Nanjing, to a certain extent, the Guangfu Avenue outside the Zhonghua Gate to Xiaguan is a commercial street lined with companies, and after entering the Zhonghua Gate, there are Eastern and European-style buildings on both sides of the Guangfu Avenue, which is undoubtedly an official street, from the Zhonghua Gate to the city with the Guangfu Avenue as the central axis, the Imperial War Department, the Imperial Supreme Court, the Imperial Ministry of Justice and the Imperial Advisory Council, but on this avenue, anyone understands that the real heart center of the empire is the imperial palace also located on the Guangfu Avenue.

Emperor for the Chinese Empire living in the world's three autocratic empires, the imperial palace is the brain of the country, every day from the palace of the government building will issue a series of "decrees", appoint and dismiss officials, in China, the emperor set executive power, legislative power in one, this power is probably the same as the autocratic empire of the Russian Empire Tsar or Ottoman Sultan can not be compared, but on the other hand, the whole world knows, among the three autocratic empires, While the Ottoman Empire, which had long since fallen, and Russia, which had lost the war five years earlier, was in decline, the Chinese Empire had just opened its eyes and was striving to become a world power.

Two years ago, no powerful country would listen to Nanjing's voice, and now, no country will ignore this country, at least to this extent, China is becoming a great power, of course, a "backward" and "strong" country, backward industry and a strong army, is the source of the country's strength, and everyone knows that all this is created by the first emperor in Chinese history to show people in military uniform every day, and because of this, The emperor would have power that could not be compared with the two autocratic empires.

"From Solon to Washington, there is a spirit, and the spirit of democracy is in the same vein. There is an ideal, the ideal of a people's republic, which has gone through thousands of years and will always shine brightly, and from the Greek city-state democracy of "small countries and widows", we can see the figure of "moderately prosperous", and from the vast land of the Millican federal democracy, we can see the dawn of "great harmony". Millican's territory was comparable to Europa, which was divided by religion, while Millican was united as a republic by a federal system......"

"Foolishness"

With a sneer, Chen Moran casually threw away the newspaper, and then couldn't help but rub his temples.

"These people...... It should be ......."

As long as he thought of the articles he had seen in the newspapers about the "constitution" in the past year, Chen Moran was overwhelmed.

Since the end of the war and the country has entered the stage of all-round construction, the public opinion circles have been turbulent, and there has been no longer the calm of the past, and those people have always tried to seize the commanding heights of public opinion, and they have used the freedom of the press that they have promoted to talk in the newspapers about the "harm of autocracy" and the "superiority of constitutionalism." Whenever there is a problem in the country, there will always be people who link autocracy with constitutionalism.

"Did Zheqin read the newspaper?"

After Guan Mingtang came to the back garden of the palace, Chen Moran, who was sitting in the stone workshop, asked rhetorically.

"Your Majesty, I don't know what Your Majesty is referring to"

Guan Mingtang is really confused about this, he has just finished negotiations with Morgan Bank, and he really hasn't read much newspapers recently. His answer made Chen Moran raise his eyes slightly to look at him, and then shook his head and sighed lightly.

"How's the negotiation with JPMorgan Bank?"

"Your Majesty, JPMorgan Bank is willing to issue 1.5 billion Chinese dollar bonds in the United States on behalf of our country, and the conditions have not crossed the bottom line."

Guan Mingtang hurriedly replied, and then added.

"However, the representative of JPMorgan Bank is not optimistic that we will invest 500 million yuan in railway construction next year, and hopes that we will consider it carefully......"

1.5 billion yuan bonds, this is the focus of the Ministry of Finance's work this year, although it is only October, but the plan for next year has already been completed, and the task of the Ministry of Finance is to prepare the necessary funds. …,

After the signing of the Sino-Japanese treaty last year, although Japan provided 1.8 billion gold yen in compensation, according to the provisions of the treaty, 600 million of them were returned to the Japanese government in the form of loans, and 1.8 billion gold yen, which seems to be a huge amount of money, can be used in the whole country but is simply a drop in the bucket, and 400 million yen was deducted from the education expenses just with the "imperial tribute", and the remaining 1.4 billion yuan was spent another 200 million yuan on education, and 1.2 billion yuan remained, and another 400 million yuan was used for naval construction, and the army asked for another 200 million yen, which was really used for industrial construction. However, there are only 600 million gold yen, that is, 600 million Chinese won, and of this money, 100 million is for capital transportation construction expenditures.

In the end, in addition to relying on government funds, social capital preparation, and bank loans, domestic industrial construction can only rely on the issuance of bonds, and mainly on the issuance of bonds to foreign countries.

"Thoughtful?"

With a cold snort, the corners of Chen Moran's lips lifted slightly.

"In 1860, the United States had 30,000 kilometers of railroad lines, 85,169 kilometers in 1870, 269,000 kilometers in 1890, and 320,000 kilometers in 1900, accounting for half of the world's railroad lines. At the time of the railroad frenzy in the United States, why didn't the people at Morgan Bank think about it carefully? ”

After asking rhetorically, Chen Moran said sarcastically.

"Railroad construction in the U.S. required sustained large sums of money, much of it coming from stocks and bonds that American bankers sold to investors in France, Britain, Germany, and the Netherlands. In 1890, about one-third of the holders of railroad securities were foreigners. From 1865 to 1900, Europeans bought about $2.5 billion in U.S. securities. In fact, they are all railroad stocks and bonds, and there are no other types of securities traded on the New York Stock Exchange, and it is fair to say that it was the development of railroads that helped New York become the financial center of the United States today. ”

In addition to the sarcasm, Chen Moran continued.

"We are just copying the success of the Americans today, of course, for us, the financial center is secondary, we don't have that foundation yet, but the most important thing is that the railway will be an important industrial policy for us, every railway must use Chinese-made steel rails, every railway must use Chinese-made locomotives, carriages, so to speak, in the construction of railways, will consume a lot of coal, wood, iron and steel, it also drives the development of these industries, And great wealth has been created. Rising demand has prompted companies to continue to innovate and invest, turning otherwise small businesses into big profits. ”

Speaking of this, Chen Moran stretched out a finger.

"More importantly, the wealth accumulated by railway construction suppliers is far larger and longer than that of railway companies or its users, and railway suppliers, the wealth earned by using railways can enable them to achieve rapid development, so as to develop into large enterprises, we Chinese, business mind, is not worse than Jews, bad is just a good environment, now, we not only provide the environment, but also create conditions for them, only after these enterprises become bigger and stronger, the country can invest back from industrial investment, Zheqin ......"

At the end of the words, he raised his head and looked at Guan Mingtang, and Chen Moran couldn't regret it.

"Why did we assure the United States that we would not start construction of any more warships of more than 10,000 tons in the next five years, just to win the trust of the United States?"

After the Sino-Japanese War, China, as the victor, further expanded its influence in the Far East and the Pacific, but did not show an aggressive posture in this region at all, and finally even accepted the mediation of the United States, and implemented autonomy in Borneo Lanfang, which was still under the control of the Netherlands, but it was a vassal of China, and China enjoyed the right to immigrate as a condition, and normalized relations with the Netherlands. …,

At the same time, in the face of the fact that the main forces of the US Navy are concentrated in the Atlantic Ocean and the fleet deployed in Asia is very weak, and it is impossible to contend with China at all, and it should have been the current situation in which the United States has adopted a policy of retreating, China has taken the initiative to stop building warships of more than 10,000 tons within five years in order to avoid confrontation with the United States, which will lead to a confrontation between the two countries in the Pacific Ocean and a situation in which the hostile feelings between the two countries will become more and more serious.

In return, under the lobbying of Roosevelt himself, the US Congress passed a bill at the beginning of the year to repeal all Chinese exclusion bills, and thus the relationship between China and the United States became normal, and in the eyes of many foreign diplomats and observers, China's voluntary concessions were regarded as "oriental-style diplomatic wisdom", and the United States relaxed its vigilance against China.

But in fact, as the Minister of Finance, Guan Mingtang is very clear that it is not that China is willing to make concessions, but that reality forces China to make concessions, relying on poor and weak national strength to build a modern and powerful army, which is the foundation of ensuring national security, but if it is unwise to maintain an army that can confront a strong country in terms of poor and weak national strength, it is easy to drag down its own economy, especially for China in the transition from an agricultural country to an industrial country, to establish a huge army, especially a navy that needs to exhaust the national crossbow, It will seriously affect China's industrialization process.

It is precisely for this reason that China will take the initiative to show weakness, and even do not hesitate to give up some ambitions in exchange for the understanding of the United States, and at the same time avoid arousing the vigilance of the United States, it will make maximum use of the surplus capital of the United States to develop its own industry.

"Because there are not enough funds"

"That's right"

Nodding his head, Chen Moran's expression looked quite helpless, two years ago, he still had a huge amount of cash, and now, the money he sold the oil field has long been spent, either turned into bonds, or turned into a factory, the only thing that can still bring huge wealth is the "Anglo-Polish Oil Company" in Ji Li's name, but the problem is that there has not been able to extract even a drop of oil until now.

The emperor who was "rich enough to rival the country" back then has no surplus food at home now

"Ke Zheqin, our financial income is more than that of the United Kingdom"

When he said this, Chen Moran felt a little blushing, because China's taxation of the common people is much heavier than that of the United States, and unlike the "Ming increase" of the former Qing Dynasty, the new government's tax increase is a tax increase in the link, and the people's feeling is nothing more than "slightly higher prices", and the tax increase was implemented during the war, which fundamentally avoids the people's disgust caused by the tax increase directly on the people.

"But why can't we spend 200 million yuan on naval military spending like the United Kingdom?"

"Because half of the empire's financial expenditure is used for industrial investment, and it is difficult for these huge industrial investments to achieve results in the short term, there is now the empire's poverty and inexplicable inability to invest huge sums of money in naval construction."

Guan Mingtang replied bluntly, this is the short leg of the backward country, in order to develop heavy industry projects that cost a lot of money and have a long return period, they can only rely on government investment, and this takes up a small amount of money, so that the government can not invest all its strength in other places that are more needed.

armaments

Mentioning these two words, Chen Moran sighed helplessly, since last year, Britain and Germany have begun a vigorous naval arms race, and the slipways of the two countries are crowded with "Zhiyuan ships", Zhiyuan ships have opened the history of the navy, but also triggered this sea race.

The British, Germans, Americans, French, and Italians are all building their own Zhiyuan ships, but in China, the origin of the Zhiyuan ships, the Chinese Navy has fallen silent, concentrating on manufacturing all kinds of light and heavy cruisers, but this has brought an unexpected benefit, after the slipways of European powers are crowded with Zhiyuan ships, shipping companies of various countries have to issue merchant shipping orders to other countries in order to meet their own needs, and in the past two years, China's shipbuilding industry has obtained merchant ship orders with a total tonnage of more than one million tons. …,

Orders for merchant ships from foreign countries, more or less to give themselves some comfort, at least, there is still some reward for the sacrifice, especially the British, out of fear that China will be involved in the competition, the British government does not hesitate to encourage British companies to order ships from China, and even take the initiative to introduce customers to Chinese shipyards, their purpose is obvious, is to occupy China's shipbuilding capacity, so as to squeeze China out of the ranks of the Anglo-German naval competition.

"Your Majesty, I have heard that the Germans are very dissatisfied with our unwillingness to cooperate with them in the arms race"

Guan Mingtang said at the right time that because of the Sino-German alliance, Germany has always hoped that China can continue to build the Zhiyuan ship, so as to outperform Britain in naval power through the alliance of the two countries, but the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has always used the "Sino-US Naval Agreement" as a shield.

"If the Germans are dissatisfied, let's be dissatisfied, at least now we can't take the initiative to break the agreement with the Americans, let alone ......"

Referring to the dissatisfaction of the Germans, Chen Moran smiled.

"What's more, now everyone is building only Zhiyuan ships, nothing more than 13.5-inch naval guns, believe me, the era of 13.5-inch naval guns has long ended, and it will be the era of 15-inch and 18-inch naval guns in the future, so we don't need to waste money on this meaningless competition now."

Excuses, this is not an excuse, but a fact, it's just that no one can understand it at all except yourself, and this is also a reason to convince the Navy yourself, but in any case this is a fact after all, and there is no distinction between dreadnought and super-dreadnought in history? The dreadnought that ushered in the dreadnought era did not stand out at all in the First World War, and the only thing that attracted attention was probably the dreadnought era he created.

What's more, now China needs a complete industrial system, although the Zhiyuan ship has been successful, but that is the product of various countries "loading ships", in the real world war, this kind of "loading" is undoubtedly fatal to the Chinese Navy, now the purpose of building light and heavy cruisers, on the one hand, is fixed is the needs of the navy, and the most important reason is to achieve the localization of various equipment, of course, there is also the need to improve their own ship-building level.

"Your Majesty's Divine Wisdom"

In the face of this answer, Guan Mingtang spit out a panacea answer, no matter what the reason of His Majesty, at least one thing is certain, His Majesty will not violate the agreement reached with the United States, as long as he gets this guarantee, he has been in the United States for more than ten years, and he knows better than anyone that the power stored in the United States, a young country, is hidden.

"Alright, Zheqin, don't slap my ass"

Chen Moran stared at Guan Mingtang when he spoke, the reason why he admired him was because of his talent and learning, and more importantly, because he appreciated his courage to speak, and he never hid anything from himself.

"Zheqin, you ...... If you haven't had anything to do lately, read the newspaper."

"Your Majesty?"

"It seems that there are a lot of people who are very dissatisfied with me right now."

Although His Majesty did not explicitly refer to who it was, Guan Mingtang still guessed the meaning revealed in His Majesty's words, which could make His Majesty show displeasure, I am afraid that it is those who advocate constitutionalism, those people are like flies, although they know that they can't affect the overall situation, but they still don't prevent them from buzzing in front of people's eyes every day.

"Your Majesty, they are just talking about the overall situation, and besides, isn't what Your Majesty hoped to create back then is a country where the people can speak freely?"

Facing Guan Mingtang's persuasion, Chen Moran just sighed helplessly.

"Zheqin, don't you understand what kind of person I hate the most?"

"What I hate the most is those who talk about inciting others, they incite others, and when they achieve their goal, they retreat behind the scenes, and it seems that nothing has happened to them."

"Your Majesty......"

"If they dare to go out into the streets and shout for me to make a constitution, or even for me to abdicate, I appreciate them, at least they understand a little ......"

The tone raised slightly.

"Power is earned, not given"

"Your Majesty, if there really is such a day, what will you choose? Is it to accept their petition, or is it ......"

How will I choose? Guan Mingtang's rhetorical question made Chen Moran stunned, yes, if it really came to that day, how would he choose?

(I'm sorry, the transformer in the community failed last night, so it failed to update, I hope you will forgive me) ......,