At a time when the war was raging in the north, the ocean empire was thriving economically, and thanks to the large number of orders in the war, the economy was like a great tonic, and the momentum of development was strong.

Xixiangzhou, Lumen City

Lu Qiang, wearing a satin coat and gold-wire glasses, looked at a long BMW truck full of tall tobacco bags, waiting in line to enter the tobacco station, with a high-spirited expression on his face.

in his eyes; Where is this tobacco leaf bag, this is all money!

The Northern War brought a large number of cigarette orders, and his four large cigarette factories are now open 24 hours a day, and the cigarettes produced are divided up in the factory, and bundles of money are rolling in.

The tax bureau and the bank are located in the factory area, and the settlement is made every day, and the banknotes are so large that they are hauled by trucks.

The demand in the north is strong, as the main production area of the tobacco industry, the cities and towns in the Jinshui River Basin of Xixiang Prefecture have expanded the scale of tobacco planting, an increase of more than 4% compared with the previous year, and the supply is still in short supply.

The only drawback is that the heavy taxes on the tobacco industry are too high, and the total profits of several taxes are 60% and a half, leaving only a small amount for enterprises.

Even so, it makes a lot of money.

In the midst of a brutal war

Soldiers are facing tremendous pressure and life-and-death crises, smoking is a good outlet for the Japanese and Russian armies, and both the Japanese and Russian armies distribute cigarettes as military supplies, and the tighter the war ahead, the greater the demand.

Millions of soldiers have developed an addiction to smoking, and it is not easy to quit.

West Xiang's biggest competitor is the tobacco plantation base in the Legazpi region of the Luzon Islands, which continues to expand its tobacco acreage this year and sells some of its cigarettes to the north to get a piece of the pie.

The Somali company had promised not to sell cigarettes in the South Seas and the Far East, and the main markets were in Europe, North America, Mozambique and South Africa, but they did it very shrewdly, and somehow caught up with the Russians through His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to supply cigarettes to the Russian army.

Sir Lu Qiang, as the president of the Xixiangzhou Tobacco Industry Federation and a heavyweight in the business world, is not clear about the details.

Thus

Viscount Li Yong, chairman of the Somali company, has great powers and deserves to be a well-known legend.

The Ocean Empire remained neutral in the Russo-Japanese War and did not participate in the Anglo-Japanese alliance, so it had the right to supply supplies to the two countries participating in the war, and both sides benefited, but the combined fleet of the Fuso Kingdom did not dare to attack the merchant ships of the Ocean Empire.

At such a critical time, Fusang has no capital to make extraneous branches.

As far as Sir Lu Qiang knows;

Central Kalimantan signed a contract with Japan for the supply of 800,000 tons of rice, Qingdao signed a contract with Japan for the supply of 15,000 tons of beef and mutton, Moresby signed a contract with the Japanese side for the supply of 850 tons of canned food, and Tianshu City signed a contract with the Japanese side for the supply of a large amount of sugar.

In addition, there were belts, tents, barbed wire, soybean meal, and so on, and hundreds of supply contracts of various kinds, which strongly supported the Japanese side in its operations.

The Somali company was on the other side, not only supplying a large number of cigarettes to the Tsarist army, but also grain, meat, etc., which were listed as prohibited goods, and seizing a large amount of canned food, grain and other materials from the ocean empire in the positions occupied by the Japanese army, just weapons and ammunition.

This is also the real reason why Fusang was able to endure this bad breath, if the Somali company supplied weapons and ammunition to the Tsarist army, it would really not be able to bear it.

With the support of the British, Fuso will really turn its face.

Let's be honest

Sir Lu Qiang admired the courage of the Viscount of Humen to pan for gold in the fire, and he really couldn't do it for ordinary businessmen, and he didn't dare to touch the tiger's buttocks.

The Ocean Empire bets on both sides in the middle, and the banknotes make a lot of money, and Sir Lu Qiang hopes that Japan and Russia will fight as long as possible, so that everyone can make a fortune.

Needless to say, the ability of the Fuso people to pay is close to 2 billion yen, and it is backed by a large loan from the United Kingdom, and it is already close to 2 billion yen...... New loans are under negotiation in the future.

Tsarist Russia's ability to pay was also no problem, and although France, as an ally, did not send a single soldier to participate in the Russo-Japanese War, the franc loan was real and there was no need to doubt it.

In fact, the French Indochina Peninsula is a well-known rice-producing region, and rice has been cultivated in the middle and lower Mekong basins for more than a thousand years, and it is capable of providing food and logistics to the Russian allies.

However, the identity of France is a little embarrassing, because of the existence of the Franco-Russian alliance, so the Fuso country is very close, once it is found that the French merchant ship is crossing the line of Tianjin Port to the north, it will intercept it, and lodge a strong protest.

At such times, the British Empire would intervene to solve the problem, hoping that France would exercise restraint and not intervene in the war in violation of the Anglo-French Covenant.

The reason is simple;

Britain and France formed an alliance, Britain and Japan formed an alliance, and France and Russia formed an alliance.

So now Japan and Russia, which are now in the Far East, are in fact allies or indirect allies of France, so who should you help?

The Ocean Empire, on the contrary, had no scruples, and it had no alliance with the above three countries, maintaining de facto neutrality, and it was impossible for the Russo-Japanese War to cut off normal trade with Japan and Russia.

You fight your wars, and my business does so.

First, it is because the Ocean Empire is strong enough to ignore the grievances of the Fuso Kingdom.

The second is that Fuso relies on the supply of a large number of materials from the Ocean Empire, and looking around the surrounding countries in the western Pacific, the French Indochina Peninsula has the ability but is not easy to supply, and other countries want to supply but do not have the ability.

offended the Ocean Empire, and you have to think about whether you can bear the consequences.

As for the Citi countries on the other side of the Pacific, due to the obstruction of Britain and the Ocean Kingdom, intentionally or unintentionally, it is difficult to project its influence in the western Pacific region, and it can only stay in North America to claim hegemony.

Don't think that the ocean empire is wary of Citigroup, in fact, Britain is more wary of Citigroup, and Citigroup's economic aggregate has surpassed that of Britain in the 20th century, ranking first in the world, which has given Britain a serious sense of crisis.

Any country that threatens the world hegemony of the British Empire is an enemy of Britain, not even its own son.

So Britain is most wary of two countries, one is Germany, which threatens Britain militarily, and the other is Citigroup, which threatens Britain economically.

in the geostrategy of the Western Pacific region;

On the one hand, the "Anglo-Japanese Alliance" prevents Russian forces from moving south, and on the other hand, prevents the forces of the Chinese flag state from crossing the Pacific Ocean and encroaching on the western Pacific.

When it comes to playing the strategy of checks and balances, the British are a master, and the Anglo-Japanese alliance kills three birds with one stone.

And so it goes

In the western Pacific region, a situation of "double trickery" between the ocean empire and the Fuso country has been formed, and it is really tightly closed.

How did Citigroup's influence infiltrate?

"Master, just now the state government administrative office called, it's about education charity, you see......"

"Oh, this is a charity action initiated by the Tobacco Industry Association, you go and contact the owners of the tobacco factory, tomorrow morning to hold a charity symposium on funding education, everyone will donate generously to do good and accumulate blessings."

"Understood, I'll call to let me know."

Lu Qiang did not leave, but stood on the second floor of the office of the tobacco purchase station, overlooking the stacked yard like a hill, looking at the busy people everywhere, and his heart was full of a sense of accomplishment.

Nowadays, BMW trucks have been popularized by virtue of their huge advantages, compared with horse-drawn carriages, trucks carry large capacity, fast speed, can be transported day and night, a 1.5-ton BMW truck can load three tons of tobacco packets, and the distance between the field and the tobacco station is 10 kilometers, and the transportation efficiency is more than 20 times that of horse-drawn carriages.

Lu's Tobacco Company has placed a one-time order for 40 new three-ton BMW trucks, which will be used to transport them between ports.

As a businessman, you will calculate an economic account.

Lumen City is located in the middle reaches of the Jinshui River Basin, 234 kilometers away from the nearest seaport, and it takes more than ten days to transport back and forth by horse-drawn carriage, which is almost a ton of goods transported twice a month.

Transportation in a three-ton BMW truck, even if it is not overloaded, can run 15 times a month according to a round-trip calculation of two days, that is, 45 tons of cargo.

It couldn't be clearer which is better or worse.

Lumen is a city dominated by agriculture, and its economic pillars are the tobacco industry and natural rubber plantation industry, as well as some agricultural products such as grains, melons and fruits, most of which are mainly consumed by itself.

Thanks to the thriving development of the automobile industry, the price of natural rubber has risen step by step in recent years, coupled with the fiery development momentum of the tobacco industry, the income of residents in Lumen City has increased significantly, and has reached the level of wealthy areas.

On the streets of the city

All kinds of cars have become common, with more than 2,700 cars in the city, with an average of 130 people owning one, which is quite high.

This is a typical garden-type city, in the shade of green trees, with strong Ming and Qing architectural characteristics of the pavilions and pavilions, as if the mountain paradise in general.

Throughout Shangri-La Island

In terms of wealth, Longmen City, located in the Koi Copper and Gold Mining Bureau, deserves to be the first, Lumen City can be ranked second, and Tianquan City, the most populous city, can only be ranked third.

Lumen City, formerly known as "Lujia Town", has now developed into a second-tier city with a population of more than 360,000.

Sir Lu Qiang has devoted most of his life to the city, and the development of the city is also his proudest place, he took the lead in donating to hospitals, schools, bridges and roads, and parks, contributing to the construction of a beautiful home.

Under the leadership of Lu's Tobacco Company, more wealthy tobacco factory owners and plantation owners are enthusiastic about charity and work together to build Lumen City into a beautiful mountain garden city.

The mountains here are particularly green, the water is very clear, and the air is also very sweet, Lu Qiang is deeply attached to the city, and only here can he find a sense of belonging.

No matter how prosperous the metropolis outside is, it can't give him this kind of intimate feeling of hometown, and he will be buried here even if he dies.

This is the destination.