Section 40: Wealth Rolls In
"Director Liu, this is the account book of Maoli Company for this month, please take a look." Liu Mingjiu had taken over as the General Inspector for more than a month. After the establishment of the Military Training Corps and the Police Training Corps, the six towns in Jianbei were already boiling with excitement due to Liu Mingjiu's drastic rectification of the military and police forces on that cold winter day. Pu Zhe came to the newly built General Inspectorate of Jianbei, which was jointly funded by 28 wealthy households from Linglong Tower, exchanged some polite words with people in front, and after Liu Mingjiu dismissed his entourage, he took out the account book of a company specializing in opium transportation and placed it in front of Liu Mingjiu.
At first, Jiang San Gongzi, Xu Minghui and Yu Zhe thought of letting Liu Mingjiu send troops to escort the shipment, but later Liu Mingjiu was aware of the danger, no one wanted to bear the infamy, so it became the responsibility of the Six Harmony Escort Agency. After all, Yu Zhe was also the second largest shareholder of the Six Harmony, with his support, the two big men also agreed to use the escort instead of the army. In a flash, several months had passed, and Yu Zhe came to see Liu Mingjiu with an account book.
Liu Mingjiu took over the account book and only looked at his own part. It was better not to look, but after looking, he jumped down, because it was approaching the Spring Festival, the local landlords and wealthy people naturally had more money on hand, so they were willing to spend money to buy more opium, in case they had to go out to find goods during the New Year. Their increased purchases during the New Year directly led to a significant increase in the price of opium. In just one month, Liu Mingjiu threw in 3 million borrowed yuan and earned 1.5 million yuan, which made him take a cold breath. He thought that it was no wonder many people were willing to risk their lives to smuggle opium, as its profit margin was indeed exceptional. However, if he were in his previous life, even with the greatest profit, Liu Mingjiu would never do it, because this thing was too harmful, and it was a thing that would exhaust one's conscience, no matter what, he would not touch it.
"Haha, Boss Yu, you just told me and it's settled. Give me the account and I won't be able to understand it either. Now that Guizi has been promoted, he doesn't have time to hang out with me every day anymore." Liu Mingjiu thought to himself, but his face didn't reveal any expression.
Yu Zhe also smiled and continued to say: "Hehe, although Officer Wu has been promoted, isn't he still under your command? I don't know, Officer Liu, whether you plan to cash out this month's profits or reinvest them?"
"Of course, I'll invest again." Liu Mingjiu thought to himself, "I won't invest if you don't want me to, but since the profit is so high, I'll just go all out," and then continued to say: "Not only will I put these profits into it, but also the 350,000 yuan from the lottery this month and another 150,000 yuan from other income. I wonder if Old Master Pu and the two above us will agree?"
Yu Zhe blinked his eyes, he didn't expect Liu Mingjiu to change from initial opposition, to endless worry, and now to full investment, the change was so great. But in his heart, without showing any expression on his face: "Haha, Director Liu, you finally understand. You really have a way of making money, besides our six combinations, there are other sources of income."
"Haha, what other income? That 150,000, 100,000 was given to me by Boss Jin as a thank you for protecting his 3 million yuan shipment. And the remaining 50,000 is just my own savings." Liu Mingjiu said while handing over a stack of silver bills to Pu Che. However, he didn't tell this complete loser the truth. The other 50,000 was partly from selling the discarded weapons of the security team to the Feng Army, and partly from looting those merchant teams that competed with the Liuhe Escort Agency. Another part was the gifts given by the local landlords, wealthy merchants, and big households when he got promoted.
At this time, Liu Mingjiu, after defeating the Great White Horse Mountain, not only did he hand over some of the bandits, but the remaining local bandits were not dispersed or punished. Instead, he took 75 people from the Eighth Regiment and the Security Team, and combined them with 45 selected bandits from the original Great White Horse Mountain to form a new gang. The second-in-command, Hou Jingzhai, and third-in-command, Jin Si Liang, of the "Xiao Lin Hu" gang, who had previously shown goodwill to the Liuhe merchant team several times, were secretly recruited by Liu Mingjiu and sent to establish two new mountain strongholds, Fan Yun Zhai and Jin Kun Zhai. The grain supply was provided by Liu Mingjiu from the Liuhe Escort Agency, and they received a salary according to the treatment of the Security Team. After looting, they could also receive up to 20% of the spoils. The weapons of the two groups were all made in Germany, and the personnel sent were all excellent fighters, so every time they encountered other merchant teams, they would quickly succeed in looting. However, Liu Mingjiu dared not make this public, and only a few people knew about it, including the Wu brothers, Luo Xiliang, and Huang Jiafu. Puyi, although also a major shareholder, was an important person who was deliberately kept in the dark, so he would not know.
As for the Jin Gui who helped Hasibala, he was originally to be executed by Jin Dabao. However, Liu Mingjiu pulled him back from the brink of death at a critical moment and begged for mercy from Jin Lao, sending him back to the Kalaqin grasslands and returning him to his own troops. This also made Hasibala more convinced of Liu Mingjiu's intentions. Not long after Jin Gui returned, Liu Mingjiu, as agreed upon by the two, sent a team of guards with a large batch of grain, intentionally letting Hasibala lead people to rob them. Therefore, the female leader of the Hasibala tribe, who was also known as Hasi Muge, had already submitted to this Wei Jun's general inspector and was obeying his orders.
Liu Mingjiu did not only support two bandit gangs and fund the Hasse tribe for economic benefits. He thought that if he ever encountered any danger or was plotted against, at least he would have a place to hide. After all, at this time, no army in Northeast China, whether it was the Qing army, Beiyang, Japan, Northeast Army, or Central Army, could completely annihilate the other side. The troops that could achieve complete annihilation would not arrive in Northeast China until at least thirty years later. With thirty years of time, he could find a new way out and escape.
Yu Zhe listened to Liu Mingjiu finish speaking, seeming to believe and yet not believe. However, in this era of military and government officials, who can have a truly clean backside? Those who are truly clean cannot even stand on their own feet. He didn't dare to pry too much into Liu Mingjiu's private affairs. If he were to provoke this young man who wouldn't hesitate to kill but wouldn't bat an eyelid, even if his background was strong, his own life would certainly be taken by this young Yan Wang with ease.
"Haha, Director Liu is too modest. I won't say more, I still have a lot of things to do and don't want to disturb you here. I'll take this money, go back and reorganize the capital, and also take out part of the income from Third Master and General Xu last month. Now adding your 1 million funds, our 'Mao Li Company' capital has reached 2.8 million. Hehe, we've become big tobacco merchants now."
Liu Mingjiu also smiled and said: "I'm completely ignorant of these business matters, it's all up to you to take care of everything from now on."
Yu Zhe walked to the door, calculated the account in his mind, turned back to look at Liu Mingjiu and smiled: "Tomorrow I will send someone to give you the agreement for your expansion of shares. You have become our 'Maoli Company' more than 30% of the major shareholders, and San Gongzi is only one percent more than you. Congratulations, you can already be our company's vice chairman."
"It's nothing, haha, I just invested and followed a few people to make some extra money, but I don't want to be any vice chairman." Liu Mingjiu was afraid that he would also be exposed for participating in this kind of ruthless business.
Yu Zhe didn't say anything else. After being sent out by Liu Mingjiu, he got into his own carriage and left the General Administration Office. When Liu Mingjiu returned to the room, he saw Wu Tongjin sitting on a sofa on one side, leisurely smoking a Havana cigar taken from Liu Mingjiu's wine cabinet.
At this time, Wu Tongjin was already the head of the Military Supplies Department of the General Inspection Office, the chief officer of the Instructional Battalion, the head of the Logistics Department of the Garrison Brigade, and the chief officer of the Security Brigade. Although his military rank was still only a senior captain, the same as Liu Mingjiu's, he was already a heavyweight figure in Chaoyang Prefecture.
Liu Mingjiu walked into the room, Wu Tongjin didn't make a sound, and after standing up from his seat, he saluted and handed over a document to Liu Mingjiu's hands. The two had already formed a very good tacit understanding and considered each other to be sworn brothers. When subordinates entered Liu Mingjiu's office, cigarettes, liquor, and fruit were always taken without saying a word, directly picked up and brought in. Liu Mingjiu treated his subordinates like brothers, and they had long been accustomed to it.
Liu Mingjiu took over the file from Wu Tongjin, opened it and glanced at it. It was a statistical report on the six towns' military police after rectification. He walked to his own desk, sat down in the pure leather sofa chair specially ordered from Tianjin by Liuhe Business Firm, and began to read.
The total military strength of the six towns in Jianbei has reached 9,600 people. After the reorganization of the eight companies, Han Geng, the original commander of the ninth company, was appointed as the company commander, and Luo Xiliang, who was promoted to upper lieutenant, concurrently served as the company commander of the ninth company with the title of deputy general supervisor. The Security Regiment was reduced from 8,000 people to 4,000 people after reorganization and merged into ten security brigades, which were then merged into a Security General Team, with Liu Mingjiu personally serving as the team leader, chief of staff Li Daxin, deputy team leaders Jiang Yufeng and Hamoda. The six police stations expanded from 69 people to 96 people and established a Jianbei Police Branch Bureau, which was divided into seven police teams with clear powers: salt, mining, taxation, law, economy, criminal investigation, and patrol. The branch bureau had 144 personnel directly under its command, with Mu De as the director. After the completion of the Teaching Corps, 85 people from the original eight companies became instructors and team leaders, serving as the backbone of the Teaching Corps, which had a total strength of 1,500 people. The Military Reclamation General Team was established, consisting of six battalions with a total strength of 3,600 people. The Police Training Team began its half-year training period after recruiting its first batch of students, with a total of 128 people. The military fields had been allocated to the tune of 4,800 mu, which were distributed among the six towns and were being prepared for spring plowing by the Military Reclamation General Team. Among these 4,800 mu of military fields, 1,800 mu would be used for planting poppies. This matter was actually a direct order from the Chende Supervisory Command, which shocked the six towns under the moonlight.
Liu Mingjiu looked up at Wu Tongjin after reading the statistical report: "How is our business army expansion going?"
"As you requested, 300 people have been drawn from the security team to expand the merchant army to 1,200 people. The new equipment was distributed five days ago. However, those foreigners are now blockading Germany, and our weapons will be a problem in the future." Wu Tongjin finished speaking, took a deep drag on his cigarette, and stared at Liu Mingjiu, waiting for this amazing officer to come up with a solution.
Liu Mingjiu smiled, picked up the teacup in front of him and took a big sip of tea before looking at Wu Tongjin and saying: "German guns can use Han Yang-made bullets, so we won't have to worry about bullets from now on. Foreigners are all about profit first, they come to our country from thousands of miles away, not afraid of hardship, just for the sake of profit. As long as we have money, we're not afraid of not being able to buy things."
Wu Tongjin burst out laughing after hearing this, and then continued to say: "At the beginning of spring, we will be allocated 1,800 mu of land to plant opium. After autumn, as long as it sells well, excluding the amount that needs to be submitted, we can still have 2-3 million left over. By then, even if a Mauser rifle costs 300 taels, we should be able to afford several thousand or even tens of thousands of them."
"That opium is not something good, I'll have to let Mu Lao tell those police brothers later, they must be careful not to let that thing spread wildly in our territory again." Liu Mingjiu said, looking out the window. His own military base was originally intended to develop this wasteland and increase agricultural production, but now it has also become a large-scale opium cultivation area. If according to his future laws, he would probably be shot tens of millions of times and still not enough.
Wu Tongjin saw Liu Mingjiu's expression and stopped talking, sitting back on the sofa to continue smoking. After a long time, he interrupted Liu Mingjiu's thoughts and asked: "What did Biling say in her letter to you a few days ago? How is she doing after returning home? Is her body okay?" Liu Mingjiu also turned around and sat back in his own armchair, lit a cigarette and replied to Wu Tongjin: "The high officials at the Paris Peace Conference are going to cede our Shandong hometown to Japan again. All universities in Beijing are organizing petitions and rallies, but Biling didn't participate. She took on a part-time job as a financial manager at the Liuhe Commercial Company's Beijing branch, and her body is still pretty good."
"Huh, a group of students, what's the point of petitioning and gathering? Is it useful?" Wu Tongjin had a somewhat disdainful expression, showing that he didn't think much of student movements.
Liu Mingjiu also smiled, and then shifted his gaze to the window, staring at a cypress tree outside, saying in a tone that was almost like talking to himself: "Don't underestimate those students who look very young now. In several decades, many of them will change the fate of our country and lead it to prosperity."
Wu Tong burst out laughing with a "heh heh" sound: "It's just like you can foresee the future, a group of kids who can't even hold guns or fire cannons, no matter what, it's impossible for them to overthrow the government and seize power."
"Haha, you really shouldn't be surprised. I may not be able to predict the future, but think about it, Mr. Sun from the south and those who overthrew the Qing dynasty, how many of them were returned overseas or came out of universities? It's always been that martial power conquers the world and literary power governs it. You can't deny this point, when have you ever seen a fierce general ruling the world by being imprisoned?" Liu Mingjiu couldn't say he could predict the future, so he had to use facts to refute Wu Tongjin's words.
