. March 18, 1929.

Tianjin British Concession, Victoria Road, in the newly completed three-storey building of the American Pacific Trading Company.

In the office of general manager Wu Chong, the two looked at each other silently. Today, the always diligent manager Wu Chong did not even attend the company's morning meeting, and stayed in his office early in the morning. Holding the just-published Tianjin edition of "Ta Kung Pao" in his hand, his eyes were fixed on the front page of the newspaper with a black and bold headline: "Get out of the fiat currency, get out of the Kuomintang rightists." The new trading company Xiangli Bai Siwen sat beside him, his face was iron-blue, and he could faintly see the bursting green tendons on his forehead.

The Tianjin edition of Ta Kung Pao reads: "...... The signing of the U.S.-China Monetary Agreement is undoubtedly another humiliating pact that betrays China's monetary sovereignty in exchange for a small dollar loan to save the credibility of the fiat currency, which is on the verge of collapse. However, judging from the unrestrained pace of the Kuomintang right's indiscriminate issuance of banknotes and the huge trade deficit in the areas ruled by the Nationalist Government, it will not be long before this dollar will flow back into the pockets of American capitalists. When the time comes, what else can the Kuomintang rightists do to delay the inevitable collapse of the fiat currency? And what can we, the people of the north who have not yet been ruled by the Kuomintang and can still breathe free air, use to protect our property from being wiped out by the collapse of the fiat currency? The only way is to unite and drive the fiat currency out of the North along with the Kuomintang rightists, so that they will no longer be able to use this useless paper to take the blood and sweat of our northern people and save their increasingly crumbling economy. ”

Such articles not only appeared in the Tianjin edition of Ta Kung Pao, but also almost all the important newspapers and periodicals in Tianjin, such as Red Star Daily, Fengtian Times, Yishi Daily, New Tianjin Daily, Beiyang Pictorial, and Tianjin Business Daily, all published long articles on their front pages in the same tone. The spearhead is the newly signed "Sino-US Monetary Agreement" and the increasingly serious indiscriminate issuance of fiat currency.

The office was silent, except for the sound of the newspaper shaking. After a while, I heard a loud bang, and it turned out to be Wu Chong's fat hand slammed on the desk.

"On the contrary, these reactionary newspapers actually dare to attack our Kuomintang like this, and it is really the courage of the leopard who has eaten the ambition. Lao Tzu must let them understand the power, otherwise they will still be a soft persimmon that our Kuomintang is easy to bully."

Wu Zhong, who is usually easy-going and always has a smiling face of Wishing you prosperity, roared loudly at this time, and the fat on his face trembled gently. The two eyes were almost on fire, and a thick murderous aura made Bai Siwen on the side shudder.

In fact, both of them are graduates of the first phase of Whampoa, and their real identities are now both big spies of the Kuomintang Military Intelligence Bureau, and they all have the rank of colonel. And this so-called American Pacific Trading Company is actually a secret service under the control of the Military Intelligence Agency. It was just borrowing the name of the company, and at the same time making huge profits through various legal and illegal business activities to finance the spy activities of the Kuomintang Military Intelligence Bureau in northern and western China.

Of course, monitoring the political and military activities of various factions in the Beijing-Tianjin area and infiltrating the Feng and Anhui armies were also an important task of the Pacific Company. And this time, the conspiracy of the "United Reserve Bank" to compete with fiat currency for the northern currency market has long been detected by their agents lurking inside the Feng department. It's just that...... It was indeed a great surprise that the other side had said such a desperate remark, without any regard for the Kuomintang's face and the current peaceful situation, and even challenged the authority of the Kuomintang nakedly.

"Brother Gongwei (Wu Chong), you calm down, don't be impulsive, they may just expect us to be impulsive, so as to make things bigger" Bai Siwen saw that his boss Wu Chong was furious, as if he was about to give an order to kill someone, and hurriedly persuaded him. Although they are spies, the Kuomintang's military intelligence bureau is not a "military commander" in this time and space, and they cannot casually kill people and set fires, and their responsibility is to obtain information and deceive others to kill people and set fires...... and then pretending to be a good person, obviously with Luo Yaoguo's style.

Being persuaded by Bai Siwen, Wu Chong's face softened slightly, and he gasped heavily: "Sven, you ...... You're right, I want to be calm, don't be impulsive, we are highly intelligent secret agents, not ruffians. It's just that...... What should we do now? ”

Bai Siwen's face was a little ugly, he clenched his fists, lightly tapped the table a few times, and finally sighed deeply: "This ...... Let's report it first. Let's see what instructions the bureau seat (Wu Ziliang) has, and we must not act rashly. ”

"That's all?" Wu Zhong glanced at Bai Swen, who was a little square inch chaotic, frowned and pondered for a moment: "Brother Sven, the other party will definitely have a follow-up move, we must find a way to destroy their good deeds"

"Afterstroke?" Bai Siwen was stunned, his eyes straightened, he looked at his fat boss, and shook his head blankly. At present, the opponent's back-up move is obviously related to fiat currency. To tell the truth, his "spy" is actually a pen-swinger, and it is easy to write articles or anything, but if he is engaged in finance and economics...... He's a complete layman. He didn't know anything about the business of the Pacific Trading Company, and Wu Zhong was taking care of it.

The big fat man Wu Zhong stood up and paced in the spacious office with his hands behind his back, his brows tightly twisted. It's obvious that they are trying to figure out what their opponent will do next: "They're coming for fiat currency this time, well, it's a 'currency war' that wants to use currency as a weapon against us...... And this currency must be fiat currency. If they are going to run on fiat currency next, you immediately call the managers of the Tianjin and Beijing branches of Bank of China, Commerce Bank, Bank of Zhejiang, and Siming Bank, and ask them to borrow fiat currency cash from other banks by all means and transport it to the Tianjin Concession. We at Pacific will pay for all the interest losses arising therefrom, and I will now go to the Taipan of Macquarie Bank, HSBC, and Citibank, and ask them to control the fiat currency cash and not lend it. Oh, and you go and take a telegram to Wan Yanhao in Mukden. Let him immediately evacuate the Mukden Branch, and continue to direct the activities of the Northeast Station. ”

……

At the same time that Wu Chong and Bai Siwen were busy returning fiat currency cash everywhere to avoid a large-scale run. The palace of Shuncheng County in Beijing is full of lights, and the main hall of the majestic and solemn palace is full of guests, and the tables are divided. The table was full of exquisite dishes, and servants in short white coats stood on either side. Sitting at the banquet were all leading figures on the ground in Beijing and Tianjin, who were not all the way to the Kuomintang rightists, and friendly personages such as Pu Yi, Qu Tongfeng, Liang Shiyi, Zheng Xiaoxu, Zhang Biao, Cao Rulin, Ye Gongqiu, Wang Youling, Yoshiko Kawashima, Kenji Dohihara, and Nanao Matsui all received invitations to attend the celebration of the establishment of the "United Reserve Bank of China." At the main table in the center of the hall sat Zhang Zuolin, Chen Jiongming, Duan Qirui, Zhang Xueliang, Yu Fengzhi, Fang Ze Qianji, Zirnehe, and several other fresh faces.

“…… Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests. Welcome all of you to take time out of your busy schedules to attend the inauguration ceremony of our United Reserve Bank of China. The United Reserve Bank of China is a 'note-issuing bank' jointly led by the three eastern provincial government banks, the Beiyang Industrial Bank, and the China Soviet Bank, and has joined forces with celebrities and gentry from all parts of China who are dissatisfied with the current situation of China's currency issuance, and has invested 30 million silver dollars. The Bank was established to provide our Chinese with a new banknote that is reputable, guaranteed to be sufficient and will never depreciate, which will be named 'Silver Dollar Notes' and will be pegged to the Silver Dollar, the most trusted precious metal currency in our Chinese and currently the strongest in the world......"

“…… The reason why we came out to form this bank is because our Chinese economy is currently at an extremely dangerous juncture, and the source of this danger is none other than the unrestrained and indiscriminate issuance of paper money. The root cause of the indiscriminate issuance of banknotes is undoubtedly that the right to issue money is monopolized by a certain force by power, and there is no way to supervise their printing press. Then you can take the paper that has been printed, buy our resources, buy the fruits of our labour, buy our property, buy everything you can buy. ”

“…… The only way to put an end to this irresponsible and indiscriminate issuance of banknotes is to set up a joint note-issuing bank with the participation of various factions and subject to supervision from all sides. Only in this way, the money printing machine, which is subject to all aspects of restriction and supervision, can ensure that every banknote printed has sufficient silver dollars behind it as a guarantee. in order to ensure that the income of our Chinese hard work will not shrink due to the depreciation of banknotes......"

The person who spoke was a middle-aged man in his forties, one of the "fresh faces" sitting at the main table. This person was wearing a well-made white suit, with good facial features, but thin lips and thin eyes, and his face was white and blue, which looked a little unkind. He is Mr. Zheng Tieru, a well-known banker who has just been appointed President of the United Reserve Bank of China. Previously, he was the manager of the Hong Kong branch of the Bank of China, but because he was not tired of seeing Zhang Gongquan, the former general manager of the Bank of China, and Pei Zuyi, the current general manager, defecting to the rightists of the Kuomintang, he resigned in anger as the manager of the Hong Kong branch of the Bank of China, which received a good salary, and accepted Zhou Elai's invitation to go north to participate in the establishment of the United Reserve Bank of China, and served as the president of the bank, fully responsible for the daily operation and management of the bank.

As soon as Zheng Tieru's words fell, the main hall of the palace seemed to explode, and people from all walks of life began to talk about each other. The newly released United Reserve Bank of China turned out to be really as rumored, and it was jointly established by the three powerful local factions of the Feng faction, the Zhong G faction, and the Anhui faction (Zhi Gong Dang). The purpose was naturally to compete with the fiat currency issued by the central bank of the national government for the right to issue banknotes in the north. It seems that the situation that has just settled down is about to make waves again, but I don't know how the Kuomintang will react.

……

"Mr. Mao, does your party have a way for silver dollar bills to enter the Shanxi market?" Zhang Zuolin's old face smiled and turned to a man of about thirty years old sitting on his right. This person is a burly man, with extremely high frontal bones, two eyebrows raised high, but between his eyes and nose he is seven points similar to Mao Zd, the leader of the middle G. It turned out to be Mao Zd's younger brother, Mao Zemin, president of the China Soviet Bank, who is also currently a director of the Reserve Bank of China.

Hearing Shanxi, Mao Zemin's expression was slightly dignified, and Zhongg also had a piece of territory in the northwest corner of Shanxi. This is the spoils of the war in the 15th and 16th years of the Republic of China. It's just that most of the territory of the richest northern province is still firmly controlled by the reactionary warlord Yan Xishan. What is particularly hateful is that Yan Xishan simply ignored the olive branches frequently extended by the Central G, and wholeheartedly took refuge in the Kuomintang. When it came time to form the United Reserve Bank of China, both he and Al-Shabaab flatly refused.

Seeing Mao Zemin's expression, Zhang Zuolin knew the result and sighed heavily: "Shanxi is the key, at present, our northern finance is still dominated by the ticket number of the bank." Most of these money houses were controlled by Jin merchants...... Moreover, with the construction of heavy industry in the south, Shanxi's coal was also transported out of the country, and this fiat currency continued to flow into Shanxi. If we can get the support of Shanxi, this silver dollar coupon will be more than half successful, and our northern alliance will be complete. ”

Zhang Zuolin's words have a deep meaning, and it seems that he is persuading G to give up the base area in the northwest of Jin in exchange for Yan Xishan's support. This is also the condition put forward by the other party when China G contacted Yan Xishan, but it has been resolutely rejected by the Party Central Committee. After thinking for a while, Mao Zemin shook his head and replied in a thick Hunan accent: "Zhang Yushuai, this meal has to be eaten in one bite, and the road has to be walked step by step." For now, we should first base ourselves on the Beijing-Tianjin and Fengtian markets, which are the financial centers of the north. In particular, in the Tianjin Concession, which is known as the 'Oriental Wall Street', what are the views of the current leaders of Tianjin's banking industry? ”

Hearing that the other party shifted the topic to Tianjin's banking industry, Zhang Zuolin also knew that it was useless to spit out the territory of the mouth in the middle of G. In fact, Yan Xishan's secret envoy was also in the palace of the prince of Shuncheng County at this time......

Mr. Mao didn't know that the banking market in Beijing and Tianjin, except for the banks in Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States and other countries, is the world of northern capital, and their southern banking industry is not big here. For example, the banks of Communications, Jincheng, Yanye, Mainland, Zhongnan, Bianye, and Shanxi were all set up by national capitalists who were closely related to our Beiyang system, and were alienated from the Kuomintang bureaucratic capital relations in the south, and among the top ten banks supported by the Nationalist Government in the 14th year of the Republic of China, only the Bank of Communications was barely included. ”

It was Zhang Xueliang who took over the topic, in fact, Zhang Xueliang is also a banker, and the general manager of the "border bank" mentioned in his words just now is Zhang Xueliang. This bank was originally founded by Xu Shuzheng in Kulun in Outer Mongolia, and the head office was moved to Tianjin in 1920.

"Today, the heads of the North Fourth Bank (Jincheng, Yanye, Mainland, Zhongnan), except for Wu Daquan (Wu Dingchang), the general manager of Yanye Bank, who is about to leave, did not come to think that everyone else has come to participate in the establishment celebration of our United Reserve Bank of China, and even Yanye Bank has also joined the commercial shares of the United Reserve Bank of China." Zhang Xueliang smiled and talked eloquently.

Mao Zemin's face was calm and he couldn't see his joy or anger, he just listened quietly, and only after Zhang Xueliang finished speaking, did he ask again: "What is the current operation of the top ten banks in the south in the Beijing-Tianjin area?" How much money and markets do they have in their hands? ”

"The top ten banks in the south are China, Communications, Commerce, Guangdong, East Asia, Hefeng, Overseas Chinese, Zhongxing, Zhejiang, Siming and other banks." Zhang Xueliang snapped his fingers and began to introduce the "Top Ten Banks" with a smile:

Among them, Bank of Communications is jointly controlled by Beiyang Capital and Japanese Capital, and its operation center of gravity is also in the Beijing-Tianjin area. Of the remaining nine major banks, only the Bank of China and the China International Commercial Bank have a certain market in the north, and the rest are all large banks based in the south. In particular, Guangdong, East Asia, Hefeng, Huaqiao, and Zhongxing are fundamentally controlled by Nanyang Capital and Guangdong Capital, and now they have no branches in the north at all. The two banks of Zhejiang and Siming are controlled by the Jiangsu and Zhejiang consortiums, and the main markets are also in Shanghai and Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and only have branches in Tianjin, but the business scale is not large. ”

“…… Therefore, the truly influential Chinese-funded banks in Beijing and Tianjin are the Beisi Bank, the Bank of Communications, the Bank of China, the China International Commercial Bank, the Guanyin of the Three Eastern Provinces, the Frontier Bank, and the Bank of Shanxi, a total of 10. The foreign banks are mainly Macquarie Bank, HSBC, Lee Bank, and Citibank with Anglo-American capital, and the Bank of North Korea, Yokohama Zhengjin Bank, and Bank of Taiwan with Japanese capital. Among them, the four banks of the North Fourth Bank, the Bank of Communications, the Guanyin of the Three Eastern Provinces, and the Frontier Bank, which are mainly Chinese-funded banks, stand on our side, and Japanese banks also support our support. On the right side of the Kuomintang, the two banks of China and Commerce are the leading actors, and the four big banks with British and American capital are also likely to support them. Shanxi Bank and the rest of the Chinese and foreign banks are expected to remain neutral. ”

After listening to Zhang Xueliang's introduction, Mao Zemin's eyebrows tightened. Does this sound a bit like a war? Isn't it just to exchange all the fiat currencies on the market in Beijing and Tianjin for silver dollar coupons, isn't this something that can be solved with one order? The administrative efficiency of these warlords is also too low.......