My Italy

The Japanese army in Shandong was annihilated, and its impact on the war situation was actually limited from a military perspective. After all, the navy has won, and the Japanese combined fleet can no longer pose a threat to the Italian task force.

However, the annihilation of the Japanese troops in Shandong was a great political encouragement to the Qing Dynasty. This battle of annihilation was considered a victory for Li Zhongtang, and the burden on Li Zhongtang was relieved a lot. After all, the Italians performed well and were able to defeat the fake Japanese foreigners. Who in the market today would not praise Li Zhongtang for his foresight and foresight.

It seemed as if Li Er was not the only one who was scolded when the Huai army was defeated.

Although the praise from the market and even the Qing court made Li Zhongtang feel better, recruiting foreign soldiers also had its own troubles. Li Zhongtang has been troubled recently, all because of money issues.

Lord Zhou Fu, who had just returned from supervising the troops at the Rongcheng front line, was pulled over by his benefactor Li Zhongtang.

"Yushan, what did you see in Shandong?"

As a staff member for many years, how could Zhou Fu not know the meaning of his benefactor's words.

I saw him speaking. "The Italian army's battle formations are quite sharp. It can be said that they are invincible in all battles. But the consumption is too much and a headache. In just one honor, more than 50,000 artillery shells and millions of bullets were fired, which consumes us so much." It’s hard to afford it.”

"So...the Italian army has no intention of doing anything?"

"Not yet..."

"In that case, there's no need to complain."

Li Zhongtang's words made Mr. Zhou wake up from a dream. "It's me, Meng Lang!"

Yes, since the Italian soldiers can fight and use their strength to destroy the Japanese, worrying about the ammunition consumption is a typical penny gain. As for not being active enough, that's normal. Those Qiu Ba in our family can't move even if they spend one or two taels of silver. And you can't win the battle even if you give back the money. Isn't this even more irritating?

Although Li Zhongtang understood the performance of the Italian army, such a modern war still made it difficult for him.

The most obvious example is that money cannot be restrained from being spent, which finally made it possible for the six million taels of silver allocated by the court to be gone in less than a month.

I wonder if it would be easy for him, Li Er, to deduct some money from the court. Not only did he have to convince the princes of the Manchu Dynasty, but he also had to fight with Weng Shuping in a battle of wits and courage. In the end, this little money was the only money the court had in the past six months.

As for the remaining gaps, we can only count on Li Zhongtang to find a solution on his own. In addition, because of his hard work and familiarity with foreign affairs, he was allowed to borrow money from foreigners.

Borrow foreign debt?

Although foreign debt is easy to borrow, it is difficult to repay it. Li Er has been doing foreign affairs for so many years, and he has long understood the habits of foreigners. As long as you ask, you can borrow as much as you want, but besides interest, there are various other conditions included, which can make you sick to death. But it was impossible not to borrow. The family was waiting for the rice to be cooked, so Li Zhongtang had no choice but to become a good doctor after a long illness.

Just as I was thinking about the trouble of foreign debt, I heard a servant coming to report that Master Shanda had arrived.

This person from Shanda is talking about Sheng Xuanhuai. As the Huai Army's purse, how could he be bypassed when it comes to borrowing money from foreigners? This matter of not borrowing foreign debts will be handled by Sheng Xuanhuai. He, Li Zhongtang, only needs to wait for the final decision. That’s it.

Not to mention, Sheng Xuanhuai had a good negotiation with the foreigners. The conditions for the previous loan of 20 million taels were very good, and he was very satisfied.

"I've met my lord."

After a brief greeting, Li Zhongtang asked directly without giving Sheng Xuanhuai time to breathe. "Xingsun, how was the discussion this time?"

Don't blame Li Zhongtang for asking urgently. Isn't this an urgent need for money? More than 100,000 frontline soldiers are counting on Li Er to pay. If he doesn't borrow money, he won't be able to support him even if he is sold.

Facing the urgent Li Zhongtang, Sheng Xuanhuai certainly did not dare to have any opinions and said directly. "Master Zhongtang, this time is not easy to negotiate. We borrowed a lot this time, and banks from various countries are unwilling to lower the conditions. Even Dehua and Italian-Chinese Bank, which lent us money last time, are not willing. Privately, Italian-Chinese Bank Daban Xia Mr. Er told me that we were under great pressure last time we borrowed money. This time we borrowed 50 million taels of silver. The ministers of various countries have strictly ordered the banks not to violate the agreement of the banking consortium. Ambassador Jia has nothing to do about this matter. "

Sheng Xuanhuai's words made Li Zhongtang feel a little distressed. Of course, he also knew the current attitude of ministers from various countries towards the imperial court.

He planned to take advantage of the fact that the imperial court was at war with the Japanese and was short of money, and took this opportunity to win over the conditions that had been impossible to negotiate before.

Then it is very necessary to require banks in various countries not to act privately. The British Empire, with its unrivaled strength, naturally made Minister Organa the host of the loan.

Although the trade share of Italy and Germany in the Qing Dynasty increased year by year, it was still slightly insufficient compared to Britain, France and the United States, which had been deeply involved for many years. Therefore, the two countries also know that they have no hope of taking the lead in borrowing.

Li Zhongtang naturally knew that Minister Organa had bad intentions, but what could be done about it? He could only continue talking. After all, he was still able to use barbarians to control barbarians.

"How are the talks going so far?"

"At present, the conditions of banks in various countries are similar. They all give a period of fifteen years, a 50% discount and a 50% interest. In addition, the court is required to use cigarette taxes as collateral, and each country is allowed to set up agencies in Chengdu and Xi'an to govern Our own citizens. In addition..."

Sheng Xuanhuai Balabala talked about the various privileges required by various countries. Although these conditions may not seem high, they include various rights of various countries in Sichuan and Shaanxi. In addition to extra-legal jurisdiction, there was no mention of the rights to mine and build roads, but how could he not know the habits of these foreigners, and wait to bully the officials below to make it an established fact and make people blind.

"We can talk about the interest further. As for the cigarette tax as a mortgage, we can do it. But regarding the opening of agencies in Chengdu and Xi'an, tell them that I am just the governor of Beiyang and have no control over the governors of Sichuan and Gansu and Shaanxi. This condition You can only go to the imperial court.”

Li Zhongtang is such a shrewd person, how can he let foreigners get their wish? I would rather increase the interest than relax on opening an agency here.

"Okay, sir, I'll do it right away."

Although Li Zhongtang said this, Sheng Xuanhuai, who was in charge of running errands, knew that this matter was not easy. This time, banks from various countries had the same caliber and it would be difficult to negotiate. But what can he do about this matter? He can only continue to grind on Li Zhongtang's conditions.

After seeing off Sheng Xuanhuai, Li Zhongtang glanced at Zhou Fudao. "If Yushan feels something is wrong, can he speak out?"

As two people who have worked together for many years, they naturally know each other very well. Zhou Fu felt a little inappropriate in Li Zhongtang's words to Sheng Xuanhuai, so he hesitated to speak, but it was immediately obvious to him.

"Master Zhongtang, this money is of great importance. Your Excellency delegates power to Xingsun like this. With Xingsun's temperament, it is definitely not a blessing."

Zhou Fu said this in a subtle way, he just said directly that with Sheng Xuanhuai's personality, he would definitely have someone else's hands when talking about borrowing money. And even before the loan was completed, the whole city was in turmoil.

Regarding Zhou Fu's words, Li Zhongtang smiled slightly. "Does Yushan know that Hu Kailin, the supervisory censor, was fired ten days ago?"

Hu Yushi was a member of Weng Shangshu. He had been biting Li Zhongtang before, but he was suddenly opened. Whether it was done to him or to appease him depends on how Li Er interprets it.

Zhou Fu said immediately after hearing this. "What Dong Weng means is that the imperial court is planning to appease us first and then use this to cause trouble in the future?"

Li Er looked at him and said: "The imperial court has always used me to be both ready and defensive. If I hadn't been lucky enough to invite foreign soldiers this time, I would have stumbled here... It's so difficult!"