The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 496 The sky-high asking price
The piece of paper that Yang Shixiang saw listed the number of prisoners of war from the eight major powers according to their country of origin.

Among them, the largest number of troops were the British, with more than 30,000 Indian soldiers and more than 8,000 genuine British troops, adding up to nearly four billion;
Next was the French army, with a total of 38,000 authentic French troops and Southeast Asian native soldiers;
Then there were the Russian and Japanese troops, each of whom took more than 20,000 prisoners;

There were more than 8,000 American troops, including native soldiers;

There were more than 6,000 German prisoners of war and 520 Austro-Hungarian prisoners of war.

The smallest number was the Italian army, with more than 300 people.

The vast majority of these prisoners were captured by the vanguard army in recent ambushes in the mountains, the subsequent pursuit of fleeing Allied forces, and Li Xianze's sweep through the towns in Southern Zhili occupied by the Allied forces.

There were only American prisoners, mostly those captured during battles in and around the capital.

Wei Jinghai listed a series of expenses including food expenses, medical expenses, prisoner management fees, and even housing expenses, sanitation cleaning fees, etc., and the coalition forces needed to pay 56 million taels of silver.

Seeing Yang Shixiang's bitter smile, Teng Yuzao said sternly, "I won't charge more for these prisoners of war. I only want one hundred taels of silver for each person's food expenses."

"In order to guard them, I have arranged more than 40,000 people. My people's salaries are very high. On average, even if each officer and soldier gets 10 taels of silver per month, it will cost 400,000. And since they are guarding prisoners of war, they will need weapons. Even if each of these 40,000 people has a rifle, it will cost 5 million."

"Their wounded soldiers must be treated. The British, Americans, French, and Germans all sent a batch of medicine, but they only sent it once. The rest were paid for by me. Due to the war, the price of medicine has skyrocketed. In order to treat their wounded soldiers, I spent 30 million taels of silver to buy medicine."

"I also paid for the house they live in. Even if it's 600,000 taels of silver, plus other expenses, 56 million taels of silver is not a lot."

"If we delay this, the cost will go up. I won't calculate the bill in detail. We have to have three million taels per month."

"Tell them that we probably have some captured personnel as well, but not many, at least one or two thousand. A large part of them should have appeared when the Third Town Dongxianpo retreated. I will allow an exchange, even a one-to-two exchange, so that they can spend less money."

"And tell them I don't want silver, I only want pounds and dollars."

Yang Shixiang couldn't help laughing at Teng Yuzhao's serious words.

"The Marshal's calculation is correct, but I'm afraid the foreign devils won't admit it."

Teng Yuzao chuckled, "If you don't admit it, I won't release them. Let them die in the prisoner-of-war camp."

"We have to rebuild Tianjin, and we also need to build roads in Zhili. We also need to vigorously promote Westernization, build a large number of factories, schools, and railways, and even more coal mines."

"In short, if these prisoners are unwilling to be redeemed, I will not release them. This will give us more than 100,000 free laborers."

"besides."

Teng Yuzhao signaled Wei Jinghai to hand Yang Shixiang another piece of paper.

Teng Yuzao said, "Due to the destruction and looting by the coalition forces, not only were the machinery and equipment worth more than 50 million taels of silver destroyed, but the factory buildings of the Tianjin Machinery Bureau were also destroyed. Due to the suspension of production, the losses caused exceeded 200 million taels of silver."

"Also, not only are almost all the houses in Tianjin destroyed, but even the city walls have been demolished. Rebuilding Tianjin cannot be completed without 300 million taels of silver."

"In addition, the losses caused by the suspension of production of Beiyang and private enterprises such as Kaiping Coal Mine and Qixin Cement Factory will exceed 500 million taels of silver. There are also losses in customs revenue caused by the suspension of railway operations and imports and exports. In addition, the public and private property of Beiyang and the people in Tianjin City looted and stolen by the Allied Forces has exceeded 1.5 billion taels of silver according to preliminary statistics." "In addition, compensation for the people in Tianjin City, Beicang, and Zhili who were killed by the Allied Forces or killed by stray bullets and bombings will also cost 500 million taels of silver."

"All these losses, according to preliminary estimates alone, amounted to more than 4.5 billion taels of silver."

"What you have in your hand is the statistical list. If the foreign devils want to calculate it carefully, that's fine. We can set up a joint verification team with them to check and count each item and make a joint determination."

"As for the number of civilians killed in Tongzhou and the surrounding areas of the capital, as well as the public and private property looted by the coalition forces, they should be counted by Shuntian Prefecture Governor Chen Kuilong as soon as possible."

"In addition, the cost of rebuilding the damaged public and private buildings in the inner and outer cities of the capital should also be calculated."

Teng Yuzhao looked at the huge numbers he had reported, and the stunned Yang Shixiang, Xu Shichang, and even Liu Changfa, and continued speaking.

"In particular, the imperial court should send capable personnel from the inner court to Beijing to inspect the losses of the imperial palaces and gardens, mainly the Forbidden City. The foreign devils need full compensation."

After a long while, Xu Shichang asked in surprise.

"Marshal, what you said is well documented!"

Teng Yuzao stiffened his neck and said, "If the foreigners want to check, we can verify everything."

After all, Yang Shixiang had been an official in the local area for some years, he said with a wry smile.

"Many of the things the Marshal just said can only be calculated by us. Let's not talk about them for now. Let's just talk about the Tianjin Machinery Bureau and the customs revenue. The foreigners will not recognize this account."

"The construction costs of Tianjin Machinery Bureau are mainly provided by Tianjin and Yantai Customs. The Customs can check this money now. The same is true for the loss of customs tax revenue. Marshal, don't forget that our customs is controlled by foreigners."

Teng Yuzao said disdainfully, "So what? The Zhili merchants were planning to buy up large quantities of raw silk, tea, and tung oil for export to make money. Because of the war, these things were destroyed. They should be held responsible."

"Commander."

Yang Shixiang said with a bitter face, "This will require the foreigners to pay billions of taels of silver in compensation. I think they will fight us to the death!"

Yang Shixiang's appearance made Teng Yuzao burst into laughter.

"Lian Fu, you are right. If they really have to pay billions of silver, these eight countries will fight us to the death."

Teng Yuzao sighed softly and said, "Our national strength is still too weak. If we had a fleet as powerful as the British, even if these billions of silver are fictitious, I would force them to give them to me one by one."

Teng Yuzao shook his head and said, "As the saying goes, 'ask for a high price and pay it back on the spot', we are preparing for a rainy day and making a big noise early, lest the foreigners ask for compensation first and we become passive."

"In fact, as long as the foreigners do not cede territory or pay compensation, or have any other conditions that affect our sovereignty, what I just said is negotiable."

It was not until then that Xu Shichang suddenly realized that many of the figures reported by Teng Yuzao were just spoken by him.
(End of this chapter)