Lin Yuan said: "I believe you know what this opium is, as long as people get a little bit of it, it will be over, you let me let go of this batch of things to harm the lives of the people, I can't say it." ”

Thomas heard the displeasure in Lin Yuan's tone, so he smiled and said, "Governor Lin, you can't say that, may I ask, a law-abiding common man will smoke opium?" So, those who smoke opium are all people who should be abandoned by the state, think about it, why do you care about their life or death? ”

Lin Yuan said with a smile: "What you said makes no sense, everyone will face all kinds of temptations, when opium is placed in front of him, it is a temptation, and most people do not have the ability to resist temptation, so the duty of the state is to eliminate this temptation and protect the people in the country, I don't know if you agree with my point of view." ”

Thomas said: "Indeed, you are right, but this world is like this, the law of the jungle is the strong, if you don't return this batch of opium, then we will definitely have countermeasures." ”

Lin Yuan sneered in his heart: "If we hadn't come, it would have been obvious who was the weak meat, but now that we are here, it would not be necessary who would be the weak meat!" So Lin Yuan sneered: "Then you might as well tell me about your countermeasures." ”

Thomas nodded and said: "The major shareholder behind this fleet is our Citibank in the United States of America, this bank believes that you are no stranger, when you fought with the Russians and the Japanese before, your treasury had no silver, and your high-level officials were unwilling to lend to Britain again, so you turned to the United States, so you borrowed 50 million taels of silver from Citibank. ”

Lin Yuan nodded and asked, "And then?" ”

Thomas continued: "If you don't return this batch of opium, then we will definitely have to think of some ways in the international financial market, you also know that your country is on the silver standard, using silver as currency, and many countries, including our United States, are on the gold standard, using gold as currency, and we stipulate in the contract that the Qing government must use gold to repay when repaying the money." ”

When Thomas said this, he stared at Lin Yuan's eyes tightly and said, "If you don't agree to my request to return the opium, we will raise the price of gold against silver in the financial market, and I believe you know very well what the consequences will be." ”

Of course, Lin Yuan knew what it meant to raise the price of gold to silver, which meant that China needed to give more silver to foreign countries, although the increase in the price was only a few tenths of a few, but multiplied by 50 million, it would also become a huge number, in Lin Yuan's era, this kind of thing happened many times, China's indemnity to Japan after the First Sino-Japanese War, and the Gengzi indemnity to the Eight-Nation Coalition Army were converted into gold coins to calculate, so each time the indemnity was paid, the two amounts of silver paid increased with the fall in the price of silver.

Lin Yuan thought to himself: "You are naked intimidation and coercion!" See how I cure you! So Lin Yuan smiled and said, "Mr. Thomas should prefer elephants, right?" ”

Thinking he had misheard, Thomas asked, "What do you mean by that?" ”

Lin Yuan smiled: "What I mean is already very clear, you are a Republican, aren't you?" At this time, the two major parties controlled the United States, the Republican Party and the ** Party, and the struggle between the two parties has run through the entire history of the United States, among which the Republican Party has an elephant on its emblem, and the ** Party has a donkey on its emblem, so the battle between the two parties is also known as the Donkey Elephant Dispute.

Thomas nodded and said with some displeasure: "Of course, I'm a Republican, does this have anything to do with the topic we talked about today?" ”

Lin Yuan smiled: "Of course it matters, as far as I know, the Republican Party has the support of many big conglomerates, including the Union Pacific Railroad Company and the Central Pacific Railroad Company, if you put a huge amount of railway construction order into their hands, will Citibank still care about that opium money?" ”

"If these two major companies want to build a railway, they will have to borrow money from banks, and I believe Citibank will definitely reap a lot of benefits, right?"

Thomas couldn't help but be surprised when he heard Lin Yuan's words, and he thought to himself: "How can this Lin Yuan know so clearly about the affairs of our country. ”

Just when Thomas was surprised, Lin Yuan spoke again: "This railway construction order, to you, must not only bring economic benefits, as far as I know, four years ago, that is, in 1892, the United States of America broke out of the largest economic crisis in history, so far the embers of the crisis have not disappeared, this year is 1896, your country is about to have a general election, this year the ** party annexed the People's Party, the momentum has increased greatly, and the construction of the railroad will inevitably stimulate employment, I believe that this order will have a very far-reaching impact on your party's position in the country. ”

Thomas was surprised and asked, "How do you know these things?" ”

Lin Yuan leisurely picked up the teacup on the table, took a sip, and said casually, "It's a little cold." Then he said slowly: "I know that I have three points of the world, and I don't have any ability, how can I be handsome!" "In fact, these things have been written in the history books, how can Lin Yuan not know the truth.

Thomas thought to himself: "Do the Chinese really have such skills?" However, what Lin Yuan said was true, and he had to believe it, he frowned and said: "But as far as I know, the Qing court has always been opposed to the construction of railways, can you convince them?" ”

Lin Yuan smiled confidently and said, "I believe you have also heard about me, what I have done, that is not something that others think cannot be done." ”

Thomas also thought about what Lin Yuan had done, there were indeed many things that were like this, and the seemingly impossible things were done in Lin Yuan's hands.

Lin Yuan saw that Thomas was still hesitating, and thought: "He must have been moved, see if I say a few more words, let him completely forget about opium." So Lin Yuan smiled and said, "I believe you also know that we have destroyed the opium production base on Changshan Island, and I can show you a few things." ”

Lin Yuan stood up as he spoke, took out a paper bag from the cabinet, gently placed it in front of Thomas, took out a stack of documents and photos from it, spread them out on the table, and said: "These photos are machines in the factory, and they are full of the words 'Made in the USA', these documents were found in the filing cabinet of the factory, which recorded the amount, time and place of every trade with you Americans, and even included the personal information of the traders. ”

"You also know my ability, if I send these things to the media manipulated by the ** party in your country, you can tell me what the reaction will be in your country, and we still keep these things in the factory on Changshan Island, and we also welcome your investigation teams from all walks of life to come and visit."

Thomas gasped when he heard this, this kind of thing will undoubtedly greatly weaken the competitiveness of the Republican Party, so he nodded and said: "Okay, let's make such a deal, we will give up opium, and we will not manipulate the exchange rate of gold against silver in the international financial market, how about you find a way to hand over the order for the railroad to us?" ”

Lin Yuan nodded and said with a smile: "Okay, let's make a deal." ”