Chapter 414 Grand Cross Project (II)

The Jinghan Railway and the Bianluo Railway are now in the hands of a Belgian consortium. If the Belgian consortium refuses to sell the railway, the ambitious railway development plan will be put on hold.

But the Americans were not worried about the refusal of the Belgian consortium to sell the railway.

"Mr. Minister, you have been in China for several years, and I believe you don't need to remind you, but you still remember the huge 'right of way' movement a few years ago, and it was in that movement that the American company lost the right to build the Guangdong-Hanzhou Railway. Because the Chinese don't think the American company really plans to build the railroad. Now that the country has achieved a republic, and the people are more eager to develop the railway industry, I think that the Belgian consortium should not risk 'provoking' the Chinese and refuse this fair and reasonable acquisition plan, not to mention, the Belgian consortium has only completed the Bianluo line, if the railway is acquired, it only needs to buy this section of the railway, as for the hypothetical Longhai line, unfortunately, without the cooperation of the Chinese government, the Belgian consortium does not even have the right to expropriate land.

Taking a step back, even if the Belgian consortium refuses to sell the Jinghan and Bianluo lines. We also have a way to deal with it, and the solution is very simple, we will build two parallel lines, if the Belgian consortium refuses to sell the Jinghan line, we will build a new railway from Beijing to Wuhan, and if the Belgian consortium refuses to sell the Bianluo line, we will build a new Bianluo line. Mr. Minister, the Jinghan Line and the Bianluo Line are purely commercial railway schemes, very different from the railways of the three eastern provinces, and there is no treaty prohibiting the construction of parallel lines, so I think that the Belgian consortium will definitely sell the railways, rather than watch their railways become scrap metal, and they will have to take a huge risk of foreign 'exchange'. ”

Stade's words were very aggressive and 'forced' people, which made the Belgian minister speechless for a moment, and the British minister was also taken aback, if this was said by Chinese or Germans, Zhu Erdian would definitely think that the other party was bluffing, but this was said by the mouth of an American foreign affairs officer, I am afraid this is not a bluff, in terms of wealth, if the American consortium admits itself second, then no one dares to admit itself first.

What's more, Stade's words suggest that some financiers in the United States may have planned to go shirtless for the sake of that "world railroad project."

"Mr. Stade. With all due respect, Mr. President, it seems to me that what this country needs most at the moment is not the railway, but stability, although there is now peace between the North and the South, but it is not an easy thing to maintain this peace, the first thing that needs to be solved is the financial problem, the country is so poor that even the military budget cannot be guaranteed, how can there be sufficient funds to build so many railways? ”

The British minister, Juerdian, reminded him, but his real intention was to be tempting, he wanted to see how determined the Americans really were.

"The funds will be provided by a joint bank consisting of the United States and Germany, which is a low-interest loan that is very suitable for the country."

The German Minister Rex finally broke his silence, and the British, French, Japanese, and Belgians were shocked by these words.

A "Grand Cross Plan" and an "International Bank Loan Plan", have the Americans and Germans decided to support the United Front and support Zhao Bei without any scruples?

The British minister, Juerdian, was most worried about China's proximity to Germany, a country that was too poor and too weak to have anything to worry about. However, once it stands with Germany, it will be a challenge to the British government's balance of power strategy, in which case, the British government will have to make a series of adjustments to its foreign 'diplomacy' policy and military strategy, and more importantly, in order to prevent the international situation from going to the side of Britain, the British government may have to speed up the pace of arms expansion, and this will put a heavy financial burden on the British government.

A few years ago, the world 'sexual' economic depression that swept Europe and North America had just passed, and now at this time, Britain really does not have enough financial resources to expand arms and war, and Germany is the same, but the problem is that Germany is controlled by a crazy emperor, and it is not possible to understand the emperor's way of doing things according to common sense, although Britain and Germany are preparing for war, but Britain is preparing for war to avoid war, and Germany seems to be preparing for war.

The Balkan crisis that broke out last year showed that Tsarist Russia, a member of the Entente, was weak, and even in the face of the equally weak opponent of Austria-Hungary, Russia could not confront it head-on, and the defeat of the Russo-Japanese War weakened Russia, perhaps Germany saw this, so they decided to provoke Britain and the Entente bloc again, and this time, they chose the direction of Asia, China.

Germany and the United States joined forces to form an international banking syndicate to provide low-interest loans to the Republic of China government in northern Zhao. to build a railroad seems to indicate that this German venture has also drawn the United States.

In the face of such a situation, as a British minister, how could Zhu Erdian not be worried?

Perhaps, the wishful thinking of the Germans was to divert the attention of British government from Europe to Asia? The German Emperor was a madman, but he was not a fool, and he certainly knew that the British government would not turn its main attention to Asia in any case, unless the Indian colonies were threatened, but how could India, with the current weakness of China, threaten India?

Perhaps, the real intention of the German Emperor was to 'provoke' the British government with this, so as to force the British government to change the "balance of power strategy" in the Far East, and force the British government to favor the partition of China, just as the partition of Africa was in the past, so that the cake of China would be eaten up by the great powers in an instant. Is this the wishful thinking of the Germans? China was divided among the great powers, and Japan and Russia could only be cheapened, but Britain could not get much benefit from it, because Britain's attention was still on Europe, and on the other hand, once Russia joined the feast of partition. Russia's attention would surely turn back to Asia, and in that case there would be no guarantee that His Majesty the Tsar would not conclude a peace treaty with the German Emperor, and that Germany would be free to settle France, then England, then Europe......

Thinking of this, Zhu Erdian did not dare to make any more strategic deductions, no matter what the wishful thinking of the Germans was, he must now prevent China from falling to Germany. In Turkey in the Near East, Britain was already falling behind in the competition with Germany, and in China in the Far East, Britain could no longer lose its advantage.

"With all due respect, Mr. President, I would like to ask, why did you not make an international loan to the British consortium? You must know that just before the death of the provisional president of your country, Mr. Yuan Shikai, the United Kingdom provided several loans to the central government of your country. ”

Zhu Erdian looked at Zhao Bei.

Zhao Bei said lightly: "Those loans are all usurious, and there are conditions attached, which must be collateralized by salt tax. But the loans of the American and German consortiums do not require collateral and are low-interest loans. ”

"No mortgage? That's impossible! ”

The French minister was a bit out of shape, and he couldn't be blamed for this, after all, the international loans lent to this country were basically mortgaged, and usually had some political 'sexual' clauses attached, which was "thankful" to the already extinct Manchu dynasty, and the phrase "I would rather give to friends than domestic slaves" has explained everything and does not need to be repeated.

"Not only is there no need for a mortgage, but also, as an important measure to consolidate Sino-German friendship, our government has officially authorized me to conduct friendly consultations with the Chinese government on the issue of 'Gengzi indemnity', and to return part of the Gengzi indemnity with reference to the proposal of the U.S. government to support China's educational cause."

The German Minister Rex glanced at the British Minister quite smugly, and what he said was also very surprising to the other side.

Gengzi indemnity totaled 450 million taels of silver, of which Germany accounted for 20 percent, second only to Russia's 28 percent, ranking second among the great powers, and Germany received more than 90 million taels of silver in Gengzi, which was more than the total annual financial revenue of the Manchu Qing court, which was a large amount of money for China, and it was not a small amount for Germany.

As for the United States. According to the stipend of the "Xinchou Treaty," the United States will receive from China an indemnity of 32 million taels of silver, accounting for 7 percent of the total indemnity, ranking sixth among the great powers, second only to Japan.

Why did the U.S. government refund part of the Geng money? According to the US politician himself, this is because the amount of compensation exceeds the actual losses suffered by the American businessman and the politician in the "Gengzi fist 'chaos'", so it should be returned to China, but according to the Chinese, this is because the US Chinese exclusion bill has affected the image of the United States in the eyes of the Chinese, and the US government is saving the image of the United States by doing so.

Whatever the reason, the fact is that the announcement by the United States of a partial refund of the Geng money has made other "civilized countries" suddenly morally insignificant.

Now, Germany has actually followed the United States in announcing the return of part of the Geng money, this decision is too sudden, too surprising, the British minister and the Russian minister subconsciously 'rubbed' 'rubbed' their ears, called for a translator, to confirm that there was no translation error just now.

Indeed, there is no mistake in translation, the German government has authorized the minister to China to consult with the Chinese government on this issue, and with reference to the method of the US government, nearly half of the money from the Geng fund has been set up to set up a special fund for the education of Chinese students, of course, these students must go to Germany to receive education in order to enhance the "friendship" between the two countries.

In fact, the so-called "refund" is simply a play on words, and it is impossible for the United States and Germany to spit out the Geng money that has already been swallowed, and the meaning of the two countries is that from now on, China no longer has to pay the principal and interest of the compensation to the United States and Germany through the "banking committee" of the American 'Citibank' Bank, in other words, this "refund of Geng money" is already in the hands of the Chinese government, but it does not have to be 'handed over' to foreigners in the future.

Although it is a play on words, this move is indeed of great significance, especially for the current government of the Republic of China, this is "sending charcoal in the snow", which can greatly alleviate the financial difficulties.

No wonder Zhao Bei got closer to Germany and the United States, and Zhu Erdian suddenly realized.

As a foreign "diplomat" official, Zhu Erdian knows very well that there is no "friendship" between countries at all, and only "interests" are the eternal norms for international "relations"; now, in order to show the Chinese Germany's "friendship," the German government does not hesitate to give up a piece of 'fat' and 'meat' that has been stuffed into the mouth.

Zhu Erdian fell into deep thought, the question of China's railways had become less important than the interests of Britain.