20 years of the Republic of China

Chapter 747 A desperate move

Jiang Lianheng did not express his opinion immediately. He walked into the living room, sat down and asked Hu Xiaoyan, "What do you think?"

Hu Xiaoyan pondered for a while, shook her head and said, "It's a dilemma. If I continue to insist on doing this, my business will definitely suffer losses. But if I refuse to accept the Fengpiao, I will be going against the government. It's not clear what will happen to me in the future."

The current situation is a dilemma, with risks on both sides.

The only difference is that the risks of the former can be foreseen and calculated, while the risks of the latter can only depend on the mood of the provincial officials.

Fortunately, whenever there was a major change, Jiang and Hu usually had no disagreements.

The couple would rather bear a foreseeable loss than speculate on an unknown punishment, and after a brief discussion, they reached an agreement.

The Jiang family is still accepting invoices for business at various counters. They will hold on for now before making other plans.

Xue Yingqing felt that this move was too conservative, so he said, "The law does not punish everyone. Now everyone is doing this. Knowing that the Fengpiao is depreciating, taking over will result in losses. Why do you continue to insist on doing it?"

Jiang Lianheng said, "Others are others, the Jiang family is the Jiang family. What is the scale of our business? If I don't accept Fengpiao, I will be the leader in disrupting the market."

"I know that, but the key is that you can talk to Marshal Zhang!" Xue Yingqing asked, "You have been a secret agent consultant in the provincial capital for so many years. Even if you have no merits, you have worked hard. Old Zhang will not embarrass you because of this, right?"

"Being with the emperor is like being with a tiger. It's hard to say such things."

"Even if Lao Zhang knew, he would probably just give you a warning, but he wouldn't punish you for your crime, right?"

Xue Yingqing had never met Marshal Zhang, so it was inevitable that he made some assumptions when he spoke.

However, what she said was not far-fetched.

Lao Zhang has always been very tolerant towards his close confidants, and he is often unwilling to investigate and punish severely even those brothers who have betrayed him.

Tang Erhu rebelled against him, but now he still leads the troops; Yang Zhuge once embezzled the military pay of the Fengtian Army, but now he is his chief strategist.

Lao Zhang is a tolerant person. His refusal to accept the bill is at most a matter of seeking profit and avoiding harm, and it cannot be considered a major mistake of principle.

If it is said that Lao Zhang severely punished Jiang Lianheng, arrested him, or even made an example of him, it might be a bit too much. Jiang Lianheng himself does not quite believe it, but this does not mean that the Jiang family can be exempted from any responsibility.

"Death penalty can be avoided, but living crime cannot be avoided."

Hu Xiaoyan said firmly: "The reason for refusing to accept Fengpiao is to avoid losses. But if you are fined by the government for refusing to accept Fengpiao, the final result will probably be a loss of money, and you will also offend the government in the process. This approach is really not worth the loss."

"That's true, but the problem is that business is really hard nowadays!"

Xue Yingqing also has difficulties.

She is the head manager of "Songfeng Zhuyun" and she has more say than Jiang and Hu about the current business situation.

If the Fengpiao was exchanged for no silver dollars, merchants would find ways to exchange it for physical objects as quickly as possible.

Anyway, the longer this paper money stays in your hand, the more it will depreciate. Instead of waiting for it to die, it is better to spend it as soon as possible to avoid it becoming a piece of waste paper.

However, if everyone thinks this way, Fengpiao will become even less valuable in the eyes of merchants.

Xue Yingqing had already raised the prices of "Songfeng Zhuyun", but after daily business, he still made only cheap paper money. He couldn't spend it, and he could only watch the money continue to depreciate as it remained in his hands.

Any businessman would feel uneasy and irritated when seeing this kind of situation.

But this level of difficulty is far from enough to change Jiang Lianheng's will.

He never thought about profit or loss, but survival.

In fact, Jiang Lianheng didn't understand business at all. Not only him, but even Hu Xiaoyan was just an accountant at best, not a real businessman.

The Jiang family's so-called business philosophy can be summed up in eight words: cheating, deceiving, and plundering.

They rely on despicable and rogue means to maintain their monopoly position, and then collude with officials and businessmen to consolidate the status quo.

In other words, all of the Jiang family’s businesses stem from “power”.

As long as the "momentum" is there, there is no need to deliberately force for gold, silver and money.

"At this critical moment, I can't take the lead in destroying Lao Zhang's stage!" Jiang Lianheng waved his hand and said, "Okay, there is no need to discuss this matter anymore, let's do it this way!"

Xue Yingqing shook his head and sighed, "Are you really planning to bet your entire family fortune on Old Zhang?"

"If I don't bet on him, who should I bet on?" Jiang Lianheng asked in return, "Don't you see how powerful Marshal Zhang is now? Half of the country is within his grasp! If he can become the president, the devaluation of Fengbi will not matter. What does it matter if I lose some money now? If you don't have an official backer, how can you make it?"

Seeing this, Xue Yingqing stopped talking.

Keeping silent does not mean you agree with what is said.

Xue Yingqing is still an old-school gangster. She knows that if the gang wants to survive, it must have the support of the government. However, she does not trust the government deep down and is even less willing to act like a lackey.

She didn't say anything more. After receiving the order, she stood up, said goodbye and left the Jiang family mansion.

After Xue Yingqing left, Hu Xiaoyan asked Jiang Lianheng again, "By the way, why did you come back so early today?"

"Zhang Sheng came to talk to me just now. He plans to stop paying for freight insurance starting next month."

"Why?" Hu Xiaoyan was surprised.

Immediately, Jiang Lianheng explained that the provincial government was preparing to lift the ban on smoking and set up an Opium Monopoly Bureau.

After hearing this, Hu Xiaoyan became worried.

As bad as it rains, the bad news has been coming one after another recently.

The devaluation of Fengpiao caused the Jiang family's assets to shrink, and business at various counters was sluggish; the provincial government's monopoly on the opium trade affected the Jiang family's most stable insurance business.

So far, all the losses faced by the Jiang family are related to money.

The most frustrating thing is that the root cause of all this did not come from online enemies, but from the various decrees issued by Marshal Zhang.

Not only was the Jiang family unable to compete, they even had to actively cooperate.

That evening, Fang Yan delivered the business details of Zongheng Insurance Company to the Jiang family mansion.

Among all the businesses of the insurance company, fire and water insurance has the best sales, accounting for 90%, but the actual profit it brings is only barely on par with that of opium freight.

In other words, when the Opium Monopoly Bureau is established in the counties of the three provinces, the Jiang family’s insurance business will inevitably suffer a severe blow.

Now, Hu Xiaoyan became even more restless. She didn't even eat dinner at night. She drank two bowls of medicine and then sat in the bedroom in a daze.

Jiang Lianheng didn't care too much. Seeing her uneasy look, he whispered to comfort her: "When the enemy comes, we will fight him; when the water comes, we will block it with earth. Don't worry about it. It's useless to worry."

Hu Xiaoyan coughed twice but did not answer.

Jiang Lianheng added, "Besides, the opium trade has been taken back by the government and is a monopoly. It has not fallen into the hands of others. Even if we lose this business, we still have other sources of income. We will not be unable to make ends meet. Don't let your imagination run wild."

"I'm not thinking about money." "What is it?"

Hu Xiaoyan thought about it and corrected herself: "Not really, it is indeed related to money, but this is not the most important thing... Lian Heng, don't you feel that this matter is a little familiar?"

"Familiar?" Jiang Lianheng was slightly confused. "What do you mean?"

"Think about it, how did Zhou Yunfu fall back then?"

"I was the one who knocked it over!"

"No, think about it further."

"Zeng Qi was transferred, and Governor Xu took office. So, Lao Deng's backer is gone?"

Hu Xiaoyan nodded and said, "Yes, but not entirely. Zhou Yunfu did lose his backer back then, but neither General Zhao nor Governor Xu did anything to him. Zhou Yunfu's fall from power actually began on the day Woyun Tower was closed down."

Jiang Lianheng finally remembered.

That year, a murder occurred in Woyun Tower.

Bai Baochen bribed the guys at Woyun Tower and then sent two assassins to kill Zhou Yunfu at night. However, they were outwitted by Gong Baonan and Guan Wei and killed on the spot.

Afterwards, Bai Baochen used Xiao Dongyang's power and took the opportunity to seal off Woyun Tower.

At that time, Governor Xu was in charge of the Fengtian City, and smoking was strictly prohibited. Therefore, Woyun Tower was closed and never reopened.

Looking back now, this incident had a huge impact on the Zhou family, and directly led to a serious imbalance in the four major halls under Zhou Yunfu.

It was precisely because of the ruin of the opium business that Zhou Yunfu began to make up for the shortfall in Chen Wantang's counter, which eventually led to Chen Wantang's betrayal.

The result was that the two most powerful gangs of the Zhou family fought each other overnight and both suffered heavy losses.

Chuantangfeng went straight to the King of Hell to report, and the brothers of Sea Owl were either dead or injured, and Chuanerhong's business was also not doing well...

Sea Owl was determined to avenge his fourth brother and escape from Zhou Yunfu's control. Thus, the Zhou family lost its absolute advantage.

The three families of Zhou, Su and Bai were all seriously injured, which led to Jiang Lianheng taking advantage of the situation.

Of course, there are many grievances and hatreds in between, but——

"In the final analysis, it's all about money!" Hu Xiaoyan frowned and said, "Whether it's the Zhou family or the Jiang family, as long as they reach a certain point, they are not afraid of external enemies, but they are afraid of internal strife. This is how the Zhou family fell, and the Bai family also fell because of disunity. I am afraid..."

"What are you afraid of?"

Jiang Lianheng suddenly interrupted, "The present is different from the past. You can't calculate like this. How old was Zhou Yunfu back then? He was in his seventies. He couldn't control anyone anymore. He didn't have enough energy and strength. I am in my prime now. How can it be the same?"

Hu Xiaoyan nodded. This was indeed the biggest difference between the two.

Moreover, the provincial capital was in chaos at that time, and it was a time of change. Jiang Lianheng emerged as a dark horse, and he had the best of time, place and people.

This kind of success story is difficult to replicate.

"In short, you should be careful," Hu Xiaoyan warned, "The business situation is not good now. If you go up, it will be tiring at most, but if you go down, there will be obstacles everywhere."

Jiang Lianheng didn't like what he heard, so he waved his hand and said, "Why don't you just say something auspicious? It's just a devaluation of Fengbi, it's not a big deal, it will get better."

"Oh, I was just thinking, since Fengpiao cannot be exchanged for cash, why don't we exchange it for some foreign currency?"

"Gold notes?" Jiang Lianheng shook his head. "It's even harder to say about the Japanese paper notes!"

"Then exchange some Western currency. There aren't many Western banks in Fengtian right now, but Nanfeng told me that he has connections and can help the family exchange some back. However, his connections are not well known, so the exchange rate may be a bit of a loss."

"What foreign currency can he exchange for?"

"All common currencies are fine, British pounds, francs, dollars, Japanese yen, rubles..."

Hu Xiaoyan paused, and said, "Forget about the ruble. Nanfeng said that the Maozi's Qiang Tie is not allowed to be accepted, and in the current situation, if you have rubles at home, it is easy to cause disaster."

"If you think it's a good deal, then change it!" Jiang Lianheng had no objection.

As the night was getting dark, the two talked and talked, and finally blew out the lights and went to sleep.

In the following few days, Hu Xiaoyan began to exchange cash through Nanfeng and buy foreign currency at any time.

The Jiang family's strategy for dealing with the devaluation of Fengtian notes was considered the quickest among all the merchants and wealthy people in Fengtian, but they were still unable to withstand the continuous depreciation of Fengtian notes.

The sun and the moon rotate, and May comes suddenly.

The market price of Fengpiao exchangeable for cash finally broke through the four yuan mark, and has nearly doubled from the market price at the beginning of the year.

In other words, regardless of whether they were rich or poor, factory owners or small traders, all the merchants and citizens in the provincial capital had their assets severely reduced.

Panic spread rapidly, and people rushed to exchange the Fengpiao in their hands for cash, foreign currency, and physical objects. No matter how much the provincial government promised to guarantee, except for those large factories that inevitably had to use Fengpiao to settle accidents, no one was willing to trade with Fengpiao anymore.

The bank run is unstoppable.

Every day, before dawn, long queues would form at the official silver banks in the three northeastern provinces. The merchants and citizens who came to exchange cash lined up from the counter to the street, so that the government office had to send more old men to maintain order on the scene.

There were people making trouble almost every day. Many merchants and civilians cried and shouted, and even knelt down to beg the clerks to exchange the notes in their hands for silver dollars.

However, the official silver bank always set up numerous obstacles for various reasons, delaying and rejecting the exchange requests of merchants and citizens. Even those big bosses with connections and backgrounds often could not get what they wanted.

The government’s explanation for this was to prevent criminals from disrupting Fengtian’s financial order.

This is not entirely a false accusation.

In fact, among the many merchants who came to exchange cash, there were indeed a few who were instructed by Xiao Dongyang to intensify the bank run.

Xiao Dongyang was eager to take advantage of this opportunity to promote the "gold notes" issued by the Goryeo Bank in Fengtian, and thus control Fengtian's finance.

Because the Jiang family had informed the boss of the official bank in advance, or promised him benefits, they rushed to exchange 10,000 yuan in cash at the beginning of the month. The remaining 10,000 yuan, according to Manager Liu, could not be exchanged until the end of the month.

When the news of the riots in the provincial capital reached the capital, Marshal Zhang finally found time to return to Fengtian.

But this time when he came back, it seemed that he had no intention of stabilizing the financial order, but rather it was more like a rear-end inspection before the Fengtian Army went south.

Jiang Lianheng originally thought that Marshal Zhang would ask him about the workers' call for a break, but after waiting for three or five days, there was still no news.

During this period, he also went to the Marshal's Mansion, but the guard said that the Marshal was busy with official duties and could not meet him for the time being.

Jiang Lianheng had no choice but to be on standby at all times.

Unexpectedly, the first person he received was not a summons from Lao Zhang, but an official from the Fengtian Finance Office...

(End of this chapter)