It is not only Fang Shengyuan who is anxious, but also Zhou Xuexi, director of the Economic Bureau. However, Zhou Xuexi is not worried about his official position, but for the work in his hands. He felt more and more that the problem of not quickly forming a central government and setting up provincial governments was too big, and now it really became a real story of chicken or egg, and he really couldn't understand why Long Qian was waiting for the establishment of that illusory parliament.

Before Zhou Xuexi was transferred to Beijing, he corresponded with his father who was still in Guangzhou several times. Due to the Mengshan Army's first rebellion in Guangzhou, Zhou Fu was criticized by the old officialdom friends, Bingwu was promoted as the president of the Preparatory Constitutional Association, Zheng Xiaoxu, who had been the envoy of Guangdong, also made a poem of the seven laws of strict discipline published in the "Declaration", which was very sarcastic about Zhou Fu, who betrayed the Lord and sought glory, Zheng Xiaoxu is the most famous poet nowadays, and the old Zhou Fu is angry enough, but he can't refute it, because he set a precedent for the rebellion and liquidation of the governor-level officials, and Yang Shixiang, who has died of illness, at least took the method of resignation to calm down the discussion, Zhou Fu is good, Directly transferred from the governor of Liangguang to the camp of the Mengshan army.

The freedom of speech that has gradually opened since the Manchu New Deal has not been curtailed by the Mengshan Army's seizure of the world, but the so-called Qing Dynasty rarely commented on Long Qian and his senior officer corps, and the firepower was concentrated on those "wall grass", which was very resentful of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and Zhou Fu naturally became one of the targets of venting.

In the Qing Dynasty, Zhou Fu revealed his boredom with officialdom in his letter to Zhou Xuexi, saying that he had not slept well recently and was in poor spirits, and had sent a letter to Long Qian asking him to resign from the post of governor of the Guangzhou Military Government and return to his hometown for the elderly (in fact, that position had no real power), but Long Qian still tried his best to keep it. But I have already decided to go, and I don't want to do it. Although Zhou Fu expressed his intention to retreat, he asked Zhou Xuexi to serve the new dynasty wholeheartedly, "If it is decided today, whether he is the emperor or the republic, there is no one to compete with today." Wu'er has worked for it for many years, and he has made small contributions, and he has praised you many times when he was in Guangzhou, and he will definitely not let you live in Huayuan's narrow place for a long time. I thought it was my father's view. or go to Beijing to participate in ministry affairs, or assist Chen Yuezhi in taking charge of Shandong government affairs, and the two must be one of them. My son must not be influenced by being a father, let alone be clear. The future of the Zhou family. It's all up to you......"

Of course, Zhou Xuexi will not be affected by his father's gloomy feelings. He has long been a major general in the economic circles of the Mengshan Army. Before and after the outbreak of the war, Zhou Xuexi made every effort to organize the production of munitions, which not only made the Shandong army full of guns and ammunition. It also supported a large number of munitions of the Southern Army and the Northern Army, and made great contributions to the Mengshan Army to seize the world. How could he establish a new dynasty but resign and not do it? In his last letter to his father when he was in Shandong, he said that he had no intention of becoming an official, but was only willing to save the country through industry. Not to mention surpassing Britain and the United States, at least Japan and Russia are not a problem. As for Chen Yuezhi, who has returned to Shandong to take charge of the government, he once revealed to me that he may transfer me to Beijing.

Soon, the order to transfer him to Beijing arrived.

He reluctantly handed over Huayuan's errand and set off for Beijing. Unexpectedly, Long Qian gave him the high position of director of the Economic Bureau of the Military Commission. The central organ has not yet been formed, and the Military Commission is the highest military and political organ, and there are only five bureaus in total, and he actually occupies one of them, and it is a vital economic bureau! has become a big man who can be compared to Fang Sheng.

The mission of the Economic Bureau, Long Qian has made it clear to him, before the formation of the government, the Economic Bureau is the economic cabinet, and it has the important task of sorting out the national economy, whether it is industry, agriculture or transportation and taxation, all of which are under the jurisdiction of the Economic Bureau!

Zhou Xuexi immediately said that he was incompetent. He said to Long Qian, if you want him to manage the industry of a province, he has the confidence to manage it well, but the burden you give is too heavy to pick up!

Long Qian said to him, if you can't pick it, you have to pick it! I haven't thought of a more suitable person other than you. We have worked hard to take the country, and everyone naturally has to pick up the burden that we have not picked before, even me, isn't it also groping every day? Brother Zhizhi, I know that you like to engage in industry like Zhang Yurui, this is very good, China must be strong, and it will definitely not work without a strong industry! Fang Minggao's Political Affairs Bureau is designing the formation of the government, and the plan has not yet been finalized, but the Ministry of Industry must have it, and the minister is you! In the future, the industrial layout of the whole country will be under your control, and there will definitely be a place for you. What you need to do now is to do a good job in this transitional stage, and when the government is established, finance, taxation, transportation, and agriculture will naturally have a department to take care of, you will be able to go all out to grasp the industry.

Minister of Industry is a position he is looking forward to. Since participating in the competition between the Kailuan Coal Mine and the British, Zhou Xuexi has been fascinated by industry, and firmly believes that only prosperous industry can save the ruined motherland. This ideal has been partially realized in Huayuan Industry, and now Huayuan Industrial Group is already the leading behemoth in China...... But the overall management of the country's industrial construction is not much more difficult than the management of Huayuan Industry, Long Qian's weight made Zhou Xuexi very excited, especially after Long Qian outlined the ten-year plan for him.

However, the Economic Bureau of the Military Commission was not the prototype of the future Ministry of Industry, but the body that coordinated the economic work of the whole country. In addition to planning the industrial layout, it is also necessary to consider agricultural, commercial and financial issues, which is Long Qian's clear instructions. Therefore, after Zhou Xuexi became the director of the Economic Bureau, he first set up four departments: the Department of Industry, Agriculture, Commerce and Finance. He also served as the director of the industrial department, and recruited talents in Shandong's agriculture and commerce: Deng Gongchao, who led the rural autonomy in the later period, recommended by Chen Chao, was the director of agriculture, and Xie Deyi, vice president in charge of sales of Huayuan Industrial, was the director of commerce. But in terms of finance, he had no one, but fortunately, Long Qian ordered the general, and Jiang Jiying, president of Shandong Commercial Bank, was the director of finance.

Long Qian has three tasks for the Economic Bureau, the first is to recruit talented people in an eclectic manner, no matter what their background, as long as they support the new regime and really have talent, they can be absorbed into the Economic Bureau's "reserve"; in the future, the establishment of the central government organs will require a large number of talents who understand the economy, so it is only too little, not too much. The second is to carry out research and find out the family background, especially the industrial background, so as to facilitate the layout of the national industry and formulate medium and long-term plans. In terms of agriculture, the most urgent task is to revive agriculture, and there is also the issue of strengthening research and formulating relevant policies, especially land reform policies. The third is to straighten out the fiscal and financial order and establish a central bank. Preparation for the issuance of a unified currency.

This is an extremely difficult task. Zhou Xuexi thought that the pressure of the two bureaus of government affairs and propaganda was much greater than that of the public eye, and he proposed to Long Qian several times that he was not qualified for the important task of director of the economic bureau, and asked Long Qian to choose another meritocracy, and he was willing to serve as the director of the industrial department.

Long Qian vetoed his request, but assigned him two more deputies, one of which was Jiang Jiying, who had already been transferred to Beijing, as deputy director of the Economic Bureau and director of the Financial Department, and provoked the overall planning of financial (mainly financial) work. The other deputy director is Song Jinguo. The logistics expert of the Mengshan Army and the head of the Joint Logistics Headquarters, but Song Jinguo has not been able to take office, and he is still in Hubei to deal with the affairs of the Hanyeping Company. Because it involves investment from Japan and other countries. The work of recovering Han Yeping is extremely complex. It even involves the diplomatic pattern of New China.

As a matter of fact, the actual task of the Economic Bureau is to raise military spending and central expenditures. Although the war was over, the army was expanded. The 17 divisions of the army plus the navy have a total strength of nearly 500,000 troops, and the military salary alone is 3.2 million oceans per month. This is only a military salary, Outer Mongolia has to use troops, the Equipment Bureau of the Joint Logistics Headquarters continues to place arms orders for Shandong Industry, and the troops have to change to new military uniforms as a whole, and Shandong Industry cannot fully advance funds as it did during the war; during the three months of the civil war, the two major groups of Huayuan and Zhongxing put forward the slogan of going all out to support the front, and the salaries of the staff were reduced by two-thirds, which is equivalent to owing a sum of money. If you have the surname Dragon today, you can't help but make up the salary you owe. It costs money for the center to be stationed in Beijing, and it also has to bear the cost of clearing the house, and it also has to manage the bitter and barren places such as the northwest and southwest...... According to Zhou Xuexi's estimates, even if the cost of weapons purchase is put aside, it will require at least four million oceans of expenditure per month! The central government's fiscal revenue is mainly customs duties and salt taxes, most of which are controlled by the foreign powers to pay back the reparations, and the local government must have reduced because of the outbreak of war. For a time, Zhou Xuexi was very worried about financial problems.

Fortunately, he didn't need to worry about these payments, and Jiang Jiying's Shandong Commercial Bank paid in advance, which made him very relieved. However, Zhou Xuexi is still very curious, how much financial resources does Shandong Commercial Bank have? It is said that Jiang Jiying has made a lot of money on rubber, even if he makes 20 million, he can only support the huge expenses for a few months. Long Qian didn't explain to him in detail in this regard, and he didn't bother to ask.

Han Yeping United Company is Zhou Xuexi's concern, if the big enterprise founded by Zhang Zhidong is revitalized, China's steel output will rise to a higher level. But it will definitely cost money, and after arriving in Beijing, Zhou Xuexi got a report on Han Yeping's current situation, during which he was entangled in a large amount of foreign debts, which immediately wrote off his original joy - it was not an asset, but a burden.

Fortunately, Song Jinguo did not fail in his mission, and after several months of twisting and turning, he finally achieved a result acceptable to Long Qian, and last night, Song Jinguo finally returned to Beijing, not to his joint logistics headquarters, but to report to the Economic Bureau first.

Just when Bai Ruiting took Fang Shengtao to Tieshi Hutong to talk about the shortcomings of the American democratic system, Song Jinguo was reporting to Zhou Xuexi on the resumption of production of Hanyeping Company and negotiations with Japan.

After not seeing each other for a few months, Song Jinguo lost a whole weight.

"Minister Song has worked hard." Zhou Xuexi said sincerely.

"You can't say it's hard to work for the commander, besides, isn't everyone the same?"

"Have you seen the commander?"

This is natural, Song Jinguo just came out of Haiyan Hall, because Long Qian had too many things, several groups of people were waiting to meet, Song Jinguo was "cut in line", hurriedly met Long Qian, reported to Long Qian about the errand in Hubei (in fact, there were many telegrams exchanged with each other), and then resigned.

"Have you seen your family?" Zhou Xuexi asked.

"Did they come to Beijing?" Song Jinguo was surprised, he really didn't hear Long Qian talk about it just now.

"The handsome man has already brought your family here, why don't you go home and have a look first?"

"How do I know...... I thought they were still in Jinan. "Song Jinguo is married in Yanzhou, he already has three children, his wife is very capable, and the housework has always been well organized, he doesn't need to worry about it at all.

"The marshal has set the capital in Beijing, and the joint logistics headquarters has moved to Beijing, temporarily working in Tieshi Hutong, of course your family will come to Beijing. I think you'd better go back and have a look first. I'll arrange for a car to take you there. ”

"No hurry, no hurry. Let me first report the situation in Wuhan to the Director-General. Song Jinguo, who spoke Shanxi dialect, took out a small notebook and began to report the results of his trip to Hubei.

Song Jinguo's respectful attitude made Zhou Xuexi a little embarrassed. Zhou Xuexi thought that the middle-aged man in civilian clothes in front of him had a much higher status in the Mengshan military system than himself, "Minister Song, why don't we call Deputy Director Jiang?" ”

"Yes. Is Jiang Jiying here? ”

Jiang Jiying soon came to Zhou Xuexi's office.

"President Jiang is more familiar with the situation of Han Yeping, and in the past few months, I have asked Lao Jiang for 1.3 million on the orders of the commander," Song Jinguo took a few sips of tea, "At first, I just wanted to restore the production of the Hanyang Iron Works and the military factory, and then I was involved in the Daye Iron Mine and the Pingxiang Coal Mine, and the problem is getting more and more complicated, and I am running back and forth in these three places...... Han Yeping is not just a matter of funding. It's not just about talent and technology, either. Even more difficult is the issue of foreign investment, and the most important thing is the entanglement with the Japanese. Japan's Yawata Iron Co., Ltd. relied on Daye's iron ore, and resolutely opposed our complete recovery of Han Yeping...... The commander's instructions were very clear, and the Japanese would never be allowed to get involved in Han Yeping's business. It is not allowed for the Japanese to control this joint enterprise second only to Yizhou Iron and Steel. So. It's a waste of time. ”

Hanyeping Company was formally established in the 34th year of Guangxu (1908), Sheng Xuanhuai merged Hanyang Iron Works, Daye Iron Mine and Pingxiang Coal Mine to establish Hanyeping Coal and Iron Works and Mines Co., Ltd., with a total of 5,500 employees. Since 1896. Sheng Xuanhuai, who took over the Hanyang Iron Works, borrowed the first money from Japan, and in 1898 opened the Pingxiang Coal Mine and borrowed from Japan. From 1902 to 1906, he borrowed a total of 3 million taels of silver from Japan. In 1908, the three factories were merged, and due to insufficient funds to start production, Sheng Xuanhuai borrowed 500,000 taels of silver from Japan, equivalent to about 700,000 yen. By the following year, the Mengshan Army raised troops, and the Hanyeping Company used a total of 29 million taels of silver, of which 10 million was the capital, and the remaining 19 million was borrowed, of which Japan accounted for half.

The Japanese loan had a harsh treaty, which was secured by the property of factories and mines and iron sand, and the term was thirty years, and Daye iron sand should be sold to the Japanese in priority except for Hanyang's own use. The price of iron sand is agreed by both parties and is not affected by the international market.

Fortunately, Song Jinguo has accumulated rich experience in Shandong's exchanges with Germany and Americans, and because of the influence of Long Qian, the officers who were born and raised in the Mengshan Army did not look up to and fear the foreign powers, and Han Yeping must be controlled, and Song Jinguo, who participated in the construction of Zhongxing Iron and Steel and Huayuan Military Industry, has a profound understanding of steel and military industry that surpasses the vast majority of people in China.

The Southern Army occupied Hubei and Jiangxi, and Han Yeping naturally fell under the control of the Mengshan Army. Long Qian inspected Hanyang and did not seem to notice the problems of Daye Iron Mine and Pingxiang Coal Mine, but only promised to invest money to resume production as much as possible. After Song Jinguo arrived in Hanyang with funds, the deep-seated problems were gradually exposed, and the Japanese also came to the door, and the minister in China sent a commercial counselor to negotiate on behalf of the Japanese government, urging the Mengshan military government to fulfill Sheng Xuanhuai's contract with Japan.

If Feng Guozhu handles this matter, it may trigger a fierce diplomatic conflict. But Song Jinguo will not, although Song Jinguo has been in the army for many years, he has a strong merchant temperament and attaches great importance to contract goodwill. He did not feel that the Japanese came to the door to pick quarrels and provoke trouble, but started a deal with the Japanese according to the contract. During this period, it was natural to ask Long Qian, who supported Song Jinguo to solve the Han Yeping problem based on commercial negotiations, but he had to firmly adhere to the bottom line, that is, the control of Han Yeping Company must be in the hands of Mengshan Army, and the Japanese were not allowed to participate in Han Yeping's operation. This is also the bottom line that Song Jinguo set for himself.

In another time and space, Han Yeping's fate was extremely tragic, because the Republic of China government could not afford to invest money to defend Han Yeping, so it could only sit back and watch the Japanese invade. But the Mengshan Army represented by Song Jinguo had money in his hands, and Song Jinguo insisted on an agreement that Daye iron ore could be exported to Japan first, but the premise was to meet the needs of Hanyang Iron Works, which the Japanese could not refute and could only recognize. Song Jin Guo has a very lethal card, that is, the United States signed a package agreement with the United States to continue to expand the Yizhou Iron and Steel under the Zhongxing Industrial Group, the Americans are keen to sell technology and equipment to the Chinese side, and sent a survey of personnel to Shandong to assist in the expansion of Yizhou Iron and Steel and the upgrading of technology. However, after the annual output of Yizhou Iron and Steel reached 300,000 tons, it was not suitable for larger-scale construction due to geographical transportation problems. As a result, the construction plan of railways and highways was proposed. But with the start of the anti-Qing war, the limited funds must first ensure the victory of the war. Now, Song Jinguo is holding the contract with the Americans in his hand, and he suddenly feels a little more confident in his heart. After communicating with the US side, he took the US side to visit the Hanyang Iron Works and used the funds and equipment originally used for the fourth phase of the expansion of Yizhou to Hanyang, and the US side immediately agreed. After an on-the-spot investigation by a team of experts sent by Yizhou and American technicians, they believed that Zhangzhidong's original layout was quite desirable, and instead of setting up the steel plant near Daye Iron Mine, Hanyang was chosen, which at first glance increased transportation costs. Careful budgeting is a cost saving. Because the cost of steel transportation has been reduced, and other supporting facilities in Hanyang are more complete. The chief expert of the US side believes that the Chinese government (the American technicians have long recognized the authority of the Mengshan military and political authorities, and the legitimate government of China) should step up the construction of the Hanyang Iron and Steel Company. It should overtake Yizhou as China's largest steel base. The scale should reach at least 2 million tons per year!

With a large amount of surplus money in the US steel industry urgently looking for a way out. Song Jinguo's proposal to borrow money from the United States to carry out a large-scale renovation of the Hanyang Iron Works was immediately accepted by the American side in principle. The target set in the first phase is to produce 300,000 tons of crude steel and 400,000 tons of pig iron per year. Long Qian immediately agreed to the joint venture plan and authorized Song Jinguo to negotiate with the United States on behalf of the new Chinese government. This brings out that the US side urges the Mengshan military junta to do its best to build the country. Of course, Song Jinguo did not care about the timetable for the founding of the country. His attention was all on Han Yeping, and he believed that after the scale of the Hanyang Iron Works increased sharply, Daye Iron Mine would have no spare power to supply Japan, and Sheng Xuanhuai's agreement would end without a hitch!

However, although the commercial negotiations with the United States were strictly secrecy, the Japanese still smelled an ominous atmosphere, and thus complications arose, and the acting minister to China, Kumataro Honda, went to Wuhan and said to Song Jinguo that he would use the navy to defend the economic interests of the empire, but Song Jinguo, who had always been mild-mannered, expressed an extremely tough attitude: If you negotiate according to the rules of commerce, then we will also have the same attitude. When it comes to business, if you can't talk about it in one round, you can talk about it in two rounds. But if you want to use force, then well, we will accompany you. Ten years ago, we only dared to clean up your eight-nation coalition army with more than 1,000 people, and now hundreds of thousands of athletes in our national defense force, are we still afraid that you will not succeed!

At that time, due to extreme economic difficulties, the Japanese government could not have risked challenging British and American interests in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River alone to use force against China. Long Qian saw it very clearly, and Song Jinguo also understood it. The Japanese clearly realized that the Mengshan Army led by Long Qian was no longer a rotten Manchu Qing, and that a few warships sailed into the Wuhan River to no avail, and the result could only bring shame on themselves. With the participation of the United States, Britain and other countries, the Chinese and foreign parties signed an agreement before the Spring Festival, 1. Acknowledging that the Chinese side has the right to control and operate Hanyeping United Company; 2. Calculate the investment of foreign capital in the past and clarify the debts of Han Yeping; 3. The Chinese side should gradually repay its liabilities over a period of 20 years, and calculate the interest every five years according to the trend of the international gold price; 4. The price of foreign debts in kind used by the Chinese side to repay is negotiated once every five years; 5. In order to ensure the interests of the Japanese side, the part of the ore produced by Daye Iron Mine used to repay the debts of the Japanese side shall not be less than 30% of the total output.

The agreement temporarily settled the dispute between China and Japan over Han Yeping, defended China's economic interests, but also recognized the previous infusion of foreign capital. Japan, which urgently needed Daye iron ore to support Yawata Steel, was not satisfied and helpless. As soon as the news came out, Hubei and the whole country were shocked, and newspapers in Shanghai and Jiangning even praised Song Jinguo as a national hero.

"Director Song has made great contributions to the country." Zhou Xuexi praised.

"Don't say that," Song Jinguo waved his hand, "It's all the commander's support, and besides, this incident has made me understand a lot of things that I didn't understand before, and the burden on our new country is too heavy." ”

"It just so happens that we have all made it up, and we just listened to Brother Zijun's final plan for financial reform and the establishment of a central bank." Zhou Xuexi looked at Song Jinguo, "Don't say you don't understand, if you want me to see, you are the real expert." ”

"Brother Wanted is overrated. To tell the truth, after dealing with the Bi Han Yeping issue, I will focus on the Joint Logistics Department, you will not know that the commander is about to send troops to Mongolia, and he may start a war with Lao Maozi, and the supply of guns and ammunition in the Northern Military Region is a big deal. I still have to go to Shandong. Song Jinguo's face was worried. (To be continued......)