"Wu often said: 'Heaven sees itself as the people, and the sky listens to itself and the people listen', 'the people's heart is the heart of heaven', 'morale is the people's spirit'. He sympathized with and supported the student movement, saying, 'The rise and fall of the world is the responsibility of the husband, and the students are important!' ', 'Since ancient times, students have intervened in current affairs, from the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Song Dynasty, the students of Tai have been recorded in the annals of history, and later generations have been passed down as beautiful talks', 'The mouth of the people is more important than the defense of Sichuan.' The river collapsed, and there were many wounds. Those in power must not be careless. This time, Cao Kun bribed the president, and when Wu heard about it, he fiercely opposed it, but Cao did not accept it, which is indeed the truth. ”

"Wu's notes on the Spring and Autumn Period "Zuo Chuan" have been completed by a quarter. He scolded Du Zhu, but he praised the role of this book in the education of soldiers, and he compared himself to Guan Yue, and listened to his comments on "Zuo Chuan", and his opinions were naïve, and outsiders could not help but be surprised when they heard his arguments, but at the same time, they could feel a great comfort from him, and he would not bend his knees to support the people who supported his life and career with such understanding......

At this time, what appeared in front of Yang Shuoming's eyes was no longer the hateful, complacent, and invincible Wu Peifu who killed the leader of the labor movement in the textbooks of later generations, but the Wu Peifu he read in the report sent by the Intelligence Bureau of the Ministry of Finance was more real and flesh and blood. What Yang Shuoming saw was a scholar who grew up in China's ancient cultural traditions, a successful person who had achieved great success from Rong in troubled times, but felt that he was overwhelmed by the heights, and a traditional soldier in the new era who was driven by the rolling trend.

But now Yang Shuoming is worried that a soldier like Wu Peifu, a local warlord with a heavy army, may become an obstacle to his own road to strengthening the country.

Wu Peifu governed the army strictly, led the troops well, and participated in the war in Europe, and had a very high prestige in the [***] team, which can be said to be a rare general. But things often have two faces, and people like Wu Peifu can be extremely useful talents in times of foreign war, but in peacetime, becoming a local warlord can easily pose a threat to the country.

Now that Cai's plan to "nationalize the armed forces" has reached the most critical stage, will the direct warlords headed by Cao Kun and Wu Peifu be willing to hand over their military power to promote the construction of China's national defense forces?

Thinking that he had worked hard to win Zhang Zuolin's support, Yang Shuoming couldn't help but sigh secretly in his heart.

What he is most worried about now is that the Beiyang warlords are currently the most powerful direct and Feng families, and once there is a conflict, the consequences will be catastrophic.

"What is the general worried about?" Xi Xue saw that Yang Shuoming's eyebrows seemed to be worried, and asked on the side.

"What I'm worried about, do you think you can help?" Yang Shuoming saw the look of concern flashing in her eyes, and couldn't help but be a little funny.

Xi Xue listened to Yang Shuoming's words, her body shook slightly, she smiled, did not speak, but poured a cup of tea for Yang Shuoming.

"If Xixue wants to go to college, I can arrange it for you." Yang Shuoming looked at Xi Xue, who was standing there silently, and seemed to regret what he just said, he walked to her side, patted her shoulder lightly with his hand, and said.

"The girls in the house, there are already so many people who go to school, and there are many people in the ministry, if I leave again, there will be no one at home." Xi Xue raised her head and smiled brightly, "I'm still willing to stay by the general's side." ”

Xi Xue's smile made Yang Shuoming's heart palpitate for a while, he smiled, didn't say anything more, but returned to the table, took a sip of the hot tea she poured, and began to continue reading the report sent by the Economic Survey Bureau of the Ministry of Finance. Xi Xue looked at him silently for a while, then turned to leave.

According to investigation, the Zhang family's industry can be roughly divided into three parts, one is land, the second is the investment enterprise, and the third is the bank. In terms of land, the Zhang family has about 50 square meters in Qianjiadian in Tongliao County, with 45 acres per side; 500 days in Gaoshanzi, 10 acres per day, purchased from the people; Yingkou Dagaokan is 130 days, 10 acres per day. In terms of enterprises, the Zhang family has a three-grain store in Shenyang, with a capital of about 50,000 silver dollars; There is a three-stud dang in Yingkou Dagaokan, with a capital of 50,000 silver dollars, and more than 40 business personnel, whose business scope ranges from grain, oil extraction to pawn, money lending, and also issues banknotes, and has printed money bills of 1 million yuan; In addition, Zhang's has a Zhengjiatun Qingshexiang in Liaoyuan, with a capital of 50,000 silver dollars, more than 30 business personnel, operating grain and pawns, and Jiangjiatun Sanshedang in Montenegro, with a capital of 50,000 silver dollars, and more than 40 business personnel, who are also engaged in grain and pawns; There are also two coal mines and a yarn factory (Zhongxing Coal Mine, Badaohao Coal Mine and Hengyuan Textile Factory). The bank is the border bank, with a capital of 5 million silver dollars. ”

"These are only the results of the preliminary investigation, in fact, Zhang's assets are far more than these, the Zhang family owns more extensive land, in Beizhen County has more than 1,000 hectares of land, Montenegro County has more than 500 hectares, Lianshan Bay has a large area, and at least 150,000 hectares of land. The Zhang family has big mansions in Shenyang and Dalian, with total assets of no less than 50 million silver dollars. In addition to the above-mentioned enterprises and banks, Zhang has invested in Xi'an Coal Mining Company, Fenghai Railway, Zhengji Steamship Company, Fengtian Spinning Mill, Northeast Bank, etc., and is a major shareholder. In the three eastern provinces, there are also many investments in the major enterprises jointly run by the government and business. Even young people like Zhang Xueliang have their own real estate, land, forests, and a lot of investment in banks and industries. ”

"Not only Zhang Zuolin, Zhang Xueliang father and son, who presided over the military and political affairs of the three eastern provinces, but also Yang Yuting, the general counselor, in addition to land, housing, forestry and other industries, also has a large number of bank and industrial investment, such as Yang's investment in the Northeast Bank is 500,000 silver dollars, in Fengtian Industrial Bank, Datong Savings Association, Dongsan Province Industrial Bank, in the tycoon iron factory, Daye Iron Factory, Xi'an Coal Mining Company, Fenghai Ruiluo, Fengtian Spinning Factory, Jincheng Quanjun Yizhuang, etc. Fakumen Electric Light Factory. In addition, Wu Junsheng, Chang Yinhuai, Zhang Zuoxiang, Zhang Huanxiang, Wang Shuhan, Liu Shangqing, and others, who had served as overseers and governors of Heilongjiang, as well as Zang Shiyi, general office of the Northeast Arsenal, Han Linchun, senator, Qi Enming, general office of Qingxiang Township, Fengtian, Baokang, director of the Northeast Army Grain and Straw Factory, Gao Gaohe, director of the Negotiation Bureau, Qi Yanshu, director of the Fengtian Education Department, Chen Fengzhang, director of the garrison department, Sun Yuanchang, premier of the Fengtian Spinning Factory, Peng Xian, general office of the three eastern provinces, and Zhou Dawen, director of the electricity department, are also widely owned assets and have investments in various industries. ”

Since the establishment of the Republic of China, military generals, bureaucrats and politicians, and bandits with some strength have occupied territory, collected taxes, looted wealth, and disposed of industries. This can be seen from the bank number opened in Yanjing. The reason why they are for this is that they are defeated on the battlefield, as long as they hide in the concession, they can also live the luxurious life of bell ringing and dining. ”

"Before President Feng Guozhang died, he opened at least two banks in Beijing, one was the 'Huachong Bank' and the other was the 'Huatong Bank'; Li Chun, who had been a general in Jiangxi for many years, opened the 'Yixing Bank' in the early years of the Republic of China; Wang Huaiqing, the envoy of the Rechasui Patrol, opened the 'Chinachem Bank'; Li Shengduo served as the chief civil affairs officer of Shanxi and opened a 'commercial bank'; Shi Zhaoji, a member of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, opened the 'Xinheng Bank'; Lu Xiaojia, the son of Lu Yongxiang, the overseer of Zhejiang, and Wei Lianfang, director of the Hubei Finance Department, opened the 'Daxin Bank' (Wei Lianfang opened another one' Zhang Jingyao, the former Hunan overseer who was killed, also opened a 'Xiangsheng Yin' and also had a 'Xiangshunxing' and 'Xiangshunyi' ticket numbers; Zhang Zongchang, the guard of Jiaoqingzhou in Shandong, opened the 'Yuanchengyin'; Liu Guanxiong, the former chief of the navy, opened the 'Xinfu Yin'; Wang Zhanyuan, the overseer of Hubei, opened the 'Yueheng Yin'; Li Jinglin, the superintendent of the Zhili Rehabilitation Incident, opened the Chengcheng Yinhao; and the Second Division of the First Army of the Northwest Army opened the 'Yiju Bank' with Liu Zhongwu, the commander. ”

"In addition to opening their own banks and bank accounts, they also invested in other banks, such as the sign-in book of the shareholders' meetings of the China Huiye Bank from 1919 to 1921, which has the name of Duan Hongye, the son of Duan Qirui, former President Feng Guozhang, Wang Kemin, Ye Gongxuan, Lu Zongyu, Zhang Zongxiang and many other officials and celebrities."

Yang Shuoming looked at it for a while, feeling a little tired, he put down these shocking words in his hand and let out a long breath.

In his opinion, the work of the Economic Investigation Bureau of the Ministry of Finance, which was born out of the "Ministry of Human and Corporate Intelligence," is quite effective.

It's just that if Zhang Zuolin and the others knew that they were secretly checking their old bottoms, they would be very unhappy.

Although China's economic situation is not as rosy as Yang had originally thought, he is confident that it will be done.

"General, Mr. Qian Gangzhao is here and wants to see you." Xi Xue came in and said.

"Invite him in." Yang Shuoming nodded, and as he spoke, he put away the report on the table.

After a while, Xi Xue led a young man in his twenties in.

"How's it going this time? Did you see the person you were looking for? Yang Shuoming looked at Qian Gangzhao, whose face was a little blackened, and greeted him with a smile.

"You Yang Hanzhi asked that, but it's not kind, I said." At this time, Qian Gangzhao no longer had the scholarly spirit when he returned from studying in England, he smiled self-deprecatingly, and said, "General Chen Jiongming said, it's better to come to you, I compared it, and I also think that the two of us can talk, so I came back." ”

Hearing Qian Gangzhao say this, Yang Shuoming couldn't help laughing, he personally stepped forward and moved the chair to let Qian Gangzhao sit down, and Xi Xue stepped forward to make him fragrant tea.

In 1921, Qian Gangzhao returned to China from the London School of Economics and Political Science and Oxford University, and he returned with confidence with the ideal of "industry to save the country", intending to serve the country. He was only 22 years old that year, because his father had a friendship with Zhang Jian, so with Zhang Jian's relationship, he got a letter of introduction from Yanjing Zhengaxe, and in more than a year, he traveled north and south, visiting all kinds of warlords in China. He first went to Yang Shuoming, and he had a good impression of Yang Shuoming, who was young and handsome and often gave speeches in college, and thought that Yang Shuoming was very promising, but Yang Shuoming was no longer a warlord at this time, so he did not stay with Yang Shuoming, but wanted to contact others more.

Qian Gangzhao later came to the Northeast, but the wealthy Zhang Zuolin did not leave a deep impression on him, he lived in Jiang Dengxuan's house, and among the people he met included the rude warlord Wu Junsheng, as soon as Wu Junsheng met, he patted his chest and said to him: "If you want to be an official, there is absolutely no problem, I can introduce any aspect." But Qian Gangzhao still declined his kindness. On the way from Shenyang to Zhangjiakou, he met Feng Jishan, Feng Jishan entertained him for lunch, two dishes and one soup, which left a deep impression on him, he had a long talk with Feng Jishan, Feng Jishan as an elder gushed to him about the great truth of saving the country and saving the people, he saw that Feng Jishan intended to accept him, but he confirmed that Feng Jishan was exaggerated, so he did not stay.

Qian Gangzhao came to Taiyuan from Zhangjiakou and met Yan Xishan, the overseer of Shanxi. When Yan Xishan heard about his ideal of "saving the country through industry," he was very interested and said that he would first build Shanxi into a model province in the whole country and serve as a model for other provinces. Yan Xishan's words gave Qian Gangzhao a certain amount of confidence, but he noticed that when Yan Xishan spoke, his eyes flickered and closed, he was a person with a deep city government and many tricks, and it was difficult for him to really start an industry, so he still left. From Taiyuan to Kaifeng, Qian Gangzhao went to see Hu Jingyi again, and he felt that although Hu Jingyi was a soldier, he had some opinions, but his health was not very good, and he was so fat that it was difficult to move. Qian Gangzhao came to Luoyang from Kaifeng after attached, which is the place where Xiucai Wu Peifu "Eight Directions Wind and Rain will be in Zhongzhou", Wu Peiyu's secretary general Yang Yunshi and Qian Gangzhao are fellow villagers and have relatives, when Qian Gangzhao and Wu Peifu met, there were also Bai Jianwu and Jiang Baili here. Wu Peifu, who was wearing a cotton robe and had white potato crumbs all over his body, beckoned him to eat baked white potatoes together, talked about his philosophy of life, did not kowtow to foreigners, did not go to the concession, and also used middle school as a body and Western learning as a use. He felt from Wu Pei's conversation that this person was a little roundabout, and he was not a hopeful person. In the end, he went to Guangzhou to meet Chen Jiongming, the governor of Guangdong Province, and Chen Jiongming's conversation was very similar to Yan Xishan's, saying that he wanted to build Liangguang into a national industrial model area, and Chen Jiongming's specific strategy was based on Yang Shuoming's creativity. Chen Jiongming valued his talent very much and asked him to go to Yang Shuoming, which he did not expect in advance.

At the end of the trip, Qian Gangzhao returned to his home in Changshu. When he thought about it, he felt that there was no local warlord to rely on to help him realize his ambition of "saving the country through industry", and he was very disappointed. But soon, he received a letter from Yang Shuoming, inviting him to be the director of the Secretariat of the Ministry of Industry, and attached a letter of appointment. He told Zhang Jian about this, as well as relatives at home, and everyone advocated that he apply, and the elders in the family believed that Yang Shuoming could reuse a large number of scholars such as geologist Ding Wenjiang and set up a large number of industries, and was a very accomplished person. Qian Gangzhao thought about it carefully, accepted the advice of his family and friends, and then rushed to Yanjing again.

After such a toss, Qian Gangzhao at this time had already restrained the arrogance of the previous scholars, and he became much calmer.

"You're willing to stay with me this time?" Yang Shuoming asked with a smile.

"Of course, what am I doing here?" Qian Gangzhao replied proudly, "I originally planned to ignore state affairs from now on and concentrate on studying history, don't force me to go back to read history, I'll tell you." ”

"Okay, okay, rest assured." Yang Shuoming smiled and nodded, "I have something I want you to help with, so you can put your heart in your stomach." ”

"That's good." Qian Gangzhao picked up the teacup, took a big sip, and nodded with satisfaction.

Zhejiang, Sanmen Bay.

At this time, Xu Tingzuo, the boss of the "Yili Group" standing on the deck of the freighter, looked at the large destroyer of the Chinese Navy escorting the fleet not far away, and his heart was full of joy.

Sanmen Bay is located on the coast of eastern Zhejiang, backed by Xiangshan Port, with complex terrain on land and many waterway anchorages in the bay, which is convenient for all kinds of ships to evacuate and anchor. The mouth of the bay has the islands such as Dongji and Yushan as barriers, and the water depth of the sea area outside the mouth is wide, which is convenient for the deployment of all kinds of naval vessels, and it is a better harbor in the sea area of eastern Zhejiang, and it is an important flank of Xiangshan Port.

The east side of Sanmen Bay is Shipu Port, and the west side is Jian Jump Port, both of which are large seaports. In addition, there are also ports such as Haiyou, Chenhu, Liyang, Cheao, and Crab Claws in Sanmen Bay. The coast in the bay is tortuous, the mudflats are wide, and there are more than 40 large and small islands such as Shepan Mountain, Qingmen Mountain, Xiawan Mountain, Manshan and so on, and some of the mudflats have been reclaimed between the islands. The western waters of the bay are deeper, the eastern waters are shallow, generally 5 to 10 meters deep, the water depth of the waters west of Qingmen Mountain is 10 to 25 meters, and the water depth of the northeast waters of Manshan is only 0.4 to 1 meter. The main anchorage has cat's head and snake waterways, which can be sheltered from strong winds.

Sanmen Bay was a haunt of pirates for generations, and at the end of the 19th century it almost became an Italian lease. After entering the Republic of China, overseas Chinese in Nanyang once wanted to build a model autonomous agricultural reclamation area in Sanmen Bay. Xu Zuoting did a more careful investigation in the southeast coastal area, went to Ningbo, Zhoushan and other places in Zhejiang, and gave a high evaluation to Sanmen Bay, and later in his "Industrial Plan" to Yanjing Zhengaxe, he proposed for the first time that Shipu north of Sanmen Bay could build "the ninth fishing port in the East". As a result, he became one of the first Chinese industrialists to plan to invest in the development of Sanmen Bay

Xu Tingzuo is a native of Zhoushan, lost his father at an early age, introduced by a missionary, when he was a teenager, he went to work in a foreign hotel in Shanghai, he was diligent and studious, and the service was thorough, less than 10 years, he used the tips he had accumulated hard to accumulate to run his own "Yili Hotel" on Broadway Road in Shanghai, and the business was prosperous, and he then founded "Yili Soda Factory", "Yili Hardware Store", "Yili Ship Breaking and Salvage Company" and so on. During the First World War, when China's shipbuilding industry was booming, he purchased a cargo ship "Zhoushan" from Mawei Shipyard and opened up the route from Shanghai to Dinghai to Chuanshan to Haimen.

(To be continued)