Due to their late start, the Morgan Group had only just secured the position of Second Secretary at the US Consulate in Wuhu, China. Their representative arrived knowing the relationship between the People's Party and the Boston Financial Group, and their trump card this time was "credit."

"As long as the People's Party uses our Morgan accounts, you can enjoy a significant credit line with preferential interest rates specifically set for your machinery purchases."

"I hope you won't laugh, but as you know, for a political entity like ours, trade balance is the ultimate goal. For instance, the Boston group believes they've helped us earn too much money, only for that money to eventually be taken by Morgan. They hope for a return on their investment—at least the return of having us hold our accounts with them," Wang Bin said with his customary sincerity. Often, hiding things only leads to suspicion; communication isn't just about letting the other party know what you want to do, but more importantly, letting them know why you are doing it.

The Morgan representative was slightly surprised. Wang Bin's words revealed details of weakness—for example, that the Boston group could threaten the People's Party with the fact that they "made them money." However, he would never be so naive as to exploit this "weakness" now. After all, the Morgan Group had earned substantial profits from the People's Party. More importantly, he didn't entirely believe Wang Bin was truly being that weak. Business was business; the Boston group's large-scale purchase of the People's Party's raw silk was by no means an act of humanitarianism or charity. The People's Party's silk was of superior quality and in ample supply, making it highly competitive in the international market.

Carefully observing Wang Bin, the representative tried to figure out what his true hole card was. He didn't know that Wang Bin considered the Morgan Group's style to be crude and cold, just as Wang Bin didn't know the Morgan representative thought he had a Puritanical style. The Morgan Group naturally knew the People's Party wasn't a financial conglomerate, let alone a family-run business. Even if Wang Bin, as a high-ranking representative, didn't need to live in luxury, he didn't need to be so ascetic.

In fact, Wang Bin and his colleagues stayed in ordinary hotels and ate ordinary meals. Aside from resting, they spent every day either reading, inspecting factories, or negotiating business. They neither drank nor sought out women. It would be one thing if they were penniless, but Wang Bin himself discussed million-dollar deals. An American at his level would likely find such a dull life unbearable, yet Wang Bin and his team were perfectly at ease. From the relatively Puritanical perspective of an American, it was hard to find a word other than "ascetic" to describe them.

"Do you have an ultimate vision?" the representative asked.

"Nothing will satisfy everyone, but for a political entity like ours, we still hope to avoid risks and dissatisfaction to the maximum extent. Unless..."

"Unless what?" The Morgan representative couldn't help but lean forward slightly, listening more intently.

"Unless the benefits are so great that we are willing to take such risks," Wang Bin replied.

"Heh." The representative now had a rough idea. "First, what if the credit line could reach fifty million dollars?"

"What our side can guarantee is that all credit will be used to purchase machinery and equipment," Wang Bin immediately responded.

"Regarding the transfers, you don't need to worry about any issues between us and the Boston group. Once the contract is signed, it takes effect," the Morgan representative promised.

Wang Bin cursed inwardly—this representative was surely underestimated him! The Boston group wouldn't be so stupid as to withhold the money; it wasn't that they wouldn't want to keep the funds in their own bank for a while longer, but if they failed to pay on time, what would happen to the Bank of Boston's credit? A bank without credit is a dead bank.

Wang Bin nodded slightly, refusing to comment on such a foolish point.

"Then what else concerns you?" the representative asked.

"As you know, there are many economic fluctuations in the United States. For our interests, if we can buy at the bottom, we won't let the opportunity pass. How would you view that?" Wang Bin finally voiced the core issue. Within the People's Party, the capitalist economic crisis was emphasized; the direct result of such a crisis is many enterprises going bankrupt. Many previously expensive pieces of equipment could be purchased at extremely low prices. If the People's Party were to do this, they would need sufficient support within the US.

"Do you wish for us, the Morgan Group, to provide investment opportunities?" the representative asked directly.

"Investment opportunities are a large part of it, and we also need a large amount of cheap equipment," Wang Bin stated his meaning more clearly. The Morgan Group was by no means a group of saints, but it was also impossible for them to enter China and harm the People's Party. Similarly, the People's Party had no way to affect the Morgan Group across the Pacific. If they went to court in the US, the People's Party could never defeat Morgan. Currently, both sides were in a "mutually beneficial cooperation" relationship; if this basic level of mutual trust couldn't be achieved to some extent, Wang Bin wouldn't dare to place his bets easily.

"If you are willing to let us invest in China, those concerns are entirely unnecessary," the representative replied.

This was the simplest solution, but also one that was extremely difficult for the People's Party to accept right now. On one hand, they publicized that they represented the interests of the laborers; on the other, they would be accepting foreign investment in China. Only Chen Ke could make such a decision; Wang Bin could not make such a monumental choice.

"I will ask Chairman Chen Ke for his stance on this matter," Wang Bin replied.

In a Party lesson, Wang Bin had heard Chen Ke explain a viewpoint: whether it was the current capitalist system or the socialist system being built in the base area, the core of any system revolved around the use of production means, labor, and capital. The difference between the two systems lay in whether capital controlled politics or politics controlled capital.

That explanation had once given Wang Bin a sense of sudden enlightenment. The problem was that he never expected he would face such a level of questioning and have to worry about such problems so early. But there was no helping it; compared to the base area, the United States was an extremely powerful existence. In terms of capital depth, industrial strength, and capital operation, the People's Party was in a weak position. To turn that weakness around on the field, they had to rely on the fact that the People's Party was a political entity with government and military chips to play.

Whether capital controlled politics or politics controlled capital—it truly was a question. Wang Bin couldn't help but admire Chen Ke's foresight. At this moment, he also realized some of his own thoughts; he truly hoped that when dealing with foreign capital, he could be the strong party dominating the situation, rather than being caught in a dilemma like he was now.

Wang Bin's dilemma was a "happy" one. One of the two major political entities constructing the trade framework agreement, the Beiyang Central Government, did not have to face such enthusiastic and proactive commercial partners. Those who came to the Beiyang government seeking cooperation were not just one or two, but they all came seeking to lend money to Beiyang.

Of course, with the support of the fixed trade agreement, the conditions offered by the lenders this time were far less harsh than before. But even so, Yuan Shikai was furious. Setting aside the matter of military expansion, Beiyang's finances had finally caught a break. Moreover, at Chen Ke's suggestion, Yuan Shikai tried marketing soybeans from the Northeast to foreign merchants, which immediately caused a sensation, with orders pouring in. Combined with the taxes from livelihood enterprises like honeycomb briquettes established by the People's Party in Beijing and Tianjin, Yuan Shikai didn't have much spare cash, but he no longer had to live on borrowed money. Yet that's how the world is: when you're broke, you beg everyone for a loan and it's impossible; when you're not broke, there are plenty of people wanting to lend to you just to collect interest.

Yuan Shikai didn't want to deal with these people. His frustration lay in seeing a perfectly good export-driven economic plan that Beiyang was unable to capitalize on. When Yan Fu initially proposed the plan, it had caused a stir in the Beiyang cabinet. But when it came to execution, Yan Fu showed his great inadequacy in administrative work. "Incompetent at managing subordinates" was undoubtedly the description of Yan Fu at this time. Yuan Shikai could understand the cabinet members' resistance to Yan Fu; as a "commander without troops," holding the empty title of Premier, he was actually unable to make any of his ministers obey his orders.

Yuan Shikai felt a sense of pleasure at this state of affairs. The People's Party had dominated the situation for too long—so long that Yuan Shikai didn't even want to look back at that period. Even if Yan Fu's current failure didn't actually serve Yuan Shikai's interests, he was happy to see Yan Fu's predicament.

It wasn't until Yan Fu proposed going abroad for a visit—the British had already invited him to visit the UK—that Yuan Shikai felt his hands-off approach might be inappropriate. Even so, he didn't immediately decide to veto the idea. Yan Fu was, after all, a man of the People's Party; once he left the cabinet for an overseas visit, the Beiyang cabinet would once again become a true Beiyang cabinet. After considering for quite a while, Yuan Shikai finally agreed to Yan Fu's request. In January 1912, Premier Yan Fu boarded an ocean liner in Tianjin for his visit.

Having sent away the Beiyang cabinet's biggest headache, Vice-Premier Xu Shichang, acting as Premier, regained his vitality. "I believe we should vigorously promote foreign trade." Xu Shichang brought out his own plan, which the cabinet members laughed at inwardly as they listened. The entire plan was a complete copy of the one Yan Fu had proposed—even the wording was barely changed. Xu Shichang didn't care what his ministers thought; he had already decided to show off his own strength through this matter.