When Song Biao and Zhang Kangren designed the Northeastern financial system, the most subtle thing was precisely one point that the banking institutions of various countries did not consider - although the three Northeastern provinces have become a silver-standard economic zone, the main currency in circulation in the three Northeastern provinces is not silver.

But copper coins.

After copper yuan replaced copper coins, the copper yuan coupons circulating in the market can be directly replaced by silver yuan. Northeast Bank monopolized the issuance rights of copper yuan coupons and issued a large number of copper yuan coupons based on silver yuan. In actual use, the most basic one copper yuan

There is not much room for use of round copper coins. The most common ones are copper round coupons with face values ​​of 5 yuan, 10 yuan, and 20 yuan.

Compared with the lack of trust in silver dollar coupons, copper dollar coupons can be widely circulated in the three northeastern provinces in a short period of time due to their small ticket value, easy circulation, and wide use.

As long as Northeastern soybeans can exchange 30 million pounds of foreign exchange for the Northeast Bank every year, and persist in reducing the total import volume, as long as there is a net inflow of 10 million pounds of foreign exchange every year, that is equivalent to the actual inflow of 105 million silver dollars into the three northeastern provinces.

on the market.

In the era of the gold and silver standard, if an investor enters the three northeastern provinces with 1 million pounds to start an industry, these pounds will be converted into 10.5 million silver dollars in the Northeast Bank, and the Northeast Bank and various commercial note-issuing banks will issue them on this basis.

Value 3000

With a currency of 10,000 silver yuan, investor A will be given another 10.5 million Guandong silver yuan coupons for operating in the Northeast. The remaining 19.5 million silver yuan coupons will continue to be used for credit to support the infrastructure construction of the three northeastern provinces. Investor A, including investor A, can also receive tens of millions of silver yuan coupons.

of loans.

This is what finance is like, and this is what the so-called government does.

…

Zheng Guiting has his own industry in Japan. The scale is not very large. He also serves as the general manager of the Far Eastern Commercial Bank's branch in Japan. Usually when imports are needed and Japanese products can satisfy them, the Far Eastern Commercial Bank will still consider low-priced Japanese products.

For example, in recent cement imports, Japanese cement sales accounted for 1/3 of the import market.

Zheng Guiting has his own method. Because Japan's domestic economy can only be described as miserable, the external market is very powerful. Therefore, when he decides to import Japanese cement, he will always purchase Japanese cement first on behalf of the Far East Commercial Bank.

The company's shares are arbitraged to offset part of the import payment.

Song Biao and Zheng Guiting briefly asked about the situation in Japan. Because the country has too much foreign debt and needs to repay huge amounts of interest every year, the government can only step up tax collection and reduce the scale of Japanese yen credit. The Japanese Army suffered a large-scale attack

Cutting and military factories are almost exclusively operating for the Northeastern New Army. The most bleak thing is the life of the Japanese people. Unemployment is a normal thing and a large number of factories have closed down.

After listening to Zheng Guiting's words, Song Biao said indifferently.

Now Japan is in a worse situation than Song Biao expected. The key is that the army was destroyed. It has not obtained any benefits from the three northeastern provinces except the Lushun military port. Britain and France have not continued to pay international debts, which has made the Japanese government's finances even more difficult.

On one side is the financial tightening policy, and on the other side is the tax increase policy. If both sides attack at the same time, it will be very difficult for Japanese companies.

Anyway, the matter had nothing to do with them. Zheng Guiting and Song Biao continued chatting as usual, saying: "I used to have a small textile factory in Japan and ran some real estate business. Now the recession is really at its limit. I have recently put down the business."

The factories and workers were moved to Jinzhou.

Workers can only follow me, otherwise they will not find new jobs if they stay in Japan. Today, the only textile factories in Japan that can continue to operate are those large factories owned by the Japanese chaebols. They rely on their monopoly to export raw silk to the United States and control Japan's economy.

exports, coupled with continued government support for these financial

Valve, they can also continue to dump goods at low prices to North Korea and domestically in exchange for silver assets. As for many small factories, there are also many in the three northeastern provinces, and some can only live like a year, which is incomparable with Japan's eight major textile companies.

A few days ago, I was investing in Jinzhou with

I met Mr. Zhang Bishi who runs a textile factory. He also recruits a lot of Japanese technicians. The salary is much cheaper than that of foreign technicians, and the difference in ability is not big. Therefore, if the textile industry in the three northeastern provinces can develop, I am afraid it will be better.

Thanks to the decline of Japan’s textile industry.”

Song Biao thought for a while and asked him: "When do you think Japan's economy will recover?"

Zheng Guiting thought for a moment and said: "In three or four years, the Japanese government will do everything it can. In any case, Japan still has considerable exports of raw silk and tea. With the decline of the national economy, domestic imports have decreased and exports cannot be maintained.

The yen will eventually be able to be maintained in a few years. As long as the yen can be issued more and the money supply is looser, the economy can recover again. Therefore, Japan is basically ensuring its own industrial base, and most small businesses are being replaced by large companies.

A share of corporate mergers.”

"That's it!"

Song Biao sighed.

Zheng Guiting said: "Then should we increase efforts to attract Japanese small businesses to enter the three northeastern provinces?"

Song Biao thought about it and said: "There is no need to strengthen this matter. It is a good thing that they are willing to come, and it is not a bad thing if they are unwilling to come. If Japan's economy recovers, will they go back again? We would rather go slower and lose each other.

It is better to use one's own market to cultivate and protect the foundation of Japan's economy.

Of course, you are talking about Japanese technicians, skilled workers, and Japanese teachers. Do you want to attract these people? I think we should attract them. Therefore, if necessary, we will place recruitment advertisements in Japan. We try our best to run factories and schools ourselves.

Even if the majority are Japanese, we will not give them the right to lead and purchase."

The internal meetings of the Far East Consortium are usually held once a quarter. The most important annual meeting is held between November and December every year. Because there are still many heads of subsidiaries who have not arrived in Dalian, it will take a few days to officially hold it.

This year’s annual meeting.

Now Song Biao has arrived ahead of schedule, Rong Xingqiao, Zhang Kangren, Zheng Guiting have arrived, Wu Yangzeng, the general manager of the Far East Mining Corporation, Chen Ronggui from the Cement Corporation, Shen Deyao from the Far East Steel Corporation, Pan Sichi from the Textile Corporation, Zheng Tingxiang from the Machinery General Factory

, Rong Yaoyuan of Shenyang Power Plant, Railway

Luo Guorui, Liang Puzhao from the head office, and Shu Fangxin from Xinhua Finance Company have also arrived. Wang Shuhan, the general manager of Yufeng Bank, and Kuang Rongguang from the Chemical Industry Corporation will arrive soon. Tang Jiechen, the new general manager of the Far East Grain and Animal Husbandry Corporation, will arrive from Shanghai in the near future.

Come here, this person was previously the comprador of Jardine Matheson.

Some of the main people were here at this time, and they happened to talk about Japan's economic problems, so we continued to analyze this topic.

The reason why the people of the Far East Consortium want to analyze the Japanese economy is precisely because everyone understands that Japan is in a basic stage of industrialization, and the three Northeastern provinces are heading in this direction. It is expected that in three or four years, the three Northeastern provinces and Japan

The conflict between economies will become very serious.

Therefore, it is necessary to understand the opponent thoroughly. Zheng Guiting has a very important task in Japan, which is to collect intelligence on various Japanese companies to facilitate the Far East Consortium to implement targeted decisions as a whole.

It’s not an annual meeting now, everyone just gathers together to chat and analyze while talking.

Japan's current exports mainly focus on four areas, raw silk, tea, coal, and textiles, followed by buttons, cigarettes, paper, clocks, kerosene lamps, soap, seafood, mirrors, sugar, and ceramics. As for hardware,

Kerosene, dyes, machinery, etc. are no match for Europe and the United States.

Japan mainly exports raw silk and tea to the United States, and the amount is still very high. First of all, it is the world's largest exporter of raw silk and the fifth largest exporter of tea. However, these two items cannot be sold to China, and its coal

, textiles and low-level industrial products such as buttons, soap, and paper are mainly sold to China and Southeast Asia, including Hong Kong. The prices are very low, and of course the quality is also the worst.

In addition, the clocks currently exported from Japan are not small mechanical watches, pocket watches, or wristwatches, but the kind of "clocks" that are displayed in homes.

The Far East Consortium is particularly targeted in these aspects, because the three northeastern provinces want to develop industry. In the beginning, they can only produce these low-level industrial products. The things produced by the Far East Consortium in the three northeastern provinces must not only meet the needs of the three northeastern provinces, but also meet the needs of the three northeastern provinces.

To meet the needs of the Chinese market, we also need to sell to Southeast Asia.

This year, the Far East Consortium has invested huge amounts of capital in the coal mining industry. In addition to Fushun Coal Mine, it has also invested in 34 coal mines including Fuzhou Haizhou Coal Mine, Liaoyang Qidashan Coal Mine, Tieling Coal Mine, and Kailuan Coal Mine, for a total of 36 coal mines.

Coal mines will start production within three years. Fushun Coal Mine, Haizhou Coal Mine and Qidashan Coal Mine are the three major open-pit coal mines with the largest investment scale.

Why is the Far Eastern Railway Corporation so anxious to give priority to the opening of the Fengfu Railway? It’s because the Haizhou Coal Mine in Fuzhou is an open-pit coal mine, and why it is so anxious to lay the railway to Chifeng, because an astonishing Yuanbao Mountain was also discovered in Chifeng.

Open pit coal mine.

Wu Yang once gave Song Biao an estimate. Around June next year, the total coal mining volume of coal mining companies affiliated to Far East Mining Corporation and Far East Steel Corporation will reach 300,000 tons per month, and will reach 500,000 tons by the end of next year.

tons, the Fengfu Railway and the Chijin Railway were probably opened in the first half of 1908. When the railway was opened on one side, large-scale coal mining on the other side began three months in advance.

With the four major open-pit coal mines working together and other coal mines, the coal mining volume in the three northeastern provinces will rapidly increase by 10 million tons/year within five years. This scale can not only meet the coal demand of the three northeastern provinces and the country, but also the entire country.

The demand for coal in Southeast Asia can also be exported to the United States, Mexico, Chile and other American countries. By then, even Japan will have to purchase coal mines from the Far East Consortium.

Because the mining prices of open-pit coal mines and mine coal mines are completely different concepts and cannot be compared at all.

Relative to Japan's total economic output, Japan's current coal mining industry is very large, but in the long run it may not be able to withstand the impact of coal mines in the three northeastern provinces unless Japan massively increases coal import tariffs.

There is no suspense about this matter.

Some people like to say that Japan does not mine its own coal mines, but buys coal from China and buries it in the sea. This is a rumor. Japan still had its own coal mining industry until the 21st century, and it has relied on government subsidies since the 1970s.

After Shandong was occupied by Germany, Yantai and Qingdao imported Japanese coal mines on a large scale. Before the Japanese textile industry was fully developed, Japan's largest export to China had always been coal mines, and Japan's coal mining total in 1905, excluding colonies, was

The volume has reached 13 million tons.

This may be something that many people don't think of.

The matter of the coal industry had already been discussed at the first annual meeting this year. Under the strong suggestions of Zheng Guiting and Wu Yangzeng, this matter was approved within the consortium very early. Everyone was trying every means to borrow money.

Funds were raised to seize the coal industry in the three northeastern provinces, and a large number of geological engineers were hired from abroad, especially from Russia and Germany. The mining bureaus of the three northeastern provinces worked together to find large coal mines in Liaoning and around the railway.

Chifeng is not under the jurisdiction of the three eastern provinces. Wu Yangzeng had previously been the general manager of the Kailuan Coal Mine. He had personally visited Chifeng and Chengde and knew that there were coal and iron mines in Chifeng. A few months ago, he secretly sent a team of German experts to explore.

The result was a big surprise. The specific results have not yet been released, and the railway is already in a hurry to be repaired.

This year's annual meeting will not talk about coal mines, because everything that needs to be discussed has been discussed. This year, according to the suggestions of Rong Xingqiao, Zheng Guiting and Pan Sichi, the main topic will be the textile industry, although Wu Yangzeng and Shen Deyao want to focus on the steel industry this year.

Regarding the discussion of key issues at the meeting, Song Biao currently thinks that this stance is unlikely, because everyone is still paying more attention to issues in the textile industry, mainly because the export scale of Japanese textiles to the three northeastern provinces is increasing.

The purpose of the Far East Consortium is the simplest. It has been fixed by Song Biao on "increasing exports and reducing imports" from the beginning. We are expected to discuss two key issues this year. One is the export of soybeans and the establishment of the oil processing industry.

.The second is the comprehensive preparation of the textile industry.

Steel is not a big problem. There are not many imports and not many exports. We are not busy yet.

Regarding the issues in the textile industry, Zheng Guiting and Pan Sichi prepared very detailed information. They were originally going to wait until the annual meeting to distribute it to everyone, but now they are taking it out for Song Biao to review. Rong Xingqiao and the others have already read it.

Right now we are waiting for Song Biao’s attitude after reading it.

The one prepared by Zheng Guiting is an overall report on the Japanese textile industry, while the one prepared by Pan Sichi is an overall report on the domestic textile industry and a summary report on imported textiles. They are actually three reports. Each one is four or five pages long.

Song Biao sat down on the sofa and watched slowly. Others also took this opportunity to watch it again, review it, and feel the threat of the Japanese textile industry to China and the Far East Consortium.

After reading it, Song Biao felt a lot and gained a lot of new understandings, which basically broke all his previous illusions.

The three reports summarized a total of six problems: 1. The overall level of the Japanese textile industry is not high; 2. The Japanese textile industry does not have a dumping problem in the strict sense in China and Southeast Asia. Its products have the worst quality and the lowest price. Compared with

In the domestic textile industry, the quality should be high and the price should not differ much; 3. The Japanese textile industry has generally realized that if it is

If China invests in setting up factories, the overall benefits can increase by about 10%. The Mitsui Consortium currently controls two large enterprises in the Shanghai textile industry, with a total of 45,000 spindles. In 1905, thanks to the Russo-Japanese War, the rate of return was as high as 20%.

This year’s annual rate of return has also stabilized at around 10%, which still has higher profitability than other textile factories in Shanghai;
To be continued...