Lu Province, Laizhou Prefecture, Prefectural Government Office.
“Sir, Schenke, the German Legation's Counselor, is here to see you.” Tang Shaoyi reported.
“Oh? Are the Germans here to deliver the money?” Li Jingyuan laughed.
Over the past two years, Li Jingyuan had built numerous factories in Laizhou Prefecture. He also secretly formed a new army under the guise of establishing local militia forces.
During this period, money flowed out like water.
Even though he was Li Hongzhang's son, and Li Hongzhang himself was immensely wealthy.
According to estimates from another timeline, Li Hongzhang's family had over 40 million taels of silver alone. If you added the value of houses, land, shops, antiques, and jewels, this number would double.
It could be said that Li Hongzhang was one of the richest men in the world.
Of course, much of Li Hongzhang's wealth was not acquired through legitimate means.
The proverb "The Prime Minister of Hefei leaves the world thin" referred to Li Hongzhang.
But in the current environment, throughout the entire Qing Dynasty, honest and upright officials were practically non-existent.
“Three years as a clean prefect, ten thousand taels of silver.”
“Traveling thousands of miles for office, all for wealth.”
These undoubtedly reflected the true state of affairs for officials of this era.
And Li Hongzhang simply took this to an extreme.
Li Hongzhang’s actual assistance to Li Jingyuan was minimal.
Li Jingyuan had built his current foundation completely on his own.
At the age of twelve, Li Jingyuan, with his technical skills, had entered into a joint venture with the Germans to establish a pharmaceutical factory in Tianjin, mainly producing sulfa drugs.
Before the advent of penicillin, sulfa drugs were the most effective medications for treating infections and killing bacteria.
This was a boon for the entire world.
It was no surprise that this product enjoyed tremendous global sales.
With the help of the Germans, Li Jingyuan successfully secured patents for sulfa drugs in various Western countries. Then, he established factories in the West to produce more products.
This brought Li Jingyuan immense profits every year.
However, the money Li Jingyuan earned over the years was either invested in factories and machinery or transformed into weapons, ammunition, and related equipment. The rest of the money was reserved for military expenses and the future purchase of warships.
Li Jingyuan clearly remembered that it was now 1788.
The First Sino-Japanese War was only six years away.
The war with the Japanese six years later would be a decisive battle that would determine the fate of the entire nation and people.
In another timeline, the Qing Dynasty lost this decisive battle.
But this time, they absolutely couldn’t lose!
Therefore, Li Jingyuan had to accumulate as much power as possible before then.
This was the only chance to secure victory in the future war.
“Li, we meet again. Here are the profits from the pharmaceutical factory for the past three months. After deducting the cost of purchasing the steel factory equipment, there is still 15 million Imperial Marks remaining.” The German Imperial Legation Counselor Schenke was filled with envy.
It must be known that, according to the exchange rate of this era.
15 million Marks was equivalent to 750,000 pounds or 3 million taels of silver.
And this was only three months’ worth of profits.
Moreover, this was after deducting the cost of equipment purchased by Li Jingyuan.
Otherwise, Li Jingyuan would have received even more.
It had been six years since Li Jingyuan had entered into a joint venture with the Germans to establish the pharmaceutical factory.
Initially, the factory produced in China, and the sulfa drugs produced were shipped to various parts of the world for sale. Because production was low and the journey long, the gains were not significant.
However, since last year, when they established branch factories in Europe and America, the production of sulfa drugs increased significantly.
Naturally, the amount of money Li Jingyuan received also increased.
“Li, as per your instructions, the money has been deposited in the German Bank and the HSBC Bank established by the British in Hong Kong. These are the deposit certificates.” Schenke handed Li Jingyuan two deposit certificates.
“Thank you, my friend!” Li Jingyuan's face was filled with smiles.
Thanks to this sulfa drug business, he had earned extremely substantial profits over the years.
After deducting all expenses, the amount of cash on hand and the deposits in the bank combined amounted to over 10 million pounds.
Converted to silver, this was over 40 million taels.
This placed him among the absolute top echelon of wealthy individuals in the entire Qing Dynasty. It was not an exaggeration to call him "as rich as a country."
It must be known that the Qing Dynasty's annual fiscal revenue was only 70 million taels.
Li Jingyuan's current deposits were already more than half a year's worth of the Qing Dynasty's fiscal revenue.
Moreover, the pharmaceutical factory was like a golden goose laying golden eggs, continuously creating more wealth for him.
“Li, the Ambassador would like to meet with you if you have time. We need to discuss our future cooperation.” Schenke continued.
“Absolutely no problem, Counselor. I will meet with the Ambassador as soon as I finish my business here.” Li Jingyuan replied.
Li Jingyuan knew very well that he had many areas where he needed to cooperate with the Germans.
Whether it was purchasing equipment from the Germans or importing equipment from them, both sides had enormous potential for cooperation.
Especially if he were to succeed in his rebellion, it would inevitably change the Far East's current landscape.
At that time, he would need the support of the newly rising power, the German Empire, even more.
Otherwise, those established powers whose interests would be harmed would definitely not stand idly by.