Chapter 149 I'm an official again
Shortly after Chen Shanyuan left, Li Jingfang hurriedly walked in.
As soon as he entered Hu Chuyuan's study, he saw that the layout here was so luxurious that Hu Chuyuan was not sick at all. He read foreign books with the flowery fake foreign devil's wife, laughing while reading. I don't know how happy he was.
Li Jingfang's face darkened and said, "Mr. Hu, are you okay with your illness?"
Hu Chuyuan continued to read the book, hummed, and said, "The heart disease complained out by someone has been lost. I feel very uncomfortable. I want to curse during the day and vomit blood at night!"
Li Jingfang felt very embarrassed. His face turned pale, but he forced a dry smile and said, "Mr. Hu is really funny. Mr. General, my father asked me to send you a handwritten letter. Please take a look at it!"
With this, he took out the letter and respectfully presented it to Hu Chuyuan.
Hu Chuyuan thought for a moment, put the letter on the desk and said, "Mr. Li, frankly speaking, the cooperation with Lord Zhongtang can be regarded as Hu's biggest failure in recent years. Cooperation, the officials of the cooperation were lost, the family property was almost confiscated, and the people were almost beheaded. This is really fucking unheard of, unprecedented, that is, the middle hall did it.
"This...!"
Li Jingfang was also helpless. He had not agreed with his father and Hu Chuyuan's urgent request for help before.
However, Prince Gong's grandson became a shrinking turtle. Cixi only looked at the results and did not look at the process. The foreigners chased Li Hongzhang's battles and even moved out the British fleet stationed in Hong Kong. The Americans had to collect debts, and the French had to talk about Vietnam.
Li Hongzhang has indeed talked about illness recently. He was so tired of it. He knocked down Hu Chuyuan and suppressed Zuo Zongtang. He didn't have time to digest the fruit of victory, and in turn, he was pulled by Hu Chuyuan and dragged into the mud pond.
It's good now. Hu Chuyuan has lost his official, but after all, there is the protection of foreigners. He is full of people, and he dares not talk nonsense such as "borrowing money from foreigners to redeem the official stocks of Jiangnan Commercial Bank".
Sheng Xuanhuai owed a lot of debts. That night, he ran away with money. Zheng Guanying fled to Hong Kong with the same money... Compared with Zuo Zongtang, Li Hongzhang, who also reused businessmen, was more humiliated.
Absurd.
China in this era is ridiculous enough. Since Zuo Zongtang supported Hu Chuyuan to build Jiangnan Commercial Bank, it has become more ridiculous.
The absurdity in the past was the conservatism and rigidity of the Qingzheng axe, but now it is because of money.
Corruption [***] is a hundred times more absurd than conservative rigidity.
What can Li Jingfang do? He can only say to Hu Chuyuan: "Actually, at the beginning, my father did not intend to be an enemy of Mr. Hu. He was just bent on the public. On the contrary, he was instigated by Sheng Xuanhuai and used by thieves. Now it's too late to repent. My father was seriously ill, and his life was insurable in the morning and evening. He was no longer able to deal with foreigners, but no one in the court could use him, so he could not let his father retreat to the second place. I also hope that Mr. Hu will stand up and turn the tide. Today, only the gentleman can save the court and the father.
Hu Chuyuan sighed, sighed again, and scolded in his heart: fart.
Li Hongzhang wants to sign the agreement and end the matter as soon as possible. The problem is that the court disagrees.
He still pulled out Li Hongzhang's letter and read it. The words were sincere and tearful, and the preferential conditions were touching.
Unfortunately, Hu Chuyuan is not stupid.
He just gently put down the letter and smiled with Li Jingfang, "Do you think I can still trust Lord Zhongtang? Forget it. Anyway, Lord Zhongtang wants to kill me. I'm lucky not to die. Why should I get into this kind of thing?
Li Jingfang vomited three liters of blood.
He hurriedly persuaded, "Mr. Hu can rest assured that this matter will never be repeated. As long as Mr. Hu is willing to stand up, my father will thank him. What he said in the letter is true, and my father can make a bet face to face."
Hu Chuyuan smiled silently and said, "The bet is free. Doing business pays attention to credit. If there is no credit, the bet is not worth it."
Li Jingfang vomited seven liters of blood.
He can only say bravely, "If the general office is not satisfied, the conditions can still be discussed again. Let's talk about it again. Everything is easy to say."
Hu Chuyuan sneered and said, "The court can't wait to get rid of the position of the head office of Jiangnan Commercial Bank. The middle hall wants to give me the position of the head office of Beiyang Commercial Bank. Isn't it to bake me on the stove? Besides, the matter of the concession is indeed irreparable. Lord Zhongtang knows that he can't convince the court!"
Li Jingfang said, "As long as you are willing to come forward and talk about the conditions more euphemistically, the area of the concession is not so large, step by step, and it has gradually increased in four or five years, and my father is very grateful."
Hu Chuyuan still sneered and said nothing.
Li Jingfang hesitated for a moment and then persuaded again: "Mr. Hu is related to the reputation of my father's life. Although there were several times before, please ask the general office to raise your hand and help mediate. If it succeeds, my father will never go back on his promise this time. The affairs of Beiyang Commercial Bank and the Bank, as well as the China Merchants Bureau, will be entrusted to the General Office, and will never ask too much. It's not convenient for my father to draw, so I can do it for him.
Hu Chuyuan was not polite and immediately said, "Oy, then draw a bet. It's impossible for me to trust your father and son now. Draw a bet is a guarantee for me."
Li Jingfang sighed in his heart. Unexpectedly, Hu Chuyuan really wanted him to draw a bet. He said in his heart: The repetition of my family's reputation has come to this point?
As a last resort, he really made a bet with Hu Chuyuan.
After sending Li Jingfang to rest, Hu Chuyuan thought about it silently all afternoon.
He chose to accept Li Hongzhang's conditions and mediate mediation, not in those conditions, but he believed that one thing - Li Hongzhang's betrayal treaties will be signed more and more, and there will be more places to blackmail Li Hongzhang in the future.
July 22, 1883.
Under the protection of Li Hongzhang and Prince Gong, the Qing court reappointed Hu Chuyuan as the Minister of Commerce in the south of the Yangtze River. He belonged to the government of the Prime Minister's affairs of various countries. He was given the title of three grades and assisted the Minister of Commerce of Nanyang and Beiyang.
The so-called assistant is to assist, and the so-called adhering is to report.
Man is incompetent, and he is still extremely proficient in using words as an official. Hu Chuyuan's official has been restored, but his actual authority is far less than before, but this is already acceptable to both sides.
At least for Hu Chuyuan, he has stabilized once again, and his gambling with Manqing is still continuing.
The result did not disappoint everyone. Hu Chuyuan only invited Li Hongzhang and the envoys of the Three Kingdoms to renegotiate in the garden. It only took only one afternoon to reduce the area of the new concession in Tianjin to 10,458 mu. The Shanghai concession was not in a hurry to add it, and Xiamen did not set up a concession.
As a condition, the concessions shall use the currency of Daqing silver yuan and corresponding rights. The United States, Britain and France agree to open Tianjin University in the concession. All fees shall be collected by the rental committee. The local public security shall be the responsibility of the patrol bureau. There must be a Chinese representative among the three standing members of the patrol bureau.
In addition, the United States agreed to collect a total of 60 students in each martial arts school, and go to the United States for further study in six years.
No one expected that China's first university was born in this way, and it was Tianjin University.
No one praises or opposes this matter, but in the hearts of those people in Beijing, everyone understands a truth... No matter whether Hu Chuyuan is a foreign devil or not, he is the only one who can deal with foreigners now. Only he can suppress foreigners and get benefits from foreigners. Maintain the dignity of the Qing court.
Hu Chuyuan, he knows that the Minister of Trade in the south of the Yangtze River is a false position specially set up by the Qing Zheng Axe for him without real power. When the Qing Zheng Axe needs to deal with foreigners one day, he will continue to summon the Minister of Commerce of Jiangnan to appear quickly.
He doesn't care either.
When the matter of the Tianjin Concession was settled, he sent someone to Tianjin to discuss the matters of CITIC Bank and Tianjin Merchants Bureau. This time, Li Hongzhang did take care of everything one by one according to prior consultation, so that Hu Chuyuan took the handling rights of Kaiping Coal Mine and Rehe Gold Mine.
As for Beiyang Commercial Bank, Hu Chuyuan did not get involved. On the surface, he recommended his cousin Hu Weiyuan to Tianjin to handle it, that is, Zhongrun Company held 70% of the equity of Beiyang Commercial Bank, and appointed Yan Xinhou to serve as the general office.
Beiyang Agricultural Cooperative, which has not had any promotion or investment in Sheng Xuanhuai's hands, was split into two, divided into two cooperatives in Hebei and Tianjin, and operated by Jiangnan Agricultural Society.
Subsequently, Hu Chuyuan officially issued CITIC clear baht in Tianjin, entered the Zhili market, and used the real gold and silver taken in the capital market to develop the new concession in Tianjin.
For all this he was doing, the Qing court was like a mad dog with broken teeth. It watched numbly, gritted its teeth with hatred, but did not dare to rush up.
In the words of Qing Baylor, Ma Lege forced that this grandson was actually a foreigner.
In their opinion, Hu Chuyuan is a beast, a dog slave without loyalty, righteousness and shame, a second minister, and a fake foreign devil, but it is not easy to bully.
Hu Chuyuan doesn't care either.
He continues to do his own big business.
In fact, his total amount of funds far exceeds the estimate of Qingzheng Axe, and his business mind is by no means what Qingzheng Axe can see through, or Sheng Xuanhuai.
He cashed out a large amount of funds from the United States, with a working capital of 200 million US dollars. At present, he has invested about 60 million US dollars in the three major projects of Wanqi Chemical, Carnegie Steel and San Francisco Bay in the United States.
He gradually cashed the surplus funds into silver, flowed into CITIC Bank through Wanqi Foreign Bank, and issued more CITIC clear baht to prepare for a larger-scale investment in China's agriculture, including tea in Fujian and Zhejiang, silk and hemp industry in Jiangnan, and cotton and oil industry in the north.
The problem is that the rate of return on agricultural investment is low and the return period is too long.
As a supplement, he also wants to make a large-scale investment in Tianjin Concession Real Estate. It is estimated that within five years, he will invest 30 million yuan in exchange for a return of about 400 million yuan.
He has this confidence and ability.
No matter what kind of attitude Qing Zheng Axe has towards him, Qing Zheng Axe will not be able to deal with money. In just three months, as of November 1883, the banknote printing tax paid by CITIC Bank through the Daqing Banking Bureau has reached 14 million taels of silver.
Considering the huge circulation and exchange volume of Qing baht copper coins, in fact, Qingyuan and Qing baht have become the mainstream currency system of the Qing court in both the north and south.
Inadvertently, under the full awareness of Qingzheng Axe itself, China's financial system has initially completed the change to the pure silver standard.
The huge money printing tax quickly resolved all kinds of unpleasantness between Qing Zheng Axe, Zuo Zongtang and Hu Chuyuan. Anyway, Qing Zheng Axe and Zuo Zongtang are short of money, and Hu Chuyuan has an extremely magical magic, which can turn out countless funds for them to spend for no reason.
(to be continued)