The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 245 Testing Xiang Shuai
However, Zhou Xuexi opened the first page and only looked at it for a short while before his eyes widened.
Like Zhou Xuexi, Master Qian's eyes were fixed on the manuscript in his hands.

Teng Yuzhao had already expected the performance of the two. He no longer paid attention to them, but looked at Xi Ligong and said with a smile.

"Brother Yucheng, your bank must be opened as soon as possible, and then quickly establish cooperative relationships with banks in various countries. In China, you can cooperate with powerful money houses and bill shops, such as those of Shanxi merchants. I suggest that you establish a key cooperative relationship with the Qiao family's Dadeheng bill shop."

"That way, I can remit the money I raised in Zhili and Shanxi to you as soon as possible."

Teng Yuzao thought for a moment and said, "As for how banks operate, you should be very familiar with this, so I won't say much. I just want to remind you that there is one rule that you must strictly abide by, which is that without my permission, you are absolutely forbidden to lend money to companies with government shares, let alone to the government."

"In addition, I also suggest that the country should pay attention to investing in the shipping industry and establish an investment institution in the United States as soon as possible, and then purchase stocks in the United States before the end of this year. It is best not to let people know that this investment institution was established by our bank."

Teng Yuzao's attention is not only focused on the domestic situation. He is always paying attention to the economies of European and American powers. Although Europe has just experienced an economic crisis, they have overcome the crisis and are currently recovering.

The United States did not escape this crisis, but this time its economic crisis did not occur in sync with Europe, but came late.

Teng Yuzhao was a little worried that he would be too busy with the war and neglect this important matter, so he reminded Ning Xingpu and Xi Ligong.

"In this way, the bank's funds, whether they are its own or collected savings, can be used to purchase U.S. stocks, in addition to the necessary reserves and the funds provided to our own companies. For the time being, we should not invest in China this year. In addition, we can also borrow some money from foreign banks to invest in U.S. stocks."

"However, you must remember that you can only buy from now until February next year, and then you must sell all the stocks you hold. Immediately thereafter, you will start shorting U.S. stocks. The time point for shorting is tentatively set before the end of April next year, with a focus on shorting the stocks of U.S. railroad companies. This time point must be strictly adhered to."

Ning Xingpu had nothing to say about Teng Yuzhao's request. He never engaged in such gambling-style speculation and didn't have much idea about stocks.

But Xi Ligong was different. He had worked for HSBC, the largest British bank in China, for many years and was very familiar with the economic conditions abroad, especially in Europe. Teng Yuzhao's words left Xi Ligong puzzled.

"Sir, I didn't expect you to know so much about foreign stock investments."

Xi Ligong first praised Teng Yuzao insincerely, and then changed the subject.

"It's just that Europe has just experienced a serious economic crisis, and their stocks have only just recovered from their lows. Wouldn't it be better to buy stocks of European powers?"

"The U.S. is not in an economic crisis, so I can understand if it's just buying U.S. stocks, but starting from February next year, you have to short U.S. stocks. This is..."

Teng Yuzao was unable to elaborate, but simply said, "The economic ties between European powers and the United States are very close. Whenever an economic crisis occurs in Europe, it also occurs in the United States. The United States has never been immune."

"So I think the United States has not been able to escape the economic crisis in Europe this time. They are just a little behind. After the first quarter of next year, they will almost have to face this economic crisis."

"Just do as I say. Even if there are problems, I won't blame you, and I will give you more dividends."

Teng Yuzao did not say much about Huang Chujiu, the king of cross-border investment development. He just told Huang Chujiu that as long as he had identified the right business, he could do it boldly.

Teng Yuzhao's instructions to Ning Xingpu were very simple, just three points.

First, we must steer the great ship of "Zhendan" well;
Second, he could contact more powerful big merchants to invest in the trading company;

Third, find a way to purchase a batch of machine tools, a small steelmaking furnace and power generation equipment from foreign companies as soon as possible. The camp office needs to build a small arsenal.

Dividing line.
In the early hours of the morning, in the darkness of the night.

The footsteps of the vanguard army and the large group of nearly a thousand carts and more than two thousand pack horses were marching along the official road at a rapid pace. Yesterday evening, before it was completely dark, Teng Yuzao led Hu Dianjia's Third Brigade, Cao Futian's Independent Brigade, the Artillery Brigade, and the headquarters' direct troops, escorting the field hospital, as well as a large number of vehicles and pack horses, and hurried to the capital.

Although time was a bit tight, Teng Yuzhao did not choose to head straight north to the capital, but chose a road to the northwest. His intermediate destination was Fengtai, and then he would rush to the capital and enter the outer city from Guang'anmen in the west.

Since the current coalition forces attacking the capital are much larger than the 20,000-plus troops in history, if the entire coalition force were to come from Tongzhou now, the total number would be more than 100,000.

Not only did the number of Japanese and Russian troops increase dramatically, but Britain, the United States, and France also urgently dispatched reinforcements from their colonies in Asia. Now the combined troops of Britain, the United States, and France exceed 50,000.

Among them, the British Army has added the most colonial troops. The total strength of the British Army is now close to 30,000, far more than the more than 10,000 in history.

The current strength of the US and French armies has reached over 10,000 people.

In other words, the number of troops attacking the capital by the coalition forces now is four times more than in history.

The coalition forces had such sufficient manpower that Teng Yuzhao was very worried that they would divide their forces and launch a siege on the capital from two, or even three or four sides, and the east and south would be their main attack directions.

If he went directly north from Gu'an and entered the capital from the south, he would most likely encounter the coalition's siege troops head-on and be forced to engage in a field battle with the coalition.

With the current strength of the vanguard army, it does not have the strength to fight a field battle with the coalition forces. The most important reason is that the vanguard army, which has been supplemented with a large number of inadequately trained recruits, cannot compare with the individual strength of the veterans of the coalition forces.

Not only the large force led by Teng Yuzao took this route, but also Li Xianze's Second Mixed Brigade and Liu Shijiu's Assault Battalion took this route.

Although Li Xianze's Second Mixed Brigade and Liu 19th Assault Battalion, which set out in the afternoon, took this route, Teng Yuzhao still did not dare to be careless. Not only did the troops of Hu Dianjia's Third Mixed Brigade who were leading the way carefully search the dangerous sections along the way to confirm that it was safe, but the large force would only pass through after that.

Moreover, on both sides of the main force, there were two squadrons of the independent battalion serving as flank security and cover forces.

In addition, there were small guard troops left behind by Li Xianzhe along the way to provide support, and the large vanguard army was marching very cautiously.

You know, Teng Yuzhao was leading nearly half of the main forces of the vanguard army, including nearly a hundred cannons and a field hospital from the artillery association, as well as a large number of carriages and horses and a large amount of ammunition from the vanguard army. If they were ambushed by the coalition forces, they would suffer serious losses.

Such a loss is absolutely unbearable for the current vanguard army, so it must not be neglected.

The vanguard army did not bring much supplies this time. Wei Jinghai had left behind two outposts of the headquarters' baggage battalion and a large number of new soldiers recruited in Gu'an, preparing to transport the wounded and food and other supplies mobilized from Gu'an and several surrounding counties in batches to Yi County starting tomorrow and hand them over to Li Yulin who would be almost there.

The supplies for the main force of tens of thousands of people led by Teng Yuzhao will be taken care of in the capital, so he doesn't even need to worry about it.

Seeing that the large army had begun to bypass Fengtai and was getting closer and closer to the capital, Teng Yuzhao's mood gradually began to relax. He couldn't help but think of the little trick he had used on Zhang Zhidong, and a slight smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

Before the end of the banquet yesterday, Teng Yuzhao asked Zhou Xuexi to ask his father Zhou Fu to write a letter to Zhang Zhidong, requesting Zhang Zhidong to give appropriate attention to the Ta Kung Pao and the Aurora Trade Development Company chaired by Ning Xingpu.

Teng Yuzhao believed that Zhou Fu would not fail to hint to Zhang Zhidong in his letter that this company and the Ta Kung Pao were related to him.

Teng Yuzao wanted to test this opportunity to see if Zhang Zhidong's attitude towards resisting the invasion of the Eight-Nation Alliance had changed under the encouragement of his successive victories.
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(End of this chapter)