For nearly four months, Wang Chengyi has been inspecting everywhere, first in Europe and then in the United States.

After referring to the prices of docks sold in various countries, Wang Chengyi chose to buy a 20,000-ton dock in the United States, and such a dock alone cost $30 million.

Wang Chengyi's frenzied purchase of docks has attracted the attention of various countries, and many countries have even come to sell their docks.

Basically, people think that Wang Chengyi is crazy, or that he is a layman.

This kind of expansion of shipbuilding at any cost is easy to end if it is not managed well.

However, Wang Chengyi's behavior was instructed by Xia Jun, and Xia Jun wanted to expand his shipbuilding capacity as much as possible before the outbreak of World War I.

As long as the First World War breaks out, the profits of the shipbuilding industry will reach more than 150%, and it will definitely be able to recover the cost at that time.

Of course, the problem is that Xia Jun doesn't have much money.

Therefore, Wang Chengyi could only stop, and those docks were successively transported to the three autonomous provinces of East China, and soon the East China Shipbuilding Company added three shipyards in Ningde, Xiamen and Hangzhou.

The navy also increased the garrison of these four ports, and Xia Jun began to urge the aircraft factory to develop dive bombers in order to prevent these four shipyards from being knocked out by Xiao Yueben after the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War.

However, in terms of the defensive strength of the four ports of Ningde, Fuzhou, Xiamen, and Hangzhou, there are submarines and coastal defense artillery, and the defense is not a problem for the time being.

But there are dive bombers like the one is safer.

Xiao Yue was very fond of undeclared war, and Xia Jun asked people to build airfields in these five ports, and the dive bombers were not designed for the time being, and reconnaissance planes were always indispensable.

In terms of vigilance, a triple combination of torpedo boats, reconnaissance planes, and outposts on the island will be used, and under these three means of vigilance, Xiao Yue's chances of succeeding in a sneak attack are not very good.

Of course, in the eyes of other countries, the East China Autonomous Axe's act of increasing shipbuilding capacity at any cost seems crazy, but the banks are gloating.

If these shipyards make huge losses, then they will be able to swallow up the industries mortgaged by the East China Group, which have proven to be hugely profitable during this time.

Before, those banks were still hesitant, but now many commodities have been replaced by commodities from the three provinces of East China, which makes these banks have no hesitation.

Of course, these docks can also be mortgaged.

For this reason, Li Shengguo contacted the banks again and took the newly purchased dockyards to the banks for mortgage.

It's just that those banks that have operations in Asia are still a little indigestion at this time, and the East China Group and Yuan Shikai's Beiyang political axe have invested so much money on them, and many of these banks have no money to lend.

…… Li Shengguo mentioned this matter to Xia Jun at dinner at Xia Jun's house that day, and said: "Those banks seem to have been squeezed dry by us, and now they have no money to lend, and they said that if they want to take out a loan, they must lower their valuations." ”

"Do you believe it?" Xia Jun asked.

"I don't believe it." Li Shengguo shook his head and said, scooping two spoonfuls of soup into the bowl while saying, "They can issue bonds, and if they don't have money, they can issue bonds again." ”

"That's right." Xia Jun smiled: "But they may be scared by us, after all, such a loan fell on us." ”

"I think it's the same, if we don't get the loans, even if the banks get our property, then they may also be in danger of breaking their money." Li Shengguo analyzed, "Now they want to do our business, but they are afraid that they will lend too much money and will not be able to repay the bonds at that time, so they want to lower the valuation." ”

"Anyway, if they don't borrow, let's borrow it from another bank!" Xia Jun thought for a while and said to Li Shengguo.

"Brother-in-law, isn't it crazy for us to borrow like this now?" Li Shengguo has also felt a little overdone recently, after all, with such continuous loans, once something happens, it will be a total loss.

"The Europeans are going to war, don't you see it yet?" Xia Jun asked, Li Shengguo shook his head ignorantly.

"If we don't borrow this year, it will be difficult to borrow money next year, or in the second half of next year." Xia Jun said to him, "So now you have to hurry up and borrow money, everyone knows that there will be a war next year." ”

"Oh! I see. Li Shengguo nodded.

"What else do we have to mortgage lately?" Xia Jun is very concerned about the loan, and with the current loan scale, it is far from satisfying Xia Jun's appetite.

"Recently, we have added five new branches to our steel plant, and the shipyard has four 10,000-ton docks and one 20,000-ton shipyard. Huai'an's chemical industry has expanded almost 1.5 times, and we have a lot of farms, and of course, if we can take the high-yield crop technology as collateral, we can get more loans. Li Shengguo crossed his fingers and said: "There are other large and small mines, and we have opened more than 200 mines in the three provinces. There are also loans and mortgages from nearly 300 enterprises, which we can resell and mortgage, and there are some things that I can't remember very clearly anyway. ”

"Take the high-yielding crops as collateral!" Xia Jun's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he smiled: "This is a good idea. ”

"Oh, by the way, the Navy's warships can also be mortgaged." Li Shengguo said weakly, Xia Junqing coughed twice, mortgage the warship? This is a bit excessive, Xia Jun really wants to take the warship as a mortgage, but the navy is not happy, it will definitely not work.

Li Shijing listened quietly to the plan of the two on the side, and said: "The navy's can't do it, but the ships of our ocean shipping company can." ”

"Boat! Think about it! Xia Jun didn't want to take out loans for those ships, and now the ocean shipping company has nearly 600,000 tons of merchant ships.

The 10,000-ton class is considered very big in this era, and sixty ships, where did they come from?

Of course, many countries can build such ships, so they have not been noticed for the time being, but if they take out loans, they will definitely be noticed. These ships will have to wait until their shipbuilding scale reaches a certain level.

…… Xia Jun has already made up his mind about the loan, on the one hand, let Li Shengguo talk about commercial loans, and on the other hand, Xia Jun continues to seek political loans.

Xia Jun set his sights on the United States in seeking political loans. Although the Yankees were not particularly rich in this era, they still had a little money.

At the same time, Xia Jun can also mortgage high-yield crops in exchange for political loans.

When talking to the Yankees about political loans, it is not necessary to mention the mortgage of high-yielding crops in the first place. Let's see if we can pull it by normal political means.

So Xia Jun sent Zhu Xiaocheng to talk to Mo Doma, who was already a special ambassador to the three provinces of East China Autonomous at this time and was promoted.

Recently, because of the friction in the market, the relationship between the United States and the autonomous political axe of East China has been somewhat alienated.

However, this does not prevent the creation of a common enemy, and the common enemy of both sides is the Ben.

The friction between the United States and the East China Autonomous Axe is far greater than that of the East China Autonomous Political Axe, and now the Yankees have just received the sweetness of the East China Autonomous Political Axe not to charge tolls.

At this time, it seems that the Yankees took advantage, and the East China Autonomous Political Axe suffered a loss.

Zhu Xiaocheng wanted Mo Doma to reveal that as long as the United States is willing to lend money to the East China Autonomous Government, the East China Autonomous Government is not only willing to maintain the zero-tariff policy for a long time, but is also willing to give preferential policies for American capital to invest in China, for example, American capital can invest in the three East China Autonomous Provinces, which can be tax-free for six months, and the tax rate can be 3 percent lower than that of Chinese enterprises, and the three East China Autonomous Provinces will also open up investment restrictions on various important industries.

The advantage of tax exemption for half a year and a 3% lower tax rate is small, but there are always benefits, isn't it?

The price offered by Xia Jun is very suitable for the appetite of Americans, who attach great importance to the development of business and are very interested in business.

The Yankees are also willing to see Xia Jun invest in the three provinces of East China, first, they can invest in the three provinces of East China Autonomous Region to promote development, and second, Xia Jun can also invest in the United States.

In this way, the interests of both sides are complicated, and if the Yankees dare to use Xia Jun's assets in the United States, Xia Jun can also use their assets in the three autonomous provinces of East China.

This is called financial kidnapping, as long as the Yankees are kidnapped, there are many things that the Yankees are afraid of.

…… The bait was released, and Modoma was very interested, and after he reported it to the American political axe, the American political axe replied five days later.

The U.S. political axe asked Modoma to continue talks with China, and there was no problem with a $100 million loan.

From the point of view of the United States, if $100 million can be exchanged for these conditions, it will be in the interest of the United States. The $100 million can be recovered first, and then in terms of interest, these conditions are more than enough to compensate.

However, Zhu Xiaocheng's appetite is even greater, and he asks for a political loan of 200 million US dollars.

Two hundred million dollars!

Modoma reported to the US political axe, which did not agree.

The two sides have held many talks on the issue of how much to borrow, and Zhu Xiaocheng even revealed that in the future, the East China Autonomous Government will unify China, and the United States can continue these preferential conditions.

After thinking about it for a few days, the American political axe replied, instructing Modoma to agree to the political loan.

In the eyes of the US political axe, it is only a matter of time before the East China autonomous political axe reunifies China. In addition to Germany, the second person who knows the strength of East China's autonomous political axe is the United States.

The Americans can be regarded as having seen the level of the military industry of the East China Autonomous Political Axe, and the current level of the military industry of the East China Autonomous Political Axe alone is enough to overwhelm China's Beiyang Political Axe.

In addition, the East China Autonomous Government is administratively clean and efficient, and although corruption is still often exposed in Chinese newspapers, these corrupt officials have been liquidated.

In contrast, the administration of the Beiyang political axe is much worse, not only are they officials [***], but the military discipline of the army is also very poor, and there is even blatant corruption.

According to the knowledge of the American political axe, the army of the East China Autonomous political axe has a very good reputation among the people.

Moreover, the East China Autonomous Government attaches great importance to the development of education.

All of these things are enough reason to convince the US political axe that this is a force capable of unifying China.

Although the political loan of 200 million US dollars is too much, the East China Autonomous Political Axe will only be borrowed for six years, and the American political axe can be repaid after six years.

At the end of August, the two sides signed an aid agreement, under which the US political axe will hand over the $200 million to the East China autonomous political axe in four installments within six months.

The US political axe is not afraid that the East China Autonomous Government will not repay the money, and the East China Autonomous Government has borrowed so many debts, if they do not repay the money, will they not become the public enemy of the world?

Moreover, the East China Autonomous Political Axe has also invested in some industries abroad, and what makes the American Political Axe feel very incredible is that the profits of these industries are good.

…… Just as it was talking with the U.S. about political aid, the Foreign Office also began to talk with Britain about political aid.

The British political axe obviously has little interest in aiding the East China Autonomous Political Axe, and their spokesperson is Yuan Shikai, not the East China Autonomous Political Axe.

Moreover, at present, the commerce of the three provinces of East China has caused great shakes to the British Chinese market, and although the British have nothing to do about it, they will not give any political assistance to the East China Autonomous Government.

And even when the Ministry of Foreign Affairs threw out high-yield seeds, it didn't come to fruition.

Britain does not rely much on agriculture, and the high-yielding seeds of the East China Autonomous Axe are not too rare in Britain.

In terms of yield, with the use of chemical fertilizers, many of the world's crops can be produced between 500 and 600 kilograms.

The population of Europe is not too large, the land is even more stress-free, and there are so many colonies overseas, are you afraid of running out of food to eat?

Xia Jun, who was speechless, once again set his eyes on the Germans.

Germany has become largely self-sufficient in agriculture since it has increased its agricultural output by 83% since using chemical fertilizers, so Xia Jun wonders if high-yielding crops are attractive enough for them.

The Foreign Ministry again talked to Germany about the matter of aid loans, and as a result, Germany was very interested in this, and the Foreign Ministry revealed to the German ambassador that as long as Germany provided another 400 million marks to the East China Autonomous Government, the East China Autonomous Government could provide them with seeds of high-yielding wheat and high-yield corn, and use the agricultural technology of high-yield crops as collateral for the loan.

After nearly a month of negotiations, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany replied that 400 million marks was too much, and it was negotiable to reduce it to 300 million marks.

Xia Jun weighed the price and asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to agree.

Then the Ministry of Foreign Affairs signed an aid agreement with Germany, and Germany again provided a loan of 300 million marks to the East China Autonomous Axe, which in turn sold Germany at a preferential price enough high-yielding wheat and high-yield corn seeds to grow in Germany.

300 million German marks, which is equivalent to $75 million, plus the $200 million from the United States, the East China Autonomous Government negotiated a political loan of $275 million a year within a month.

As far as the current political situation is concerned, the three-power alliance of Britain, France, and Russia supports Yuan Shikai, and it is basically impossible to get assistance from them.

The Germans were the countries with the most autonomous political axes in East China, and Xia Jun shared a lot of technology with Germany in order to make them fight more fiercely in World War I, but also exchanged a lot of things.

The United States, on the other hand, regards the East China Autonomous Axe as China's spokesman, and by the way, allows the East China Autonomous Axe to counter the expansion trend in Asia.

…… On the other hand, Li Shengguo began to contact other banks in Britain, France, the United States and Germany, and as far as banks in various countries are concerned, they have recently been able to frequently receive loans from Chinese.

However, these loans are all pledged against overseas assets, and there is no precedent for loans pledged against assets in the three autonomous provinces of East China.

The banks were quite interested in these businesses, because the East China Group was willing to get loans from them at a higher interest rate.

Interest rate of 5%, borrow for six years, and a 5% rebate.

Such a preferential scale has made banks from all over the world rush to it, and they have sent personnel to the three autonomous provinces of East China to evaluate the value of the mortgage industry of East China Group.

The British "Times" commented on the development model of the East China Group's continuous borrowing: "The Chinese are playing with fire, once their capital chain has problems, then they will lose their entire belongings, but their corporate profits are really good, and even the British Empire's market in China has shrunk by nearly 65%, this enterprise that borrows everywhere, if it does not repay its debts by then, the consequences will be very serious." ”

Indeed, the consequences of not repaying debts are very serious, so people think that East China Group will repay its debts, and it is another thing to repay the debts, and it is another thing to use assets to repay them.

This is also the reason why many banks are willing to take over the business of Huadong Group.

Huadong Group has already found two authoritative appraisal agencies to evaluate the assets used by Huadong Group for mortgage, and Huadong Group has also set up an appraisal agency itself.

Appraisal agencies must be rigorous and impartial, and as long as they adhere to these two points, they can gain people's trust. At present, the evaluation agency of East China Group is still facing the domestic market and has no reputation in the world, but as long as it insists, when China becomes the most powerful country in the world, it can become the world's most authoritative evaluation agency.

In later generations, China was a country where the evaluation agency was controlled by foreign countries, and many things were very passive, and it was self-evident that the harm was natural.

After the bank gets the assessment, it will lend to Huadong Group.

The conditions are fine, the question is how much these assets are worth and how much loan can be obtained after the mortgage.

According to the assessment of those appraisal agencies, the value of the factories of the East China Group is relatively high, because the factories of the East China Group are relatively standardized in operation, and most of the machinery and equipment are very advanced.

This time, the total amount of the mortgage industry given by the East China Group was 90 million pounds for one and 86 million pounds for the other to be given by the two appraisal agencies, which is not a big difference.

The assets of the East China Group have increased by nearly 80% in a short period of time, mainly because of loans, which have already borrowed 100 million pounds, plus the 400 million marks that Germany has aided a lot of in the shipbuilding industry.

However, although the 100 million pounds of the previous loan has arrived, many factories have not yet been built, and this valuation can be obtained because Xia Jun used points to invest in many things during the period, especially in machinery manufacturing and machine tool manufacturing, and also participated in the equipment with many private enterprises.

Relying on these two assessments, Li Shengguo signed loans one after another with nearly 30 banks in Britain, France, Germany, and the United States, and finally added up to a total of 80 million pounds, and after deducting the 5% rebate, he could get 76 million pounds.

Regarding this large loan, the "News" within the three provinces of East China Autonomous Province commented: "Our chairman has mortgaged almost everything that can be mortgaged, and he almost mortgaged his underwear. ”

(To be continued)