Most people don't know what this kind of center does, but a series of important negotiations will soon be held here, and the final decision will be made on the ownership of the entire soybean industry, and it can even be said that the impact is large enough to go down in history.

Japan's oil mill Shuangshu, the heads of the Nissin Oil Mill and the Santai Oil Mill, Yasuo Kimura and Yoshinori Shimoda, personally led the team, including the Japanese consul general in Mukden, Akajiri Massuke, more than a dozen Japanese all came here for the purpose of negotiating with Mukden on the soybean issue.

Of course, these guys are not so honest, and they are reluctant to come to negotiate, so Shimoda Yoshishi complained: "Kimura-kun, this time let the people of China snatch the soybeans into their hands, this is a shame for the imperial business community, and the Mukden government then set up a so-called trading center, which is clearly to grasp the pricing power of soybeans, which is a very dangerous signal!" ”

"That's right, but this time the Fengtian government completely relied on its abundant funds to catch us off guard." Yasuo Kimura glanced at Akajiri Massuke and said, "Mr. Consul General, doesn't the Imperial Government say anything about Mukden's actions?" Are they left to do whatever they want? ”

Akajiri Massuke also held his stomach for a while, and said in a deep voice: "Bongzhang is stinky and hard, and there is no need to beg the empire, except for the means of war, the imperial government does not have any suitable methods. ”

In addition to being backed by strong force, the two most common tactics used by the great powers to control China are arms sales and loans. These two things are actually the usual means used by later generations of powerful countries to control shijie, which country the army buys weapons, it will naturally have to take refuge in which country, after borrowing money, it has to endure all kinds of harsh conditions, zuihou is completely pinched in the hands of others.

But these two invincible killer moves have come to Mukden. All of them have lost their role, and the Fengjun army has its own weapons production system, although the degree is very low, but it can basically meet the needs, and the Japanese arms Mukden still looks down on it. In addition, through Zhang Tinglan's tossing, most of the wealth accumulated by the princes of the Eight Banners for hundreds of years was extorted, and Fengtian's funds were sufficient all of a sudden, and there was no need to beg the Japanese.

After all the calculations, the only means that the Japanese can use are to throw off their arms and do a big job. However, starting a war is not a trivial matter, and it is necessary to consider domestic problems, weigh international opportunities, and depend on the attitude of Britain and the United States. For a little soybeans, start a war. It's a bit unreasonable.

"Kimura-kun and Shimoda-kun. This time, it is the Mukden government that is competing with us with financial resources, and you should also respond by economic means, instead of counting on the imperial government for everything. ”

"Of course not." Yasuo Kimura said: "It's just that we have a little trouble with the money in hand, and a large number of bonds can't be discounted. As long as we wait for us to slow down and mobilize enough capital, we are fully capable of defeating the people of China easily. ”

"It's good to have faith. The people of China said that the eldest husband can bend and stretch, and he will survive this time for the time being. Akajiri Massuke sneered and said: "This time will not be too long, the United States has been thrown into the battle in Europe, the victory and defeat between the great powers will soon be divided, as long as the victory is over, Russia's bonds will definitely soar, and the polar bear will also turn to the east, and then the pressure on the Mukden government will inevitably increase sharply, Zhang Zuolin has no other choice but to take refuge in the empire!" ”

Hearing Akajiri Massuke's words, Kimura and Shimoda finally nodded happily, they also had to make preparations again, this time it had been proved that those comprador businessmen were unreliable, they wanted to build their own acquisition network, and they had to prepare enough funds to strike a fatal blow to the Mukden government at a suitable opportunity.

"Three days ago, a businessman from the United States came over and purchased 30 million kilograms of soybean oil in one fell swoop, and the demand was very urgent, so we could only finish this business first, let the people of China be proud for a while, and then find an opportunity to kill them!"

The Japanese reluctantly sat down at the negotiating table, and the person in charge of negotiating with them was Hong Lei, the representative of the Fengtian Trading Company, and Zhang Tinglan and Qiao Lanyun also sat on the side of the negotiation table, pressing the Fengtian side.

"The Japanese side wants to purchase 3 million quintals of soybeans, and we completely agree, but we need to negotiate the price carefully, and the reserve price of each quintal cannot be less than four oceans, and 3 million tons is 12 million oceans, and we only accept cash payments, and the money and goods are cleared."

After hearing this, Kimura Yasuo widened his eyes: "This is a robbery, last year, the purchase price of soybeans was only about three yuan, how can this year increase so much at once, and the cash transaction is also unacceptable to us!" ”

"Since it is a negotiation, then both sides have to come up with their own conditions, what does the Japanese side want?"

"It's still the same as last year's purchase price, and we need to pay you after the soybean oil is sold."

After Hong Lei heard this, he didn't say a word, he directly stretched out his hand to fold the document in front of him, and was about to get up and leave directly, as did the other Chinese representatives.

Akajiri Massuke saw that the negotiations were about to fall apart at the beginning, and he was also anxious, and hurriedly said, "Isn't there any sincerity in the negotiations on the Mukden side?" In such a hurry to leave? ”

Zhang Tinglan stopped, turned his head and said with a smile: "Mr. Consul General, it's not that we are not sincere, but that the conditions of your Japanese are too unreliable, don't you know that three oceans is our lowest purchase price, do you want us to sell soybeans to you at a loss?" Is this what you call sincerity? ”

In the face of Zhang Tinglan's questioning, Akajiri Massuke didn't have much to say, so he could only say: "Since it is a negotiation, we have to show our respective conditions, and then talk slowly." ”

Saying this, Akajiri Massuke gave Kimura Yasuo a look and asked him to raise the conditions appropriately. Kimura was also helpless, so he had to say: "The price can be raised to three yuan and five jiao, but we are still against cash payment, I think the most haode option is to use bonds as collateral, the credibility of the Japanese Empire is like gold, we can provide Mukden with a batch of soybean bonds, which is a very high-yield bond, which is very sought after by the market." ”

Hong Lei had already been instructed by Zhang Tinglan to know that the so-called soybean bonds were just dangerous financial derivatives, and the Fengtian government would not want them.

"Mr. Kimura, three yuan and five jiao per load is just our cost price, we will never accept it, in addition to cash payment, we only accept shares, if we use the shares of Nissin Oil Mill and Santai Oil Mill as collateral, we can also negotiate!"

"What?" When Kimura and Shimoda heard this, they immediately raised their brows, these Fengtian guys have simply eaten the gall of a bear's heart and a leopard, and they want to get involved in the oil mill, it's just too hateful!

They shook their heads like rattles: "Absolutely not, the shares of the oil mill must not be handed over to you, it is a matter of the interests of the empire in South Manchuria, you should not be delusional." ”

"We don't want an oil mill, but since we want to buy Mukden's soybeans, we have to come up with convincing collateral, except for cash, only shares can barely qualify for this, and the rest of the things are too risky, and we are not interested in it at all!"

The negotiations between China and Japan instantly reached an impasse, Zhang Tinglan watched coldly from the sidelines, he originally wanted to take the opportunity to get a little share of the oil mill, but now it seems that the Japanese attach much more importance to the oil mill than they imagined, which is no longer possible.

Zhang Tinglan said with a smile: "Since the two sides can't talk for the time being, we can talk slowly." ”

"No, now the oil mill is urgent, and this problem must be solved as soon as possible!" Shimoda Yoshinori said loudly.

Zhang Tinglan also frowned, and snorted coldly: "Are you still going to buy and sell?" ”

Akajiri Massuke saw that the atmosphere was a little out of control, and hurriedly said: "Mr. Zhang, Mukden can't guard a bunch of soybeans, you still have to sell, and the Japanese side is the most haode and the only buyer, we should still talk about it and strive for a win-win result." ”

Zhang Tinglan nodded slightly: "I think the conditions between the two sides are too different, we can't talk about it for a while, and we have to take into account the production of the Japanese side, so we can only temporarily reach a temporary agreement, we will provide 600,000 quintals of soybeans to the Japanese side, and the Japanese side will pay in cash, four oceans per quintal, no less than one child!" ”

Zhang Tinglan proposed this method, Kimura and Shimoda glanced at each other, this is indeed a compromise solution, although the price is a bit high, but they can only pinch their noses and admit it, what they need most is time.

At the end of the first negotiation, Hong Lei came to Zhang Tinglan and said: "Commander-in-chief, 600,000 taels plus the Japanese themselves purchase is almost enough for them to use for two months, and after two months, we are afraid that we will have to negotiate, do you have any instructions?" ”

Zhang Tinglan nodded slightly: "In two months, there are too many things that can happen, you have to be ready to dismantle the Japanese oil extraction industry, their good days are coming to an end." ”

Hong Lei obviously had no way to understand Zhang Tinglan's words, but he didn't dare to disobey them, so he could only prepare to go with suspicion.

In fact, it didn't take more than two months, twenty days passed in a blink of an eye, entering the cold November, the land of the three eastern provinces has been paved with a layer of white snowflakes, this year's winter is colder than in previous years, Zhang Tinglan did not do anything during this time, it was completely hugging his wife, surrounding the stove, gnawing on frozen pears, like an ordinary Northeast man cat Dong'er.

However, his heart is very uneasy, this is just the calm before the storm, the pace of the October Revolution in Russia is getting closer and closer, an old Tsarist Russian empire is about to collapse, a new red empire is going to rise, and this is also China's only chance to recover the Outer Northeast, Zhang Tinglan is deducing the plan of future action over and over again in his heart, looking for the possibility of small and big.

It was the 10th of November, and Zhang Tinglan had just gotten up from Zhou Xinyao's warm body, when Shen Hua, the chief of the guard, sent the news: Just three days ago, a majority uprising occurred in Petrograd, the capital of Russia, and the provisional government was overthrown! (To be continued......)