It is important to know that this is only a preliminary result of the seizure, and if you dig deeper, it is almost certain that the number will be doubled, especially the proportion of gold that is easy to hide must be even higher if it is not discovered. And even if it is only doubled, it is enough to complete Li Hui's "foundation plan", and it can also arm and maintain a regular army of no less than 300,000 people at the same time, Li Hui finally no longer worries about the threat of the West's joint anti-China movement.

Li Hui had been worried about angering the entire West too much, mainly because he was afraid that the gold and silver seized would not be enough to support both the "foundation plan" and the need to expand the army and fight the war, and if his complete industrial system and education and health departments were not fully established, they would be completely blockaded by the West, and then the rest of the life would be sad. Although it is estimated that there should be, before getting the actual proof, Li Hui is still inevitably uncertain, even if it is unlikely, but the consequences are too serious, so he can't be cautious.

And now the situation is different, with so much gold and silver to base upon, even if the West completely blockades, Li Hui is confident that with the help of the system to promote China's industrialization to move forward rapidly, since the blockade of the West is not to worry about, and there is a chance of winning the war, why should he compromise and make concessions to the Western powers? In Li Hui's bones, he has never been a low-voiced person!

At this time, a team of agents sent out a long time ago sent back a long-awaited investigation report, and the more Li Hui looked at it, the more excited he became, and finally couldn't help laughing, "Since there is nothing to be afraid of, and there are so many benefits, why don't you do it?" ”

"Dongyang, you're crazy!" , After Li Hongzhang learned about Li Hui's thoughts, he was almost frightened and fainted, he now regrets writing so many letters for the latter, if it weren't for this, I'm afraid Li Hui wouldn't be so bold, right?

Li Hui grinned, "Old Zhongtang, it's too late to regret it now, the letters you wrote have been sent, and you can't chase them back." ”

"You will be finished, and China will also be finished," Li Hongzhang muttered blankly, "With your current strength, you can sit down and negotiate with the great powers and peacefully recover their privileges and customs concessions in China. And you dare to fight the idea of Hong Kong! The British Empire will definitely declare war on us! Not only the British, you have offended almost all the powers, they will definitely unite, China is finished! The old man is going to become a sinner for the ages! ”

"Peaceful repossession? And then let those foreigners calmly transfer all their assets? So how much more can we gain? And before people leave, they can leave a mess to pit us, a fool does that! After hearing this, Li Hui immediately remembered the lessons of history, and couldn't help but sneer.

Then, Li Hui smiled in a mocking tone, "Old Zhongtang, I am afraid you don't know that only a small part of the wealth plundered by the great powers from China after the Opium War was actually shipped back to their countries, and most of the rest was placed in the Chinese concession and Hong Kong as capital to make money and further suck blood from the Chinese people, do you know how much money this money has?" ”

After listening to Li Hui's report, Li Hongzhang's gloomy eyes suddenly became shining, "There are really so many?" ”

"Yes, the total value of hard currencies such as gold and silver, pounds, and dollars alone will not be less than 300 million taels of silver, about half of which is in Hong Kong and one-third in Shanghai, and even more so if you add the factories and facilities of foreigners. And this is still a relatively cautious estimate, in fact, I am afraid that it will be doubled, or even more! Li Hui replied with a look of longing.

Speaking of which, at first Li Hui was only unexpectedly reminded of a historical document on imperialist economic aggression against China that he had read before the crossing, which mentioned that the great powers used the wealth plundered from China as capital to further plunder the Chinese people, so he thought of sending people to investigate so that he could maximize his interests when formulating future foreign policies.

As a result, this task was far more difficult than Li Hui estimated at the beginning, because it was difficult for the Chinese to go deep into it, and they could only extrapolate according to various economic exchanges outside, and as a result, it took more than a year for Li Hui to lose his breath and rebel, and those guys finally completed the investigation report, but what was written in it made Li Hui immediately forgive them, "I really can't imagine that this matter is actually true, and there are so many!" ”

What surprised Li Hui the most was that Hong Kong's wealth accumulation actually exceeded that of Shanghai, even if the assets of Shanghai Chinese were included, which he speculated could be because Shanghai is not fully developed. In this case, Hong Kong will not be able to stop fighting, and once Hong Kong is attacked, it must be prepared for war with the British.

As the saying goes, "People die for money, and birds die for food." Such an astonishing wealth is enough for Li Hui to risk his national fortunes, not to mention that no matter how he deduces, China will not lose, so where is the risk?

But after Li Hongzhang calmed down, he still shook his head again and again, although the money is good, he must have his life to get it, he does not believe that Li Hui has only been able to defeat the British Empire, the world hegemon that is almost invincible in his memory.

The navy can directly compare the tonnage and performance of warships, and it is easier for Lao Li to believe, but for the army, Lao Li can't raise his confidence, although in the case of losing sea dominance, it is difficult for the powers to attack China by sea, but they can still launch an attack on the British and French colonies in the Indochina Peninsula, and Tsarist Russia in the north is also likely to send troops to respond, even if the eastern front is limited by logistical difficulties and does not pose much of a threat, what about Xinjiang and Mongolia?

Although the forces that the great powers can invest are only tens of thousands of people, the current rebel army is also limited in number, and it is far from enough to even control the whole country, where will it have the spare strength to deal with the siege of so many Western powers at the same time?

The more Lao Li thought about it, the less confident he became, and even Li Hui's comfort didn't play a big role, "Are you going to expand the army to more than 200,000 by the end of the year?" With such a rapid expansion of the army, what combat effectiveness is there? I'm just afraid that as soon as the gun goes off, I will collapse, right? Dongyang, the old man also led soldiers, it's not so easy to deceive! ”

"Our training methods are different, and the efficiency is much higher than that of the Qing army, how long has it been since I returned to China, and haven't we also pulled out 70,000 or 80,000 troops with combat effectiveness?" , Li Hui smiled confidently, "What's more, the door has decided to fully support the country not long ago, and then sent about 20,000 qualified officers back to China, with them as the backbone, more than 200,000 troops are already a small number!" (To be continued.) )