Chapter 64: Offering Oneself

  The end of the year is approaching, and in a few days, the second year of the Republic will be over, and the third year of the Republic will arrive, which is also the arrival of 1914. As the year-end approaches, the next most important festival for Chinese people - Spring Festival - is coming. Now that the south and north are unified under the Republic, the rebellion of the revolutionary party has subsided, and although White Wolf is still stirring up trouble in the northwest, it's still far away. The whole city of Beijing is more lively than usual, with every household decorating their homes with lanterns and couplets, busily preparing for the New Year's goods, and government departments are also filled with festive atmosphere before the holiday arrives.

  But unlike other departments, the atmosphere at the Bank of Communications was unusually tense. Some grassroots staff members were so afraid to speak out that they didn't even dare to breathe loudly. From yesterday on, Director Liang Shihe had changed his usual gentle and steady image, his face was gloomy enough to squeeze out water, and he had a big tantrum in the office over a small matter, scolding several colleagues until they were speechless.

  "Do you know?"

  "I know! Of course I know!"

  "What did you say would happen?"

  "How am I supposed to know? It depends on how it's handled above."

  "By the way, are you going to stay here or go over there?"

  "After being here for so many years, I'm used to it, of course I'll stay. How about you?"

  "That guy is not someone to be trifled with! He has the backing of a big shot, and even Director Liang can't do anything about him. I'm not as favored by the higher-ups as you are, brother, maybe going over there would be better..."

  Such private conversations are not uncommon within the Bank of Communications, although no official announcement has been made yet. However, this world is never short of well-informed individuals. The news that the Bank of Communications will be split and a new Central Bank established had already been circulating more than half a month ago, but nobody confirmed it at that time. Now things are completely different. It's said that President Li has already given his consent to the establishment of the Central Bank, and the government document from Premier Song's side arrived yesterday. Otherwise, Director-General Liang Shiyi, who always pays attention to etiquette, wouldn't have made such an improper move.

  Fang Zidong acted quickly, on December 26th, the day after Song Jiaoren's premiership was formally announced, he led his men to the Transportation Bank and began preparations for the establishment of a central bank.

  Although Liang Shiyi was furious with Fang Zidao, this matter was decided by Yuan Shikai and formally approved by the government. Previously, Yuan Shikai had specially called Liang Shiyi to talk to him, on the one hand to comfort his trusted subordinate, and on the other hand to warn him not to cause trouble for Fang Zidao in the future. Therefore, although Liang Shiyi was dissatisfied in his heart, he could only hold his nose and agree, and after a brief meeting with Fang Zidao in the general office, he excused himself due to official business and left the rest of the matters to be handled by his subordinates.

  "Wing Fu seems to be in a bad mood today." The person who came with Fang Zida was none other than Yang Du. Seeing his old opponent being outsmarted, Yang Du's mood couldn't be better. As he watched Liang Shi'er leave with a sullen face, Yang Du sat on the sofa, fanning himself and chuckled, saying:

  "Hehe, it's getting late, let's do the handover first." Fang Zida smiled ambiguously and nodded at the few people who stayed behind. Those anxious guys hastily brought over a dozen large wooden boxes, which were filled with stacks of thick account books and various documents.

  He picked it up, flipped through it a few times, and Fang Zida tossed the thing into the box, smoking and laughing: "I won't bother looking at this stuff. Although Communications Bank is split up, it's still an independent bank, and all business dealings are as usual, this is still Manager Liang's work. However, those large loans must be transferred to the Central Bank, including the summary of bank drafts issued by Communications Bank."

  Several people wiped their sweat and nodded repeatedly, and the materials Fang Zida needed were delivered one by one. After carefully reviewing them, Fang Zida nodded his head. Although he didn't have a good relationship with Liang Shidian, from these things, it could be seen that Liang Shidian was doing his job as the general manager of the Transportation Bank.

  Since the account was basically fine, Fang Zidao put it aside first. As for auditing and other things, Fang Zidao wouldn't be too meticulous, some things could just be glossed over, no need to offend Liang Shiyu too much, after all, he was also a man of Old Yuan, wasn't he? Anyway, President Yuan's face had to be maintained.

  "Is there a flower name list of bank employees?"

  "Ah! Director Fang's office, what can I help you with?" asked a man in his forties who was accompanying the handover.

  Nodding, Fang Zida said: "The central bank is newly established, I need a batch of personnel. Trouble you to bring the name list for me to take a look, by the way, does the name list have resume introduction?"

  "Of course, we have all the documents filed over at the archives department."

  He nodded to indicate that he would go get them, and soon several flower catalogs were brought over. Fang Ziyi indicated for them to leave first, and then began to carefully flip through the pages one by one.

  The personnel file of the Communications Bank was indeed as meticulous as the assistant said. Fang Zi Da was very satisfied, inside there were not only the employees' age, place of origin, education level, but also their specialties and superiors' comments. With these, Fang Zi Da felt much more at ease.

  In the following days, Fang Zida and Yang Du stayed at the Bank of Communications, while Liang Shidu disappeared after showing up on the first day, and it was unknown where he went. The employee's flower name list took Fang Zida two days to carefully read through, and overall, the quality of the employees at the Bank of Communications was still very high, with more than half of the thousands of employees having overseas experience, and many people studying finance, which was a gathering of talents. From among them, Fang Zida carefully selected about 100 people, and after several days of interviews, he repeatedly eliminated some, finally leaving 39 people.

  Closing the final roster, Fang Zida let out a sigh of relief. The thirty-nine people on this list were his direct subordinates and would also be the backbone of the Central Bank in the future.

  "Zheng Ming, isn't this person a bit short-handed? He's only chosen so few people?" Yang Du, who was sent by Yuan Shikai to assist Fang Zidao, couldn't help but ask after seeing him busy for several days and finally selecting only these few individuals.

  "That's enough." Fang Zida smiled and said, "A person is valued for being refined, not for being numerous. Running a bank is like leading an army in battle - I only need people who can be used, the central bank won't keep idle people around."

  "After all, you're the boss, I just ask like this, haha!"

  "Alright, let's head back. The headquarters of the Central Bank should be about ready by now. After the Spring Festival, we'll have these people go over and report for duty. Next, everyone can take a good rest and have a great New Year."

  "Shall we go? I'm tired of looking at these things, let's have a drink, brother?" Yang Du patted his palm and laughed, getting up to go with Fang Zida. At this time, the assistant who had been accompanying them looked hesitant and couldn't help but ask a question.

  "Director Fang's office, you don't need to handle administrative coordination on your end?"

  Fang Zida was stunned, turned around and looked at him. This assistant was named Zhou Chen, and his situation was also on the flower name list. Fang Zida had carefully read it before.

  Zhou Dun, also known as Yicong, in 1875, at the age of eight, completed his middle school studies in the United States as a child studying abroad. Unfortunately, he was recalled by the Qing government in 1881 just as he was about to take the entrance exam for Yale University. After drifting from place to place, he eventually joined the Bank of Communications.

  Zhou Chen is also an old-timer at the Bank of Communications. He started from a regular staff position and worked his way up to become an assistant after more than ten years. Although his educational background is ordinary, he has strong abilities and does administrative work in an orderly manner. In the past few days, Fang Zida has also highly recognized Zhou Chen's work ability.

  But he never thought that Zhou Chen, as the joint sponsor of the Bank of Communications, would actually ask him to change his mind in this situation. This made Fang Zidao extremely surprised, knowing that among those he chose, most were just grassroots employees, only three were middle-level, and high-level ones were not even considered. This was not only because Fang Zidao did not want to go too far, so as not to provoke a strong backlash from Liang Shiyi, but also in order to build the new central bank according to his own ideas, thoroughly changing the old-fashioned banking style of being inefficient and ineffective.

  "What does 'Zhou's assistant' mean?" Fang Zida asked with a smile.

  Hesitating for a moment, Zhou Chen seemed to have made up his mind and said: "After several days of contact, Zhou Mou feels that Director Fang is a pragmatic person. For many years, Zhou Mou has been mediocre, and before he knew it, he had passed the age of 30. Thinking back to his youth, he sighed with regret! If Director Fang permits, Zhou Mou would like to work at your esteemed company, may I ask if it's possible?"

  Looking at Zhou Chen's eager and anxious gaze, Fang Zida thought for a moment before nodding: "I understand what Zhou Xieban means. You're welcome to come to the Central Bank, of course. But let's be upfront - the Central Bank is not like the Communications Bank. Whether your position as deputy governor can be retained after you arrive, I'm afraid I can't guarantee that for now."

  Fang Zida's response did not disappoint Zhou Chen, but instead delighted him, saying: "This is no problem, thank you, Director-General."

  "Zheng Ming, this man has talent, but is it suitable for him to recommend himself like this?" As he left the Bank of Communications, Yang Du reminded him kindly. Fang Zida smiled and didn't think much of it: "It doesn't matter, as long as Zhou Chen has talent, my Central Bank is not inferior to the Bank of Communications. Even if he has Liang Shiyu behind his back, what's the big deal? I'm only using his talent."

  At this time, in the Premier's Office, Song Jiaoren was entertaining several guests, namely Yang Sen, Zhang Ji, Wang Zhengting and Wu Jinglian.

  "Gentlemen, how come you have time to visit me today? Come on in, try some of this tea." Song Jiaoren warmly invited everyone to take a seat.

  The tea is good, but people's minds are not on the tea. They take a sip and put it down, each with a worried look on their face.

  Upon seeing this, Song Jiaoren was astonished and thought that something big had happened. He hastily asked them what was going on, only to find out that they had come specifically to look for Qing Jing. It turned out that since the legislative resolution was passed, the two houses of parliament had been in an uproar every day over the drafting of laws such as the constitution, criminal law, and commercial law. The entire parliament was like a marketplace, with people quarreling nonstop. In fact, just because of a few words in a single clause of a certain law, the argument escalated from verbal abuse to a full-blown fistfight. Even Wang Zhengting, who was presiding over the meeting, got punched in the face and still had a swollen cheek now.