A Man of Science and Engineering in Troubled Times Wandering in the Late Qing Dynasty

Chapter 9 Citibank
At this time, Prince Qing Yikuang, as the Prime Minister of the Prime Minister's National Affairs Office, was receiving Connor, the US Minister to the Qing Dynasty, and Lawrence, an executive of Citibank.

Connor and Lawrence came to Yikuang this time to set up a branch of the Bank of America in the Qing Dynasty.Now the Boxer indemnity share has been determined long ago, and all countries have set up banks in China to specialize in collecting indemnity.

However, the United States has always been collected by Minister Connor, which has aroused dissatisfaction from other countries, and they have criticized the United States for this unconventional diplomatic practice.Seeing the opportunity, Citibank immediately applied to the U.S. Congress to set up a branch in the Qing Dynasty.

At this time, Citibank's name was still called City Bank of New York, and it could not handle cross-state business in the United States, but it first set up multinational branches.

Fortunately, Citibank has good vision and applied for a transnational business license in advance. President Roosevelt of the United States also wanted to make things more formal so that other countries would not laugh at him, so he agreed to Citibank's application.

This is a super fat job. Even commercial banks are desperately trying to get deposits, not to mention Citibank, which was just starting up at that time.

Therefore, Lawrence attached great importance to his errands. He had studied and formulated a plan with Connor, the Minister in China, which listed in detail the various terms and conditions for the establishment of the bank.

They arrived at the Prime Minister's Office of International Affairs early in the morning, and finally saw Yikuang after waiting for a long time.

Yikuang didn't mean to delay on purpose, he was really busy now, and every day, many ministers or counselors took turns looking for him, talking about either setting up a concession or applying for the army to station.

How can Yikuang decide these matters right away, and he has to go to see the Empress Dowager Cixi again. Fortunately, Cixi treated him well, and he can directly enter the palace in a sedan chair.But many things can't be decided in one meeting, and they often have to go back and forth several times.

Yikuang's old bones were almost torn apart during this period of time.

At this moment, Yikuang was wrinkling his head and looking at the proposal in front of him.The planning book is written in English, but his English level is probably not as good as that of elementary school students who have just learned English for a year.

He looked at it for a long time, and handed it to Ruizheng, the translator next to him, "Help me see it."

Ruizheng is a graduate of Tongwenguan, but his level is not very good, but he is a distant relative of Yikuang. Yikuang is nepotism and can do things easily with money, so he left Ruizheng as an interpreter.

Ruizheng took over the planning book, and it was really a headache to read the [-]-odd pages of dense English. He hurriedly sat on the table next to him, flipping through a small dictionary and slowly translating word by word, and then wrote the translation next to it. on the paper.

Connor saw that his movements were too slow, so he said to Yikuang: "Dear Prime Minister, I have explained to you just now that the nature of Citibank in our country is exactly the same as that of HSBC established in the UK, and there is nothing redundant. business."

Yikuang touched the handle of the chair at hand, and said unhurriedly: "Mr. Minister, I naturally understand what you said, but I still have to follow the rules for such a big matter."

Lawrence, a senior official of Citibank, was the most anxious, and he immediately said: "I hope the Prime Minister will move forward quickly. Our bank's business capabilities will not be inferior to HSBC, and we have advantages in interest rate payment, exchange business, safety insurance, service quality, etc. .”

Lawrence didn't speak Chinese, and he spoke so fast that Yikuang didn't understand, so he looked at the translator beside him, Rui Zheng.

Ruizheng was concentrating on translating, but he didn't understand, so he said shyly, "I'm sorry, my lord, I didn't hear clearly."

Connor felt that it was too slow for him to translate again, so he immediately repeated it in Chinese to improve efficiency.

When Yikuang heard this, he was talking about HSBC again. If they said it was simpler than HSBC, it would be better if they really want to be like HSBC. Their business extends to all aspects, even mining and building roads, which is more troublesome to deal with.

Seeing that Yikuang was still not in a hurry, Lawens knew that he had to use his trump card, and said, "Master Prime Minister, we have added a document in addition to the official documents, which can reduce and refund part of the interest as appropriate. In addition, if the Prime Minister Adults can deposit in our bank, and we can also pay more interest."

Of course, this sentence was translated by Connor.

Yikuang is a smart man, and when he heard that there was a "trick" in his words, he immediately became interested, leaving aside the bank's affairs, and asked, "This refund of interest...what's the name?"

The Gengzi indemnity signed in the "Xin Chou Treaty" was not simply 4.5 million taels of silver. The Qing Dynasty could not pay so much money at one time, so it could only pay in installments, with an annual interest of 4%, that is, 4% interest, principal and interest and Calculated, the total compensation is close to 10 billion taels!

Lawens said: "According to the terms, we can reduce the 4% interest to 3% 7 cents. Of course, the official document says 5 cents 3 cents, and the other half of the interest is for the Prime Minister. And If your country deposits in our bank, you can also get interest, and naturally you can continue to get interest reduction accordingly."

These words seemed to have been instructed by someone, pointing directly at the key points of Yikuang and the Qing court, Lawrence rolled his eyes a few times, and looked at Yikuang confidently.

There was a small abacus on the table next to Yikuang. He dialed it a few times quickly. According to the ratio, the compensation from the United States was as high as 16 taels per month. There are more than 2 taels.

Moreover, 1000 taels of it were for himself, and it was more than 1 taels a year. Lawrence's generosity is indeed very large.

Lawrence also knew that Yikuang was a big corrupt official, and he couldn't be taken down without a heavy hand. Besides, the loss of only 0.0025% interest was only a drop in the bucket for them.

This trump card is definitely attractive to Yikuang, not only can he get 1 taels of benefits, but also the court can reduce the burden of 6 taels a year.More importantly, this can be regarded as a diplomatic "victory", which can definitely be boasted in front of the Empress Dowager Cixi.

A few years ago, Li Hongzhang was shot in the cheek by an angry youth in Japan. Under the pressure of public opinion, Japan reduced the compensation of 5000 million taels in the Treaty of Shimonoseki.Although I didn't talk much this time, I calculated 6 taels per year, and in 38 it was more than 200 million taels.

Yikuang thought about it for a while, and immediately had a plan in his mind, and said to Connor and Lawrence, "This proposal is very good. I will report it to the Queen Mother in detail without changing it. Don't worry."

Connor knew that as long as Yikuang collected money, he could definitely get things done, so he stood up and shook hands with Yikuang vigorously: "We believe that your prestige, Prime Minister, can completely facilitate this matter."

Yikuang smiled: "This is a great testimony of the friendly relations between our two countries!"

Yikuang said this without changing his face and heart, feeling like a weasel came to the house to steal 100 chickens, accidentally found that someone left you an egg, and immediately danced for joy!
(End of this chapter)