Chapter 400 Huge Loss
Chapter 400 Huge Loss
"The green willows cast a shadow on the boat, and it feels like sitting in a mirror as it ripples along the riparian path. The apricot and peach blossoms burst into bloom, spreading the beauty of spring; ducks and geese ride on the waves and disappear into the morning mist."
"The brocade cables and ivory masts are gorgeous, the lake light and cloud shadows are at ease. The oarsman's song borrows the yellow hair, and the birds on the shore sing better than the strings."
The capital, Taiye Lake, and Qionghua Island. Master Qiao twisted his beard, shook his head and hummed softly, looking at the lake and mountains, the red walls and green tiles, and felt contented.
It was already July of the twelfth year of the Tongzhi reign. In the blink of an eye, Grand Tutor Qiao had lived in Sanhai, Xiyuan for two years.
For two years, he, the "regent" prince, has done nothing serious and has never been in charge of any government affairs.
Wandering in the three seas of the Western Garden, reciting poems and composing essays, and supervising the officials were all left to his old friend Wu Wenxi.
Now he finally has a job to do, and the "Xiyuan Sanhai Reconstruction Plan" he designed unexpectedly received a large amount of funds and ready-made building materials.
To renovate the Three Seas of the Western Garden, it would be impossible without tens of thousands of taels of silver. Therefore, in the past two years, Master Qiao has been wandering around, designing various plans based on his knowledge, but has never started any construction.
Then, after the young emperor took power, he ordered the construction of the Old Summer Palace.
This matter was not handled by Grand Tutor Qiao, but someone else was. It would have cost at least 40 to 50 million taels to build the Old Summer Palace, which would have been a waste of money and manpower.
Even though the Qing Dynasty is thriving, it is now even more short of money than before.
You see, tens of thousands of kilometers of railways have been built in various places, telegraph networks are dense, and primary and secondary schools, universities, and factories have been built one after another. All of this requires money.
The original loan for the Western Expedition had to be repaid slowly, the railway payment had to be paid in installments, and the factories built with the aid of the four countries to the Qing Dynasty were to be tax-free for three years. The companies that looked at the money making rapidly had all their earnings taken away by investors from Germany, France, and the United States.
Of course, the Qing Dynasty made a profit by leaving behind a wealth of factories, railways, and universities, but the problem is that this is not cash.
So, although my Qing Dynasty has become more powerful and prestigious in the past two years, it still has no money.
Therefore, the old ministers of the cabinet, the senior officials of the Grand Council, and even the princes and nobles united to oppose the young emperor building a garden for entertainment. The court was in an uproar and there were noises every day.
Even Wenxiang, who was banished to Sichuan to serve as the governor, reported that the cypress and yellow pine wood used for the garden construction needed to be obtained from Sichuan. Since the early years of the Daoguang reign, all of this high-quality wood in Sichuan had been cut down, with only 1,000 pieces left to be transported here, and there was no more.
The young emperor lost his temper and insisted on repairing the palace, arguing with the court officials and causing chaos. Seeing that the situation was too outrageous, the two Empress Dowagers stepped in to mediate.
My child, didn't you build the Old Summer Palace to please us? Since there is not enough material to build the Old Summer Palace, why don't we use the wood to build the Three Seas in the Western Garden? This project is smaller in scale, with enough materials and less money, and we will be happier.
Well, the Three Seas of the Western Garden was granted to Prince Rui as his residence. Of course, Prince Rui's godfather is now living there permanently, but Prince Rui still lives there when he comes to the capital occasionally. After the Three Seas of the Western Garden were built, we can go there to play anytime, right?
As a result, the Old Summer Palace was not built, but Qiao Songnian had the money and materials for the project that he had been planning for two years and was ready to start construction.
The Three Seas of Western Garden is very large. Qiao Songnian went to Qionghua Island for a stroll because he called his adopted son to finalize the plan for building the garden. After all, this garden belonged to Shao Quanzhong.
Then, the two Empress Dowagers and the four concubines in the harem also came over to "review the drawings" with Prince Rui.
Wow, Xiyuan is more spacious than Changchun Palace, right? People gathered together to hold a "large-scale drawing review activity", and it was not convenient for Old Qiao to watch, so he came to Beihai to row a boat.
"Oh no, Shao, something terrible has happened!"
Maria rushed into Yingtai's "large-scale drawing review" site.
Drawing review is very confidential. In the hot summer, Shao Quanzhong, the two queen mothers, and the four favorite concubines of the previous emperor worked together on Yingtai Island. No one else was allowed to watch the scene, except Shao Quanzhong's personal female secretary and concubine.
Following Maria's urgent report, Shao Quanzhong quickly left Prince Rui's Mansion in a dishevelled state, hurried to the train station, boarded a special train, and rushed back to Hailing.
When he arrived in Hailing that day and rode out from the train station on horseback, Shao Quanzhong saw the effect of the urgent report before he even reached Qiao Garden.
The patrol boats were cruising in the Yinjiang River, constantly retrieving people from the river. Some people continued to jump in, and there were more than a hundred bodies piled up by the port.
"Shao, the number here is still small. There are more cases over on the other side of the Huangpu River. Sister Rong Hui called and said the situation in the Thames is the same as ours." Ahem, rubber stocks collapsed, the bubble burst, and hundreds of thousands of stock speculators lost all their money.
As a result, more than 30 money houses in Shanghai and Hailing went bankrupt, and the Qing Dynasty lost 40 million taels of silver.
Of course, investors all over the world suffered losses, and the Qing Dynasty was no exception.
The problem is that Britain is rich and powerful, and the common people are unlucky if they lose money, and the country doesn't need that little money. I, the Qing Dynasty, have no money, so I am at a loss.
As soon as Shao Quanzhong returned to the study in Qiao Garden, Jiang Laosi and Chen Siqi, who were waiting there, knelt down in front of Shao Quanzhong and said, "Uncle, I'm sorry. We two made a big mistake. Please kill us."
Shao Quanzhong didn't take it too seriously. "It's the common people who are losing money, the money houses that are going bankrupt, and the foreign banks that are asking for money. At most, some people who embezzled public funds to speculate in stocks are in trouble, and the court has to fill the hole for them."
"I came back in a hurry to allocate money to help those foolish officials clean up their messes. What does it have to do with you guys who are taking advantage of the situation? Can the exchange still afford to pay for it?"
"We were both fools. We encouraged Aunt Wenxiu to speculate in rubber stocks, and the Wen Group also suffered losses."
"It's okay, it's okay. Just consider the compensation as tuition fee—"
“Yuting, look, Sister Xiu’er is embarrassed to see you, so she left and left this behind.”
The person who came was Hu Liuniang, who had not been seen for a long time and had little presence.
Xiu'er is gone? Where did she go? Shao Quanzhong took the letter from Wenxiu from Liuniang.
"Brother Shao, I'm sorry for you. Because of greed, I lost 40 million taels in stock trading. I am too embarrassed to see you. I'm going to live in London for a while, meet Jisi, and accompany sister Huier."
"I have entrusted Liu Niang to take good care of Xiao Qi and Ji Fang. From now on, Liu Niang will make the decisions at home, and Yong Xian will make the decisions at the consortium. There will be no problem. Don't worry."
Shao Quanzhong scratched his head. His wife lost 40 million yuan in stock trading and ran away. This is not a big deal. It's just a loss. At worst, I can rob again.
Anyway, the Rothschild family gives me a bonus of 120 million francs a year for ten years. I have a big family and a lot of wealth, so I can afford to lose big bets.
Xiu'er's business has always been going smoothly, and she has never suffered such a big loss. She just can't bear it. It's good to go to London to relax, and it's time to spend time with her second son.
Seeing that his two nephews who studied abroad and held stocks on behalf of their wives were still kneeling, Shao Quanzhong waved his hand and said, "Get up, it's no big deal. Suffering a loss can help you gain experience. You casino owners should not gamble on yourselves in the future. Just sit back and collect the profits and you'll be fine."
Jiang Laosi stood up, while Chen Siqi was still kneeling. "Uncle, I made a big mistake. Jiang Laosi was smart and cleared his position in time to stop the loss. He only paid Auntie four million taels in compensation."
"I was trapped and unwilling to give up. I was stubborn and ended up losing more than 30 million taels. I will jump into the river now."
Shao Quanzhong pulled Chen Siqi up and said, "You are useless. You are all my trusted followers. I will pay you back. I can afford it. I will teach you a lesson in the future."
"But you're not smart enough. Forget about setting up an exchange. Let Xiao Jiang be in charge of the management of the two exchanges. I'll give you a job that doesn't require you to worry about anything. All you need is to be loyal—"
"Report! The imperial court has issued an order to bring the two exchange managers, Jiang and Chen, to Beijing for trial."
Holy shit! Shao Quanzhong was furious. I have been pretending to be a grandson for more than half a year and not submitting memorials to the emperor or interfering in state affairs. The little emperor thought I was scared and came to test me to see if I was easy to bully, right?
You dare to arrest me? You are so bold.
"Come here, gather all the guards!"
At Shao Quanzhong's command, the guards rode out of Qiao Garden and headed straight for Shaojiawei. Whistles sounded everywhere in Shaojiawei, and the Guards Brigade was urgently mobilized.
Hu Liuniang was very excited. "Yuting, are you going to rebel and take care of the little emperor?"
(End of this chapter)