Planning about the dispute between the Beiyang group and the Republican army group, Zou Yuan, as a civilian, was confused: this problem is on his mind, but he can't intervene now. ##。 STARTING STARTING ##所以. His attention quickly turned to the issue of commercial loans.

Although the conflict between the north and the south may break out, and the war will affect Wuhan's business, it is still worth the risk, after all, the reputation of "Huang Zhicheng's dismantling shop" is outside, and this golden signboard still has some appeal, and if it is reorganized with Western business philosophy, it may not be impossible to carry it forward. Again, if the loan is established, it will undoubtedly be an advertisement for the Prudential Bank, which is conducive to opening up the Hubei financial market.

After careful consideration, Xi Tingbi finally made up his mind and dragged Huang Hancheng back to the cabin to write the contract. But suddenly I heard a cannon fire in front of me.

The passengers on the bow of the ship panicked and looked up, only to see a small warship coming from the north shore breaking the waves. Sailing towards the "Oxford", a red flag fluttered on the mast of the warship, and a nameplate was hung in the ship's department, on which were written two golden masters: Chu Jia.

"It's the Republican gunboats! We're at the Wuxue. A water finger on the bridge pointed at the warship and shouted.

The passengers are relieved, as long as they are not water bandits. Since the rise of the revolutionary army. There were obviously more bandits on the Yangtze River, and many of them were evolved from the former Qing army's private officers and soldiers, and their weapons and equipment were very good, and they did not dare to rob foreign ships, but specialized in robbing Chinese ships, so that the owners of Chinese ships had to do everything possible to buy foreign flags from foreign companies. It is even directly affiliated with foreign foreign companies.

In comparison, this Hubei waterway is much more peaceful, thanks to the water patrol of the Republican Army, the number of water bandits in Hubei is small, and they are being squeezed out of the living space by rìyi, mentioning the warships of the Republican Army. The most well-known are the two gunboats "Chu Jia" and "Chu Yi", which were converted from China Merchants cargo ships, because they undertook the most important task of suppressing bandits, and appeared in front of the people the most.

The "Chujia" approached the passenger ship from the side, and the sailors on the open-air bridge desperately waved the signal flag in their hands, but in the end it was useless, because most of the sailors on the passenger ship did not know the flag, and only real foreign ships paid attention to this set of foreign things.

In desperation, the "Chujia" slowed down and slowly approached the passenger ship, and a sailor stood on the side of the ship with a cardboard horn and shouted at the passenger ship's bridge.

"Order your ship to follow us! Throw cobalt nearby! ”

Hearing the sailor's shout, the passengers looked at each other, not knowing what was happening, but the captain of the "Oxford" ignored the British flag and ordered the passenger ship to continue to sail upstream at full speed. Starting

Seeing this, the gunboat "Chujia" continued to approach and simply sailed side by side with the passenger ship, and several sailors stood on the bridge with guns, aimed at the bridge of the passenger ship, and fired two shots "pop."

Although it was an empty pack without a warhead, the captain of the passenger ship was still shocked, so he had to order to slow down and follow the "Chujia" to the shore. Shut down and anchored outside Xiaowang Harbor.

The "Chujia" sent an officer and led four gun-wielding sailors to row onto the passenger ship.

"This is an English ship! You don't have the right to check! The captain of the passenger ship shouted menacingly, pointing to the British flag at the stern as he spoke.

"Your ship is not registered in the UK at all. It's just a British flag. What's more, this is China's territorial waters, and there is every reason for the Chinese ** ship to conduct a temporary inspection of any passing ship. ”

The officer retorted with a blank face, and with that, he showed a register of ships tucked under his arm, and handed it to the captain.

"Your passenger ship is an unregistered vessel flying a false flag. If you're not convinced, you can look here and see if there's a registration number for the ship? The officer snorted coldly.

The captain's face was blue, but he didn't dare to take the register, which was painted with the insignia of the General Department of Customs, which should not be fake. As the captain, he knows very well whether the ship is registered in the UK, foreign companies selling foreign flags, may not necessarily be registered in the country for the shipowner, although this passenger ship has been sailing with the British flag for a year and a half, but the flag is not in the UK, after all, Britain is also a world power, face, for the registration of the flag is quite strict, in case these fake "British ships" because of smuggling and other illegal activities and damage the face of the UK, now the most fake foreign flag is the rì flag, followed by the French flag, Because these two countries are the most lax in governance.

But the British flag is the most deterrent, so shipowners prefer to fly the British flag on their ships. It doesn't matter if the ship is registered or not, anyway, the ship is called at a British foreign company. However, the British flag could only scare the Qing court officials, and in the face of the newly rising radical force of the Republican Army, the flag had no deterrent effect.

"I don't have any offending items on board." The captain had no choice but to talk about it.

"Really?"

The officer took back the register, took out another piece of paper from his pocket, and read it aloud in front of the onlookers: "Oxford, departure port Shanghai." Arriving at Hankou, the ship was loaded with a total of 50 quintals of smuggled salt, 100 boxes of soy sauce, and a number of French-made rifles. ”

"This, this is a bloody mouth!" The captain retorted feebly, but even he did not believe it. The Yangtze River shipping is convenient. Taking advantage of the loopholes and drawbacks in the Qing court's tax system, many crew members had the habit of carrying private goods, especially on ships flying foreign flags, and the "Oxford" was no exception. Illegal salt, soy sauce, opium, munitions, and even local products are all "welfare" of the crews, and these goods that are not subject to tax are transported abroad. Often, the earnings were doubled, and many crew members made a fortune as a result, and even the shore staff of the steamship company often sought the opportunity to work on board.

"Do you want to deny it?" The officer waved his hand. "Brothers, search!"

"Slow! Please be accommodating, sir. It is not easy for us who run boats to make a living. The captain stopped the sailor and took a few pieces of eagle ocean out of his pocket.

"Don't do this!" The officer glanced at the four sailors beside him. "We're going to take your money, and we're going to lock you up or shoot you. Are you a member of the former Qing Dynasty when our Republican Army is a private group? You don't count smuggling, but you also vainly try to bribe and buy active duty officers, and detain the ship! ”

"Don't, don't! Sir, there is something to say, something to say. ”

The captain wailed and made a fuss, but the officer ignored it, flagged the gunboat, and transferred a dozen sailors to take over the passenger ship, and went to the machine room to dismantle several key parts of the lamb steam engine and detain them on the warship, as for the captain, he was taken to the shore with a general plank, and soon after, several customs officers in foreign uniforms went aboard the "Oxford" and checked the cargo hold and the sailor's cabin with abacus and account books.

Seeing this scene, the passengers on the passenger ship panicked, and the captain and crew smuggled smuggled salt and arms. This is their sin, and how to punish it is the business of the Republican Army, but the passengers are innocent, and the passenger ship is detained here, and it is not up or down, but what is it?

The passengers had no choice but to gather and elect representatives to negotiate with the Republican Army, relying on the fact that they had a relationship with the commander-in-chief of the Republican Army, and the Ministry of Tingbi volunteered to be a representative, and with a few long-term entourage, he boarded the lifeboat of the passenger ship with Huang Hancheng, and went ashore under the escort of two crew members.

Lu inquired, and finally touched the Republican Army's "Water Jǐng Reserve" station. The water jǐng reserve is a newly established department of the republican army, which is also in charge of clearing out water bandits, collecting smuggling, customs, maintaining the river bottom cable and other affairs, and has a large jurisdiction, almost all water affairs are handled by them, and there are currently two jǐng reserve stations, one is in Wuxue, and the other is in Yimen.

However, due to the encroachment on part of the functions of the General Department of Customs and Excise Department, the establishment of this whole department was protested by the British consul and pressured through Yuan Shikai, but the Republican Army ignored it.

Bu Tingbi and Huang Hancheng handed the business card to the sentry. A moment later, an officer limped out, and shouted, "Okay, all rich man, why did you come here?" Our commander-in-chief is always talking about his bank. ”

Ministry Tingbi was slightly stunned. Looking at the officer, it was really familiar, but he couldn't remember where he had seen it for a while.

"The chief is very kind, but my xìng is too bad, and I really can't remember the name of the chief.

Bu Tingbi hugged his fists.

The officer smiled "hehe", and also hugged his fists and said: "Mr. Department is a noble person who forgets things. You forgot? We had been in the same carriage at the beginning. The carriage is still the seat of Speaker Lai Huang Junli. ”

Only then did the Ministry of Tingbi remember who this officer was, and said, "I remember, I remember." Not bad. The chief is the commander-in-chief's captain of the guard, and it seems that his surname is Tian? ”

"The big Tian Jinfu, the word Yiren." The officer grinned big and glanced at Huang Hancheng. "Who is this gentleman?"

"The contemptible Huang Hancheng is a Hankou dismantling shop" Huang Zhicheng. of the owner. Huang Han arched.

"Oh?" Huang Zhicheng, the old shopkeeper? Fortunately, fortunately. Tian Jinfu hugged Huang Hancheng with a fist. Speaking of "Huang Zhicheng", our commander-in-chief also bought dried fish from you, although the fish is not good, but the store is spacious, the commander-in-chief said, in the three towns of Wuhan, it is you, "Huang Zhicheng, you have the strength to become bigger and stronger, but unfortunately, your business strategy is wrong." ”

Seeing Tian Jinfu shaking his head as he spoke, Huang Hancheng's heart moved, and he hurriedly said: "Under the patronage of the commander-in-chief, the shop is full of splendor, but I don't know what is lacking in the operation of the shop in the eyes of the commander-in-chief?" ”

At that time, the commander-in-chief reasoned. But I don't understand this rough man. Tian Jinfu shook his head, diverted the topic, and turned his gaze. asked Bu Tingbi: "Mr. Ministry, why did you come to this martial arts, there is no big deal to do here." ”

Ministry Tingbi pointed to the two crew members of the passenger ship behind him and said, "I received a telegram from the commander-in-chief." The contemptible people rushed to Wuhan at the same time, not wanting to get on a smuggling ship, but they were intercepted by your army here. The ship was detained, the machine was dismantled, and it was impossible to leave if you wanted to. I'm here to ask for the lives of the people. ”

Tian Jinfu nodded and said, "That" Oxford. According to the newly promulgated bait and smuggling regulations, the smuggling of salt and arms should indeed be seized on the spot until the shipowner arrives to pay the fine. However, Mr. Bu didn't have to go to Wuhan, because the commander-in-chief was there. ”

"The Commander-in-Chief here?" Ministry Tingbi breathed a sigh of relief and secretly rejoiced, otherwise, going to Wuhan to fight for the air was a small matter, and it would be too late to regret delaying the future of Xincheng Bank.

"What about the guests on board?" Huang Hancheng asked.

"Don't worry about this, when the customs clearance is over, we will take the passengers ashore, and we will transfer the boat to take them to their destination, but the coal money and labor can be counted in Oxford." on the head of the shipowner. Tian Jinfu made a gesture of "please" and led the two into the barracks, and as for the entourage and crew, he asked them to return the same way.

"Dare to ask how your army learned about the smuggling of Oxford?" Even how much soy sauce was smuggled is clear. Huang Hancheng asked curiously.

Tian Jinfu shook his head with a smile and said: "This is a military secret, you can't say it, you don't have to get to the bottom of it." In fact, without sufficient evidence, we will not intercept passenger ships at will, especially if they are flagged. ”

"Isn't the customs under the control of the Directorate General of Taxation? Why are the clothes and hats worn by those customs officers different from those of the General Revenue Department? But they are nimble. Ministry Tingbi tried to ask.

"Can it not be a good one? They used to be employees of the General Taxation Department, but now they have defected to the army. The Directorate General of Inland Revenue is now under the control of the British. They don't allow us to set up a card check. We are not allowed to ask about customs duties, we ask them for customs taxes, they don't give it, no way, we have to get rid of them and do it ourselves, as for the candidates for this customs officer, they are all ready-made, the General Taxation Department is controlled by foreigners, they discriminate against Chinese employees in their own department, the salaries and promotions of Chinese employees are far inferior to foreign employees, which Chinese will be convinced? People's minds change, so ah, no one wants to work for the army. This foreigner just can't follow them. Give a few Yan sè and they will dare to open a dyeing workshop. On our Chinese territory, we Chinese must show the backbone of Chinese and let foreigners see, we Chinese also have backbones! ”

Tian Jinfu said it easily, but Bu Tingbi and Huang Hancheng looked at each other.

The foreigners' newspapers said that the Republican Army was the most national and nationalist army in China, and this was really reasonable.