Nerve.

Hu Chuyuan didn't care at all.

It's just Yi's own idea, and let him do it...... Go and do it, you go to Britain and Germany to lobby, go to run the new army, go to run the railway, go to buy warships with silver and foreign exchange, crazy, what kind of merit do you have to rob me?

Did you grab it?

Hu Chuyuan sneered in his heart, didn't say a word, and let Prince Gong show his wisdom and "foresight".

After Prince Gong finished talking about the "Hu Family's Six Strategies" one by one, Emperor Guangxu Zaiyan breathed a sigh of relief and praised: "Uncle Huang is worthy of planning political affairs for a long time, and he is well versed in the study of the world. ”

Prince Gong said: "Your Majesty, these things that Weichen said can certainly contain Russia, but if you really want to do it, you have to count on Senior Minister Hu and Master Hu." ”

Emperor Guangxu bowed slightly, looked at Hu Chuyuan with special expectations, and asked, "Senior Minister Hu, with your talent, you should do these things well, right?" ”

Hu Chuyuan nodded calmly and said, "Wechen must do his best, but Wechen is not completely sure whether the thing can be done." There are some things, Wechen is seventy or eighty percent sure, and some things, Wechen can only try his luck. For example, the matter of rushing to repair the Jinghan Railway is easier said than done, and if it is really done, there may be countless problems, and there is no problem with money, let alone manpower and materials, but the key is to see the sky and the earth. ”

Emperor Guangxu continued to bow his head and sighed: "Don't worry, except for you, other officials can't handle these things, you will definitely do your best, if it really doesn't work out, I won't blame you." However, we also have to think of some extra-legal methods, just in case. ”

Hu Chuyuan said: "If it doesn't work, the capital should be temporarily moved to Luoyang." Luoyang is the land of Zhou Li, the central city of China, and can be the temporary capital. If the imperial court can temporarily move the capital to Luoyang, the armies will no longer have to be contained, and they can meet the enemy with peace of mind, and it is also possible to meet the battle for ten years. Since the invasion of Britain and France, all countries have speculated that China's capital is close to the coast, the navy occupies the port, and the army can threaten the Beijing division by breaking through a hundred miles of land, so that China will be defeated without a fight. ”

Emperor Guangxu was secretly shocked and said, "The matter of moving the capital...... It's a big deal, I'm afraid it's inappropriate, right? ”

Hu Chuyuan continued to persuade: "The temporary strategy can be done in secret, and another palace can be built in Luoyang to sacrifice the Zhou ceremony." In case the Northeast is not guaranteed, he will retreat to Luoyang first, hold a large-scale group training in Hebei, gather North China with the strength of the whole country, and fight in Hebei for three years and five years. It is said that this small country is now borrowing to live in debt, and it is reckless in military force, how can it fight for three years and five years? Although Russia is strong, supplies are difficult, and after three years, we can change from defense to merit. If they want peace talks halfway, we will not agree to anything, but we will continue to fight forcefully until they are overwhelmed. ”

Emperor Guangxu became more and more jealous and asked: "Can it be dragged down, if our country collapses first, then what?" ”

Hu Chuyuan said: "China's economic powerhouse has always been in the south, mainly in Huguang, Jiangnan and Liangguang, and Sichuan is also a rich place. Wechen has already considered setting up two of the country's largest iron and steel factories in Ma'anshan and Daye, which are run by government and commercial companies, smelting copper and lead, refining gunpowder, operating coal chemical industry, and setting up ammunition factories in Xuzhou. It was transported to Kaifeng by railway, and then transferred to Hebei. Xuzhou is also a place to train soldiers, Xuzhou has a military academy, originally Zuo Zongtang run, Weichen can expand this school, and in Xuzhou to train the new army, to remove the surrounding Henan, Huai, Suzhou, Lu provinces of the source of soldiers, three years can train the new army 100,000. In addition, we have stockpiled munitions, supplies, grain, and grass in Taiyuan and Xuzhou, and have begun to purchase more this year to ensure our needs for three years. ”

Prince Gong was greatly surprised, Hu Chuyuan didn't tell him these things at all in advance.

Nonsense, the current Hu Chuyuan is very fine, and it is safer to always hold the trick in his own hands.

Yi Da was unwilling, and hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, these methods are good, but it's a pity...... The imperial court can't come up with so much money, and even if it is borrowed, it may not be able to pay it back. ”

Hu Chuyuan immediately said: "It's still fine." Your Majesty, the debt can be kept on hold, and when the domestic economy grows stronger and the price of the Shanghai stock market is high, the Jiangnan Commercial Bank in charge of Weichen can be listed, and the official shares held by the imperial court can be thrown out at a high price and sold to the people, and hundreds of millions of yuan can be cashed out within a year. As for these factories that Weichen wants to run, there is no need for the imperial court to invest money. The military is a major event of the imperial court, of course, the imperial court has to pay money, and if there are deficiencies, the micro-ministers can also find ways to borrow from other places. ”

Hearing these words, Emperor Guangxu Zaiyan was skeptical, and said, "Qian ...... After all, it's a big problem, and maybe you can only rely on Hu Aiqing. ”

Hu Chuyuan said: "Money is such a thing, if you don't bring it in life, you don't bring it in death, Weichen still has hundreds of millions of yuan in his hands, so he might as well donate it all." The personal net worth is small, and the country's affairs are big, at this time in front of him, does Weichen still need to consider his net worth? Therefore, although the emperor can rest assured, let Weichen discuss this matter with the two princes and Lord Shangshu Yan of the household department, and he will definitely be able to come up with a foolproof plan! ”

Emperor Guangxu nodded silently, and seemed to be much calmer.

After a little thought, he asked Yi Xian to go back to the military aircraft department to handle various affairs, but left Hu Chuyuan alone.

When Yi left, Emperor Guangxu couldn't wait for Hu Chuyuan to sit down, and when Hu Chuyuan sat down, he stood up by himself and paced in the study in distraught.

This kid is so pitiful.

Hu Chuyuan looked at him and felt sympathetic in his heart.

Sympathy is sympathy, one day, he will have to push this emperor down.

Looking at Emperor Guangxu, Hu Chuyuan couldn't help but think of his eighteen-year-old approach, who had just taken charge of the family business, but encountered the raw silk war and the salt disaster case.

Looking back now, he is really very grateful to Zuo Zongtang, without Zuo Zongtang, where is he?

It's a pity that he couldn't let Zuo Zongtang see the scene of China's prosperity and strength when Zuo Zongtang was alive.

Before dying, Zuo Zongtang and Hu Chuyuan confessed another thing...... Xiang Jun, it doesn't matter if he dies, people always have to die, but Xiang Yong, who has nearly 60,000 people, still has to eat.

Emperor Guangxu turned left and right for a while, and then sat back on the dragon chair, and sighed with Hu Chuyuan sincerely: "In order to help me and pro-government, you will spend more than 30 million yuan, and then you will have to spend another 10 million yuan every year for Prince Alcohol to secretly deploy." I am very grateful, and I am very sorry not to go. You secretly purchased a ship in a foreign country last year, and I discussed this money with Prince Alcohol and Prince Gong several times, and wanted to return it to the household department as soon as possible to keep accounts, but I really couldn't get the money. Now I want you to pay for the military expenses...... In the unlikely event that your family business is brought down, how can you give me peace of mind? ”

Hu Chuyuan smiled and said, "Please rest assured that the emperor is capable of governing the country...... That's not to talk about, but when it comes to the ability to do business, Weichen says second, then no one dares to say first. Weichen's family business can't collapse. Don't hide it from the emperor, when the Queen Mother was in power, Weichen had already transferred nearly 600 million Qingyuan to prepare to leave the Qing Dynasty and invest in the United States. At present, Weichen has put this money on the stake, and all of it is taken back to invest in China. If Wechen sells the land in the Shanghai Concession and the Tianjin Concession in the past two years, it will not be a big problem. What's the key...... The money in the bank was a little untenable. Whether it's 600 million clear yuan, or 1 billion clear yuan, what Weichen said is paper money. If the Great Qing Kingdom really wants to draw out 300 million taels of silver, it will be a big problem. Really talking about silver, Weichen can take out 100 million taels at most, but he will mortgage this 100 million taels of silver to issue 600 million yuan in the bank. ”

Emperor Guangxu said: "What I am worried about is this matter, in case ...... It's really like the rule of the year, the paper money can't be cashed, and the future troubles are endless, even if I want to protect you, I'm afraid I can't keep it! ”

Hu Chuyuan nodded silently.

He thought that after a month's lesson to Emperor Guangxu, it was still effective, at least he knew how harmful financial risks could be.

He said: "This problem, Wechen should be able to find a way to control it, Wechen has been paying attention to the exploration of silver mines over the years, especially in Jiangxi and Yunnan, and there are many large silver mines explored. With Rong Lu as the governor of Huguang and Liu Kunyi as the governor of Liangguang, Weichen is also exploring silver mines in Huguang and Liangguang, and has found several large mines. Among these silver mines, Jiangxi Dexing, Guixi, Jiangning Fuqixia three have been large-scale mining for many years, Yunnan Mengzi silver mine was only started last year, Jiangxi Ruichang has two large silver mines, Hubei Zhushan, Xingshan, Hunan Changde, Guangdong's Chaozhou, Renhua, Guangxi's Bobai and Longan have already had the foundation to start. Now that the construction is started, silver will be produced on a large scale in two or three years, and many of them are produced together with lead-zinc ore, which is just used to make guns and shells. In a hurry to withdraw money, Wechen can mortgage the output of these silver mines in the next ten years to foreign banks and borrow money. ”

Emperor Guangxu couldn't help but feel overjoyed and asked: "If these silver mines are put into production one after another, how much silver can be produced in a year?" ”

Hu Chuyuan made a slight estimate and said: "There are about 43 million taels of sterling silver every year, and if you sell the output to foreign banks for ten years, you can borrow 400 million taels of silver." From this point of view, we can actually afford to fight this battle, but we have to prepare in secret. In addition, Weichen wants to set up a company, which is fully responsible for the opening of gold and silver mines in various provinces, associated with the smelting of copper, lead, zinc and tin, and the imperial court takes one percent of the shares, and the company opens branches in each province, and the local provinces are combined with two shares, which is conducive to the cooperation of local governors and prefects. If they don't cooperate, secretly obstruct them, and disobey them, they won't be able to do these things even for seven or eight years. ”

Emperor Guangxu had to sigh, the emperor also has a time when his words are not counted, a local official can be reappointed, two or three, dozens, hundreds, then it is difficult to make decisions.

Actually, he didn't have to worry about it at all.

As long as Hu Chuyuan tries his best, secretly the prefects and Taotai in these places are replaced by Hu Dang, everything will be easy to do, and it is easy for him to communicate with the governor and governor.

Emperor Guangxu nodded slightly, which can be regarded as approving Hu Chuyuan's idea.

After that, Hu Chuyuan also discussed in detail with Zai Yan the issue of preparing for a new army, and now it is necessary to organize the new army in accordance with the military system of the great powers, which is mature in the general climate, and the pressure on the Hunan and Huai armies can be exerted if the number is moderate.

Hu Chuyuan's meaning is that within the existing practice, good generals will be selected to supervise the Central Plains Army, and the Xuzhou Military Academy will be the core to prepare for the selection of troops from Shandong, Henan, Northern Jiangsu, and Huaibei.

At the same time, the three armies of Hunan, Huai, and Jiangxi were reformed to a small extent, and the three-three system was adopted, with one battalion divided into three columns, one column and three guards, one guard and three companies, one company with three platoons, and one row with three sentinels, with about 10 people per outpost. Of course, this is not a limit to death, depending on the situation, each guard and each column can be slightly increased, and each battalion is about 3,000 people.

Three or five battalions have one army with a named commander or admiral, the three-battalion system is a two-step battalion with one artillery battalion, and the five-battalion system is a three-step battalion with two artillery battalions.

The Hunan and Huai armies were reorganized separately, with 15 to 20 battalions each, and they were first-class training troops, with excellent salaries and the most sophisticated equipment.

The Jiangxi army has 11 battalions, the Gui army has 8 battalions, and the Yunnan army has 6 battalions, all of which are second-class training troops, with second-class salaries and complete equipment.

The rest of the armies are set up as third-class training troops, with the same salary as the green battalion and second-class equipment, and the fourth-class training army is a regimental training temporarily recruited and transferred from various places, and is not permanent.

First, second, and third class training, all soldiers are divided into one, two, and three classes, and are selected according to their seniority, and the difference in military salaries ranges from 10 to 6 Qing Yuan, and those who are over 35 years old, or who have joined the army for seven years, will all be transferred back to their hometowns, and the retirement salary will be 300 Qing Yuan, which can be added to 1,000 Qing Yuan in total according to the leading merits of each soldier.

The leader and the general manager shall not be more than thirty-five years old, and the thousand general manager shall not be more than forty years old.

Speaking of this issue, Emperor Guangxu Zaiyan had no choice but to talk to Hu Chuyuan about another thing - the Eight Banners Battalion, and when it came to the Eight Banners Battalion, he talked about the Banner People.

During the Daoguang period, there were about 1.3 million Qiren, but the number increased to nearly 2 million during the great population recession in the country.

The population of 2 million is not much, the problem is that these people have to receive money to live by, plus the maintenance of the clan and the Manchu elites, the Qing court has to spend at least 70 million yuan a year.

The Qing court's annual income last year was as high as 256 million yuan, and the governors and governors of various places had important things to do, and those who had nothing to do would find ways to find something to do, and the real payment to the Ministry of Daohu was only 174 million yuan.

As soon as the interest owed to Citibank and CITIC Bank in the United States was repaid, and the maintenance fees of the clan and the children of the Eight Banners were emptied, the military salaries and official salaries of the Haiphong, Xianghuai, and Green Battalions were less than 10 million yuan per year.

Emperor Guangxu Zaiyan and Hu Chuyuan chattered about these things, most of them also complained that the expenses of the clan were too large, and it was even more useless to raise banner people.

As long as this money can be saved, the financial problems of the Qing Zheng Axe will be much better.

Zai Yan said distressedly, looking isolated.

(To be continued)