Chapter 23: The Yangtze River Patrol Envoy

  "War cannot be fought without money and grain, does Governor Yuan have the means to provide them?" Sun Zhongdong asked with a smile. Yuan Shikai's heart sank, clearly this remark had struck a chord.

  Sun Zhendong continued: "Looking back at our great leader, after going abroad in the year of Yi Si, he set up the company Yashilan in France and made a profit of nearly 20 million yuan that year. Later, he invested heavily in Germany to establish the Far East Group, which now has assets of nearly 300 million yuan. Moreover, our great leader married the daughter of the German banker Yukos, whose assets under his name are worth tens of billions of yuan. Not long ago, our great leader's father-in-law raised 300 million yuan to invest in China, and Emperor Wilhelm II even directly ordered the German state-owned Revival Credit Bank to lend our great leader 500 million yuan. Moreover, since our great leader returned to China two years ago, he has invested nearly 800 million yuan in building hundreds of factories such as the Hangzhou Shipyard and Wuhu Steel Plant, as well as railways and highways. If these factories were mortgaged to foreign banks, they could at least borrow 500 million yuan. In other words, if President Yuan insists on fighting, our great leader can mobilize funds of 1 billion yuan at any time, and with enough people, he can raise an army of several million men. At that time, it would not be difficult to unify the whole of China by fighting from Shandong to Beijing, then from Beijing to Xinjiang, and finally from Xinjiang to Guangzhou. Of course, President Yuan, you can borrow money from foreigners, but how much can you borrow? And how long will it take? Once foreigners see that you are unable to control China, will they continue to support this losing business?"

  Yuan Shikai's heart grew more astonished as he listened, and after a moment, he furrowed his brow and asked: "How could your family's commander have eight hundred million silver dollars to invest in industry? Could it be that you are deceiving this official?"

  "Does Governor Yuan recall the rubber stock disaster in 1900? Sun Zhendong couldn't help but laugh, 'It was that very stock disaster that led to the collapse of many money shops, causing several tens of millions of Qing government funds to be lost. Does Governor Yuan know where this money went?"

  "Where?"

  "It was just then that my husband's stocks were put on the market, and he floated more than thirty rubber companies in Shanghai and over a dozen in London. Before the stock market crash came, my husband had already sold out all his stocks, making a profit of ￡53 million in London and $300 million in Shanghai, totaling nearly $660 million."

  Yuan Shikai was stunned, and it took him a while to react. He composed himself and smiled again: "What's the use of having money? When I want to fight, foreigners will impose an arms embargo, and no matter how much money you have, you can't buy weapons. But I have them."

  "Governor Yuan may not know that after my husband returned to China, he has established an arsenal in Huaiyin, which produces 300 rifles, 50 heavy machine guns, 100 light machine guns, 100 submachine guns, 200,000 bullets and 10,000 shells every day. Moreover, various machines can be manufactured in Huaiyin, and once the war starts, my husband can increase the production of military supplies several times at any time."

  Upon hearing such a terrifying amount of military supplies, Yuan Shikai's heart was filled with pride, and the previous hint of arrogance weakened slightly, as he asked in puzzlement: "Then why don't you fight?"

  "It's just as the saying goes, 'one shot of the cannon is worth ten thousand taels of gold.' My general says that having money to wage war is not as good as using it to develop industry. If we fight each other to the death, won't we be letting the Japanese-backed Tongmenghui gain an advantage? Won't we be making China even weaker and letting foreigners take advantage of us? Rather than two tigers fighting in a den, ending up with one dead and one injured, it's better for us to join forces and first eliminate the warlords in each province of China, then together fight against the foreigners."

  "Why do you want to attack Shandong again this time?"

  "Shandong, Henan and Northern Jiangsu are the largest cotton-producing areas in China. Our commander wants to conquer Shandong solely because of cotton. As long as we control the cotton-producing regions, we can control China's textile industry. Military purposes are secondary; commercial interests come first."

  Yuan Shikai would definitely shout: "Damn it, I've been cheated!" if he were a time-traveler.

  It was actually for cotton! It really scared me to death.

  "What about a strong alliance?" Yuan Shikai was quite interested, at this time the situation was obviously the best to unite, indeed as Sun Zhongdong said, two tigers fighting must have one death and one injury, it's better to strongly unite, make the cake bigger, so both sides can get a share.

  "If General Yuan has enough ambition, our commander-in-chief can support General Yuan as the President of the Republic of China, and even support General Yuan as the Emperor of China in the future. Our commander-in-chief can provide loans, ammunition, and military guidance to General Yuan, but General Yuan must ensure that our Huadong Chamber of Commerce has unimpeded business operations in all provinces across the country, with preferential tax policies, and allow our Huadong Chamber of Commerce to build railways, highways, water conservancy projects, and form a merchant militia to protect business operations from extortion by local ruffians and officials." Sun Zhendong set out his conditions.

  Yuan Shikai thought for a long time and stared at Sun Zhendong, asking: "What position does your General plan to hold in the government?"

  "It's not necessary to be a governor, my general only wants to ask Governor Yuan for the position of Yangtze River Patrol Officer, in charge of Yangtze River transportation and anti-smuggling." Sun Zhendong put forward a condition that made Yuan Shikai feel extremely unbelievable.

  Yangtze River Patrol Envoy!

  Damn it, this is totally a sinecure!

  "Alright, you can go and tell your General that I am willing to join forces with him to create a prosperous China." Yuan Shikai made this decision in a thunderous tone, especially since Sun Zhongdong had just promised him that Jiangsu would even support his ascension to the throne of Emperor of China, which greatly moved Yuan.

  The Yuan family had several generations that did not live beyond sixty years old, and before the age of fifty, they all fell off their horses and died. At this time, Yuan Shikai obviously still did not have the idea of becoming an emperor, because he temporarily did not dare to think about it. However, after Sun Zhongdong's hint, he immediately outlined a rough outline of an imperial dream in his mind.

  If I ascend to the throne, can I borrow the emperor's aura to live beyond 60 years? Can I escape the Yuan family's fate of not living a long life?

  Moreover, after a conversation, Yuan Shikai found that Jiang Yiwu had so much money in his hands and could even make his own military weapons, but he was only thinking of making money, which was simply lacking in ambition.

  If it were Yuan Shikai, he would have gone all the way and become an emperor.

  No great ambitions is good! Loving money is good!

  What I, Lao Yuan, am most willing to part with is money. You like money? Then I'll give you money! You quietly earn your money, and I'll quietly play my politics - it's also a pretty good partnership.

  Yuan Shikai was indeed the most generous. In the past, Zhang Zhidong looked down on Yuan Shikai who came from a military background and asked him what the way of being an official was.

  Yuan Shikai laughed and said, "Being an official is much simpler than the imperial examination. I hold silver in one hand and a butcher's knife in the other. Those who listen to me will be rewarded, while those who don't will face the blade."

  When Yuan Shikai was dismissed by the Qing court and returned to his hometown of Nanyang, Henan, a large number of Beiyang Army officers would visit him every year.

  Every time Yuan Shikai was about to leave them, he would have someone send a gold bar to those officers.

  After a long time, even many revolutionaries came to visit him, and Yuan Shikai still gave them a gold bar and encouraged the revolutionaries to make trouble in China.

  It was through such means that Yuan Shikai remained firmly in control of the Beiyang Army during his years at home.

  Opportunities are given to those who are prepared. If Yuan Shikai had been disheartened and retreated to a life of seclusion after his defeat, he would not have been able to make a comeback even after the outbreak of the Xinhai Revolution, nor would he have been able to revive his political career.

  Now facing the strong rise of Jiang Yu, Yuan Shikai is also thinking this way. You like money, don't you? I'll let you make money, as long as you listen to me.

  If you don't listen, then I can only take out my sword.

  Of course, for the time being, Yuan Shikai did not dare to wield his sword against Jiangsu, but Yuan Shikai was confident that as long as he was allowed to consolidate his power for a few more years, he would have enough strength to make Jiangsu suffer.

  On March 8, Yuan Shikai and Jiang Yiwu issued simultaneous national telegrams in Beijing and Wuhu respectively, announcing the end of hostilities. In his telegram, Jiang Yiwu expressed support for Yuan Shikai's inauguration as the first President of the Republic of China, while Yuan Shikai appointed Jiang Yiwu as the Inspector-General of the Yangtze River.

  These two telegrams have made the whole of China from top to bottom look puzzled.

  They actually made peace all of a sudden while fighting?

  And Jiang Yu, who had won a great victory, why did he only get a single position as Inspector of the Yangtze River?

  Of course, Jiang Yu had his own plans, and this Yangtze River patrol seemed to have no real power, but it actually had another way.

  ——————

  The second update is here!

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