Wuchang City, Governor's Office.

Although it was the middle of winter and the wind was cold, the street in front of the yamen was full of people, men, women and children almost crowded this half of the street, with noisy drums and loud voices.

"Crackling!"

The firecrackers went off non-stop, and men, women, and children covered their ears with excitement.

The military band on the side was also playing Western music, and in the sound of firecrackers and drums, a plaque covered by red silk was erected by several workers on the lintel of the main entrance of the yamen.

After the sound of firecrackers stopped, a group of officers and gentry surrounded Zhao Bei and walked up the steps in front of the yamen, Commander-in-Chief Zhao only gave in slightly, and walked to the plaque with an old man, the two stretched out their hands and pulled a hanging rope, and the red silk covering the plaque was torn off, and several large characters on the plaque were shining gold: Wuchang Military Clothing Factory.

Tian Jinfu, the captain of the guard, took the lead in applauding, and there was a burst of applause from the bottom, the military band also worked harder, the sound of firecrackers sounded again, and the atmosphere was even more enthusiastic.

When the sound of firecrackers stopped, Zhao Bei raised his hand and signaled the military band to stop playing, then stood up straight with his hands behind his back, cleared his throat, and announced loudly: "I announce that the 'Wuchang Military Clothing Factory' is officially established!" From now on, the Huguang Governor's Yamen will no longer be an official office, and it will go down in history as the first military clothing factory of the Republican Army! It will also go down in history as a symbol of the republican government's support for private industry and commerce! ”

As soon as the words fell, the applause at the scene rang out again.

Zhao Bei walked down the steps, took a title deed from Zhang Jiyang's hand, solemnly handed it over to several gentry, and said: "This is the title deed, which has been transferred for the record." The gentry responded to the call of the military government and actively prepared for the military clothing factory, Zhao was deeply grateful, if the gentry of the whole country are as well aware of the righteousness as you are, why worry that China is not strong? I hope that you will do your best to supervise and urge the factory to sew qualified military uniforms and quilts as soon as possible, and in this way, it will be a great contribution to the revolutionary cause! ”

Several gentry nodded their heads, hurriedly agreed, and then instructed the male and female workers to enter the yamen and began to clean up the factory, and some coolies also carried heavy sewing machinery into this building that once symbolized official power, and looked around curiously.

Glancing at those ancient machines, Zhao Bei sighed secretly, those manpower and machinery are too backward, and the output cannot be very high, it seems that if the republican army wants to assemble the generals, I am afraid it will have to wait for a while. It is not a bad idea to buy military uniforms from foreign companies, but Zhao Bei is dedicated to supporting domestic products, but he is also unwilling to reach out to foreign businessmen.

This military quilt factory is the one that Zhao Bei once planned, not only producing military uniforms and quilts, but also shoes, raincoats, and even rifle straps. He originally planned to operate in a state-run manner, but later several gentry and businessmen found out the news, so they rushed over on their own initiative and asked to lease the factory.

At a glance, discerning people know that this factory will provide military uniforms and uniforms for the republican army, and the sales will not have to be worried, and the merchants will drive profits, plus the example of "official supervision and business office" in the late Qing Dynasty, they all want to get a piece of the pie, and they can't take a big head, but they can also take a small head. However, these businessmen obviously made a mistake, as soon as Zhao Bei saw them coming, he didn't say a word, and immediately suggested that they set up a private quilt factory on their own, and the military government allocated a factory for them, except for sending two military representatives to supervise the quality and production in the factory, all the operations of the factory were decided by the businessmen themselves, and Zhao Bei would never ask.

In Zhao Bei's view, since the merchants were willing to operate, it was better to encourage them to do it themselves, which could be regarded as supporting a new kind of production relations, and could also send a signal to all businessmen: the Republican Army supported private farming.

However, businessmen also have their own concerns, after all, they have been suppressed by the government for so many years, which industry and industry have not been scraped by the government? Therefore, as soon as Zhao Bei's suggestion came out, everyone was quite hesitant, for fear of making wedding clothes for others. Zhao Bei could also understand their concerns, so he made a promise, wrote the contract in black and white, and gave two preferential policies: first, tax exemption for one year; Second, within five years, the Republican Army will first purchase all the clothing needs from the factory, and if the production can meet the needs, it can even hand over all the clothing to the factory for production.

In this way, the quilt factory was built, and on the day of the ribbon cutting, Zhao Beiquan invited representatives of gentry and businessmen inside and outside the city to come to watch the ceremony, further demonstrating to the businessmen the determination of the military government to support industry and commerce.

In this difficult environment, the businessmen who can persist are either compradors who carry the life for foreigners, such as Sheng Xuanhuai, or small businessmen, these small businessmen have little capital and weak ability to resist risks, and if there is no government support, they will sooner or later be annexed by compradors, and this is exactly what Zhao Beili avoided, relying on foreign compradors, It is impossible to make China's industry and commerce strong, and history has proven this.

Shaking hands with the representatives of the gentlemen and businessmen who came to watch the ceremony, Zhao Bei continued to clarify his position of supporting domestic products and businessmen, and encouraged everyone to save the country through industry.

The key was confidence, to transfer the interest of the merchants in land to industry and commerce, to make them realize that industry was hugely profitable, and that they could not invest in heavy industry, but at least in light industry.

Led the representatives of the gentry and merchants around the factory, and now the things in the yamen have basically been emptied, the workers are installing the machines, and there is nothing to visit, but the samples of the new military uniforms of the Republican Army have aroused everyone's interest.

This is a military uniform designed by Zhao Bei himself, and it was carefully sewn by foreign tailors in Hankou. Gray cloth military uniforms and trousers, leggings, cloth shoes, the style is similar to the military uniform of the Beiyang New Army, but the military hat is different, not a large-brimmed hat, but a boat-shaped hat, the reason why this military hat is used is because it is easy to make, low cost, and can be directly inserted on the epaulette when not worn, or put into the pocket. In addition, a Y-shaped strap is also very chic, which can effectively reduce the fatigue of the soldier's waist and back in conjunction with the canvas belt, and the cowhide bullet box is hung on the belt, and two grenade bags made of canvas are also hung on the belt.

The staff officers did not have much objection to this new uniform, but they were not interested in the boat-shaped hat, because they had tried it and found that the boat-shaped hat was too awkward to wear on the head, and it was not as good as the large-brimmed hat, and it had no brim and could not shade the sun. The staff officers had suggested that the large-brimmed hat should continue to be used, but Zhao Bei stubbornly insisted on the boat-shaped hat, in his opinion, if the steel helmet was equipped in the future, the large-brimmed hat would become a flashy cumbersome, or the boat-shaped hat was convenient, and it was impractical to equip two kinds of permanent hats at the same time when the military budget was not very generous.

Seeing off the representatives of the gentry and businessmen, Zhao Beizheng was about to go to Chuwangtai to inspect, but as soon as he walked down the steps, a man who had been waiting on the side of the road for a long time was brought over by the guards, presented an invitation, and said: "Speaker Li and his friends are watching the scenery in the Yellow Crane Tower, please ask the commander-in-chief to appreciate his face, deign to go, climb high and overlook, and point out the country." ”

Zhao Bei recognized this person, it was Li Yuanhong's curtain guest Rao Hanxiang, the word Mi monk, a native of Guanghan, Hubei, a person from a high background, a hand-written style is superb, just a good smoker, is an addict, used to travel in other provinces, has been a small official of the curtain guest, but has been depressed, after the revolutionary army returned to Hubei to speculate, borrowed Wuchang, published a few articles in the newspaper praising the revolution, was favored by Li Yuanhong, hired into the scene as a copywriter, because of the ability to do things, and the age is also young, so Li Yuanhong is very important.

"I appreciate the good intentions of Speaker Lai, but I am busy with affairs, so I won't go to this viewing party." Zhao Bei shook his head. Since these days, Li Yuanhong has been quite active, since Zhao Bei lifted the surveillance of him, he has jumped up and down, sent telegrams, recruited guests, recruited celebrities, and put on a polite corporal, although the Hubei Provincial Council has not yet been formed, but he Li Huangpi is already famous, and people who don't know the details still think that he is the ruler of Hubei.

Rao Hanxiang smiled and said, "Commander-in-chief, I don't dare to go back to Huang Pi for what you said, even if you really don't go, you'd better take a look at this post." ”

Zhao Bei took the invitation, opened it, and saw that the payment not only had Li Yuanhong's name, but also a person named "Zou Tingbi", which was very unfamiliar.

Zhao Bei asked, "What is the origin of this Zou Tingbi?" ”

Rao Hanxiang said: "This person is a businessman, Speaker Li sent a telegram, calling on the constitutionalists to gather in Wuchang to discuss politics, this Mr. Zou came here, this trip to the Yellow Crane Tower to view the scenery was actually proposed by this person, and it was also his intention to invite the commander-in-chief to the meeting." ”

"So, he's a monarchy?" Zhao Bei frowned, he has never been interested in the constitutional monarchy, this is not a matter of position, but a matter of strategy.

"I don't know about this, but there are quite a lot of industries under his name."

"Industrial? What does he run for? Zhao Bei didn't plan to go, but as soon as he heard this, he became interested.

"Mr. Zou has run a lot of industries, mainly in the iron industry and also in the silk industry. Shengchang Hardware Coal Iron, Zhenchang Iron, Tongchang Iron, Guangchang Iron, Yuchang Xiang Cocoon, these factories are run by Mr. Zou, in addition to the factory, he is also the owner of Xincheng Commercial Savings Bank, speaking of this Mr. Zou, that is also a well-known figure in the industrial industry in the southeast area. Rao Hanxiang said with his eyebrows fluttering.

Zhao Bei was slightly surprised, this person named Zou Tingbi was only afraid that he could be regarded as a big industrialist in the late Qing Dynasty, and he was both industrial and financial, but why did he have no impression? Could it be that he is also a business wizard with empty gloves and white wolves?

Thinking of this, Zhao Bei felt that he had to take a look, now China lacks everything, even the discerning businessmen are pitiful, if that Zou Tingbi is really such a great industrialist, then you can contact the feelings and see if you can pull some investment.

"Since Mr. Zou is an industrialist, I can't help but see him. Yiren, let's take a look. Zhao Bei handed the invitation to Tian Jinfu.

Rao Hanxiang pointed to a four-wheeled carriage on the side of the street and said, "Please get on the carriage of the commander-in-chief, this carriage was prepared by Speaker Li for the commander-in-chief." ”

Zhao Bei glanced at the carriage, which was given to Li Yuanhong by the British consul in Hankou a few days ago, but he did not send him Commander-in-Chief Zhao, the intention of the British is obvious, but Zhao Bei didn't care much, as long as the military power was firmly grasped, he still had the final say here!

"I'm not used to riding in a carriage, so I'm going to ride a horse. Let's go, go to Yellow Crane Rock Head! Zhao Bei turned over and rode his horse and led the guards to the Yellow Crane Tower, Rao Hanxiang did not dare to slack off, hurriedly got into the carriage and rushed ahead.