African Nationhood

Chapter 325 Loan Treaty
  If the Sino-Japanese War of Sino-Japanese War was a sign that the Qing Dynasty was completely reduced to a semi-colonial and semi-feudal state, then the Treaty of Shimonoseki was the beginning of the Qing Dynasty being completely plundered financially by foreign powers.

After the signing of the Treaty of Shimonoseki in the original time and space, Japan, at the instigation of the British, informed the Qing that compensation needed to be paid in pounds and was not allowed to be settled in silver.

The Qing Dynasty had no choice but to sell silver in exchange for pounds. The treasury was empty and could only borrow money from European and American powers.

In July 1895, the Qing government signed the "Four Percent Loan Contract" with Russia and France, namely the "Russian-French Loan". The total loan amount was 7 million francs, with an annual interest of 4%, and was repaid in 36 years, with a discount of 94.125 %.

In March 1896, the Qing government signed a loan contract with Britain and Germany, known as the "British-German Loan", with a total loan amount of 3 million pounds, an annual interest of 1600%, and repayment in 36 years, with a September th discount.

In March 1898, the Qing government once again signed a loan contract with Britain and Germany, that is, the "continuation of the Anglo-German loan". The total loan amount was 3 million pounds, with a discount of 1600%, an annual interest of 45%, and repayment in years.

According to calculations, the estimated indirect losses caused to the Qing Dynasty by the above three loans alone amounted to 40471 million taels. At the same time, these loans also included harsh additional conditions, which further caused the Qing Dynasty to lose its sovereignty.

Before the "Treaty of Shimonoseki", the Qing Dynasty's customs tax rate "customs liang" was exchanged for pounds sterling at a ratio of 3 to 4:1.

In 1896, the ratio of "customs taels" to pounds was directly changed to 6 to 7:1, and the value of silver doubled.

The Qing Dynasty never established a central bank and did not understand the importance of maintaining exchange rate stability.

The Qing Dynasty has always been in the super market since the Opium War. After the devaluation of silver, the Qing Dynasty was even more seriously harvested by European and American powers.

……

There is a joke on the Internet in later generations that the sum of all the war reparations paid by the Qing Dynasty is not as large as the stolen money of He Shen, a huge corrupt man. In fact, this is a huge fallacy.

According to statistics, in the ten years before the Sino-Japanese War, the average annual import and export volume of the Qing Dynasty was only more than 226 million customs taels.

Among them, the import value was only more than 126 million customs taels, and the export value was only more than 99.6 million customs taels.

According to statistics from 1898 to 1913, the average annual import and export volume of the Qing Dynasty increased to more than million customs taels, and the export volume was more than million customs taels.

Regarding the needs of the self-sufficient agricultural society of the Qing Dynasty, external purchases are basically rigid needs. If the exchange rate is stable, the import volume will not change greatly.

The increase in import trade volume of more than 2 million customs taels is basically the result of the depreciation of silver.

In order to meet its rigid needs, the Qing Dynasty spent more than 2 million taels of silver every year for no reason.

When European and American powers purchased Qing products, the same money could buy twice as much.

With an export volume of more than 2 million, we could have purchased an additional 2 million taels of supplies.

Adding up the inside and outside, the loss is 4 million to 5 million taels.

That is to say, two "Shimonoseki Treaty" reparations are released every year, or one "Xinchou Treaty" reparations are released every year.

Although corruption among officials was rampant in the late Qing Dynasty, the money they received was not transferred out of the Qing Dynasty.

In the future, it will circulate within the economic system of the Qing Dynasty. It is "meat that rots in the pot" and can also be transformed into new wealth.

The trade deficit and the outflow of resources are plundered by other countries.

Such losses are more terrifying than war!

……

Although Shi Jintang knew that the ignorance and incompetence of the Qing rulers had caused the fall of China, Nanhua Company could not miss the opportunity to establish closer ties with the Qing officials.

Li Zhongtang was naturally curious about the money delivered to his door, and actively contacted Nanhua Company.

Regarding this matter, Nanhua Company required Li Zhongtang to strictly keep secrets. The loan agreement between the two parties must be confidential and cannot be leaked to third parties.

So Li Hongzhang informed Cixi that there were patriotic Chinese businessmen who were willing to lend capital to the Qing Dynasty to tide over the difficulties, but they must keep it secret to prevent other countries from knowing.

The Qing court was immediately overjoyed and rewarded the patriotic Chinese businessman with a large sum of treasures, and allowed Li Hongzhang to take full responsibility for the matter.

After Li Hongzhang was ready, he received a contact letter from the Blackstone Fund in the United States.

The person who came on behalf of Blackstone Fund this time was Terry Andel, the general manager of Blackstone Fund. After Li Hongzhang met with Terry Andel, they basically agreed on the intention to cooperate.

The next step is to negotiate on the repayment method and repayment period. According to international practice, a monthly interest rate of 4% to 6% is appropriate. Terry Andel insists on a monthly interest rate of 5% and compound interest calculation.

Li Zhongtang tried his best to cut and grind, but finally at 4.5 centimeters, Terry Ander refused to let go.

The total loan amount of Blackstone Fund is 1000 million pounds, and the payment can be made after signing the contract.

The repayment was to be paid by immigrants, and Dingkou calculated it at 3.5 pounds per person, otherwise the loan would not be made. Li Zhongtang reluctantly agreed.

In his heart, he was most happy to see this matter succeed.

The Qing Dynasty had too many people, and immigration would be a burden on the local area.

1000 million pounds can only exchange for a few million people, which is still a bit too little.

It's a pity that the Blackstone Fund is only willing to borrow so much. If it could borrow more, the Qing government would be even more willing.

In addition, the Blackstone Fund will set up an inland shipping company in the Yangtze River Basin of the Qing Dynasty to transport immigrants from the Qing Dynasty's inland areas. All local governments in the Qing Dynasty must cooperate.

The number of immigrants is calculated based on the specific number of people arriving in Hong Kong, and those lost during the journey will not be counted.

This is mainly to prevent Qing officials from deliberately using the old, weak, sick and disabled as compensation. In addition, young children can be priced the same as adults.

After these conditions were written down one by one, Li Hongzhang took the terms of the secret agreement and presented them to the emperor for review, and then directly approved them.

At this point, the loan contract is directly concluded:

The secret agreement between the two parties is strictly confidential and is strictly prohibited from being disclosed to third parties. Violators will directly repay the principal and interest.

The total amount of borrowings between the contracting parties is: 1000 million pounds, with a monthly interest of 4.5%, calculated on compound interest.

The loan period is 6 years, and the Qing government must organize the delivery of sufficient immigrants every year as agreed.

The number of immigrants is calculated based on the actual arrival at the port (Port of Beira, Southwest Africa), and both sides send representatives to each other to supervise the counting.

The two parties agreed that the delivery immigration ports are: Jinmen, Modu, Yangcheng, Guangzhou Bay (Shantou), and Jiaozhou Bay (Qingdao).

The inland shipping company, under the name "Blackstone Shipping Company", enjoys the privileges of inland navigation in other European countries.

In addition, the Qing government was not allowed to interrupt the immigration transfer work at will. If the transfer was interrupted for any reason, immigrants from other areas must be adjusted to make up for the number of immigrants.

……

After signing the contract, Terry Ander saw the treasures of the Qing Dynasty donated by Li Zhongtang. He immediately appreciated that Li Zhongtang was not simple. He actually knew that Boss Shi of Nanhua Company liked such treasures.

After hearing this, Li Zhongtang smiled slightly. The general manager of Nanhua Company was always of Chinese descent. He had a sincere heart and a lot of capital, so he made great efforts to make friends at the moment.

So while he arranged for someone to accompany Terry Andel on a tour in Jinmen, he also ordered his men to collect cultural treasures.

When Terry Ander left, he saw several large boxes full of treasures and immediately burst into laughter.

He happily told Li Zhongtang that he would definitely inform Boss Shi of Li Zhongtang's thoughts.

Li Zhongtang immediately twisted his beard and smiled, "That's great!"

……

When Terry Ander arrived with several large boxes of treasures, Shi Jintang was overjoyed.

These cultural relics are enough to support a museum.

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