Chapter 22: The Golden Boss

  In the headquarters of the 8th Regiment, after sending off Sun Congzhou and others for a few days, Liu Mingjiu asked Wu Tongjin and Luo Xiliang to invite the first batch of four major businessmen who had invited the 8th Regiment as bodyguards. In later generations, sustainable development has become a universally recognized ideology. Therefore, with abundant funds in hand, Liu Mingjiu's first thought was how to make the 8th Regiment's capital even larger. Only when there is enough disposable funds will he be able to stand firm in this turbulent era.

  To make capital thicker, this era is good, and any other era is also fine. There are only six ways to do it. The first way is to use official power for personal gain, which Liu Mingjiu has been doing like other Beiyang warlords. However, after accumulating capital to a certain extent, it will be stuck in a bottleneck, just like the Eighth Regiment now. The second way is to extort money from local people, find landlords, eat big households, and peel off the skin of ordinary people, which means setting up various pretexts to exploit the stationed area. The third way is to use soldiers as bandits and let them plunder. People who do this usually won't last long. The fourth way is to forge military reports and withhold military pay. Cheat rewards from above and oppress soldiers from below. People who do this also can't stand for long. The fifth way is to engage in commerce and industry, being both officials and merchants. This is the preferred strategy for most people in the military and political circles of this era. The last way is to smuggle opium and transport arms while armed escorting. Those who do this will die quickly if they don't have a strong backing.

  After a long time of contemplation, Liu Mingjiu finally decided that it was better to engage in business. Since no one in the Eight Rows understood the commerce of this era, Liu Mingjiu thought of the Four Great Merchants. They had originally hired the Eight Rows as bodyguards so that their goods and people could travel safely, which also allowed them to feel at ease for a long time. If he were to take out his own capital and partner with them, these merchants would not be able to find such a good opportunity even if they looked in the military, so he believed they wouldn't oppose it.

  Before this, Liu Mingjiu had already dispatched the police station, security team and eight brigades to investigate the ancestors of these four businessmen for three generations to ensure that they would not use their own smuggling and trafficking of firearms.

  Su Shi Xing, his family was originally a prominent family in Henan Province, but after the fall of the Qing Dynasty, he brought 70 taels of silver to Jianchang. From a small ironwork shop, within eight years, he owned Su Fu Ji Ironware Shop, Su Fu Ji Furniture Shop, Su Fu Ji Leather Goods Store, and a small wine house.

  Wu Tong Zhou, his father was also a member of the Yi Army, later became the last commander-in-chief of Chaoyang under the Qing Dynasty. After the Republic, due to disagreements with the original garrison commander and current commander of the 3rd Division of the Yi Army, he retired from politics and went into business.

  His family had twelve shops in Chaoyang, Jianchang, and Lingyuan, operating tea, horses, medicinal materials, salt, and grain businesses. Mao De Zhong, a wealthy landowner from Ma Jia Zhang Zi, also had nine shops in Jianchang, Chaoyang, and Jianping, dealing with tea, medicinal materials, silk fabrics, foreign cloth, and grain.

  Pu Zhe, the first family head of Longwang Temple, his family was originally a relative of the Qing Dynasty's Zhuang Prince. His great-grandfather lost his title due to an offense and drifted to the Lingguan Tower area. After four generations of cultivating the land, they became the largest landowner in Longwang Temple, with 800 mu (about 10,000 acres) of land.

  His family had Xinglong Number shops in Chaoyang, Xinmin, Jianchang, Jianping, Lingyuan, Pingquan, and Chengde, known as the "Seven Counties Forty Shops". The main businesses were leather goods, horses, timber, furniture, ironware, grain, salt, cloth, silk fabrics, tea, fishing, and tobacco. This family was the strongest among the four.

  "Boss Su, Boss Wu, Boss Mao, and Boss Yu, thank you for your strong support over such a long time. I guarantee that from now on, as long as we really come together this time, the safety of your goods will only be further guaranteed." After exchanging pleasantries with the four men for a while, Liu Mingjiu walked into the cafeteria of the Eighth Regiment and took his seat. The four men had already understood Liu Mingjiu's intentions very clearly.

  Wu Tongzhou is a distant uncle of Wu Tongjin, and the two families have always been close. Through Wu Tongjin, he has already learned a lot about Liu Mingjiu, an 18-year-old young officer, so he was the first to express his attitude: "Officer Liu wants to partner with us brothers to do business, which is exactly what we want. With our business acumen and your military power, we will definitely be rolling in wealth in the future. But I don't know, Officer Liu, which businesses are you planning to invest in?"

  Liu Mingjiu had long thought about it and would naturally answer him at the first opportunity: "Hehe, this, I've never been involved in business, and only have a little understanding of salt, grain, medicine, tea leaves, and cloth. As the saying goes, 'those who don't know are ignorant, and those who are ignorant should not be followed'. I also just want to ask the four of you to take care of me in these few businesses."

  "Wu Laoban has no objection, and my Su family is also eager to do so. But I don't know how many shares you plan to participate in, Director Liu?" Su Shi Hang didn't want to fall behind in front of his new backer, who had a great reputation despite not being a high-ranking official. He hastily stood up, made a fist and bowed to ask.

  Liu Mingjiu smiled and gestured for Su Shi to sit down: "Everyone knows that I've only been in office for half a year, and it's only recently that we've made some progress. Our capital is naturally not as abundant as yours, but yesterday I spoke with Old Jin of the Jinyuan Money House in Jianchang City, and he's willing to support me with a low-interest loan. I plan to take out 400,000 taels of silver in the first month to share with the four of you."

  "Four hundred thousand?" The four of them couldn't help but look at each other. In this era, a family of five with an income of fifteen to twenty taels per month was already considered well-off. They were all clear about Liu Mingjiu's income, which was just his bodyguard fees for the past few months. But could he really take out four hundred thousand in just three short months? The four of them were truly astonished, after all, among them, the one with the most substantial capital was Pu Zhe, who had forty businesses and a total wealth of two or three million taels. The other three people also had assets within the range of one million taels. Four hundred thousand represented half of the Su family's property, so they were naturally shocked and disbelieving.

  "I wonder how much help Boss Jin can provide? It seems that Director Liu's income for three months is only over 200,000 yuan. Can't Boss Jin support Director Liu with 200,000 yuan?" Yu Zhe spoke coldly. After Liu Mingjiu explained the purpose of bringing the four people, he had been watching coldly and remained silent.

  It's no wonder that Pu Zhe didn't want Liu Mingjiu to join. His family has been rooted in this place for generations, and in the past, they had the protection of the Qing imperial court. After the Republic was established, Jiang Gui also became a conservative old man, and every year during festivals, he would invite Pu Zhe's 70-year-old father to gather at Chengde. The superior sets an example for the inferior, so the garrison commanders Liang Shizhang in Chaoyang and Sun Congzhou in Jianchang didn't dare offend him and took good care of him instead. Now a small regiment commander wants to partner with him, he is naturally very unwilling.

  "Haha, Lord Beile, you're absolutely right. I'm indeed going to lend 2 million to Director Liu, and it's not just 2 million, but a full 3.5 million." A voice came from outside.

  As soon as the words fell, a man in his fifties, tall and robust, walked in. This was Jin Yuetai, the boss of Jinyuan Pawnshop, the number one wealthy businessman in Jianchang, with over 80 pawnshops and money houses in Rehe, Fengtian, Jilin, Hebei, and Shandong. He was a descendant of Nurhaci's younger brother, Shurhazi, and one of the four great princes of the Hong Taiji era, Jirgalang. Before the fall of the Qing dynasty, he was still a hereditary first-class auxiliary general. During the Xianfeng period of the Qing dynasty, his ancestors began to open pawnshops and money houses in Hebei and Shandong, doing business in medicinal materials.

  Jin Yizong's generation is still three generations above Pu Jie, and Pu Jie's family branch has long since declined. So when Pu Jie saw Jin Yizong come to the Eighth Company in person, he hastily walked to Jin Yizong's front, knelt down with the big ceremony of a younger generation: "Second-class General Pu Jie pays his respects to his uncle and wishes him good health."

  "Alright, get up." Jin Yitian helped this younger distant relative to his feet, then smiled at the other three who were also paying their respects: "Everyone doesn't need to be so formal with these old customs. We're in the Republic now, all that's been abolished long ago. Us old folks haven't gotten together for ages, today we'll just take advantage of Director Liu's fine wine and have a couple of drinks."

  Why did Jin Yixun come in person? And also publicly say that he lent money to Liu Mingjiu? Don't be constrained by the fact that all four big bosses present were unable to find a reason. In fact, it's very simple: Huang Zongying of the Eight Allied Forces destroyed the Cao family mansion, and the eldest daughter of the Huang family is Jin Dazhuang's most beloved third son, who is studying at Tsinghua University in Beijing and is married to Jin Zaiyou. Since then, Huang Zongying has been coming to Linglong Tower to drink with Liu Mingjiu every other day, and the two have become sworn brothers. This time, when Liu Mingjiu wanted to do business, Huang Zongying was afraid that the Cao family's affairs would be exposed, so he didn't appear in person. The four big merchants wouldn't easily let a small chain store owner get away with it; Huang Zongying had already thought of this, so he secretly became Liu Mingjiu's high-ranking advisor. Liu Mingjiu sent Wu Tongjin to sell the Cao family's hidden paintings and calligraphy at a high price in Beijing, and after selling off the Cao family's jewelry and accessories, they obtained 350,000 Chinese banknotes.

  When Huang Zu heard that Liu Mingjiu had also made a lot of money after sweeping away the Cao family's property, he offered a plan. Liu Mingjiu deposited this sum of money in the name of "Qiu Ba" into the Jinyuan Bank, with a term of one year and an annual interest rate of 0.8%. Then Huang Zu brought Liu Mingjiu to secretly meet Jin Yijian, and they agreed that Jin Yijian would again act as the frontman to lend this sum of money to Liu Mingjiu at an annual interest rate of 1.3%.

  Three hundred and fifty thousand silver dollars were sent to the Jin family's treasury, and Jin Yile was overjoyed. Such a large deposit was enough to open several more banks at this time. Moreover, Liu Mingjiu would lend this money back, so Mr. Jin wouldn't think about where the money came from anymore. Merchants always put profits first, and such a good deal would only bring benefits, so Jin Yile would of course fully cooperate with Huang and Liu's plan.