Chapter 29: Two Rivers Divide Red

  As Chen An walked out of the backyard, he suddenly felt that the illuminating lamp seemed to dim for an instant, and then it was not as bright as before, appearing a bit dull.

  It was quite strange that Chen An came to the back mountain and asked the foreign technician who was with Koval. The foreign technician also found it strange, replied that there might be a device in the villa that consumed a lot of electricity, but they couldn't find it.

  Chen An immediately understood that the power outage had taken away most of the electricity, and it seemed that there was still a hidden danger of insufficient energy.

  After some thought, Chen An ordered Liu Shi to ensure that the diesel generator set was always generating electricity for the next few days, not even stopping during the day. As for the lights, if they were not necessary, he asked them to be temporarily turned off. Chen An vaguely remembered that the briefcase had indicated that at least three days were needed; would it take three days only when fully charged? If the power supply was intermittent, it might take seventeen or eighteen days.

  The next day, seeing that Chen An still hadn't gone to take office, Old Man Chen was very puzzled and came over to remind him. "An official must report for duty within a certain time limit," he said. Only then did Chen An realize his mistake with a start, and upon opening the documents related to his official seal, he saw that there indeed was a time limit specified.

  Estimated the time, Chen An was startled, didn't wait for the secret room to upgrade, hastily packed his luggage and rushed to Lanzhou to report to the Governor's Mansion. Hu Zi was left behind, guarding the arsenal. This time he brought Lin Yushan, let's see if they can dig up some treasures from Lanzhou.

  A few days later, Chen An, who had carefully groomed himself in the inn, honestly handed his visiting card to the doorman of the Lanzhou Governor's Mansion. Lin Yushan smiled and handed a small bag to the doorman, which was estimated to be worth over ten taels of silver. The doorman immediately became enthusiastic and promised to present it to the mansion immediately.

  It happened that the Shaanxi-Gansu Governor, Xiang Rong, was discussing matters in the government office when he saw the notice and immediately ordered it to be brought to his study. He would summon him as soon as he finished dealing with this matter. The several officials who were discussing together in the same room were very curious about which person had arrived, and Governor Xiang would actually arrange to meet him in the study, whereas normally they would only see each other in a side hall.

  Chen An, however, had no idea about this etiquette and bluntly followed the Imperial Guard to the study room, where he sat down and very straightforwardly rewarded him with silver coins. He then proceeded to drink tea and admire the paintings by himself, causing the Imperial Guard who received the silver coins to secretly mutter "country bumpkin" on the side.

  Soon, Sheng Rong arrived at the study. Chen An hastily performed a grand bow according to the old master's instructions, but his head was secretly peeking towards Governor Zhang.

  Xiang Yun let out a sigh, another silly young man, no wonder he would foolishly suggest becoming the governor of Jiangzhou.

  After a few sentences of conversation, Jian Yun saw that Chen An was a straightforward person and didn't beat around the bush either. He directly asked where the private letter from Qingqin Wang was. Chen An suddenly realized and almost forgot to present this letter to the Governor-General.

  After carefully reading the letter, Sheng Yun narrowed his eyes and thought for a long time before saying, "Chen Youji, the telegram from Qingqin Wang was sent to me early on, and the letter from the Ministry of Officials also arrived early. But you didn't come to report, I thought you weren't going to take office, haha." No wonder he was so polite to Chen An, it turned out that Qingqin Wang had already given instructions.

  Chen An hastily apologized and explained with a flushed face that he had rushed to Shanghai to make some preparations for completing the will of Qingqin Wang.

  Chen An was still being evasive, Sheng Yun smiled slightly and also started speaking in an official tone, saying that the flood victims here had no money for resettlement, and the big bridge over there lacked funds for repairs.

  After a long time, Chen An suddenly understood that the Governor must have mentioned something in his letter or telegram, and he came to curry favor.

  Chen An cautiously probed a few sentences, and indeed it was so. The Governor knew that Chen An was doing big business in military supplies for the Qing royal family, although he didn't know how to divide the profits, but after all, he was his subordinate, and he had the responsibility of secret supervision, so he could still make some gains.

  Once the cause is clear, it's easy to handle. Chen An directly spoke out and offered to send 5,000 taels of silver to the Governor's Mansion every year to help repair the old mansion. The Governor smiled and tapped his tea table. In the end, Chen An reluctantly agreed to send 10,000 taels per year, and the Governor was overjoyed, saying that General Chen is indeed considerate of the hardships of officials.

  Just after a brief moment of silence, Sheng Yun spoke slowly and said, "Chen Youya, I just remembered that there's another thing that's quite troublesome."

  "What's going on? Please enlighten me, Your Excellency." Chen An asked in puzzlement.

  "It's not a big deal. Actually, in Gansu, we have a patrolman assigned to Qin Prefecture and Ji Prefecture together, not separately, so the patrolman is under the jurisdiction of Qin Prefecture. This patrolman also has a current position, and now it's held by Yu Rong, who commands the nine battalions of the Southern Gansu Patrol Brigade." Xiangyun said with a smile.

  Chen An was stunned, what the hell is this, it's actually a set of one tour strike, and the official is going to be demoted, and the former can't even resign, after all, he just bought a rank of Zhou Yu Xiang.

  Damn old fox, Chen An cursed in his heart, having already agreed to 10,000, now he wants to cut the flesh again, what can be used to settle it if not silver?

  I estimate that the other party doesn't think it's a big deal to be in charge of troops, but the key is that Biku is a water and land terminal, with abundant resources, and if they lose the jurisdiction of Jiezhou, they will naturally lose their share.

  Chen An readily agreed, and the green mouth silver share he enjoyed was still taken by Qin Jie Dao You Ji Ya Men for military expenses.

  Upon hearing this promise, the Governor immediately stated that he would take responsibility for resolving the Yu Rong issue. After all, Yu Rong and he were both Manchu people, and he couldn't help but speak up for him.

  Since Yu Rong and You Ji will raise this issue, what about other officials? Will there be someone else who is not pleasing to the eye, coming halfway to join in and ruining Chen An's business?

  Harmony generates wealth, harmony generates wealth. Chen An suddenly burst out laughing and hastily took the opportunity to say to the Governor-General, "Governor-General, I've suddenly had an idea, please help me deliberate on it?"

  Sung Yoon, who was about to serve tea and see off his guests, found it strange and put his hand back, saying, "Tell me, what is it?"

  "Why not do it this way: I'll take the initiative to integrate the gold sand business of the White Dragon River and the White Water River into one, no matter how much profit is made, I'll add another 20,000 taels of silver, and the target for sharing the profits will be officials above the rank of Gansu's current officials. The specific list of names and the proportion of profit-sharing will be decided by Governor-General? Is that acceptable?" Chen An spoke out his mind, this was a big plan, which could take advantage of the situation to firmly grasp the upper and lower reaches of the White Water River and even the White Dragon River in his own hands.

  Sheng Yun's eyes lit up and he looked at Chen An with a hint of a smile.

  After some deliberation, Sheng Yun spoke up, "Twenty thousand taels is not enough to split, at least forty thousand taels, and I'll help you with this favor, and can agree to one of your not-too-excessive demands, how about it?" The Governor's heart was ruthless, and he suddenly doubled the amount.

  The two of them began haggling very bluntly.

  Chen An started to lose money, after all, adding up the sand gold would still make a profit of over 10,000 taels, and together with the annual loss of over 50,000 taels, not including the initial 10,000 taels and Bi Kou's share.

  The Governor was also arguing to the point of being tongue-tied, and didn't care about the etiquette of serving tea to send off guests. He picked up his cup and drank it all in one gulp, then waved his hand and said, "Don't be so petty, this is a guarantee that Gansu will be unobstructed from top to bottom! Alright, according to the imperial court's rules, although you are both commanders-in-chief, you should listen to Commander Yu Rong's orders. I'll issue an edict, making you directly under the Governor's command, and you won't have to listen to other officials' orders anymore. How about that?"

  "Does this count as a grown-up's promise?" Chen An was even more straightforward and had already finished the tea in his bowl.

  "Don't count that, you can bring it up separately." As long as the 40,000 taels of silver can be settled, the impoverished officials in Gansu province will definitely be grateful to the Governor-General, and that would be a great achievement. As for other things, they are no longer important.

  The Governor of Shaanxi and Gansu is stationed in Lanzhou, governing both Gansu and Shaanxi provinces. However, while Shaanxi is still relatively well-off, Gansu is impoverished. Taking office in Gansu is essentially a path to poverty, almost like being exiled. Therefore, it's necessary to provide more comfort and solace.

  "Well then, I'll let Northern Industries handle it. You must allow me to do as I please." Chen Anxin gritted his teeth and prepared to agree, unable to wear him down any further.

  Sheng Yun looked down on Chen An, "This is not enough, the letter from Qingqin Wang has already said that I would give you a handover. So, originally you and Yu Rong were going to divide the nine battalions of Gansu South Road Patrol Camp equally. I have decided that Qin State will get four battalions, Jie State will get five battalions, and also the remaining unfulfilled battalion quota on the south route will be given to you."

  Chen An was quite embarrassed, and was actually underestimated by others.

  Just as the two were about to finalize, Chen An suddenly remembered something and hurriedly asked for instructions again, "Governor, I want to set up a telegraph line, connecting Chenjiazhuang to Lanzhou, so that we can contact Prince Qing and you, Governor, as well as Shanghai. This requires your approval."

  The major issues have been settled, and you're still concerned about these minor matters. The Governor smiled and said, "This is no problem, I'll talk to the Lanzhou Telegraph Bureau, and you can connect on your own. Oh, by the way, Jiezhou doesn't have a mobile courthouse, you'll have to build one yourself."

  He was fooled again, Chen An only felt dizzy in his eyes, if it wasn't because he couldn't be replaced, Yu Shan should have come to negotiate instead. Chen An said angrily, "Then I'll just build the Youji Gate at Chenjiazhuang."

  The Governor laughed and won another round, "No problem, wherever you put it is fine, I guess there will be no more Ji Zhou guerrillas in the future."

  After talking for half a day, plus a temporarily shadowless dividend company, the Governor has become extremely familiar with Chen An, and the rolling silver.

  As he walked out of the study, Governor Chen warmly introduced Chen An to the other officials who had been waiting outside and arranged a banquet to welcome Chen An, almost making the other officials watching the excitement stunned.

  At the banquet, Governor Chen broke the unspoken rules of officialdom without any politeness, insisting that Chen An sit beside him, which made others green with envy.

  After three rounds of wine, Sheng Yun spoke with great relish about the Two Rivers Red Plan. He didn't mention the Two Rivers Governor because there was still a governor to avoid, so Sheng Yun and Chen Ancai decided to use the name "Two Rivers". Everyone suddenly realized that it was the God of Wealth who had arrived, and they all stood up to toast him one after another, even more so to flatter the wise and brave Governor.

  Chen An was suddenly tired of responding at the banquet, but his attention was focused on the two people who were introduced by Sheng Rong, one is Peng Yingjia, the Dao of Lanzhou, and the other is Yang Zengxin, the alternate governor of Lanzhou.