Compared to the flesh and blood flying on the battlefield, the battle between financial and currency is a war without gunpowder, which is more hidden and has stronger destructive power.

If the enemy has enough financial support, it will take a long time to make a comeback. Financial and monetary wars will completely destroy the enemy's domestic economy, leaving the enemy without money to purchase combat weapons and supplies, thereby achieving the goal of defeating the enemy country. However, due to the collapse of the economy and the vitality of the enemy country is severely damaged, it usually takes a long time to recover.[]

Tsarist Russia and Japan, as close neighbors of the Chinese Empire, have a huge threat, especially Tsarist Russia is currently the first primary enemy of the Chinese Empire.

As early as the 1890s, Emperor Chen Hao of the Chinese Empire proposed that the future war with Tsarist Russia would be a must-have war. If we want to fundamentally defeat the Tsarist Russian Empire, the best way is to destroy the economy and finance of the Tsarist Russian Empire and launch a financial war.

The most direct method in financial wars is to issue counterfeit banknotes to disrupt the economic order of the enemy country. Financial wars in peacetime only exist in economically developed countries against economic backward countries. The Hague International has formulated relevant laws for this purpose. The European and American powers have signed contracts to not use counterfeit banknotes to attack other countries.

However, the treaty is not suitable for war and is not targeted between belligerents. That is, there is no restriction between belligerents.

After the Chinese Empire implemented the gold standard reform, it also became a contracting party, so this kind of financial means was prohibited in peacetime. However, Wang Chenhao knew that it would be necessary to fight Tsarist Russia and Japan sooner or later, but it was only a matter of time and order. Therefore, Wang Chenhao, who was preparing for the future, had already ordered the Beiyang Science and Technology War Laboratory to conduct imitation research on the currencies of various countries. But the focus was on Tsarist Russia and Japan, because they posed the greatest threat to China, and the research on the Tsarist Russian ruble was the top priority.

The counterfeit banknote plan... is shameless, and even if it is targeted by the belligerent country, it will not be heard. Once the other party knows that there is a counterfeit banknote plan... it will not be effective.

Use counterfeit banknotes to squeeze money from other countries, or use counterfeit banknotes to destroy the financial system of the enemy country, causing chaos in the rear, and the role of counterfeit banknotes is quite significant.

Wang Chenhao handed over the counterfeit banknote plan to Li Guodong of the CIA. Through the CIA, the CIA quietly took the manufactured counterfeit banknotes to the market at intelligence stations around the world, testing the market effect and the response capabilities of the government's banking department in order to improve the simulation and delivery methods of counterfeit banknotes.

In the imperial study, Li Guodong was summoned to come, and Wang Chenhao asked him about this.

Li Guodong replied: "The counterfeit banknote plan is progressing smoothly at present, but it is still a long way from the expectation."

"Oh!" Wang Chenhao asked, "How is the progress?"

Li Guodong replied: "The ruble is the first copy object. It has made the fastest progress, reaching 80% of the simulation, and the Japanese yen reaches 60%. The simulation of counterfeit banknotes in other European and American countries has been difficult to improve, especially the most valuable currencies, such as the British list of simulation, only 50%, the US dollar is 55%, the franc and the mark are higher, reaching 5. However, it is easy to see if it is circulated on the market. However, ordinary Russian rubles can fool the Russian people."

Wang Chenhao was already very satisfied with this speed, making money was the second. The real purpose of counterfeit money was to destroy the economy and finance behind the enemy's rear.

Wang Chenhao nodded and said, "Since the ruble is 80% real, you can put it in Russia first to see how it works? If you can get through it, print it on a large scale!"

Li Guodong knew that Wang Chenhao was about to use troops against Russia, and he said that he wanted to fight food and grass first, and that the destruction of the enemy country would also be carried out in advance.

"I accept the order!"

Currently, a total of four sets of ruble versions have been imitated in the Beiyang Science and Technology War Laboratory, all of which are hand-engraved. Even if they are hand-engraved, they are not exactly the same even if they are from the same master. Sichuan,

Large-scale printing is enough by hand. However, once large-scale printing is printed, it is difficult to ensure that there will be no loopholes and will be discovered by the Russians.

Wang Chenhao thought for a while and added: "How much can you print? But at the same time, don't relax the imitation, try to get a few more sets of high-imitation. If you can use fakes to make real, then you are the hero of the empire, and I will reward you well."

Li Guodong suddenly looked happy. He knew that Wang Chenhao's rewards had always been quite generous.

But at the same time, Li Guodong also felt pressured. After all, imitating counterfeit money is not an easy task.

"Thank you, your Majesty, I will work harder."

Wang Chenhao nodded and continued, "You can discuss with Minister of Finance Song Hanzhang and Minister of Industry and Commerce Zhang Sai. They may be able to give you more opinions."

Li Guodong quickly took the order.

Then, Wang Chenhao asked, "By the way! Let you connect with Ning Yi Party, how is the progress now?"

Li Guodong replied: "Report to Your Majesty, Lenin's party has expressed his willingness and is willing to cooperate with the empire. However, I think Lenin and others have reservations and do not trust the empire very much, so the degree of cooperation is not high."

Wang Chenhao nodded and said, "Lenin hopes that the empire will defeat Russia so that they can have a chance to overthrow the Tsarist rule. But Lenin is worried that the empire will eat Tsarist territory and take the opportunity to occupy Russia, so that it will be retained. You send someone to inform him that I promise that the war will only be limited to Asia and will not expand to Europe."

Then, Wang Chenhao added: "After counterfeit banknotes are released, please be sure to keep them confidential. At the same time, using counterfeit banknotes to pay our cooperation funds with Lenin can give them discounts and let them find ways to flow counterfeit banknotes into Russia more. The effect of this thing cannot be highlighted in the short term, but once accumulated for a long time, it will be very beneficial to us, and the war can even end early."

Li Guodong was filled with pains to hear it. He had never thought that forged coins could be used in war.

Following Wang Chenhao, the extremely wise emperor, Li Guodong felt extremely honorable and benefited a lot.

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Russia in 1901 had far less strong domestic politics and economy than Russia showed on the Far East issue.

Russia's economy has been affected by the failure of the Crimean War, and the international silver loss crisis a few years ago has made the already sluggish Russian economy worse. Although Russian Minister of Finance Vette tried to take various measures and implement various reforms, the Russian government's fiscal revenue did increase, but the corrupt Tsarist Russian government bureaucratic group used various plundering names, causing a large number of workers and peasants to live in difficult life.

Of course, Witt himself is such a person, while Tsar Nicholas II is the leader of them.

The Tsarist Russian Empire showed aggressiveness towards the Chinese Empire in the Far East. In fact, the fundamental reason is that the Russian government plans to transfer domestic conflicts abroad, and the country around Russia that can bully and scare is China.

However, this is just a means for the Tsarist government to maintain its rule. This contradiction will sooner or later break out, especially the continued strength of the Chinese Empire. When Nicholas II discovered that the small seedlings that could be pulled out before had grown into big trees, the Chinese Empire was no longer a country that could be bullied, which caused the conflicts in Tsarist Russia to escalate again.

Especially those restless politicians in Russia, seeing that Witt was favored and made money and was jealous of him, so they took the opportunity to provoke him.

Russia's domestic political situation is worse than Russia's economy. Although the Tsarist government gave the parliament a great say, the actual power is still in the hands of the tsar. It is manifested in that any resolution must be handed over to the tsar to make a decision in the end before it can be passed. As long as the resolution of the parliament does not conform to the intention of Tsar Nicholas II, everything will be rejected, so the parliament becomes a decoration.

The thing that politicians love most is power. Since the Tsar gave them the idea of ​​the right to participate in decision-making, but did not give them real power, it will inevitably lead to dissatisfaction among some politicians. The Witt party controls the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Transport to make money, and most of the wealth of a Siberian railway falls into the hands of Witt's party. Naturally, they are full of jealousy and hatred in their hearts, unite to deal with Witt and beat the dog to show their owners.

Among them, Lenin is one of the most active people.

In 1899, Lenin wrote the book "What to Do?", criticizing Bernstein's revisionism and its variant economicism, pointing out that its main root is the worship of the workers' movement and spontaneous movement, and emphasizing that "without the theory of revolution, there would be no revolutionary movement" laid the ideological foundation for the founding of the Party.

Since the Emperor Chen Hao of the Chinese Empire had long instructed Li Guodong to contact Lenin's party, according to the enemy's enemy being a square of friends, Li Guodong, who had abundant funds, gave Lenin a lot of assistance. Therefore, Lenin's party was no longer as poor as in history, and quickly gathered resistance against the Tsarist government. In addition, Lenin would especially incite the emotions of the Russian workers and the common people.

A large number of advocates gathered around it, and the time to establish a political party has come naturally.

In July 1899, Lenin had a considerable number of people under his command, and compared with other political parties, Lenin had the strong support of Li Guodong, and was strong. When attending the Second Congress of the Democratic Labor Party of Russia, the Congress led by Lenin passed the first party program in the history of the international communist movement to fight for the dictatorship of the proletariat as its basic task. Due to differences in the principles of the party organization, the Bolsheviks who supported Lenin and the Mensheviks who supported L Martov were formed at the meeting.

The Bolsheviks mean the majority. Lenin did not want to split the Social Diplomatic Workers Party yet, so this situation was formed. However, Lenin's political purpose had been achieved because he had already obtained most of the seats in the Social Diplomatic Workers Party and became the actual discourse person of the Social Diplomatic Workers Party.

The struggle between the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks was caused by Li Guodong's intervention to obtain real power within the party in advance at this Militant Labor Party Congress. Lenin's strong appeal made the Militant Labor Party appear to be complete, but in fact it had been divided.

After the meeting, Lenin discussed the current situation in Russia with important officials in the Bolshevik Party. According to Lenin's analysis of the situation in the Far East, he believed that to a large extent, Russia's war with the Chinese Empire would be an opportunity for them to overthrow the Tsarist government, and at least it would force the Tsarist government to recognize the legality of the Bolsheviks.

Lenin's purpose was very simple, which was to take advantage of the opportunity when Tsarist Russia went to war with the Chinese Empire, hoping to incite the Russians to overthrow the Tsarist government or establish a state Duma parliament that restricted Tsar's rights, so that Lenin could take power.

In late October 1901, Li Guodong sent a telegram to Lenin, planning to hand over the counterfeit ruble worth 2 million dragon coins to Lenin as funding for activities. Unexpectedly, Lenin refused. At this moment, he only hoped to seize power through legitimate party channels, and the counterfeit money would collapse the Tsarist Russian economy, so Lenin refused.

However, Lenin's deputy, Kholov, secretly reached a deal with Li Guodong. Every time he went out, Kholov would pay Li Guodong 10,000 dragon coins, while Li Guodong would supply Kholov another million rubles, regardless of the upper limit.

So, Korov used the counterfeit money given to him by Li Guodong and quickly moved in Russia, cashing out the other property of the latter, and vigorously developed his people.

Li Guodong's purpose was to import a large amount of counterfeit money to Russia, so it was impossible to rely on Korov alone. Russian gangs and black markets are exchanges for counterfeit money. Li Guodong explicitly ordered the CIA intelligence station personnel stationed in various parts of Russia to trade counterfeit rubles on a large scale through Russian gangs and black markets.

In this way, on the eve of the Chinese Empire's plan to fight against Russia, the financial war against Russia had already begun.

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The war is getting closer and closer, and the Chinese Empire has made comprehensive preparations in diplomatic offensives, financial preparations, military mobilization, material reserves, and sneak attacks on counterfeit financial banknotes.

However, for the Tsarist Russian government.

The arrogant Tsarist government still did not pay attention to the various actions of the Chinese Empire. It always believed that the Chinese Empire was just passive defense and did not dare to take the initiative to attack Russia.

Tsarist Russia has always regarded the Far East as a secondary battlefield, and the Russian General Staff has not yet formulated a unified combat plan against China... General Alekkuro Patkin specially visited China before returning to Vladivostok. After returning to China, he concluded in front of the Tsar that: "A Russian soldier can deal with three Chinese soldiers, and we only need to assemble 800,000 troops in the Far East, which is three times the number required to defeat the Chinese army. Therefore, it is more appropriate to say that what will happen in the future is not a war, but a military walk."

Kurobertkin believed that it was already several years ago that a Russian soldier could deal with three Chinese soldiers. The new Army Minister Dy Homlinov did not want Kurobertkin to be as arrogant as he was defeated and returned to his country and died shamelessly.

Sukhomlinov still plans to use 1.8 million Russian troops to deal with 1.62 million Chinese Army forces.

Although he essentially believed that the Tsarist Russian army was invincible, the upcoming war was just a "military walk".

Sukhomlinov's order to commander-in-chief of the Far East, Alekseev, was to use the existing Far East forces to maintain a defensive battle for 6 months until sufficient forces were gathered before a full counterattack was launched.

Sukhomlinov believed that the Russian army would break through the Chinese defense line in the seventh month, defeat its main force, pacify the people's resistance, occupy Beijing City, and capture the emperor of the Chinese Empire alive.

Alekseev expressed support for Sukhomlinov's order, and he also arranged it in this way. In the combat plan of the Tsarist Russian Far East Fleet, Prince Nikolaevich, Minister of the Tsarist Russian Navy, gave Aleksjev the order: rely on Ulsan to control the Korean Strait: the Imperial Empire Navy is not allowed to enter the Japanese Sea through the Korean Strait to prevent the Imperial Empire Navy from attacking Vladivostok.

The plan emphasizes that the main purpose of all actions is to "preserve naval forces as long as possible and not take risky actions anyway". This is also a passive and conservative plan and has no connection with the ground combat plan.

Alekseev did not object to Prince Alessandrovic's orders. He also knew that the Russian Far East Navy could not defeat the Chinese Empire's navy at all, and passive defense was in line with his intention. However, Alekseev hoped that the Russian Navy would reinforce the Far East. Being beaten was not his style, he needed to fight back.

Regarding Alekseev's request, Prince Alessandrovic finally approved the reinforcement of two more battleships in the Far East. Alekseev expressed disappointment in this, but it was better than not.

The Tsarist Russian Empire was aggressive on the surface and shouted to launch an offensive against China, but it was just a thunder and raindrops. The fact that Tsarist Russians pursued passive defense in the Far East has been discovered by the intelligence departments of the Chinese Empire.

Therefore, the General Staff of the Chinese Empire also adjusted its tactics, shifting from strategic defense to active attack, and according to the emperor's words, the war was burned to Russian land.

On October 16, the final version of the combat plan of the General Staff of the Chinese Empire was released and submitted to the Imperial Emperor Chenhao Yu.

The basic spirit is to take advantage of the Russian side's lack of preparation to use a sudden attack to first annihilate the Pacific Fleet, seize sea control, ensure the landing of the army in North Korea and Binhai Prefectures, and occupy Vladivostok, and open up the maritime passage into Heilongjiang. Then, the main force of the ground forces was concentrated, striving to annihilate the Russian troops in Nibchu, Boli and Vladivostok areas before Russian reinforcements arrived in the Far East.

There are several strategic considerations for making this arrangement. First, the Siberian Railway will be completed in a few months, which was not good for the Chinese Empire at that time. Second, the Russian army was not prepared enough, and the fortifications in several fortresses in the Far East had not been completed. Third, at this time, the Russian base camp always thought that the Chinese Empire would passively defend and would not take the initiative to attack. The Queshan military exercise gave the Russian army a trick. The Chinese Empire suddenly attacked at this time and unexpectedly could achieve major results. Fourth, the navy has an absolute advantage. It can control the sea power, and the attacking troops have no worries. If it does not conquer the Russian fortress, then retreat from the sea to fight a defensive battle with the Russian army.

In general, this is a plan of active attack and quick battle, but it also has a certain risk, that is, if the fortresses such as Vladivostok, Nebchu, Ulsan, and others who are heavily defended by the Russian army, they will face a passive situation of being surrounded by Russian reinforcements. Of course, the Imperial General Staff has made comprehensive considerations in this regard, and has the control of the sea power, so that the attacking troops can be transported back to the country at any time.

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At the end of October, the Chinese Empire completed all pre-war preparations, and the three navy, army and air forces secretly entered a state of combat readiness.

On November 1, 1901, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Chinese Empire sent a note to Tsarist Russian Ambassador to China, Kuman, demanding that the Tsarist Russian government immediately return more than one million territory occupied by the Chinese Empire, otherwise it would have serious impacts and all consequences would be the responsibility of the Tsarist Russian government.

The Tsarist Russian government deliberately delayed the issue and has always avoided negotiations, but this time it was the same.

Because the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Chinese Empire has said many times that "the consequences are serious", Kuman thought this time it was the same. The Chinese Empire just said nothing but did not dare to do anything to Russia.

So he said he had not received negotiation orders from the Tsarist government, and Kuman refused.

But what Kuman didn't expect was that this was the last conversation between the Chinese Empire before the war against Russia.

On the same day, Tang Shaoyi, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Chinese Empire, met with British Ambassador to China, and the two exchanged views on the current situation. During the conversation, Tang Shaoyi had already expressed his intention to use force against Tsarist Russia. He did not dare to take Dou Nale seriously. He just stood on the standpoint of the Sino-British alliance and expressed his full support for the Chinese Empire to regain the land occupied by Russia.

In the afternoon of the same day, Emperor Chen Hao of the Chinese Empire convened a meeting of imperial fronts, ordered the cabinet to make all preparations during the war, and ordered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to draft a "Letter of Disconnection" with Russia.

On November 2, Emperor Chen Hao of the Chinese Empire issued an edict, officially announcing the severance of diplomatic relations with the micro-minded, and at the same time asked the embassy of the embassy in Russia to arrange for the Chinese Empire staff, overseas Chinese, overseas Chinese, and businessmen to begin evacuation from Russia.
To be continued...