dhibooks Chapter 216 The Efforts of Two Women
Chapter 216 The Efforts of Two Women
Pieced together from various sources?
nondescript?
This pretentious scholar is truly shameless!
If you were to actually release the data for this light cruiser, it would be an equipment that all the major powers would be scrambling to acquire, rendering it worthless to you. You would truly be the number one person who talks the talk but doesn't walk the walk!
A soft laugh suddenly came from the doorway.
"Sir, your words are even more pleasing to the ear than those in the leaflets from the Japanese consulate."
The room fell silent.
Su Guiying was wearing a plain-colored cheongsam, a short jacket, and carrying a brown paper bag.
She is not a soldier.
But as soon as she entered, several newspaper staff members who usually cursed with their pens tensed up.
No one in Shanghai truly dares to forget the old grudges of this Director Su against the Green Gang.
The writer's expression changed slightly.
"Ms. Su, when a newspaper speaks, shouldn't there be freedom of speech?"
Su Guiying placed the paper bag on the table.
Splash!
A stack of bills, worker lists, shipyard pay slips, and Ma'anshan special steel delivery slips were laid out.
"Freedom exists."
Her voice wasn't loud, but it carried the subtle edge of a江湖人 (jianghu person, someone who uses martial arts and chivalry to express their opinions).
"It's not that you can't defend the Japanese, but that depends on how tough you are..."
The writer's lips trembled.
Su Guiying tapped the bill with her fingertips.
"This is the wages for 317 workers at the Wusong Shipyard. This month, they received their salaries from Chen Jiajun, ate Chinese rice, and hammered Chinese rivets."
She then pointed to another form.
"This is special steel from Ma'anshan, used to replenish the ammunition depot, engine room, and conning tower. You could say the Zhen Dong ship wasn't built from a single piece of steel."
She looked up.
"But if you say that Chinese people only know how to paint, then I'll post your name along with those on the list of people who make a living off the Japanese. You choose."
Even the sound of lead type being poured into the typesetting room has stopped.
The chief writer's throat was dry.
"This...this is just a guess, a reasonable guess..."
"Then guess carefully, guess reasonably!"
Su Guiying smiled.
"There's also a new briefing that's arrived to wake you up."
The young reporter took the telegram, read two lines, and his expression immediately changed.
"Fire in the East China Sea? Japanese destroyer hit by torpedo?"
The room exploded.
"What?!"
"The Zhen Dong warship engaged in battle immediately after setting sail?"
"And throughout the entire operation, the destroyers were in complete control of the Japanese, keeping them in check and forcing them to act rashly in the end?"
"Wasn't it supposed to be bought to make a good impression?"
Su Guiying did not explain further.
She turned and walked to the door, leaving behind a single sentence.
"What the newspapers write tomorrow is your business. But if anyone dares to write that the Japanese destroyer crossed the line and provoked the Chen family army by bullying others, Feng Yong will invite him for tea."
She paused.
"Actually, the tea from the Workers' Movement Bureau is quite good; it's all new tea from this year."
The Bund, the British Consulate.
Bardon placed the brief on the table, his face darker than the river mist outside the window.
Cunningham sat opposite him, a cigar between his fingers, but didn't light it for a long time.
The brief report was very short.
The Zhen Dong warship is undergoing sea trials.
Two Japanese destroyers crossed the line and approached the mouth of the Minjiang River.
Chen Jiajun issued multiple warnings.
Subsequently, the Japanese destroyer sustained combat damage.
It was not written that the ship was sunk.
It was not written that it was a great victory.
But the more this is the case, the colder it feels.
Barton whispered, "They wrote the words too cleanly."
Cunningham nodded.
"As clean as a lawyer's handwriting."
"Not a lawyer."
Baldon pinched the bridge of his nose.
"It was a lawyer's letter written by the artillery."
Both of them fell silent.
Insurance premiums for Far East routes have just increased due to the situation in Shanghai.
Now Chen's army has cruisers and submarines, and they even use short messages to package every shell as if it were for self-defense.
This is not a problem with just one ship.
This is a problem for the entire East China Sea shipping route.
Cunningham finally lit his cigar.
"We can no longer treat the Chen family's navy as mere gunboats at the river mouth. If that Zhen Dong ship is truly capable of fighting, then it can genuinely control the waterway, and all merchant ships entering and leaving the East China Sea will have to recalculate the risks."
"More importantly, starting today, the Japanese in the East China Sea are going to get anxious. What does Downing Street mean by this?"
Baldon gave a wry smile.
"Heh... What I'm most worried about right now is that those gentlemen in London will wake up tomorrow, slap their foreheads, and start talking about the Anglo-Japanese Alliance!"
Southeast Central Bank.
Mo Huixin did not go to the newspaper office.
She sat in her office with three ledgers spread out on her desk.
A clear and transparent account.
A special naval grant.
A newspaper's GG and a government bond subscription plan.
She was looking at paper, but in her eyes, these words were like gold bars and silver dollars.
She never questioned where Chen Zijun's seemingly mysterious money came from. But she knew it must be illegal; otherwise, they wouldn't have asked her to launder it.
But now that she has legitimate funds, does that mean the young master no longer needs to take risks?
The accountants stood in a row.
The newspaper's agent was also standing.
No one dared to sit there.
Mo Huixin turned a page, her voice soft, but without a trace of weakness.
"The accounts must be transparent and auditable. Shipyard wages, steel allocation, dock renovations, and coal burning for sea trials must all have supporting documentation."
The accountant nodded.
"Ms. Mo, rest assured, every loan issued by the Southeast Central Bank can be traced back to its original stub."
"not enough."
Mo Huixin looked up.
"We also need to let businessmen see that this isn't just the young marshal throwing money around to create a spectacle."
She wrote three lines on the paper with a pencil.
Chinese workers.
China Steel.
China Shipyard.
"The newspaper editors focused on these three points."
The newspaper's agent quickly took note.
Mo Huixin continued, "Whether the Zhen Dong warship was built from scratch or not, the foreigners will argue, the Japanese will argue, and the newspapers will argue. We won't argue with them about empty words."
She tapped the ledger.
"We told the businessmen that Chen Jiajun could convert a cruiser into a warship for sea operations, turn factory loans into machinery, tax revenue into military spending, and government bonds into real steel."
A young accountant couldn't help but ask, "Miss Mo, should the naval battle reports also be released?"
Mo Huixin glanced at him.
"put."
The young accountant was taken aback.
"But if the battle report is too full, what if there are changes later..."
"So I won't fill it up."
Mo Huixin pushed the short report sent back by Chen Zijun over.
"It only states that the Japanese destroyer crossed the line, our military issued multiple warnings, and the Zhen Dong ship and coastal defense forces acted in accordance with the law to defend themselves. As for details such as the torpedo strike and stall, let the reporter hear them from the sailors at the dock."
The newspaper's agent's eyes lit up.
This is news.
It's also a business.
It is also about credit.
Mo Huixin closed the ledger.
"The naval command isn't just empty boasting. If you just brag to the people, it'll fall apart in three days. What the Young Marshal wants is to build a bank's credibility, merchants' subscriptions, and workers' confidence."
She then took out a sample of a government bond that had not yet been printed from the drawer.
The ticket has no fancy foreign language writing.
Only the seal of the Southeast Central Bank and the six characters "Coastal Defense Construction Bonds" are present.
"This issue of government bonds is not allowed to mention any fantastical naval superpowers."
Mo Huixin pushed the sample ticket to the accountant.
Those warlords can issue military bonds and military notes at will, so why can't my young master?
"Make it clear. Every yuan invested goes into the shipyard, the steel mill, the workers' wages, and the sailors' pay. Let the businessmen know that this is not a donation, but a purchase of credit for the defense of the southeast coast; let the workers know that every rivet they hammer in can be exchanged for grain in their family's rice bin."
"Five-year term, 1.7% interest; ten-year term, 2% interest!"
The old accountant looked down at the sample tickets, and his eyes suddenly felt a little hot.
"Miss Mo, if this thing is sold, the people will go crazy buying it."
"That's why this account can't be smeared..."