Jagged Warlord

** The owner of the dyeing factory is the Lin family in Shanghai. The Lin family is a family of merchants. From the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom to Shanghai, Hu Xueyan stockpiled goods, until the Revolution of [-]. There were many turmoil in Shanghai, but the Lin family was good at dealing with them and they were still prosperous.

Lin Bo, the old man of the Lin family, hadn't cared about business matters early on, and now his son Lin Xiangrong, who had returned from studying in England, was in charge of the Lin family's business.

Ma Ziming, the manager of the ** dyeing factory, came to the manager's office excitedly with several pieces of dyed cloth.

"Manager, I have something to report to you." Ma Ziming said with a smile: "I found a new brand of dyes on the market. Its indicators are not inferior to German dyes in all aspects, but the price is only half of German dyes."

Lin Xiangrong did not show the surprise that Ma Ziming expected, but said calmly: "I just found out about this this morning. It is from Shandong."

Ma Ziming was very disappointed, but he still tried his best to put on a smiling face, "General Manager, you are really well informed. I think the reason why Yu Qiaqing, Bei Runsheng, and Zhou Zongliang shipped so much before may be to resell this new brand. "

Lin Xiangrong said: "A guest came from Shandong, and he was an old acquaintance with my father. He strongly recommended this brand of dye to my father. These Shandong guys are really good~~ But it seems that the things this Shandong guy sells are still good. .”

Ma Ziming said: "I have asked the warehouse to vacate space, and the next step is to buy in large quantities."

Lin Xiangrong thought for a while and said, "Stop it now. Based on my understanding of the domestic market, we in China are not yet capable of making such good dyes. This must be the trick of the newly appointed Shandong Governor Li Mohan."

Ma Ziming was taken aback, and quickly used the phone in Lin Xiangrong's office to call the warehouse, telling Lao Han to stop selling the batch of Japanese dyes immediately.

Lin Xiangrong said: "I heard that Li Mohan hates the Japanese very much. Right now, Japanese dyes are taking advantage of the opportunity that German dyes can't be shipped to China. This must be related to Li Mohan's involvement in the dye market. He must be with Yu Qiaqing and the others. We have reached some kind of agreement. We are Chinese, but we are businessmen first. Since we are businessmen, we must manage our business well. After all, there are hundreds of people in the ** factory following us. For dinner."

Ma Ziming asked: "But the prices of German dyes and Japanese dyes have been raised very high. If we continue to use these two dyes, the cost will not be worthwhile."

Lin Xiangrong said: "Of course I know this, so we can't do too much right now. In case the Shandong brand is unreliable in the future, we still need to buy Japanese dyes. Now we still can't cut off the business with Japanese merchants and Japanese trading companies. contacts."

Ma Ziming nodded and said, "Okay, general manager, I understand."

In fact, there are quite a few Chinese businessmen with this mentality, and most of them are big households with great demand for dyestuffs.They have no confidence in the domestic dyes for the time being, and they are afraid that once the Japanese dyes are completely abandoned, and if the domestic dyes cannot keep up in the future, their own factories will be ruined.In contrast, some small and medium-sized dyeing factory bosses, after trying the dyes of Huashang brand, feel that the dyes of this domestic brand are cheap and good, and the price/performance ratio is very cost-effective.Therefore, a few days later, many small and medium-sized dyeing factories in and around Shanghai began to place large orders, while several large dyeing factories did not place many orders.

This is completely different from Li Mohan's prediction that Chinese merchants will rush to buy domestic dyes, and Japanese dyers will be overstocked, so that Japanese merchants and trading companies will go bankrupt.The sales volume of Huashang brand dyes is expanding every day. At the same time, Japanese dyes and German dyes still have a certain market.Whether it was Kotaro Komiyayama or Li Mohan, at least they failed to fully achieve their goals.As a result, this well-planned battle of dyes, like the European battlefield thousands of miles away, fell into a stalemate of confrontation.

1916 was a pivotal year in the World War.Both sides are trying to break the stalemate and decide the outcome.The Chief of Staff of the German Army, Falgenhain, chose Verdun as the main target of the German offensive in 1916, because Verdun was the gateway to the east of Paris and the support point of the entire front of the French army. In late February 1916, the German army mobilized 2 people and 27 cannons, led by the crown prince himself, to launch a fierce attack on Verdun.The French defenders of Verdun had only 1000 men and 10 cannons. On February 270, the German army concentrated all the artillery on the front line and began to bombard Verdun violently. They also used incendiary bombs and poisonous gas, causing a "death zone" where there was no grass in the vicinity of Verdun.Xiafei ordered to defend the position at all costs, and hurriedly organized reinforcements.Fighting continued until December.Of the 2 divisions of the French army, 21 divisions participated in this battle successively, and Germany invested a total of 12 divisions.The total casualties on both sides amounted to nearly 70.Among them, the French army suffered slightly more casualties, but blocked the German attack and regained some lost ground. The German army's attack on Verdun finally failed.Falgenhain, Chief of the German General Staff, was dismissed at the end of August and replaced by Hindenburg.The Battle of Verdun was the high point of the German offensive and the turning point of World War I.

During the Battle of Verdun, in order to contain the German offensive, Britain and France launched the Battle of the Somme, with the British army as the main offensive.It was a bloody battle more costly than the Battle of Verdun.From July 1916, 7, when the coalition forces launched an offensive, it ended in November.On the 1-mile-long front, both sides lost more than 11 million people, including about 25 British losses, about 100 French losses, and about 40 German losses. Thirty-six of the newly invented tanks were used for the first time in a major British offensive on the north bank of the Somme on 20 September.Although the British and French troops failed to achieve the predetermined goal of regaining the lost ground in the Battle of the Somme, they contained the German military force and forced it to relax its offensive on Verdun.After these two battles.The Western Front entered positional warfare again.

In August 1916, Romania participated in the war on the side of the Allies. In September, German, Austrian, Turkish, and Bulgarian troops jointly attacked Romania from the north and the south. In December, the capital Bucharest fell.

In terms of naval warfare, Britain used its naval superiority to block the German North Sea Fleet in the port to ensure the safety of maritime transportation.Germany has used submarine warfare since February 1915. In May 2, Germany attempted to break through the British naval blockade and decided to send the North Sea Fleet to attack. On May 1916 and June 5, the German and British fleets encountered in the sea west of the Jutland Peninsula, and fierce naval battles took place.It was the largest naval battle of World War I.Britain dispatched 5 ships of various types, and Germany dispatched 31 ships.As a result of the battle, 6 British ships were lost and more than 1 people died, while Germany lost 151 ships and more than 101 people were killed.Although the British suffered heavy losses, the German ships still had to retreat to the harbor, and the British still maintained their command of the sea.Until the end of the war, the main German fleet stayed in the military port, not daring to go to sea for major battles.

Due to the calmness of the dye war, the attention of Chinese people is still on the newly appointed government of Duan Qirui.

Duan Qirui first abolished the Office of the Generalissimo of the Army and Navy. This was the institution where Yuan seized military power as the president. The most unpleasant trouble between Yuan and Duan during his lifetime was this institution. When Li was president, Duan naturally could not Let this institution exist again, so first abolish it.Immediately, Duan Qirui ordered Xu Shuzheng to be the secretary-general of the State Council and Wang Shitong to be a councilor of the State Council.Xu Shuzheng is Duan's brain truster and confidant, but he is also the person Yuan Suo hates the most.When Duan became the Prime Minister, he had an extremely unpleasant quarrel with Yuan because he wanted to appoint Xu Shuzheng as the Secretary-General of the State Council. Now it is Duan's world, and Xu Shuzheng must take power first.This is in line with the old saying that the emperor and the courtiers in one dynasty.

Immediately afterwards, Duan Qirui ordered the abolition of the Gyeonggi Military and Political Law Enforcement Office, which was Yuan's secret service agency and the most hated agency by all parties. In order to win people's hearts, Duan abolished it first.Then the name of the Secretary of State was abolished, and the Premier of the State was still restored, and the Suzheng Hall, which belonged to the Senate and the Peace Council, was abolished.

Afterwards, there was a major personnel reorganization of the Beiyang government. Cao Rulin, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Communications, Wang Yitang, Chief of Internal Affairs, Liu Guanxiong, Chief of the Navy, Zhang Zongxiang, Chief of Justice, Chief of Agriculture and Commerce, and Zhang Guogan, Chief of Education, resigned.With Tang Shaoyi as the chief of foreign affairs, Xu Shiying as the chief of internal affairs, Chen ** as the chief of finance, Cheng Biguang as the chief of the navy, Zhang Yaozeng as the chief of justice, Sun Hongyi as the chief of education, Zhang Guogan as the chief of agriculture and commerce, Wang Daxie as the chief of transportation, and Duan Qirui as his own Chief of the Army.Before Tang Shaoyi took office, Mrs. Chen temporarily served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and before Zhang Yao took office, Zhang Guogan was also the Chief Justice.

Then it was partially reorganized, with Sun Hongyi as the chief of internal affairs, Fan Yuanlian as the chief of education, and Xu Shiying as the chief of transportation.Gu Zhongxiu was reassigned as the chief of agriculture and commerce, and Zhang Guogan was transferred to the secretary general of the presidential palace.

On July 7, the names of the military and administrative chiefs of each province were revised. Before the official system was established, the governors of the provinces were renamed military governors, and the civil affairs chiefs were renamed governors.Let Zhang Zuolin be the governor of Fengtian, Meng Enyuan the governor of Jilin, Li Mohan the governor of Shandong, Zhao Ti the governor of Henan, Yan Xishan the governor of Shanxi, Feng Guozhang the governor of Jiangsu, Zhang Xun the governor of Anhui, Li Chun the governor of Jiangxi, Li Houji the governor of Fujian, Lu Gongwang the governor of Zhejiang, Wang Zhanyuan the governor of Hubei Governor, Chen Huan Governor of Hunan, Chen Shufan Governor of Shaanxi, Cai E Governor of Sichuan, Lu Rongting Governor of Guangdong, Chen Bingkun Governor of Guangxi, Tang Jiyao Governor of Yunnan, Liu Xianshi Governor of Guizhou.Make Zhu Jiabao the Governor of Zhili, Guo Zongxi the Governor of Jilin, Bi Guifang the Governor of Heilongjiang, Tian Wenlie the Governor of Henan, Shen Mingchang the Governor of Shanxi, Qi Yaolin the Governor of Jiangsu, Ni Sichong the Governor of Anhui, Qi Yang the Governor of Jiangxi, Fan Shouyou the Governor of Hubei, Governor Zhang Guangjian of Gansu, Governor Yang Zengxin of Xinjiang, Governor Zhu Qinglan of Guangdong, Governor Luo Peijin of Guangxi, Governor Ren Kecheng of Yunnan, Governor Dai Kan of Guizhou, Governor of Fujian by Hu Ruilin, Governor of Shandong by Li Mohan, Governor of Fengtian by Zhang Zuolin , Lu Gongwang also served as Governor of Zhejiang, Chen Huan served as Governor of Hunan, Chen Shufan served as Governor of Shaanxi, and Cai E served as Governor of Sichuan.Zhu Jiabao was also appointed as the governor of Zhili, Bi Guifang was also the governor of Heilongjiang, Zhang Guangjian was also the governor of Gansu, and Yang Zengxin was also the governor of Xinjiang.Chen Huan, the governor of Hunan, was ordered to take office quickly. Before he took office, he was temporarily appointed by Lu Rongting, and before Lu Rongting, the governor of Guangdong, was temporarily appointed by Long Jiguang.Li Liejunxun was awarded two titles, with the rank of Lieutenant General and General.

Until the release of this decree, Li Mohan had justifiably grasped the military and political power in Shandong.