In Cai Yi's mind, Zhang Zuolin was nothing more than the idea of fighting. As everyone knows, before and after the Republic of China, although China armed the so-called new army and seemed to be in line with other countries, in fact, China's military industry lagged far behind the East and the West, and so far, the country's industrial level has not been able to make its own guns.

In the eyes of the traditional upper echelons of military circles, thousands of troops are easy to obtain, but a single shot is hard to find. In today's era where a large number of people are recruited for the sake of food, it is indeed much easier to recruit soldiers than to get guns. Zhang Zuolin wants to raise the banner of opposition to Yuan Shikai with the strength of a division, if he does not light arms as a household belongings, he will indeed be unsure. Zhang Hanqing's "doing business" with foreigners is probably a fig leaf for arms deals.

At this point, Cai Ye really has a way. Whether it is to appease the heart of an "ally" or to strengthen the anti-Yuan forces, he will take it without shirk. However, when he asked Zhang Hanqing carefully: "Yuting Plan ** or cannon?" How many ammunition? Zhang Hanqing couldn't help laughing.

"Uncle Shi, what the little nephew said about doing business is really real business! Relying on the purchase of arms, the strength may increase greatly in the short term, but this is by no means a long-term solution. ”

Cai Ye suddenly realized: Is it to buy a machine? This is the right way to a strong military. Zhang Zuolin should not give him a fish, but give him a fish, this insight is no longer an ordinary warlord can catch up, he can dominate Fengtian for a long time, it is really not simple. But he made a difficulty: "Han Qing, if it was two years ago, I could pack a ticket to take this line." But now that the war in Europe is raging, and all the Western countries are making arms with full horsepower and want to buy a machine machine, I dare not say that I am sure for a while. ”

Zhang Hanqing laughed again, laughing so hard that Cai Ye was a little hairy: Could it be that he would be wrong again? Who did you learn to play with a hairy child? Can't you talk well! When he wanted to spank him impulsively, Zhang Hanqing finally got the rules: "Uncle Shi really thought wrong, we are really doing business this time." ”

"Europe is now in a stalemate phase of positional warfare, and there has been no trend of change for a long time. The little nephew was thinking, every day there were whistling shells above his head and dense machine-gun bullets in his ears. Under the dense defense of both sides, the only thing the soldiers on the front line could do was to stay in the trenches and do nothing. What they want to do, what they need, is our business. ”

Our General Cai is completely dizzy. As a first-class soldier, it is impossible for him not to pay attention to the war in Europe, but the focus of his and Zhang Hanqing's concerns is definitely different. He paid attention to the strategic and tactical planning of the warring parties and the grasp of the fighter planes, and Zhang Hanqing seemed to be most enthusiastic about the business opportunities.

"Oh, let's see." General Cai's interest increased. For him, who had been immersed in military affairs for half his life, he really couldn't figure out what the Western powers, whose industrial and economic power far surpassed China, would lack something that might be beneficial to his military research.

"Tobacco", Zhang Hanqing blurted out: "The best thing to pass the time of boredom is beautiful women and tobacco and alcohol." The war makes women go away and they are not allowed to drink, but smoking can refresh and soothe the nerves is something that no manager on either side can deny. As far as I know from the newspaper, Belgium collected tobacco from Britain and the United States in August last year, and even set up the 'Belgian Soldiers' Tobacco Foundation'. Others are needed by the British Expeditionary Force, the Anzac Corps, the Canadian Expeditionary Force, etc.

We grow a lot of tobacco in the northeast, and my little nephew is thinking, if we have the opportunity to contact the Entente side, we supply a large amount of high-quality and low-cost tobacco to the other side, first, it strongly supports its logistics on the battlefield and indirectly shows our country's attitude, and second, we can also get valuable profits from it, and the most important thing is that a large amount of tobacco is exported to foreigners instead of poisoning the Chinese, which is a very meaningful thing. ”

This is Zhang Hanqing's first business experience after coming to Beijing for a period of time, and it is definitely not done in response to the occasion.

Looking at the overall situation, World War I has been going on for more than a year, and the great powers have been involved one after another. There has been endless debate in China's military and political circles about where China should go. Of course, people of insight such as Duan Qirui and Cai Yi all strongly supported China's entry into the Entente, on the grounds that Britain, France, and Russia were either big powers at sea and on land, or they had vast territories and war potential, and the Allies would be defeated.

However, because the Japanese were worried about the German occupation of Qingdao, they resolutely opposed China's declaration of war on Germany---- so that Japan, which had already decided to join the Entente, would not be able to attack its "ally" China. Under the pressure of the Japanese government, Yuan Shikai did not dare to make a decision, and fatally sat back and watched the Japanese occupy Qingdao and miss the opportunity.

From then on, Japan controlled China's right to declare war until 1917, which also led to China's late entry into the war ridiculed by foreigners as "sitting back and enjoying its success". In addition to the weakness of the country, the Chinese government was not without the shame of the humiliating scene at the post-war Paris Peace Conference. If China can successfully "punch" tobacco into the European battlefield, this kind of thing, which is the same as ammunition, food, and medicine, can fully represent China's contribution to the Entente!

You must know that life in the trenches became more and more boring with the length of the war, especially after the Battle of the Marne, when both sides of the Western Front began to build trenches for a long confrontation, thus turning to positional warfare. In the cracks of countless cannons and dense machine guns, the charge of either side was doomed to huge losses, so that ordinary soldiers were given a respite. Resting on the battlefield and smoking a cigarette beautifully and then calmly fighting to the death is the immortal theme of American blockbusters, and it is this that makes Zhang Hanqing discover business opportunities.

The Belgian Soldiers' Tobacco Foundation has been appealing to the American public that "front-line soldiers demand more tobacco than we can imagine, and tobacco is the most desired comfort for soldiers in the trenches...", according to their calculations, each package containing tobacco was worth 25 cents and contained 50 cigarettes, a large packet of tobacco leaves, and a box of matches.

How much is 25 cents worth? This only makes sense in terms of price comparison. Of course, because the silver dollar at this time was still very consuming, according to the ratio of one gram of gold, 5 US dollars and 9 silver dollars, it can be roughly equivalent to 45 silver dollars.

What is the purchasing power of a silver dollar at this time? According to more reliable research, it can be converted into 30 catties of rice. However, this figure is unfair compared with the present, because the harvest of one acre of land at this time is only 100 catties. In other words, the value of ten packs of such cigarettes in Europe is equivalent to the output of one acre of land in China, and the profit can be imagined.

In the north, from Mukden to Rehe, countless tobaccos are grown. These tobaccos, in the official history, are an important economic source for Zhang Zuolin to expand his army and grab territory, and they are also a portrayal of China's becoming a major tobacco country. Although they know the dangers of tobacco, the Zhang family and their sons, whose strength is in the embryonic state, will never ban tobacco cultivation for the sake of the so-called long-term national fortune, on the contrary, in Zhang Hanqing's plan, the tobacco industry is an important part of improving the wealth of the Zhang family.

Before the Republic of China, most of the Chinese smoked dry tobacco, hookah, etc., after the Republic of China, cigarettes developed rapidly, and many famous brands appeared: the domestic time-honored brand "Old Knife" brand, the rookie "Three Forts" brand of the British and American companies in 1914, the Hade door brand founded in 1919, the fairy brand aimed at the female market, and the century-old store Daqian door number... At this time, the cigarette brand promotion was no less than that of later generations, such as the "Three Forts" brand advertisement is "Three Forts, today's famous cigarettes; Liu Guanzhang, the hero of the ancients", the advertisement of the big front door is "the big man sucks the 'big front door' and falls generous".

With the background of the world's major tobacco countries, how can Europe and the United States be the first? Zhang Hanqing is confident that China's tobacco industry will move to a new world. Even if there is no idea to market Europe, the reorganization of the tobacco industry is also Zhang Hanqing's first stick to revitalize Fengtian's economy. As for the guilt, I'm sorry, Zhang Hanqing just doesn't do it, these brands will still be established, and Zhang Xueliang has even smoked big cigarettes in history, what are cigarettes.

Buying tobacco is not a problem, and it is not difficult to build a tobacco factory, as long as it can be sold at a good price. By the way, a match factory can also be built, after all, it is a civilian product, and even the domestic market is large enough. At this time, like heavy industry, China's light industry was also extremely backward, and the livelihood goods such as matches, kerosene, and basins were basically monopolized by foreigners. The road to revitalizing China is a long way to go.

Of course, having the opportunity to lead the troubles to the west and selling at a high price is Zhang Hanqing's expectation. Therefore, whether there is an opportunity to sell Northeast tobacco with the help of Cai Yi's connections, Zhang Hanqing must of course try it.

"This can be tried, my teacher Liang Qichao has some contacts with British and American officials in China, and may be able to build bridges; In addition, Fang Zhen may have some way, after all, he studied in Germany, in case the Entente cannot negotiate, it is the same with the Allies, anyway, the German army also needs it. After all, Cai Ye was born in the military, so he was decisive.

General Cai's connections were indeed not covered, and he quickly contacted the ministers of France, Belgium and other countries in China through his connections, so that they could first enjoy the high-quality and inexpensive tobacco from northern China. Zhang Hanqing arranged negotiators through Zhang Zuolin, promising to supply coalition cigarettes, tobacco, smoking guns and cigarette pouches at better prices.

During the three-month tug-of-war negotiations, Zhang Zuolin, who also had a keen business acumen, grasped the cash cow handed over by Zhang Hanqing, and used private capital to build a cigarette factory in Fengtian, which was later the largest in Northeast China and even in China---- Fengtian Cigarette Factory, and successively launched several brands: "Zhonghua" for high-end people, "Great Wall" for the mass brand, and "Shengli" for Europe.

During the three years from the end of 1915 to the end of the war at the end of 1918, the Mukden Cigarette Factory alone shipped a total of 30 million cigarettes, 2 million packs of tobacco, and as many as 40,000 bongs and pouches to Europe, making a profit of millions of silver dollars. In China, more than 10 million packs of tobacco and 10 million cigarettes have flowed into the corners of the country through various channels. The reason why the sales volume of cigarettes abroad far exceeds that of China is because the Chinese people are too poor to afford to consume high-end goods containing paper, but the sales of tobacco still show that the development of China's tobacco industry is full of stamina.

Of course, in the end, because of the embargo, the German soldiers did not enjoy the gifts from China, which is a pity.