Zhao Pilian sighed and said: "Baigong is okay with Shi Yousan like this, after all, Shi Yousan only has tens of thousands of horses, but it is a big mistake to be so harsh on Feng Yuxiangye. Is it true that Feng Yuxiang's troops are said to have eaten cornmeal wotou and pickles, and it has been for some time? ”

The food and salary of the army in the northwest were difficult, and Song Zhewu knew very well that when Ji Hongchang's 30,000 men were transferred to Longhai Road, he also specially sent two wagons of flour and canned food from Ji Hongchang's department. Although Song Zhewu could afford to take out more, he still couldn't help it, even if Song Zheyuan came to him to think of some way, he just gave him a few thousand catties of flour.

Ji Hongchang and Song Zheyuan's troops are now the most important and largest troops in the Northwest Army, the Northwest Army only has more than 260,000 people, but Ji Hongchang has more than 30,000 people, and the troops under the command of Song Zheyuan are even more, if you count Sun Lianzhong's troops under the command of Song Zheyuan, there are more than 60,000 people, that is to say, the troops of the two of them account for more than one-third of the Northwest Army. Such a large number of troops need to be supplied by Song Zhewu, which is a large number, and even Song Zhewu will be very difficult. After all, his own food and salary were now also supplied by Yan Xishan, and the flour he sent to them was only enough for them to improve their food for a few days.

Seeing Song Zhewu nodding, Zhao Pilian continued: "Feng Yuxiang has repeatedly urged for food, but Baigong has pressed again and again, although the existing military food is enough for more than a month, but Baigong thinks that this war must be prepared for a long time, so only to ensure the supply of the Jin Sui army, the food and salary of Feng Yuxiang and other troops can basically only be guaranteed by a small half. At present, many troops are unstable, and the prospects for this situation are worrying! ”

The troops that can still fight without money, except for the Red Army that is still in Jiangxi, only the Northwest Army, but the miscellaneous people who follow them are not good, who will give money and go with whom.

Song Zhewu pondered and asked, "Could it be that Commander-in-Chief Yan is in financial difficulties now?" Isn't he going to take back Tianjin Customs? ”

As soon as he mentioned the resumption of Tianjin Customs, Zhao Pilian kept shaking his head and sighing: "Taking over Tianjin Customs can be described as killing two birds with one stone." First of all, by retaining all the tax revenues collected by the Tianjin Customs, except for the part of the indemnities and debts, we will be able to solve the problem of military quarters and salaries as soon as possible. Second, the tax revenue from the north will be sent to Nanjing to help the enemy fight, which will inevitably form an unfavorable situation for itself. The receiving Tianjin customs can reverse this unfavorable situation in one fell swoop. ”

"But the customs are controlled by the British, there are treaties, where is it so easy. In April, Ge Jingyou was ordered by Baigong to travel around Pingping and Tianjin, lobby the relevant departments, and explain his intention to Bei Xi, the Department of Taxation of Tianjin Customs, and put forward a request to accept the customs, but to no avail. At the same time, Ge Jingyou visited the British and French consulates. The British consul refused to discuss the matter on the pretext of violating the treaty and undermining the integrity and system of customs. The French consul was perfunctory, saying that as long as the British consul approved it, he had no opinion. ”

"But the war is moving fast, and there is no room for delay. After the start of the war, Baigong called Tianjin in Beiping one after another to ask about the progress of the matter of receiving the Tianjin Customs. Simberson, the British adviser he also sent him, also began to negotiate with Bei Xi, the tax department of the Tianjin Customs, and promised that all employees of the Tianjin Customs would continue to work as usual, the rules and regulations would remain unchanged, and the treatment would remain unchanged, and that they would be returned to the customs as soon as the war was over and the old system would be restored. ”

In the negotiation between Simberson and Bei Xi, the tax department of Tianjin Customs, Bei Xi refused to obey the order and refused. In the face of Ge Jingyou and Simberson's various efforts to negotiate peace, Pei Xi finally avoided it, and the peace talks were officially declared hopeless. Therefore, Ge Jingyou made a statement to Baigong, proposing that it was not possible to take over by peaceful means, and that the only way to take over was to take extraordinary measures of military forcible occupation. His suggestion was immediately approved by Baigong and ordered to be implemented as soon as possible. ”

At the same time, Baigong ordered the Tianjin Garrison Command to go to the Tianjin branch of the Bank of Communications to prepare for the seizure of customs deposits, and the bank manager Yang Desen promised to report to the head office and take delaying measures. Later, Baigong couldn't wait and called Tianjin Customs, to the effect that in the future, the customs revenue, except for the original guarantees, various public bonds such as the 25 Treasury Bills and other funds, all taxes and other incomes will be withheld. and declare that this matter is only for the custody of the surname, and will not use penny or other words. Tianjin Mayor Cui Tingxian hurried to Tianjin Customs to contact Bei Xi, who stressed that he had no right to call the shots, and he had to call Mei Lehe, the General Taxation Department, for instructions. Ge Jingyou went to the Bank of Communications to announce and deploy everything to monitor and withhold the new tax. ”

"In order to withhold the attached tax, Baigong issued a three-point statement by telegram, one of which is that he is deeply afraid of going to the south for application; second, not to mention the diversion for urgent needs; Thirdly, the deduction is limited to the Mainland tax. ”

At the same time, Baigong ordered Fu Zuoyi to send personnel to take over the Changlu Salt Transportation Bureau and notify the supervisors of Guanyan, and demanded that all the surplus and salt within the scope of the army be deposited in the Tianjin Bank of Communications. After that, Bai Gong also expressed his attitude on the Tianjin Customs issue through his director of foreign affairs, Zhu Hexiang, when he met with reporters from various countries, and Bai Gong sent another telegram, repeatedly stressing that the foreign debt guarantee should remain in place. ”

However, Bei Xi, the tax department of Tianjin Customs, did not buy Baigong's account, he acted in disobedience, superficially perfunctory, and secretly deposited the tax into HSBC and remitted it to Shanghai. At this time, Song Ziwen, Minister of Finance of Nanjing, demanded 1 million yuan from Mei Lehe, the chief tax secretary in Shanghai, for military expenses, which Mei immediately disbursed. Angry, Baigong immediately appointed Sim Bosen to concurrently serve as the Department of Taxation of Tianjin Customs, and ordered him to go to Tianjin to receive him immediately. With the cooperation of Chen Hongxin, director of the Third Special District, Duan Maolan, director of the Telephone Bureau, Cheng Gongyan, director of the Tianjin Customs Supervision Office, and Li Hanyuan, head of the Fourth Section and special service team of the Tianjin Public Security Bureau, he forcibly took over the customs with more than 100 plainclothes agents. ”

However, Nanjing seems to have been prepared for a long time, and immediately Foreign Minister Wang Zhengting and Finance Minister Song Ziwen will take three countermeasures. 1. Negotiate with the British Minister for the expulsion of Simberson from the country, and punish him in accordance with the law; 2. All officials of Tianjin Customs are required to retreat; 3. All goods shipped to Tianjin shall be subject to customs duties in Shanghai, Qingdao, Dalian, Qinhuangdao and other customs. ”

Under pressure from Nanjing, the British General Taxation Department said that the Tianjin Customs issue should be handled by the Ministry of Finance, and he personally demanded that Tianjin Customs unconditionally implement the central government's countermeasures against the "Tianjin Customs Incident." Pei Xi issued a customs closure notice on Mei's order: "All the internal and external staff of Tianjin Customs are not allowed to enter the official room, and every time they sign in to the customs club, their salaries will be paid as they are, and if they do not obey the order, they will be dismissed and their pensions will be withheld." ”

"Due to the support of the British-controlled General Taxation Department in Nanjing, although Tianjin Customs was taken over by Baigong, except for the ship management hall that managed the lighthouse, Tianjin Customs and Changguan were paralyzed. As a result, customs revenue has dropped sharply, only about 20% of the previous year, and the number of ships coming and going has also been greatly reduced. Bai Gong spent half a day's effort, but only forcibly occupied a customs office that could not exercise its powers. ”

Although Song Zhewu did not know the details very well for Yan Xishan to take over Tianjin Customs, he knew the results, and he couldn't help but secretly admire Song Ziwen's methods, in fact, he didn't know that this was Chiang Kai-shek's handiwork.

Since he already knew the result, Song Zhewu was not surprised, but he had not yet had a showdown with Yan Xishan, and he could not show his indifference in front of the wavering Zhao Pilian.

"Isn't there still a Jin banknote? Couldn't the Commander-in-Chief print more? Song Zhewu said casually perfunctorily.

Zhao Pilian didn't notice Song Zhewu's demeanor, shook his head and said: "My good brother, how can you, a rich man, not know that this Jin banknote is not printed casually, it needs to be guaranteed by the corresponding ocean and gold. ”

Once Yan Xishan loses in this Central Plains War, the depreciation of Jin banknotes is inevitable, almost waste paper, and Song Zhewu even has a plan in his heart to take advantage of the depreciation of Jin banknotes to get another vote. And the main purpose of this is to hit Yan Xishan's prestige in Shanxi, and his most important purpose is to make the people of Shanxi more identify with him.

At this time, Wang Xu came to Song Zhewu's office with a telegram. Seeing Wang Xu's smiling demeanor, Song Zhewu knew that this telegram would not be an important content, so he stopped Zhao Pilian, who was about to leave, and said with a smile: "Mr. Zhiqing, you are already my senator, and there is nothing secret about you here." ”

Then he said to Wang Xu, "What is the matter?" ”

Although I don't know what happened to Song Zhewu saying that Zhao Pilian was the senator of the Fourth Route Army, Wang Xu saw that Song Zhewu was like this, so he had no choice but to take a telegram and say to Song Zhewu: "Feng Yuxiang has just received a report that Zhang Fang, the chairman of Henan Province appointed by Nanjing, went to Sun Dianying in Haozhou, who was besieged by Ye Kaixin and Li Wenbin of the Central Army for two months, Feng Yuxiang seems to hate Zhang Fang very much, and just called Sun Dianying, the content is very simple, that is, to tell Sun Dianying that he wants Zhang Fang's head, and it will cost 100,000 oceans to buy it. ”

Feng Yuxiang, who was very short of military spending, actually had to spend 100,000 oceans to buy a person's head, which made Song Zhewu very strange.

As soon as he heard that Zhang Fan had gone to Sun Dianying, Zhao Pilian sighed and said, "This is Chairman Jiang who is going to use his ocean to buy people again." ”

Seeing that Song Zhewu and Wang Xu were both looking at him suspiciously, Zhao Pilian explained: "This Zhang Fan is the leading brother of black and white in Henan and Shaanxi provinces, and is known as the old thief of the Central Plains. ”

"He was the former deputy commander-in-chief of Jing [***], and he has a relationship with many generals of the Northwest Army. Before the war, he was the director of the Henan Water Conservancy Department, and now he has been appointed by Chairman Chiang as the chairman of Henan Province. According to the information obtained by Baigong, Zhang Fan had sent people to set up a Henan Provincial Government Office in Luohe, and the purpose was self-evident, that is, to plot against the generals of the Northwest Army. When he came to Mizhou this time, he must have wanted to use his relationship with Sun Dianying to turn against him. ”

Zhao Pilian said with emotion: "This Chairman Jiang is really good at knowing people!" ”

(To be continued)