Zhu Jishi did not delay, put off all the itinerary of the day, and after breakfast, he took a carriage to Fort Maria, outside Nanjing. It's not because I'm in a hurry to meet my old lover, but the current Ming Empire does have a bit of "money hunger". Although China in this time and space has avoided the long-term outflow of funds caused by foreign reparations and opium trade again and again in history, and established a central bank early, there is no shortage of capital, but with the arrival of the world economic crisis and the advent of a new round of domestic investment in the Ming Dynasty, there is also the foreign investment of the United Rubber Company. Daming's domestic funds are still inevitably tight - the shortage of funds in this era is not something that can be solved by the central bank's money printing machine, but real money is needed! Even banknotes issued by HSBC are redeemable banknotes, and if there are no sufficient gold and silver reserves, the consequences are unimaginable.

Moreover, in addition to domestic investment and the external expansion of the United Rubber Company, Zhu Jishi's plan also had a very expensive thing - to intervene in the American Civil War! Although it is uncertain whether the American Civil War will break out as scheduled, preparations for intervention must still be made. According to Zhu Jishi's plan, there are two key points of intervention in the American Civil War, one is manpower; The second is material resources.

Naturally, manpower is to provide mercenaries to the south of the United States, Japan, or China, considering the vast land of the United States, the south can exchange land for mercenaries, and a soldier granting 100 acres or 200 acres of land is enough to recruit a large army from China and Japan. Although the Ming court will inevitably throw some money into it, it is not too much.

And material resources, of course, are to reserve certain strategic materials and ...... for the southern part of the United States A fleet! Belch. This is no joke. In the past two years, Chen Yucheng has used various channels to find out clearly the comparison of the strength of the North and the South of the United States.

On the part of the Army. The South is not much worse than the North. Because the U.S. Army is divided into federal armies and state militias. Moreover, the federal army in the United States is so small that it is simply not worth mentioning, and it is the militias of the states that are really strong. And the southern states of the United States, with their strong militia traditions, can mobilize large numbers of troops in a short period of time. However, because the North absorbed a large number of immigrants from Europe, their militia tradition was far inferior to that of the South, although it had a population advantage of several times. However, there may not be room for play in the early stages of the war.

But the situation in the Navy is very different. The United States has federal navies and no state navies! Although the size of the US Federal Navy is not large, only about 40 warships, the number of US merchant ships is quite large, and once these merchant ships are recruited by the US federal government, they can be immediately converted into warships, although they cannot deal with the British and French navies, but they can exert great pressure on the south, which does not have much maritime power. And the best solution Zhu Jishi can think of is to spend money to buy a ship! Taking advantage of the economic downturn, they bought a large number of merchant ships from American shipping companies and then moved their domicile to Mexico. If possible, all the American sailors on board could be replaced with Chinese, Japanese, and Mexican. In due course, these merchant ships will be able to join the Southern Navy.

And to realize this series of plans. I am afraid that the amount of money that needs to be invested is hundreds of millions.

Thinking about how much financial pressure he would face in the next few years, Emperor Zhu had already arrived at Fort Maria. When he walked into the castle hall. Maria. Clementina and Queen Bayi had been waiting there for a long time. Both women wore Indian rissa. He also has his navel exposed and his bare jade feet. Seeing Zhu Jishi coming in a hurry, they all hurriedly knelt down and saluted. Zhu Jishi pretended to be surprised and smiled: "Oh my God, two ladies, you guys are so charming today." As he spoke, he beckoned and motioned for the two to get up and talk.

"Honey, is that okay?"

As soon as Queen Bayi got up, Zhu Jishi gently hugged her bare waist and asked with a smile: "You are in such a hurry to come, do you miss me?" ”

The queen smiled on her delicate face and said softly: "Your Majesty, Emperor Xià, you are my long-awaited lover, and I don't want to come to you all the time. However, I came to Nanjing this time, not because of lovesickness. ”

Zhu Jishi's other hand hugged Maria, and he went up the stairs with his left and right hugs, looking like a dumb king.

"Maria, go and have someone prepare an Indian-style lunch." Entering the study, Zhu Jishi whispered to Maria to prepare lunch, and then took out a bottle of champagne from the wine cabinet and poured a glass for himself and Queen Bay.

"Dear Bayi, you must have brought me some good news in such a hurry to Nanjing, right?" As Emperor Zhu spoke, he handed the wine glass to Queen Bayi.

"Good news, of course." Queen Bayi took the wine glass and took a sip, "How about I prepare to hand over the throne to my adopted son, and then come to Nanjing to be your dancer?" ”

"A Queen...... It's such a luxury to be a dancer. Zhu Jishi knew that Queen Bayi was joking with him, so he laughed.

Bayi said leisurely: "I'm not a queen, I'm just a princely gang leader, and you, the greatest monarch in the whole of Asia, it's my honor to be able to dance for you." ”

What does this woman want to do? Is it to provoke contradictions between himself and the British?

"That's great." Looking at the beauty's face, Zhu Jishi said again, "If the master of India is still the Mughal Dynasty, I will start a war in order to snatch you to the harem." ”

Bayi smiled, "Can't you now?" What if you owe the Indian maharajas, Rs 2 billion or even 3 billion? ”

Zhu Jishi blinked, "Bayi, do you have so many rupees in India?" ”

Rs 200 crore is equivalent to about £200 million and Rs 300 crore is £300 million, which was astronomical in the middle of the 19th century. Zhu Jishi even doubted whether the East India Company had ever issued that many rupees.

"Pretty much." Queen Bai shrugged her shoulders, "The silver rupees and paper money together may be more than 2 billion." She looked at Zhu Jishi with a smile, "But, you don't think that our Indian princes have only so much wealth, do you?" ”

Zhu Jishi thought for a moment and looked at Bayi seriously, "The British won't let me borrow so much." ”

Queen Bayi laughed and said, "Do you really think that fat man knows everything? ”

Zhu Jishi was stunned, he knew that the fat man in Queen Bayi's mouth meant Robert. Churchill.

Queen Bayi added: "India is a large country, with an area of more than 1 million square miles, a population of more than 350 million, and the number of princely states is as high as 611, and our history has even exceeded 5,000 years! When you were still a wild land in China, our ancestors had already established a brilliant civilization. The wealth accumulated over thousands of years is absolutely an unimaginable astronomical amount! ”

Emperor Zhu said in his heart that China may not be inferior to India for a long time than the beginning of the year, but it is richer than anyone else, and there is really no way for China's rich people to compare with India's Ah San. More than 500 years earlier, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty was still a monk in the temple and belonged to the proletariat who had nothing. And the ancestors of Bayi were Brahmins, who rode on the heads of the working people of India four or five thousand years earlier!

"Bayi, can you really borrow 300 crore for me?"

Bayi nodded seriously, stretched out his hand and made a "7" gesture, and said with a smile: "7% annual interest rate, bonds with a term of 30 years, one-time repayment of principal and interest at maturity, with Daming customs tariffs as a guarantee, and the appointment and dismissal of the Marquis of Ramsay as the superintendent of the Daming Customs and Excise Department." She rolled her eyes and smiled, "Bonds can be issued for 1 billion yuan, and about 2 billion can be raised under the same conditions." I think you've heard of trusts, right? ”

"7% interest rate...... It's not low! Zhu Jishi hesitated. This is not the time when paper money is not paid, and inflation is extremely low in all countries, so the interest rate of 7% is close to "usury".

Queen Bayi glanced at Zhu Jishi deeply, and then said with a straight face: "Your Majesty, the 7% interest rate is a bit high for those who want to repay the money, but for those who don't plan to repay the money, even the 100% interest rate is not a big deal!" ”

"Not paying it back?" Zhu Jishi was stunned. "What do you mean......"

"Become the Emperor of the Indian Point! I, and all the princely princes of India, are looking forward to this day! Although the vast majority of them do not dare to express such thoughts, I know that their hearts ......" (to be continued......