"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! "In the legation of the British Concession, Sir Bao Ling, the privileged minister to China, had just returned from Beijing, and he was scolding in his office with an angry expression.

"What's the matter, your face stinks so much?" Wen Han, the former privileged minister who came to hear the news, asked.

Seeing Wen Han coming, Bao Ling suppressed his anger and said: "I want to report to Downing Street, I must get the Qing Empire to agree to our establishment of a legation in Beijing, I am really fed up with tossing back and forth from Shanghai to Beijing." ”

Wen Han immediately understood that this was a complaint that the legation was located in Shanghai and was too far away from Beijing, so he smiled and said: "This is not simple, and another 'commercial war' will not be solved." ”

Bao Ling took out a cigar, gave one to Wen Han, lit it, took a deep breath, and said: "To tell you the truth, before I came here, there were already many people in the House of Lords who were dissatisfied with the profits gained in China, insisted on expanding the market in China, and even had a plan to force Beijing to submit by force. ”

Wen Han was surprised, he didn't expect Bao Ling to hide something from him.

Bao Ling didn't care, and continued: "It's just that Eastern Europe is becoming more and more unstable, some time ago, Russia continued to increase troops to the Crimea region under the pretext of the Holy Land issue, and the Ottoman Turkish Empire is also increasing its troops without giving an inch, and the two sides are likely to break out in a large-scale war in the near future, and Downing Street is currently negotiating with the Kremlin, and the result is worrying, I am afraid that this time our British Empire will also intervene in the Russian-Turkish war, so Downing Street ordered us not to break out in conflict with the Qing Empire in Asia for the time being." ”

Wen Han pondered for a while, and then said: "The Russian-Turkish war has lasted for hundreds of years, a small war in three years, a big war in five years, and a decisive battle in twenty years, this has almost become a rule, and now it has been exactly twenty years since the last large-scale decisive battle between Russia and Turkey, and it is a young man who has grown up, and there will definitely be another decisive battle, but I don't know how many years will last this time, and how many people will die." ”

The two fell silent, after all, Britain planned to enter the war, and they did not know what the outcome would be, which worried them.

Soon, John's arrival interrupted the silence.

"What do you say? Part-time? Who does this Li Weiguo think he is? When the British Empire is a private company? When Sir Bao Ling heard this, he was immediately furious.

Sir Wen Han was silent, his face was not good-looking, and he also strongly recommended Li Weiguo to be the counselor of the legation, but now this situation makes him gloomy.

John guessed this result, but he still made a bold explanation, these days he has often been in contact with Li Weiguo, and he has some good feelings, so at this time, there are a lot of good words, but there are only two words that really work.

"Banks? You say he's going to start his own bank? Allow us to take a stake? Bao Ling's expression of disbelief was the same as John's expression when he heard the news.

"Joint venture bank? This kid has an idea! Sir Wen Han's eyes lit up, as if he had seen a new continent.

Bao Ling touched his chin and fell silent, considering the conditions proposed by Li Weiguo, weighing the pros and cons.

"The Qing Empire is very stubborn, we want to set up a legation in Beijing, we want to open more commercial ports, and we want to legally open banks in China can only be solved by force, but the situation in Europe is tense, and we can't use force in Asia for the time being, so cooperation with Li Weiguo is the best choice." Wen Han analyzed.

"However, he still wants to issue banknotes, and we want the latest money printing technology and equipment from the British Empire, which involves the security of the Empire's financial and monetary system, and Downing Street may not agree." Bao Ling raised concerns.

Sir Wen Han said disdainfully: "You can afford this Li Weiguo too much, can he still forge pound bills?" The entire Qing Empire did not have this ability. Besides, the materials needed for banknotes are currently only owned by us, France and Russia, and other countries can't make them at all. ”

After listening to Wen Han's words, Bao Ling and John both nodded in agreement, it is undeniable that they really don't need to worry about this.

Of course, if they knew that Li Weiguo was once a top international expert on counterfeit banknotes and had personally created a counterfeit banknote empire, their expressions would have been very bright, and their bowels would have turned blue with remorse for today's decision.

In the following month, John traveled back and forth between Jiangning and Shanghai from time to time to negotiate with Li Weiguo about the establishment of a joint venture bank. Li Weiguo also left for Shanghai several times, went to the British Concession Legation in China, met with Sir Bao Ling, the privileged minister in China, and Sir Wen Han and other legation personnel, took photos, received certificates, and officially took up his post at the British Legation in China.

Of course, the legation also knows that Li Weiguo's ambition is not here, so Li Weiguo will not be asked to participate in person unless it is necessary in the legation.

Li Weiguo did not give up his position as Counselor of the British Legation in China because he kept this position useful and prepared that in the future, once he did things out of line, he could use this position as a shield to deal with accountability from the Qing government. At the same time, the second ** war will break out soon, and his identity as an intermediary can reap more and greater benefits between China and Britain, and using these benefits to strengthen his own strength is also one of Li Weiguo's calculations.

Bao Ling was very unwilling to let a twelve-year-old yellow man lead him by the nose, which made him unhappy, so every time he met Li Weiguo, he would deliberately make things difficult for the other party.

But Li Weiguo is not afraid, he shows the mentality of a mature person, the old and spicy and capable style, and he does everything without leakage, like a seamless egg, so that Bao Ling can't bite this fly.

Bao Ling introduced a British businessman named Chavez, who planned to inject 500,000 pounds sterling, equivalent to 2 million taels of silver, which is the minimum standard for opening a bank. But he asked for 95% of the bank's shares, and in his opinion, Li Weiguo was only providing a legal banker at most, and he couldn't afford much money at all, and it was too cheap for him to give him 5% of the shares.

But Li Weiguo categorically refused, what kind of joke, how could Lao Tzu open a bank and let foreign devils take the lion's lead? If it weren't for the fact that he needed a lot of money-printing equipment and raw materials, and he had to give some sweetness to the foreign devils, he would not have proposed a joint venture bank plan.

"I want to take 51% of the equity, otherwise don't talk about it!" Li Weiguo had a tough attitude and had no intention of making concessions.

"I have to give out all the two million shares, you don't pay a penny, but you want to account for 51% of the equity, why don't you grab it?" Chavez roared, got up and slammed the door to leave.

The two sides sat down for less than a minute and broke up.

Bao Ling was very annoyed, this Li Weiguo is really too domineering, this is not just a white wolf with empty gloves, it means that he has to rob them of 260,000 pounds before the bank opens, what kind of world is this, unheard of, it is really enlightened.

He was annoyed, but he was not in a hurry to express his position, and waited to see how Li Weiguo ended.

John was also defeated and persuaded many times, but Li Weiguo did not let go, and soon he took a vigorous and resolute action.

Since the opening of Shanghai, a large number of foreign merchants have poured in to make money from China, but they have found that China's traditional self-sufficient way of life is difficult to break, and it is difficult for them to make money with large sums of money.

Soon, they got the news that some Qing officials were going to open the first bank of the Qing Empire, inviting major business groups to become shareholders, and those who first invested in the shares would become founding members, enjoy high profit returns, and could participate in the decision-making of the bank's board of directors, and those who entered the shares later could only enjoy ordinary share dividends.

At first, these foreign businessmen did not believe it, and soon Li Weiguo sent people to deliberately spread the news, saying that the British businessman Chavez planned to inject 500,000 pounds, and a few days later, a British business insider revealed that the news was true, so the businessmen of various countries suddenly became red-eyed, they came to China to bring a lot of money but nowhere to exert their strength, and now they have the opportunity to participate in the banking industry of the Qing Dynasty, and can become a founding member, this is what they dream of, because they are very clear that the conditions for becoming a founding member of the board of directors of a bank abroad are very harsh, All of them are monopolized by the big nobles and big chaebols, and they have no chance to participate in it. What's more, there is no real bank in the Qing Empire now, this time it will be the first bank in the Qing Dynasty, which is of great significance, and it is possible to rule the Qing financial industry in the future and become the leading boss, this is a big cake, everyone knows that the first person to eat crabs can get rich returns, so businessmen from all over the world went to visit Li Weiguo's apartment when they heard the news.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I know you may have doubts, but I don't force you to join, that's not the way of my generation of businessmen. I only tell you that although the Qing Empire has declined, it is naturally not comparable to Britain, France, the United States and other countries in terms of industrial capacity, but it is still the largest country in the world in terms of economic aggregate. There are 450 million people here, there is a huge consumer market, as long as each person deposits one tael of silver in our bank or borrows one tael of silver, we charge five thousandths of the monthly interest, which is the profit of 2,250,000 taels of silver per month; Many of us are secretly buying a large amount of silver from the Qing Empire, and then shipping it abroad to mint silver dollars and then shipping it back to the Qing Empire, the difference between the silver exchange is very considerable, far exceeding the interest on deposits and loans, if we cooperate with our bank, there are tens of millions of taels of silver profits every year; And this bank will also issue banknotes, completely dominate the currency exchange market of the entire Qing Empire, let's think about it, the right to issue banknotes is in our hands, how much to print and how much to issue is what we say, you will become millionaires, multimillionaires, even billionaires, and become behemoths like the Rothschilds in minutes. Okay, that's all I say, I'm sure you're all smart people, it's up to you to join or not, but if you miss today, you'll lose your credentials as founding members. ”

Li Weiguo's words are full of endless temptations, so that these businessmen can't rise to the idea of refusal, only arouse the greed and ** in their hearts.

This is like the AIIB in later generations, only those who first join can become founding members, enjoy internal preferences, and can rise more benefits.

Of course, with his previous negotiation experience with Chavez, Li Weiguo also knew that the empty glove white wolf could not be too much, accounting for 51% of the shares was unrealistic, and these foreign businessmen would not agree, so Li Weiguo made concessions, he personally only accounted for 25% of the shares, and the other 75% of the shares were given to these foreign businessmen, after all, they are the real big moneymakers.

Although he can fully control the bank with 51% of the shares, Li Weiguo is very shrewd, and in order to prevent the future board of directors of the bank from being accused by foreigners, he has done tricks when allocating shares, and the maximum share of each foreign businessman cannot exceed 5%, so that Li Weiguo's 25% stake is the largest shareholder and becomes the president who is actually responsible for running the bank. If other foreign businessmen want to restrain Li Weiguo's decision-making, they must control 51% of the shares, and at least 11 shareholders need to agree unanimously, and these 11 shareholders are necessarily not monolithic, and Li Weiguo only needs to win them over with interests to solve the problem.

"I'll join and subscribe for 100,000 shares!" An American businessman said dryly.

"I'll join in too, subscribe for 50,000 shares!" Soon after, French merchants joined.

As long as there is a beginning, it will produce a chain reaction like dominoes, and soon more than 100 well-known businessmen from Britain, France, the United States, Russia, Belgium, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Austria, and other countries have invested in shares, and the share capital has ranged from tens of thousands of taels to millions of taels, and in just a few days, 9.35 million taels have been raised.

This is a huge amount of money, which greatly exceeds Li Weiguo's planned quota and exceeds his expectations, but it is reasonable, after all, the essence of these foreign businessmen coming to China is to make money, and investment banks are obviously the wisest choice.

"Okay, in that case, then I'll play with you!" Li Weiguo smiled, the ambition in his heart was expanding, and he had a bigger calculation.

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