Master Yuan, start!

Fang Suya raised the wine glass in her hand and signaled to everyone, which disappointed the onlookers who were planning to see the French make a fool of themselves again.

People began to gather in groups of three or four again, toasting each other.

The banquet ended peacefully.

...

After returning to his office in Guangzhou, Yuan Xiangcheng looked at the dark sky and let out a breath.

The Americans can only provide some material and financial support at best. It is not realistic to let them directly intervene in the war.

After all, their focus is now on the Cuban colony in Central America.

No matter how much benefits are offered to tempt Americans, they will not transfer the navy from the East Coast to the West Coast.

However, it is enough to search:.

After all, those who have money support the event with money, and those who have no money support the event with their presence.

They provide both money and manpower; the UK and the US only provide money.

It's time to find the next "sucker"

Yuan Xiangcheng raised his wrist, glanced down at the Swiss watch that the model businessman Lee Seung-man of North Korea had given him a few days ago, then looked to his side and asked:

"Shiguang, have the people arrived?"

Upon hearing this, Xu Shiguang, Director of the Administrative Affairs Department of the Attendant's Office, quickly said, "The Chief Instructor is already waiting in the conference room."

"Okay!" Yuan Xiangcheng nodded and strode out.

"Let's go and see how much the Siamese prince, who calls himself a wanderer from Southeast Asia and a lonely man in the Celestial Empire, really loves China!"

Chapter 464 Overdraft into the Future

After seeing off the Prince of Siam, Yuan Xiangcheng returned to his office and began to think quietly.

On June 1898, 6, it was more than two months before the United States captured Manila.

Two months is not a long time, but it is enough for several warships to set out from the east coast of the United States and sail to the Philippine Islands on the west side of the Pacific Ocean.

Historically, after the American fleet arrived in the Philippines, it fought a naval battle with Spain in Manila Bay.

Moreover, the American fleet had traveled across the ocean, and the crew members had to endure long periods of wind and waves along the way.

But even in this situation, the US military still won a great victory. Not only was the fleet intact, but no one was killed, and only 8 people were injured.

On the other hand, even under the cover of land artillery, the Spanish fleet had its flagship sunk and 381 people died.

Such an exaggerated casualty ratio would almost only occur in wars between European and American countries and Asian, African and Latin American countries. However, it occurred in the United States and Spain, both of which are white countries.

It’s not that the United States is too strong, it’s that Spain is too weak.

The US 8 warships do have advantages in total tonnage, speed, and land artillery level. They are a fully armed ironclad fleet.

However, this is just the standard configuration of the navies of modern countries. In history, even the Qing Dynasty and Japan had this configuration.

As for the Spanish fleet in the Philippines, most of them were old-style warships with iron hulls and wooden ribs from the pre-ironclad era.

It was precisely because the Spanish Philippine fleet was so weak and vulnerable that Liu Buchan and Lin Taizeng were able to lead the South China Sea Fleet to annihilate it several years ago in this time and space.

However, after the Philippine fleet was completely wiped out in this time and space, Spain sent three warships from Europe to Manila, at least to maintain its military presence in front of the natives.

But in Yuan Xiangcheng's opinion, there was absolutely no way these three Spanish warships would survive against the American warships.

You know, when the United States and Spain launched the Battle of the Philippine Sea in the original time and space, the French fleet was still eyeing the waters off Manila, ready to take action at any time.

Even if they had to distract themselves from guarding against the French, the Americans could have completely wiped out the Spanish.

Therefore, as a time traveler, Yuan Xiangcheng was very optimistic about the outcome of the US campaign in the Philippines.

All preparations have been made, and now we just have to wait for the US warships to appear on the surface of the South China Sea.

By then, the supplies for the China-Vietnam front were almost ready.

The National Revolutionary Army of Vietnam can launch a second offensive

The reason why Yuan Shikai was willing to play along with the French was that he was waiting for the Americans to take their positions, and at the same time he was waiting for the government to sort out its financial situation and submit a budget for the war against France.

Now, I have finally waited for this document to be delivered to my desk.

Yuan Xiangcheng took out a telegram with densely written numbers from the drawer and read it carefully.

After the National Revolutionary Army basically unified the vast majority of the country's coastal provinces, the new government's annual income from tariffs alone was expected to reach 2500 million taels in the coming year.

Among them, Jiang Customs accounts for about 3%, Guangdong Customs accounts for 2%, Tianjin, Niuzhuang Yingkou, Yantai, Incheon and other places account for about 4% in total, and Zhejiang Customs accounts for 1%.

In terms of land tax, even though the Northwest, Southwest, and Fujian have not yet been brought under its jurisdiction, and some provinces in the south of the Yangtze River have not yet reached the time to collect agricultural taxes, according to data from 1890, the 3000th year of the Guangxu period, when the Qing Dynasty had not yet split, it is conservatively estimated that about million taels of land tax and miscellaneous taxes can be collected next year.

再加上80一0余零万的商税，以0及各地预liu计5090万两左右1的盐税。四。

All in all, the new government's fiscal revenue is expected to be at least 6800 million taels next year.

In fact, Yuan Xiangcheng knew.

If he had not pushed for the policy of "abolishing lijin and replacing it with commercial tax" more than ten years ago, which resulted in the lijin tax, which was originally almost the same as customs duties and brought in nearly 2 million taels of silver every year, being changed to a commercial tax of only 800 million taels, the fiscal revenue would have been even higher.

Compared with the Qing Dynasty in 1898 in the original time and space, the current fiscal revenue of the new government is about 1000 million taels less.

Because the country has been in war for the past two years, whether it is fighting with foreigners or conquering Hunan and Huai, fiscal revenue has been affected to a certain extent.

However, even so,

After adding North Korea, China in this time and space is still far stronger than the Qing Dynasty in the original time and space.

Because Yuan Xiangcheng knew that these revenues did not include the land tax and commercial taxes in northwestern and southwestern provinces such as Gansu, Shaanxi, Sichuan, and Yunnan, as well as the customs, land tax, and commercial taxes in the entire province of Fujian.

The above 2500 million taels of customs revenue does not include the Fujian Customs and Taiwan Customs.

If these "unplanned taxes" are included, the new government's fiscal revenue will far exceed that of the Qing Dynasty during the same period.

At present, 6800 million taels of silver seems to be a considerable income, but for the new government that is currently engaged in a series of wars, it is only a slight surplus.

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The first is the biggest item, military pay. The current strength of one division requires about 100 million taels of silver every year.

30 divisions, a total of 3000 million taels.

After the war broke out, the consumption of guns, ammunition, horses, artillery, logistical supplies, etc. was at the level of about 10 taels per day.

In other words, relying on a fiscal surplus of 6800 million taels to fight the war was far from enough, and it was exhausted in less than a year.

Not to mention the immigration to Guandong, the Northeast Railway, the Beijing-Hankou Railway, the Grand Canal Railway, the Yellow River flood area immigration, the construction of the "Six Coal and Five Railway" project, the opening of various industrial factories, the reorganization of the patrol camp, the salaries of new government employees in various places, etc.

Although there is no 2 million taels of indemnity from the Treaty of Shimonoseki, the annual expenditures on the above-mentioned civilian industrial projects are no less than the amount to be repaid annually under the Treaty of Shimonoseki.

Therefore, after the war against France began, Yuan Shikai issued bonds to the people in the country to raise funds.

In the three phases, a total of 3 million taels were raised, all of which were invested in the war, greatly alleviating the pressure of financial tension.

After tasting the sweetness, Yuan Shikai planned to borrow money completely to fight the war against France. He not only had to borrow money from the people in the country, but also from foreigners.

Moreover, we should not only spend money now, but also spend money in the future.

In other words, Yuan Shikai wanted to implement a fiscal deficit policy!

In the late 19th century and early 20th century, the economics circles in Europe and the United States generally pursued a more conservative fiscal policy. They believed that once a fiscal deficit occurred, it meant that the government was facing a crisis and would try their best to eliminate the deficit.

If GDP statistics were popular at the end of the 19th century, the deficit rates of various countries would probably remain within the standard data line of less than 3%. It would not be surprising that some financially sound countries, such as the United States and the United Kingdom, even maintained them below 1%.

This is in stark contrast to the phenomenon in the 21st century where European and American countries often had fiscal deficit rates of 2 to 3 times the standard.

What Yuan Shikai had to do was to increase the deficit rate of the new government. In 1898, countries around the world had gradually emerged from the economic depression brought about by the steel industry since 1870 and ushered in a golden era of growth for nearly 30 years.

Until the Great Depression of 1929, there were almost no economic growth problems to worry about.

As long as he could defeat the French and consolidate the fruits of victory, Yuan Shikai believed that the country under his rule, with a population of 4 million, would be able to achieve an economic development speed that would shock the world.

All of this requires a starter.

That is a significant increase in the fiscal deficit ratio!

Chapter 465: Marginalized Japan

The morning was filled with morning mist and the sea breeze was blowing. The morning in Tokyo Port was cold and deserted.

A two-story European-style building in Uchisaiwaicho, Tokyo, is bustling with people.

This building is called Rokumeikan.

The so-called "deer singing" comes from the poem "The deer sings, eating wild apples; I have guests, playing the harp and blowing the flute."

The Japanese took the name "Luming" and regarded this place as a place to entertain friends and welcome guests.

After its completion, Rokumeikan gradually became an important venue for diplomatic activities of the Japanese upper class. In order to entertain European and American officials, a group of Japanese diplomats often held cocktail parties and dances at Rokumeikan with the participation of Japanese government officials and their female relatives.

At the party, Japanese men wore European-style suits, while Japanese women danced with feathers in their hats and long European-style skirts. The party in the museum often went on all night long.

This behavior was regarded by the Japanese at that time as a symbol of "civilization and integration into the world".

Later, Hirobumi Ito held a large-scale masquerade ball with more than 400 people at Rokumeikan, which completely spread this trend throughout Japan.

During this period, the Japanese also referred to their country's diplomacy as "Rokumeikan diplomacy".

The Japanese wanted to use this as a platform to show the Europeans how westernized they were, thereby laying a good foundation for abolishing unequal treaties.

A few years after the establishment of Rokumeikan, Ito Hirobumi came forward to negotiate with the British and agreed to gradually implement extraterritoriality within the next 10 years.

Everyone believed that Japan could follow this path and slowly abolish all unequal treaties.

Unfortunately, the good times don't last long.

When Ito Hirobumi later proposed to negotiate with Britain for Japan's tariff autonomy, he was flatly rejected.

Because the Japanese were defeated in their war with Yuan Shikai in Korea in 1887.

Facts have proved that the task of revising unequal treaties was not quickly resolved due to the vigorous promotion of Europeanization policies. Everything still depends on strength.

The Korean War between Yuan Shikai and Japan brought changes to Japan, not only making them no longer look down on China.

It also brought an end to the vigorous trend of Westernization in Japan since the Meiji Restoration. The once glorious Rokumeikan gradually became deserted and no one cared about it.

It was not until the Sino-Japanese joint fleet defeated the Russian Far East Fleet and Japan obtained half of Karafuto Island that Rokumeikan became lively again.

However, the people who appeared in the museum again were no longer Japanese people wearing European suits and European long skirts.

Instead, he wore a Gofuku kimono and wooden clogs, and always mentioned the pro-Asian faction supported by China and Japan.