Chapter 20 The poisoned financial milk has left Han Yeping Company

In 1894, in Hanyang, Hubei, a large iron and steel complex integrating steelmaking, iron smelting and coal mines sprang up.Its blast furnace had a capacity of 470 cubic meters, making it the most powerful and advanced iron and steel complex in the entire Eastern Hemisphere at that time.Its appearance has caused a huge sensation in the world. The international public opinion calls it "China's Hero Factory", and regards it as a symbol of China's sleeping lion waking up and competing with Europe and the United States. In May 1894, the trial production of Hanyang Iron Works was successful, two years earlier than Japan's Yawata Iron Works (later the predecessor of Nippon Steel, Japan's largest steel company).By the eve of the Revolution of 1911, the company had more than 7,000 employees, with an annual output of nearly 70,000 tons of steel, 500,000 tons of iron ore, and 600,000 tons of coal, accounting for more than 90% of the annual steel output of the Qing Empire. It became a model project for the Westernization Movement .

The full name of Hanyeping Company is "Hanyeping Coal and Iron Factory and Mine Company". It consists of three parts: Hanyang Iron Works, Daye Iron Mine and Jiangxi Pingxiang Coal Mine. .If Hanyeping Company can succeed, then the upstream and downstream industrial chain it drives will greatly promote a huge leap in China's economic structure, bringing a series of heavy industries such as railways, ships, military industry, machinery manufacturing, metallurgy, and mining. A real industrial revolution will completely change the tragic fate of China in the early 20th century, and even change the course of world history!

The iron and steel industry is the backbone of all industries, and a country lacking in an iron and steel industry cannot stand up straight in the ranks of modern countries.The Westernization faction of the Qing Empire also understood this truth. Zhang Zhidong, governor of Huguang, was the main figure who advocated the establishment of Hanyeping Company. Unfortunately, in the absence of effective protection of the financial high frontier, Hanyeping Company could not escape a tragic fate. There were hidden dangers in Han Yeping's birth from the very beginning. In 1889, Zhang Zhidong, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, reported to the court that he was planning to build an iron-making plant. In fact, he sent people to England to order iron-making equipment half a year ago. The British asked about the properties of ore and coke in order to decide which steel-making furnace to use. , Zhang Zhidong refused to answer: China is so big, what type of ore coke is not available, why bother to ask?The British had no choice but to supply corresponding steel furnaces according to British acid steelmaking standards. As a result, the Daye Mine in Hubei had a high phosphorus content. backlog. Zhang Zhidong, the proponent of the theory of "Chinese body and Western function", neither kept the "body" nor did he achieve "use".

What is Xiyong?It is to learn from the West the specific methods on how to achieve rise in the economic field.This kind of learning must have a down-to-earth and serious attitude, and there must be no falsehood.And how did Japan do it? In 1895, after the Ninth Imperial Assembly decided to establish the Yawata Iron Works, the government ordered the Minister of Commerce to organize special personnel to conduct research on iron ore, pig iron, steel, coke, refractory materials, production costs, and the selection of plant sites. After 11 years After trial and error and investigation, the budget and plan were finally determined.

The second hidden danger is that there is a problem with the location of the factory.Hanyang Iron Works should be located near coal mines or near iron mines to reduce transportation costs.However, Zhang Zhidong insisted on setting up the factory at the foot of the Dabie Mountain in Hanyang, so that he could supervise nearby.Hanyang is about 120 kilometers away from Daye, an iron ore base, and about 500 kilometers away from Pingxiang Coal Mine.Every ton of pig iron will cost a lot of freight for this.Hanyang is also a low-lying land. In order to prevent floods, more than 90,000 square meters of soil was filled before the factory was built, consuming 300,000 taels of silver, which led to high product prices.

The third is the hidden danger of fuel.Steelmaking requires a large amount of coke. When preparing to build an iron factory, Zhang Zhidong had a hazy concept in his mind that "China is so big, why is there no coal?"After the establishment of the factory, Zhang Zhidong spent several years sending people to explore coal mines along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, but found nothing.Due to lack of fuel, Hanyang Iron Works could not produce normally. In June 1894, the steelmaking furnace was started for the first time, but due to the lack of coke supply, the furnace was shut down in October of the same year.As a last resort, we can only buy Kaiping coal at high prices, and even coke from Japan and Germany.At that time, the market price of pig iron was 20 taels per ton, while the CIF price of Kaiping coal in Hanyang had reached 18 taels per ton, and foreign coal was even more expensive.The cost of coal coke in Hanyang Iron Works was almost three times that of foreign steel mills at that time, and the pig iron and steel smelted were not competitive in the market.If you start the furnace and make steel, you will lose money. If you close the furnace and do not smelt, the monthly fixed expenses will be 80,000 taels, which will also result in a loss.It's really a dilemma, with no way out. 【15】By 1896, Han Yeping had consumed a total of 5.68 million taels of silver, and Zhang Zhidong could no longer hold on.He had no choice but to ask Sheng Xuanhuai to clean up the mess.

At that time, China was able to take over Han Yeping, probably only Sheng Xuanhuai, who controlled the four major westernization enterprise departments of the Qing Empire's ships, telegraphs, mining and textiles.As a representative of foreign compradors, Sheng Xuanhuai's ability is unquestionable, and he is also very good at running a business.Sheng Xuanhuai, who had coveted Hanyang Iron Works for a long time, made a counter-offer after receiving Zhang Zhidong's strong invitation. To accept Hanyang Iron Works, he must also run a railway, because mastering the railway means mastering the steel sales market.Zhang Zhidong was forced to agree.The financing of the railway must be borrowed from foreign banks, and Sheng Xuanhuai will benefit greatly from it.

On May 24, 1896, Sheng Xuanhuai took office. The most urgent difficulty facing the Hanyang Iron Works was coke, which could not be produced without fuel.For this reason, new methods of mining must be implemented in the Pingxiang Coal Mine. At the same time, a railway must be built to transport the coal out. This requires 5 million taels of silver. The transformation of the blast furnace adapted to the Daye Iron Mine and the establishment of rolling steel, rail, and steel plate factories, etc., also used silver. 3 million taels.It was not until 1909 that Han Yeping actually produced qualified steel, which was the "first furnace of steel smelted" in the true sense of the Chinese.At this time, China is catching up with the precious opportunity for large-scale construction of railways, and a large number of orders for steel rails and railway equipment are flying in like snowflakes.The steel rails of the Guangdong-Han and Beijing-Han railways all use "Made in Hanyang".Han Yeping achieved profitability that year.By 1912, Han Yeping's assets were 9.4 million taels of silver, but her liabilities were as high as 24 million taels.

Obviously, Han Yeping needs to refinance.At this moment, a fatal problem arose. In 1913, when the domestic situation had stabilized, Sheng Xuanhuai, led by Mitsui Corporation, borrowed 15 million yen from the Yokohama Specie Bank of Japan.As with previous yen borrowings, the conditions were harsh and got worse.Unreasonable conditions such as prolonging the loan period, allowing only raw materials to repay the loan, using mines as collateral, providing ore and pig iron to Japan at extremely low prices and locking them in for a long time, and future loans can only be provided by Japan were proposed.

Japan is a country that is very poor in iron ore resources. With the development of its iron and steel industry, the demand for ore and pig iron is increasing day by day.In the early days of the Yawata Iron Works, almost all ores and pig iron supplies were obtained from Hanyang Iron Works and Daye Iron Mine.Japan's strategic goal is very clear, to use Hanyeping as the raw material supply base of Japanese steel to ensure the production of high value-added steel by Yawata Steel.So until the 1930s, 56.40% of Hanyeping's ore output and 54.87% of pig iron output were exported to Japan.The supply of pig iron and ore from Han Yeping played a huge role in Japan's military steel industry.During the Russo-Japanese War, most of the steelmaking raw materials needed for Japanese warships and weapons came from Han Yeping. 【16】Similarly, in the war of aggression against China launched by Japan, how many guns and ammunition to massacre the Chinese came from China's own iron ore and pig iron?

In 1914, World War I broke out, and international steel prices soared several times.Due to the price of pig iron and ore locked in the loan to Japan, Han Yeping was unable to adjust according to the market price. During the war, the pig iron and ore sold to Japan was equivalent to a free contribution of 115 million silver dollars to Japan!Enough to repay the Japanese loan several times!Nevertheless, during the war, Han Yeping still made a profit of 24 million taels of silver.However, after World War I, steel prices plummeted, and Han Yeping returned to losses. In 1915, Japan specifically raised the issue of Hanyeping in the "Twenty-one Articles" for the demise of China: "When the opportunity is right in the future, Hanyeping Company will be regarded as a joint venture between the two countries. Without the consent of the Japanese government, all the The Chinese government is not allowed to dispose of all the company's rights and properties, nor can it make the company dispose of it arbitrarily. All nearby mines belonging to the Hanyeping Company's mines, without the company's consent, are not allowed to be exploited by people other than the company." Since the purpose of Japanese loans is so sinister, doesn't the shrewd Sheng Xuanhuai not understand?Of course he understands, but he actively thinks of ways and ideas for the Japanese side.His starting point is how to protect his huge family business from being confiscated by the revolutionaries. For this reason, he did not hesitate to lure wolves into the house and rely on foreigners to respect himself. In 1913, Yuan Shikai thought about nationalizing Han Yeping, but Sheng Xuanhuai firmly opposed it. He couldn't wait to send a secret telegram to the Japanese side, hoping to hand over Han Yeping to the Japanese side as soon as possible. Despise always put secret and speedy action as the first priority." [17] Japan is very "concerned" about Sheng Xuanhuai's health. It is estimated that he has "lung disease and hemoptysis, and he can only live for five generations in the future." I am afraid that after five years, "Don't replace it, the relationship will change suddenly, and the purchase of iron ore will fail. ".So try to finalize the loan one by one while Sheng Xuanhuai is still breathing.Out of self-interest, Sheng Xuanhuai also fell into the trap of the Japanese step by step, making Han Yeping trapped in Japanese debts and unable to extricate himself. In the end, he was completely controlled by the Japanese and was not taken back by the National Government until the end of the Anti-Japanese War. Facts have shown that it is unimaginable for a Westernization Movement dominated by the bureaucratic comprador class to succeed.As Mao Zedong stated: "In economically backward and semi-colonial China, the landlord class and the comprador class are completely appendages of international capitalism, and their survival and development are appendages to imperialism." Iron and steel enterprises need large-scale financing. In the case of losing financial sovereignty, they can only borrow heavily from foreign countries, and finally fall into the hands of others.If Han Yeping is in Japan, its bonds and stocks can be directly financed by the special discount window of the central bank, or loans can be provided by chaebol banks. The government will also use tariffs to block the competition of foreign steel, so important For core enterprises, the government will fully support them anyway.And in China?The central bank of the Qing Empire, the Bank of Great Qing established in 1905, had neither the will nor the ability to help Han Yeping.At that time, China's currency had not yet been unified, and the banknotes issued by the Bank of Great Qing could not have credibility.The commercial banking system is in its infancy, and capital accumulation is far from strong.The stock market in Shanghai is dominated by speculators, and no one would be interested in a super-heavy stock of this size.The scale of the bank is too small to be successful, and the bank is not aggressive and self-styled.In the harsh financial ecological environment, it is difficult for Han Yeping to survive. Industry is the most important core sector for creating social wealth. If large-scale bank credit expansion is not combined with the industry that can generate the most huge benefits, inflation will explode sooner or later.Japan's experience and China's lessons show once again that finance is the core lifeblood of a country, and without financial sovereignty, it is impossible to maintain national sovereignty and control over the economic lifeline! The success of the Meiji Restoration made Japan's national strength soar, and more importantly, it greatly stimulated Japan's impulse to expand.However, China's Westernization Movement seems to be lively and lively, but it cannot stand the test of war at all.When China and Japan collided head-on, the "diorama" of the Westernization Movement immediately shattered into the dregs of history. The Sino-Japanese War left an indelible historical imprint on both China and Japan.China is no longer the high-spirited kingdom of heaven in the past, but is quickly reduced to a lamb waiting to be slaughtered by the great powers; Japan is no longer a small country with peace of mind in the past. ambition.