The Transvaal gold mine is the lifeblood of Yuanqi, at least for now, this point is not only clear to Yi, everyone here knows that the scale of Yuanqi's super banknotes in recent years is too large, if it is not for the huge output of the Transvaal gold mine, I am afraid that the crisis has already broken out, and now the European powers have jointly sent troops to rob the Transvaal gold mine, it is indeed the heart of defeating Yuanqi and destroying the Qing Dynasty, there is indeed no room for relaxation and retreat, only war!

Yi Yi knew that it was time for him to express his position, and after glancing at everyone, he said in a deep voice: "This is a national war, and it is also a battle of national fortune in the Qing Dynasty. ”

"King Gong has seen it thoroughly, this is indeed a battle of national fortune!" Yi Zhizu said slowly: "The Transvaal gold mine not only has a large output, but also a large reserve that is rare in the world, which is the guarantee for my country's implementation of the gold standard, and also the backing for the rapid development of my country's economy, and it is also the basis for my country's future implementation of monetary hegemony. ”

At this point, he paused slightly, and then continued: "This war is unlike any previous war, and it is not South Africa that decides the outcome of the war, but the country.

The battle of Beijing and Tianjin, we have not fought the four-nation alliance, and now there is a five-nation alliance, which is nothing more than one more Germany, which is known as the first army in Europe, and there is nothing to fear.

The danger of this war lies in the country, to be precise, in the Yuanqi Bank, which has always fought wars are money and food, and overseas wars are even more expensive, Yuanqi's current situation, not only you are clear, but also the government and the opposition know a lot, once the war starts, there will inevitably be chaos, if the Yuanqi Bank loses credibility or collapses, even if South Africa wins, it is still defeated. ”

Taking the train to Shanghai, Yi Yi was pondering all the way, this is obviously worried about Yuanqi Bank, but in fact he is not worried about the imperial court, worried that the imperial court will take the opportunity to make trouble and fall into a desperate situation, after all, Yuanqi in this case, it is not an exaggeration to say that it is precarious, as long as the run breaks out, the ironclad reputation will be ruined, and it may even go out of business!

After a slight sigh, he said: "When it comes to finance, no one in my Qing Dynasty can look at Brother Guocheng's back, if there is any request, Brother Guocheng just speaks." ”

Seeing that he intended to limit the conditions to finance, Yi couldn't help but smile contentedly, and said unhurriedly: "The Chinese currency is already the legal tender of the Qing Dynasty, and Yuan Qi also had an agreement when he implemented the gold standard, and the domestic Chinese currency was allowed to be freely exchanged for gold within three years, and the current one that can be freely exchanged is silver."

Because of the fixed gold-silver exchange ratio of Chinese currency, coupled with the rapid depreciation of silver, it is better to hold silver than to hold Chinese currency to maintain value, coupled with the huge output of the Transvaal gold mine, so there has been no run on the domestic currency in the past two years.

As soon as the war broke out in South Africa, holding real money and silver was naturally more reassuring than holding Chinese currency, so it was bound to cause panic and trigger a large-scale run.

The imperial court and Yuan Qi jointly declared that the exchange of banknotes and silver would be suspended, and until the end of the war, it was not allowed to exchange Chinese dollars for gold and silver! ”

Suspension of banknote exchange business! Yi Yi was stunned when he listened, Yuan Qi didn't plan to exchange the issued banknotes at all? Or is it a momentary stopgap measure? Pulling the court guarantee, this is easy to get on the ship and difficult to get off the ship!

Seeing that he was silent, Su Shun said solemnly: "Brother Guocheng think twice, Yuanqi has already overissued banknotes on a large scale, and this battle in South Africa will inevitably continue to be overissued on a large scale, if the banknotes are not allowed to be freely convertible, the banknotes will inevitably depreciate sharply, so that the people's grievances will boil, and then not only Yuanqi's reputation will be damaged, but the prestige of the imperial court will also be swept away." ”

"The lesser of two evils." Zhao Liewen said slowly: "The depreciation of paper money is better than the collapse of the monetary system that Yuan Qi has worked so hard to build, and I believe that all the princes know what kind .......of disaster will occur once the monetary system collapses." ”

It's a threat! The threat of the red fruit! Su Shun immediately shut up with interest, he didn't know how big the total amount of banknotes issued by Yuanqi was, but at least it was as high as more than one billion, Yuanqi's attitude was now very clear, he would not exchange it, and the banknotes of more than one billion would collapse once they collapsed, and he really couldn't imagine the consequences.

"At the time of the American Civil War, the dollar also depreciated sharply, and after the war, it quickly appreciated sharply, and the impact on the national economy, people's livelihood and economy was not great." Xie Xiuyuan said slowly: "The battle of South Africa, I thought that it could not last for four or five years, at most one year would be enough to calm down. ”

Yi Yi quickly reacted, willing or unwilling, the court has no other choice now, in fact, most of the gold and silver of the entire Qing Dynasty are in the hands of Yuan Qi, just by virtue of this, Yuan Qi has already pinched the imperial court to death, once Yuan Qi collapses, not only the monetary system will collapse, the entire Qing Dynasty's economy will collapse, and the imperial court will also follow suit.

He didn't hesitate, and said simply: "In the battle of national fortune, how dare the imperial court not do its best, brother Guocheng rest assured, the imperial court will definitely return to protect Yuanqi Bank in every possible way, and this king will immediately ask for a decree when he returns to Beijing." ”

"Okay." Yi Zhi said with a full jaw: "Having the imperial court as a guarantee is equivalent to relieving Yuanqi's worries, and Yuanqi Bank does not need to worry about a large-scale run." ”

As soon as the words fell, Yi Yi continued: "This time to send troops to South Africa, it is a battle of national fortune, and the imperial court also hopes to make a little effort, the Beijing garrison has been in force for a long time, but it has been tempered a little, and the king hopes to send three or four brigades to participate in the war." ”

His thoughts, Yi Zhishu can see through at a glance, it is nothing more than asking Yuan Qi to help equip the Jingshi garrison, and after a slight groan, he said: "Send two brigades to participate in the war first, if the war is stalemate, then continue to transfer." Since ancient times, wealth has moved people's hearts, and the Transvaal gold mine has been attracting people's attention for a long time, and the joint dispatch of troops by the five countries will be a fierce battle, and they really dare not underestimate the enemy. ”

"Okay, listen to Brother Guocheng's arrangement." Yi Yi knew in his heart that the combat strength of the Beijing garrison was indeed quite different from that of the Yuanqi New Army, and it was impossible to go to South Africa as the main force.

Seeing that it was a slit in the words, Su Shun said tentatively: "Brother Guocheng has ever considered taking advantage of this battle to pocket the two small countries of the Boers?" ”

"Isn't the pattern of Su Xiang too small?" Yi Yi smiled: "If you want to expand in Africa, why not simply include South Africa in my Qing Dynasty!" ”

"South Africa is too far away from our mainland to be actually controlled, and there are European countries eyeing it, and they really want to swallow it in one bite, I am afraid that the gains will outweigh the losses, so we will firmly grasp the gold mine first, and talk about the rest later." Yi Zhishu looked at Yan Yangtian as he spoke, and changed the conversation, "Are you still satisfied with the military jeep?" ”

"Back to the principal." Yan Yangtian said respectfully: "It's not bad to drive on asphalt roads, I don't know if it's practical in the wild?" ”

"Since it is military, its natural off-road ability is not bad." Yi Zhizhi smiled and said: "In addition to military jeeps, there are also military motorcycles, and military trucks that can load four-ton heavy objects, you take the time to go to the automobile factory for a field trip, the development direction of the army is mechanization, and what really makes the cavalry completely withdraw from the stage of history is not automatic rifles and machine guns, but cars." ”

Hearing this, Yi Yi and Su Shun were shocked, these words were obviously aimed at the Northeast, no wonder this pick-up station specially arranged military jeeps, which was beating them in disguise.

Just entered December, ushered in a light rain, the cold wind blew off the only few fallen leaves on the street plane trees, the bare branches pointed straight to the sky, at a glance, added a bit of gloom.

The outside is bleak and cold, but the stock exchange is warm, not only because of the heating, but also because of the large number of people, the nine northern provinces continue to drought, which has caused a lot of impact on the stock market, but with the gradual rise of the northern provinces to establish an industrial boom, one after another companies have been listed, attracting many investors to rush to buy new shares, and the popularity of the stock market has also been strong.

Since the beginning of the third year of Guangxu, the new shares issued by the northern provinces have aroused the pursuit of investors, without him, all the new shares will appear after the listing will have a lot of gains, and the dividends of the expansion of shares are also very generous, but where the new shares can be snapped up, that is, it is a steady profit and no loss, so that it naturally attracts more and more people to compete for new shares.

However, after three consecutive years of rapid expansion, now the listed new shares have become less and less, scarce is expensive, the fewer new shares, the more investors rush to buy, today many people are for the first listed farm in the Qing Dynasty - Songjia Farm, Songjia Farm is a demonstration point set up by Yuanqi in order to implement agricultural mechanization, everyone knows that this new stock will bring them a lot of benefits.

As soon as the market opened, the Song Family Farm was sealed on the price limit, although it was expected, there was still a slight cheer in the trading hall, and the investors who rushed to the Song Family Farm were full of joy.

However, they were not happy for long, and the smile on their faces soon became a little stiff, and the large disk that was still full of red arrows just now was rapidly turning into green arrows, and the arrows of the large plate were also turning from red to green.

The original noisy trading hall immediately quieted down, everyone stared at their own stocks or the market for a moment, and the market fell by more than 30 points in less than a quarter of an hour, and the people in the hall immediately panicked, obviously, this is a large amount of concentrated selling!

In the backyard, in the manager's room, Huo Qizheng picked up the phone with a gloomy expression and shook it, "Pick up Changle Book House." Soon, a familiar voice came from the microphone, "What's the situation?" ”

"The big shopkeeper, within a quarter of an hour of opening, the market plummeted by more than 30 points, and several locked investment companies are shipping ....... in a big way."

"Looks like it's started, according to plan."

Putting down the phone, Huo Qizheng commanded softly: "Throw, smash all the new stocks directly to the fall limit." ”

In Changle Bookstore, Yi Zhishu put down the phone and lit a cigarette casually, Zhao Liewen said tentatively: "The other party did it?" ”

"It's just December, I can't wait to do it, it seems that the army will be sent this month, and I thought it would be delayed until the beginning of next year." Yi Zhishu said and instructed: "Send telegrams to Dunlun, Berlin, and Vienna to see what is happening?" ”

After a short time, Li Hongzhang hurriedly walked in, "The big treasurer, Constantinople is calling, and the cable telegraph communication with Europe is interrupted. ”

Constantinople is the communication hub of the cable telegraph in Eurasia, and the cable telegraph from London to India and the Qing Dynasty through the Persian Gulf to directly connect Europe all pass through Constantinople, so how can it be interrupted for no reason?

Zhao Liewen said tentatively: "Why don't you try the route around the Atlantic Ocean from the United States." ”

"Most of it has already been broken, let's implement it." Yi Zhizu said softly: "Cut off the cable telegraph, it seems that European countries are preparing to send troops." ”

Li Hongzhang said: "Do we also cut off? ”

"There's no hurry." Yi Zhizu said slowly: "I have to let them pass on the situation of the collapse of my country's stock market." ”

Li Hongzhang said puzzledly: "The cable telegraph has been cut off, how can the information be transmitted?" ”

Hearing this, Yi Zhi couldn't help but smile, "When did Gradually become so sincere?" As long as the information reaches Constantinople, it is nothing more than a waste of a few more hours. ”

In the afternoon, news finally came from New York that the Atlantic submarine cable connecting Europe and North America was suspected to have been interrupted, cable communications were interrupted, and the repair time was unknown.

"Looks like it's confirmative." Yi Zhizu said as he got up and walked to the desk, took the phone, and shook it, "Pick up Huo Qizheng's office." ”

Soon, Huo Qizheng's voice came from the microphone, "Big shopkeeper, all the new stocks have smashed to the fall limit, the market is panicking, the sell-off is serious, and the market has plummeted by more than 160 points." ”

"Good!" Yi Zhizu said in a deep voice: "The news has been confirmed to be true, and it has been suppressed one after another, directly suppressing the issue price, and not giving them a chance to make a move." ”

Since 1873, when serious economic crises broke out in various countries around the world, a large amount of capital flowed to the Qing Dynasty in pursuit of profits, and most of it flowed into the Shanghai stock market, because the Qing Dynasty not only did not break out into an economic crisis, but because of the stimulation of the Five-Year Plan, the economic situation was very good.

It is the nature of capital to pursue profits, and the outbreak of the worldwide economic crisis, a large amount of capital is looking for a way out, and the thriving Qing Dynasty has naturally become the best place to invest.

In 1875, the northern part of the Qing Dynasty began to suffer from drought, and the continuous drought had a serious impact on the stock market, including avoidance, in order to retain a huge amount of foreign funds, Yi Zhizhi launched a large number of new shares in a timely manner, and spared no effort to promote the new shares, resulting in the effect of chasing new stocks, and a large number of overseas hot money have turned to more profitable new stocks, which has made great contributions to the rapid expansion of the stock market in the Qing Dynasty.

Yi Zhixiang had long expected that these foreign hot money would flee before the outbreak of war, and deal a catastrophic blow to the stock market, severely damage the financial economy of the Qing Dynasty, echo the robbery of the Transvaal gold mines, and provoke a large-scale run, which hit Yuanqi in one fell swoop.

Since they can break the other party's wishful thinking, how can Yi Zhi's contentment make them happy, the Qing Dynasty is not the United States, and Yuanqi's control over the stock market is beyond imagination!