The death of Yuan Datou and the convening of the Paris Peace Conference were the highest priority for John!

Since history took another fork in the road, when Yuan Datou gave up the throne and chose the terms of the Huntelaar consortium, the cooperation between the two sides has been very pleasant. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 infoYuan Datou received a large number of loans and advanced weapons, which in turn consolidated the position of Beiyang, and even his life lasted for more than two years; The Huntelaar consortium has received strong government support, and its development in China, whether it is industry, finance or education, is smooth sailing!

Therefore, John is still quite sorry for the death of Yuan Datou.

But fortunately, he was succeeded by Duan Qirui, who had studied in Germany, and was also a strong supporter of the government's cooperation with the Huntelaar consortium, so John was quite relieved. And John is more interested in this guy's toughness, and in history, he sent his henchman Xu Shuzheng to take advantage of the civil unrest in Russia to recover Mongolia, and John has always remembered it......

While John was celebrating his birthday, two telegrams were sent from New York to Beijing.

One is a message of condolence to mourn the death of President Yuan, and the other is a congratulatory message to congratulate President Duan on his assumption of power. In addition to the two telegrams on the surface, the owner of the Huntelaar consortium wrote two more handwritten letters to Duan Qirui, sending his own congratulatory gifts to the new president in his own way......

……

"Sizzle......"

After reading the first letter in his hand, Duan Qirui couldn't help but gasp, and handed the letter to the staff next to him: "One hundred million dollars!" This Mr. Huntelaar is such a big deal! ”

Duan Qirui, who has just taken over, knows nothing more than what $100 million means.

The reputation of the Beiyang government in history is extremely bad, in addition to the beginning of Yuan Datou as the emperor, the subsequent government disputes, warlord melee and so on are all criticized. Although many people later overturned the case for Beiyang, such as enlightened policies, encouraging industry, etc., an indisputable fact is there, that is, the famous Beiyang government is completely maintained by borrowing money!

A simple comparison says it all.

In contrast, before 1937, the government of the Republic of China borrowed a total of more than 300 million legal currency, mainly from Britain, France and Germany, mainly to railways and agriculture; During the reign of the Beiyang government, 43 percent of the foreign debt of more than 1.5 billion oceans was spent on the army, which happened to be the number of loans to Japan!

Of course, the times are different, and it is true that there is no simple comparison.

Moreover, with the large number of factories and enterprises invested by the Huntelaar consortium, and the huge stimulus of the First World War, China's economic situation is much better than that of the same period in history, and the central government's fiscal revenue has also tripled. But the weak foundation is not so easy to make up, can you imagine John? The $100 million provided by Mr. Huntelaar in one breath is equivalent to a huge amount of more than 200 million oceans, what does it mean to Duan Qirui, who has just come to power!

And......

Although China's development has been rapid in recent years, the reunification of the whole country has cost more money!

Yuan Datou has been working hard in the past few years, although with the full support of the Huntelaar consortium, the central government is extremely strong in terms of economic strength and military strength, far from being comparable to those local forces, but it is still not easy to let them obediently put down the power and army in their hands, instead of nominally belonging to the central government. Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and the areas they radiate are fine, and the power of the Huntelaar consortium has spread to almost all aspects, but in areas such as the northwest, southwest, and south, where the revolutionary party is deeply rooted, it will depend on water milling to recover.

Military reunification was the fastest, but under the persuasion of Mr. Huntelaar, Yuan Datou chose the path of peaceful reunification.

In order to achieve this goal, the central government has to incur a large deficit every year. For example, if a strong army wants to produce sufficient deterrence, it must first be able to quickly drive to various regions, so in recent years, the Ministry of Railways has invested heavily every year to build railways to the south, southwest, and northeast; In order to keep the local forces honest and obedient, the central government also maintains a large annual allocation for the reorganization of their armies and the development of the local economy......

"Moreover, there are still no political conditions!"

After quickly reading the telegram in his hand, the staff also smiled happily: "It's exactly the same as before, president, this is great news!" With this $100 million in funds, we don't have to worry about arranging for those soldiers who return home......"

"yes!"

Taking a deep breath, Duan Qirui's face also showed a happy smile.

Now that the war in Europe was completely over, the plans for the return of Chinese laborers and expeditionary forces were naturally on the table. According to the agreement reached with the Entente countries, from April 1918, the laborers and expeditionary forces would be withdrawn to China in batches until August, and the cost of the evacuation would be provided by Britain, France and other countries.

What the Chinese government has to do is to consider how to resettle these workers and troops.

This is not two or three hundred thousand laborers in history, you must know that in two years, China has provided a total of two million laborers and 1.2 million troops to Europe! After they return to China in batches, just relocating them is enough to give any government a headache!

In fact, two million laborers were the best solution, and although the time to Europe was long and short, they were more or less trained in the situation of the shortage of skilled workers in the Entente countries, and at least half a million of them had been converted into full-fledged skilled workers. For China, where modern industry is developing rapidly, there is no need to worry about the resettlement of these people, and a large part of it can be absorbed by the booming factories in various places.

The only thing that worries people is the army of nearly a million!

The total number of expeditionary forces sent by China to Europe was as high as 1.2 million, and the brutal war also caused heavy losses to these troops, with 360,000 killed and 140,000 disabled! In other words, the number of servicemen who will return to China in the next few months will be as high as more than 800,000, of which 140,000 are disabled!

The pension of the dead and disabled servicemen alone is an astronomical amount!

The first death in battle will be given two hundred oceans, and the families will receive one hundred oceans every year for ten years; The first disability is issued to 100 oceans, and then 50 oceans per year for 20 years. This figure is not high, but it will require a one-time investment of nearly 100 million oceans in the first year alone, and 40 million oceans per year after that. For the Chinese government, this burden is simply too heavy......

Even if the war reparations can be made up, they have to wait for others to pay for themselves, right?

"But...... This Mr. Huntelaar is really rich! ”

After being happy, Duan Qirui couldn't help but sigh: "A country as big as ours, with a population of tens of thousands, it is very difficult for the whole country to come up with 100 million US dollars, but this Mr. Huntelaar can give us an understatement, and it is an interest-free loan...... This is the real rich country! ”

"Hehe, yes."

Nodding, the staff chuckled and said, "For this Mr. Huntelaar, 100 million dollars is really not a big number, you must know that in this war in Europe alone, he may earn more than ten times as much!" ”

"Oh? Ten times?! ”

After hearing this, Duan Qirui couldn't help but widen his eyes.

"At least ten times, I'm afraid it's more!"

Taking a deep breath, the staff patiently explained: "You know, the Huntelaar consortium is almost his personal industry, and in this war, they almost monopolized the supply of aircraft, tanks and radios to the Entente, and these alone can earn hundreds of millions of dollars, right?" Not to mention that the Huntelaar consortium also provided them with a large number of processed minerals, rubber, explosives, etc., which were the most sought-after war materials...... Oh, by the way, all the products that our China supplied to the Entente, they also made a 10% profit, you can calculate it yourself......"

"Sizzle...... Really! ”

After thinking about it for a while, Duan Qirui gasped again!

He didn't know how much the Huntelaar consortium earned, but Duan Qirui had some spectrum of how much China had sold to the Entente countries in recent years -- the figure he knew alone would not be less than a billion dollars! That is, from the export of goods from China alone, the Huntelaar consortium earned at least 100 million dollars!

Thinking of this, Duan Qirui couldn't help but smile bitterly: "It seems that this 100 million dollars is just returning the money we earned!" ”

"Uh...... The same cannot be said for that. ”

Shaking his head, the staff chuckled, "Although they have made some money from it, but ...... If they were not sold directly to the British and French through the Huntelaar consortium, the price of these goods would have been kept very low, and it would have been better to hand them over to the Huntelaar consortium. After all, in front of Britain and France, we are not as strong as that gentleman! ”

"Hmm......"

After pondering for a moment, Duan Qirui nodded slowly.

He was not a very unreasonable person, so he naturally understood that the words of the staff were not unreasonable, so after smiling, Duan Qirui looked forward to the second letter in his hand even more. Quickly opened the letter, Duan Qirui swept it through it at a glance, and then his expression changed greatly under the gaze of the staff, and a shocked look appeared on his face......