The sun never sets in America

Chapter 91 National Debt and Borrowing

Dahan Imperial Bank Headquarters...

A newly completed Western-style clock tower building. On the top floor of this tall building is a clock that faces the entire Xijing city.

The shape is similar to the Big Ben in Britain in the original time and space. (Of course, the world's number one title now falls on the Imperial Bank of China.) This building, known as the most expensive building in the entire Xijing City, is made entirely of marble. A layer of gold paint was applied, and when the sun shone down, the golden light shone brightly, like a pyramid.

Outside the bank building, carriages with the Ministry of Finance's Golden Pig sign were parked outside. The guards outside the bank kept opening the doors for one carriage after another, and then stepped out another person they could not afford to offend.

And when a carriage stopped, all the guards outside became solemn, and their postures were raised like a military parade.

"His Royal Highness..." A middle-aged man with a Western-style haircut, gold-rimmed eyes, and a Western-style dress saw the young man getting off the car and immediately greeted him warmly from behind, " Your Highness, why are you here so early today? It's your turn to worry about such a small matter. We ministers can do it." The man dressed in oily hair and pink face said with a flattering look on his face after seeing Liu Peng. Showing a flattering look.

"Old Mu, why are you dressed like this now? I remember you were not like this when you were the accountant in Liujiapu??" Liu Peng looked at the oil-headed noodle in front of him. He looked like a Western banker, but there was something a little bit... Mu Qingyang, the president of the Imperial Bank, who was neither fish nor fowl, replied somewhat amusingly, "Why, after dealing with foreigners too much, have you become a foreigner yourself??" Liu Peng looked at Mu Qingyang a few times and teased him somewhat amusingly. road.

"His Royal Highness is joking. I can't help it. Those foreign bankers are all like this. Can't I do it if I don't learn?" Mu Qingyang replied helplessly after listening to Liu Peng's words.

"Haha..." Liu Peng couldn't help laughing after hearing this, "Since these foreigners are so troublesome, how is the loan going?" Liu Peng walked into the headquarters building of the Imperial Bank and asked Mu Qing Yang asked, after all, this matter is the big event today.

"These foreigners are not good, especially those bastards from London and Paris. They are all vampires. If you ask them to borrow money, they will want to peel off your skin..." Mu heard Liu Peng mention the borrowing of money. Qingyang was so angry that he came to get it. He originally had great expectations for these foreign bankers.

But he didn't expect that after these guys came, they first went to several major cities in Han to get to know the local situation, and then came back and told him that the interest rate must be increased by another [-]%, otherwise it would be impossible to borrow money. Give them money to Han.

"What's going on specifically?" Liu Peng frowned immediately when he heard about the interest increase. After all, he dragged on the relationship left by Harlem at the beginning. After finding these British and French bankers, he negotiated the price at the beginning. The annual interest rate is [-]%, using finance as collateral. How come it is going to increase by [-]% so quickly? You must know that if another [-]% is added, the interest on the entire loan will reach [-]%. Infinitely close to ten percent...

And if we follow the rules of the industry and pay the intermediary fees, etc., the interest on this loan will definitely reach [-]%, and may even exceed it.

"Who knows what these guys were thinking? After they came to our place, they ran around in various cities without even saying hello." Mu Qingyang and Liu Peng answered to Liu Peng as they walked upstairs. "Then after they came back, they talked about a lot of things that were not available, such as the risk of war, the lack of business in the city, and the small population... In short, they just said that they would add interest, and they would not borrow without interest," Mu said. Qingyang complained to Liu Peng about the British and French bankers with a very ugly face.

In Mu Qingyang's view, these guys are basically vampires, and they won't stop until they drain you of your blood.

"What else did these guys say?" Liu Peng's expression changed after hearing this, and then he asked Mu Qingyang again.

"These guys, from beginning to end, have only one reason. They are not optimistic about the victory of our Han Kingdom and will ensure the safety of their funds in the future. They require us to increase interest. Only if we increase interest will they lend us money." Mu Qingyang He was very indignant and replied to Liu Peng, in his opinion, as a Han man, you don't have to lend money to us Han, but if you look down on Han and the Han army, then it is an insult to us.

What a joke, it’s not like the Mexicans haven’t been beaten before. Why didn’t these foreigners see it when they were beaten so hard that they cried for their fathers and mothers? ?

Now when it comes to borrowing money, they all say in unison that they can't win. Isn't this taking advantage of the opportunity to extort? ?

"Hmph!!" After listening to what Mu Qingyang just said, Liu Peng snorted coldly, and then said: "This group of foreign bankers are like this. They want to lend you money, but at the same time they use various reasons to hinder you. Borrowing money is called for safety..." Liu Peng said sarcastically to Mu Qingyang, his face full of disdain and contempt for those Western bankers.

"What a joke, for the sake of safety, they should lend all their money to the British government, because that is the country in the world that is most capable of repaying the money..." Liu Peng continued to say disdainfully to Mu Qingyang, "Of course It is also the country with the most violence in the world. Isn’t it easy to get this money??" Liu Peng's face was full of sarcasm.

He understood very well the urinary nature of these Western bankers. The reason why these guys belittled Han was like wild dogs on the roadside, and regarded the upcoming Sino-Mexican War as the Waterloo of the Han army.

But is this really the case? ?

As far as Liu Peng knows, all the loans to Han this time were made up of banks from Britain and France. You must know that Amsterdam, one of the European financial centers, has long been active in the Americas. The Dutch bankers started in the [-]s. It is also the target of Liu Peng's key invitation, but where are the Dutch bankers now, where are the Dutch people, and where is the Dutch money? ? ?
This is a very thought-provoking thing.

The disappearance of the power of the Dutch Bank means that these British and French bankers jointly attacked the financial power of the Dutch and did not allow them to enter the Chinese market... This also means that the Han Dynasty is by no means what they said, it is a country. A country that may suffer losses or even lose the war at any time... Assuming that the Han State may lose the war with the Mexicans at any time, why do they still want to lend money to the Han State? ?

It is not just about monopolizing the entire foreign financial market of Han Dynasty and squeezing out other competitors. In Liu Peng's view, this may only be the first step. In the end, some political means beyond the actual scope of finance may be used.

Don't think that a bank borrowing money from another country can be involved in politics.

In today's world, any loan between countries will involve many things, such as the relationship between the two countries. Considering that Britain is currently reluctant to establish diplomatic relations with Han due to the upcoming Han-Mexican War...

This loan can also show the complicated psychology of the British, that is, they want you to win, but they don’t want your side to be too obvious.

Because the British also borrowed a lot of money from the Mexicans, this so-called California mortgage loan was essentially a conspiracy by the foreign bankers behind Vice President Wright. After all, they also coveted the gold mines in California. It has been three feet for a long time, but I have never been able to find a suitable reason or opportunity. In addition, many of the original owners of the local gold mines were nobles.

This made it difficult for them to start, but now the opportunity came, and Han gave them this golden opportunity.

Although this is an excellent opportunity, it also carries a great risk, which is war. These Western bankers both like and fear war.

I like it because war can always bring them something different, and they will also gain many more benefits than during peacetime.But the war is also uncontrollable. Once the side they support fails or is even annexed, it means that all their investments in the region will be nullified. This is the case for these bankers and financiers who are careful with calculations and regard money as more important than life. They cannot allow it.

And this is also the fundamental reason why they are willing to lend money to Han. Since there is no guarantee of victory in the war, then the outcome of the war is guaranteed. No matter who loses or wins, it will be in the favor of Western bankers like them.

No matter what the outcome of the final war is, they will not lose. If Han loses, they will consider themselves unlucky. They will lose all their gold mine income in the next few years. If the Republic of Mexico loses, then they will trigger the entire The debts of the Republic of Mexico have pushed the Republic of Mexico to the brink of bankruptcy, and have even directly gone through the process of bankruptcy liquidation, swallowing up all the high-quality domestic assets that the Republic of Mexico can still control.

As for whether there will be a Republic of Mexico after doing this, that is none of their business. They are only responsible for taking away the spoils that belong to them.

What's more, even Mexicans don't love the Republic of Mexico, so why do they care so much.

Western bankers are real vampires. They are experienced. In the past, they gave loans to kings and nobles who owned manor lands. Now... they give loans to the country! !
As for what happens to their respective countries because of these debts, they can only pray for God's blessing.

squeak……

While walking and talking, the two of them came to the door with a conference room hanging on it. Mu Qingyang was very discerning and opened the door directly and invited Liu Peng in with a smile.

"His Royal Highness..."

"His Royal Highness..."

As soon as Liu Peng entered the conference room, the financial officials inside, as well as the tax officials under the Ministry of Finance, and even the audit officials within the Imperial Bank, all stood up from their seats and greeted Liu Peng respectfully.

"Everyone, please sit down, please sit down!!" Liu Peng looked at the officials present and ordered them with a smile, "Everyone has worked hard recently. On behalf of the royal family and the government, I would like to thank you all for your hard work during this period... "After everyone sat down, Liu Peng said a polite word of thanks to the officials present.

"It's not hard for us to serve the country..."

"That's right, there is nothing more tiring than working hard for the country."

"Your Highness, we are not tired from the hard work."

.........

As soon as Liu Peng finished speaking, there was a burst of humble replies in the conference room.

"You are all the pillars of the country... ministers of humerus." Liu Peng praised the officials sitting here. Although they knew that Liu Peng was polite, many people present still had proud smiles on their faces. After all, It's not like they haven't heard such compliments before, but the most important thing is who said it, and Liu Peng is the one who makes them care.

Even if Liu Peng said something very ordinary, they would have to go back and think about what it meant.

"President Mu and I just talked about borrowing money..." Liu Peng took a sip of the prepared tea, calmed down, and then talked about the foreign bank borrowing matter he had just discussed with Mu Qingyang outside the door. .

"And I heard that the two bank representatives are coming today. Is this true, President Mu?" Liu Peng turned to Mu Qingyang and asked about the British and French bankers, with a trace of curiosity in his eyes.

"Your Highness the Prince is wise, it is indeed this afternoon, there are about two hours left." Mu Qingyang cupped his hands to Liu Peng, then looked at the pocket watch he carried with him, and then replied.

"Okay, let's take advantage of these two hours to talk about borrowing and national debt." After hearing this, Liu Peng nodded to Mu Qingyang, and then said to the people present.

"Minister Jiang, please first tell me about the current situation of domestic treasury bond issuance." Liu Peng turned his head and asked Minister Jiang of the Ministry of Finance on his right, "To what extent are the treasury bonds at present?" Liu Peng then asked Minister Jiang asked further.

"His Royal Highness, colleagues." Minister Jiang first gave Liu Peng a respectful fist-wag, and then said to everyone present.

"Based on the current national debt figures, the national debt has basically reached the expected target." Minister Jiang opened a document on the table and said, "According to the original plan, we planned to issue 500 million yuan of national debt. Due to the cooperation of the market, currently It’s basically completed.” Minister Jiang said to everyone present with a smile on his face.

After all, this is 500 million Chinese yuan. It is not a piece of paper. Behind each Chinese dollar, it represents the same weight of gold or silver. At first, Minister Jiang only estimated that he could get 250 million to 300 million as soon as possible. , who knew it would be sold out as soon as it was banned from sale...

This made Minister Jiang and even the officials of the Ministry of Finance regret why they didn't issue more of them in the first place. Now they want to issue more. Without the permission of the Government Affairs Office and Liu Peng, it is impossible to issue more.

After all, this debt is not that fun. The more fun it is to borrow it now, the more fun it will be to pay it back in the future... Everyone present understands this.

Therefore, when the Ministry of Finance requested to increase the internal national debt, it was immediately vetoed. And more importantly, the national debt increase has been determined and has become a consensus between the government and the opposition. It cannot be changed for the time being. Even if it is changed, it will require a lot of effort. Skin.

And the current wrangling will be very harmful to the entire preparations for the war with the Republic of Mexico. After all, the longer the delay, the greater the losses that may be suffered in future wars.

(End of this chapter)