Always keep your promises. Talking counts. He said that at nine o'clock he would go to meet with the eight envoys of the Russian state. Then, you will never be late.

In fact, Zhao Bei stepped into the state guesthouse of the presidential palace at 8:55 a.m., and at that time, Xiong Xiling, chief financial officer, and Wang Yongjiang, senior adviser to the state finance, had already arrived and had been waiting for the president in the lounge of the state guesthouse for more than 10 minutes.

Rushing to the State Guesthouse, Zhao Bei first went to the lounge, met with Xiong Xiling and Wang Yongjiang, exchanged a few pleasantries, and then took the two of them to the reception room of the State Guesthouse, where they met the Russian ambassador to China, Kosovitz, who was belated.

"Mr. Ambassador, we have agreed to meet at eight o'clock sharp, but you are half an hour late, which is a little strange."

Zhao Bei was also not polite, and when he met, he first put on small shoes for the other party and killed the majesty of this Russian big nose.

"Please forgive me, Mr. President, because the machinery of the embassy carriage is malfunctioning, I can't get to the presidential palace on time, and if it's rude, I hope that Mr. President Haihan.

”

Kosoveitz was also sensible and did not stick to his previous arrogant posture, but he was not telling the truth, in fact, he was a little late, not because of some "technical problems" in the diplomatic carriage, but because he had to go to the British Embassy first. Meeting with the British ambassador to China, Mr. Zhu Erdian, to seek the understanding of the British on the chaos in the Russian Concession in Tianjin, the reason is very simple, because in the riot and chaos that broke out in the Russian Concession in Tianjin, several British were killed and injured, which is obviously a big event, in the eyes of the Russian ambassador, it seems to be more important than going to the presidential palace to meet the president, after all, Britain is an ally of Russia, and China is not, on the contrary, the Chinese have been secretly supporting Germany's war against Russia, which from Germany ** The weapons used by the team on the battlefield can be proven, without the technical support of the Chinese, how could the Germans have built the tank so perfectly? And how could the long-range bombers of the Luftwaffe be so close in appearance to the "Vulture" long-range heavy bombers equipped by the Chinese Air Force? Of course, these are only the inferences of some people in the Russian Imperial Government, and there is no direct and strong evidence, so they can only hold back, and in this situation, Russia can only count on its allies, and among all the allies, only Britain is the most reliable, because the British navy is the strongest, and without the British navy blockading German ports, perhaps Russia's current political and economic situation will be even worse, then, Russia may be completely defeated by Germany.

Thankfully. Mr. British Ambassador was very understanding of the present situation in Russia, and therefore deeply sympathized with the violent clashes that had arisen in the Russian Concession in Tianjin, and also understood the casualties and losses suffered by British citizens in the incident. There was no great embarrassment for the Russian ambassador, and although the British ambassador also made demands on the issue of reparations, on the whole the meeting between Kosovitz and Jurdian was peaceful, and the British ambassador even made a few suggestions to the Russian ambassador so that he could seize the initiative when he met with the Chinese president.

Seeing that Misovitz took the initiative to lower his posture, Zhao Bei did not take advantage of the topic and quickly cut to the point.

"Mr. Ambassador. According to reliable information from Tianjin last evening, there was a riot and riot in the Russian Concession in Tianjin that had spread because of a football match, and because the Russian side was unable to effectively maintain order, the riot and turmoil continued until this morning and remained unquelled, and in the riot, both Chinese and foreign residents suffered huge losses and some casualties. As the head of this country, I insist that our government also has jurisdiction over the concession, and in the past, we did not forcibly take back the management of this concession in consideration of the friendship between China and Russia, but now, in the face of the chaotic state of the situation in the concession, our government has every reason to take back the jurisdiction of the Tianjin concession. This is for the purpose of meeting with your ambassador, but since your ambassador has also asked for consultations on some new policies of our Ministry of Finance on the phone. Well, we can also use this as an opportunity to have a good consultation. ”

"Personally, I don't think I can fully agree with Mr. President. The concession is a special area, and this particularity was determined by the treaty with the Manchu Qing government, the former government of your country, and as long as the treaty is not abrogated, the particularity of this concession status will continue, and considering that there has been no actual amendment of the treaty between your country and the Russian government on this issue, then, as the Russian ambassador to China, I firmly oppose the idea of Mr. President taking over the jurisdiction of the concession, and Mr. British Ambassador is of the same opinion. Now is not the best time to discuss the status of the Tianjin Concession, but if your government can declare war on Germany, or sever diplomatic relations, then. The question of the Tianjin Concession is no longer a problem, because there is no estrangement between the allies, and if Mr. President supports Russia's war against Germany, let alone the concession, even the issue of the Eastern Eastern Railway, it can also be resolved through friendly consultations. ”

Kosovetz was both soft and hard, but this was not entirely his own idea, and the British ambassador Juerdian also suggested this, both of whom wanted to use the concession issue to drag China into the water and declare war on Germany, at least to make China declare the severance of all diplomatic relations with Germany and completely isolate Germany.

But Zhao Bei was not fooled, the current Russia is already a foreign power, and the concubine is in danger, he will not be at this time, and the advantage of the traverser is also here. Be able to see the history clearly and just fly" without making wrong judgments and choices.

"In special times, there are special methods. Now that the Russian Empire has exploded into a revolution, how can it take care of the Far East? If the chaotic situation is allowed to unfold, it will seriously affect the order in the north and then affect the overall situation, how can the central government stand idly by? Regardless of whether your government cooperates or not, I will resolutely defend national sovereignty and national interests. The purpose of inviting Mr. Ambassador to come here is to inform Mr. Ambassador of this matter, and that China's internal affairs forces will formally take over the Russian Concession in Tianjin later today, so as to effectively maintain local order and protect the lives and property of overseas Chinese from various countries

Since Zhao Bei said it so bluntly, no matter how stubborn he was, it was impossible for Kosovez to stop him, because he did not have enough military strength at his hands, and it was impossible to stop the advance of the Chinese armed forces by relying on the embassy guards and the infantry battalions in the concession, so Kosovez decided to change his strategy. Act in accordance with the program proposed by the British Ambassador.

"Since Mr. President insists on taking over the jurisdiction of the ancestral realm, then I hope that Mr. President can form a takeover committee with the ambassadors of Britain, France, and Russia to China to show justice."

Kosovetz had planned to wait for the situation to stabilize before returning the concession jurisdiction to the Russian side, but when he saw Zhao Bei's straight face, he dismissed this idea, and in any case, it should not be too irritating to the Chinese now. lest they be pushed over to the side of the Germans, so that Russia, like Germany, would have to face the dilemma of a two-front war, which, given the present state of Russia's national strength and domestic situation, would be almost immediately fatal to Russia. Kosovez did not dare to take the risk.

Zhao Bei was still not fooled, he knew this very well, what was the evil intention hidden in the proposal of the "Takeover Committee", and he would never be led by the nose by these foreign envoys.

"Mr. Ambassador, now that the war broke out in Europe, and Britain, the Weeping Kingdom, and Russia are all participating countries, at this time, it is not appropriate for China's central government and local governments to have any tendentious political or military cooperation with these belligerent countries, so. For Mr. Ambassador, this, "Concession Takeover Committee." I can only decline it. Well, as for the takeover of the Tianjin Concession, let's discuss it here, the takeover operation will begin later today, and at that time, I would like to ask Mr. Ambassador to telegraph to the commander of the Russian army in Tianjin that the takeover must not be obstructed under any circumstances, otherwise it will be regarded as a war provocation by our government and will be strongly counterattacked by our armed forces. ”

Zhao Bei ended the discussion on this concession topic in due course. He is not worried about the Russian troops stationed in Tianjin, for the internal affairs troops who are about to enter the concession under the cover of tanks and armored vehicles, those Russian ** teams in the Tianjin concession are simply vegetables, if they do not move, they will be enough, once they move, it will be a one-sided battle.

Seeing that the concession issue could no longer be accommodated, Kosovez had no choice but to turn his attention to the new financial policies of the Ministry of Finance towards Russia, which was the real reason for his visit.

The day after the revolution in Petrograd, the capital of the Russian Empire, China's Ministry of Finance formulated a number of new policies against Russian banks and other financial institutions in China in accordance with Zhao Bei's instructions. The most interesting thing is a "rectification order" against the Sino-Russian Daosheng Bank. Under the draconian order, Daosheng Bank must not only immediately hand over all its accounts, but also submit to the supervision of China Salt Industry Bank to "protect the interests of Chinese and foreign businessmen and depositors."

Sino-Russian Daosheng Bank, although there is one in the name. "Hua. But in fact, this bank has little to do with China, but has some relationship with the French consortium, but the real big proprietor is actually a group of nobles and bureaucrats in Tsarist Russia and the Tsarist Russian government, this bank originated after the Sino-Japanese War, the then Russian Imperial Government insisted on providing a part of the loan to the defeated Qing government regardless of its own financial constraints, in order to ensure the smooth payment of the Qing government's war reparations against Japan, and soon after, the Russian government pulled the French consortium to form the Daosheng Bank, and from the beginning, By virtue of an agreement with the Qing government, the bank, controlled by the Russian Imperial Government, had the privilege of building railways, mines, factories, and collecting taxes in China, and the Eastern Railway that ran through the three eastern provinces was undertaken by the Daosheng Bank.

Since it was a bank, and it had branches in China, it would certainly absorb deposits, due to the superstition of foreign banks that the Manchu court had fostered. As well as the so-called "principle of absolute secrecy" of foreign banks, many Chinese are handling deposit business in foreign consortia or government-run banks in China, which not only further strengthens the capital of foreign banks, but also weakens the competitiveness of China's local banks.

But that, after all, is the foreign banks, through which they exercise financial control over China, and the Great Powers have always attached great importance to this.

This is a tiger's mouth, and the slightest carelessness will be injured by the tiger, so the central government and the Ministry of Finance have been very cautious on this issue and have not ventured.