Chapter 490 The Guangxi Division and Tianjin Concession

Faced with the advance of the vanguard army, not only Chiang Kai-shek was under pressure. Li Zongren also under great pressure.

The Guizhou clan has always had no money, otherwise it would have been ruined by Chiang Kai-shek with money, which would have been difficult to turn over. It was not until after the Anti-Japanese War that the finances of Chiang Kai-shek government collapsed, and Li Zongren came to power.

But at this time, the Guangxi clique seemed to have encountered a bigger opponent. When the Pioneer Army spent money, it was overwhelming, not just targeting the middle and upper classes like Chiang Kai-shek.

Originally, it was possible to watch Anhui in the Dabie Mountains, but after the Pioneer Army attacked the nearby ones, all this became empty talk. Even in Guangxi, the guerrillas of the Pioneer Army were active near Yunkai Mountain, which was intersecting with Guangdong. In addition, the Japanese occupied North Vietnam and threatened Guangxi. Li Zongren couldn't help but retreat. At this time, Huang Shaohong also wrote a letter to mention the Dabie Mountains and the Pioneer Army.

Huang Shaoheng was placed as the chairman of Zhejiang Province by Chiang Kai-shek. However, his decrees could not reach Zhejiang. In the past, the Japanese occupied most of Zhejiang, but later there was another vanguard army.

At this time, the Pioneer Army occupied nearly half of the country in Zhejiang. Last year, Shu Yi and others also began to fully implement relevant policies such as minimum living allowances and compulsory education. Although Zhejiang is a rich place, there are still many poor people, which also made the Pioneer Army gain the support of the lower-class people. In addition, the Pioneer Army encouraged industry and commerce and eliminated various financial and miscellaneous taxes, which was more affordable than when the central government came. Naturally, middle and upper-class people also began to prefer the Pioneer Army.

When the Japanese came, the middle and upper classes surrendered to save their wealth. The Japanese also specially filled the pseudo-regime with these middle and upper classes, which also made many of them have the title of traitor. The Pioneer Army had a detailed division of traitors, and resolutely suppressed the hard-core traitors, and those who were forced to act as pseudo-officials and had no bad records will not be treated extremely, which also made some people feel much more relieved.

In any aspect, the Pioneer Army has begun to gradually win the hearts of the people in Jiangsu and Zhejiang in the past two years and has gradually replaced the position of the Central Army.

Huang Shaohong felt deeply about this. He was not the direct descendant of Chiang Kai-shek, and he was powerless to do anything about this situation and was optimistic about it. However, the policies and means of the Pioneer Army to win the hearts of the people were shocked. Not to mention anything else, Guangxi has a small land and a large population, and the minimum living security policy alone can cause the original Guangxi system run by the Guangxi clique to collapse. Faced with the Pioneer Army, what he considered was not the issue of competing with it, but how to maintain his own strength.

When the vanguard army recruited Yan Xishan, it not only disintegrated the Jin army, but also the Central Army and the Guangxi clique were in trouble.

There are already many Guangxi soldiers in the vanguard army, and even some middle and lower-level officers. Many of them are from the new Guangxi army. They hope to win better conditions and also to change their hometown. When Huang Shaoheng heard Li Zongren say that the original Guangxi army had lost more than 20,000 people, he realized that an irreversible trend was coming.

The Pioneer Army did not target the Guangxi clique, but just to get rid of the edges, which would cause damage to the Guangxi clique. If they came directly to the Guangxi clique, wouldn’t they finish playing soon?

"Harmony is the most important!" He immediately wrote to Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi, and personally went there to discuss with Li Zongren all night. Finally, he decided to give up the Dabie Mountains, a useless rib for them, in exchange for more friendships from the Pioneer Army. Of course, there was also a little practical material support behind this friendship.

So Huang Shaohong came.

"Use territory to change equipment?" After hearing Meng Xiang's words, Fan Zhong frowned habitually.

"Then give it to them!" Meng Xiang said disapprovingly.

"But they..." Fan Zhong wanted to say something, but a trace of helplessness flashed in his eyes, "It's better to give it to them, at least they are still fighting the Japanese."

The Guangxi clan was equipped with a lot of French equipment. North Vietnam was occupied, France was trapped in the war, and the passage to Europe was barrented by the war, so that the Guangxi clan's mage equipment was temporarily scarce. People from the Guangxi clan did not know when the turmoil in Europe would last, but they knew that the Pioneer Army could get French equipment. In the past two years, they had been working together and occasionally got some of their cheap weapons and ammunition from the Pioneer Army.

For the warlords in China, the Pioneer Army and the counterfeit companies have always had arms deals with them. If Meng Xiang doesn't take over this piece of cake, they will also get it from abroad.

Meng Xiang could only let counterfeit companies intervene strongly and gradually squeeze the share of other foreign foreign banks. This could ensure that the wealth plundered by the warlords did not flow out of the country, and the second was to grasp the initiative in the domestic arms market, so that the foreign banks could be driven away and the arms supply line of the warlords would be held at the right time.

The reason why warlords become warlords is that in addition to being rich and having people, they also have to have guns. The era of charging with feces forks is over. Without excellent weapons, they can only become living targets.

Although they will become more difficult to deal with after they have weapons, for the vanguard army that has already begun to arm their teeth, they will still be able to defeat them when they meet them. It is not just weapons that decide the outcome, but mainly those who take the weapons. The warlords ultimately fail because they cannot bring hope to the people. They can buy people's hearts with money, and how many people can they buy?

Even Yan Xishan, the best among them, has been incorporated into the Pioneer Army, how many threats can others pose?

"Their affairs will be handled in the future!" Meng Xiang knew what Fan Zhong was thinking at this time, and some of his plans also revealed to Fan Zhong for help as a reference.

It is good for the vanguard army to take the opportunity to seek more benefits from the outside, but unfortunately China has not been unified at this time, otherwise it would have been able to grasp greater power.

However, Tang Yaoshi didn't think so. If China quickly unifies its force, it would not mean the end of chaos. There was a period of time when the suppression of the people was also very fierce. At that time, it was just a part of the people lurking and hiding, and more turmoil was still on the strait.

Putting the opponent in the open is much better than hiding the opponent in the dark. At that time, if there is a dispute and opinion within, the only relevant disputes can miss the opportunity. Although the vanguard army is wearing the hat of a warlord on its head, sometimes the warlords can do things that do not require too much concern.

Besides, the vanguard army at this time, under the unification of force, perhaps someone would have dragged the vanguard army with the support of the forces behind it. In this case, it would be better to boil a frog in warm water and slowly erode it.

"At present, we need to arrange the Dabie Mountains! In this way, we can open our mouths a little wider, and move from east, middle and west to leave more than 100,000 Japanese devils." Meng Xiang drew a line along the Yangtze River.

"Then the relevant plans need to be adjusted, and the attack time needs to be postponed." Fan Zhong frowned.

"Don't delay too much time. The concession problem also requires us to have a big victory to ring their last death knell!" Meng Xiang nodded and acquiesced.

...

"God! These Chinese people are becoming more and more unreasonable." Pete Smith shouted with a red face at this time, and the shouts of young students participating in the *** rally outside came. The slogans of tens of thousands of people trembled a little.

"The Empire will make these foolish savages pay the price." He looked out the window, smoked a cigar, and the smoke filled his face, turning pale.

"Empire?" Wade gently blew out the matches in his hand, got closer and looked at them carefully, but said disdainfully, "Do you think the Empire's fleet can still drive to Tianjin Wei?"

"The empire's fleet is still entangled with the Germans in the English Channel. The governors of the Far East will only bring the warships close to the pearl of India's empire. Here, don't expect anyone to threaten the young Chinese general." Wade let go of his hand and let the matchstick burned into charcoal fall on the soft street stall.

"Mr. Ambassador doesn't care?" Pete no longer cared about his carpet being dirty. He was even more worried that his foreign company in Tianjin would control two large mines in Tangshan. However, this time the reclaiming of loans that swept the United War Zone triggered a wave of xenophobia among the people. I wonder if his assets could be preserved.

If it were before, he would never be worried, but he was not sure when facing the vanguard army, not to mention that the British Empire was suffering from war at this time.

When Europe was in war, Meng Xiang began to take back the loan.

When he occupied Tianjin, he took back his loan from Japan, but the concessions in other countries did not act rashly due to many of the concerns at that time.

Meng Xiang passed by Tianjin once. The four-country flags floating in the concession were like a thorn, not in Meng Xiang's heart. Although there was a rank in later generations and one foreigner, he did not slap the country in the face so blatantly. At that moment, he deeply realized the affliction of being unable to do strength and being controlled by others.

From that time on, a systematic plan to recover various concessions was carried out step by step. The European war was the signal of its implementation.

The Pioneer Army first issued a notice to the countries on the issue of inconvenient management to recover the concessions in the United War Zone.

At this time, their actions only represented the vanguard army and could not represent the Chinese central government of Chiang Kai-shek. Therefore, they were limited to the United War Zone.

After decades of efforts by the central government in various periods of China, most of the concessions have been taken back in the rounds of negotiations for revision and abolishment of the concessions, and the rest are mainly concentrated in Shanghai, Tianjin, Wuhan and Guangzhou, as well as Hong Kong and Macau. After the baptism of World War I, the Germans, the Soviet Union and Austria withdrew one after another, the Americans promoted opening up, and soon afterwards withdrew from the concessions. The main ones were Britain, France, Japan and Italy.

At this time, there was only one Tianjin Concession in the joint war zone of the Pioneer Army. Because the Japanese Concession had long been taken back, there were also four countries in Britain, France, Italy and Belgium.

What the Pioneer Army wants to take back is the Tianjin Concession. As for other local concessions, it is not controlled by the Pioneer Army. Not to mention anything else, Shanghai and Guangzhou are still surrounded by the Japanese fangs. There are millions of citizens who are hiding from the Japanese. If Meng Xiang only cares about his own quotations of righteousness and patriotism, where will they be placed? When Meng Xiang is not able to rescue them, Meng Xiang will never make excessive moves.

Obviously, the British grasped this reason and were reluctant to negotiate with the vanguard army.

However, France and Belgium, under the mediation of the Germans, had signed new agreements with the Pioneer Army on the Tianjin Concession issue and other asset issues in China.

The negotiations with foreigners this time are not only involved in the issue of the concession’s recovery, but also the issue of foreigners’ assets in China. They involve mines, factories, real estate and other assets, and there are the most problems in this area.

Considering that China will go abroad in the future, acquire assets abroad, and even successfully take over the assets of shadow companies, foreigners cannot be forced to have a one-size-fits-all approach to their assets in China.

When you are on the first day of the lunar calendar, others will also do the fifteenth. Some international rules need to be followed together. Westerners pay attention to contracts, so even if Americans in later generations have big fists, they still need to follow certain rules. Otherwise, if they have big fists, they can do whatever they want, and the world will be in chaos. When warlords are in a state of chaos, they can speak directly with their fists even if they are like this.

Unless it is too much higher than others, there are certain rules to balance at almost the same level.

Therefore, even if the Pioneer Army wants to recover some foreigners' assets in China, it needs to be handled with legal and economic means. Of course, some non-mainstream means can also be used.

For example, mines, factories, workers, people at that time, and the government demanded rectification every now and then, it might not be possible to keep it open. Of course, there are more secret methods that can close them at any time. However, this will easily leave some impression of a bad investment environment.

Among them, we need to choose some industries that are beneficial to the development of the war zone. Meng Xiang still hopes that they will stay. As long as they comply with the relevant laws of the war zone, they will be protected by the war zone and continue to operate smoothly. If some unfavorable industries, especially mining and other resource mining industries, Meng Xiang's principle is to resolutely take them back.

However, the relevant means are relatively hidden, and it is also to provide convenience for China to occupy other people's resources in the future.

Therefore, these ownership issues of factories and mines are generally not directly violently confiscated and isolated themselves. What needs to be negotiated is the laws and related tax issues they adapt to. As long as they abide by the laws of the Pioneer Army, all problems will be easy to deal with.

Of course, for example, hostile countries like the Japanese have directly confiscated all assets and have not negotiated. However, other countries have not turned against each other so far, which is not suitable for this method.

Belgium was happy. He could not protect himself at this time, for fear that others would take the blame and signed the relevant agreement early. Even some assets in China were given up. They were unable to protect them, so it would be better to just be generous and deal with most of the assets. The Pioneer Army also made symbolic compensation for it. At this time, during the war, the value of some fixed assets was repeatedly discounted.

Even so, Meng Xiang would not be foolish in paying money. He prefers to use weapons to pay the bills. On the extremely cheap handling price that has been suppressed by Gu Weijun and others, another one-fifty-long dive discount undoubtedly made him feel more happy. He snatched so many Chinese at the beginning, although he could not take revenge in the open, but he temporarily recovered some interest through other methods.

As for the principal, there is still a chance to get it back in the future. At this time, some of the high-quality assets in Belgium had been exchanged for the Germans by the pioneer military weapons.

Belgium was the first country to carry out the industrial revolution, and their industry was very developed. The Pioneer Army not only attacked some of the machines, but the most important thing was talent and technology. This part is the essence of a country.

At this time, construction was underway in the joint war zone. The large chimneys of steel plants and factories were erected, the railway was extending to all sides, steel bridges were being built on the rivers, and reinforced concrete buildings with the charm of ancient Chinese culture were also being lifted up on the ground.

There is a large amount of labor in the war zone and various transformed machinery are also constructed together, but the only thing that is missing is various engineers.

With the outbreak of the European war, a large number of Europeans still took refuge in the United States. The high-end talents are welcomed by Americans, but Americans do not want them to come and compete for jobs with American workers. Even Germans are considering domestic employment and are not very concerned about these medium- and low-end talents. But China lacks these medium- and low-end talents to consolidate the industrial foundation.

The country is occupied, and the machines in factories in Belgium and other countries are temporarily unable to operate normally, and a large number of people have begun to lose their jobs.

As a veteran industrial country, the level of Belgian engineers is not bad at all. In some previous projects in China, Belgian engineers often appeared. Even some technicians were much better than those migrant workers in China who had just put down their hoes.

So Meng Xiang began to recruit a large number of talents who went to China to work. Such non-high-end talents are still easy to recruit. As long as the price is right and away from the war, many of them are happy. They will not steal the jobs of the Chinese when they come. Like the Jews, Czechs, and Poles, they are all trying to be masters for the Chinese.

This scene can often be seen in the war zone. A high-nosed foreigner often follows several or even dozens of apprentices. He often encounters several foreigners speaking dialects of different countries quarreling about the best plan for a project. There are foreign engineers and technicians in almost all major projects in the war zone, and foreign teachers from all over the campuses of each university are also seen on the campuses of various countries.

At the beginning, the translation was insufficient, but the movements were undoubtedly the same as all human beings. The intelligence of the Chinese people is unquestionable. Some Chinese workers do not even have primary school education, and have not even gotten blind from the night school literacy classes organized by the Pioneer Army. They have learned the skills of foreign masters after such foreign technicians, and even learned the same mistakes in some techniques.

After signing the agreement, those foreigners who have been hit by the idea of ​​large-scale industrial thoughts will not have the idea of ​​keeping their craft secrets as long as they get enough rewards. After all, most of them have relatively ordinary crafts in Europe. If they don’t work hard, the Pioneer Army will change people at any time. They are also worried about unemployment in this war. Fortunately, there are construction everywhere in the United War Zone, so they are not afraid that they will teach their disciples and starve themselves to death.

They brought technology and different ideas, constantly blending in China, fertilizing the ideological soil of China. Without Chinese people going out to see the world, a large number of foreigners came in to show the Chinese people another world.

In mutual communication, due to different cultures, it is easy to make some jokes and disputes, and resolving these disputes requires law.

The relevant agreements signed with Belgium must clearly state that Belgian citizens in the United War Zone can be given equal national treatment, and they must comply with relevant laws and regulations of the United War Zone and the central government. Since the peace talks that the Pioneer Army came forward were a bit inconsistent, the central government came forward, and Gu Weijun came forward to negotiate on behalf of the central government.

This makes it reasonable to make the Belgians abide by the central government's national laws and regulations and the local laws of the vanguard army.

The Belgian problem is easy to solve. Although the French surrendered, they still have some confidence and a little arrogant. Although it seems that it is only a problem in Tianjin, if this opening is made, I am afraid that the concessions in Shanghai, Wuhan, Guangzhou and other places will not be able to maintain them. It will definitely be greatly damaged and difficult to maintain. However, how could Meng Xiang care about these things? A puppet government that cannot be maintained for too long, and a defeated old empire still want to act arrogantly in front of the vanguard army?

"After the deadline, we will directly send troops to take over. I hope you will be ready as soon as possible!" With Meng Xiang backing up, Gu Weijun's words became much tougher.

The Germans were also beating around. Although they said they would not interfere with the French colonies abroad, this was related to the vanguard army, and the Germans still hoped to further deepen their relationship, especially the counterfeit companies behind them.

The counterfeit company also came forward and agreed to the Pioneer Army's proposed use of weapons as compensation for recovering some assets in China.

The European war was in full swing, and weapons were more important. Although the French wanted to leave it aside, they surrendered in the end. They encountered some twists and turns in negotiations with the central government, and only agreed to the French citizens comply with relevant laws and regulations in the United War Zone. The concession area in Tianjin was specially handled.

This is what Meng Xiang wants, after all, the concession in the south is very complicated and difficult to deal with.

Only the British are still holding on and want to bargain.

"They are already poor in their future skills and are just trying to save face. India is in trouble, and they can't suppress them, so they have to agree with some of the Indians' demands, let alone China." Meng Xiangwen said disdainfully, "Okay, let's slap them with a victory and solve the problem of the Wuhan Concession by the way!"
Chapter completed!