Beiyang reactionaries

As far as Duan Xun's annual financial income is concerned, with so much military expenditure every year, there is nothing left at all.When will the loan of 3000 to 2000 million yuan be paid off, and more importantly, the interest on the loan is now amazing. For a loan of 300 million, the annual interest is [-] million.

The interest alone will scare you to death.

When Hanyeping Company borrowed money from Japan, it never thought of handing over the steel plant to Japan.But what about the result?It's not that it fell into the hands of Japan obediently.Duan Xun's steel plant can still run away.

Japan is a country that lacks resources. If it can use this method to control China's steel plants, it will be a very cost-effective deal for Japan.

"General Duan, happy cooperation."

"Pleasant to work with."

171 Industrial development

"General, the Japanese are making a trap, let us get in."

Sichuan Iron and Steel Works.

Duan Xun attaches great importance to having a qualified steel factory.It is necessary to have one's own steel factory, so that the construction of railways, the construction of arsenals, and the development of other industries can be less choked by others.

But after all, cooperating with Japan is a very risky thing.Duan Xun must think clearly and make the most adequate plan.So Duan Xun invited Yang Wei, Wang Yongjiang, Song Yuren, Dan Maoxin, Ren Hongjun who was in charge of setting up the Sichuan Iron and Steel Works, Yang Boqian, and Duan Xun's current secretary Bai Jianwu and Lu Zuofu.Although Bai Jianwu and Lu Zuofu are both secretaries, their responsibilities are different.

Bai Jianwu is more responsible for Duan Xun's Southwest Frontier Supervision Office's contact with other departments, contact with the media, and the logistics support work of the Supervision Office.Lu Zuofu is more of a liaison, responsible for the liaison between the Supervision Office and the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Industry.

Duan Xun valued both of them very much.

As for Yang Boqian, that is Xiang Chu's student, and he is currently serving as the deputy director of the Asset Management Bureau that Xiang Chu is in charge of.Because Xiang Chu, the director of the bureau, is currently mainly in charge of the student department of the People's Party and the field of propaganda, the Assets Management Bureau can't concentrate on it.Therefore, Yang Boqian is more in charge of the daily affairs of the Asset Management Bureau.

Hearing that Duan Xun and Tsuruta Tatsuya had verbally reached a cooperation agreement, especially the cooperation agreement on the steel plant, Ren Hongjun immediately spoke.Ren Hongjun heard about Han Yeping Company from Yang Xingfo.

Yang Xingfo stayed in the accounting department of Han Yeping Company for a few months, and knew everything about Han Yeping Company like the back of his hand.The Japanese used this method to swallow Hanyeping Company back then, and they are now using such things to wantonly embezzle China's resources.

It's not just the Japanese, those big powers have given loans to China in this way.It seems to be good for you, but use loans to control your finances and take away your minerals and industries.

"I know."

Duan Xun nodded.

Then he smiled and said: "Actually, you use me and I use you in this world. Whoever can win in the end depends on who is smarter. If we don't give us some benefits, why should Japan lend us money? Why support us? Everyone is just using each other. I called a few people today just to see how we can deal with it, so as to prevent the Sichuan Iron and Steel Plant from falling into the hands of the Japanese.”

"General, are you too anxious? We can take our time. We have no experience, and we don't need to start with large-scale production. We can start with a steel plant with an annual output of [-] to [-] tons."

Ren Hongjun still suggested that Duan Xun give up cooperation with Japan.

Song Yuren also frowned and said: "General, the annual output exceeds 500 tons, which is comparable to the output of Hanyeping Company. When Sheng Xuanhuai started to build the Hanyang Iron Works, the scale was much smaller than the Sichuan Iron and Steel Plant planned by the General, but At that time, the investment budget was 20.00 million, which was 3000% of the annual fiscal revenue of the Qing government at that time. Later, nearly 500 million was invested one after another. Now we are going to set up the Sichuan Iron and Steel Plant, and the final investment is estimated to be [-] million. Above. General, this amount is really too big. Adding the annual interest, even if it is calculated on a ten-year basis, our steel factory has to repay [-] million yuan a year, or even more money to Japan. And we have to pay less If we provide them with iron ore and pig iron at a low price, our steel plant must lose money in the end, and it will lose money every year. If the steel plant continues to lose money, how can we pay back such a large amount.”

Why is it difficult to follow the path of private capital in heavy industry in a backward country like China.Now this is the reason.

The investment is large and the payback period is too long.To build a steel plant with an annual output of only about 20 tons requires so much investment.And if you want to make money, you don't know what year and month it will be.If it is a steel plant with an annual output of around [-] tons, the investment will be more than [-] million.Such a scale of investment can only be completed by the power of the state.

Whoever has so much money in private capital will spend it on such a place.Even if there is so much money, the profit return rate of any other industry is several times that of the steel factory, so it is impossible to invest in the steel industry.

"Yes, General. Japan's conditions are also relatively harsh. According to the output of the steel plant, how much pig iron can be produced in a year. They have to buy 50 tons of pig iron at a low price, and [-] tons of iron ore. .They are completely taking advantage of our steel plant. They took iron ore and pig iron at a low price, in fact, to go back and develop their steel plant. They even make millions of profits every year as long as they change hands. And these The profits that should have been our steel mills were taken away by Japan.”

Yang Boqian, as the person in charge of the current asset management bureau, also opposes Duan Xun.Yang Boqian studied economics. From the perspective of capital, the conditions of the Japanese are too harsh.Sichuan Iron and Steel Works is absolutely incapable of repaying the money.In the end, the iron and steel plant could only have the same result as the Hanyeping Company, falling into the hands of the Japanese.

"Fu Lao, and Mr. Ren, you are all right, and you have considered well. But there is no way around it. This is the most basic condition that an industrial country needs in my writing. You all have a look."

Lu Zuofu stepped forward and distributed these things to those present.

This was written by Duan Xun himself, with Lu Zuofu helping to perfect it.Lu Zuofu came to Duan Xun for two or three months, learned a lot, and his views on Duan Xun became more and more different.

At the beginning, he just thought that Duan Xun was an enlightened and discerning warlord.But after this period of contact, Lu Zuofu increasingly believed that Duan Xun was not just a qualified general.Rather, he is a politician who has his own unique understanding of national politics, international situation, industrial development, agricultural development, and commercial development.Although it may not be correct, it gave Lu Zuofu a refreshing feeling in many aspects, and also gave Lu Zuofu a lot of inspiration.

The same is true of what Duan Xun sends to everyone now.

Lu Zuofu never thought about these things.Because Lu Zuofu was just a reporter before, and what he thought, watched, and did was only a side view.I have never considered how this country develops in the macro field, and the overall picture of this international industry, agriculture, and commerce.

That's why I was taken aback when I wrote this document with Duan Xun.

"General, this is..."

Everyone has read what Duan Xun wrote, that is, Yang Wei and Wang Yongjiang are seeing this for the first time.After Wang Yongjiang looked carefully, he was the first to raise his head and ask Duan Xun.

"This is the most basic thing in an industrial system. You can count the powerful countries in the world now. Britain, France, Germany, the United States, Japan, and Italy. The reason why they are world powers is because they are industrial powers. An industrial power does not mean that we just built a few factories, as we did during the Westernization Movement. It is a system, and what I write is the most basic thing.”

"Speaking of industry, it is divided into heavy industry and light industry. I won't talk about the subdivision. Simply put, light industry is mainly an industry that provides consumer goods. Such as cotton mills and flour mills are all light industries. I will focus on heavy industry. , because the characteristic of these industrial powers is that heavy industry is very light.”

"Speaking of heavy industry, there are three main categories. Mining industry, raw material industry, and processing industry. Mining industry is the exploitation of natural resources, such as oil extraction, coal mining, metal ore mining, non-metallic ore mining, and timber logging. Raw materials Industry is the industry that provides basic materials, power and fuel for various fields. Metal smelting and processing, electric power, cement, coal chemical industry, petrochemical industry, etc. Processing industry is the reprocessing of industrial raw materials. Such as machinery and equipment manufacturing industry, agriculture needed fertilizers for these industries.”

"There are many classifications of heavy industry, but for us, there are great defects in technology and capital. Therefore, there is no need to consider coal chemical industry, petrochemical industry, equipment manufacturing industry, and chemical fertilizer. In a short period of time, we have no There is no technology in this area, and there are no talents in this area. Most of them need to be imported. But we can’t just rely on imports forever. We must slowly develop our own heavy industry. Only if we have enough heavy industry foundation, we Only then can we say that we are an industrial country, and we can truly have an equal dialogue with these world powers. If we do not have our own heavy industry foundation, then we will always be subject to these industrial powers, and we can only obey their orders for the rest of our lives. "

"However, these heavy industries are all industries with large investments and slow results. For any of their industries, the initial investment for development is tens of millions or hundreds of millions. Where does the money come from, and where does the technology needed in it come from? Come on, where do the talents we need come from? Tens of millions, hundreds of millions, can you imagine? The current fiscal revenue of the three provinces of Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou is only how much. But because of difficulties, we give up these aspects development?"

"No. Because this is the foundation of a strong country. If China wants to get rid of the interference of foreign powers, we must have sufficient strength. But where does our strength come from? After human society enters the industrial age, the strength of industrial capabilities is the key to The fullest manifestation of national strength. That is to say, our strength comes from our industrial capabilities. Therefore, our country must develop industry, even if we tighten our belts.”

"But now we have no capital and no technology, so what should we do? We can only start with what we can do now. The first point is the mining industry. We must speed up the exploration and development of various resources, and then exploit these resources .If we can’t use it domestically, we have to sell it abroad, even if the price is low. Because we have to exchange these resources for foreign capital and foreign technology. Only in this way can we have the funds and technology to develop other industries. In this process, we may be bullied a lot, and foreigners buy our resources at a low price, but this is the road we backward countries must go through.”

"I know that our cooperation with Japan is very risky this time, but this is an opportunity. If we set up a steel factory by ourselves, we can only set up a small factory with an output of [-] to [-] tons. However, in cooperation with Japan, we can quickly We will be able to build a steel plant with an annual output of more than [-] tons. Regardless of the pressure on repayment in the future, we have at least one steel plant of our own. And in the process of establishing this steel plant, our people can start from Learn from the Japanese. And by using this steel plant, we can train a large number of talents in the steel industry. This will greatly promote our development of the steel industry in the future.”

"As for repayment, although the risk is not small, there is no need to worry too much. Back then, Hanyeping Company was responsible for its own profits and losses, so it had no money to return to Japan, and finally fell into the hands of the Japanese. But our Sichuan Iron and Steel Plant, If there is no money to pay back, does our Sichuan provincial government have no money to pay back? The financial revenue of the Sichuan provincial government is not enough, and the financial departments of the frontier supervision agencies of our four provinces have no money? At that time, I will sell iron and steel, and I will not let our Sichuan Iron and Steel Plant fell into the hands of the Japanese."

This is the biggest difference between Hanyeping Company and Sichuan Iron and Steel Works.

At the beginning, Han Yeping Company was supervised by the government and businessmen. Although it was nationalized by Yuan Shikai in the middle, the debt is the debt.Regardless of whether it is the Beiyang government or the Hubei government, no one will be responsible for the more than 2000 million debts of Hanyeping Company.Eventually it was taken by Japan.

But the Sichuan Armory, with Duan Xun in his pocket, will never run out of money.

"Even if we really have no money in the end and this factory is taken away by the Japanese. The factory is in Sichuan, why are we still worried that the Japanese will find it out? And if Japan takes away the steel factory, don't they buy our iron ore , don’t we need to transport the steel produced, and don’t we have to pay taxes? And at that time, we will buy some machines and use the technicians from the Sichuan Iron and Steel Plant to set up another iron and steel plant. With the money of the Japanese, their It is not unacceptable to use machines, cultivate our talents, and increase our experience in setting up factories."

"Borrowing a chicken to lay an egg."

Yang Wei spoke slowly.

"Currently we lack funds and technology. At this time, some foreign funds are introduced to build factories here. Although the conditions for using foreign funds are very harsh, just like the Sichuan Iron and Steel Plant. But no matter how harsh the conditions are, this iron and steel plant is anyway It did appear. Regardless of whether it belongs to us or is controlled by foreigners, there will always be a steel factory in Sichuan."

"Yes, that's what it means. In this process, we may suffer a lot of economic losses. But in order to develop our industry, this is also a must. We must continue to learn and exercise our skills during this process. Team."

All are silent.

This is the reality of weak countries.

According to Duan Xun, in this process, China has to accept many unfair contracts and lose a lot of China's interests.It is to introduce foreign capital and technology.

Some sad, some angry.

That's why everyone was silent, and they were also digesting what Duan Xun said.

"General, what about your industrial advancement plan?"