Although Gu Dahe had a grudge against his brother-in-law for not helping him fully, he still admired his brother-in-law, Wang Mingshan, for his sharp reaction. The layman just watches the show, while the expert knows the ropes. "Just in case Korea tries to print RMB in a desperate situation." It might seem like a joke, but from the bank's insiders' point of view, Wang Mingshan had clearly expressed that he was not optimistic about the future of Korea's currency.
The RMB was printed in four colors, and it had a watermark. The first generation of Korea's currency was the same as the British Pound Sterling. It was made of special paper, and there were not many colors printed on it. Only the patterns and signatures were very special. East Asian FFF.. ←.? There was never a shortage of excellent craftsmen. Even if they could not compete with the professionals in China, it was not a problem for them to engrave the master.
After the promotion in March, by April, everyone in Korea knew that Korea was going to issue their own currency. It must be said that this news caused quite a stir in Korea, at least among the scholars and the urban class. Exquisite banknotes had always been the patent of China. The RMB, nicknamed "Great Unity", had no problems in Korea. The Koreans naturally felt that their own banknotes were not as good as China's RMB, but they also felt that Korea's banknotes would not have any problems.
This was all thanks to Li Hongzhang. Without Director Li's help, this matter might not have gone so smoothly. However, Director Li was doubted when he was about to make a great achievement.
"Director Li, do you really think that no one in China knows that we are secretly selling food to Japan?" Yan Fu asked in a serious tone. Japan's food supply was not enough to meet the people's needs. Two years ago, they imported a large amount of low-priced food from Korea to make up for the gap. Now that Korea banned the sale of food to Japan, Japan's food shortage immediately increased. Li Hongzhang had a lot of connections in Korea, and many Korean landlords begged Li Hongzhang to help them smuggle food to Japan to make money.
Director Li immediately made his own judgment. He suggested in the Korea office. "We might as well sell food to Japan under the name of Korea. The so-called cheap grain price of the Koreans is much higher than the grain price in our country. The purchase price of grain in the northeast is even lower than what Korea sells to Japan. "
As soon as the suggestion was made, Yan Fu immediately objected. "We want to be second-hand dealers. The provinces and ministries in the country also want to sell their own."
"Then why don't we provide this channel to the country? Even if the country doesn't give us any benefits, they will still remember our favor." Yuan Weiting immediately came up with a solution during the meeting.
Li Hongzhang couldn't help but shake his head. Favors were nothing. Only real gold and silver could be considered real goods when it fell into the pocket. After attending the three meetings, Director Li had a better understanding of the struggle between the upper echelons. The provinces were short of money, and the Min dynasty was not short of food. This favor was nothing.
Yan Fu changed the topic. "Is the food shortage in Japan this bad?"
Li Hongzhang replied, "As far as I know, the price of food in Japanese cities has increased by 20%. They are also engaged in industry. Too many people have gone to the city to work in factories. The price of food is bound to increase."
After listening to this answer, Yan Fu said, "Is there any more detailed information?"
Looking at everyone's puzzled look, Yan Fu explained, "My comrades in the Navy said that the days in Hokkaido are good. In our route to North America, Hakodate has always been an important intermediate station. With this income and the nationalization of the land in Hokkaido, the distribution of food is fair. There is a service industry and coal and iron. There is no shortage of food there. "
Before the others could understand the meaning of these words, Wang Shizhen asked in his usual calm tone, "Secretary Yan, do you think the Japanese Meiji government will launch an armed attack on Hokkaido?"
Yan Fu looked at Wang Shizhen seriously. This young man never showed off. He didn't have Yuan Weiting's generosity and aggressiveness, nor did he have Li Hongzhang's shrewdness and foresight. This Wang Shizhen was a person who could use the rules he learned to judge things. Compared with other comrades, Wang Shizhen rarely considered personal interests and personal hobbies, so he could always go straight to the key point of the topic. Many times, it highlighted his astuteness.
"We will report this problem to the country. First, we will do things within the scope of the intelligence we can collect. There is no need to complicate the issue. "Yan Fu was a very rational person, and he made a very rational decision.
Rationality seemed boring, but it was a problem that no one could get around. At this time, there were indeed calls for a crusade against Hokkaido within the Japanese Meiji government, but the reason was not food.
"At present, more and more people have fled to Hokkaido, and the rebels in Hokkaido colluded with the remnants of the Aoyuetsu Vassal Alliance in Okoru. If we don't eradicate them quickly, they will definitely become a big problem." As the representative of the crusade, Yamagata Yutomo's tone was so dark that it could almost drip water droplets.
In fact, everyone knew the real reason for the crusade. Hokkaido was located in the north, and in the eyes of the Japanese, it was also a bitter and cold place. They didn't expect that the rebels in Hokkaido would rely on China. On the one hand, they established state ownership of land, and started agriculture and animal husbandry. On the other hand, they provided services for China's ocean shipping through the ports in Hakodate and other places. The local people's living standards were generally higher than those in the three islands of Japan.
Because of the content of the treaty, Hokkaido was internally autonomous. In name, the Meiji government was the unified central government of Japan. In terms of finance, there was no way to get the slightest benefit from Hokkaido. Hokkaido had its own local currency, and the Meiji government couldn't plunder Hokkaido even if they wanted to use Japanese yen notes.
An innocent man would get into trouble because of his wealth. Not being able to get the food, steel, and coal that the Meiji government urgently needed from Hokkaido could not be accepted by the Meiji government. The leaders of Hokkaido were also the remnants of the shogunate and the sworn enemies of the Meiji government. This was even more intolerable.
More importantly, with the state-owned land system in Hokkaido as a model, most of the poor people in the areas controlled by the Meiji government became more and more interested in the state-owned land system in Hokkaido. In the beginning, the people at the bottom of the Japanese still refused to give up their private rights to land. They were uneasy about the state-owned land system. Coupled with the propaganda of the landlords, the Meiji government didn't even have to worry about it. The propaganda about the "communist wife sharing" in Hokkaido became a trend throughout Japan. Hokkaido was described as a completely evil place. The men were all villains, and the women were all promiscuous. Listening to all kinds of slander against Hokkaido, as well as the sexual descriptions in the "One Book" circulating in the factories, the Meiji government immediately occupied the moral high ground. When this group of Japanese bigwigs talked about Hokkaido, most of them were with great contempt.
But the development of things was beyond imagination. Although the sexual descriptions in the "One Book" were vulgar, the vulgar made it easy to produce, and the interesting made it happy to see. The senior officials of the Meiji government didn't expect that the popularity of this thing had the effect of promoting Hokkaido.
If no one mentioned Hokkaido, in the hearts of the Japanese people, Hokkaido was just a deserted island covered with ice and snow in the far north. It repeatedly appeared in the little yellow book of the "One Book", and repeatedly appeared in the culture and entertainment of folk artists close to the bottom of the society. This place, which should have been far away, was invisibly pulled into the life of the entire Japanese people. In their ears, in front of their eyes, in their hands, and on the dining table, Hokkaido was always there.
The erotic descriptions, the outrageous but completely based on the fantasy of life, made this place, which should have been desolate, covered with a layer of pink warmth. After waking up from the extravagant and lustful dream of Hokkaido, the people of the three islands of Japan had to face the cold and cruel reality. They didn't know when it started, but the image of Hokkaido had changed from a place full of evil to a city of dreams.
Since the Meiji Restoration, there had been too many mass suicides initiated by religion in Japan. The cruel life forced the Japanese people to choose the "other side." Compared to the price of abandoning their lives, the other side of Hokkaido didn't have to die. Once they crossed the Tsugaru Strait, the pink other side appeared in front of them.
Since two years ago, there was a sudden trend that swept the whole of Japan to the north. They couldn't live, because of love, they wanted to elope, or they just wanted to go to that pink immoral place to have a look. All kinds of people swarmed in, so the true face of Hokkaido was suddenly fully revealed in front of the entire Japanese people because of the large number of exchanges.
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