The method of borrowing foreign debts is not new, but this borrowing is collateralized by two Huai salt profits, which is indeed suspected of harming Zhao Guanhou's interests. After all www.biquge.info he had just taken control of the Lianghuai Salt Farm and cleaned up Xu Baoshan, and before he could make a fortune, the salt profits were mortgaged to foreigners, and it was inevitable that anyone would have ideas.

But to do this, Zhao Guanhou's involvement is very heavy, and Yuan Weiting can't let him take office with resentment, so he hurriedly explained:

"Today, although the North and the South are negotiating peace, the situation cannot be considered stable. Cai Feng in the Yunnan-Guizhou area is eyeing me and can't listen to me. Jiangxi, Anhui, Fujian, Liangguang, these provinces, our strength is not enough to restrain them. Whether it is a republic or a president, there must be soldiers in hand. Without soldiers, there is no authority. Therefore, in the north, we must recruit troops, and those people's troops in the south must be abolished. ”

After Ge Mingfeng rose, the speed of the expansion of the army in the south had reached the point of madness. The three towns of Wuhan actually recruited the five associations, and Hunan even had a number of town-level establishments. The actual strength of the army is unknown, but the military pay is paid in full. As a result, the two lakes have accumulated money, and they are almost exhausted.

After Yuan Weiting came to power, he naturally would not allow the south to retain a civilian army of this size, but it is easy for soldiers to gather and it is difficult to disperse, and if it is not handled well, these soldiers will be scattered among the people and become bandits, and it will be difficult for the south to be stable. The towns in the north also need to be rewarded with heavy gold and coins for their meritorious efforts in the south, otherwise the soldiers will not be able to serve them, and there will be accidents.

For the people, in order to recuperate and rebuild the countryside, they also need to be well cared for. Internationally, Gengzi's indemnity and Maguan's indemnity also need to be paid according to the amount, in fact, Yuan Weiting is because of the recognition of these debts, and the previous Dajin treaty, the foreigners' support for him is so great. It is not easy for a devastated country to recover such a large sum of money.

With so many foreign debts, most of the rights to roads and mines are mortgaged, and if you want to borrow debts, it will be difficult to find collateral. Lianghuai has always been an important source of finance, and sorting out the salt method is the last life-saving trick that the imperial court thinks of when it has no money, and it is not surprising that Yuan Weiting moved his brain to salt.

Zhao Guanhou was not angry, and said with a smile: "Brother-in-law, it is not easy for you." Jin Guo is such a mess, and it is very difficult to pick it up on anyone's shoulders. It's hard enough to keep the situation going, not to mention it's even harder to build a mess. ”

"Only you understand my suffering. This mess can't be cured. Everyone else only sees me as the housekeeper, and no one sees my hard work. If they are a little dissatisfied, they will make trouble with me, the head of the family, saying that I have not placed them well, which is the difficulty of being a family. Since in this position, being wronged and scolded is commonplace, and doing well is what you should do, and if you don't do it well, it becomes a fault, and this is the price. 500,000 pounds, which sounds like a lot, is equivalent to more than 4 million in silver, but after deducting the interest first, there is not so much in hand. Just to pay the annual fee, it will cost two million. Coupled with all the expenses, it's good that the money can be used. However, foreign bonds are heavy interest, and foreigner banks are rushing to release them. Jensen sold all her belongings in Belgium for you, and you have to be right for her, and if you get this loan, it can be regarded as a repayment to her. Besides, Lianghuai was brought down by you, and it is more convenient for Yanguan to send your own people to cooperate with her clerks than other banks. ”

"I do my best, I don't owe famine for the New Year, and when the New Year is over, I will talk about it immediately." Zhao Guanhou knew that although Yuan Weiting was perfunctory, he was actually quite different from the facts, and now borrowing foreign debts is not as easy to borrow as before.

The situation in the Yankees has become increasingly tense, war is almost inevitable, and Tessie's banks are tightening their money and controlling lending. Make sure you have enough cash on hand to deal with the market changes that may result from the war, and at the same time, make capital reserves for the sake of war money.

It is not so easy to allocate positions in the market. After the Songjiang stock turmoil, Daikin's local finances were on the verge of bankruptcy, and it was difficult to raise funds. At present, borrowing is like making an alliance under the city, and in terms of terms, it is impossible to be as lenient as borrowing in the previous Dajin era. However, if the new government is established as soon as it is established, it will take out loans on extremely harsh terms, and it will inevitably be realized, and it will become a pretext for the southern attack.

Yuan Weiting looked for himself this time, hoping to use his relationship with Jensen to negotiate this debt, and in terms of conditions, he naturally couldn't be too harsh. The collateral is also within the scope of his control. This is the territory that his own troops have taken down, and Yuan Weiting has publicly taken it back, it is difficult to convince the public, and there is no way to say it internally. Handed it over to himself, obviously unwilling, through this means, it can be counted as killing two birds with one stone.

He was also worried that Zhao Guanhou would have other ideas because of this, and he was appeased. "As I said, what we need to do now is to restore order as soon as possible and make sure that the market is not too bad. As soon as the new Zhengfu was established, the salaries of those grandfathers under it were gone in the first place. Secondly, Qitian must also be recovered. Where these people go is very problematic. Once they have an accident, they need to send troops to suppress the order, and we in the north must expand our troops. Your troops have received a lot of prisoners this time, and the original establishment of one town and one association in Shandong remains unchanged, and I will give you another establishment of one province and town, and another infantry association in the army, what do you think? ”

Yuan Weiting's biggest fear of Zhao Guanhou was that he sent troops this time and received too many prisoners. A large number of military-trained soldiers were absorbed by him, making the Fifth Town unprecedentedly large. As long as these troops are armed and do a little training, they can be pulled out to be used as soldiers. With the wealth of Shandong, combined with the strength of these troops, it was enough to become a nascent military group to compete with Yuan Weiting.

What's more, Zhao Guanhou has a close relationship with the bannermen and foreigners, if the bannerman clan and the Taixi powers come out to support him now, with the strength of Shandong, coupled with the influence of these foreign aids, maybe the political situation will become a three-legged situation.

Among the Yuan family, Zhao Guanhou is the strongest, although the relationship between the two is far closer than the others, Yuan Weiting also has to be suppressed to maintain the balance within his system. Zhao Guanhou has already prepared for this, and if he makes a lot of money, he must consider the eyes of others, and Yuan Weiting's request is not too much.

He first expressed his gratitude, and then said: "In terms of the placement of the flag people, we will slowly figure out a way after the New Year." According to the lowly idea, they could get on the ship from Shandong and send them back to Guanwai, where they started. In the development outside the customs, manpower is the heaviest, and everything cannot be talked about without people. Now there has been a great improvement outside the customs compared with the beginning, which has a lot to do with the people who are transported to Shandong every year. Although these uncles are not good at working, under the persecution of the situation, there are always some people who are willing to seek a way to survive. Besides, I'm trying to find a way to solve part of it, who let Shigege be their backer. ”

Yuan Weiting has a sentence that there is no way to put it on the table, that is, the huge assets of the clan, most of which flowed into Shandong and became the flag man fund. Since this money is in Shandong Zhengyuan, it is no different from Zhao Guanhou's own money. He arranged the banner man, which was also a public discussion within the Yuan system.

Seeing that he opened his mouth, Yuan Weiting saved his tongue. "It's good that you have this arrangement, but the world may not be able to follow your mind. Let's still act as a matter of fact, those flag people are the most difficult to deal with, and they are more unreasonable than foreigners, and you will have a headache in the future. This time the new government has formed a cabinet, and I originally wanted to transfer you to Beijing. But Shandong has left you, just like a ship without a helmsman, I'm afraid it won't work. Moreover, your age is still too young, if you rashly take up a ministerial position, not only will the people below not be convinced, but you yourself will not be able to suppress them, it is better to be comfortable in Shandong. I'll give you a place as a deputy minister in the War Department, and when you're old enough, I'll fill you up as a minister. Xinzheng Mansion, if the National Assembly is to be opened, I will reserve 50 seats for Shandong, and you can arrange for your people to come in. With so many members of parliament speaking for you in Congress, you won't suffer. ”

He pointed to the military attache who was talking loudly, "They can't compare with you in terms of talent and military exploits." When it comes to intimacy, it goes without saying. But sometimes, the person closest to the family suffers the most. The head of the family often has to take his relatives under the knife, which is also a very helpless thing, I hope you can understand my distress. ”

"Why did the president say this, according to Jin Guo's statement, thunder, rain and dew are all Jun's grace. As a subordinate, it is your duty to obey orders, and your orders will not dare and there will be no complaints. ”

"That's what you complain about. Between you and me, don't be so angry, I don't care if it's the president, or whatever. You will always be my brother, I will always be your brother-in-law, go, go back and prepare dinner. ”

At the banquet, Duan Xiangyan talked about the situation in Beijing, although the Yellow Dragon Flag was still floating at the moment, there were already many people from all over the world who came to the capital to make friends. These people were either local gentry or children of families. I don't know anything about the new policy, but I can feel that he is about to change the dynasty, defect to the upstart, and seek a way out. This is also the way of self-preservation of the famous family for many years.

The other group of guests are the real power figures in the provinces. Ge Ming's army rose up in various provinces, and some of the governors changed their ways, from the governor to the governor, cut off the braids, that is, became the father of Ge Ming, and made a total of meritorious heroes. But there are also some governors who abandoned India and left, hiding in the concession. Now that the war between the North and the South is peaceful, these people want to dredge their joints, regain their use, and seek a future for themselves.

These people all have a lot of money on them, and when they arrive in the capital, they live in the Bada Hutong, either for banquets or for card games, trying to please the upstarts. Like Duan Xiangyan, he recently won nearly 10,000 yuan by playing cards in Bada Hutong. Even the sleeping girl's account is also spending, so you don't have to spend your own money. Among the cadres of the Yuan family, there are not a few people who have this treatment, and when they mention it, they are naturally very proud.

Yuan Weiting snorted coldly after hearing this

"It's a pity that all these old school characters and new school people are coming, and there are still too few people coming. Ge Ming's party is still insisting that I go south to take office, what do you think about this matter? ”

The negotiation between Meng Siyuan and Yuan Weiting was not too smooth, but it successfully released Sun Dixiang's goodwill, but it was of little significance to restore peace between the north and the south. Sun Dixiang agreed to relinquish the post of provisional president, but the demand was that the capital be changed to Jiangning.

From a public point of view, Jiangning is neither south nor north, it is considered a place where the power of Beiyang and Xingzhonghui is too strong, and it has the advantage of the Southern Canal, so it is also a very fair suggestion to choose Jiangning to build the capital. But Yuan Weiting is not confused, once the capital is selected in Jiangning, his connection with the north will be weakened, and once these arrogant soldiers and fierce generals are not controlled by themselves, then the president will not be stable.

If he says that he refuses to take up his post, he will have to bear this responsibility in the future, and his question is tantamount to throwing the burden on a subordinate and listening to what they think.

Tang Yishao's face became a little embarrassed, in the final analysis, Jiang Ning's inauguration was the Sun Emperor he promised, and now that things have changed, he is the most difficult person to be. Hurriedly said:

"Yung Weng...... Students believe that Jiangning Jiandu is a good choice. The capital has been entrenched by the Jurchens for many years, and the twilight is deep. In all respects, there is no trace of the Jurchens, and it is not suitable for a nascent regime. Moreover, letting people from the south go to Beijing to serve as officials is suspected of being hostages, and it will have a very bad impact on our cooperation in the future. According to the students, it is better to set up the capital in Jiangning according to what they say......"

"I don't agree." Duan Zhiquan took over and said, "Jiangning, the place where Hong Yang built the capital, is unlucky in the first place. Moreover, when Zeng Jiushuai broke Jiangning, he did not seal the knife for three days, the soldiers slaughtered on a large scale, and the vitality of the city was lost. ”

Zhao Guanhou motioned for Cao Zhongkun to speak, but Cao Zhongkun opened his mouth, not knowing what to say, and only after a while, did he squeeze out a sentence "Jiangning is not good...... We Beiyang soldiers are all northerners, and we are not used to eating there......"

Yuan Weiting laughed and said, "Zhong Kun is the most truthful. I can't get used to this sentence, it sounds a bit vulgar, but actually, that's what it is. People take food as their heaven, and they can't even eat comfortably, let alone other things. I'm from Henan, and I'm not used to eating Jiangning's food, and I want to be the same as me when I am a soldier. The three armies can't even take care of food, so what else can they talk about? ”

Tang Yishao heard the polite refusal in his words, and he couldn't say his own justification, otherwise he was afraid that he would be suspected of being an accomplice of the Ge Ming Party. Yuan Weiting said again: "However, we are always in such a stalemate, and it is not a solution. The envoy from the south is coming to Beijing to lobby me again, and after seeing the New Year, Emperor Jin is about to abdicate. If I don't get in love with it anymore, the charge of sabotaging the peace talks will be inflicted on me, and the attitude of the ministers of various countries will also have to be considered. ”

Zhao Guanhou said with a smile: "Adults don't have to be in a hurry, things are slow and round, they can always negotiate after the year, and when the time comes, there may be a way." ”

Liang Shiyi also said: "Guanhou said this well. You don't have to rush this matter, think about it slowly, and you can always come up with a way. But there are other things, we have to discuss them quickly, and when the edict is issued after the year, we must have a charter to keep up. I think that the first is financially, we must have a new situation, the past gold dragon ocean, copper, to gradually recover, paper money completely invalid. I can't always unite the main house, with the ticket of Chengfeng's avatar. We've got to issue new coins and get the president's face printed on them. ”

Yuan Weiting shook his head, and even said no, he, the temporary president, is still temporary after all, who knows if there will be changes in the future. You can't change a president and change a currency. Liang Shiyi cited the example of Albiang, although the president has changed, it has nothing to do with the portrait of the former acting president printed on the ticket, as long as the merit is enough, no one can gossip.

Zhao Guanhou took the opportunity to quietly pull Cao and Li and call them aside, "Two brothers, what the old man means, do you understand?" Now coinage and appointment, that's not something we should worry about, and we can't control it. Let's do our part, if you fulfill your wish for the old handsome, so that he doesn't have to go to the south to take up a job, the future of the two brothers, are you afraid that there is no guarantee? (To be continued.) )