Rise From Eight Hundred

Tang Dao rested in the hotel for a night and was not in a hurry to go to the Jin Provincial Bank to exchange silver.

Instead, he first visited the 22nd Army's office in Linfen City in the early morning of the next day. After all, his current establishment was under the jurisdiction of the 22nd Army.

The director of the office was a colonel, who was at the same level as Tang Dao. After hearing that Xia Dayu, who came to inform him, said that a member of the Four Elements Regiment was coming to visit, he actually took his deputy with him and waited at the gate of the office, waiting for Tang Dao to arrive, giving him enough Gained Tang Dao’s face.

Tang Dao is not stingy either. The Si Xing Regiment has come to the east of Shanxi. They are either fighting or on the way to fight. They have not yet met the top officer of the 22nd Army here. Although the office level is not high, it still represents the 22nd Army. Army group.

Tang Dao's gift was also ten large yellow croakers. A hundred taels of gold was only an acceptable gift to the old Shanxi man, but to the Jinchuan army who lacked food and clothing, it was a timely help, which could be exchanged for twenty Thousands of kilograms of precious silver for military rations.

"Commander Tang, the 22nd Army is proud to have a name like you!" The colonel adjutant next to Li Jiayu, who was originally the 22nd Army Lieutenant General Commander, held the gift of Tang Dao with tears in his eyes.

It's not just money that can move you.

When Tang Dao first arrived in Linfen yesterday, he had a big fight with the Jinsui Army at the city gate. The city was already on high alert, so the news didn't reach this person's ears right away?

If it was just a riot and the riot was won, then at most it can only be said that Tang Dao has a profound background, and even the Jinsui Army dare not ignore it. However, I heard from the grapevine that the reason why Tang Dao was rioting was all because of one person. A lieutenant of the Jinsui Army made rude remarks to the Sichuan Army in person. Tang Dao was furious on the spot. He fired a signal flare and ordered the cavalry waiting outside the city to enter the city in full force. He did not give the brigade commander face at all and slapped him in front of him. He gave the lieutenant 40 horsewhips and beat him half to death before he stopped.

This man was known to add fuel to his rumors, and when they reached the ears of the Sichuan Army in the city, they were processed several times. Originally, the cavalrymen of the Four Lines Regiment were just waiting 300 meters outside the city gate, but in the end, they became the Sichuan Army. The cavalrymen of the regiment just loaded their submachine guns with safety bullets and prepared to enter the city armed.

For the honor of the Sichuan Army, Tang Tuanzuo's heroic image of sacrificing his own life had moved the Sichuan Army in the city. Otherwise, the confidant of the commander of the group army would not have waited at the gate just because of Tang Dao's reputation. Part of the reason was caused by Tang Dao's angry beating of the Jin-Sui Army lieutenant yesterday.

But the colonel never expected that Tang Tuanzuo would be so generous with his money, giving him a hundred taels of gold.

Of course he knows that this is not for him personally, but for the 22nd Army, but it is also a great achievement. If the commander who is fighting in Xuzhou knows this, in addition to thanking Tang Dao, the credit will be properly recorded in his office director. body.

Of course, Tang Dao's trip was not in vain. The praise of the famous general was just in vain, but the director of the 22nd Army Office really gave him a lot of help.

Tang Dao originally just thought that this person had stayed in Yuancheng and Linfen for a long time, and was more or less familiar with the current situation of various administrative agencies in Jin Province than he was.

Last night, the old man from Shanxi had specially delivered three letters of appointment to the county magistrate and the approval slip for purchasing ordnance from the Ordnance Department. The bank must have called him and told him that he only needed to bring the gold bars to exchange them.

However, after learning the lesson of the Shanxi old man who had no bottom line, Tang Dao was cautious and thought of taking advantage of the visit to learn more about the Ordnance Department and other institutions, so as to avoid encountering shameless people again.

You know, the Shanxi old man's approval note only agreed to the transaction between the Ordnance Department and Tang Dao. As for the price and how to trade, Tang Dao had to negotiate it himself.

Because that is business, not military supplies.

In fact, even for military supplies, the list and what is actually available in the end are usually discounted.

As an eyewitness, Tang Dao had personal experience with the corruption phenomenon during this period. Let’s not talk about the distant past, but let’s talk about the Battle of Songjiang. The 67th Army was ordered to defend Songjiang. At that time, the theater headquarters allocated five days of military rations.

Most of the military rations are potatoes, but there is also a small amount of fine grains, which are rice and white flour packed in sacks.

As a result, when we arrived in Songjiang, the 67th Army Logistics Department unpacked the fine grain and almost died of anger when they took a look. The rice is old rice, let alone him, as long as it can fill the stomach, but the rice contains at least one-third of sand and gravel.

Businessmen are unscrupulous businessmen, but if there is no instruction from the chief of the theater logistics department or even a higher official, those unscrupulous businessmen would not dare to mix in so much sand even if they have the courage!

There was no Internet in that era, so there was no way to conduct live evidence collection and live streaming. Even if you sued, there would be no evidence. Besides, people were sure that no matter how bad the quality of the military rations was, you had to eat it! Especially when the war is urgent, even if Commander Wu has such a fiery temper, he can only swallow his anger for the time being.

Therefore, Tang Dao has always been vigilant about the food, ordnance, ammunition and other materials allocated from his superiors. Many of them have to be checked on the spot, but it is basically useless. He is already laughing if he only has two-thirds of the list.

There is no way to prevent the people above, so the Four Elements Regiment can only be strict on its own, and there is almost zero tolerance for corruption internally. If a corruption incident occurs during non-wartime, and it is not very serious, they will basically take off their military uniforms and rush home, but if In wartime, I'm sorry, no matter how outstanding your previous military exploits were, there is only one way to make a decision.

Fortunately, the Si Xing Regiment has been on the battlefield since it became an independent battalion, with almost no free days. Most of the battalion, company, and platoon leaders are promoted from lower-level soldiers, and they have not had the opportunity to become corrupted.

The military law of immediate execution formulated by Tang Dao is still vacant.

Tang Dao hopes that this military law will never be used, but from the perspective of human nature, this is basically impossible. The only thing he can do is to give some instructions to his trusted generals such as Leng Feng and Li Jiujin when they are free. If they kill the Japanese on the battlefield and hide some good stuff and are reported, they will be whipped at most, but if they reach out to the regiment and take advantage of thousands of brothers, they will lose their heads.

If the water is too clear, there will be no fish, but if the water is muddy, the fish will have difficulty breathing.

Tang Dao did not expect that as soon as he asked this question, the Sichuan Army Colonel Fan Shaoping sitting opposite him laughed and clapped his hands: "Captain Tang, you came to me, you found the right person."

After listening to this explanation, Tang Dao couldn't help laughing. The hundred taels of gold he gave were really worth it.

It turned out that the offices of various group armies in Linfen were not just for show. They were responsible for coordinating relations between all parties and the military supplies of the headquarters.

Logically speaking, the director of the office should be a major general to keep things in order, just like the 67th Army's office in Xuzhou, but it sent a divisional chief of staff, and the director of the 80th Army's office in Linfen is a famous general who is famous all over the world. The famous saber "Xuefengdao" was designed by him.

Fan Shaoping, a mere colonel, is certainly not qualified, even if he is someone close to the commander, but the top leaders of the 22nd Army are not stupid, and they have their reasons for sending Fan Shaoping.

Fan Shaoping is in the Sichuan Army, but he is not from Sichuan, but from Shanxi Province, and one of his close relatives happens to hold a relatively important position in Shanxi Province.

The director of the Ordnance Department is in charge of the largest arsenal and ordnance storage warehouse in Shanxi Province. Is this position important? It should be too important!

It was because Fan Shaoping had found this person in Yuancheng that he was able to get along well with the various departments in Shanxi Province. Although he was not very successful, he could at least get some supplies for the 22nd Army as long as they were not very important. Otherwise, with the financial resources of the 22nd Army, it was estimated that it would have to forcibly requisition food from those wealthy businessmen and carry out the name of "Beggar Army" to the end.

"Captain Tang, if you want to go to Director Zhao to negotiate the purchase of military equipment, Fan can be the referral person and ask him to give you the most favorable price within the floating price range." The Sichuan Army Colonel said confidently.

"Then I'll trouble Director Fan!" Tang Dao naturally would not refuse the kindness of his colleagues.

In the afternoon, Tang Dao met the director with the rank of major general in the office of the Ordnance Department.

"Sit down!" Although he had been introduced by an acquaintance, Director Zhao did not show much enthusiasm. He asked Tang Dao to sit down in a very businesslike manner, and turned to his orderly: "Tea!"

"Director Zhao, this is the hometown specialty that Director Fan asked me to bring to you. He said that the villagers are looking forward to our return home." Tang Dao did not sit down in a hurry. He first took out a small cloth bag from his pocket and handed it over with both hands.

"The villagers are looking forward to our return home." Director Zhao was probably a homebody. After hearing what Tang Dao said, his face was a little gloomy, but he did not dislike the simple bag handed over by Tang Dao.

He opened it casually, and the orange light made him silent for at least two seconds. When he looked up again, his expression softened by three points. He stuffed the small package into the drawer of the desk without leaving any trace, turned his head and shouted to the outside: "Come on, tea!"

"Brother Tang, you have the commander's approval. As long as there is stock in the warehouse of our Ordnance Department, we will sell it. Why spend so much money? As for the price, there are price tags for various weapons in the department. Unless there is permission from the commander, I can't do anything about it!" Director Zhao sat back in his chair and explained to Tang Dao helplessly.

Based on his life experience, Tang Dao asked an acquaintance to introduce him and gave him a heavy gift. The so-called hometown specialty just now was a few small yellow croakers, which weighed at least seven or eight taels. He must want to lower the price. Although he has certain authority, it is also limited. What he can do without any effort is to meet Tang Dao's needs as much as possible. As long as there is stock in the warehouse and Tang Dao can afford it, he will sell it!

Considering the acquaintance and money, this person's words are quite honest.

"There are rules in the army. Since the price has been set, how can Tang Dao force it? I, the 22nd Army, only hope that Director Zhao can give us preferential prices within the scope of authority for the sake of friendly forces." Tang Dao replied.

"This, there is no problem. For purchases exceeding a certain amount, our department also has a certain amount of reduction!" Hearing Tang Dao's words, Director Zhao's smile became even more.

The money is easy to earn, and the favor is also given. I'm afraid anyone would be happy.

"In addition, I want to change the payment method. I hope Director Zhao can agree!" Tang Dao continued.

"Oh? Come on, but according to the order of the superior, our ordnance department does not accept any credit, and all payments are made in cash!" Director Zhao frowned.

In his opinion, Tang Dao was a bit arrogant. He wanted to take away the ordnance if he owed money. Let alone a few taels of gold, even if he multiplied it by a hundred, he would not have the courage! This is completely trying to get his head.

He has been following that master for 20 years, starting from being a platoon leader of the guards beside him. He knows his temper very well. He is not afraid of your greed. It is your ability to get money from others, but if you want to touch his cake, you will be in trouble.

The Ordnance Department is nominally under the provincial government, but from top to bottom, that person is not that person. Most of the profits earned by this person are put into that person's personal pocket. If he dares to sell on credit, isn't it using that person's money to sell favors?

If he dares to do this, it is estimated that there will be grass half a person's height on his grave before the Japanese attack, in the warm spring breeze.

"Director Zhao, please don't misunderstand, it's not on credit, cash is still cash, but not in cash or legal currency, but in gold. Director Zhao, you can convert it according to the market price, but please do not charge a handling fee for the sake of the villagers. You also know that the military supply of my 22nd Army is very tight now." Tang Dao said hurriedly.

"Is that so! If the quality of the gold is no problem, then it's fine." Director Zhao's heart was also settled a lot.

Although gold is not a circulating currency, it is hard currency, much better than the constantly depreciating legal tender. The handling fee is not important. Anyway, the wartime financial tax is only for other people. The Ordnance Department and the bank are the old man's property. Can the bank collect financial taxes from its own family?

However, Director Zhao is still a smart man. He has always believed that seeing is believing. He will never just listen to Tang Dao's nonsense, which is commonly known as not seeing the rabbit, not throwing the eagle.

When Tang Dao ordered the cavalry waiting outside the Ordnance Department to bring in the big boxes of gold, Director Zhao, who randomly picked a few boxes to check the quality of the gold, became much better to Tang Dao.

That was Teacher Xiao He who led a group of people to spend two days to melt all the seized gold, including gold jewelry, and then made gold bars with standard molds. The weight error was accurate to 0.0001 grams, and many impurities were also removed. The overall weight was 100 taels less than when the seized gold was counted.

Such high-quality gold, Tang Dao brought nearly 10,000 taels, a real sponsor!

With the sponsor in person, he would naturally respond to any request. Everything on the list was available. The warehouse of the Ordnance Department always had the monthly output of two arsenals. As long as there was something not on the list in the warehouse of the Ordnance Department, he could buy it. The old man liked white and golden things, not dusty steel.

Because of the large number, it took an entire afternoon just to check the prices of the items, but these were all handled by the officers of the Quartermaster Department of the Four-Line Regiment, and Tang Dao was responsible for sitting in the office and drinking tea.

However, the treatment at this time had become "Brother Tang, please take a seat", "Serve, good fragrant tea".

He was busy until the evening. In addition to loading all the weapons and ammunition, many bulky equipment, steel raw materials and other materials had to wait for the arrival of the Four-Line Regiment's baggage battalion before they could be loaded and transported, which would take at least three days.

However, all the payments had been made, all in gold, and not a penny had been spent.

Tang Dao was not afraid that the old man from Shanxi would default on his debts. If he dared to default on his debts, he would dare to bring the cavalry battalion to flatten the Ordnance Department, and the old man from Shanxi would be the only one who would be embarrassed in the end.

This is Tang Dao's answer to the old man from Shanxi. If you dare to take advantage of me, I will make you lose a hundred times.

Originally, Tang Dao was going to exchange 20,000 taels of gold at the Shanxi Provincial Bank. According to the current market price, one ounce of gold can be exchanged for 32 US dollars, and 1 US dollar can be exchanged for about 4 oceans. One tael of gold is 50 grams, which is equivalent to 1.763 ounces. If it is 20,000 taels of gold, it can be exchanged for more than 4.4 million oceans.

According to the wartime financial tax after the old man from Shanxi had a "fracture", this is also 22,000 taxes. 10,000 taels less means 11,000 oceans less.

Tang Dao's wave of operations is no less harmful than the little bald head and Peng Chong eating ten-euro snacks.

It is said that the old man from Shanxi who knew about this incident was almost angry to death, and the unlucky director who was punished to stand outside the courtyard to reflect on his mistakes racked his brains and couldn't figure out what he did wrong.

The money was paid by Tang Tuanzuo in high-quality gold, which was all deposited in the Jin Province Bank. This arms deal at least earned the old man more than 200,000 yuan.

If there is a bit of favoritism, then it must be said that Tang Dao also bought some things that were not on the list, such as some old machine tools, generators and some steel raw materials that were looted from Yuancheng in the warehouse.

But those things, now there is not enough transportation capacity to transport them to the arsenal branches far away in Shaanxi Province and Sichuan Province, will only gather dust, mold and rot there, and may even become the spoils of the Japanese army when the Japanese army comes again.

The old man himself said that if someone buys it, it is not impossible to sell it at a lower price.

He sold it at a lower price. Regardless of the function, the old machine tools, motors and other equipment were sold for a total of 100,000 yuan in a package sale. Those steel materials were basically sold at half the original purchase price, and sold a full 200 tons. But when he reported it, the old man smiled and praised him for his business skills!

How come he turned his face and refused to recognize me after less than ten minutes? What a dog face!

Besides, in addition to making money and selling old equipment and raw materials that are currently unusable, he also turned waste into treasure and created extra profits!

A middle-aged man who originally deserved to die in prison and consume food was sold at a high price of 10,000 yuan, and he can also continuously create profits for the Jin Provincial Ordnance Department.

Tang Dao signed a contract to guarantee that he would pay 300 yuan in patent royalties to the Ordnance Department for every ton of explosives produced.

Isn't this a treasure pot for the old man, and there will be a steady flow of money in the future?

He did everything so perfectly, but he still had to stand for 12 hours to reflect on his mistakes. His thighs and calves were almost swollen. It would be strange if Director Zhao didn't feel wronged.

He didn't know that fortunately he did a good job and took the gift from Tang Dao instead of reaching into the old man's pocket. Otherwise, his leg might not be swollen, but gone.

And the man who helped the old man from Shanxi get the treasure pot, who could continuously obtain income from the Four Lines Group in the future, was actually one of the biggest purposes of Tang Dao to come to Linfen.

However, Tang Dao wanted to exchange gold, buy military equipment, and discuss the strategy and tactics of southeastern Shanxi. Each of them was very important. Even a century-old fox like the old man from Shanxi was deceived, let alone the director of the Ordnance Department.

That man was absolutely a magical man. It was not an exaggeration to say that he was the father of explosives in the arsenal in Shanxi Province, which ranked among the top in Asia.