dhibooks Chapter 254 Let's talk about the bill first...
Chapter 254 Let's talk about the bill first...
Fuzhou, Southeast Military and Political Reception Center.
The morning mist had not yet dissipated, and the entrance to the reception area was already crowded with guards carrying submachine guns.
Zhou Qiheng paced back and forth in the corridor, his leather shoes making dull thuds on the wooden floor.
Behind him, several members of the delegation, their faces pale, clutched their folders tightly, barely daring to breathe.
"Representative Zhou, the urgent telegram from Guangzhou has just been sent again."
The secretary lowered her voice, looking anxious.
"The principal is waiting for a reply. If we don't give a definite answer soon, things might get turbulent again in Guangzhou and Wuhan."
Zhou Qiheng stopped and sighed.
"A positive response? Is Chen Zijun that easy to deal with?"
"He made me sign a statement yesterday, and then publicly cut off the dirty hands of the Chang faction."
"Now Guangzhou has called back saying they want to 'discuss official status.' How do you think Chen Zijun will accept this?"
The secretary hesitated for a moment, then whispered, "This is the legitimate title. The Southeast Army has been reorganized into the Southeast Front Army of the National Revolutionary Army; it's perfectly justified. How could he possibly refuse it?"
"Of course he'll want it. But this so-called legitimacy is just a title; the late Premier Sun Yat-sen already gave him that title!"
Zhou Qiheng shook his head, his eyes full of worry.
"But he certainly won't take it for free. I'm afraid we can't afford to give him that hat."
As they were talking, a series of light footsteps came from the end of the corridor.
Immediately afterwards, the door to the reception area was pushed open from the outside.
The first person to walk in was a young woman dressed in an elegant cheongsam. She had a graceful figure and a gentle smile on her face, but behind her were more than a dozen chamber of commerce accountants carrying tall ledgers.
Mo Huixin, Chen Zijun's childhood bride, is also his most important confidante and head housekeeper, whose importance is no less than that of Mo Lanzhi, who is in charge of intelligence!
Beside her, Chen Zijun's adjutant, Hu Qiankuan, strode forward, his hand on the holster at his waist, like a cold, indifferent stone monument.
"Representative Zhou, I'm sorry to have kept you waiting."
Mo Huixin nodded slightly, her voice gentle.
Zhou Qiheng quickly stepped forward and cupped his hands in greeting: "President Mo, Lieutenant Hu, I wonder if Marshal Chen has given any reply to the telegram from headquarters?"
Hu Qiankuan remained expressionless, his voice as firm as iron:
"Our young marshal said that since the General Headquarters is considering the overall situation of the Northern Expedition and is willing to give the Southeast a legitimate title, the Southeast can accept this title."
Zhou Qiheng breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing the first part of the sentence.
But Hu Qiankuan's second half of the sentence made his heart leap into his throat.
"However, the young marshal also said that now that the hat has been put on, the soldiers under him must have food to eat and guns to use."
"Adaptation isn't something that can be done with just a few words; it has to be done according to the rules."
Zhou Qiheng's eyelids twitched: "Rules? What does Young Marshal Chen mean?"
Mo Huixin smiled slightly and gestured to the side.
The chamber of commerce accountants behind him immediately stepped forward and slammed three heavy metal ledgers onto the negotiating table.
"Bang!"
The dull thud made the delegation members' eyelids twitch.
Zhou Qiheng looked at the three account books and his heart skipped a beat.
"Miss Mo, what is this?"
"This is a defense ledger jointly calculated by the Southeast Central Bank and the military and political departments of five provinces."
Mo Huixin stepped forward and reached out to stroke the cover of the account book.
"Representative Zhou, since it's a reorganization, then the two companies are merging into one."
"Since the General Headquarters is to coordinate the defense of the Southeast, shouldn't the expenses for the four reorganized divisions originally approved by the Ministry of War of the Republic of China in the five southeastern provinces—which we now have as fully-equipped German-trained divisions, two independent mixed brigades, which have been reorganized into an independent armored division and an independent motorized infantry division, two cruiser fleets, two deep-sea wolf pack submarines, and the artillery groups at Wusongkou and Mawei fortresses—be borne by the General Headquarters as well?"
Zhou Qiheng forced a smile: "Of course. After the reorganization, the headquarters will allocate military pay as usual."
"As is customary? Military pay?"
Mo Huixin raised her eyebrows and opened the first account book.
"Representative Zhou, the 'standard' set by headquarters is probably not enough to fill the stomachs of the Southeast."
"The four divisions of the reorganized Central German-equipped 4th, 6th, 12th and 19th Divisions in Southeast China were all equipped with German-made Krupp heavy artillery and Maxim heavy machine guns. The German-made ammunition carried by each soldier was more than three times that of the ordinary army."
"To maintain the combat readiness of these four divisions, the annual cost of ammunition alone, converted into pounds, is an astronomical figure."
She lightly tapped the page with her slender finger.
"This first installment, totaling £32 million, covers the reorganization and resettlement costs for four German-equipped divisions, the depreciation of their weapons, and the renovation of their barracks in the defense zone."
"Please settle the cash payment at headquarters."
"Thirty-two million?!"
One of Zhou Qiheng's attendants couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.
"Still pounds?! How is that possible!"
Mo Huixin didn't even glance at the attendant, only looking at Zhou Qiheng, her voice still gentle.
"In addition, the cost of the newly formed national defense divisions in the five southeastern provinces has not yet been included in this account and needs to be discussed separately."
"In addition to these one-time reorganization fees, the salaries of military and political personnel in the Southeast, the pay of generals, the procurement of military supplies, and the cost of steel for the Mawei Shipyard will require an additional £25 million annually."
"The two sums together amount to £55 million."
Mo Huixin clasped her hands together on her knees and looked at Zhou Qiheng with a smile.
"Representative Zhou, since the headquarters wants to dominate the Southeast, they shouldn't renege on this debt, right?"
The room fell into a deathly silence.
Fifty-five million pounds.
This amount of money, when converted to silver dollars, is a sum that could crush a person to death.
It's worth noting that the total annual fiscal revenue of the Guangzhou government, even at its most substantial, is only a little over 20 million pounds sterling.
Chen Zijun's request directly amounted to two years' worth of the Guangzhou government's fiscal revenue!
Zhou Qiheng's face turned pale and then flushed, and cold sweat trickled down his forehead.
"Miss Mo, this...this is simply an astronomical price."
"With the war at the Northern Expedition front underway and military funds already stretched thin, how could the General Headquarters possibly come up with 55 million pounds?"
Hu Qiankuan sneered from the side.
"Can't come up with the money?"
"Representative Zhou, so your headquarters intends for our brothers in the southeast to go hungry while guarding the defense line for you?"
"Are you still trying to get something for nothing, using a stamped letter of appointment to claim 300,000 elite troops and a long coastal defense network from my five southeastern provinces for free?"
Zhou Qiheng was so speechless that he couldn't utter a word for a long time.
The delegation's secretary boldly said:
"Lieutenant Hu, you can't say that. Everyone knows that Marshal Chen is the richest man in the southeast, with the Southeast Central Bank's daily turnover reaching tens of millions. This military expenditure..."
"Shut up."
Hu Qiankuan suddenly turned his head, his icy gaze piercing the secretary's face like a knife.
"The money in the Southeast Central Bank was earned penny by penny by our young marshal and the merchants and people of the five provinces; it didn't fall from the sky."
"What, headquarters wants to use our money to buy our lives, and in the end, we'll have to give headquarters a legitimate label?"
"If you know of such a cheap deal, tell me, and I'll buy a few bases to play with too."