Song Biao's itinerary in Dalian is very tight, and many of the arrangements have been booked a month in advance.

On the morning of the next day, Song Biao left the "Governor's Palace" of the Ministry of Military Affairs of Sheenissky and went to the headquarters of the Far East Commercial Bank to inspect and meet with some new important staff.

Under the banner of foreign firms, more than half of the foreign staff recruited here, and the main management was mainly Russians and Chinese hired by Rong Xingqiao, Yang Changling, the general office of the Shanghai-Nanjing Railway, was invited to the firm to serve as the Huadaipan of the Far Eastern Railway Company, and the American Morrogan of the Chicago Railway Company, an engineer of the former Vanderbilt Railway Kingdom, served as a consultant on railway affairs.

It can be seen from this that Song Biao's idea for the construction of the Northeast Railway was not suddenly initiated, and he consciously plotted the franchise of the Northeast Railway before serving as the governor of the three eastern provinces.

Rather than implementing public affairs in the name of the political axe of the three eastern provinces, it is actually better to handle it in the name of Song Biao himself, because his name is much more valuable than the Qing political axe and the yamen of the governor of the three eastern provinces, and it is also a guarantee of credibility.

In the past, Song Biao and Rong Xingqiao mainly invited young children in the United States in the early years to join the Far Eastern Group Commercial Bank, as the first batch of people in China to systematically learn Western knowledge, their experience, ability, and age are at the peak of their lives at this time, once they miss this stage, they will eventually miss the great development of the entire era.

Zheng Tingxiang and Yung Yaoyuan, mechanical engineers who have been working in the United States, Kuang Jingyang and Kuang Xianyu, mining engineers, Liang Pushi and Liang Puzhao of the Guangdong Railway Bureau, Rong Shangqin and Cheng Daqi, teachers of Nanyang College, Zheng Guiting, who is doing business in the city, Luo Guorui of the Shanghai-Nanjing Railway Bureau, Cao Maoxiang, who runs a Western medicine clinic in Shanghai, Pan Sichi, who works in a government-run textile factory in Shanghai, Wu Yangzeng, who works in the Kaiping Mining Bureau, Li Enfu, who works as a reporter and columnist for the Chicago Post, and Zhang Kangren, who is the first Chinese lawyer in the United StatesZeng Dugong, editor-in-chief of "Zilin West News", Chen Ronggui and Kuang Rongguang of Yunnan-Guizhou Mining Bureau all worked in Far East Commercial Bank during this time.

Shen Deyao came earlier among these people, and some time ago he went to Anshan Iron Mine with Wu Yangzeng and Kuang Jingyang to investigate the situation on the spot.

According to Song Biao's concept, the Far East Commercial Bank will set up the Far Eastern Bank, the Far East Coal and Iron Company, the Far East Railway Company, the Far East Real Estate Company, the Far East Textile General Factory, the Far East Printing House, the Far East Pharmaceutical Company, the Far East Machinery Company, the Far East Steamship Company, and the Far East Telephone Company, and also invest in the establishment of the Far East Commercial School and the Northeast Technical and Industrial School.

If these companies can be successfully established, they will play a very key role in the development of the entire three eastern provinces.

After meeting with these people and inviting them to a luncheon at the Kanto Hotel, Song Biao took time out to talk to Shen Deyao, Wu Yangzeng, and Kuang Jingyang alone. During this time, Song Biao still planned to stay at the Kanto Hotel and invited all three of them to his room.

At this time, all three of them were already over forty years old, and they were in the year of their establishment.

After inviting them to sit down, Song Biao picked up the Anshan mining exploration and factory construction report written by Shen Deyao and Wu Yangzeng, and roughly read it, they had been inspecting the Anshan area for half a month, and carried out a series of verification work on the basis of the exploration of himself and the Russians, and confirmed that there were indeed very rich iron ore reserves here, and the mining conditions of some of the known iron ore fields were very good, and the ore grade was relatively high.

Because Song Biao had previously expected to build an ironmaking plant with an annual output of more than 100,000 tons of steel, Shen Deyao estimated that the total investment was expected to be US$2.5 million, which does not include the purchase of mine and site land, and according to the current relatively common calculation of a medium-sized blast furnace with an output of 60 tons, about five blast furnaces will need to be invested.

The development of science and technology is so peculiar, when the predecessor of the new iron was first founded, the Kamaishi Iron and Steel Institute, the blast furnace purchased by the company was a very advanced large blast furnace at that time, and the iron production was only 30 tons, and it was still a relatively complex technology in the world at that time, and that was only in 1870, and as a result, I fell a very heavy lesson in this Kamaishi Iron Works, because I could only use charcoal to make steel at that time, and the worst thing was that the iron ore around the Kamaishi Iron Works only had 30,000 tons of iron ore reserves. Worse than this was the fact that Ben could barely run the expensive German steelmaking blast furnace by the soil method.

The road to ironmaking was also very unsmooth, until the First Sino-Japanese War, their steelmaking road was not on the right track, the price of steel was twice as high as that of imported steel, and the quality was still very bad, but finally exceeded 10,000 tons of steel production capacity.

This is the book.

Sometimes it's hard not to admire.

Technology is always improving, especially in this particular early 20th century, now the blast furnace with an output of 60 tons can only be regarded as a medium-sized scale, and it does not belong to the most advanced type in technology, but has the advantage of mature technology, more stable efficiency and not very complex technical difficulty.

The reason why Shen Deyao recommended the use of medium-sized blast furnaces was because the iron factory he had previously opened in the United States also used medium-sized blast furnaces, so he was relatively familiar with them and had suitable suppliers.

Song Biao flipped through the report, and then raised his head to look at Shen Deyao again.

This is a middle-aged businessman of forty-four, wearing a black suit and tweed coat, with a shiny hairstyle like those foreign compradors that Song Biao is familiar with, his figure is very thin, and he has a weathered feeling, his hands and cheeks look unusually rough, and he does not look like a rich businessman, but a coolie in a factory, who has only borrowed a dress of some value from others.

Song Biao and Shen Deyao asked, "If you invest $2.5 million, are you sure that this iron factory will be set up smoothly?" ”

Shen Deyao thought for a while and replied: "It's hard to say, it's hard to say in the United States, and it's even harder to say in China." ”

Song Biao asked him, "Why?" ”

Shen Deyao said: "In the United States, because the competition is fierce, if the newly opened iron plant does not have a good reputation, quality and suitable dealers, there is no way to survive, in China, I feel that except for iron ore and coking coal suitable for coking, there is almost nothing to do, we can't even find the market and buyers, there are no suitable technicians, and the worst thing is that all the workers need to be trained from the basics." If we have to set up factories in China, instead of directly selling coal and iron ore, we must either lower production requirements and start from the basics, or we must provide more funds and gradually lay a solid foundation in three to five years. ”

Song Biao replied: "My idea is very simple: to operate this iron plant as a subsidiary of the Far East Coal and Iron Company, use the profits of the coal and iron franchise to gradually cultivate this iron plant, and at the same time provide funds to open a professional metallurgical school, train professionals, and achieve profitability within five years, become the best and largest steel mill in Asia within 10 years, and become the world's first-class super-large steel plant in 20 years." In the field of market, we will first cede the railway and rail market in the three eastern provinces and other places, even if it is a loss-making operation, we will occupy this market, and at the same time, we will open up machinery, shipbuilding and other industries to foreign investment, and cultivate a larger market. ”

"If you want to become one of the largest steel mills in the world, you must first have such a market foundation in China, and in addition, if you can occupy the rail market, you can make a profit within three years, and it is not a problem to become the largest steel mill in Asia within ten years," said Shen Deyao. The point is that if we want to meet the rail market in the Far East, we have to invest huge sums of money at the beginning, which has serious constraints on our talents, ores, workers, etc. ”

"My plan is to allow some of the rails to be imported from the U.S. in the initial phase to meet the construction schedule, but the U.S. supplier has to provide technical support to our steel plant," Song said. ”

Shen Deyao praised: "This is a very good plan, and I can return to the United States in the near future to discuss cooperation in this area." If we can raise salaries somewhat, we can hire more skilled mechanics and engineers directly from the United States, and gradually complete the work of teaching and training new workers within three to five years. ”

Song Biao immediately replied: "There is no problem with this, I have very high expectations for this iron factory, but the requirements for profitability are very relaxed, as long as the balance of capital can be ensured within the entire coal and iron company, and there is no need for additional financial support from the head office, then there is no problem." ”

Hearing this, Shen Deyao, Wu Yangzeng, and Kuang Jingyang looked at each other and smiled, all very pleased.

Song Biao is different from other businessmen and governors in that he has both the characteristics of a governor and a capitalist, and he has both policy support and monopoly clauses, as well as the capitalist's market economy principles and capital operation capabilities, which is destined to make it much easier for him to run a factory than others.

After negotiating the expected plan for the Far East Iron and Steel Company, Song Biao talked with Shen Deyao about salary, shares and other issues, including some technical issues, Shen Deyao wanted to buy shares, but the total capital of his iron ore farm in the United States was not high, and his personal assets added up to about 300,000 US dollars.

In the United States, this may be regarded as a very good wealthy Chinese businessman, but in the three eastern provinces, it is too far behind Song Biao, and the total capital of the Far East Coal and Iron Company is definitely far more than this level.

Fortunately, both sides actually have no choice, if Song Biao wants to set up a modern steel mill, Shen Deyao is not the best candidate, but he is the only candidate, except for him, there is really no one among the Chinese who have a systematic understanding of this, not to mention that he also had a very failed experience and almost lost all his property.

Speaking of this, Song Biao was also very curious and asked Shen Deyao: "I heard that you have set up an ironworks in the United States, how did you fail, because the United States is anti-Chinese?" ”

Shen Deyao thought for a while and said: "That's not the problem, the basis of Chinese exclusion in the United States is the exclusion of non-Christians, I am a Christian, and I have a higher education degree from Columbia University, and I also have a certain wealth base, but it is not within the scope of Chinese exclusion." In addition, I am only one of the partners of the ironworks, not the main investor, and of course, even if I am the main investor, it will be difficult to change the loss. The real reason is that the economy of the United States is growing rapidly, but the production capacity of large steel plants is increasing faster, and the price has long been monopolized, and it is difficult for us to find even suitable distributors. It's a terrible entrepreneurial experience, but we're just one of the thousands of new and closed ironworks in the U.S. every year. ”

Song Biao thought about it and said with feeling: "I didn't seize the best opportunity, now there is a good opportunity in China, if you seize it, it will be a very successful entrepreneurial experience, I think so." Your capital in the U.S. is still relatively small, and you can't take too much of a stake in the merger. If you can ensure that the profitability of the Far East Coal and Iron Company, as well as the scale and speed of its construction, especially the level of the iron plant, can satisfy us in all aspects, you will get about 3% of the original shares at a time, and have been the general manager of the coal and iron company and the steel plant. In subsequent share expansions and listing processes, you have pre-emptive options. I suggest that you accept this condition, because I believe that Far East Coal and Iron Company will develop very well in the future, considering its special position in the three eastern provinces, and the huge scale to which it may develop, including its current base, 3% is already a very good share. ”

Of course, Shen Deyao was very clear about what Song Biao said, and immediately agreed, saying, "There is no problem." The 3% stake in Far East Coal and Iron Company is indeed a huge foundation, and based on the results of my investigation in Anshan, Benxi and Fushun, 3% of the basic stake will also be a very good return. ”

Song Biao stretched out his hand to shake hands with Shen Deyao and said, "Then it's decided." ”

After finalizing the contract with Shen Deyao and Wu Yangzeng, Song Biao handed over the overall management rights of the Far East Coal and Iron Company to them, Wu Yang served as the company's general office, and Shen Deyao served as the deputy general office and the general office of the iron and steel company, both of whom had 3% of the original share distribution rights.

One of Song Biao's plans was to split the original shares of the Far East Coal and Iron Company into 10,000 shares, with him holding 1,000 shares in his personal name, the Far East Commercial Bank holding 2,000 shares, and retaining another 2,000 shares as a long-term distribution plan, while the remaining 5,000 shares were to be distributed within the Northeast New Army at one time.

Referring to the generosity within the army, Song Biao was more critical of Shen Deyao and Wu Yangzeng, even if the two of them were running well, the original shares they got were only 600 shares, but these are two things, because the Far East Coal and Iron Company should essentially belong to all the colleagues of the Northeast New Army, which is a benefit that everyone can earn by fighting together, and the money used to buy the franchise at the beginning also came from the military funds allocated by the Russian Far East Army.

Using a collective joint-stock company to stabilize the middle and high-level generals of the entire army is also an innovation of Song Biao on the road of warlords, he hopes to avoid the division of the army in this way, and avoid the psychological imbalance of the generals through generous legal returns, so that he takes advantage of various opportunities to embezzle and deduct, and seeks to occupy local administrative resources, resulting in various situations of multiple small warlords.

Of course, this is just a plan, and it is not reasonable for the coal and iron company to use it for share distribution, because the company basically lacks suitable profits and dividends in the next five or even ten years, and it will continue to need large-scale capital investment, and the equity ratio will always be constantly adjusted.

How to design this issue of demutualization, Song Biao is not very clear at present.

In addition to the senior staff hired by the Far Eastern Group, Song Biao also contacted some privately hired consultants through Rong Xingqiao and others, the most important of which were Zhang Kangren and Li Enfu.

Zhang Kangren was one of the very few young children who did not return to China in the United States, after graduating from Yale University, he continued to study at Columbia Law School, and obtained a bar license in New York State in 1889, because California did not recognize his naturalized passport, he could not practice law in San Francisco, and was forced to work in the San Francisco branch of the Bank of Yokohama, because he was also proficient in accounting, worked in the banking industry for many years, and had a deep legal foundation, Song Biao almost couldn't wait to invite him to be a personal consultant, Served as his personal representative and engaged in some special work.

Li Enfu returned to Yale University to complete his studies through some hard work, and has since stayed in the United States, published a biographical novel called "My Childhood Story in China", which is well-known in the United States, known for his proficiency in Latin and his obsession with criticizing the Chinese Exclusion Act, and has been a columnist and reporter in American newspapers for a long time.

Because he was fluent in English and French, and was able to deal with foreign media, Song Biao hired him as an accompanying translator and press consultant, and arranged for him to work in the Secretariat.

Considering the special and important surnames of these two people, after the meeting with Wu Yangzeng, Song Biao continued to meet with Zhang Kangren and Li Enfu, among the young children studying in the United States, Zhang Kangren was relatively old, which may also be the reason why he dared to violate the Qing political axe order to stay in the United States to study, even so, Zhang Kangren was only forty-five years old at this time.

After meeting these two people, Song Biao subconsciously glanced at the two of them a few more times, and felt very good, but Li Enfu seemed to be indescribably gloomy, which probably had something to do with his life experience.

In this era, whether in the United States or in China, divorce and the loss of custody of daughters are a shadow of life that is difficult to get out of.

As soon as the two of them sat down, Zhang Kangren and Li Enfu gave Song Biao a beautifully packaged gift, which made Song Biao a little surprised. Vladimir. General Song's various reports, especially this one in the New York Times, are the longest and comprehensive, and use the term "secretagent" of the Russian army, which is also known as "spy".

Song Biao took a look at it, except for the words related to military affairs and ordinary life, he basically couldn't guess the meaning of the whole text, so he took the newspaper clipping to Li Enfu and said: "My English level is comparable to my political level, they are extremely poor, you should interpret it for me." ”

"Okay!"

Li Enfu did not refuse, he translated from the first sentence at the beginning: "Everyone is paying attention to this war that happened in Northeast Asia, there is a dramatic turn, there is an unprecedented special war in Liaoyang, the strength of the six divisions of the army not only failed to capture the three divisions of the Russian army, but suffered heavy losses, according to the US military attache who watched the battle on the battlefield, about 150,000 elite troops on both sides are concentrated here, and the army was once twice the size of the Russian army, A more noteworthy issue is the Supreme Commander of the Russian Army, Beo. Vladimir. According to Russian media reports, this infantry colonel previously graduated from the best non-commissioned officer school in Russia, and studied as a senior spy at the Russian General Staff College, before the Russian War, he served in Lushun with the rank of only an infantry lieutenant, because he organized a regiment-sized Chinese armed force in Manchuria before he was promoted to major ......! ”

This report was written directly in the later period of the Battle of Liaoyang, and from the perspective of the period, Song Biao had already solved the general Nozu Guandao at that time.

After Li Enfu translated it, he said to Song Biao: "The performance of the Governor General during the Russo-Russian War has inspired all the Chinese, and China needs an excellent general like you. ”

Song Biao thought for a while and said: "You will understand, the Russians are much easier to deal with than themselves, in fact, in the war, we can all see this clearly." If I had 100,000 troops, I would be able to deal with the Russians with ease, but for myself, I would be looking at the ocean across the strait. ”

Li Enfu hesitated for a moment, but still praised: "Your Excellency the Governor has a special judgment, I actually want to write a biography about you, before I came here, the editor-in-chief of the New York Times once talked to me, I don't know if you agree?" ”

Song Biao really didn't know how to answer, and thought for a while before saying, "No problem." ”

He thought, it's a big deal, it's nonsense, anyway, General Madnidorf will not tear up all kinds of mysteries in this, in short, in front of the whole world, his origin has been announced - born in a military family, his father and uncle have served in the Qing army, after the First Sino-Japanese War, he followed his uncle to Vladivostok to find a new way of life, studied at the local Russian church school, and later went to the Russian Kazan non-commissioned officer school to study, and studied at the Russian General Staff Military Academy for half a year, with the rank of lieutenant in the Russian army in Arthur internship service, During the war, he secretly organized a local armed force with the size of an infantry regiment, and was promoted to major of the Russian infantry, and then made many achievements, and led the Manchurian infantry regiment to expand into a division, after clearing out the bandits around the Hunjiang River, he returned to the front line of the Russian army, and served as the commander of the new Manchurian army under the direct appointment of the commander-in-chief of Kuropatkin, and used the advantage of the local armed forces to make a detour to attack the rear of the right flank of the Yue army, and then attacked the base camp of the Manchurian army in Liaoyang, after the battle of Liaoyang, He officially became the commander of the 14th Army of the Russian Far Eastern Army, and after the recovery of Lushun and Dalian, his unit was reorganized into the 15th Army of the Far Eastern Army and returned to Shenyang.

At present, the 15th Army of the Russian Far East Army has been reorganized into the Northeast New Army, which accounts for about half of the troops of the Russian army and about half of the local troops, is well-equipped and well-trained, and is regarded as the most powerful military force in the three eastern provinces and the entire Far East.

As for why he fought against Yue himself, the main explanation at this stage is that he lived in Lushun as a child, and experienced the Lushun Massacre in the First Sino-Japanese War, in which most of his parents and relatives died.

An orphan who survived the massacre became a world-class general who defeated the Japanese army and annihilated 100,000 people ten years later -- what an unfortunate story and what an inspirational legend, and it seems that Americans are very interested in such stories, not only in Americans, but probably in the whole world.

After Li Enfu translated this report, Song Biao was at least sure that his English proficiency was no problem at all, so he asked Li Enfu by the way: "Mr. Li, are you willing to join the Northeast New Army as a civilian non-commissioned officer, although you are still my accompanying interpreter, there are some differences in the details of the official duties you are responsible for, and you have more favorable treatment." ”

Li Enfu smiled bitterly: "No one should be against the salary, right?" ”

Song Biao asked Zhang Kangren again: "Actually, have you ever considered working in Northeast Bank?" Although we had previously intended to invite Xie Lunhui of China Commerce Bank's Huada Ban to take on the position of General Manager, I think you might be a better fit. ”

Zhang Kangren was overjoyed and said: "I definitely can't refuse such a thing, if I can really preside over the business of the National Bank in China, this is completely my dream job." ”

Song Biao said: "That's good, let me ask you a question by the way, if I want to invest in the oil industry in the United States and Mexico, do you think there are any legal obstacles?" ”

"There are no obstacles in the United States, and the United States is a country that welcomes free investment from all countries, which is the foundation of the development of the United States, and so far, the United States is also the largest economic zone for international capital investment," Zhang Kangren said. Investing in oil in Mexico can be tricky, and although Mexico and countries such as Britain and France have signed foreign investment protection laws, this protection law does not extend to China. The best way to do this is to register a company in the United States and the United Kingdom to comply with the scope of the protection laws of the United States and the United Kingdom, but in terms of taxation, as well as other areas such as company registration and foreign investment income tax, it must also strictly comply with the provisions of the American and British laws. ”

Song Biao asked, "You can do this completely, right?" ”

Zhang Kangren replied easily: "There is no problem at all, but compared to the United Kingdom, I recommend registering in the United States, because the laws of each state in the United States are quite different, for example, New Jersey's anti-commercial fraud laws are much more lenient than New York's. Connselm fled from New York to New Jersey, and even an American billionaire like Vanderbilt could not sue him. Taking advantage of the differences in state law is a very important foundation in the United States. ”

Song Biao bowed slightly, and said: "Okay, you have two things to do during this time, one is to cooperate with Rong Xingqiao to preside over the preparatory work of the Northeast Bank, and try to find more suitable people through your interpersonal relationships in the banking industry, and the second thing is to register a company in the United States for me, or the Far East Commercial Bank to invest in the oil industry." ”

Zhang Kangren said: "I advise you to be cautious, although oil is a highly profitable industry, but in the United States, the monopoly bill of the Standard Oil Company has been disputed for many years, and for now, the oil business in the United States has basically been monopolized. In addition, although there are many cases of investing in oil that have become rich overnight, many more investors have lost their money, and there are countless American investors who have lost their money, and they also require very high levels of technology and expertise. ”

Song Biao also had a lot to think about this, he said: "In this way, find a suitable partner to register an oil company in Texas." The key is to find a very suitable partner, which is the crux of the matter. ”

Zhang Kangren said: "My classmate at Yale University, Rong Kui, should be one of the suitable candidates, he studied chemistry at the Yale Shepheld Academy of Sciences, and then studied mining engineering at the Columbia School of Mines, because he has worked in the Washington Embassy in China for a long time, and knows many senators, compared to us, he is much luckier, because he has a very special uncle and marriage, so his American citizenship is undoubtedly protected in all states of the United States." In addition, in the professional field, he can find more suitable candidates through the college relationship, which is very important, and in the United States, the alumni association is a very important force, and everyone with a higher education needs him. I used to be very close to New York State bar and relied on the support of the alumni association of Columbia Law School, but unfortunately the judge who was ultimately responsible for sentencing was from Harvard Law School, and he unceremoniously ended my career as a lawyer. If I had been a judge from Columbia Law School, there would be almost a 100% chance that I would have fulfilled the American Dream and the miracle of Columbia Law School. ”

"Oh!"

Song Biao has never studied in college, let alone in the United States, and does not understand this feeling, although his parents are studying abroad, but they don't seem to have heard that the alumni association can become a very powerful force, which is probably a special case in the United States, just like Yale University graduates will always be much smoother in American politics, and Harvard University will be much smoother in lawyers and business.

After thinking about it for a while, anyway, he didn't know the United States, so Song Biao said to Zhang Kangren: "Then it's all up to you, I really hope to gamble a game, if you can win with millions of pounds and earn tens of millions of pounds, or even 100 million pounds, for us, China will really be saved." We can support tens of thousands of students to go to the United States for further study, we can support modern military armaments, and we can vigorously advocate new education in China. ”

After a pause, he, along with Zhang Kangren and Li Enfu, added: "China really needs a miracle. ”

Zhang Kangren sighed a lot and said, "Yes! ”

Song Biao had just set up a secretariat, a new political bureau, a research bureau, a foreign exchange bureau, and a defense bureau in his governor's yamen, and there were many positions, but there were not many people who could take up these jobs.

Regarding the director of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, Song Biao originally did not have a definite candidate, but recently, someone has proposed to invite Wang Chonghui, who is qualified as a lawyer in the United Kingdom, to take up this position, and Song Biao is still very interested in this, and personally wrote a letter to invite Wang Chonghui to come to this position.

During this time, when Song Biao was dealing with the railway and financial issues of the three eastern provinces, he consciously wanted to set up five new policy institutions at the same time to ensure normal operation.

(To be continued)