Morgan finished introducing the last attendee, a Wall Street financial expert. After the pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info nodded to him, Qin Lang sat back in his chair, and the meeting officially began.

In fact, it can't be regarded as an official start. Although what people wanted to know most was the last part of Qin Lang's plan, the reserve of the upper class made it impossible for them to ask him questions directly. So in the very beginning, the topic of conversation was the lockout of railway workers from May to July.

But it is by no means meaningless idle talk - the leaders and representatives of the consortium and the political and financial elite of the United States obviously do not waste their precious time on small talk, they are seriously discussing what to do if there is a similar incident.

Then James Condell Fargo suddenly mentioned Qin Lang's Umbrella security service company. "Mr. Qin, I remember that you also have a security service company with a very interesting name...... Uh, yes, Umbrella Security Services, it seems that its business includes dealing with similar incidents. ”

"I think similar incidents should be referred to government law enforcement agencies, not commercial companies." Before Qin Lang answered, Mr. Assistant Secretary of State had already expressed his attitude.

Qin Lang understood his opinion—but only understanding. He will not give up on his plans. Of course, in order to appease someone like the assistant secretary of state, he has already prepared a set of rhetoric.

"Strictly speaking, in fact, I set up Umbrella to provide qualified security personnel to our customers. Anyone who finds himself in danger of being attacked by criminals can hire company guards to protect himself. "Of course, it's up to the employer to decide exactly what the guards will do." ”

"If so, haven't you noticed that the company has a slightly larger number of guards?" Fargo asked curiously, "You seem to have seven hundred guards." ”

"Considering that there may be clients who hire a large number of guards at once, I don't think seven hundred guards are still enough to meet the company's growing business needs, Mr. Fargo." Qin Lang said with a smile.

"Really?" Richard Mellon raised his eyebrows, "Seven hundred." If anyone hires them all, he gets a mercenary. ”

"Perhaps, Mr. Mellon. But in the country, I don't think anyone would hire so many guards. He shrugged, "It's possible for American expatriates abroad to do that." ”

"Either way, I still don't think your company is running a good business." The assistant secretary of state calmly insisted. "I have to emphasize that people should trust law enforcement agencies and not solve problems with handguns like cowboys."

In fact, he himself does not want to trust the police, but as a government official, he must stand in the position of the government and speak out.

Of course, his statement does not meet the approval of others: each consortium has its own private armed forces. The police? They are just a force that can be harnessed, but they are not to be trusted. And from the perspective of the traditional United States, it is easy to justify this approach.

"The people have the right to defend their lives and property with weapons." William Mather emphasized.

"This request is reasonable, and Mr. Qin's company is engaged in a reasonable business, and I don't think there is a contradiction with the work of law enforcement agencies." George Walker Harriman's remarks took the assistant secretary of state by surprise, but the undersecretary of the Navy had his own considerations.

Harriman thought about the current predicament of the American army: a serious shortage of troops. Although the government was planning to seize the Spanish colonies, and although the navy was building new warships, the strength of the army and marines remained at a very low level.

And this awkward situation will not change until the war officially breaks out; In peacetime, Congress will never approve any bill related to military expansion. So the problem is obvious: for a long time after the start of the war, the United States did not have enough strength to occupy Cuba and the Philippines.

Especially in the Philippines, the battle can drag on for a long time to wait for the army to come from within the country - and this means trouble: the cost of war will increase dramatically, and the situation in the region may change badly.

Harriman didn't want trouble.

In the past, he had always believed that there was no possibility of changing the situation, but now the situation has taken a new turn. Qin Lang has an armed force of seven hundred, and this number is likely to continue to increase. It is a suitable alternative to the Army and Marine Corps: in peacetime, the army does not need to spend money on it; In times of war, it can be quickly put into battle.

It is also very convenient to deploy this force. Qin Lang has already hinted: as long as a few American expatriates announce the hiring of it, it can immediately go to the war zone to stand by, and it does not need to be approved by Congress at all; This force can be assembled and ready for battle before the start of the war.

It's simply a perfect sword.

Harriman was pleased with his findings and assumptions, and secretly rejoiced for a moment. Then he suddenly realized that he had been wandering his mind. This was obviously not interesting enough, because the meeting had already gotten to the point, and Qin Lang was elaborating on the last part of the plan—the beginning that he had completely listened to.

Thankfully, he didn't miss much.

“…… Standard Chartered is an easy adversary to deal with, and the real difficulties we face lie in the British, French, German and Russian governments," Qin Lang's tone was full of confidence, which was completely different from just listening to Morgan relay the contents of his letter, "but still able to persuade them to back down." ”

"On what terms?"

"The British are preparing to expand the Hong Kong lease and have a high interest in Weihaiwei, while the Germans clearly want to have a concession in China – Qingdao, I think. And Russia, whose Majesty the Tsar had long been eager for an ice-free port in the Pacific, and Dalian and Lushun would surely have made him ecstatic. Finally, the French, who were more interested in building a railway connecting Vietnam with Yunnan Province. ”

"What do you mean...... Should the federal government support their access to these areas in exchange for them giving up lending to China? Almost immediately, Samuel Bush was aware of Qin Lang's plan.

"That's right, Mr. Bush, that's it." He nodded, "The State Department should instruct the envoys to Great Britain, France, Germany, and Russia to secretly make this condition to the governments of the four countries: that the United States Government is willing to support their acquisition of the said territories in exchange for their concessions on the question of borrowing." ”

There was a "buzz" sound, and the participants exchanged their opinions with each other, and after a heated discussion for a while, then the assistant secretary of state raised his head and asked, "Mr. Qin, do you think they will agree to this condition?" ”

"There is no doubt that they will." Qin Lang vowed that the governments of the four countries would definitely accept his advice, "As we all know, borrowing is a political issue, not an economic issue." These countries have intentions against China - however, we are also aware that there are some contradictions between their intentions. ”

He paused for a moment, his lips furrowed, and a sneer erupted. "We can make good use of these contradictions. The British government would strongly oppose any country interfering in the affairs of the Chinese customs, and the German government would have prevented Russia or France from attempting to do so, and would be happy to let the United States take the place of Russia and France as long as the United States showed that it had no intention of doing so. ”

"And France and Russia," Qin Lang gestured helplessly, "once they realize that their act of borrowing from the Qing government will not bring any benefits other than money...... Or it is difficult to get the benefits they want, and they will give up borrowing in favor of more favorable terms that we offer. ”

The participants discussed for a few more minutes before the assistant secretary asked again: "According to the plan, the government will offer the Chinese government to lease Guangzhou Bay." There is no doubt that Britain and France will strongly oppose our demands. I wonder if there is anything that can be done to avoid this? ”

"This kind of trouble can usually be bypassed by threatening something else, not the one in question."

"What do you mean......"

"It's just that I don't think the French, who have just been driven out of Yen Se by the Vietnamese[2], are not yet able to compete with us for a piece of Chinese territory that is not yet their own. In exchange, the right to build a railroad was obtained, which was more conducive to French control of the southwest; And the British, what they don't like even more is the entry of American forces into the Yangtze River basin. Moreover, British control of Canton was constantly challenged by France. "We can convince the British that our acquisition of Canton Bay will help them balance the power of the region," he explained to the attendees, who were listening intently. ”

"Of course, perhaps the French government will still be dissatisfied, so we can add one more condition: support for it to gain the power to build a railway from Vietnam to Guangxi. However, "Qin Lang shrugged," he said. The chances of the French government rejecting our conditions are slim. In order to contain the British advance from Burma to Yunnan, to ensure that Yunnan was the sphere of French influence and to serve as a barrier between Indochina and Guangzhou, the construction of the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway connecting Haiphong and Kunming was of great strategic value to France. ”

The "buzz" sound sounded for the third time. This time the discussion was nowhere near as heated as the previous two, and almost everyone acknowledged that the plan was quite feasible. Although there is still a small amount of risk, it should be resolved by the specific negotiator, not Qin Lang.

As a result, there was a quick convergence of views. "We will discuss more concrete options with the Foreign Affairs Committee and the State Department as soon as possible," Morgan concluded.

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Note: During the Spanish-American War, the lack of an army in the United States led to the Filipino guerrillas occupying Manila, and the end result was the three-year American-Philippine War

Note 2: In October 1894, the French signed an armistice agreement with the anti-French forces of Nexperia, according to which the French troops withdrew from the Nexperian area; The four general departments of Yannan, Mushan, An Li, and Huu Sang (local administrative units in Vietnam) were under the jurisdiction of Hoang Hoang Thanh, the leader of the anti-French armed forces. (To be continued, if you want to know what will happen next, please log in to the WWW.CMFU.COM, more chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!) (To be continued.) )