Chapter 95 third quarter

Those who win the world with the barrel of a gun must be the first thing to guard against when they come to power.Long Yun learned the lessons of the four town guards he participated in when he drove down Tang Jiyao, abolished the division as a brigade, and deprived his division commander of the military power.He was especially wary of the fact that senior officers would become powerful. Now the middle and lower rank officers in the Yunnan Army, the regimental commander and the battalion clan were all directly selected and appointed by him. In order to have an armed force with strong combat effectiveness, Long Yun dared to ignore the education and training of soldiers. The Officer Corps was established in 1928, and the Teaching Corps was established two years later to train officers.He also often transferred officers at all levels to the Central Military Academy and the Army University for further studies. After returning to Yunnan, these people were entrusted with important tasks.

By 1936, the Yunnan Army had six infantry brigades, two brigades directly under it, six regiments under it directly under it, four independent battalions and one aviation department, with a total of 36,000 soldiers.It is worth mentioning that Long Yun had more than a dozen aircraft under his command and participated in military operations many times, which was very eye-catching in China in the 1920s and 1930s. After rectifying military affairs and consolidating his rule, Long Yun's biggest effort is Yunnan's taxation and economy.Yunnan is a poor province. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the province’s annual fiscal revenue was only three million taels of silver. If it could not make ends meet, it was subsidized by other provinces. For example, Sichuan subsidized 300,000 taels a year, and Hunan subsidized 500,000 taels a year.After the founding of the Republic of China, due to the hard work of the first governor Cai E and the governance of Tang Jiyao in the early stage, the situation improved.However, as soon as the War to Protect the Nation was launched, Yunnan, which had a weak foundation, was immediately embarrassed; Tang Jiyao later expanded desperately and used troops frequently, which made Yunnan's situation worse; after Tang Jiyao fell from power, it was another three years of melee.For more than ten years in a row, Yunnan's business and industry have been depressed, the economy has been in recession, financial chaos, bandits have sprung up, and the people are in dire straits.In 1927, when Long Yun was in charge of Yunnan, the annual fiscal revenue was 5.79 million yuan, but the annual expenditure reached 18.98 million yuan, more than three times the income!

Under such circumstances, Long Yun wrote a letter to Chiang Kai-shek after he came to power, stating that financially, he "strives to be self-sufficient, reduce central subsidies, and share the country's worries."This is what it means to demand financial independence.Yunnan is a peaceful corner, and it is not anti-Chiang. Now that he said that he would not ask for central subsidies, Chiang Kai-shek just pushed the boat along the way and allowed Yunnan to develop its own financial resources without interfering with its fiscal and taxation economy. Long Yun first rectified the taxation.Yunnan's taxation has always been in the hands of the military, which has many disadvantages. At the end of 1929, he ordered Lu Han to concurrently serve as the Minister of Finance, and made a drastic move against the vested interests of the soldiers.As soon as Lu Han took office, he immediately replaced a large number of cadres, and changed all taxes on tobacco, alcohol, lijin, etc. to investment bidding.Frightened by Lu Han's majesty, the soldiers who were accustomed to taxation had no choice but to hand over their tax rights.Lu Han implemented the new tax policy very strictly. Once his wife and brother won the bid but failed to pay the deposit on time.

In just a few months, taxes have increased significantly.Facing the increasingly abundant coffers, Lu Han proposed to increase the salary of civil servants by one and a half times, which was approved, so everyone was happy, and the centripetal force and cohesion of Yunnan's ruling group increased. In 1930, Lu Han led his army into Guangxi, and Long Yun appointed Lu Chongren as the Minister of Finance.Since then, Lu Chongren has been in charge of Yunnan's finances for 14 years, and he is known as the "financial master".He abolished a wide variety of taxes, among which sixty-four were explicitly abolished, and only salt tax, tobacco and alcohol tax, special consumption tax, land tax, slaughter tax, stamp duty, deed tax, and special business tax were retained, making the tax order more stable. .

Financial conditions are also improving. In 1932, the reorganized New Fudian Bank was established, and 52.7 million yuan of old Yunnan coins were recovered and destroyed. The foundation is stabilized." Although Yunnan is poor, it has a unique "advantage": it produces high-quality tobacco.Although Long Yun had the idea of ​​anti-drugs, he did not want to ban smoking and drugs to cut off his financial resources as soon as he came to power when he was in need of money. So he followed the consistent policy of "combining prohibition with levy", which is actually to encourage the cultivation of opium. Opium can be grown legally.By 1935, the opium planting area in Yunnan was estimated to be 900,000 mu, but it actually reached 2 million mu. A large number of fertile fields were blooming with bright poppies.In this year alone, Yunnan exported opium with a total value of 20 million yuan.

During Long Yun's reign, a large-scale farmland settlement was carried out in Yunnan to open up land taxes.Before the accounts were settled, the number of acres of farmland in Yunnan was calculated at 9 million mu; after the accounts were settled, it jumped to more than 28 million mu.Farmland tax revenue has increased substantially. During this period, Yunnan's industrial and mining industries also made progress.Gejiu is famous for its tin ore resources, but in the past, the level of tin smelting technology was low, and Yunnan tin was shipped to Hong Kong to be sold to Cantonese merchants and then returned to the furnace for refining, so the tin ore business in Yunnan suffered a lot. In 1929, Yunxi began refining; in 1931, it began to sell directly to the London market; by 1935, Yunxi exported 18.63 million yuan worth of goods.

After such reforms, rectification, and governance by Long Yun, Yunnan’s finance and economy experienced an unprecedented situation: In 1933, foreign trade began to exceed. In 1935, Yunnan imported goods worth 9 million yuan and exported goods worth 2,020 yuan. In 1936, Yunnan's total fiscal annual revenue was 28 million yuan, annual expenditure was 23 million yuan, and the surplus was 5 million yuan in New Yunnan dollars. The finances were quite ample.Today, the western province of Yunnan, which is heavily supported by the state, also had such a glorious period.Of course, the fruits of Yunnan's economic development were first enjoyed by the ruling class and palace merchants.While the fiscal and taxation has been increasing, the remuneration of civil and military officials has risen sharply, but there are endless incidents of officials engaging in fraud and filling their own pockets.The capital city of the province also set off a trend of extravagance: in 1935, Kunming, with a population of only 170,000, had 47 silk and satin businesses, 59 Chinese and Western department stores, 45 pastry businesses, 29 banquet businesses, ham bai There are fifty-nine companies in the oil industry, one hundred companies in the meat case industry, nineteen companies in the clock and watch industry, eighteen companies in the western medicine and cosmetics industry, forty-four companies in the antique industry, and seventeen companies in the display industry.

In contrast, the people at the bottom still live in poverty.Due to the large amount of opium planted in the countryside, there is a shortage of food. The rice farmers imported from Vietnam are often unable to buy it, and they are often struggling with hunger. Farmers in many areas have a lot of knots in their clothes and pass them down from generation to generation. The life of the workers is equally miserable.In the tin mine in Gejiu, there were 140,000 to 150,000 workers at its peak, "The life and treatment of those generations were as low as cattle and horses."These workers crawled in the dark mine tunnel with a load of 50 to 60 jin, and worked for more than ten hours a day, "covered in yellow mud, panting and exhausted, and looked like no one."Their wages are five or six yuan per month. "Dozens of people live in one room, which is extremely narrow and dirty. After work, they are locked in the room for fear of escaping." Under such conditions, the annual death rate of miners reached hundreds. 5 out of 1!

The hard work of the bottom has created this period of relative affluence and development in the history of Yunnan.In the Longyun era, Yunnan's progress impressed the whole country, and even surprised the top leaders of the Republic of China. On May 10, 1935, Chiang Kai-shek and his wife visited Yunnan.Song Meiling wrote after the inspection: "The streets in Kunming are very clean and tidy, and the buildings are all of the same color. Compared with the messy buildings we saw in other places, it makes people more comfortable." Pedestrians are already walking on the left and right sides, and commute in the most orderly way."

Chiang Kai-shek also greatly appreciated Long Yun's achievements in governing Yunnan.He also said that Yunnan is "rich in mineral resources" and has "good climate conditions." "If we build industry, we should start from Yunnan." Chiang Kai-shek also keenly noticed: "The unity of all members of the Yunnan government is unmatched in Sichuan." This made him praise, but also made him uneasy. In Yunnan, far away from the center of Kuomintang rule, Long Yun carefully managed his small court.Under his administration, this frontier province has made unprecedented progress, which has also enhanced his self-confidence and arrogance.In the living room of his Wuhuashan Provincial Government in Kunming, the four walls, the chair drape, the chair back, and the tablecloth on the armchair are all embroidered with red and yellow satin dragons, symbolizing that he is the Dragon King.Provincial government access cards are divided into three colors: red, yellow, and blue according to their grades.When the person wearing the red card came to the mansion, the sentinel shouted: "Report to the captain of the guard, and the general enters the mansion!" Ring the salute.The same goes for coming out.These all show that Long Yun really regards himself as the "King of Yunnan".

Because of its strong military strength and achievements in governance and philosophy; and because it is located in the frontier far from the emperor, Chiang Kai-shek is busy suppressing the Communist Party, and Long Yun's small court has always been very stable.In name, he was a provincial chairman of the Republic of China. He hung the flag of the Republic of China and regarded Chiang Kai-shek as the head of state. In fact, he was the king of an independent kingdom. The independent kingdom of Yunnan has also been threatened at times. In October 1934, the Red Army marched westward. In December, Chiang Kai-shek ordered Long Yun to concurrently serve as the commander-in-chief of the Tenth Route of the "Rebel Army", hoping that he would work hard. Long Yun knew very well that this was a critical moment: firstly, fighting the Red Army would weaken its strength;So he held meetings again and again, and finally formulated a countermeasure to block the Red Army from outside the province, so that Chiang Kai-shek had no chance to send troops into Yunnan.However, at the end of January 1935 and February 1936, the Long March Red Army crossed Yunnan twice.Long Yun strictly ordered the magistrates of border counties to guard the Red Army outside the province, and executed several county magistrates who were ineffective in fighting, which happened to be a statement of loyalty to Chiang Kai-shek.When the Red Army crossed the border, Long Yun was unwilling to fight and consume it. He gave the order to "pursue", but actually "sent him off". As soon as the Red Army crossed the provincial border, he let out a long breath.He could not forcefully refuse the central army's direct descendants to enter Yunnan, but he resolutely refused to allow the central army to enter Kunming, the provincial capital. This time, Long Yun's little court was not in danger.He resolved the threat from both sides of the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. He was not like Wang Jialie in Guizhou. The Central Army took away his power only a few months after entering Guizhou, and put Guizhou under the control of Chiang Kai-shek. Wang Jialie had no choice but to ask himself to go abroad. investigation".