blessing of the country!

Realizing the gaffe, he immediately lowered his head again, and said in a deep voice: "Back to the Queen Mother, this matter is categorical!" There is no impermeable wall in the world, and Britain and France may not be tight-lipped if they intend to contract railway construction projects in the southeast.

Once the news leaks out, at least the big and small newspapers of Yuan Qi will criticize the people, so that the court will lose the support of the people, and at the worst, Yuan Qi may raise troops to fight in anger!

Furthermore, Yi Zhishu dares to tell us openly and honestly, and he will not worry about us leaking the news and protecting his country's industry, which is understandable, even if Britain and France know that Yuan Qi deliberately did it, what can they do? Moreover, Britain and France wanted to contract the construction of railways in the southeast, and it was Britain and France who wanted Yuanqi. ”

Ci'an behind the bead curtain was silent for a long time before he slowly spoke: "The southeast has strong financial resources, and is keen on building railways, Britain and France are interested, the two sides must be a hit, cooperation for a long time, it is inevitable that the relationship is close, and in the future, Britain and France will inevitably be impartial between the imperial court and Yuanqi........" ”

"The only thing that the imperial court can rely on Britain and France is to develop industry and prepare for the military industrial system, and there can be no other hope." Yi Xun said in a deep voice: "If a conflict breaks out between the imperial court and Yuanqi, Britain and France must remain neutral, and the cotton of the American Southern Alliance is indispensable to England, and in the Civil War, England will not remain neutral?" ”

After a pause, he continued: "The imperial court is in financial distress, and to develop industry, it is necessary to rely not only on Britain and France, but also on Yuanqi, and there is a mature financial market in the southeast, which is conducive to raising funds ........ ”

Ci'an sighed lightly and said faintly: "The nine-year preparation period is less than half, and the development of industry is not something that can be achieved overnight?" ”

"The Queen Mother doesn't need to worry." Yixun hurriedly said: "Even if the imperial court implements constitutional government, it will inevitably be a clan formation in the early stage, and the imperial court will have plenty of time to strengthen itself." ”

Hearing this, Ci'an was silent for a while, once the constitution is established, the imperial power will fall, even if the clan forms a cabinet? Yixun and Su Shunming fought in the dark, but weren't they all for the court to form a cabinet after the implementation of constitutionalism? Yi Zhi's contentment move is really vicious, and he easily won over the two major forces in the DPRK and China, and now they are all looking forward to the constitution, not to mention that he is a weak woman, even if the first emperor is still alive, he can't save the situation.

Sighing secretly, she said softly: "Yuan Qi has canceled all subsidies to the imperial court, in the eyes of the imperial uncle, is it temporary?" Or is it an excuse to never recover? ”

"Back to the Queen Mother, it's temporary." Yixin said firmly: "Yuanqi's various subsidies to the imperial court, such as subsidies for immigrants from Northeast Mongolia, subsidies for river control, subsidies for the implementation of new schools, subsidies for port construction, subsidies for disaster relief, etc., are all measures that Yuanqi strongly approves and supports.

In the minister's humble opinion, the cancellation of the subsidy is not only because of the huge amount of money spent on the subsidy price reduction, but also to win the approval of Yuanqi on the subsidy price reduction, but also to knock the imperial court, the imperial court arbitrarily reduced the customs tariffs in Tianjin, Yuanqi was very dissatisfied.

With the minister's understanding of Yi Zhi's contentment, he categorically did not go to the end of the tiger, and he said that he would subsidize the subsidies for the governance of the Yellow River and the promotion of new learning, which is enough to show that this is only temporary, and the ministers speculated that at most a year or two, Yuan Qi will resume the subsidies, however, the warning of this move is very heavy. ”

The warning is heavy! Ci'an's face was a little unnatural, of course she knew that since Yuan Qi dared to break for a year or two, she would dare to cancel it from now on, it seemed that it was best not to offend Yuan Qi, and she groaned slightly, and then she said: "That is the case, for Yuan Qi, it is better to be enveloped." Kneel down. ”

This wave of price reductions in the Qing Dynasty is fierce and violent, naturally some people are happy and some are worried, the profits are naturally consumers, and the heavy losses are foreign merchants, in the face of the price reduction of domestic products of two to three percent, all foreign goods have suffered a heavy blow, almost to the point that no one cares, and the merchants who operate foreign goods can be said to be in a hurry to jump to their feet.

In addition to the merchants dealing in foreign goods, some other small factories and workshops have also suffered tremendous blows, such as homespun cloth workshops, loom houses, textile factories, hardware factories, cigarette factories, glass factories, and mines built by themselves in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangdong, and many have been hit to varying degrees, and many have closed their doors and closed down, and a large number of workers have lost their jobs.

Shanghai, Zhennan Wangfu, Changle Book House.

Yi Zhizhi calmly held a stack of telegrams and looked through them one by one, all of them were telegrams sent from various provinces and counties to complain, these years under the encouragement and guidance of Yuan Qi, many prefectures and counties have opened industries, a wave of price reduction, all prefectures and counties have been impacted, local officials have sent telegrams, called the report, in fact, to complain.

Seeing Yi Zhicontent, he put down the telegram in his hand, and Zhao Liewen spoke: "How does the big shopkeeper plan to compensate for the industries of various prefectures and counties?" ”

"No compensation." Yi Zhixiang said without hesitation: "They have also made a lot of money over the years, there is no need to compensate, and besides, as the saying goes, do not suffer from poverty, suffer from unevenness, the impact of each prefecture and county is different, and the degree of loss is also different, once compensated, it is a troublesome matter." ”

Zhao Liewen pondered for a moment before saying: "But most of the actual owners in various prefectures and counties are shareholders of Yuanqi, and large factories give subsidies ....... ”

"That's why we don't compensate." Yi Zhizhi said: "I have to let them know that Yuanqi can make them make money and also make them lose money, otherwise they don't even have the basic awe when their pockets bulge, and they will subsidize large factories, which is a must." ”

Zhao Liewen smiled when he heard this, "If they know the truth in the future, I'm afraid they will complain and hinder the reputation of the big shopkeeper." ”

"The rise and fall of the country, the husband has the responsibility, resist the economic aggression of the West, everyone in Yuanqi is duty-bound, as a shareholder of Yuanqi, it is natural to lose some silver, do business and run industry, how can there be a profit without loss." Yi Zhizhi said disapprerovingly: "The economic crisis in European countries, the number of factories that have closed down is unknown, what is their loss of silver." ”

Zhao Liewen said cautiously: "It is reported that many businesses in various provinces, as well as homespun cloth workshops, loom factories and mines, have closed their doors, and a large number of workers have lost their jobs ....... ”

Yi Zhishu took out a delicate lighter, lit a cigarette with a "sonorous", and then said: "As the saying goes, mercy is not in charge of the army, and it is not the case in business, compared to the situation of the European economic crisis, this is nothing at all, if it is dumped at a low price by Western countries, the situation will be several times more serious than now." ”

After a pause, he continued: "This wave of price reductions has stimulated the market's desire to buy, and there will inevitably be a sales trough next. ”

Before the words fell, Kong Jian'an and Xie Xiuyuan walked in quickly, and after bowing their hands, Kong Jian'an said: "Big shopkeeper, the stock market has plummeted, and many speculative financial banks have suffered a run, and the previous cotton trade impact is even more unbearable, and many banks have asked Yuan Qi for help ......... ”

"Do you need to ask for instructions? Help, of course. Yi Zhizhi said: "After the previous clean-up and rectification, a number of poor management and poor performance have been eliminated, and now this batch, we must help, and we must try to prevent financial turmoil." ”

Yuanqi Bank is the largest in the Qing Dynasty, the most powerful, and the giant with branches throughout the provincial capitals and counties, once there is financial turmoil, the impact is naturally the greatest, this truth Kong Jian'an naturally understands, and immediately smiled and said: "The general number has now gathered more than 20 proprietors, all of whom are anxious for the six gods and no masters......." ”

Seeing that he was about to leave, Xie Xiuyuan hurriedly said, "Wait." As he spoke, he looked at Yi Zhizhi and said, "Big shopkeeper, these banks can be cleaned up and rectified before, which shows that there is still some value, can you take this opportunity to annex some?" ”

Yi Zhishu gently knocked the cigarette ash and said, "What does Shopkeeper Kong think?" ”

After a deep sigh, Kong Jian'an said: "The subordinates secretly think that Yuanqi is already the largest bank in the Qing Dynasty, and there is no need to continue to annex it." ”

"There is really no need to continue annexation." Yi Zhi said with a full jaw: "We wanted to monopolize before, because we wanted to grow rapidly and on a large scale, but now that Yuanqi is second to none, we must properly let go, and a free and competitive financial market is more dynamic than a monopoly financial market." As he spoke, he waved his hand, "Go get busy." ”

Kong Jian'an, who was waiting, retired, Xie Xiu Yuancai said: "Big shopkeeper, will all the goods of the Japanese trade, Nanyang trade, and Southeast Asian trade also be reduced?" ”

"Correct it first." Yi Zhisuff said solemnly: "Although Southeast Asia has not yet been established as a province, it has long been included in the territory of the Qing Dynasty, and the two provinces of Nanyang have long been established as provinces, both of which belong to domestic trade, which is different from the trade with the Japanese. Domestic trade is naturally treated equally, and for Japanese trade, it is according to the previous prices. ”

"The ——。 of the Big Shopkeeper" Zhao Liewen looked like he wanted to speak and stopped.

Yi Zhishu glanced at him, "What else does Huifu dare not say?" ”

"Students want to ......." Zhao Liewen organized the language and quickly said: "This price reduction trend will not have a small impact on the Japanese state?" ”

Yi Zhizhi smiled contentedly, "At present, the purpose of being in the Wa Kingdom is to assist the shogunate in stabilizing its rule, and it is not appropriate to disturb and destroy the economy of the Wa Kingdom. ”

While a few people were talking, Lin Meilian poked her head at the door, and when she saw Yi Zhizhi, she reported: "The big treasurer, the Minister of England, Walson came to visit." ”

Listening to Walson's visit, Yi Zhifen was quite surprised, what is this guy doing in Shanghai? It would not be the imperial court who revealed the matter of Yuanqi's subsidy to the British to resist the low-price dumping in England, and it is not right to think about it, even so, the other party will not come to Shanghai to visit. The other party should be a person who understands, and it is impossible to make any concessions in this kind of thing.

After a slight groan, he ordered: "Invite him to Chunhui Garden." ”

Seeing this situation, Xie Xiuyuan hurriedly retired, Zhao Liewen's English has improved greatly in the past few years, and he followed straight out, and he was secretly thinking about the other party's intentions in his heart.

In fact, not only the English minister, but also the ministers of European countries in China came to visit Yi Zhicontent, the king of the southeast who controlled the military, political, financial and economic affairs and foreign trade of several southeastern provinces, which has become a common practice.

At the gate of Chunhui Garden, Walson and the British Consul in Shanghai, Matt Hurst, after a polite greeting, a few people politely entered the living room and sat down, talking about some inconsequential topics, and after serving tea and coffee, Walson said tentatively: "What caused your country's stock market to plummet and prices to fall?" ”

Yi Zhizhi said: "Your country is the center of the world economy, and if you sneeze, it will rain all over the world." ”

"Your Highness is exaggerating." Walson said with a smile: "Our country does have a certain impact on the world economy, but it is far from being so exaggerated, but Your Highness, if you sneeze, it will rain in the entire Qing country." ”

Yi Zhizhi smiled, "When I sneeze, it's only raining in the southeast province." ”

Seeing that the atmosphere was relaxed, Walson lost no time in saying: "My country is likely to face an economic crisis of no small scale, and the domestic railway construction has been reduced by more than half, resulting in a serious backlog, I heard that Yuanqi has a new railway project bidding ......?" ”

Yuan Qi didn't have any bidding for railway projects at all this year, how could Yi Zhishu not know about this, and he groaned slightly, and then he said: "I heard that your country and our imperial court have reached a preliminary agreement, and your country will undertake the construction of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway ........ ”

"Your Highness is well-informed, and it should be clear that it is a railway with a full loan." Walson hurriedly said: "We prefer to get the railway project from Yuan Qi." ”

"There are several railways in Yuanqi's plan that need to be built urgently, but what we need to solve more urgently is the construction of bridges." Yi Zhizu said slowly: "Your Excellency came by train from Beijing, and you took a train ferry in Jiangning. ”

Walson shook his head slightly, "It is said that as far as I know, it is not possible to build a bridge with such a large span in the world at present. ”

"I'm confident that we can overcome this hurdle." Yi Zhizhi said: "Yuanqi is willing to hire all the well-known bridge engineers in Europe to come to Jiangning with high salaries and try to build a bridge across the Yangtze River with China's bridge engineers. ”

Walson said without hesitation: "This is a very challenging bridge project, and I believe that there will be many bridge engineers in Europe who are willing to come to your country to participate in this great project." ”

Seeing that he agreed, Yi Zhishu smiled and said: "To build a bridge with such a large span, you need cement that can solidify underwater, can your country develop it?" ”

Cement that can solidify underwater, this matter has been mentioned to him, but Walson feels that this is simply whimsical, and he doesn't take it seriously, and now he hears Yi Zhizhi mentions it, only to know that it is needed to build a bridge, he slowly shook his head, and said: "I haven't heard of this kind of cement in China?" Is there really such cement? ”