The Tao Te Chronology of the Beiyang Dynasty (259): Qing can be tolerant, benevolent can be good at judging, clear is not hurtful, straight but not correct, it is said that candied fruit is not sweet, seafood is not salty, is Yide.
In the period of warlord melee, the president, as the top seat of the Beiyang warlords, is actually very easy to prick. If nothing else, there were soldiers everywhere, that is, the princes of the Grass King, who often clamored for silver. Because the local warlords guarded their own territory, taxes were rarely paid to the center, and not only that, but they often used this to call the center. Therefore, the operation of the Beiyang Center is very difficult, basically every year have to rely on borrowing money to survive, sometimes for emergency, but also often in advance their own money. After Feng Guozhang became the acting president, he also could not get rid of this dilemma, borrowing from east to west all day, stirring him very annoying, and it was easy to be considered to be a door-slamming. At this time, there was something that bothered him even more: since he became the acting president, it was inevitable that more villagers would come to him, and they all demanded to be given an official and a half-post. Feng Guozhang was very worried. Soon, Feng Guozhang began to invest in business with great fanfare, and participated in shares to earn money.
At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the People's Republic, it was the time when industry and commerce developed rapidly, and the warlords with the blessing of guns were able to make money in business. Feng Guozhang is naturally no exception, but he is the president, many people advise him, such business is not good, easy to cause others to gossip, Feng Guozhang can not care about that set, he directly said to others: "I spend my own money, do my own business, provoke anyone, I can't live, and I still want to be president." "He opened a salt reclamation company, ran a coal mine, sold cement, and although he lost money and made money, on the whole, he still made some money." It is strange to say that Feng Guozhang did not arrange an errand for relatives and friends in various institutions, but his reputation in his hometown was getting better and better. It turned out that this was also an important reason for his business. These relatives and fellow villagers came one after another to defect, and Feng Guozhang was not good enough to directly refuse, but he could not arrange for these people to serve in various institutions. Therefore, he thought that after he had done business and had an industry, he would arrange these relatives and fellow villagers in the industry, even if he was a janitor, have food to eat, live not heavy, and have a salary.
Therefore, these people privately praised Feng Guozhang. In Feng Guozhang's industry, there is a foreign ash company, where he always personally inquires about the finances, and no one in the family is allowed to interfere. Once, a cousin who worked at the Yang Gray Company reported an important matter to Feng's family, saying: "The accountant of the Yang Gray Company reports to Feng Guozhang separately every month on the expenditure. The income and expenditure of the foreign ash company is not normal, there is no problem in entering the account, but when it is out of the account, it is always necessary to make a large sum from time to time, and this amount has not been specifically implemented to what project, this state has been for a long time. "Where did Feng Guozhang spend this money?" If it is an investment, it should see industry or income, but these two are nothing. The family then approached someone in private to investigate. The investigators quickly sent a letter of approval. It turned out that after Feng Guozhang went north, he ascended to the peak, and some of the old subordinates who had been born and died with him before were really miserable, after all, they came to him, hoping that he could fund it.
Feng Guozhang knew that after all, these old subordinates were all reckless warriors, thinking that when he became the acting president of Beiyang, the money of the state was his, and there should be a lot of money. Feng Guozhang could not explain to these subordinates, and whether it was the tragic and devious "Battle of Yangxia" during the Xuantong years that swept through the New Army in Hubei, or the "Battle of Ganning" in the early Minchu to sweep away the Three Governors of the South, nine deaths, so he was willing to set up a special financial in the company to fund his old subordinates. Some of them are close to each other, a sum of several thousand; some are not very close, that is, hundreds; for those who have a hard time and do not come to the capital to find him, Feng Guozhang, as long as he understands the situation, is generally sent by a few thousand standards. After this matter spread, Feng Guozhang's old subordinates were grateful and respected him even more. Feng Guozhang's business and profit must be the main reason, but he is not only for money, but also for sympathy for relatives and old subordinates.
References: Cai Gen Tan, History of the Beiyang Warlords, Feng Guozhang's Business Is Not Just for Money