1911 year.

At the end of the first year of the empire's Shenwu year, the new empire was confronted with two major events at home and abroad that would determine the fate of the nation, one was the Tianjin negotiations, and the other was the Liangguang incident.

The emperor adopted a very judicial approach to deal with Long Jiguang and Lu Rongting, who supported the army and respected themselves in the two Guangzhous, and also used this way to teach the whole country a real lesson in modern constitutional rule and modern nationalism.

The advantage of this is that Long Jiguang and Lu Rongting will first be placed as mortal enemies of state criminals, and the two most taboo capital crimes of treason and fornication will be used to win the support of national public opinion, and start a civil war on this basis.

The emperor's choice was completely beyond the expectations of Long Jiguang and Lu Rongting.

These two people did not have this concept of a modern state and the era of the rule of law in their minds at all, and it was not until the "Central Daily" analyzed their problems in a full-page editorial report and demanded that the central government deal with them in accordance with the principle of "governing the country according to law and prosecuting those who violate the law." They knew that things were very troublesome and that they had put on a real big deal.

In mid-December 1911, after the Second Infantry Division and the Eighth and Thirtyth Infantry Divisions moved southward and marched into Liangguang by two routes, Long Jiguang fled by boat from Guangzhou to Hong Kong, and Lu Rongting also hurriedly fled to the mountainous areas of southern Guangxi with his troops.

After Long Jiguang left, the 25th Town of Guangdong and the Guangdong Mixed Association announced that they would accept the reorganization of the Central Army, and the Central Military Department immediately transferred the 25th Town to the southern part of Guangxi to participate in the military operation to clear Lu Rongting's Guangxi Army.

A large-scale military battle took place between the two sides in the Baise area, and Lu Rongting's troops were routed, leading the remnants to flee to the Sino-Vietnamese border, while the 25th Town was stationed on the spot and continued to be responsible for clearing Lu Rongting.

Although Song Biao could easily kill Long Jiguang through the intelligence agency, Song Biao didn't do it, he didn't need such shady means.

At this stage, he has really controlled the armed forces in the country, and the final threat is only the Northwest Ma Jiajun, at this time the empire has decided to build a northwest railway from Xi'an to Xinjiang Province to strengthen its control over the northwest, and the Ma Jiajun is the biggest obstacle to this railway.

In the entire history of China, the White Battle was a small civil war, the Song Emperor used the 30th Infantry Division and the 2nd Infantry Division of Zhu Jie, plus the 25th Town, which was dominated by local soldiers in Guangxi, to easily encircle and annihilate Lu Rongting's Guangxi Army, but in the history of the new empire, it announced that the emperor had truly commanded the military forces of the whole country.

Therefore, this battle played a special role in the final conclusion of the Tianjin negotiations.

Nationwide, the total establishment of the Central National Defense Force of the Chinese Empire reached 1 million, with elite troops accounting for about three-tenths of the total, and the terrifying performance in the Sino-Chinese Xinhai War was enough to prove that China had become a new army power.

All the European and American powers realized that now as long as the Chinese emperor "Be'o. Vladimir. Song "was determined that no country could easily defeat the Chinese Army on Chinese soil, not even the arrogant Germans."

If the German army really went to the sea frontier and sent hundreds of thousands of troops to China for a decisive battle against the one million army of the Central Defense Army, the German army must have gone crazy.

So a very interesting thing happened, the German minister to China Xin Liping suddenly made a request to meet the emperor, at this time the Tianjin negotiations have ended, Germany finally failed to make any meaningful concessions to China, the emperor is about to formally sign the "Sino-French-Russian Treaty of Mutual Assistance" The news is already well-known in the diplomatic circles of Yanjing, and the last remaining question is how many national loans France and Russia will give, and the policy, It is only to support China's larger-scale industrial expansion in Northeast China.

Xin Liping is a very special person, and many times it is also translated as Xin Ci.

In the era of Duan Qirui's political axe, before Beiyang Zhengaxe decided to sever diplomatic relations with Germany, Xin Liping once proposed to Duan Qirui to provide Beiyang political axe with 10 million US dollars in aid, hoping that Beiyang political axe would not break off diplomatic relations with Germany, and continuous payment would mean that Beiyang political axe would continue to choose neutrality, and Duan Qirui had reached another loan condition with Britain and China at that time.

Xin Liping was forced to leave China after the severance of diplomatic relations with the Beiyang political axe, but before leaving, he still met with Dr. Sun Yat-sen and offered to borrow $20 million to help Sun Yat-sen organize a revolution to overthrow the Beiyang political axe.

Sun Yat-sen is of course very positive.

Xin Liping belongs to the kind of senior person among the German diplomats in China, and has been serving as a counselor of the consulate in Shanghai in Shanghai in his early years, and during the New Deal in Northeast China, he has been the consul general of the German consulate in Shenyang, and only became the new minister to China last year, and Song Biao can also be said to have a deep relationship.

When Song Biao was running a major railway project in the three eastern provinces, he had close contacts with Xin Liping.

In fact, this person belongs to the category of particularly pro-China factions in the German diplomatic system, and he has made a lot of efforts in the rapid development of exports and imports to Germany in the three eastern provinces. If he could decide things personally, he would be willing to win China into the German-Austrian alliance at any cost, but even as the newly appointed German minister to China, his personal will and judgment were of no use.

Considering this, Song Biaoming knew that he had to sign the "Sino-French-Russian Treaty of Mutual Assistance in Matters", or decided to meet this old friend who had known him during the railway plan of the three eastern provinces.

Things were arranged quickly, and these afternoons, Xin Liping was given half an hour to come to meet the emperor.

Before Xin Liping arrived, Song Biao specially summoned Ouyang Geng over and personally asked about the details of the negotiations with Russia and France, so as not to make mistakes when talking to Xin Liping.

As soon as Ouyang Geng left with his front foot, Xin Liping entered the imperial study accompanied by the chamberlain.

The imperial study is not as formal and rigorous as the Mingguang Pavilion of the General Office, but anyone who has the opportunity to come in to meet the emperor has a seat, Xin Liping stepped forward and took off his hat and bowed, Song Biao asked people to arrange a seat for him, and said with a smile: "Xin Liping, we have known each other for a long time, you should know in your heart that you come to me at this time, in fact, it is not too significant, it is better to wait a few months to come again, there is room for you and me to talk." ”

Among Germans, Xin Liping is not the kind of tall man, not even a typical German, he is also very thin, and his eyes are a little protruding like goldfish eyes, which looks a little strange, but like the vast majority of German diplomats, he is a highly educated German, graduated from the University of Berlin in Latin linguistics, first spent his career as a diplomat in France, and after arriving in China, he also found time to co-author a German version of the Chinese translation dictionary.

For the sake of solemnity, Xin Liping wore a black dress and held a hat in his hand.

After listening to Emperor Hua's words, Xin Liping also replied helplessly: "Your Majesty, although it may seem reckless and disrespectful to come to you until such a moment to convey the latest decision of our cabinet, I still have to come." As you and I have said before, Germany is China's largest exporter and second largest importer, and the Sino-German economic and trade relationship is truly mutually beneficial and very important for both countries. At the same time, you also told me that even if China and Russia had closer military cooperation, it would not affect Sino-German cooperation, and Germany and I were deeply grateful and understanding for this, but His Excellency Holwig, Chancellor of the Reich Cabinet, sent a telegram asking me to convey my concerns about the alliance between China and France and Russia. As a matter of fact, China can fully follow the public practice of other countries in the international community and express all its willingness to live in friendship and equality with your country at the Tianjin talks, but because of the pedantry and sluggishness of the bureaucracy, we may have made a mistake in expressing it, and now, if China does not form an alliance with Russia and France, China is willing to return the leased land in Jiaoao in advance, as well as all the privileges in China that are unfavorable to your country, and sign the "Tianjin International Entente." In addition to this, our country is ready to provide a real loan of aid, not only at low interest, but also without any collateral and additional unreasonable demands, including large-scale assistance in technology, provided that His Majesty the Emperor does not sign an alliance agreement with Russia and France. ”

Song Biao sighed very embarrassed, shook his head: "I'm afraid this is impossible, my friend, the Chinese have an ancient saying that a gentleman should be true to his word, people are like this, and the country should be even more so, when our country is in a diplomatic crisis, it is Russia and France that have joined forces to help our country break this territory, which has made Britain make great concessions, making the empire truly a country of economic and political freedom." Germany had the opportunity to help us, but you did not do so, and now you have decided to make amends, I am afraid, it will not help. Of course, I still promise that there will be no conflict with Germany over direct military action, and that the original Sino-German military cooperation will remain valid, including other cooperation agreements between the two [***] departments. ”

Xin Liping felt more and more embarrassed, he knew that Hua Huang had always been the kind of person who meant what he said, even if he didn't sign any agreement on paper, as long as he agreed, 99% of it would eventually become a reality.

It is said that this is the reason why Russia did not sign the actual treaty, but only continued to lease the Port of Arthur to the Russian army after the Chinese emperor agreed, and Russia could not wait to lease a large amount of military supplies to the Northeast Army.

From the present point of view, it must have been before Russia and France came forward to hold the Tianjin talks, the Chinese emperor and the Russian-French envoys had reached an agreement, so even if Germany refused to give up its privileges and leases in China in a tough manner, the Chinese cabinet foreign minister did not have too many drastic measures and the willingness to negotiate further.

In other words, it's too late.

If Germany, France, and Russia really go to war, as long as the Chinese Army declares war, Germany will completely suffer a comprehensive heavy blow in Asia, not to mention that it is impossible to send troops to Asia at that time, even if it can send troops, in the face of the strength of China's Central Army, it will be difficult for the German army to reach China thousands of miles away to carry out a large-scale frontal battle.

Xin Liping felt that all this was terrible, and he had already reminded Germany more than once that it was necessary to prevent the new Chinese empire from falling into the Russian and French camp, but the whole of Germany did not take it seriously at all.

After being silent for a long time, Xin Liping could only sigh: "Your Majesty, this is really bad. Although your promises have always been valid, I find it hard to believe that you would not declare war on Germany at the time of the war between the German-Austrian alliance and the Russian-French alliance? ”

Song Biao was also silent for a moment, and replied, "At this point, I'm afraid I really can't give you any guarantees. Even if I don't want to declare war, this country will not agree, in fact, let me say an unpleasant word, the reason why this situation has occurred is not at all because my country and I are intent on becoming enemies of Germany, and you and His Excellency German Chancellor Holwig should be very clear that I have been very partial to Germany and pro-German people since I entered the Northeast, and I have tried my best to promote economic, trade, and military exchanges with Germany. Sadly, Germany simply ignores this, and also looks down on China and the Chinese people at all, and maliciously pushes our country to the Russian-French alliance for the sake of its already improper privileges and interests in China. ”

Xin Liping said: "Your Majesty, no matter what, international treaties and agreements must still be observed, and since our country and your country have signed an agreement, we should implement it well, which is a basic attitude of our country towards this. ”

Song Biao said: "In other words, Germany thinks that if our country wants to ban these bullying clauses, we must fight for it back through war, right?" Look, isn't that what you want? ”

At this time, Xin Liping had reached the point where he had nothing to say.

After another moment of silence, he could only emphasize to Song Biao again: "Your Majesty, it is true that our country can now return the lease in advance, as well as give up other privileges in China, and at the same time provide a long-term low-interest loan, as well as abundant technical support and aid policies, as long as you give up the agreement to conclude an alliance with Russia and France." ”

Song Biao was already reluctant to answer this question.

The diplomatic work between the major powers cannot be handled by a few words and personal relations, and the Imperial Central Cabinet has been engaged in negotiations with Russia and France for half a year in order to reach a support clause with Russia and France.

Even if both sides are willing enough to conclude a paramilitary alliance, such negotiations are extremely complex.

Now the negotiation situation is already very good, Song Biao does not believe that Germany is still willing to provide such favorable conditions, especially considering the arrogance of the Germans, even Germany is willing to give the same conditions, not only the negotiation period is longer, but China must also join the German-Austrian alliance, which is even more unacceptable to China.

As the world's colonies have been scraped away, the capitalist empire's mode of plunder has gradually shifted from colonial occupation to capital export.

By 1911, Britain had exported about 4 billion pounds of capital, and France was the second largest exporter of capital, with Germany in third place and the United States in fourth.

If China wants to develop, whether it is to adopt the gold standard or the silver standard monetary system, it is impossible to promote the rapid development of the country without capital, whether it is to build railways, water conservancy, whether it is to provide large-scale credit to industry, from the purchase of machinery and equipment, to the transfer of technology, all need a large amount of capital.

The central cabinet ambitiously wanted to promote the 175 industrial plan, to promote the large-scale construction of railways, and to promote the popularization of water conservancy and irrigation projects, all three of which combined needed huge amounts of capital to promote.

Among all the capital-exporting countries, the United Kingdom, Germany and the United States focus on direct investment, and this is not the way China wants, but France is in a relatively weak situation because of its overall production capacity and technological level among the industrial countries, and the excess capital is relatively strong, so France's first choice in capital export is political axes and bank credit.

The so-called economy determines politics, and politics determines the military, which is the simplest truth.

The Reich Cabinet and France have reached a very good long-term credit agreement, which is huge, and if there is no absolutely reliable alliance agreement and contractual guarantees, why should the French government take such a risk?

In order to strive for larger-scale credit support and more reliable military support, at this time, China, France and Russia not only signed the "Sino-French-Russian Treaty of Mutual Assistance in Matters", China and France were also secretly negotiating on a closer military alliance.

Germany's last mediation efforts failed to prevent the Emperor from signing the Sino-French-Russian Treaty of Mutual Assistance in Matters, and after the treaty came into force, China also signed the Strategic Reciprocal Trade Treaty with France and Russia, respectively, to obtain a total of about 285 million pounds of government bond loans from France and Russia in five installments, equivalent to China's total central fiscal revenue for four years.

With such a huge loan, the central cabinet was finally able to officially and vigorously promote the 175 national industrial plans, which also seemed to indicate that a new era was coming.

In February 1912, China and Britain signed the Sino-British Reciprocal Trade Treaty on the basis of the "Tianjin Peace Treaty", and made the final delivery of customs rights.

At the same time as raising the import tax rate, the Diet also introduced the "Financial Freedom Temporary Act" to open up the domestic financial industry, ban the right to issue currency by foreign countries in China and local governments, and even the Kanto silver yuan and other bills must be exchanged and refunded within a time limit, and the right to issue currency is limited to the central bank.

However, as long as the bank has sufficient foreign exchange reserves such as gold and foreign exchange reserves such as pounds, francs, and US dollars, it can exchange these gold and gold standard foreign exchange at a rate of 1.2 to 1.5 to exchange for Chinese yuan bills, and share the central bank's right to print money.

To put it simply, banks receive a 20% to 50% rebate for every pound they inject into China's credit market, and when they withdraw capital, they have to take away the rebate, and the rebate part of the credit income is also subject to higher additional value-added tax, so as to attract foreign capital inflows and limit foreign capital outflows.

In addition, the right to float is limited to large chartered banks that hold state-level banking licenses, and the requirements for foreign banks are relatively high in terms of licensing standards, and relatively low requirements for joint venture banks and domestic banks.

If this strange financial policy was issued during the Qing Dynasty, it would definitely create a very strange diplomatic hegemony incident, and foreign countries would have to force negotiations under the guise of the gateway policy, and if the negotiation fails, it is a threat of force, in fact, it can raise the tax rate, which is also commendable for China in the 20th century, the strength of the Northeast Army is on the one hand, and it is more important to sign the "Sino-French-Russian Treaty of Mutual Assistance in Matters" first, but without the battle of the Northeast Army in the Korean battlefield, France and Russia would not be guilty of signing a military mutual assistance treaty with China.

(To be continued)