1850 American Gold Tycoon.

Chapter 717 50? 500!

The banker of America, is it the banker of Mexico?

It's impossible. The South was the vanguard of the two Mexican-American Wars and had a blood feud with Mexico. How could Mexican bankers be so generous to provide timely assistance?

Besides, Mexico is now completely under the control of France.

"The French banker in Mexico or the banker in the American Republic?" Davis inquired eagerly.

After much thought, the only bankers in North America who could provide loans to the Confederacy were the bankers of the American Republic and Mexico.

"It's Mr. Jones of the Eastern Branch of the Bank of America." Meminger gave the banker's name.

"It's him." Davis reacted quickly.

"Jones came to visit us. Liang Yao must have instructed him to come."

Bank of America is one of the core assets of the American Republic. As the head of the Eastern Branch of Bank of America, Jones has relatively large autonomy.

However, Jones's autonomy was mainly limited to civilian business in the East, rather than government business.

Davis did not doubt the strength of Liang Yao and the American Republic. As long as they were willing, Bank of America, as the largest bank in North America, would naturally be able to lend them money to overcome the current crisis.

However, if you want to get this money, the other party will definitely put forward additional conditions. Before becoming the President of the American Republic, Liang Yao was the largest capitalist in the United States, not a philanthropist.

Davis's opinion of Liang Yao is rather complicated. He can't say he hates him, but he definitely doesn't like him either.

If Liang Yao had not interfered, Texas would not have remained independent until now and would not have been reluctant to join the arms of the Confederacy.

Furthermore, Davis also knew clearly that Liang Yao and he, Davis, were not essentially the same kind of people.

Liang Yao and Lincoln are of the same kind. Both of them reject the slavery system in the South from the bottom of their hearts.

This can be seen from Liang Yao's attitude towards fighting Texas.

Texas has the intention to join the American Republic, but the American Republic has been slow to express its position. The root cause is that Texas is currently a semi-slave republic.

Liang Yao and the Northern Federation were unable to get along, and Davis had to thank the old money people in the North.

The United States has been established for 85 years, and the core ruling circle has long been solidified. Even a wealthy and powerful upstart like Vanderbilt can only barely find a foothold on the edge of this circle.

Not to mention asking them to accept a Chinese circle with completely different skin color and culture into their core ruling circle.

The cake is only so big, and as more people share the cake, naturally those who originally shared the cake will get less.

"Why don't you meet Jones first?" suggested Judah Philip Benjamin, the Confederate Secretary of State.

The political structure of the Confederacy followed that of the United States, with the Secretary of State serving as the president's chief foreign policy adviser, responsible for formulating and implementing foreign policy.

The Secretary of State actually has higher authority in diplomatic matters than the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

When Judah first took office, he tried to win recognition of the independence of the South from European countries and implemented a strategic foreign policy of "cotton is king". To put it bluntly, he used his status as the world's largest cotton exporter to put pressure on European powers.

It is obvious that Judah's cotton-is-king foreign policy has not yet yielded results.

The premise for the "cotton is king" foreign policy to be effective is that the South has the ability to control the export of cotton to Europe. Now the South does not even have the ability to transport cotton out of the port, let alone control the export of cotton to Europe.

Now Zhu Da is promoting a plan to build a Southern Navy attack ship, hoping to launch a surprise attack on Northern merchant ships by building light, flexible and extremely fast attack ships.

Fight back in kind, disrupt the Northern Federation's foreign trade, open up the South's trade routes to the sea, and force international conditions to intervene in the war between the North and the South.

However, Judah's naval raider plan requires money and the technology to build speedboats, both of which the Confederacy unfortunately does not currently have.

Without technology, Zhu Dashang could let the shipyards in the south explore slowly, but without money, it would be like a cook without rice.

The Confederacy's outlet to the sea was blocked, but as far as Juda knew, the trade routes to Europe from the American Republic and the Republic of Texas were still open.

If we can make friends with the American Republic, we may be able to use the American Republic's shipping routes to import cotton from the South to Europe for cash, turning white gold into real gold and silver, or arms.

After thinking for a moment, Davis decided to meet Jones.

He straightened his clothes and said to Meminger, "Christopher, please invite the guests to the living room."

Jones strode into the reception room of the Richmond White House, wearing a well-ironed tuxedo jacket that shone a cold pearl gray under the crystal chandelier in the reception room of the Richmond White House.

Three brass buttons tightly locked his slender waistline, and the slit at the back revealed a dark pattern on the linen lining, which was an exquisite iris embroidered with faded silk thread by an old tailor on Xiangxiu Street in Jinshan.

Jones looked like an elite North American banker and a successful upper-class person.

It turns out that choice is more important than hard work in many cases.

Just twelve years ago, Jones was just an ordinary employee of Citibank. His life trajectory changed after he set foot in California and became the first professional banker to join Bank of America.

Jones was given an important position and was promoted to a position he had never dreamed of before.

"Mr. Jones, please take a seat."

Davidson, accompanied by Confederate Treasurer Meminger and Secretary of State Judah, came to the reception room of the White House in Richmond to meet Jones.

Jones put down his gold-inlaid black walnut cane and sat down with confidence.

After the two exchanged pleasantries, Jones explained his purpose: "I had the honor of being invited to Minister Meminger's dinner last night, and I have heard about the difficulties your government is facing.

Our European counterparts are a bunch of money-hungry guys, but we at Bank of America are different from them, and we are willing to lend a helping hand to your country."

"How much loan is your country and bank willing to provide us?" asked Meminger.

Jones didn't speak directly, but held up five fingers in a mysterious manner.

"Five hundred thousand?" Meminger guessed.

50 US dollars is not a particularly large sum of money for the government, but it is not a small amount. At least it can solve the urgent needs of the federal government.

"No." Jones shook his head and gave a number that the Dixie guys present found unbelievable.

"Five million U.S. dollars. To be exact, five million Republic dollars!"

500 million Republic dollars?!

500 million Republic dollars is 900 million Federation dollars! 1850 million Union dollars!

This is a huge sum of money! Enough to support the Confederate government for a year!

"How is the interest calculated? What is required as collateral? I think Mr. Jones understands the current situation in our country." Davis remained vigilant.

"Mr. Jones, I'm afraid it's not something you, as the president of the Eastern Branch, can decide to use 500 million Republic dollars?" Zhu Da asked.

Judah served as a federal senator before the war. He was also a well-known Jewish lawyer who was particularly good at legal litigation in the economic field.

Judah believed that Jones had the ability to use 5 Republic dollars, but using 500 million Republic dollars was obviously not something that Jones, a small president of the Eastern Branch of the Bank of America, could have.

Sure enough, this guy came with a mission from Liang Yao.

But it's not impossible to talk. After all, apart from the American Republic, there is probably no other big moneymaker in the world who is willing to provide the Southern Alliance with a huge loan of 500 million Republic dollars.

The Confederacy had no choice.

"As you can see, this is indeed the authority granted to me by President Liang." Jones knew his own capabilities and had nothing to hide. He did come with a mission.

"We are willing to offer a preferential annual interest rate of 7%," Jones said, "and we can use your southern cotton to repay the principal and interest at a discount according to the market price."

Jones was not exaggerating. An annual interest rate of 7% was a very high rate in Europe, but in North America, which was in the midst of a civil war, this rate was actually considered a favorable rate.

The annual interest rate of the federal war bonds issued by the Northern Confederacy's Secretary of the Treasury, Salmon Chase, was 5 to 7.3%, and the annual interest rate of the Union war bonds they were planning to issue was initially set at 7% to 9%.

Moreover, the Bank of America allowed them to repay the loan with cotton at a discount, which was indeed a very tempting condition.

Even Davis, who had always been wary of the American Republic and Liang Yao, couldn't help swallowing and was moved when he heard the interest rate.

The Bank of America did not suffer any loss by purchasing cotton from the South. Just because the South could not ship its cotton to Europe did not mean that the West had no other options.

In the west, there is the Atlantic Fleet in the Atlantic Ocean. With the number of warships in the Atlantic Fleet, it is difficult to gain control of the Atlantic Ocean. However, it is still possible to maintain a trade route to Europe.

Cotton exported from the South accounts for more than 64% of the global market share.

At present, the price of cotton in Europe has not shown any obvious fluctuations. That is because Britain, France and other countries realized before the war that the American Civil War was inevitable, and they stockpiled cotton in advance and had sufficient inventory.

Once the Europeans' cotton stocks are used up, cotton prices are bound to soar. At that time, Bank of America can make a lot of money by shipping the cotton purchased at low prices in the South to Europe. It is a cost-effective deal with a profit of more than 50%.

Furthermore, the textile industry in the American Republic is relatively developed and requires a large amount of high-quality and low-cost cotton.

"Does your bank plan to take out 500 million in one lump sum in the form of Republic dollars, or pay it in installments?" Zhu Da asked about the details of the loan.

500 million Republic dollars is an astronomical figure. Even though Bank of America is the largest bank in North America, Judah doubts whether Bank of America has the ability to come up with 500 million Republic dollars in cash at one time.

There are perhaps a dozen or so super banks in the world with assets exceeding five million Republican dollars, and Bank of America is one of them, but only one bank can take out five million Republican dollars in cash at once.

I'm afraid there are only two banks: the Rothschild family's banking network and the British Bank of Barings.

(End of this chapter)