Yuan Shikai's government borrowed money from banks from four countries one after another in a short period of time, fully exposing his embarrassment of being short of money and determined to rely on foreign financial capital. The four-nation banking group is determined to seize this big business on the most favorable terms without losing any opportunity. On March 12, representatives of the four-nation consortium met in London to discuss the issue of loans to China. Regarding Yuan Gang's request for 5 million taels, they only agreed to advance the 2 million taels that were scheduled to be used to pay military salaries; as for the advances required after April, they reiterated that they would bear all of them. For this reason, the meeting Strict conditions including the principle of supervision were formulated. In addition to the "priority" for the loan of 60 million pounds, the loan was guaranteed by salt tax and other points that had been agreed by the Yuan government, there were also: 1. China should “take immediate steps to rectify the salt tax and select foreign experts recommended by the General Department of Customs and Taxation to help”; 2. The four-nation banking group should “receive appropriate guarantees to control and supervise [China’s] borrowing income” "Use"; 3. During the period when the four-nation banking consortium delivers advances and before the treasury bonds have been redeemed and the large-scale aftermath loans have not been issued, China should assume the obligation to "never negotiate or negotiate except through the intermediary of the four-nation banking consortium." Sign any loan or advance contract." It can be seen that the obvious purpose of the four-nation banking group is to monopolize all advances and follow-up loans, supervise and control the use of loans, and use foreign experts to intervene in China's salt tax. In a word, to do it. The master of China’s finances.

Before the four-nation banking group had time to put forward these conditions to the Yuan Shikai government, something unexpected happened: On March 14, the Yuan Shikai government signed a one million pound agreement with an international consortium. loan contract, thus causing an uproar between the four-nation banking group and the Yuan government. This consortium originated in early 1911, when the Russian government instructed the Russian-Asia [Dousheng] Bank to form an institution to compete with the Four Nations Banking Group; the Russian-Asia [Dousheng] Bank recruited some British, French, and Belgian banks that had nothing to do with the Four-Nation Banking Group. Capital officially formed this international consortium on January 24, 1912. As soon as it was established, the Bank of Belgium undertook this loan from the Yuan Shikai government, which is generally called the Belgian loan. The contract stipulates that the loan interest will be 5%, with a deduction of 97%, and payment will be made fifteen days after signing the contract; China will use its normal annual income and the net profits and properties of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway as guarantee for this loan, and agrees to give the consortium a priority of lending 10 million pounds. right. Overall, the terms of this loan were relatively mild; while the Yuan government eagerly sought loans from a group of banks from four countries, it also quietly concluded the deal, apparently to diversify its sources of borrowing; the negotiations for this loan began in When the consortium

Yuan Shikai

was established, a rough contract was signed on February 20. This shows that the Yuan government's original intention was not to use this loan to compete with the four-nation banking consortium. However, this loan contract was signed on March 9 after Yuan Shikai responded to the four-nation banking group and agreed to grant the monopoly rights for advances and loans. This put the Yuan government itself in a contradictory position. As soon as the banking group of the four countries learned about the loan from Belgium, they immediately accused Yuan of "breaking his promise" and stopped advances and negotiations; the ministers of the four countries concerned also protested against the loan from Belgium on March 25. The essence of the matter is: Belgium's borrowing has robbed part of the interests of the four-nation banking consortium, and the contract does not stipulate the supervision of the purpose of the loan. This is a big impact on the four-nation banking consortium's newly formulated conditions for borrowing from China, and it must be implemented destroy. At the beginning, Yuan Shikai's government had to defend itself and insist on its position. However, Tang Shaoyi (who was already serving as the Prime Minister of Yuan's government) reached a second agreement with the Overseas Bank in Shanghai (April 6). The consortium Another advance of 250,000 pounds (including the previous total payment of 1.25 million pounds); but in the end it could not withstand the pressure of the four-nation banking group and the four governments. After returning to Beijing, Tang Shaoyi had to pay for the comparison. He personally apologized to the ministers of the four countries regarding the loan, and on April 27, informed these ministers that he had decided to abrogate the loan contract with Belgium and required the banking group of the four countries to resume negotiations on the loan and pay advances to meet urgent needs. On the 29th, the four countries' ministers agreed to order representatives of the four countries' bank delegations to resume negotiations, and the turmoil subsided.