The panda incense burning operation was successful, and Li Jun, Yang Pei and others withdrew to Guangzhou and immediately sent carrier pigeons back to the poster.

In the conference room, Li Weiguo and his members of the shogunate were waiting for the results of the operation.

When the news came back, everyone immediately breathed a sigh of relief and raised their glasses in celebration.

"This time it's really a pleasure, blowing up the arsenals of foreigners and burning down their granaries!"

"The intelligence said that there were at least 50,000 muskets and 1,500 tons of medicine in the arsenal of foreigners, and they were all blown up for us at this time, and the foreign devils must be vomiting blood in anger!"

"Haha, when I think of the green faces of the foreign devils, I am so happy!"

"It's not just a green face, this is a slap in the face, and a bloody slap on their faces!"

Everyone said a word, and their hearts were high, and their confidence in fighting the British and French forces doubled.

Li Weiguo was not too happy to see Wu Yong, so he came to him and asked, "Why don't you celebrate with them?" ”

Wu Yong shook his head and asked rhetorically: "My lord, there are pros and cons to everything, are you ready?" ”

Li Weiguo was puzzled and asked, "What do you mean by this?" Is there a downside to destroying the enemy's supplies? ”

Wu Yong smiled faintly and explained: "Have you ever thought that why the British and French forces are hoarding such arms is not for this war. Fifty thousand muskets, 1,500 tons of medicine, and the total strength of the Anglo-French army was about 200,000, indicating that they had a spare musket for every four people, what does this mean? ”

Li Weiguo asked rhetorically: "What does it mean?" It can only be said that they are well prepared, and the more guns they have, the longer they will hold out. ”

Wu Yong nodded and said, "That's right, they originally prepared so many arms just to fight us for a long time, because they understand that it is difficult to defeat us in a short time." But now that this munition of theirs has been destroyed by us, they will not be able to fight a long-term war. ”

Li Weiguo immediately caught Wu Yong's words. said: "Are you saying that they can't fight a long-term war, so they can only fight a quick war?" ”

Wu Yong agreed: "That's right, we have forced them to be in a hurry, and we will usher in a high-intensity war with them, and it must be a war that will decide the winner in a short time!" ”

"That's right, I can't wait to fight them quickly!"

Li Weiguo was happy. He was afraid that the Anglo-French alliance would be consumed with him for a long time, which would be detrimental to the development of the Shanghai army, and the war must be ended as soon as possible, so a quick victory was in line with Li Weiguo's intentions.

Wu Yong was surprised: "My lord, it is certainly a pleasure to fight a quick battle, but can we really beat the foreigners?" ”

If someone else dared to say this, Li Weiguo would definitely be angry, but Li Weiguo also knew that this country was afraid of foreigners except for him, unless he could win the Anglo-French alliance on the frontal battlefield. Otherwise, this fear of foreigners will continue forever.

"Don't worry, I don't dare to win the British and French fleets in a war at sea for the time being, but on land, I guarantee that the British and French forces will not be able to eat and go around."

Seeing that Li Weiguo was so confident, Wu Yong could only smile bitterly, as long as Li Weiguo made up his mind from his standpoint, he, as a courtier, could only follow Li Weiguo to the end, no matter whether it was dark or bright in front of him.

You can't be too happy about everything. Otherwise, it's easy to be happy and sad.

No, just when Li Weiguo was happy that the British and French forces were about to fight a quick battle. A bad news came.

"My lord, it's not good, something is wrong!"

Seeing Song Xuewen rushing in in a hurry, everyone was shocked.

Li Weiguo was also taken aback, in his impression, Song Xuewen was a very stable person. As one of the first people to return from studying abroad, the financial knowledge he learned came in handy. Appointed by Li Weiguo as the CEO of the AIIB, he has been assisting Shen Ziyan in managing the business, and is quite capable, and has been highly praised by Li Weiguo and Shen Ziyan.

The AIIB has always been Li Weiguo's biggest reliance. is the industry he cares about the most, and now seeing Song Xuewen rushing in in so panicked, he subconsciously guessed that something had happened to the AIIB.

"What's going on!"

Li Weiguo's words made the hall suddenly quiet.

Song Xuewen hurriedly said: "My lord, something is wrong, the common people are flocking to the bank to exchange gold and silver!" The gold and silver at the counters of branches around the country were run out and forced to close. ”

Li Weiguo stood up suddenly, and he suddenly thought of various gold and silver runs in financial history, one of which could lead to a serious financial crisis if not handled well.

Li Weiguo asked with a solemn expression, "When did it start?" ”

Song Xuewen replied: "Since yesterday morning, there were not many people exchanging at the beginning, and the gold and silver reserves of the branches were enough to deal with it, but from today onwards, as soon as many banks opened their doors in the morning, they were exchanged for gold and silver by the people who came in, forcing many banks to be forced to close their doors and apply to the head office for the transfer of gold and silver for emergency." ”

Wu Yong said: "I must have known that the British and French forces were about to attack Shanghai, and the common people were worried that the Shanghai army would collapse and the RMB would become waste paper, so they were in a hurry to cash out gold and silver." ”

"Coupled with the instigation of people with intentions, the people are ignorant and ignorant, and it is easy to be fooled and used as a gun!" Chen Jingnan walked over and added.

Li Weiguo asked Xiang Song Wenxue: "How did you deal with it?" ”

Song Wenxue replied: "The lowly officials have already begun to transfer gold and silver from the treasury of the head office to the branches in various places, and I hope to calm the fears and worries of the people in time, as long as the people see that there is always gold and silver in the bank for exchange, then they will soon no longer worry about the value of the renminbi in their hands." ”

"Good!" Li Weiguo nodded, Song Wenxue's emergency response ability is still good.

Then he asked, "How much gold and silver is left in the treasury of the head office?" But sufficient? ”

Song Wenxue replied: "There are still 950 tons of gold and 3,400 tons of silver in the treasury of the head office, unless those big businessmen also participate in the exchange, otherwise relying on the little amount of RMB in the hands of the common people, the bank will definitely have no problem coping." ”

Li Weiguo nodded and said: "That's right, the common people are not rich, and the amount of RMB in their hands is not large, but they can't stand the large number of people, and they should not be underestimated." The big businessmen have a large amount of renminbi in their hands. But they will not make a move easily, they know that if they rush to concentrate on the renminbi, they may cause a temporary depreciation of the renminbi, and it will be their money that will be lost. ”

Wu Yong agreed: "My lord is reasonable, but I am afraid that someone will make trouble from it, and the rapid development of the AIIB in recent years." The huge profit is not only red in Britain and France, but also in many people in China! ”

Li Weiguo smiled and said: "Don't worry, the renminbi is strictly issued according to the gold and silver reserves in the vault, and even if all of them are cashed out, our reserves are enough." ”

Song Xuewen was stunned for a moment and asked, "My lord, didn't you say that the reserve fund only needs to be maintained at 70% of the total amount of RMB issued?" That means that the total amount of RMB circulating in the market is at least 30% greater than the reserves. In addition, some time ago, in order to prepare for the invasion of the British and French forces, you ordered an additional 30 million yuan! ”

Li Weiguo said calmly: "You don't know a lot of things, the amount of gold and silver reserves in the AIIB treasury is not all, in addition, we also have a large amount of foreign exchange reserves, of which the pound alone is as much as 30 million." In addition, in view of the surge in military spending during the war, I did order an additional 30 million yuan, but this money was printed. It hasn't been released yet, and I don't really plan to put it on the market unless I have to. So we have enough reserves to deal with the exchange problem. ”

Li Weiguo has another reserve treasury, and the legend is that it is in Li Weiguo's mansion Yu Garden, but this is just a legend, most people don't really believe it, and only a small number of people know it, because this is the money that Li Weiguo secretly printed Wei banknotes to cash out from abroad. Usually, it is only used by Li Weiguo as secret funds, and it is not public.

Song Xuewen finally breathed a sigh of relief and said happily: "The adults are strategizing and admiring their humble duties." Since adults have such a huge reserve, they are not afraid of the common people's run! ”

"No!" Li Weiguo waved his hand. Said: "The run event can't happen, and if it happens, it must be ended immediately, although we have enough reserves not to be afraid of being run, but if the gold and silver are exchanged by customers, how can our bank make money?" ”

Wu Yong nodded and said: "Yes, the AIIB can get millions of yuan of income every year just on the gold and silver melting and casting fire consumption, the first five phases of the Jiangwan Industrial Zone can get a large amount of money investment, the contribution of the AIIB is the first, if the people take back the AIIB money, the loss is ourselves!" ”

Song Xuewen agreed: "That's true, what does the adult mean?" ”

Li Weiguo thought about it, with years of experience, he could easily think of a solution, so he said: "From now on, the AIIB will immediately distribute gold and silver to all branches, at least ensure that each branch has the ability to be convertible for ten days, let the people see that there is enough gold and silver in the bank, and let them know that our bank has the ability to pay whenever and wherever it is." Second, the S.H.I.E.L.D. and the National Police Department took action to arrest those who incited the people to run on the banks, and publicly announced the verdict so that the people knew that they had been used as guns. Third, the enemy can incite the common people, we must learn from the enemy's tricks, and we will also send people to publicize, but we cannot publicize the negative impact, and let the common people know that our Shanghai army has strong military strength and can defeat the invasion of the British and French forces. This is the most critical point, only when the people believe that our Shanghai army will win, then our renminbi will always be strong, otherwise everything is empty talk. ”

"Your Excellency is wise!"

Everyone praised and agreed with Li Weiguo's plan, and then quickly began to implement it.

According to Li Weiguo's calculations, ten days should be enough to appease the people, but the actual effect is very good. After the execution of a group of unscrupulous businessmen at home and abroad for their malicious propaganda, the common people knew that they had been used as guns, and then they saw that the AIIB branches had sufficient gold and silver, which could be exchanged at any time, so they gradually did not rush to exchange them, after all, the renminbi was much more convenient to use.

At the same time, the officers and soldiers of Shanghai began to carry out large-scale military exercises, walking on the streets one by one wearing sunglasses and carrying rifles, and the confidence that they could defeat the British and French forces finally made the people settle down.

Those big businessmen who took a wait-and-see attitude, seeing that the Hujun Group was so confident, also gave up the idea of exchanging renminbi.

A storm of renminbi runs, which stopped in less than a week, finally disappeared without a trace.

After this incident, the people's trust in the renminbi has risen instead of falling, and they have seen the stability of the value of the renminbi, and if they used to worry about the depreciation of various coins every day, now they have finally put their minds at ease and re-deposited their gold and silver in the AIIB.

Jiangbei, Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang met, and they also shook their heads helplessly. They participated in the operation, carrying out the maximum run on some AIIB branches in their territory, but unfortunately they exchanged all the renminbi in their hands, but they were not able to close the AIIB.

After seeing the huge financial resources of the AIIB, Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang could not help but marvel at Li Weiguo's abundant financial resources, and it is no wonder that they can afford to raise an incomparably powerful Shanghai army, with thousands of factories in their hands, and they are also building fortresses, railways, and telegraphs everywhere.

Especially Li Hongzhang, since he lost the rich man Hu Xueyan, he has the deepest feeling for the word financial strength, seeing Li Weiguo's financial resources, and then comparing with Hu Xueyan, the latter is simply weak.

The envoys of Britain, France, the United States, and Russia, who heard the news, immediately sighed, became even more jealous of Li Weiguo's financial strength, and were envious of the huge gold and silver reserves of the AIIB, and were even more eager to capture Shanghai.

Therefore, when the combined British and French fleets arrived in Hong Kong, the commander of the coalition forces, Ergin, only let the coalition forces rest for two days, replenished fresh water and coal, and immediately set off to the north to start the war against China.

On February 7, 1860, the combined British and French fleet set off from Hong Kong to the north, and at the same time, a small force of the British and French forces attacked Guangzhou again.

After the British and French forces occupied Guangzhou, they captured tens of thousands of laborers to transport supplies for the coalition army, but in the Shanghai army's panda incense burning operation, these laborers were released by the Shanghai soldiers and fled back to the mainland.

Now the Anglo-French forces captured Guangzhou again, recaptured laborers and served as hard labor for the coalition army, and went north with the coalition fleet.

On March 21, the combined British and French fleets arrived in the Mopanyang sea area outside Ningbo, and after some reconnaissance, launched an attack on Dinghai the next day.

Dinghai is part of Ningbo Prefecture in Zhejiang, which is now Li Weiguo's territory.

As early as the First Opium War, Dinghai was captured by the British army twice, but the soldiers and civilians of Dinghai City did not give in, but hated the British and French forces even more.

Now under the rule of Li Weiguo, Dinghai City has changed from the original earthen city to a tall fortified city made of reinforced concrete, equipped with a large number of advanced defensive artillery, and more than 5,000 officers and soldiers of the 29th Brigade of the 15th Town of the Shanghai Army are stationed in the city, and the combat effectiveness is dozens of times stronger than that of the Dinghai Qing Army in that year.

In particular, Zheng Guohong, the commander of the 29th Brigade, was a survivor of the First Opium War, the general soldier of Chuzhou Town, and a subordinate of the national hero Ge Yunfei, and now he has become a senior officer of the Shanghai Army.

Under the leadership of Zheng Guohong, the officers and men of the 29th Brigade of the Shanghai Army fought to the death against the invading British and French forces, and after 19 years, the prelude to the war of resisting foreign invasion was once again opened. (To be continued......)