There are four concessions in China. ** Starter, hand. Hit **Shanghai, Tianjin, Hankou, and Guangzhou each one, in the middle

The French Concession of Shanghai was opened in the Year of the Butterfly, at first it was just a haven for French businessmen who came to China to do business, and as a French Catholic missionary base, its prosperity was far less than that of the British Concession at that time, but with the outbreak of the Taiping War, a large number of Chinese who fled the war poured into the French Concession, taking this opportunity, the French Concession in Shanghai slowly flourished, on the eve of the fall of the Manchu court, there were more than 100,000 Chinese in the French Concession in Shanghai, and by that! In the year of the opportunity to participate in the Eight-Nation Alliance's troops to China, the Shanghai French Concession also took the opportunity to expand the boundary site, and the area of the concession was expanded, although it was not as good as the Shanghai Public Concession after the merger, but as the "Far East outpost" of France, the Shanghai French Concession still had a lot of weight in the eyes of French diplomats.

Different from the economic prosperity of the Shanghai Public Concession, the business of the French Concession in Shanghai was very depressed due to the cold Sino-French trade, and the French merchants living in the concession were mainly raw silk merchants.

In fact, the French pay more attention to the political significance of the French Concession in Shanghai, which is not only one of the two main strongholds of French Catholicism in China, but also one of the places where some frustrated politicians in China seek refuge. Trying to make a comeback and continue their political adventure.

Any seasoned politician will not easily let go of these "chess pieces" The French Concession provides them with shelter, which in itself is a political investment, if the situation in this eastern country continues to be turbulent, these frustrated Chinese politicians may not be able to come in handy, when the French Revolution, the British zhèngfǔ carried out "investment" in this way, and the pro-British complexes of many French politicians were supported at that time, and now, the French colonial authorities do not mind learning from the British, Make a good investment in this gang of frustrated politicians in the East.

As a seasoned politician and an ambitious diplomat, the French consul general in Shanghai, Thomas Mailey, valued these disadvantaged Manchu politicians, not as "allies" as his predecessors, but as tools in his own hands that could be used when needed.

Now, Mr. Yin Maili is meeting with a few frustrated Chinese politicians at the Bureau of the Ministry of Industry in the French Concession, accompanied by the director of the Ministry of Industry and several directors.

The Bureau of the Ministry of Industry of the Concession, also known as the Public Board of Directors, is the administrative recommendation organ of the concession authorities, which is nominally "autonomous" but in fact subject to the consular constraints of various countries. As the Consul General of France in Shanghai, Vanmai Lai himself is also one of the nine directors of the Board of Directors and can directly intervene in all the affairs of the ministry.

The frustrated politicians that Rì Shimaili met today were all powerful Manchu officials:

After the peaceful restoration of Shanghai, he was "gifted" to the concession by the constitutionalists, and has been living in the French concession since then; Xiliang was the governor of Yungui of the Manchu Qing Dynasty who single-handedly provoked the "war of nation-building", and now the general order of the republic zhèngfǔ against him is still in effect, and the governor of Xi does not dare to go anywhere. can only continue to hide in the French concession, relying on the people who have been looted during the years of the governor's tenure to live a low-key and luxurious life.

Although both of them had said that they would no longer seek a resurgence in the political arena, they were also a little involuntarily under the fence, and the French consul called them, and they did not dare not listen to the teachings behind the scenes, otherwise, they would annoy the consul, and if the republic asked for extradition, then there would be no one to protect him.

In fact, this is just to warn these frustrated Manchu politicians to come and speak. When Tao Chengzhang, the premier of the Kuomintang, visited the Bureau of the Ministry of Industry of the French Concession, these Manchu politicians should have wisely "disappeared" for a few days, so as not to embarrass the concession authorities and embarrass the consul.

As expected, Rui Wei, Xiliang and others happily agreed to the request of "automatic disappearance", and they were already planning to leave the French Concession without Dou Maili's urging, and it seemed that they still had lingering fears about the revolutionaries. ^^ Baidu search to read the latest chapters of this book**

Dou Maili didn't keep them much, sent a few people out of the Ministry of Industry, and watched the carriage gradually move away. Just as he was about to return to the consulate, a French Jesuit priest had been delivered to the door of the Ministry of Works by a church carriage.

"Mr. Consul, I have something to discuss with you. When I heard that you were in the ministry, I rushed over.

Dou Maili politely returned the salute and pointed to the carriage.

"Priest, let's take the church carriage back to the consulate together, and there is anything to say in the carriage."

The two got into the carriage, and the priest cut straight to the point.

"I hope that Mr. Consul will submit a report to the legation and ask the legation to come forward and lodge a diplomatic protest with the Wuhan military authorities!"

"Oh? Towards the IRA protest? Priest. When did you become interested in politics too? ”

I received a telegram from Guizhou in which a Jesuit priest in Guiyang reported that a group of Republican elements armed to the teeth had forcibly broken into a local Catholic church. Brutally and rudely, he took away several parishioners and verbally attacked the priest. So. The Church, for its part, hoped that the French minister would intervene. Defend the dignity of France and protect the rights and interests of missionaries in China. ”

"Priest, do you think that Mr. Minister should be troubled by such a trivial matter? After the coup d'état in Guizhou, the situation was chaotic, there were republicans and constitutionalists everywhere, and the struggle between them was their business, and there was no need for France to get involved. ”

Dou Maili shrugged his shoulders, teasing that he could not do anything.

"Moreover, even the British have nothing to do with the Republicans, so why should we French bring humiliation upon ourselves? Father, I think it would be more appropriate for you to focus on the Aurora College for now, for I understand that the French Church is inclined to transform it into a Catholic college, and that the Concession Board is planning to provide some financial assistance to this college. Priests, industry, and commerce could not save this Eastern people, only the faith of the god jīng could save them. Since the Separation of Church and State Law was promulgated four years ago, the French Church has been in decline at home; Only the colonies are the new pastures of the Church, and I hope you will seize the opportunity. ”

Dou Maili suppressed the unhappiness in his heart, and reluctantly looked for words to perfunctory the priest. As one of the many French diplomats in the Far East, his main responsibility was to safeguard French interests in the region and to maximize the interests of French businesses and politicians.

Since the "Wushen Revolution", the main concern of the French diplomatic department, in addition to focusing on the Balkan direction, has been the issue of China's railway loan rights. As a financial empire, France and the private sector had enough capital to provide railway loans, and as long as China was willing to borrow, France could invoke China's railway interests through loans. Both the French zhèngfǔ and the consortium are angry about this, and although Belgium has a close relationship with France, after all, the French have not eaten the cake.

And this was the main and even the only reason why Huanmaili warmly invited Tao Chengzhang, the premier of the Kuomintang, to visit the French Concession and visit the Ministry of Industry, hoping to take the opportunity to get in touch with this rising party if it could win the congressional elections. It seems that the French zhèngfǔ and the consortium can use this relationship to fight for priority in the issue of railway loan rights.

After all, the political appeal of this coalition party is to imitate France's "responsible cabinet system". Control the excessive expansion of presidential power through Congress. Perhaps this could be an important entry point for the negotiations between the two sides.

Recently, Britain, German, and American diplomats in China have been running around for the railroad issue, but they have all focused their attention on the Beiyang bloc and the Republican bloc, and only the French have been ingenious and ready to focus their public relations on the side of the Kuomintang.

This was the action of Tao Chengzhang's visit to the French Concession in Shanghai, and according to the arrangement, Tao Chengzhang would lead a delegation of political parties to the concession, and Dou Maili rushed back to the consulate in a hurry to arrange this matter.

The priest who got rid of the chatter. Dou Maili hurried back to the consulate and summoned his subordinates to arrange the relevant matters to welcome Tao Chengzhang, but before he could finish his work, an urgent telegram had been photographed from the French Legation in Běijīng to the consulate's telegram room, and Mur Maili was confused by the content of the telegram.

The telegram was an order from the French Minister in China. The content is not complicated, just an order to Dou Maili to think about it,

Under the "polite pretext", Tao Chengzhang's visit to the French Concession was suspended, pending further instructions from the Legation.

In other words, Lonely Maili had to find a way to postpone Tao Chengzhang's visit to the French Concession and find a high-sounding excuse.

As a diplomat, it was easy for him to find several so-called "technical reasons" to postpone the visit, and he was just a little odd. It is not known why the French minister suddenly changed his position.

You must know that it was this minister in China who proposed to invite Tao Chengzhang to visit the French Concession. But now, it is clear that the situation has changed.

Soon, the second telegram from the French minister in China reached the consulate, and Dou Maili understood what had happened.

In the morning, Yuan Shikai, the provisional president of the Republic of China, urgently met with the envoys of Britain, France, Russia, and Russia in China, and announced to them that the Republic of China had decided to jointly borrow money from these four countries in order to complete the construction of the Jinpu Line and the Longhai Line as soon as possible.

Dou Maili almost reminisced about the commander-in-chief of the Republican Army, whose telegram from Commander-in-Chief Zhao had explicitly denied the possibility of borrowing money from either the North or the South alone. He also announced that without the signature and approval of him and Tao Chengzhang, all the external loans of the center will be deemed invalid!

Now, has President Yuan's loan request been approved by Commander-in-Chief Zhao?

Dou Maili was skeptical.

Because he firmly believes that the commander-in-chief is the same as him. I would never believe that Yuan Shikai borrowed this foreign money to build the railway!