Chapter 296 A small step towards industrialization (please order, please vote)
Tong Shun Building.
"Your Majesty, Wu Daotai would like to see you."
Outside a living room with a circle of sofas and a Western-style short coffee table, the announcement came from the guards of Prince Gong's Mansion.
Prince Gong, who was standing by the glass window with his arms folded, looking at the busy construction sites outside, said only one word: "Pass!"
Then there was a gentle push on the door, and Wu Jianzhang walked in holding a paper box. He came behind Prince Gong, lifted up his robe and knelt down: "Your Majesty, I have already prepared a draft of the treaty with Minister Wen. , there are five items in total, please take a look at them.”
Prince Gong did not turn around, but said to Guiliang and Shengbao who were guarding him: "Old Taishan, Ke Zhai, take a look."
"twitter."
Shengbao agreed, took the paper box from Wu Jianzhang, opened it on the coffee table, took out a piece of paper inside and read it with Guiliang.
This treaty is a "supplementary treaty" with a total of five articles. One of them is mutually beneficial to both parties, that is, opening ports; the other two are for the great clearance of China, namely the establishment of concessions at northern ports such as Tianjin and the joint management of northern customs such as Tianjin Customs. ; Two items were provided by Great Britain to help the Qing Dynasty build a new army. They were to sell 30,000 foreign guns, a hundred cannons, a large amount of ammunition, and to send military advisers from Britain to help the Qing Dynasty train the new army.
Although it was a traitorous treaty, when the Qing Dynasty faced the threat of the more powerful Taiping Rebellion, its traitorous level increased. At least it did not cede territory and pay compensation, and it also obtained tens of thousands of new European-style troops.
"Your Majesty, there is no problem with the treaty, but can the Emperor agree to it?"
Guiliang approached Prince Gong and said worriedly: "The British want us to open up Tianjin and create a concession in Tianjin."
"I will agree!"
Prince Gong said calmly: "The British are still neutral. In other words, if we can get it from the British, Changmao can also get it! If we don't want it, Changmao will have tens of thousands more new troops, not to mention Tianjin and Beijing." The surname must be Hong!"
"Your Majesty, we can't always be blackmailed by the British with the supply of foreign guns and cannons, otherwise they will definitely push further!"
Wen Xiang on the side reminded.
Prince Gong lowered his eyebrows and said, "You're talking about Bo Chuan too, so what can you do?"
Wen Xiang said: "Your Majesty, I feel that those foreign guns and cannons are not much worse than ours. Maybe we can invite some foreign craftsmen to teach us how to make foreign guns and cannons!"
Prince Gong raised his eyebrows: "This is a good idea Wu Daotai, can we invite craftsmen from the Qing Dynasty who can make foreign guns and cannons?"
"Of course we can," Wu Jianzhang replied with a smile. "Foreign guns and cannons are a business of foreigners. Foreigners have businesses that run gun factories. As long as the money is in place, the entire factory can be bought back. .”
Wu Jianzhang's words are not nonsense, because he has already handled a business of importing "foreign gun factories"!
Qichang Foreign Company, which he and Luo Xueyan jointly held half of the shares, sent an American team last month with several Guangdong compradors, as well as Yu Dabao and Huang Shouren, to form a delegation to the United States to introduce "foreign gun factories."
Luo Yaoguo also asked his diplomatic adviser, Major Ma Hui, the American Minister, Martha Ali, and the U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Perry to write letters of recommendation respectively, and asked Qi Changxing's "comprador group" to take them to the United States. He hoped that Qichang Yangxing would be able to take them to the United States this time. The production technology, corresponding equipment and molds of the M1842 Mississippi rifle were introduced from the United States.
But Wu Jianzhang will not tell Prince Gong about this, he is now a bureaucrat-capitalist on Luo Yaoguo's side!
"In that case," Prince Gong thought for a while and said with a smile, "Then let's add another clause to the treaty, asking the British to help us ask British craftsmen to help us make foreign guns. Of course, foreign guns, the money is easy to talk about! Wu Daotai, Do you think it’s okay?”
"Okay, if you have money, of course you can!"
Hearing Wu Jianzhang's full agreement, Prince Gong waved his sleeves, turned back to sit on the sofa, served tea to the guests, and dismissed Wu Jianzhang.
After Wu Jianzhang took the draft treaty that he had just asked Guiliang and Shengbao to go to the British for revision, Prince Gong said to Shengbao and Wenxiang: "After the draft treaty of Ke Zhai, Bo Chuan and others is finalized, you two We took a British ship to the north. When we arrived in Beijing, we first went to Wanping’s Fengtai Camp to see the Monk King. We used the 30,000 foreign guns and one hundred foreign cannons and opened a factory in Tianjin to make foreign guns and foreign cannons. !」
Shengbao nodded and said, "I understand your humble position! Foreign guns, foreign artillery, and new troops are now the lifeblood of our Qing Dynasty. They are more important than anything else!"
Prince Gong glanced at his confidant and considered for a moment: "Ke Zhai, you are also an old military officer, and you have seen the Shanghai New Army and the long-haired foreign rifle team. I will write you a note and ask the monk king to You stay in Fengtai Camp as an assistant."
"Thank you, Your Majesty!"
Shengbao looked delighted.
Although the war went south this time, the war was not successful, but the country's sales were good!
If you can train a new army with the Monk King again, it will be of great use in the future.
But Wenxiang thought more, and whispered to Prince Gong: "Your Majesty, do you think we should set up a yamen specifically in charge of foreign affairs? Nowadays, foreign affairs are under the control of the five ministers of commerce and trade."
"We have to set up one," Prince Gong thought for a moment, "Let's set up a prime minister's office for foreign affairs to deal with foreign affairs. I'll write a note to the emperor and talk about this matter."
He paused, then frowned and said to Wen Xiang: "Bo Chuan, when you meet the emperor, remember to mention the military song "The Great Wall Will Never Fall"!"
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Taihu Lake, Dongting Mountain.
It was frost in late autumn, and the trees on the shore of Dongting Mountain were already covered with frost. The roads were covered with a thin layer of ice. The wheels of the carriage rolled over them, making a crunching sound. In the carriage, a man and a woman were chatting softly.
"Your Majesty, there are so many things going on in Suzhou City, how come you still have time to go to Dongting Island?"
The person who spoke was Zhou Xiuying. Since Su Sanniang was pregnant and needed abortion, and Luo Yaoguo was young and vigorous now, it was still the proudest time in his life, and he was very angry. Naturally, she had to follow Mr. Luo and get "gunned" every day. Even if she is physically inconvenient, she still has to serve her with a small cherry-like mouth. Fortunately, she is also a free-spirited and a chivalrous woman who keeps her word. She has already sold herself to Mr. Luo, and that’s not it. She can do whatever Mr. Luo wants?
"Xiaoxiao Zhou, did you know that this Dongting Mountain Island is a place where dragons and tigers are hidden?"
Luo Yaoguo looked at Zhou Xiuying with a smile and asked, half-jokingly calling her "Little Zhou Heroine".
"Xiao Zhou Heroine" nodded and said with a smile: "You know, people from Zhuantian Dongting Mountain, the businessmen in Jiangnan have always been Dongting Mountain Gang, Hui Gang, Ning Gang, Longyou Gang. Recently, talents from Guangdong and Fujian There are more."
Luo Yaoguo nodded lightly and said in a leisurely tone: "The people who really have the final say in the Suzhou Chamber of Commerce are the Dongting Mountain people, the Xi family, the Weng family, the Ge family, the Shen family, the Qin family, the Xu family, the Sun family, the Deng family, etc. All of them are richer than princes, and half of the banks in Suzhou, Shanghai, Changzhou, Huzhou and Jiaxing are controlled by them.
If my HSBC bank is to really start up, it still needs the cooperation of these Dongting Mountain people. I want to industrialize, and it won’t work without the support of the financial industry!”
Oh, that’s it!
Zhou Xiuying nodded vigorously, even though she had no idea what "industrialization" and "financial industry" were.
Luo Yaoguo knows that she doesn't understand, but how many people in China of this era can understand him?
The road he has to take now is extremely difficult, because he must advance two conflicting routes at the same time, one is called "dividing the land and dividing the land"; the other is called "developing capitalist industry and commerce".
If we don’t follow the line of “dividing farmland and dividing land”, there will be no way to ease the acute contradiction between man and land, and the whole society will “explode”!
It is difficult for a society that is "exploded" every now and then to industrialize.
Moreover, without dividing the land, most of the funds in the hands of the landlords and gentry will be used to suck the blood of tenants and poor peasants through the cycle of land rent and usury.
In Luo Yaoguo's view, this cycle of highland rent and usury is an idle cycle - the funds lent through usury are not invested in production, but are used for highland rent. The landlords and gentry are equivalent to lending money to the poor themselves. Farmers came to pay the highland rent for their land. After the funds were idle, no value was produced except depriving some farmers of their food rations and burdening them with more debt.
At the same time, usury in rural areas has increased the overall cost of funds, making it impossible for industry and commerce to obtain cheap funds.
However, "dividing farmland and dividing land" seriously violates the laws of the market.
This will inhibit the development of capitalist industry and commerce.
Without the development of capitalist industry and commerce, there would be no way to push China at least partially onto the road to industrialization in the mid-19th century.
After all, Luo Yaoguo couldn't count on Tsarist Russia to help build an industrial system, right? Nicholas I didn't have one himself yet!
Without external "aid", industrialization can only develop step by step along the line of "light first, then heavy", in compliance with market rules.
Luo Yaoguo looked out the window at the vermillion-yellow autumn colors and said his idea lightly: "The four elephants, eight oxen, and seventy-two golden dogs in Nanxun Town, Huzhou are also one and the same as the people of Dongting Mountain! These elephants, oxen, and dogs The people from Dongting Mountain specialize in the Hu silk business, while the people from Dongting Mountain run banks and help them manage their money.
This time, 30% of the one million given by the Suzhou Chamber of Commerce belongs to Dongtingshan people and 20% belongs to Nanxun people. The funds for industrialization can be raised by Dongtingshan people, but the industry must rely on Nanxun people.
I am going to Dongting Mountain now just to let them know that I am reasonable. Luo Xueyan, Zuo Jigao and I are all our own people. From now on, southern Jiangsu and eastern Zhejiang will be our territory, and they can safely invest money and do business!
Now, Zuo Jigao is also on Dongting Mountain. Most of the Xishan people in the Dongting Mountain Gang have made their fortunes in Huguang, and they are also the merchants who sell rice from Huguang to Jiangnan. Zuo Jigao is familiar with some Xishan people. I met him on Dongting Mountain. Form an alliance, and those people will feel more at ease when they see you."
Chapter completed!