Chapter 22 - The Bank and Tea
Cao Fei and her husband entered the Yien Yieh Commercial Bank building. Despite the chaos of earlier in the year and the riots the Bank was undamaged. The bank made sure to keep itself pristine and modern, going for the Western Classical style. As the couple opened the copper doors of the entrance of the bank, they entered a building filled with activity. Still they had an appointment to keep so they made their way to the elevator and went to the second floor.
After walking down the hall they entered the office of Li Jinyuan. His office was not ostentatious despite it showing his wealth. It was clean and neat, but more than anything Cao Fei was impressed which she figured was the point. Li Jinyuan almost certainly sought to impress and show off the bank’s wealth. He was not the only man in the room, his secretary Zhu Li was also here.
“Ah Zhang Yi, Madam Zhang, Glad you could make it.” Li Jinyuan said as the two entered the office and slightly bowed in greeting. After greeting the two he turned towards his secretary and spoke, “Zhu Li go and make some tea for our esteemed guests, some Tieguanyin should do nicely I would say. ”
“So what did you wish to discuss with us?” Zhang Yi asked politely.
“Several things, ” Jinyuan said pausing as Zhu Li came back with some tea. “Ah. Wonderful, Yueliang. Thank you” Jinyuan replied to which she bowed politely holding the tray in her hands.
“First though, I have been keeping my attention on the so-called legation cities.” Jinyuan siad.
“And what has your attention of late?” Yi asked.
“The Belgian matter.” Jinyuan said before sipping his tea.
“What matter is this? I thought Belgium didn’t exist.” Fei said sipping her own tea.
“They don’t but Flanders-Wallonia existed and they kept the Belgian seat, claiming they were the natural successors to the old Belgian government” Jinyuan said.
“Existed not Exists?” Fei said.
“Your wife has a good ear. That is correct, Madam. From what my sources have said there is some conflict in Europe that has caused Flanders and Wallonia to separate into separate countries.” Jinyuan explained.
“I take it that the Beligan concessions have yet to return to us.” Zhang said.
“Correct. By right it should go back to us. However it is in the neutral zones and the foreigners are unlikely to just hand it back to us.” Jinyuan said.
“We can not forget about Japan and their puppets.” Fei asked.
“Ah. Japan. That's the tricky thing, they are keeping their cards close to their chest. However we both know they are backing the Manchurian Warlord. So if they voted to return the Belgian concessions to China, they would be voting to hand it over to Zhang Zoulin.” Jinyuan said and took another sip of his tea.
“The closeness of the city to Beijing is something that we can not let happen.” Zhang said.
“Unfortunately I agree. Conflict will come with the Manchurian Warlord but it is easier to prepare if we also do not have to worry about Tianjin. Which brings me to the second thing I wanted to speak to you about, this industrial plan of yours.” Jinyuan said.
“Ah The Young China Plan’s calls for modernizing the industry and moving them to the west. We are going to need a number of Military factories for the coming conflicts.” Yi said.
“Why the west in particular?” Jinyuan asked, though Cao Fei felt he already knew the answer.
“Sooner or later war is going to come with the Japanese will come. If the east falls then we must have the west to hold them back else all will be lost.” Yi said.
“We are both aware that it will cost a lot of Yuan, So I will have to speak to the board about this. Still I think something can be worked out. You do have a detailed copy of the plans?” Jinyuan asked.
“Right here.” Fei said, she had come prepared with a document that detailed the plans. Well the parts that were willing to be spoken out to those outside of the Young China Party and the government.
Jinyuan took the documents and smiled at what he read. “Now this is what I am liking. We can make this be rather mutually profitable for both of us. I will give the Young China Party a small loan. It should take care of some of the initial costs of some of the industries. Should that prove fruitful and the Board agrees further loans will be given.” Jinyuan explained.
“Wonderful.” Fei said.
Later the next day Cao Fei had her chauffeur drive her to Longtan Park to meet with Liu Yun. Yun had offered to have tea with her and Fei was curious why she would but she was not going to let an opportunity to learn more about the opposition in government go to waste. Arriving at the Longtan Park, there were a number of people but it was still in the morning and the crowds had yet to arrive. The table that Yun had chosen was overlooking the lake, more importantly it was rather secluded from the crowds Fei noticed.
“Ah, Ms. Cao Fei, I am glad that you could make it. What tea would you like?” Yun said bowing politely to her, Fei bowed in return. Yun’s tone was gentle and polite, exceedingly polite.
“Some silver needle would be lovely.” Fei said.
“Two Silver Needles then.” Yun said to the waitress. Not long later two cups were placed on the table before the waitress poured the tea.
“So why did you invite me here? I assume you had a reason beyond just tea.” Fei asked.
“I wanted to get your impression of Yingandao as Zhang Tianran will be heading to Beijing soon.” Yun asked before sipping tea.
“Don’t you have your own impression of them?” Fei said politely before sipping her tea.
“I don’t know what to make of them. They wish to help the people but they could be the next Boxers or they could be the next Red Turbans.” Yun said.
“They seem more akin to the Boxers.” Fei said.
“I certainly hope not.” Yun said, pausing a moment to sip her tea before she spoke again, “The other reason I wanted to speak to you is that I am concerned about the growing power of the Zongshe Party since the overthrow of the Zhili Clique.”
“The Manchu party? And why are you concerned about them?” Fei said sipping her tea.
“They hold most of the positions of authority.” Yun said.
“For now.” Fei replied.
“I hope it is temporary but the reactionaries within that party are of no benefit to China. Their views on how to deal with the warlords is terrible.” Yun said.
“You have made your point, but what is your plan?” Fei replied politely sipping her tea.
“I know that our husbands are in different parties and we may not see eye to eye, still I feel that it is better to work together instead of the Manchus. Perhaps a meeting could be arranged between the men to see if something could be done to ensure that the Zongshe lose influence.” Yun said never losing her politeness as she finished her tea.
“I will speak with my husband. Something mutually agreeable could be worked out.” Fei said, also finishing her tea.
The two then departed. As Cao Fei sat in her car as it drove back to her home, she was smiling inwardly at this. Liu Yun was polite, never losing her cool and there had to be more to this meeting then she let on. Still if the NCERA could be neutralized then the YCP would guide China into the future and the Chinese Century.