Chapter 30: Crazy Borrowing (Part 1)

  After meeting, Jiang Yu's fluent London accent English made Zhu Er's first impression of Jiang Yu extremely good.

  "Mr. Zhū, before you came this time, I mainly wanted to discuss a loan with you." Jiāng Yú said straightforwardly after some small talk.

  "No, no, I think if it's a loan, we don't need to discuss." Zhu Diandian shook his head as soon as he heard that.

  "Mr. Zhu may have been inconsiderate, but my loan is purely a personal business loan and has nothing to do with politics. However, this loan has unfortunately become entangled with politics. Your concern is that once I receive the money, I will use force to challenge China's current political situation, thereby threatening the position of President Yuan, the representative of the British Empire."

  Zhu Er's smile was suddenly frozen by Jiang Yu's words.

  "However, Mr. Zhu De, you should have investigated beforehand the scale of the Huadong Bank, plus the 500 million yuan commercial loan provided by Germany to me personally not long ago, and the cumulative 3 billion yuan commercial loan obtained by other countries' banks. If I wanted to challenge President Yuan's position, I could have launched a northern expedition at any time and unified China in one fell swoop."

  "Uh..." Zhū Dé tiān was momentarily stunned, what's going on?

  "However, I am just a businessman and have no interest in who the president is. The commercial loan I applied for was only used to build railways, and I have already communicated with President Yuan. We have a clear division of labor between us: he is responsible for politics, and I am responsible for developing industry and commerce. In fact, building large-scale railways in China is in line with the interests of the British Empire. As long as there are railways, the goods of the British Empire can be sold to various regions of China, and more raw materials can be obtained from China. What do you think?"

  Jiang Yu looked at Zhūlèdiǎn and asked, Zhūlèdiǎn hesitated: "Building a railway is indeed in the interest of our great British Empire, but railway loans are not like that. Generally, the conditions for foreign loans to China are quite... stringent! For example, we need operating rights for the railway, and also some high-value assets as collateral."

  "Haha! Mr. Zuo's words are old-fashioned, China can now build its own railways. Moreover, even if the British Empire does not lend us money, the German Empire will be happy to provide loans. This is something that politics cannot hinder. If politics hinders our industrial and commercial development, I think President Yuan's presidency will come to an end."

  Jiang Yu continued: "The reason I came to communicate with Mr. Zuo before the meeting is that I don't particularly like the Germans' approach. Their influence in my group has become too great. On the other hand, I prefer the loans provided by the British Empire. Moreover, I think Mr. Zuo is a wise and knowledgeable person who should understand the reasoning behind this."

  Jiang Yu suddenly took out a deposit slip and handed it to Zhu Er Tian, saying: "First meeting, this is a small gift, I hope Mr. Zhu Er Tian will not decline."

  Zhu Erjian took the deposit slip and looked at it, his pupils suddenly shrinking slightly.

  Three hundred thousand silver dollars!

  This young man is even more generous than Yuan Shikai! Zhu Erjian quietly put the deposit slip into his pocket, lightly clearing his throat, "Hmmm... I think there won't be any problem with the loan, but to make the British Empire change its railway loan model, we need to get the Germans involved first and give the Empire some pressure."

  Zhu Yutian obviously showed Jiang Yu a clear way, and the 300,000 taels of huge bribes were obviously very effective.

  Don't think that all foreigners are so fair and selfless, in fact, the social interactions of foreigners are simpler, so it's possible that bribery doesn't happen as often in daily life, but that doesn't mean that foreigners don't accept bribes.

  Especially someone like Zhuo, being sent to China and having no one supervise him, taking bribes is no problem.

  Yuan Shikai was able to maintain a good relationship with Sir John Jordan because Yuan was willing to spend money, and he was the most generous Qing official that Jordan had ever met. Therefore, Jordan wrote a letter to Queen Victoria praising Yuan, which ultimately led to Yuan becoming Britain's representative in China after the Xinhai Revolution.

  But today Zhu Yurong tasted sweetness again, this young man was much more generous than Yuan Shikai.

  Since it is so, why suppress him! If he were to ascend to the pinnacle of power in China like Yuan Shikai, wouldn't that mean he would gain even more benefits.

  "Thank you, Mr. Zhūl Diǎn, if you can facilitate the British Empire's commercial loan to me, I will thank you again afterwards." Jiāng Yú took the opportunity to throw out the bait once more.

  "I'll do my best." Zhu Er said with a smile.

  This diplomatic action ended perfectly, and Jiang Yu basically opened up the British link.

  Of course, there was still a little difference, and Jiang Yu immediately contacted his father-in-law You Kosuke. Half a month later, the news came out that Deutsche Bank had lent 300 million yuan to Huarong Group for railway loans.

  Huadong Group also proposed the construction of a railway trunk line from Zhejiang to Shanxi, with a total length of 1,220 kilometers, passing through Anhui and Henan.

  In addition, a railway will be built from the Jiaoji Railway to Handan and Xingtai in Hebei Province. Another railway will be built from Qingdao to connect with the Lianyungang-Nantong railway.

  The Jiaoji Railway was built by Germans. It is easy for Jiangsu and Shandong to connect the railway with the Jiaoji Railway, and it will not be difficult to operate.

  The Longhai Railway starting from Lianyungang was built by the Belgians. When Jiangsu built the Haitong Railway (Lianyungang-Nantong), it did not connect to the Longhai Railway, and now connecting Qingdao-Lianyungang railway with Haitong Railway is their own business.

  At the same time, a railway trunk line from Jiangsu Suzhou to Zhejiang Hangzhou, then to Jiangxi Nanchang, and then from Nanchang to Hunan Changsha will be built. This railway is named 'Su-Sha Railway', with a total length of 1560 kilometers.

  After the completion of the railway construction, German merchants can enjoy price discounts for cargo transportation.

  As soon as this news came out, the nerves of countries such as England and France were immediately touched, especially the nerves of the British people being touched the most severely.

  At this time, Germany had become a powerful challenger to Britain's national dominance, and the Germans were not only catching up with Britain in overseas transportation, but also seriously dissatisfied with Britain's possession of a large number of colonies around the world.

  The main benefit of colonial occupation is to obtain raw materials and a dumping ground for goods, but if the Germans invest in railways in China, wouldn't that mean that the Germans can dump their goods into China and get even more raw materials from China?

  This has seriously challenged British interests in China.

  Zhu De at this time wrote a timely letter to the Queen of England and submitted a report to the British Cabinet.

  Jules' report claimed that the Chinese suddenly wanted to build railways on a large scale and had already laid the foundation for large-scale railway construction. They were not only able to manufacture rails, but also locomotives.

  "The British Empire can no longer hinder the development of the Far East in railways, as the Germans have already decided to provide large commercial loans to Jiang Yu, the inspector of the Yangtze River. Even if Germany cancels the loan under pressure, it can still secretly reach an agreement, and it is unrealistic to force Germany to stop lending to the Huadong Group. However, according to my contact, Jiang Yu, the controller of the Huadong Group, plans to build more railways and highways, and as a pro-British Far Easterner with a large amount of excellent assets for mortgage, if the British Empire provides loans to him, it will still have an advantage over Germany in terms of interests in China..."

  Zhu's report played a huge role, and the British had already realized that they could no longer suppress Jiangyu's development by simply blocking it after discovering that Huadong Group had established many factories in China.

  Once this warlord leader fails to achieve his goal, he will inevitably turn to Germany and also impact the position of Yuan Shikai, Britain's agent in China.

  With the financial resources of this warlord and the military discipline shown by the Reorganization Army, Yuan Shikai was unable to stop his advance.

  But a relatively good phenomenon is that the current warlord head is more concerned with the development of industry and commerce.

  Lending some money to the Huadong Group is no problem, as long as they do not lean towards the Germans and also as long as they do not threaten Yuan Shikai's legitimate position.

  The loan usage supervision previously proposed by Jiang Yu was also recognized by the UK.

  Under the efforts of Zhūl Dian, Britain soon agreed to lend 30 million pounds to the Huadong Group. Jiang Yu immediately determined the use of these 30 million pounds, all of which were invested in agriculture.

  "Xiao Yu, adding this amount of money, we have invested 700 million yuan in agriculture. Is that too much?" Jiang Yuan Chuan had some doubts. The farm reclamation company was a project he was responsible for operating. All the land confiscated by the Huaiyang Administrative Office was contracted to the farm reclamation company of the China Eastern Group for management.

  "It's not too much now, industry has started to develop, workers' wages have also started to rise, and people are gradually becoming richer. At this time, food supply must be guaranteed, otherwise there will be inflation." Jiang Yu said to his father, as the saying goes, when there is enough, one can yield, but when there is not enough, one will fight, that's just how ordinary people are.

  As long as food supply is stable, no matter how much money there is, it won't cause agricultural products' prices to be too high.

  Just like the Americans of later generations had so much money, why didn't the prices of their agricultural products skyrocket? In the end, printing money is not the problem, the problem is whether you can guarantee production and supply.

  As long as production and supply are sufficient, prices will not be driven up.

  However, Jiang Yu's loan road is far from over. 700 million yuan was invested in agriculture, mainly to ensure that the subsequent loans invested in industry can support agriculture.

  But Britain is thinking, what can be earned from investing in agriculture?

  Soon after, Jiang Yu took out the asset assessment reports in his hands and started borrowing from banks in various countries, with a frighteningly high loan amount.