Open an aircraft carrier to fight against Japan

Lin Yuan said: "I believe you know what this opium is. As long as people get a little bit of it, they will be finished. It is unreasonable for you to let me let this batch of opium go to kill the common people."

Thomas heard displeasure from Lin Yuan's tone, so he smiled and said, "Governor Lin, you can't say that. Excuse me, would a law-abiding citizen smoke opium? So, those who smoke opium, all They are people who should be abandoned by the country, think about it, why do you care about their lives?"

Lin Yuan smiled and said: "What you said is unreasonable. Everyone will face all kinds of temptations. When opium is placed in front of him, it is a temptation, and most people do not have the ability to resist the temptation. , so the duty of the country is to eliminate this temptation and protect the people in the country, I don’t know if you agree with my point of view.”

Thomas said: "Indeed, you are right, but this is the way this world is, the strong prey on the weak. If you don't return this batch of opium to us, then we will definitely have countermeasures."

Lin Yuan sneered in his heart: "If we hadn't come, it would be obvious who is the weak, but now that we are here, it is not certain who is the weak!" So Lin Yuan sneered: "Then you might as well put your reaction Tell me about the measures."

Thomas nodded and said: "The major shareholder behind this fleet is our Citibank of the United States of America. I believe you are no stranger to this bank. When you were fighting the Russians and Japanese, your treasury had no money. , and your high-level executives are unwilling to borrow money from the UK, so you turned to us in the United States, so you borrowed 5000 million taels of silver from Citibank.”

Lin Yuan nodded and asked, "And then?"

Thomas went on to say: "If you don't return this batch of opium, then we must think of something in the international financial market. You also know that your country is on a silver standard and uses silver as currency, and including us in the United States. Many countries in China are on the gold standard and use gold as currency, and we stipulate in the contract that when the Qing government repays the money, it must use gold to repay it.”

When Thomas said this, he stared closely at Lin Yuan's eyes and said, "If you don't agree to my request to return the opium, we will raise the price of gold to silver in the financial market. You know very well."

Of course, Lin Yuan knew what it meant to increase the gold-to-silver exchange rate, which meant that China needed to give more silver to foreign countries. Although the increase in the exchange rate was only a few tenths, multiplied by 5000 million, it would become a huge In the era of Lin Yuan, this kind of thing happened many times. China’s indemnity to Japan after the Sino-Japanese War and the Boxer indemnity to the Eight-Power Allied Forces were all converted into gold coins for calculation. Both numbers increase as the price of silver falls.

Lin Yuan thought to himself: "You are blatantly intimidating and coercing! See how I can treat you!" So Lin Yuan laughed and said, "Mr. Thomas should like elephants more, right?"

Thomas thought he had heard it wrong, so he asked, "What do you mean by that?"

Lin Yuan smiled and said, "I already understand what I mean. You are a Republican, aren't you?" At this time, there are two major parties in control of the United States, the Republican Party and the Democratic Party. There is an elephant on the party emblem of the Communist Party and the Democratic Party, while the party emblem of the Democratic Party has a donkey, so the battle between the two parties is also called the donkey-elephant dispute.

Thomas nodded, and said with some displeasure: "Of course, I'm a Republican. Does this have anything to do with what we're talking about today?"

Lin Yuan smiled and said: "Of course it does. As far as I know, the Republican Party has the support of many large consortia, including the Union Pacific Railroad and the Central Pacific Railroad. If you place a huge railway construction order In their hands, will Citibank still care about the opium money?"

"If these two companies want to build a railway, they will definitely need bank loans. I believe Citibank will definitely reap a lot of benefits, right?"

Thomas couldn't help being surprised when he heard Lin Yuan's words, he thought to himself: "How does this Lin Yuan know so much about our country's affairs."

Just when Thomas was surprised, Lin Yuan spoke again: "This railway construction order must bring you more than just economic benefits. As far as I know, four years ago, in 1892, the United States The largest economic crisis in the history of the United States broke out, and the embers of the crisis have not disappeared. This year is 1896, and your country is about to have a general election. This order will have an extremely profound impact on your party's status in the country."

Thomas asked in surprise, "How do you know these things?"

Lin Yuan leisurely picked up the teacup on the table, took a sip, and casually said: "It's a little cold." Then he said slowly: "You don't have the ability to know one-third of the world before you are young, so how can you do it?" How handsome!" In fact, these things have been written in the history books, how could Lin Yuan not know.

Thomas thought to himself: "Could it be that the Chinese really have such abilities?" However, Lin Yuan's words were true, and he had to believe them. He frowned and said, "But as far as I know, the Qing court has always been concerned about the construction of railways. They are all opposed, can you persuade them?"

Lin Yuan smiled confidently, and said: "I believe you have heard about my work, and the things I have accomplished are not things that others think cannot be done."

Thomas also thought about what Lin Yuan had done. Indeed, many things were like this. The seemingly impossible things were accomplished in Lin Yuan's hands.

Seeing that Thomas was still hesitating, Lin Yuan thought to himself: "He must have been moved, let me say a few more words to make him completely forget about opium." So Lin Yuan smiled and said: "I believe you also know that we have eliminated the long opium." The opium production base on Shandao, I can show you a few things."

Lin Yuan stood up while speaking, took out a paper bag from the cabinet, placed it lightly in front of Thomas, took out a stack of documents and photos from it, spread them out on the table, and said, "These photos are The machines in the factory, with the words 'Made in America' all over them, these documents we found in the filing cabinets of the factory, which record the amount, time and place of every trade with you Americans, even the traders personal information."

"You are also aware of my ability. If I send these things to the media controlled by the Democratic Party in your country, tell me about the reaction in your country. Moreover, we still have these things in our factory on Changshan Island. We welcome them. Your investigation team from all walks of life came to visit."

Thomas gasped when he heard this. This kind of thing would undoubtedly greatly weaken the competitiveness of the Republican Party, so he nodded and said, "Well, let's make such a deal. If we give up opium, we won't be in the The exchange rate of gold to silver is manipulated in the international financial market, how about you find a way to hand over the railway order to us?"

Lin Yuan nodded and said with a smile, "Okay, let's make a deal."