Hu Chuyuan's generosity and generosity made Cen Yuying overjoyed, and he was also particularly surprised.

After saying a few words, this got three million taels of silver for private money, and also received hundreds of thousands of taels of silver for private dredging, Cen Yuying couldn't help but sigh in her heart.

He suddenly understood why Zuo Zongtang and Mei Qizhao would let Hu Chuyuan go freely.

This silver received a soft hand and a cramp in the legs!

With so much silver, there is nothing in this world that cannot be done.

Leaving Liu Yongfu's tent, Cen Yuying returned to Jiayuguan in a sedan chair, thinking in her heart.

He is not young, the army in his hands is recruited by himself, and his son Cen Chunxuan is still young, so he can only be handed over to his younger brother Cen Yubao. It is impossible to sit on the throne of the governor of Yungui with Cen Yubao's ability alone, but if there is Hu Chuyuan's money and network in Beijing as a guarantee, it is another matter.

At this time, he suddenly felt a faint feeling...... The decision to reject Hu Chuyuan's decision to overhaul the railway in Yunnan was too hasty, and perhaps as soon as he refused at that time, Hu Chuyuan did not plan to have deeper cooperation with him for the time being.

At this time, Hu Chuyuan had already relied on the pass of the French company Wanbao to leave Vietnam along the Red River and arrive in Hong Kong.

He stayed in Hong Kong for more than ten days and finalized the matter of Nanyang Bank with Xu Run.

It was during these days that a turning point in the Sino-French war arrived.

June 23, 1884.

The Beili Incident broke out, and during the short armistice between China and France, a skirmish broke out at the Guanyin Bridge in Lang Son, with more than 200 French dead and wounded, and even more Qing troops.

After Li Hongzhang signed the Li Phuoc Agreement, the French could not wait to "take over" the entire territory of Vietnam without much effort before the dry season arrived.

They were too arrogant to think that the Qing government had completely succumbed, and unilaterally stipulated a "takeover" date, and only notified Li Hongzhang. Only then did Li Hongzhang realize that the "Treaty of Li Fu" he signed was another traitorous clause, and he did not dare to report the French notice to Qing Zhengaxe.

As a result, the French ran to Lang Son to take over the defense area, the Huai army did not dare to fight, but did not dare to let it, the two sides were arguing, the French army arrogantly killed the representative sent by the Qing army to negotiate, and unilaterally shelled the Huai army's position.

In the past two years, the French have won every battle against the Qing army, and they are already in an infinite degree of arrogance, and they immediately took the opportunity to put even more arrogant conditions on the Qing political axe.

In this way, a formal declaration of war is inevitable.

Sensing the development trend of the situation, Hu Chuyuan left Hong Kong in a hurry and secretly returned to Fuzhou by boat. The purpose of his trip was not only for the imminent Battle of Mawei, but also to deal with the financial turmoil that was about to break out in Shanghai.

The Hunan Army, the Jiangxi Army, the Black Flag Army, the Dian Army, the Gui Army, and Feng Zicai's Guangxi regimental training were all training hard, busy with the new firearms and training more gunners.

These troops are also taking the opportunity to expand, especially the Jiangxi army, which is not short of money, has the strongest momentum, the number has reached more than 30,000 people, and the Hunan army, the Jiangxi army, and the Black Flag army also have some military advisers from Germany, Britain, and the United States to help them train.

The French did not know this, they had already turned their attention to the Fujian Naval Division, and they were arrogant to defeat the Fujian Naval Division in one fell swoop and occupy Fuzhou and Shanghai.

Hu Chuyuan still chose to live in Changle County, but his residence was replaced by a large mansion with blue bricks and white walls.

That night, Yan Shizhang came over secretly, and Qu Hongji, who was nervous, came with him.

It was already late, and the stars were shining brightly, and the moonlight was like a spring, gently swaying in this clean courtyard.

Hu Chuyuan had just finished dinner and was about to go to the study, when Yan Shizhang and Qu Hongji entered the courtyard together...... Regarding Qu Hongji's coming, Hu Chuyuan was completely unexpected, and was a little strange.

He didn't say anything, exchanged a few words with the two, and invited them into the study to talk about business.

But as soon as he entered the study, before he sat down, Qu Hongji couldn't wait to sigh with Hu Chuyuan: "My lord, you have to come up with an idea, the current French expeditionary fleet is pressed outside Mawei Harbor, and it can rush in at any time." ”

Hu Chuyuan snorted, and sneered again.

What can he say, everything he can do has already been done, and so much money has been invested, if Qu Hongji can't turn the situation around, it can only show that Qu Hongji himself is incompetent.

He also blocked Zhang Peilun out, and all the on-the-spot power was concentrated in the hands of Ye Zuqi, the acting governor of the Fujian Navy Division, what else was there to worry about?

Hu Chuyuan sighed silently and asked, "Are you panicking?" ”

Qu Hongji sighed: "I'm just a scholar, where did I go through such a scene?" ”

Hu Chuyuan smiled and said, "Have I experienced it?" ”

"...... this?"

Qu Hongji was speechless for a while.

Hu Chuyuan said: "I told you, but I believe what Ye Fu said when it comes to major events, what does Ye Fu say now?" ”

Qu Hongji said: "He said that he is seventy or eighty percent sure, and the success is in the sky." ”

Hu Chuyuan said: "That's very good, the two armies are fighting, who is completely sure." You should gamble hard now, if you win, you are the governor, and if you lose, you will come to my house as a guest, and I will not treat you badly. ”

Qu Hongji breathed a sigh of relief and said, "What the adult said makes sense." ”

Hu Chuyuan nodded slightly, and couldn't help asking, "Has the French fleet entered Mawei Port?" ”

Qu Hongji said: "Not for the time being, Ye Fu sent people to pull a thick chain at the mouth of the river to prevent the big ships of the French fleet from entering the port, they are all parked in Tingjiang Port now, but they still often send some small gunboats to break in to check the water conservancy terrain." ”

Hu Chuyuan thought for a while and said comfortingly: "Then wait, if the French want to go to war, they will still send you a letter declaring war, you just need to immediately forward the letter to Ye Fu and let Ye Fu get an idea for you." Rest assured, as long as you don't run away, even if you are defeated, the court will not hold you accountable. ”

Qu Hongji couldn't help but sigh: "That's hard to say, if I am really defeated, the court will definitely use me as a scapegoat." ”

Hu Chuyuan smiled and said: "Then replace it, in other words, such a big black cauldron is not something you can afford, maybe, even Governor He will be dismissed, he is not in a hurry, what are you in a hurry?" ”

"He's not in a hurry?"

Qu Hongji was greatly surprised, and said: "He was so anxious that he was about to hang himself, and he asked me three times a day for a countermeasure." ”

Hu Chuyuan could only smile bitterly and sigh, and said secretly: None of these so-called righteous Jinshi backgrounds are reliable, and when they encounter this kind of military affairs, they are not only afraid, but also afraid.

He didn't continue to say anything, just asked Qu Hongji to go back early and wait for the changes in the situation, big and small, all entrusted to Ye Zuqi and Ye Fu and others.

When Qu Hongji left, Yan Shizhang said: "Although he is quite afraid of this matter, he will not run away, even the suicide note has been written, it is true that he has no experience in training the army, and he has no bottom in his heart." ”

Hu Chuyuan hummed and didn't continue to ask.

The Battle of Mawei is inevitable, but he has done everything he can, so he can't be allowed to command the naval battle, right?

He is not a god, and if he really fights, he also has to rely on the side to fight, how to fight, how to deploy defenses...... And so on, let the admirals of the navy and the army who are professional find their own way.

It's not a business, and he doesn't have a bottom.

If you really want him to command, maybe everyone who could have won will lose.

Hu Chuyuan only had this one account in his heart, the Sino-French war could have been won, and he invested more than 40 million taels of silver before and after, at least thirty percent of which was donated for nothing, he didn't believe that this could not be a big victory.

Even if it's not a big win, at least it's a beautiful win, right?

Of course, Yan Shizhang knew very well the real purpose of Hu Chuyuan's return this time, and immediately took out a letter from his pocket and handed it to Hu Chuyuan.

This is Wu Shuzhen's handwritten handwriting.

Hu Chuyuan couldn't wait to tear it open to read, his heart was half happy and half worried, happy to see his wife's pen and ink, as if he had seen her, and the best thing was that the scale of the Shanghai financial turmoil was far beyond his imagination, and even the CITIC Department was deeply implicated.

Speaking of which, everything is Zeng Guoquan's fault.

The Qing Zheng axe officially declared war, but he still did not have the courage to fight to the death with the French, and Li Hongzhang proved that he could not do it, so he could only continue to send Zeng Guoquan, who succeeded Zuo Zongtang as the governor of Liangjiang, to negotiate.

It's a pity that Qing Zhengaxe chose the wrong person, and if he really wanted Zeng Guoquan to go out to fight, he might not be happy, but he was absolutely unwilling to negotiate peace.

His peace talks in Shanghai are basically tantamount to provocations.

When the French declared that they wanted to occupy Shanghai, Zeng Guoquan deployed six battalions of Hunan troops around the Shanghai Concession, threatening that as long as the French dared to come in, he would dare to attack it, so that the French would not return.

Since the end of 1883, when the war between China and France officially began, the land price in the Shanghai Concession began to gradually fall, from the highest average price of 120,000 yuan/mu to the average price of 70,000 yuan/mu.

When Hu Chuyuan arrived in Fuzhou, the average price of land in the Shanghai Concession plummeted to 14,000 yuan/mu, and the Bund in the British and American Concessions also fell to 20,000 yuan/mu.

At least 50 percent of the economy of the Shanghai Concession depends on the real estate industry, and the collapse of land prices has directly led to heavy losses in many banks, and more than 40 ticket numbers have gone bankrupt, triggering a violent run on the land in Shanghai.

CITIC Bank and Citibank withdrew from the market relatively early, and they should not be affected, but the economic proportion of CITIC in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai is very large, and almost all national industries have CITIC's investment, and others have withdrawn their shares and withdrawn financing, which has produced a series of reactions.

With the chain closure of other banks, Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang also began to frantically run on the CITIC bank, and the run immediately spread to the CITIC Bank.

Coupled with the large scale of its own loans, CITIC is in an extremely dangerous period at this time.

(To be continued)