Hu Guangyong's judgment was quite accurate, since the opening of the ninth day of the first lunar month, it was only three days of calm, and from noon on the twelfth day of the first lunar month, there was a run on Guangzhou and Shanghai one after another, and the news of the British navy's capture of Maputo, South Africa, spread in an uproar.

Although Maputo was far away in South Africa, it was a territory purchased by the Qing Dynasty from Portugal, and although it was overseas, it was a real Qing territory, and the capture of Maputo by the English Navy was no different from a declaration of war, although it was not declared.

When the news spread, it immediately caused panic, and many people who had originally had a wait-and-see mentality no longer calmly went to cash in the banknotes at hand, and the run soon spread from the two places to the provinces.

Some newspapers in the north also added fuel to the fire, openly accusing Yuan Qi of blocking the news of Maputo and deliberately concealing the war situation, and for a time public opinion was raging, and all kinds of accusations continued, which intensified the panic of the government and the opposition, and the trend of running on the capital spread all over the provinces of the Qing Dynasty from north to south.

Shanghai Zhennan Wangfu, Changle Book House.

"The big treasurer blocked the news of Maputo, with the intention of allowing the government and the opposition to spend the New Year with peace of mind, but I didn't expect it to become a crime now." Zhao Liewen pondered: "Now the world only knows that England has captured Maputo, but they don't know how many casualties Britain has paid to capture Maputo, is it ...... to lift the ban on Maputo's cable telegram and let those war correspondents send reports back?" ”

Yi Zhizu shook his head slowly, "What the government and the opposition see is only the strength of the British Navy, even if the ban is lifted, it will not help, but it is to confirm the news of the blockade of Yuanqi, deliberately conceal the fact of the war situation in South Africa, and delay it for a few days, and wait for the ironclad fleet to arrive in Shanghai and then open the ban, maybe the effect will be better........" ”

Before she finished speaking, Lin Meilian reported at the door: "The big shopkeeper, the shopkeeper Hu is here." ”

"Clear him in." Yi Zhisuff commanded, looked at Zhao Liewen as he spoke, and said, "It should be that the silver is not enough." ”

Zhao Liewen sighed secretly, and then said: "It's good to implement the gold standard in advance, the depreciation of silver, and the preservation of the value of paper banknotes, which is more conducive to the issuance and promotion of paper money, but Yuan Qi is afraid that it will inevitably be criticized ........" ”

"It's not impossible." Yi Zhisuff said in a sullen voice, took the cigarette case and lit a cigarette, Hu Guangyong walked in quickly, and said straight after seeing the ceremony: "Big shopkeeper, this run is even worse than a year ago, all provinces are calling urgently, and the deposit of silver can support two or three ......days at most." ”

Yi Zhizu nodded, looked at Zhao Liewen and said, "Let the major newspapers publish "On the Gold Standard" on the front page tomorrow. ”

"On the Gold Standard" was published in major newspapers, which was undoubtedly a signal that the Qing Dynasty wanted to implement the gold standard, Hu Guangyong hesitated for a moment, and then said: "Big shopkeeper, things have not yet reached the worst level, whether to postpone the blowing, after all, the hasty implementation of the gold standard will do more harm than .....good." ”

"The top priority is to ensure the credibility of Yuanqi." Yi Zhisuff interrupted him, of course he knew how big the disadvantages of hastily implementing the gold standard were, it was one thing to plunder the people's wealth in disguise, and the impact of the depreciation of the huge amount of silver in circulation on the domestic economy was also obvious, the lack of gold reserves, and the difficulty of issuing paper money to meet market demand was a big trouble, but in his opinion, these disadvantages were not as good as Yuanqi's credibility.

"The big shopkeeper." Hu Guangyong said without concessions: "China's silver circulation and storage are the world's first, once China announces the implementation of the gold standard, the paper money is directly linked to gold, and the fixed amount of gold is exchanged, the international silver price will inevitably plummet."

Paper money according to the actual gold and silver exchange ratio for silver, then the banknote preservation, silver depreciation, the Chinese people must use silver to exchange for banknotes, with paper money for gold, our gold reserves are insufficient, so that we must exchange all the gold in our hands for silver.

If this situation really happens, we will have no gold to ensure the exchange of banknotes, and silver is in constant depreciation, loss is a trivial matter, it is difficult to ensure that banknotes can be exchanged for gold at any time, resulting in damage to the reputation of Yuanqi Bank is a big deal! ”

Yi Zhishu quietly smoked a cigarette without saying a word, this is not unreasonable, Yuanqi can not accept silver for banknotes, and the Chinese people have always liked real money and silver, even if the banknotes are strong and pretended, the Chinese people will continue to exchange banknotes for gold, the result is to exchange silver for banknotes, with banknotes for gold, in the end, Yuanqi Bank is only left with silver, and the gold standard has become a joke! This will be a heavy blow to Yuanqi's credibility.

Zhao Liewen looked at the two of them and pondered: "Even if the gold standard is not implemented, once Yuanqi exchanges gold for banknotes, it will also trigger an exchange boom, after all, the domestic demand for gold is huge, and it will also quickly exchange the gold reserves of Yuanqi for ........" ”

"It is reasonable, and it is thoughtful." Yi Zhishu nodded and said, "However, it is not so simple to exchange the gold, the gold reserves of Yuanqi Bank are insufficient, and I can supplement ...... from other channels." After a pause, he continued: "I'll also give you a secret, at least 21 million taels of gold can be withdrawn." ”

21,000,000 taels of gold! Hu Guangyong looked at him in disbelief, although he knew that the other party was rich, but he never expected that he would be rich to this extent, 21 million taels of gold, and the gold reserves of the entire Yuanqi Bank were only more than 7 million taels, no wonder the other party was full of confidence! But how did the other party store so much gold?

Needless to say, most of the 21 million taels of gold that Yi Zhixiang had accumulated over the years by the South China Association to sell Hailuoying, and he, who had long planned to implement the gold standard, naturally would not let the Nanhua Society ship a large amount of silver back to China, and the business of the South China Society had spread to all parts of the world, and international trade was settled in gold, and Hailuoying was very popular abroad, so naturally he would not settle it with silver.

In addition to selling the gold accumulated by the Fallin, there is also the mining of gold in the United States, since the discovery of gold in California and the emergence of the gold mining boom, he began to invest in the gold mining industry in the western United States, but it was all done in secret.

Zhao Liewen didn't expect Yi Zhishu to be so rich, 21 million taels of gold is equivalent to 420 million taels of silver! What a rich country! He couldn't figure out how this master made money.

Hu Guangyong quickly came back to his senses and said with joy on his face: "If you have such a huge amount of gold reserves, then don't worry." ”

"We have worked so hard to reserve gold in order to implement the gold standard and to promote monetary hegemony, not to let them hide the gold at home after exchanging it, and besides, we don't have so much gold to keep private." Yi Zhishu said slowly: "Although there is plenty of gold, it must be controlled.

I decided to exchange the banknotes for gold for a certain period....... It can only be freely convertible after three or five years, and in addition, we can also specify that all banknotes related to Yuanqi's commerce, finance and economics must be used for money exchanges. ”

Hu Guangyong was stunned when he heard this, can he still do this? After three or five years, paper money can be freely exchanged for gold, and even with this deadline, paper money is more popular than silver, after all, paper money retains its value, and silver is constantly depreciating.

In addition, the latter article is the most fatal, the Qing Dynasty's finance, economy, foreign trade, industry, mining, education, railways, etc. are almost all controlled by Yuan Qi, once the regulations must use paper money, at least hundreds of millions of yuan of paper money can be guaranteed.

His mood suddenly relaxed, and he said with a smile: "The big shopkeeper still has this killer feature." ”

"And." Yi Zhishu said slowly: "Yuanqi Bank has issued a new regulation, paper money is exchanged for gold and silver, no handling fee is charged, and gold and silver are exchanged for paper money, and a handling fee of 5% will be charged, which will be implemented after five days." ”

"Overbearing! It's rare for Yuan Qi to be so domineering. Hu Guangyong smiled and said: "In this way, there is no need to rush to implement the gold standard at all." ”

"It's better not to rush it." Yi Zhizu said slowly: "Isn't it to postpone the implementation of the gold standard by taking so many measures. ”

Zhao Liewen hurriedly said: "Then is "On the Gold Standard" published? ”

"It's always good to blow the wind." Yi Zhizhi said with a smile: "In fact, we have repeatedly increased the gold and silver exchange ratio to absorb gold, and it is Sima Zhao's heart to implement the gold standard, and everyone knows it, there is no need to hide it anymore, blow the wind, and let them also be psychologically prepared." ”

Although this article only takes England as an example, and discusses in detail the many benefits of the implementation of the gold standard, at the end of which it is mentioned in passing, Germany has implemented the gold standard last year, and the article does not call for the implementation of the gold standard, but in the case of the successive runs on the Yuanqi Bank, as the treasurer of Yuanqi, what is the purpose of publishing such an article?

The smart mind and keen sense of smell immediately realized that this was a signal that Yuanqi wanted to implement the gold standard, and Yuanqi Bank implemented the gold standard when the silver was about to be exchanged, which can be said to have thrown off a big burden, and it was definitely the most effortless and worry-free!

Just when the government and the opposition were suspicious, news came one after another, first Yuanqi was from Guangzhou and Shanghai to the inland provinces in the past few days to transport a large amount of gold was poked out, and then there was news that many Yuanqi related to the business, trade, factory, railway........ And so on, all posted notices, but all money exchanges, only paper money is accepted.

In the afternoon, the large and small branches of Yuanqi Bank posted a notice and issued a new regulation, paper money for gold and silver, no handling fee is charged, gold and silver for paper money, a handling fee of 5% will be charged, and it will be officially implemented after five days!

Some people who have business dealings with Yuanqi, seeing this situation, dare to hesitate, have rushed to Yuanqi Bank, this time not to exchange cash, but to exchange banknotes, five percent of the handling fee, for a large amount of money businessmen, this is not a small amount.

And more important is the attitude, but all the business related to Yuanqi is basically extremely sought-after, if you lose the business because of this, it will be even less cost-effective, especially if the business is relatively large, it is even more afraid of falling behind, even if you know that there is a risk, but you can't take care of it at this time.

Yuanqi's series of measures are very domineering, and the criticism caused by it will naturally not be less, but the criticism is criticized, and the exchange of paper money has already penetrated into every corner of the Qing Dynasty, and industrial daily necessities have been everywhere, such as four-wheeled carriages, bicycles, sewing machines, and watches.

Small items such as pots and pans, kitchen knives, scissors, paper, cotton, needlework, rubber shoes, rubber shoes, soap, cement, steel bars, glass, and even coal, lamp oil, cigarettes, trains for travel, bird droppings for fertilizing fields, etc., the influence of Yuanqi can be said to be everywhere.

Yi Zhixiang didn't expect that the effect would be so good, in just one day, the run on the situation was greatly alleviated, a large amount of silver began to flow back, put down the call from Hu Guangyong, he chuckled: "It seems that I still ignore the influence of Yuan Qi, but I am worried in vain." ”

Zhao Liewen said with a smile: "Today's Qing Dynasty is not twenty or thirty years ago, industrial products are everywhere, clothing, food, housing and transportation are closely related to industry, besides, no factory wants to see Yuanqi Bank being run and closed, so there will be such a situation." Speaking of this, he smiled, "It is impossible for the imperial court to have such great appeal." ”

Yi Zhixiang smiled and said: "Yuan Qi has never been so domineering, and this time he was forced to be helpless, but according to this, he can also see the status of the financial hegemon." ”

The appeal of Yuanqi in the Qing Dynasty is undoubted, the next day, more and more factories, shops posted only paper money notices to support Yuanqi, the local banks in the provinces did not dare to lag behind, have a large amount of paper money, this move can not only hand over Yuanqi, but also to avoid the loss caused by the implementation of the gold standard by Yuanqi.

Since the end of last year, a large-scale run on the war between the Qing and British in South Africa has finally gradually dissipated, although many people still want to exchange cash out of fear, but for Yuanqi, it is no longer the overall situation.

On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the Lantern Festival, in previous years, the Lantern Festival in Shanghai was very lively, even during the day, the street was also overcrowded, all kinds of dry boats, stilts, dragon lanterns, lion dances, puppet shows, puppet shows, wave after wave of puppet shows, attracted hundreds of people to watch, however, this year's Lantern Festival, the people of Shanghai were attracted to the Yanjiang Avenue to watch the ironclad ships.

As soon as 24 ironclad ships of different sizes emitting black smoke appeared on the Huangpu River, they attracted the attention of the people of Shanghai, and there were already steamers in Shanghai, and it was not uncommon for ocean-going ships to run European routes and American routes in Shanghai, but ironclad ships, especially ironclad fleets, were seen by the people of Shanghai for the first time, and this was still the Qing Dynasty's own ironclad fleet.

Looking at the ironclad ships flying on the river with the dragon flag of the Qing Dynasty moving slowly, the people on the shore pointed excitedly, but there were also people who were worried, it was obvious that the ironclad fleet that had never been seen in the Qing Dynasty suddenly appeared in Shanghai at this time, which only explained one problem, this fleet was going to South Africa to start a war with England.