Rise From Eight Hundred

"We hereby appoint a special envoy to collect the money deposited in your bank, 8 million taels of silver! Song."

This is the amount written on the white paper by General Song.

8 million taels, this almost exaggerated number may make people a little confused and unable to react to how much it is. If converted into tons, it is 400 tons of silver.

What is this concept? If it is piled up, it will be a mountain, a silver mountain shining with silver. If you want to transport it, with the capacity of a train car carrying 30 tons in this era, you need thirteen cars, that is, a whole train.

A train full of silver is very exciting just to think about it.

"How much is this?" The little tongue in Tang Dao's throat was trembling.

"Not much, if converted into silver, it's only 20 million!" General Song seemed to be light-hearted, but the twitching of the muscles on his face still revealed his true feelings of pain.

That's right, anyone would feel pain.

Tang Dao didn't know what to say for a moment. He must have saved the earth in his previous life! Otherwise, how could such a good thing happen to him?

20 million is an almost exaggerated number. Not to mention that it is an astronomical figure in this turbulent era, it is definitely a figure that will dazzle ordinary people even in the next hundred years.

You know, this is 20 million silver dollars in this era. If it is based on the purchasing power of future currency, it is equivalent to billions of people's currency.

If he really has this wealth, Tang Dao doesn't have to work hard to make money. He can support ten four-line regiments just by lying down.

After all, the 67th Army, an infantry army with 30,000 to 40,000 troops, will never spend more than 3 million silver dollars a year, including material consumption, military pay, etc.

Seeing Tang Dao was stunned by the number written on the paper, and for the first time he showed the appearance of a young man, General Song's pain was gone, and he showed a bit of pride, and smiled slightly, "How is it, is this number satisfactory to Commander Tang?"

"Commander Song, this gift is a bit too heavy." Tang Dao swallowed hard, swallowing the three words "cannot move" back into his stomach.

His four-line regiment had nearly 3,000 people, hundreds of pack horses and more than a hundred carts. It was almost exhausting to move the equipment of two infantry regiments. If it was silver,

maybe it was not certain that it could be moved.

Tang Dao did not question where these wealth came from. Based on his understanding of these elders, although they were power-hungry, they were not like some people in later generations who liked to make empty promises. They either didn't say it, or they would definitely give it if they said it.

"Heavy? Then you really underestimated your brother Zhang's influence in North China." General Song obviously misunderstood the meaning, shook his head slightly, and a trace of melancholy appeared on his face. "If he hadn't given up his position, I'm afraid Zhang Xiuchen would have been the number one in North China. Facts have proved that his decision might have been wrong."

Tang Dao remained silent.

He knew that the old man in front of him, who was already over 60 years old, might just want to listen, rather than a young man like him who didn't know many inside stories to interrupt and communicate.

"You probably don't know where the money came from, so I'll tell you."

As General Song recalled, Tang Dao finally knew the ins and outs of the money, and it also matched up with a famous event in history.

It turned out that this money was the source of the future "Pingjin Silver Incident".

China's financial industry began to flourish decades ago. As the political, cultural and commercial center of northern China, Yanjing is indispensable to the financial industry.

The official banking institutions belonging to the government include the Yanjing Branch of the Bank of China, the Yanjing Branch of the Central Bank, the Yanjing Branch of the Bank of Communications, and the Yanjing Branch of the Postal Savings and Remittance Bureau; in addition, there are private commercial banks such as the Jiangsu and Zhejiang Industrial Bank and the Yanjing Branch of the Salt Industry Bank; as well as the Yanjing Branch of the HSBC Bank and the Yanjing Branch of Citibank in Western countries; even Japan has the Yanjing Branch of the Bank of Japan.

It is not clear whether it is serious or not, but the Japanese had already extended their tentacles to North China from the financial industry before the war began, which also means that they had prepared for financial plunder early.

After the July 7 Incident, more than 30 banks in Yanjing were closed one after another, and the four state-owned banks were either relocated to Jiangxia or completely closed.

As long as it is a bank, there must be cash or gold as a reserve. At that time, China was following the silver standard. The four major banks were closed, but the silver stored in the vault was not so easy to transport. Not only the Japanese, but also local powerful people like General Song who tried to make a comeback, were delayed like this. As the situation deteriorated rapidly, they could not leave in the end.

In the end, almost all the silver reserves of the financial industry in North China remained in North China.

And how much wealth is this? Perhaps even the "No. 1 in North China" himself is not very clear.

Tang Dao vaguely remembers that according to historical records, the total amount of silver stored in the concession is worth up to 57 million silver dollars, but with the outbreak of the Pacific War, the Japanese army attacked the concession and seized this huge amount of wealth.

In the end, this astonishing wealth became an accomplice of the Japanese. The pseudo-China United Bank embezzled nearly 12.5 million yuan as bank capital and plundered the wealth of the people in North China. The remaining silver was packed and shipped to the Japanese military camp. Together with the weight of the packed wooden boxes, the total weight reached thousands of tons.

Such a huge wealth, because of the personal interests of some people, eventually fell into the hands of the Japanese and became a bargaining chip for them to rebuild giant ships and cannons. Isn’t it sad and lamentable?

Fortunately, in this era, with Tang Dao, a little butterfly from the future, there was a slight turning point. The first person who once ruled North China was willing to hand over part of the huge wealth that was still in the concession.

Although 20 million is only a small part compared to the 57 million in the record, in the spirit of digging out a little bit, Tang Dao doesn't mind. Maybe there is any discrepancy between the record and historical facts?

But soon, General Song extinguished Tang Dao's beautiful wishes.

Perhaps seeing Tang Dao's doubts about the 20 million yuan and the tens of millions of money in the many banks and bank accounts in North China, General Song sighed slightly: "Of course the silver left by various banks and bank accounts in North China is more than 20 million. But you think that all this huge wealth belongs to our 29th Army? Then you are really thinking too simply. There are also shares from other forces. Even though they don’t have guns, as long as they are entangled together, my so-called The King of North China also has to give them three points, not to mention there are people above to support them. "

Tang Dao was silent.

Of course he knew those people that Admiral Song was talking about. The spokesmen of those people were mostly at the top of the current Chinese political arena. Their relationships were intertwined and they seemed to belong to different political groups fighting among themselves. However, when it came to sucking the blood of the people, Their interests are extremely consistent. If anyone wants to touch their interests, they will pounce on them like wolves and tear them to pieces.

Faced with such a huge interest group, let alone a general like General Song who commanded one hundred thousand troops, so what if he commanded one million troops?

After all, their most famous spokesperson is the number one person in China's political arena today. It is because of his care that the so-called four major families have become the largest blood-sucking worms in China.

Even when the country was ruined and the people were in dire straits, they never forgot the 'great' cause of 'making money'.

Reselling materials donated by overseas Chinese at high prices is nothing more than a common practice. It is their normal practice to directly withhold the aid funds from the Western world that the government begged for, without even entering the Chinese border, and deposit them in Citibank to earn interest.

Even the beautiful Japanese who made a lot of money from the war can only use the word "incredible" to describe the chaos of the capital compradors they saw in China.

Corruption and bribery are not terrible. This kind of thing can happen in any era and under any system. Even when Lao Zhu struck hard and used the method of "peeling skin and filling grass" to crack down on corrupt officials, corruption and corruption still emerged in endlessly.

But if a person is about to lose his country, and the ancestors once said, "If the skin is not left, the hair will be attached!" Under the wise saying, those people are still so obsessed with money, it is really only in this era. Phenomenon.

There is an old saying in China: "If you want it to perish, you must first make it crazy!"

This may also be the biggest reason why that team finally reached the top. It was not just history that chose them, but the greed of their opponents that destroyed themselves first.

"Twenty million is already the maximum amount that I, Mr. Song, can use!" Admiral Song held out two fingers. "It's just that the silver is hidden in the concession, and the quantity is huge. Unless you can lead your troops to capture Jin City, I really can't think of any way you can transport such a huge wealth out of there."

Yes, just like the batch of arms stored in the Jincheng Concession, how to transport this batch of silver out is the biggest difficulty.

Just like Tang Dao said before about "valuing" etiquette, "valuing" does not only refer to huge wealth, it really means the literal meaning.

How to transport hundreds of tons of silver? Bribe the Japanese and ask them to help carry them out? What do you think the Japanese will do?

I will definitely accept the money and carry the silver back to my military camp! Anyone with a sane mind would do this!

"But Xin Chen has full confidence in you. For this reason, he even gave up my hatred for his betrayal. I am really curious. I wonder if Captain Tang can solve my confusion?" Admiral Song's eyes were filled with tears. With a strange light, he looked at Tang Dao.

This is absolutely what he means.

The war situation changed so fast at the beginning that he could not go to Jincheng to withdraw the wealth accumulated by the 29th Army for many years in North China. In the past few months, he had exhausted all his efforts and could not figure out how to escape from the concession surrounded by the Japanese army. When the silver was shipped out, why did his brother think that the Tang Dao would be able to be taken out?

Tang Dao was slightly startled, there seemed to be something behind his words.

"Hey, it seems that you still don't quite understand the relationship between me and Xin Chen. Although I am the number one person in the 29th Army, as the commander of the 38th Division, Xin Chen commands the most elite infantry division of the 29th Army. , with a force of 40,000, in Yanjing, besides me, he is the one who has the most truth in what he says. Otherwise, how could the man from Jinling appoint him as the mayor of Yanjing to negotiate with the Japanese?

This batch of silver does not belong to me personally, Mr. Song, but to the entire 29th Army. Do you think my warrant alone can do it? Before it was shipped out of Yanjing, our 29th Army Headquarters had made an agreement with Citibank. If you want to withdraw the silver, you need a warrant signed by Xin Chen and I, and there must be a code word agreed with Liu Ruming personally. Take it out, if one of the three is missing, it will not work.

This letter from him is actually just telling me that the only condition for him to settle the feud with me is to deliver this batch of silver to you, Tang Dao and Si Xing Tuan.

And he actually knows my personality too well. He knows that I, Song, am obsessed with returning to glory, so he attaches great importance to this batch of silver. How can he easily hand over the capital to make a comeback to others? But now"

At this point, the army general looked out the window to the north, his eyes full of despair.

"But Brother Zhang knows better that although you have some selfish motives, sir, you will definitely give in when facing the interests of the country and the nation. This may be one of the reasons why Brother Zhang dared to write this letter." Tang Dao's heart was surging. He looked at the general who was about to disappear from the stage of Chinese history with great seriousness and said.

This is not because Tang Dao slaps Rainbow because of 20 million silver, but the person in front of him is indeed like this.

Even if his performance was slightly poor during the July 7th Incident, no one can deny his achievements in the Battle of the Great Wall and the fact that he led troops to guard North China for several years and refused Japan's wooing. This also gave China a rare few years. Breathing time.

If North China had been lost two years earlier, the island country that occupied both the Northeast Plain and the North China Plain would have gained not only rich mineral resources such as iron, coal, and copper, but also a large amount of grain reserves. The troops stationed in North China might have far exceeded the current scale. , China, fighting on two fronts, will face an even more embarrassing situation than now.

"You dare to tell the truth!" After hearing Tang Dao's praise, both positive and negative, Admiral Song showed a slightly bitter but proud smile on his face, and his originally sharp eyes softened a lot.

If it were in the past, who would have dared to say that he had selfish motives in front of him? Even if this is something he himself knows very well. However, although Tang Dao's words were a little harsh, they were more true. This was also the reason why he dared to be proud.

His selfishness stems from himself, but his love for this country and nation is also true.

Tang Dao didn't know that this former "No. 1 man in North China" had a deep mind. When he received the letter, his mood was complicated and changeable. First he was excited, then angry, then depressed, and finally... calm.

The excitement naturally stems from the olive branch offered by the former confidant and subordinate. It is not only the restoration of the brotherhood between the two, but also represents the support of the general who commanded the army. However, the anger is that the former brother actually let the former brother surrender on the condition of repairing the relationship between the two. He handed over the capital to make a comeback, even if it was something he couldn't get out even if he tried hard;

Despondent, but finally admitting that North China is no longer his North China, and if he doesn’t give it to others, the huge wealth can only lie in the vaults of Western banks and mold; calmly, it is inner reason that defeats selfishness, and with the thoughts of the nation For big.

Tang Dao's words hit the mark on the army general's thoughts after he defeated himself. Naturally, the look in Tang Dao's eyes was much softer.

Of course, for Tang Dao, his heart was surging not because of the admiral in front of him, but because of his infinite gratitude to the newly recognized eldest brother.

Not only was he willing to give up grudges to help him raise a huge sum of money, but he was also trusted.

That was perhaps the first person who had such unconditional trust in him since he came to this world. Whether it was Deputy Commander Xie or Comrade Lao Wu who they met for the first time, they all had reservations about their trust in Tang Dao because of their personalities and the situation. It was not until the battlefield continued to change as time went by that they finally trusted Tang Dao without reservation.

It takes a process to truly believe in someone. Ninety-nine percent of people in this world will do this, otherwise they will be called fools.

Commander Zhang, on the other hand, was one of those "idiots", but after spending an afternoon together, he actually trusted Tang Dao so much, even beyond Tang Dao's own imagination.

Or, only a sentence written by the general who had been promoted to the commander of the group army in a personal letter to Tang Dao long later could explain many people's confusion.

'Little brother Tang, you don't have to thank me so much. My vision has been proven by facts. Therefore, I don't use the so-called eyes to see you, little brother Tang. The reason for this is all forced by the situation. The 29th Army has already Success or failure, no matter how difficult it is to unite the military's morale, the day of collapse is not far away.

Use this property as wealth, but if you don't use it, it may be something for others, or it may be a dead thing; if you give it to the Four Elements Group, no matter whether you can take it or not, the Japanese will encounter a powerful enemy. When there are 10,000 pieces, I would like to congratulate my brother Yao for high-fiving the Four Elements Group! ’

The words were very smooth. He told Tang Dao that it was just a choice of the times. The 29th Army was no longer good. China needed a strong army in the north of China to cause big trouble to the Japanese. The Si Xing Tuan had this potential, so he helped Tang Dao like this. knife.

In fact, the silver worth 20 million silver oceans he threw out was just a bait, tempting the Four Elements Group to fight the Japanese more resolutely.

However, the Army Lieutenant General who did not want Tang Dao to appreciate his favor had forgotten that recognizing the strength of a mere infantry regiment was in itself a sense of trust that was almost "silly".

You know, the Japanese army in North China has more than 300,000 troops, and nearly one million Japanese soldiers to help. Who else except "idiots" would regard an infantry regiment with only 3,000 people as a seed of hope?

However, this is how he chose to trust.

Moreover, this time, he did not trust the wrong person.

Of course, the righteous Lieutenant General Zhang also made a small mistake. The 10,000 heads he mentioned was really too conservative.

Even if the Four Troops didn't attack frequently, as long as they got back that batch of silver and bought a Japanese head for 1,000 yuan, they could buy 20,000 pieces back.

Not to mention the Chinese, if things go wrong, the Japanese themselves want to chop off their own heads and send them over.

As for the answer that General Song was curious about how Tang Dao could quietly transport this batch of silver out of Jincheng, I'm afraid Tang Dao couldn't answer him.

It's not that I'm afraid that this person will change his mind if he finds out. It's such a secret, and the fewer people know about it, the better.

Tang Dao's brain may have been transformed after traveling through time and space for a hundred years, and it works much faster than ordinary people. After learning that the condition for General Zhang and this person to put aside their past grudges is this huge fortune, he knew the answer instantly.

Because the only person in the world who can quietly digest this batch of silver weighing hundreds of tons is Tang Dao.

And there were originally no more than two people in the world who knew about this, but now there is one more.