Chapter 458 Shao Quanzhong's Siberia
Chapter 458 Shao Quanzhong's Siberia
"My dear nephew, please get up quickly. If you have anything to say, let's talk at home. You are the emperor after all. How can you behave in such a public place?"
Shao Quanzhong himself is a person who doesn't care about his reputation. He never gets enough of taking advantage of others by being their younger brother.
Now the situation has changed, and the great Russian Tsar has knelt down in front of him. Shao Quanzhong did not feel that he was awesome, but alarm bells were ringing in his head. The money in his pocket seemed to be about to grow wings and abandon him.
Nicholas II had already said these words in front of everyone, deliberately speaking loudly so that the reporters could hear them clearly. After the reporters had taken pictures of him kneeling, he slowly stood up.
"Uncle, you saved our Romanov family and sent troops to help me restore my country. You have done me a great favor. You are also my elder. When I arrive in Hailing, I will pay my respects to my elders according to Eastern etiquette. That is quite appropriate."
Shao Quanzhong didn't take this seriously at all. Instead, he shook his head and sighed, saying that Maria's nephew was not an ordinary person. If you compare yourself with him, you will die.
Take the emperors of the Qing Dynasty for example. Some of them took power at the age of 18, did things that were absurd and unreliable, and died at the age of 19.
Some of them could lead Buku to kill powerful ministers at the age of 8, and some of them could personally lead the elimination of the Three Feudatories when they were in their teens. The gap between people is greater than the gap between people and dogs.
What this 9-year-old child said on the spot cannot be taught by others one by one, but at least he looks very mature.
Moreover, no matter how heavy the favor is, it is nothing but clouds in the face of national interests.
This kid is so cunning. If there is a conflict of interest in the future and he needs to deal with me, he will "don't want an uncle" and will not hesitate to kill me, his benefactor.
I received a call from Potowski. This guy came to me to ask for money, and he didn't even have to borrow it. This idea was not someone else's, but the little czar's own idea. He's amazing.
I have made up my mind. No matter how nice your uncle sounds, he has no money.
As a result, you did this to me, kneeling down in front of reporters. As your uncle, how can I not give you a big red envelope?
To be honest, kneeling down for the sake of national interests, regardless of personal dignity, what does this show? This child is really thinking about the people of Lucia.
His grandfather was a truly wise ruler who taught by example that the Tsar should be a kind father to the people.
The spirit of Alexander II is still alive and well. It is hard to say what the future will be like, but the current young Tsar is definitely still wise.
Moreover, when they formally apologized to Daxia and returned the territory, they did so while kneeling. In name, this was the younger generation performing Chinese etiquette to their uncle, but the people of Daxia would understand it as kneeling to apologize to Daxia.
People have done so much for themselves. If I, Shao Quanzhong, don't give them money, the people will think I'm stingy, and I'll be in a bad position.
With a painful expression on his face, Shao Quanzhong pulled Nicholas II into the Maybach car.
The special car that Benz and Maybach brothers drove to give to Shao Quanzhong was not a convertible according to Shao Quanzhong's request. It had curtains on the glass windows and a steel mesh inside.
After being assassinated twice in Washington and Sarajevo, Shao Quanzhong dared not ride in a convertible car no matter what. He had offended so many people.
The next second after Shao Quanzhong got into the car, his horse was eliminated.
When talking to people, he said, "Dogs are man's best friend."
Horses have served mankind for three thousand years: …
When the car entered Qiao Garden, Shao Quanzhong invited the Tsar's nephew to the study in Erfen Bamboo House for a talk. The Tsar's aunt personally served as an interpreter, and it was basically a family chat.
"Uncle, you see, we in Lucia made a lot of money by confiscating the property of the rebel landlords and old nobles. But we spent it all on severance pay for recruiting millions of soldiers."
This money cannot be saved. If you don't pay salaries to millions of soldiers, it will be a huge destabilizing factor. Shao Quanzhong understands this.
"So, the treaty we signed with the Germans required us to pay 6 billion marks in compensation—"
Shao Quanzhong sighed, "Nephew, you don't need to say anything. You are so generous in returning Outer Manchuria and Sakhalin Island. You have been colonizing and developing there for many years and have invested a lot. We will consider these 6 billion marks as the cost of buying the Russian assets there."
"Isabel, get me Li Hongzhang."
Shao Quanzhong picked up the phone and said, "Jianfu, I have good news for you. The Tsar just announced that the Heilongjiang General's jurisdiction, the area north of the Heilongjiang River, south of the Greater Khingan Range, and Sakhalin Island will be returned to us."
"Look, the land of Outer Xing'an Mountains has always belonged to the Heilongjiang General's jurisdiction, and Sakhalin Island belongs to the Jilin General's jurisdiction. I make the decision, and it is still the territory of the Qing Dynasty."
"But they want 6 billion marks in aid. Don't you think we should give it to them? The Qing Dynasty has taken the land, so shouldn't we give some tokens of appreciation?"
"You moved to Osaka, leaving behind the national treasury and the imperial farm. But you took away the inner treasury, the silver of the princes, dukes, and beile families. That's a huge sum of money—"
Li Hongzhang was so stupid that he immediately cried poor, "Marshal, six billion marks is more than nine hundred million taels of silver. We can only take tens of millions of taels at most. How can we have so much?"
"It's okay, we are family. I will pay you back in installments without charging you any interest. I will pay you back in 39 years. Isn't that good enough?"
"Marshal, the Qing Dynasty has such a small territory and is burdened with so much debt. It is too difficult. You don't want His Majesty Jiliang to have to eat coarse food, right..."
Suddenly, there was a commotion on the other end of the phone, and Li Hongzhang's voice was heard scolding, "Can't you see I'm making an important call? How can you be so flustered!"
"Reporting to the Lord, good news, great news. The exploration team just discovered a huge gold mine in Alaska—"
Shao Quanzhong laughed loudly, "Jianfu, I heard everything. You can't shirk your responsibility this time, right? The money for aid to Lucia will be paid by the Qing Dynasty. That's it!" Ahem, Shao Quanzhong was not pretentious at all. He would cheat the vassal state whenever he could, and he would not show mercy even if the emperor was his own son.
Nicholas II listened with a smile as Shao Quanzhong solved the aid he requested without spending his own money, and he stood up again.
"Uncle, our Lucia has just experienced war and is devastated. We owe Britain 7.57 million pounds and France 100 billion francs. You see, we really can't pay it back."
"After the war, Russia has a lot of things to rebuild. I can't continue to collect heavy taxes and oppress the farmers. If you are willing to help me pay for these two loans--"
Shao Quanzhong was so angry that he laughed, "No way! Such a huge sum of money, about 40 billion taels of silver in total, let alone my nephew, even my own son can't help pay it back."
Good fellow, you are targeting my big head, but I am the only one who is pitted, right? Even if you say it, I would rather jump to Qingge than help you pay this money.
"Well, uncle, please listen to my conditions before making a decision..."
Shao Quanzhong broke his promise and eventually took on the huge debt of 40 billion taels of silver, becoming the fourth largest debtor in the world after Queen Victoria, William I, and Alfonso I.
And no one has ever jumped down from Qingge.
At the beginning, Alexander II promised that if Shao Quanzhong surrendered to Russia, he would hand over the entire eastern part of Russia to Shao Quanzhong to rule. Nicholas II heard it right next to my grandfather.
So, Nicholas II followed his grandfather's will and granted more than 10 million square kilometers of land east of the Ural Mountains and the Ural River to the special prince Shao Quanzhong.
The territory south of the Caucasus Mountains in Russia originally belonged to Shao Quanzhong. Now Shao Quanzhong's title in Russia has been changed to the King of the "United Kingdom of Crimea, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Siberia".
The land belongs to Shao Quanzhong personally and cannot be taken to Daxia. In the future, it must be passed on to his son with Romanov blood and must always be ruled by someone from the Romanov family.
Shao Quanzhong felt that he had lost a lot in this transaction. There were only a few hundred thousand people on the Siberian ice field, and they were all concentrated near Yekaterinburg.
At present, there are only some timber, furs, iron ore, copper ore and coal, not much, and it seems very unfair to spend these 4 billion taels of silver.
Nicholas II saw Shao Quanzhong's attachment to the soil and cheated his uncle. Now that Russia had gotten rid of all its debts, it could move forward with ease and industrialize, which was a great bargain.
Nicholas II happily visited his six-year-old cousin Alfred Romanov Shao, whose Chinese name was Shao Jisen, and then the two brothers went on a trip, eating, drinking and having fun under the leadership of their aunt.
Shao Quanzhong urgently summoned Evan, the German representative in Hailing.
The four billion silver dollars owed to Britain and France were not urgent, they could be paid back slowly by installments. The six billion marks owed to Germany had to be paid off by the end of 1877 according to the treaty.
The money that the Qing Dynasty gave to Shao Quanzhong was paid in installments, but Germany wanted the money immediately.
In about a year, to be honest, it is not difficult for Shao Quanzhong to get more than 900 million taels of silver.
My wife made 200 million taels of silver as a major stock trader, and the money she made from the arms business far exceeded that amount.
The one million American troops sent to Europe and the equipment that Britain wanted for 21 million people in India made a profit of nearly million pounds from these two orders, worth billion taels.
But this money needs to be distributed as dividends to shareholders and invested in industry. It cannot be transferred to pay off debts. What should we do?
Shao Quanzhong brought his old friend Evan to the testing site of Haoguozi Company.
Evan's eyes widened in amazement as he watched six-engine biplane propeller bombers fly past him. Their bomb load was not as large as that of an airship, but their speed—
Napalm bombs were dropped from planes, and the test site was filled with thick smoke and flames.
"How is it? With this thing, we can bomb the enemy during the day. Does Germany need it?"
Evan kept nodding his head, saying that this was a must. The disadvantage of airships was that they were slow. If they went to bomb people during the day, they would be killed by anti-aircraft guns. They could only launch sneak attacks at night.
The plane was flying by at such a fast speed that it would be very difficult to hit it with current anti-aircraft guns.
"This plane is not expensive. We sell it for 100,000 taels of silver each. We have as many as we want. Why don't you buy a few thousand?"
"I will call Marshal Moltke and Prime Minister Bismarck for instructions."
"Don't be impatient, look at this——"
Several trucks weighing more than 30 tons drove over.
Well, steam tanks weigh about 50 to 60 tons, and tanks over 30 tons have no impact at all.
But - this thing goes so fast?
"The diesel tank, which we named T1876, has four engines with 500 horsepower and a speed of 55 kilometers per hour. It can run 400 kilometers without refueling and can start immediately without taking 4 hours to start. It is equipped with a 76mm tank gun and a Maxim machine gun."
"This is cheaper than a bomber. We'll give it to Germany for 50,000 taels of silver per unit. If you have 10,000 of them—"
Evan's mouth was watering. "Marshal Moltke will go crazy when he sees this, but we don't have that much money——"
(End of this chapter)