Chapter 79 upstart

"Sir" asked the translator to agree to Li Diyadi's conditions on behalf of the Chinese workers, but at the same time he also proposed several conditions for maintaining the dignity of the Chinese workers.Li Diyadi agreed to everything. That night, the Chinese workers not only did the work quickly and well, but also created some new methods of loading and unloading goods.Before dawn, they had loaded sixty-four carts, and the one hundred British soldiers also loaded six carts, successfully completing the task. Because the task was completed beautifully, Li Di Yadi was also commended by the headquarters.He was very happy and specially called the translator over to express his heartfelt thanks to the Chinese workers.Then he went to the warehouse and asked the British man in charge of the warehouse: "How are the Chinese workers doing?"

The warehouse clerk said: "I did a good job last night." Li Diyadi immediately pulled his face down: "Why do you say it's not bad? My Chinese workers did a better job than anyone else. Their work efficiency last night was better than that of the British soldiers." It’s twice as high, haven’t you done the calculations?” The attitude of the British towards Chinese laborers has changed drastically since then, and the situation of Chinese laborers in foreign countries has also improved greatly.Later, when they returned to China, many Chinese workers married French women nearby and brought them back to China.

Many Chinese laborers who went to Europe to fight in the war were not so lucky. The "Weihaiwei Chinese Labor Battalion" retreated from the front line and the casualties were not large, but the casualties of other battalions were not small.It is said that 3,000 of the 100,000 Chinese workers recruited by the British from Qingdao died in total. Most of them were killed by German artillery shells during the retreat. After Duan Qirui returned to the arena, apart from pushing for the declaration of war against Germany, another major concern of Duan Qirui was to obtain assistance and support from the outside world.Although the Chinese government declared war on Germany, canceled the boxer indemnity from Germany and Austria, and stopped paying the Boxer indemnity to the Allied Powers, which eased the domestic financial difficulties, but it was just that there were fewer "exports" and "inflows". "There are still not many.

The person who knows this account most clearly is Cao Rulin, who is the Minister of Transportation and Chief of Finance in the new cabinet.When he took office, the Beijing government was still struggling to make ends meet: military and political expenses were about 20 million yuan a month, while the total reliable revenue of the Ministry of Finance was less than 12 million yuan, a huge gap of 8 million yuan. How to make a living has once again become a major headache for the Duan government, and at this time, the old Duan began to focus on the bulging pockets of neighboring Japan. Japan was not originally a rich country.Before the Sino-Japanese War of 1898-1895, in order to engage in an arms race with China, the Emperor of Japan had to take the lead in donating money, squeezing out royal funds for naval construction every year.After the Sino-Japanese War, China's huge indemnity made it a fortune, otherwise it might not even be able to fight the Russo-Japanese War.

After the Russo-Japanese War was over, Japan had no more money, but the ensuing "World War I" unexpectedly made it a fortune, and it really became an upstart. The opportunity to make money has been handed over to Japan, which is outside of Europe. During the "World War I", Japan's foreign trade greatly exceeded, and its financial strength was significantly enhanced. Due to the excess domestic currency, there was even inflation. Japan is rich and once planned to lend money to China under the banner of "Sino-Japanese Goodwill". However, shortly after allocating the first loan from the Bank of Communications, the political situation in Beijing was in chaos due to the war, and Duan Qirui also avoided it. Go to Tianjin.In view of the extremely uncertain situation at the time, the Japanese Terauchi cabinet decided to suspend the policy of economic aid to China, while flaunting non-interference in China's internal affairs.The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Lin Quanzhu, who was the Japanese Minister to China at the time, also held a completely non-interfering attitude. As a member of the Duan faction, Cao Rulin and others tried to instigate Lin Quanzhu to support Duan Qirui, but they failed to achieve their goals.

Nishihara's view is quite the opposite.After several visits to China, he attached great importance to Duan Qirui, and believed that Duan would definitely succeed Yuan Shikai in taking control of China's political power. Even if he was temporarily dismissed, it would not prevent him from making a comeback in the future.For this reason, he once again proposed to the temple to go to China to assist Duan Qirui. The temple trusts Nishihara very much, but he still thinks that this trip will take many risks, so he does not agree with Nishihara's proposition.Nishihara is a very individual Japanese, even if the boss does not agree, as long as he thinks it should be done, he will do it.During this period, he came to China four times to express support for Duan Qirui. Unlike in the past when he was actually assigned by the temple, these four visits to China were completely personal actions of Nishihara's own initiative, not official opinions.

Until Zhang Xun was restored, the cabinet in the temple still hesitated to publicly aid Duan.Later, seeing the rebellious army approaching the city of Beijing, Zhang Xun's power was gone, and the temple agreed to help Duan Qirui put down the restoration chaos. After the restoration, Duan Qirui is also setting the tone for the new government's foreign policy.At this time, Cao Rulin put forward a new insight.He believes that "distance and near attack" is a strategy that can only be adopted by a strong country. China is only a weak country. To put it bluntly, the policy of "good neighbors" means that we must adopt a pro-Japanese policy.

Cao Rulin's opinion won Duan Qirui's appreciation.When he sent Nishihara, who had been active in Tianjin, back home, he specifically asked Nishihara to convey his intention to the temple: "After the political situation in China has changed several times, I will serve as prime minister again. In the future, all governance should be carried out according to the predetermined policy." After receiving this important message from Nishihara, the Terauchi cabinet made a decision: "Give friendly assistance to Duan's cabinet." At this point, the Japanese government finally clarified its policy of fully aiding Duan.