c_t; After two full days, Zhang Yi finally finalized the cooperation between the two sides and signed the "Draft of All-round Cooperation between Fengtian and the United States of America".

The draft charter is as follows:

1. Mukden Province and the United States of America should open their markets to each other and establish close economic cooperation with the United States of America on the principle of cooperation and common prosperity;

2. The Fengtian market is fully open to the United States, and American goods can freely enter the Fengtian market, and American goods will be taxed according to the current tax rate in Fengtian; The U.S. market is open to Mukden goods, which pay taxes at the current U.S. rate;

3. Fengtian welcomes American businessmen to invest in Fengtian, open mines and set up factories, and all enterprises that come to Fengtian will be exempted from taxation for two years, and special industries will be exempted from taxation for three consecutive years with the consent of the Fengtian General's Office.

4. The U.S. government will provide the Mukden General's Office with an interest-free long-term loan of 20 million pounds, which will be earmarked for the construction of the Fengtian infrastructure, and the U.S. government will send a commissioner to supervise the repayment, with a repayment period of 25 years, starting from the fifth year after the payment arrives in Mukden, and will be repaid in 20 years.

5. The Fengtian General's Office has agreed to cooperate with the United States in the development of the Liaohe Oilfield in Fengtian, and the specific cooperation method has been determined by the Fengtian General's Office and the US oil companies through new consultations.

6. The United States will accept no less than 60 students to study in the United States every year, and the General's Office will be responsible for all its expenditures.

7. The United States supported Zhang Yi's governance of the three eastern provinces of the Qing Dynasty, and created corresponding conditions and opportunities for Zhang Yi to govern the three eastern provinces;

8. In the future, the local markets under the control of the General Shengjing Mansion will be fully open to American goods and American goods will be allowed to enter them.

……

Tian Xiali looked at the cooperation agreement reached by the two sides, and sighed again and again Zhang Yi's vision, if this Chinese tiger can become the supreme ruler of the Qing Dynasty in the future, it will bring huge benefits to the United States, and his open-door policy is undoubtedly what the US government wants to see the most, and this will be after Li Hongzhang. The second high-ranking Chinese official that Americans are willing to associate with!

Tian Xiali has achieved satisfactory results, and Zhang Yi is also satisfied with the agreement.

But Tang Shaoyi was quite dissatisfied.

That night, Tang Shaoyi went straight to Zhang Yi and asked angrily: "Jianzhi, why didn't you communicate with me in advance about such a major news from the U.S. government?" This is forty or fifty million taels of silver, and you will be happy to borrow it. What will I do in the future? It's not a child's game, it's international politics. If it is not done well, it will cause international disputes, and once there is a consequence that cannot be repaid, even the imperial court will be difficult to deal with, and it will be very passive! ”

Zhang Yi showed a faint look of shame on his face, and said with a smile: "Shaochuan, this is my recklessness, isn't this that you keep yelling that the money is not enough to spend?" I'll lend you another huge sum of money, enough for you to splurge. ”

Tang Shaoyi said angrily: "What does it mean that it is enough for me to squander? I think it's enough for you to splurge. With such a large sum of silver, I think we can repay it? In just five years, after five years, the loan we have to repay every year alone has reached more than six million taels of silver, and this huge amount of money, even if it is placed on the imperial court, is a great burden. What's more, our little one of them is a Mukden? How can we afford to pay it back? ”

Zhang Yi smiled: "Shaochuan, don't be impatient when Shaochuan is a little restless?" Isn't it that the funds for the construction of the railway have not yet been secured? This is a huge amount of money, Zhan Tianyou once calculated for me, even at the lowest cost, it would take 8,000 taels of silver to build a kilometer of railway, and if we build a 3,000-kilometer railway. Think about it, this is 24 million taels of silver, and we will not borrow it, how can we complete the railway plan? What's more, we also have a road construction plan, and I think the annual financial investment we put into the transportation plan will be close to 6 million taels. Even if we mobilize local national enterprises and invest in construction, we can only solve some of them, and most of the funds still have to be raised by ourselves. We can't afford to build such a huge transportation plan in a short period of time if we don't want to get some loans back. And these transportation plans will be extended to Jilin and Heilongjiang in the future. ”

Tang Shaoyi looked depressed and said, "Then how do you say we will repay these debts in the future?" Together, this is hundreds of millions of taels of silver, do you really think that I am omnipotent, more powerful than Sun Monkey? ”

Zhang Yi said with a smile: "Shaochuan, do you know how many companies have appeared in Fengtian in less than a year?" ”

Tang Shaoyi glanced at Zhang Yi angrily and said, "There are more than 1,400 reads in large and small enterprises and stores. ”

Zhang Yi then asked: "How much tax revenue will these factories and mines create for Fengtian every year?" ”

Tang Shaoyi said angrily: "What taxes, didn't you exempt them from taxes for three years, where did the taxes come from?" ”

Zhang Yi smiled and said: "Shaochuan, don't worry, if you really can't exchange this money at that time, let's talk about cooperation with England and fight for the next batch of loans, how about it?" ”

Tang Shaoyi was so angry that she rolled her eyes and said, "Borrow it back?" If you borrow it again, then I will resign directly, I have no recruitment, all economic development needs a process, where is the hope for rapid growth like you? Once the development is too fast, the supply of resources in our Fengtian territory will not be available, which will inevitably lead to soaring prices, and the people will not be able to make a living, what do I think? ”

Zhang Yi frowned and replied: "I ignored this question, there is indeed some truth, now the population of Fengtian is about to exceed 10 million people, just with the current reserves, we will be in big trouble this winter, I really owe you to remind me, you see what we do?" ”

Tang Shaoyi said angrily: "What should I do?" What can I do? Continue to buy grain in the Guannei, and leave it to Old Man Qiao to figure out a way, they have several big grain merchants in Jin, and they will naturally make money if they have money! I have already communicated with Qiao Lao, before the winter, they will continue to send grain to Mukden, about 500,000 loads of grain back to Fengtian, hoping to resolve the crisis this winter, but don't forget, 500,000 loads of grain, this is the cost of millions of taels of silver! ”

Zhang Yi stretched his brows and said with a smile: "It doesn't matter, we can implement a parallel system of relief and temporary borrowing, each family will give fifty catties of food, and then more will belong to the category of borrowed grain, and the same amount of food will be returned in the coming year, so that our pressure will be reduced a lot." ”

Tang Shaoyi snorted coldly and said: "The peasants who have poured into Fengtian this year have reached as many as one million households, so when converted, our relief grain has been as high as 50 million catties, and our 500,000 quintals of grain are just enough, hum, what surplus grain do you borrow from the grain?" ”

Zhang Yi looked embarrassed and said: "Hehe, this, I haven't calculated it yet, Shaochuan, anyway, the method is told to you, as for how to do it, it's your business, but it is strictly forbidden to have big and small fights, it must be a public fight set by the official family, if you find that anyone below dares to do anything, you will be severely punished!" (To be continued.) If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendation and monthly passes, and your support is my biggest motivation. )

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