Listening to the conversation between the two, Lin Meilian interjected: "The big treasurer, my subordinates remember that they gave a high evaluation ......to the report on the reform of serfdom in Russia at that time. As she spoke, she pursed her lips and smiled: "It's still the tone set by the big shopkeeper." ”

The reform of serfdom in Russia was reported by several major newspapers of Yuan Qi, and at that time, in order to respond to the reform of the imperial court and the implementation of the new policy, the reform of serfdom in Russia was highly evaluated, which was indeed the tone set by Yi Zhi.

"There is no doubt that the reform of serfdom in Russia was of great significance and far-reaching influence, and laid a solid foundation for the development of capitalism in Russia." Yi Zhishu said slowly: "This point must still be affirmed and praised, but in the name of reform, the tsarist court carried out the reality of looting, and it is also necessary to criticize, there are always advantages and disadvantages to everything, and truthful reporting is also conducive to the development of people's wisdom."

In addition, the guidance of public opinion must also pay attention to strategy and follow some principles, such as the American Civil War, the reform of serfdom in Russia, and the reactions and attitudes of the European powers to the American Civil War.

In recent years, a large number of international students have returned to China one after another, and their vision, knowledge, and thinking have become more avant-garde, and they should be encouraged to write articles for newspapers and periodicals, and in addition, a document should be issued to provincial newspapers, and newspapers, as tools of public opinion, should take the lead in actively advocating freedom of speech and allowing different opinions to be expressed, but they should not go beyond the bottom line. ”

After a pause, he continued: "Judging from the current international situation, there may be a long time in the future when our Qing Dynasty will maintain good relations with Russia, and if we want to go further in Central Asia or the Persian Gulf, it is possible to conclude an alliance with Russia. ”

"My subordinates understand." Zhao Liewen nodded, and as he spoke, he handed over the telegram in hand, and said: "Sent by Prussia, John Philippe Reis showed an instrument that can transmit music in Frankfurt, but its sound transmission effect is not satisfactory. ”

After a pause, he continued: "The telegram also mentions that the Italian Antonio Meucci showed a similar invention to the public last year – the 'talkable telegraph'. However, due to financial difficulties, no formal concession was obtained. ”

An instrument that can transmit music? A talkable telegraph? Easy to be content, react immediately, phone! Definitely on the phone! At this time, the telephone has already been invented?

After reading the telegram, he was greatly excited, and of course he knew the meaning and value of the telephone, and after a little muttering, he said: "Italy has just completed its unification, and the Italian Antonio Meucci. Financial constraints are also reasonable.

Call back, try your best to lobby to invite Mei Wuqi and his assistants and friends to come to Shanghai, Yuanqi can provide them with preferential treatment and the best test conditions, the invention patent belongs to them, Yuanqi only has one condition, has the priority to buy their invention patent. ”

Isn't that a big deal? Zhao Liewen smiled secretly in his heart, but said: "The big shopkeeper is very interested in this talkable telegraph? ”

"Of course." Yi Zhizhi smiled and said, "Think about it, what would happen if this instrument had practical value?" What is it like to be able to talk directly to people thousands of miles away? This is not only an invention for the benefit of mankind, but also extremely commercially valuable, we naturally spare no effort to support, besides, we can also cultivate our own talents by the way, why not? ”

Hearing this, Zhao Liewen secretly sighed, this master is really different, not only has extraordinary eyesight, but also has an extraordinary imagination, he sees this invention is just a novelty, but this master can see the huge business opportunities contained in this invention, this is the gap,

"The big shopkeeper is born with a pair of discerning eyes, and he is really admirable in waiting." Zhao Liewen said with a smile: "The subordinates will let them call back." ”

Born with a pair of discerning eyes? Yi Zhizhi smiled contentedly, "Wait, you take a trip to the Ministry of Natural Resources and tell them to strengthen the exploration and mining of copper mines, Yunnan was a major copper-producing province in ancient times, and Jiangxi is also rich in mineral deposits, so they will focus on these two provinces."

In addition, contact with the imperial court, they gradually reduce or abolish the minting of copper coins, with the development of industry, the demand for copper will be greater and greater, the military industry is a large copper user, the demand for copper for cables and wires is also large, and it will even exceed the military industry in the future.

In general, copper is a strategic substance, can not be completely dependent on imports, must expand their own copper mining and smelting scale, we are currently mainly importing copper from Chile and Peru, by sea, but the navy is our shortcoming, this must be considered. ”

"It's still the long-term thinking of the big shopkeeper." Zhao Liewen said with a smile.

"It's a battle for resources." Yi Zhifen didn't explain much, in recent years, Yuanqi has invested heavily in the mining of copper ore and saltpeter in Chile and Peru, and the British have also taken a fancy to the minerals of South America, and the investment is not small, and the competition is quite fierce.

Three days later, Putiyating visited the door again, and after a few brief greetings, he said straightforwardly: "His Majesty the Emperor of our country agrees with the price offered by Your Excellency, but the payment owed to Yuan Qi must be written off in one lump sum. ”

In the arms trade in the northwest, the Russians owed a total of more than 12 million taels of silver, which was purely a disguised bargain, and if the payment was waived, it was equivalent to spending 40 or 50 million silver to buy a place east of the Altai Mountains.

Yi Zhishu groaned and said, "Yes, but this silver must be paid in two years." "At present, Yuanqi is diverting funds from all over the world for the cotton hegemony in Europe. At this time, he really couldn't take out 30 million silver dollars, and when the price of cotton rose next year, 30 million silver dollars was really nothing.

Two years later? Putiyating was stunned and hurriedly said: "Two years is too long, I can't guarantee that there will be any unexpected changes." ”

"It doesn't hurt if anything changes." Yi Zhizhi said disappreciatively: "Thirty million silver dollars is not a small amount, even if it is not easy to raise such a large sum of money in peacetime, Yuan Qi has been fighting continuously for two years, and the capital turnover is a little difficult......." ”

"How about next year, next fall?" Putiyatin's tone was a little hurried, and he looked anxious to wait for the rice to be cooked, because the large-scale riots caused by the reform of serfdom were tantamount to adding insult to the situation for Russia's finances, which was already a high deficit, which was one of the reasons why Alexander II agreed to sell the territory.

For this territorial transaction, Yi Zhixin can be said to be inevitable, and after a little hesitation, he said: "It will be next winter at the earliest, of course, if it can be raised in advance, I will pay in advance, and the contract does not need to be rushed, and it is not too late to sign it at that time." ”

At this point, Putiyating didn't want to say anything more, and even said, "Okay, I'm waiting for your good news in Shanghai." ”

City of London, England.

There are four major financial centers in Europe – London, Paris, Frankfurt and Amsterdam – and London has replaced Paris as the largest financial centre in Europe as England has grown in power.

The City of London is the financial center of London, the financial city is not large, densely built, and the streets are narrow, but hundreds of financial institutions are gathered - banks, stock exchanges, gold exchanges, futures exchanges, insurance companies..... Financial institutions, large and small, are pushed here in less than two miles.

The narrow streets are full of people, everyone is well-dressed and hurried, it seems to be the influence of the surrounding environment and atmosphere, Hu Xueyan, who walked on Old Broad Street, has changed his steps from the previous steady and hurried much, followed by two shopkeepers of the London branch of Yuanqi who are familiar with the financial city.

Yi Zhizhi called back, and he didn't hesitate, didn't doubt, and resolutely ate it, both physical and securities. But he was very unsteady in his heart, so far, the money flowing out of his hands has been as high as 20 million taels of silver, but there is still a steady stream of large sums of money remitted to London.

This made him feel a kind of heartbreak, both shocked by the abundance of Yuanqi's funds, and amazed at the size of Yi Zhi's contentment, he didn't know how much money Yuanqi could raise, he knew very well that the number of funds occupied by domestic cotton hoarding was also extremely amazing, he was a little afraid to imagine, once the cotton hegemony failed, how much Yuanqi would lose?

Approaching the futures exchange, Fan Chengwei, the accompanying shopkeeper, hurriedly took two steps parallel to Hu Xueyan and said softly: "Shopkeeper Hu, at present, many cotton speculators are gradually withdrawing, and the problem of buying cotton in kind or cotton-related bonds is not too big, but cotton futures are a little ......risky. ”

Hu Xueyan stopped and said in a deep voice: "Do you think the price of cotton will fall?" ”

"It's hard to say what happens at the moment." Fan Chengwei hesitated and said: "After all, the vast majority of people are not optimistic about cotton now, and now that the war in the south is smooth, the price of cotton continues to fall, and many people see that speculation is hopeless, and they have withdrawn. ”

Hu Xueyan groaned, and stepped into the door of the exchange without saying a word, in less than half a month, the price of cotton has fallen from ten cents per pound to eight cents, according to his judgment, as long as there is no major change, this price has basically bottomed out.

Walking into the hall and taking a look at the latest cotton prices, Hu Xueyan ordered in a deep voice: "Buy up, buy a total of 300,000 pounds!" ”

In a bearish voice, the 300,000 pounds buy up attracted the attention of the entire exchange, and also caused a lot of discussion, "Those Orientals bought it?" It is said that the East is rich, and it seems that the rumors are true. ”

"It's true that there is money, but this is not where they should be."

"Don't underestimate them, they belong to Yuanqi Bank, and they have hoarded a lot of cotton during this time, and they have also eaten a lot of related securities."

"Yuanqi Bank? It shouldn't be a small bank, right? Why haven't you heard of it? ”

"But anyone who has been to the Far East, no one does not know Yuanqi, no matter what you do in the Far East, you have to deal with Yuanqi, it can be said that it is a company several times larger than the East India Company."

"I heard that Yuan Qi supports the Northern Federation, will there be something we don't understand?"

This remark attracted the attention of many people, Yuan Qi was so abnormal, it was very likely that he had obtained some news, but soon someone said disdainfully: "The war in North America, is there anything that can be hidden from those bankers?" They didn't move. ”

"It's not that there's no movement, they're selling their chips."

Hu Xueyan can understand English, what he learned is London accent English, the discussion in the hall, he can understand some, these London Brits are very arrogant, have a strong sense of superiority, and the gentry and merchants of the Qing Dynasty are the same, they look at Westerners are barbarians, these Londoners also think they are countrymen, however, there are many people who know Yuanqi, after all, Yuanqi has monopolized the foreign trade of the Qing Dynasty for so many years, and it has long been famous.

He thought of a question from everyone's discussions, Yuan Qi is so against the trend, and the stroke is not small, it will inevitably arouse the interest of countless people and be closely watched, before, everyone felt that speculative cotton was profitable, plus he acted cautiously, and the food was not obvious, which did not attract much attention, but now the situation is different.

What he is even more worried about is that the relationship between Yuan Qi and the Northern Federation of the United States is well known, will Yuan Qi's such a big fanfare against the trend lead to follow? Will it stimulate confidence in speculative cotton?

Fan Chengwei also heard some discussions, and when he got out of the exchange, he said excitedly: "Let's go against the trend, if it can trigger a follow-up, in that case, the risk will undoubtedly be greatly reduced, do you want to let some wind out?" ”

"There is no need, actual actions are more convincing than any rumors." Hu Xueyan said slowly: "Go back first, and come back tomorrow." ”

Hu Xueyan not only bought with great fanfare on the Financial City Futures Exchange for several days, but also sent people to the Port of Liverpool, the most important port for importing cotton from England, to purchase a large amount of cotton without restrictions.

However, in a few days, both the City of London and the Liverpool cotton market have spread the news that Yuanqi is buying cotton on a large scale and is bullish on cotton, which naturally arouses great concern and discussion.

However, it is limited to attention and discussion, there are not no people who follow the trend, but there are not many, and there is no fluctuation in the price of cotton at all.

In Shanghai, Xie Xiuyuan walked into the room quickly, bowed his hand and handed over the telegram report: "Big shopkeeper, the telegram from Xueyan, the English financial market and the cotton market are too large, and our funds are limited, so we can't cause much volatility." ”

After taking the telegram and glancing at it a few times, Yi Zhizhi said: "It is the Southern Union that can affect the price of cotton, not us, this point must be remembered, as for the funds, he does not have to worry, and there will be a large amount of money to be remitted later." ”

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