Chapter 1344 Conflict of Interest
The changes that this group of people going north to aid construction will bring to Shandong go far beyond Chen Yixin. The military hopes to slowly hand over annoying civil affairs affairs to professional departments for management, so that officers can return to the military to perform their duties. The Executive Committee has also realized that the occupied areas in Shandong are not suitable for maintaining military control for a long time. Sooner or later, if this continues, it will affect Haihan's strategic layout in Northeast Asia. It is time to incorporate it into a formalized management system.
Of course, not everyone is happy to accept this new arrangement. For example, Chen Yixin still has a certain degree of hesitation about it due to personal reasons. In addition, there are also some people who hold real power and can obtain benefits through their powers, who are inevitably somewhat dissatisfied with such an arrangement.
Whenever Haihan went to a place, the first activities he started were trade and immigration. Making money and absorbing the population, these two things can almost be regarded as Haihan's basic national policies, even taking priority over the use of military means. In fact, most of the time Haihan uses military means to solve problems, it is all to protect the smooth progress of trade and immigration, but the outside world may not be able to see through this essence.
Those who manage and handle these affairs have many opportunities to profit from them. Even if they do not actively engage in corruption, there will be people who will continue to provide benefits in order to provide some convenience to the officers who temporarily act as supervisors. Of course, the convenience provided by such a small gesture as loosening their hands may be of great benefit to the other party.
This kind of practice is not actually a secret thing in the military, but an unspoken rule that many people know. Most of the areas Haihan occupied overseas were occupied by force and then slowly managed. In the early stage, almost all local affairs were managed by the military. As time went by and the area became more frequent, naturally some people became familiar with it and profited from it. Doorway, and then slowly spread in small circles.
Since it is not a secret, the big shots above are naturally aware of these tricks below. However, as long as it does not affect the overall situation and does not violate military rules, the big shots generally will not deliberately prevent the shrimp soldiers and crab generals from finding some food for themselves. After all, if you want your horse to run happily, you have to give it something good to eat. This principle is very simple and very practical, so even if there are military orders and regulations, power-for-money transactions cannot be avoided in the occupied areas controlled by the military.
Although Chen Yixin, who is in charge of civil affairs, disdains using such means to benefit himself, the officers under him who are responsible for specific affairs may not have such a high level of awareness. They are exposed to a large amount of money, and it is not easy to resist the temptation. . There are also some who are greedy and can't hold back their hands, but as long as they are found out, they will be severely punished. This year, the military court of the Shandong Garrison has judged several such cases, including an army second lieutenant company commander.
It's hard to say it's hard to stop this phenomenon, but it's also easy to say it's simple. The difficulty lies in the fact that this is a weakness of human nature. Even if a group of people who have gone too far are arrested every once in a while to scare the monkeys, there will still be resistance from others after a while. Unable to resist the temptation of profit, he continued to engage in similar activities one after another. The most effective management method is to hand over these positions to the competent departments and let the officers withdraw from them. As long as the relationship with these matters is completely severed, such incidents of taking advantage of one's power for profit will be greatly reduced.
However, not everyone can afford to let go of related interests, especially some people who are deeply entangled among them. Even if they have heard the news that the military is preparing to gradually hand over local jurisdiction, they still refuse to give up easily. Make money from the affairs of your subordinates.
The 27-year-old Tie Pingjiang is a veteran who has been in the army for six years. His current position is a quartermaster in the Haihan troops stationed in Fushan. In fact, before coming to Shandong, Tie Pingjiang was not in the logistics department. I didn't take up my post as quartermaster until I came here.
Haihan's military requirements for the garrison in Shandong are divided into two parts. The first is various materials that need to be transported by sea from the south, mainly military equipment; the second is general materials that can be raised near the garrison, such as grain, vegetables, Livestock and poultry etc. Needless to say, there is no need to talk about the supplies shipped from the south. The quartermaster only acts as a warehouse manager and does not have any channels to make profits. Even if he is extremely brave, he will never dare to smuggle out the military supplies from the warehouse and sell them.
However, there are many tricks that can be manipulated in the supplies that are collected from the area near the station. These materials were purchased with military funds, and the power of pricing and inspection was in the hands of the quartermaster. Haihan has more than 2,000 people stationed in Fushan County, and its daily material consumption is not a small amount, and a considerable part of it is organized from local sources. This means that if the quartermaster dials an abacus bead more or less, it will be a very considerable figure for the supplier. The amount of income depends to a large extent on the tightness of the quartermaster's control.
Since there is a very practical issue of revenue involved, suppliers will naturally find ways to open up joints and bribe the quartermaster who is responsible for allocating funds for inspections, and Tiepingjiang has become one of their targets. At first, Tie Pingjiang naturally refused such "irregular" benefits. Even though he was a novice in the military supply industry, he knew that benefits given by suppliers should not be taken casually. He still understood the principle of taking shortcomings. of.
But those suppliers would not regard Tie Pingjiang's refusal as the end. They believed that Tie Pingjiang's attitude only meant one thing, that is, the price was not high enough to reach his psychological price. Suppliers with financial resources gradually increased their prices until Tiepingjiang couldn't resist and was defeated.
So starting from the beginning of the year, at the beginning of every month, several groups of people would put a bulging envelope in the manifest and deliver it to Tie Pingjiang. To make it easier for him to use, the envelopes contained not even banknotes, but Haihan banknotes exchanged from who knows where. The benefits he can get from these military purchase orders are dozens of times higher than the military salary, and the money comes effortlessly. He only needs to follow the normal procurement process and settle at the normal market price. , there doesn’t seem to be any problem in the accounts.
When Tie Pingjiang discovered that this kind of gray income for one month was equivalent to one or two years of working in the army, it was indeed difficult for him to restrain his greed. At this juncture, the garrison headquarters gave him a new task, asking him to take charge of the local distribution and sale of Haihan products.
This kind of matter is originally the responsibility of the Ministry of Commerce and has no direct relationship with the military. However, the Ministry of Commerce only has two people stationed in the local area and they are simply too busy, so they borrowed people from the military. After Tie Pingjiang got this new job, he found that the goods exported by Haihan were quite profitable. The gray income he could get here was even higher than his previous income from working with suppliers. As long as he had the right It is not impossible for a partner to help carry the sedan chair and earn tens of thousands a year.
Tie Pingjiang accumulated a lot of contacts in just a few months as a quartermaster, and through these contacts he quickly found a financially powerful collaborator. But he didn't know that behind the collaborator he was looking for was the prefect of Dengzhou, Chen Zhongsheng.
After suffering a big loss in the attack on the Fushan Mine, Chen Zhongsheng's ideas have become much more pragmatic. He believes that it is indeed not easy to completely drive Haihan out of Dengzhou territory, but instead of sitting back and watching Haihan encroach on local resources little by little, it is better to It's better to find ways to get more benefits from them. It just so happens that Dengzhou is full of waste, so it would be good to use Haihan people's money to subsidize military expenditures.
So after Chen Zhongsheng and several staff members gathered together, they decided to find a few agents to come forward to trade with Haihan. Although the relationship between the two parties is still in a state of hostility, Chen Zhongsheng also knows that Haihan products are extremely popular in the market and are highly profitable. This transaction can basically guarantee a profit without loss. The money earned can be used to reorganize the army and strengthen the military. The defense of Dengzhou City. Chen Zhongsheng's agent represented the Dengzhou government, and there would be no problems in terms of procedures, financial resources, and connections, so trade channels were quickly established. It's just that Chen Zhongsheng also doesn't know whether Haihan really knows nothing about the identities of these businessmen, or whether he is deliberately pretending to be confused.
But since there are many opportunities to deal with the military attachés of the Haihan Army in this trade process, Chen Zhongsheng also gave specific instructions, asking the organizers to try to bribe the military attachés of the Haihan Army and try to find out the other side's military intelligence. Haihan officers like Tie Pingjiang who had already received benefits were naturally the easiest targets.
Tie Pingjiang's work place is also outside Majiapu. It is a row of warehouses built here by Haihan organized manpower at the end of last year, specifically used to store various materials purchased locally. This place is only a hundred steps away from Chen Yixin's office, making it convenient for him to give orders at any time. But even though he was right under Chen Yixin's nose, Tie Pingjiang still did not give up and continued to reap benefits from the affairs he handled.
On this day, Zheng Ai, a businessman who specializes in providing wood and stone materials to Haihan, came to visit. He was also one of the merchants who sent red envelopes to Tiepingjiang every month. However, Tiepingjiang did not know that Zheng Ai was actually from Chen Zhongsheng, the prefect of Dengzhou, so he only sent red envelopes to Tiepingjiang. He treated him as his big benefactor, so he was relatively polite to him.
"A friend came to visit recently and brought some spring hair from Mount Laoshan. I thought Master Tie was a good tea drinker, so I brought some to Master Tie today. I hope Master Tie wouldn't dislike it," Zheng Ai said. While speaking, he respectfully handed a wooden box to the table in front of Tie Pingjiang.
Tie Pingjiang said with a smile on his face: "Boss Zheng is so polite! We are all our own, so why bring any gifts!"
While he was talking, he had already opened the lid of the wooden box with his hand, and saw that in addition to the tea leaves, there was also a kraft paper envelope. Tie Pingjiang understood the idea and quickly put the wooden box into the drawer: "Giving gifts has a bad impact, let's forget it this time, Boss Zheng will not do it again!"
Laoshan Chunhao is a kind of green tea produced in North Laoshan. It is not a famous tea in itself. Of course, Zheng Ai does not expect to make Tiepingjiang obey his orders with just half a pound of tea. The key is naturally the wooden box. envelope inside.
Tie Pingjiang accepted it without even looking at the contents, which actually made Zheng Ai breathe a sigh of relief. He also heard that Haihan was going to gradually separate military officers from civilian management arrangements in the near future, and he was a little worried that these things would change Tie Pingjiang's attitude. But now it seems that Tie Pingjiang has no scruples, and he does not hesitate at all to collect the money he deserves.
Zheng Ai then said: "Master Tie, I have nothing else to do here today. It's just that there's been a lot of messy news outside recently. Let me tell you boldly, don't get angry if I'm wrong. There are rumors outside that it's you who did this... He is about to be replaced. Is this reliable? ”
Tie Pingjiang's face darkened, and he put the tea cup in his hand on the table. A lot of tea inside also spilled out. Zheng Ai couldn't help but tremble, thinking that his question was indeed a bit too direct. Now I guess It made Tie Pingjiang angry.
"Do you believe any of the rumors outside? A few months ago, there was a rumor that the Haihan Army was going to attack Dengzhou City. Do you believe it?" Tie Pingjiang said angrily: "The wind is like the rain, decades old Can you keep your focus?”
Zheng Ai was at least ten or twenty years older than Tie Pingjiang, but after being taught such a lesson by a young man, he did not dare to make a mistake, but he still did not give up the question just now: "Can Master Tie tell me, this time?" How true or false are the rumors? ”
Of course, the news Tie Pingjiang heard was much more accurate than what Zheng Ai said. The command's plan to hand over civil jurisdiction to an exclusive department had actually been leaked a few months ago. When the outside world heard the news, , it’s basically a done deal. But Tie Pingjiang didn't want to tell Zheng Ai the real situation, because after the other party knew the inside story of the matter, he would probably stop transferring benefits to him. After all, it is more practical to give money to an officer who is about to hand over his power than to keep it and give it to the next officer in charge.
Although Tie Pingjiang knows that the headquarters plans to complete the handover work before the end of this year, he is now holding on to the idea of taking an extra month if he can get it. After making enough, he can almost apply for retirement and use his earnings in Shandong. With the money, he can go back to the south to buy property and land and become a farmer, so he won't have to live in the countryside for the rest of his life. Before that, these Shandong local rich people naturally squeezed out as much money as possible. Anyway, the ill-gotten gains would be in vain.
Tie Pingjiang said: "The more definite news now is that the chiefs are discussing whether it is necessary to hand over the civil management of the military to the corresponding departments, but this arrangement is still in the discussion stage and is still very early in the implementation stage. Those rumors outside , they are all unreliable. Don’t think too much. With me, Tie Pingjiang, your business will definitely be stable and will not be taken away by others.”
(End of chapter)