Obtaining a loan is always extremely important. Yu Huizu and Zhang Kun's itinerary can only be a temporary stop in New York. Because Yu Huizu's identity represents the size of the sky, he cannot come forward very easily. Although Zhang Kun is the chief executive of Kanto Bank, he is still very handsome in New York. He and Xie Taofu, an independent financial trader, and Homer Lee's representative Mr. Allen, went to No. 23 Wall Street, which is the headquarters of the Morgan Consortium and is also the center of Wall Street...

In fact, according to the information learned from previous investigations, American bankers do not like to deal with Chinese people, or rather, they do not like to deal with the Qing government. A country without a central army, a country without a professional budget system, and a country that often uses bargaining to govern the bargaining. These all make bankers feel a headache. Especially in the last article, Chinese officials never keep the secret of negotiations, often use their own conditions as bargaining chips for negotiations with bankers from other countries, and then turn the conditions obtained from these bargaining chips and ask themselves to give them more favorable conditions. What's more annoying is that by the end of the negotiation, the officials' choices are not based on preferential conditions.

To decide, it is not a negotiation based on commercial interests at all. It is often the preference of the people in power. Therefore, no matter how generous the conditions offered by American bankers are, they are still out. After all, in the financial field, China is the sphere of influence of Britain, France, Russia and Germany, and it is still extremely difficult for Americans to squeeze in. The only successful example is the Tonghua Railway in Liaodong, but this is not the achievement of Morgan. But it is the achievement of Harriman and his partner Jacob Schiff. They have been good people and stabilized Morgan with only sweet words that cost no one cent. On the other hand, they have made great benefits in China.

Zhang Kun and Xie Taofu did not meet the Mogen. This guy is already in his seventies and has left many things to his subordinates, such as Mr. George Birkins, who Zhang Kun is facing now. He is the chief manager here, but Morgan is not satisfied with him. After a few years, he was forced to resign automatically. The one who succeeded him will be Harry Davidson sitting beside him.

"Oh. Since you are the financial representative of the Revival Society, then... how should we confirm your identity? Dear Mr. Zhang." Mr. Birkins crossed his hands gracefully and observed the unchanging Chinese in front of him. He only felt that this young man had the sophistication and calmness that was inconsistent with his age. When he was at his age, he was just an assistant to the consortium.

He asked the assistant around him to hand over two documents, and Zhang Kun said: "This is my authorization letter. There is also a telegram sent by the president Mr. Jingcheng. I think these two documents are enough to prove my identity."

Davidson on the opposite side took the document and nodded to Birkins after a closer look. In fact, all he wanted was a good certificate. As for whether he was real, this could only be confirmed after meeting Yang Jingcheng after the formal agreement was reached.

"Okay! Gentlemen, the last time Mr. Allen told us that you needed a large amount of money, about 50 million US dollars. We didn't know what kind of loan this was in the early stage. But then we learned some things..." Birkins looked at Zhang Kun's expression while speaking, but he gained nothing. He had to continue: "Mr. Yang of China needs this large amount of money to realize his revolution and change the status quo of this country. As an American and a representative of a civilized world, we, including Mr. Morgan, agree very much. But..." Birkins changed his tone again and tidied up his bow tie before saying, "It's just that this is a very large loan, and the risk is very high. After we seriously considered it, we were still very hesitant. However, Mr. Allen did a lot of work and convinced us, yes, that is, it's like this. He proposed a new plan, which is to installment loans, that is, not to pay 50 million US dollars in one lump sum, but to pay according to the speed of the revolutionary army's advancement."

Speaking of this, Birkins handed over a brief map of China, which was marked with red dots in Nanjing, Jinan, Shandong, and Beijing. He waited for Zhang Kun and others to see the picture and said: "If the Revolutionary Army occupied Nanjing, then we will pay a loan of 10 million US dollars, and if the Revolutionary Army occupied Beijing, then we will pay another 10 million US dollars. If the Revolutionary Army occupied Beijing, then gentlemen, congratulations, the revolution has been successful! The remaining 30 million US dollars will be paid to you within a month."

Zhang Kun has always not believed that Americans would be so generous. Now when he heard their plans, he felt that it was true. He only waited for the translator to finish all of Birkins' words before he asked: "Mr. Birkins, I want to know some details of the loan, which should include other conditions, right?"

Seeing that the Chinese did not question the entire plan, Birkins smiled, "Yes, Mr. Zhang. The plan also includes some details. In the previous two loans, we need certain mortgages, such as the mortgage of Tonghua Railway, and some corporate shares of Tianzi Company as collateral, such as the stock of the steel factory near Nanjing - as far as I know, it has begun to produce - this is an important basis for the loan, gentlemen, this is very important."

Tonghua Railway is worth more than 20 million US dollars. Even though he sold a lot of shares to Harriman last time, it was worth more than 10 million US dollars. The investment of Ma'anshan Iron Factory was close to 10 million US dollars. The amount of the two mortgages and the loan is not much different. However, this is no longer a risk loan, but a mortgage loan. Although the risk exists, if the Revolutionary Army occupied Nanjing, then the iron factory and the railway within the sphere of influence of the United States will be completely risk-free.

Taking into account the American's calculations, Zhang Kun asked again: "Mr. Birkins, what are the specific conditions for the loan in addition to this important basis?"

"Oh..." Birkins didn't say anything when he heard this, but just signaled to Davidson next to him. He saw the wide chin and a firm American said: "The first loan will be delivered at 85% off, with an interest rate of 12%; the second loan will be delivered at 93% off, with an interest rate of 8% off; the third loan will be delivered at 97% off, with an interest rate of 6% off, with a loan term of one year. In addition, we also need a railway. The railway from the coast of Jiangsu to Xinjiang, according to international practice, the 30 kilometers of minerals on both sides of the railway will belong to the railway investor. Fifteen years later, the railway will be redeemed by the Chinese government, but the minerals next to the railway are not included. In addition, we also need..." Davidson seemed not familiar with the conditions behind and said: "The first monopoly of spruce pulp and the second monopoly of oil are also needed. Both monopoly rights only take fifteen years."

Davidson finally finished the conditions. Zhang Kun didn't speak English for a moment, but Xie Taofu was shocked. For Americans, this was no risk at all. The first 20 million US dollars were completely mortgaged, and the next 30 million US dollars had already occupied Beijing. What else should I do to find Americans? Which one is not good? His face was slightly red like he spoke, but Zhang Kun next to him was pressed down.

From his reaction, Zhang Kun knew that the other party's conditions were extremely bad. But he still wanted to see what the conditions were. After listening to the translation explanation, he asked his assistant to calculate the amount of the railway from the Jiangsu Sea to Xinjiang, and smiled at Burkins: "The person who came up with this plan must be a genius! In fact, this loan is only discussed with the first 20 million mortgage loan. I believe that the loan conditions given by the iron factory and the railway in any bank will not be like this. Mr. Burkins, you don't seem to have the sincerity to borrow money?"

"The conditions for the loan may be a little higher, but dear Mr. Zhang, this loan not only contains economic assistance, but also political assistance. We can promise after the Revolutionary Army occupy Beijing. The United States government will recognize this new government within six months, and will also promise to help the new political development lobby other countries. Let the new government be recognized by all countries as soon as possible. And, most importantly, dear gentlemen, we will persuade other countries to strictly maintain neutrality when the Revolutionary Army marchs into Beijing. This is the most important for your revolution.

Think about it, dear Zhang, now the British, Japanese, and even Germans are all standing on the side of the Qing government. In the last battle, even if you win, you can't even occupy Hangzhou; and the Yangtze River, gentlemen, as far as I know, there is no ready-made bridge on the Yangtze River. If you want to cross it, you can only take a boat, but the Yangtze River is an international waterway. If the British and Japanese navy stands on the side of the Qing government, you may be limited to the area south of the Yangtze River..."

Begins has long been sure to win this loan. According to his information, Chinese people are very afraid of foreigners. As long as foreigners say they cannot do anything, they dare not do anything. This fear is proportional to their level of civilization. The more people are well educated in civilized time, the more they maintain a kind of respect and fear towards the West. Only those farmers who know nothing will face machine gun charges. Judging from their understanding of the Revival Society, they attach great importance to accepting knowledge of the civilized world. The legendary leader Yang spent a lot of time in New York. Begins believes that his reasons will be recognized by the other party.

Negotiations are always long. Today's negotiations only understand Morgan's intentions and the details of the loan. The next talk is the official response of the Revival Association. After all, the loan involves many details and cannot be determined in a short time. On the way to leave No. 23 Wall Street and back to the residence, Zhang Kun and Xie Taofu were both depressed. The reason why Americans dared to raise such conditions is that the ** ships on the Yangtze River are not regarded as warring groups by various countries, but as mobs, they will accept the invitation of the Qing Dynasty to shoot warships to intercept the Yangtze River waters, and then the Northern Expedition will soon die, and China will divide the Yangtze River into two countries.

"Let's send a telegram to Mr. Jingcheng." Xie Taofu returned to his apartment, lying on the chair, feeling weak.

"No. We should do some investigation first." Zhang Kun said. During the negotiations today, he saw the pride in Birkins' eyes and the pity in Davidson's eyes. Although this made him feel uncomfortable, these always made him feel that Americans are so confident must be because there are other reasons.

"What to investigate, how to investigate?" Xie Taofu has been abroad for a long time and does not understand the situation in China.

"It is to see if the Americans reached any agreement with the Qing Dynasty. As far as I know, when it came out, the railway in Zhejiang was said to have to borrow money from the British to build it. Sheng Xuanhuai had signed the contract. Congress meant that the contract was illegal, while Sheng Xuanhuai said that the railway had signed the draft several years ago and is only implemented now. The British have gained benefits. Other countries also want benefits, but they don't know what they promised to the United States and Zaize." Zhang Kun said, and after he said that he had sent a telegram to return to China. He believed that there must be some actions in the country.

"That means that the Americans were held back by Zai Ze and Sheng Xuanhuai, so they offered such extremely harsh conditions to us? In fact, they did not want us to take out a loan, but they were afraid that the benefits of the Qing Dynasty would not be obtained, so they had to hang us first and wait for the Qing Dynasty to agree, and then find an excuse to refuse us?" Xie Taofu said.

"That's about that. I just don't know where the Americans get the benefits? And what does the railway from Jiangsu to Xinjiang mean? If he wants to connect to the Central Asia Railway in Russia, isn't that conflict with Harriman's plan?" Zhang Kun looked at the map of China and guessed the plans of these Americans. Could it be that Sidd had done something again?

The Stead that Zhang Kun said was the consul of the United States in Chenyang. His full name was Willard Dickman Stratt. He was just a young man in his twenties. He graduated from the Department of Architecture at Cornell University and was admitted to Beijing Customs in 2002. During the Russo-Japanese War, he reported the situation for Reuters and the Associated Press. He met the railway king Harriman in Seoul, and began to rise to prominence. However, Harriman did not want his daughter to marry this young man with no family background. Because he is not as close as before, and because President Roosevelt insisted on forming a US bank group in order to get a cake in China, he brought Side and the bank group to the line. Until now, Side has become the chief representative of the US bank group in China, and the main member of the bank group is Morgan.

Zhang Kun's words made Xie Taofu think of some things. He said: "Some time ago, the stocks of the Pacific Railway and Pacific Cruise Shipping Company fell a lot. It is said that Harriman's Global Transportation Network plan failed. Although the Russians lacked money, they were unwilling to sell the Siberian Railway."

"Ah!" Zhang Kun sighed softly. He only felt that his luck was too good. If Harriman's plan went bankrupt two years ago or a year ago, it would be a loss for Kanto Bank and the Revival Association. Tonghua Railway expanded to the north under the American brand. The last stock market arbitrage was also supported by Harriman's support. If he knew that the Global Railway Network could not be achieved at that time, that's the matter... Zhang Kun said after a long time: "Morgan wanted to build the railway from Jiangsu to Xinjiang, connect the Russian Central Asia Railway, and build a global transportation network. But he doesn't have a railway or ship company in the United States?"

"The railway is indeed not available, but the British White Star steamer is controlled by him," said Xie Taofu, who took out the New York Times today and said: "The White Star Company plans to start building three unprecedented huge cruise ships next year. They will be 880 feet long...that is, 260 meters long, 28 meters wide, with a tonnage of 46,000 tons, and a displacement of more than 60,000 tons...These three cruise ships are named Olympic, Titanic, and Giant in turn."

Hearing the information added by Xie Taofu made Zhang Kun understand the role of the railway from Jiangsu to Xinjiang. However, this railway was not built by the Americans. Xinjiang has always been the sphere of influence of Britain and Russia. Now the Bianluo Railway is about to be completed. This is the branch line of the Beijing-Han Railway controlled by the French. Even if this railway of more than 4,000 kilometers is to be built, it will require all the great powers to divide it together. It seems that the Americans really don’t want to lend money to the Revival Society, so they put forward this difficult condition.

Even with the time difference, the telegram sent by Zhang Kun to the country for inquiries had a reply before the dusk arrived. The telegram said that the Americans were talking to the railway that Harriman had talked about before the Qing Dynasty. However, the difference was that Harriman wanted to build from Changchun to Qiqihar. Now Sidd's plan is to build from Xinmintun parallel to the Dongqing Railway to Aihui, and then connect to the Tonghua Railway in Baicheng. The American bank group will invest 20 million US dollars to establish banks in the three eastern provinces. In addition to building roads, this money will also build industries, reform currency values, etc.

"It turned out to be a plan!" The railway was on the railway without any impact on Zhang Kun, but the words "currency reform" were very dazzling. Although Kanto Bank had been separated from the Qing Dynasty's official and money bureau, after borrowing chickens and laying eggs, the entire Northeast recognized the banknotes of Kanto Bank, and with the help of the agricultural trade companies, the Kanto Bank's banknotes accounted for the largest banknotes in the entire Northeast, and it became the official currency. Harriman built the railway and Morgan worked in the bank. The two people's business directions were completely different.

Zhang Kun's telegram was transferred to Xie Taofu again. After reading it, he understood Morgan's plan and asked: "Didn't this railway be negotiated with the Tonghua Railway before? Why is it transferred to Morgan now? And if the railway is built in the Northeast and does not pass through the Tonghua Railway Company, aren't we afraid that the Japanese and Russians will stop this plan?"

"Harriman had already been out of money by the stock market panic last year. If he had no money, he would have no way to build a railway." Zhang Kun said: "As for stopping, I don't know what the plan would be for Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr

There is nothing more helpless than being dragged into an unnecessary war of attrition. Before Zhang Kun's second telegram was sent, Yang Rui was already very clear about what the Americans wanted to do. Morgan didn't want to borrow money from the Fuxing Association at all, but he didn't want to lose this customer. After all, the situation in China is constantly changing, and the military flag of the Fuxing Association stood tenaciously in Yanzhou and Linxi, leaving the Qing Dynasty helpless. Before Yang Rui planned the Tonghua Railway, he had the intention to repair it north.

It was just that Harriman suffered heavy losses in the stock market last year and could no longer afford to pay. Now Americans have completely abandoned the Revival Society and are deluding to contact the Qing government in person. They don’t think about it. Even if the Russians are settled, will the Japanese agree? Of course, the Revival Society has no energy and funds to build railways in the Northeast again, so the Tonghua Railway Company’s position is embarrassing, either being dragged into this bottomless pit, or they can only stand by without saying a word.

I just hope that the Japanese will teach the Americans a severe lesson. After thinking about this, Yang Rui put this aside. He is now in the Ma'anshan Iron Factory. In the last few days of 1908, the iron factory had already started to produce iron, which was much faster than Yang Rui had expected. After all, the materials of coal mines and railways in any place are different. If you want to produce on a large scale, it will take a very long time to make various coal-quality coking ratios and pig iron trials. This is not a matter of how to achieve the optimal cost, but whether the iron produced is qualified.

"The iron ore in Ma'anshan is worse than that in Liaodong and Hanyang. Only a small part can be directly put into the furnace, and most of the others have to be processed, which increases a lot of costs." In the night sky, Du Yaquan, who was transferred to Ma'anshan, accompanied Yang Rui to visit the entire production area. The first thing he said when introducing the iron plant was to complain. The output of the Ma'anshan iron plant, which was made difficult by the end, was expanded to 300,000 tons and 100,000 tons of steel, but this output was not achieved at the beginning. Now the iron plant produces 200,000 tons of iron and 50,000 tons of steel every year, which is already the largest iron plant in Asia.

Seeing his official position, Yang Rui smiled and said, "It is a miracle that you can train iron so quickly. As for the cost, China is originally poor and there are at least iron ore for entering the furnace in Ma'anshan. If the iron plant wants to make money, it can only rely on Huainan Coal Mine to subsidize. The cost of coke there is still better than the Ping Coal used in Hanyang, right?"

Du Yaquan nodded and said, "It's much cheaper than Ping coal. The coke is nine taels, and the eleven taels of Ping coal are cheaper than Ping coal. Now Sheng Xuanhuai has made production restriction in Pingxiang, and he wants to transport the coke from our side to Hanyang. But from the iron factory alone, the iron price is cheaper than foreign iron, but the steel price is indeed a bit more expensive."

When Du Yaquan talked about the cost, Yang Rui smiled and said, "How much is your iron price now? How much is the steel price?"

"The price of iron is 16 taels, and the price of steel is higher, and it will be nearly 30 taels. The technology is not as good as that of humans! If I hadn't known that the coal mines made money, I would have no shame in the iron factory." Du Yaquan asked for perfection in everything, but the technology is not as good as that of humans, there was nothing I could do about it.
Chapter completed!