1855 United States Tycoon

In April 1891, the British commercial spies of the Macdonald Consortium sent back such a message: Japan has just placed a new order with the United Kingdom for a fast cruiser with a displacement of more than 4,000 tons and a maximum speed of over 25 knots. It is required to deliver in the first half of 1893.

"With a displacement of 4,500 tons, six 6-inch rapid-fire guns, and a speed of 25 knots, this is not the later cruiser "Yoshino". It seems that the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 is about to begin. It's just strange why there is no such thing in the capital market. What about the emergence of Japanese war bonds?" With this information, Scrooge exclaimed.

Scrooge had seen some information in his previous life. All of them mentioned that Japan sold a large amount of national debt on the world capital market in order to win the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. The Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 was actually an adventure for Japan to gamble on its national fortune. In the war, if the Manchu and Qing government can continue to gritted its teeth for a few more days, or even delay the peace talks for two more days, the Japanese government will be caught in financial affairs because it cannot pay the principal and interest of the huge national debt that is about to expire. The point of total collapse, so I can win the Qing Dynasty.

Scrooge also believes in this statement. Because although he knew that after the Meiji Restoration, Japan’s national power was greatly enhanced, but Japan was only that big after all, and the Manchus were so big no matter what, although the Manchus’ organizational ability and the ability to mobilize national power are definitely not as good as Japan. But Scrooge still feels that, in any case, the basic disk of "I Daqing" is so much larger than that of Japan. It is absolutely difficult for Japan to gain the upper hand in an arms race with "I Daqing". And Scrooge knew that at present, the power of the Japanese navy has surpassed that of the Beiyang Navy. The Beiyang Navy has not purchased new warships for many years. And if this warship is successfully completed and joins the Japanese Navy, once this warship has formed combat effectiveness, the Japanese fleet will have an overwhelming advantage over the Beiyang Navy. It's just that even the cruiser "Yoshino" has already begun construction. Where is the Japanese national debt that has been agreed?

Originally, Scrooge planned to continue the operation of Japan’s war national debt. On the one hand, he could use this opportunity to make some money. On the other hand, he could also pit the “Greater Japanese Empire” easily. Come on, pull me up. However, today's situation is completely beyond Scrooge's expectations.

"Let Bond bring over the information about Japan's economic situation over the past few years and show it to me." Scrooge put down the information in his hand and said to own secretary Van Bitten.

"Yes, sir."

...

In the afternoon, a large amount of intelligence about Japan's economic situation in the past few years was placed on Scrooge's desk. After earnestly studying the information, Scrooge had to admit that he was deceived by those "truths" and "revelations" in his previous life.

This information shows that in the past few years, Japan's fiscal revenue has been comparable to that of "I Daqing". Taking into account that the administrative efficiency of the Japanese government is much higher than that of the Qing Dynasty, and considering that the Japanese country is smaller, relatively speaking, other daily expenses can also be less, which will naturally allow them to invest more fiscal revenue Go to the armament. In this way, there is no need to borrow national debt at all, and Japan can easily overwhelm the Manchuria in this arms race. In this competition, I really need to rely on loan sharks to take risks. On the contrary, I am clear. But I won't bet on the national fortune for this risk.

"It seems that there is no chance of relying on the national debt to smash the small Japan. Maybe after the war starts, you can rely on the loan to the Manqing to smash it." Scrooge knew that after I lost the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. , I paid a huge amount of compensation to Japan. With my financial income, I couldn't pay such compensation at all. I had to borrow a lot of loans from banks in various countries and borrow a lot of usury. Taking advantage of this opportunity can make a lot of money. It's just that this kind of "national wealth" shouldn't be issued?

"Why don't you make it? If you have money but don't make money, the heaven will die! Besides, the sooner the Manchu Qing Dynasty is swept into the garbage dump of history, the more beneficial it will be to the people of the country. Therefore, for the future of China, it must be To overthrow the Manchu Qing. Everything that can weaken the Manchu Qing is a just thing and can be done!" Scrooge thought in his heart, so he immediately began to think about how to crack the Manchu clean. In the end, the money of the Qing Dynasty came from the Chinese people, and it was the Chinese people who suffered for this. Of course these things were ignored by the particularly conscientious Scrooge. However, Scrooge is still very sincere in general, at least, the first half of his thoughts are definitely very sincere.

Speaking of it, the displacement and scale of the Beiyang Fleet in the Qing Dynasty are not bad. Compared with the original Beiyang navy in history, the scale is even larger. And it cannot be said that there is no credit for Scrooge. In the beginning, in order to make money, Scrooge was the first to make a big killer such as a steam turbine. As a result, almost all warships in the world suddenly became obsolete in terms of power, especially the Royal Navy with the largest number of warships. .

The British method is to master this high-tech technology while transforming their own fleet. This is a lot of money which requires a lot of money. However, after calculations, the British found that after using the new power, as the speed of the warship increased, the sea area that a warship could control was also greatly ascending. In this way, the requirements for the number of warships can be reduced a lot. Therefore, on the one hand, the British quietly carried out power transformations on the battleships and relatively new warships, and at the same time sold the extra warships that were of little value to the transformation on a worldwide scale. Of course, these ships are naturally "affordable" and "high cost performance." So some small, weak and poor countries took advantage of this opportunity to buy a lot of second-hand British warships. Among them are the Beiyang Navy and the Japanese Navy. Of course, some countries in South America, such as Chile, Brazil, Argentina and so on, also bought a lot of this kind of second-hand goods.Of course, these countries soon discovered that the warships they bought were very different from the cutting-edge warships in terms of speed. However, the demand for the control area of ​​the warships of these countries was lower than that of the United Kingdom, so they still felt that the deal they had made was still Very good. In Daqing, I feel that I have picked up a big bargain. After buying a lot of British second-hand goods in one breath, my desire to buy new ships has plummeted. Even some businesses that were already in talks with Morgan McDonald Shipyard were affected and their contracts were cancelled. For Scrooge, it was a bit of a shot at his own foot.

But Scrooge knew that buying this type of warship was definitely not a cost-effective business. Because the power system on these warships, as well as some other things, will be discontinued in a short time. As a result, there will be many problems in the maintenance of these warships. Even in normal times, the maintenance costs will continue to be ascending, but once it comes to war, maintenance and maintenance will become more difficult. In fact, those countries that have not achieved industrialization, the fleet bought by purchase, in a sense, is just a one-off fleet. Because in battle, once these warships are damaged, due to their weak industrial strength, it is almost impossible to repair these warships in time to restore their combat effectiveness.

For example, in the original Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 in history, the Beiyang Navy's warships suffered damage in the Yellow Sea War until the end of the war, and the entire Beiyang Fleet was annihilated and could not be repaired. This is why the Beiyang Fleet stayed in the military port after the Yellow Sea War. Although Li Hongzhang repeatedly ordered the fleet to attack, the Beiyang Fleet never left the port again. In the subsequent World War II, the aircraft carrier Yorktown, which was hit hard in the Battle of the Coral Sea, returned to Pearl Harbor. As the world’s largest industrial power, the United States took only three days to make this difference. The aircraft carrier that sank at one point basically recovered its combat effectiveness, and it miraculously caught up with the decisive Battle of Midway.

Scrooge remembered another event in the original history. After the Yellow Sea War, the Beiyang Navy had almost no ships available due to the difficulty of repairing warships. At this time, Li Hongzhang heard that Chile had also imported a fast cruiser from the United Kingdom that was very similar to the Yoshino cruiser. Considering the power displayed by the Yoshino in a series of naval battles (almost all the warships that were sunk and injured by the Beiyang Navy had artillery shells fired by this warship), Li Hongzhang planned to use the high price from the hands of the Chileans. This boat was bought back. Only later, due to the obstruction of the Japanese, it was unsuccessful.

"If we think of a way, at the right time, let a certain southern United States family or simply let the Federal Navy order one or two similar warships from us, and then wait until after the Yellow Sea War, when Li Hongzhang is looking for warships all over the world, we just happen to After building this warship, isn’t it possible for Li Hongzhang to pay liquidated damages for us and sell them to Li Hongzhang at a price much higher than the market? This is also for the sake of the party and the state, and it has drawn me to the Qing Dynasty. Let’s take a hand. We can even use this to coerce Li Hongzhang and the Manchu Qing government to fight for more benefits for us. For example, we must give priority to our banks when paying indemnities after the war. Another example is the construction of railways in China, and The privilege of mining. At the same time, this can also be a small hole in Japan... I am a genius!" Scrooge thought without patriotism and shame, and finally he decided to do it like this.

"Let our people first publicize the threat of the Japanese warships to the Kingdom of Hawaii in the newspapers, create public opinion, and then let the Pacific Fleet propose a request for the purchase of new fast cruisers..." Scrooge finally explained to the secretary in this way. .

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