It has been ten days since Feng Guozhang returned to the Nanjing Governor's Mansion.

In the past 10 days, almost all newspapers and magazines have been discussing the shocking news of Xiao Yimin's purchase of Han Yeping, which far exceeded the fierce battle between the Beiyang Army and the Southern Revolutionary Army of the four brigades in the border areas of Guangdong, Fujian and Guangdong-Jiangxi.

On 1 June, another shocking news came: Cao Kun, the governor of Zhili, Li Houji, the overseer of Fujian, Lu Yongxiang, the envoy of the Shanghai Protectorate, and Fan Guozhang, the lieutenant general of the 22nd Division, sent a telegram to the whole country to secede from the central government.

As the vice president and overseer of Jiangsu, Feng Guozhang has always been at the center of the whirlpool of public opinion, and groups of giant businessmen, consular officials in China, and chaebols from Jiangsu and Zhejiang have gathered in Nanjing, but they have not been able to meet Feng Guozhang.

Late at night on June 3, a Ford sedan with a license plate from the Overseer's Mansion slowly drove to Feng Guozhang's residence, and two young literati dressed in summer robes entered the hall under the guidance of the colonel's adjutant.

Half an hour later, the two young men walked out of the residence with a smile on their faces, and under the escort of Feng Guozhang's personal adjutant, they rushed to the Shimonoseki wharf, and finally boarded a 1,500-ton cargo ship flying the American flag.

The small captain's interior is brightly lit.

Tall, thin, wearing a pair of gold-rimmed glasses, the deputy manager of Citibank's Shanghai branch, Oster Brown. Henry, the burly and athletic manager of Western Steel in China, David Henry. Shalitt is still perusing two official documents.

The two documents, written with a brush and stamped with the signatures of the Jiangsu Provincial Governor's Office and the Jiangsu Provincial Political Axe, had been read five times by the two Americans, but they still read them again and again with excitement on their faces, discussing them in low voices.

The two young men who boarded the boat at the Xiaguan Wharf in Nanjing were sitting opposite the two Americans at this moment, leisurely drinking coffee and looking at the two American collaborators who were a little out of shape.

These two young people, one is Luo Fa, the sworn brother of Xiao Yimin, the overseer of Sichuan and the general manager of China's Huaxi Industrial Group Corporation, and the other is also a close person to Xiao Yimin -- Xiao Zhen, director of the Shanghai office of the Sichuan Overseer Mansion and manager of the Shanghai branch of Huaxi Group.

Henry finally lifted his shiny forehead, smiled at Rodfa and Xiao Zhen, and joked in skilled Chinese Mandarin:

"Dear friends, do you estimate how those who shouted that they had taken full control of all the iron mines in the Ma'anshan area would have if they had gathered in Wuhan to fight for the ownership of Han Yeping, and had obtained an order signed by the governor of Jiangsu Province and the military governor to allow the formation of their own mine protection groups?"

The crowd laughed, laughed very happily, and even a little unscrupulously.

Rofa, who had been tempered in the business world for ten years and became very calm, quickly stopped laughing, he pointed to the leveling documents in the hands of the two American collaborators and asked with a smile: "Do you know how much our commander-in-chief has paid for these two pieces of paper?" ”

The two Americans immediately put away their smiles, and Rodfa said with feeling:

"These two pieces of paper were exchanged for 500,000 yuan in cash checks, 3,000 rifles, 2 million rounds of ammunition and 300 boxes of grenades, and this is not counting the 2.4 million yuan we paid to six mine owners, two levels of political axe officials, and villagers from 17 villages in the course of secretly acquiring three large iron mines, 4,500 tons of ore sand, an old ironworks with no value at all, two narrow-gauge transportation railways, and iron ore storage and transportation terminals in the Ma'anshan area in the past three months."

Henry and Shalit were taken aback, and their eyes were full of disbelief.

Henry couldn't help but ask, "Dear Mr. Luo, is it too much for you to pay so much for the four mining areas that have not been developed on a large scale and have not even built transportation roads?" ”

Shalit was also deeply puzzled: "Luo, you are a successful businessman who is extremely admired by everyone, do you think it is worth it?" Although after three months of secret exploration and estimation, it has been proved that the iron ore reserves in the Ma'anshan area are quite rich, the grade is good and it is easy to mine, but at present, there is not even a digging machine on that piece of land, mining relies on the most primitive tools and manpower, everything is of low value, after the evaluation of geological engineers and banking veterans in three countries, the highest value of the mining area is only Wu Bai Yuan, it is unbelievable that you have to pay such a big price, can you tell us the reason? ”

Luo Defa asked rhetorically: "Two friends, according to your estimates, when will we get the ownership of Han Yeping?" ”

Henry and Shalit looked at each other, and both had a look of helplessness on their faces.

Henry said regretfully: "Frankly speaking, we cannot see the future of the Han Yeping Company, let alone predict the intransigence of the two Eastern countries that have become the biggest contradiction between China and the Ben, and the final ownership of the Han Yeping Company has completely deviated from commercial principles and has escalated to the point of mutual hatred between the state and the nation."

"Therefore, we have reason to believe that the Han Yeping Company, which has been mortgaged to me five times by your Yanjing Zheng Axe, is no longer a simple commercial subject matter worth 27 million yuan on paper, and according to the analysis of the current situation, as long as the person who owns 12 million shares and nearly 10 million mortgage loan bonds does not agree, the Han Yeping Company will never belong to China.

"I beg your pardon for my blunt remarks, but this is the cruel truth, and as a competent collaborator, and as a loyal friend of you and General Xiao, I have to make my point clear."

"Thank you, Henry!" Rod laughed: "On the question of asking the two of you to return to the Ma'anshan mining area, what do you think is the future of the Ma'anshan mining area when no one can get Han Yeping?" ”

Henry suddenly understood, and couldn't help but stand up excitedly, but Shalit's reaction was much slower, and he didn't understand what Rod meant when he spoke.

Henry turned around twice in the low and narrow cabin, waved his clenched fist and sat down again, his narrow white face had turned red: "I understand! I see! Luo, you're a genius! Your General Xiao is a genius......"

"Oster, can you tell me what's going on?" Shalitt asked inexplicably.

Henry waved his fist at Shalit: "David, this is an extremely ingenious ploy Our Chinese friends deliberately spread the major news that they own 46% of the shares of Han Yeping Company, and demanded that a general meeting be held to acquire Han Yeping in full, attracting the eyes of himself and all Chinese to Wuhan, and then began to mobilize civil forces to openly raise funds and own the whole people to take back the remaining shares from Yu himself."

"But really? In the past six months, our Chinese friends have secretly acquired four iron ore areas and one copper mining area from the Chinese miners in the Ma'anshan area by various ingenious means, and at a time when they had no time to react, and today they have obtained the ownership and mining rights of most of the minerals in the Ma'anshan area from the hands of the local government in Jiangsu, thus firmly holding the initiative in their own hands.

"Now, the ownership of the Hanyeping company has been caught in an endless struggle, Daye Iron Mine has also stopped production, our Chinese friends have taken the lead, completely owned the Ma'anshan Iron Ore Area that is not inferior to Daye, what does the next step mean, don't you understand?"

Shalit heard half of it and fully understood, and after being shocked, he suddenly turned to Rohfa: "Dear Luo, is Maanshan the United Iron and Steel Company that we have cooperated with this time?" Could it be that all the steel smelting equipment and mining equipment purchased through our western company three months ago will be used for the newly established United Iron and Steel Company? ”

Rodfa nodded:

"Not bad! Please forgive me for not telling you in advance, because if the news leaks, we will not be able to compete with Yue himself, who has already paid close attention to Ma'anshan, for the specific reason that both of you know that our central and local political axes, and even our army, will not be able to resist the pressure, bribery, deception, and temptation of Yue himself.

"If I had known that we had secretly acquired several private iron ore mines in the Ma'anshan area, they would certainly have used the political axe to force us to mortgage the Ma'anshan mining area to them, or even sell them cheaply.

Henry thought for a moment and asked worriedly:

"Luo, although I know that General Xiao has a strong appeal in China and a brave army loyal to him, but the Ma'anshan mining area is far away from your Sichuan, aren't you worried about your own revenge?"

Luo Fa laughed: "It's false to say that I'm not worried, it is precisely because we are worried that we will pay a huge price, through bribery and support for friendly forces, we are allowed to set up an army in the Ma'anshan area that is outside the local army, although this army is nominally a convoy, and there is only one regiment, but our commander-in-chief Xiao will soon send an excellent army to the Ma'anshan area to station, this escort army will be composed of infantry, artillery and engineering troops, the number will definitely not be less than five thousand, That is, a brigade.

"In addition, since our army occupies Yichang, the transportation choke point in the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River, and has its own warships and troop carriers, which can well protect the security of our Ma'anshan area, I believe that under such deterrence, no Chinese army will make unfavorable moves against Ma'anshan United Iron and Steel Company. I think you should have faith in that, shouldn't you? ”

Henry and the two looked at each other and smiled, and Shalit sighed:

"Very beautiful operation, no one thought that our joint company would be located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River with convenient transportation and can greatly reduce transportation costs, and I thought that the purchase of the Ma'anshan area was completely to provide iron ore for the newly established Yucheng Iron and Steel Company, I believe that our American headquarters will also be satisfied with this, at least I am very satisfied, it is very pleasant for me to stay near the prosperous Nanjing!"

Rod laughed and said, "My friend, I'm afraid you'll have to live in Yucheng for a while. ”

"Why?" Shalit asked, puzzled.

Henry asked in surprise: "Could it be that the Yucheng Iron and Steel Plant will continue to be built?" For us, equipment and technology are not a problem, just a telegram to the United States, but can you raise so much money? ”

Luo Defa nodded heavily: "That's right, we have raised 14 million yuan to build two steel plants in the Yucheng and Ma'anshan areas, and we will never delay the Chengdu-Chongqing railway construction project of your Citibank and Western Company." ”

"My God...... How could you suddenly be rich......"

(To be continued)