After Yuan Shikai became president, he appointed Zhang Zuolin as the commander of the Twenty-seventh Division of the Army, with the rank of lieutenant general. The patrol battalion under Zhang Zuolin was suddenly reorganized from a local security force into a regular national army. Previously, the patrol battalion only had two branches of infantry and cavalry, but after the expansion, Zhang Zuolin's department had two infantry brigades, a cavalry regiment, an artillery regiment, an engineer battalion and a heavy barracks, a total of five branches of troops, and the equipment was also the latest weapons, which can be described as shotguns for guns, and a new look.
The ranks have grown and become more regular and advanced, but Zhang Zuolin is worried, because relying on this little military salary issued by the government is simply not enough. Originally, it was okay to rely on the withholding of military salaries, but he opposed "sucking the blood of soldiers", so money became a big problem. It's like a person changing into a high-profile, high-displacement luxury car, happy for a few days, and suddenly finding that he can't refuel. Making money is not Zhang Zuolin's strong point, and he would only solve economic problems by collecting protection fees and gambling money before. But now that he is also a lieutenant general, it is certainly not appropriate to collect protection fees, so there is only one channel for gambling money.
So Zhang Zuolin set up a gambling game at home, but the gambling game was only an introduction, and his ultimate goal was to sell officials through the gambling game. In the early years of the Republic of China, there were three major fat shortages in the localities, namely the county chief, the tax chief and the police chief, and it was not easy to get these three fat shortages, and it was necessary to recommend them by powerful people. Zhang Zuolin, who holds military power, is the most powerful person in Fengtian at the moment, although he also has a superior, Zhang Xiluan, the overseer of Fengtian, who is Zhang Zuolin's father and Zhang Zuolin, who was the one he appeased. But at this time and another time, the current old man has no soldiers and no generals, naturally he has no rights, and everything must look at his son's face. In Fengtian, as long as Zhang Zuolin wanted to do something, he only nodded his head in agreement.
Zhang Zuolin, as a new upstart in Fengtian, wanted to persuade him everywhere, and everyone heard that there was a gambling game in Zhang Mansion, thinking that this was a good opportunity to get close to Zhang Zuolin, and squeezed his head to drill inside. Zhang Zuolin is also a visitor who does not refuse, for the first time to the door of the gambler he does not ask anything, sit down to start, how a gambling master at will, anyway, mahjong, pai nine, betting, he is proficient in everything. There is only one rule at the table, and that is that the people who come cannot leave without losing all their money. Of course, the people who came were all drunks and did not mean to drink, but just took the opportunity to gamble money to make a face familiar with Zhang Zuolin here to pave the way for doing the right thing in the future. So, no one comes to win money, and they don't dare.
There are gambling games and there are credit accounts, Zhang Zuolin is very generous, never in a hurry to collect debts, and is not afraid of paying debts, because he knows that no one on the ground in the northeast dares to rely on his accounts. Once, there was an official in Changchun named Meng Bingchu who owed Zhang Zuolin a gambling debt of 30,000 yuan. After returning to Changchun, Meng Bingchu wanted to be Lao Lai and began to pretend to be deaf and dumb, dragging his feet and not repaying the money. Zhang Zuolin saw that the surname Meng wanted to pay the account, and without saying a word, sent a cavalry company to Changchun to collect the account, which frightened Meng Bingchu and obediently paid off the gambling debt.
Zhang Zuolin
Zhang Zuolin is not a free win, as long as someone loses money in place, things still have to be done for others. If someone came to gamble money one after another, and the amount of money lost each time was very large, Zhang Zuolin knew that this person had come to buy officials. Then he will take the initiative to invite the person to dinner, ask the person's name and resume at the dinner table, and then ask for the appeal. At this time, the visitor can tell Zhang Zuolin of the position he wants to seek. At the time of parting, Zhang Zuolin would say to this person: I will do my best to do my best in the brother's affairs, and you should go back and wait for the news.
Zhang Xiluan
The next day, Zhang Zuolin took this person's resume to find his father Zhang Xiluan, saying that this person was a good friend of mine, very capable, could be a county magistrate or tax bureau chief, and hoped that the governor would be appointed as soon as possible. Under normal circumstances, as long as Zhang Zuolin recommended someone, Zhang Xiluan was immediately approved, but the old man also had times when he forgot things. If Zhang Zuolin waited for three or five days and didn't see an echo, he would rush to urge him with a white face, and Zhang Xiluan would quickly give him things to do. Zhang Zuolin's trick of selling officials as a reality on the pretext of setting up a gambling game was quickly spread, so people gave him a name for making money called "Eating County Bureau".