Shanghai: The First Warlord of the Republic of China

In fact, it is not just him. Almost all the major warlords in the entire Republic of China are facing this problem.

That is because there is not enough money to support the army.

The warlords of the Republic of China basically relied on taxation for their funding. In the areas they controlled, they levied heavy taxes and exploited the people.

But during the Republic of China period, every place was extremely poor.

No matter how much you squeeze them, the money you can collect is limited.

There is simply not enough money to support such a large army.

Therefore, some warlords had no choice but to reduce their military forces.

For example, the Northeast Army once had 400,000 to 500,000 people in its heyday.

But later, due to a serious shortage of funds, the Northeast Army had no choice but to reduce its troop strength from 500,000 to more than 30,000 people, thus reducing a large part of its expenses.

Therefore, for warlords, having a large army is not necessarily a good thing.

If there is no huge amount of funds to support the army, the larger the number of troops, the more likely it will become a burden.

There are now 900,000 people in Longmen, and it is already difficult to survive relying on the current income of Longmen.

The thought of spending 400 to 500 million a month is terrifying.

Xu Wenqiang had told Ye Yunfei several times before that Longmen was short of funds and that they had to find a way to solve the funding problem.

Now, the discovery of this gold mine can be said to have solved the urgent problem.

It can also increase the number of Longmen people to one million as soon as possible.

So, it's definitely a good thing.

Ding Li said: "Brother Fei, when are we going to dig for gold? A gold mine, I can't wait any longer."

"Why don't we go now?"

Ye Yunfei glanced at Ding Li and said, "Why are you in such a hurry? Although we already know about the gold mine, there is still an important problem that has not been solved."

"If this problem cannot be solved, it is still unknown whether the gold mine can be dug."

Ding Li said: "What problem has not been solved."

Ye Yunfei said: "Look at the map and see if you find anything."

Ye Yunfei handed the map to Ding Li and Tan Xiong.

The two looked at the map, and Ding Li asked with a puzzled look on his face: "I can't see anything. Is there something wrong with this map?"

After taking a look at the map, Tan Xiong frowned and said, "The location of the gold mine marked on this map does not seem to be within the jurisdiction of our Longmen."

"That is to say, the gold mine does not belong to our Longmen territory."

Ye Yunfei said: "Yes, Tan Xiong has made a careful observation. The location of the gold mine is in the Central Plains. This area does not belong to our Longmen yet."

"If we want to dig for gold, we have to go to someone else's territory. Do you think they will let us enter their territory easily?"

Ding Li suddenly realized, and said, "So that's how it is. Whose territory is this? Do we know each other?"

Tan Xiong said: "If I am not mistaken, this should be Yan Laoxi's territory, and the location of this gold mine is in the heart of Yan Laoxi's territory."

"It may be difficult to mine gold on Yan Laoxi's territory."

Ye Yunfei said: "Yes, the location of this gold mine happens to be in Yan Laoxi's territory."

"Yan Laoxi is now one of the four major warlords in the Republic of China, with hundreds of thousands of troops under his command."

"If we go directly to his territory to dig for gold, do you think he will agree?"

"Moreover, Yan Laoxi himself is a man who values ​​money more than anything else. If he knew that there was a gold mine in the territory he managed, guess what he would do."

"I guess that Mr. Yan probably doesn't know the situation of this gold mine yet. Otherwise, given his personality, he would have dug up this gold mine long ago."

Ding Li frowned and said, "This is indeed a bit troublesome. The territory happens to be in the hands of Yan Laoxi."

"What should we do? Are we going to give up this gold mine? That would be such a pity. It's a gold mine. We don't know how much gold is inside it."

Ye Yunfei looked at Tan Xiong and said, "Tan Xiong, what do you think we should do with this gold mine?"

Tan Xiong said: "There are only two ways to deal with it now. First, negotiate with Yan Laoxi and see if we can use some clever methods to temporarily occupy this place and leave after we dig up the gold mine."

"Second, we should attack Yan Laoxi directly, destroy him, and occupy all his territory. Then, the gold mine will naturally be ours."

Tan Xiong proposed two solutions. Ye Yunfei nodded and said, "You are right. For now, there are only these two solutions."

"However, I'm afraid that these two methods are difficult to implement."

"It is impossible for Old Man Yan to give this place to us for no reason. Moreover, if we ask him for this place alone, he will definitely be suspicious."

"Yan Laoxi is originally a very cautious person. What we are doing will only make him more suspicious."

"As for the second point, we will attack Yan Laoxi directly. Now Yan Laoxi and the other three major warlords of the Republic of China have formed an alliance. The four of them will advance and retreat together."

"If we attack Yan Laoxi, the other three warlords will definitely help Yan Laoxi to deal with us together."

"This means that we have to go to war directly with the four major warlords, which is inconsistent with our previous plan to gather a million people in three months to go to war with them."

"If we start a war hastily now, the outcome is uncertain, so this second method is also somewhat risky."

Ye Yunfei gave a brief analysis of the situation to Tan Xiong and Ding Li.

After hearing Ye Yunfei's analysis, Tan Xiong and Ding Li both nodded.

It is indeed as Ye Yunfei said, both methods are somewhat risky.

If you are not careful, it may backfire.

However, we can't just ignore the gold mine here.

Moreover, the news of the gold mine is likely to leak out, and then other people may also know the existence of the gold mine. If the gold mine is then mined by others, it will be troublesome.

Especially Yan Laoxi, the gold mine is on Yan Laoxi's territory, so the possibility of Yan Laoxi discovering the gold mine is still very high.

Tan Xiong looked at Ye Yunfei and said, "Brother Fei, we must make a decision on this matter as soon as possible to prevent any changes."

Ye Yunfei nodded. Indeed, delay would lead to changes, so it is not advisable to procrastinate.

Ding Li said: "Brother Fei, why not give Brother Qiang a call and ask for his opinion."

"Brother Qiang is so smart, maybe he has a solution."

Ye Yunfei glanced at Ding Li and said, "Okay, then go call Wen Qiang and ask for his opinion. Come back and tell me after the call."

Ding Li said: "Okay, I'll go fight right away."

After saying that, Ding Li went to call Xu Wenqiang.

Ye Yunfei was waiting in the office. He lit a cigarette and smoked it with a deep look in his eyes.

Tan Xiong looked at Ye Yunfei, and after a moment of silence, he said, "Brother Fei, you should have a solution in mind."