Chapter 1 Air Force (I)

An American-flagged warship slowly sailed toward the Wuchang docks, followed by a fleet of American-flagged ships that had been flying the same flag all along, and Fisher on the deck looked rather laid-back. Sit back in a chair and enjoy your last afternoon tea on the battleship. Fisher was accompanied by the captain of the ship, Colonel Nicholas.

Colonel Nicholas was curious about Fisher, a Jew who was said to have made a lot of money in China and opened a bank with a principal of tens of millions of dollars. On the journey from Manila to Shanghai, Nicholas felt the pickiness of this Jewish man who was heavily influenced by the Chinese in terms of quality of life.

Top Cuban cigars, top Chinese Fujian black tea, top blue and white porcelain tea sets, top American tailor zuò garments, top ....... Despite Fisher's courtesy, Nicholas did not dare to snub the financier who respected the commander of the fleet. In the United States, financiers are great bigwigs.

"Colonel Nicholas, look at this country, if you dig deeper, you will find that it has the richest land, the most industrious and least paid human resources, and endless mineral deposits, endless treasures waiting to be discovered. And if you want to discover these wealth, you must first learn to be friends with the Chinese, and once you become their friends, you will benefit for life. In recent times, Fisher has been repeating this argument constantly, constantly hypnotizing himself.

"Your point of view is correct, the Chinese are indeed friendly, but their country is too weak." Nicholas shrugged his shoulders, and Fisher smiled slightly, as if to say to himself: "Yes, but it will soon be slowly getting stronger." ”

"This is today's newspaper, and the British said in the newspaper that the tripartite talks had made a major breakthrough and established the state after the Qing government as a republican system. And said. Depending on the Provisional Government's preferences, an American-style system may be adopted. I wonder what Mr. Fisher thinks about this question? ”

"The core of the problem in this country is not what the system is, but who is stronger." Fisher stood up, walked briskly to the front of the deck, leaned on the railing, and watched as the greetings appeared on the dock. I silently read in my heart: Honorable Fang. I am back.

"Mom. Will you come to pick us up at the pier? Alice and her mother also appeared, and when the two walked to Fisher's side, looking at her daughter's eager eyes, Fisher smiled lovingly, raised her hand and touched her daughter's hair and said, "Yes, you will come." He's a gentleman, isn't he? ”

"I think Prince Charming is more correct!" The little girl said so in her heart, standing on tiptoe slightly. Let yourself look a little further.

On a subsequent freighter, dozens of foreigners waved their hats and whistled on the side of the ship. A dozen young Chinese gathered together and whispered. One of the young men seemed to be the leader of the group of Chinese boys, standing on the sidelines silently watching the crowd on the docks.

"Shenzhou, it's a pity that you don't go to Guangzhou to join your cousin Feng Ru, and come to Wuchang." Someone said a word, Feng Hua (the word Shenzhou. The character requested by the book friend) crooked his mouth and said lightly: "There are only a few planes and a few pilots in Guangzhou." Here in Wuchang, as far as I know in San Francisco, more than 30 people have been recruited from American flying enthusiasts and related technicians alone. There are also airplanes, a full twenty Curtis, didn't that Fisher say that Wuchang has to build its own planes. I told my cousin in telegram that the hope of the Chinese flyers is here, not in Canton! ”

As he spoke, Feng Hua showed an excited look, waved his fist and said, "I'm optimistic about Fang Jianxiong!" Optimistic about the United Autonomous Region. ”

Fang Jianxiong on the dock was talking to Governor Tang Hualong, while waiting. A lot has happened recently, but Fang Jianxiong is most concerned about the Nanjing Provisional Government. On January 21, Sun presided over the first cabinet meeting of the provisional government and decided on three major matters. One is an administrative policy, advocating centralization, and the other is to raise military salaries, and it is planned to use China Merchants as a mortgage of 10 million yuan. The third is to discuss peace and make a big decision, the Qing emperor abdicated, and Yuan Shikai came to Nanjing to take up the presidency. The Shanghai Metropolitan Government borrowed 300,000 yen from Mitsui & Co. of Japan to purchase arms in Japan. This was on the 24th. The person who handled the matter was Ryohei Uchida, the secretary of the Black Dragon Society. The next day, Huang Xing, Chen Jintao, Cai Yuanpei, Ma Junwu, and others attended a cabinet meeting and decided on matters such as the issuance of public bonds, military banknotes, and the collection of land taxes.

The most important feature of the Nanjing Provisional Government was that there were no secrets to speak of, and these things were known to Wuhan within a few days. The core of all these things is the financial problem, and the finances of the Nanjing Provisional Government have dried up. As for the centralization of power and the fact that Nanjing was the capital of the Republic of China, Fang Jianxiong and Tang Hualong reached a consensus of opinion.

That is, the so-called provisional government of the Republic of China, the matter of centralization can be acquiesced, and the matter of Nanjing as the capital is resolutely supported. The purpose of support is naturally to disgust Yuan Shikai. It is estimated that Lao Yuan will not go south to take office, and then stage a mutiny or something, and the business of becoming a bandit as a soldier is very skilled in the Beiyang Army. In fact, this is what Fang Jianxiong is waiting for, and when the time comes, there will be an excuse to use troops against the north. As for the financial problem, it is appropriate to give a little benefit to the Provisional Government of Nanjing, so that the Provisional Government's Northern Expedition will start first or something. I can't let Lao Yuan be too easy. In general, the Nanjing government made two preparations, the Northern Expedition was hard, and the tripartite peace talks were soft.

The autonomy of the two provinces represented by Fang Jianxiong will soon become three provinces. In view of the current situation, the government did its best to complete the unification of the decrees of the three provinces, and militarily prepared to go north or west. At this stage, Sun Baoqi and Tang Hualong are mainly in charge of government affairs. The Political Affairs Committee of the Three Provinces United Autonomous Region is about to be born, Tang Hualong, the governor of the province, has not been in a few days, Fang Jianxiong has already said hello in advance, and Tang Hualong is ready to take over the post of chairman of the Three Provinces United Autonomous Region Committee. Sun Baoqi's status is still detached, and he is the director of the independent Military and Political Supervision Bureau.

At present, Tang Hualong has paid great enthusiasm for this major government affairs. Even when waiting for the arrival of American financiers, he did not miss this opportunity to exchange views with Fang Jianxiong.

"Commander Fang, this independent ** official of the three provinces, I am still optimistic about Ju Zheng's appointment."

"I don't care about this, I have to be elected by the joint parliament." Fang Jianxiong responded with a smile, Tang Hualong was not reluctant, and continued: "How to deal with the financial problem? There must be a saying for the financial surrender of the three provinces, right? ”

"That's what the council is about, right? Negotiate a suitable system, and implement it. But let me start by saying that military spending and education expenses are not good and too short. Fang Jianxiong's attitude is quite fair, Tang Hualong is relieved. I silently calculated in my heart how much money the three provinces still had in their finances that could be freely disposed of after deducting a certain percentage of military spending. The money is definitely not enough, but it is much better than before. In the previous military government, there was basically nothing to do with the current parliamentarians, which is probably the reason why the gentry of the autonomous region were able to unite quickly.

After enjoying the taste of power in their hands, the gentry of the three provinces naturally moved closer to Fang Jianxiong. In the short term, the situation in the three provinces can be stabilized in the shortest possible time, and in the long run, it will not be taken care of for a while and a half, what Fang Jianxiong needs to do now is to develop and develop. A Hanyang gun factory, some of the business that can be completed by the subcontracted handicraft workshop, such as gun butts, small screws and so on, has driven some gentry to invest in the enterprise. With the successful experience of Wuhu, private enterprises in Wuhan have sprung up. In terms of tax policy, some preferential treatment was given to encourage private capital to invest in enterprises, which had an obvious effect on the recovery of Wuhan after the war.

Of course, Wuhan can't be compared with Wuhu Anqing, the forest is bigger, and there are all kinds of birds. Therefore, Fang Jianxiong went on a killing spree in Hankou and shot five people who embezzled relief funds in one go. In fact, the total amount is only more than 2,000 yuan, and Fang Jianxiong just hopes to use severe punishment to deter some wrongdoers.

Trouble came during the dry winter season, and the Fisher family disembarked from the warship and had to go ashore in a small boat. However, this did not affect the excitement of little Alice, who beckoned desperately on the boat. When Fang Jianxiong reached out when he went ashore, the cardamom exotic girl, jumped up like a swallow, wrapped her hands around Fang Jianxiong's neck, giggled, and took the opportunity to take a bite on her face.

"Fisher, ma'am, hard work." Putting down the girl, Fang Jianxiong stepped forward and stretched out his hand, and when Fisher shook hands with a reserved demeanor, Fang Jianxiong laughed, reached out and hugged him tightly.

"Fang, I brought back fifty great guys, some pilots, some technical. They are enthusiasts of this field, and many of them are overjoyed to hear that you can provide funds to develop an aircraft here. By the way, Mr. Curtis has entrusted me to convey his respect to you, as the largest customer of Curti in the world, you will receive a 20% discount on your purchases in the future. ”

Fisher was excited, but he still didn't forget to get down to business. Fang Jianxiong smiled and waved his hand, stretched out his hand to Alice, who was full of expectation, and the little girl tacitly held it.

"Alright, let's go meet the lads from across the ocean." Fang Jianxiong waved his hand, and the group followed forward for a while, and the first river ship had already begun to dock.

Compared to Americans, Chinese are always much more reserved. After a long journey, the American boys began to scream before they got off the ship, and they were all suffocated for this long journey. These Yankees were a little lawless, Fang Jianxiong was prepared in advance, and watched them all get off the boat with a smile, and then he explained to Fisher.

Fisher stepped forward and shouted, "Boys, come and meet your future boss, eighty dollars a month is not so easy to earn. I forgot one thing about you, there is no shortage of American compatriots in Wuhan, and there is no shortage of places to relax. Okay boys, come and see the boss, remember what I told you, don't upset him, or he will kick you in the ass and kick you back across the ocean. (To be continued)