At this time, a new wave of discrimination and vilification against China was breaking out on a large scale in China, and if it was impossible to ridicule China's national strength, it could only make a fuss about the shortcomings of the race and various ethnic cultures.

When I opened the newspaper, whenever I saw the word "Zhina", the pictures were all crappy Chinese, and even if there were photos, they were all extremely poor people, even old photos from ten years ago.

In addition, whether it is Mongolia, Northeast China, Xinjiang Province, Tibet Province, Gansu, Ningxia, Yunnan...... Even Guangxi and Taiwan are said to be colonies occupied by the Chinese people, and it is the duty of the people who represent advanced ideology and culture to let these areas read and understand.

In short, China is the Zhina, and the Zhina is an ugly and despicable race.

In this trend of thought, the vast majority of the generals and soldiers did not treat the Chinese as human beings, which is why the various massacres broke out later.

In addition, many high-ranking generals also learned from the establishment of the Manchu Qing Dynasty -- that is, as long as the Han people were constantly slaughtered, the Han people would be afraid, and eventually the scene of the Great Yueben Empire entering the Central Plains would be repeated.

Manchurian people can do it, why can't Benben?

This is the essence of the lifelong thinking of Youpeng Shan County, the father of militarism.

Although China's national strength is very strong, before the Manchu Qing Dynasty entered the customs, how could the national strength of the two sides be proportional?

Shan Shan Youpeng firmly believes that China's national strength is just a false number, without any meaning, war belongs to a man's world, and he can completely defeat China.

Even if they could not defeat China at once on their own, they still had two allies, Russia and France, and even if these two allies did not intend to enter the war, Yama Youtomo was prepared to drag them into the war by force with only one goal - to prevent China from continuing to grow, and to divide China into as many small states as possible that could be gradually annexed.

The soldiers, including Youpeng in Shanxian County, have always had a peculiar judgment on the war, that is, the victory of a key battle is the victory of the entire war, and this is a very common reality in the entire history of ancient and modern warfare.

For the last Sino-Chinese war, they also wishfully believed that the failure of the navy's first raid and the defeat of the Dongdan campaign were the reasons for the defeat of the war.

China absolutely does not have this kind of thinking, whether it is the Battle of Long Spoon, the Battle of Chibi, or the Battle of Shuishui, because of the vast Chinese population and territory, it is difficult for a battle to determine the final outcome.

The strong of the country will always win...... This is the Chinese idea of war.

The two sides differed in their strategic thinking, which immediately gave rise to different preparations for war.

Under the leadership of Youpeng in Shanxian County, the army is carrying out a large-scale strategy of elite troops and broad troops, intending to cross Korea and fight to the death with the Chinese army directly in the northeast, annihilate the elite main force of the Chinese new army, crush China's fighting spirit in one fell swoop, and try to make China give up resistance from now on.

Under Hu Chuyuan's leadership, China remained the same as in the past two wars...... A decisive battle was not planned at all.

Not only that, Hu Chuyuan also sold five-year treasury bonds on a large scale in China, and sold them in various domestic banks and commercial banks at an annual interest rate of 5.5 percent, and the total amount was kept secret.

The assets held by the Hu family around the world, especially the silver mining business held in their hands, began to cash out in large quantities in exchange for francs held by various countries.

Through personal connections, Hu Chuyuan also persuaded some other international investors to hold the franc and prepare to sell it at a critical time, causing a crisis in the French economy, and then buying the French economy.

Hu Chuyuan's plan was comprehensive, and if he won the war, he would immediately change the financial system of China and the major colonial countries to the gold standard with war reparations from Russia and France.

A financial turmoil in the world will be inevitable, and China, the world's second-largest trade surplus country, will definitely be hit, but it doesn't matter, he is ready.

A crisis is often an opportunity, if it is handled more properly.

The logic of Chinese thinking is very terrible, and the most terrible thing is that the Chinese unit of calculation is ten, thirty, fifty, or even a hundred years.

As a businessman and a politician, Hu Chuyuan's terrible thing is precisely here.

JP Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Mellon, and the Rothschilds can all be regarded as his opponents, but he has never eagerly tried to defeat anyone, nor has he been excessively involved with these people.

Because he knew that time was enough for him to overcome everything, but it was not ten years, nor twenty years, but fifty years.

As a real businessman, as a real politician, you have to be calm, and you have to be able to hold your breath for 50 years.

At least this time, Hu Chuyuan intends to spend ten years fighting a larger economic war.

When Field Marshal Yama Prefecture Aritomo began to mobilize troops on a large scale for the last pre-war exercise, he probably did not expect that he was just a chess piece.

For Hu Chuyuan, no one is not a pawn.

Because he is Hu Chuyuan.

On the night of October 7, 1900, Hu Shiyuan and Hu Weiyuan quietly arrived at Zizheng Garden with their families, and it seemed that this was just an ordinary family meeting.

Of course not, because Hu Jinyuan and Hu Pinyuan also arrived a few days early.

The five brothers met again, and more than a dozen chief managers of the five families were waiting in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tianjin, and Singapore, and their partners were scattered around the world.

After the dinner, Wu Shuzhen, Pan Limei and other ladies gathered together to play mahjong and chat, the children continued to play in the hall, and the older fourth-generation family children chatted in the flower hall, chatting about their studies, the family industry, and the crisis facing the country.

Hu Chuyuan was ahead, and the five brothers secretly entered the study and sat together.

Hu Chuyuan is the head of the family, and he is responsible for making tea and dividing tea, one cup for each person, half pouring and half drinking.

After waiting for a while, Hu Yuanyuan first asked: "Big brother, the London stock index has plummeted, and the market value of many companies under Swire & Co. has fallen by more than 30%, what should I do now, do you want to cash out and watch the wind?" ”

Hu Chuyuan said: "Let the brothers come over today, it's not about this trivial matter." ”

"Oh?"

Hu was slightly surprised, Swire & Co.'s four major subsidiaries were listed in London, New York, Singapore and other places, and the total market value was 1.47 billion pounds a few months ago, making it one of the largest international consortia in the world.

If its market value is stable, Hu Chuyuan can easily cash out 100 million pounds from it and exchange it into clear yuan to buy government bonds in China.

Hu Chuyuan said cautiously: "The collapse in the market value of Swire & Co. is mainly due to investors' fears of a large-scale war in the Far East, especially when the vast majority of people believe that China will eventually be defeated. As long as the war is won, or if there is no war, its market value will still recover, and there is no need to worry too much about this. What I am talking about today is something else, and you will listen to me once today, and keep it firmly in your heart, and no one is allowed to say it to the outside world, only we know it. ”

"Da Yuan, you can rest assured."

Hu Shiyuan agreed first, and the other three brothers also nodded silently, and the expressions of the four were extremely serious.

They understood that Hu Chuyuan's plan to toss this time was very big and the stakes were very high, so even the chief shopkeeper of each family couldn't know the specific situation.

Hu Chuyuan continued: "Two brothers, the second and third, I won't hide it from you, we are definitely going to war with the Entente, although the conditions offered by France are not difficult, they are only millions of yuan in compensation, and the conditions between Russia and Russia cannot be negotiated at all, especially the one." Ten of the **, said that the first to do it. ”

Everyone was taken aback when they heard this, but seeing that Hu Chuyuan was calm and composed, and did not regard this matter as a big deal, they were even more worried.

Why the Hu family is headed by Hu Chuyuan is not that he is too rich, nor is it because he is too powerful, but because he is too powerful.

Don't think that Hu Chuyuan has stayed away from the mall for so many years, and his business skills have become weaker, on the contrary, his vision is getting more and more long-term, and his courage and courage are more terrifying.

Hu Chuyuan drank the tea steadily, and after a while, he continued calmly: "This is a trivial matter, in three or four years, the imperial court will definitely be able to win...... We've almost prepared everything that needs to be done. You don't have to worry too much. The key is that once we win the war, France and Russia will face huge compensation, and if we don't pay compensation, we will have to cede the land, what about us...... Naturally, it was necessary to change from the silver standard to the gold standard in one fell swoop. ”

"This ......!"

Hu Yuanyuan was speechless for a while, and then said, "Big brother, if you say that...... The impact is too great, right? ”

Hu Chuyuan nodded slightly, but did not deny it.

With the continuous development and prosperity of China's economy, especially when the rich countries of Asia and the rich countries of the Americas control more than 70% of the world's silver production, the price of silver has been stable and rising, and the current London international standard exchange rate is 15.3 ounces of gold to 15.3 ounces of silver.

In the past few years, the countries on the silver standard, banks, and financial institutions that hold a lot of silver have made a lot of money, and those countries on the silver standard have maintained the silver standard, including India, Mexico, Spain, Portugal, Brazil, Japan, South America, and even the United States.

One thing is for sure, more than 40% of the world's silver reserves are in China and the Chinese people, once China announces the abandonment of the silver standard, the world silver price will definitely face an unprecedented plunge, and China will suffer the greatest impact and losses.

This is precisely the reason why investment experts around the world believe that China will not be able to abandon the silver standard, and why they continue to invest in silver.

Hu Chuyuan said to Hu Yuanyuan again: "Our appetite is more than what you think. Before that, if the French economy has gone bankrupt and the price of French government bonds has avalancheed, do you think...... What kind of ripple effects will happen? ”

"...... this?"

Hu Yuanyuan frowned slightly and pondered in his heart, and only said after a while: "Big brother, this risk is too great. If you think about it, the risk of a run on France is very high in itself, and the cost is very high, and once the French economy goes bankrupt, French capital will inevitably shrink dramatically, which in turn will affect the whole world. The losses of our brothers will not be too large, and your capital is mainly concentrated in Germany and the United States, and the losses will certainly be very large. ”

Hu Chuyuan didn't care, and said: "After all, the losses are all abroad...... Money, as long as it is not exchanged for gold and silver, it is also some numbers, lost today, and can be earned back tomorrow. ”

There was a pause.

He added: "There is still a long time, and there are still three years for us to cash out slowly." I have calculated that once the Entente and us go to war, the areas that will be really affected will be the northeast and northwest, and these places are not the main development areas of China's economy. As long as China still controls sea power, there will be no problems with the world economy. Moreover, with the large demand for military supplies from the participating countries, there is a non-cyclical expansion stimulus for the world economy. ”

Hu Weiyuan asked quietly: "Da Yuan, what do you mean is to cash out at the peak of the stock prices in London and New York, exchange them for gold and pounds, and hoard them to wait for the economic crisis." ”

Hu Chuyuan nodded, and said to the four brothers: "I will hand over a bottom line here, the three major goals of electrical motors, machinery and automobiles, and petrochemical industry are not our main goals of cashing out, and they are concentrated in other areas to cash out." We're going to start shrinking now, waiting for an opportunity to reshuffle. ”

Hu Yiyuan then asked, "What about Swire & Co.?" ”

Hu Weiyuan also sighed in embarrassment: "Swire is a big problem! ”

"Hmm!"

Hu Chuyuan did not deny it.

Swire & Co.'s assets are huge, and the Group's main business is international commodity trading and investment, involving gold, silver, coal, iron ore, petroleum, copper, aluminum, nickel, vegetable oil, sugar, silk, cloth, corn, cocoa and other fields.

The parent company of Swire Pacific is Swire International Holdings, which is also the soul of the entire Swire Pacific family, which controls a number of listed companies such as Swire International Shipping, BHP Petroleum & Mining, HSBC, Asia Pacific Telecom, Standard Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland, Manbao & Co., British Telecom, British Electric, British Tea, Lipton Food Chain, etc., and has invested heavily in real estate, steel industry, metallurgy, shipbuilding, chemical industry, automobile, electrical, department store chain, and communications industry.

Through the listing of Swire & Co., Swire Shipping, BHP, HSBC and other holding companies in London, New York, Paris, Frankfurt, Melbourne and Singapore, Swire still has a total market capitalisation of £1.23 billion, even as the market value of some shares has shrunk.

Over the past two decades, Hu has invested just £33 million in the entire Swire system, and now has a market value return of £720 million.

From this point of view, he doesn't care about these current market value fluctuations.

Hu Chuyuan thought for a while, and said to Hu Yuanyuan: "Swire has a large proportion of the economy in the Asia-Pacific region, and it is normal for the market value to fall due to the impact of the war, and in the long run, Swire stocks still have room for further growth. Out of the need for long-term preparations, the political axe will definitely ease multilateral relations in the near future, and the stock market will recover somewhat, but it is appropriate to cash out at the high point and wait for the low point to appear before continuing to enter the market. For the capital of the Swire system, we must still hold it for a long time. ”

Hu Mingyuan snorted and said, "If the low point appears, we can mortgage the shares of Swire to the bank and continue to buy Swire shares further." Similarly, by using the internal collateralization of other consortia, we can raise more capital to buy Treasury bonds and reshuffle the cards. ”

Hu Chuyuan basically thinks the same way.

It is unrealistic to completely cash out of the capital market, and although the risk is greater through the mortgage loan of a family-owned financial institution, and then use the loan to buy the bottom, it is also the most realistic way.

He discussed with his family in detail, so that everyone could get ready, and they could start to open up abroad and prepare for the later bottom copying.

The most important point is that banks must secretly break away from silver capital, take advantage of the war period to flow silver out, buy stable treasury bond assets in the gold standard countries to preserve their value, and flow into the silver standard countries for short-term value-added investment and speculation, fast in and out.

The central bank of the political axe and the foreign exchange reserve institutions of commercial banks exchange capital, and hold pounds, marks, dollars, francs, and rubles to gradually cash out, so as to minimize the negative impact that war and financial turmoil may have on domestic financial institutions.

No matter how it is adjusted, China's official and private sectors together do hold more than 35% of the world's total silver reserves, and the impact of the collapse in silver prices on China's total wealth is huge.

However, it is better to have a long-term pain than a short-term pain, and this determination must be made, otherwise with the further rapid growth of China's economy, the resulting problem of national capital reserves will become more thorny.

(To be continued)