"Goodwill?"

Hearing Yan Shao's words, Zhu Erdian and Kenan were both slightly stunned.

However, after living in China for so many years, Zhu Erdian still knows some of the customs here, so after frowning, he asked. "I don't know what to do......... Mr. Yan, what kindness do you want? ”

"It's very simple..."Yan Shao smiled, and then patted his palm.

Soon someone brought a map of the area around Beijing from the room, and at the same time some of the servants also retreated from the room, leaving only a few pretty maids in the room.

It's just that if you let them open their hands and look at the calluses on their hands, I'm afraid they can know that these maids are good at not just serving others...

These are all maids trained by Caterina to protect the safety of the inner house in her spare time, and the combat effectiveness is not said to be high, and it is still possible to protect the safety of the inner house. Yan Shao's understanding of this point is relatively clear, that is, if there is something that even the guards outside the mansion can't stop, these maids alone are of little use.

On the other hand, if it's just some 'little thieves' sneaking in, then these maids can come in handy.

And...

For Caterina and the others, these people can also act as an eyeliner to spy on Yan Shao, to see if he is secretly eating behind his back...

It is not clear that each of these maids carries at least two pistols, and if it is a special period, the hem of the skirt will even be full of grenades, whether it is Zhu Erdian or Kenan, they regard those maids as ordinary people, and do not pay attention...

At this time, the eyes of the two men were almost focused on the map. Looking at the map depicting Beijing and its surroundings in detail, and then looking up at Yan Shao, both of them were a little confused...

And at the same time. Yan Shao is the way to take care of himself. "In the past, for some reason, there was a certain degree of misunderstanding between Yan and your country. Ming people don't say secret words, now Yan is already the de facto controller of this country, and your country is the most powerful country in this world, Yan naturally hopes to resolve these misunderstandings with your country, but here we need to release some kind of goodwill from each other..."

Zhu Erdian nodded slightly, this is also what he wants.

In fact, since the French got the Anhui card. Especially after Yan Shao defeated Yuan Shikai, his ability has been questioned by the London side, and he has begun to discuss whether to change people...

Substitution. This is not difficult for Zhu Erdian to accept, but it also depends on how to change it...

Judging from the current situation, there are only two possibilities for Zhu Erdian to be transferred back to London, either to be an idle petty official in London, or to be transferred to a small country where he doesn't even know his name as a diplomat...

These are obviously unacceptable to Jurdian. So he urgently needs to do something now to prove his abilities. Because of this, he accepted Yan Shao's invitation—————— you must know that he will become like this now is completely because of Yan Shao's relationship, it is impossible to say that he has no dislike for Yan Shao in his heart, but the importance of the future eventually overwhelms this, and he also wants to know how Yan Shao plans to improve the relationship between the two countries...

In fact, because of Yan Shao's relationship with the French, London also has no good impression of Yan Shao...

————————————————————

"Garrison...," Yan Shao smiled slightly. And also...... tariffs..."

Hearing these two words, Zhu Erdian and Kenan's faces changed, and they felt that Yan Shao was completely whimsical. At this time, Yan Shao continued.

"In China, if someone moves or gets promoted. His neighbors and friends are all going to send some gifts to congratulate, and Yan now has both, shouldn't your country show some kindness? ”

"Of course, our country can show some goodwill, but these are absolutely impossible, and it has long been stipulated in the treaty........." replied in a cold voice, and Jurdian did not expect anything from this meeting, because London could not agree to these two things at all, or at least not at this stage, so that his transfer back to London was almost a certainty, and his attitude became a little worse.

However, Yan Shao didn't pay much attention to this, and just waved his hand to interrupt him. "These Yan Mou all know the way, and Yan Mou has already said that the goodwill is mutual, doesn't Mr. Minister plan to listen to Yan's goodwill?"

"Your kindness?"

"That's right..."Yan Shao nodded. As I said, goodwill is mutual, and you can't just ask your country to show some degree of goodwill, while my country does nothing..."

Yan Shao was also a little helpless when he said this, because from Beijing, Tianjin, Tanggu, Qinhuangdao and Shanhaiguan, there were garrisons of foreign powers almost everywhere. Not to mention Weihai, Yantai and Dalian, although in theory Beijing has a better geographical location than Nanjing, but as I said earlier, this is only theoretical.

In fact, when Shanhaiguan and Tianjin were garrisoned by foreign powers, Beijing's conditions were much worse, and the concession period in Dalian would not expire until 22 years.

As for the question of tariffs? Not to mention this...

So Yan Shaocai wanted to seize the opportunity and try his best to change the current unfavorable situation...

"My kindness is......... Li Jin..."After a moment of silence, Yan Shao played his hole cards.

"Centigold?" Zhu Erdian and Kennan, who didn't care much about it, also became a little concerned after hearing this word. "What do you mean?"

"As long as your country is willing to show its goodwill, Yan is willing to cancel all the domestic cents, this should be enough to express Yan's goodwill..."In the chuckle, Yan Shao replied.

————————————————————

The centigold is a local commercial tax levied from the late Qing Dynasty to the 1930s of the Republic of China, because the initial tax rate was 1 cent, and the "1 percent" was 1 cent. Hence the name Lijin. It is also known as centi, centi, centi, cent, gold.

The main source of the gold was during the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, when Zeng Guofan founded the Hunan Army without the assistance of the imperial court. Everything has to be self-financed. The centigold was the financial source of Zeng Guofan, who set up a special bureau in Hunan to add half a cent to the Hunan centigold. Centigold has always been one of the important revenues of local governments, and local governments have all set up names to expropriate them in various ways. The Qing government has never been able to fully incorporate the centigold into the financial system, and "the amount of centigold actually collected by the provinces is several times that of the newspaper department."

The tax rate was 1% at the outset. Later, it was gradually raised, and in the Guangxu period, the tax rate of most provinces was above 5 percent. For example, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, and Fujian provinces are 10 percent. It is already a higher tax rate, while Jiangsu's burden is heavier, and its general goods are paid more than 10 percent. Because of the card rate, such as the fixed rate of 5%. Just pass four cards. That's 20 percent. The above is only the statutory tax rate, "which is additional, or more".

It is precisely because of the problem of centigold, so there are many failures in the establishment of domestic industries, because centigold can increase the cost of domestic products by 2 to 3 times, or even 3 to 4 times, and it is impossible to compete with foreign goods—————— due to many reasons, so foreign goods do not need to pay taxes.

But that doesn't mean that Westerners don't want the centigold lifted. Because the appearance of centigold also hindered the circulation of foreign goods in China. And even if you can't take taxes, you can do something else. At that time, there were cases of extortion of foreign goods under the pretext of various places, and Western countries were very helpless about this.

In 1925, the Beiyang government convened a tariff conference in Beijing, and Liang Shiyi put forward the "Outline of Tariff Autonomy" on behalf of China, demanding that the tariff shackles in treaties with other countries be immediately lifted; In return, China abolished the centigold on 1 January 1929.

Historically, they have also agreed to the reduction of the levy, and have continued to exert pressure on the ruling Nationalist Government in later generations, even demanding that the abolition of the levy system be a prerequisite for the realization of China's tariff autonomy. Even the Japanese only objected on the grounds that China had not yet abolished the centi...

Therefore, if Yan Shao is willing to revoke the centijin as a goodwill, then the great powers must return the same kindness. Yan Shao doesn't expect to get everything back with just that, but at least he can get off to a good start...

Everything is difficult at the beginning, as long as you can open the beginning well, everything will naturally be much easier...

Of course, even if Zhu Erdian does not accept Yan Shao's kindness, Yan Shao will definitely revoke the centigold, after all, this thing is not good for economic development at all, but it is so bad that it is impossible to count, but Zhu Erdian definitely does not understand this.

It is not surprising that because the local finance and taxes are basically not submitted, the original Beiyang government is very embarrassed financially. After Yan Shao inherited the inheritance of Beiyang, although he had more territory in several provinces than the original Beiyang, in fact, the finances did not ease much...

The territory has become bigger, but the finances are still like that, and even worse.

When Yan Shao was in Anhui, he dared to exempt himself from various miscellaneous taxes, but now does he dare to do so? No one dares to guarantee it, and so does Jurdian...

After all, except for Yan Shao and a few of them, no one knew that Yan Shao's net worth had reached more than two billion...

————————————————————

The matter of repatriating Li Jin really made Zhu Erdian's heart move, but he also knew how difficult it was to do, so after a long silence, Zhu Erdian said slowly. "It would be a good thing if the new government could really cut the cents, but I'm afraid about the garrison and the tariffs..."

Yes, the issue of centigold is indeed exciting, but if this alone allows the powers to get rid of the problems of garrisons and tariffs, I am afraid it will not be so easy...

Not to mention anything else, you must know that there were several powers at this time, and it was not easy to convince them. However, at this time, Zhu Erdian's tone also became much softer, because he did feel Yan Shao's 'sincerity' and 'goodwill'...

"I know that, too." Yan Shao nodded. "So at the moment I'm just going to make a start, for example, the garrison, to reduce the number of garrisons to a symbolic point, and the tariff is a means of additional taxes, in fact, I have been talking to Lei about this before I came to Beijing? Minister Copa has consulted that it is not difficult to obtain the consent of the French, at least in this matter, and that there should be no big problem on the part of the Americans. As long as your country agrees, this matter is half done..."

After a slight sigh, Zhu Erdian believed Yan Shao's words very much.

Originally, Yan Shao had a very close relationship with the French. Now that he is the nominal and semi-substantive ruler of China, and it is even possible that he is the one who truly and completely unifies China, it is only natural that his importance on the side of Paris will also be increased.

Considering Yan Shao's relationship with the French, as well as the goodwill he unleashed this time, and the fact that France does not have much interest in China, it is not impossible that the French will support Yan Shao in this matter.

And the Americans...

Since he is the British minister to China. Zhu Erdian naturally has his own intelligence sources, so he knows very well that the recent US presidents have received strong support from Yan Shao when they are campaigning. So the relationship between each other is also very good. Coupled with the fact that the U.S. government has always pursued so-called free trade, and it is in the best interest of the Americans to abolish the centigold, it is not difficult to win the support of the Americans in this matter.

The only ones that are more difficult are Germany, Japan, Russia and the United Kingdom...

In the case of Italy and Austria-Hungary, the former can be largely ignored. The latter wears the same pants as the Germans. As long as Germany is dealt with, there is no need to consider the views of Austria-Hungary at all, and the Germans have gotten along with Yan Shao very well over the years.

As for the Russians ...

To be honest, if it is the issue of Outer Mongolia or Northeast China, they may be very concerned, but to be honest, they really have little to do with China, which can be seen from the fact that most of the consuls in the Russian consulate in Guangzhou at that time were concurrently held by foreigners, although the Russians are cunning, but if other countries agree with it, they may not object. Even if Yan Shao gave them some benefits, they would stand up and support them...

(Until 1911.) For example, from 1901 to 1903, Russia invited the French consuls in Guangzhou, C. Hardouin, E.G. Liillein, and A. Du Lifang. Doire, who also served as the Russian consul in Canton, invited the German merchant A. Gul Vichi in 1907. V. Bohuszewiez concurrently served as the Russian consul in Canton, and in 1911 the Russian consul in Hong Kong, Vladimir von Oettingen, it should be said that the Russians were different from other countries in trade with China, after all, in this respect the Russians really had a hard time competing with the British, Germans, Japanese and Americans. ）

In the case of the Germans, Yan Shao had a good relationship with the Germans in the past few years in Anhui, but it is difficult to say whether he would support Yan Shao on the matter of tariffs.

Frankly speaking, the British were the strongest of the great powers, and their interests in China were the greatest. If he chooses to support Yan Shao, then this matter is equivalent to half the success, if he is against it, then this matter is difficult to say...

————————————————————

"Ray? Did Minister Kopa also express his support...", after a slight silence, Jurdian asked.

"That's right." Yan Shao said affirmatively.

"If that's the case......... I can try, but I can't guarantee that it will work..."At this time, Juerdian's situation was also a bit embarrassing, and he urgently needed to do something to change the image of him in London, so he also wanted to take advantage of this opportunity.

However, if Yan Shao can really remove the Li Jin, Zhu Erdian feels that this matter is still possible. After all, anyone can see the harm of centigold, not only to China itself, but also to the interests of the great powers in China...

What's more, Yan Shao also said that he did not expect the powers to change all the past treaties immediately, but hoped that they could initially make some goodwill, such as reducing the garrisons in Tianjin, Shanhaiguan and other places to a nominal number, and then taking measures to increase the surcharge on tariffs—————— which is also the method adopted by the great powers in history, when the Beiyang government's requirements were based on the tariff rate of 5%, the surcharge was 5%, and the maximum tax rate for luxury goods was 30%. Japan, the United States, and the United Kingdom have all put forward different proposals, but generally recognize the principle of adding 2.5% to 5% and adding 5% to luxury goods.

Because of the large gap, the parties disputed, and finally declared: "All Contracting Parties (China Abroad) hereby recognize China's right to enjoy tariff autonomy." Allow the removal of tariff constraints contained in the existing treaties between the countries and China. and to allow China's national tariff rate regulations to come into force on January 1, 1929. This declaration, which was almost equivalent to "tariff autonomy", was undertaken by the Nanjing Nationalist Government due to the change of regime. On July 25, 1928, the United States took the lead in signing the Sino-US Tariff Treaty with the Nationalist Government, and European countries followed suit, only the Japanese expressed their objections on the grounds that the centigold had not been abolished, but still signed the Sino-Japanese Tariff Agreement with the Nationalist Government in 1930.

In fact, the attitude of the great powers towards China at this time was quite contradictory, on the one hand, they hoped that China could be stable, because in this way they could safeguard the commercial interests of the great powers in China, but on the other hand, they hoped that China could always be weak, because only in this way could they do whatever they wanted in China—————— incidentally, Japan could be excluded from this point, although they hoped that their commercial interests could be satisfied, but they also hoped that China could be swallowed in one bite...

In the past, they chose to support Yuan Shikai because he controlled the 'powerful Beiyang Army', which was the basic guarantee of a 'strong government'. At the same time, his relations with the great powers, especially Britain, have always been very 'friendly', which is also a good basis for 'being able to deal with all countries fairly'.

Now that Yuan Shikai's Beiyang has collapsed and Yan Shao has replaced him, many people naturally pinned their hopes on Yan Shao.

And Yan Shao relies on this mentality, and plans to use centigold and some other issues as bargaining chips to open a breakthrough in the issue of garrisons and tariffs, which does not need to be too big, just needs to have a good start, and the next thing is naturally logical... (To be continued......)