The Great China Congress finally met on April 26, 1912, the day after the founding ceremony, that is, on the tenth day of March in the first year of Shenwu, and after the morning election, excluding the 32 votes of the Kuomintang and the 41 votes of the Furen Cultural Society, Yang Rui was elected as the first prime minister of Great China with 527 votes.

Although this was expected, many newspaper reporters in the capital crowded into the crowded halls of parliament to document the historic moment with photographs. On the day of his election, Yang Rui not only issued a policy outline, but also read out the appointment letter of the ministers and directors of the 12 ministries of the Prime Minister's Office, which is actually the original set of people during the provisional government, the only difference is that the candidates for the Mining Department have been temporarily shelved, and as far as the current situation is concerned, there is no suitable candidate for this position.

It has been nine months since the occupation of Beijing, five years since the uprising in Hangzhou, and ten years since the beginning of the revolution. At a loss, he had to go to Zhong Guanguan.

"What, you're leaving tomorrow?" Looking at Zhong Guanguan, who had already packed his luggage in the house, Yang Rui suddenly remembered that he and Wang Jitong were going to leave in a few days.

"Yes! Didn't you say it a long time ago? The revolution was delayed for ten years, and Xiao Xu and I had to study abroad. Zhong Guanguan looked at Yang Rui a little strangely, and he didn't understand why he came here today, it was said that he was going to deal with government affairs. It did. You're not here to see me off, are you? Xiao Xu and I will leave tomorrow. ”

"Ahh I was just dazed and didn't know what to do. Yang Rui sat down a little melancholy, "Before." I always want to hurry up today, so that I can hurry up and finish the things that I left behind, but today, I feel a little at a loss and don't know how to start. ”

Hearing Yang Rui say this, Zhong Guanguan just laughed, "You." I think you're like a hungry person who doesn't know how to put chopsticks when he sees a table of good dishes. The country is in ruins, just waiting for you, Premier Yang, to govern it. He said, pulling out a newspaper. Look, there is another spring drought in northern Jiangsu, and hundreds of thousands of hungry people have nowhere to live......"

"This newspaper is nonsense." Yang Rui interrupted, "The project over there is about to start." The hungry are given relief through work. I'm about to build a water conservancy. ”

"Then look at this, the overseas Chinese in Surabaya yesterday celebrated the founding of our Greater China, and the Dutch authorities sent the military and police to intervene by force, killing three overseas Chinese, injuring more than 10 people, and arresting more than 100 people...... Zhong Guanguan read again.

"Hey! That's Nanyang, and we have nothing to do but verbally protest! The Navy has arrested a lot of people, and it's in chaos. Speaking of this, Yang Rui was a little disappointed. He looked at Zhong Guanguan enviously, "Xian Huh." Seeing these annoying things, I feel that you and Xiao Xu are the most lively and carefree in these days, when will I be like you? ”

"Forget it!" Zhong Guanguan shook his head, "Xiao Xu and I saw some angry news outside, but I was determined to have you in the country, otherwise I would be angry." If it happens, those who can work harder. ”

He said that those who can work harder, and Zhang Taiyan's voice sounded in the courtyard, "Actually, you didn't do your job on the first day of opening the mansion, and left dozens of us alone, how could you hide here in Xianfang?" ”

Before others arrived, the sound arrived first, and with him came Xie Zhangtai, Yu Huizu, Sheng Xuanhuai and others, Yang Rui ran out of Prince Zheng's mansion after the government work meeting just now, so that they couldn't find anyone to look for. Fortunately, Li Zilong was left in the palace by Yang Rui, and they followed suit.

A few people met Zhong Guanguan, and after being very polite, Zhang Taiyan was the first to say something, "Those sour Confucians are going to turn the sky upside down, saying that they will go to the Congress tomorrow to petition for respecting Kong Chongru, what do you say." ”

After he finished speaking, Xie Jintai hurriedly interjected: "The acting minister of the United States has called to congratulate you, and he hopes to meet with you as soon as possible." And the legation, on the other hand, would like to do my best to meet with you to discuss the issue of recognition of countries......"

"It's going to be changed soon, Zhang Xingjian and I don't have a bottom in our hearts, so it's better for you to tell me how this strategy should be." Yu Huizu said, "There is also the matter of borrowing money from the banking group of the four countries, they are now prohibiting us from carrying out currency reform alone, saying that there has been an agreement before, and the currency reform must be agreed by the banking group of the four countries before it can begin." ”

"That's right. They also do not agree that China will send a chief engineer for the loan of the Huguang Railway, and they must accept the post of chief engineer sent by various countries. Sheng Xuanhuai, who was at the end, also said that the previous contract was signed by him, and it was considered to have won a lot of rights and interests for China, but the situation in the Qing Dynasty was different from that of Greater China, when the Qing Dynasty was full of devastation and had to sign, and now Greater China is an iron bucket, and there are no internal and external troubles at all.

Yang Rui, who wanted to take a break, arrested Ding in less than half an hour, Zhong Guanguan just laughed when he saw this, "It's done, you better go back." The Prime Minister's Office can't be opened without you. ”

Yang Rui saw that these guys had caught up with the door, so he had to rush back to the palace after a brief order. Nowadays, there are five things that are the most difficult for the formal government, one is the recognition of Greater China by various countries, except for the United States and Russia, all other countries have to see how to deal with the loans of the four countries, and if they are well handled, then the countries will naturally recognize the new government in order to borrow;

The second is the loan of the four countries' bank group, two contracts, one is the currency system and industrial loan contract, signed in March last year, the loan is 10 million pounds, 5% interest, 95% off delivery, the term is 45 years, the guarantee of this loan is the tobacco and alcohol tax and the tax revenue of the three eastern provinces and part of the salt tax, at the same time, because the bank group has to supervise the use of money, currency reform and industrial everything must be reported to the bank group before it can be implemented, the bank group does not want China to abolish the two yuan, so they have always regarded the recognition of China by various countries as a bargaining chip, in the hope of delaying or leading China's currency reform. to obtain some kind of financial privileges. But this is also one of the biggest contradictions between the new government and the banking group, Yang Rui does not want to change the currency according to the wishes of the foreigners, even if they are right, he does not want them to interfere in it. Because once this happens, the rhythm of currency reform will be disrupted, and the cost of currency reform will be doubled.

Another contract is the loan contract for the Huguang Railway. The loan of 6 million pounds was under the same terms as the previous contract, but according to the practice of Manchu railway loans, the chief engineer had to be appointed by the bank group, and many of the road construction materials, such as steel rails, had to be purchased from abroad. Even if the rails produced in China are cheaper than those imported. In order to increase steel production, Yang Rui has been thinking about how to use more steel on the railway, and shipbuilding is the focus. The railway is also the focus, and now he can't use his own steel to borrow money to build the railway, so he is unwilling. In his view, the four groups of banks could supervise the use of the loans. However, it cannot influence the payment of the railway company. You can supervise the progress of the project, but you can't decide the specific content of the project. Although there are relevant guarantee clauses in the contract, these clauses cannot be guaranteed at all because the payment is controlled by the bank syndicate during the actual construction.

The third is the rent reduction case, which is the core of land reform. Although the parliament will soon pass the guò clause, the gentry everywhere are completely opposed to it, in their opinion, since the parliament has established the protection of private property in the constitution. Then the imperial court should not urge rent reduction. These people's reasons only make people laugh and angry, and they still think that the imperial power does not go to the countryside is an unspoken rule that the imperial court should abide by. They were completely unaware that the new government had completely abandoned them and controlled the grassroots of the vast countryside by forming peasant associations.

The fourth is the currency reform case, the domestic money bank, the ticket number have been suppressed and rectified, and now there are only some remaining money bank forces and foreign banks colluding, in a vain attempt to delay the name of the currency reform to prevent the currency reform, after the rubber stock trend and the ticket number cleanup, the local financial forces have declined, but the bank group is aggressive with the previous contract with the Manchu Qing Dynasty.

The last one is the salt monopoly case, in order to collect salt tax, the country's salt is monopolized by the state, and there is no longer any salt to introduce the like, such a stride also makes those official salt dealers and private salt dealers very dissatisfied, this is not a matter of cutting off the way of money, but a matter of cutting off vitality.

When Yang Rui returned to the Zhengqing Palace, the representatives of the banking group of the four countries were already waiting, such as the representative of HSBC, Hillier, the representative of Deutsche Hua Bank, Kodas Ash, the representative of Crédit Agricole CIB, and the representative of the American banking group, Steder -- the Americans did not need to come, but the United States had to follow before it announced its withdrawal from the banking group. In addition to the representatives of the four countries, there is also the representative of the Chinese and British companies, Pu Land, a former reporter of the Times, who is now in business;

In order to appease Japan, the Manchu Qing Dynasty borrowed 10 million yen from Japan last year before signing a contract with the four banking groups, with an interest rate of 5 percent and a 97% discount for a period of 25 years. In the same way that the Shikoku banking group waited for the new government to open and renew the contract, the Japanese also wanted to renew the contract, and seeing that the Russians had obtained the Mongolian railway, they also wanted something.

The living room is full of bankers who send money to themselves, if it is in the future or a few years ago, Yang Rui will laugh and lose his teeth, but think about the current international borrowing interest rate is four percent, Japan is constantly borrowing four percent of new debt, these people give themselves five percent, plus those messy conditions, Yang Rui can't laugh at all.

Sitting up straight in the room, Yang Rui began to meet with the representatives of the banking groups of various countries, and after they got up and bowed to Yang Rui to congratulate him, his words sharpened, "Your Excellency, I heard that your country will implement a currency reform next month?" It should be noted that, according to the previous agreement, any proposal for currency reform should first be submitted to the bank group of the four countries......"

"Mr. Cyrill, our country has not formulated any currency reform plan, the silver standard is very good, we have no need to change it. Now what the government is doing is to unify the specifications of the silver dollar, which is just to facilitate the settlement of the household, if it is not for the settlement of the household, I don't think the specification of the silver dollar needs to be unified, and it was very good before. Yang Rui looked at this foreigner chirping crookedly, suppressed his dissatisfaction and began to pretend to be stupid.

"Your Excellency, the local government, the tax bureau, the gold bureau, and the banks have all accepted only new dollars, and although they will also accept other silver dollars, the discount is too high. This is already a currency reform. Hilier insisted.

"Mr. Hillier, the government doesn't stipulate what currency everyone must use, they can pay for what they need to pay with any coin, but the government also has government rules, if someone is not satisfied, then he can think of other ways." Yang Rui said that he didn't want to discuss the currency system with the bank group of the four countries, so he said: "Gentlemen. The new government is willing to borrow from you because we need money, a lot of money. Shouldn't we talk more about borrowing? ”

"The loan has already been signed. What is needed, Your Excellency, is the implementation of the Compact. "I hope that Your Excellency will pay attention to the matter of currency reform, and put aside the fact that the implementation of currency reform by the banking syndicate has violated the previous agreement. ”

"Mr. Cyrill, then let's talk about currency reform." "Even if the previous currency reform agreement is valid, the government will need to propose a currency charter before it can be implemented." When would you like to receive this coin charter. A year from now, ten years from now, a hundred years from now? The government is now just standardizing the size of the silver dollar. There has been no currency reform. After the silver dollar specifications are unified, the next step is to discuss the currency reform. If I need to borrow, I will definitely borrow. ”

"Your Excellency, the banking group believes that the unified specification of the silver dollar also falls within the scope of currency reform. Now your government is starting to do it without notifying us. This is an illegal agreement. Crédit Agricole CIB representative Jasner jumped out to help, and after he finished speaking, Kodas also said: "Your Excellency, we unanimously believe that the Chinese government has violated the previous currency loan agreement, and we hope that the government can immediately submit the currency charter and currency payment bill to the bank group for approval." ”

The foreigners stood up one after another, and in the end, although the American Stade did not express his position, he also stood up. Yang Rui saw that these bankers were aggressive, and suddenly laughed in annoyance, and he finished laughing in everyone's surprise. Then he said: "Gentlemen, if you repeatedly believe that the uniform specification of the silver dollar is a currency change. So think so. But don't forget that the previous agreement was signed with the Manchu government and was not implemented, and you did not pay a penny to the Manchu government before my soldiers occupied Beijing.

By the way, I forgot about it, the Manchu government deposits confiscated by the government are still in your banks, and I would like to know when you will unfreeze and let us take out the money? ”

"Your Excellency, you don't recognize the treaty signed between the Qing government and us?" Hillier looked at the man in front of him who couldn't hide his stubbornness, and felt very uncomfortable, unlike the obedient Manchu officials in the past, this man had no respect for himself.

"We recognize most of the agreements between the former Qing Dynasty and other countries, and if they do not, we will negotiate with governments to settle them." Yang Rui said, "As for commercial contracts, such as the current loans, because the state needs money, we hope to continue to borrow, but the previous borrowing conditions and the use of the borrowed money will be adjusted." For example, the current borrowing is only 128 million taels, which is too little, and I hope that the borrowing will be set at about 300 million taels. In addition to building railways, the money was used to buy goods from various countries, mainly machinery.

As long as you are willing to sell the goods at the right price, then we will borrow according to the size of the goods purchased. If British goods are competitive, and we think we should buy 100 million taels of goods, then we ask the UK to borrow 100 million taels; In the same way, if we need German goods, then we are like Germany borrowing money to buy. The government is now reorganizing taxes, the finances are improving, the solvency is twice as high as that of the Manchu government, and the most important thing is that the money will not be embezzled, all of it will be used in real places, and we will have enough proceeds to repay the loans.

Gentlemen, now the world's economy is sluggish, there is a large surplus of capital in various countries, bring these capital to China, but if it is only squandered by the government, it cannot stimulate the economy, this is not good for everyone, the result of borrowing is that we have more and more debts, you are more and more worried about bad debts, but if you buy goods from various countries, this can not only find a way for capital, but also find a way for goods, why not? ”

Yang Rui flickered at the bankers for a long time, but the four of them listened but did not succeed, and Hillier asked rhetorically: "Your Excellency, I would like to ask if you don't follow the previous agreement, then we are sure that the new government will follow the new agreement?" ”

"Mr. Cyril, the agreement was signed to safeguard the interests of both parties, and no one will execute an agreement that has no benefit to them." Yang Rui asked rhetorically. When everyone no longer objected, he said: "Gentlemen, I still reset my point of view, that is, currency loans should be put aside for a while, and now we want to talk about railway loans and industrial loans. Oh, and there is also the unfortunate news that the railway from Wuchang to Chongqing cannot be built due to geological reasons, so this railway can only be shelved. ”

"What?" When they heard that there was a lack of a railway, several delegates were shocked, and the Huzhou-Guangzhou Railway began to sell bonds last year, but the money had not yet been remitted to China. "What is the geological reason?"

"It is a karst cave, there are a large number of karst caves from Yichang to Chongqing, and the roadbed cannot be stabilized. This is really sad news. Yang Rui said about the information explored by the railway company, "We think that if this railway is to be built, it will be in 50 years." ”

"Then the government should compensate for that." The Frenchman Jasnerie shouted.

"Now the government is not planning redundant railways to compensate. I can only guarantee that the total amount borrowed will be higher than before. Yang Rui suddenly got a little tired of these people in front of him, he coped with it for a while, and then asked people to send them out, and the specific negotiations were handed over to the household department.

After the bank group left, he only waited for a cigarette before he saw Pu Lande of the Sino-British Company, looking at this person who was first a customs clerk, then the general office of the public concession, and now a representative of the Sino-British Railway Company, he said with a smile, "Mr. Puland's life is really enviable, he can do different jobs and change different environments." ”

Pu Lande's position in the General Office of the Public Concession was confiscated because of the Zou Rong case, and now Yang Rui's exclamation made him feel very uncomfortable, but thinking that he was here for that railway, he said very indifferently: "Mr. Prime Minister, I came to delay the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Railway, and Mr. Minister informed me that the Chinese government wants to hand over the loan from Quzhou, Zhejiang to Xiangtan, Hunan to a British company. ”

"There's such a thing." "But the premise of borrowing is to recognize the new government, and not to interfere with the borrowing and business activities of the new government and other countries," Yang said. ”

"Don't interfere?" "Do you mean Germany?" ”

"Including Germany. This time the Germans didn't get anything, so we will have some commercial cooperation with them, for example, a joint venture to set up a shipyard in Qingdao, introduce German military equipment to update the old equipment in China, and then ...... Order some torpedo boats to consolidate coastal defense or something. I don't want to lose one friend to another. Yang Rui said.

"That's all?" Pu Lande is a reporter after all, he doesn't think this is Yang Rui's true thoughts, there must be something else.

"Of course, I hope that the UK will come forward to support the government's domestic reforms, such as the acceptance of the new silver dollar by customs, after all, this is a good thing for everyone." Yang Rui said. "If there are more taxes, then there will be more railways and factories, and all of these will help the economy."

"Do you mean to scrap the two yuan?" Pu Lande asked. "This is a great thing, which can reduce a lot of hassle in traders. It would be even better if the centigold could be dismantled. ”

"Mr. Puland, it will take ten years for the matter of Li Jin to be resolved." Yang Rui is not afraid to reveal the timetable in advance, in his opinion, tariffs and centigold are one, and the premise of dismantling and removing centigold is tariff autonomy. "There are many problems in China, but if you want to solve them, you can only do them step by step, and in many cases, you can't do it quickly."

Yang Rui's open-minded appearance only made Pu Lande have a lot of good feelings for him, but when he wrote his memoirs more than ten years later - Pu Lande is good at writing autobiographies of Chinese bigwigs, and the autobiography is very distorted in order to cater to the taste of reading, he originally wanted to write a biography for Yang Rui, but he felt that he must die in front of this person, so he had to write a memoir - he refuted Yang Rui, thinking that he was actually a liar who was good at acting.

"Then, Your Excellency, there are not too many problems between us, and perhaps as long as Sir Jurdian agrees, we can sign a contract between us." Pu Lande said.

"Exactly!" Yang Rui said. "My promise will be valid for six months." He finally reminded. (To be continued......)