In Nanjing, about a kilometer away from the temporary palace, there is a very clear difference between this street and other streets in Nanjing, that is, the streets are full of administrators in Chinese costumes.

Before the Chinese army conquered Nanjing, it was requisitioned by the Taiping Army as the residence of those senior generals, perhaps because the Taiping Army was in a hurry, and this piece of residence was not burned down.

Therefore, after the Chinese army entered the city, it continued to requisition this piece of street and used it to temporarily relocate some of the offices that were relocated to Nanjing.

For example, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, the two central cabinet departments, the Finance Department of the Palace Affairs Department, the Changzhen Jiangdao Yamen, the Jiangning Mansion Yamen and a large number of institutions are temporarily placed here.

There are also a few similar places, where many government agencies are housed, but unlike the scattered placement of government agencies, the various agencies on the military side are relatively unified, and the various departments of the Supreme Command are directly placed in a courtyard only across the road from the temporary palace.

Of course, the above-mentioned office space is only a temporary measure, and it is not possible to always work in private houses, and when the construction office builds those office buildings, these institutions will move into new office buildings one after another.

It is said that the construction of the Supreme Command Building, which was built at the military's own expense, has already begun on the right side of the Imperial Palace, and this construction is a large building complex, which is intended to house all the military ministries and institutions.

Pan Lixuan walked into the finance office, and soon someone greeted him, and Pan Lixuan immediately said to his entourage: "Let all the section chiefs come to the conference room for a meeting!" ”

Not long after, many officials from the Finance Department, who were also wearing Chinese costumes, walked into the conference room one after another, and Pan Lixuan sat on it early, and these subordinates did not walk in as restrained as officials in other government agencies, but sat down more casually.

Although the Finance Department of the Palace Affairs Department has been under the official administrative body, but in fact this institution has nothing to do with the officialdom, the predecessor of the Finance Department is the headquarters of the Lin Commercial Bank, and the section chiefs of each section are actually the former big shopkeepers, and even those section members are the shopkeepers and stewards of various places, and there is no traditional official in it.

Therefore, this finance department is an official organization, not a company headquarters with an official background!

Pan Lixuan saw that everyone was almost here, and there was not much nonsense, so he just said: "I've been in Shanghai for a long time this time, let's talk about everything at home these days!" ”

The young man who immediately looked young, only about thirty, but he learned from the young man with a short beard and said: "In the past few days that the director has been gone, although there are no major events, but there are many small things, let's say that my side, the front cabinet finance department said that the use is tight, and once again delayed the royal donation, and now it has accumulated arrears of 30,000 silver yuan of royal contributions here, and the construction office has written again, and the finance department has been in arrears for the construction of the palace, so let's temporarily spend 8,000 silver dollars to purchase stones!" ”

This person's name is An Linchi, and he is the eldest son of the former Lin Mansion Steward An Butler, his father An Steward has been a Lin Mansion Steward in his early years, and has been in charge of the Lin Mansion industry for more than ten years.

However, Steward An is nearly seventy years old, and he retired after his mental health was poor a few years ago, and Pan Lixuan only took the position after he stepped down.

After the establishment of the Finance Department, he served as the head of the Finance Department, and was generally in charge of the expenses of the royal family's money, such as accepting the government's 'donation' to the royal family, that is, the royal maintenance fee/living expenses. Responsible for the expenses of the royal family's life, it can be regarded as an institution in the treasury that has a direct connection with the royal family.

Unlike other institutions that are purely commercial organizations, such as the textile department, the machinery department, the shipping department, etc.!

Pan Lixuan casually flipped through the text he handed over, and then said, "Is there a date for the Finance Department to be determined?" ”

An Linchi shook his head: "No! ”

Pan Lixuan frowned when he heard this, these cabinet people, especially those in the finance department, were all staring at the money in the finance department of my palace affairs department, and they didn't want to give the money, but they still wanted to take the money from me, how could it be so easy, and immediately said: "You give them a letter, just say that the arrears of the donation must be in place within the month, otherwise you will accuse him of ignoring the royal family." As for the construction office to borrow money, you can give them 35,000 yuan first, but you must let them set up official notes, and in the future, you must take these notes and the finance department's theory! ”

Du Zhike's side is involved in matters related to the life of the royal family, the biggest of which is the expenditure of various royal supplies, Pan Lixuan looked at it, and then said: "Last month's expenses were a lot more, it is not possible to go on like this, you Du Zhike here must strictly review the purchase order sent by the Internal Affairs Department, for example, this kerosene lamp procurement, the purchase price is obviously more than 10% more than the market price, how did you audit, such a big mistake can not be seen, and then change a supplier!" ”

An Linchi said with embarrassment: "This supplier is Lord Chen's Chen firm, and the purchase list of lamps and lanterns was handed to them by the palace!" ”

As soon as he heard this Lord Chen, and said that it was the palace that handed over the words, he immediately knew that this Lord Chen should be Chen Lin, the younger brother of Queen Chen Jing, after Chen Jing was named queen, he was also named a viscount, although it was not hereditary, but he was also a member of the nobility.

Pan Lixuan, who was involved in the matter, also felt a headache, these things involving the royal family were more troublesome, and the palace handed over the words, and it was not easy for him to refute it directly, but this price could not be let go, otherwise the royal family would be wronged one by one.

Immediately said: "Then dismiss it first, let them lower the price!" ”

An Linchi said: "What if they don't want to? ”

Pan Lixuan said: "Then drag it out, anyway, there is no need for so many lamps and lanterns in the temporary palace now, these lamps and lanterns are prepared for the new palace, and you can afford to wait for three or five months!" ”

After hastily dealing with the troubles of the Duzhi department, Pan Lixuan started to deal with the affairs of several other departments.

Comparatively speaking, the work of the other departments is the main work of the main body of the Treasury Department, and the responsibility for the living expenses of the royal family is only secondary.

First of all, Shi Dequan, the chief of the textile section, this Shi Dequan is the old qualified shopkeeper of the Lin firm, and his body is still very healthy in his sixties: "Our family's silkworm cocoon harvest in Huzhou this year is not very good, I am afraid that it is difficult to supply the silk reeling factory in Shanghai, at first I wanted to cooperate with several others, but the price of those silkworm cocoons is a little high, so we are planning to find a few suppliers in Zhejiang and several other places in southern Jiangsu!" ”

Pan Lixuan said: "Now we need more and more silkworm cocoons, especially the fifth branch is about to be put into production, and the sixth branch in Ningbo is also about to start, the acquisition of silkworm cocoons can not be delayed for too long, to find more and see more, go back to your last detailed report to me!" ”

Although the textile industry is currently the bulk of the royal industry, the development is relatively stable, the momentum is very good, and there is not too much mess, so Pan Lixuan does not have too much to worry about.

What really worries him is the affairs of the machine department, the machine department of the finance department, and many heavy industry factories in charge of the royal industry, such as the Linde Machinery Factory, Jinling Arsenal, Linde Machinery Company, and Jiangnan Mining are all managed by the Machinery Factory.

And the things reported are also many and messy, such as the expansion of the Linde Machinery Factory and the preparation of the Jinling Arsenal.

"There are still too few technical personnel now, and it is becoming more and more difficult to hire externally, Hong Kong and South Asia have basically searched for everything, but the technical personnel required by the factories, especially the intermediate technical personnel, are still quite large!" Chu Luanyi, the section chief of the machine qì section, said:

"The reports from the factories have come to me, so can you let us take the lead and negotiate with the officer schools of the navy and the army, and let them entrust the training of some technicians!"

Pan Lixuan shook his head after hearing this: "The officer schools of the navy and the army are not easy to meddle in, and the officers they need cannot be trained. ”

"Do it yourself?" Chu Luanyi pondered: "If you do it yourself, the money is easy to say, but this teacher is not easy to manage, and we have never run a school before, so we don't know what the charter is!" ”

Pan Lixuan said: "It doesn't matter if you haven't done it, we haven't done it in the past, we haven't done it before, but now it's not good, as long as you work hard, you can do it!" ”

For the finance department, many affairs are starting from scratch, in the past, the steam reeling factory was like this, the Linde Machinery Factory, the Linde Machinery Company was also like this, and later the Shanghai Shipyard was still the same, all from scratch, and now it is not the same impressive.

Stepping into a field that Chinese people have never set foot in is also a characteristic of the royal industry.

"In this way, I will go back to a few factories to negotiate and negotiate, and then get a charter out!"

Each section of the Finance Division is in charge of an industry in an industry, and it is not so easy to take charge of a huge business group with assets of nearly 10 million yuan.

After dealing with these internal affairs, Pan Lixuan was not idle, and the next day he went to the temporary palace with a thick stack of reports to ask to see Lin Zhe.

However, there are a lot of people waiting for Lin Zhe to summon him, and he can only wait after he arrives, and it just so happens that Tai Zhupan, the co-organizer of the Ministry of Finance, is waiting, since he has met, Pan Lixuan has to get a few words with them, and ask them to hurry up and bring the royal family contribution.

However, this group of people in the finance department are all iron roosters, and as soon as they heard that they wanted money, they used various excuses to open the topic, and they didn't give Pan Lixuan a clear explanation for a long time.

And soon, Tai Zhupan, the co-organizer of the Ministry of Finance of the Palace Affairs Department, came to see him, and Tai Zhupan immediately said to Pan Lixuan: "Let's talk when you have time!" ”

Then he dodged in, leaving a back for Pan Lixuan!

At this time, a muttering sounded next to him: "These iron roosters who are not plucked out will clean them up one day sooner or later!" (To be continued.) )