Republic of China game

Chapter 0396 High debts (five)

The Mellon family's estate looks like a hunting palace of a European royal family from the outside, located in a dense forest.About two hours by car from New York City, the surrounding area is deserted, save for a few stunted almond trees and green pines covered with snow.At the intersection of the road leading from the highway to here, there is a wooden sign saying "private property, no entry".Apparently everything here belongs to the Mellon family, one of the wealthiest families in America right now.This family and the Morgan family should be the two richest families in the United States and the world.The Mellon family currently controls hundreds of large enterprises including banking, steel, petroleum, aluminum, coal mines, shipbuilding, train locomotives and other industries.The core of these large enterprises is the Mellon Bank Company and the United Trust Company.

The current head of the Mellon family, Andrew William Mellon, has served as the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury for two consecutive U.S. presidents, and in history, he will also serve as the Secretary of the Treasury for President Hoover.Today Luo Yaoguo, Song Ziwen, and Kong Xiangxi, three senior government officials from China, will meet the real master of American capitalism here and discuss a series of "unequal treaties" with him.

The car turned a corner and drove into the territory of the Mellon family. After driving for about 10 minutes, Luo Yaoguo caught a glimpse of a majestic wooden and stone structure building. This is a real palace.Compared with it, the Hugel villa of the Krupp family is as narrow as a shack in a slum, while Luo Yaoguo's "Bei Lu" is simply a small pigeon cage. The only thing that can be compared with this place is probably Is it the palace and royal garden of the Manchu emperor?At this moment, Luo Yaoguo had a vague feeling that what he was going to meet today seemed to be the king of the United States.

"Fuwen, this Andrew William Mellon is the de facto controller of the Bethlehem Steel Company." It was Song Ziwen who was speaking. He looked at the "palace" not far away and adjusted his glasses: "His steel company also has Shipbuilding companies have always wanted to squeeze into our Chinese market. Bethlehem Steel, in particular, has a current output of almost 1000 million tons! It is twice as much as Germany’s Krupp Steel. It is really true for such a predator to enter our Chinese market. Is there no problem? Will it crush our China Iron and Steel Company?"

Luo Yaoguo smiled, and waved his hand indifferently: "Mr. Ziwen is overthinking. Our China Iron and Steel has developed very well in the past few years, and the pace of expansion is also very fast. After it is listed in the United States next year, we will expand the second phase of the Daye Steel Plant , plus Ma'anshan Krupp, which is currently under construction... the total output is estimated to exceed 250 million tons! And the steel plant opened by Bethlehem Steel in Nanjing is only 100 million tons."

Of course, this explanation is really far-fetched, but there are some things that Luo Yaoguo can't say, so as not to be reported to Sun Yat-sen by Uncle Song Guo as a lunatic... The Mellon family wants to invest in Nanjing's steel plant, Guangxi's aluminum mine, and aluminum plant , the shipyard in Shanghai, and seems to want to open a train locomotive factory.This is not a problem, try to open it!Taking advantage of the current international economic boom, when there is a lot of money and no land to invest, hurry up and invest in China.The Armaments Department will do everything possible to hoard cash. When the legendary Great Depression comes, those enterprises that Grandpa Mellon has worked so hard to run in China may be sold for three cents or two cents. Going to cash out... These predators may know that the crisis is coming, but they probably lack the understanding of how serious the crisis is.

In the luxurious banquet hall with vaulted domes, it was crowded with well-dressed gentlemen and women in various evening gowns.Among them were the female companions brought by Luo Yaoguo and Song Ziwen.What Luo Yaoguo brought was Natalie Leshinskaya. She may not be the most beautiful woman here, but she definitely has the most charming figure.Song Ziwen's female companion is his girlfriend Zhang Leyi. This is a very beautiful girl about 20 years old. She is tall and slender, with dignified features, delicate skin, and black shiny hair, exuding youthful vitality everywhere. .The short and thin Andrew Mellon was also in the crowd, chatting with Luo Yaoguo, Song Ziwen, and Kong Xiangxi with relish.In one corner of the vast, marble-clad hall, an orchestra played softly Mozart inconspicuously.Thick firewood was burning in the fireplace, making crackling noises from time to time.The large carved table that runs the length of the room is filled with unused sumptuous delicacies.There were all kinds of heavy smells in the air: wood-burning smoke, cigar smoke, barbecue, expensive French perfumes.The members of the Mellon family and the guests invited by the Mellon family all appeared to be in high spirits, some were laughing loudly, some were whispering, and everyone's face was filled with the joy that can only be seen in the era of economic prosperity. All expressions.

"Tell me about the big railway that runs across China. From the map, it looks like it's about [-] to [-] miles long?"

It was Andrew Mellon who spoke. He looked withdrawn and indifferent. He had no expression on his face when he spoke, but he seemed to be concentrating.He held a lighted premium Cuban cigar in his hand, and he took a puff from time to time, but he didn't do any extra actions other than that.

Luo Yaoguo smiled and nodded: "It's more than 300 miles, or [-] kilometers. This is a large railway that stretches from the sea in eastern China to Xinjiang, the westernmost province. Its role in China's economy and the development of the west It cannot be overemphasized. However, the difficulty and investment in the construction of this railway is astonishing, especially the part after entering Xinjiang Province.”

Andrew Mellon just listened quietly, nodding his head from time to time, until Luo Yaoguo finished speaking, and after a while, he spoke: "How long will it take for this railway to be built? And what will it be used to transport?" Woolen cloth?"

"Maybe it will take ten years?" Luo Yaoguo said, "There will be a lot of things to transport after it is completed, the most important thing should be oil, there should be oil in Xinjiang Province."

"What do you mean there should be?" Andrew Mellon frowned, obviously dissatisfied with this ambiguous answer.

Luo Yaoguo smiled awkwardly: "There is a place called 'Karamay' in the northern part of Xinjiang Province. 'Karamay' means 'black oil' in the language of the indigenous peoples of Xinjiang Province. The local government of Xinjiang Province found Over a mountain of natural asphalt, Mr Mellon, you know what that means, don't you?"

Only then did Andrew Mellon show a smile and nodded: "I know, there is Gulf Oil Company in the company I control. Natural asphalt is formed by the evaporation of oil after it is gushed out of the earth's crust. It seems that there should be There is a nice big oil field, and the value of expulsion should be quite high! I can ask the Gulf Oil Company to send someone to explore there to see if it can be exploited? If so..."

Luo Yaoguo waved his hand indifferently: "No problem, I can make the decision to give Gulf Oil the right to exploit this potential oil field. Right now, the leader of Xinjiang Province is my student, and I can do it with a word. It's just... …The railway has not been built yet, even if you extract oil, you can’t transport it? So now you need to build the railway, can your bank provide loans for this?”

Andrew Mellon smoked a cigar for a while, thought carefully in his heart, nodded and agreed: "As long as you use the shares of the railway company as collateral, I can provide loans. Isn't that what banks do? Besides... I I heard that you have a railway operator named China Railway Co., Ltd. that is going to go public in the United States, does its assets include this large railway?"

"Not included." Luo Yaoguo shook his head: "This large railway is composed of the original 'Longhai Railway' and the new 'New Longhai Railway'. However, the 'Longhai Railway' has not yet been completed, only part of it has been completed. .This 'Longhai Railway' was built with loans from Belgium and the Netherlands. We currently plan to pay back their loans and merge the 'Longhai Railway' and the 'Xinlong Railway' to form Xinhai Railway Company, which will be responsible for construction and operation. This large railway is [-] miles long. Of course, we also welcome powerful investors like the Mellon Group to join in.”

"Oh, it looks like a good opportunity." Andrew Mellon's mustache moved and he smiled.He raised the arm holding the cigar and pointed to the direction of the stairs: "This is not a place to discuss business, let's talk in my study."

……

Luo Yaoguo and the others followed Andrew Mellon up the stairs.Before leading to the study room, they had the pleasure of sightseeing in this luxurious palace.The palatially decorated corridors and rooms seem endless.There are more than a dozen glass cabinets on both sides of the corridor to display some collections of the Mellon family, including pure gold ornaments studded with precious stones, vases and bronzes that seem to have come from the Chinese court, Western-style swords, scepters, Busts and ancient books.The walls are covered with famous paintings by Italian, Dutch, French and other art masters from the [-]th to [-]th centuries, as well as works by modern famous painters such as Picasso.Like Rockefeller Jr.'s office, the entire Mellon family's palace seems to be a museum.Looking at the house full of collections, Luo Yaoguo was also pondering in his heart, should he also fill his home with antiques and artworks?

After passing through some rooms and corridors, Andrew Mellon finally stopped in front of two light black wooden doors.He pushed open the door, and inside was a room that was also luxuriously decorated and filled with all kinds of expensive-looking artworks.However, the rows of bookshelves full of various books on both sides of the wall and a large desk undoubtedly tell the guests that this is the core of Andrew Mellon's empire.

After Mellon and the three Chinese were seated as guests and hosts, they pressed a few times on what looked like a button.After a while, a cute-looking American girl in a maid outfit brought several steaming cups of gourmet coffee with a strong aroma.Then it disappeared behind a door leading to nowhere.When Luo Yaoguo saw this American girl, somehow he suddenly thought that he also had a cute little maid, and he could eat her... Uh, why did he forget about this?

"Let's talk about linking your legal currency to the U.S. dollar first." Andrew Mellon drank a few sips of coffee to refresh himself, and decided to start with business: "If you can link your legal currency to the U.S. dollar, It should be very beneficial to China's import and export and attracting foreign investment. After all, the value of silver is very unstable and is very easy to be manipulated. Moreover, the US government will provide a ten-year low-interest loan of up to US$3.5 million for this purpose. You guys, to help you stabilize the value of your fiat currency. In the future, the fiat currency will be linked to the U.S. dollar and implement a fixed exchange rate of 1 to [-]. Do you think it is acceptable? If you can, wait until this weekend and go to Washington to sign the treaty."

What Andrew Mellon said is actually quite reasonable. At present, China's economy is growing rapidly, and its relationship with the international community is getting closer.The flow of funds brought about by trade and investment is also increasing, but the external settlement depends on the price of silver!Some people in China, such as Zhang Junzi, think that pegging to silver is to maintain currency sovereignty. If it is pegged to the US dollar, it is tantamount to allowing the United States to manipulate China's exchange rate!In fact, the pricing power of silver is even more unreliable than the U.S. dollar at the moment. It is completely manipulated by the financial giants of the London Stock Exchange... and in this era, the trading volume of silver is very small, and it is easy to be manipulated by the financial giants. They manipulate.In fact, after the Great Depression comes, the price fluctuation of silver will intensify, and the losses to the Chinese economy will be quite heavy!On the contrary, adopting the strategy of pegging to the US dollar will also result in the consequences of monetary sovereignty being manipulated by the United States.However, given the current status of the US economy and the US dollar in the international arena, it is relatively reliable to do so.What's more, Americans are willing to provide a large amount of low-interest loans?This impact on China's safe passage of the Great Depression is particularly important in the future.

Song Ziwen and Kong Xiangxi, who are financial experts, are of course well aware of these reasons, and they quickly agreed to Andrew Mellon's plan.A "traitorous treaty" called the "Sino-US Currency Agreement" will also be signed in Washington soon, and it will have some unintended consequences.

"Oh, there is also a request to open the market of the three northwestern provinces of China. Of course, this does not require a restrictive agreement, but only a commitment." Mellon touched Ba Zihu and smiled: "Your China seems to be a 'federal system' country now. , the person who rules there is General Wang Zixing, right? Can he listen to your advice?"

"Of course." Luo Yaoguo nodded without hesitation: "His army is maintained by our financial subsidies, and all their weapons and ammunition are supplied by us. In fact, he is our agent in the northwest, supporting him The purpose was to avoid direct conflict with the Soviet Union."

"Soviet Union?" Andrew Mellon shook his head, with a puzzled expression on his face: "Speaking of the Soviet Union, I would like to ask, why did you approve the battleship transaction? This made the people in the Admiralty very annoyed, you know? The two A 'Karl Marx' class battleship is better than all our battleships!"

Luo Yaoguo shrugged his shoulders and said with a smile: "The Soviet Union will pay 500 million US dollars for this! And according to intelligence, they also ordered a battlecruiser, a battleship, two aircraft carriers and [-] aircraft carriers from Japan." Aircraft, that would cost at least [-] million dollars. As you may know, the Soviet Union did not have rich foreign exchange reserves on hand. If they spent all their money on the navy, they would have to spend less on other aspects, which is of great benefit to us National defense is good. And... the Soviet Navy's battleships are actually not very useful, didn't this guy from the U.S. Navy tell you?"

"How do you say it?" Andrew Mellon looked at Luo Yaoguo.

"Mr. Mellon, you should know the terrain of the Soviet Union very well, right?" Luo Yaoguo smiled and explained: "Although this country is a large ocean country, the oceans they own are very trivial and far away from each other. There are the Baltic Sea and the Northern Sea. , the Pacific coast, and the Black Sea. If the Soviet Union had four battleships, they could only place one in each sea area. How effective would it be if they really wanted to fight? Could the Baltic fleet travel thousands of miles to the Pacific Ocean for reinforcements? Like a naval battle, a navy that has been drifting at sea for half a year is exhausted and is attacked by an opponent that has been recharging its energy for a long time? So it is definitely a bad move for Stalin to blindly develop the navy after being stimulated by the second Russo-Japanese War. Maybe he will I’m already regretting it! But the battleship deposit will not be refunded.”

Andrew Mellon nodded thoughtfully: "Let's not mention this for now. Let's talk about the Bethlehem Steel Company deal. We want to open a steel plant near Nanjing, China, with an annual production capacity of about 100 million tons of steel. In addition There is also a large shipyard to be built near Shanghai to produce civilian or military ships. I think we can enter the military ship market in China, right?"

"Actually, this is exactly what we expected." Luo Yaoguo nodded with a smile: "Right now, we have placed some orders for warships to the British Yesong Shipyard in Shanghai, so there is no reason to keep American companies out, right? "

"Well, that's good." Andrew Mellon took another sip of coffee: "We don't want to operate this Bethlehem Iron and Steel Plant in Nanjing as a joint venture with others. As for iron ore, we hope to be able to purchase it. Can it be done? ?”

"Yes." Luo Yaoguo replied.

"Okay, let's talk about the bauxite mines in Guangxi Province, China. I know you have started building a large-scale aluminum smelting plant there. There is also a large-scale hydropower station, and a large-scale thermal power station is also under construction?" Andrew Mellon He is also the actual controller of Alcoa, so he naturally hopes to control this infant competitor, and then continue to maintain a monopoly on the electrolytic aluminum industry.

Chapter 0397 High Debt ([-])

"This factory is a technology we imported from Germany. It was originally planned to build a production capacity of [-] tons of electrolytic aluminum within five years. If... Alcoa wants to join, we can increase capital and share, and double the production capacity. Reached [-] tons!"

Luo Yaoguo thought for a while, and immediately reported a production expansion plan that seemed a bit crazy.

Mellon took a deep breath: "One hundred thousand tons! It's almost the same as the current aluminum production in the United States! Can China use it?"

Luo Yaoguo's answer was: "Our Armament Department will purchase all the products, and we can sign an agreement. In this way, the aluminum company doesn't have to worry about whether they are used or not. What do you think?"

One hundred thousand tons of aluminum, this figure is an insignificant output in the eyes of Luo Yaoguo who came from later generations.But at the time it was a huge output.Even in World War II, the highest aluminum production in the United States was only 83 tons!In fact, the "head of state" and Little Japan are affected by eight 10,000+ tons of aluminum, sixty-seven million tons of steel, almost 7000 million tons of oil, more than 700 billion cubic meters of natural gas, more than 4 million tons of coal, and more than 100 million tons of copper every year. , more than 50 tons of lead, 80 million tons of zinc...defeated!And Luo Yaoguo has been desperate to expand heavy industry these years. Even if China is not unified temporarily, it must give priority to the development of heavy industry. It is hoped that when World War II comes, China will have at least one tenth of the heavy industry output of the United States.With such capital, coupled with the largest population in the world and the third largest territory in the world, you can go to the casino of World War II to play!

Andrew Mellon hesitated for a while, but still agreed with a smile: "Okay! It would be a good thing if someone could buy all the products. This investment is initially determined, and I will discuss the specific negotiations. Arranged for representatives of Alcoa to go to China to negotiate with you. I hope to complete all negotiations within three months, no problem?"

"No problem." Luo Yaoguo's answer was also quite straightforward.

"Finally, let's talk about loans, railways, and oil in Xinjiang Province." Speaking of oil, Mellon's eyes couldn't help flickering with strange brilliance.Right now in the United States, it seems that the richest billionaires are inseparable from oil.For example, the Gulf Oil Company of the Andrew Mellon family, the Continental Oil Company controlled by the Morgan family, and the Standard Oil Company of the Rockefeller family.

Luo Yaoguo took a sip of coffee and said to Mellon with a smile: "Mr. Mellon, the Armament Department of the Nationalist Government can sell you up to half of the Xinhai Railway Company shares, which is the largest share I can control right now. In addition... the oil exploration and mining rights in the Karamay area of ​​​​Xinjiang Province can also be transferred to you. I can definitely convince General Wang Zixing who ruled there. However, I hope that I can use half of the shares of the Sino-German Aircraft Company, Huainan Coal Mine, Xuzhou Coal Mine and Pingxiang Coal Mine are currently the largest coal mining companies in China with the best facilities as collateral. They are loans of 15 million U.S. dollars from Mellon Bank Corporation and United Trust Company for the Armament Department of the Nationalist Government. The term is [-] years and the interest rate is fixed.”

"After the valuation of 50% of the shares of Xinhai Railway Company is completed, I will give you a 5.00% premium, and there is no problem with the loan." Andrew Mellon helped his reading glasses with gold silk, and said with a smile: "If our bank manager is sure If those companies are worth [-] million U.S. dollars, I will approve the transaction immediately. In addition, I will give you [-]% in terms of interest rate, which is very favorable."

Hearing Andrew Mellon's affirmative answer, Luo Yaoguo secretly heaved a sigh of relief in his heart.In addition to the agreement reached with Rockefeller Jr., this trip to the United States has raised at least 13 million U.S. dollars in cash for the Armament Department and heavy industry companies closely related to the Armament Department!In addition, the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank have also received another 15 million US dollars in loans, for a total of [-] billion US dollars!If the China Railway Company and the China Power Corporation, which are controlled by the Ministry of Communications and the Ministry of Industry, can finally be successfully listed in the United States, the National Government and the Chinese consortium will be able to raise at least US$[-] billion in cash before the Great Depression in the United States.With such a huge sum of money as a guarantee, at least China can survive the disaster safely, right?As for taking advantage of the Great Depression to go to the United States to "buy the bottom", Luo Yaoguo did not dare to expect extravagantly.After all, China is almost the most vulnerable link in the international capitalist camp right now, and it is thankful to be able to protect itself. As for the bargain hunting, let Stalin do it.

……

Just when Luo Yaoguo, Song Ziwen, and Kong Xiangxi were busy borrowing money from all over the United States to reserve sufficient funds to survive the Great Depression in the future.On the other side of the world, there is also a group of energetic idealists who are trying to find ways to raise money everywhere, so that they can form a "United Reserve Bank" to fight against such a behemoth as the legal currency.

On February 17, 23th year of the Republic of China, Yan'an in northern Shaanxi.

This holy land of the Chinese revolution has been shrouded in gloom since the end of last year.It is not because of the increasingly reactionary nature of the rightists of the Kuomintang, nor because of the Communist International, which is always interfering with the CCP, but because of the reactionary weather, a catastrophic drought seems to be approaching the new Soviet regime!

Standing on the majestic Pagoda Mountain, looking from a distance, all you can see is a barren scene, and the vast land seems to have no trace of green that symbolizes life.At the foot of the mountain, the Yanhe River, which was originally full of water, has now turned into a winding stream.The exposed river beach is dry, cracked, and wrinkled like the skin of an old woman.

"Alas..." Zhou Enlai pointed to the somewhat sad scene in front of him, and smiled wryly at Zhang Naiqi, who was beside him who came to discuss the establishment of the Northern Shaanxi Energy Company: "Mr. Zhang, you have also seen that our current situation is You have to fight with people, but you also have to fight with heaven!"

Zhang Naiqi forced a smile: "Mr. Zhou, the people of the Soviet Area have the wise leadership of your party, and they must be able to overcome natural disasters soon. And...the democrats in the White Area and the patriotic national bourgeoisie are always concerned about the Soviet Area In the current situation, I believe that after everyone knows the difficulties here, they will definitely have money to contribute, and they will be able to contribute.”

This statement is somewhat true. The democrats and patriotic national bourgeoisie in the White Area are indeed concerned about the situation in northern Shaanxi all the time, especially... the situation of the Northern Shaanxi Energy Company.

Zhou Enlai nodded, with a slight smile on his face: "Mr. Zhang, please tell all comrades who care about the Soviet area and our party that our party and the people of the Soviet area will never forget their helping hands at critical moments."

"Mr. Zhou, since the Soviet area is in trouble, can we ask the Beijing government for help? They are the central government now, and they are obliged to help local difficulties!" Zhang Naiqi frowned slightly, and began to ask the CCP for advice.