As soon as the Franco-Prussian War broke out, the French army lost the first battle, and was defeated in three successive battles, although the main force was not damaged, but it triggered a series of political changes, and the French dignitaries and people who had too high expectations of war could not accept the fact that they were defeated one after another, and the cabinet of Emile Olivier collapsed in a state of reproach, and on August 10, Charles Kuzan Montauban, the main battle faction led by Empress Eugenie, formed a cabinet.

Empress Eugenie and the new cabinet out of political needs, repeatedly intervened in the front-line combat deployment, preventing the front-line troops from retreating deep into the theater of operations, the French Emperor Napoleon III, who was in the front line command, hesitated, and finally at the insistence of the empress, had to change the original plan, ordered to stop the retreat of the troops, at the same time, Napoleon III also handed over the command of the Rhine Corps to Marshal Bazeny.

The indecision of the French army delayed the fighters, and the Prussian army seized the fighters, quickly pursued, quickly interspersed, and divided the French army into two sections, and the two sides broke out on August 16 The Battle of Feonville, which was a bitter battle, and the losses of both sides were equal, both around 16,000 men. Although the two sides were evenly matched, the battle was of decisive strategic importance to the Prussian army, forcing the French to withdraw to Metz.

On August 18, the Battle of Graferrot broke out between the two sides, the Prussian army was 200,000 and the French army was 140,000, the battle was extremely fierce, the two armies fought fiercely for a day, and the Prussian army successfully forced the French army to withdraw to the fortress of Metz at the cost of more than 20,000 dead and wounded.

The French suffered only 13,000 casualties in this battle, but they were besieged by the Prussian army in the fortress of Metz, cut off from Paris and McMahon, the other main force of the French army.

Then the 200,000 troops of the other two corps of the Prussian army marched all the way to the French capital Paris, and the main force of the 120,000 French army led by McMahon received an order on the way to reinforce Paris - to reinforce Metz and join the main force of the French army of Bazeni who was trapped in Metz.

MacMahon led a detour to Metz, where he was ambushed and eventually had to retreat to Sedan in a military fortress in northeastern France, where the French Emperor Napoleon III was also unfortunately.

Like all battles in the Franco-Prussian War, the Battle of Sedan did not last long, the French retreated to Sedan on 30 August, and the Prussian army launched an attack on Sedan on the morning of 1 September after two days of deployment.

Sedan is only 8 kilometers away from the Belgian border, has always been a national defense fortress, but it is only a small place, and its west and southwest are surrounded by the large river - the Max River, more than 100,000 French troops under the Prussian army on all sides, and finally squeezed into an arc of only three or four kilometers in depth and frontage, which is not able to carry out maneuvering, and it is difficult to carry out appropriate evacuation configuration.

The Prussian army gathered 700 artillery pieces to carry out intensive artillery bombardment, and the shells were even more dense than raindrops poured down on the entire French position, the French army suffered countless casualties, and all the fortresses were crowded with officers and soldiers, and those who could not squeeze into the fortress could only resign themselves to fate.

The French army organized several breakouts, all of which failed, and at 4 p.m., unable to withstand the heavy casualties caused by the intensive artillery fire of the Prussian army, Napoleon III had to send someone to deliver the instrument of surrender to the Prussian army.

On September 2, the French army surrendered, and the French Emperor Napoleon III, Marshal McMahon and 39 generals surrendered to the Prussian army along with more than 80,000 French troops.

On September 3, Napoleon III sent a telegram to Paris: "The army has been defeated, and all the officers and men, as well as myself, have become prisoners. ”

The news of the battle of Sedan spread like lightning throughout Europe, with some people feeling extreme excitement and others feeling incredible surprise.

Yi Zhixiang, who was far away in Shanghai, was not slow to receive the news, and received the news of the Battle of Sedang on the morning of September 5, although he had known the result for a long time, after reading the telegram, he could not help but sigh: "The humiliation of this battle is something that France can never wash away. ”

"France has always been proud, and this defeat was so miserable that it simply sucked off France's backbone." Zhao Liewen echoed before saying: "France was defeated so badly, is France famous, or is Prussia too strong?" ”

"The French Army is not as strong as it boasts, but it is not bad, otherwise the Russians would not have lost the Crimean War, and there are many factors that led to this fiasco, such as many orders, improper use of personnel, strategic missteps, wrong deployment, chaotic logistics, **** ......."

Yi Zhizu said slowly: "The Prussian army is indeed strong, after this war, Germany will complete the reunification, the German army will replace the French army as the strongest army in Europe, Germany's strong rise is already unstoppable, the pattern of the whole Europe, and even the pattern of the world, will be changed because of the rise of Germany." ”

Seeing that he had such a high evaluation of Germany, Yi Zhengxing couldn't help but say: "The rise of Germany will have such a great impact?" ”

"Having defeated France, and is seriously weakened by the military strength of France, there is no country on the entire European continent that can contain a unified Germany, in other words, Germany is the next European hegemon!" Yi Zhishu took out a cigarette and lit one as he spoke, "That is, Europe will return to the Napoleonic era, with the British controlling the sea and the Germans controlling the land."

If you are familiar with the history of Europe, you should know why England has always pursued a balance of power policy in Europe, because only by the balance of power can Europe be peaceful, and England can be dominant, and once there are two great powers in Europe, then war is inevitable!

European countries have always liked to join forces, and the war between the two great powers is also the war of the whole of Europe! With the deepening of industrialization, the competition for raw material markets and commodity markets will inevitably become more and more fierce, which will inevitably lead to militarization, and the whole of Europe will henceforth embark on the road of "all the country's soldiers", at most the degree of difference in depth.

The militarization of European countries will inevitably cause a chain reaction, and the United States in the Americas and China in Asia will be forced to follow the militarization, otherwise they may be invaded from Europe. ”

Zhao Liewen and Yi Zhengxing, who listened to these words, were silent for a long time, and they could never imagine that the unification and rise of Germany would have such a great impact! After a long time, Yi Zhengxing said tentatively: "Even the French emperor has become a prisoner..... does this mean that the Franco-Prussian War is about to end?" ”

"During the war, the emperor was captured, and a new monarch was usually appointed." Yi Zhizhi said: "France should be no exception, I don't think the war will end so soon." ”

On September 3, a telegram from Napoleon III reached Paris, and the news spread, and the whole of Paris suddenly became an erupting volcano, and the workers and petty bourgeois masses flocked to the Legislative Council Chamber of the Palais Bourbon, demanding the abolition of the monarchy and the restoration of the republic.

Although the capture of the French Emperor and more than 100,000 French troops had won the war once and for all, Prussia was not satisfied, and the Prussian army continued to march straight in, occupying the entire northeast of France and advancing towards Paris.

The Battle of Sedan, the defeat of France, the surrender of more than 100,000 French troops led by Napoleon III, the outbreak of revolution in Paris, the collapse of the Second French Empire, and the establishment of the French Third Republic, this series of changes caused a great shock to the European financial market.

On the contrary, the new war bonds issued by France were not interested, and the existing war bonds and national bonds, as well as the shares belonging to France, fell sharply, and even the shares of the Suez Canal plummeted!

The capture of the Emperor and the collapse of the Second Empire caused great panic in the market, and no one knew whether the French Third Republic would recognize the bonds issued by the Second Empire, after all, at the time of the American Civil War, the Northern Union did not recognize the bonds issued by the South at all.

Just when all the securities related to France were plummeting, Prussian Prime Minister Otto. Feng. Bismarck wanted to weaken French resistance to the greatest extent and end the war as soon as possible, and then do everything possible to isolate France diplomatically and suppress France financially.

Bismarck's propaganda was tantamount to making matters worse for France, after all, there was a lesson from the American Civil War, and all the speculators who held French national bonds and war bonds by luck were terrified and began to sell their securities by unscrupulous means, and the prices of French national bonds and war bonds fell sharply all the way and were cut in half! Cut in half! Cut in half again!

Zhennan Wangfu, Changle Book House.

Zhao Liewen walked into the room quickly with a telegram, "Big shopkeeper, Hu Xueyan called, Bismarck publicly announced that Germany's victory will make France refuse to pay the loan!" French bonds have fallen sharply and have fallen to two percent of the price. ”

Yi Zhicontent said without thinking: "Reply immediately, eat, as long as the price does not exceed 30%, spare no effort to eat!" ”

Hearing this, Zhao Liewen couldn't help but be stunned, and reminded: "Big treasurer, the Northern Confederacy of the American Civil War ........" ”

"France is not America!" Yi Zhizhi said in a deep voice: "Although you can rest assured, the military expenditure of the northwest expansion will fall on the bonds of France!" ”

"Okay." Zhao Liewen no longer hesitated, nodded and said, "The student will call back immediately." ”

"Wait." Yi Zhizu stopped him and said: "Let Hu Xueyan talk to the French, you can eat all the new bonds issued by the French at a low price, there is no limit." ”

After hesitating, Zhao Liewen said: "The big shopkeeper, this is tantamount to supporting the French and three republics with great fanfare, before that, we have always maintained good relations with Prussia, so it will inevitably affect the relationship between the two countries, and the big shopkeeper attaches great importance to Germany." ”

"There are no eternal friends and no eternal enemies between nations, only eternal interests. This sentence seems to have been said by Bismarck. Yi Zhizu said slowly: "As an international capital predator, we have no reason not to make money, besides, I am not optimistic about Germany, this time not only to make money, but also to encircle Britain and France." ”

Hearing him say this, Zhao Liewen didn't dare to say more, after saluting, he turned around and walked out of the room, and when Zhao Liewen came out of the door, Lin Meilian came in and reported: "Big shopkeeper, Huo Qizheng Huo shopkeeper is outside asking to see." ”

"Let him in." Yi Zhifen is very clear about the other party's intentions, and now the international telegraph business has been opened early in the morning, and the telegraph exchange is convenient, and many speculators can understand the market of European financial centers in the first time.

As soon as he entered the door, he didn't have time to salute, Huo Qizheng said straightforwardly: "Big shopkeeper, under the influence of the European financial market, the French treasury bonds issued in Shanghai and Guangzhou have fallen off a cliff, and now they have fallen below the par value of 20%, do you need to eat a lot to stabilize the price?" ”

"Eat at the price of 30% of the face value, eat as much as you want!" Yi Zhisuff instructed: "In addition, carry out propaganda, even if France is a kingdom, it is impossible for the national debt to be invalidated!" ”

After hesitating, Huo Qizheng said: "Will such propaganda have the opposite effect?" ”

"Whether it will have the opposite effect, we don't care." Yi Zhizu said slowly: "We must carry out positive propaganda to avoid being complained about in the future." ”

Huo Qizheng said worriedly: "The big shopkeeper is not worried about France's national debt at all? ”

"If I had been worried, I would not have underwritten the French national debt." Yi Zhixiang said with a relaxed expression: "Just do as you are told." ”

Shanghai Stock Exchange, Hall.

The whole hall was overcrowded, all the brokers and speculators who held French treasury bonds were staring at the French treasury bond quotation in the hall with anxious faces, one morning, the price of French treasury bonds continued to fall, it has reached a miserable point, the face value of 15 silver dollars of bonds has fallen to 2 yuan, and if it falls again, it will be no different from waste paper!

There was a commotion in the hall, and many people were complaining, why Yuan Qi would underwrite France's national debt, just in the midst of a complaint, the hall suddenly quieted for a while, and then there was an excited cheer, "It's up!" It's up! It's Yuan Qi in the tray! ”

The eye-catching red number on the quotation in the hall clearly shows, buy, 4.5 yuan, three million.

From the price of less than 2 yuan to 4.5 yuan, and the purchase figure is so large, even more than the total amount of French treasury bonds issued, there is only one possibility, it is Yuan Qi to sell the tray!

When the price was less than 2 yuan, everyone couldn't wait to throw out the treasury bonds in their hands, for fear that they would not be able to throw away the waste paper in their hands. Or not selling?

Some people are not optimistic about the French national debt, worried that Yuan Qi will be tricky and ruthless to cut meat, and some people will have a wait-and-see attitude, and they plan to continue to wait and see with a fluke attitude, after all, there is Yuan Qi who comes forward to the tray, and there is no need to worry about smashing it in his hands and losing his money. There are also attempts to raise the price to sell, but all prices above 4.5 yuan have not been cared for.