Chen Ke knows one thing deeply: If he had not been born in New China, it would have been impossible for him to receive a comprehensive social and political education since he was a child. I started a political class in junior high school. Politics classes are all about the truth. For example, banks.

The People's Bank of China implements monetary policy and is responsible for currency issuance, and it is not a commercial bank itself. The ones responsible for deposits and loans are Agricultural Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, etc. If it weren't for the forced recitation since childhood, Chen Ke would not have gradually established an important understanding of currency on the Internet. For example, the renminbi is a fiat currency.

In 1911, the currency of the base was very unique. The renminbi was an extremely rare "legal tender" in the world at that time, and other currencies of the same period had "collateral". These currencies are basically pegged to gold. With the currency, you can go to the bank to exchange for gold. Great countries such as the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and the United States all adopted the gold standard.

Since the banks in the base areas are completely copied from the banks of New China, it is naturally impossible for them to issue this kind of gold-standard currency. So Chen Ke finally understood a little bit why the party attached so much importance to cooperatives in history. Banks and cooperatives in the base areas have forced the people to use the renminbi by distorting supply and demand and using only renminbi for transactions. For example, the use of gold, silver, and copper coins in trading has been greatly eliminated in the base areas.

In fact, the renminbi in the base areas is copied from the party's grain collateral policy. The BJP does not allow private individuals to engage in the grain trade, and all grain stores are owned by the state. Inside the state-owned grain stores, grain prices are nailed. Whether it is a famine year or a good year, it will not change. Since state-run grain stores only accept renminbi, they do not accept transactions in other currencies and gold and silver at all. The credit of the renminbi was thus established.

It's nothing inward, it's a problem externally. There is a strong skepticism about the value of the renminbi. With renminbi, you can only buy goods and grain, and as a foreigner, you can't even buy grain directly with renminbi. Because you don't have a household register. The only thing that works is that you can use RMB to eat in a restaurant.

Chen Ke's idea comes entirely from political textbooks, "money is a general equivalent". The problem is that in international trade, foreign countries are not obliged to accept Chen Ke's ideas unconditionally. If you don't have real money, or money that can be exchanged for real money directly, people just don't believe you.

"That's why we had to use foreign banking services." Qin Wuan, the new minister of finance in the base, said slowly. Qin Wuan is also an "old revolutionary", he has been working in the logistics department before, he doesn't like to talk, and he never flinches and hides when he should speak.

The comrades attending the meeting were all cadres of the Ministry of Finance, and these basic theories could not be clearer, and there was no need for Qin Wu'an to specifically emphasize them. Foreigners certainly do not accept banknotes that can only be used in some parts of China, and although everyone feels sorry, they do not find it difficult to understand. On the other hand, the foreign currency earned depends on the hard labor of the people in the base areas. After figuring this out, everyone no longer has the idea of hoarding money.

After talking about financial issues, Qin Wuan talked about practical problems, "The central government wants to establish a primary coconut processing plant in Guangdong. ”

"Why don't you build it in the base area?" Someone immediately asked. Since everything is the result of labor, the cadres in the base areas are only afraid that there will be no employment opportunities.

Foreign trade and the economic operation within the base areas are two different things. Chen Ke repeatedly emphasized what Marx called "a thrilling jump". It is also the sentence "the process from money to product, product to currency, that is, the process of capital appreciation, is a thrilling jump". If the goods are produced and cannot be sold, then the producers will die.

Everyone in the base area has land and seeds, and this is due to land reform. And everyone has a job, relying on the current social situation of absolute scarcity in China caused by the domestic market, and the People's Party in foreign trade has taken all the risks of this "thrilling jump". Since the central government has decided to open a coconut processing industry, cadres in the economic sector instinctively believe that this industry should be set up in the base area in order to increase employment.

"The central government wants to set up this industry in Guangzhou, first, because Guangzhou is very close to the Philippines. Low shipping costs. In addition, we also want to lay out in Guangzhou. Qin Wuan explained.

"Will the local government of Guangdong agree to the layout?"

"How's it safe?"

Comrades put forward their views one after another.

"We will send troops to protect these industries." Qin Wuan continued to explain.

"Will the Guangdong government agree to us sending troops to Guangzhou to station?" The comrades were even more surprised.

Qin Wu'an replied briskly: "If they refuse to let us send troops over, it means that the Guangdong government is a counter-revolutionary government, and it is necessary for us to liberate the whole of Guangdong now." ”

This answer had taken the truth to the extreme, and the comrades of the Ministry of Finance no longer dwelled on the issue of security, but turned the conversation back to the original factory setup.

"If we process 100 million coconuts a year...... Qin Wu'an just said a start, he saw the comrades' eyes widen in astonishment, and he had to explain further, "The central government's plan is to increase this scale to one billion." In the early days, I'll start with 100 million. ”

No one is silent anymore, and the numbers speak for themselves. The comrades listened quietly to Qin Wu'an's introduction.

"If a worker can process 50 coconuts a day, 100 million coconuts will take 2 million working days." Qin Wu'an himself had already been surprised, but now he was able to fully maintain his calm, "These products that were originally processed, fruit pulp, husks, fruit juices, and brown hair are all primary industrial products. Some of these primary industrial products were sent back to the base area for further processing, and some of them continued to be processed in Guangzhou. So on the whole, there is a need for a large-scale combined processing plant with more than 40,000 employees in Guangzhou. ”

"It's like building a new big city! We have so many counties, and there are not 40,000 people in any county. I think it's better to put this industry in the base. Lu Zhengtao, who is in charge of agricultural product processing, said, "Fei is better off directly liberating Guangdong." ”

"Guangdong will definitely be liberated in the future, but if we forcibly rush in now, it will not be liberation, at most it will be a conquest. The central authorities believe that this will not work. Qin Wuan explained.

Fighting a war is not a matter for the Ministry of Finance, and Lu Zhengtao just said so, "Then the industrial layout is this, opening a factory in Guangzhou?" ”

"A factory of this size is equivalent to a new city, and the factory equipment needs power, so many people need to eat, drink, and tap water. It is estimated that the whole of Guangzhou will have to be rebuilt. In this process, we went into the countryside to mobilize the masses on the one hand, and on the other hand, we struggled against the old-fashioned forces in all aspects of Guangdong. The ultimate armed struggle is a matter for the central authorities to decide. ”

Many of the comrades in the Ministry of Finance are also from the military, so they are naturally no strangers to military struggles. However, this method of struggle is quite novel. Someone was about to speak, but when they saw Qin Wuan continue to speak, everyone temporarily swallowed the words back into their stomachs.

"As for the overall layout, Guangdong is short of coal, and we cannot have so much strength to build a new Guangdong in the early stage, and the coal has to be transported from the Annan coal mine to Guangdong. So the coconut comes from the Philippines and the coal comes from Annam. The equipment and organization personnel are from our base. In this layout, we need financial support from the Ministry of Finance. At least the budget has to be taken out. ”

Now there is no one to answer, involving international and domestic, including many departments in the base area, and indeed a huge budget is needed. Qin Wuan's understatement depicted a complex and clear situation. After a while, Lu Zhengtao asked, "This is obviously the idea proposed by Chairman Chen." ”

"The central government has finally decided to approve this plan." Qin Wu'an knew that Chen Ke didn't want to put his name at the forefront of everything, and it was still okay to do this before. The People's Party has developed to the present scale, and what should be highlighted is the leadership of the Party Central Committee.

"And the coconut is so good?" Lu Zhengtao continued to ask.

"Whether the coconut is good or not, the deep processing is done in the base area. Everyone will see it then. Qin Wu'an gave an answer that was not an answer.

"Can this be that easy? Not to mention the difficulty of recruiting 40,000 workers, it is even more difficult to manage so many people. I still think it's more appropriate to put this industry in our base. Lu Zhengtao is in charge of the processing of agricultural products and has deep feelings about the organizational difficulties of labor-intensive enterprises. The largest factory of the People's Party has only more than 1,000 people, and this enterprise in Guangdong actually needs 40,000 people, and he feels unreliable.

Qin Wuan was about to continue to persuade, but he heard Wang Fengshan, who was in charge of statistics, smile and said, "Since the central government has decided, more detailed steps will definitely tell us later." But I've never seen what a coconut is, Minister Qin, you have to get a few for me to taste." ”

After hearing this, the conference room burst into laughter. In the midst of laughter, Qin Wuan replied calmly: "There is one outside, I will bring it in for everyone to eat now." ”

The United States is a country built on the basis of complete individualism, and the envoy to China is very popular with the American people in this respect. More precisely, imbued with the demeanor of the American ruling class. He wanted to charge a fee for the sale, but after thinking about it, he felt that it was really inappropriate. This lazy attitude insulted the hard work of his ancestors in the slave trade, and insulted the courage of his family to burn and kill in the west.

Mr. Minister put aside the matter of the Bank of Boston, and sent a telegram to the family members to the Philippines as quickly as possible on the family's clipper. On the one hand, he used his power to make the Philippine bureaucracy more efficient than ever, and registered an American trading company within two days. Within ten days, the first boatload of coconuts was delivered to the base area.

Coconuts are too cheap in the Philippines, so cheap that you don't need money to pick them up. All the company needed was to send a boat to cruise between the Philippine islands, direct people to carry the coconuts onto the ship, and then move on to the next island. All the minister's company needs is manpower to collect and move it. After the two sides finalized the contract for the purchase of the boat, Wang Bin bargained with Mr. Minister, and finally set the price of the coconuts at 120 per dollar. As for manpower, the BJP promised to provide manpower to Mr. Minister, at least immediately in the base area to send out men to carry coconuts. The combination of "American style" and "base speed" created a small miracle in commercial behavior in 1911.

The comrades of the Ministry of Finance were all eating this fruit for the first time, and the huge coconut was placed on the table, and the well-informed comrades were taken aback.

"How do you eat such a big thing?" Wang Fengshan asked in surprise.

Qin Wuan put a wrapped cloth bag on the conference table, pulled the cloth open, and a pile of knives and reed rods were exposed. "Make a hole in the top, insert the reed rod in, and suck out the juice first."

The comrades picked up their knives, and the eight immortals crossed the sea to show their magical powers, cut their mouths according to their own habits, inserted reed rods and sucked a mouthful of juice. Except for Wang Fengshan, who squirted out the coconut water he had sucked in, the other comrades enjoyed it very much.

Qin Wu'an leaned in and sniffed it, and said with a smile: "This coconut is broken, I'll get you another one." ”

While sighing that he was unlucky, Wang Fengshan didn't care, opened a hole in the newly brought coconut, took a sip a little cautiously, and a stream of sweet juice went down the reed stem into his mouth, which made him feel refreshed.

In a burst of praise, everyone drank the coconut water. Qin Wuan asked the comrades to cut the coconut, and the snow-white coconut flesh exuded a fragrance in front of everyone.

"Coconut meat can also be eaten." After Qin Wu'an finished introducing it, he found that his words might be a little redundant, and while he was talking, someone had already begun to cut the coconut meat with a knife and put it in his mouth.

"It's not just the juice that can be drunk, the coconut meat can be eaten. Coconut meat can also be used for oil. Coconut meat can also be used to make wine. Qin Wu'an took out two bottles, one containing clear coconut oil and the other containing coconut wine.

He took out a few brushes with different brown hair lengths, "The brown inside the coconut shell can also be used as a brush." Coconut shells can burn charcoal and make buttons. All in all, the utilization rate is extremely high. ”

Wang Fengshan ate a large piece of coconut meat with satisfaction, and asked with a puzzled look: "How can the Americans give us such a good thing to make?" ”

"Leave it to us, and the individual Americans who work with us can get the most benefits. Moreover, in Asia, there is a lack of processing capacity, and there is a lack of organized labor such as our base area, and many raw materials cannot be used at all. We know how to process it, but it's not profitable at all. The scale is large, and the investment cannot be afforded. Iron has to be hard, can't be like us, a single investment can go down and use millions of dollars, although the coconut is good, but not all kinds of people can do things well. Qin Wuan gave the answer.

Just when Qin Wuan and his comrades were talking about the relationship between investment, labor organization, input of means of production, and the scale of raw materials, the American minister sat down with Wang Bin and lit a Manila cigar.

It had been busy for almost a month, and the matter at the Bank of Boston had dragged on for almost a month, but the American minister clearly seemed to be in a good mood. The matter at the Bank of Boston was a long and arduous negotiation, but the money it made was cash. The BJP is generous and very thoughtful in business. For example, after taking a stake in a new company, the money for the purchase of more than a dozen coconut ships was very happy. The investment in the coconut industry is slow to achieve results, and no one buys a single coconut when the price is high, and it is not profitable when the price is low. Only on scale can we achieve benefits.

Taking a puff of cigarette, the minister smiled: "I have always heard that Mr. Wang is proficient in business, and this cooperation found out that it is indeed worthy of its reputation." ”

"Everybody can do business, but not everybody has the opportunity to work with Mr. Minister." Wang Bin also smiled.

The minister was so pleased with this blunt statement that he began to give lessons to Wang Bin, "The First National Bank of Boston was founded in 1859. After its merger with the Bank of Massachusetts in 1903, it was still known as the First National Bank of Boston......"

Wang Bin listened with a smile while recalling the results of the People's Party's investigation in his heart. The Boston consortium is one of the oldest monopolistic consortia in the United States. It was formed by the 19th-century Boston area families of Lowell, Lawrence, Adams, and Lodge, who had made their fortunes in the slave trade, and the emerging Kennedy family. At that time, these families invested the huge sums of money accumulated from overseas colonial plunder in commercial banks, insurance companies, and investment companies, and relied on these financial institutions to provide funds to operate the textile industry such as textiles, tanning, shoes, clothing, food, and chemicals. Due to the rapid development of the textile industry, by the beginning of the 20th century, the Boston Consortium, with the First National Bank of Boston as the core, was formed by the Boston Consortium. The American minister was a member of the Boston consortium, as can be seen from his surname Lawrence.

The problem is that the Boston consortium is not as strong as the eastern conglomerates in terms of industrial and mining enterprises, and the industries it controls were originally mainly light textiles. The BJP has been working with American heavy industry conglomerates, such as Morgan and Walkerfeller. If you cooperate with the Boston consortium, not only will it not help the BJP's heavy industry development, but it is more likely to cause dissatisfaction with the heavy industry consortium. That's more than worth the cost.

However, the BJP does not want to really offend the Boston consortium, after all, they are now one of the largest buyers of BJP raw silk. This is also the reason why the American minister dared to be so outspoken in demanding cooperation.

"Financial cooperation is a long-term cooperation, and we don't care about this moment. However, we want to buy textile equipment, and Mr. Minister must be interested. Wang Bin said with a smile. Sure enough, as Wang Bin expected, Mr. Minister immediately changed direction and pushed the matter of cooperation with the Bank of Boston aside.

Wang Bin can use cooperation to temporarily prevaricate the Boston consortium, but when the representative of the real cooperation leader of the Morgan consortium appeared in front of Wang Bin and asked Wang Bin to cooperate with JPMorgan Chase Bank financially, Wang Bin finally became serious.

The BJP's heavy industry, whether it is the steel industry or the synthetic ammonia, has cooperated with the Morgan consortium. The style of this consortium is crude and cold, although it is not as good as the Walkefeller consortium's feat of sending liberated blacks to the death of labor in the mines, nor is it the feat of sweeping the coal blacks with cannons and machine guns. Although the group of coal blacks had 2.4 guns per capita, they were still beaten all over the field by the private soldiers of the Walkefeller consortium.

But Wang Bin still doesn't like the attitude of the Morgan consortium, Morgan likes to participate in the financial industry too much. As long as there is the slightest opportunity, they will not let it go.

However, Wang Bin still warmly received the representatives of the Morgan consortium. Because in this matter, Chen Ke's attitude is very firm. "For the sake of China, we even have to deal with the devil. Since you have to give an account to the devil, why not choose the strongest one? ”