Yang Shukan pondered for a long time, and said: "I promised you that the alliance will withdraw from Dongchuan, but I also hope that you can talk and count, and don't go back on your word!" ”

"You can rest assured that there is never a time when you don't talk yet." Yang Shukan, Zhang Peijue, Zhu Zhihong and other alliance cadres were sent out of Yucheng, and now most of the power in Dongchuan has fallen into the hands of Qiao Yu and the Yucheng Chamber of Commerce, and now the patrol police are making every effort to restore order in the market, Qiao Yu also generously paid his own money to compensate for the damage yesterday, and also arrested some scum who took advantage of the chaos yesterday to loot, kill those who should be killed, and be busy with the chaos, and also deal with the patrol battalion soldiers who participated in the rebellion.

These people took the ocean, and they all became extremely obedient, Qiao Yu sent someone to investigate carefully, and found that most of those members of the party had escaped from the army, and without their intervention, it seemed that it would be much easier to control this army.

Qiao Yu, accompanied by Han Yong, first came to inspect the mental outlook of these patrol battalion soldiers, and after looking at it for a while, Qiao Yu shook his head very much, the old, weak, sick and disabled were mixed, and the army was not in order, it was strange that this kind of army could have combat effectiveness, just when he was watching, suddenly a soldier suddenly ran in front of Qiao Yu, fluttered and knelt down, snot and tears stayed together: "Master Qiao, please reward me with a little opium smoke, I will kowtow to you!" Please, I'm going to die! As he spoke, the soldier couldn't stop clutching his chest with his hand, he was already bleeding and didn't know it at all, Han Yong said in a low voice: "Young master, there are quite a few big smokers in the patrol camp, I have already taken a few of them, these people are poisoned to the bone marrow, they are not worthy of pity!" ”

Qiao Yu's heart was also sour, not that he felt pity for the big smoker in front of him, but that he was a little sad about China, from the Celestial Empire to the sick man of East Asia, how many years has this little opium plagued China! Waving his hand to let this big smoker drag away, there was a careful look at the other soldiers, many people couldn't stop laughing, tears, it seems that the addiction to smoking is about to be committed, lamenting its misfortune, angry I am afraid that this is the case, Qiao Yu quickly came to Taishang, and cleared his throat.

"Everyone is a child of Bashu, I will never treat you badly, you can rest assured in the future, it is indispensable to eat fragrant and spicy food, but there is a premise that you must listen to my orders, if you do not obey the order, the consequences must be known to you! Now there are more than 1,500 soldiers in the patrol battalion, most of them are addicted to smoking, just like this one, do you think this kind of person still has combat effectiveness, is this still the appearance of soldiers, in addition, there are many old and weak, no combat effectiveness, such an army must be rectified, cut the old and weak, and retain the strong, but don't worry, although the elimination will not let you starve, but after training, let you become a local patrol police, responsible for local security, and your income will never be reduced. But there is one thing that everyone should remember, that is, you must not get involved in opium, and those who are addicted to smoking must quit as soon as possible, and there are no big smokers in my team! ”

Opium is indeed a thing that makes people hate deeply, since the end of the Qing Dynasty, the scale of drug cultivation in the three southwestern provinces is very large, Sichuan is also the hardest hit area, in 1908 when Sichuan's opium output value reached 35 million taels of silver, in the province consumption of 23 million taels, can be compared with the Manchu Qing central income, opium smokers account for an astonishing number, in the city men smoke opium, a little money, a little status people all smoke opium, completely regard this drug as the enjoyment of the superior peopleWomen also smoke opium by more than 20 percent, and the proportion in rural areas is quite high, with men accounting for about a quarter, and even more in some remote mountainous areas.

The reason why it has reached such an astonishing scale is that the common people are not aware of the harm of opium at all, and the more important problem lies in the Manchu political axe, due to the Gengzi indemnity and other problems, the Qing court urgently needs to deprive the common people to fill the financial vacancy, and the excessive taxes and miscellaneous taxes are like cattle hair, and the price of grain is too low, often the common people are desperate to farm the land for a year can not fill their stomachs, and opium, a "cash crop", can bring huge profits, one or two opium can buy a silver dollar, and one acre of land can produce thirty or fifty taels of opium, Even if various taxes are deducted, the profit is several times or even dozens of times that of farming, so opium cultivation has become a trend.

The local political axe also relies on opium to increase taxes, but this crazy cultivation will inevitably bring serious consequences, the grain production is insufficient, and the wealth is consumed between the clouds and mist, Zhao Erxun has vigorously banned smoking since he served as the governor of Sichuan, persuaded the people, encouraged the planting of other crops, and strictly banned smoking, it can be said that the effect is very significant, and now the number of opium smokers in Sichuan has dropped a lot, and it cannot but be said that it is a major political achievement of Zhao Erxun.

However, the patrol battalion as an old army, there are countless bad habits, and the amount of opium smoking is still a lot, hearing Qiao Yu's words, everyone's hearts can't help but think, whether it is to continue to eat food as a soldier, or to be a patrol officer, the first thing is to quit smoking, some people who are not deeply contaminated will quit smoking immediately, no matter how hard they try, they can get a job, and they will not worry about eating and drinking in the future, it is worth it, and those who have been poisoned into the bone marrow have no choice but to accept their fate.

This side has not been dealt with yet, Wang Dongcheng, Wang Gui, Xue Shan, Xu Hua and other big businessmen came to Qiao Yu under the leadership of Bai Kuan, and heard Wang Dongcheng's laughter from afar: "Shunqing, it's really a big deal, we people have worked in vain in this life, and the future is terrifying!" ”

As soon as Qiao Yu saw that these people were coming, he had to discuss with them what to do next, and now everyone was in a trench, sharing honor and disgrace.

"Boss Wang is polite, let's come to my office, let's just talk about business!"

"We've been waiting for a long time!" Several big businessmen laughed, there was a rebellion last night, and these people also hung their hearts, although they were all notified by Qiao Yu in advance, but there was still a trace of doubt about whether Qiao Yu could suppress the rebellion, but the result greatly exceeded their hopes, not only suppressed the mutiny, but also forced the imperial court to sign an alliance under the city, and had the power to supervise taxes.

These big businessmen are clever and cunning, only 200,000 taels of silver have not been seen in their eyes, they see other aspects, now there are more and more factories in Yucheng, need to transport a large number of raw materials, and at the same time transport out a large number of goods, between the exchanges must be a little bit of local officials, otherwise it will not be able to pass smoothly at all, now have the right to supervise, it is equivalent to reaching out to the counties, those dog officials do not want to get oil and water from them, this alone can save a million taels of silver in a year, It also unclogs local joints and makes it easier to sell goods, and the benefits are immeasurable.

At the same time, these people also really admired Qiao Yu's courage and vision, and after everyone sat down, Wang Gui first stretched out his thumb: "Brother Qiao, you are considered to be this one, in the future, we businessmen have to send money and things to those officials, so that we can barely operate, now we can supervise their tax collection in a grand manner, and no longer have to look at their eyes, it is really happy!" ”

"Brother Wang is polite, but Brother Wang only knows one and doesn't know the other, after all, this is not in line with the laws of the imperial court, if we want to maintain, we must rely on the strength in our hands, otherwise the local landlord will be able to tear us all apart!"

"Yes, there are still landlords in the countryside, and the clan power is also huge, if we want to supervise, we will take benefits from them and those evil officials, it is easy to be counterattacked, Shunqing, you still have to come up with some specific regulations!"

Xue Shan on the side also interjected: "Yes, I only thought of the good, not the bad, and although we signed an agreement with Zhu Youji and Niu Chuanshan, what should we do if these officials turn around and don't admit it, aren't we a bamboo basket?" ”

Qiao Yuwei smiled and said: "Boss Xue is right, but the imperial court doesn't seem to have the time to manage these, I heard a few days ago that the rumors of the nationalization of Sichuan Han Road are said to be prosperous, and now the new cabinet of the imperial court is also fresh out of the cage, I estimate that no matter who is in power, the new cabinet will nationalize the railway, relying on this to borrow some money from foreigners, no one can play without money, and the problem of Sichuan Han Road, everyone knows better than me how many problems there are, I am afraid that the turmoil in Sichuan is just around the corner, I am now eager to extend my power to the locality, It is to let us stand more firmly before the turmoil comes, at least to keep the trade route safe, otherwise our newly built factories are facing a crisis! ”

Many people present are well aware of the problem of Chuanhan Road, and know that this is a hornet's nest, but now the rumors of the imperial court are indeed as Qiao Yu said, it seems that the momentum of nationalization is very clear, and everyone's hearts are constantly measuring the power of it.