Chapter 429 Financial Problems (I)

An autumn rain and a cold. After another autumn rain, the weather became colder and colder, and the streets were more littered, making the wet ground even more mottled.

On this street sprinkled with dead branches and leaves, a four-wheeled carriage with a five-color flag drove over, turned the street, and drove onto West Chang'an Street, followed by several cavalrymen, since Li Yuanhong was bombed in the south, even the political officials in the capital have strengthened the guard, and the emblem that can identify the identity of the passengers has also been canceled on the carriage, unless the passengers in the carriage get out of the car, there is no way to know who is in the carriage.

The current carriage is actually an official carriage of the Ministry of Finance, and there is only one passenger, that is, Xiong Xiling, the chief financial officer, who is now going to the presidential palace to meet with Zhao Bei, president of the Republic of China, and report to Mr. President on the progress of the current financial consolidation work.

In fact, Xiong Xiling is now ordered to rush to the presidential palace, to be honest, he really doesn't want to go to the presidential palace now.

The current Xiong Xiling has a sad face. I wasn't in the mood to enjoy the 'color' of the after-rain scenery outside the car window, but I was just thinking about the financial issues and didn't care about anything else.

Xiong Xiling is worried for a reason, the current central government of the Republic of China can be said to be impoverished, because the provinces withhold local taxes, and the situation is 'turbulent', and the people's hearts are not calm, this financial open source can not be talked about, and some time ago due to the war, military expenditure is huge, although there is no major war now, but the local bandits are aggravated, the suppression of bandits needs military spending, and the rectification and reorganization of the army also needs military spending, so the central financial throttling is also not talked about.

At this time, the president of the Republic of China still wanted to set up industries on a large scale, engage in a "four-year industrial development plan", build factories, build railways, send foreign students, and coal mines and iron mines...... None of these things don't need financial support, Xiong Xiling couldn't worry, he wanted to do it, but Zhao Beibei tried his best to keep it, so Chief Xiong's resignation was still not handed over.

Speaking of which, the central government's finances are so tight now, and it is also because of President Zhao Da that last year's Sino-Japanese "Qizhou Incident". Zhao Bei used this as an excuse to brazenly withhold local taxes and no longer pay to the center, so that the powerful factions in the provinces also did the same, and if Commander-in-Chief Zhao did not pay to the center, then Guangdong, Fujian, Sichuan, and Hunan did not pay to the center, and cut the local taxes that were already a drop in the bucket.

Now that Zhao Bei has become the president of the Republic of China, he is naturally embarrassed to continue to regard the local taxes of Hubei, Sichuan, Hunan, and Guizhou as the 'private' housing money of the united front, and he must set an example by 'handing' the withheld taxes to the center and subsidize the central finances.

Commander-in-Chief Zhao set an example, and the powerful factions in other provinces also had to express their stance that they would 'hand' over local taxes to the center, but the problem was that these people were all lip service, and most of them were still waiting. As for Zhao Wei, the governor of Henan, and Yan Xishan, the governor of Jiangxi, they did what they said, and handed over the withheld taxes to the center, but these two did not have the representative 'sex', Yan Xishan was originally supported by Zhao Bei, and he didn't dare not listen to Zhao Bei's words, as for Zhao Qi, his Henan territory has now actually been taken over by the United Front, and his "Henan Governor" is just an empty title, all want to take the Xuzhou piece of land as their own, therefore, Jiangsu's local taxes have not been 'paid' to the central finance, if the central government wants to completely sort out the local finances, I am afraid it will take a period of struggle, it depends on how President Zhao subdues those landlords.

This is the difficult situation that Xiong Xiling, the chief financial minister, is now facing, and Xiong Xiling is helpless in this situation, and the only emergency means he can come up with is to borrow money from foreign consortia and banks internationally.

Therefore, this visit to the presidential palace to meet with the president, reporting on the financial consolidation work is Xiong Xiling's secondary purpose, and his main purpose is this international borrowing issue, since Zhao Bei served as the president of the Republic of China, the attitude of the German government towards the central government of the Republic of China has changed 180 degrees, from indifference to "enthusiasm", therefore, theoretically speaking. Borrowing from Germany was the wisest choice, and, given the close relationship between the two central governments, the conditions attached to this international loan might be more acceptable to the people, and Xiong Xiling was unlikely to be attacked by political opponents and public opinion.

In addition to Germany, the American consortium seems to be a good creditor, the United States and Germany have reached an agreement on the issue of railway investment in China, the American consortium and the German consortium have also formed a "U.S.-German banking group", which is responsible for railway investment in China, which has greatly alleviated the problem of lack of funds for China's railway construction, and in the face of the actual actions of the United States and German joint banking group, Britain and France have also accelerated negotiations with China on railway investment issues, so, Xiong Xiling is not too worried about the funding of the railway development plan, and if the central government is flexible on this issue, the pace of railway construction in China will be accelerated.

It is said that the best choice under the current financial situation is to reduce the army, but because Zhao Bei stubbornly insists on maintaining the current scale of military strength, this disarmament proposal has not been adopted by the central government, and it seems that it is not enough to borrow money from foreign consortia. It is also necessary to continue to issue public bonds to concentrate domestic funds, but this is not easy, under the influence of Zhao Bei's policy of supporting and encouraging industrial and commercial development, Chinese businessmen and industrialists have begun to invest in industry, and whether they are willing to use their funds to buy public bonds is also a question mark.

"The wind and rain are shaking, and the state affairs are so difficult."

Xiong Xiling sighed, reached out and lifted the curtains, looked out the window, and found a four-wheeled carriage also with a five-color flag walking side by side with his four-wheeled carriage. However, there was no badge on the car, and the curtains on the windows were lowered, but it was not known who the passengers were inside.

The coachmen of the two carriages seemed to be interested in racing the speed, and neither of them was willing to lag behind, so a carriage race was launched on this West Chang'an Street, which made the deserted street a little more lively.

But the speed of the carriage was limited after all, and soon, an American-made car blew its horn and overtook it, leaving the two carriages behind.

Xiong Xiling glanced a few times when the car passed by the carriage, the distance between the two cars was very close, and he could see clearly at a glance that one of the passengers in the car was Tian Jinfu, the former captain of Zhao Bei's guard, and there was still a person sitting next to Colonel Tian, but he was a young man in his twenties, his dress was 'straight', his hair was combed very neatly, and he also glanced at the carriage, Xiong Xiling just felt a little familiar, but he couldn't remember where he had seen the young man.

Tian Jinfu is a popular man in front of Zhao Bei, although he is only the director of the Military Intelligence Bureau, but the power in his hands is hot, but the Military Intelligence Bureau directly belongs to the Presidential Palace, and it is a rather mysterious ministry 'door', what exactly does it do, Xiong Xiling is not clear, only knows that it may be related to the military.

When the American-made car overtook the carriage, the passengers of the other carriage also raised the curtain and looked at the car, at this time, Xiong Xiling was able to see clearly that the passenger in the carriage was Liang Shiyi, the general manager of the 'Communications' Bank, and the other party also saw Xiong Xiling, smiled and nodded at him, and then lowered the curtain, and after a while, his carriage slowed down and followed behind Xiong Xiling's carriage.

"When did Liang Yifu return to Beijing?"

Xiong Xiling was a little surprised. Some time ago, Liang Shiyi had been in Shanghai to negotiate with a Belgian consortium about the redemption of the Jinghan Railway, and after Xu Shichang went into the field, Liang Shiyi fell to the United Front, and also sent a telegram in his personal name to congratulate Zhao Bei on his appointment as the president of the Republic of China, and President Zhao Da obviously reciprocated, not only let Liang Shiyi continue to preside over the affairs of the 'Jiaotong' Bank, but also appointed him as a senior senator of the presidential palace, which can be regarded as pulling him into the circle of central power.

Now that the negotiations on the Jinghan Railway have basically ended, due to the 'interference' of the United States and the German consortium, the Belgian consortium finally agreed to 'hand' over the management of the Jinghan Railway to China, but there is one condition, that is, the railway must be 'handed over' to the control of the 'private' consortium, and the 'Jiao' Bank is not a 'private' bank, and can only form a separate Jinghan Railway Company.

After the negotiations, Liang Shiyi was not in a hurry to return to Beijing to resume his life, but ran between Shanghai and Wuhan, as for what he was busy with, Xiong Xiling was not clear.

Looking at the direction of Liang Shiyi's carriage, he seemed to be preparing to go to the presidential palace, Xiong Xiling decided to stop Liang Shiyi when he arrived at the place, and asked him what he was busy with recently.

After a short time, the two carriages arrived in front of the presidential palace one after the other, Xiong Xiling got out of the car and couldn't help but be surprised, but saw that the streets in front of the presidential palace were full of carriages on both sides, basically all of which were political vehicles.

"Third Brother Bing, if this is the time of the Qing Dynasty, wouldn't it be the Great Chaoyi?"

Liang Shiyi walked over, stood beside Xiong Xiling, raised his hand and pointed to the carriages, and teased.

Xiong Xiling also smiled bitterly and said: "Not to mention, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, the Ministry of Railways, and the Ministry of Heavy Industry ...... Except for the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, the members of all ministries have basically arrived, and there is only one official to point out. ”

The two stood in front of the carriage and said a few words haha, and quickly got down to business.

Xiong Xiling asked, "Yifu, what were you busy with some time ago?" After the redemption of Jinghan Road, if he didn't return to Beijing immediately to resume his life, what would he toss in Wuhan? ”

Liang Shiyi smiled and said: "There is nothing to do, it is the matter of the rectification of the salt administration, now that the Sichuan salt has been rectified, the salt trust will be established soon, and the president has ordered me to preside over this matter. ”

"Salt Bank? Which one is this singing? Didn't you say that it should be changed to a 'central bank'? "Xiong Xiling is a little strange.

"You ask me, who do I ask? That Zou Tingbi refused to merge his China Financial United Bank with the 'Jiaotong' Bank, saying that the 'Jiaotong' Bank had too much money, and he was afraid that he would be dragged down, so the hole in the 'Jiaotong' Bank had to be filled by the 'Jiaotong' Bank, and he couldn't count on others. ”

Liang Shiyi shook his head and smiled bitterly, Xiong Xiling was also embarrassed, the deficit of the 'Jiaotong' Bank was gnawed by the Beiyang Army, in fact, the bank was already insolvent, like the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of China, basically living on debt, according to Xiong Xiling's meaning, the 'Jiao' Bank might as well declare bankruptcy, but Liang Shiyi disagreed, Zhao Bei did not agree, indeed, the situation is now delicate,' Once the Bank announces its collapse at this time, it will not only damage the interests of depositors, but also affect the authority of the entire center.

As the head of a country, there are many times when it is necessary to consider not only economic interests, but also political interests, so the Bank of Communications no longer manages the railway business, but instead operates the salt industry.

"So, in the future, the government money will be deposited in your bank?" Xiong Xiling was thoughtful.

Of course, Liang Shiyi knew what Chief Xiong's idea was, so he hurriedly shook his head and said: "Third Brother Bing, don't hit my bank's idea, although the salt money is stored in my bank, no one dares to 'mess' with it, it is a special fund." I won't hide it from you, in the future, not only the salt money will be deposited in the salt bank, but even the customs tax will be deposited in the salt bank. ”

"Oh? Tariffs are also deposited in the Salt Industry Bank? The British agree? ”

Xiong Xiling was indeed very surprised, the Qing court has always used tariffs as collateral for international loans, after the outbreak of "Wushen**", Britain and France took advantage of the situation in China to "shake up", in order to "protect the interests of creditors", arbitrarily decided to transfer the customs duties under their control to HSBC, Dehua, Daosheng three foreign banks, and also called it "custody", and the interest generated by this is also owned by the three foreign banks, obviously China suffers a loss, but Beiyang Zheng fǔ feels fortunate instead, The reason is very simple, the "keeping" of customs taxes by foreigners can avoid customs taxes being intercepted by local powerful factions, and the "customs surplus" after deducting the principal and interest of foreign debts can finally fall into Beiyang's pocket.

But now, Liang Shiyi's meaning clearly shows that in this matter of "keeping customs taxes on behalf of others", Zhao Bei once again won the victory, and the British once again backed down.

"Actually, I wondered, why are the British so easy to talk to? I heard that the British minister had also promised to replace foreign personnel with Chinese in the customs, and that as long as the chief tax department was still held by a British, the British would not interfere in the personnel transfers, appointments, and dismissals of the customs. Liang Shiyi was also emotional.

Xiong Xiling knew more about customs personnel than Liang Shiyi, and it was precisely because of this that he was even more strange than Liang Shiyi, he really couldn't understand why Zhao Bei took a step back when the British took a step back, as if the British government had some handle in the hands of Zhao Bei.

Before Xiong Xiling could figure out this problem, Liang Shiyi suddenly pulled him.

"See? The two of us are still standing here chattering. Let's not be stunned, let's go and see the president, he called us over today, I'm afraid it's just for this financial problem. ”