"Although the countries have not yet become the only government of China in our government, they also recognize us as belligerents in the civil war, and as long as we feel victorious in the subsequent war, it is inevitable that they will recognize us as the only Chinese government!" Lu Weixiang continued:

"However, on the matter of borrowing money in the aftermath, the tone of the banking group of the four countries is still very tight, insisting on holding the previous conditions, as for the Japanese side, at present our negotiations with them have reached a deadlock, from the information we have learned, the Japanese himself has provided Duan Qirui with several loans, and it is conservatively estimated that Duan Qirui has obtained at least tens of millions of yuan worth of military supplies from the Japanese himself. The interest rate proposed by the Russians is too high, and it is not easy to talk about! ”

Zhao Dongyun said: "Just now the American minister Rou Keyi came, although the requirements are still harsh, but this is not important, the important thing is that this four-nation banking group has cracked, as long as we work harder, hum, I don't believe that this four-nation banking group can be dismantled, as long as they are dismantled, then under the competition between countries, we can have the best loan conditions!" ”

Lu Weixiang said: "What the president said is, it's just that it's not good to drag on too late, although the ministry is not familiar with military affairs, but it also knows that our army continues to spend a lot of money, and other aspects also need a lot of spending, if this aftermath loan has been dragged on, I'm afraid it will be delayed!" ”

Zhao Dongyun shook his head: "It's okay, we have survived the past half a year, not bad for a month or two, although the aftermath of the loan cannot be discussed, but we are also solving the problem of war expenses through other ways, although it is difficult, but it is still possible to barely maintain it!" ”

Although the current war expenses of the Soviet system have been crumbling in the past six months, through the issuance of patriotic bonds and foreign bonds, and the allocation of fiscal revenues, the Soviet system has still maintained normal operation, and as long as there are no major accidents, it will be difficult for the Soviet system to continue to move south on a large scale to completely reunify China, but the problem of maintaining the current situation is not big.

However, when the loan negotiations with several major powers did not achieve much results, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported to Zhao Dongyun another piece of surprising news, that is, the small European countries of Belgium, the Netherlands, and even Switzerland showed considerable interest in China's aftermath loans and railway loans.

Belgium, in particular, has already borrowed money to build the Jinghan Railway, so they are also quite interested in other railways that China is planning to build, and this time, in order to show that they have no intention of encroaching on China's sovereignty, they can agree to China to return the arrears of the Jinghan Railway in advance in order to revoke the right to operate the Jinghan Railway.

Especially in recent years, both the people and officials in China are extremely disgusted with foreign control of China's railways, and the Guangdong-Hanzhou Railway is the most obvious example, the railway was originally obtained by the United States to build the right to build the road, but it caused great opposition in the country, and even set off a wave of resistance to the United States, and finally the former Qing government was forced to retract the right of way at a high price. Raise industrial and commercial capital to build by themselves in the mode of official supervision and commercial office, but it is not easy to raise capital to build railways in China, until October 1906, before the fall of the Qing Dynasty, did not come up with a detailed commercial charter, and then the civil war broke out between the north and the south, the railway will naturally be delayed again and again, and God knows when the construction can be restarted.

In such a situation, if Zhao Dongyun can retract the power of the Jinghan Railway in advance and nationalize the ownership of the entire north-south artery, it will not only make the mobilization of the Feng army on this railway smoother, but also represent the joint operation of the Jingfeng Railway and the Jinghan Railway, which will bring more extensive economic benefits. More importantly, this matter is enough to bring Zhao Dongyun huge political prestige.

I have to say that this statement of the Belgians is still very tempting for Zhao Dongyun!

The Netherlands and Switzerland also put forward relatively favorable loan conditions, but they also have special requirements, that is, the interest rate of loans is generally high, and they also require the mortgage of the salt administration or local finance.

"Their national strength is small, and it is naturally extremely difficult to come up with tens of millions of pounds, so you can talk to the Belgian countries first, there are not many, but they can always take out millions of pounds, even if there are not millions, but there is a million!" Zhao Dongyun did not despise Belgium, the Netherlands and other countries because they were not the first-class powers of the modern era. Although their territory is small, they are all countries with huge colonies overseas, the Netherlands has large colonies in the Indonesian archipelago, Belgium has large colonies in Africa, and their national strength may not be comparable to that of Britain, France, Germany and France, but it is really nothing to their bankers to spend millions or even tens of millions of pounds.

The negotiations with Belgium, the Netherlands and other countries, coupled with the fact that the loan amount requested by China is not high, and the specific negotiation adopts the model of commercial mortgage, so the progress is relatively smooth.

In the face of China's request for a loan of 5 million pounds, although the Belgians did not agree, they still said that they could provide a loan of 2 million pounds without any messy political conditions.

In the negotiations, the six major powers all put forward various political conditions, not to mention the salt government mortgage and the opening of more treaty ports, and even the requirements of government financial supervision, while the requirements of Belgium are much more commercial.

Although they also asked for collateral, they did not force the Yanzheng mortgage, nor did they want any government financial supervision power, nor did they want to send someone to be the head of the tax department of China's Ministry of Finance, but the collateral they wanted was relatively simple: they only asked China to provide enough assets as collateral, and in the end the Chinese side was forced to take part of the shares of the China Eastern Railway Company, which is now a joint venture of six countries, and China occupied part of the shares and part of the shares of the Jingfeng Railway.

Moreover, the loan term is also very short, unlike international loans that often last for decades, Belgium, which is afraid of risks, only provides a five-year loan, and the principal and interest must be repaid in batches every six months after the loan, and the interest is as high as 7%, and 80% is deducted.

It can be said that the interest and repayment terms are relatively harsh!

But now Zhao Dongyun can't take care of these, as long as there are no messy political requirements, he is not afraid of anything if it is pure usury, let alone seven cents, even if it is eight cents or even nine cents, he dares to borrow, as long as he borrows enough money to arm the army to unify China, and after the reunification of China, he is still afraid of tens of millions of pounds of debt, and he will pay off in three years after natural disasters.

As for borrowing money and losing in the domestic hegemony, at that time, he could only pat his ass and go to the concession to be a duke, and it had nothing to do with him if he borrowed money or repaid the money, because at that time he was not qualified to repay the money if he wanted to!

With these two million pounds, the financial predicament of the Soviet system can be relaxed a little, at least the salaries of government officials who have been delayed for a long time can finally be paid partially, for middle and high-level government officials, a few months of salary arrears is nothing, whether it is their rich family or corruption and bribery, etc., they will always not be able to live because of a few months of salary arrears, but for those low-level government employees, such as those at the lowest level, clerks, their salary is the basis for supporting their familiesAfter months of salary arrears, many low-level government employees have complained, and now paying a part of the salary can be regarded as a little to calm the grievances of those low-level employees.

Belgium and China signed a loan agreement, and the amount involved is as high as two million pounds, which can not be concealed at such a critical moment, as soon as the news came out, the British minister approached the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, of course, not to protest, but to inquire about relevant matters, and put forward a request to meet Zhao Dongyun in person.

It is clear that even the British are not willing to drag it out so much that the opportunity to make money slips out of their hands, what is the national interest? Making money is the national interest, and you British diplomats don't give the bankers of the British Empire the opportunity to get international loans, what do you diplomats want to do?

So under the huge pressure exerted by the British banking community, the British Minister Zhu Erdian had to enter the Xiyuan Presidential Palace again, but before he arrived at Yingtai, he saw the German Minister Rex coming out of it, and Zhu Erdian took the initiative to greet him while guessing in his heart.

Rex also responded with a smile, but the two didn't talk too much, Rex looked hurried, as if there was something to leave in a hurry, and Zhu Erdian didn't want Zhao Dongyun to wait for him, after all, he also knew that Zhao Dongyun was a busy man, and almost every hour of 24 hours a day had strict arrangements, eating, resting, meeting officials, holding meetings, meeting foreign guests, holding ceremonies, etc., these things were arranged slowly by the secretariat. So Zhao Dongyun's schedule is all linked to each other, you Zhu Erdian is half an hour late, and when you arrive, Zhao Dongyun will already carry out the next business.

Not being late is the minimum self-discipline of a gentleman, but as a diplomat of the world's most powerful empire, Zhu Erdian still has his pride, and he has never been in the habit of arriving early and waiting for others! So he walked into the conference room at 11:15 a.m., almost pinching his stopwatch.