The news that Zeng Guofan sent troops to seize the Shanghai Daotai instantly shocked the entire Jiangnan, and then flew to all parts of the country at a very fast speed. After half a year of construction, Qing Sanye has now laid sections of telegraph cables on the eastern plains, among which The longest section actually reached 500 kilometers.
Although the telegraph network was intermittent, it was still very helpful in transmitting information. In just five days, the news had already shocked the capital.
The two powerful princes in the Prime Minister's Office couldn't believe their eyes. The words on the telegram hit their hearts like a sledgehammer. They now understood that the Hunan Army had surrendered to the emperor, and that the queen mother and princes in the capital were all intact. Bullshit.
"The eleven-year-old child was just ignored by two Cao Cao. Does he still think that he is pro-government? He is letting others use him as a gunman..."
"No, we have to go see the Queen Mother. If this continues, there will be chaos in the country."
The two princes rushed into the palace gate to hand over the sign, but they didn't expect that Cixi had already known the news, so she took the matter to the Queen Mother in the East Palace without saying anything.
"The Ai family is just the Queen Mother of the West Palace. Her shoulders are too narrow and she cannot take on military affairs. Let my sister make the decision." After saying that, she turned around and went to the imperial garden to look at the flowers.
The two princes looked at each other and had no choice but to go to see Empress Dowager Ci'an of the East, whose temperament had changed drastically. After hearing the report from the two princes, Ci'an, who was fishing on the North Sea, sneered, "You think it's against the rules, and the Ai family also thinks it's against the rules." , but what if it doesn’t follow the rules? Now tell Aijia what you want to do.”
The two princes were dumbfounded by the question. What can they do? The imperial court issued an order saying that the emperor's decree was illegal and invalid, and said that Xiao Letian and Zeng Guofan's actions were illegal and rebellious. Isn't that just a slap in the face? You say he If they rebel, then suppress them.
With the few troops the imperial court has, who can it defeat?
"It's not that I, the sister-in-law, am talking about you. You two have become a little confused in the past few years, and you can't even handle such obvious things."
"Why don't you hurry up and bring that damn Daotai Suo to Beijing? Even if you want to kill him or cut him into pieces, we have to do it ourselves. Let the Ministry of Punishment take the blame and kill him to vent the anger on His Majesty and the two big bosses... Anyway, you have to kill Jiangnan. Send the taxes, and at least you will have some money to train the new army..."
"It really doesn't give me peace of mind. Without the support of the new army, the imperial court will never be able to stand up... If it doesn't work, just contact the foreigners and see if they can lend some money. We have to get through the situation... …”
The two princes blushed and had thick necks after being scolded. After leaving Jingshan, one of them spat on the ground, "What the hell? Your face is full of peach blossoms. You think we don't know about the scandalous things you did. With the help of the two Japanese devils' power, Who do you think you are...let's go."
The Manchu and Qing court was still in a state of wrangling and verbal abuse. Facing the future, they wanted to change but were always reluctant. Half a year had passed and the new army in the court had not even set up an airs. The Eight Banners were fighting for limited resources. Those few officer quotas are enough to make people’s heads beat like dogs’ heads.
But in their eyes, if the official's airs are not raised, how can we fill it with troops? The Eight Banners are all one family, and the wealth cannot flow to outsiders. My boy has nothing to do. Do you want to give the official position to the Han people? Grandma...
Without Xiao Letian, the capital was unfortunately back on its old path, and even nine oxen could not pull it back.
In stark contrast to the capital, Ryukyu's prosperity. The four-story Lotte Bank building has been hung with a photo of Lotte Bank. Businessmen from all over the world come here to deposit gold and silver. The branches that Hu Xueyan is responsible for in the south of the Yangtze River are also shipped one after another. Send gold and silver here.
Boxes of silver taels were piled up in the hall. Under the protection of the New Army armed with live ammunition, the clerk of the foreign bank began to weigh: "The Jiangnan Yongxing has 1 million taels of silver and 20,000 taels of gold... Shopkeeper, how many silver coins do you want to exchange?" How many certificates of deposit do you need? Oh, I understand. Give Yongxing 500,000 Yingyang..."
"Sir, shopkeeper, we have a new silver coin in Ryukyu called Dragon Coin. Take a look at it. There are four big characters of "Dragon Teng Sifang" printed on the front, and behind it is a coiled dragon. Look at how beautiful it is..."
Countless shopkeepers touched the exquisite dragon coins punched out by the machine in their hands, and they couldn't put it down. They were all experts, and they could tell the clues with just a little movement of their palms.
"Oh, it's the same size as Yingyang, but it feels a little tighter."
"Oh, sir, you are really an expert. You are not wrong at all. This dragon coin is a new craft. The purification technology of silver is better than that of Yingyang. How can you not touch this silver when it is pure... Look at this small The serrated edge is to prevent someone from using a file to steal silver slag. Why don’t you exchange some of these beautiful, equal-value silver coins..."
"That's it, I want all the five hundred thousand silver coins in dragon coins. Such silver coins will definitely be popular..."
Xiao Letian and Mr. Fan Lian, the old shopkeepers, stood on the top floor of the bank and looked at the bustling crowd outside the square, grinning from ear to ear.
"This is a huge profit-for-profit deal. As long as the minting power is in our hands, we will never lose money." The old shopkeeper said with a smile.
"Father, you can do whatever you want. As long as there are more gold and silver in our warehouse, our army will be stronger. The stronger the army, the more gold and silver we will get in the future..."
"The underground vault we have hidden on the Pacific island has almost been built. In the future, a large amount of gold and silver must be hidden, especially gold, which must not be spent outside..."
"Why, if people save gold, we won't give it to them when they get it later."
"That's right, not a penny of gold will come out. Gold can only go in but not out." Xiao Letian said categorically, "Father, anyone who saves gold will only be given one-tenth of the gold when he withdraws in the future, and the rest will be given to him." All will be given silver coins of equivalent value. This is our iron rule. Those who disobey will wait for the guns of the new army."
"I secretly told my father, you must keep it a secret. In the next few hundred years, the output of silver mines on the earth will gradually increase and eventually double. It is not a problem. Gold is precious and silver is cheap. This is a major trend... Now Europeans are quietly using silver. In exchange for our Chinese gold, it has not been easy for us to save some gold for thousands of years, and we have the obligation to protect this nation."
"Ah, so that's it. That's easy to handle. I'm giving an order right now. From now on, any merchant who settles with us in gold will be given a discount and I won't earn any interest. I'll help you save enough gold..."
Xiao Letian knew that before the petrodollar was promoted, the gold standard was the foundation of a country's economy, and whether the currency was strong depended on the amount of gold reserves.
Since the Opium War, China's silver has been in a state of net inflow, while gold has been in a state of net outflow. The reasons are very complex. The Chinese people's love for silver actually comes from Zhang Juzheng's whipping method, which made silver become China's legal tender. .
So at that time, if Europeans wanted to buy Chinese goods, they had to go all over the world to grab silver, and then exchange it with the Chinese, while a large amount of gold was left in Europe.
After hundreds of years of trade, money and silver have flowed eastward in large quantities, while gold has been deposited westward. This has become a law.
But I didn't expect that in the 18th and 19th centuries, a large number of silver mines were discovered in European colonies, and silver mines in North America, Central America, and South America were mined in large quantities. At this time, the international price of silver plummeted.
But it is a pity that China does not have colonies. Instead, China is a country poor in gold and silver mines. The purchasing power of silver within China is still very high.
How could smart European businessmen give up this good opportunity to make money? They exchanged low-priced silver for high-priced silk, tea, porcelain and even gold in China.
The merchants in the late Qing Dynasty were smiling from ear to ear while holding the silver. In fact, they had no idea that what they were getting was a crazily devalued commodity.
But at that time, Chinese businessmen did not know about the changes in international finance, and they rarely engaged in large-scale international trade. They just felt that buying foreign things was getting more and more expensive, and they did not know that this was due to the decline in the purchasing power of silver. .
Both positive and negative, Europe's economic plunder of China is more crazy than several wars.
Now the knowledgeable Xiao Letian is here. He must take action to protect China's limited gold reserves. Since you like silver, I will trade with you. Of course, it must be secretly at the beginning, no shooting, and must not alert the Europeans. , especially the founder of the gold standard, Britain.
"Before I have a powerful navy, I won't let you know where my gold is hidden. You Europeans can plunder the silver as you like, but not the gold. I, Xiao Letian, will save it to the death."
Just as the old man and the young child were carefully calculating the details of the gold and silver exchange, Lord Long outside suddenly knocked on the door and said, "Prime Minister, today is the end of His Majesty's military training. He has long been looking forward to you giving him a gun. There are also three hundred guards from the capital who have just arrived at the dock. Do you think you can let them go to watch the ceremony?"
"Oh, I was so busy that I forgot about it. I'll go right away. Zai Chun has performed so well in the past six months. It would be inappropriate not to praise him."
The Sanbao, Duoluo, Maqun...these Eight Banners guards from the Four Nine Cities walked off the ship in a long line, and set foot on the land of Ryukyu under the leadership of the Manshun eunuch Wada Paobao.
"Everyone has...two columns, preparing to enter the city according to the formation I taught you on the road." Captain Tian roared.
"You brats, all of you think you are great if you are at the feet of the Emperor of Four-Nine Cities. Now let me see what a truly prosperous metropolis is... Open your eyes wide, one, two, one..."
Walking on the streets of Naha, the three treasures are no longer enough. The tall gantry cranes, pulleys, and mountains of goods on the dock. Among the people of all colors, there is actually a large group of Kunlun slaves.
All kinds of hawking sounds came one after another, and they didn't recognize many of the goods from all over the world. What shocked them even more was how clean and wealthy the whole city was. There were statues made of pure copper in the streets and alleys, as if they were showing some important deeds.
There is no debris on the stone road, and there is even a road paved with a single stone slab. God knows how this stone was mined.
But Doro's question made a young kid in a suit on the street laugh at him, "He's from the Qing Dynasty. He doesn't even know cement. This is cement, mud mixed with water..."
What, I don’t study well, don’t lie to me, a group of Eight Banners disciples glared at him.
Note: Xinjing welcomes everyone to chat together at 116253076 in the book club.
