The 253rd Brigade stationed in Pretoria had only 6,000 people, but the besieging British army had 38,000 people, even if the fortifications were built, but in Zhao Liewen's mind, it would be good to be able to hold on, Feng Zicai actually defeated the British army at a small price, destroyed more than 280 British artillery, destroyed more than 11,000 enemies, and captured more than 2,300 prisoners.

He even had some doubts about whether Feng Zicai had falsely reported his military exploits, but he estimated that this possibility was very small, and after a slight groan, he said: "England is known as the world's number one military power, and Napier is not a wine bag and rice bag, how is this battle fought?" ”

"England is strong in the navy, but the army is not as good as Germany." Yi Zhizhi said disapprovingly: "Feng Zi was able to achieve a great victory in Pretoria, relying on nothing more than the advanced weapons, whether it is artillery, Makqin heavy machine guns, semi-automatic rifles, they are much better than the British army, and the gap between the weapons of the two sides is as big as the Minnie gun against the smoothbore gun back then."

Of course, to achieve such a great victory in just a few days, the strategy and tactics must also be extremely excellent, and Feng Zicai has made great contributions! ”

As he spoke, he looked at Yi Zhengxing and said, "Xingzhi will draw up a commendation order, and the whole army will report the commendation." ”

Yi Zhengxing nodded slightly, and said: "This big victory can be described as timely rain, will the reward be lighter." ”

Yi Zhishu said with a smile: "The war is not over yet, and it is not yet time to reward meritorious deeds." ”

"With the pretoria victory, the run should be able to subside." Zhao Liewen pondered: "However, it's better to let the newspaper publicize this matter." ”

"We don't have to worry about this, there is no shortage of war correspondents from major newspapers in Pretoria, and the telegrams of those reporters should also be transmitted back to the major newspapers at this time." Yi Zhishu said as he got up and walked to the desk and took out an article from the drawer, "This is an article I wrote about the Makqin heavy machine gun, Huifu polished it, and I will send it again the day after tomorrow." ”

Maxim heavy machine gun? Zhao Liewen took it and glanced at the title, and couldn't help but be stunned, "Super Weapon, Makqin Heavy Machine Gun", when he saw that the rate of fire of the Makqin heavy machine gun was as high as 500 rounds per minute, and the range was 1,500 to 2,000 meters, he couldn't help but be shocked, "These data are real?" ”

"Of course. Otherwise, how dare you use my pen name to see the newspaper? Yi Zhizhi smiled: "These data are obtained after many tests and synthesis, as the world's first fully automatic weapon, the Makqin heavy machine gun opened a new era of fully automatic weapons, and also completely ended the cavalry era, encountering the Makqin heavy machine gun, the cavalry can only cook for the infantry." ”

Zhao Liewen said with a smile: "This sentence can be described as the finishing touch, and it has to be added." ”

Yi Zhishu nodded, and then changed his words, "Send a report to Maputo Tang Zao, be on guard, the British army was defeated in Pretoria and lost face, and it is very likely that you will be eager to save some face in Maputo." ”

The cable telegraph had already been opened in Pretoria, but it was a military administration, and it was itself a line for the troops to connect with the troops, and it was generally not opened to the public at all, and after the defeat of the British army, it was only opened to war correspondents stranded in Pretoria after reporting the success to Yi Zhi.

Half an hour after Yi Zhishu received the good news, several major newspapers in the Qing Dynasty that had great influence on the whole country received a telegram from Pretoria almost at the same time.

Stock trading floor, as soon as the afternoon opened Yuan Qi on a high-profile strong support market, the stock index quickly stabilized and rebounded, and gradually higher, all stocks are red, steady rebound, in this case naturally no one is willing to sell, are reluctant to wait and see, and eager to enter the market is constantly raising the buying price, promoting the stock index to launch a wave of strong rebound, although the disk situation is good, but the volume is very small, because there is basically no selling.

In the last half hour of the closing, the situation changed drastically, starting with a sudden surge of huge selling orders at a high level, followed by a quick eat-up, followed by another one, which lasted less than five minutes, one after another large selling orders emerged, and the trading floor was in an uproar.

Obviously, it is impossible for Yuanqi to be pulling and throwing at the same time, at this time it is impossible for Yuanqi to do this kind of thing, and the operation method will not be so clumsy, such a large sell order appears, it can only show one problem, there are brokerages with a large scale of funds to sell, and then cause other brokerages to follow suit and sell!

Seeing this situation, the speculators who were worried about not being able to buy stocks couldn't help but be frightened, and quickly withdrew the buy orders that had been hung up.

However, when the people in the trading hall were shocked and discussed, all the huge selling orders were quickly swept away, regardless of the price, especially the Yuanqi silver stocks, the price rose in a straight line, and went straight to the top with a super large order of 30 million, forcibly sealing the price limit!

This extremely rare and large-scale long and short fierce confrontation made a group of shareholders in the trading hall stunned, obviously, it was Yuanqi who shot again, and it can be seen that Yuanqituo City's determination is very resolute, and the amount of funds is also huge.

For shareholders with asymmetric information, it is undoubtedly the wisest to follow the bank, especially the big Zhuang that can be called a giant like Yuanqi, which is actually the experience summed up in the stock market for many years.

The victory in Pretoria first illustrates a fact, the Qing Dynasty and England have broken out in South Africa! Some brokerage firms have a pessimistic attitude towards the outcome of the war, although the Qing Dynasty has achieved a great victory in a land war, but this does not mean that the Qing Dynasty has the hope of winning this war, after all, it is not a land war that will ultimately decide this South African war, but a naval war!

Based on this judgment, these brokerages decided to take advantage of the opportunity of Yuanqito City to empty all their stocks as soon as possible. Of course, there are also many brokerage firms that believe that the Qing Dynasty can finally win this war, Yuan Qi from the formation of regimental training to the formation of the army, to replace the Eight Banners Green Battalion to become the main force of the Qing Dynasty, fought countless battles large and small, never defeated, since dare to start a war with England in South Africa, it must be relied on!

The new weapon Maxim heavy machine gun unveiled in Pretoria this time also gave them a lot of confidence, and if there are new weapons in land warfare, there will be no new weapons in naval warfare? It is said that the key to the victory in Pretoria is the heavy marine artillery, which at least shows that the artillery of the Qing Dynasty is superior to that of the British, so why is there no confidence in the Qing Dynasty?

Seeing Yuanqi's resolute attitude, he directly closed the price limit of Yuanqi silver stocks, which was the leader, and these brokerage houses no longer hesitated, and followed the entry to compete with Yuanqi for chips.

In more than 10 minutes from the suspension, a thrilling large-scale large-scale change of the village opened, the amount of turnover is large, the speed is extremely rare, to the suspension, there have been more than 10 stocks firmly sealed in the limit, the stock market is red across the board, the Shanghai Index from a plunge of more than 70 points to a skyrocketing of more than 130 points, so that after the suspension, there are still many shareholders who are unwilling to leave, still unfinished discussions, discussing this never-before-seen scene.

"Outside, outside, it's a foregone conclusion that Qingying will start a war!"

"Extra, extra, South Africa goes to war, Pretoria wins!"

Soon after the stock market was suspended, a series of newspaper sales sounded in the streets and alleys, and the fast-moving "Shanghai Daily" quickly launched an extra issue to report on the victory in Pretoria in a timely manner.

All the extras were snapped up in an instant, and the whole Shanghai was a sensation, arguing and speculating for months that the South African War finally broke out, and England, which had been known as the world's first military power, was actually the same as France, and nearly 40,000 troops attacked Pretoria, which was defended by only 6,000 troops, and it was defeated so badly, and that Pretoria was not as good as an ordinary county town, not even a city wall.

When the news spread, the head office of Yuanqi Bank and the old and long banknote exchange teams outside the semicolons of various sizes dispersed more than half, since England has a false name, then what is there to worry about? And what is the need to exchange money for silver? Paper money is actually much more convenient than cash.

Of course, there are also people who insist on queuing up to exchange, after all, for this war, there are different opinions of the wise, and real money is indeed more reassuring.

The next morning, in the office on the second floor of the British Consulate in Shanghai, James . Northcott was drinking black tea while flipping through a stock newspaper, compared to the war in South Africa, he was more interested in the stock market in Shanghai, Yuan Qi's behavior yesterday was more obvious than the last time, and the effect was surprisingly good, although he thought that this was contrary to the spirit of free competition, but I have to say that this is indeed conducive to stabilizing the stock market.

As long as Yuanqi does not fall, it will be difficult for the stock market of the Qing Kingdom to collapse, and it is difficult for foreign capital to maliciously short suppress the stock market of the Qing Kingdom, and compete with the Yuan Qi, in fact, it is to compete with the entire Qing Kingdom, no one has such a big and strong strength, however, this model of the Qing Kingdom, no one can imitate it, this Yuan Qi is purely a freak!

There was a soft knock on the door, and then Consul Mai Huatuo pushed the door in and said apologetically: "Unfortunately, we may not get a clear reply to the situation in Pretoria until tomorrow. ”

"Without my telegram?" James asked.

"I think it should have to wait until tomorrow." McWartuo said as he took out a cigar from the humidor on his desk and sat down across from him, he was also very depressed, the war in Pretoria had spread all over the country, but the British minister and consul in China had not yet received the exact news.

He did not know whether they would evacuate and return to China once the two countries declared war, and according to the usual practice, the two countries would definitely evacuate if they declared war, but the Qing State openly promised that it would ensure the personal safety, personal safety and property safety of foreigners under any circumstances, and the economy and commerce of Britain and Qing were too close, and if they really wanted to evacuate, it would be too difficult to recover.

"The defeat of Pretoria will certainly not be fake." James said slowly: "I decided to stop exchanging silver for the time being, there is no point in continuing. ”

"It's long overdue." Mai Huatuo said in a sullen voice: "So far, the strength shown by Yuan Qi is only the tip of the iceberg, and it is unrealistic to attack the Qing State from the financial and economic aspects. ”

James smiled and said, "I'm very interested in that Yuanqi shopkeeper, King Zhennan, this is an extremely contradictory person, can you introduce me?" ”

Extremely contradictory people? McWart lit his cigar and let out a puff of smoke, then shook his head, "It's difficult, it's easy for him not to see outsiders, even I can't see him for ......." ”

There was a knock on the door, and he stopped talking and said, "Please come in." ”

A counsellor came in with a telegram and said, "Mr. James, you have a telegram from Cape Town. ”

After taking the telegram and taking a glance, James said softly: "Napier was defeated in Pretoria and suffered heavy losses. The main forces of the fleet stationed at the military port of Simon are being assembled. After a pause, he continued: "I think the target should be Maputo." ”

After a slight groan, Mai Huatuo said: "No, if you fight Maputo, you should declare war on the Qing State first." ”

James glanced at him, "Did the Qing Kingdom declare war?" As he spoke, he pointed to the newspaper on the table, "The newspaper only carried a statement that the Qing State had signed a security treaty with the Transvaal, and from the beginning to the end, there was no word in the newspaper that the country declared war. ”

After a pause, he continued: "Think about it again, why did the Qing Kingdom publicly announce that it would guarantee the personal freedom, personal safety, and property safety of foreigners under any circumstances...... no matter what circumstances? ”

Mai Huatuo was stunned and said, "You mean, don't declare war?" ”

"I think if Yuanqi hadn't been trying to stabilize the stock market and ease the pressure of the run, maybe the war in Pretoria wouldn't have been reported at all." James said slowly: "It is good for both countries not to declare war, after all, the war did not break out on the two countries' own soils.

Rather, it broke out in South Africa, a small overseas territory that did not belong to Great Britain and did not belong to the Qing State, what was the need to declare war? ”

As a diplomat, McWartuo had a hard time accepting this situation, and the two countries did not declare war on each other, but they fought in South Africa, what is it?

However, having said that, not declaring war is indeed a good thing for both countries, because it will not seriously damage the diplomatic relations between the two countries, and second, there is no need for diplomats, businessmen, and students from the two countries to evacuate, and cooperative engineering projects and even trade can be uninterrupted.

In fact, to put it bluntly, this war is the two countries in order to compete for the gold mines of the Transvaal, the two sides can't get along, and if they fight, whoever has the big fist will belong to whom, so he is relieved.