1928: The rise of giant merchants

Tianjin Customs, General Department of Taxation, Director's Office.

"Asshole! This Yan Xishan is a complete asshole! Fuck!"

When the British director of the General Department of Taxation, Bell, learned that Yan Xishan was trying to intercept customs duties from Tianjin Customs and use them as military expenses, he became so angry that he returned to the General Department's office overnight and asked people from the Ministry of Finance to immediately transfer the taxes. Collect it yourself and deposit it into the Tianjin branch of HSBC Bank in the UK.

However, before the people from the Ministry of Finance left the General Department of Taxation, a group of men in military uniforms rushed in. They spoke with a Shanxi accent. For fear that you would not know where they came from, they rushed into the General Department of Taxation with loaded guns and ammunition, shouting who dared to When the tariff revenue is sent to the bank, they will cheat everyone.

The employees of the Ministry of Finance also work for money, with a monthly salary of dozens of dollars. They don't want to fight these bad guys, so they just sit in the office and wait for the British to clean up the mess.

Bell hurriedly stepped forward to reason. Due to the language barrier, he finally waited for a translator. When he asked, he found out that Yan Xishan had privately pledged the Tianjin customs tax revenue to Ye Luo without the consent of him and the British Embassy!

"WTF?!" Bell pointed at the big soldiers and angrily yelled, "Customs taxation has always been under our jurisdiction. I am the director of the General Department of Taxation. Why does Yan Xishan mortgage the tax revenue?"

"What is this ghost guy talking about?" the leading officer asked the translator, picking his nose, "Don't you understand what we are saying? After the taxes are paid, they must be deposited in Ye's public account at HSBC Bank. This is my responsibility. Anyone who dares to resist a military order will be shot dead by me!"

Of course, he didn't dare to kill the British tax secretary with one shot, but with just one action of drawing the gun, the opponent raised his hands and shouted "wait", and his arrogance was gone.

The translator was also in a dilemma, so he had to explain Bell's complaints in detail, and then hoped to get Yan Xishan to personally contact the British Embassy by phone to prevent the incident from escalating into a diplomatic dispute.

The officers refused to give in and insisted on withholding the taxes and moved the customs taxes to the headquarters of HSBC Bank in Tianjin City.

The two sides were in a stalemate when another new team broke through.

This time it was Bell's acquaintance, William, the commander-in-chief of the British garrison.

"William, you came just in time. These Chinese people are crazy! They dare to mortgage the customs taxes to a businessman for cash!" Bell and other British guys have become fat and big-headed by eating customs taxes. Now, Yan Xishan wanted to take away their golden mountain, and they were naturally unwilling to do so.

"Okay, okay, I've heard about this from Mr. Ambassador, leave it to me, okay?" William gestured with both hands, comforting Bell, but his attitude was very perfunctory, and he obviously didn't really care about it. Bell seeks justice.

In terms of rank, Bell is higher than William, the commander-in-chief of the garrison, but these days, the eldest brother is the one with soldiers and guns. Bell's orders can only take effect in the General Department of Taxation. Outside of here, he is in Tianjin City His status is far inferior to that of William.

Even though William would have to evacuate with the garrison in a few weeks.

"William, what do you mean? If we don't stop them now, it will be difficult for us to recover the taxes after the account is opened." Bell spread his hands and walked up to ask, his tone was very bad, "You also know that China has been In actively striving for tariff independence, the government in the south has received our support, and maybe within a few years, the customs here will have to be returned to them."

The implication is that you should not stop me from making money in the last few years.

William glanced at him, thinking of the ambassador's words in the morning, and the batch of arms that Ye Luo had purchased, and said coldly: "Director Bell, I think you should be smarter, stay here quietly, and leave it to us and the embassy to handle. Instead of standing here and letting a bunch of Chinese people watch our jokes, okay?"

"William! Do you know how much the customs tax is this time?" The tax that is settled every six months is measured in tens of millions of oceans. This is the rich water that everyone covets. You can earn at least hundreds of millions of oceans in a year!

Bell angrily scolded William.

William became angry, whipped out his gun, and then tapped Bell's chest: "Director Bell, now, let me say this for the last time. This matter has been entrusted by the embassy to our garrison headquarters to take over, please immediately Sit down, do the handover, and we’ll take care of it later, do you understand?”

With the dark barrel of the gun pressed against his chest, Bell did not dare to say anything. He could only sit back in frustration and watched the group of Jin soldiers walking out with the employees of the Ministry of Finance.

When the matter was almost done, William walked out with a smile. Then he shook hands with a young Chinese who was walking towards him, and greeted him warmly: "Chen, please tell Ye that I have settled the matter. The ambassador is on his own." Go back and inform."

"Thank you very much, Commander William." Chen Youde smiled and nodded, "We will transport that batch of arms to the south by train as soon as possible. Jinling has also issued an approval document. All weapons and equipment will be integrated into the Huade Military Cooperation Project, and the price will be based on The price agreed upon by our boss and you will be increased by 5%."

"Haha, it's a pity that those planes and tanks can't be sold. Thank you Ye for me." William was very satisfied with being able to sell the pile of arms. As for the old planes and tanks, they could only stay in Tianjin City and wait for the subsequent promotion. The troops of the Department or Feng Department will receive it at a low price.

The price he and Ye Luo agreed on was about 10% higher than that of Jinling Fang. Although it was still far lower than the market price, it all ended up in his own pocket anyway, so it was better than nothing.

Now that Ye Luo has agreed to a 5% increase, he can earn a lot more money, so he will naturally work harder this time.

Most of these ghost guys who stayed in China are capitalists who are unscrupulous and only care about themselves. They have a certain influence in the country, but they are not enough to reach the top. This kind of extra money from scraps is the only way for them to strengthen themselves. Domestic forces also turned a blind eye to this.

The arms that cannot be brought back are left to their own devices.

In fact, the most difficult part of this matter is the ambassador level.

Ambassadors are the real top political leaders in the country. Even if they leave China, they will most likely go to other countries to serve as ambassadors or ministers, or return to their country to become senior officials in the diplomatic system. A large number of them represent the interests of the highest class in the country.

If the British ambassador did not agree to this transaction, William would not be able to surrender Bell so easily.

He was curious about how Ye Luo persuaded Mr. Ambassador.

In short, everything was done, and all he had to do was wait happily for hundreds of millions of dollars to be deposited into his bank account.

The same thing happened at the Changlu Salt Department. The director of the Salt Department was an American, so Ye Luo handled it more easily. Franklin basically took care of most of the matter with just one phone call.

What's more, Ma Mourui, the ambassador to China, is here.

Yan Xishan mortgaged US$20 million to YB Bank for Tianjin City Customs Tax and Changlu Salt Department Tax. The money was sent to the country by YB Bank, and the interest was a little lower than ordinary mortgage loans, which made Yan Xishan smile.

If Yan Xishan cannot repay the loan on time after one year, YB Bank has the right to dispose of the two mortgages on its own.

In addition, Yan Xishan also wanted to mortgage the railway to Ye Luo, but Ye Luo sternly refused.

Are you kidding me? When the battle begins, the railways will be a battleground for the Japanese invaders. With those railways, Yeluo has no army to guard them. Transporting goods during the war has become a luxury. They will only lose money and make no money at all. (End of chapter)