Insufficient balance

  Chen Jingyun also understood the current financial situation, so he was not surprised by An Hualin's reaction: "This equipment purchase is for the expansion of the ordnance factory. You also know that if we buy it from outside, the price is too expensive. If we make it ourselves, something that costs 10 yuan will cost 15 or 20 yuan if bought from outside!"

  An Hualin, however, did not quite agree with Chen Jingyun's words: "Director, although I don't understand much about military affairs, I also know the importance of making military equipment. However, this has to be done at the right time. If my Ministry of Finance had several tens of millions in storage, then taking out a few million to expand the arsenal would be feasible. But my Ministry of Finance only has over 4 million in storage, and the expenses of the army and the military government are not small! Moreover, we also need to prepare for the near-term military equipment expenditures. Let alone taking out 38 million, even if it were 3.8 million, it's still impossible!"

  Chen Jingyun was not annoyed by his words: "Don't be in a hurry, I just showed you the list, and I didn't ask you to take out the money now! One reason for calling you is to remind you to allocate the funds for the munitions factory, and on the other hand, it's for us to discuss ways to borrow money together!"

  "The arsenal's expenses, they came to me for it. I'm not refusing to give it to them, just the past few days were busy and couldn't leave for a moment. When I get back, I'll release the funds!" An Hualin continued: "As for the governor's borrowing money you mentioned, is it about the national bonds?"

  Chen Jingyun nodded: "This also counts!"

  An Hualin said, "The patriotic bonds have been on sale for two days, but the results are not very good. In two days, less than 500,000 were sold, and most of them were bought by officials within our military government!"

  "How long will it take to sell the first 5 million? Monkey year horse month?" Chen Jingyun was somewhat hit.

  "It's mainly because Fujian is not yet fully unified, and now the war situation in Hubei and Jiangsu is unfavorable, many people are worried about the Northern Expedition Army marching south!" An Hualin said.

  Whether the national bonds can be sold or not is tied to the performance of the Fujian People's Government and the overall situation in the south. If the south wins, the Fujian Military Government will naturally not collapse, so the national bonds can also be sold.

  "Never mind, they don't sell it to us and we can't force them! This time I came mainly to tell you that I plan to take out the salt administration as collateral to borrow money!" Chen Jingyun's words about the salt administration again startled An Hualin.

  "Governor, this is absolutely impossible! The salt administration is currently the main source of my financial revenue. If we mortgage it and something unexpected happens..." An Hualin didn't know what to say anymore. Everyone knew the importance of the salt administration. Even after all these years, the imperial court had not let foreigners use it as collateral for loans, so how could this governor have set his sights on it?

  Chen Jingyun countered: "I ask you, if there were no loans, how long could the military government hold on with its current financial revenue?"

  "After some mental calculations, An Hualin said: 'Although the government's expenses for various departments are not small when added up, the main expenditure is still military spending. According to current inventory and estimated income, the finances can hold on for four to five months. By then, the financial rectification will be almost done, and the new year's tax revenue will also come in. Although it's barely satisfactory, it can just about support itself.'"

  "Don't forget we still have a military procurement contract, there are over 20 million that haven't been given yet!" Chen Jingyun reminded him.

  An Hualin's face also sank upon hearing this, if they were to give up the over 20 million military equipment funds, it wouldn't be possible to hold on for even two months, let alone four or five.

  At this time, Chen Jingyun continued: "I will also tell you the truth. When those military supplies arrive, I plan to continue expanding and organizing at least six brigades and two regiments of field troops, and then establish three to five regiments of local garrison troops."

  An Hualin was listening to Chen Jingyun while calculating the possible increase in expenses. Before Chen Jingyun finished speaking, he had already stopped calculating because when he heard about the six battalions and two regiments, he knew that with so many more troops, Fujian would absolutely not be able to afford it. At that time, the annual fiscal deficit would not be a matter of tens or hundreds of millions, but rather hundreds of millions or even billions.

  However, upon further consideration, Chen Jingyun was the governor and was able to control Fujian Province at such a young age, with hundreds of thousands of troops. He absolutely wasn't some foolish person! So he asked: "Governor, do you have some kind of plan?"

  Chen Jingyun said: "Still the same sentence, borrow!"

  An Hualin said: "How can we repay the loan? Relying on Fujian Province alone will definitely result in a financial deficit, where is the money to repay?"

  Chen Jingyun said: "I never said I would rely on Fujian alone to repay!"

  Upon hearing this, a tremendous idea emerged in An Hualin's mind. However, he didn't ask directly, but instead looked at Chen Jingyun and said: "May I request the governor to make a selection?"

  Chen Jingyun smiled, stood up and walked to the door, looked up at the sky: "In this era, to make the country strong and rich, we must develop industry and commerce. With steel machines, there will be warships and cannons, and we won't be bullied by outsiders. But Fujian has many mountains and little arable land, the taxes collected from the whole province are not as much as those from a big county in Jiangnan, transportation is inconvenient and there are no important mineral resources, so it can only rely on traditional tea leaves, wood, paper-making to maintain local economy, and it's too difficult to develop industry and commerce here. The decline of the Mawei Shipyard is the most obvious example, the Qing court invested nearly tens of millions of taels, but in the end got nothing but a piece of wasteland."

  Due to Fujian's geographical environment and lack of mineral resources, it was extremely difficult for the province to develop its industry. At that time, there were three ways for a region to achieve economic development: first, having convenient transportation to spread goods to vast areas like Shanghai and Guangzhou; second, having important mineral resources like Northeast China; or third, having both advantages combined, such as Hubei Province. However, Fujian had none of these advantages - no large-scale mineral resources were discovered, nor did it have major rivers like the Yangtze or Pearl River, nor railways. The province's inland transportation relied solely on the Min River, which could only accommodate small boats. Moreover, several tributaries in the upper reaches of the Min River north of Nanping were mere streams that could only be navigated by bamboo rafts and wooden boats. During the peak export period of Fujian tea, tea leaves from upstream counties were transported to Nanping on small bamboo rafts before being shipped to Fuzhou.

  Without important resources, it is impossible to get railway investment. Without railways and major rivers causing traffic inconvenience, the goods in the coastal areas of Fuzhou can only be covered within the province. Far less than the products produced in Guangzhou can rely on several large tributaries of the Pearl River to cover as far as Guangxi and the entire southern region, let alone Shanghai, where the Yangtze River is China's economic lifeline, and products produced in Shanghai can be sold all the way to Chongqing.

  If it can be said that decades ago, Fujian was still able to rely on tea exports to become an economically strong province, then with Indian tea squeezing out the global market now, Fujian can only maintain a weak economic system relying on a few traditional industries such as papermaking, tea and wood.

  This is also the fundamental reason why there was no Fujian warlord in the warlord era after Xinhai!

  Since Chen Jingyun thoroughly understood Fujian's economic system during this period, he abandoned his previous steady and slow strategy. Now the only thing he wants to do is expand his army, then head south or north. Guangdong in the south is one of China's financial hubs, with a status similar to that of Jiangsu. The economy of Zhejiang in the north is also not bad, although it is not as good as Guangdong, but compared to Fujian, it is much stronger.

  If we don't expand our military and go out, it's just waiting for death on the spot. In a few years, Chen Jingyun will be like other defeated warlords, pitifully fleeing to a rented apartment.

  Chen Jingyun did not want to be a public official, although he didn't have the kind of sentiment that would make him shed blood for the country and nation, but for himself, for the power that once had, he was unwilling to give up, Chen Jingyun also absolutely did not want to fail.

  "What does the governor mean, going south or north?" An Hualin suddenly felt as if he had returned to the Three Kingdoms era, and in front of him was a lord standing, while he was assisting this lord in creating a heroic undertaking.

  "Whether it's going south or north, it still depends on the specific situation!"

  To be honest, Chen Jingyun has not yet made up his mind. Originally, he planned to first tidy up Fujian Province and then expand the army to seek opportunities for external expansion, but according to his original schedule, that would have been next year or even the year after, at least not now. However, looking at it now, his initial idea is no longer suitable for the present! The reason is simple: he found that Fujian simply doesn't have that much money to maintain a large army for a long time, so he must act sooner!

  It wasn't until an hour later that An Hualin bid farewell and left, and when he learned of Chen Jingyun's determination to expand, An Hualin no longer opposed Chen Jingyun using the salt administration as collateral for a loan. However, who to borrow from and what specific terms would be required detailed planning and arrangements.

  Just as he was about to leave at a little past six in the evening, Ou Yang Tian from the Equipment Department arrived. He wasn't the only one who came; Chen Kui and Chen Wei Hua also came with him.

  "How did you all get together?" Chen Jingyun asked.

  Chen Weihua and Chen Kui both wanted to speak up, but Chen Weihua took the lead: "Governor, we have come for that batch of military equipment!"

  Ouyang Tian also revealed a wry smile at this time: "I didn't say anything, they heard the news and ran over on their own!"

  This batch of newly arrived military equipment is too important, and Ou Yang Tian naturally cannot decide for himself. Chen Kui and Chen Weihua are also entangled with him and refuse to leave, so he simply takes these two people to the Governor's Mansion and lets Chen Jingyun decide directly.

  "Arms? How many men does the Eighth Regiment have now?" Chen Jingyun asked first.

  "Now we're almost at full capacity! All we need is military equipment!"

  Chen Jingyun nodded: "Since it's already full, Ouyang Tian, you take out a battalion of long guns and pistols from this batch of military equipment for the Eighth Battalion!"

  Chen Kui's face darkened after hearing this, his troops had already been fully equipped, but only one battalion was equipped with Hanyang-made rifles, the rest were old and worn-out Mannlichers. And he knew that among the newly arrived batch of firearms, there were only 6,000 rifles, which meant that after giving 4,000 to the 8th Regiment, only 2,000 would be left, not enough to equip a regiment.

  Seeing Chen Kui like this, Chen Jingyun also knew what he was thinking in his heart, and immediately said: "Chen Kui, don't give me a cold face either, take the remaining 2,000 guns away!"