Travel through the Qing Dynasty and become emperor

Chapter 286 The Great Arms Dealer
The battle between China and Russia is still going on, and the Chinese economy has not been affected by the battle between China and Russia, but has sprung up like mushrooms after rain.In the coastal cities, some officials were very worried that Russia would one day invade the capital and wash the imperial capital like the British and French allied forces did.So they either sold their properties in Beijing or transferred them to the south to avoid being affected by the war.This year, China's tax revenue was as high as 3000 million yuan, which was almost the sum of the small European countries. It was a huge waste, which also gave Guan Xuqing a headache.Although the current war has an advantage, the risk of war is the greatest. There is no odds, only success or failure.Liu Jintang’s Northwest, Zhang Yu’s Mongolian Cavalry, and Zhang Zuolin’s Far East Frontier Army all needed a large amount of military supplies, and it was hard to make up for these expenses. Yuan Shikai’s request for money was handed over again. The Strait of Malacca is the lifeline of Asia, and there is nothing wrong with strengthening coastal defense. , The money and things had just been allocated, and the records of gun bureaus in various places were placed in front of Guan Xuqing like a snowflake. Since the beginning of the Sino-Russian War, the amount of ammunition consumed has exceeded the Sino-French War and the Sino-Japanese War, and the consumption is still increasing. If this continues, the treasury will be emptied before the war is over.For this reason, the officials of the Imperial Finance Department complained to the emperor every day with sad faces.Guan Xuqing was also facing a lawsuit with his head, blaming Li Zhen and the others.

In the early morning of this day, Li Zhen and others reported the shortage of money and food in various places again, and they talked endlessly, which made Guan Xuqing very annoyed. He suddenly said: "Stop talking!" Li Zhen was frightened Hastily knelt down on the ground, not daring to utter another word.

Guan Xuqing supported his forehead with one hand, and the veins on his forehead twitched. It took a long time to calm down, and raised his hand to the next step: "Get up." Li Zhen stood up tremblingly.

"I know that it's really not easy for you to rush around for state affairs these days. What annoys me is that you control the lifeline of the empire's economy. You need to use your brains and think of solutions every time you come here. I will find a lot of difficulties to prevaricate, if so, what use will I have you ministers." Guan Xuqing frowned and said.

"The ministers are incompetent." A group of financial officials headed by Li Zhen fell to their knees.

"If you don't have money, find a way to raise money. Don't always focus on the country, stand higher, and look at the world. There will always be a way. Now the most money-consuming thing is the Sino-Russian war. I think the war will not only Bringing losses to the empire is still one of the most profitable things. This is called "supporting war with war". The establishment of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has injected strong vitality into the science and technology of the empire. We should convert scientific research results into benefits in a timely manner. For example For example, the improved light and heavy machine gun designed by Mr. Ma Keqin has been sold in Europe and the United States, earning a lot of income for the empire. Our Huaxia Type 95 rifle has also reached world-class performance in all aspects, and we can also consider selling it abroad, etc. Wait. Europe is now in full swing, and the major weapon manufacturers are also in a recession. At this time, selling our excellent weapons to the world will definitely make good profits. It is too difficult to rely on the economy to support war, so We must use war to support war." Guan Xuqing's words immediately made the ministers present suddenly enlightened, and praised the emperor's wise decision-making.Guan Xuqing paused and continued: "This matter cannot be solved by the Ministry of Finance alone. Shaoquan, Xianghua, Zixiang and others need to mobilize the military and diplomatic departments to cooperate."

"Cha." Li Hongzhang, Feng Xianghua, Liu Buchan and others led the order together.

It just so happened that Li Hongzhang handed over a sign begging to see him not long after the morning court.

As soon as Li Hongzhang arrived at Danxi, he said excitedly: "Your Majesty, what you said above is really wise, and now I will bring you a cash cow."

"Shaoquan, you have recommended many talents for me, including military generals, diplomats and businessmen. I trust your vision. Who are you bringing here this time?" Guan Xuqing asked enthusiastically.

"This man is not for power or fame. He came to the empire from a long distance just to make a profit." Li Hongzhang betrayed the emperor.

"I just like such straightforward people. Who doesn't love gold, silver and treasures, but many people in the world don't want to say it."

"This man's name is Bashir Zakharov. He is a Turkish-French arms dealer and a recipient of the British Empire Cross. He has been traveling in Europe all year round. None of the business he has handled has ever paid £500 million. He can be called an arms dealer in the world. Big shot here."

"Well, I've heard about this person, and he does have some energy. Please come in and let me meet." Guan Xuqing showed a satisfied smile.

Outside the main hall, the little eunuch announced, and a tall middle-aged man strode in, bowed deeply to the emperor under Dan Xi, and said in fluent Chinese: "My humble Zakharov sees His Majesty the Great Emperor of the Chinese Empire." , I wish His Majesty the Emperor always healthy and the Empress always young and beautiful."

Li Hongzhang was so angry that his beard was crooked, and he yelled angrily: "Bastard! Seeing the emperor kneel down and worship the emperor, he insulted the empress with such disrespectful words, it is really annoying!"

Guan Xuqing waved his hands with a smile: "It's okay, this is the etiquette of foreigners, so you don't need to be too rigid."

Li Hongzhang just snorted and stopped talking.

"There's no need to say more polite words. Since Mr. Zakharov came from afar, does he want to discuss business with me?" Guan Xuqing asked straight to the point.

"That's true. I heard that the military industry of the Chinese Empire has reached an unprecedented height and produced many advanced weapons. To be honest, I also obtained some weapons produced by your country through abnormal channels before. The performance is by no means inferior to For any major military country in the world, I think it would be too wasteful for these advanced weapons to be backlogged in the warehouse. I can use my channels around the world to help your country sell them. First, it can show your country’s national prestige. It can help your country get a large amount of rewards." Zakharov said his intentions in a leisurely manner, but kept silent about his profit points, showing the characteristics that a shrewd businessman should have.

Guan Xuqing stared at him with a smile, and said, "It's unnecessary to show national prestige. Since it's a business, there must be a word of profit. I want to know how much profit you plan to extract from it?"

Guan Xuqing immediately talked about Zakharov's weakness. The businessman is only after profit, otherwise everything is empty talk. The shrewd Zakharov obviously didn't expect His Majesty the Emperor to talk about this issue so directly. I was at a loss for words for a while, and then smiled awkwardly: "Since it is the first business I do with your country, of course it is only for friendship and not for profit. Please let His Majesty the Emperor decide everything."

"Okay, you really deserve to be a big arms dealer. What you say is extraordinary. I also know the world's arms market. Generally, the highest is 20%, right?"

"His Majesty the Emperor has a very accurate grasp of the market conditions. 20% is in the African and American markets, and 15% in the European market." Zakharov had to look at the young Chinese emperor differently.

"How about this, I will give you 30% profit points, and for every 5000 million pounds in trading volume, I will give you an additional 5.00% profit sharing, what do you think?"

Zakharov looked at Guan Xuqing in astonishment, and it took him a long time to come back to his senses. Regardless of his value just now, he fell to his knees and said, "Okay, okay, I completely agree."

Guan Xuqing laughed loudly, and then said: "But I have one condition, that is, the price of Chinese weapons is higher than that of any other country in the world."

"This price factor will largely restrict the transaction volume, but under the circumstances of the world's melee, I think it should still be able to achieve good sales."

"That's it for this matter. However, there is one more thing I don't understand, and I want to ask you."

"I am all ears."

"Do you prefer France or Ottoman Turkey?"

"Your Majesty, I am a businessman, and an arms dealer at that. My purpose is to make money and make friends in your country. The sense of nationality and patriotism are as bland as soda water to us."

After finishing speaking, Guan Xuqing, Li Hongzhang, and Zakharov all burst out laughing.

The flames of war ignited from Central Europe were unprecedentedly fierce and burned throughout Europe and North Africa. The war dealt a fatal blow to the economies of all countries, and even Britain, the king of industry, suffered an economic depression.This economic crisis brought about a major turning point in the development of capitalism, marking the peak of free capitalism, and the transition to monopoly capitalism began.

Before the outbreak of the economic crisis, Germany won huge war reparations after defeating France in the Franco-Prussian War, which promoted investment and speculative mania in Germany, thereby creating conditions for the economic crisis.The overexpansion of railway construction in the United States also provided the premise for the occurrence of economic crisis.The economic crisis broke out first in Germany and the United States, and soon hit the United Kingdom and France, like a rapidly spreading fuse, which immediately formed a world economic crisis.

The economic crisis lasted until the fifth year after the end of the war, and industrial production in many countries experienced two declines.This makes the damage caused by the economic crisis more serious and profound.In the early days of the war, U.S. steel production fell by a quarter, oil production by a quarter, and shipbuilding by two-thirds.The stock prices of the entire industry fell by 1%, and the railroad stocks fell by 4%.There were 1 bankruptcies, with total liabilities of $4 billion.German steel production fell by 2%, the operating rate of the machine manufacturing industry was only 3%, and stock prices plummeted by 40%.The output of pig iron in the UK decreased from 60 million tons in 47000 to 12 million tons in 18, the shipbuilding volume was cut by more than 30/50, and the capital output was reduced by 1872%.This economic crisis has shown a new feature, that is, heavy industry has replaced light industry as the center of gravity of the economic cycle.The crisis first started from heavy industry, and it also hit the heavy industry of all countries the hardest.

This economic crisis has also become more serious and difficult to escape due to the concurrent world agricultural crisis.The substantial growth of agriculture in the newly reclaimed areas of the Americas has resulted in a long-term relative surplus of world agricultural production and a continuous decline in the prices of agricultural products.The agricultural crisis lasted until the end of the 19th century.The intertwining of agricultural crisis and industrial crisis caused the economic development of capitalist countries to slow down greatly in the last years of the 19th century, and economic crises became more frequent.

However, at the same time, China created a miracle. In the case of a major reversal in the world economic situation, it still achieved a growth rate of 30.00%. The strong driving force for economic growth has earned the empire a lot of war capital.This proves from one aspect that Guan Xuqing's strategic thinking of "supporting war with war" is completely correct.Of course this is what happened later.

(End of this chapter)