… Just after noon. It's the hottest time of the day. As usual, "After lunch, Zhao Bei was still lying on the recliner, blowing an electric fan, browsing the latest newspapers.

Especially in the past few days, he has been reading newspapers more diligently, for no other reason than to grasp the trend of public opinion at home and abroad; now that the war between China and Japan is imminent, "public opinion" is indeed very important, and although he can manipulate this "public opinion" to a certain extent, it is still necessary to see through this non-governmental newspaper what the effect is.

The study was very quiet, except for the occasional sound of turning the newspaper, nothing else could be heard, the captain of the guard, Qin Sihu, stood outside the door, pacing back and forth, occasionally sitting on the stool at the corner of the corridor, until half past two in the afternoon, Zhao Bei left the study on time, Qin Sihu took a few guards, and led the way. Rushed back to Office No. 1 on the second floor.

The secretary had already cleaned up the office, and the herbal tea and boiling water were well prepared as usual, and he was waiting for the president to come to work.

But Zhao Bei didn't stay long after entering the office, and soon left the office with Qin Sihu, rushed to the telegraph room, and stayed in the telegraph room for about half an hour.

Zhao Bei instructed the officials to bring the financial officials to the conference room, and then he left the telegraph room and rushed to the second floor of the basement with Qin Sihu, where he met the officials of the Ministry of Finance in that small conference room.

Among these Treasury officials. Xiong Xiling, the chief financial officer, has the highest position, followed by Liang Shiyi, the general office of the Salt Industry Bank, and the other few people are the attachés of the two of them, as well as an adviser from the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, they are all valuable and trusted financial and industrial experts, many of whom have been gilded in the United States, Britain and other financial powers.

Now that the war between China and Japan is imminent, this war will require military spending, which is no greater than the military spending required in peacetime and wartime, and it is an "unplanned government fiscal expenditure" With China's current financial situation, how long can this war be supported without affecting the economic development, which requires the opinions of financial experts. Xiong Xiling and Liang Shiyi's current main task is also here.

After meeting the president, Xiong Xiling and Liang Shizhao did not dwell on it, and quickly cut to the chase, and Xiong Xiling showed the president the results of his work in the past few days.

"President Junjian. According to the calculations and statistics of the Ministry of Finance and the Salt Industry Bank for several days, if a large-scale local war breaks out between China and Japan, if we do not want to have a serious impact on our economy, the war should not last more than two months, and if the war lasts more than two months, then China's industry will be deformed, and industries closely related to arms and logistics will inevitably seriously crowd out the raw materials and labor of other industries, and the transportation capacity of railways and water transportation will also be obstructed because of the war, which will further affect the development of other industries.

As for the specific war expenses, they are still being calculated, and according to preliminary estimates, if there is a need for war bonds, the central government will use at least five years of central fiscal revenues as collateral for public bonds, taking into account the current situation. It is unlikely that the foreign war public debt will be in the crosshairs. Therefore, it is not known how much public debt can be raised only for the war at home. Humble officials do not dare to speculate. If the task of the public debt bank cannot be completed, then it may be necessary for the center to consider borrowing from the private financial industry, which also requires mortgages, and the private capital is optimistic about the railway, and if the center mortgages the railway equity in its hands, the center's control over the Qinlu will be shaken. ”

Xiong Xiling's report was at a glance, and Zhao Bei also listened very carefully, as for the others, they were all sitting upright, and they all understood. The stakes are high, and the work of the Ministry of Finance will have a direct impact on the decision-making of the central government.

After Xiong Xiling's report was completed, Zhao Bei was silent for a long time, and then nodded.

"The Ministry of Finance can now prepare to carry out war bonds, but before receiving a formal order from the center, this news must be kept absolutely confidential, and once you receive an order from the center, you must ensure that the news of the government bond bank is disclosed to the financial markets in the shortest possible time, as for the enthusiasm of the people to buy public bonds, you don't have to worry about this, now" 626 incident. I believe that as long as we work together, the center does not need to borrow from private financial institutions. ”

Xiong Xiling and Liang Shizhi exchanged glances, and both of them understood in their hearts that Zhao Bei was determined to start a war against Japan. In fact, this kind of speculation is not limited to high-level figures in the Ministry of Finance; since the birth of the "June 26 Incident," in just two days, all the industrial stocks in the stock market that are tied up with arms and military industry have been bullish all the way, and the stocks of steel, coal, automobiles, shipbuilding, and even the stocks of the cotton exchange have also risen with the tide and become hot spots in the stock market. Because according to common sense, once China and Japan go to war, the three eastern provinces will almost certainly become a battlefield, and correspondingly, the stock value of industrial enterprises in the coastal areas is also shrinking, and stock investors are worried that the coastal areas will become a battlefield.

However, at present, the people can only look at the current fluctuations in the stock market with a speculative mentality, after all, the central government has not made a clear statement, and it is still unknown what will happen to the future relations between China and Japan, and as long as the great powers are still mediating, then they cannot give up the last hope for peace.

But will the Great Powers succeed in mediating? In this regard, Xiong Xiling and Liang Shizhao are skeptical, they are very aware of the character and style of this president, others may think that after the "June 26 Incident", the Japanese government will take the initiative, but they know that after the incident, it is Zhao Bei who takes the initiative. If a war breaks out between China and Japan, it will not be the Japanese government that fired the first shot.

This is also a state secret, no one can say it, just know it in their hearts, as senior officials of the Ministry of Finance, all the two can do is to wait and see what happens, and use their knowledge of the inside story to sell those hot stocks and assets as soon as possible, no one knows how long this battle will last. Although both the center and the president believe that a war is best, they are also, heart". Under the present circumstances, once the war begins, when will the war end and peace will be restored, this initiative is not completely in China's hands, after all, Japan is a great power, although it is the weakest of the great powers, but its national strength is still there, after all, China is an advanced country, and too many entanglements will have an impact on all the foreign actions of this country.

Now that the Ministry of Finance had completed most of the work, Zhao Bei ended the meeting in due course, saw off Xiong Xiling and Liang Shiyu, and he returned to the No. 1 office banquet, where he handled official business, until four o'clock in the afternoon, with the arrival of Tian Jinfu, the president was able to free himself from the paperwork of the case.

Tian Jinfu has just returned to Beijing from Wuhan, and the Military Intelligence Bureau played a key role in the "June 26 Incident." Now, Director Tian has come to report to the president and give a detailed introduction to the current situation in Wuhan.

Along with the report on the president's desk, there was a thick stack of photos, all of which were taken by Chinese military reporters during the "June 26 Incident." Most of them have not yet been published in the newspapers, and only a small part of them have been seen by the people, and even the newspapers that Zhao Bei read at noon did not publish these photos. Now, Zhao Bei has a more intuitive understanding of the tragedy of the "626 Incident".

Judging from the photographs, half of the Japanese concession in Hankow was basically in ruins, and the Japanese resistance seemed to be very fierce, although the battle did not last long, but the fierceness of the battle was indeed not comparable to the previous civil wars, which seemed to be attributed to the flamethrower, and considering that most of the Japanese-style houses were made of wood, in front of the flamethrower, it looked like paper paste.

Unlike other powers, Japan has a large number of bridge people living in the Chinese concession, most of these people come from the bottom of Japanese society, the Japanese government is completely operating the concession with the mentality of running colonialism, therefore, in the "626 Incident", the Japanese expatriates suffered great losses, according to the preliminary statistics of the military, in the entire anti-riot operation, a total of more than 500 Japanese rioters were killed, more than 1,000 people were arrested, and the suspects are still being screened. They fled to the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and many even went to Taiwan, obviously, the deterrent effect of this battle was quite amazing, although it made the Japanese government slow down, but considering the national defense mobilization system, if Japan wants to complete the national defense mobilization, it will take at least a month, and during this period, the Sino-Japanese war has begun, and Zhao Bei will not leave the Japanese government with sufficient reaction

。

If all goes well, the date of the war will be set in the next few days, as for which day, it is still necessary to wait for the decision of the General Staff, which must take into account many aspects, such as the build-up of troops, possible changes in the weather, etc., modern warfare is like an accurate clock, any small mistake may cause disadvantage on the battlefield, in the war, which side has fewer mistakes, which side has a greater chance of winning the final victory, which puts forward high requirements for the quality of military commanders, Zhao Bei can have strategic ideas, but at the tactical level, he has to rely on those professional officers from military academies.

Tian Zhifu spent half an hour briefing on the situation in Wuhan, and then changed the conversation to a topic that made him a little worried.

"According to the information we have received so far, the British consul in Han is organizing a group of foreign journalists to collect the "June 26 Incident." materials, ready to start a public opinion war against me. In this regard, the central authorities should not be careless, those reporters are all from Britain, France, and Russia, and they are very disgusted by the proximity between China and Germany

Zhao Bei nodded. He has been preparing for the public opinion war for a long time, and it has not yet been officially implemented, in fact, in his opinion. The war of public opinion is only a secondary aspect, the key is the outcome of the next war, which side wins the war, which side is the embodiment of "international justice" and "international justice", history is written by the victors, to paraphrase a certain historical celebrity, "the victors are not condemned."

。

At this time, an adjutant of the chamberlain hurriedly walked into the office, with a somewhat strange expression.

"Mr. President. I have just received a telephone call from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that Mr. Rex, the German Minister to China, urgently called on the President and wanted to discuss a very important matter with the President. ”

"Oh? Didn't the German minister just come yesterday? ”

Zhao Bei was a little surprised. As a matter of fact, yesterday the German minister made clear the German Government's stand on the "June 26 Incident" in front of the British minister, and the German Government firmly stood on China's side in this matter. Severely condemn the atrocities of the Japanese mob and support China in resolutely eliminating the "national hooligans." ”

"The people in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on the phone that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary was assassinated in Sarajevo today, and that the German minister came for this matter." The adjutant whispered.

"The assassination of the Austro-Hungarian crown prince?"

Tian Jinfu was obviously very surprised, he glanced at Zhao Bei, but now Mr. President looked like he had suddenly realized.

Perhaps seeing Tian Jinfu's question, Zhao Bei stood up, sorted out the photos on the table, and said a few words lightly.

"Yoshihito, now we can breathe a sigh of relief, the assassination of the Austrian crown prince, this is the international event that Europeans care about, in contrast," the June 26 incident. On the contrary, it is so inconspicuous that ah, it seems that the public opinion war planned by Mr. British Consul cannot be fought, at least not in foreign countries. ”

"The Austrian crown prince was assassinated, but the German minister rushed to visit the president in such a hurry, could it be that Germany wants to make a fuss about this matter?" Tian Jinfu's eyes rolled.

Zhao Bei looked at this intelligence leader with approval, this person does have extraordinary comprehension and imagination, but when it comes to grasping history, it is far inferior to him, a traverser.

"The Austrian crown prince is dead. It will inevitably cause a dispute, and given the current situation in Europe, it will be a big war if it is not good. Yoshihito, remember my prediction a few years ago? At that time, I said that there would be a big war in Europe, and now, this big war seems to be close to the eye. ”

Zhao Bei sighed deeply, as the butterfly of history, his current strength is not enough to affect the general direction of history, all he can do is to use this historical trend to fight for the opportunity for the country to rise, that's all.