375 Local Will (IV)

"Commander Lu, you are here." In the five-story Taiwan Bank Building, Shao Rujie is receiving a group of government officials led by Lu Xiaofeng, the captain of the Manchuria and Mongolia Development Team.

The Taiwan Bank Building was completed before the beginning of winter, and it consumed a lot of funds and precious manpower. It is said that when the Taiwan Bank decided to repair this, Lu Xiaofeng was very dissatisfied. Even though they basically did not consume local labor resources, they spent money to hire from the Kingdom of Korea, Lu Xiaofeng was still furious.

The main reason for his dissatisfaction is that the Manchurian-Mongolian pioneer team spent money to build Vladivostok and borrowed money from the Taiwan Bank, which only got 60,000 yuan. As a result, they spent more than 100,000 yuan to build a building (including some annexes, green ponds, etc.). Isn’t this a shameful person? In addition, Lu Xiaofeng wanted to build a railway in Manchurian-Mongolian for a long time, but the Nan Railway Company thought it was too incredible and always respected Xie Bumin, so Lu Xiaofeng wanted to build it himself. However, the railway was needed for money, and he had no money, so he borrowed it from the Taiwan Bank again. As a result, the people refused, and it seemed that he was not optimistic about this plan.

Therefore, the Taiwan Bank, which made Lu Xiaofeng dislike twice, has been listed with him. Today, Lu led a team to the Taiwan Bank Building to collect some of the sales of fur goods, Dongzhu, medicinal materials and livestock from the previous year. He also criticized Shao Rujie, so that they would not be too self-righteous and restrain themselves.

"How can you do this? If you send someone here casually, our finance department will handle the special matters first, and you will send the accounts first and send the money to you." After pouring Lu Xiaofeng a cup of fragrant milk tea, Shao Rujie said with a smile: "Drink tea first, the milk tea made in our Taiwan bank canteen is still very good. If one day the main business cannot be carried out, go to open a milk tea shop to make money to subsidize the household income."

"Haha, I'm crying in front of me. Xiao Shao, this trick is useless to me. If you are a wealthy company in Taiwan, there will be times when your business cannot continue?" Lu Xiaofeng took the milk tea without hesitation and said teasingly.

"It's not like this, but it can't stand the changes in the situation. I heard that last year, a businessman in Ningbo jointly proposed a proposal at a political consultation meeting, demanding the abolition of the monopoly of the Taiwan Bank in the three major items of raw silk, tea and porcelain, and promoting equal competition. Although the case was finally rejected by Captain Liu personally, the impact was quite large. General Manager Cai also spent a lot of effort to donate 5,000 tons of rice to Ningshao to pass the test." Shao Rujie also filled the copper cup in front of him with milk tea, stirring it with a spoon, while saying: "I don't think that people from Ningbo will give up easily. The political proposal was not completed last year, and I'm afraid that I will continue to make trouble this year and force the palace from the economic level."

In fact, it is normal for Shao Rujie to have such concerns. Ningbo merchants have the best-selling products such as tea, raw silk, silk and satin. Taiwan banks need these goods to trade with the Dutch, so everyone has the capital for negotiation. Although Taiwan banks can also purchase some tea, raw silk, brocade and porcelain through Shunguo channels, they cannot have the dominant advantage and dare not place all the goods on Shunguo. Not to mention, now the relationship between Dong and Shunguo has deteriorated, and the supply output from Shunguo has been affected to a certain extent. Ningbo merchants have even greater bargaining power. If they unite to make trouble, it will indeed cause headaches for Taiwan Bank General Manager Cai Shengguo.

It is said that Cai Shengguo is already thinking of a solution now. He basically knows who is making trouble, so there is basically no need to ask about it. He is always clear. His trick is to differentiate and win over these people, giving some people more favorable conditions, such as low-interest loans, better acquisition prices, timely repayment speed, more procurement shares, etc., so that they can give up on being embarrassed with Taiwan banks, and eventually break the alliance between these people, let them break themselves without confrontation, and the market will return to their ideal state again (that is, all suppliers of tea, raw silk and other products are left to slaughter them).

"I said, you are worried that the people in Ningbo will make trouble for you. Are you not worried that the merchants in Manchuria will make trouble for you? There are many Ningbo immigrants in Vladivostok, and they also have a considerable source of goods. I think they are too honest over the years, right?" Lu Xiaofeng glanced at Shao Rujie and asked.

"Commander Lu, you can't say that. Our Taiwan Bank did not treat the merchants in Manchuria and Mongolia very badly. The prices of specialty products such as leather, antlers, ginseng, and Dongzhu have always been very fair, which is obvious to everyone." Shao Rujie immediately said: "And, in the early days of the Manchuria and Mongolian pioneer team, our Taiwan Bank also made great efforts. Even today, the left wing of our Taiwan Land Battle Camp is still fighting for the Manchuria and Mongolian pioneer team on the Hulunbuir grassland. This is something that must be observed, Commander Lu."

The left wing of the Taiwan Land Battle Battalion mentioned by Shao Rujie now has two infantry companies, one artillery company and the other cavalry company. Because of their years of training in cold areas, they were transferred to the Hulunbuir grassland to participate in military operations. The focus was to cooperate with Major Bei Zhensheng from Harbin Fort to pull out the nails of Naowencheng, and then confront the Mongolians who refused to obey the grassland and expand their influence on the east coast. Considering that the daily expenses of this army were all under the responsibility of the Taiwan Bank (the local military regions were responsible during the war), this was a great sincerity.

Somewhat similar to the left wing, the right wing, which has been trained in hot and humid areas for many years, currently has three infantry companies, one artillery company and one engineering platoon, and the number is quite large. According to the last message Shao Rujie got last year, the force was divided into two parts, one in Brunei and the other in Dili, both played a significant role.

Therefore, the hidden expenses of Taiwan banks are actually quite considerable, and they bear a lot of miscellaneous burdens. After all, they are monopoly enterprises and enjoy the excessive profits of monopoly, so they naturally have to bear corresponding obligations. From a certain perspective, Shao Rujie used this matter to implicitly state that if they were not allowed to continue monopolizing the foreign trade of several special commodities, they would also turn the blame and hand over most of the matters that were not related to production and operation, and no longer allocate funds to maintain it.

These are undoubtedly something that local governments are unacceptable for a while. Last year, Liu Houfei, the captain of the Southern Development Team, rejected the proposals of a group of people at the political consultation meeting. Among them, Taiwan Bank helped to raise a group of professional intelligence analysts to continuously spy on the intelligence factors of King Lu, Zheng, and Guangdong Er Li. Of course, more importantly, the Southern Development Team has shares in it. This means that there is a comedy meaning of "who is in the hall and why sue me?". A group of merchants in Ningbo are actually playing against the Southern Development Team government. This is a manifestation of confidence after the influence of local power groups has greatly increased, and it is a manifestation of the clear will of local will.

"Hmph, if Wei Wendu hadn't written a letter to tell me that the people in the Taiwan Land War Camp were not bad in war and could endure hardships. Do you think I would wait until now to come to you?" Lu Xiaofeng gently tapped the lid of the milk tea cup and said dissatisfiedly: "Last year, your boss Cai knew that you donated 5,000 tons of rice to Ningbo, why did you come to me and there was no movement? Do I seem to be such a easy-to-talk person?"

"This..." When Shao Rujie heard that he was here to fight Qiufeng, he immediately felt a sense of contentment. However, because his power was limited and he was not enough to agree to such a big thing, so he was a little hesitant for a moment and didn't know what to say.

When Lu Xiaofeng heard him he was hesitating, he knew what was going on, so he immediately said, "Don't hesitate. I'll just say it clearly. One thousand war horses, don't be bad. We need to use the best horses cultivated by Dabo and Estuary. After the spring, Hulunbuir will have a large military operation. How can we do without a high-quality war horse? Report this to your General Manager Cai, and I won't say it specifically. If I have done this for me, I will help you deal with the itchy businessmen and ensure that no one dares to sting at you again. How about it? Is this good deal?"

Shao Rujie was happy when he heard this. This Manchu and Mongolia is really a place where people can't help laughing. Moreover, local businessmen should not have the sense of grouping like Ningbo. It is precisely because immigration and conquest are in a fierce cultural collision that Manchu and Mongolia, which is in the fusion stage, has not yet developed much local consciousness. Everyone is confused and not very proud of their hometown. This situation may take two generations to finally come to an end, and finally produces a stronger local cultural style and local will.

Therefore, Taiwan Bank is not very worried about operating in Manchuria and Mongolia. Lu Xiaofeng is more of a reason to use a reason to fight the autumn wind. However, there is no way. The Manchuria and Mongolian pioneer team wants to expand, and Taiwan Bank, which has been deeply engaged in this area for many years, is not easy to stay out of it, and some money, grain and materials are still needed.
Chapter completed!