"You say, should we support Hubei or Shanghai?" Chen Jingyun asked calmly, and the people in the main hall were also the current important members of the military and political axe.

Zheng Zuyin opened his mouth and said: "According to what I mean, it's good to go to Shanghai, Hubei is now in full swing, and the representatives of so many southern provinces are safe and secure!" ”

The reason why Zheng Zuyin said this Chen Jingyun was not strange, because Chen Jingyun also felt that the place in Hubei was not good, and if he wanted to hold a large-scale meeting, he still had to go to Shanghai.

At this time, Foreign Minister Lin Changming also said: "I also think Shanghai is more convenient!" ”

"In that case! Then after the meeting was dismissed, he replied to Shanghai, saying that our province would send people to participate in the meeting! After that, Chen Jingyun looked at Lin Changming: "For this meeting, please trouble Mr. Lin to go!" ”

Lin Changming's face was happy at this time: "The Shanghai talks are the first major event in China for thousands of years, and I will set off this afternoon!" ”

If Lin Changming was still a little indifferent to the military and political axe before and once wanted to resign, then now the southern republic has become a foregone conclusion, and as a Chinese, Lin Changming is excited to participate in the preparation of the temporary political axe, and at the same time has an inexplicable sense of pride.

This political axe will be China's first republican political axe in thousands of years, the first city government decided by the people, not the imperial family of the past.

After the meeting dispersed, Anwarin did not leave, but was left behind by Chen Jingyun.

The first thing he did when he opened his mouth was naturally to ask about the salt administration, Chen Jingyun knew very well that with the current financial revenue of Fujian, he could not support a huge number of troops, so he could only rely on external forces.

An Hualin said: "Governor, I have roughly sorted out the salt administration, according to the previous information integration, it is estimated that the salt administration is nearly four million per year, accounting for thirty percent of my financial income, and the amount of money you can get if you use it for loans is not small!" ”

As he spoke, he took out another document: "The Ministry of Finance has made some budgets, and the governors have asked for a look, because Fujian has not long been recovered, prefectures and counties at all levels are gradually being brought under the jurisdiction of the military and political axes, and the reform of the tax system is also slowly underway, plus Jianning has not yet taken it, so the entire account is estimated, and there will actually be a gap!" ”

Chen Jingyun hummed and then took the document and looked at it carefully. Although Chen Jingyun does not know that the professional accountant is a little dizzy to see many accounts on the document, but the final summary table can always be understood, according to the data of the chart, Fujian's provincial fiscal revenue is mainly divided into five major blocks, the first one is Tian Fu, which has always been an important income of the treasury can get 3 million yuan a year, the second is the salt government with the most income, about 4 million per year, the third is 1.5 million yuan, the fourth is the tea tax, Fujian's tea economy used to be Fujian's economic pillar, Although it has declined in recent years, it can still get about 500,000 yuan a year, and the remaining miscellaneous taxes add up to about 1.5 million yuan.

These add up to only 10.5 million yuan! The above figures do not include customs duties, and the customs of Fujian Province are about more than 7 million yuan, but after Xinhai, the customs were controlled by foreigners, and then the customs were handed over to the central government, which has nothing to do with the localities.

And how much was Jiangsu's finance in the same period? There are 80 million (540 million yuan in the whole country)! Even if the customs tariffs are excluded after Xinhai is 25 million, there is still 55 million; Guangdong's income is as high as 40 million if you don't count the customs. There are also as many as 30 million in Zhejiang.

In this comparison, we can know how bad Fujian's economy is, and we can understand why Chen Jingyun wants to expand his army and occupy Zhejiang and Guangdong.

The above figures are all public figures of the provincial treasury, and in fact, more tax revenues have been intercepted by corrupt officials in the prefecture and county governments. It's just that no one has the ability to clean it up for a while.

Anwarin continued: "According to the current estimated revenue of Fujian Province, the revenue is 10,000,000 yuan, and if the tax reform is successful, it is expected that the tax revenue will rise by about 20% to about 13 million!" ”

Speaking of this, An Hualin paused and continued: "However, the current financial expenditure is even greater, the military and political axes and the local political axes and yamen need about 5 million a year, and the Fuzhou Arsenal also needs 1.8 million yuan, as for the military expenditure, there is no statistics yet!" ”

"The political axe and the arsenal are nearly seven million a year, so there are only four or five million left for the army?" Chen Jingyun was a little dissatisfied, the army was his reliance, what did he want this military and political axe to do without the army?

The cost of the army is very high, and according to the calculation of a town in the late Qing Dynasty, it will cost about 2.5 million yuan a year. This is still peacetime, and the number of words that are loud in wartime has to increase a lot. Fujian now has four brigades and four regiments, and although the fact that they are all brigades and regiments does not cost as much money as those of the six Beiyang towns that are fully staffed, it is still quite a lot, and the military expenditure required by the current troops alone is as high as 600,000 yuan a month, or more than 7 million a year! Chen Jingyun also predicted that it would be expanded into six infantry brigades, a guard regiment, an artillery regiment, and four garrison regiments, which would add up to nine million a year and simply survive. Soldiers' pensions, spent bullets, shells, ordnance, etc. all cost money.

Moreover, Chen Jingyun does not have an arsenal capable of making artillery and guns, and if he wants to expand the army in the future, he will have to prepare at least three or four million yuan of purchased ordnance for external use every year.

Calculated in this way, Fujian's finances simply cannot support such a huge army building plan as Chen Jingyun.

"In fact, it's not impossible, there is a way to do well and earn at least 10 million or more every year!" Anwarin's remark made Chen Jingyun interested. Hurriedly asked: "Say, what is the method!" ”

"Smoke!" An Hualin said: "Now the domestic tobacco market is huge, Yunnan and Guizhou are more than 10 million yuan of tobacco income every year, although we also have Fujian but the number is not much, if it is extended, not only farmers harvest a lot, but also can collect more than 10 million tobacco seedling tax!" ”

"Opium?" Chen Jingyun knew very well what tobacco was, that is, opium, and he also knew that after the defeat of the Opium War, the Qing government was powerless to prevent opium from entering the country, so he simply promoted the cultivation in the country, and used national tobacco to make foreign tobacco to avoid the outflow of a large amount of silver. From a financial point of view, this policy was extremely successful, and now at this time in the Xinhai year, foreign tobacco can no longer occupy much market share in China, and basically the local tobacco in the domestic provinces has squeezed out the market, avoiding the outflow of a large amount of silver, and also allowing the local government to obtain rich fiscal revenue.

Why did the Yunnan region participate in the anti-Yuan war several times after Xinhai, and the Dian army was famous in China? It is the 'cloud soil'.

"Well, this one!" Although Chen Jingyun wanted to be a warlord, he even planned to mortgage Fujian's Yanzheng and Guan Yu for this goal, and such an act was already within the scope of betrayal in these years. However, his conscience still exists, opium is harmful to others and himself!

"But this thing!" Chen Jingyun has some concerns!

Anwarin advised: "Everyone knows the harm of opium, but why are there still so many races in the country, one is to squeeze out foreign tobacco, and the other is to enrich the finances!" Think twice! ”

Anwarin is right, opium is now grown all over the country, Yunnan, Shaanxi, Guizhou and other places are very famous, even if Fujian does not grow opium, other opium in the country will flow into Fujian, even if the whole of China is not grown, then Indian opium dealers will jump for joy. As for the ban on smoking, the two Opium Wars have shown that a weak China cannot ban smoking, and it was not until after the founding of the People's Republic of China that opium was completely banned in history.

And now, Chen Jingyun pondered for a long time and said: "I have my own plans for planting tobacco soil, you first raise the tax of the tobacco house for me, even if we can't ban smoking, then let the tobacco in Fujian become more expensive, so that ordinary people can't afford to smoke!" Then the smuggling will be strictly investigated, and all violators will be severely punished."

Anwarin also doesn't know anything about opium cultivation, he only knows that this thing comes from money, how to implement this plan is not something he can control, and raising the tax amount of tobacco houses is not a big deal, he can do it himself!

After An Hualin left, Chen Jingyun's heart was heavy. After pondering for a long time, he called and instructed Chen Caidao: "Go and call Mr. Gao, the deputy minister of civil affairs!" ”

Soon, Gao Zeyan, the deputy minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, came over, this person is over fifty years old, a little short and fat, but he is a well-known squire in Fuzhou, but today Chen Jingyun called him not because of anything else, but because there is an opium trading house in Gao Zeyan's huge industry!

"I called Mr. Gao over today, I have something to ask!" Chen Jingyun asked Gao Zeyan to sit down, and after serving tea, the two drank it.

Gao Zeyan put down the teaglass: "The governor has something to do, but please command!" ”

"I heard that Fuzhou Li Minfu Commercial Bank was opened by you!" Minfu Commercial Bank is an opium trading house under the name of Gao Zeyan, in addition to importing foreign tobacco for entrepot trade, the main business is to collect local tobacco in Fujian Province and then disperse and sell. It's just that Fujian soil has never been famous in China, and the output is not high, so although it is famous in Fuzhou, it is not well-known in the domestic tobacco industry.

Gao Zeyan heard Chen Jingyun mention tobacco at this time, and thought that Chen Jingyun wanted to ban smoking or extort cigarette donations, so his face immediately changed greatly: "Dudu, this is ......"

Half a day later, he gritted his teeth: "Although the subordinate Minfu Commercial Bank is famous in Fuzhou, it does not earn much because it sells local tobacco and soil, but now that it is in financial difficulties, I am willing to donate 200,000 yuan to fund military expenses!" ”

Surprised that Gao Zeyan was rich, and at the same time that he would give 200,000 yuan, he had an intuitive feeling for the huge profits of the opium industry, and immediately said: "Since the senior minister has a political axe, I can't postpone it, I will accept the 200,000!" But! ”

Hearing this, Gao Zeyan had a little mention in his heart: Could it be that the governor is not satisfied?

But when he came to the reception, he heard Chen Jingyun say: "I called you here today not for this matter, but to ask you about opium in our Fujian Province, how much land is planted now, and what is the yield!" ”

At this time, Gao Zeyan was relieved, and it seemed that the governor did not want to ban smoking, but wanted to grow cigarettes. Although opium does not occupy the majority of his industry, he is still very clear about this industry, and immediately explained it to Chen Jingyun one by one: "Now there are not many tobacco seedlings planted in our province, and most of the opium markets in Fujian Province are occupied by tobacco from the southwest and Shanxi in Shaanxi......