Master Yuan, start!

"Ah, all exchanged?" The shopkeeper rubbed his ears when he heard this, a little bit unbelieving.

"Yes, I want to take it all out," repeated Mr. Huang, the furrier, and then asked, "Why, nothing?"

The words were spoken loudly, not only heard by the shopkeeper, but also attracted the attention of the people queuing in the ordinary passage nearby.

Seeing this scene, the shopkeeper broke out in a cold sweat, and quickly clasped his fists and explained to the people:

"Yes, how could there not be!

Today, the Hankou branch of Quzhou Bank is open for redemption. If there is not enough, we will immediately transfer it from the head office!"

After hearing the boastful words from the cashier Li, the common people felt a little relieved. The originally agitated queue finally calmed down and everyone lined up to withdraw money obediently.

After the fur trader Mr. Huang took the money, he immediately ordered two followers to load several bags of silver dollars weighing more than 300 kilograms onto the carriage.

Then, looking at the shopkeeper who was still in the dark, he remembered how he had taken good care of him in the past years, so before leaving, Boss Huang said:

"Shopkeeper Li, don't you know what happened in the outside world?"

"What happened in the outside world?" The shopkeeper was a little confused. He had been attending his uncle's funeral in the countryside these days. As soon as he arrived in Wuchang Prefecture, he rushed to Hankou without stopping. He didn't know what had happened in the past few days.

"Hey, you, go read the newspaper!" Boss Huang shook his sleeves, said one last word, turned around, got on the carriage and drove away.

"Quick, bring the Hubei official newspaper, the East Asia Times, and the Lingnan News!"

Shopkeeper Li had a vague feeling that something was wrong and quickly asked his staff to fetch the latest newspaper.

In recent years, the most important information channel for businessmen traveling back and forth between the north and the south is "Shenshiguanxin".

Shenbao is an old newspaper. Since the division between the North and the South, it has broken away from the control of the Qing Dynasty. Its articles and comments have become more and more bold, and it has gradually become known as the number one Chinese newspaper in the country!

As for the remaining three, as you can tell from their names, they belong to Zhang, Yuan and Li respectively.

There are many so-called "new newspapers" across the country, but only these four have the ability to open branches in almost every province, and their news is timely and comprehensive.

In addition, the East Asia Times once used half a page to purchase food and sell furs, timber, and matches from outside the Great Wall.

Boss Huang made his fortune by doing business with the National Revolutionary Army.

Therefore, influenced by the merchants, Manager Li also ordered these four newspapers, but he came back from the countryside in a hurry and had not had time to read the recent ones.

A few minutes later, looking at the East Asia Times in front of him, Shopkeeper Li felt a suffocating feeling in his heart.

On the front page, the words "Announcement on the Suspension of Circulation of Some Banknotes" were clearly written in large letters.

The Northeast Border Industry Bank, under the control of the National Revolutionary Army, announced that it would temporarily stop exchanging banknotes from the Lingnan Bank and the Tongqu Bank, and that institutions at all levels were not allowed to use the banknotes of the two banks.

From now on, apart from foreign currency, only the banknotes of the Northeast Border Industry Bank can circulate under the rule of the republican government.

You know, in order to facilitate business, many southern merchants deposited silver dollars in Tongqu Bank or Lingnan Bank, and then used the banknotes they exchanged for to travel around the country to do business.

Now, with one order from Yuan Xiangcheng, it is equivalent to directly cutting off the livelihood of Tongqu Bank and Lingnan Bank in the south of the Yangtze River and the north.

If you want to do business in the future, you must use real silver dollars.

Lingnan Bank was not greatly affected because they only had one branch in Jiangnan, but Tongqu Bank was different. Zhang Zhidong and Yuan Shikai had a good relationship, so they opened more than a dozen branches of various sizes in the north.

This move was undoubtedly a bolt from the blue for the merchants who deposited their silver dollars in Tongqu Bank.

If the money in the Mainland Bank cannot be spent outside, then what is the point of saving it in it?

Since all merchants were like this, it was nothing more than ordinary people coming to withdraw money, wanting to exchange the banknotes in their hands for real silver dollars.

After all, if it’s too late, Tongqu Bank might be out of money!

...

The main banks in Hankou were busy dealing with bank runs.

On the Yellow Crane Tower in Wuchang, guards were standing at the door of a transparent glass house, looking inside from time to time.

Inside the glass house, several big merchants from Hubei stood with their hands hanging down, looking at Zhang Zhidong.

Behind Yuan Shikai were only Zhang Jian and Ming Ye.

Zhang Zhidong spread out a copy of the East Asia Times newspaper and sighed:

"Weiting, is this your method?"

Standing in front of the railing, Zhang Zhidong smiled bitterly as he looked at the people queuing from the street to the end of the alley at the foot of the Yellow Crane Tower, waiting hurriedly and anxiously to exchange their money.

He knew that Hubei was sandwiched between the north and the south, and had been coveted for a long time, and sooner or later it would have to choose one side to join.

Zhang Zhidong thought about using both verbal attacks and military threats, but he never expected that Yuan Shikai would use banks to leverage the situation in Hubei.

"Weiting, you are also Chinese, how could you do something that would hurt 800 enemies and 1000 of your own?" Zhang Zhidong sighed, "You can ban the Tongqu Bank and the Lingnan Bank, but can you ban a foreign bank?

Once this policy was implemented, banknotes issued by Tongqu and Lingnan banks could no longer be used in Jiangnan, North China, and areas outside the Great Wall.

However, the banknotes of Northeast Bank are also difficult to gain a foothold in Lingnan.

In this way, if the Chinese fight among themselves, won’t they just give the market away to foreign money for nothing?

Zhang Zhidong was talking about foreign money on the surface, but in fact, what he cared most about was his future situation.

Yuan Xiangcheng did not understand the meaning of the words. He walked slowly to Zhang Zhidong's side and said in a deep voice:

"Xiang Weng, the Republic has already entered its second year, but the world has not yet achieved substantive unification.

In my opinion, instead of worrying about whether foreigners will seize the opportunity to seize the market, it is better to mobilize all forces as soon as possible to crush Li Hongzhang."

Yuan Shikai knew that his strategy of banning the circulation of paper money was considered novel but not a good strategy in 19th century China.

However, on the surface, this strategy was aimed at Li Hongzhang, but in fact it was aimed at Hubei and Zhang Zhidong.

Yuan Shikai had no time to fight with the Hubei Army under Zhang Zhidong. Even if it didn't take long, it would delay the situation on the western front.

Therefore, it would be best to force Zhang Zhidong to surrender from other aspects.

By banning the circulation of paper money, Hubei's financial resources were withdrawn. Without money, the Hubei New Army lost the ability to continue fighting.

After thinking for a while, Yuan Xiangcheng continued in a high voice:

"Xiang Weng, this battle between Li Hongzhang and I is a life-and-death battle. Not only will the true strength be determined on the battlefield of flesh and blood, but also on the so-called financial battlefield.

The more you think about conserving your energy, the more timid you will become. If the war drags on for another month, the cost will be several million more. Compared to this silver, what's the harm in letting foreign money run rampant for a few days?"

Yuan Xiangcheng spoke in a firm tone, his eyes gradually became firm, and he stared at Zhang Zhidong motionlessly.

"Mr. Xiang, the Northeast Border Industry Bank was established less than 10 years ago, and it has already provided support for agriculture, forestry, docks, transportation, water conservancy, and other projects outside the Great Wall, investing no less than 1000 million taels in low-interest loans.

But what about Tongqu Bank? Apart from building railways, has Tongqu Bank done anything practical?

Apart from lending the money in the account to gamblers and smokers, have you ever done anything good for the people's livelihood?

Incheon National University and Lushun National University have accepted many students from Hubei, who chose to study outside the Great Wall because of their poor families.

why?

Because the Guanwai Bank can provide them with interest-free loans and even waive tuition fees, what is Tongqu Bank doing?"

Yuan Xiangcheng took a stack of documents from Zhang Jian and looked grim after reading them.

Although he still called Zhang Zhidong "Xiang Weng", his tone actually became more and more harsh.

Zhang Zhidong was at best a feudal official and was far from being able to shoulder the heavy burden of being the head of a modern government.

"Xiang Weng, at this point, don't you still understand? How can Hubei, with just one province, resist a republican government comprising ten provinces?!"

Yuan Xiangcheng pressed on step by step. Although Zhang Zhidong wanted to respond, he stammered and didn't know what to say when faced with the evidence presented by Yuan Xiangcheng.

Seeing this, Yuan Xiangcheng took a half step closer and whispered in Zhang Zhidong's ear:

"Xiang Weng, the position of Dean of the Bide Academy is vacant. This is an important position in the central government. Just wait for Xiang Weng to come north."

Hearing this, Zhang Zhidong finally put aside his worries and bowed to Yuan Shikai.

When the Hubei merchants in the room saw this scene, they bent even lower.

When the guards outside the door saw this scene, they couldn't help but look around frequently.

"Come here, escort Xiang Weng north and treat him with the courtesy of a national leader!"

Chapter 393 Hubei Changes Flag and Continues Great Honor

Under the gazes of everyone inside and outside the glass house of the Yellow Crane Tower, Yuan Xiangcheng proposed the name Bitideyuan.

A group of Jiangxi officials were confused and at a loss. They didn't know what Bi De Yuan was.

Biteyuan, the name sounds very difficult to pronounce.

In fact, this was an institution established during the Qing Dynasty's preparatory constitutional period.

On the surface, its function is very simple, it is just a national advisory body.

But if we must make an analogy, the Privy Council is not like the British House of Lords, nor is it like the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, which only has the power of pure advice. It is more like the "Privy Council" of Meiji Japan.

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During the farce of preparing for constitutionalism in the original time and space, the Qing Dynasty imitated Japan's "Privy Council" and established the Privy Council, claiming to maintain mutual relations with the cabinet to accommodate some court officials.

This move actually concealed the Qing Dynasty's deep-seated reluctance to give up power.

Anyone who has a little understanding of the status of the Privy Council of Japan knows that this institution has a very huge influence in Japanese politics.

Ito Hirobumi, Yamagata Aritomo, Saionji Kimmochi, and a number of Japanese princes were once members of the Privy Council.

The elders of Japan's Privy Council can express opposition to cabinet orders and even force the cabinet to resign.

Such a Privy Council is more like a power body than an advisory body.

The purpose of the "Bideyuan" established by the Qing Dynasty was naturally the same.

It can be understood as a weakened version of the Council of Ministers + Southern Study in a modern context.

However, the Qing Dynasty was too greedy.

Not only did they want to establish the Pildeokwon to seize power, they also did not want to give up the power of the cabinet.

However, in reality, the result of trying to do both things at the same time is that you won’t be able to do either one.

In order to establish an imperial cabinet, the Qing Dynasty had to marginalize the Bi De Yuan.

After all, there are already so many Manchus and nobles in the royal cabinet, and it would be a bit redundant to let them hold positions in the Bi De Yuan.

The imperial cabinet was soon opposed by the people and gentry from all walks of life in the north and south.

Later, the Qing Dynasty soon perished, and the Bi De Yuan did not have the opportunity to play its due role.