Although Xiling and other financial inspectors were still checking the income and expenditure accounts in Zhili, there were not no experts in the cleanup. On the contrary, this time the imperial delegation went south, Zaize originally wanted to lead the liquidation to form a business, but Lin Guangyu thought for a long time and did not want to leave the outside world the impression of "account settlement after autumn". He did not agree to Zaize's request, so the latter only went to Zhili with Duan Fang, and the liquidation group went south.

Unlike other local officials who have many conflicts with the financial cleanup, Chen Kuilong has opened up the liquidation matter and agreed to it. Not only is the provision of all the archives of the vassal officials extremely comprehensively, but the cooperation of officials at all levels is also submissive. Of course, his actions are not difficult to understand - Zhang Zhidong is known for slaughtering money, and the money holes and fiscal gaps in Hubei have long been deteriorating to how badly it has deteriorated. It is simply a luxury to try to move through general methods. Chen Kuilong soon knew that it was powerful and was unable to make up for it. Instead of hiding the half-baked man, it is better to let the Ministry of Finance take a look at it openly, and it also seems that he is open-minded.

Because even if it is checked, it is still to check Zhang Nanpi's old accounts, and Chen Kuilong's head cannot be found. He was eager to clean up all the bad accounts, so as not to continue to become an official with the big burden left by Zhang Nanpi. Although Nanpi's primary condition for choosing Chen Long to take over was to solve the financial hole for him, now Nanpi has passed away, so he doesn't care about any concerns. As for whether the cleaning up the finances will pull up radishes and bring mud, involving several officials, Chen Kuilong didn't argue. He neither had so much energy to meddle in other people's business nor had many private teams. He just wanted to pass the financial settlement. Zhang Nanpi always wanted to make a living in the Hubei officialdom, so why bother with radishes?

The work of the liquidation group is quite effective. Although the financial situation in Hubei is still confused, the financial situation of Hanyang Iron Factory is already in the first place to investigate. Since its establishment, the iron plant has invested a total of more than 15 million taels in the past years. This is the investment of Daye Iron Mine and Pingxiang Coal Mine. If we talk about the investment of the entire Hanyeping, it should be around 2,000 taels.

When the Hanyeping Company merged, it happened to be when Sheng Xuanhuai was at its peak. He once took a vigorous recruitment of commercial stocks, but it took more than half a year until Sheng Xuanhuai fell. The funds raised were only more than 250 yuan, less than 20% of the funds used by the iron plant. Most of them were aimed at Pingxiang Coal Mine. The business of Pingxiang Coal Mine has become more and more prosperous in recent years. In addition to exclusively supplying coke in Hanyang Iron Factory, it also occupied a large market in the Two Lakes Basin, gradually excluding Japanese coal, flat and open coal. Even if the price war between the two openings was so hot in the first half of this year, the sales of Pingxiang Coal were not affected much. It was just that the profits dropped a lot, and the losses were not enough.

Except for this small part of commercial stocks, the remaining 18 million taels of investment in the entire Hanyeping Company was either a loan or a loan guaranteed by official funds. The former amount was about 800 taels, and the latter was nearly 10 million. Among the 800 taels of official funds, except for the Ministry of Revenue originally allocated more than 100 yuan to start-up fees, the rest were borrowed by Zhang Nanpi under the name of the two lakes. In addition to the interest guarantee and expenditure for the loan, this large hole almost made Hubei breathless.

The total loan is 7 million taels, and the annual interest and exchange expenses alone cost about 600,000 taels. Due to the very poor profitability of the iron plant, the interest proposed by the fund dealer when borrowing is very high, and usually it is accompanied by extremely harsh guarantees and mortgage conditions - even so, it is often impossible to borrow.

Of course, the great powers also provided low-interest loans with additional political conditions as bait, but they all required the iron plant's operating rights, management rights and even control rights. Japan was the most active, which meant that China handed over the property rights of the iron plant to foreigners. Sheng Xuanhuai had no worries about this, dared to use any money and borrow any debt, but Zhang Nanpi was still a little shameless after all. Even if the iron plant was in difficulty, it did not dare to transfer its control to the great powers, so it dragged it down undyingly until it continued to require a loan.

After such an investigation, everyone had a general idea of ​​the situation in Hubei. I don’t know how Zhang Nanpi used to borrow this huge sum of money. I found out that all the officialdom in Hubei might be checked. As for whether there are any other dark stories in this, I have to ask Gu Hongming.

After the result, Zhao Bingjun shook his head repeatedly and whispered to Gu Hongming: "Like Xiangshuai's approach can actually achieve a good ending, it's really..."

"There is nothing else, the holy family has not yet declined." Gu Hongming gave Zhao Bingjun a blank look, "The Ministry of Revenue is unwilling to allocate money, so Zhang Wengong can only find another way. Could it be that a hero and hero trapped Yijin to death?"

Zhao Bingjun originally wanted to say that this is tens of millions of silver, or just one penny? When it comes to the words, Gu Hongming has a weird temper and no longer stimulates him. After he kept silent, Cen Chun asked: "How is Tang Sheng, how do you get along with Li Weige and Chen Nianrong?"

"This..." Gu Hongming was stunned, "I wonder what Mr. Cen wants to ask?"

Ordinary people don’t understand this kind of thing. Cen Chunxuan was clearly asking how they got along with each other. Gu Hongming still had to say “What do you want to ask?” Isn’t it an unnecessary move? But the bureaucrats have bureaucratic logic. Zhao Bingjun and Zhou Xuexi didn’t think it was strange at all after hearing it, and just waited for the following.

"It's nothing, just talk about it..."

"Chen Nianrong is Zhang Wengong's son-in-law, a talented man who went abroad. He is straightforward and often straightforward, offending many people. He looks very much like a foreigner's demeanor. If it weren't for the son-in-law of the Governor, he would have been excluded long ago. Although Li Weige is also familiar with Western Affairs, he is a translator and is the most scrupulous person. Generally, if he doesn't say too much, he will not do anything too much. If he can't handle a certain fact, he will not do it. He will not do it even if he can't handle it.

He often leaves by himself... Therefore, although Zhang Nanpi is the governor of Hubei, the General Office of the Iron Factory and the Assistant Prime Minister of Han Yeping were originally Sheng Xuanhuai. After Sheng Xuanhuai fell, he still chose Li Weige as the premier. Instead, his son-in-law had to be the deputy. Of course, as far as I observe, Xiangshuai's decision was still wise, but Li Weige is more suitable to serve as the General Office than Chen Nianrong. If the two roles were exchanged, the Iron Factory would probably not be stable even in the current situation."

"What are the differences between the two on the big plan?

how?"

"Is it a friendship?" Gu Hongming thought for a long time, "The friendship between gentlemen is as light as water."

This sentence is extremely important. The so-called friendship between gentlemen is as light as water. It is a praise, but in essence there is something in the words. As partners, the two are "simple as water". However, it is rare in the officialdom, which shows that personal relationships are not harmonious.

"As for the differences, I won't say that the small ones, there are three points in the land." Gu Hongming said one by one, "First, Li Weige always advocated using iron to make coal. He wanted to move the iron plant address to Daye, but Chen Nianrong thought that since he had a foundation in Hanyang, it was not convenient to move again to avoid wasting the people and money; Second, the former advocated selling daily ore in exchange for funds, while the latter was extremely opposed. Although the contract was executed for several years, the opposition had never subsided. Zhang Nanpi hesitated for a long time, and it was not until Sheng Xuanhuai came. Third, the former advocated borrowing huge sums of money to expand production scale to reduce costs, but the latter advocated maintaining or even reducing the current scale. It would not be too late to expand after sufficient conditions..."

The focus of the first contradiction is ultimately Zhang Zhidong's random decision-making. Zhang Nanpi is neither effective nor considering whether to make or lose. He only wants to be a good or a loss. At the beginning, someone advised him not to build an iron factory in Hanyang. He said that he was in the provincial office, "You can see the smoke from the window, so you can rest assured." In fact, it was built in the provincial capital just to facilitate people to watch, so as to show his political achievements. Anyone with a discerning eye knows this idea.

Li Weige's proposal is of course reasonable. If the factory is moved to Daye, the transportation costs can be reduced by about 30%, and the operating difficulties of the Han factory can be reduced a lot. Chen Nianrong's statement is not wrong. The overall relocation of the factory is even more costly. After the relocation, installation and debugging will cost huge manpower, financial resources, and material resources. At least within 5, it is not easy to produce than the original site.

But because he is Zhang Nanpi's son-in-law, his attitude towards opposing the relocation of Hanchang is so firm that no matter what reasons he holds on the surface, others think that he is in order to protect Zhang Zhidong's face. Moreover, he is upright and smooth, and he will not say or explain, and the misunderstanding is of course getting deeper and deeper.

The second local conflict was related to the timing of the Hanyang Factory. Before the completion of the Pingxiang Coal Mine, the Hanyang Iron Factory always used Kaiping Coke to make iron, which was expensive and the cost remained high. The Japanese took advantage of the opportunity and started to use coke to exchange for Daye Iron Ore. At that time, they signed a contract for mutual sale of coal and coke ore with Hachiman Iron Manufacturing Station in Japan, that is, China provided iron ore from Daye Iron Ore to exchange for Japanese local coke.

On the surface, the contract is equal to both parties, but in essence, due to the lack of experience in handling personnel in China, Japan has made strict regulations on the grade and quality of ore in the contract, and once it is not met, it will be deducted accordingly. Zhang Nanpi only wanted to get cheap coke to smelify iron at that time, and the corresponding quality requirements for Japan were not strict. After a while, Japan obtained a premium of at least 15%.

But this is not the most important thing. Before 5, because Li Weige strongly advocated improving the Hanyang Iron Plant, Zhang Zhidong could not provide funds, so he had to continue to expand the transportation of Japanese ore in exchange for funds. The contract stipulated that the first-class ore was supplied at least 70,000 tons per year, generally 10 tons, and the ore price was very low. At that time, the annual first-class ore output of Daye Iron Ore was only a little over 100,000 tons. Once the contract was signed, it meant that Daye Iron Ore became the Japanese Hachiman Iron Manufacturing Station. Hanyang Iron Plant itself could not obtain high-quality ore for iron smelting.

Chen Nianrong is a technical school and is extremely disgusted by this situation. He often scolds some people in front of Zhang Zhidong, but he may not necessarily target Li Weige, "I don't feel sorry for selling his son's land." He scolds him a lot, and the news spreads again. Li Weige cannot refute it, and he has to execute it again. Of course, misunderstandings will accumulate.

The third contradiction is related to the Americans. Before the full joint operation of Hanyeping Company, Robert.llar, the Prime Minister of the United States, came to China to contact the United States to transport Hanyeyi, saying that the Western Steelmaking Company in Seattle, the United States needs to purchase a large amount of pig iron ore from the Hanyang Iron Plant. The Han factory requires at least 36,000 tons of products per year, preferably 10 tons per year. The output is just close to the minimum required by the other party. If the contract is to be completed, the production scale must be expanded. Sheng, Li attaches great importance to this matter and wants to expand the market. He plans to plan to build the fourth Dahua iron furnace of the iron plant if the agreement is signed.

However, Chen Nianrong had a negative attitude towards this, and his reasons were also clear. First, if you are too anxious to buy equipment, you must spend more money. On the one hand, you are extorted by foreign investors, and on the other hand, you are embezzled by the person in charge of the company. Second, the Hanyang factory's current production quality is not stable, and there are no such many people to expand. If it is barely expanded, the quality is difficult to guarantee. If there is a mistake, you will have to pay the money according to the contract.

After a while, the differences between the two people on business were well known at that time. There was a supporter from all sides, and even Zhang Nanpi was also swaying in the middle, not knowing who should listen to.

"But..." Gu Hongming finally added, "I think that although the two have a lot of conflicts, they are limited to official affairs. They do not attack each other in private, and there is no conflict. All the rumors in the market are mostly exaggerated and untrue words. The so-called friendship between gentlemen is as light as water, how obvious is it to prove to the two of them?"

"It's a bit interesting."

"If you want to meet me, I will just call you, but there is one thing that I have to remind you that the two of them are used to being casual in front of Xiang Shuai, and their words are a bit sharp, I'm afraid..."

"Tang Sheng, you're squeezing me again. Can't Xiangshuai bear it? "Cen Chun pretended to be angry, "No need to say too much, just call me."

"If you don't have another word," Zhou Xuexi interrupted, "I'll ask the two to write a story about the development strategy of the iron factory before coming, and you don't have to hide it."
Chapter completed!