Chapter 466: The First United Nations Summit Twenty
"However, with the signing of various treaties, the number of reparations continued to increase, and the government's fiscal revenue and expenditure changed during the late Qing Dynasty. For example, before the First Opium War, there was only one treaty port in the country, Guangzhou, and the annual tariff revenue was even higher.
After the First Opium War, with the increase of domestic trading ports and the continuous expansion of foreign trade, among the fiscal revenue of the late Qing government, tariffs from major ports gradually became one of the largest financial sources!"
In response to Li Ningyu's fair and objective words, Edward VII's frown relaxed slightly, but Li Ningyu's next words made him feel uncomfortable again.
"According to the information currently available to the Far East Group, in just the five years from 1861 to 1866, the total domestic tariff revenue reached 46,374,398 taels. In addition, after 1853, the late Qing government imposed a lijin tax, and every year
The country's annual revenue gradually increased. In the last years of Tongzhi, the late Qing government's annual
The income reached about 60 million taels of silver, which was more than 50% higher than that of Emperor Daoguang. In the early years of Guangxu, the tax revenue increased to 80 million taels of silver, which was about 1 times higher than that of Daoguang. It was precisely because
These new revenue increases, to some extent, relieved the pressure on the late Qing government to pay war reparations to various countries!"
Although Li Ningyu did not say anything sharper, he was already insinuating that the great powers would take away the country's compensation, and the explanation was clear.
However, Li Ningyu still held an objective attitude. During this period, the late Qing government was still able to achieve a certain balance of revenue and expenditure, and the impact of war reparations on the government's finance and economy was not reflected. At the same time, it was not significant enough.
The revenue and expenditure structure has undergone qualitative changes, but these indemnities did not account for a large proportion of the national fiscal expenditures of the late Qing government.
Among them, the late Qing government paid off the reparations for the First Opium War in four years, with an average of 3.73 million taels of silver repaid to the British every year, accounting for about 9% of the total annual expenditure. However, the Sino-Japanese War of 1888-1895 was an important turning point, and it was really because
That indemnity of hundreds of millions of silver caused the financial and economic problems of the late Qing government to collapse, and the biggest beneficiary of the Sino-Japanese War of 1884-1888 could be said to be the Far East Group.
Since its establishment, the Qing Dynasty has followed the traditional principle of living within its means. Therefore, after the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War, the finances of the late Qing government were very difficult. At the same time, in order to raise various wartime military expenditures, the late Qing government
The Qing government had to borrow debts from the British HSBC twice, totaling 28,653,961 taels of silver.
These two debts were not repaid until the late Qing government came out of office. Since the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War, the finances of the late Qing Dynasty were very tight. The late Qing government no longer had the ability to raise and pay in the short term, because it was a large sum of money.
Huge war reparations amounted to more than three times the annual fiscal revenue at that time, and this money, together with Japan's hundreds of millions of silver reparations, all went into the pockets of the Far East Group.
It was precisely because of this huge sum of money that the Far East Group became so powerful. However, Li Ningyu was helpless because he did not want to continue to take advantage of the great powers of various countries. This was also the only thing Li Ningyu would do in later generations.
matters that are controversial.
However, compared with the hundreds of millions in compensation, the great powers of various countries were even more ruthless. The late Qing government at that time was in a desperate situation and finally had to borrow debts from various countries to repay. Among them, the loans from Russia and France totaled 400 million francs, equivalent to silver.
98,968,370 taels, with an annual interest rate of 4%, to be repaid in 36 years, borrowing from Britain and Germany, totaling 16 million pounds, equivalent to white
97,622,400 taels of silver, with an annual interest rate of 5%, and will be repaid in 36 years. Among them, the second renewal loan was from Britain and Germany, totaling 16 million pounds, equivalent to 112,776,780 taels of silver, with an annual interest rate of 4.5%, and will be repaid in 45 years.
It is precisely because the above three debts are equivalent to seven times the total foreign debt borrowed by the late Qing government before the Sino-Japanese War.
The principal and interest of foreign debts are repaid equally every year to about 20 million taels. Therefore, repaying foreign debts became the main fiscal expenditure of the late Qing government. At the same time, various countries also had harsh borrowing conditions. It was because of these unequal contracts that the country suffered economically.
Huge losses were suffered, and at the same time, sovereignty was also greatly damaged. Among them, the loan contract between Russia and France stated that domestically “no country, no matter what the reason, will never be allowed to exercise the right to take care of tax revenue, etc. If other countries are allowed this right, they will also
Quasi-Russia is equally involved.
At the same time, in order to gain the right to participate in and manage customs affairs, the Tsarist Empire broke the monopoly of customs power by Britain, the United States, and France in the past. In the renewal of British-German loans, it was clearly stipulated that the late Qing government was not allowed to speed up repayment or advance the repayment.
The repayment is a one-time payment, and the repayment method cannot be changed. Before the loan period is up, domestic customs affairs are still managed by the United Kingdom.
In this way, the United Kingdom used the method of restricting the early repayment of debts to obtain a written guarantee that a British person would serve as the head of domestic customs and taxation for a period of forty-five years.
The great powers seized a large amount of rights through borrowing and borrowing, indirectly controlling part of the country's financial sovereignty. The late Qing government's finance and economy had been under the oppression of the great powers for a long time and could not extricate itself.
At the same time, in the process of repaying compensation, the late Qing government used a large amount of tariff revenue on the one hand, and on the other hand increased local taxes on water, salt, soldiers, merchants, etc., resulting in large sums of money and rights that should have been used for its own development, but in the end
Shamelessly plundered by foreign powers.
However, as the content of the conversation between the two increased, Edward VII had to make a rebuttal. Among them, he seized on the hundreds of millions of silver compensation from the Sino-Japanese War of 1898-1896, and said in a big way: "Li, if there was no compensation for the Sino-Japanese War of 1898-1894,
, I think the Far East Group will also have what it is today! So sometimes, we can’t always compare us Western developed countries to robbers. In fact, we have to look at ourselves!”
Edward's rebuttal did catch the Far East Group's sore foot, but Li Ningyu directly countered: "Really? You are right about this, but only half right! If I hadn't been so cruel back then,
Without this huge indemnity, it is indeed impossible to have the current Far East Group. However, due to the Boxer Rebellion Incident and the Eight-Nation Allied Forces Incident in 1900, it is estimated that the eight countries did not know what kind of indemnity and land-ceding treaty they signed with the late Qing government in the end."
Li Ningyu's rebuttal really made King Edward VII of the United Kingdom speechless, because in the Eight-Nation Allied Forces incident, the US authorities, the initiators, had made simple agreements with various countries in advance, and after the incident was completed, they would
The late Qing government demanded 500 million silver in war reparations. Although this matter was a top secret between countries, Li Ningyu was a reborn person, so he still remembered this matter.
The "Xinchou Treaty", also known as the "Xinchou Treaty of Nations" or the "Beijing Protocol", paid an indemnity of 450 million taels of silver, guaranteed by domestic tariffs, salt taxes and regular taxes, and was repaid in thirty-nine years, with an annual interest of 4%
, the principal and interest totaled 980 million taels of silver, no troops could be stationed around Tianjin, and the import of arms and arms-making materials was prohibited for two years.
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