The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 603 No One Wants It to Collapse
Zhou Xuexi was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized something and said, "That is to say, these foreign banks absolutely do not want to see our Aurora Bank collapse, otherwise they can only take back paper money, which cannot be exchanged."

Xi Ligong couldn't help but laugh out loud, "Jizhi, this is why the Marshal insisted that the stock exchange use our paper money."

"Is this why the Marshal would rather do this than make things complicated and even add a lot of workload to our bank?"

Yang Shixiang smiled smugly and said to Zhou Xuexi and Tang Shaoyi, "The Marshal's method is an open conspiracy. Now no one will see our bank collapse due to a run, which would cause many people to suffer losses."

Teng Yuzhao shook his head, not looking relaxed at all.

"Don't be too optimistic. Let's wait and see how the bank run will play out tomorrow. After all, according to the requirements that the Beijing Ministry of Revenue Bank will announce soon, our banknotes can no longer be circulated."

Teng Yuzao glanced at the others and said, "Let's not stay here any longer. The news that I'm still in Tianjin today cannot be leaked out. Let's all go to my place."

"Handsome."

Xi Ligong was about to refuse, but Teng Yuzao waved his hand and said.

"You don't have to go back to the bank. Aurora Bank is ready anyway. You can just give remote control from the Governor's Mansion."

Teng Yuzao's words made Xi Ligong speechless. He just worriedly gave some instructions to the bank manager he brought with him, and then prepared to leave with Teng Yuzao.

Teng Yuzao looked at Zhou Xuexi who was hesitant to speak and said, "You go there too. Can we handle the run? Your factories and companies are our backers. We need you to do many things."

"Also, I'm still a little unsure about whether to fully redeem the banknotes we issued after a bank run occurs, so we'll have to discuss it later."

Teng Yuzao's words immediately shocked Xi Ligong, Yang Shixiang, Zhou Xuexi and Tang Shaoyi. Only Li Yaoting remained calm.

Teng Yuzhao waved his hand to stop everyone and walked towards the door first.

"Hurry up, or we'll get stuck here."

Teng Yuzao and his group came to the backyard of the exchange, where several cars were parked.

There were not only the cars that Teng Yuzhao, Yang Shixiang and Tang Shaoyi were riding in, but also the cars that Zhou Xuexi, Xi Ligong and Li Yaoting himself were riding in.

Of course, the two vehicles that the guards were riding in were also here.

Although the Governor's Office now has more than 30 cars, including joint venture Mercedes-Benz and Ford Model T, which is also a joint venture, Teng Yuzao does not have a fixed car, but randomly uses the five cars that belong to him.

Today, in order to keep it secret and not let anyone know that he was still in Tianjin, Teng Yuzhao just took Yang Shixiang's special car.

His personal guards also did not take their usual cars, but drove out two cars belonging to the General Staff.

Several people got into the car, and several cars quickly drove out of the back door that had just been opened, turned into the main street through the back streets where there were few pedestrians and vehicles, and then I drove back to the Governor's Palace.

Teng Yuzhao had just returned to the Governor's Mansion, but before he got out of the car, he saw Yang Shiqi's car hurriedly driving in, and then Yang Shiqi, wrapped in a fur coat, jumped out of the car.

Yang Shiqi had never been in good health and was somewhat afraid of cold. In the winters of the past two years, he was the one wearing the most clothes among all the senior officials of the Beiyang clique.

This time, he was arranged by Teng Yuzhao to go to the capital to contact Zai Yi and other former "culprits". These people tried to find out everything about the Ministry of Revenue Bank, including Cixi's attitude.

"Xingcheng, thank you for your hard work!"

When he saw Yang Shiqi, who looked dusty, Teng Yuzhao walked a few steps closer and said with a smile.

When he saw Teng Yuzhao, the nervous expression on Yang Shiqi's face did not relax at all. Instead, he looked around and said.

"Marshal, there is something important. Let's go in and talk."

Knowing that Yang Shiqi must have obtained important information, Teng Yuzao instructed a personal guard.

"Please ask the Chief of Staff to come to my office."

After saying this, Teng Yuzao called everyone and took the lead to stride into the Governor's Mansion.

As soon as he entered Teng Yuzao's office, Yang Shiqi was eager to report. Teng Yuzao smiled and comforted Yang Shiqi.

"Xingcheng, don't be impatient. As long as the imperial court doesn't want my head right now, just wait a while."

As he spoke, he asked his personal guard to get water for Yang Shiqi to wash his face, and he personally poured Yang Shiqi a glass of red wine and handed it to him.

Yang Shiqi had been dealing with foreigners since Li Hongzhang's time, and it has been more than ten years now. He has already developed some Western habits, such as smoking cigars and drinking foreign wine.

Yang Shiqi was not polite either. He took the wine handed to him by Teng Yuzhao and drank it in one gulp. He then took a towel handed to him by Teng Yuzhao's personal guard, washed his face hurriedly, and then walked over without hesitation and poured himself a glass of red wine.

During this period, Tang Shaoyi had already taken on the role of half the host. He made tea for everyone and opened two bottles of beer and placed them on the coffee table next to Teng Yuzhao.

Just after Wei Jinghai, who had hurried over, sat down on the sofa, Yang Shiqi couldn't wait to report to Teng Yuzhao.

"Marshal, I rushed back this time because I have two important matters to report."

Except for Yang Shixiang and Wei Jinghai who knew what Yang Shiqi was going to do in the capital, no one else knew where Yang Shiqi had gone.

But everyone knew that Yang Shiqi was in a hurry to come back and must have something important to say, so everyone pricked up their ears and listened carefully.

"The first thing is that at 3:30 pm on the evening of the twelfth hour, the imperial court will officially issue a ban on currency, and it will be issued in the form of a clear decree."

Three quarters past five in the afternoon.

Everyone already knew the news that Yang Shiqi had mentioned, but no one dared to relax because they were still unclear about the specific details.

"It was said that this matter was handled by Yixin's Zongli Yamen, but in fact, Yixin only discussed it secretly with a few people including Zhang Yunyan from the Ministry of Revenue. It is said that people from the Bank of Japan and HSBC were also involved."

"As for us, from the moment the decree is issued, all provinces in the country are prohibited from privately minting silver dollars or issuing paper money. We will follow the example of other powers and there can only be one unified currency in a country, and no local government is allowed to interfere."

Xi Ligong asked anxiously, "Director Yang, what does the court say about our banknotes?"

Xi Ligong, the general manager of Aurora Bank and even the chief steward of Zhishan Province, is naturally most concerned about his banknotes.

Yang Shiqi said bitterly, "This time, Yixin, this old dog, has done something ruthless. Not only has he stopped minting coins and paper money, he has also demanded that paper money be stopped from circulating immediately after the order is issued, and that gold and silver coins must not be used to recover the issued paper money."

Yang Shiqi's words immediately caused an uproar among the crowd. Yang Shixiang spoke first. "What are they trying to do? If they don't exchange the currency, the people will make a fuss!"

However, Teng Yuzao heard it clearly and asked calmly.

"Xingcheng doesn't allow us to exchange for gold and silver coins. Does Yixin want us to pay with their paper money?"

Yang Shiqi bowed to Teng Yuzao and said, "Your Excellency is right. Yixin and his men have exactly this idea."

"They want us to exchange gold and silver coins for the imperial banknotes from the Ministry of Revenue, and then we can use the imperial banknotes to pay for our banknotes in the hands of the people."

"It is said that the imperial edict will require us to take 100 million yuan of capital to the Ministry of Revenue Bank to exchange for paper money."

"Damn it!"

Wei Jinghai must have been influenced by Liu Shijiu for a long time. After blurting out a swear word, he slammed his fist on the coffee table. The tea cups of him and Yang Shixiang on the table were knocked over and rolled to the ground.

Wei Jinghai's forehead veins bulged as he spoke angrily.

"Marshal, this is robbery! Without banks issuing banknotes, what will happen to our military expenses? Although the foreign-related companies and enterprises run by the Marshal are golden gooses that lay eggs, they must have time to lay eggs. We can't wait to fight the war!"

"You old dog Yixin, you are going to drive us to a dead end. Why don't we just rebel?"

Although no one in the room said anything after Wei Jinghai's words, everyone's face turned red and they looked extremely angry.

Although Zhou Xuexi admired Teng Yuzhao very much, he still had many concerns about rebellion. At least he had to consider his father Zhou Fu's feelings and attitude.

Teng Yuzao was not as furious as everyone else. He calmly took a sip of beer, looked at Yang Shiqi and said calmly.

"The Ministry of Revenue Bank wants to use our money as the principal to issue banknotes. This is no big deal."

Teng Yuzao's words shocked everyone, even Yang Shiqi was stunned.

Yang Shiqi smiled bitterly and said, "Marshal, the Ministry of Revenue Bank does not have much capital at all. They want to use our money to lay eggs. How can you just put up with this?"

Teng Yuzao did not answer, but continued to ask.

"I can exchange the money from him for the imperial banknotes, but what I want to know is, will the imperial court confiscate our capital and put it into the national treasury? Or will it return it to us at an appropriate time? If so, how will it be returned?"

Yang Shiqi took a deep breath and said, "It is said that Yixin and Zhang Yunyan are ready to give us 20 million silver dollars every year, but they will not give it to us until the annual tax is paid in full."

Xi Ligong was very angry, but when he saw that Teng Yuzhao was not angry, he didn't say much, but just asked.

"Office Yang, we have to pay 20 million every year for five years. This is equivalent to the money that the Marshal loaned out. They must have interest, right? How much is the interest?"

Seeing Teng Yuzao's calm demeanor, Yang Shiqi felt that Teng Yuzao had already made a decision, so he couldn't help but calm down.

He spread his hands to Xi Ligong, "It is said that Zhang Yunyan did mention the interest, but Yixin said that the Marshal had issued so many banknotes and had already made a lot of money, so there was no need to charge interest."

Seeing that Wei Jinghai couldn't control his anger again, he hurriedly said.

"Xingcheng, do you have any imperial banknotes? What is this banknote called?"

Teng Yuzhao's words reminded Yang Shiqi of something. He took out a few banknotes from his pocket, stood up, walked to Teng Yuzhao's desk and handed them to him, saying with disdain.

"What name would they give it? It's just treasure notes. The full name is Great Qing treasure notes."

Teng Yuzao took the banknote handed over by Yang Shiqi, flipped through it for a while, and saw that the Qing Dynasty treasure note was well-made and its style was modeled after the British pound. He immediately lost interest and motioned Tang Shaoyi to take it and let everyone pass it around, and then asked Yang Shiqi.

"What's the second thing?"

When Teng Yuzhao asked this, Yang Shiqi, who had not yet returned to his seat, suddenly remembered that the second matter was not only no smaller than the matter regarding the right to issue banknotes, but might even be bigger, so he hurriedly spoke.

"Marshal, the second thing is that at noon today, the government affairs supervision office received a joint memorial from the Liangjiang Governor Zhou and Zhang Xiangtao. In the memorial, they suggested to the court that the court should implement constitutional government as soon as possible."

Yang Shiqi said excitedly, "According to the Huguang official who delivered the memorial, Mr. Zhou and Zhang Xiangtao had contacted Yuan Shikai, but Yuan Shikai said that the matter was serious and he followed the imperial edict and did not dare to interfere in government affairs, so he did not participate in the joint signature."

Yang Shiqi's words immediately made everyone's eyes widen again.

Promoting constitutional government is a huge matter, but what made them even more surprised was that Zhou Fu and Zhang Zhidong actually approached Yuan Shikai to sign a petition instead of Teng Yuzao?
You know, not to mention that Zhou Fu has now become a staunch supporter of Teng Yuzao, Zhang Zhidong even had a mutual understanding with Teng Yuzao during the fight against the Eight-Nation Alliance, and they could even be said to be close friends.

After a moment of surprise, Yang Shixiang said with a happy face to Teng Yuzhao, who was also a little surprised.

"Marshal, in my opinion, the reason why Lord Zhou and Zhang Xiangtao did not seek your signature but went to Yuan Shikai instead is because they thought that the head of the cabinet should be you."

Yang Shixiang's words surprised everyone in the room!
Yang Shixiang went on to explain, “If the court ignores their memorials, it has nothing to do with the Marshal and will not cause any harm to the Marshal.”

"But if their proposal is approved by the court, they will put forward the host in their minds, and that is the Marshal."

Teng Yuzhao remembered that the first memorial proposing the implementation of constitutional government was originally signed by Zhou Fu, acting Governor-General of Liangjiang, Zhang Zhidong, Governor-General of Huguang, and Yuan Shikai, Governor of Henan. However, Yuan Shikai was not included in the memorial now. The wheel of history had only shifted slightly, which made Teng Yuzhao feel at ease.

But he also knew that after the three people jointly signed the memorial, Zhou Fu was transferred from Liangjiang to the governor-general of Guangdong and Guangxi, while Zhang Zhidong and Yuan Shikai were both transferred to the Grand Council in the name of planning constitutional government, which made both Zhang Zhidong and Yuan Shikai lose their real power.

Yang Shiqi also smiled excitedly at Yang Shixiang and said, "Brother, your opinion is brilliant. I think the same as mine. If constitutional government is implemented, the chief minister of the cabinet must be the Marshal."

Then Yang Shiqi's expression changed, and he said with a wry smile, "It's just that although the two adults are very sincere, the court does not seem to be willing to implement constitutional government!"

Zhou Xuexi asked anxiously, "What is the court's reaction?"

Zhou Xuexi was very worried about his father and couldn't help asking questions hurriedly.

Yang Shiqi smiled bitterly and said, "The court's response this time was surprisingly quick. It seems that they were well prepared."

Teng Yuzhao didn't say anything, but just looked at Yang Shiqi quietly, waiting for his next words.

Yang Shiqi turned to Teng Yuzao and said, "General, before I hurried back in a special car at noon, Prince Duan Zai Yi asked me to tell you that the Queen Mother has approved the memorials of the two adults, and seems to agree with constitutionalism. First of all, she praised Zhang Xiangtao and Mr. Zhou for their mature and mature statecraft, but she thought that we should send people to the West to conduct a detailed investigation before making a proper decision."

"At the same time, Lord Zhou was transferred to be the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, and the Governor of Jiangsu Duan Fang was transferred to temporarily serve as the Governor of Liangjiang. Zhang Xiangtao was removed from the post of Governor-General of Huguang, and the Military Affairs Council was transferred to assist in state affairs. Yuan Weiting and the Marshal were also transferred to the Military Affairs Council. At the same time, my brother was appointed as the Governor-General of Zhishan."

(End of this chapter)