1855 United States Tycoon

Two days later, Chen Guang and the others got a preliminary reply from the Qing court. Obviously, the Qing court was very worried about the establishment of joint-venture banks and so on. Therefore, they resolutely stated that they could not accept this plan. They just kept asking the McDonald consortium to lower interest rates. As a result, the negotiations froze. During this period, the Qing court and the British HSBC reached a loan agreement of 15 million taels of silver.

"Mr. Dell, should we lower the requirements?" Chen Guang said to Dell, "Otherwise, this business might fall into the hands of the British."

"The interest rate required by the British is 7%, which is actually acceptable to us," Dell said. "But Mr. Macdonald still hopes to get the coinage rights of the Qing court and the rights of the central bank. of."

"But now that the British have put in such a pole, we may not be able to achieve our wishes." Chen Guang said.

"The key now is how much money the British can put in in a short time." Dell said, "Unfortunately, it is difficult for our intelligence agencies to get such information."

"Although there is no intelligence on the British side. However, there is some intelligence on the Japanese side." Chen Guang said, "Since the defeat of Pyongyang, the Manchu and Qing troops have relied on the Yalu River to set up defense lines and are ready to resist the Japanese. The Japanese should soon It's time to launch an attack on the Yalu River defense line."

"Mr. Chen, I know that you once represented the company to train the Chinese army. What do you think will be the outcome of the Chinese army's battle?" Dell asked.

"The Qing army will definitely fail." Chen Guang answered like this almost without even thinking about it.

"I don't understand." Dell said, "Don’t the troops trained by Heishui always have good combat effectiveness? Even if you are Italians, training our Heishui can significantly improve your combat effectiveness. Moreover, the Chinese in Heishui The performance is also very good, which excludes the racial reasons. Also, I heard that the Chinese soldiers use our firearms, which are better than the Japanese firearms. So why are they not good at fighting? "

"The key is money." Chen Guang shook his head and replied, "Don't say anything else, our soldiers in Heishui eat so well every day. Look at Spam or something, even the average United States family. It is used as a thing to improve the Life Spam. But in Heishui, as long as you say the word Spam, more than half of the people can vomit it immediately. Training and everything are based on the need to eat well. The soldiers of the Qing Dynasty, the meat that we eat in a year may not be as much as we eat in a day. With this level of nutrition, how can we ensure the intensity of training? As for the guns they use, the theory is indeed the case. But the problem is that if they lack training, even if they are given the best weapons, they will not be able to beat the weapons, but the more well-trained soldiers. In addition, shooting training and other things also cost a lot of ammunition, which is also very It costs money. As far as I know, the training funds allocated by the Qing Dynasty were originally very small, coupled with the extreme corruption of their officials. As a result...you guessed it, Wang Qinian used to give the Qing army here When they were instructors, how many bullets could they shoot in a month?"

Dell has never done it in black water. Of course he is not clear about this, so he asked: "How much?"

"According to the regulations, about 3 bullets a month." Chen Guang said.

"There are so few, my God, only forty-eight rounds of bullets came down that year. I didn't hit more than when I was bored."

"In fact, it's less than this." Chen Guang said coldly, "because their chief will sell the bullets, so in a year, they may not be able to shoot ten bullets. Moreover, their problems are more than that. For this. For example, an army with a nominal 600 men may actually not even have 300 men. In this way, the extra military payment, guns and ammunition can be saved, and then their commander I took these things to the market and sold them, and the money in exchange went into my own pocket."

"God! But that's okay. I think as soon as the Yalu River defense line collapses, the Manchurian Qing will face a lot of pressure. At that time, they can't help but disagree. As far as I know, the Manchurian region has a lot to do with the Qing government. The significance of this is very special. It seems to be the place where they started. Moreover, as a minority regime, the Manchu has always regarded this area as an own reserve and did not allow ordinary people in the country to enter. But doing so instead allowed this area The control of the Qing Dynasty became weaker. Because there were too few residents. So once the war was defeated, this area might fall into the hands of the Japanese. Moreover, Mr. MacDonald also mentioned to me that the rule of the Manchus was quite fragile. Because their legitimacy has always been questioned. They are ethnic minorities, and the majority of the Han people have always wanted to overthrow it. If this war is defeated in this way, then the weakness of the Manchus will be completely exposed to him. In front of the people, how long can its political life be under such circumstances? Therefore, they will compromise." Dell thought for a while and said.

"Even if they agree, they won't be able to maintain it for long. Moreover, they accept this condition, but they are only drinking poison to quench their thirst. This kind of thing will make the company make more money, but in the long run, only It will further reduce the Manchu's ability to control the country." Chen Guang said contemptuously. After staying in the United States for so long, Chen Guang has also learned a lot, which naturally includes things like nation-states. Therefore, not only did his hostility towards the Manchu Qing Dynasty not decrease with the passage of time, but instead it increased more and more.

Just as Dell and Chen Guang expected, a week later, news came that the Yalu River line of defense had been broken through. With this news, the progress of the negotiations between the two parties began to accelerate. A few days later, the two sides finally reached an agreement on most issues. So the representatives of both parties signed a loan agreement at the United States Embassy in Dongjiaomin Lane.Because this agreement was proposed by the US representative Chen Guang, who signed on it was also Chen Guang, and Chen Guang's nickname is Bachi, so this agreement will also be called the "Bachi Agreement" in later generations.

In this agreement, although the Manchu and Qing government did not fully agree with the terms of the MacDonald Consortium, they did not fully agree with the MacDonald Consortium’s proposal for MacDonald and the Qing government to establish an "Asian Investment and Development Bank" as a joint venture. , But it is proposed that the powers and countries should invest together to establish this bank. This is also the old tactic of the Qing court to control the barbarian with barbarians, and the United Kingdom, as the world’s shit cudgel, and France, which has basically become a follower of the United Kingdom, immediately expressed great interest in this, even in the Far East. Germany, which is not much influential, and Russia, the recognized pauper among the great powers, want to step in. With these shit-chucking sticks, the share of the MacDonald consortium is quite small. However, because the Macdonald Consortium lent money to the Qing court, the Qing government also agreed to use the Qing court's share of the bank's proceeds as collateral. In other words, before the Manchu government paid off the money, their representatives in this bank must be members of the Macdonald consortium. Both Dell and Chen Guang think that they probably will not see the day when the Qing government will repay the loan.

Secondly, although the Qing court agreed that the "Asian Investment and Development Bank" could establish a branch in any capital city of China without restrictions and carry out corresponding deposit and loan business, it did not give it the right to issue currency. It just promised to hire people from the MacDonald Consortium as technology consultants when issuing currency.

For this agreement, the views of future generations vary greatly. Many years later, after a great man announced to the world that "the Chinese people have stood up", a great army has won one victory after another through bloody battles, thus proving that "Western colonists have only been The era when a few cannons on a coastline in the east could occupy a country is gone forever.” After that, the mainstream view of the agreement at that time was this:

"This agreement is a symbol, and its signing means the further loss of China's sovereignty. The imperial, state, sovereign, and righteous colonizers further aggression against China. The emperor, state, and righteous colonizers passed this agreement, Obtained the power to open a bank in China and even supervise the issuance of currency, thereby more thoroughly controlling China’s economy, accelerating the disintegration of China’s small-scale peasant economy, and the total bankruptcy of the countryside, making China a further emperor. The public colony of the righteous colonists..."

But a few decades later, people's views have undergone some changes. Some people began to promote the "progressive significance of colonialism", and even used the areas that were once concessions or simply colonies to have better infrastructure and better economic foundations than other areas as evidence, preaching such as "colonial promotion “Social development”, “The sound of the Opium War brought modern civilization to China”, “Foreigners fight China because we don’t understand the rules and bully others”, “China needs to be a colony for foreign countries for 300 years”, "Every country that has become a Western colony has freedom, democracy, and fertility." As a result, the "eight-foot agreement" was even more touted.

"United States people have always been friends of Chinese people. When our country was invaded by Japan, it was the United States people who first stood up to give us financial help, lending us money at the most favorable interest rate, and supporting us. At the same time, friends from United States also helped us point out our shortcomings, that is, there is no, and I don’t know how to build an advanced and effective financial system that meets world standards. And selflessly provided us with Help, with the help of our friends from United States, we have for the first time a modern bank and a modern monetary policy...Ah, America, you are indeed a beacon of freedom and the hope of mankind!"

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