"Chen Jun, after I return to China to report on my work this time, I will rush to the Third South Fleet on December 1 to serve as the commander of the fleet, and my base is in Manila. Taiji Ota was pleased with the figure.

In fact, he also understood in his heart that the bigwigs of the military command department had given themselves a transition period, and it was estimated that they would stay in the post of fleet commander for a year and a half at most, and they would be transferred to the reserves, but this would look much better on face.

In the Japanese Navy, Taiji Ota did not have any outstanding achievements, and the reason why he was able to be reused and promoted to vice admiral was because of his deep foundation and deep qualifications, the adjutant of Marshal Heihachiro Togo, and also participated in the world-famous Battle of Tsushima, this resume is too prominent.

"Congratulations to Your Excellency General on becoming the commander of the fleet, and in the future business in Southeast Asia, it is indispensable to trouble you, and I can give you enough benefits for the local palm oil, tobacco, timber, cane sugar and rubber."

"My cooperation with the Kwantung Army Command is mainly cotton, but due to the shortage of cotton resources, it is very difficult to meet the needs of the 13th Army itself."

"I hope that before His Excellency the General leaves, he can transfer a batch of cotton cloth from the Japanese Textile Industry Association to me to do strategic material transactions with Jiang Tong, the more the better, but the price of Japanese merchants is too high, which is really not conducive to exchange, so I also hope that the Central China Liaison Department can provide subsidies." Chen Mingxiang said.

The Huatong Trading Company and the Kwantung Army Command traded supplies with each other, which was the cause of the internal strife in the Japanese Army, and it was also a problem left over from history.

However, the output of Chen Mingxiang's textile factory was fixed, and giving all the cotton cloth to the Kwantung Army Headquarters would inevitably affect the original smuggling of materials.

For Taiji Ota, he is about to be transferred to the military, and there is no need to see how ugly the faces of those chaebols have become because of this, and logistics support is a matter for the military department.

Moreover, Chen Mingxiang's ocean-going freighter will leave the Philippines in the future, so he will have to give him some benefits as a commander, and the real benefits are the first.

has the right not to expire and invalidate, and to help Chen Mingxiang one more time while the Central China Liaison Department still has the power to control materials, which will be beneficial to future cooperation.

"In this way, you send a report to the headquarters of the 13th Army, mark the amount of cotton cloth needed, and the reasons should be sufficient, Lieutenant General Shimomura has just come to Shanghai, and this kind of matter will be decided by Lieutenant General Shigeru Sawada for the time being, he has been in contact with you for a long time, and he also knows the importance of Huatong Trading Company to the 13th Army, there should be no problem, and those textile merchants will not be arrogant for long." Taiji Ota said.

With the coordination of the Central China Liaison Department, the new commander of the 13th Army, Lieutenant General Shimomura, agreed to temporarily transfer 4,000 pieces of cotton cloth to the Huatong Trading Company, but demanded that they must be replenished by the end of November, so as not to affect the use of clothing and quilts for the troops in winter.

The fleet came from Zhenjiang port to Hushi port, loaded the 4,000 pieces of cotton cloth prepared in advance, and then continued to sail towards Yingkou port, until a week later, Chen Mingxiang sent a telegram to Major General Furuno Yoshitake of the Kwantung Army Headquarters, preparing to settle the payment outside the customs.

Cotton cloth does not need to be settled, because cotton yarn is used for cotton cloth, but the materials transported to Yingkou Port this time are not only cotton cloth, but also tung oil, pig bristles, rosin, tungsten ore, cane sugar, etc., Chen Mingxiang also prepared several large boxes of special cigarettes for the headquarters, in addition to red wine, cigars, and specialties from Nanyang.

"Mr. Chen, our Huazhong Salt Industry Co., Ltd. has always been the control agency of Shanghai Salt, responsible for all salt import and sales, I heard that you sent 2,000 tons of salt from the Changlu Salt Factory in Jincheng, I don't know if there is such a thing?" A Japanese businessman named Kiyoshi Kudo found the location of the Haiyuan Salt Company.

This guy is a representative of Huazhong Salt Industry Co., Ltd., but he has a completely different attitude from those coal merchants in Shanghai, bowing when he enters the door, behaving very easy-going, and this time he did not come empty-handed, and brought Japanese precious tea and porcelain as gifts.

"Mr. Kudo, there is such a thing, the 13th Army Headquarters and the Central China Liaison Department of the Xingya Academy complained about the tight supply of salt, so they entrusted me to operate this matter, and transported 2,000 tons of salt from the Changlu Salt Field every month, and also built a salt processing plant in Shanghai to turn coarse salt into fine salt."

"Please don't be nervous, I have no intention of seizing the salt market in Shanghai, only 500 tons of these 2,000 tons of salt, that is, 1 million catties, will remain in Shanghai, coarse salt will be put on the market and sold to the citizens, fine salt will be provided to the garrison and Japanese expatriates, and the rest will have to be supplied to Jiangsu Province, Zhejiang Province, Hubei Province and Anhui Province."

"There are more than 4 million people in the entire Shanghai market, and according to the calculation of one pound of coarse salt per person per month, that is more than 4 million catties, equivalent to 2,000 tons of salt. Chen Mingxiang said.

People put on a posture of salute first and then soldier, he is also good to talk and discuss, as long as he gives a similar share, he is not willing to have another incident, the market outside the Shanghai market is very large, thousands of tons of salt are gone in a blink of an eye, it is a situation where supply exceeds demand, why bother to conflict with Japanese businessmen in the salt industry?

After all, the plutocracy of the textile industry and the coal industry are all offended!

"Mr. Chen, you misunderstood, we Huazhong Salt Co., Ltd. did not want to object to the Haiyuan Salt Company selling salt in Shanghai, this time to visit, is under the guidance of His Excellency General Taiji Ota, to seek cooperation with you, we work together to complete this important task, get the due reward." Kudo Kiyoshi said hurriedly.

Chen Mingxiang was slightly stunned, what is going on?

After Kudo Kiyoshi's explanation, he learned that the other party was really here to cooperate, and the fundamental reason was that he wanted to use his fleet to transport salt from the Lianghuai Salt Works to Central China!

Now there is no problem with the salt production of the Lianghuai Salt Farm, with an annual output of millions of tons, but the northern Jiangsu region, where the Lianghuai Salt Farm is located, has a problem with waterway transportation to various places!

As the war progressed, the shortage of food and various daily necessities in Japan was widening, including raw salt, which was used as a raw material for food and industry.

Although Japan is an island country, due to the topography, there is a lack of high-quality salt farms, and it relies on plundering the Lianghuai Salt Farm and the Changlu Salt Farm in China to support Japan's raw salt demand.

Because of the lack of ships, the salt wholesale of Huazhong Salt Co., Ltd. has been intermittent, which has also caused the current price to soar, not only the common people in Shanghai, Jinling and other provinces are scolding, but even the Japanese garrison and Japanese expatriates are also very dissatisfied with this.

In such a situation, Huazhong Salt Co., Ltd. asked for help from the Central China Liaison Department of Xingya Academy, and Taiji Ota pushed Chen Mingxiang out, Haiyuan Salt Company has the largest private fleet in Shanghai and Central China, and win-win cooperation is the only solution.