Jagged Warlord

Xuzhou used to be Zhang Xun's lair. Now that he has occupied Xuzhou, Zhang Xun's painstakingly managed assets all belong to him, including a power plant.It is said that on December 1913, 12, the warlord Zhang Xun was awarded the title of General Dingwu by Yuan Shikai, served as the governor of Jiangsu, and was transferred from Nanjing to Xuzhou, where he was transferred to the patrol envoy of the Yangtze River.At this time, most of the large households in Xuzhou were illuminated by kerosene lamps with glass covers. Zhang Xun had seen electric lighting when he was in Nanjing, and felt that the light of kerosene lamps was dim and inconvenient, so he came up with the idea of ​​building an electric lamp factory.His entourage also encouraged Zhang Xun to build an electric lamp factory, and the entourage said: "The commander-in-chief Megatron Jianghuai, can't you build an electric lamp factory?" Kilowatt) DC generator, equipped with steam engine and boiler, transported to Xuzhou City for installation and preparation for power generation.

When Zhang Xun was stationed in Nanjing, he borrowed 20 mechanical workers from the Yangzhou Machinery Factory (mechanical repair) run by the Yangzhou Garrison in order to repair firearms and install forts. Came to Xuzhou and became a gun repair worker in Zhang Xun's army.The leader of this group of mechanical workers is Bao Dongsheng, known as the General Office of Bao.Zhang Xun ordered Bao Dongsheng to take these mechanical workers to install power generation equipment.In addition, Yin Huadong, Zhang Xun's follower, participated in the machine installation.Bao Dongsheng also found a person named Cai Rongfeng in Nanjing, both of whom were the general manager.The electric lamp factory specially built a new factory building, and the factory building was contracted by three people, Yue Dahua, Fan Guangzhong and Zhao Zhenyou, from Maocun, Tongshan County.

After the installation of the electric lamp factory, Zhang Xun wanted to find a "foreign craftsman" to be responsible for the commissioning and operation of the power generation equipment and the installation of the wiring. He felt that foreigners were more confident in technical work.Yin Huadong, Zhang Xun's entourage, believed that foreigners are not easy to mess with, and if they are not done well, it is easier to invite God than to give it away.So Zhang Xun adopted Yin Huadong's opinion, and Yin Huadong arranged for Bao Dongsheng to contact skilled workers.

After a year of hard work by Bao Dongsheng, Yin Huadong, Cai Rongfeng, and more than 20 workers, they overcame various difficulties encountered during transportation, as well as many difficulties caused by the lack of lifting equipment and insufficient tools. Since the third year of the Republic of China (1914), Zhang Xun's official office finally lit the lights.This is two years later than Jingshi Huashang Electric Lamp Co., Ltd. opened the electric lamp factory in Beijing in the first year of the Republic of China (1912), but at this time the cities around Xuzhou did not use electric lamps for lighting.

Zhang Xun named the electric lamp factory "the electric lamp official factory of the Changjiang Inspection Commissioner's Office", and the factory was located in a post station in the north of the city, which is near the current Diannan Lane.The person in charge of the lamp factory is Wan Yicun, with Li Yuting as his deputy.Wan Yicun is Zhang Xun's brother-in-law, from Tianjin.Li Yuting used to be Zhang Xun's adjutant, and both of them had a special relationship with Zhang Xun, so Zhang Xun appointed them to manage the official lamp factory, and Wan and Li were also talents in power management, although the official lamp factory changed its property rights and changed its name. It is Xinghua Electric Co., Ltd., but the two have always been in charge of it.

Now that Zhang Xun was defeated, he fled to the Tianjin Concession to work as an apartment, which made the Yangtze River patrol and made the official electric lamp factory lose its backing, and there was no source of funds for power generation. Wan Yicun and Li Yuting were also in panic all day long, and had no intention of managing the power plant. , so the earliest electric light factory in Xuzhou was crumbling and difficult to survive.

Electricity is the foundation of industry, Li Mohan immediately sent someone to find Wan Yicun and Li Yuting after learning about these situations.

Wan Yicun and Li Yuting went into the former Yangtze River patrol envoy in a panic, and Ma Bian asked them to wait in the flower hall, and their hearts were beating drums.I don't know how Li Mohan will deal with them.

Not long after, Li Mohan came out, seeing Wan Yicun and Li Yuting, he smiled and said, "Please sit down, both of you."

Wan Yicun and Li Yuting just saluted and said: "The commander-in-chief is here, how can we sit?"

Li Mohan straightened his face, and shouted: "Let you sit down, what are you talking about?"

Wan Yicun and Li Yuting were startled, and quickly sat down on the nearby chairs.Li Yuting was a soldier, so he was a little more courageous, so he asked cautiously: "I don't know what the commander-in-chief is looking for us for?"

Li Mohan said, "It's about the power plant."

Wan Yicun was shocked, and quickly got up and said: "Master Mingjian, although the two of us belonged to Zhang Xun in the past, our power plant is indeed dedicated to benefiting the people of Xuzhou, and we have never been greedy for a penny. Besides, Zhang Xun Colluding with the Japanese has nothing to do with the two of us~"

Li Mohan laughed loudly and said: "Don't be nervous, you two. I came here not to settle accounts after the fall. I know that you two are talents who manage power plants. Nowadays, industries are being established everywhere. Electricity is the foundation of industry. We in Xuzhou also You can’t be left behind. So, I’m looking for two people because I plan to run our power plant well. Not only do we need to run it well, but we also need to make it bigger.”

"Our power plant?" Hearing what Li Mohan said, Wan Yicun seemed to have regarded himself as one of his own, and felt a little more relaxed.

Li Yuting was no longer so nervous. He asked, "To tell you the truth, our power plant mainly supplies power to the general's mansion and the machine factory. We have no income on weekdays and have always relied on the funds allocated by the general's mansion to maintain it. Now Marshal Li is in charge of the situation. Don't know what to say?"

Li Mohan said: "My plan is first to buy more machines to expand the power generation capacity; second is to provide power to the general public in addition to supplying power to the Shuai Mansion and the machine factory, so that the power plant will have income; third is to use the nearby coal mine in Jiawang as the power plant. supply coal."

Wan Yicun and Li Yuting were no longer as nervous as they were when they first arrived, and they gradually relaxed after talking about business matters.Wan Yicun said: "We currently have a 50-horsepower generator. I don't know how much more horsepower the commander-in-chief plans to buy?"

Li Mohan stretched out his palm, spread his fingers apart, and said, "At least 5."

Li Yuting said: "That would require a huge sum of money."

"How much does it cost?" Li Mohan asked

Li Yuting replied: "I heard that there is a Shilongba hydropower station in Yunnan. There are two German generators with a total capacity of 480 kilowatts. The total cost of building this power station is 50 silver dollars. The commander wants to build a 5000-kilowatt power plant. 70 may not be taken down."

Li Mohan thought for a while, and said: "Money is not a problem, we can also buy the machine from a foreign company. What I am worried about is, after buying the machine, will you use it?"

Li Yuting said: "Humble job but no talent. I studied in the UK for 3 years. I can understand general machine manuals and can talk to foreign technicians. The engineers in the factory are also veteran workers with more than ten years."

Li Mohan nodded, looked at Wan Yicun again, and said, "Director Wan, the area around Jiawang is rich in coal mines. I want to buy a coal mine and use it exclusively for power plants to generate electricity. It's your fault~"

Wan Yicun smiled and said: "It's my duty to do things for the commander in chief, how can I call it hard work?"

Li Mohan said with a smile: "Remember, it's fair to buy and sell, and you can't bully others."

Wan Yicun replied: "The humble position is written down."

Power plants need coal to generate electricity, and Liguo Town in Xuzhou has abundant coal and iron resources, and there is also a railway connection, which is very convenient.

Liguo Town From 206 BC, Liguo people used the copper mine of Tongshan Island to smelt copper coins for the princes and kingdoms. It was not until after the Opium War that foreign mining technology was introduced to China that Liguo’s mining and iron industry attracted the attention of the world again. attention.In the eighth year of Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty (1882), Zuo Zongtang, one of the leaders of the Westernization School, Governor of Liangjiang and Nanyang Minister Zuo Zongtang, ordered Xuzhou's army to prepare Dao Cheng Jingzhi (zi Guoxi) to strengthen the coastal defense, "expanding the ship gun factory" For coal and iron ore deposits, "survey is confirmed, and personnel are selected."Therefore, Cheng Jingzhi hired the alternate magistrate Hu Enxie (word Yuyuan) in Nanjing to go to Xuzhou to organize coal mines and iron mines.

Hu Enxie asked the British miner Barr to explore the ore seedlings, and found that "the coal seedlings in the Tongshan Mountains of Xuzhou are extremely prosperous, and the iron ore mines produced in Liguoyi are particularly good. The mountains are surrounded by Weishan Lake. Hiddenly, everything else that can be picked up is rich in fusion.”According to Barr, the iron stone contains about ten percent of iron, so it is called "镔铁".At that time, four iron stones were picked up and sent to Shanghai for melting and inspection. The top two iron stones contained 78.5% iron; the second iron stone contained 70.085% iron;Obviously, they are all iron-rich ores, which can be smelted to make a profit.Therefore, on August 1882, the eighth year of Guangxu (24), Hu Enxie was officially appointed to undertake the undertaking. On that day, the Liguo Iron and Mining Bureau was established, promulgated 12 articles of association, and raised funds through IPO.Originally, 10 shares were issued, mainly merchants, and officials were not invited, but businessmen from various provinces subscribed for shares one after another, amounting to as many as 11 shares.The site of the Mining Bureau was selected in Xiaobeishan, Liguoyi, and construction was started recently, factories were built, machines were ordered, 78 Lingguan Mountains were built, and 10 hectares and 20 mu of land were acquired.Raising 60 taels of silver, ordering two iron furnaces and 70 wrought iron furnaces at Shanghai Ruisheng Foreign Trade Co., Ltd.It is planned to produce 2 to [-] tons of iron per day, with an annual output of [-] tons for military ships and machine factories.Zuo Zongtang wrote a memorial to Emperor Guangxu on the "Aid Case for Mining Coal and Iron in Tongshan County, Xuzhou", and asked "Hu Enxie, the quasi-committee, to handle it." , Xuzhou Liguo Coal Mine and Iron Works, which was commercially run and government assisted, was officially opened.

After the Revolution of 1913, Hu Guoguang, the son of Hu Enxie, went to Beijing to donate coal and iron from Xuzhou Liguo to Yuan Shikai. In 122, Yuan Shikai sent his seventh brother Yuan Shichuan to Xuzhou to set up a mine, raised 1000 million yuan, established "Liguoyi Iron Mine Co., Ltd.", recruited more than 4 workers, and tried roadway mining.In the autumn of the fourth year of the Republic of China (1915), Yuan dug No. 1 and No. 2 wells in Dagouya, north of the Jiawang Coalfield. The output reached 12 tons per year, which was 13.33 times higher than that of earth kiln mining, and it was very profitable.That is, in 1917, Yuan Shichuan built his own electric light room in Jiawang Coal Mine for above-ground and underground lighting.This is the earliest historical record of the use of electric lights in Jiawang Coal Mine.

Before Li Mohan asked Li Yuting to be in charge of purchasing coal mines, Li Yuting visited the coal mines around Liguo Town and wrote a report to Li Mohan.Li Yuting said in the report that although there are many coal mines in Liguo area, most of them are small coal mines.If it takes time and effort to open a new coal mine, the easiest way is to get Yuan Shichuan's Liguoyi Iron Mine Co., Ltd. He has already investigated it. The registered capital of this company is 200 million silver dollars, and its annual profit is ** About ten thousand silver dollars.

Li Mohan then sent someone to tell Yuan Shichuan in Tianjin that he was willing to contribute 220 million silver dollars to buy his Liguoyi Iron Mine Co., Ltd.

Considering that Li Mohan's bid was reasonable, Yuan Shichuan agreed to sell Liguoyi Iron Mine Co., Ltd. to him on the condition that the payment for the goods should be paid in one lump sum, in order to make things difficult.

Li Yuting was taken aback when he heard this condition, and he didn't dare to neglect in the slightest, so he directly reported it to Li Mohan.Then I knew that Li Mohan didn't take it seriously at all, he laughed and said: "Isn't it just a one-time payment? Simple."

Li Mohan put a sum of silver dollars in the warehouse of the government office, and then used the Shanzhai system to copy the batch of silver dollars. Early the next morning, the soldiers shipped out a total of 300 million silver dollars in cash from the warehouse, and deposited 220 million into the transportation system. The bank, and the remaining 80 were all deposited in the bank of Zhang Xiangchen, chairman of the Xuzhou Chamber of Commerce, which made Zhang Xiangchen so happy that he almost didn't call Li Mohan his father.

Then, Li Yuting took the banknote of 220 million silver dollars and patted it in front of Yuan Shichuan's manager stationed in Liguoyi Iron Mine Co., Ltd., and said, "This is the banknote. Ask your boss, when will the transfer be made?"

Yuan Shichuan received a telegram from the manager of Waizhuang, seeing that making things difficult would not work, so he could only sell the company to Li Mohan.Li Mohan appointed Li Yuting as the general manager of the company, and invested another 30 silver dollars to modernize the coal mine and iron mine.