At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, with the great development of the automobile industry, the demand for rubber increased dramatically. At the same time, rubber has also become an emerging material for many industrial products, which is very popular. Cars, tricycles, rickshaws have been replaced with rubber tires, Shanghainese cloth shoes, leather shoes jacket a pair of rubber shoes, called "galoshes", and then wear rubber raincoats, rainy days can also go out as usual, and other kinds of rubber (at that time Shanghainese called rubber rubber) products are countless. In 1908, Britain imported rubber totaling £840,000, which increased to £1,410,000 the following year, and the United States imported $57 million in rubber in 1908, which increased to $70,000,000 the following year. Restricted by factors such as growth cycle, climate, and soil, the production scale of rubber cannot be expanded in the short term, which is destined to continue to rise in a certain period of time. The price of rubber in the London market, which rose to 2 shillings per pound in 1908, soared to 10 shillings per pound at the end of 1909, and peaked in April 1910 at 12 shillings and 5 pence per pound. London's rubber stocks also rose. A newly formed rubber company issued £1 million in shares, which were sold out in half an hour, and shares issued by another company, initially 10 pounds each, rose to £180 per share shortly after the launch.

International financial capital has set up rubber companies in the Nanyang region, which is suitable for rubber growth, and the headquarters are located in Shanghai, which is convenient for financing from the largest financial center in the Far East. The Times estimates that in the months from late 1909 to early 1910, there were 122 new rubber companies in the Nanyang region, with at least 40 headquartered in Shanghai. Some of these companies have just bought land, some have already planted rubber saplings, and many are leather bag companies.

Shanghai-based rubber companies have placed advertisements in newspapers to solicit money. Influenced by the wave of international financial speculation, Shanghai's rubber stocks are also very popular. A stock called the "Dipong Rubber Tree Company" opened at 25 taels of silver per share on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, and rose to 50 taels of silver more than a month later.

Wealthy Chinese and foreigners in Shanghai, fearing that they would lose the opportunity to make a fortune, rushed to buy rubber stocks. Mr. Guan Zhizhi, the chief judge of the Shanghai Concession Court, said: "In 1910, a kind of rubber stock appeared in Shanghai, and after a while, rich people competed to buy it, and some ladies and ladies of the mansion changed jewelry, sold diamond rings, and bought stocks, like crazy. If you have money, you have to trust people from all sides to buy stocks. Because I have been a triager for many years, I know foreigners, and it took a lot of effort to buy a few shares. When buying, 30 taels of silver a share, after buying, the stock rises every day, up to more than 90 taels per share. Many foreigners know that I have stocks, take a checkbook, stare at the door, and sign as soon as I am willing to sell. ”

The rush to buy has made many people rich overnight, and it has aroused people's speculative desire even more, so that the actual price of stocks exceeds several times, or even dozens of times, of the par value. Xiangmao Foreign Bank's Dao Miren stock cashier is 8 taels, and the market price is 66 taels. Companies with old brands and big reputations can bid up their stock prices as they please. The stock price of Lan Gezhi Company exceeded the face value by 278 times, as high as more than 1,500 taels, and the stock price of Huitong Foreign Bank, which was only 100 taels of silver, rose to 15,600 taels.

According to estimates by the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce, before the outbreak of the rubber stock market crash, Chinese people bought about 80 percent, and foreigners in Shanghai snapped up 20 percent. Many Chinese were not satisfied with snapping up in Shanghai and mobilized funds to London. Chinese businessmen have invested about 26 million to 30 million taels in Shanghai and 14 million taels in London. As a result, Shanghai, the largest financial center in the Far East, has run out of capital, and the liquidity in the market, especially in the bank, has been absorbed by rubber stocks.

The rubber stock boom is a tragedy caused by the influence of the international financial situation and malicious manipulation by some foreign adventurers. The windfall profits have left investors in Shanghai irrational and trapped, while foreign banks and speculators have profited.

In 1903, the Englishman Mai Bian set up the Langezhi Extension Company in Shanghai, which is the name of a rubber producing area. Maibian claims that his company runs rubber plantations, excavates oil and coal, and harvests timber. After tossing and turning for several years, there was no improvement, because his company was purely a leather bag company. After the rise in international rubber prices, Mai Bian realized that his opportunity had come.

This guy launched an advertising campaign, spending money and paying people to boast about the arrival of the "rubber age" in Shanghai's Chinese and English newspapers. These articles are extremely inflammatory, and they vigorously instill in people that rubber is indispensable in future lives and lives. The trademark of Langezhi Company has occupied the front page of many influential Chinese and foreign newspapers for a long time. His propaganda campaign worked wonders, and the fame of the Langezhi company spread. In order to further attract wealthy people in Shanghai to buy Langezhi shares, Mai Bian artificially manipulated the price of the shares. He weaved his accomplices, snapped up stocks, and when the price rose, he threw out too much money and snapped up at a higher price again, and several went back and forth. Lan Gezhi's stock is being speculated higher and higher, and it is difficult to find a vote.

At this time, Mai Bien held a weekly board meeting, and pretended to take out a "telegram from the place of origin" to report to the directors on the recent rubber production. Because he was worried that the imaginary head would be too big and would be seen through, he played a new trick and paid a dividend to the "shareholders" who bought Langezhi shares every three months, and each share could get 12 taels and 5 yuan of silver. Such a bonus makes the buyer not think calmly. As a result, stocks with a face value of about 60 taels of silver soon broke through the 1,000 taels mark, and Mai Bian quickly amassed a large amount of money.

The rest of the rubber companies also did the same, and Wei Tui and Kadoorie of Huitong Foreign Bank paid dividends to shareholders every quarter according to the law, with a share of 7 taels and 5 yuan of silver. They boasted of higher skills, claiming that the quality of the rubber produced by the Xuenawang company they ran was better than that of the Langezhi company, and when they boasted to Zuihou, the latecomers actually prevailed, and the stock price surpassed that of Langezhi.

On the eve of the stock issuance, the Xiangmao Foreign Bank, which was opened by the Becker father and son, first bought newspaper pages and boasted that the stock prices were cheap and profitable; on the day of the opening of the market, a large number of hooligans were bribed to the door of HSBC to pretend to be customers and snap up stocks. Those who subscribe for less than 100 shares can keep 20% of the shares, and those who subscribe for 1,100 to 500 shares can keep 10% of the shares, and the balance will be refunded. As a result, their shares become sought-after as soon as they go public.

In March and April 1910, the highest stock price of Shanghai rubber stocks was constantly refreshed, but there were only a few cash transactions, and most of them were empty transactions. Mai Bian saw that the stock market bubble was about to burst, and in July, he rolled up all the money and evaporated from the world.

At the beginning of the 20th century in Shanghai, China's traditional financial institutions, such as money villages, silver numbers, and ticket numbers (hereinafter collectively referred to as money villages), also achieved great development in Shanghai, with a large number, among which Yuan Fengrun and Yishanyuan were the most powerful. They were the leaders of Shanghai's banking and money industry, and along with the Qing Bank and the Bank of Communications, they were the pillars of financial stability in the Qing Dynasty. However, compared with the deep-pocketed foreign banks, the capital of the local bank was quite limited at first, with the registered capital of "no more than 50,000 yuan, and as little as more than 20,000 yuan". Local money banks mainly provide foreign exchange services for Chinese enterprises and merchants, and issue bank bills, receive deposits, and issue loans. The rapid development of Shanghai Qianzhuang is mainly reflected in the increase in business volume. In 1858, there were only 8-10 slightly larger money banks in Shanghai, with a book capital of only 3-50,000 taels, but by 1907, Fukang Money Bank alone had absorbed 817069 taels of deposits.

There are two main ways for money to get involved in rubber stock speculation. The first situation is more common, the money bank provides loans to speculators, in addition to credit loans, they also accept loans in kind, in fact, the speculators use the rubber stocks they have purchased as collateral, obtain new loans to buy new stocks, as long as the price of rubber stocks does not fall, the money bank will not lose money, and the pledged stocks are still appreciating. As a result, the bank has accelerated the pace of lending money to foreign banks, and foreign banks have enjoyed the success. With the strong financial support of foreign banks and Shanghai Qianzhuang, the speculation of Shanghai rubber stocks has intensified.

The second situation is that the money bank is directly involved in stock speculation. Since the shares issued by the rubber companies in Shanghai are mainly sold through foreign banks and foreign banks, the big compradors of these foreign banks can take advantage of their positions to snap up the shares on a large scale. The most famous is Chen Yiqing, the owner of Zhengyuan Qianzhuang (the comprador of Maohe Foreign Bank, Xinqichang Foreign Bank and Lihua Bank, who owns Qingyu Foreign Goods and Zhengyuan Qianzhuang, and also participates in Zhaokang Qianzhuang), Dai Jiabao, the owner of Zhaokang Qianzhuang (the comprador of German merchant Yuxing Foreign Bank), and Lu Dasheng, the owner of Qianyu Qianzhuang. They got entangled together and successively issued 6 million taels of banker bills, of which 359 forward bankers fell into the hands of foreign banks, with a total value of about 1.4 million taels. Chen Yiqing and Dai Jiabao also borrowed 1 million taels from Citibank, Warby Bank and Jardine Matheson, which were deposited in three banks. They are still not enough, and from the well-known Senyuan, Yuanfeng, Huida, Xiefeng, Jinda and other money banks to adjust positions, Senyuan is a small money village, Chen Yiqing transferred 20,880 two Zhuang tickets, Yuanfeng was Chen transferred more than 110,000 two Zhuang tickets. These eight banks have been combined to form a super rubber stock speculation group.

In June 1910, the London stock market plummeted, and the Shanghai rubber stock plummeted. Chen Yiqing lost more than 200 taels, Dai Jiabao lost more than 180 taels, and Lu Dasheng lost more than 120 taels. The foreign bank immediately stopped lending money to Zhengyuan Group and demanded repayment. On July 21, Zhengyuan and Qianyu Qianzhuang went bankrupt, and on the 22nd, Zhaokang and Senyuan Qianzhuang went bankrupt; On the 23rd, Yuanfeng went bankrupt, and on the 24th, Huitai, Xiefeng, and Jinda went bankrupt.

Just when Zhengyuan Group collapsed, Cai Naihuang, Shanghai Daotai, together with Zhou Jinzhen, president of the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce, urgently went to Nanjing by special car to meet Zhang Renjun, the governor of Liangjiang, and Cheng Dequan, the governor of Jiangsu. After Zhang Renjun transferred to the imperial court, Emperor Xuantong approved an emergency loan from a foreign bank on July 27.

At the beginning of the 20th century, foreign banks in Shanghai were already in a situation of great power disputes, and nine foreign banks, including HSBC, Deutsche Wahwa, Macquarie, Sino-Russian Daosheng, Yokohama Zhengjin, Crédit Agricole, Citigroup, Dutch, and Wall-by, controlled Shanghai's financial industry. They are well-capitalized, absorbing large deposits from large numbers of foreign factories and foreign banks, and because of the protection of extraterritoriality, many Chinese enterprises, businessmen, and bureaucrats also prefer to deposit their funds in foreign banks, although the interest rates on foreign banks are very low.

On August 4, Cai Naihuang signed the "Shanghai Loan Contract for Maintaining Shanghai" with 9 foreign banks, borrowing 3.5 million taels of silver, including 800,000 taels from HSBC, 500,000 taels from Macquarie, 500,000 taels from Dehua, 400,000 taels from Daosheng, 300,000 taels from Zhengjin, 300,000 taels from Amundi CIA, 300,000 taels from Citigroup, 250,000 taels from the Netherlands, and 150,000 taels from Huabi. At the same time, he also allocated 3 million taels of Shanghai official silver, which was deposited in Yuanfengrun and Yishanyuan and their subordinate Zhuang numbers to help stabilize the market. After Cai Naihuang's emergency treatment, Shanghai tends to be calm.

In fact, Yuanfengrun and Yishanyuan were also hit hard in the collapse of Zhengyuan. The loss of Deyuan Qianzhuang with Yuanfengrun is about 2 million taels, and the Yuanli Qianzhuang, which is backed by Yishanyuan, also has a huge loss. The two financial giants survived the first shock wave with their own strength and Cai Naihuang's emergency assistance. As long as these two giants stand, Shanghai will not be rotten. However, in order to bail out the money banks of the same system that were losing money in the Zhengyuan Boom, they have become weak.

The matter should have ended here, but it is a pity that the mediocrity and infighting of Qing government officials buried the hard-won success of saving the city. By September, the Qing government had to repay Gengzi's indemnity, and according to custom, Shanghai should bear 1.9 million taels. However, Cai Naihuang took the official silver to save the city, and the source of existence was abundant and the source of righteousness and goodness, and the bank treasury was empty. In view of the fact that Shanghai is still not relaxed, Cai Naihuang requested that 2 million taels be allocated from the Daqing Bank to be paid first.

Chen Bangrui, the left waiter of the Du branch who had a gap with Cai Naihuang, took the opportunity to join his student Cheng Dequan, the governor of Jiangsu, to impeach Cai Naihuang, saying that he used the panic in the market as an excuse to "intimidate the imperial court". The Qing court immediately dismissed Cai Naihuang from his post and ordered him to settle the money within two months. Since the amount of money he handled was as much as 6.25 million taels of silver, most of which existed in Yuanfengrun and Yishanyuan, he again called the Military Aircraft Department, asking for a grace period, and once again affirming that he must not rush to withdraw "Huguan treasury money" from Yuanfengrun and other money banks. The reason why Yuanfengrun and Yishanyuan dominate the country is that they do not rely on foreign bank loans, and they have the support of the Shanghai Provincial Bank, which has about 6/10 of the deposits in the Yuanfengrun system and 4/10 in the Yishanyuan system.

The Military Aircraft Department still regarded it as an intimidation, and in addition to strictly reprimanding him, he was ordered to complete the delivery within two months. Cai Naihuang was embarrassed and angry, so he had to ask Yuan Fengrun and Yishanyuan for official funds, and withdrew more than 2 million taels in one fell swoop. On October 7, foreign banks abruptly announced that they would refuse to accept the banker's bills from 21 Shanghai banks. Yuanfengrun could not turn around, and on October 8, 1910, it was announced that it was liquidated, and the deficit of public and private funds amounted to more than 2,000 taels. Its 17 branches in Beijing, Tianjin, Guangzhou and other places were also closed at the same time. The collapse of Yuanfengrun led to the collapse of a large number of money banks in Shanghai, and the financial crisis began to spread to the whole country. This is the second wave of the rubber stock boom.

After the fall of Yuanfengrun, the Du branch telegraphed Daqing Bank to urgently transfer 1 million taels of silver to Shanghai. On December 11, the Qing government bailed out the market again, and Zhang Renjun, the governor of Liangjiang, came forward to borrow 3 million taels from HSBC, Crédit Agricole and Dehua banks, with an annual interest rate of 7% and a term of 6 years, and was guaranteed by Jiangsu Yanli.

Li Jingchu, the major shareholder of Yishanyuan, was Li Hongzhang's nephew, and at that time he also served as the right attendant of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications and the prime minister of the Bank of Communications (the assistant manager was Liang Shiyi, a close confidant of Yuan Shikai). He borrowed 2.87 million taels from the Bank of Communications as collateral from the industry, and urgently transferred funds from branches across the country to make up for the deficit after the transfer of official funds and temporarily preserved the source of righteousness. However, at the beginning of 1911, Sheng Xuanhuai took office as the secretary of the Ministry of Posts and Communications, and in order to crack down on the Shili of Liang Shiyi, who was installed by Yuan Shikai in the Bank of Communications, he began to check the accounts of the Bank of Communications.

Seeing this, Li Jingchu hurriedly returned the money borrowed by Yishanyuan from the Bank of Communications, resulting in only 7,000 taels of cash left on the books of Shanghai Yishanyuan. On March 20, Ding Weifan, the manager of Yishanyuan's general account, tried to use the stocks of various enterprises in his hands to borrow 100,000 taels from the newly appointed Liu Yanji of Shanghai Daotai, but was refused. The next day, Yishanyuan announced its bankruptcy with a debt of 14 million taels. The pillar that maintained Shanghai collapsed, Shanghai's financial industry collapsed, and a nationwide panic followed, stretching from Beijing and Yingkou in the north to Guangzhou in the south, and Hankou and Chongqing in the west.

Nanjing, Zhenjiang, Yangzhou, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Ningbo and other six major economic towns collapsed 18 well-known money banks and ticket numbers, and by their involvement, except for Suzhou, the national capital and financial institutions of the above five major cities were all washed away.

Taking Zhenjiang as an example, affected by the Zhengyuan trend, in August, Zhenjiang's four big business names, Dasheng Hengmu Bank, Zhenyuan Xiang Silk Bank, Ruihe North Goods Bank, and Ma Zhen Ji Silk Bank, were all washed away. The four major firms have been "established for a year", and their business in Zhenjiang is Taizong. Dasheng Hengmu Xing owes 8,600 taels to Zhenhe Qianzhuang, 4,000 taels to Fuyuan Qianzhuang, 4,000 taels to Yuanchang Qianzhuang, 3,000 taels to Yongyuan Qianzhuang, and 700 taels to Yongyu Qianzhuang. Ma Zhenji Silk owes 3,600 taels to Yuanfeng Qianzhuang and 1,400 taels to Yiyuan Qianzhuang. Although the four major firms have not closed down, they have been struggling, which in turn has dragged down a large number of money banks.

During the economic crisis, Chinese businessmen lost between 40 million and 45 million taels of silver in the stock markets of Shanghai and London, while the disposable financial income of the Qing government axe was only about 100 million taels. The outflow of such a huge amount of money has made the financial situation of the Qing government even worse. The following year, the Manchu government "nationalized" the commercial railways and borrowed money from the foreign powers as collateral for the right of way, leading to the outbreak of the Road Protection Movement.

When the whole Shanghai was in mourning, this huge rubber stock turmoil did not affect Hu Rui in Wuhu at all.

"Good gun, how is the current production? Is there a high rate of defective products? ”

Hu Rui casually picked up a Mauser 98 rifle that had just come off the production line, pulled the bolt of the gun, looked at it carefully, turned around and asked the Jishu member who was following closely behind.

"Your Excellency, Your Excellency, according to the actual situation at present, the maximum daily output of one hundred and fifty Mauser 98 rifles and twelve thousand single new pointed rifles can be reached at full power...... Of course, this is the output achieved by using the assembly line operation method you mentioned and subcontracting some non-essential components such as bayonets. As for the 60-mm and 80-mm mortars you designed, they can only be produced semi-manually, and the output can only reach 40 per month. Mel, a German, took out the notebook in his pocket and looked at it carefully.

With the deepening of cooperation with Krupp, more and more Germans began to go to China in search of a bigger stage for development, and Meier was one of them. In Germany, he is just a small arsenal technician, and his meager monthly income can barely support the basic life of his family. But when he arrived in China, he immediately became a baby, thinking that a foreigner technician like him could get a job after passing the exam, and he could get a salary of 30 US dollars per month, equivalent to 60 taels of silver. Mel, the head of the expatriate technician, earns a little more and earns a high salary of $40 a month, in addition to special care in terms of accommodation, and does not have to live in a double dormitory.

"150 sticks? In other words, the highest annual output is only more than 50,000 branches? And what about the production of 70-mm curved infantry runs and 75 shells ?! "Hu Rui is not happy with these figures.

"20 guns, 75 shells and 200 rounds. Your Excellency, I beg your pardon. Your factory currently has a serious shortage of qualified jishu workers, and there is also a shortage of corresponding lathes and mechanical equipment. According to the current situation, this is already the maximum output, if the workers and equipment are not in place, I am afraid that your change of clothes will be delayed. Mel rubbed her hands helplessly and replied, "It's hard for a good woman to cook without rice."

"Okay, I'll figure out how to deal with the lathe and mechanical equipment, and I'll buy it back for you before the year. As for the jishu workers...... How many apprentices can a technician take? ”

"It depends on the talent and cultural level of the trainees, and frankly the professional quality of the workers here is barely tolerable. If this is the case, each technician can only bring three, and the study time is one year. It couldn't be more. Mel touched his chin and thought for a while, affirming that he had been in China for a while, and as the head of the foreign technician, he could almost communicate in stumbling Chinese without translation.

"......" Hu Rui was silent for a while, in the final analysis, the country is too weak. In these days, ordinary people can't even eat enough, how many people can afford to read books and learn from the West? Most of the people who have the conditions are the children of large families, and how many of these people are willing to come out to be jishu workers?

"It's hard!" Walking out of the Anqing Manufacturing Bureau, Hu Rui couldn't help but sigh. It's really not easy to save this bit of money.

"Chief instructor, Miss Yan has sent the latest information, and the trouble in Shanghai is getting bigger and bigger."

The curtain has opened, and the show is about to begin.