Hu Xueyan knew that Liu Chang was going to test his skills, and he immediately talked eloquently: "In the villain's opinion, the inspection will inevitably turn Ningbo Port into a concession land, no, it is not a concession land, it can only be regarded as a special area!" At that time, it will be co-chaired by Ningbo Chinese and foreigners, and a board of directors will be set up......"

Liu Chang nodded, Hu Xueyan is really Hu Xueyan, he is by no means a simple character, just with such a little bit of information, it is almost as good as he guessed.

Liu Chang's idea was to neutralize the port of Ningbo, on the one hand, to drive away the Chinese merchants here, but for the sake of the overall situation, it was better to temporarily give the port of Ningbo a special status, so that it would be better to maintain the status of a third-party neutral port.

In this way, the original location of the port of Ningbo, which is a five-port treaty port, will not be affected, and a prosperous Ningbo port can be conducive to Liu Chang and the Hongjun to continue to smuggle arms, and more importantly, such a neutral Ningbo port can allow Liu Chang to get the support of foreigners.

At this time, the Western powers tried their best to open the window to China, but what gave them a headache was that they encountered one of the most conservative and reactionary policies in the Eastern world, and they tried everything they could, even using the threat of war, just to obtain the privilege of trading with five ports.

But when they thought that the Chinese market, worth hundreds of millions of pounds, had been opened after the five-port trade, they found that the market was still completely blocked, their imports could not find a way out, and they encountered many limitations in purchasing goods in China.

In this case, they were already considering the idea of starting a war for horses, just an unexpected Crimean War, so that their tentacles could not reach to the East, but with the end of the Crimean War **, they were soon ready to launch a second Opium War.

In this case, an enlightened Chinese ** valve like Liu Chang, who can also import a large number of industrial products from the Western world, will definitely be welcomed by the great powers, but the next moment Hu Xueyan also pointed out a very important problem: "Check, Ningbo Port's annual tariff is a large amount, and the Qing Dynasty has always been one of the most important financial resources in Zhejiang. ”

"Naturally, we can't invest in the enemy, Ningbo Port is neutral, not specialized!" Liu Chang replied to Hu Xueyan: "The officials and banners of the Qing Dynasty must disappear from Ningbo Port, but in return, our Hongjun will not enter Ningbo Port!"

In fact, although the Hongjun did not enter the port of Ningbo, the entire Ningbo Prefecture was under the control of the Hongjun, and the neutralization of Ningbo was just a sentence from Liu Chang, which was a bit ugly, that is, the reason why Liu Chang decided to neutralize Ningbo was to think that one day he could break the neutrality here, so that the foreigners in Ningbo exclaimed the coming of the Yellow Peril.

But now is not the time to break this veil, so he does not have a good opinion on the huge customs revenue of Ningbo for the time being.

Hu Xueyan put forward a bold and constructive suggestion: "The inspection can temporarily hand over this customs tax to the foreigners, and after the Shanghai Knife Meeting, the taxes will be handed over to the foreigners, but ......"

This seems to be a bad idea, the customs are handed over to the British, which expands the degree of imperialist aggression, but sometimes it can only be temporarily compromised, not to mention that Hu Xueyan said that the key is still behind: "Check, we can use this customs tax as a guarantee to borrow money from foreigners, and this matter will be handed over to the ** ......."

Good way! Although borrowing with customs tax revenue was a helpless move of the Qing Dynasty, but now it has become a very good idea to take the initiative, Hu Xueyan and foreign businessmen to do justice, that has always been relatively successful, Zuo Zongtang's westward expedition is the money he borrowed from foreign businessmen. Of course, Hu Xueyan borrowed a very high rebate, the interest is extremely high, and it is not very reasonable to say, but the victory of the war is the first, as long as the money can be borrowed, it can reduce the burden of the people, and it can reduce the pressure on the battlefield, as for how to repay the debt, Liu Chang can only use a more advanced method to carry it out, that is, to issue new public bonds to repay the old debts, as long as the whole of China is taken, millions of loans are just a drizzle.

What's more, Liu Chang is not as easy to fool as Zuo Zongtang, what Hu Xueyan says is what he says, not to mention that this use of customs revenue as a guarantee was proposed by Liu Chang on his own initiative, and Liu Chang took the initiative here.

Liu Chang nodded: "I can give you a name, but this matter, you want Feng Er to discuss more." ”

As soon as he heard that he wanted to discuss with Feng Wenyi, Hu Xueyan knew that it was impossible for him to monopolize the huge profits, and the Feng family in Ningbo had already had contacts with HSBC, and he was a giant in the money industry, so he would definitely have to take a huge profit in such a loan at that time.

However, as long as you take down the two things of borrowing from foreigners, your weight should be similar to that of the Feng family, right?

Therefore, Hu Xueyan continued to consult Liu Chang: "Then I would like to ask a question, after the capture of Ningbo, will the import of opium be banned?" ”

Liu Chang immediately said categorically: "The strategy of the Kingdom of Heaven is a bit wrong, I will naturally pass, but I should be as good as I am to ban opium!"

The policy of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, as Liu Chang said, was indeed a bit wrong to the point of being outrageous, pushing his natural allies to the enemy's side, but he also had some correct policies, such as women's feet, such as banning opium, that is, these correct policies allowed the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom to persist for a full fourteen years.

However, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom during this period was still relatively strict in prohibiting opium, unlike when the British arrived in Tianjing, the officials of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom dared to openly ask about the purchase of opium, and even many high-ranking officials directly smoked opium when they met with the British.

But Hu Xueyan thought about Liu Chang's answer for a while before he replied: "I'm afraid this will offend many foreign businessmen, after all, there will be no shortage of foreigners engaged in opium trading now!"

"There's no way around that, people always have a little persistence!" Liu Chang's answer was a little helpless, but it was also very firm: "I'd rather be a failed Lin Zexu." ”

"No, no, it's not good!" Hu Xueyan replied: "I try my best to help the inspection point get through the twists and turns. ”

Liu Chang nodded: "In addition to opium and population, everything can be bought and sold in Ningbo Port, tea, silk, foreign cloth, foreign iron, of course, arms can only be sold to the Hongjun!"

"That's enough!" Hu Xueyan said with a smile: "I hope that Ningbo Port can become a real little Shanghai at that time, I don't know when the inspection will start?" ”

Liu Chang immediately replied to Hu Xueyan's question: "In late August, I will definitely do it, and the two mansions of Ningshao are all in my hands!"

Before the Battle of Jinchu, Liu Chang could only devote all his strength to five infantry battalions, a cavalry battalion, a Shanye Military Academy and a number of auxiliary troops.

However, this time the forces invested in the Ningshao campaign will be more than double that of the Jinchu Campaign, and the next question is not about conquest and occupation, but how to manage it, and convert the economic strength of the two prefectures of Ningshao into the war strength of the Hong army.

This will be the most crucial step in the history of the Rainbow Army, and if it succeeds, then the Rainbow Army will no longer be an insignificant pawn, but the master of the entire chess game.

But in history, the Taiping army ran Zhejiang was a very failure, Li Shixian's troops alone amounted to 200,000, but in the face of the attack of 7,000 Zuo Zongtang Xiang army, but could not convert the manpower and economic advantages into victory on the battlefield, from one defeat to another, no matter which battlefield, it was step by step, and even a small Bao Village, but also cost the Taiping army several kings of the main force, before and after a fierce battle for seven months, it was barely taken down with the tactics of the sea of people. ..., Liu Chang continued: "Within this year, I may be in the province, maybe in Jiangxi or Fujian, I will fall behind a few idle moves, but Hangjiahu Sanfu, I will not set foot for the time being!"

It's not righteousness, it's the right choice.

Hu Xueyan immediately replied: "I will report to He Guiqing Futai and Wang Youling Futai as soon as possible, and rest assured that it is not the Zhejiang army that comes to the aid of Ningshao and Ningshao." ”

Liu Chang's answer is also very good: "What I'm worried about now is not the Zhejiang army!"

Hu Xueyan also knew that the combat effectiveness of the Zhejiang army was indeed not on the scene, and he immediately replied: "The inspection soldiers are coming to the city of Hangzhou, don't forget today's promise!"

Liu Chang smiled: "If He Genyun is willing to vote now, I am willing to make a promise in phase, and Wang Xuexuan can also take the post of governor of Zhejiang and Fujian!"

This was almost Hu Xueyan's initial offer, but Hu Xueyan shook his head: "He Guiqing is extremely smart, so it will only be the icing on the cake, and it will not be a charcoal in the snow!"

In this world, how many people can make correct judgments at critical times. ……

After sending Hu Xueyan away, Yang Changmei was a little worried, and she asked, "Check, do you really want to hand over a public debt of one million silver yuan to this person?" ”

Liu Chang smiled: "The one million public debt is just a figure on paper. ”

"But as long as he takes it to the exchange, he can exchange it for hundreds of thousands of silver yuan, and he is also a businessman, can he not be tempted?"

"Just because he's a businessman!" Liu Chang replied: "And he is also an extraordinary businessman, so he will make an unusual choice." ”

"But it's only four or five percent off, and it's sold on the public bond market!"

"When a million bonds are thrown out, will the exchange still exist?" Liu Chang smiled: "And we can get 450,000 silver yuan in cash, this is the key!"

450,000 silver yuan, how many foreign guns, foreign cannons, lead ammunition, equipment, grain and grass can be bought, and how many troops can be supported in combat operations, but Yang Changmei cried the next moment: "Then my position in your heart is not as good as a newly met businessman?" He's just talking!"