Excellency:

The telegrams I have sent in recent months have enabled you to understand the serious changes in the situation in China and the measures taken by the Qing government to deal with the most severe crisis in recent years.

Over the past few years, people have foreseen signs of turmoil in the Qing Dynasty. As you know, the rebellion in Zhejiang, as well as rebellions throughout the country, was not only because of the instigation of revolutionaries, but also because of the tax policy of the Qing government, which made the peasants and citizens feel dissatisfied. Now there were about hundreds of thousands of peasants rebelling in various parts of the empire, and these rebellions did not even understand how they happened, but they did happen.

According to what I learned from Mr. Wu Jinshun in Chongqing, on the 15th of this month, there was another rebellion in Hezhou, Chongqing, because of "donations", the rebels were also a group of peasants, who explicitly demanded that the emperor close the parliament and punish the corrupt officials, and the rebels arrested the local officials, and tried them according to the laws of the Qing Dynasty, as in the Hangzhou rebellion for several years, and one official was released because he had no evidence or the crime was too light, while the other two officials were sentenced to death. As in other places, the rebels did not target foreigners, and they understood that the slogan was no longer "help the Qing Dynasty and destroy the foreigners" but "oppose the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty". Pastor Green's assault was a complete misunderstanding, and he thought it was another punching fight, but it was clear that he was mistaken.

Because it was the sixth rebellion of the year, the report did not cause the same panic in Beijing as last year's Shandong rebellion. Beijing has issued a series of edicts. I have attached a copy of these edicts. Now the emperor has appointed a Han minister, Cen Chunxuan, as the governor of Sichuan, to replace the previously dismissed governor.

General public opinion thinks. This rebellion will be the same as other rebellions elsewhere, the rebels will not attack everywhere, they will only govern themselves within a certain area. Recently, however, a different view has been expressed that this is a situation deliberately created by the emperor in order to close the parliament, because the emperor has been trying to find a way to reclaim the powers granted to the diet. Lieutenant Colonel Ge Winter in Shanghai said that he had recently received information that the rebellion was apparently launched by Yang Jingcheng, the commander of the Renaissance Society, and that he believed that the Renaissance Society would launch a war to seize Beijing in the near future, but. He had no way of explaining why the rebellion had taken place in distant Chongqing, more than a thousand miles from Beijing.

As I said earlier, the Revival has become an immeasurable force in the empire. They found a descendant of the Ming Empire, which had been ruined by the Qing Empire, as a caller for rebellion, and the identity of the royal family had gained recognition. Now, some of the inhumane things that happened in the early days of the Qing Empire are repeatedly mentioned in various places, and the photos of this member of the royal family are constantly transported by the rebels to various parts of the empire. There are many people who already believe that the new emperor will reduce taxes. And give them a better life. According to Lieutenant Colonel Gavant's judgment, it was the Revival Society that promoted this qiē.

The Qing government also understood that there was a potential connection between the rebellion and the revival in various places, and in addition to raising the reward offered by Yang Jingcheng, the commander of the revival society, to 1 million taels, Premier Zai Ze also personally visited the legation yesterday. In this regard, I reiterate the position of my Government: that is, it does not recognize any government composed of rebels, and fully supports the Qing Government in suppressing rebellions everywhere, and will strike at the rebels when appropriate and necessary.

Zhu Erdian, Beijing, August 20, 1910

Foreign Minister Gray quickly scanned Zhu Erdian's call, his brows furrowed. He asked the secretary next to him, "How many times has he mentioned the Revival?" ”

"Your Excellency, this is the seventh time." The secretary had read the telegram before. I'm very familiar with the content.

"Do they have what it takes to rule the entire empire?" Gray asked again.

"Apparently not, Your Excellency. They only have the ability to create unrest. The secretary said.

"Then let John continue to warn the Renaissance that any rebellion in the Yangtze River valley will be opposed by Great Britain." After Gray finished instructing his secretary, he put down Jurdian's telegram and began to think about the increasingly serious arms race with Germany.

It was already four days before the London directive reached Beijing and then from Beijing to Shanghai, and when the channel for Hetong guòMI5 was told to Yang Rui by the Foreign Affairs Office. However, Yang Rui's friendliness and frequent advice to the British were not taken seriously, and all the plans for the uprising were carried out very well, and the Menmengou Mining Company had become the coal mining company second only to Kaiping in the north, and the first batch of capable soldiers had entered the mine, and Xu Xilin had also obtained the position of Wanping County Commander, but the people of the League hated him to the core—in order to win the trust of the Manchus, he was not a revolutionary party, and he arrested a lot of backbones of the Revival Society and the League in Anhui.

In addition to Beijing, the base areas are also developing well, Yizhou, Ganzhou, Shangluo, Pingxiang, and Longyan are all on the right track, and Qingyuan and Dabie Mountain will also be launched in half a year. However, with the two powerful base areas of Yanzhou and Yizhou, and at the same time there were spontaneous rebellions of peasants in various places, and the whole country rebelled, and these rebellions arranged by the Renaissance Society could not arouse the attention of the Manchus and public opinion at all, and they regarded this rebellion as a spontaneous rebellion of the peasants, believing that it could be quelled as long as they sent a little troops to conscript to appease them. However, the truth is not as one might think, it was a series of organized and purposeful riots, but there were too many rebellions in the Manchu Qing and now they do not see their significance.

The domestic form shì is good, but the foreign form shì is really bad. Although Germany did not send troops to attack Yizhou, it also solemnly warned that the revolutionary army was forbidden to approach the Jiaoji Railway, and signed an arms loan of 25 million marks with the Manchus; The United States, although not allied with the Manchu Qing Dynasty, openly stated that it did not support the Qing rebels; Britain's attitude has remained the same, forbidding the revival to wage war in the Yangtze River valley; France and Japan, one from potential support to non-support, and the other from potential opposition to support, the reason for this is still Zhu Kuan-sui. As long as it is republican, the French support it; As long as it is imperial, then the Japanese support it, and Russia is the same as Japan. It was both imperial and ostracized by the Guangxu court, hoping to gain additional benefits by supporting the revolution.

After Japan and Russia released their goodwill, Yang Rui sent Xie Zhangtai to explore the way. The two countries do not know the details of the revival association, and they are both lions with big mouths, one wants Outer Mongolia, and the other wants South Manchurian and Eastern Mongolia. In comparison, the Russians are more honest, they only want Outer Mongolia, while Japan not only wants South Manchuria but also East Mongolia. There is even the idea of pulling China together against Russia.

Yang Rui still set the asking price very high as before, especially after he found out that he had misjudged the price of the cannonballs (12 yuan/round was regarded by him as 2 yen/round). The aid demanded was as high as 300 million yen, which made the negotiators smack their tongues for a while, and the price given was only to expel Russia and make South Manchuria and the whole of Mongolia a Japanese sphere of influence.

The Japanese were scared away. The Russian side is much more honest. In addition to not ceding land, the other conditions were agreed to by the Revival Association, and Yang Rui also carefully prepared two railways, one was the railway from Lake Berga through Mongolia to Zhangjiakou, and the other was the railway from Xinjiang to Lanzhou. Both railways are very tempting, not only because of the great economic benefits, but also because they could allow Russia to include Mongolia and Xinjiang in the near future, but the Russians are too greedy for land. I didn't want to slow down, I just wanted to enter immediately, and I didn't agree for a while.

Xie Jintai came back empty-handed. Yang Rui was not surprised at all, in the final analysis, the Japanese were too stingy, and the Russians were too greedy. But there is such a meaning in the Northeast, Yang Rui does not want assistance, but wants Japan and Russia to either allow or hesitate, and permission and hesitation can allow the Fuxing Society to occupy the entire Northeast and Mongolia when the uprising is raised. As for military spending, the submarine project returned 17 million marks, or $4.3 million, and 5.8 million taels of silver, and the export of soybeans has reached 1 million tons, and the sales of shortening have exceeded 30 million pounds, and the profits of the two together have exceeded 7 million dollars.

Although a field army was later added to the establishment of an additional field army for fear of insufficient troops, and 11 million taels would be required for the 11 field divisions to be armed, the Fuxing Association would no longer be responsible for the food and salary of the troops in the base areas, and even if it were not for the inconvenience of transportation, the base areas would be able to feed back to the General Assembly. And what really has to be paid is only the four divisions in South Africa and the subsidy for the Mentougou coal mine.

What the Revival Association is lacking is the funds after the occupation of the whole country, 10 years and 11 years of business profits have a surplus of 14 million taels, rubber stocks can have about 20 million taels of income (but half of this money has to be returned to the acquisition of the bankrupt bank), and finally the gold, the sum of the three is about 50 million, and the rest is to see how much silver can be found in the capital, how many loans the Kwantung Bank can provide, and how many donations can be made from overseas - now Sheng Shudong has completely become another Kang Youwei, Running around with the holy decree, in fact, it is not running around, under the ban of Britain, the United States, France and the Netherlands, the only place he can stay in is South America, but even so, there are still many local overseas Chinese who admire Tian's grace, and some fierce people are bankrupt to help the emperor restore the country. For more than 200 years, it is really puzzling that Qianming still has such popularity.

In addition to the founding funds, there are also diplomatic matters. Before going to war, it is necessary to negotiate with the great powers one by one, and during the war, it is necessary to communicate with the great powers, so it can be said that wars often start at the negotiating table. In the attic in the Catholic church, Xie Jintai was reporting to Yang Rui the results of his last trip.

Now the situation in Europe is tense, they don't like revolution in China, because revolution often means war, their interests in China are the greatest, and they have fewer troops in the Far East, so they are not only worried that their interests will be lost because of the war, but also that their interests before the revolution cannot be ensured. Churchill said that if we change people, not the dynasty, he promised that we would be able to persuade the country to support the Renaissance. ”

"Hehe, do you want to change people?" Yang Rui smiled, "He can really think about it." In the Manchu court, it was the same for whoever changed. Besides, if you don't squeeze out the money of the Manchu elites, what will the country do in the future? It's a shame that he came up with it! ”

"In fact, the British don't care who is in charge, what they want is that their interests cannot be lost, their rights and interests cannot be reduced, no matter how they talk about it. If we want to break through, unless there is a great change in the country, then they have to support us. Xie Zhangtai said, he has a thorough understanding of the attitude of the British, and he has made friends with all the people he should befriend, and the rest is to see how Chongzhen's plan is implemented.

"Brother Chong'an. If Beijing is served in a pot, then the British...... It's not," Yang Rui didn't mean something. "There is a trend in everything, and once Beijing is stopped, I am afraid that the trend will not go to the good side, but to the bad side. If those Manchu princes and Baylor hadn't caught them all, but hid in Dongjiaomin Alley and encouraged foreigners to help save the country, it would have been difficult to do. ”

The more Yang Rui thinks about it, the more he drills the horns. thinks that although foreigners have no reason to help the Manchus, if there are a few stupid foreigners, then things will go to the bad side. No one can fully grasp the direction of the situation. A lot of times it's just a matter of luck.

Seeing that Yang Rui was thinking too much, Xie Jintai said: "Actually, it is impossible for foreigners to help the Manchus, at most they can only take in a few Manchu nobles as a means to stimulate us in the future." But that's not to get in the way of the bigger picture. ”

Yang Rui also knew that he had thought about it. He just said: "I still don't talk about this." What did Roosevelt say on that side? Where are the others? ”

"Others are in Africa, they went there to hunt last year, and now they are estimated to be in the UK. He did not approve of Taft's policy at all, but because the two were so familiar that he could not accuse him of anything in vain. He's going to do it now, and we're going to wait for the next president to be elected, so he can be sure to convince Congress to support us. ”

"The next president, won't it be until 1912?" Yang Rui smiled, "Now the Republican Party is tending to be divided. How can he guarantee that the next president will stand ...... us" Speaking of this, Yang Rui understood and said, "Do you mean." Does he want to run for president next? ”

"He didn't mean it, but I think he did." Xie Jintai judged, "Taft is too real to do things, Roosevelt is very empty, and the places where Roosevelt played with great fanfare are now all done by Taft solidly." This made Taft think that he was carrying out Roosevelt's strategy, when in fact he was doing exactly what Roosevelt opposed. And the things on the political zhì can only be understood and unspeakable, in the final analysis, Taft is too stupid to be the president's material. It is said that he originally wanted to be a justice, but his wife wanted to taste the first lady and encouraged him to run for president. ”

Originally, I thought that Taft's gold dollar diplomacy would be beneficial to the revival meeting, but because the revival society did not come out of any benefit for a while, the Americans immediately turned to the arms of the Manchus, and it was really better than the spot. Yang Rui sighed in his heart, and asked again: "Then how is Roosevelt's health, can he still support being president for a year?" ”

"I think I can, although one eye is blind, the other can still see clearly. The body is also very strong, and it should not be a big deal to work for a few more years. Xie said.

"He is the ......president," Yang Rui thought, he did not fully understand those presidents of the United States, only remembered Hoover, Roosevelt Jr., Kennedy and the like, and had no impression of the presidents of the first and twenties, so he had to say: "Then privately support his candidacy, if he can be elected, it would be great." And this time, have you been to New York, what do the people in the banking syndicate say? ”

"The people in the banking syndicate didn't say anything." Xie was a little worried. "Now, by means of pressure from their alliance with Germany and China, they have squeezed into the banks of the four countries. The case of the nationalization of the railways, the reform of the currency, and the revitalization of industry all added up to more than 10 million pounds, and the Americans were able to get a share of the loan of 20 to 30 million US dollars, which temporarily satisfied their appetite. So instead of supporting the revolution, they were worried that the revolution would cause damage, and I was worried about the rubber stocks. ”

"How so? Did they hear something? Yang Rui suddenly became vigilant, he was worried that the matter of rubber stocks would be repeated, after all, history has changed too much.

"It's not. They didn't hear anything. I'm just worried that now that foreigners are on the side of the Manchus, once there is anything abnormal in Shanghai and the London stock market, then things will not be easy. "Xie Zhangtai is now getting higher and higher, and he is clear about most of the plans in the meeting.

"Our first goal is money, and the second is to bankrupt money banks everywhere, and even if we can't reach the second goal, then we can achieve the first goal." Probably sitting for too long, Yang Rui only stood up, and the wooden floor slab creaked as he stepped on. "Besides, the price of rubber is indeed too high. As long as there is any rumor in the United States, and someone takes the opportunity to sell, we can also sell on a large scale to increase the momentum of stock price collapse. Xingjian will come in a while, let's see what he has to say. ”

The scale of Tianzi is getting bigger and bigger, and the plate of Kanto Bank is getting bigger and bigger. Although the bank is called Kanto, the focus of its business has gradually shifted to Kannai. Small notes, lending to farmers, stock market speculation. These businesses were gradually developed with the support of the profits of the Northeast business. It's just that with the change of attitude of foreigners, Citibank, which was originally good, has now begun to be slightly hostile, and only the ABN AMRO has a better and better relationship because of Yu Qiaqing. It was supposed to provide an additional channel of financing and loans for the Kanto Bank, but it was an idle move at that time, but now it is the only foreign aid.

Today's Kanto Bank is no longer only divided into two parts, inside and outside the customs, but into two parts: domestic and foreign, domestic Kanto Bank, overseas Chinese bank, two brands and one set of people. At present, a foreign financial system has been established based on OCBC Bank of Honolulu, OCBC Bank of Nanyang, OCBC Bank of South America, and OCBC Bank of North America. Foreign trade, overseas Chinese industry, overseas Chinese remittances, international exchanges, foreign bank import and export, foreign exchange trading, these businesses have been slowly done. These foreign branches were struggling at first, but now they have been in operation for several years. Business is also getting better and better.

With the combination of foreign and domestic links, Kanto Bank has a greater advantage over foreign banks and government-run banks. and foreign banks. It can be connected to most counties in the country. Although the county's bank may not be its branch, at least the bank is also part of the network; Compared with the government-run bank, it can directly access any place where there are overseas Chinese, and has close ties with the chambers of commerce and guilds in these places. Although many of the bank's top executives are foreigners, all the business offices and business managers are overseas Chinese. Such a bank can no longer be called a bank. It has become a financial gang that spans both domestic and foreign borders.

It was Zhang Kun, who felt that his power was getting bigger and bigger, and he became more and more uneasy, and he suggested several times to separate domestic and foreign business and resign. But Yang Rui just didn't allow it. In fact, it's not that Yang Rui doesn't allow it, but now the Revival Association is laundering money through the Kanto Bank, and the annual income is nearly 10 million taels, such a large amount of money is not something that ordinary institutions can clean, and OCBC Bank must combine with the Kanto Bank to do this. And now that the righteousness is imminent, there is no need to finish the rubber stocks, Yang Rui does not want to divide the two lines and cause distraction, or wants to wait for the revolution to do the split.

Yang Rui thought about Zhang Kun, and Zhang Kun came with Liu Boyuan and Wang Xiaolin, and the foreign and domestic, money and political circles always have to cooperate with this matter. Yang Rui first introduced Xie Zhangtai to everyone, and then said: "What happened to the United States?" Now that the rubber has risen to thirteen shillings, and it has been calculated to be more than three dollars per pound, can Ford still bear it? ”

"Sir, they can't help it, Ford and these automakers have sent frequent letters to the State Department, asking the government to intervene in the price of rubber, arguing that the British and Dutch cannot be allowed to take all the money. It is estimated that the State Council will soon introduce a policy. Zhang Kun replied to Yang Rui's words, but he paid attention to Xie Jintai, who was sitting on the side, this was the first time he had seen Mr. Seven.

"And how did you arrange it on your side?" Yang Rui asked again.

"The stock I bought before was polished when it rose to twelve shillings, and now I have left in my hand as ammunition the shares of those shell rubber companies in the South Seas, worth about seven million taels. These stocks usually have little impact on the stock market, but if the unfavorable news comes one after another, it can still play a big role. Zhang Kun said.

"How much money do you make now?" Yang Rui thought about the noisy rubber stock market, and suddenly thought of money.

Seeing that there were high-level people around him, Zhang Kun hesitated and said, "After throwing the last seven million, it will be more than 20 million taels." ”

His answer only surprised everyone who didn't know the details, and Xie Zhangtai said: "Then the money for the war is already there." ”

Yang Rui shook his head, "The money for the war has long been available, and asking Japan for money is just to stabilize it." Money isn't an issue now. After he finished speaking, money is not a problem, and said: "If the stock price falls sharply, will there be a pallet over there?" ”

Zhang Kun and Liu Boyuan glanced at each other and said: "We thought we would, but now we judge that they won't, but they will hope that the stock will crash." Zaize is rectifying the financial market, now most of the money banks have silver invested in rubber stocks, once the collapse, the money banks will go bankrupt in large numbers, Zaize Sheng Xuanhuai can just take over those money banks, implement currency reform. (To be continued......)