When the news of the "Yenching Treaty" came back to Yueben, it was like a bombshell exploding, which immediately stirred up huge waves in the hearts of the people of Yueben.

In the eyes of the people, the signing of the Treaty of Yenching was tantamount to returning to the era when it was invaded by European and American powers a few decades ago. The 20 million pounds indemnity put a heavy burden on the people, and the Qing Empire's forced repayment of 39 years doubled the total debt, and it took four years of no food or drink to pay it off. The joy of finally abolishing all unequal treaties in 1894 was wiped out by the opening of the new treaty ports, and the door to large-scale capital exports from foreign countries was reopened.

All of this made the whole people angry, and large-scale protests and marches were set off in various places, demanding the abrogation of the Treaty of Yanjing and refusing to submit to the Qing Empire.

It was said that the cabinet of Kiyotaka Kuroda could not appease the anger of the people, and did not dare to go to war with the Qing Empire again, causing even greater losses, so it could only be used as a scapegoat.

On the day the treaty was signed, Kiyotaka Kuroda resigned, and the Kuroda Kiyotaka cabinet collapsed.

The next day, Emperor Meiji issued an edict explaining to the people of Namimoto that he could not continue fighting. On the other hand, Shikinori Kayama of the Admiralty and a group of admirals came forward to express their desire for revenge, and the secret reconstruction of the combined fleet was made public, and the people of the company enthusiastically supported it.

At the same time, Emperor Meiji appointed Masayoshi Matsukata as prime minister and reorganized the cabinet to stabilize the political situation. Matsukata appointed Ito Hirobumi as foreign minister, and used Ito's excellent eloquence to successfully transfer the anger in his home country to the cowardly former cabinet and the Qing political axe, and at the same time, Matsukata issued a "plan to strengthen the country" to divert the attention of the people, thus calming the turmoil and stabilizing the political situation.

The blueprint of the "Tuqiang Plan" is mainly based on economic development, which is also Matsukata's forte. As one of the nine elders of the Sayben, Masayoshi Matsukata has no ability in other places, but he is very economically minded, so Masayoshi Matsukata has served as the Minister of Tibet for 22 consecutive years, and has the financial and economic power of the Sayben.

Of course, this was also a means for the Satsuma clan to control the Satsuma Domain, and Matsukata Masayoshi, who was a vassal of the Satsuma Domain, was ostensibly non-partisan, but in fact still represented the interests of the Satsuma Domain, and actually ruled the Satsuma Domain under the guise of the Meiji Restoration.

Matsukata promised the people of the country that during his term of office he would restore the country's strength to the level before the First Sino-Japanese War, and he took a series of measures to sell the state-owned enterprises to private capitalists, so as to raise 5 million pounds sterling to repay the first war reparations to the Qing Empire, prevent the Qing Empire from having an excuse to start another war, and buy him time to survive.

Masayoshi Matsukata has been in control of the financial and economic lifeline of Matsukata for more than 20 years, and he has a wealth of experience in raising money. At this time, the company was in financial and economic difficulties, and if it wanted to raise a huge amount of five million pounds, it was only possible to rely on the large commercial capital of Osaka, Edo, and Kyoto.

Matsukata used the annual tribute of the political axe as collateral to borrow 15 million yuan from Mitsui and other big businessmen, and then Matsukata Masayoshi issued 20 million yuan of political axe banknotes (not exchange banknotes) called the "Taizheng Official Book", which were mainly purchased by the two major chaebols of Mitsubishi and Sumitomo. This was followed by the issuance of 7.5 million yuan of provincial banknotes, which were mainly purchased by the Yasuda chaebol.

However, this was not enough to repay the first indemnity of 5 million pounds to the Qing Empire, and in order to raise the surging financial expenses, the Matsukata Cabinet took advantage of the credit of the Mitsui Group and issued 16.8 million yen of exchange securities from Mitsui and 21.5 million yen from Mitsubishi. In addition, Mitsui Gumi, Ono-gumi, and Shimada Gumi, which are major commercial capitals that have established credit, manage the receipts and expenditures and exchange of public funds.

In order to repay these consortia for helping them survive the crisis, the Matsukata Cabinet promised the big business capitalists who had been appointed as exchange officers that they would be free to use public funds for their own profit without interest, and at the same time, a number of state-owned enterprises mortgaged these consortia as compensation. From then on, Mitsui, Mitsubishi, Sumitomo, Yasuda, and other big business bourgeoisie established a very close relationship with the political axe, and the 173 national and prefectural banks in the capital were quickly controlled by the four major chaebols and merged into several monopoly banks.

On 15 July, the Bank of Tokyo (First National Bank), which was purchased by Mitsui and Ono, the Bank of Yokohama (Second National Bank), which was converted from the Yokohama Exchange Company acquired by Sumitomo, the Niigata Bank (Fourth National Bank), which was funded by the large owner of Niigata, and the Osaka Bank (the Fifth National Bank), which was centered on the Kagoshima clan, raised 5 million pounds sterling and handed it over to Masamu Tsumoto as a down payment to compensate the Qing Emperor.

However, it was necessary to carry out post-war reconstruction work, restore the Hanshin Industrial Zone and Nagoya Industrial Zone, which had been destroyed by the Qing Imperial Navy, maintain the operation of the Masaki and rebuild the 1st and 5th Divisions of the Army, replenish the 4th Division, and allocate funds for naval shipbuilding. Britain and the United States were in their own interests, and neither of them wanted the capital to turn to Russia, so they agreed to lend money to the capital to save the economy and at the same time to control the economy.

On 18 July, in accordance with the detailed rules for the transfer of the indemnity to a third party as stipulated in the annex to the "Treaty of Yanjing," he entrusted the British and American banks with 5 million pounds sterling to be transferred to the Qing Dynasty.

As a result, the American political axe and the British political axe respectively reached a secret agreement with Wang Chenhao in private, and according to Wang Chenhao's intentions, the New York headquarters of the Bank of America and the London branch of the Bank of America were designated to be responsible for receiving them.

This move by Britain and the United States is tantamount to giving Wang Chenhao the compensation to the Qing political axe. Of course, it is not without benefit that they do so. As compensation, Wang Chenhao ordered two additional Dengyun-class battleships and six supply ships from Britain, and two battleships and six supply ships from the United States, each costing 2.5 million pounds.

In fact, it was Wang Chenhao who used his own indemnity to increase the equipment of his navy and expand its strength.

Among them, Britain built two more Dengyun-class battleships for Wang Chenhao, Chongyun and Cirrus. Since the British have already started the construction of a number of Majestic-class battleships, and the Dengyun and Tayun 2 ships built for China have also been completed, and have completed sea trials, it can be said that the British have been very mature in terms of technology and experience in building Dengyun-class battleships. Although the armor thickness and coverage of the previous two Dengyun-class battleships are the same, but the progress of technology has increased the anti-strike ability of the Cirrus and Chongyun two ships by 10%, and the number of guns has not changed, but the electric ignition and ignition system of the gun firing has been improved, and a more advanced electric rotating turret has been adopted, which greatly improves the firing speed of the artillery. At the same time, the protection level of ammunition depot protection and ammunition conveyor belt has been improved, the efficiency of ammunition delivery has been increased, and the safety of the ammunition has been improved. In terms of speed, in order to cope with the high-speed battleships that Russia started to build, the two ships Chongyun and Cirrus increased boilers and improved the combustion efficiency, so that the combat speed of the two ships reached 19 knots, which was the same as the combat speed of the Russian high-speed battleships, but it extended the combat cruise time by nearly 6 hours compared with the other side, which was very advantageous.

Due to the request of the British Third Sea Secretary Fisher, the British Navy installed radio and telephone systems for several Majestic-class battleships they were building. Compared with the previous temporary installation of a communication system by Wang Chenhao's Pacific Fleet, the unfavorable situation that the communication lines were easily blown up when the warships were attacked was greatly improved.

In the United Kingdom, there are also six Westlake-class large supply ships, with a standard displacement of 5,200 tons, a full load displacement of 9,600 tons, a standard speed of 14 knots, a cruising range of 10,000 nautical miles, equipped with six twin 47 mm rapid-fire guns, one in the bow and stern, and two on each side of the ship's amidships. 12 ships were built in the same class, with the United Kingdom responsible for six and the United States responsible for the other six.

The United States was responsible for building the No. 5 Bayun and No. 6 Panyun, the Dengyun-class battleships for Wang Chenhao, and the overall design drawings adopted the drawings of the British-built Chongyun and Cirrus, and the same was true for the Westlake-class large fleet supply ships, all of which were designed by the British and transferred to the Americans by Wang Chenhao.

The reason why the drawings were handed over to the United States was that the US Navy also wanted to obtain the most advanced design drawings and construction technology of the Dengyun-class and Majesty-class battleships, among which the tonnage, speed, and firepower of the Dengyun-class battleships were slightly stronger than those of the British Majesty-class battleships, so the Americans were very interested in the technology of the Dengyun-class battleships, and this was also one of the transactions between Wang Chenhao and the Americans, so as to obtain the support of the United States for China in terms of the original and Russian positions.

※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※ Yanjing, the Forbidden City.

In the imperial study, Guangxu listened to the report of the head of the household department, Weng Tongyi, about Wang Chenhao's seizure of the five million pounds indemnity that he had compensated for the Qing Zheng axe, and his face turned blue with anger.

"This Wang Chenhao really kicked his nose in the face, privately swallowed the war reparations that he had given to the imperial court, and didn't take the imperial court seriously at all."

Emperor Guangxu roared, he had planned to use the first five million pounds indemnity given to the Qing Empire as the starting capital for initiating financial reforms, and at the same time, he was already ready with Kang Youwei, Liang Qichao and others to carry out reform reforms, and this huge amount of money can undoubtedly provide a strong impetus for reform. But now, Wang Chenhao has withheld this huge amount of money, which has ruined Guangxu's grand plan, and he is naturally angry.

"How did this money get into Wang Chenhao's hands? Shouldn't the country hand over the indemnity directly to the Ministry of Households? ”

Weng Tongyi explained: "Wechen only knows that according to the third paragraph of the annex to the Treaty of Yanjing, the indemnity to the Qing Dynasty must be witnessed by a third-party neutral country before it can be transferred to the imperial court. The United States and Britain were the entrusting parties at the time of the signing of the Qing Dynasty, so the indemnity was transferred to the United States and Britain, and after the banks of the United States and Britain determined it, international justice was carried out to prove that the indemnity had been paid as agreed, and then transferred to the imperial court. This is an international standard. ”

Guangxu asked: "Even if it is an international standard, how can Britain and the United States give money to Wang Chenhao?" ”

Weng Tongyi shook his head and said, "This old minister doesn't know about it!" ”

Guangxu turned to Prince Qing and asked, "Prince Qing, as the prime minister of the Yamen, Britain and the United States openly gave money to the imperial court to individual officials, how did you negotiate with them?" ”

Prince Qing Yixuan complained bitterly in his heart, he thought that if he didn't interfere in the Admiralty, he would not be dragged down by Wang Chenhao, but he never wanted to become the prime minister and the minister of the Yamen, so Wang Chenhao gave him a problem.

In the face of Guangxu's accountability, Yixuan had no choice but to answer hard.

"Your Majesty, after Weichen learned of this, he immediately sent a note to the British Minister Dou Nale and the American Minister Charles, and questioned them about the matter in person."

After a pause, and after thinking about it in his heart, he continued: "The British and American ministers said that they only appointed the Neutral Nations Bank to transfer the indemnity to the imperial court in accordance with the provisions of the annex to the treaty. Considering that the imperial court did not have an international exchange bank, they chose the Bank of America, and as for why the Bank of America was not handed over to the imperial court, the British and American ministers said that this was a matter for Wang Chenhao and the imperial court, and had nothing to do with them. ”

Guangxu gritted his teeth, knowing that Britain and the United States would definitely push three, six, five, and have nowhere to reason with them.

"What about Wang Chenhao? How dare he embezzle the money of the imperial court? ”

Yi Xuan said with a bitter face: "Emperor Qi, the behind-the-scenes boss of the Bank of America is Wang Chenhao, Wang Chenhao said that he has just been promoted to Minister of War and Minister of the Navy, and is preparing to reorganize the national Navy and Army, but the imperial court owes more than 20 million pounds to the Navy and Army, as well as Beiyang Ordnance Heavy Industry, Shanghai Shipbuilding Heavy Industry, etc., if it cannot be replenished in time, I am afraid that there will be mutiny, troubles and other things. ”

Guangxu was stunned for a moment: "How did it become 20 million pounds?" Isn't that five or six million pounds owed? ”

Yixuan didn't say a word, Weng Tongyi said at this time: "Your Majesty, the seven million pounds sterling was owed during the Russian War, and the Ryukyu Restoration War and the Qing Dynasty War consumed another 13.3 million pounds, so the cumulative amount is 20.3 million pounds. ”

Guangxu suddenly rolled his eyes in anger and said, "This Wang Chenhao is really good at settling accounts!" He just drove the navy to the base and fired a few shots, how could he spend so much money? In addition, didn't he make some kind of volunteer army in the Ryukyu Restoration War? What does it have to do with the imperial court? Why does spending money also count on the head of the imperial court? ”

Weng Tongyi smiled bitterly: "Your Majesty, have you forgotten? The Ryukyu King Shotai's tribute form asked the imperial court to show mercy to the soldiers of the volunteer army who helped the Ryukyus to restore the country, and you opened Chrysostom at that time, but in front of the civil and military officials, you said that the court would pay for the expenses of the Ryukyu king's compassion for the soldiers of the volunteers. The Ryukyu king Shangtai and Wang Chenhao wore a pair of pants, and immediately bore all the expenses of the volunteers to fight in the Ryukyus. ”

Guangxu was dumbfounded, he didn't remember it anymore, but he knew that there was such a thing, because he was so happy when he saw the superior minister of the Ryukyu Kingdom, as if he had agreed to many of Shangtai's conditions in one go. Thinking about it now, Guangxu suddenly found that this was a trap deliberately set up by Wang Chenhao, waiting for him to drill into it.

"Did I say that?"

Guangxu pretended to be stupid, but Weng Tong and Yixuan nodded at the same time, and the latter said: "The emperor was happy at that time, but he promised it in front of the ministers of civil and military affairs and the king of the Ryukyus. ”

Guangxu couldn't wait to find a quick tofu to kill him, and secretly scolded himself for being too stupid, why did he get dizzy at that time?

Guangxu sat down on the dragon chair and didn't speak for a long time.

Weng Tongyi and Yixuan glanced at each other, but they didn't dare to come out, for fear of becoming Guangxu's punching bag.

After a while, Guangxu sorted out his mood and asked, "Wang Chenhao can't spend the five million pounds all of a sudden, so I don't care if he borrows it and uses it?" ”

Yixuan avoided Guangxu's eyes, pinned his face to the side, and secretly begged Guangxu's words to be fruitless.

Weng Tongyi smiled bitterly and said: "Your Majesty, Wang Chenhao has used this money to order four battleships and twelve auxiliary ships from Britain and the United States, and Britain and the United States have each shared a shipbuilding order of 250 pounds. I'm afraid the emperor won't be able to borrow money. ”

With a snap, Guangxu slapped the table violently, which frightened Weng Tongyi and Yi into a thrill.

"This Wang Chenhao is really too much, he seized the money he gave to the court, and if he didn't hand it over in time, he actually spent it after changing hands? I've got to clean him up! ”

Weng Tongyi smiled bitterly again and said: "The emperor is angry, Wang Chenhao's order for warships from Britain and the United States was also agreed by the emperor, and if the emperor wants to use this excuse to clean up Wang Chenhao, I'm afraid it's not appropriate!" ”

Guangxu was depressed again and asked, "When did I promise him again?" ”

This time, Weng Tongyi and Yixuan were really defeated, and both of them looked at Guangxu speechlessly.

When Guangxu saw the expressions of the two of them, he suddenly asked a little embarrassed: "I don't remember!" ”

Weng Tongyi sighed helplessly and said, "The old minister should have guessed Wang Chenhao's little trick a long time ago!" On the day when the "Treaty of Yanjing" was formally signed, Wang Chenhao took advantage of the emperor's great joy to propose that Britain and the United States exert pressure on the conclusion of the "Treaty of Yanjing." In order to thank Britain and the United States, Wang Chenhao made a statement to the emperor that he would order warships from Britain and the United States, which would not only serve as a thank you, but also consolidate coastal defense. At that time, the emperor was immersed in the great joy of the signing of the "Treaty of Yanjing", and you said that after receiving the indemnity, you would have money, so you agreed at that time. It's just that he didn't think that Wang Chenhao had already arranged the game, and he had planned to privately swallow the indemnity. ”

After Guangxu listened, he gradually remembered the situation of that day in his mind. As Weng Tonggong said, Guangxu was so happy that day, so happy that he got carried away, so that he didn't notice Wang Chenhao's twists and turns, now in retrospect, this is obviously Wang Chenhao's set, and Guangxu himself is like a stupid bird turning in.

With a bang, Guangxu slammed his fist on the table, louder than before.

"Your Majesty, you're not hurt, are you?"

Weng Tongyi and Yixuan hurriedly wanted to step forward to take a look, because Guangxu's fist hit very hard.

"Stand down, all of you! I want to be alone for a while! ”

Weng Tongyi and Yixuan saw that Guangxu's face was not good, and they didn't want to please that bad head, so they knelt down and withdrew from the imperial study.

(To be continued)