Chapter 174 173 [Second Master Chu's New Prey]

Let's turn our attention to China. It was the end of October when Zhou Hexuan returned to Tianjin, and it was November in a blink of an eye.

Winter is here, and it's freezing cold.

The number of disaster victims outside Tianjin did not continue to increase, not because the disaster situation was under control, but because one by one chose to go to the northeast to "break through the Guandong".

The battle between Feng Jun, Feng Yuxiang, and Yan Xishan was still going on, and Zhang Zuolin, who showed his power, was very powerful. He ordered all the descendants of Feng Jun to launch a general attack, killing Yan Xishan and retreating steadily. Yan Xishan lost all of the land in Hebei that he occupied by sneak attack, so he had to retreat to Niangzi Pass, Yanmen Pass and other passes to prevent Feng's army from going deep, and the two armies entered a stage of stalemate.

However, the Zhilu Allied Forces led by Zhang Zongchang and Chu Yupu were defeated in front of Feng Yuxiang.

At the beginning of the war, due to Feng Yuxiang's elite being restrained, he was defeated many times by relying on miscellaneous troops. The Zhilu coalition forces of Zhang Zongchang and Chu Yupu won one after another, and the forwards fought all the way to the border of Kaifeng. But in late October, Feng Yuxiang redeployed his troops and began to counterattack. After two days and nights of fierce fighting, the entire front of the Zhilu coalition forces that stretched more than 200 miles collapsed.

In this battle alone, Feng Yuxiang captured more than 30,000 people from the Zhilu coalition forces, seized more than 20,000 guns, five armored vehicles, more than forty cannons, and countless bullets, shells, and logistical supplies. Immediately afterwards, in mid-November, Feng Yuxiang won another great victory, capturing more than 20,000 enemy troops and seizing more than 10,000 guns.

Chu Yupu is about to go crazy. He belongs to the new warlord who has only risen in the last two years, and his foundation is very weak. From the beginning of the year to the end of the year, Chu Yupu's defeats on the battlefields of Jiangsu, Anwei, and Henan almost wiped out his family fortune.

Although Chu Yupu still has soldiers, he is in short supply of guns and ammunition. In order to regain his strength, he immediately telegraphed his younger brother Chu Yufeng to issue 10 million public bonds in the Zhili area, and forcibly apportioned them to merchants and civilians.

In fact, Chu Yupu issued 6 million public bonds in Zhili last year, and withheld the salt tax from Changlu Saltworks many times.

Because the Beiyang government owes a lot of foreign debts, part of the Changlu salt tax (more than 13 million per year) is used to repay the debt, and the remaining part is an important source of income for the Beiyang government.

Chu Yupu's move to withhold the salt tax aroused strong dissatisfaction among the big powers. Creditor countries such as Britain, France, and Japan protested many times, which almost triggered formal international negotiations. At the same time, it also made the Beiyang government's finances even worse. The Minister of Finance resigned directly, and the culprit for Peking University's inability to pay wages was Chu Yupu.

But Chu Yupu didn't care about this at all, he was already crazy, and in order to preserve his military strength, he was not afraid of offending the Heavenly King Lao Tzu.

Although "Ta Kung Pao" was opened in the concession, and the major shareholder behind the scenes was Zhang Xueliang, it was also forcibly apportioned by Chu Yupu as a public bond of 3,000 silver dollars. You can’t do without buying his government bonds, otherwise your newspaper will not be sold in Zhili, and there is no reason to say it.

"This Chu Yupu is indeed Zhang Zongchang's old subordinate." Hu Zhengzhi said angrily.

Zhou Hexuan said with a smile: "It's still better than the devil in the world. Chu Yupu's public debts and salt tax cuts are all aimed at rich households and public funds. Zhang Zongchang doesn't care about the life and death of the people at all. Sixty or seventy kinds of levies and miscellaneous taxes can drive the common people to death." die."

"Oh, let's not mention these bastard warlords," Hu Zhengzhi said, "The daily sales volume of "Ta Kung Pao" in the north has reached more than 50,000, and it will be difficult to continue to grow. So I discussed with Chi Zhang (Zhang Jiluan) and planned to let him Go to Shanghai to open a branch, what do you think?"

"That's very good," Zhou Hexuan agreed, "Our "Ta Kung Pao" can't just nestle in a corner in the north. It is certain to open a branch in Shanghai, and it will expand to the whole country in the future."

Hu Zhengzhi asked: "It takes a lot of money to open a branch office. Do you need to seek the approval of the young marshal?"

"No need," Zhou Hexuan shook his head and said, "Young Marshal has long stated that he will not intervene in the affairs of the newspaper, we can handle it ourselves."

"That's good." Hu Zhengzhi said happily.

After chatting about opening the Shanghai branch, Zhou Hexuan returned to the editorial department of Dazhong.

"Yi Tian Tu Long Ji" has been serialized tens of thousands of words, but the response from readers is not as enthusiastic as the previous two volumes. The main reason is that the new book hasn't gotten to the point for a long time. It spends a lot of space describing Guo Xiang and Zhang Sanfeng, and the "male protagonist" doesn't appear until the third chapter.

Well, readers have regarded Zhang Cuishan as the leading actor. It is estimated that after a while, when Zhang Cuishan and Yin Susu commit suicide, some readers will slap their tables and scold their mothers again.

While Zhou Hexuan was reviewing newspaper manuscripts and writing "Guns, Germs and Steel" in his spare time, Liao Yaquan, a female spy from Japan, ran into trouble.

...

Chu Mansion, a courtyard house.

Chu Yufeng was smoking a big cigarette, and there were two pretty maids beside him to help him beat his legs and shoulders. His subordinates suddenly came in and reported: "Second Master, the public debt has been apportioned to 300,000 yuan. Do you want to send it to the commander-in-chief first?"

"It's only 300,000? It's too slow. The commander-in-chief ordered arms from foreigners and was in a hurry to spend money. If you let the subordinates speed up the work, anyone who dares not give it will be hard, or they will be arrested as red gangsters if they don't show face," Chu Yufeng thought for a while and said, "The 300,000 oceans should be sent to the commander-in-chief first. The soldiers are arguing about paying their salaries. This matter cannot be delayed."

"Yes, I'll do it now." The subordinate bowed and retreated.

Chu Yufeng finished smoking the opium, stretched out his arms and moved his body, and said to his followers: "Go for a walk on the Haihe construction site, after all, it is also the project that my second master did."

The attendant quickly flattered: "Second Lord really loves the people like a son, and has done great things for the people of Tianjin."

"Hahaha," Chu Yufeng laughed triumphantly, "Actually, besides liking playing with women, I don't have any other shortcomings. My heart is also very good. The common people have a good life, and I am also happy in my heart."

The attendant immediately said: "Second Master, you are wrong. What is the disadvantage of liking to play with women? Men don't like it. You like to play with women, which means that you have a good body and you are a real man."

"Hahahaha," Chu Yufeng laughed again, and praised, "Your speech is good."

Chu Yufeng went to the construction site in a car, but due to the bad road conditions, she had to get out of the car and walk halfway. He felt his feet hurt after walking a few steps, so he asked someone to get a sedan chair, and sat in the sedan chair leisurely to inspect the construction site.

When he came to Qu's shop, Chu Yufeng saw a few foreigners pointing and pointing by the river, so he immediately ran to join in the fun.

"Oh, oh, you foreign masters, blowing the cold wind by the river in the cold weather is really a blessing to the people of Tianjin." Chu Yufeng respected and feared foreigners, and flattered them when they met.

Those foreigners were engineers and supervisors, and they couldn't understand Chinese. Liao Yaquan immediately helped them translate.

After learning that Chu Yufeng was the Chinese person in charge of the project, the foreign engineer immediately said: "Mr. Chu, the river is about to freeze and the soil has become very hard. This greatly increases the difficulty of construction, and our construction period may have to be extended. "

"It's okay, it's okay, take your time, it will be fixed one day." Chu Yufeng said absently, his eyes stayed on Liao Yaquan, his eyes glowed like a hungry wolf who hadn't eaten meat for a few days.