"Chief Long, you have now become the commander of the Sichuan Army, eating and drinking spicy, but don't forget that our brothers in Yunnan are still suffering, the military salary has been in arrears for a long time, and to be honest, you can't open the pot, just point to this opium for some money, you will be a master, let us go!"

This person was the sailor who came to persuade Long Yun, named Hong Changgui, and between words, he quietly sent a bank ticket of 10,000 oceans to Long Yun.

"Chief Long, I won't let you help in vain, you can take this filial piety first, and your benefits will definitely be indispensable in the future!" This 10,000 oceans is definitely a lot, equivalent to Long Yun's salary for six or seven years, as the so-called wealth is moving, Long Yun is not unfond of money, but Sichuan has strict laws and regulations, and strict supervision, if he takes this money now, I am afraid that his future will be completely ruined.

"Boss Hong, I am a small regiment leader, even if you can pass my pass, there are countless joints, the marshal has been in power for a few years, the opium control of the Sichuan team is very tight, I am afraid that it will not work by relying on the old road of smuggling, although I am from Yunnan, but I can't help, I also found that there are a lot of native products in Yunnan shipped to Sichuan in southern Sichuan, and the price is not low.

Hong Changgui's face is not good-looking, although what Long Yun said is right, but Yunnan does not have this ability at all now, if you want to rely on commerce and trade to make a profit, then you have to repair the roads in Yunnan, if you want to get rich, first build the road This is an unbreakable truth, Yunnan's terrain is more rugged than Sichuan, and it is more difficult to renovate, Yunnan can't afford to pay for it now, even if it is repaired, won't it take a long time, Tang Jiyao can't wait at all, compared to the opium that has no profit, Tang Jiyao is really unwilling to spend that effort.

At present, the trade between Yunnan and Sichuan is only concentrated in the southern Sichuan region, which is not enough to support the operation of the Yunnan army, and Sichuan is getting stronger and stronger, which makes the Yunnan army, the first powerful army in the southwest in the past, more and more embarrassing, and now Yunnan can only rely on opium to maintain the operation of the army.

"Chief Long, you still need to help me for the sake of all Yunnan people, your benefits are absolutely indispensable!"

Hong Changgui continued to lure, Long Yun's face was gloomy, and he waved his hand at him: "Don't say it again, I didn't arrest you together, it's already a violation of discipline, I will never know the law and break the law, I also advise you, but also let the people behind you know that relying on these means that can't be put on the table is not a long-term strategy after all!" Long Yun expelled Hong Changgui out, and then immediately reported the situation to Shangfeng, and is now in charge of Zhu Qinglan in southern Sichuan, after receiving the report, Zhu Qinglan knew that the matter was important and rushed to the Syrian Mansion in person.

Zhu Qinglan looked at the seized cloud soil with a gloomy face, there were 30 stones, one stone was 120 catties, and more than 3,000 catties of opium were piled up like a small mountain, and Zhu Qinglan asked Long Yun to bring up the people who were caught trafficking opium.

There are four people who were caught, and there are many porters, a total of more than 40 people, Zhu Qinglan swept these people with his eyes, and he saw that they were all born in the army, and they were also well-trained, Zhu Qinglan grabbed a person's palm, only to see that there was a thick layer of calluses on his hands, which was the result of using guns for a long time, and there was no need to ask anymore when he saw this, this must be someone in the Yunnan army.

"Zhizhou, what do you think about this?"

"Sir, I think this is a premeditated plan by the Dian army to sell opium through Sichuan to raise military salaries, and it should not only be able to traffic drugs on a large scale, but there should also be cooperative forces within Sichuan, otherwise this will definitely not be possible!" Long Yun replied.

Zhu Qinglan nodded, "Zhizhou, what you said is right, I will give you a task now, that is, to thoroughly investigate this matter, no matter who is only involved in drug trafficking, arrest them together, I will report to the patrol envoy, drugs are very harmful, and they must not be tolerated!" ”

Zhu Qinglan gave the order to die, Long Yun immediately took action, in fact, when he seized drugs, Long Yun secretly began to investigate, he knew that this was an opportunity for himself, as long as he performed well, he would be able to get the appreciation of his superiors, and at the same time, he could also prove to Qiao Yu that although Long Yun was from Yunnan, he was still loyal to Sichuan, and only by gaining the trust of his superiors could he be promoted.

Of course, the friendship of fellow villagers also made him worry for a while, but seeing Zhu Qinglan attaching so much importance to it, Long Yun knew that he had bet on the right treasure, and in just ten days, Long Yun cracked two large-scale opium smuggling cases in a row, arrested more than 100 people involved in the case, found out five hiding dens, seized more than 1,000 stones of opium, a total of more than 100,000 catties, more than 500 catties of morphine, and more than 30 officials involved in the case in Sichuan.

After Qiao Yu got the report, he was immediately furious, Sichuan has always regarded anti-drug work as an important cause, how could he not be angry when he knew that there would be such a loophole, Qiao Yu hurriedly found Wang Lingji.

"Fang Zhou, you swore to me that you would control drugs, and now that the Syrian government has found tens of thousands of catties of opium in just a few days, and dozens of officials are involved in the case, how can you let me explain to the people of Sichuan!"

Wang Lingji's head was full of hot sweat, "The big handsome is angry, the humble and negligent, and the big handsome is punished!" ”

"Hmph, is the Anti-Smoking Bureau involved?"

Qiao Yu set up an anti-smoking bureau, to put it bluntly, he wanted to seek huge profits through opium, and now the drugs in Sichuan have been sold to the capital, Europe and the United States, which greatly subsidizes the financial difficulties, but drugs are not a good thing after all, if the anti-smoking bureau has a mistake and exposes these situations, it will definitely be a blow to Qiao Yu's image, and even the great powers will be dissatisfied, which is also a major reason for Qiao Yu's anger.

"Dashuai, the humble post has been verified, there is no problem with the anti-smoking bureau, the purchase of opium and the sale of products are under control, there is no problem of collusion with Yunnan, this time it should be a smuggling path established by Yunnan alone, according to my analysis is that after the economic and trade development of southern Sichuan, there will be more personnel exchanges, and many businessmen in Yunnan will also traffic products to Sichuan, and there will be more personnel exchanges, and there will be negligence in supervision, so Yunnan has an opportunity!"

Qiao Yu heard Wang Lingji's explanation and nodded slightly, if this is the case, there will not be much of a problem, "Fang Zhou, is the Dian army very difficult now?" ”

"Marshal, as far as I know, this is true, last year, the military salary of the Yunnan army was only 280,000 oceans, not even a fraction of Sichuan, and there are nearly 20,000 soldiers, if it is not for the smuggling of opium, that little money is not even enough money, how can you buy arms and materials!"

Now the total annual military expenditure of the Sichuan army has exceeded 10 million, of course, many of them are invested in the field of military industry, but the current military salary of the Sichuan army is even higher than that of Beiyang, and the annual expenditure is more than 500,000 yuan, and there is no way to compare with other provinces.

Qiao Yu simply weighed it, the original Yunnan Army, the first strongest army in the southwest, had not made any progress in recent years, and it was still standing still on the basis of the former Qing Dynasty, and it had been thrown away by Sichuan, and it seemed that the opportunity he had been waiting for had appeared.

"Fang Zhou, in addition to smuggling opium from Yunnan, has Guizhou found any smuggling?"

"Of course there is, and Liu Xianshi in Guizhou also planted opium on a large scale, and the Qianjun also relied on opium to make a living!"

When Qiao Yu heard this, he immediately had a plan in his heart, "Fang Zhou, how about you think Sichuan and Guizhou will join forces to carry out an anti-drug campaign?" ”

Wang Lingji was stunned for a moment, and then figured it out, this is a means for Qiao Yu to use opium to deal with Tang Jiyao and Liu Xianshi, all the princes in the world are selling opium, no one is clean, even Qiao Yu is the same, but Qiao Yu mainly sells abroad, but after all, this thing is a criminal thing that kills the people and makes people hate, if a local official is linked to drug dealers, the reputation will really stink, and it may even be lost.

"Dashuai, now we purchase a total of about 20,000 stone of cloud soil through the Anti-Smoking Bureau every year, which is less than half of Yunnan's output, and most of the rest should be smuggled and trafficked, as long as the smuggled opium can be cut off, Yunnan's finances will collapse immediately, this is the best strategy for the soldiers to surrender without a fight!"

"Well, you send a telegram to Zhang Bailin, asking him to step up the investigation in Guizhou, and then cooperate with Sichuan to do it."

Qiao Yu spread the net, the spearhead has been pointed at Tang Jiyao, the outbreak of the first war made Qiao Yu's power more and more inflated, and at the same time saw through the weakness of Beiyang, if it weren't for the problem of the great powers, Qiao Yu even had plans to start a war with Yuan Shikai, but for Qiao Yu in Yunnan and Guizhou provinces, he was definitely determined to win.

Sichuan's powerful administrative apparatus was put into operation, and 14 large and small drug trafficking gangs were soon smashed in succession, and more than 1,000 officials were involved in the case.

Nearly eighty percent of these opiums are produced in Yunnan, and the press is boiling again, and the journalists of this era are very happy, there is always no shortage of news materials, and at the same time, there are not too many taboos, and they can speak freely without the slightest consideration, and some people even gave Tang Jiyao the nickname of the opium governor.

Just when everyone was talking about drug trafficking in Yunnan, Qiao Yu personally came to the Sichuan Provincial Assembly and reported to the members of the council on the progress of the drug case in southern Sichuan.

"Ladies and gentlemen, after careful investigation by the Sichuan side, 14 drug trafficking gangs have been cracked, and more than 3,000 stone of opium have been seized, a very astonishing amount, more than eighty percent of these opiums are produced in Yunnan, and there are still quite a few Yunnan soldiers among the porters who traffick drugs, and now the evidence has shown that Tang Jiyao, the governor of Yunnan, has become the driving force behind the drug trade, and I hereby formally request Tang Jiyao that this criminal action must be stopped and the people of Sichuan must be stopped!"