Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 704
The Indian tribes in the Sierra Nevada had never been in contact with foreign civilizations before they met Lu Qi and the others; in addition, unlike the Indian empires in South and Central America, their knowledge of gold was limited to good looks, and they did not realize its value at all.

It is important to know that the currency used by these aborigines is not gold and silver, but shell coins.So judging whether an Indian is rich this year depends on how many shells hang on his necklace.

Lu Qi and the others wandered around Koloma for two days. After returning to the village of the Nisennan people, with the help of Baibai and Su Ke, he negotiated with the Nisennan chief to buy a [-]-kilometer-round village in Koloma. land.

Buying land with the Indians these days is about fate, and it’s easy to talk about anything that looks pleasing to the eye.After negotiating with the elders of the tribe, the chief offered a price for twenty pairs of scissors, five handsaws, and two golden thermal insulation blankets.

Lu Qi was very happy, but due to poor language communication and ignorance of Indian customs, he didn't know at this time that, including the previous [-] square kilometers, the Indians were not so much "selling land". Rather, it is a lease of land.

In their view, it is normal for outsiders to borrow land that they cannot use temporarily to survive.However, once one's own ethnic group has experienced several generations of development and the population expansion has led to insufficient land, it is only natural to take it back.In addition, even if the right to use the land is temporarily transferred, one's own clan has the right to go hunting there.

When the expedition returned to the Golden Gate Fortress with a full load, it was already mid-January 1794.

Before returning to the fortress, Lu Qi had a special talk with the officers and soldiers in the expedition team, telling them that all the gold they found before would be handed over, and that he would distribute the bonus at a ratio of [-]:[-], and the money would be directly deposited into their respective allowances account.As for the discovery of gold, it must be kept strictly confidential and must not be circulated, and anyone who violates it will be repatriated.

None of the [-] team members disapproved of this order. Although this trip was hard work, everyone was rewarded, far exceeding expectations.Under the current currency system of Beihai Town, private transactions of precious metals including gold and silver ingots are strictly prohibited, and they must be exchanged for Beihai Yuan at Beihai Bank or Savings Office.Once the public security police find out that gold and silver in the form of metal are traded privately, both parties to the transaction will not only be fined twice the transaction amount, but will also be sentenced to three to six months of hard labor.

Lu Qi immediately sent a telegram to Zhao Xin after returning to the fort, and then went to San Jose de Guadalupe to inspect.In the telegram, he informed that everything was going well, the location of one of the three target areas had been found, and the next step could be carried out.In addition, he also asked one thing in the telegram, that is, whether it is this time and space or another time and space, the Chinese New Year is coming soon. When Boss Zhao came to pick him up, he would bring some New Year's goods for everyone by the way.

At this time, Zhao Xin is about to embark on the annual pick-up trip again. In fact, this is also an important moment for him to inspect places and send troops abroad.For those officers and soldiers who are fighting abroad, apart from going home and reuniting with their relatives, what could be more inspiring than their own commanders bringing letters and gifts from their families and traveling thousands of miles to express condolences?

In the big study room of Zhao Xin’s house, Li Ji took the tea from A Miao with a smile, and as soon as his butt touched the chair, he heard Zhao Xin say: “Have all the letters and presents from the families of the garrison troops received? ?”

Li Ji hurriedly got up, and before he could put down the tureen in his hand, he held the tureen in both hands and replied: "The Logistics Command has checked them one by one according to the roster. I asked them to check again yesterday to ensure that there will be no business trips."

Zhao Xin nodded slightly and said: "It needs to be checked carefully. If it is the same as last year and puts things from Zhang San's family into Li Si's package, the soldiers will not say anything, but they should scold me in their hearts."

Li Ji could only laugh at this.The Beihai Navy currently has as many as 6 foreign troops. In terms of communications alone, there are tens of thousands of letters and postal parcels every month, and even more during the Chinese New Year.In the past, it was all counted manually by people, and mistakes were inevitable.However, this year, the Logistics Command established a special agency in charge of military mail, and also used a barcode system, which can reduce the chance of error to one in a million.

Now the territory of Beihai Town is getting bigger and bigger, more and more institutions are newly established, and the corresponding systems are continuously introduced, and the resulting system costs are also rising steadily.

Taking 1792 as an example, the annual fiscal revenue of the entire Beihai Township was 7144 million Beihai Yuan, almost all of which came from taxation.Among them, customs duties at various ports accounted for 35.5%, including the three ports of Chiyan City, Anping Port, and Whale Port; goods transaction turnover tax accounted for 24.9%, and others included stamp duty, currency arbitrage, seigniorage, and confiscated part of Karl Rajahka and temple properties together accounted for 39.6%.

In terms of expenditure, the military expenditure of the Beihai Navy is more than 100 million, and the civil affairs expenditure including transportation, medical care, and transportation is 300 million, which is close to 7500 million.This does not include the cost of shipbuilding and railways. The cost of the railway from Heilongjiang City to Yaksa alone is 7000 million.

Such a large amount of expenditure cannot be supported by Zhao Xin alone and the output of several gold mines.In view of this, Chen Qingsong started planning to issue public bonds of 5000 million Beihai yuan a year ago, equivalent to 3.5 million taels of silver, for sale in Beihai Town and under the rule of the Qing Dynasty, with a coupon rate of [-]% for a period of ten years.

After half a year's advance research by the Intelligence Bureau, it has been confirmed that the salt merchants, Shanxi merchants, and thirteen lines under the Manchu Qing rule can subscribe for [-]%; It is sold in Beihai Town.

From officials to businessmen in the Manchu and Qing Dynasties, they all thought that they had bought a "ship ticket" to save their lives when they paid real money to buy Beihai town bonds. Even Heshen, after learning about it, said through Liu Quan that he would buy 30 taels.

The sales channels are guaranteed, and the approval of the 29-member Committee of Beihai Town is just a formality. After all, everyone knows what the income and expenditure structure has been over the years.

Zhao Xin took a sip of tea and asked, "What do people say about the public debt issuance next year?"

"Everyone has no objection." Li Ji thought for a while, and said sincerely: "My lord, you are the sky of Beihai Town. Without you, we would not be where we are today. Now that the money in your hand is not enough, even if everyone donates it I won’t say anything, why bother to repay the principal with interest?”

Zhao Xin gradually restrained his smiling expression just now, stared at Li Ji and said, "Did you not go to the public debt study class yesterday?"

Li Ji said: "No, Xiaochun had a fever yesterday, so I, I didn't go."

Zhao Xin frowned, and said with concern: "Oh? Then let A Miao go and have a look. This child was born prematurely and is too weak."

Koharu is the youngest daughter of Liji and Shino.In the first few years, after Wu Xianning prescribed medicine for conditioning, Zhi Nai's syndrome of dampness, heat and blood stasis gradually improved, and it became natural to conceive and have children. The two now have a son and a daughter.Because of the well-known relationship with Liji and his wife, Zhao Xin gave the names of the two children. The son is Zhao Qi, who is three years old, and the daughter is Xiaochun, who is less than one year old.

The two were chatting, A Miao opened the door and walked in, frowned and said to Zhao Xin: "That woman is here again. See you?"

Zhao Xin knew who she was talking about.The other party has already asked to see him twice this month, but they have ignored him on the pretext of being too busy, but considering the status of the other party, it is not appropriate to see him again, so he said: "Please go to the flower hall to sit for a while, I will be there in a while."

Seeing that Zhao Xin has something to do, Li Ji wants to resign.Zhao Xin called him to stop him, got up and motioned to go out together, and asked as he walked, "Things in the capital need to be stepped up, Jia He and the others have been gone for almost a year, right?"

Liji whispered: "One of our people has already sneaked into Xianyuan Palace's house as a helper cook. After the completion of the new palace, that person has rarely shown up. If you want to lure him out, you must make Xianyuan Palace seriously ill. It’s good to take advantage of the opportunity of visiting the sick to do it.”

Li Ji deliberately emphasized the word "serious illness", Zhao Xin nodded silently, patted the other party's shoulder and said: "Tell Jia He and the others not to worry too much, I am not a dead dog. "

"Yes Yes!"

The two walked along the corridor to the door of the flower hall one after the other, and Li Ji went out through the side door next to him.Zhao Xin thought for a while, then opened the curtain and entered the warm flower hall. When he walked around the screen, he saw Shen Xuan and A Miao talking with a white-haired white woman.The woman sat across from A Miao, her face was covered with light white powder, and her two blue eyes were particularly conspicuous.She was wearing a gray sea otter fur hat, a black European-style simple satin skirt, a cross hanging around her neck, a snow-white fox fur on her shoulders, and a pair of black pointed high hair exposed under the skirt. Waist boots.

Zhao Xin smiled and said, "Hi, ma'am."

Seeing Zhao Xin coming, the woman slowly got up and performed a European-style court salute, speaking in somewhat jerky Mandarin, "Your Highness, it's not easy to see you."

Zhao Xin made a painful gesture, shook his head and smiled, "Too busy, too busy! As you know, I am currently presiding over border negotiations with neighboring countries. This matter is of great importance and cannot be sloppy."

Shen Xuan pretended to turn her head to talk to A Miao, with the corner of her mouth slightly twitched.A Miao also pretended to be listening, and nodded heavily.

The woman stared at Zhao Xin with her blue eyes, and when she saw that he was also looking at her, she said with a flushed face, "Your Highness, please don't forget our agreement. I came here today to learn about the progress of the war in India. What's the matter?"

The person who came was Louis XVI's sister, Madame Elizabeth, the aunt of Louis Charles.It is said that Mrs. Elizabeth and Louis Charles, who vowed never to marry for life, have been in Beihai Town for more than a year.When they first arrived, Zhao Xin placed the three of them in a yard two kilometers away from his home; it was originally Liu Zheng's residence, but since Liu Zheng took his two wives to Kulun, the house has become vacant .

In the first two months, apart from Degigne and his son, there were ten other people who accompanied Louis Charles every day. Lai's Indian maid.Thanks to these beautiful Indian girls who are good at singing and dancing, and can speak a few words of French, the life of the three of them was not so boring at the beginning.

In addition, the people from the Intelligence Bureau had to escort the three of them out for a day of relaxation every week, and Zhao Xin also gave them his own carriage, anyway, as long as they didn't run into the Condorcet family, the four gods of Ra and their families.

Once Mrs. Elizabeth brought Louis-Charlotte and Charlotte to Zhao Xin's house as guests. The two children saw cats all over the yard, and they yelled excitedly. They played with Zhao Xin's son Momo for an afternoon. Before leaving He also took away two offspring of Duofu.

To be honest, Zhao Xin has ten thousand ways to make Louis-Charle and his sister happy in Beihai Town. Just the toys he sends people over every now and then can make the two children addicted to it.

But Madame Elizabeth is different. She shoulders the trust of her elder brothers Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, and it is her mission to restore the French Bourbon dynasty.After being dazzled, the woman quickly calmed down and began to think about the future.

So Deguigne's father, old Deguigne, became the tutor of the two children.And Jiao Xun, who was busy preparing for the Higher Polytechnic Institute with several Rashen, was also invited by Deguigne to be a Chinese teacher for the two children and Mrs. Elizabeth, three days a week, two hours each time.

Before Zhao Xin went to Bacheng to command the battle, he and Mrs. Elizabeth initially reached a memorandum of agreement.

After intervening in the local governance and the war with the British from the Northern Navy, he will assist Governor Leclerc, who is loyal to the king, to regain control of the French Indian colony, clean up the republicans, and use it as a base camp to counterattack the First French Republic.In addition, the Northern Navy will also provide military training and weapons assistance to the French colonial forces, so that Louis Charles can personally control an army loyal to himself.Once all the above conditions are met, Louis Shire and the three of them can go to the local government.

In exchange, Louisshire will obtain the support of Beihai Town on the condition of transferring French Louisiana; as for the total price for Beihai Town to acquire Louisiana, it is 4000 million Beihai dollars.And if converted into French francs, it is 6666.66 million francs, which is really smooth!

Of course, the military aid provided by Beihai Town will be deducted from the more than 6000 million francs.As for the fact that Zhao Xin and the others rushed into the temple tower to save people and brought the three of them back to Asia from Europe, they didn't charge any money, it was considered a gift of friendship.

The reason why the agreement between the two is in the form of a memorandum is first of all because Louis Charles is only eight years old this year, and he has not yet been recognized by the royal families of various European countries, especially the allegiance of his uncle, the leader of the Royalist Party, Count Artois.

The second is Louisiana - the area west of the Mississippi River is still in Spanish hands.When the "Seven Years' War" was coming to an end, Louis XVI was about to lose. In order to keep the territory in North America, he secretly signed the "Treaty of Fontainebleau" with Spain, and gave the Louisiana area to Bourbon Family of the King of Spain.Now if you want to get it back from Spain, you have to sign another secret agreement, and the shit-stirring Britain can't get in the way.

Ever since the war in Beihai Town started in India, Mrs. Elizabeth, who accidentally learned about it from Jiao Xun, was stunned.Jiao Xun sympathized with this woman very much, so he tried his best to find out for her.

But how much Jiao Xun can know about South Asia, he can only inquire about it.In December, as the news from Jiao Xun became less and less, the anxious Mrs. Elizabeth couldn't hold back any longer, so she visited Zhao Xin directly several times in the name of visiting.

The problem is that these two people have been flirting with each other ever since they were in Bacheng, and Shen Xuan also heard some rumors, and she was very unhappy.

Zhao Xin knew he was in the wrong, and because he was busy negotiating with Li Chao, the matter was more important at the moment, so he kept pleading that he didn't have time.But now that Leclerc has returned to the position of governor, it is time to let the other party know.

　At the end of the 18th century, one pound was equivalent to 25 francs, while one pound was exchanged for three taels of silver, and one tael of silver was exchanged for five Beihai dollars.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)