Chapter 541 Qingdao (I)

The wind blew from the east, carrying with it the smell of the sea. The fresh air is refreshing.

This is Qingdao, the political center of Jiaozhou Bay, which is leased by Germany, and it is also the best natural harbor along the coast of China, due to the current closer trade ties between China and Germany, Qingdao is now the most modern and busiest port in northern China, and even the port of Shanghai in the south is not as lively as Qingdao port, the number of Chinese and foreign goods imported and exported through Qingdao port every day is amazing, and there are many types, and due to the completion and opening of the Tianjin-Pudong railway, the transportation of these commodities has become more convenient.

In the face of the increasing competition in Qingdao Port, the import and export trade of the British-controlled Weihaiwei Lease and the Japanese-controlled Luda Lease is in decline, and the mutual proximity between China and Germany is not simply political, it is manifested in all aspects, and also affects all aspects, after all, people are economic animals, and all political activities of human beings are in the final analysis to meet economic interests.

As a standard economic animal, Mr. Zou Tingbi is now living in Qingdao, of course, temporarily. As a successful financier, Mr. Zou has been traveling north and south for the past two years, busy setting up his bank branches, trying to fulfill his financial dream and turn his China United Financial Bank into a giant where finance and industry are intertwined.

As the most important treaty port in the north and the most dynamic in China, Qingdao has always been the focus of Zou Tingbi's attention, where not only his five bank offices, but also his two factories, one of which is a textile factory, and the other is a foreign winery, the textile factory is his sole proprietorship, and the foreign winery is a joint venture between him and several overseas Chinese in Nanyang.

The first two years of industrial development, so that Zou Tingbi profits, not only the bank capital expanded several times, but also the textile factory for him to earn amazing profits, only that foreign winery made Zou Tingbi a little helpless, Chinese do not drink foreign wine, and Qingdao foreigners do not believe that Chinese can also make traditional European wine, so this winery in the original positioning is very embarrassing, this seems to be Zou Tingbi's failed investment, but considering that there are many hot-headed businessmen in the past two years, This Boss Zou's investment mistake does not seem to be unforgivable.

Now Zou Tingbi lives in Qingdao, mainly to solve the problem of this winery, either to find a way to open up sales, or simply transfer the winery to the Germans to operate, anyway, Zou Tingbi's enthusiasm for foreign wine brewing has faded. He decided to concentrate his money on investing in heavy industry, and now the center is calling on businessmen to build heavy industry in the three eastern provinces, which may be an opportunity, and Zou Tingbi does not want to miss it, although the risk is much higher than operating heavy industry in central China, but the rewards are also rich, and the risk seems to be worth it.

Of course, in the past two days, Zou Tingbi has not been busy with the affairs of the winery, he has other things to be busy, that is, to prepare for the president, now, he Zou Tingbi is a member of the "Qingdao Chinese Entrepreneurs General Business Association", considering that he has a very close relationship with the president's "private" person, therefore, the business association decided to ask him to come forward to organize the "presidential inspection and welcome group", fully responsible for the reception.

Five days ago, the Central Committee officially issued a communiqué announcing that Mr. Zhao Bei, President of the Republic of China, would visit Qingdao and observe a joint military confrontation exercise between the Chinese military and the German military. During these five days, the German side will be fully responsible for the security of Mr. President, and the specific reception will be presided over by the local Chinese business association.

Last night, a telegram came from the presidential palace that the president would leave Jinan this afternoon and take a train from the Jiaoji Railway to Qingdao, so Zou Tingbi must make a final inspection of Mr. President's place before noon to ensure that nothing goes wrong and ensure that the president is in a happy mood, the president is in a happy mood, and Boss Zou is in a happy mood.

After all, Zou Tingbi's current scenery is inseparable from the president's strong support, and it is precisely the president's support that his China Financial United Bank can continue to maintain the status of the "Central Reserve Bank" as a 'private' bank, and even the domestic bank Yanye Bank cannot be compared, so the president's support is very important to Zou Tingbi.

However, at present, there has been some unfavorable news in the Congress, and it is said that some members of the National League are in a difficult position on this issue, and they are trying to abolish the central bank status of the Central Bank and change it to the Central Reserve Bank of Salt Industry, and all the financial surplus of the government will be deposited in the Salt Industry Bank in the future.

In this regard, Zou Tingbi did not dare to take it lightly, he understood that the National League was intended to be Pei Gong with the intention of Xiang Zhuang Wujian, and what the National League really wanted to deal with was the United Front. It is the president of the Republic of China, and the reason why he makes a fuss about the China Union Bank is just a tactic of struggle, because Zou Tingbi himself is a party member of the United Front, and the National League wants to point to Sang and scold Huai.

Although the Kuomintang League has been much more restrained than before after the heavy blow of the "No. 1 Project of the Ministry of the Interior", there are no gentlemen in the face of interests, only gamblers.

Fundamentally speaking, this struggle is also a struggle of economic interests, and there are many successful bankers and financiers among the members of the National League, who are very dissatisfied with the current situation in which the Central Union Bank relies on the support of the central government to develop and grow rapidly, and in addition, the "bank capital filing system" that the central bank and the Ministry of Finance began to implement last year have further increased the operating costs of small banks. There is only one way to go, to be merged by the big banks.

As a member of the United Front, Zou Tingbi very much wanted to see the end of the National League.

At present, Zou Tingbi's interests are completely identical with those of the United Front, and he hopes that the United Front will always control the National Assembly and control the center. Only in this way will his Zhonglian Bank be invincible in the fierce financial war, because his backer is the government, and if the government does not fall, he will not fall.

At nine o'clock in the morning, Zou Tingbi was sitting in the living room of the apartment, with several servants standing beside him who were also neatly dressed, and the butler was waiting by the stairs not far from the main 'door', which was also solemn.

At nine :05 a.m., the bell rang and the butler walked up quickly. The main door was gently pushed open, and a well-dressed German entered the room, and politely removed the top hat from his head at once.

This German was none other than Mr. Hannagen, the president of the General Association of Overseas Chinese Entrepreneurs in Germany, and he was accompanied by several German naval officers in naval uniforms, but they did not enter the house, but stood outside the 'door', and talked in German very easily, pointing at the 'flowers' in front of the 'door' of the Zou Mansion, as if evaluating the master's artistic accomplishment.

Hannagan followed the butler to the living room, and by this time, Zou Tingbi had already stood up, standing with his hands down, facing the guests.

"Mr. Zou, we can go."

As the "captain of the special guards" appointed by the governor of Jiaozhou, Germany, he has long since retired from the army, and he is now fully responsible for commanding a guard force of 200 people, and during the five days of the President of the Republic of China's inspection of Qingdao, Colonel Hannagan will be fully responsible for the security work, and will command Zou Tingbi's "presidential inspection and welcome delegation."

Zou Tingbi was not ambiguous, took a cane handed over by the butler, and then lifted the cane and pointed to the 'door'.

"Mr. Colonel, this time, is your car in front, or my car in front?"

Hannagan hesitated for a moment, but finally decided to take a step back.

"It's better to take the lead in this way, our car rotates to lead, yesterday it was my car in front, then today, it is Mr. Zou's car in front, and so on. Mr. Zou, what do you think of this arrangement? ”

No way, no retreat, Hannagan knows Zou Tingbi's 'sex' personality very well, this stubborn old man has always paid great attention to details, in the matter of how to receive Mr. President. In fact, it was his insistence that the German side had to make concessions and changed the place of residence of Mr. President to Laoshan, because in the eyes of this stubborn old man, Qingdao is now the center of German leased land, and the president of the Republic of China lives in the center of German rule, surrounded by German troops, which seems to be a little inappropriate, after all, this is not a foreign country, this is Chinese territory after all, It is only temporarily leased for foreign use.

In fact, in Hannagan's view, Zou Tingbi's move is inevitably a bit of a taste of covering his ears and stealing the bell, Qingdao is certainly the center of the German leased land, but Laoshan is also within the "neutral zone" of the leased land, here, the Chinese army also has no right to be stationed, so even if you live in Laoshan, the Chinese army can not appear next to Mr. President, which is related to Germany's "fundamental interests", is a "matter of principle", there is no room for accommodation, so, this visit to Qingdao, the president's side of the guards are all changed into civilian clothes, at that time, The only military uniform that can appear in front of the president's eyes is the German military uniform.

But then again, although in the order to the German Governor of Jiaozhou, His Majesty the German Emperor made it very clear that "other countries should not be mistaken into thinking that Germany will give up its special interests in China", but on the other hand, His Majesty the Emperor also attached great importance to the visit of the President of the Republic of China to Qingdao, because this can be regarded as a "very crucial" step in strategic cooperation between China and Germany, so it is absolutely necessary to leave a good impression on the President of the Republic of China. Sex's "technical matters" were compromised, and in order to reduce his own responsibility, Mr. Governor even gave Hannagan a great deal of "discretion" to make such changes as he "saw fit" in certain details.

In Hannagan's view, which country is responsible for the guide car is a "non-critical 'sexual' technical issue" that can be freely decided by him, so he immediately made concessions in exchange for Zou Tingbi's cooperation, after all, the president is Chinese, and Mr. Zou is also Chinese, and they have the same national feelings and national feelings.

Now that Hannagen had given in, Zou Tingbi was in moderation, and he also understood that it was impossible for Germany to make major concessions on the question of privileges at present, and that China could only be cautious about all the great powers.

Originally, there was a luxury carriage in the backyard of his apartment, but Mr. President now often talks about the "industrial age", so in order to cater to the aesthetics of this president, the German side specially prepared 20 latest-style German cars, which were specially used to receive Mr. President.

The convoy soon left Zou Province and headed northeast.

Laoshan is more than 30 kilometers away from Qingdao City, although the distance is far, but because Laoshan is a summer resort, the Germans have already built a good road, so there is no fatigue on this road, and so on to Laoshan, Zou Tingbi did not have much rest, directly with Hannagan inspected the villa that was ready to receive the president, this villa was built by the German Lihe Foreign Company, usually used to entertain German military and political personnel, contact feelings, all kinds of facilities, and the scenery is beautiful, now it is suitable to receive the president.

By the time Zou Tingbi and Hannagan had completed their task, it was already noon, and the two had lunch in the villa restaurant, and then rested for a while, and then returned to Qingdao by car.

When he returned to the apartment, the housekeeper greeted him out of the door and told Zou Tingbi that a distinguished guest had arrived, but the man refused to tell him his name.

Zou Tingbi hurried to the living room, and when he saw it, he found that the person who came was by no means an ordinary person, the leader was called Tian Jinfu, who used to be the captain of the guard of Mr. President, and now he is the director of the Military Intelligence Bureau, with a high position of power, and it is said that he has the power of life and death.

Zou Tingbi thought that Tian Jinfu had come to make a precursor for the president's inspection of Qingdao, but after careful questioning, he realized that he was very wrong.

Tian Jinfu's visit to Qingdao has nothing to do with the president's inspection.