Left to borrow money from foreign banks to fight. Why did he choose the one with high interest rate?

As a matter of fact, Zuo was not "forced"; he intended to borrow at high interest rates. Because he wants to use high-interest loans to achieve several goals.

First, although the interest rate of high-interest loans is high, they have two advantages, that is, large amount of funds and fast borrowing speed. The salary borrowed by Zuo is always several million taels of silver. And it's urgent, when the rice is cooked. Only by using high interest rates can we attract loans from powerful foreign banks and quickly raise the required funds to meet the needs of war.

Second, Zuo also used foreign debt to force Xie Xiang. After all, although these foreign debts were borrowed from the left, it was not him who repaid them, but the provincial governors. In the future, provincial governors will repay foreign debts with interest. The higher the loan interest, the more anxious the provincial governors are, and they should raise funds to pay off their debts, otherwise the interest will roll up and they will still suffer. This is what Zuo himself said. Borrowing money from foreign banks is "not harmful to the national economy at all. The provinces should solve the problem and use this money to make a move."

Third, high interest rates leave room for Hu Xueyan's profits. Zuo Zeng borrowed money from foreign banks four times, all of which were mediated by Hu Xueyan. I did a lot of invisible work before and after running, and once mortgaged my own industry. The left is a figure in the system. If you lead troops to fight, the country will pay; But Hu Xueyan is a businessman, and he can't get his due reward through institutional arrangements. Can't let Hu Xueyan make a trip in vain, or even steal his money? Left can only take other measures, such as let Hu Xueyan eat the difference, in return. The higher the interest rate, the greater the profit margin of Hu Xueyan.

Fourth, get British support through high-interest loans. At that time, the interest rate of HSBC in Britain was the highest. Zuo borrowed a large amount of high-interest loans from HSBC, trying to tie Britain to the chariot of the Western Expedition. This move has achieved good results. Earlier, Britain had an ambiguous attitude towards Xinjiang, intended to recognize the Agubo rebels and provide them with weapons, and sent personnel to the Prime Minister's yamen to formally ask the Qing Dynasty to give up Xinjiang.

Later, after Zuo borrowed money from the British HSBC, Britain changed its attitude towards the rebels, began to support the Western Expedition, and provided a large number of advanced weapons to the Western Expedition Army, including Martini-Henry rifles, Remington rifles, Spencer rifles and other latest weapons. With these British weapons, the left Western Expedition Army became stronger. As the British observer Bao Roger said in the Biography of Aguberk, "This army is completely different from all China's previous armies in Central Asia, and it is basically similar to the army of a European power." The Western Expedition Army finally won the victory of recovering Xinjiang.