After making up their minds to get involved in opium cultivation to make up for the huge military expenditure, Chen Jingyun and Gao Zeyan discussed a series of methods, one of which was to set up an anti-smoking department to manage opium smuggling and related opium taxes, and at the same time set up a Funing Company based on the opium merchants under Gao Zeyan's name, specializing in the cultivation of opium in Fujian Province, and set up relevant laws and regulations to levy more or less high taxes on tobacco from other provinces.

At the same time, in order to better manage the opium industry and collect more opium taxes, Chen Jingyun separated the opium-related taxes from the Ministry of Finance and handed them over to the Anti-Smoking Department for unified management, so that not only can the opium-related taxes be increased, but also can be directly cut and cut when it is necessary to abolish and ban smoking in the future, without having to get into a messy relationship with the Ministry of Finance and other political axe departments, so as to avoid future troubles, and then avoid letting the military and political axes involve opium and other affairs too deeply and affect the people's will

Whether it is the Anti-Smoking Division or the Funing Company, Chen Jingyun handed it over to Gao Zeyan. And Gao Zeyan almost immediately changed his attitude after getting this errand, from the former neutrality to Chen Jingyun's supporter, and thus became Chen Jingyun's second actual subordinate in the military and political axe after Anwarin.

Gao Zeyan said after a silent calculation in his heart: "By the end of the year, the Anti-Smoking Division will probably be able to hand over about three million tobacco taxes and other related income!" ”

"Three million? Mr. Gao, are you sure? ”

As soon as he heard about the three million, An Hualin on the side almost fell out of his eyes, how long has it been, even if it is only a few months at the end of the year, this is three million, if it is done in a year, it will not break 10 million? In the past, Anwarin knew that opium came from money, but it was just hearsay before, but now he really heard Gao Zeyan say it himself, and he only felt extremely shocked, the annual income of this anti-smoking department was comparable to the tax paid by the whole province of Fujian, no wonder the foreigners were able to mobilize troops from thousands of miles to come to war for this opium.

At the same time, I also calculated that if the income of the anti-smoking department is also calculated, then Fujian's financial predicament will be solved at once, and even if there is still a gap next year, it will not be more than 10 million.

Hearing these three million, Chen Jingyun was also a little relieved, it is not a good thing to engage in this opium business by himself, and in the future, he may have to be scolded as an opium warlord or something, risking his conscience and reputation, if he can get about 10 million a year, even if he is scolded, it is worth it.

"If the anti-smoking department can have nearly 10 million income next year, then most of the financial gap can be solved!" Chen Jingyun said: "When the time comes, we will think of other ways, and this hurdle can always be overcome!" ”

At this time, An Hualin said: "Governor, now the first brigade and the fifth brigade are in Zhejiang, although I don't know much about military affairs, but I also know that the southern part of Zhejiang should be under our control." Since we have taken it down, but the local political axes have not yet been included, and the taxes have not yet been handed over, is this a bit inappropriate? ”

Gao Zeyan on the side also said: "Also, the situation in Zhejiang is much better than our Fujian, Ningbo, Shaoxing, and Taizhou are all prosperous places, and you can collect more than 10 million yuan this year!" ”

Chen Jingyun shook his head: "This matter can't be rushed, Zhejiang has to wait!" ”

Chen Jingyun also wants to sort out the southern part of Zhejiang and incorporate it into his own system, but there are too many aspects involved if he really wants to do it. First of all, the first one is that Tang Shouqian of Hangzhou is the justifiable governor of Zhejiang, and now all local political axes in Zhejiang are nominally under the jurisdiction of Hangzhou. When the Nationalist Army entered Zhejiang, it was still under the banner of the Southern Coalition Army, and the reorganization of the old army in Zhejiang all the way had already made Tang Shouqian in Hangzhou quite dissatisfied, and the telegram of accountability was sent several times. If he openly takes over the political axes of various places at this time, I am afraid that Zhejiang will have to make a mess, and maybe Zhu Rui will have to lead the Zhejiang army back to Zhejiang from Nanjing.

At the same time, the North-South peace talks were at a critical stage, and Chen Jingyun did not want his actions to affect the overall situation of the entire North-South peace talks. In addition, the Wuchang Uprising is less than three months old, and the era of warlord melee has not yet begun, so if you rashly raise troops to occupy the territory of neighboring provinces, it is easy to give people a handle, and it is not fun to push yourself to the forefront of national public opinion.

Moreover, if Chen Jingyun takes down Zhejiang completely now, the impact will be too great, it is estimated that if he makes a move on his side, the real power figures in the whole country will have to pay attention to themselves, especially Yuan Shikai, if he is targeted by him, I am afraid that it will be a lot of trouble, in case Yuan Shikai lets himself learn from Cai Ye and Li Yuanhong to take up the post in the north in order to defend himself, he must not cry to death. If you don't go, don't think about Fujian, if you don't go, it will directly show that you have antipathy, and the Beiyang army will immediately have to wave the army to Fujian and Zhejiang.

Therefore, whether it is Zhejiang or Guangdong, Chen Jingyun is extremely cautious, and it is needless to say that Yuan Fang's Third Brigade is still in Chaozhou for training, and Hu Hanmin has repeatedly asked Chen Jingyun to send Yuan Fang to continue south. Zhejiang is even more cautious, until now Chen Jingyun still let Ma Cheng play the banner of belonging to the Southern Coalition Army and preparing to go north to support Nanjing, you must know that now the Southern Coalition Army has already become a bubble. Chen Jingyun did not seek to completely control the southern part of Zhejiang in a short period of time, he only needed to disperse his troops and wait until the moment when the melons were ripe and fell with one blow.

However, An Hualin's words still reminded Chen Jingyun that it is naturally not possible to directly take over the provinces and counties in southern Zhejiang, but it can come secretly, and taxes and the like can also be collected in other names, well, for example, the name of Xiexiang is not bad, after all, tens of thousands of people and horses of our national army stay in Zhejiang to protect the territory and the people, which costs the provinces and counties in southern Zhejiang.

After having this attention in his heart, Chen Jingyun did not say it directly to An Hualin and others, but continued to ponder in his heart, this matter over there in Zhejiang will not be directly mixed with the Fujian military and political axe, and the province will let Zheng Zuyin and those people get in the way, and this matter must be handled directly in the name of the National Army Headquarters.

Thinking of this, I estimated in my heart that this method should also be able to solve part of the military expenses, and my mood immediately became better.

After Chen Jingyun was in a slightly better mood, he also left the two for lunch, and after eating, An Hualin and Gao Zeyan went back separately, but without waiting for two hours, An Hualin returned to the Governor's Mansion.

"Chief An, who are you?" Chen Jingyun himself is usually very busy, generally speaking, he will not take time to meet people temporarily, Chen Jingyun is busy, he also knows that An Hualin will not be idle, and he is also busy on weekdays, and there are not many opportunities to sit with Gao Zeyan and talk to Chen Jingyun like this morning.

Anwarin walked over and said, "Governor, the British came to me just now!" ”

"British?" Chen Jingyun was a little surprised: "What are they coming to you for?" ”

Anwarin took a sip of tea before continuing: "Is it the British Consulate Otto? Jones sent him to say that he was going to negotiate a loan with the balance! ”

"Guan Yu loan?" Chen Jingyun was slightly stunned in his heart, he saw Otto some time ago? Jones proposed to use the surplus loan, but then did not talk about it in detail, although Chen Jingyun threatened to abolish the customs and the like, but that was just lip service, and then forgot about it, and then Chen Jingyun planned to use the salt government loan, respectively, asked Britain, France, Germany, the United States and other countries, but none of them were willing, Britain's attitude was better, but it was specified that the loan could not be used for military purposes, and at that time, it happened that he took the initiative to provide a loan to Chen Jingyun, so later Chen Jingyun also left these Western countries behind.

Now he suddenly heard that the British came to the door again and said that they wanted to use Guan Yu to take out a loan, which made Chen Jingyun feel a little surprised, and then asked: "What is the specific situation?" ”

No matter what the British have in mind, Chen Jingyun is ready to come, and Chen Jingyun dares to take the loan he gave with malicious intentions, let alone the money of the British.

Sometimes Chen Jingyun feels that he has tried all kinds of ways for the sake of finance in the past few months, and he has become more and more suspicious of being a mother.

Anwarin said: "Some time ago, when we were planning to use the salt government loan, I went to contact the British consul Otto? Jones, although he promised a loan at that time, but he had to promise that it would not be used for military purposes, so he did not talk about it later. And according to the Englishman who came today, they returned the country and said that they were interested in using the surplus loan! ”

Anwarin continued: "I talked to him a little before I came, and according to them, this loan is of interest to one of their domestic banks, and it is not part of the group of banks in the four countries, but directly entrusted to Otto? Consul Jones conducts negotiations! ”

Hearing this, Chen Jingyun was puzzled: "Unofficial behavior? ”

An Hualin nodded and said: "It should be like this, and the interest they want is also higher, and the repayment terms are more harsh!" ”

Loans for private businesses? Chen Jingyun couldn't figure it out. Although the political axe loans to China in recent years were all underwritten by bankers in the end, they were basically official acts of various countries, and the loans of those bank groups were basically based on diplomacy. After all, this loan is not a small amount, and it costs hundreds of billions of taels of silver, and if such a large amount of money is to be successfully recovered, it is impossible to get back the principal and interest without a strong country and a strong army behind it.

Chen Jingyun naturally didn't know, this was really a loan provided by a private bank, and it was Otto? Jones gave the line to pull. Otto? The reason why Jones is interested in Chen Jingyun's Guan Yu loan is because he can get a large amount of commission if he is in the middle. But at this time, Britain had almost made it clear that it wanted to support Yuan Shikai, and even began to plan to organize a banking group with other countries to prepare to provide Yuan Shikai with a large loan for the aftermath, which is said to be a large sum of tens of millions of pounds.

Otto? Under such circumstances, Jones could only send a telegram of inquiry to a few bankers he knew, and then single-handedly persuaded one of the banks to provide loans.

After getting the consent of a banker in China, he immediately sent his subordinates to negotiate with the Fujian military and political axe, and the British found Anwarin.

"And how much loan are they going to give?" This is what Chen Jingyun is most concerned about, as for the amount of interest, repayment conditions and the like are all trivialities, Chen Jingyun doesn't care much.

Because he is now short of money, and he is in a hurry! What he needs to consider is how to build an army that can compete with Beiyang in a short period of time, and at most only a year, as for how to repay the loan in the future, the level of interest and other issues will have to be two or three years later.

And Chen Jingyun thinks that in two or three years, he will either occupy two or three provinces and become a big warlord, or he will be defeated by other warlords, and he will die as a duke. If you succeed in occupying Zhejiang, Guangdong, or even Jiangsu, Jiangxi, then you will have the capital to compete for Kyushu, and then you don't have to care about the repayment of principal and interest at the level of tens of millions of yuan. If it fails, let alone loses its eligibility to repay.

As for the third way, it is to wait for death in Fujian, and if you are lucky, you may be able to do it for a few years or even more than ten years, but Chen Jingyun has never chosen such a path.

For the current Chen Jingyun, he is only willing and can only continue to move forward, he can't stay and wait for death, because he doesn't agree, neither do An Hualin and Gao Zeyan and others who follow him in the Fujian military and political axe, and a large group of generals in the national army who want to be promoted and make a fortune don't agree!

He has no other way,

Go further or fall to your death!