Chapter 383 The new century is coming

"Stop here."

"Here?" The driver looked at the Prime Minister's Office nearby and frowned. He didn't know why Li Xiu chose to stop here at the summit. According to his status as the current royal general manager, not to mention parking the car at the door of the Prime Minister's Office, even if he drove in directly, I'm afraid no one would stop him.

Li Xiufeng didn't care. Although his identity was special and he could even meet the Prime Minister directly, he was not an official after all, and the emperor never liked the people around him to be too ostentatious. Especially after ascending the throne, even Fang Boqian, the abbot, resigned from the position of naval supervision, lived in seclusion behind the scenes and started with his help. A chain restaurant called Joy.

So he chose to stop and walk a few steps away from the Prime Minister's office as a respect for the Prime Minister and state organs.

The Prime Minister's Office is not far from Xinhua Garden. It was renovated and expanded on the basis of a garden house given to Li Lianying by Zhejiang merchants. It is said to be a reconstruction. In fact, the internal buildings are basically newly built. Crossing the thick black iron fence gate, it is a large garden full of the atmosphere of Chinese gardens.

The asphalt road circled a large circle along the small artificial lake in the middle, and the pavement was cleaned by the craftsmen. Although the lake next to it was frozen and looked a little bleak and monotonous, the tall green pines transplanted to the lake became more and more green in this monotonous.

In the middle of the lake shore, it is the three-story main building of the Prime Minister's Office. As the core of the national political axe, the vermilion gate, the green tile beams and raised tile eaves are all full of oriental style, but in terms of structure, it has a wide and straight style of many Western-style buildings.

As soon as he entered the door, the secretary of the Prime Minister's Office recognized the young royal general manager and quickly smiled and poured tea for him. This enthusiasm made Li Xiufeng a little embarrassed. Originally, he wanted to see Li Enfu finish the matter told by the emperor as soon as possible, but he didn't expect that the Prime Minister was in a meeting, so he had to find a place to sit quietly. Come down and wait.

His approach made many staff in and out of the Prime Minister's Office have a lot of good impression on the big red man around the emperor.

In the conference room, Li Enfu did not know that Li Xiufeng was waiting for him outside, but even if he knew it, he was not in the mood to see him immediately, because he was about to be driven crazy by this telegram from the south. Even the other two in the conference room were sad and sighing at the telegram.

It has been two months since the recovery of the southeast, and the New Year has entered the countdown, but this good period is approaching, and the country is about to be unified, and the Prime Minister's Office is full of sorrow.

Two months ago, the emperor wrote, "We, stand up." After the article was reprinted by newspapers in various places, it not only stabilized the old and young people in the south, but also encouraged the morale of the people of all ethnic groups in the country. Although it is a cold winter and the New Year, the construction of ** across the country is still continuous. Railways, highways, water conservancy, power plants, etc. Many plans have been put forward and reviewed by telegrams or The post station was sent to the Prime Minister's office for approval.

But seeing more and more audit documents, not to mention Li Enfu, even Rong Kui and Liang Dunyan, who are sitting in the conference room at this moment, are a little big-headed. It is a good thing to recover the southeast and the country is about to unify, but these plan documents really overwhelmed the three of them.

After sending away a batch of young officials who have been trained in the past few years to the south, they did not expect that in addition to getting the gradual improvement of the municipal axe institutions of various provinces and counties, they also brought back a certain railway plan, a certain project urgently needed and other telegrams, these telegrams Without exception, they all ask for money.

Although the three people present here are the Prime Minister, the Speaker and the Minister of Finance, who seem to belong to be different, but after the establishment of the Constitution of Xinhua, according to the Constitution, the financial power belongs to the parliament, and the political axe has no money, but the parliament has no right to spend money. Even the annual expenses of the parliament are reported to the political axe first, and the political axe every year. The allocation can only be made after the general budget is proposed and approved by the parliament.

This regulation is summarized by Li Mo based on the financial management experience of the United States in later generations, that is, one uses money and the other manages money. It must be implemented by combining the two. In this way, both the provincial government axe and the officials of the Prime Minister's Office have no money in their hands, and the opportunity to excavate the private pockets of the state is minimized. .

Of course, this is just a means. It can't completely put an end to corruption and bribery in the future, but it's better than nothing. The real thing is that Tan Sitong's supervision of the reading judicial system being established by the reading justice and the future two parties check and balance each other. In addition, Li Mo's thinking is very clear that being an official belongs to high welfare. But don't think about it when you get rich. If you want to get rich, you can do business.

However, because the country has just been unified, many things are not perfect, and in order to concentrate on the resources on hand, it is basically necessary to spend money for the three of them to do it. However, all three of them are all talented people who are united for the country, and their character is not good, so it is also very reassuring.

But the problem is that the three of them are not tricks, and they can't make money empty-handed!

A reminder telegram is almost a reminder in the eyes of the three people, which makes the three of them even afraid to go out recently, because when they go out, they will definitely meet the heads of the Ministry of Construction or the Ministry of Industry and other departments. They are all debt collectors!

"Prime Minister, let's stop the two subsequent battleships first, so that we can spare about 30 million and start the construction of these railways first." Liang Dunyan had no choice but to put his eyes on the two subsequent battleships of the navy that had been allocated.

"No way."

Rong Kui shook his head first. He was the nephew of Rong Hong, known as the "father of Chinese students", and the first batch of young children to study in the United States. However, unlike Li Enfu, his official career was relatively smooth. After graduation, he worked for a magazine and newspaper in New York for a few years, married an American girl who had been in love for ten years, and later entered New York. The Consulate General works.

But he is different from Li Enfu. He is not so straightforward. In addition, he has been dealing with Americans and diplomacy for a long time. He is very familiar with American laws and the political systems of various countries. Moreover, he did not agree with Li Mo at first. It was not until the Xinhua Army entered the three northeastern provinces, developed civil engineering, developed industry and commerce, and showed a lot of vitality. He came to Xinhua with Lin Lianhui, and because he was familiar with the political systems of various countries, he entered the Legislative Council at that time and played a key role in drafting the constitution.

The biggest difference between him and Li Enfu is that his surname is relatively gentle. Although he advocates a diplomatic solution more often, he is the most staunch supporter of the navy and attaches great importance to the research and development of various new technologies. He advocates that Xinhua should establish a large navy, so he became the Speaker of the House of Lords, and the military is the most You are welcome.

So I heard Liang Dunyan say that he wanted to reduce the military expenses for the construction of battleships and shook his head quickly, because the recent war showed that although Xinhua has technical advantages in some aspects, the new generation of equipment is basically under construction, and it can't turn the technical advantages into a victory, not to mention a few After the Spring Festival, we will face the Russians again, so the speed of renewal cannot be stopped.

Li Enfu also did not agree with the cost of cutting and building ships, not only because it was his own promise in front of the general seng, but also because the sound of rivets in Europe had sounded. Xinhua must no longer be weak at this time. Even if he clenched his teeth, he must maintain a capable navy.

The people who manage the money don't agree, and the Minister of Finance has no choice, so Liang Dunyan can only continue to think hard with his fingers and dig money from there.

But the more I think about him, the more depressed he is. The profits obtained in the previous speculation in the south were basically exhausted by the ten naval capital ships. Now Xinhua's annual tax is only 60 million yuan. In addition to the emerging industrial and commercial income in the north, the total income is only about 100 million yuan. Several large overseas enterprises controlled by Zheng Axe can be about 100 million every year. Bringing 200 million, the gold income is also 80 million, but the shortage is still very large. If it hadn't been for the excavation of the small treasury of powerful people in the Qing Dynasty, and the fact that he had also had some reserves in Honolulu a few years ago, the political axe might have gone bankrupt at this moment.

It is feasible to cut 500 million yuan of financial investment every year, but the problem is basic investment. Xinhua is an agricultural country, and infrastructure construction has been s halted for hundreds of years. If we don't speed up, let alone catch up with the great powers, I'm afraid that the distance will be pulled farther and farther.

What's more, infrastructure construction is different from industrial and commercial construction. Only when the infrastructure construction is perfect can we better guide the development of industry and commerce. Otherwise, you let a northerner take the Shu Road to invest in Sichuan, which is rich in resources. It is estimated that people will shrink back when they see the road, not to mention the two provinces of Yunnan and Guizhou.

So the investment of 500 million yuan is not only not much, but also the three of them even feel too little. If they are cut, not to mention them, I'm afraid that those young officials who have just arrived at the place and have been incited by the emperor to work hard for ten years will roll up their sleeves to force the palace.

It's bitter. It's really bad to have no money!

" By the way, do you think you can use your brain in Borneo?" Li Enfu's eyes lit up and said.

"Bercono, what's your brain? Enfu, you don't want to sell the mineral resources above to private individuals, do you? This can't be done. The emperor said that you can't touch those things if you don't have money!"

Liang Dunyan also looked at Li Enfu with a surprised face. You should know that in terms of mineral resources, Li Mo has made strict instructions and asked Li Enfu to make strict guarantees when he was sworn in as Prime Minister. That is an iron principle, that is, all scarce, related to the national economy and people's livelihood, or can cause significant damage to the international market. The affected resources must be state-owned and must not be operated by individuals!

Although Borneo is far away, it has a large amount of gold, oil, coal mine, diamond, copper and other resources. Except for coal mines, bauxite and other resources, all of them are listed as important resources, especially copper, gold and diamond, which are more scarce resources and must not be moved!

That's why he stood up in a hurry, but when Li Enfu saw that both of them were in a hurry, he quickly waved his hand to him to sit down and said with a smile, "Brother Zanyu, don't worry. Listen to me finish my words."

After Rong Kui sat down, Li Enfu said slowly, "Do you remember the land disturbance we just took over Borneo? I mean, now that the army has basically controlled the situation, and the rest of the locals are no longer threatening, so we might as well.

Rong Kui and Liang Dunyan looked at each other and shouted loudly. When the war in Borneo first started, many planters came to ask whether the local land would be sold. At this moment, although the army was still there, the natives had been greatly weakened, and it was time for large-scale colonization.

The land of Borneo is not rich, but it is better than a large number. It is still very attractive to grow rubber, tobacco and sugar cane. If a few fires can be burned through newspapers, the landowners in China who have lost a large area of land will definitely focus on where.

The sale of land can not only bring back a large amount of funds, but more importantly, these planters and farmers will not be alone at all, so it is almost certain to bring people from China on a large scale. In this way, a wave of immigration will be formed. As long as the number of Chinese reaches a certain extent, Borneo will It's impossible to split out of Xinhua!

But Liang Dunyan then shook his head again. It takes long enough time to buy and sell land to be effective. After all, it is far away from Xinhua. Chinese people love the land, especially the people in the interior, are rarely willing to leave their homes, so Luzon alone is not enough to absorb so much land. When the landlords in Xinhua begin to be heavy. After the end of the investigation, it will take another year or two, but it will continue to spend a lot of money at this moment. I can't wait!

"Then issue treasury bonds!" Rong Yu suggested. .

This is a good idea, but it was only issued once in China last time. If it continues, it will definitely cause the Chinese people to worry about the financial situation, which is not good.

After thinking about it, the three of them had no good way. Li Enfu had to knock on the table and let someone pour a glass of water to continue to find a way. After the secretary poured the water and went back in, he saw that there was no sign of the meeting. Thinking of Li Xiufeng, who had been waiting outside for a long time, he hurriedly said, "Prime Minister, the royal family has been waiting outside for a long time. Would you like to meet him first?

"Xiufeng? What is he doing here?

"I'm not sure. I just said what the emperor asked him to bring to you." The secretary said immediately.

"something? Could it be?" Liang Dunyan and Rong Kwai suddenly breathed quickly. That was the largest rich man in Xinhua. Could it be said that the emperor knew the financial difficulties and wanted to subsidize them?

After Li Xiufeng came in, the three of them were immediately disappointed. The emperor did send wealth. He handed over the Taiwan shipyard and steel mills to the Prime Minister's Office in the form of donations, and was ready to merge them into the southern industrial system. But the problem is that this is a factory, not cash. What's the use?

"Xiufeng, where is the emperor now?"

Seeing the sad faces of the three people, Li Xiufeng vaguely guessed some and said, "The emperor is probably in Shanghai at this time and is discussing with Lord Huang Zichen about the establishment of Jiangnan Industrial Group."

Seeing that several people became more and more depressed, Li Xiufeng continued with a smile and said, "In addition, the emperor asked me to tell you not to always focus on gold. The gold standard does need gold to have enough currency, but considering whether a country is rich is not just how much gold it has.

The emperor said that whether private capital can grow is an important indicator of whether a country's economy is active or not. The foundation left by the Qing Dynasty is weak, but it does not mean that there is no foundation. There are still many landlords and rich people all over the country. The Prime Minister's Office should find a way to guide them to industrial and commercial investment. You can use the splitting of shares to divide some profitable projects and ordinary resources to them, so that they can see the benefits, so as to drive more people to participate, and the political axe only needs to ensure some large and important state-owned enterprises.

As for bonds, there is no need to stick to China. Germany and Italy gave some messages during the last emperor's visit, saying that they could be given to issue a certain amount of treasury bonds in their country for financing. China is poor, but foreign countries have money, so we can't always stare at gold mines. We can only flow capital. Come on, only then can the economy get up.

Li Enfu is the only one who secretly guessed the reason why Li Mo went to Shanghai to engage in an industrial group despite the financial crisis. He still wants the Prime Minister's Office to learn to read as soon as possible. He can't always rely on his help, but he also has to admit that at this stage, Li Mo still has more opinions and methods than them, such as going to the country. They didn't expect to issue bonds outside. It seemed that the matter of raising money with a sad face just now seemed to be a small matter in the emperor's mouth.

It's just that he knows that although Master Li doesn't know much about finance, at least he has seen more capital games that surpass this era in his previous life. These are just tricks.

When Li Enfu and the other two began to study the messages and methods brought by Li Xiufeng, Li Mo had already lived in the former British club on the Bund. This large-scale building full of British style has now been bought by him and has become an industry of the royal family in Shanghai.

Of course, Li Mo did not want to build this place into a private house, but was going to make it into a luxury hotel, but now he can enjoy the leisure and entertainment of British gentlemen first.

But when I just got off the boat and slept soundly, there was already a shout outside.

"Your Majesty, good morning. Lao Long wishes you an early New Year!"

"Your Majesty, you have soared my Xinhua Shengwei. A sonorous word shocked the four fields!"

"Stand up, our China finally stood up again!"

"Haha..."

"And ah, even those shavers are full of praise, saying that you wrote an article, but it made them rich."

In the early morning, Long Guozhang rushed out with Zhao Long from nowhere and followed Li Mo, dodging left and right to flattery, especially the last sentence, which made Huang Zichen, who came to discuss the establishment of the Southern Industrial Group, laugh. Sure enough, when Long Guozhang was about to say more, Master Li had already turned over with a black face. The head.

What does it mean that the shaver is full of praise?

Is this a compliment?!

Yes, my sentence "a braid has been bound for hundreds of years" has indeed aroused a lot of resonance. There has even been a wave of cutting braids all over the south. Even many old people have cut their braids. Now they go to Guangzhou Street in Shanghai to see that they are full of bald heads.

This is a good thing, but the question is, what does this have to do with the young master?

If the shaver makes a fortune, can he contribute to the finances?

"Long Guozhang, I can't see that your naval commander is quite eloquent." Li Mo hung a black line on his forehead and asked, "This is the Spring Festival, and your navy didn't order the program? If you are really okay, you can supervise the construction of those warships! By the way, the summary report after the last war was not given to me. Has it come out?

Long Guozhang didn't seem to see Li Mo's face, and continued to say, "How come there is no program! After the New Year's goods were approved, they had already been sent to the army. Chen Ping and Yan Fu sent telegrams of condolence to all the troops. Xiao Zeng also personally took people to Daxia. As for those warships, it was still early. I, Lao Long, was not the kind of person who was in a hurry for a while.

"Fen's it!" Zhao Long smiled and said, "Last time I was there, you didn't talk about the Prime Minister's allocation in time. The last two battleships were a month late."

"Who said that? Who said that!" Long Guozhang's face turned green, and he quickly waved his hand: "Your Majesty, you can't listen to Zhao Long's nonsense. He married his daughter-in-law and forgot his mother. He is full in the army. It doesn't matter the life or death of our navy!"

"You see, we have lost a lot this time, and we haven't got any benefits. Your Majesty, can you consider building another 17 or 18 submarines for us? This thing is not expensive. The price of one destroyer is at most two, and it is very useful. Think about it!"

"No consideration!"

Li Mo directly kicked away the naval commander who wanted to climb up along the pole. Seventeen or eight ships. It was really thanks to him that he dared to speak, and in fact, the submarine was not cheap, especially the thing called a pressure-resistant shell, which was difficult to do. In order to build a submarine, only 5,000 tons of hydraulic presses and other large forging machinery were imported. There are dozens of them.

But this is also good. Now the equipment department has almost finished these big guys with the machines purchased everywhere in those years. Several mechanical factories have also begun to imitate them, but this can't be an excuse for you to be cheap!

Moreover, four battleships and four heavy patrols alone have made the Prime Minister's Office sad. The most important thing is that these eight big guys are very steel-consuming. At the moment of steel construction in China, people are already overstretched. If it hadn't been for the start of Maoshan Iron Mine, if it hadn't been for the construction of blast furnaces and steel mills in the past two years. That can't afford to consume like this!

I knew that this guy was not kind-hearted. He ran to Shanghai early in the morning and pulled Zhao Long to pay attention to him, saying that he wanted to pay a New Year call to himself. He really had a plan.

Li Mo ignored him and continued the topic just now and asked, "Zichen, ignore him. Continue to say what are you going to do with the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau and Hanyang Steel Factory?"

Seeing that he didn't achieve his goal, it was a little boring. Long Guozhang, who was just about to pull Zhao Long away, heard these two names. He brushed his ears and stood up again. He hurriedly said, "Yes, these are two treasures. Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau has always been the best shipyard in the Qing Dynasty, and it can also build naval guns. It has built a thousand-ton patrol before. Yangship, Hanyang Ironworks is also the largest steel factory in the south. If it can be quickly integrated, hehe..."

"Ha ha...!" Li Mopi smiled and twitched the corners of his mouth twice: "So your navy has more shipbuilding bases? Do you think so?"

"No, of course not. If the country initially decided that it is a critical moment for economic development, how can our navy embezzle so many resources!" Seeing that Li Mo and Huang Zichen were looking at him at the same time, Long Guozhang quickly shook his head like a rattle, making Zhao Long on the side laugh and cry, but to be honest, he also admired this man. At least the officers and sailors below liked the commander who took everything into the bowl.

"Only you know what Commander Dragon thinks." After several years of training, Huang Zichen is already the Minister of Industry and Commerce, and he is an old acquaintance with Long Guozhang. He couldn't help laughing and said, "But there is a little Commander Long. The integration of resources in the south is imminent. There are three manufacturing bureaus on the southeast coast, Jiangnan, Fujian and Guangzhou. In addition, Hanyang, the scale is not as good as the north. But the layout is already very good.

"Your Majesty, you are right in the article. Although Li Hongzhang and others have not succeeded, they have at least left us a foundation in the southeast, which is not good, which is much better than the three northeastern provinces at that time."

Huang Zichen's words made Li Mo keep nodding. It seems that the young minister of industry and commerce really didn't choose the right person. Although several provinces under the southeast mutual protection have been blackmailed by Britain, France and other countries, the foundation is still there, which is much better than the three northeastern provinces he entered in those years.

"In my opinion, since you have Northern Heavy Industry, it's better to eat these companies and start a Southern Heavy Industry, which will also facilitate resource allocation." After Zhao Long just finished speaking, Long Guozhang also nodded greatly, but Li Mo shook his head.

You should know that the royal family has enough property. If you take down these families in the south, you will basically monopolize Xinhua's heavy industry. Although he can guarantee himself, he can't guarantee his descendants. What's more, monopoly is not a good thing. The rampant monopoly of domestic chaebols in the United States has already explained the problem, but if you take these The dispersion of the family is undoubtedly a waste of resources that are not abundant at present. What's more, the thinking of becoming bigger and stronger in later generations and establishing a super enterprise with world influence has been affecting him.

So he immediately said, "Zhao Long's idea is good, but I think it's better not to intervene. It's better for your Ministry of Industry and Commerce to take over."

"With the state holdings, the three major manufacturing bureaus of Jiangnan, Fujian and Guangzhou and Hanyang Ironworks are integrated. In addition, I plan to take out the Taipei Shipyard and Iron and Steel Plant. Three other steel mills will be built in Changxing Island, Hainan and Guangdong in Shanghai, and merge them all to form Jiangnan Manufacturing Group. Li Xian Do you think it's okay to do this?

"That's great. In this way, the southern resources can be used to the greatest extent without waste, and the iron ore we get from Borneo and Luzon can be transported directly to the south for smelting without having to be transported to the north for processing, which can not only save freight, but also improve efficiency."

"But..." Huang Zichen looked at Li Mo and looked embarrassed: "Your Majesty, the two companies in Taiwan are under the name of the royal family, and the construction of three steel mills and the three shipbuilding bureaus also have to carry out technical updates and expand the scale, which is not a small expense."

"Ye-h, I've thought about this."

"It's okay in Taiwan. There are many industries in my name, and I don't care about the two companies. I have asked Li Xiufeng to bring the land deeds and transfer procedures of the two factories to Li Enfu. As for the money." Li Mo thought for a moment and said, "I will ask Xiufeng to take out the money needed by Jiangnan Industrial Group in the form of a loan for the Prime Minister's office first, and return it to me when the political axe has money in the future."

"Your Majesty, can our navy also borrow some from you?" When Long Guozhang saw the opportunity, he hurriedly went up the slope.

"Get out of here. You think I'm a landlord! Do you know how much I spend in January? The monthly maintenance cost of the new garden, the Summer Palace and the Forbidden City is no less than 100,000 yuan!"

"It's only 100,000."

Long Guozhang whispered that Master Li is indeed not a landlord, because he only has some land in Australia, Borneo, Luzon and other foreign seas. There is no land in China, but he is not a poor man without arable land. The 50 tons of gold brought back from the three major gold mines alone makes people jealous, and I heard from Fubo say that the new Recently, the head of the Royal Family has not only made a lot of money on rubber speculation, but also sent people to Myanmar and Thailand to mine gem mines. Recently, he also found a diamond mine in Australia!

Grandma, gem! Diamonds!

Master Li used to dig around and get a large number of treasures from overseas and the treasure house of Manqing. Now he is digging all over the world. I don't know if the warehouse at home is enough.

"What are you muttering about?" Li Mo stared at Long Guozhang with an aggrieved face and spread out his hand: "I tell you, don't think about it. For your eight capital ships, the Prime Minister's Office is about to go bankrupt!"

After driving Long Guozhang away, Li Mo immediately threw himself into the plan to integrate the Southern Industrial Group with Huang Zichen. It was not until Duan Fei knocked on the door with a telegram that he suddenly found that he had passed the chaotic 1900 years at work.

The new century has quietly arrived in the days of lack of money...

(to be continued)