"What is the heart for us Jews?" Victor Sassoon looked at the majestic and magnificent Imperial Central Bank Building in front of him, and muttered: "That is the endless pursuit of money and wealth, because this is a gift from God, a blessing from God to give people a good life!" ”

In Jewish doctrine, only the Jews are recognized as God's chosen people, and other peoples are not recognized as having the possibility of God's salvation, let alone Jesus, which leads directly to the death of Jesus and therefore to the hatred of Christianity. The fate of the Jews in Europe—expulsion, discrimination, and massacre—is yet another testament to "God's favor for His chosen people," and deepens the Jews' suspicion and unease about the world from the depths of their subconscious.

Thus, for 2,000 years, the Jews have sought another weapon of protection, a weapon that would not only guarantee the survival of their race, but also prove that they are God's chosen people and thus have the power to rule over other races.

Yes, they found it, and that is money!

For the Jews, money was the ladder to heaven and the most effective weapon for world domination. Through more than 2,000 years of experience, no other race has learned more about money and its connotations. But the Jews are greatly constrained in the use of money because their identity and status problems have not been resolved, and they have been the object of discrimination and exploitation for nearly two thousand years, without any political power.

Spain, Portugal, France, England, Italy, Arabia and ...... had hoped that they would put down roots in these countries and regions and multiply their communities while remaining true to their faith. However, persecution and expulsion again and again have made them a group of homeless and homeless people, in addition to suffering huge losses in their lives and property.

Now, they have come to Hanzhou, to this rising Indian Ocean empire. Then they found that the people were not only industrious and kind, but also extremely kind and gentle, and did not show any discrimination or persecution against the Jews. There are sound and fair laws, there are countless tempting business opportunities, and most importantly, the country is so powerful that it can extend the commercial tentacles of their Jews and grab more wealth by using their colonization around the world.

After a year of expedition to Hanzhou, Victor Sassoon became more and more convinced that Hanzhou would be the greatest blessed land for the Jews. While sending several waves of messengers back to Baghdad to report the results of the specific investigation in Han Zhou, hoping that the family would transfer personnel and wealth as soon as possible, he began to lay out the business network.

Yes, as Jews, there is no more familiar and accessible business activity than finance (usury) and trade. Therefore, under the guidance and help of the Jewish Chamber of Commerce, Victor Sassoon applied for a banking license from the Daxing Branch of the Imperial Central Bank in February, invested 100,000 yuan, established a financial lending company called Sassoon Commercial Bank, and began commercial activities in Hanzhou.

In order to expand his business quickly, Victor Sassoon, after a slight improvement in his business in Daxing, prepared to establish a second branch in Chang'an, the capital of the empire, to provide intimate financial services to many wealthy people here, and hoped to make a few "nobles" who could shelter them.

In fact, Victor Sassoon also spent a lot of money in order to integrate into the "mainstream" society of Qi as soon as possible. Not to mention that more than ten years ago, in order to be familiar in front of the Qi people, when the Persian trading company developed and built the Bushehr Port, they invested a lot of money to help the Qi people engage in port construction and urban infrastructure construction, and formed a certain community of interests with them. Moreover, under the recommendation of the Persian trading company, the Sassoon family also made several investments in Egypt, India, Ceylon and other places, and made some soup and water with the Qi people.

As recently as last year, after arriving in Hanzhou, through on-the-spot investigation and detailed analysis, he found that the financial market of Qi is no weaker than that of Amsterdam and London in Europe, and even more than the entire European region in terms of total scale.

However, after communicating with the local Jewish Chamber of Commerce, he learned that Qi has stricter regulation and control over financial markets than in Europe.

For example, in order to open a bank, a private person must obtain the approval of the Imperial Central Bank, obtain the corresponding license to practice, and pay a high deposit with the Central Bank.

For example, the interest rate on loans to factories and trading companies, especially to individuals, should not exceed 20%.

For example, loans to foreign governments, companies, and individuals must be reported to and approved by the Imperial Financial Administration.

Despite this, Victor Sassoon still believed that Qi was worth the "investment" of the Jews. The country has the most advanced and largest industrial manufacturing capacity in the world, the largest market in the world, and they also have the most powerful navy in the Indian Ocean region, and even the most powerful navy in the world, all of which guarantee that the future development of this empire will reach unprecedented heights.

Compared with the Kingdom of Spain, which once boasted of being an empire on which the sun never sets, and the Netherlands, which once crisscrossed the ocean, Qi's geographical advantages are undoubtedly the best. Dominate the continent of Hanzhou, surrounded by a vast ocean, and countless nearby islands have also become the territory of Qi or have been included in the sphere of influence, and there is almost no threat from any strong enemy.

The Qin State, a large eastern country with a large population and vast territory, is of the same origin as the Qi State, with similar language, culture and traditions, and is also the main source of immigrants to the Qi State, and the two sides maintain a close and friendly cooperative relationship. What's more, the strategic focus of the Qin State will be the Tatars in the north and northwest for a long time in the future, and there will be no conflict of interest with the Qi State at all.

The Mughal Empire on the Indian subcontinent, which had been shattered by Qi decades earlier, had collapsed and was in fact divided, and could no longer contain Qi's encroachment and control over the entire subcontinent.

Another true god empire, the Safavid Empire of Persia, was overthrown by a group of tribal forces from the mountains of Afghanistan two years ago, and the country was almost destroyed. At present, they are using the power of Qi to jointly expel the Afghan tribal forces and try to restore the rule of the empire. In this situation, Qi will inevitably have a deeper and more comprehensive control over Persia, and sooner or later it will become a vassal of Qi.

As for the Ottoman Empire, its territories in the Arabian Peninsula and the Red Sea region have long been infiltrated into a sieve by the Qi people, and in addition to temporarily serving Istanbul as its suzerain, it has become a vassal of Qi economically and militarily. It is said that the vast majority of the debts owed by the Ottoman were from the Qi State, and almost all the things that could be mortgaged by the family were paid to the Qi State.

Looking around the entire Indian Ocean region, you can find that in front of the Qi State, there is almost no one who can fight, and they are all prostrate at the feet of the Qi people.

In time, when Qi's power extends to the Atlantic Ocean and even Europe, a true world empire will be born. Then, the Jews who live in the body of this empire may be able to escape the wandering days of more than 2,000 years of exile and grow with the country.

The Qi people's policy of national integration of one state, one people, and one language will, to some extent, stifle their Jewish identity and weaken their conversion to Jewish teachings. But in Victor Sassoon's view, the idea of race would inevitably be blurred in the predominantly ideologically dominant state of Qi, and that the Jews would be able to skillfully "assimilate" into the people of the empire, which was previously unthinkable.

Once their racial identity is obscured, Jews are able to use their political talents to the fullest—on the basis of money and demagogic wisdom. The Jews, after a thousand years of "suffering", have fully realized that money and education are the only way to the door of power, and if they can continue to pay attention to the role of both, then they will be able to turn themselves into a minority of the elite race in this country in a short period of time - with money and knowledge, they will have a high probability of wielding great power in the future, and then fully use this power to serve the interests of their own ethnic group.

The Qi state needs to continue to explore and find a broader market for the industrial manufactured goods that are constantly being produced in the country, and the Jews can provide them with a huge amount of money, so as to tie their own interests to the chariot of the Qi state.

From a global perspective, before the rise of Qi, the Netherlands was the leader of the world economy. In a sense, the Netherlands was the first "modern economy", with the Exchange, the East India Company and the Bank of Amsterdam forming the prototype of the modern commercial system.

Financial capital, i.e., the relationship between banks and corporations, is inextricably linked, or rather, banks are a type of corporation.

It is hard to imagine that a hundred years ago, the Dutch had already established a long-term capital market with interest rates of less than 5%, and the cost of capital was greatly reduced. In contrast, the lowest interest rate on borrowing in England at that time was 10%, and Spain, well, not to mention this, the king of Spain even borrowed money at an ultra-high interest rate of 20-30%, which was not favored by European capital - without him, the country's credibility was too poor, and the treasury declared bankruptcy several times, leaving countless creditors to death.

A Dutch company that pays 5% interest can save twice as much on financing costs as an English company that pays 10% interest. It is not difficult to understand why the British East India Company's initial financing was only one-tenth of that of the Dutch East India Company.

Although, the accession of William III, the consul of the Netherlands, to the throne of England in 1688, brought a large amount of Dutch capital and advanced financial instruments and means to the country, which greatly contributed to the development of the British financial industry, and made London soon replace Amsterdam as the new financial center.

However, compared with Qi country, London's financial market is not yet fully developed, and the scale is relatively small. You must know that in Daxing alone, there are more than 60 banks and more than a dozen insurance trading companies. In cities other than Daxing, there are more than 200 banks. The average annual value of various securities traded and financed in the market is more than 100 million yuan.

As early as more than 30 years ago, Qi issued paper money based on gold reserves, which increased the circulation speed of funds, boosted the continuous development of the economy, and made the country always maintain a thriving scene.

In Qi's bond market, as early as more than 40 years ago, the interest rate on loans fell rapidly from 12% to 6%-8%, and now, it has fallen to 4%, and even some short-term government bond interest rates are only 3%. All this makes Qi Guo gain an absolute financing advantage in the international financial market.

The Qi navy once claimed that it could send two powerful fleets to the farthest reaches of any two places in the world at the same time to launch the fiercest attack on the enemy.

Victor Sassoon believes that this sentence is not deliberately to scare potential competitors, but that Qi people can really do it. Because their government has the most financial resources to achieve this.

He came to Chang'an to open a bank this time after being recommended by several nobles of Qi State, and was ready to cooperate with a trading company with strong economic strength and royal background to jointly invest in the establishment of a joint-stock joint venture bank. For this reason, he is ready to transfer interests, as long as he can integrate with the mainstream commercial capital of Qi, then it will have a positive effect on the expansion of the business territory of their Jews.

"Mr. Sassoon, I'm sorry to keep you waiting." A luxurious carriage drove to the gate of the Imperial Central Bank and stopped, and after Zhou Haoxuan got out of the car, he nodded reservedly to Victor Sassoon, who had been waiting for a long time.

"Oh, dear Zhou, actually, I didn't have to wait too long here. It's a real pleasure to see you again. Victor Sassoon took two steps and came to Zhou Haoxuan, took off his top hat, bent down slightly to salute, and had an extremely sincere smile on his face.

"Mr. Sassoon, if you want to seek better development in our Qi country, I will give you a suggestion."

"Oh?" Victor Sassoon said with a deaf gesture, "I believe that your suggestion must be very constructive and will benefit me a lot in the end." ”

"Mr. Sassoon, I suggest that you hire a good Chinese teacher to teach you to speak the language of our Qi country. In this way, you will be better integrated into our country and will have access to more business opportunities. Zhou Haoxuan looked at the interpreter beside Sassoon and smiled slightly, "Like us now, we still need an additional interpreter to communicate with each other, don't you think it's a little troublesome?" In the unlikely event that an interpreter misses a translation of an important piece of information, you are likely to suffer a great loss. You tell me? ”

"Thank you very much for your advice." Victor Sassoon nodded seriously and said, "When I have time, I will definitely ask for a knowledgeable and patient Chinese teacher." Oh dear Zhou, I have to complain here, although your Chinese is a very wonderful language, it is really difficult for me to learn. ”

"It doesn't matter, as long as you communicate more with our Qi people, it won't be long before you can be like those naturalized Yi ...... Europeans speak fluent Chinese. Zhou Haoxuan said, looking up at the building of the Imperial Central Bank, "Yesterday, my father had already greeted the official in charge of license approval in advance. After we go in, we will directly hand over the corresponding information, and we can approve it today. In this way, the bank in which we invest in the joint stock can be set up in the shortest possible time. ”

"Zhou, your efficiency is so shocking to me!" When Victor Sassoon heard this, he immediately smiled and said complimentingly: "I think that our joint stock bank will definitely make a fortune under your participation in the management!" ”

"Hehe...... let's get rich together!" Zhou Haoxuan replied with a smile.

In order to gain the support of their Zhou family, they obviously spent most of the funds, but only asked for 51% of the controlling stake, so they took a fancy to the huge energy they had at both ends of the government and business!

"Alright, let's not delay here." Zhou Haoxuan stretched out his hand and motioned for Victor Sassoon to enter the Imperial Central Bank building with him, "This matter is done, I have to go to the residence of an important member of the royal family to express condolences on behalf of our Zhou family." Alas, you said that the fire in Daxing City last night, why did it happen that the relatives of this big man were burned to death inside? …… Something big is wrong! ”

After listening to the words of the interpreter, Victor Sassoon's face couldn't help but stiffen, and his heart suddenly lifted.

The Daxing City fire he mentioned should not have happened in the dilapidated neighborhood near the Jewish merchant house, right?

(End of chapter)