Beiyang reactionaries

"Salt merchant."

Zheng Dang replied without hesitation.

Since ancient times, salt merchants are the most profitable, and salt merchants are also the richest families.Of course, Zheng Dang and his Zheng family also sell salt, but they are just intermediaries.Get salt from Luoyang, and then sell it to western Henan and even Shaanxi, including southwestern Henan, and even go to Hubei as far away.

"No."

"Oh?"

Zheng Dang looked at Duan Xun suspiciously.

You are a little boy, how can you earn money better than yourself?Being a soldier and leading a soldier is definitely not as good as the person in front of him, but making money is his forte.

"The most profitable business in the world is government-business cooperation."

Zheng Dang was taken aback, not knowing how to answer.Because Duan Xun was right.Since ancient times, the most profitable business is all government business.Of the several top businessmen who came out of China in the late Qing Dynasty, none of them made their fortunes by relying on the government.

The domineering Hu Xueyan back then relied on Zuo Zongtang to make his fortune. Of course, Zuo Zongtang became famous because of Hu Xueyan's support.Even when the relationship between Li Hongzhang and Zuo Zongtang was not good, Li Hongzhang believed that "if you fall from the left, you must fall from the Hu".Later Hu Xueyan's downfall was related to Li Hongzhang.

Similarly, Sheng Xuanhuai, who was rampant in the late Qing Dynasty like Hu Xueyan, became China's top rich man by relying on Li Hongzhang.

Why they can become the top richest people in China.In addition to their outstanding abilities, they have the support of officialdom giants.It is precisely because of their support that the myth of these business giants has been created.

Collusion between officials and businessmen?

This is the most profitable business since ancient times.

"Mr. Zihao, don't you want to be in the most profitable business in the world?"

"What does Commander Duan want to do?"

At this time, Zheng Dang no longer had the slightest arrogance, because he already understood what Duan Xun meant.What Duan Xun wanted was not tens of thousands of silver dollars at all, but to do business with himself, or with the Xin'an Chamber of Commerce.

Duan Xun obviously wants more than a one-time payment.

"There are so many places to collaborate."

Duan Xun smiled.

Then he stood up, came to the map, and pointed out: "Coal. Mr. Zihao, Xinxiang and Mianchi are rich in coal resources. As long as they are mined, this is money. Then there are areas around Funiu Mountain and Lingbao. There are very rich Chinese herbal medicines. With me here, whoever I ask to buy them can only buy them. You and I jointly set up a company, and we are responsible for the Chinese herbal medicines produced in western Henan. No one else is allowed to intervene. You Is it money? We cooperated to set up a flour mill in Luoyang, and with me in western Henan, there would be no shortage of raw materials.”

The essence of government-business collusion is monopoly.

There are still many good things here in western Henan.Not to mention coal and some other minerals, there are high mountains and dense forests in western Henan, and there are many Chinese herbal medicines that pharmacies across the country need.There are many foreign companies that receive these Chinese herbal medicines, or walk around the streets.

But as long as Duan Xun wants to intervene in this industry, Duan Xun can completely prohibit any other forces from intervening. All the Chinese herbal medicines produced in Western Henan are purchased and sold by the Xin'an Merchant Group.This is a typical monopoly operation.Even Duan Xun didn't have to make such mandatory regulations.As long as the Xin'an Chamber of Commerce is taken care of in terms of lijin and taxation, it will be difficult for other companies to gain a foothold in Western Henan.

Collusion between government and businessmen, the most profitable business.

"The salt needed in Western Henan, the salt that passes through Western Henan into Shaanxi, and the salt that passes through Western Henan into Hubei. As long as I am willing, I can hand over all of these to your Xin'an Chamber of Commerce. For other caravans, I can increase the lijin, yes I can greatly reduce lijin for the Xin'an Merchant Group."

Zheng Dang's heart is beating now.

Because Zheng Dang understands that there is a road ahead of him now.If we cooperate with Duan Xun, Xin'an Chamber of Commerce may become a world-renowned chamber of commerce such as Shanxi Merchants and Huizhou Merchants.Even if they are not as good as them, they can still have a leapfrog development.As Duan Xun said, cooperating with the government and playing collusion with the government and businessmen is the fastest way to amass money.

No matter how small Western Henan is, there are still more than [-] counties.As long as Duan Xun withholds a little tax from more than [-] counties, it will be an astronomical figure.As long as the Xin'an Chamber of Commerce monopolizes half of the business in more than [-] counties, it can quickly become one of the top chambers of commerce in Henan.

But the stakes are also high.

Because of this, the Xin'an Chamber of Commerce was directly tied to Duan Xun.With Duan Xun's promotion, the Xin'an Chamber of Commerce will follow suit.But once Duan Xun has any problems, or if someone wants to deal with Duan Xun, the Xin'an Chamber of Commerce may be the first to attack.Just like Li Hongzhang had to bring down Hu Xueyan in order to deal with Zuo Zongtang.

How to choose?

Duan Xun continued: "Mr. Zihao, what I believe in is that everyone makes a fortune together. And I am a soldier, and I know almost nothing about business. So I have no interest in how to do business, and I don't want to get involved. Once Whoever I do business with, then I only send people to supervise the finances, and I don’t touch other things. I only want shares, and I don’t intervene in the management. As long as you have money, how to develop is your business.”

money?

nice one.

If Duan Xun wants to become independent, or semi-independent, from the Beiyang Army, he must get rid of the situation of relying on state financial appropriations.Duan Xun must be able to earn money by himself, and he can use his own military expenses.Only when he is economically independent and logistically independent can Duan Xun be truly independent from the Beiyang Army, and can truly form a line of his own.

After all, the Beiyang Army is a passer-by in Chinese history.

Duan Xun does not want to be a passer-by in Chinese history, Duan Xun wants to create Chinese history by himself.In terms of weapons and equipment, Duan Xun is still not independent, and he doesn't even know how many years it will take to become independent.

Therefore, Duan Xun is ready to become financially independent quickly.

As long as the bandits in western Henan are wiped out, Duan Xun will sort out the governments of the major counties in western Henan.Since he is in charge of one side, Duan Xun will take care of the finances of western Henan.Taxes and so on should be withheld.Anyway, everyone does this, and Duan Xun doesn't care.

But before that, Duan Xun had to make money.

There is the support of an economically powerful force behind it, which is a must for warlords.Duan Xun is looking at the Xin'an Chamber of Commerce.Because the strength of the Xin'an Chamber of Commerce is good, there is still some money in the pocket.But also their strength is not very strong, unable to fight against Duan Xun, they can only rely on Duan Xun.

If it is the Luoyang Chamber of Commerce, which is too powerful, Duan Xun will worry about them instead.

"Commander Duan, let me think about it?"

"Of course. I said that I will not force people. As for the matter of the Xin'an militia, I hope that the Xin'an Chamber of Commerce will give me the clearest reply. I don't have much time."

"Yes."

30 Blanc

"Qiyu (Shang Zhen), Xin'an militia, Mianchi militia, Luoning militia and Yiyang militia, I have gathered for you. I am going to formally reorganize them. This unit will be reorganized as the Western Henan Bandit Suppression Independent Group until It belongs to the Western Henan Bandit Suppression Headquarters, and only accepts orders from the Western Henan Bandit Suppression Headquarters."

Although they are all subordinate to Duan Xun's troops.

But each is different.

Just like the troops of Li Jishen, Song Tiancai, and Wan Xuancai before them, it was the troops of the 29th Mixed Brigade, a regular army fed by the state's finances.The Ministry of the Army issued weapons, ammunition and military pay to Duan Xun according to the establishment of Duan Xun's 29th Mixed Brigade.Because Duan Xun is the commander of the 29th Mixed Brigade, they accepted Duan Xun's order.

And Bie Tingfang's Lijin Bureau, as well as those bureau members of the Lijin Bureau, belonged to the yamen of the patrol envoy in western Henan.And Duan Xun is also a tour envoy in western Henan, so Bie Tingfang's Lijin Bureau is also under Duan Xun's command.

The same goes for the troops in front of us.

When it was the militia before, because Duan Xun was the commander-in-chief of the Western Henan militia, he had to accept Duan Xun's orders.Also now Duan Xun has reorganized him into the Western Henan Bandit Suppression Independent Regiment, which belongs to the Western Henan Bandit Suppression Headquarters and is also Duan Xun's subordinate.

It can be said that in western Henan, Duan Xun controls the party, government and army, but of course there is no party.The military and political affairs in Western Henan are completely in the hands of Duan Xun.

This time, the militia groups in four counties were reorganized, and they were also the largest county militia groups in western Henan, accounting for nearly half of the militia groups in western Henan, with a total of [-] people.Duan Xun called Shang Zhen from Luoning to Xin'an.

Shang Zhen is a general.

It's just that the matter of the militia was not cleared up before, so Shang Zhen was asked to temporarily supervise the affairs of the Ordnance Institute.After nearly two months of hard work by Shang Zhen, the Luoning Armory has opened.

The main thing to do is to repair damaged weapons and equipment, and now it's finally time to use Shang Zhen.

"Yes."