Xiao Letian's plot to seize the Western Region was actually nothing great, it was just bought with money!
But there is also a way to buy with money. Since ancient times, land transactions have been very dangerous behaviors. If you are not careful, you will encounter a situation where the gangsters eat the gangsters.
Spending tens of millions of taels of silver to firmly control a territory as large as the Western Region in the hands of the Chinese is indeed a cost-effective deal, but precisely because it is so cost-effective, various risks will arise.
The biggest risk is that Zuo Zongtang will not give you this land even after taking the money. It is not impossible that all the benefits will be given to the court.
So Xiao Letian changed his plan, learned from the successful experience of the Dutch in colonizing the world, and used joint-stock companies to carry out financial warfare and capital invasion.
I am not spending the money alone. I am going to issue more than 40 million shares to raise funds from the people to conquer the Western Regions. How many people will hold these 40 million shares?
There must be millions of people in the merchant class, and the number of ordinary ordinary people with more wealth is close to 10 million, right?
Calculating a minimum number, 15 million shareholders hold shares of Western Region Investment Bank, and these 15 million humanoids are all of relatively high social status.
Of course it is a bit higher. Poor people cannot afford to buy stocks. Even if they are rich, they may not realize this!
Only the middle class or even the upper class of society dare to try these new things!
Fifteen million stockholders, behind them are fifteen million families, or even more families... This influence is huge!
I, Xiao Letian, am not afraid that you, Zuo Zongtang, will default on your debts, nor am I afraid that the Manchu Qing court will come to pick the fruit. As long as you have the guts to offend all these fifteen million families, all these social elites will be offended.
You dare to do it, you dare to dig your own grave, then why is Xiao Letian reluctant to part with money?
This is the benefit of the joint-stock system. If Xiao Letian pays for it himself, then in the end the imperial court will offend Xiao Letian. If it were put together with 15 million families in the whole society, ordinary people would not dare to offend him. !
There is strength in numbers, and there is a huge force in numbers!
Funds from all walks of life were gathered and used to fight the national war. In the end, these funds were able to win over 100,000 officers and soldiers under Zuo Zongtang!
You must know that joint-stock companies pay dividends every year, which is destined to become an iron rice bowl for the future lives of one hundred thousand officers and soldiers, and it will also be an iron rice bowl for their children and grandchildren.
This money was not issued by the court, but by the Western Region Investment Bank. So how would these people choose? Do you really think the people are stupid? Don’t believe that the Qing Dynasty will last forever if you don’t want an iron rice bowl for a hundred years?
It is conceivable that after this war is over, all the troops stationed in Xinjiang will become the beneficiaries of the Western Region Investment Bank and thus become the gatekeepers of the investment bank.
The entire local administrative power in Xinjiang will be tilted towards investment banks, gradually allowing Chinese influence to penetrate, first using economic means to tie up the people here, and then providing secular cultural education.
Slowly wait for the time to wait until the moment of great change in the world occurs. I am afraid that the garrison here will change its tune without the need for Chinese troops to fight.
What a simple conspiracy. Li Hongzhang's nameless guards all understood it, but no one could break it once the conspiracy came out!
Why? It's very simple, because Xiao Letian can afford it, and he has 300 million taels of war compensation in his hands to provide the final support.
Xiao Letian can guarantee that no matter how the investment bank shares are sold, he will be able to carry out the final market support!
It doesn’t matter if the imperial court has a righteous reputation, why don’t you just pay out 2 million taels in the end? If you want to pacify the entire Western Region with this small amount of money, are you lying?
Ever since you authorized Zuo Zongtang to raise his own military expenses, you have dug this hole for yourself!
What is conspiracy? Conspiracy means that the situation forces you to have no choice, and there is only one way you can go!
The lesser of two evils, now there is only one foreign banker and the other one is Xiao Letian who can solve Zuo Zongtang's military expenditure problem.
They are not good birds, they are all ambitious, but the lesser of the two evils, in comparison, Xiao Letian's trap is a little more pleasing to the eye.
Just close your eyes and jump in!
Zuo Zongtang made his choice. This choice was not unexpected. Zeng Guofan could guess it, and so could Ninth Commander Zeng Guoquan. Li Hongzhang could only nod helplessly. Even the Manchu Qing Dynasty didn't know what to do.
It's not that they don't understand, it's that the world is changing too fast. It has been seven years since Xiao Letian appeared. The changes that have occurred in these seven years are almost equivalent to the past hundred years.
Zuo Zongtang made a choice that a Chinese literati should make. In the ice and snow of October, Marshal Zuo actually moved the Chinese army and led three thousand fine cavalry all the way to the northwest.
Along the long Gansu ancient road, we go straight from Lanzhou to the distant Han border.
Fan Jin received Zuo Zongtang's approval and immediately flew homing pigeons to Jiangnan and Xi'an. The news was connected to the north-south telegraph network on the border of Henan and sent to Shanghai, Suzhou, Ryukyu and other important Chinese financial cities as quickly as possible.
Then in June 1872, after more than half a year of preparations, the Western Region Investment Bank was officially listed on major stock markets in Jiangnan. It issued 40 million shares for the first time, with the unit price of each share being one Yuan Nanyuan.
Before its release, a craze for the Western Regions was artificially aroused in the Jiangnan region. Countless literati began to dig into the historical heritage of the Western Regions and popularize knowledge among the people.
Under the exaggeration of these royal pens, the Western Region has become a golden treasure land with vast territory and rich resources but sparsely populated areas. It can be said that opportunities and wealth are everywhere, but due to historical reasons, it has never been developed.
Nowadays, the Chinese Investment Bank wants to use the latest Western technology to carry out large-scale development. Not to mention other industries, the joint-stock company will never lose money just by mining gold, silver and jade deposits.
The only bad thing is that this company will not see profits until Zuo Zongtang pacifies Xinjiang, and when will Zuo Zongtang pacify Xinjiang?
Two years? Or three years?
People don't know that in real history, after Zuo Zongtang raised enough military expenditures, weapons and ammunition, it only took him a year and a half to pacify Xinjiang.
Xiao Letian firmly believes that because of his strong intervention in this world, this time will be greatly shortened. If enough money is given and enough arms are replenished, two years will be enough to pacify Xinjiang!
No one expected that the shares of this Western Region Investment Bank were sold out in just half a month, and the price of one yuan per share on the secondary board market was actually as high as three yuan and two cents!
The huge profit potential drove countless investors crazy. In the end, not to mention Xiao Letian's capital, he had to deliberately sell out to suppress the stock price.
He doesn't want China's first super large-cap stock to become a big bubble in history. He really hopes that this stock will be a century-old Chinese stock!
It is precisely because of the support of tens of millions of military resources that Zuo Zongtang's campaign to pacify the Western Regions was much smoother than in real history!
Note: There should be three updates today!
