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Compared with the No. 1 plan, which only makes money by mining and can only be limited to high-profit minerals due to lack of investment, the No. 2 plan proposed by Li Hui to Li Hongzhang is more perfect.

In addition to expanding the original gold mines and building the Zhaoyuan silver mine, Li Hui also intends to carry out comprehensive exploration of mineral deposits in Pingdu, Yexian and Zhaoyuan counties, and more importantly, he is also preparing to carry out large-scale infrastructure construction.

At the very least, the railways in Pingdu-Laizhou-Zhaoyuan counties must be built, and they must also be connected to each mine; in addition, Li Hui is also preparing to build a modern deep-water port in Laizhou, which must be able to berth ships with a draft of at least 8 meters. If there is still money to spare, Li Hui also plans to set up several modern factories in these three counties as models.

After the completion of the construction of these large projects, it will not only greatly promote the development of mining in the three counties, but also activate the economy of the three counties in all aspects.

But although the No. 2 plan looks very beautiful, it also has a difficulty that cannot be ignored, that is, the cost is huge, Li Hongzhang estimated, and found that it is impossible to be less than 5 million taels anyway, with the style that he has always liked to calculate small accounts, it is not difficult to understand that he finally chose the No. 1 plan that does not require him to throw money into it.

However, now that Lao Li had made a windfall because of Li Hui's selflessness, he naturally had the heart to reward him, and learned that the potential value of the Zhaoyuan gold mine far exceeded his expectations, so he couldn't help but be even more greedy, so he decided to summon Li Hui to talk about the plan again.

Li Hui, who had been prepared for a long time, immediately threw out a suggestion that made it difficult for Li Hongzhang to refuse, "As long as Lord Zhongtang, you can provide me with an investment of 4 million taels (silver) for me to use, and I promise that I can complete all these constructions within three years and recover all the investments within five years, and the net profit will not be less than 1 million taels of silver every year in the next ten years."

Li Hongzhang was very moved, but he had to smash in 4 million taels of silver at once, even he would have some difficulty, and after thinking about it again, he still euphemistically said that he couldn't make up so much money at hand for a while. But at this time, Li Hui made a proposal that Li Hongzhang didn't expect at all, "What? Borrowing from foreigners? ”

"That's right, even if you allow 5% (that is, 5%, not counting the situation of forced borrowing, 5% annual interest rate is already a very high interest rate in international borrowing at this time, after all, international payments at this time are real money. The big head still belongs to me, so why not? Moreover, the foreigners have strong financial resources, not to mention millions of taels of silver, even tens of millions of taels of silver can still be taken out, in this way, even the No. 3 plan can be put into practice! Li Hui said that the scale of the "No. 3 plan" is larger than the No. 2 plan, this plan plans to build a dense railway network in the land of Denglai, connecting all the 18 counties of Denglai and the two provinces, and also intends to build Qingdao into the largest seaport in Asia, in addition to the construction and expansion of a large number of mines and factories in Denglai two provinces, the total investment is expected to be no less than 20 million taels of silver, the result was directly rejected by Li Hongzhang, but if you can borrow money, this plan may not be able to be done

However, Li Hongzhang still vetoed Li Hui's proposal again, on the grounds that the Westerners' loans must be accompanied by a large number of additional requirements, such as tariffs or the right to build railways (and prospecting and mining within 30 kilometers along the line) as collateral.

"What you are talking about is an abnormal loan, we can also negotiate terms with foreigners in this way, it is okay to use sovereignty as collateral, but it can only take effect if we are unable to repay after the maturity, and as long as you are willing to let me be responsible for this matter, you will definitely make a profit, then you naturally don't have to really sell your sovereignty!" , Li Hui still continued to persuade without giving up.

"They don't care whether the old man is really betrayed or not, as long as there is a reason, it can make it difficult for the old man to explain", Li Hongzhang sighed helplessly, and what he didn't know was that it was his timid attitude that made Li Hui even less hopeful about the reform line in the system, so he began to prepare for rebellion earlier

With the gradual completion of the research and development of system technology, Li Hui found that the categories of system products are actually quite complete, as long as they are used in the military and the relevant technology has been researched, it can be produced, including food, clothing and other daily necessities needed by soldiers to make a living, as well as various equipment and materials required to build and produce these necessities.

Therefore, it is theoretically possible to meet the basic needs of a large group of people with the system alone, and of course the quality of life will be affected, but this is not a big problem in a short period of time.

And this means that Li Hui does not have to find an area with a coal and iron complex when choosing a base area, and the choice is much larger all of a sudden, and the value of the Northeast, which was originally designated as the first choice by him as the base area because of its rich coal and iron resources, has greatly reduced in Li Hui's heart, at least the base area will definitely not choose here, the reason is very simple, the Northeast lacks the most important resource that the system can hardly provide - population

In 1894, the total population of Northeast China was less than 6 million, and more than half of them were the Manchu ruling class, the Banner People. Although the life of the banner people outside the gate is far less than that in the gate, as long as Li Hui has enough strength, it is not impossible to make them surrender, but that is just obedient and not rebelling, and it is still very unrealistic to expect them to follow Li Hui against the Qing Dynasty.

And even the more than 2 million Han people in the northeast, because they did not lack land after coming to the northeast, their lives were generally much better than before the "invasion of the eastern part of the country", and they also lacked the motivation to rebel, although Li Hui was not unable to mobilize them, but the cost would inevitably increase significantly.

If there must be resources from the Northeast to ensure the supply of weapons and ammunition, then no matter how big the price is, Li Hui has no other choice, but since there is no need for this now, why does Li Hui have to choose this place to suffer for himself?

If there are any major flaws in the system, one is that it cannot solve Li Hui's need for manpower, although there are biochemical soldiers available, but the high recruitment costs and "military salaries" greatly limit their number and scale, so Li Hui's base must have enough population, of course, the territory cannot be too large, because Li Hui did not have enough cadres at the beginning; The second is that although the system is good and powerful, it only collects real gold and silver, so it is better to have a large gold and silver mine in the base area (looting income is a one-time thing, and trade will be greatly restricted in the early stage of the army. ）。 Taken together, there is no more suitable area in today's China than the Pingdu-Yexian-Zhaoyuan triangle of the Jiaodong Peninsula

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