Chapter 67: Guan Yu's Borrowed Money

  After making up their minds to engage in opium planting to make up for the huge military expenses, Chen Jingyun and Gao Zein discussed a series of methods, one of which was to establish a tobacco prohibition office to manage opium smuggling and related opium tax collection. At the same time, they established the Foning Company under the name of Gao Zein as the basis for operating opium planting in Fujian Province. They also set up relevant laws and regulations, more or less imposing high taxes on opium from other provinces.

  At the same time, in order to better manage the opium industry and collect more opium taxes, Chen Jingyun separated the relevant taxes on opium from the financial sector and handed them over to the Prohibition Bureau for unified management. This not only allows for an increase in opium-related tax revenue but also enables a direct cut when needed in the future, without having to deal with the Ministry of Finance and other government departments, avoiding future trouble. Additionally, it prevents the military government from getting too deeply involved in opium affairs, affecting public opinion.

  Whether it was the tobacco monopoly or the Fuhning Company, Chen Jingyun handed them over to Gao Ze-yin. After Gao Ze-yin received this errand, he almost immediately changed his attitude from neutral to a supporter of Chen Jingyun, thus becoming Chen Jingyun's second actual subordinate in the military government after An Hualin.

  "By the end of the year, the Tobacco Monopoly Bureau will probably be able to turn over around 3 million yuan in tobacco tax and other related income!"

  "Three hundred million? Mr. Gao, are you sure?"

  As soon as he heard the three million, An Hualin's eyes almost popped out. It was only a few months until the end of the year, and there were already three million. If it went on for a whole year, wouldn't it be tens of millions? Before, An Hualin knew that opium made money, but before it was just hearsay. Now, hearing Gao Zeyan say it himself, he felt extremely shocked. The annual income of the Opium Suppression Bureau was comparable to the total taxes of Fujian Province. No wonder the foreigners had come from afar with troops to fight for this opium back then.

  At the same time, I also calculated that if the income from the tobacco monopoly is also included, then Fujian's financial difficulties will be solved at once. Next year, even if there are still some gaps, they won't be as much as tens of millions.

  When he heard the three million, Chen Jingyun also let out a sigh of relief. He knew that being in the opium trade wasn't something to be proud of, and who knows, maybe one day he'd be cursed as an "opium warlord" or something like that. Taking risks with his conscience and reputation, if he could make around ten million yuan per year, then even being cursed would be worth it.

  "If the tobacco tax side can have nearly 100 million income next year, then most of the financial gap will be solved!" Chen Jingyun said: "At that time we'll think of other ways, this hurdle can always be overcome!"

  At this time, An Hualin said: "Governor, the First and Fifth Divisions are now in Zhejiang. Although I don't understand much about military affairs, I also know that southern Zhejiang should be under our control, right? Since we have taken them down, but the local governments have not been incorporated, and taxes have not been paid, isn't this a bit inappropriate?"

  Gao Ze Yan on the other side also said, "That's right, the situation in Zhejiang is much better than ours in Fujian. Ningbo, Shaoxing and Taizhou are all prosperous places. In a year, they can earn at least tens of millions!"

  Chen Jingyun shook his head: "This matter can't be rushed, we still need to wait a bit longer for the Zhejiang side!"

  Chen Jingyun also wanted to tidy up southern Zhejiang and incorporate it into his own system, but if he really did it, there would be too many aspects involved. First of all, Tang Shoubo in Hangzhou was the legitimate governor of Zhejiang, and the local governments in various parts of Zhejiang were nominally under the jurisdiction of Hangzhou. When the National Army marched into Zhejiang, they were still flying the flag of the Southern Allied Army, and the reorganization of the old Zhejiang army had already made Tang Shoubo quite dissatisfied with the Hangzhou side, and several telegrams of inquiry had been sent. If he took over the local governments openly at this time, it was likely that Zhejiang would be in an uproar, and Zhu Rui might even lead the Zhejiang army back to Zhejiang from Nanjing.

  At the same time, the North-South peace talks were at a critical juncture, and Chen Jingyun did not want his actions to affect the overall situation of the North-South peace talks. Moreover, the Wuchang Uprising had just occurred less than three months ago, and the era of warlord infighting had not yet begun. If he were to rashly raise troops and occupy neighboring provinces, it would be easy for others to take advantage of him and push him to the forefront of national public opinion, which was not a good thing.

  Furthermore, the bird that sticks its head out gets shot. If Chen Jingyun were to take down Zhejiang completely now, it would have too great an impact. It's likely that as soon as he makes a move, all the powerful figures across the country will take notice of him, especially Yuan Shikai. If he becomes the focus of Yuan's attention, it could be big trouble. In case Yuan decides to send him to the north to take up a post like Cai E or Li Yuanhong, he'll have no choice but to go, and even if he doesn't die, he can forget about his power base in Fujian. If he doesn't go, it will directly imply that he has rebellious intentions, and the Beiyang army will immediately march into Min-Zhe (Fujian and Zhejiang).

  So, whether it's Zhejiang or Guangdong, Chen Jingyun is extremely cautious. In Guangdong, Yuan Fang's third brigade is still in Chaozhou for training, and despite Hu Hanmin's repeated requests, Chen Jingyun has not sent Yuan Fang to continue southward. In Zhejiang, he is even more cautious, and until now, Chen Jingyun has let Ma Cheng fly the flag of the Southern Allied Army, preparing to go north to support Nanjing. It's worth noting that the Southern Allied Army has long since become a mere shadow of its former self. Chen Jingyun does not seek to thoroughly control southern Zhejiang in the short term; he only needs to disperse his troops and wait until the time is ripe to strike.

  However, An Hualin's words reminded Chen Jingyun that directly taking over the various prefectures and counties in southern Zhejiang was not feasible, but it could be done secretly. Taxes and other levies could also be collected under different names, such as using the name "Cooperation Fund". After all, tens of thousands of national army troops were stationed in Zhejiang to protect the border and maintain peace, so the expenses would naturally have to be shared by the various prefectures and counties in southern Zhejiang.

  With this in mind, Chen Jingyun didn't directly discuss it with An Hualin and others, but instead continued to ponder it in his heart. As a result, the Zhejiang matter wouldn't be directly entangled with the Fujian Military Government, avoiding letting Zheng Zuyin and those people hinder progress. This matter still needed to be handled directly under the name of the Nationalist Army Command.

  Thinking of this, I estimated that this method should also be able to solve part of the military expenses, and my mood improved a bit at once.

  Chen Jingyun felt a bit better and kept two people for lunch. After eating, An Hualin and Gao Zejian left separately. However, in less than two hours, An Hualin returned to the Governor's Mansion again.

  "An Zongchang, what's this?" Chen Jingyun was usually quite busy and wouldn't normally take time out to see people. He knew that An Hualin was also busy, always rushing about with his head spinning, and opportunities like today's conversation with Gao Zejian were rare.

  An Hualin walked over and said: "Governor, the British just came looking for me!"

  "British?" Chen Jingyun was slightly surprised: "What did they come to you for?"

  An Hualin took a sip of tea before continuing, "It's from the British Consulate, O'Donnell Jones sent someone over to discuss the loan repayment!"

  "Will the loan be approved?" Chen Jingyun was taken aback, as he had previously proposed using the surplus customs revenue for a loan when he met with Odo Jones, but they hadn't discussed it in detail afterwards. Although Chen Jingyun had threatened to abolish the Maritime Customs Service, that was just an empty threat and he had soon forgotten about it. Later, when Chen Jingyun considered using the salt tax revenue for a loan, he separately asked Britain, France, Germany, and the United States, but none of them were willing. Britain's attitude was slightly more favorable, but they explicitly stated that the loan could not be used for military purposes. Moreover, Japan had offered to provide a loan to Chen Jingyun at that time, so he eventually put these Western countries out of his mind.

  Now suddenly heard that the British people have come back to say they want to use the remaining loan, which made Chen Jingyun feel a little surprised, and then asked: "What's the specific situation."

  No matter what the British have in mind, Chen Jingyun is ready to accept anything that comes his way. The Japanese loan with malicious intentions, Chen Jingyun dares to take it, let alone the British money.

  Sometimes Chen Jingyun felt that he had been thinking of all sorts of ways to make money for the past few months, and his actions were becoming more and more suspicious.

  An Hualin said: "Some time ago when we were considering using the salt gabelle loan, I contacted British Consul Odo Jones. At that time, he agreed to the loan but required a guarantee that it would not be used for military purposes, so we didn't discuss it further. But according to what the British person who came today said, they reported back to their home country and expressed interest in using the remaining loan!"

  An Hualin continued: "Before I came, I briefly discussed it with him. According to their account, this loan is of interest to one of their domestic banks and does not belong to the Four Nations Banking Consortium, but was directly entrusted to Consul Odo Jones for negotiation!"

  "Unofficial behavior?" Chen Jingyun asked in confusion.

  An Hualin nodded and said: "It should be like this, and they also ask for higher interest rates, and the repayment conditions are more stringent!"

  Private enterprise loans? Chen Jingyun was baffled. Although the government-to-government loans to China these days are ultimately underwritten by bankers, they are essentially official actions of various countries, and those syndicated loans are basically based on diplomatic relations. After all, this loan is not a small amount, with tens of billions of taels of silver involved; without the backing of a powerful country and a strong army, it would be impossible to recover the principal and interest smoothly.

  Chen Jingyun did not know that this was a loan provided by a private bank, and it was also the line pulled by Odo Jones. Odo Jones was interested in Chen Jingyun's mention of Guan Yu's loan because if he acted as an intermediary, he could get a large commission. However, at this time, Britain had almost shown its intention to support Yuan Shikai, and even began planning to organize a banking group with various countries to provide a large post-war loan to Yuan Shikai, which was said to be a huge sum of ￡10 million.

  Otto Jones in such a situation, could only send inquiry telegrams to several bankers he was familiar with, and later even persuaded one of the banks to provide a loan.

  After getting the consent of a domestic banker, he immediately dispatched his subordinates to negotiate with the Fujian Military Government. Meanwhile, the British found An Hualin.

  "How much loan are they planning to provide?" This is what Chen Jingyun cares about the most, as for the interest rate and repayment conditions, these are secondary matters that Chen Jingyun doesn't pay much attention to.

  Because he is currently short of money and in a hurry! What he needs to consider is how to establish an army that can counter the Beiyang within a short period of time, at most one year. As for how to repay the loan, high or low interest rates, that's something to worry about two or three years later.

  Chen Jingyun believed that in two or three years, he would either occupy two or three provinces as a warlord, or be defeated by other warlords and end up with a life of seclusion. If he succeeded in occupying Zhejiang, Guangdong, and even Jiangsu and Jiangxi, then he would have the capital to contend for the nine states, and at that time, he wouldn't need to worry about repaying the principal and interest of tens of millions of yuan. If he failed, it would be even more hopeless, and he wouldn't even have the qualification to repay the debt.

  As for the third path, it is to stay in Fujian and wait for death. If lucky, it may be possible to delay for several years or even a decade or so, but Chen Jingyun has never chosen this path.

  For the current Chen Jingyun, he is only willing and can only continue to move forward. He cannot stay behind and wait for death, because he does not agree, Anhualin and Gao ZeYan who followed him in the Fujian Military Government also do not agree, and a large group of Nationalist Army leaders who are thinking about promotion and wealth also do not agree!

  He has no other choice.

  Either go further or die!