Chapter 168 Arithmetic

741578255 two!

Liang Dunyan, who once participated in the specific things of Jiawu compensation, naturally answered this question in an instant.

When he finally said this number, everyone was shocked and opened their eyes. Chen Moran hardly believed his ears, 741578255! No, isn't it all 250 million taels?

In surprise, the anger on his face became stronger.

"741578255 two! What a 741578255!"

With a cold hum, Chen Moran felt that his heart was aching, 470 million taels of silver. This is the price paid by China in the First Sino-Japanese War. What is 250 million taels of silver there!

"Your Majesty, the compensation for the First Sino-Japanese War has had an epoch-making impact on China's financial history, and the financial economy of the Qing Dynasty has also been sluggish since then. After the establishment of the Qing Dynasty, it still followed the traditional principle of income and expenditure of "input-to-out", when the First Sino-Japanese War broke out, the finances of the Qing Dynasty suddenly felt a lot. In order to raise wartime military expenses, Qingzheng Axe borrowed two debts from HSBC Bank of the United Kingdom, a total of 286533961.78 taels. Repayment of foreign debt has become a major part of the state's fiscal expenditure. Later, it borrowed money from Russia, France, Britain and Germany, and the three countries continued to put forward harsh borrowing conditions, which not only caused China to suffer huge economic losses, but also suffered great damage to its sovereignty. China borrowed a huge amount of debt to pay the Japanese indemnity, and the great powers seized a large number of China's rights through borrowing and controlled part of China's fiscal sovereignty. Since then, the balance of income and expenditure of the Qing Dynasty has been destroyed, and China's fiscal economy has been under the oppression of the great powers for a long time.

"So, the compensation for the First Sino-Japanese War is the direct cause of China's economic weakness!"

In the face of His Majesty's rhetorical questions, Liang Dunyan nodded heavily.

"The compensation of 250 million taels in the Year of Jiawu started, and it is also because of this that there is one person and one taels in the year of Xinchou!"

Zhang Zhidong added angrily. When he said this sentence, he even took a special look at His Majesty and only saw that the anger on His Majesty's face became thicker, and there was even a faint explosion.

"That's right. After the Jiawu compensation opened the first river, Gengzi compensation can be said to be the largest extortion in history. It is precisely because of this that the Qingzheng Axe will lead to the complete collapse of the financial economy later. The security products of the great powers that claim compensation are sea tariffs, regular tariffs, salt taxes, etc., to intercept the financial resources of the political axe, control China's finances, and influence China's political situation.

Yuan Shikai's tone is also slightly dull. As a former minister of Beiyang, how could he not know this compensation?

"According to the provisions of Annex No. 13 of the sixth paragraph of the Xinchou Treaty, the total amount of China's compensation to Japan is 106854177 yuan. If interest is recorded, China's actual compensation for Japan is more than 210 million yuan!"

Listening to this number, Chen Moran was silent for a long time before he said.

"Well, the combined principal and interest of Jiawu's compensation is 740 million taels, which is almost the fiscal revenue of the Qing Dynasty for 10 years, and Geng's capital income is also the fiscal revenue of the Qing Dynasty for one and a half years. The sum of the two are counted as 11 years. The Qing Dynasty implements the traditional income and expenditure of "in both amount as expenditure", that is, the income is expenditure."

Turning his head and looking at Guan Mingtang, Chen Moran asked.

"So what is the financial expenditure of Japan today?"

"Your Majesty, as of last month, the Japanese fiscal expenditure was 53.5 million yuan, and the additional foreign debt expenditure was 42.75 million yuan! There should be no problem with more than 1 billion yuan this year!"

Guan Mingtang replied truthfully that although he was China's finance minister, he had a complete understanding of the financial revenue and expenditure of Japan. Listening to His Majesty's words, he vaguely guessed what His Majesty was going to ask for this time.

"That's almost a billion yuan?"

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

"Well, just multiply this number by 11! This is the condition for us to accept compensation!"

With a bang, everyone looked at His Majesty when they heard this sentence, looking at him with incredible color on his face. Your Majesty, don't you know that such a large amount of money, let alone the United Kingdom and the United States, may not be able to pay for it?

"Your Majesty..."

Within waiting for Guan Mingtang to speak, Chen Moran smiled and looked at the crowd and said.

"Everyone is scared by such a large amount of money?"

No one is talking. How can he not be scared? This huge amount of money paid by any country is equivalent to paying the price of the subjugation of the country.

"So, what if we are defeated?"

With a rhetorical question, Chen Moran's expression became extremely serious.

"If we are defeated, how can we let go of the opportunity to squeeze us to the fullest this time? 11 billion... It can be said that we will pay much more than that!"

Then Chen Moran's tone became a little heavy. Although it was just a guess, with my greed, how could I not guess what kind of conditions I would make at that time?

"Din the First Sino-Japanese War, I said that I issued a reparation equivalent to four times that of the finances of the Qing Dynasty. In the Gengzi negotiation, I originally supported the compensation aimed at draining China's 1 billion taels of compensation, 12 times China's annual fiscal revenue. If we were defeated, I would have so much!"

With that, Chen Moran stretched out his left hand three times anyway.

"15 times, at least 15 billion yuan of compensation. At that time, every Chinese needs to bear a foreign debt of at least 35 yuan. It may take us 50 years to pay off the foreign debt, and the annual payment of principal and interest will exceed 600 million yuan!"

"Your Majesty, I think that if we set a peace benchmark now, the amount of compensation should be limited to the range that the Japanese political axe can bear. Don't cause them excessive financial pressure. Excessive pressure will cause the political axe to collapse. Such a situation is not in our future interests."

As soon as Guan Mingtang's voice fell, there was a echo around him. Looking at the ministers who were attached to Guan Mingtang, Chen Moran smiled bitterly in his heart. If he didn't insist, I'm afraid that for these people, it's not bad that they could ask for two or three hundred million.

"Well, when others eat our meat, they have never been soft. Now, it's our turn when it's our turn to eat other people's meat..."

Chen Moran, who no longer said anything, saw that everyone was embarrassed and finally breathed in the bottom of his heart.

"11 billion, this is the condition of compensation! I insist on this!"

Perhaps because he was worried that they still opposed it, Chen Moran stressed again.

"Don't forget that I took out 550 million yuan from the internal crossbow as military expenses, which is equivalent to half of the imperial finance's preparation for this war. Therefore, no matter what the result is, as long as I win, I will get at least 5 billion yuan in tribute!"

As soon as they said this, everyone was dumbfounded. They could hardly believe that this was what His Majesty said. Your Majesty was clearly asked for money! When Ye Zugui looked at His Majesty, he was even more surprised. Didn't His Majesty say that he didn't want a penny of compensation?

"Remember, anyway!"

Chen Moran specifically emphasized that this sentence is equivalent to telling them that the money will either be paid by himself or paid by the Ministry of Finance of the Empire. Aware of the surprise in Ye Zugui's sight, Chen Moran smiled. There was nothing he could do. If he didn't insist, he didn't know what else they would say.

Guan Mingtang squeaked for half a year and wanted to refute His Majesty, but found that he had a way to refute it. What is this? It is a "venture capital" to take money from the internal treasury and lend it to the country.

"Dang, Current"

Squeaking, Zhang Zhidong, the Prime Minister, opened his mouth.

"Since the capital can earn more than 500 million yuan a year, in fact, there are not many or less than 11 billion yuan. According to the borrowing method and compensation method of our Gengzi compensation, they have paid 11 billion yuan of compensation. If the repayment interest is calculated as 50 years, the Japanese capital only returns the principal and interest of various countries every year, um..."

After accounting for a while, Zhang Zhidong said slowly.

"That is, more than 400 million. In the past few years, 30% of the fiscal revenue of the Qing Dynasty was used to pay off debts! If you say that you should repay the compensation well, you can still afford it!"

Divided into 100 years!

Humph, sneering, Chen Moran seems to see that after the Japanese foreign debt, customs duties, salt taxes, tobacco and alcohol taxes, etc. were taken over by Britain, the United States, France, Germany and other countries one day, and paid hundreds of millions of yuan of interest every year. This heavy burden will lead to the complete collapse of the Japanese economy, and this is precisely to remove this strong The best choice for the enemy.

"Other people have no problem!"

Chen Moran asked a rhetorical question. Seeing that everyone was no longer talking, he nodded.

"Well, the first consensus has been reached, and the next is the issue of land ceding. The problem of North Korea and Ryukyu must be solved. These two places are vassals of China, and they should be taken back in a reasonable way, but they have ceded Taiwan, so we must consider this point!"

Before others could react, Chen Moran turned his eyes to Ye Zugui.

"Ye Qing, if I remember correctly, the navy does not seem to have a good large military port in the north now!"

"Yes, Your Majesty, although the Lushun base has been put back into use, the siege of Lushun has proved that Lushun is vulnerable to attack, so it cannot be the northern key port of the Imperial Navy!"

"Hmm!"

After a moment of meditation, Chen Moran followed and asked again.

"So, Ye Qing, what do you think of Zoshibao!"

This sentence was just came out together. Everyone only felt that the meeting seemed to have changed. From a meeting to discuss the basic peace conditions, thus establishing the imperial war policy, to an "indid talk", and it was the irrefutable majesty who dominated all this.

After any war breaks out, either party will set the ultimate purpose and conditions for peace of the war, so as to determine the ultimate goal of military action. Otherwise, if there is no clear purpose of the war, it will lead to the unlimited expansion of the scale of the war and the rapid expansion of military expenditure.

Eleven years ago, during the First Sino-Japanese War, the goal of peace was to get at least the "reading power" of North Korea and get a certain amount of compensation. However, the final Liaodong Campaign and the Weihaiwei Campaign were all military operations carried out to obtain more favorable peace conditions and more compensation. Before the outbreak of the Russian War, the Japanese system The goal is to at least control North Korea and strive for control of the South Manchu region. The goals and conditions for peace of the war are often set at the beginning of the war, but the goal of the final war will always be influenced by various factors, either because the war is smooth and expanded, or because of the failure of the war.

When discussing the most basic peace requirements in the government building of the Nanjing Imperial Palace, far away on the other side of the ocean, at this time, she is being influenced by an inexplicable emotion, which is not excitement, not anger, but uneasiness.

That's right, it's just uneasy!

Although it has not been confirmed by the political axe that it is a joint fleet, some well-informed companies, especially those with close trade with China, have received a secret telegram from the company stationed in China at the first time, asking whether the joint fleet had suffered a fiasco in the South China Sea and was blocked. Extend it.

"The Southern Expeditionary Fleet suffered a fiasco in the battle with Jingyuan!"

"The 7 ships of the Southern Legacy Fleet intercepted Jingyuan and almost completely annijud it!"

"The joint fleet was hit hard!"

When the news spreads in the large and medium-sized cities of Japan, there will always be a lot of human-to-human news. At first, it was rumored that the Southern Fleet had lost four warships, then five, and then, and then, the whole joint fleet poured out to intercept Jingyuan. Not only did it not sink Jingyuan, but the whole coalition The fleet was also hit hard.

The news is spreading like this, and people's fear of Jingyuan has also risen to the peak. Whenever they talk about Jingyuan, they even use "it" instead. People don't even want to or dare to mention Jingyuan. They even think that if they mention Jingyuan, the powerful and irreprehensible Jing The distant horn will appear in front of them.

In this fear, no one even pays attention to "rumors" such as "domestic inflation in the empire" and "the empire prints a large number of banknotes" to relieve fiscal pressure. In this fear, almost everyone, all those who know the news of the South China Sea naval battle, are eager for the return of the combined fleet. Yes, but the joint fleet was unexpectedly silent.

"It has been confirmed that the Fuji has sunk!"

The officer who reported it was specially emphasized.

"But it was not sunk by the Chinese. After the rudder of the Fuji was destroyed, he saw that he could not leave the battlefield. General Gao ordered the crew to evacuate, and then detonated the ammunition depot before the Chinese sank him!"

"Damn it!"

Almost everyone, when they heard the report, cursed the bold and reckless Yu Gao in the same words. Originally, the Southern Expedition Fleet had a chance to come back, but the Gao's bold behavior led to the fiasco of the Southern Expedition Fleet.

"Ishimi first-class battleship, Fuji first-class battleship, Izumimo first-class armored cruiser, Takasago protective cruiser..."

Listening to the general officer repeating the bad news again, Suo Shimamura, who was the chief of staff of the joint fleet, opened his mouth to say something with a pale face, but in the end, he sat down without one side, and his whole body was full of uneasiness.

And Akiyama Zhenzhi, who is regarded as the "tactical soul of the joint fleet", looks solemn. He also sits there without saying a word, but sits quietly. If he is now in front of him, he believes that he will kill the bastard with a saber. He has obviously let him retreat. Why should he die? The bastard actually chose to ignore the order.

At this time, although he was known as "Oriental Nelson", he was still called the "muffled gourd". After the initial silence, he looked at the officer and asked.

"Asu, Kasagi and Chitose are all right!"

"Asu did not have any damage. Kasagi was hit by three 105mm shells, and Chitose was hit by two 105 shells!"

"Oh!"

When everyone was shocked by the bad news, Dongxiang answered very calmly, and then he continued to say.

"Not bad! At least we still have three cruisers to fight in the next naval battle!"

Then he stood up again and said to the attendant.

"Well, breakfast should be eaten three hours ago, and it should be eaten with lunch!"

Then he was silent for a while, and then stressed.

"Hmm! The main meal is steak, vegetable salad, and dessert is cake. In addition, each officer should drink two glasses of whisky, double, two ounces!"

Before everyone could react, Dongxiang Heihachilang bowed gently to everyone and then said.

"Thank you for your hard work."

Everyone was stunned by the performance of the commander of the joint fleet. They were still surprised and did not wake up. Dongxiang added another sentence:

"Don't give up! The war will continue!"

Yes!

The war is still going on. At this time, the calmness shown by Dongxiang Pinghalang comforted the originally nervous people. After everyone's mood was slightly calm, Dongxiang left Akiyama Zhenzhi and Shimamura Suo.

"What do you think!"

Although they are a little brainless, both Akiyama and Shimamura know what the commander is asking.

"If we can completely anniperate the Second Fleet, there is still a chance!"

After a long period of meditation, Akiyama answered in affirmative.

"According to the battle report of the front line, although Jingyuan won this naval battle, it itself has also suffered heavy losses. At least it needs to lie in the dock for the first half of the year, so we still have a chance!"

" Yes,"

Sueo Shimamura will have a different opinion.

"If we suffer losses when attacking the Second Fleet, then there is still a chance to defeat the First Fleet!"

At this time, Suo Shimamura said a real problem that he had to face. The defeat of the Southern Expedition Fleet has proved a real problem. Any former Zhiyuan ship has no possibility of winning in front of Zhiyuan.

"Now, we can only gamble!"

Akiyama Zhenzhi said rudely.

"If the rudder of the Fuji is not destroyed, and if there is a battleship in the South Fleet, it is still possible to sink Jingyuan, so this is an arithmetic problem!"

Then Akiyama Zhenzhi immediately took out a piece of paper and did arithmetic for the commander and the chief of staff. Soon a result appeared. Looking at the result, both Dongxiang and the island village frowned.

After meditating for a long time, I watched the arithmetic Dongxiang spit out a sentence with difficulty.

"This... is really too difficult!"