Beiyang reactionaries

"It seems to be because of the tung oil."

"Tung oil?"

"Yes."

Shi Tiyuan reported to Duan Xun, Yang Wei, and Wang Yongjiang.

"According to the news we have received, the current demand for tung oil in the world is increasing rapidly, especially in the United States in recent years. The demand for tung oil has increased exponentially. Most of the tung oil in the market comes from China. At present, more than a dozen provinces in China produce tung oil. However, there are very few tung oil produced in other provinces. Most of the tung oil in China is produced in Sichuan. The barrel oil output in eastern Sichuan It is the crown of Sichuan. It can be said that the tung oil in the eastern Sichuan region accounts for [-]% to [-]% of the total tung oil in China. Therefore, the British have taken a fancy to the tung oil in our eastern Sichuan region and are planning to open a customs branch in Wanxian. As long as Wanxian opened a customs sub-customs, so there is no need to send tung oil to Chongqing, and then export from Chongqing, but can choose to export directly from Wanxian Customs. At that time, relying on the geographical location of Wanxian, this place will definitely become my Sichuan tung oil trading center."

"kindness."

Duan Xun nodded.

No wonder the British suddenly wanted to open a customs sub-customs in Wanxian. It turned out that they were interested in tung oil from Sichuan.Although Duan Xun is not very familiar with it, he also knows that during World War II, China had two seemingly inconspicuous materials that played a strategic role.

One is this tung oil.

Most of the world's tung oil comes from China, and most of China's tung oil comes from Sichuan.Especially the eastern Sichuan region, which happens to be the eastern part of the Sichuan Basin.Although the hills are undulating, the terrain is rugged.But the land here is soft, the climate is mild, and the rainfall is abundant, which is very suitable for planting tung oil.And it does not affect farming, as long as it is planted at will on the side of the field, it can be fed.Therefore, the area where tung oil can be planted is very large in eastern Sichuan, and the output of tung oil is also very large.

Then one is the bristles.

This is also a Chinese specialty. The bristles used in the world are basically produced in China, and more than 90.00% of them come from Sichuan.Therefore, during the Anti-Japanese War, Sichuan contributed a lot as the rear area of ​​the Anti-Japanese War.This includes strategic resources such as bristles and tung oil.The government of the Republic of China relied on these things in exchange for foreign exchange.

"Maybe it's not just for tung oil. Once Wanxian opens a customs sub-customs, then Wanxian will not only become a trade center for tung oil, but also a trade center for my Sichuan native products. I have a lot of Sichuan native products, and the export is also very good. amazing."

Yang Wei answered.

In terms of familiarity with Sichuan, all the people present cannot compare with Yang Wei.

"Brother Xinye (Yang Wei), tell me about the local specialties in Sichuan. How about their exports?"

"it is good."

Yang Wei nodded.

Then he said: "Speaking of my local specialties in Sichuan, there are a lot of them. The most vigorous demand for our Sichuan outside is wool, tung oil, bristles, gallnuts, cowhide, healds, taro chips, duck feathers, etc. Every year There are a lot of exports. Although I don’t have specific figures in my hand, there are statistics at the end of the Qing Dynasty. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, when my Sichuan export was the highest, it reached a scale of 200 million taels. In the past two years, due to the European War, the volume of these goods The demand has more than doubled, and I believe the export volume in the past two years should have exceeded 2000 million taels."

"so much?"

Duan Xun was very surprised.

Duan Xun has always thought that Sichuan salt is the most profitable source in Sichuan, but he did not expect that so many local products in Sichuan are exported every year.According to Yang Wei, Sichuan exports more than 2000 million taels of these things a year.

But where did all the money go?

The damn British control the customs, and Duan Xun can't hold a penny of the customs duties.From the customs duties obtained here, the British first deducted the indemnity and loan interest, and then the remaining money was called customs surplus, which would be handed over to the central government.Because the current Beijing government cannot collect taxes from local governments, most of its finances depend on these customs surpluses.

This is for export only.

Many local products in Sichuan are also sold to many provinces in China.In this way, the local products sold from Sichuan every year can make a lot of money.Maybe it can reach 3000 million taels.

With so much money, Duan Xun drools when he thinks about it.

The First World War will be fought for another two years, which means that this vigorous export can be maintained for another two years.I never thought that these local products in Sichuan could still have such a sales volume.

"How do we export these things?"

In this time and space, Duan Xun spends more time in the army.So I don't know much about the place.Since he doesn't understand, Duan Xun is also very modest, and won't pretend to understand.

"In fact, it's all one step. Most of our businessmen buy things from farmers or farmers, and some need to be processed. Then they sell these goods to foreign companies, and finally these foreign companies ship things out of Sichuan. , and finally shipped abroad.”

"Damn."

Duan Xun understood as soon as he heard it.

He couldn't help but sneered and said: "Most of the profits have been made by these foreign firms. Our businessmen are not familiar with the foreign market, so they can only agree with these foreign firms to say how much money they have. These foreign firms have made a good plan .”

"General, there is no way. Our merchants cannot directly contact foreign markets, let alone how to export goods. Therefore, we can only sell things to foreign companies, and let foreign companies sell things abroad."

"This is a huge loss for us."

Although Duan Xun is not in business, he also knows that if this continues, all the high profits will be earned by foreigners, or by foreigners' dog legs.And what about myself?Duan Xun couldn't even look at the tariffs, and it was very difficult to collect taxes from those foreign firms. In the end, he lost money all by himself.

But I have no ability to take back the customs, and those foreign firms themselves dare not clean up at will.It's no problem to clean up a few dog legs, but if it's a foreign firm opened by an authentic British and French businessman, I really can't clean it up.

I am too aggrieved to be the governor of Sichuan.

No.

Duan Xun thought for a while and said: "Not to mention anything else, we in Sichuan have an absolute advantage in wool, tung oil, and bristles. How can we let foreign businessmen bully us like this. Mr. Wang, do you think there is any way?"

Wang Yongjiang pondered for a moment and said: "General, from the current situation, since foreign countries have a large demand for tung oil, then we should not be at a disadvantage. It is not that we must export tung oil, but that foreign countries must use tung oil. That being the case, the initiative is in our hands, and we can completely bargain with them."

"kindness."

Duan Xun nodded.

Yes.

What is worrying now is not Sichuan, but foreign talents.Tung oil plays a big role, especially in industry, tung oil is an essential thing.Europe is at war, and American industry is developing rapidly, all of which require large quantities of tung oil.Now they are in a hurry to use tung oil, not Sichuan is in a hurry to export tung oil.

Although the current world market cannot be called a seller's market, Sichuan is definitely in a detached position.After all, if there is no Sichuan market for tung oil and bristle in the world, it can basically be said that there will be no goods.Because of the world's tung oil and bristle markets, most of the goods are provided by Sichuan.Once the supply in Sichuan is cut off, the entire world market will be overturned immediately.

In other words, Sichuan can take the initiative.

"Governor, but there are so many tung oil merchants in Sichuan, and many of them have a lot of connections with foreign companies. They buy tung oil from farmers for the purpose of doing business with foreign companies. Let them sit down and bargain with foreign companies, I think it will be okay Will it be difficult? And in order to quickly buy and sell, they will keep lowering the price among themselves, hoping that those foreign firms will buy their goods."

Shi Tiyuan reminded Duan Xun next to him.

In fact, what Shi Tiyuan said was more euphemistic.The reality is that these tung oil merchants maintain a very close relationship with foreign companies in order to open up the road to go abroad.Even if the profit is a bit low, as long as there are more goods, you can still make a lot of money.Therefore, they don't care about the low price. Instead, in order to get a relationship with foreign firms, the competition between Chinese businessmen themselves is more intense.

Foreign firms are taking advantage of the mentality of Sichuan tung oil merchants to keep suppressing the price of tung oil.In the same way, foreign firms lower prices. In order to make money, these businessmen lower prices from farmers and farmers.

In the end, the biggest profits were taken away by foreign firms.

"Hmph, they dare."

Duan Xun snorted coldly.

Then he said to Yang Wei and Wang Yongjiang: "In this way, a notice is issued in the name of the provincial government. Wool, tung oil, and bristles are military strategic materials. Any private firm is not qualified to sell these items to foreign firms for export. Dare to privately sell these items If they are sold to foreign firms for export, they will be punished for the crime of selling military supplies.”

dare.

Foreigners themselves are not yet able to manage it, and their own businessmen are still unable to manage it.Since these local products in Sichuan are so valuable, how could Duan Xun let himself suffer.If these things are managed well, how much benefit can they bring to themselves.

No matter how rampant those businessmen are, can they be more rampant than this warlord?If you are disobedient, you will be stunned.

"Mr. Wang, you are right. Now it is not we who are begging for foreigners, but foreigners want these things. In this case, foreigners can't take all the benefits. What I mean is that we set up a foreign trade company to specialize in These transactions. Of course, our local businessmen in Sichuan, who have been engaged in these transactions for many years, must have more connections and experience than us. Businessmen who want to continue to engage in this business can join our foreign trade company. Everyone cooperates to make our Sichuan tung oil, Local products such as bristles and wool are all gathered together and negotiated with foreigners. If we don’t raise the price, we will not sell it. We will find foreign businessmen ourselves, and export them directly to those foreign businessmen without going through their foreign firms. During this process, If any tung oil merchant bypasses the unified organization and negotiates privately with foreign companies, they will all be sent to the coal mine to mine coal, and all property will be confiscated.”