The journey back to Tianjin from Lvjuhe River was smooth sailing, with only a few minor accidents.
The soldiers sent by Zhao Yunxiang to explore the road bumped into several private salt dealers who were in the dark in the middle of the night. Both sides were shocked. The private salt dealers thought they were anti-smuggling agents, so they dropped more than two hundred kilograms of illegal salt and ran away.
, making people dumbfounded.
In the early years of the Republic of China, because the customs was controlled by foreigners, salt tax accounted for a large proportion of the central tax revenue.
The national salt tax accounts for about 24% of the central tax revenue, and the Changlu salt tax accounts for another 24% of the national salt tax. Therefore, Chu Yupu retained the money from the Changlu salt tax and immediately collapsed the Beiyang government's finances.
The situation of illegal salt production in Henan and Hebei is very serious, especially in Tianjin.
Most of the land here is saline-alkali land. When the climate is dry in spring and autumn, it is very suitable for producing soil salt and nitrate salt. Due to poor harvests of crops in saline-alkali land, farmers have left their land idle and scraped the soil to dry it in the sun to create nitrate salt.
This kind of private salt tastes bitter and is difficult to swallow, but it is cheap and is the first choice of the poor people at the bottom.
"It's not easy for people to leave it." Zhou Hexuan looked at the salt bags on the roadside and said with a smile. He had previously thought about using scientific methods to help Tianjin farmers manage saline-alkali land, but after learning the actual situation, he immediately gave up the plan.
.
Treating saline-alkali land requires too much investment and is particularly troublesome, so farmers are naturally more willing to scrape the soil and dry out the salt.
Zhao Yunxiang secretly thrust a handful of bills into Zhou Hexuan's hand and whispered: "Mr. Zhou, these 480,000 are yours."
Zhou Hexuan counted carefully and found that there were 610,000 in total.
In other words, Zhao Yunxiang intercepted 260,000 yuan and shared 130,000 yuan equally with Zhou Hexuan. Sun Liangcheng would not let Sun Liangcheng know about this money.
Another 70,000 people arrived in the ocean, and they were divided among the 50 soldiers who contributed. Each of them could receive 1,400 yuan, which was enough for them to serve as soldiers for ten years, and that was without being deducted from their military pay by their superiors.
Even if Sun Liangcheng knew about this, he wouldn't say anything because this guy could get 720,000 for nothing.
Everyone waited for dawn to pass through the concession checkpoint safely.
Zhao Yunxiang sent the injured soldier and Chu Nanxiang to the hospital, then returned to the hotel to share the money with his men, all of whom were smiling happily.
When Zhou Hexuan returned to the rental house, Liao Yaquan immediately came to greet him and asked: "Brother Zhou, are you back so soon?"
"Peking University wanted to keep me here for two more days, but I refused." Zhou Hexuan said with a smile. The excuse for his disappearance this time was that he was going to Peking to see friends.
Liao Yaquan naturally didn't believe it. She saw with her own eyes that Zhou Hexuan had brought dozens of soldiers back from Shandong. Unfortunately, she was a long-term latent spy and could not follow and inquire at any time. She was very curious about what Zhou Hexuan had done in the past two days.
"Where is Le Yi?" Zhou Hexuan asked.
"Sister Zhang is still on the radio station," Liao Yaquan said.
"Then you stay at home, I'll go out." Zhou Hexuan said.
"Oh." Liao Yaquan could only agree.
Zhou Hexuan had a huge sum of money in his hand, but he didn't dare to keep it at home. So he went straight to a foreign bank and spent money to rent a bank safe specifically for storing banknotes.
After saving his things, Zhou Hexuan began to think about how to spend money.
It is more popular to play with financial bonds these days, but Zhou Hexuan doesn't want to get involved in it because the water is too deep. He would rather be an apartment owner and buy a few houses first.
After making up his mind, Zhou Hexuan immediately found a housing agent and said directly: "I want to buy a house in the concession. Where can I find a suitable one?"
The agent is a young man in his 30s, wearing glasses and being polite. He smiled and said: "Mr. Zhou, it is most convenient to buy a house on Hai Avenue in the British Concession, and the price is relatively affordable."
"Please tell me the specific situation." Zhou Hexuan said.
The agent introduced in detail: "Hai Avenue in the British Concession is adjacent to Qiangzi River, and next door is the French Concession. The east side was the American Concession in the early years. Later, after it was merged into the British Concession, it has not been developed for a long time and the land has been idle. There was a revolution in Tsarist Russia in the past few years.
, a large number of Tsarist Russian nobles fled to Tianjin. The British Farmers Company and the Catholic Church saw the business opportunities and developed and built large areas of residences and shops in this area, forming a Xiaobailou commercial area where White Russians gathered."
"In other words, if I buy a house there, my neighbors will all be Belarusians?" Zhou Hexuan asked.
The agent smiled and said: "Those Belarusian aristocrats are used to enjoying themselves and are not engaged in production. How can they last long with nothing to show for it? It has only been a few years, and they have used up all their money one by one and are extremely poor." Xiaobailou Commodity Area
Nearly half of the houses here are now waiting to be sold, and you can move in immediately after paying the money."
Zhou Hexuan frowned and said, "From what you said, that place seems a bit remote?"
The agent quickly explained: "It used to be relatively remote, but it has become much more prosperous in the past two years. There are Lili and Matheson Co., Ltd., Xiannong Company, Qixin Cement Company, and YWCA nearby to ensure safety and convenience. Do you know Xiannong Company? The United States
President candidate Hoover is a shareholder of Pioneer!"
"Isn't Xiannong a British company? Can it also be related to the US presidential candidate?" Zhou Hexuan said with a smile.
The agent smiled and said: "Then I don't know."
…
The next morning, Zhou Hexuan deliberately left Liao Yaquan and called Zhang Leyi to look at the house together.
"The western-style houses here are very expensive, do you have enough money?" Zhang Leyi's family specializes in building villas, so she knows the prices inside.
"That's enough. I've earned some royalties from writing articles in the past two years," Zhou Hexuan pointed at the small white buildings and said with some pretentiousness, "The rental houses I live in now are really too narrow. If you
If you like it, just choose any two buildings.”
Zhang Leyi was surprised: "Buy two buildings?"
"Just pick, it'll be fine." Zhou Hexuan also wanted to buy a few street shops to collect rent.
The real estate agent beside him smiled and said: "Mr. Zhou is so generous! If you have some spare money, I suggest you buy a few more houses. The Northern Expeditionary Army is about to occupy Tianjin, and the foreigners in the concession are a little scared, and house prices have been falling recently."
Zhang Leyi picked and chose, and finally selected a three-story white building with a total of 18 rooms upstairs and downstairs (excluding bathrooms), as well as a lawn and a small garden.
"How much is this building?" Zhou Hexuan asked.
The agent smiled and said: "The owner wants to ask for 50,000 yuan."
"It's too expensive, 30,000 at most." Zhang Leyi opened her mouth and bargained for 40%.
The agent was speechless: "Miss, if you bought a house here ten years ago, you could buy two houses with 30,000 yuan. But it's different now. The surrounding land has been developed, and the housing prices in this area have naturally increased accordingly."
"My family specializes in building foreign-style buildings, so don't fool me," Zhang Leyi said in an expert manner, "Just tell me the lowest price."
The agent gritted his teeth and said: "48,000, no matter how low it is, we have to discuss it with the landlord."
Zhang Leyi said: "Then call the landlord!"
When the Belarusian aristocratic landlord appeared, Zhou Hexuan finally saw what Zhang Leyi was capable of.
Zhang Leyi was convinced that the other party had no money and wanted to sell the house, so she actually reduced the 50,000 yuan house to 35,000 yuan. When the Belarusian homeowner signed the contract, he just wanted to cry.
Zhou Hexuan was very happy and spent money to buy a few shops facing the street. Anyway, he had a lot of money and had nothing to do.
Before they could move into their new home, news came from the Northeast that something had happened to Zhang Zuolin.