Master Yuan, start!

At the end of the 19th century, Yuan Shikai built a fragile but effective monetary system based on the complementarity between industry and agriculture.

"Third uncle, that's it."

It took Kuang Chunhua a quarter of an hour to explain the situation in Northeast China and Korea to Zhang Bishi in an eloquent and fluent manner.

"I see."

Zhang Bishi was convinced. He never thought that such a clever method could be used to issue currency without investing too much gold and silver, and yet the paper money could be circulated.

"How about this, Brother Bishi, the bank in the northeast is in need of a general manager. Could you lend me your name at Nanyang Chinese Middle School to promote it?"

Yuan Xiangcheng looked at Zhang Bishi with a smile, not worried at all that he would refuse.

"In that case, I'd better obey your command respectfully." Zhang Bishi agreed happily.

After Zhang Bishi suffered a series of setbacks in Guangdong, he had no hope of going north this time. However, when he looked at Yuan Shikai's face, his fighting spirit was rekindled.

Why is there no such person among the Chinese in Southeast Asia?

This Governor-General Yuan had a deep understanding of Western officialdom and was able to write articles such as "The Rise of a Great Power".

Now, the planning of commercial gold and silver has been made very early, and even the idea of ​​issuing currency with physical collateral has been proposed.

I heard that he once personally led a large army on a westward expedition of more than 800 miles to Beijing, and killed the then Governor of Zhili with his own hands.

He is a man of both civil and military talents, and even has experience in wine tasting. He is like a god from heaven.

How could the aging governors in the south be a match for Yuan Shikai? I'm afraid the Qing dynasty's separatist regimes won't last much longer.

Thinking of this, Zhang Bishi was horrified!

How could such a versatile person be willing to remain dormant under the young emperor in the capital? I'm afraid that when all the southern governors are eliminated, that will be the day when the Yuan God will control China.

No update today, please go and get your red envelopes

As the title says, I was so engrossed in searching for information about the world situation at the end of the 19th century that I watched a documentary about France digging the Pacific-Atlantic Canal and didn't pay attention to the time.

When I came to my senses, it was already past nine o'clock. I probably won't be able to write it tonight. I'll make up for it tomorrow.

I still remember that I owed 2 words, and I will pay them back slowly. Thank you all for your support.

In addition, everyone can go and receive the red envelopes, which is compensation for everyone.

Chapter 169 Guangxu?

Watching Zhang Bishi's receding figure, Xu Shichang finally recovered from the brandy, drank a sip of tea and said:

"Weiting, once the Northeast Border Industry Bank opens, it will deal a significant blow to local loan sharks and black money houses.

Especially in Korea, where the gentry exploited the peasants by lending money at high interest rates, didn't they offend them completely?

"Juren, now that things have come to this, do we still need to care about the Korean gentry?" Yuan Xiangcheng said proudly, "It's all good if they don't jump out. If they dare to incite the Korean people to oppose the Northeast Border Industry Bank, the National Defense Army will raid their homes in an instant."

"Don't forget, in addition to the National Defense Force, we also have 1 police officers spread across North Korea. North Korea can't fly out."

"The chief instructor is right, Brother Juren." Kuang Chunhua watched his uncle leave, then turned to Xu Shichang and said, "Factories in Incheon, Seoul, and other places are now full of landless Koreans. They hate the Korean landlords so much."

What Kuang Chunhua said is the current situation in North Korea.

After driving out the Japanese, the situation in Korea gradually stabilized. Even though the Red Confucian Society raided the homes of many nobles who had connections with Japan, a considerable amount of land was still in the hands of Korean gentry.

As time went by, on the land under the jurisdiction of the Red Confucian Society, due to the gradual establishment of farmers' associations and the use of "bean cake fertilizer" from Northeast soybeans, agricultural production efficiency continued to improve and grain output increased significantly.

Under the technological conditions of the late Qing Dynasty, the yield of spring wheat in Northeast China was about 100 jin per mu, the yield of corn per mu was more than 200 jin, and the yield of soybeans per mu was 50 jin.

After using soybean cake fertilizer made from soybean residue, these agricultural products generally increased their yields by more than 15% with the help of fertilizers rich in nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.

Although the yield after the increase still did not reach one-fifth of China's per-acre yield in later generations, considering the severe low temperatures and one-harvest-a-year weather conditions in Northeast China, it was already a very good situation in the late Qing Dynasty.

Therefore, with the support of increased grain production, and the advantages of the land under the jurisdiction of the farmers' association in terms of taxation, agricultural product export trade, and railway transportation subsidies, the living space of ordinary small farmers in North Korea has been shrinking.

North Korea's small farmers now face three major pressures.

First, if we simply grow crops, no one can produce as much as others;

Second, the cost of growing and selling food is higher than others;

Third, even if we only compare the land tax, it is more than what the people in the farmers' association pay.

Although after the 40% rent reduction, North Korean small farmers only pay 40% rent and taxes, it is still relatively high compared to the 30% rent and taxes paid by farmers' association members.

The farmers' association can have such a low land tax because it mainly relies on membership fees and agricultural products to increase added value and make up for part of the losses caused by the decline in land rent.

For example, oil mills in Pyongyang, Incheon and other places give priority to using soybeans produced by farmers' associations for oil extraction. The Sihai Shipping Company also gives priority to transporting grain produced by farmers' associations for sale at sea. During the slack farming season, various factories will also give priority to hiring members of farmers' associations to work in the factories.

It can be said to be a monopoly or exploitation, but under the circulation of the Farmers' Association and light industries across North Korea, the living space for agricultural products not under the Red Confucian Association system is getting smaller and smaller.

Yuan Xiangcheng had no choice but to do so.

Although they are peasants, if they are allowed to continue to maintain their small peasant life at this time, it would be allowing the landlords to annex them and cultivating reactionaries for Yuan Shikai himself.

Unless small farmers sell their land to farmers' associations.

This was exactly the result Yuan Shikai wanted. In places where the farmers' associations were relatively powerful, Korean farmers would quickly overcome their difficulties after voluntarily selling their land to the farmers' associations.

However, in the interior of North Korea, where farmers' associations are rare, many farmers have no choice but to sell their land to landlords or borrow high-priced agricultural loans to make a living.

Even so, many small farmers still could not afford the land rent after a few years, and finally had to abandon their loans and flee to work in Ping, Han and Ren, transforming themselves into the working proletariat.

These farmers don’t know that it is the farmers’ association that is squeezing their living space step by step. They only know that their lives are getting harder and harder and the price of their food is getting lower and lower.

They still believe that it is the landlords' unwillingness to lower the rent and their demand for high interest that has led them to their current predicament.

It was only after Xu Shichang learned about the current situation in North Korea that he expressed his feelings.

Taking someone's money away is like killing your parents.

The peasant association under the Red Confucian Society includes people who have come to Guandong, retired members of the National Defense Army, and Korean people. It is the largest "landlord" in North Korea today.

This big landlord had previously only been competing with a group of small landlords for rural land, which was still within the rules.

But now he not only has to fight for land, but also has to open a bank and compete with other small landowners for the "lending" business. How can he not be worried?

"I hope there won't be any major upheavals." Xu Shichang sighed. "Weiting, according to what you said, these next two years are about to enter a period of stable development. I just hope nothing goes wrong."

"What could go wrong?" Yuan Xiangcheng said to Xu Shichang nonchalantly, "You just can't be ruthless. It's okay to be kind to your own people, but it's unnecessary to be kind to outsiders. You must distinguish between friends and enemies."

After saying this, without waiting for Xu Shichang to speak again, Yuan Xiangcheng called Ming Ye from the side room to come in.

"Mingye, come here." Yuan Xiangcheng waved his hand towards the back: "There's so much left on the table, it would be a shame to waste it, let's eat together."

"Thank you, Chief Instructor." Ming Ye had been with Yuan Xiangcheng for six years and knew that he was easy-going, so he didn't hesitate and sat in Zhang Bishi's seat and started eating.

"How is the Kong family's affairs going?" Yuan Xiangcheng asked.

Ming Ye quickly wiped the oil from his mouth when he heard this: "The people from the Red Search Department have already escorted three branches of the Kong family to travel around the world. Aside from the fields, the Kong family's property, Kong Lingyi's lineage has almost been seized."

"Okay, just take him outside the pass directly. No need to send him to the Ministry of Revenue in the capital." Yuan Xiangcheng took a sip and said calmly.

"Weiting, aren't you afraid of arousing the jealousy of that person in the capital?"

"Let's not talk about that for now," Yuan Xiangcheng did not answer, but asked: "Juren, do you think Guangxu is a qualified emperor?"

After hearing this, Xu Shichang lowered his head in thought. What Guangxu did after returning to the capital really showed his dedication to governing the country.

Whether it was the dismissal of eunuchs and palace maids in the palace or the construction of a railway from Tianjin to Shanhaiguan, it was refreshing.

Liu's arguments with important central government officials became more and more intense, especially Weng Tong, who repeatedly urged Guangxu to slow down, which made Guangxu unhappy.

3Thinking of this, Xu Shichang talked about a major event that had recently been reported in the capital:

"Next year will be the spring imperial examination, which takes place every three years. I heard someone in the capital proposed at the court meeting that astronomy, mathematics, chemistry, physics, and postal services should be added to the exam. Is this true or false?"

"Of course it's true." Yuan Xiangcheng shook his head with some amusement.

Asking a group of people who are well-versed in the Four Books and Five Classics to solve physics problems is a joke. Yuan Xiangcheng did not understand Guangxu's train of thought at all.

Even for the purpose of reform, one can learn from the Tang Dynasty's method of establishing subjects such as law and mathematics, and set up special examinations in physics, chemistry, mathematics, etc. to select new talents. There is no need to mix it with the imperial examination.

Even if we take a step back, even if we want to seek talents for reform in the imperial examination, we only need to leave a few contemporary essays on how to save the country and let the scholars solve them.

The Confucian scholars probably have never even heard of physics and chemistry. If they were asked to solve the problems, they would probably just hand in a blank paper.

Yuan Xiangcheng continued, “I sent him a telegram earlier, saying that in order to guard against the Russians, we wanted to open the Northeast Border Industry Bank, increase the number of immigrants, and speed up the construction of the railway, but we were in urgent need of funds. My original intention was to cry poor so that I could intercept some of the money from the Confucius Mansion.

But unexpectedly, he replied to me that the 200 million taels of silver seized from the Confucius Mansion were directly used to build railways outside the Great Wall, and the remaining money was used as capital of the Northeast Frontier Industry Bank.

When Weng Tong found out, he had a quarrel with him, saying that if the central government did not have financial power, it would be difficult to control the local governments.

Guess what he said? "Yuan Xiangcheng looked at Xu Shichang.

"What do you mean?" Xu Shichang put down his teacup and listened carefully.

"He said the old woman took care of me for 12 years. Master Weng, are you going to take care of me for the next 12 years?"

At this point, Yuan Xiangcheng showed a face that didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "I didn't expect that he would support me so much. It seems that he has been suppressed by Cixi for too long, and his rebellious psychology is too serious."

"Rebellion?" Xu Shichang didn't quite understand what it meant.

Yuan Xiangcheng then realized that the word "rebellion" had not yet been summed up, so he explained: "It means that the children in the family are disobedient. The more the elders say something, the more they go against it."

"Isn't this a rebellious son?" Xu Shichang suddenly realized.

"He's a rebellious son, yes, but he's the emperor. Who can control him?"

In Yuan Xiangcheng's view, Guangxu's mental state at this time was somewhat similar to that of Chongzhen, who was desperate and tried every possible means to harm him. He felt that everyone was trying to harm him. He was stubborn and extremely rigid, but if he met someone he could trust, he would choose to trust him unconditionally.

Chongzhen believed that Yuan Chonghuan would pacify Liaodong in 5 years and gave him the "Shang Zhongzhuan", "T: Jiu 2, 4 San" Fang Baojian.

Guangxu believed that Yuan Shikai could resist Russia and Japan, so he asked him to prepare for the establishment of the three northeastern provinces and did not even send a governor.

To be honest, it was thanks to Guangxu's indifference to the differences between Manchus and Han people that Yuan Shikai was able to rely on the three northeastern provinces to accumulate strength. If he had been like the previous emperors and would rather run away than delegate power to Han ministers, then Yuan Shikai's plan would have been in big doubt.

Could Yuan Shikai withstand the Qing court's counterattack while developing domestic affairs?

Maybe, but it is more likely that they will be forced to embark on a path of feudal hegemony.

It is very likely that he would use his imperial power to proclaim himself emperor to fight against the Manchu Emperor Guangxu. Otherwise, Yuan Shikai would not be sure to call on the people of the world with the illegitimate identity of the "chief instructor" of the Red Confucian Society.

There are people within the Red Confucian Society who "identify with Yuan Shikai as an individual, rather than with Red Confucianism", not to mention the 4 million ordinary people.

The internal environment is at least good now, and Yuan Xiangcheng feels that he doesn't have to worry about the Qing court.

However, he had to give more consideration to the external environment: "Ming Ye, is there any new information from Tokyo Station?"

Chapter 170: A Generation of Japanese Talents

"What's the latest situation in Japan?" Yuan Xiangcheng asked after putting down his wine glass.