In a word, Yi Yi and Su Shun looked at each other, even Zhao Liewen was very surprised, if the drought in the north was not easy to be content with the foresight, try his best to plan, and use all the financial resources of Yuan Qi to provide relief, not to mention that millions of people would die, so Ze was the kindness of the common people, even if the Qing Dynasty fell, it would be impossible for future generations to erase the criticism.

After hesitating, Yi Yi said with a solemn expression: "The drought in the north that lasted for five years is indeed a rare disaster, but Brother Guocheng is turning harm into benefit, taking this opportunity to consolidate the frontier in one fell swoop, and laying the foundation of China's industrial power. ”

"It's just casual emotion, the sixth master doesn't need to be suspicious." Yi Zhishu said in a relaxed tone: "With the continuous progress of the times and the continuous development of society, what we do may not be recognized by future generations. ”

Seeing that he didn't want to say more, Su Shun sighed lightly: "Brother Guocheng's mentality is really embarrassing. ”

Yi Zhishu is accustomed to the phenomenon of smearing historical figures, so he naturally doesn't care too much about the name behind him, so he immediately waved his hand and changed his words: "The war in South Africa, the imperial court does not need to worry, the duration will not be too long, and the scale will not be very large. ”

This time South Africa went to war, 20,000 new troops of the Eight Banners were transferred from the Beijing Division, and 10,000 navies were also transferred from the Tianjin Beiyang Naval Division.

Su Shun smiled and said: "There is a brother Guocheng who is strategizing, we are not worried about the war in South Africa, now that the drought in the north has eased, the top priority is to restore agriculture in the north, but now the population of the north is only three or four ....... tenth." ”

Yi Zhizhi said without hurry: "Yuanqi is now actively promoting the popularization of agricultural machinery, the north is sparsely populated, the terrain is flat, suitable for the promotion of large-scale agricultural mechanization operations, which is also a major trend of agricultural development in the future." ”

After a pause, he continued: "This drought in the north is both a bad thing and a good thing, and it gives us the opportunity to re-plan comprehensively. For a long time, our country has been agriculture-oriented, because of the high pressure on food, but now food no longer poses a threat, because China has added two new granaries - Myanmar, Siam, and Annam, the three provinces of Northeast China and Southeast Asia.

For example, Henan and Shandong have many plains, which are traditional grain-producing provinces, and can continue to be used as grain-producing areas, while Shanxi can focus on miscellaneous grains, Shaanxi and Gansu can focus on cotton, and the Loess Plateau must be returned to forests to maintain water and soil, which is conducive to the ....... of the Yellow River. ”

Su Shun was a little embarrassed when he heard this, because the other party was thinking much more about the long-term than him, and Yi Yi said convincingly: "Brother Guocheng's vision is far-reaching, and his vision is high, which is really unparalleled. ”

Yi Zhixiang was not humble this time, in terms of vision and vision, not to mention that the Qing Dynasty is the whole world, no one dared to call him the first when he called the second, and it happened that the secretary came in to serve tea, and he stretched out his hand to ask for tea, "Thirty years old big red robe, taste it." ”

After taking a sip of black tea, Su Shun changed his words, "In the past few years, Yuanqi Bank has repeatedly issued more banknotes, but it has caused the depreciation of banknotes, what is the reason?" ”

Yi Zhi smiled contentedly, "Isn't there a gold store in Brother Yuting's mansion?" ”

Su Shun was stunned for a moment, and then understood, "Yuanqi Bank put a large amount of gold in order to let the rich store it and withdraw it from circulation?" ”

"Not bad." Yi Zhishu nodded, "In addition to the gold bars put by the bank for value preservation, the amount of gold consumed by gold jewelry is not a small number, in addition, the expansion of the securities market, the investment and construction of various factories and mining enterprises, and the expansion of cities have also absorbed a large amount of surplus funds, reducing the amount of banknotes in the circulation field, so that the banknotes can remain strong." ”

Su Shun glanced at Yi Yi quietly, Yuan Qi is to curb the depreciation of paper money by putting a large amount of gold into the market, in recent years, paper money has been issued again and again, Yuan Qi put in a huge amount of gold, he is not without worry: "In this way, will it delay Yuan Qi to restore the deadline for paper money to exchange gold?" ”

Yi Zhixiang spread his hands, "Is the outbreak of war in South Africa and the fall of Johannesburg a good excuse?" ”

"Brother Guocheng is talented." Yi Yi praised it from the bottom of his heart, it turned out that he took the initiative to declare war on the five countries and insisted on going to war with the five countries in South Africa There is also such a hidden purpose, I have to say that this is a good excuse, and it is completely possible to use this excuse and reason to extend the period of free exchange of paper money for gold.

Yi Zhixiang smiled and sipped his tea, it was helpless to continue to put a large amount of gold to maintain the stability of paper money, this move almost exhausted Yuan Qi's gold reserves over the years, he had to find an excuse to extend the promised paper money for free exchange of gold, the five European countries sent troops to invade the Transvaal, for it was an excuse to send it to the door, how could he not take advantage of the situation?

Groaning slightly, Yi Yi continued: "This disaster relief, the imperial court has borne a debt of 500 million, plus the debts accumulated over the years, the current debt of the imperial court has reached 800 million, excluding the interest-free, and now the interest that the imperial court needs to repay a year is still as high as more than 26 million, it is already beyond his means, I am not afraid of your jokes, I often can't sleep at night, and I am worried about it......." ”

"The sixth master is worried about leaving a bad reputation?" Yi Zhishu said as he picked up the teapot to refill the tea, "It's not all bad for the imperial court to bear huge debts, haven't you noticed that although the debts of the imperial court have been getting higher and higher over the years, the corresponding annual income is also getting higher and higher, and the Qing Dynasty is becoming more and more prosperous."

Compared with the prosperous Kangqian era, the treasury often deposited tens of millions of silver, but I think that the imperial court is more conducive to the development of the national economy by carrying some debts, and it may be called a deficit fiscal policy for the time being. More than 20 million yuan of interest is a lot, but compared with the annual income of 80 million a year, this proportion is not dangerous.

Needless to say, as you know, once you enter a period of steady development, your income will increase steadily, and there is no need to worry too much about these debts. ”

Speaking of which. He smiled, "Yuanqi's current situation, the imperial court is also clear, the heart is more than enough but the strength is insufficient, and the purpose of insisting on fighting this battle in South Africa is also to show off the front of the army, deter Western countries, and at the same time protect the Transvaal gold mine, but also buy time for Yuanqi to recuperate for the Qing Dynasty." ”

Deficit fiscal policy? Is it that the imperial court is in debt to develop the economy? Yi Yi didn't think much about it, "Yuan Qi's situation, the government and the opposition are obvious to all, and I put forward this stubble in the hope that Brother Guocheng can mention one or two, after all, when it comes to finance and economy, no one in the Qing Dynasty can compare with Brother Guocheng." ”

lit a cigarette, and Yi Zhizhi said: "Open source and reduce expenditure, streamline administration and delegate power, and boldly innovate." In addition, we should not be afraid of going into debt, and continue to increase investment in construction to stimulate domestic demand and expand the financial market. After the end of the war in South Africa, Yuan Qi would actively cooperate with the imperial court. ”

South Africa, Transvaal, Belfast.

Belfast, a small city on the Pretoria-Maputo railway line, hundreds of kilometers from Pretoria, is now completely in ruins, the inhabitants of the city have either fled or been slaughtered, and the whole town is silent and lifeless.

In the afterglow of the setting sun, a large group of cavalry carrying a Transvaal flag galloped in, and instead of entering the city, they camped outside the city, which was not only in ruins, but also littered with bloody and mutilated corpses, which was more suitable for camping than outside.

Paulus Kruger entered the city with a small group of cavalry, looking for the miserable scene in the city, and he ordered in an indifferent tone: "Let the photographer take a picture and keep the evidence." ”

The photographer was recruited from the refugees who had fled to Maputo, and Yi Zhengxing suggested that he take the photo, and Kegru gladly accepted this suggestion, he did not think about complaining or anything, he just wanted to keep the photo to record the darkest scene of the Transvaal.

Looking at the ruins of the town, Kegru's expression was very calm, after seeing many similar situations, he was no longer angry, only numb and indifferent, and hatred was already hidden in his heart.

It is precisely because of the large increase in troops of the Qing army that the European coalition forces frantically implemented the scorched earth policy, and fortified the clear field to block the rapid advance of the Qing army, of course, this is not the fault of the Qing army!

However, in this case, they can no longer completely rely on the Qing army, there is no railway, and the logistics supply of the army is a very thorny problem, which seriously limits the speed of the Qing army's march.

In the absence of a Qing army, and the European coalition forces were spreading the tactics of clearing the wilderness from the railway lines, the only one who could stop the atrocities of the European coalition forces and save the Boers was the Wehrmacht, and even if they wanted to preserve their strength, there was no other choice in this situation.

Report ——。 A cavalryman came on horseback, dismounted neatly in front of him, spread out the map, and pointed on the map and reported: "The enemy is still 90 kilometers away from us, and General Rhodes's troops are 40 kilometers behind the enemy." ”

After thinking about it for a moment, Kegru raised his head and said, "Tell Rhodes that he can attack at any time after noon tomorrow!" ”

It is the plan set by the Wehrmacht to concentrate superior forces to encircle and annihilate the lone European coalition forces, not only to preserve their strength as much as possible, but also to annihilate a few European coalition forces as much as possible, to strike at the arrogance of the coalition forces, and to force them to shrink their forces, so that they can have a chance to save more Boers, whose Boer population is already small, and they really cannot withstand such attrition.