Chapter 9: The Road Protection Movement

  To welcome the arrival of the Xinhai Revolution, Jiang Yu devoted himself to military training, with frequent infantry target practice and artillery live ammunition drills.

  In addition to the basic training subjects such as queue and physical fitness, tactical training is mainly conducted. The army has strong civil engineering capabilities and is very familiar with the tactical application of fortification.

  In terms of offense, scattered warfare tactics were adopted, and explosive tubes were equipped to blast open barbed wire. Artillery was an important offensive equipment, with mortars following the battle, 75mm rapid-fire guns, and howitzers providing firepower support.

  This is the most luxurious equipped army in the whole of China.

  Even if placed in the world, there are only a few troops with such luxurious equipment. There is no soldier of any troop that can endure hardships like this army.

  Jiang Yu basically copied the German military system, and with the support of the German military, hired a large number of experienced German officers to form an instructor corps and staff.

  Moreover, Jiang Yu also introduced more advanced military concepts and systems into the army. Under the rigorous training, the combat effectiveness of this army is rapidly increasing.

  In modern warfare, training, equipment and ideological indoctrination are the most basic, all of which Jiang Yu has done very well. Apart from these, it is a contest of military officer quality and comprehensive national strength.

  On the battlefield, soldiers only need to master combat skills, relying on the command of a large number of grassroots officers. This aspect is currently relatively lacking, but the addition of German officers has largely solved this problem.

  In terms of comprehensive national power, who in China has more money than Jiang Zemin? For Jiang Zemin, as long as he has the money, he can purchase a large amount of war materials from Germany, and he has already started to take the road of self-reliance.

  The formation of this army initially did not attract the attention of the German military, but as time went on, the German military placed great importance on the existence of this army.

  The Jiangbei Xunfang Camp has introduced many new military concepts and new combat methods.

  For example, the sniper rifle, Jiang Yu installed optical sights produced by Farhua Group on rifles, forming a new combat concept of sniping. The Germans were overjoyed and gathered many hunters to form sniper units. In addition, Jiang Yu's air force combat concept was too advanced, and the Germans are still observing for now.

  However, the German Farman Group has produced reliable reconnaissance aircraft and aerial reconnaissance has been incorporated into Germany's combat system.

  Germany realized that Jiang Yu had established a military force in China that was more powerful than the Beiyang Army, and it was likely that China would be dominated by Jiang Yu in the future.

  If Jiang Yu can dominate China, it would be very beneficial for Germany.

  Because Jiang Yu married Yousuke's daughter, and Yousuke only had his daughter as the sole heir, Jiang Yu was already a core member of the Gongyu financial group.

  Germany is too small, China can occupy several provinces at will, which are much larger than Germany. The complementarity between the two sides is very strong, and the distance between them is very far, so there is no conflict of living space.

  As a result, the German military began to secretly and heavily support Jiang Yu, sending a team of more than 1,000 German military advisers to Jiang Yu, who were actually a group of low-ranking German officers, with the purpose of making up for the lack of low-ranking officers in the Jiangbei Patrol Battalion.

  These German officers arrived in Huaiyin in an unofficial capacity as retired personnel, and the secrecy work was done very well. People would only think that this was a group of German technicians hired by Jiangsu Province, without arousing attention from other countries.

  In order to train this team, Jiang Yu spent a lot of money on it. However, Jiang Yu's commercial income has been increasing continuously, and the investment in Far East Group has yielded many benefits, with various industrial projects successively moving towards high profitability.

  In China's market, Jiangyu Development's light industry projects have also generated substantial profits and are still expanding in scale.

  Jiang Yu also invested in a department store in Shanghai and soon achieved success. The Shanghainese, who loved to join in the fun, were curious about the emergence of the department store and flocked to it to go shopping.

  Department stores this year represent fashion and are still affordable.

  The department store opened by Jiang Yu was called 'Huadong Department Store', which had as many as 10,000 kinds of domestic and foreign goods inside, and also set up an underground warehouse to sell the cheapest goods.

  Moreover, Hualian Department Store also developed mail-order shopping, selling goods at affordable prices to cities with convenient transportation. For this reason, Jiangyu also set up post offices in major cities. In the future, as transportation develops, mail-order shopping can be extended to rural areas.

  Consumers can return products purchased by mail order if they are not satisfied, turning the anxiety of consumers in the transaction process into the anxiety of sellers, and also dispelling people's concerns about mail ordering.

  Generally, unless someone has mental problems, nobody would return goods. Moreover, the buyer bears the cost of returning goods. In this era where material goods are scarce, it's not easy for people to buy affordable products. Mail-order goods are mostly cheap and affordable.

  Huadong Department Store attracted nearly 20,000 Shanghai citizens on its opening day.

  Huadong Department Store is a very mature department store company. Jiang Yu directly borrowed the model of later generations, and of course, there are still many killer tricks that have not been used yet.

  The entire department store is a six-story building, which was built by the Jiang family three years ago and finally completed after three years. The top floor sells high-end products, allowing customers to purchase at leisure, while the lower floors sell ordinary daily necessities, and the lowest underground floor sells the cheapest and most discounted goods.

  The first day's turnover reached 50,000 silver dollars, which is a golden harvest.

  At the same time, Jiang Yu opened the Huadong Hotel in Shanghai and invited the head chefs of the four famous dishes of Cantonese cuisine, Shandong cuisine, Sichuan cuisine, and Suzhou cuisine. The hotel was luxuriously decorated and provided considerate service. People mainly went to the Huadong Hotel for its prestige because it had the most luxurious decoration, the best dishes, and the most considerate service.

  And Shanghai is also the area where the rich are most concentrated, with all sorts of foreigners, compradors from various countries, speculators and many national capitalists.

  On the opening day of Hua Dong Hotel, many rich people from Shanghai also patronized it because of its 40% discount for the first seven days. The wealthy Shanghainese flocked to experience the hotel's services. Hua Dong Hotel was a very mature and well-modeled hotel with foot baths, massage, sauna, swimming pool, dance hall and theater inside.

  In addition, Jiang Yu also launched Western-style fast food, including fried chicken, hamburgers, steaks, pizzas, and various desserts. As soon as it opened, it achieved great success. Chinese people welcomed this kind of food that pursued taste, especially for the catering industry, the initial stage of opening a business is the best time, because everyone goes to try something new.

  Fast food restaurants quickly developed many agents in countries around the world, and Western-style fast food became a Chinese innovation.

  Jiang Yu still doesn't forget to control the public opinion, public opinion is a sharp tool that a financial group must grasp, it can influence the market, it can turn black and white upside down, it can make the masses think and act in the direction you hope for.

  Moreover, controlling public opinion platforms can be used for commercial advertising, and it can also prevent your competitors from having a place to advertise.

  Jiang Yu spent 600,000 taels to buy the Shen Bao from foreigners, 800,000 taels to buy the Ta Kung Pao and 650,000 taels to buy the Xin Wen Bao. The three best-selling newspapers were all acquired by Jiang Yu, and soon various advertisements for Jiang Yu's industries appeared in these papers.

  Jiang Yu established a school for journalists, training professional journalists and dispatching them to cities across the country and major cities around the world. This changed the previous situation where Chinese newspaper reporters were relatively scarce. They sought to obtain first-hand news from various places, striving to be the fastest and most up-to-date, and selecting the most explosive news.

  At the same time, more advanced printing equipment was also purchased, and the paper was provided by its own paper mill, reducing costs to a minimum, thereby reducing the selling price to an ultra-low price of one copper plate.

  Not only was it issued in Shanghai, but also in Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Fuzhou, Nanchang, Hefei, Suzhou, Nanjing, Huaiyin, Tianjin, Beijing, Hankou, Chengdu, Taiyuan, Kaifeng and Xi'an. Each local newspaper office is equipped with wireless telegraph for liaison.

  Newspapers will be temporarily set up in first-tier cities, and later set up in second-tier cities, striving to build a massive network that can influence public opinion across China.

  At the same time, Jiang Yu also had the idea of opening a telegraph office. Currently, domestic telegrams are all wired and the cost of sending a telegram is very expensive.

  If wireless electricity is adopted, it can absolutely generate profits.

  However, for the time being, Jiang Yu has some concerns about politics. The opening of the telegraph office will inevitably provoke a backlash from official and commercial interests led by Sheng Xuanhuai.

  It's better to have fewer things on one's hands for the time being; once the Xinhai Revolution breaks out, it will be a vast and open world where one can do as one pleases.

  As the Xinhai Revolution approached, Jiang Yu had also made most of the preparations, and there were no major obstacles militarily. Although the troops were not too many, they were absolutely sufficient.

  In terms of politics, Jiang Yu also made preparations, setting up a training class within the party to start cultivating administrative personnel.

  In Jiang Yu's view, officials also need professional training. After the outbreak of the Xinhai Revolution, Jiang Yu must have had enough administrative personnel to help him manage his territory.

  As Jiang Yu continued to develop in Huaiyin, the financial crisis within China's borders was still spreading unabated, with the situation deteriorating day by day.

  The bankruptcy of Qianzhuang led to a chain reaction, with one family after another going bankrupt.

  The result of the collapse of Qianzhuang was not only a heavy loss for the Qing government, but also a heavy loss for both large and small merchants. To make up for the loss, the Qing government increased the intensity of commercial tax collection.

  It is better to take from merchants than from peasants.

  The idea is good, but at present, the merchants are also suffering from the financial storm, and being taxed by the Qing government like this, they all have grievances.

  On June 1, 1911, in order to repay the loans borrowed from the powers during the Shanghai Rubber Stock Storm, the Minister of Posts and Communications, Sheng Xuanhuai, and the Governor-General, Duanfang, jointly sent a telegram to the Sichuan Governor, Wang Renwen, informing him of the decision made by the Ministry of Finance regarding the handling of the shares of the Sichuan-Han Railway: all funds used by the company and currently held by the company would be exchanged for national railway bonds without refunding any cash. If the people of Sichuan insisted on repaying in cash, they must borrow foreign debts and use the financial income of Sichuan Province as collateral. This telegram clearly stated that it was not allowed for shareholders in Sichuan to withdraw their capital, but only to exchange them for railway bonds, meaning that the government not only took over the railway but also seized the funds.

  The Chuan-Han Railway Company was a big player in the rubber stock investment craze, but its huge losses did not lose all the money. The Chuan-Han Railway Company still had 8 million taels of silver, and Manchu wanted to swallow up the remaining railway funds, which would undoubtedly be too ugly to eat.

  As soon as the telegram was made public, the whole of Sichuan Province was shaken. The money not only came from merchants but also from farmers. In order to have their own railway, the people of Sichuan were very enthusiastic when raising funds previously, and a considerable number of ordinary people in Sichuan owned shares of the Chengdu-Hankou Railway Company.

  The Ba Lu movement was thus launched.