Volume 2: The crown and the hat are all over the capital, and the spirit is full of energy and enter the foggy city Chapter 45 Gu Weijun
Subtitle of this chapter: The Shandong issue has to be discussed even if we don’t want to.
"Hongjian, what are you going to say to Mr. Hughes?"
Naturally, I want to tell him that the people of Serbia hope for America's freedom, democracy, industrial products, and financial capital... well, mainly the latter two. It's like a child longing for rain during a severe drought, like an infant looking up to its loving mother, and like shopaholics looking forward to President Ma.
There is a good opportunity right in front of them, that is the "Trust and Exchange Crisis" in the 10th year of the Republic of China that brought ruin to the Yuan family - the trend of trust companies and exchanges going bankrupt in the 10th year of the Republic of China.
By the end of 1921, there were more than 140 exchanges in Shanghai with a total registered capital of... 200 million yuan!
What does 200 million yuan mean? In 1925, the total paid-in capital and public reserve of 158 Chinese banks, including the two major state-owned banks, Bank of China and Bank of Communications, was only a little over 200 million yuan.
As long as these big American financial groups lend our Master Yuan a tiger skin, he can build a financial empire even if he returns to the Magic City with empty hands.
There are many paths to choose from next.
For example, the Song family has a good relationship with the United States, and their Yuan family has an even better relationship with the United States; the Song family has a daughter, and their Yuan family also has a daughter; the Song family has people who understand economics and can get money from the United States, and their Yuan family also has our Master Yuan.
It is possible that one of the four major families will be replaced. However...
“Pika Pika!”
"Bohong, what should I say... Well, I must talk about the Shandong issue."
It has been nearly half a year since he came here, and with the historical knowledge he learned a hundred years later, Master Yuan certainly knows that the current Shandong issue is exactly the G-spot of the Seres, especially the intellectuals.
The May Fourth Movement triggered by the Shandong issue was extremely important. Of course, this was one of the major examination points in history textbooks a hundred years later. Anyone who had received compulsory education knew that this was a "landmark historical event", "a historical juncture for the Chinese nation to move towards national rejuvenation", and so on.
However, from the perspective of international politics, this is a footnote to the collapse of the old colonial system.
The outbreak of the First World War in 1914 created a favorable environment for the development of China's national economy. The old European powers were drawn into the vortex of war, and their production capacity was concentrated on the production of arms, leaving them no time to take care of the production of civilian goods and unable to dump large quantities of goods to China. On the contrary, the warring countries had to increase the import of civilian industrial products and military supplies due to the needs of the war, and China's exports increased sharply. The development of national capitalist industry encountered a rare "spring".
At the same time, in order to occupy a larger domestic market, the national capitalists took advantage of the people’s patriotic enthusiasm and launched various “patriotic movements” to boycott foreign goods. Therefore, Deng Zhongxia said that the strike of Shanghai workers during the May Fourth Movement “was said to be ordered by the capitalists.”
In the following "May 30th Movement" of 1925, the anti-imperialist purpose of the national bourgeoisie became even clearer.
However, just as the textbooks say, national capitalists have two sides. They are national to be sure, but they are still capitalists.
Therefore, to truly break this colonial system that is about to collapse requires a larger-scale world war. This is also the direction that Yuan Yanshu is working towards. He feels that the scale of World War II in the original timeline was not large enough, the death toll was not high enough, and the great powers still retained too much vitality... well, too much.
Therefore, our Master Yuan does not pay much attention to the present.
To him, the Shandong issue was a minor issue. If the Japanese returned the money, would Serbia rise? If the Japanese did not return the money, would the Zhili clique and Fengtian clique of the Beiyang government or the Guangdong military government fight with them first?
However, in order to maintain his image as a "patriotic intellectual", he had to act as if he cared about this issue..
"Okay, Bohong. I'm tired after sitting in the car all day. I won't go into details with you today. Why don't you go with me to Minister Gu's place for lunch tomorrow?"
Yuan Yanshu was not very interested in this topic, but she had to talk about it. It was just too much trouble to say it twice, so it would be better to do it once.
Meng Xiancheng naturally stood up and said goodbye: "Well, Hongjian. Then you take a rest first, I will come again tomorrow..."
On the morning of March 3, 1921, the great educator Meng arrived on time, and then the two of them went to the temporary residence of Gu Weijun and his wife together.
In January this year, our Master Yuan and Lao Gu met in New York.
The relationship between the two of them is a bit confusing: in terms of seniority, Gu Weijun, who was the Chinese Minister to the United States at the time, was naturally the elder of Yuan Yanshu, who had not yet obtained a Ph.D.; but in terms of age, old Gu was only six years older than young Yuan, so they were of the same generation; however, in terms of kinship, Master Yuan was the uncle-in-law of Minister Gu, and was actually a generation older than him.
Fortunately, his aunt's father-in-law is not his real father-in-law, so the two of them can still get along with each other and call each other brothers.
"Brother Hongjian, why didn't I see you at the train station yesterday?"
Minister Gu Weijun's appearance was of course good. Otherwise, Miss Tang Baoyue would not have become a nun and a prostitute for him.
He had a noble appearance as described in physiognomy books as "a full forehead and a square chin". Coupled with the nobility of being in a high position, the ambition of being successful at a young age and the bookish air of being well-versed in classics, he had a certain aura.
As the current Chinese ambassador to the United States, he naturally went to the train station to greet the next incumbent, Shi Zhaoji. Of course, he was still the ambassador before the latter presented his credentials, so he rushed back to Washington.
Yuan Yan suddenly shook hands with the great diplomat and said, "Brother Shaochuan, I don't like to join in the fun. Besides, I'm a little tired, so I'll go to the hotel to rest first."
He pointed at Meng Xiancheng and said, "Let me introduce you. This is..."
"Hello, Mr. Meng."
"Hello, Minister Gu."
The three of them exchanged a few pleasantries at the door before entering this three-up and three-down American-style "small" villa. Of course, this was based on Mrs. Gu's standards.
When Huang Huilan saw Yuan Yanshu, she smiled and said, "Hongjian, you also received the telegram, my aunt has arrived in Semarang, and your old Taishan, my grandfather, is out of danger ."
Miss Wei Mingzhu's trip home this time started from New York, she took the transcontinental railroad straight to San Francisco, then crossed the Pacific Ocean and returned to Southeast Asia.
This journey is fast, but it is definitely not as comfortable as the cruise route of the Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea, Indian Ocean, and South China Sea. I think Miss Wei also suffered a little.
Our Master Yuan nodded and said, "Yes, Huilan. I received her telegram as well."
