Now is not the time to discuss this, for Duan Qirui, it is the first thing to enrich himself and solve his own governance problems. In order to pay for the war army, he started the idea of borrowing money from the Japanese. This was also a common problem during the civil war of warlords in the early Republic of China, such as Zhang Zuolin, who borrowed money from the Japanese several times to buy arms.

Japan responded positively to Duan Qirui's beckoning. In order to lend money to China, a special bank group was formed with the three banks of North Korea, Taiwan, and Industrial Bank, and the total amount of loans was as high as 220 million yen, which was handled by the Japanese Nishihara Kamezo, and later became the famous "Nishihara Loan" in official history, which was quite controversial in history.

World War I resulted in two outbreaks, one for the United States and the other for Japan. During World War I, Japan's foreign trade was greatly surpassed, its financial power was significantly enhanced, and there was even inflation due to the surplus of domestic currency, which was a major background to Japan's ability to borrow heavily from China at that time. However, what the Nishihara and Terauchi cabinets really want is not to do a short-term small business that pays off the principal and interest and settles the money in the pocket, but what they want to do is to do a medium- and long-term big business, to support Duan Qirui and help him succeed, in order to thoroughly improve Sino-Japanese relations that have deteriorated since the "21 Articles." Nishihara personally told Zhang Zongxiang that the temple longed for a strong person in China who could take on the important task of unifying China, and this person was Duan Qirui.

Optimistic about and supporting Duan Qirui's administration is indeed the true will of the temple. Since then, although the tide of China's political arena has ebbed and fallen, and new strongmen have continued to appear in the military and political circles of the north and south, and some of them have overshadowed Duan Qirui, but until the temple stepped down, it has never looked forward to and maneuvered with anyone other than Duan Qirui, which can really be regarded as very thorough and unwavering.

Regarding Duan Qirui's request for a loan, the cabinet in the temple almost did not refuse. From 1917 to 1918, Nishihara alone handled a total of eight loans to China, which were collectively referred to as "Nishihara Loans". On one occasion, Nishihara lent three times in one day, each for 20 million yen. The total amount of the "Nishihara loan" before and after reached 145 million yen, but it still only accounted for a part of Duan Qirui's loan to Japan, and some people counted the total amount to 500 million yen (some sources believe that it was close to 400 million yen). These loans were ostensibly borrowed by the Bank of Taiwan, the Bank of Korea, and the Industrial Bank of Japan, but in fact they were all funds allocated by the Japanese government from the national treasury reserves.

In order to cover up people's eyes, most of the loans were signed in the name of transportation, banking, railways, forestry and mining, telecommunications, etc. Five of the eight loans in the "Xiyuan Loan" were in the name of running a transportation business, and the amount reached 90 million yuan. In the process of operation, the Ministry of Communications of China first collects money and then "lends" it to the Ministry of Finance to make up for the shortfall in various military and political expenditures.

Ye Gonghui, as the deputy minister of communications, believes that the money was borrowed in the name of the Ministry of Communications, and it is the responsibility of the Ministry of Communications to repay the principal and interest, so he advocated that the loan should be kept in the special fund of the Ministry of Communications, so that in the future, "business development, profit increase, and hope of returning" can be returned. He went to see Duan Qirui in person and proposed: "This kind of loan has no economic plan, and the borrowed money is used casually, how will the principal and interest be repaid in the future?" ”

Duan Qirui didn't say anything about this, but said: "The Ministry of Finance should have a way to make overall plans." ”

The Ministry of Finance is a department that uses money, and there is no way to coordinate or make money. Ye Gongqiu asserted: "Prime Minister, if you do this, the principal and interest of Xiyuan's loan will eventually fail, and what will we use to repay it at that time?" ”

Duan Qirui is not a fool, he is very clear about these things. In fact, when he first planned to borrow, he didn't plan to pay it back, and he often told people around him: "Let's use Japan for a while." Who is going to repay these loans? When the time comes, the stare will be over. ”

The reason why Duan Qirui dared to "stare at it all in one go" was because all Japanese loans, including the "Nishihara Loan", had loopholes that could be exploited. Their borrowing conditions are very low, and they all use wires, forests and other nominal things as collateral, which is equivalent to a blank check, even if the Chinese government does not repay the loan in the end, the Japanese creditor's side cannot dispose of the agreed collateral---- wires, forests and the like cannot be realized at all!

In fact, in history, the Chinese government actually paid off only one loan, that is, the first loan from the Bank of Communications in the "Xiyuan Loan", and the rest became a "big indiscriminate account". According to the loan contract, the Japanese side paid all the money in full, did not receive kickbacks and commissions, and later failed to recover even the principal and interest; from this point of view, it is equivalent to the Japanese government using its own treasury money to pay the expenses of the Chinese government, and the Chinese side has indeed taken a big advantage.

Of course, as the prime minister, Duan Qirui himself would not sign such an agreement to be targeted by his political enemies, and he wanted to keep a useful body out of the matter so that he could have room for flexibility, and this harmed Cao Rulin, Lu Zongyu, and Zhang Zongxiang, who handled the loans to Japan, and they all became "traitors" known to the whole country during the May Fourth Movement. Duan Qirui was already in the wilderness at that time, so he avoided this public case.

However, the Japanese still made some sweetness from it, and China's losses due to the Xiyuan loan were: the Jichang Railway, the Jihui Railway, and the Manchurian-Mongolian Fourth Road were all mortgaged; the transfer of the management of radio stations and cable telecommunications enterprises; the transfer of gold mines and forests in Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces; the transfer of Shandong Jishun and Gaoxu railways; the loss of the exchange of letters on the Shandong issue; The Chinese army participating in the war must use Japanese officers for training, etc.

Although there was a later incident in the official history of the "Xiyuan loan" that was lost, it was because many things happened in China later: Lao Duan was not in power, Fengwan fought one after another, the Kuomintang Northern Expedition was successful, the Central Plains War, and the Japanese launched the "September 18 Incident". But as far as the facts are concerned, this is just a coincidence. If it weren't for those things, how would Duan Qirui manage to repay the principal and interest of the loan? Is it possible to take advantage of the greed and evil of the Japanese and want to profit from them? If you don't do it well, it will bring even greater losses to China. Fortunately, history cannot be assumed.

However, Duan Qirui's luck was replaced by the great misfortune of the Chinese nation. Because of the desire for financial abundance and the implementation of the dream of reunification by force, Duan Qirui did not hesitate to drink to quench his thirst, cut off his national power, and let Japan borrow money to seize China's interests, which cannot be forgiven in any way.

At the same time, the Japanese government proposed that China and Japan jointly set up the Phoenix Mountain Iron Mine, with China and Japan each investing 25 million yuan, and that Chinese capital could be substituted by Japan, and proposed to build a steel plant in Pukou, hire Japanese technicians, and supervise Lu Zongyu.

The news first came out of the English-language Beijing Daily in Beijing, where Duan believed that the secret treaty had been deliberately leaked by the presidential administration, and that Feng Guozhang had deliberately fueled the flames and indulged opposition. Because Li Chun, the overseer of Jiangsu, convened a secret military meeting in Nanjing, the result of the meeting: not only put forward a demand for the cancellation of the ordnance loan, but also put forward a request for a reshuffle of the cabinet, because they believed that there were pro-Japanese elements in the cabinet, so it was necessary to reshuffle. Not only was Li Chun, the overseer of Jiangsu, opposed, but other overseers in his direct line, such as Chen Guangyuan, the overseer of Jiangxi, and Wang Zhanyuan, the overseer of Hubei, all sent a telegram to the government to make it clear. It should be emphasized that they are all Feng Guozhang's support group and are directly related.

Limited to the Portsmouth Agreement, north of Changchun was Russia's sphere of influence, and although Japan coveted it, it had no power to annex it. At this time, on the eve of the October Revolution in Russia, the Russian aristocracy and the old bureaucrats in the hinterland of China were already feeling uneasy about the impending rain and the wind was full of buildings, and the Japanese government wanted to take the opportunity to test the bottom limit of Tsarist Russia's policy in China, and to find out the attitude of the warlords in the northeast, first of all, Zhang Zuolin, toward Japan.

Russia is a donkey that will not fall, and the Russian sphere of influence north of Changchun is directly laid out. After the February Revolution, neither the two factions in power, nor the Provisional Government of the Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies or the Provisional Government of the bourgeoisie, could agree to anything detrimental to the interests of the state, even though the Russian army was beaten all over the European battlefield by the Allies.

Zhang Hanqing and Zhang Zuolin also disagreed: the first and third articles were directly related to Northeast affairs, and they really did not want the Japanese to interfere too much in Northeast affairs, let alone Duan Qirui to enrich himself with this means---- you must know that the Anhui system is using the state as a mortgage in exchange for its own benefits, which is a disguised loss for other warlords. Although Duan Qirui deliberately avoided the interests of Fengtian, who was in charge of his government, in order to encircle Zhang Zuolin, Zhang Zuolin, who regarded Jilin and Heilongjiang as his backyard, still opposed Duan Qirui in his heart.

However, when Duan Qirui's government signed a 30 million yen loan with Japan for the gold mine forest in Heiji Province was exposed, Zhang Zuolin was very angry, and he asked the State Council a stern question. Because the contract had been signed, Duan had to send his henchman Zeng Yujun to the northeast to explain in person. Zhang reprimanded Zeng and said: "My surname Zhang has been committed to the Northeast for many years, and I have not given up an inch of land to foreigners, and in order to borrow money to raise soldiers, they have even sold the ancestral graves of ordinary people on the ground and above, and I will never admit it!" ”

No matter what method is used, Duan Qirui's participating army cannot be established. First, it is not beneficial to the country, and second, it is not conducive to the development of the Feng system. However, Zhang Hanqing knew that Duan Qirui still had to occupy a major position in Chinese history, and it was not beneficial to tear his face with him at this time. There was no way, he had to indirectly disclose this news to the outside world through various channels, with his understanding of history, this loan would eventually fail, so why should he be a villain?

The person who reported in the "Beijing Daily" was Zhang Hanqing.

Duan Qirui sent military police to arrest Chen Youren, the chief writer of the "Beijing Daily", and then closed down the "Beijing Daily". As a result, it became an uproar at home and abroad, and it was rumored from all sides: "China's ordnance will be managed by Japan, and all provincial arsenals and coal and iron mines will also be controlled by Japan." As a result, the people of the whole country and various groups unanimously opposed the ordnance loan and the Phoenix Mountain mining contract, and demanded that the Duan cabinet declare the truth.

The desecration of the "open door" policy could not be tolerated, and the US minister also protested against the Chinese military arms loan, and also demanded the publication of the Phoenix Mountain mining contract; The British envoy believed that the Yangtze River valley was a British sphere of influence and that Japan could not be allowed to get involved.

Li Chun, the overseer of Jiangsu, pointed out that Phoenix Mountain is under the jurisdiction of Jiangsu, which is a matter of local issues, and the opinions of the local authorities should be sought before signing the contract. The tone was that even if the Cabinet signed a mining treaty, he would not allow the Japanese to come and mine iron ore. It doesn't matter, he is a direct line, Duan is an Anhui family, and the two families are already incompatible.

was worried that he could not stop Duan Qirui's pace, and a major event made the pace of "Xiyuan Loan" for military purposes suddenly stopped. It was Zhang Hanqing who promoted this matter.