Soybean in the early to mid-20th century has been one of the most important basic raw materials in modern industry, when the Americans regard soybean as an important feed, the Germans have established a huge oil industry that dominates the world on this basis, refining edible oil, lubricating oil, grease, producing paints, soaps, preservatives, used in dyes, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and other fields, the Germans are at least 15 years ahead of Britain and France in this industry, and 30 years ahead of the United States.

Therefore, Germany is also the world's largest soybean importer, followed by Britain and France, and the United States did not begin to catch up until 1909, and only before the outbreak of World War II did it use the chemical derivative industry of the oil industry to surpass the world -- the Americans created a new era, using oil and coffee to squeeze raw silk, tea, and soybeans out of the world's mainstream commodities, and also made China, which had no technological advantage, completely reduced its agricultural China to a third-rate country, and the Middle East began to replace China as a new country with silver, gold, and dollars flowing in.

In 1935, the total export of soybeans in Northeast China reached the highest peak in history, with a total of more than 3 million tons, accounting for 80% of the international market, and the foreign exchange inflow was about 70 million pounds at that price.

The inflow of huge amounts of foreign exchange is precisely the driving force behind the rapid development of the three eastern provinces, not the wisdom of the management of the country as stated by the "pro-Yue faction," still less the miracle of the Manchu ruling of the northeast as claimed by the "Fuguo faction."

Song Biao doesn't care about these so-called truths.

All he cared about was gold and silver.

In early November 1906, Song Biao returned to Dalian without a trace, and just like his silent foreign visits, almost no one knew that he had returned to the three eastern provinces.

Song Biao, wearing a black robe and horse coat and civilian clothes, quietly arrived at the Qingpu Wharf held by Far Eastern Group Commercial Bank in the early morning under the protection of dozens of guards.

Rong Xingqiao and others, who knew in advance that Song Biao was about to return to China, stayed up all night, busily sorting out various materials and reports, and waited for the arrival of the ship on the dock together in the early morning.

After getting off the boat, Song Biao met Rong Xingqiao, Shu Fangxin, Shen Deyao and Zheng Guiting, who was doing business in Yueben, he shook hands with everyone, thanked them for coming to pick up the boat, and soon asked Rong Xingqiao: "How are our soybeans selling?" ”

Rong Xingqiao thought for a while and replied: "At present, it is mainly sold to Germany, we have set up a branch in Hamburg, done advertising pre-sales, and now we can sell 400,000 tons of Northeast soybeans in terms of volume." Northeast soybeans have been well received in the German market in the past two years, which has brought great help to our sales work. Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank in Hamburg provided us with excellent financial services to help us recover our funds as quickly as possible. In addition to the market development in Germany, we have also tried to sell some soybeans in the United Kingdom, France, Belgium and Sweden, because the sales in these countries were relatively small, so the progress was not very smooth, but on the overall level is not good. As long as our Northeast soybeans have been at this level this year, we will definitely be able to continue to open up new markets. ”

Song Biao bowed his head slightly, and Rong Xingqiao continued to ask: "How many soybeans are expected to be sold this year?" ”

Rong Xingqiao said: "Before the end of the year, we can sell 600,000 tons, and then we will hoard and sell them in batches, until tomorrow May, Brazilian soybeans will be on the market at that time, their soybeans lack reliable oil yield, the quality is also unstable, and the factors affected by climate and season are too great, which is not good news for industrial production." If our Northeast soybeans can stabilize the oil yield and overall quality, ensure stability in industrial production and processing, and the yield is large enough, it is expected to be able to hold down Brazilian soybeans. Soybeans in southern Europe are generally listed in September, their freight is low, this market is more difficult to run, unless we are the total amount to a certain extent, the price is also low, so as to run on the other side for a long time, forcing southern European growers to gradually reduce production. ”

Song Biao pondered for a moment and replied: "We still have to continue to work hard, persistently take the Northeast soybean as the lifeline of the three eastern provinces, work hard for 20 years, and do better and better, only in this way can we exchange enough foreign exchange for the three eastern provinces to ensure the long-term inflow of gold and silver." ”

Rong Xingqiao was deeply aware of this and replied, "Yes." ”

After a few brief questions, Song Biao boarded the carriage and returned to the headquarters of the Far Eastern Commercial Bank with Rong Xingqiao and others.

The reason why Song Biao returned to China at this time is generally for several reasons: first, he should pay immediate attention to the export of soybeans in Northeast China; Second, the second phase of the Northeast New Army's training is over, and Song Biao needs to first confirm the results of the second phase of the training, and then he can prepare for the third phase of the training for his surname; Third, in the past few months, he has indeed accumulated a lot of military and political work in the three eastern provinces, which he has to deal with urgently; Fourth, the annual meeting of the Far East consortium is imminent.

On July 1, 1906, the financial reform of the three eastern provinces finally began the first step of the actual surname - the Tohoku Bank officially began to issue, replace, and exchange Kanto silver yuan to the outside world on this day. With the support of the Far Eastern Bank and the Sino-Russian Daosheng Bank, more than 115 million silver yuan of banknotes (silver yuan bills, copper yuan bills) quickly poured into circulation, driving the economy of the three eastern provinces forward with the value of official legal tender.

In terms of overall operations, the Far Eastern Bank and the Sino-Russian Daosheng Bank purchased the same amount of Kanto silver yuan with silver assets, and issued Kanto silver yuan bonds on this basis for credit and commercial trade of various scales, while the Tohoku Bank was temporarily not involved in the issuance of silver yuan bills and focused on the issuance of Kanto copper yuan and copper yuan bonds.

With the operation of the Northeast Bank, in the railway construction, mining development, industrial establishment, education and other businesses, the silver and copper yuan bills supported by the political axe began to be forcibly circulated, which greatly alleviated the difficult situation of insufficient silver assets of the government and the people in the three eastern provinces.

For example, a new factory with tight funds, which could only rely on the issuance of silver currency to support its operation, now obtains a ticket through a bank loan, and then uses the ticket instead of silver to pay salaries, purchase raw materials, etc., which can greatly support the normal operation of the enterprise.

Because Far Eastern Bank is affiliated with Far Eastern Commercial Bank, the enterprises under Far Eastern Commercial Bank have obtained the largest amount of loans in the process, which is a consortium in the true sense.

A consortium is a powerful organization.

Song Biao had already seen the huge power of the three giants of J.P. Morgan\John A.A. Rockefeller\Andrew W. Mellon in the United States, and the Far Eastern consortium he was determined to build in the three eastern provinces was destined to be more powerful and terrifying than these conglomerates.

Song Biao is confident in this, and he will repay the Big Three for their arrogance towards him.

Of course, Song Biao did not start to build his own consortium at this time, and a year ago, when he founded the Far East Commercial Bank, he had already set up a simple and effective system for this consortium, first of all, the Far East Commercial Bank (Far East Commercial Trading Company) directly engaged in foreign trade; Second, Far East Commercial Bank controls the equity of its subordinate functional enterprises; Third, the subordinate functional enterprises control the major enterprises in various industries through direct investment, holding operations, joint ventures, equity participation, creditor's rights, etc.; Fourth, the Far East Commercial Bank and its subordinate functional enterprises have a secret organization of the Far East Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which serves as the core body of the entire Far East consortium and guides and controls the development of the entire consortium.

In the next few days when Song Biao returned to the three eastern provinces, the third annual meeting of the Far Eastern Federation of Industry and Commerce, and the most important meeting on next year's overall planning, will be held at the Kanto Hotel, at that time, leading figures from all walks of life in the industrial development of the three eastern provinces, such as Rong Xingqiao, Zhang Kangren, Wu Yangzeng, Shu Fangxin, Pan Sichi, Shen Deyao, Zheng Tingxiang, Zheng Guiting, etc., will gather together to discuss various countermeasures and new adjustments.

There is no doubt that the role they can play together is even greater than that of the political axes of the three eastern provinces.

Not only can they make full use of the funds within the consortium, but they can also use various related party transactions and asset pledges to raise a large amount of financing from foreign banks, and through the differential circulation of capital, they can use every penny to a certain limit, and they can purchase the best equipment from abroad while mortgaging these equipment at home, raise the working capital needed to operate the enterprise, and then further expand the capital through the bank to ensure that the capital of each subsidiary company can be used optimally.

Although foreign capital and national capital continue to pour into the three eastern provinces, in the past six months, the import and export scale of the Far Eastern consortium has accounted for half of the entire three eastern provinces.

Song Biao did not go to the headquarters of the Far Eastern Group to inspect, he took a carriage directly to the Kanto Hotel, where he secretly stayed, waiting for the convening of the annual meeting of the Far Eastern Group Foundation.

After settling down in the pre-arranged room, Song Biao sat down to listen to the reports of Rong Xingqiao, Zhang Kangren, Wu Yangzeng, Shen Deyao and Shu Fangxin.

Because of the unique special advantages in the three eastern provinces, Rong Xingqiao, Zhang Kangren and others within the Far East consortium were unwilling to buy the Hanyang Iron Works that Zhang Zhidong, the governor of Huguang, was determined to sell cheaply, but at the insistence of Song Biao and Shen Deyao, as well as considering the long-term development space and existing good foundation of the Hanyang Iron Works, Rong Xingqiao decided to agree to Zhang Zhidong's offer, bought out the Hanyang Iron Works and the coal, iron and manganese mines at an extremely low price, and reorganized them into the new Hanyeping Iron and Steel Company.

In the living room of the hotel suite, everyone sat in a circle, and Shen Deyao and Song Biao first reported the matter of Hanyeping Iron and Steel Company.

After briefly talking about the current situation, Shen Deyao continued to propose: "Your Excellency, the capital of our Far East Commercial Bank is still far from enough to invest in two large iron and steel plants at the same time, although Governor Zhang Zhidong sold the assets of Hanyang Iron Works, Daye Iron Mine, Pingxiang Coal Mine and Changlei Manganese Mine to us very cheaply at a price of 1.4 million Kanto silver yuan, so that we can set up Hanyeping Iron and Steel Company as planned, and the scale of funds needed for further investment is still too large. In addition, our Far East Iron and Steel Corporation is still mainly investing in Liaoyang Iron and Steel Plant, and after discussing with Chairman Rong, I plan to transfer 1/3 of the equity of Hanyeping Company to foreign companies. ”

Song Biao asked first: "How are the offers on both sides negotiated?" ”

Shen Deyao said: "The main technical consultants of Han Yeping Company are from Luxembourg, in order to fill the large number of vacancies caused by the expulsion of Zhang and Sheng Xuanhuai, coupled with the lack of funds, we originally planned to operate with Luxembourg's steel company, and later the German DWM company was involved, they looked for us from the German Krupp company, and the other party was willing to pay 1.2 million pounds to buy 1/2 of the equity." I asked all the information, especially the exploration data of Daye Iron Mine, to renegotiate with the Germans, and finally reached an agreement to sell 35% of the shares for 1.25 million pounds, and Far East Iron and Steel to continue to hold the remaining 65%. This price is still good, mainly because the Germans put forward two special conditions, one is that the German must be the general manager, and the other is that the technical team and management team are fully appointed by Krupp. We are still in the process of discussing these issues. On this basis, the Yokohama Zhengjin Bank proposed a cooperation agreement, which was initially said to be a direct negotiation with you, but in the middle of the process, Zhang Kangren was found, and through Mr. Zhang, the bank gave us a cooperation plan, that is, the Zhengjin Bank would provide a loan of about 5 million yuan, and the terms were favorable, but the Hanyeping Company was not allowed to operate in joint ventures with foreign countries, and the company had the right of first refusal to purchase part of the coal, iron and manganese ore of the Hanyeping Company, as well as Daye Iron Ore as a collateral asset. ”

Song Biao let out a simple sigh and didn't feel any surprise.

Shen Deyao continued: "In addition to Ben, the British Swire & Co. and Jardine Matheson have also negotiated with us, and Standard Chartered Bank and HSBC are also willing to provide loans, but the terms of the first two are similar to those of the Germans, and they do not understand the processing and production of steel, in fact, they are middlemen, and we don't want to cooperate with them." The latter two are both issues of financial rights that tie up the loan agreement. It's not for us to decide, so we'll have to wait until you get back. ”

Song Biao bowed his head slightly and asked Shen Deyao, "Which way do you personally think is better?" ”

Shen Deyao replied: "The terms proposed by the Germans are still good, some of the conditions seem to be overbearing, but it is also because others do not believe in our business ability, I have negotiated with the German DWM company, Germany does not have the intention of buying coal and iron ore from China, or wants to develop the steel business in Asia on this basis, including technology transfer, their conditions are very generous." Purely from the point of view of technology and price, the conditions on the German side are still better, I mean that the Chinese university class is the mainstay, and there is a German foreign class to cooperate in management. It is not a bad thing to be dominated by Germans in technology and operation, it depends on how we understand it, and we can also learn from the production and management experience of German iron and steel enterprises through this matter, and introduce technology and experience from Germany to build Liaoyang Iron and Steel Plant. As for the terms of the company, their seemingly generous loan agreements are purely for sabotage, while the British are purely for business, making a sum of money, earning a sum of money, and looking at the pot. ”

Song Biao weighed it carefully in his heart, and he couldn't tell which way was better.

After pondering for a moment, he and the others asked, "What do you think?" ”

Rong Xingqiao and the others didn't dare to speak rashly, and they were all silent, as if they were thinking deeply, but in fact, they all had different opinions from Shen Deyao.

Song Biao asked Zhang Kangren, "What do you think?" ”

Zhang Kangren was named, so he had to reply stubbornly: "Anyway, I must give the British a bank place, so it is better to take the opportunity to borrow a sum of money from the British." Just thinking about it, this money can actually be used for Liaoyang Iron and Steel Plant, so it seems more reasonable to cooperate with the Germans, and we can use this opportunity to set up two large steel plants in China at the same time. ”

Song Biao pondered for a moment and continued to ask Rong Xingqiao and Wu Yangzeng, who neither wanted to cooperate with Yue himself, nor were they willing to accept the terms of the Germans.

Song Biao actually didn't think it was a bad thing to let the Germans take shares, and the shares of German companies in Han Yeping could be pulled out after World War I, including Song Biao's deliberate relaxation of the terms of Germany's shares in the construction of railways in the three eastern provinces, in fact, they all had similar plans.

Thinking of this, he continued to instruct Zhang Kangren: "Continue to negotiate with the Germans, the technical cooperation and introduction should be discussed in depth, even if half of the shares are sold to the Germans, the focus is to gather enough capital to develop this steel plant first." For example, it is possible to cooperate in the creation of a metallurgical school, to train technicians and technicians, to introduce technology and production patents directly in the name of the Far East Iron and Steel Corporation, and to finalize these by contract. In order to maximize the benefits, in addition to negotiating with the Germans, we can also negotiate with the Americans, and strive to negotiate these matters on the basis of the transfer of up to 45% of the shares. ”

Zhang Kangren said: "Okay, then I will have the courage to do this, but I don't know if the domestic public will oppose the transfer of equity to foreign companies, and I don't know how Governor Zhang Zhidong will think of us?" ”

Song Biao smiled, he knew that the domestic public opinion would definitely be very opposed to this matter, and the Chinese people at this time had always had the idea that "non-steel is not enough to build a country", and they placed too many expectations and too high praise on Hanyeping Company.

Han Yeping's main business is pig iron, which is the source of the company's profits, on this basis, Han Yeping Company does not seem to need to introduce foreign investors, but Song Biao does not think so, because he is by no means satisfied with this.

You can't catch big fish without good bait.

In the next decade, or even the next half century, the scale of economic and military cooperation between the three eastern provinces and Germany will become larger and larger, and similar cooperation will come from the United States, while Britain and France can mainly provide capital exports in the opening up of China and the three eastern provinces.

Song Biao must not be able to complete the Hanyeping Company at the expense of the Liaoyang Iron and Steel Plant, but can only sacrifice the Hanyeping to complete the Liaoyang Iron and Steel Plant, in addition to the Hanyeping, he will have the opportunity to achieve the further development of the Far East Iron and Steel Corporation in Ma'anshan, Laiwu, Shanxi, and Tangshan in the future.

Public opinion is bullshit, he doesn't care, anyway, he is in the three eastern provinces, and the only real headaches are Qing Zheng Axe and Zhang Zhidong, he doesn't care.

Song Biao sneered, and Shen Deyao instructed: "Just do this thing, I will explain it to Lord Zhang Zhidong." Is there anything else you'd like to tell me? ”

Wu Yang couldn't wait to say: "We had estimated that the cement imports of the three eastern provinces would swell together with the scale of machinery imports, so we bought the Tangshan Ash Company in advance, and the British company that forcibly occupied this company was actually an authentic small company, and they forcibly bought the Kaiping Coal Mine, and then it was said that the Tangshan Ash Plant was a subsidiary asset of the coal mine, but fortunately, the German general counsel of the plant kept the original investment file, and we negotiated with Tianjin Dao Zhou Xuexi. In the name of the Far East Mining Corporation, he invested 600,000 taels of silver to buy the plant and the Luanzhou Coal Mine. Luanzhou Coal Mine is not the focus of our investment for the time being, the real focus is this Tangshan ash company. We are currently planning to raise 4 million Kanto silver yuan to expand the plant, and in Liaoyang, we are also investing in the construction of the Liaoyang Ash Company to ease the scale of cement imports from the three eastern provinces. ”

In the recent total import volume of the three eastern provinces, the share and total amount of cement are increasing sharply, considering the large-scale implementation of railways, ports and other projects, as well as the rapid rise of the real estate industry, cement consumption will be in an urgent state in the next ten years.

With abundant capital, large-scale investment in cement plants has become a consensus.

Rong Xingqiao also said: "The technical difficulty of the cement industry is not high, we purchased equipment from the United States and Germany, introduced technology together, continued to hire a number of technical consultants from Germany, and also prepared to join the teaching courses related to the cement industry in the Liaoyang Mining School jointly established by us and the Germans." In Hubei, we also intend to build a new cement plant in the name of Far East Mining Corporation. ”

Song Biao still nodded slightly, and entrusted these matters to the consortium to deal with it by himself, he was more concerned about the issue of the railway in the three eastern provinces than the matter of cement, but this problem was not acceptable, from route exploration to investment and construction, all of them could not be sloppy.

What Song Biao can do is to let Rong Xingqiao and others concentrate their energy on the three most important things in the three eastern provinces as much as possible, soybeans, banks and railways, and do everything the Far East consortium can do, and it is necessary to do these three things well.

The best news for the three eastern provinces at this time was that the Vanderbilt family was willing to take root in the three eastern provinces for a long time, and together with the Far Eastern consortium to build the most prosperous eastern three provinces, and in the process restore the strength of the Vanderbilt family.

Railways, shipping, and finance are still the most concerned directions of the Vanderbilt family, especially in railway construction. Vanderbilt reached a number of potential deals, and Connes was the only one to make a number of potential deals. Vanderbilt was also willing to fund the construction of a university in the three eastern provinces, just like Vanderbilt University, which his grandfather had donated money to build.

Song Biao suggested that Connes. Vanderbilt, like the three eastern provinces, first concentrated educational donations and funds on secondary schools, first to meet the needs of the three eastern provinces in the development of industry and agriculture a large number of practical talents, and then to consider the problem of universities.

On the basis of spare resources, Song Biaocai considered supporting the development of Northeastern University, Northeast University of Political Science and Law, Aurora University, and Fengtian Normal University, except for Aurora University, which is a private university supported by the Far East Consortium, and the others are all government-run universities supported by the Governor's Office of the Three Eastern Provinces and the Fengtian University Political Bureau.

Vocational education is very important to China and the three eastern provinces, and even more important to the Far East consortium.

Therefore, in addition to aiding the construction of Aurora University, the Far Eastern Consortium only aided the construction of secondary schools, as long as the talents needed by the enterprises under the Far Eastern Consortium, they all built schools, and even some four-year vocational secondary schools that completely employ Russian, German, French, British, American, and Japanese teachers to teach in foreign languages.

(To be continued)