The four-wheeled carriage moved smoothly on the smooth asphalt road, and Wittoma sat in the carriage with a blank face, and the Franco-Prussian War was over, France was defeated, Germany was reunified, and a huge war reparations of five billion francs were obtained, and the Alsace-Lorraine region, which was rich in resources and was an important industrial region, was also ceded.

It is conceivable that Germany, which has trampled France under its feet, will inevitably rise rapidly and become the most powerful military power on the European continent, which will not only undermine the balance of power policy that Great Britain has always pursued, but will also pose a great direct threat to Great Britain like France in the Napoleonic era.

In this case, Great Britain should rationally avoid a conflict or war with the Qing State, a rapidly rising Eastern Empire, but the Qing State is repeatedly and repeatedly provocative, the Persian Gulf, Great Britain can bear it, but South Africa, absolutely intolerable, must be satisfied with the benefits, let him give up this stupid provocation, South Africa is not the Persian Gulf, Great Britain can not tolerate the Qing State to intervene!

Zhennan Wangfu, Changle Book House.

There were three stacks of telegrams, letters, and famous posts neatly placed on the desk, and Yi Zhizhi looked at them one by one, and went to Qingdao for more than a month, and there was a lot of backlog of personnel, and he had to screen them one by one, and arrange them according to their priorities.

"The big shopkeeper." Lin Meilian reported softly at the door: "The English Minister Wittoma has arrived. ”

"Ask him to come in." Yi Zhizhi instructed: "Let Xingzhi go and greet me on my behalf." ”

Soon, Yi Zhengxing accompanied Wei Tuma into the room slowly, Yi Zhishu got up to greet him, and after greeting and sitting down, he said, "When did Mr. Wei Tuma come to Shanghai?" ”

"Two days ago." Wittoma looked at him and said, "After receiving the news that your country's Nanyang Navy fleet was stationed in Maputo on a large scale, I rushed directly to Shanghai, I don't know if this is indeed the case?" ”

"That's what happened." Yi Zhixiang said lightly: "With the development of steamships, China needs to have its own port on the east-west route to facilitate replenishment along the way. ”

Naturally, Wittoma would not believe this explanation, and he laughed and said: "After the opening of the Suez Canal, there is no merchant fleet to detour to the Cape of Good Hope. ”

"It is true that the route of the Suez Canal can greatly shorten the voyage and time, but the Suez Canal is in the hands of your country and France." Yi Zhizhi said unhurriedly: "In order to avoid being controlled by others, my country still attaches great importance to the Cape of Good Hope route. ”

This explanation was too far-fetched, and Wittoma did not go around in circles with him, he was eager to find out the truth behind this matter, and immediately asked directly: "Your Highness is forcing Portugal to cede Maputo?" ”

"Our country and Portugal have long enjoyed friendly relations, how can we do persecution." Yi Zhizu said slowly: "My country has bought a large area of land south of the Zambezi River to Maputo. ”

Wei Tuma's heart tightened violently, he was really afraid of something! Damn Portugal actually sold its colonies in South Africa to the Qing State in private! This was the last thing he wanted to see, and the Qing State bought a large area of land south of the Zambezi River to Maputo, which was tantamount to establishing a firm foothold in South Africa.

There was silence for a moment before he spoke: "Your Highness plans to expand in South Africa?" ”

Yi Zhizhi smiled, "The territory south of the Zambezi River to Maputo is indeed a bit narrow and lacks strategic depth, I do have plans to expand westward, but your country does not need to worry, my country's ambition for South Africa is not big, it just needs a strategic depth, and there will be no conflict with your country's expansion in South Africa." ”

As soon as he heard that the other party was going to expand westward, he said very vigilantly: "Your Highness is planning to expand to the Transvaal and Orange?" ”

"I already know the news of the discovery of diamond mines in Kimberley." Yi Zhishu said slowly: "Don't worry, I won't compete with your country for Kimberlite's diamonds, I just need a strategic depth." ”

Although the other party clearly stated that he would not compete for the diamond mines in Kimberley, Wittoma was still not at ease, "Your Highness should know that if your country annexes the Transvaal, it will inevitably conflict with our country's expansion to the north. ”

Hearing this, Yi Zhi's expression was cold, "I have no ambition to annex the Transvaal, but I just want to expand the strategic depth, in addition, I don't want to have a conflict with your country, but if your country insists on provoking a conflict, my country is not afraid, Africa is so big, what my country needs is just a corner of the land." ”

Seeing his tough attitude, Wittoma changed his words, "I heard that your country has transported a large number of machines to Maputo?" ”

Glancing at him, Yi Zhishu said indifferently: "I plan to build a railway ......" ”

Building a railway? Wittoma's heart sank, and he didn't ask to know that this railway must be extending to the hinterland of Africa, and what just needs a place of strategic depth is all nonsense! After a deep sigh, he said, "I think it is necessary for me to remind Your Highness that, as a commercial-migrant colony of our country, we attach great importance to South Africa, far more than the Persian Gulf. ”

Yi Zhifen raised his eyebrows, "Can I understand it as a threat?" ”

"No, it's not a threat, it's a fact." Wei Tuma said in a slow tone: "Your two countries have close economic and trade exchanges, and we don't want conflicts to break out between the two countries because of some small and trivial contradictions. ”

After a slight sigh, Yi Zhizhi said: "I think we can sit down and negotiate the division of influence in South Africa, my appetite is not as great as your country thinks." ”

It would be a good thing if the irreconcilable contradictions that might arise between the two sides could be alleviated through negotiations, and Wittoma said with a smile on his face: "I also agree with His Highness's proposal, but I must ask for instructions from home." ”

Seeing off Wittoma, Yi Zhengxing pondered and said: "If the Transvaal can be included in our sphere of influence through negotiations, it will be a good thing for both countries. ”

"There is no such good thing." Yi Zhizhi said with a smile, "The place where the gold mine was discovered is thousands of miles away from Maputo, and the British will never agree to divide a large area of Nuoda into our sphere of influence, for us, the advantage of negotiation is to facilitate the purchase of time." ”

After hesitating, Yi Zhengxing said: "Is it worth it to go to war with England for the Transvaal gold mine?" ”

"Of course it's worth it." Yi Zhizhi said: "The gold reserves of the Transvaal are beyond imagination, several times larger than the reserves of San Francisco and New Gold Mountain combined, do you know what this means?" As long as we can control the gold mines of the Transvaal, it will be enough to shake the hegemony of the British pound. ”

How large are the reserves of the Transvaal gold mine? Yi Zhengxing was stunned for a long time and couldn't speak, seeing that he was stunned, Yi Zhizhi smiled, turned around and paced back to the room, took a few sips of herbal tea, Yi Zhengxing immediately followed, and said, "Can't you hide the reserves of the Transvaal gold mine?" ”

"How can large-scale mining be hidden?"

"What about small-scale mining?"

"Even if it's small-scale mining, you can't hide it." Yi Zhishu said slowly: "The Transvaal gold mine is contained in stone, and it must be operated by machines, and the Boers are not black, so it is not easy to hide from them. ”

"What about the moratorium?" Yi Zhengxing said unwillingly: "In the next few years, when the national strength becomes stronger, it will not be too late for large-scale mining." ”

"The discovery of diamond mines in the Kimberley will in itself prompt England to accelerate the pace of expansion to the north." Yi Zhizu said slowly: "After realizing that our country wants to expand to the Transvaal and open up the threat of opening up the eastern outlet of the Transvaal, it will inevitably further stimulate England to speed up the pace of northward expansion, and in a few years, the gold mining area has been included in England's sphere of influence." ”

Yi Zhengxing said: "You can support the Boers to resist the British." ”

"Only by making it clear to the Boers that there are huge gold mines in the country can they be motivated." "Don't forget that the Boers fled from Cape Town all the way to where they are now. ”

Yi Zhengxing was silent, and Yi Zhixiang glanced at him, "Afraid of war with England?" ”

"It's not that I'm afraid, it's just that I'm not wise to be the enemy of England at this stage." Yi Zhengxing pondered and said: "Didn't my father always say that now that my country is in a period of rapid development, we must try our best to avoid large-scale wars and ....... ”

"We can keep the British at bay by supporting the Transvaal and Zulu kingdoms, so that we can take control of the Transvaal gold mines." Yi Zhizu said slowly: "It is possible to go to war directly with England, but for the sake of such a large gold mine, it is worth taking some risks." And even if a war breaks out with England in South Africa, it will inevitably be a few years later, so don't worry too much. ”

Speaking of this, he changed his words, "Small success depends on friends, and big success depends on enemies." Have you ever heard of this phrase? ”

Yi Zhengxing was stunned for a moment, and hesitated: "What does my father mean is to deliberately set up such a powerful enemy as Yingli?" ”

"It's not to be deliberately established, but it is!" Yi Zhixiang said and lit a cigarette slowly, "As the world's industrial hegemon, financial hegemon, and economic hegemon, England is originally the enemy of every country that intends to rise.

As the saying goes, if you are warlike, you will die, and if you forget to fight, you will be dangerous, and as a country, we must set up a strong enemy for ourselves at each stage of development, so as to promote the continuous progress and development of the country to the greatest extent. ”

Before the words fell, Zhao Liewen hurriedly walked in, "Big shopkeeper, Hu Xueyan called, Germany bought a large amount of gold in several major European financial markets, sold silver, and the price of silver fell rapidly...... ”

After taking the telegram and glancing at it, Yi Zhizhi said slowly: "Germany is stockpiling gold to prepare for the implementation of the gold standard. ”

The Qing Dynasty is also in the reserve of gold, in recent years to continuously increase the gold and silver exchange ratio, in order to attract Western countries speculators to the Qing Dynasty to pour gold, now by Germany so impact, may even cause gold to flow back to Europe, but if continue to increase the gold and silver exchange ratio, it is bound to further increase the depreciation of silver, and may even cause a large-scale sale of silver, for the Qing Dynasty, which has a huge amount of silver, is undoubtedly a huge disaster.

"Germany's implementation of the gold standard is bound to have a huge impact on European countries." Yi Zhengxing pondered: "It is very likely that European countries that use the gold and silver double standard will also switch to the gold standard ......." ”

"At that point, the price of silver is bound to fall sharply." Yi Zhizu took over and said: "This is also the reason why I should implement the gold standard before the general implementation of the gold standard in European countries, once it falls behind, the huge amount of silver in circulation will be lost." ”

Zhao Liewen said cautiously: "If we compete with Germany to sell silver, it will also cause a sharp depreciation of silver." ”

After a slight sigh, Yi Zhizhi said: "For my country at this stage, currency depreciation is not a bad thing, play with the Germans, continue to improve the gold-silver exchange ratio, and can't let gold flow back to Europe!" ”

Hearing this, Yi Zhengxing hurriedly said: "Father think twice, the continuous depreciation of silver will inevitably lead to soaring prices, which may cause panic ......." ”

"Don't worry." Yi Zhizu said slowly: "The Germans will not reduce the price of silver without limit, after all, they also need to make gold reserves now, the price of silver is too low, they are not worth the loss, and besides, there are not a few countries in Europe that now use the gold and silver standard, the Latin Monetary Union led by France, the Nordic countries, Tsarist Russia, and the United States are all gold and silver double standard.

Once the sell-off of German silver is over, the price of silver will also recover, after all, we are not the only ones affected, so there is no need to worry too much.

In addition, we can also take the opportunity of this wave of silver price decline to raise workers' wages and formulate a system to set a minimum wage for workers. ”

Raising workers' wages? Zhao Liewen was stunned for a moment, "The depreciation of silver will cause prices to rise, and then raise wages, isn't this even worse?" ”

"There's no way to make it worse, sooner or later you'll have to go through this hurdle." Yi Zhishu said slowly: "Call the bank headquarters first, and increase the gold-silver exchange ratio, which is slightly higher than that in Europe." ”

Zhao Liewen retired, and Yi Zhengxing said with a puzzled face: "The wages of workers have been steadily increasing over the years, why do you want to take this opportunity to increase?" ”

Yi Zhixiang glanced at him and said: "Although my country has been constantly improving the wages of workers, compared with European countries, my country's wages are still quite low. ”

Compared with European countries, the salary level of the Qing Dynasty is indeed very low, the monthly salary of skilled workers in London is about four pounds, and although the salary of the Qing Dynasty has been rising, the current average salary has only reached seven silver dollars, a difference of more than double, a slight groan, Yi Zhengxing said: "The low salary is low, the cost is low, which is conducive to increasing the competitiveness of China's industrial products, isn't it a good thing?" ”

Yi Zhizhi smiled contentedly, "Low wages are both good and bad, but in general, they do more harm than good." ”