1905: Beer Hall Speaker

Page 139

The only pity is that no one can touch this money; it can only be kept in the company account for continued research and development and production expansion.

Simply put, this money does not belong to Chen Jiaxie, but to Tongda Power Company. From now on, Tongda Power Company will no longer be a sole proprietorship of the Chen family, but a joint venture after the company goes public.

The relevant laws of the Republic impose strict constraints and precise controls on finance and industry. The first name of the drafter of the law is Zhao Yan. He drafted the law with his rich experience as a practitioner for many years. These laws are so impressive that even Jews can only sigh when they see them.

In the Republic, a company is a company, and an individual is an individual. The concept of assets and property has been clearly defined!

This idea is very groundbreaking. In the past, people didn't have this concept; assets were property and property was assets, with no distinction.

But now we have it, and the difference is huge!

Property is registered under an individual's name, while assets are registered under a company's name. Individuals have the right to control property, but only have ownership of assets.

To put it simply, Chen Jiaxie currently has 4,756.33 yuan in his personal account and more than 547,000 yuan in his company account.

Based on an 80% shareholding, these two items combined would give Chen Jiaxie assets of over 440,000 yuan. However, this is his net worth, and he can only freely dispose of the 4,700 yuan in his personal account.

If Chen Jiaxie wants to turn the money in the company account into personal property, the only way is to sell shares and distribute dividends to transfer the money to his personal account.

However, this will come at a terrible price. The Republic's "eleventh tax" is no joke. Once personal income exceeds a certain amount, the tax rate will rise to a staggering level. Income of hundreds of thousands may soar to a tax rate of 110%, achieving a true "eleventh tax"!

However, if you honestly use the company's money for the company's development and expansion, the tax department will not charge you a single penny in taxes. On the contrary, the government will provide tax breaks and subsidies to the company.

The more employees you hire, the larger your production scale, and the higher your output, the more and higher these benefits and subsidies will be.

The official message is clear: work honestly and don't try to make a quick buck and leave. If you obediently follow orders, the authorities will reward you. But if you try anything funny, they'll make you bankrupt.

The tax authorities' tax stick is like a legally enforced house raid in peacetime. More than 70% of the tax officers in the State Taxation Administration are retired soldiers, and they have all been certified as warriors of the Republic by the city and millions of people. Once they have their eyes on you, even the Emperor himself can't protect you.

If you get arrested by the police, you can go to jail now, but if you get arrested by the tax officer, you'll most likely be sent to a reformatory.

The central government has zero tolerance for two types of behavior: rebellion and taking their money!

Even rebelling is not as serious as tax evasion. If you rebel, Zhao Yan might even give you a chance to explain. If you rebelled because you were driven to desperation by illegal persecution by government officials and local tyrants, Zhao Yan might even forgive you.

But if you take his money, Zhao Yan won't listen to any of your explanations. No matter how eloquently you give your reasons and excuses, Zhao Yan will still try to destroy you.

Whether it's official corruption or ordinary people tax evasion, Zhao Yan will never forgive them.

Under the intimidating power of the Republic's tax laws, Chen Jiaxie put aside any inappropriate thoughts and honestly held a meeting to discuss how to use the money to continue developing the company.

As the company grows, the annual fixed dividend is only around ten thousand yuan, but after taxes, you can actually get five or six thousand yuan in hand, which is much more comfortable than receiving hundreds of thousands of yuan at once, only to have to pay tens of thousands more after taxes.

Chen Jiaxie decided to use the funds he received to import equipment, expand the production line, recruit and hire more employees, and increase production.

Manufacturing cars is practically a sure-fire way to make money these days. Of course, it can't compare to the stock market or finance, but it's stable and reliable. If you sell your cars, it's real income; if you don't, you still have real assets in your hands.

The only problem Tongda Power Company is currently facing is insufficient production capacity, while orders are too numerous, resulting in a complete supply shortage. They have already signed orders for more than 1,200 vehicles, but the company's annual production capacity is only 550 vehicles, which is clearly unsustainable, and they must expand.

The order for over 1,200 vehicles was placed by the Shanghai Municipal Government in one go. They are all official vehicles. The Shanghai Municipal Government is financially powerful and determined to convert all official vehicles in the city from horse-drawn carriages to automobiles. Other places may be short of money, but the Shanghai Municipal Government has never been short of money.

As a local Shanghai company, Tongda Power Company naturally received priority in the government's procurement. Even though Wuhu Power Group's cars were cheaper, looked better, and had a larger supply, the government still chose the local company, Tongda Power Company.

Chen Jiaxie didn't bother to pull any strings or give any gifts; the municipal government simply dumped the order on him, leaving him no choice but to accept.

They bought up all the company's production for the next two years in one go, and that still wasn't enough, leaving Chen Jiaxie both in pain and happy.

Tongda Power Company is now forced to transfer all its personnel from the original steam engine production department to the automobile manufacturing sector, and it still has to continue recruiting and training people, and even bring in technical personnel from abroad.

The related expansion equipment also requires a lot of money to purchase and install. The entire company has to make strategic adjustments in accordance with the municipal government's orders, because the municipal government requires that all 1,200 cars be delivered by the end of this year.

No matter how powerful Chen Jiaxie is, he doesn't dare to go against the municipal government; he can only try to meet the municipal government's demands.

This fundraising was suggested by the municipal finance director: to raise funds for expansion by taking out a portion of the stock on the stock exchange. It was convenient, safe, and interest-free, much cheaper than borrowing from a bank, and could even generate a profit.

Government procurement has become Tongda Power Company's only task now. If Chen Jiaxie doesn't want to give up his existing customers and still wants to fulfill the orders from the municipal government, he will have to increase Tongda Power Company's production scale several times over to achieve both goals.

Chapter 231 The Chen Family Matters

"Father, my dear father!"

"Don't you still have some savings for your funeral? Take it out and let my son handle this emergency!"

Chen Jiaxie sat in the living room, trying to please his father, but his father, Chen Yachun, had a livid face!

Chen Yachun heard that her son's company was doing well recently and that he had made a fortune selling stocks, so she invited her son home for a meal to find out what was going on.

Unexpectedly, after his son returned home, instead of showing any filial piety, he even started thinking about his savings for his funeral!

Chen Yachun slammed her cane heavily on the floor: "You wretched child! When I heard you call me father, I knew it was no good!"

"When nothing's wrong, they call me an old geezer, but now that something's wrong, they come knocking on my door calling me 'Dad'?"

"You dare use those shrewd, mercenary tactics on me?"

Chen Jiaxie continued shamelessly, "You're my own father, what's wrong with me calling you that a couple of times?"

"Besides, won't your money still belong to us sons in the future? It will all be mine sooner or later. Why save money for your coffin? Do you think I won't buy you a coffin when you die? What's there to be afraid of? Everything is developing these days."

"This money will only depreciate if you keep it in your hands. You might as well let me handle it. I guarantee that with a gamble, the nanmu coffin will turn into huanghuali!"

"Or I can make you a pure steel one, machined on a lathe in our factory workshop, guaranteed to last a thousand years without decaying!"

Chen Yachun was so angry she almost died: "Keep the steel one for yourself, I still prefer wood, steel plates are uncomfortable to sleep on!"

Chen Jiaxie, unwilling to give up, said, "I also have a way with wood. There's a secondhand market in Xujiahui that has a coffin made of submerged wood that was unearthed last year. It was dug out of the tomb of Prince Zhuang. It has a certificate issued by the Ministry of National Defense, guaranteeing it's 100% authentic."

"I'll get it for you, just give me your savings for your funeral!"

Chen Yachun pointed at the door and said, "You bastard, get out! Even if I die, I won't lie in a secondhand coffin!"

"Stop thinking about it. That money was meant for your eldest brother and third brother. Just give up on it!"

The eldest son of the third branch of the Chen family, Chen Jiali, has now entered politics. He is 44 years old this year and is only a county magistrate in Nantong. I wonder if he will be able to win the bid for vice mayor this year.

The second son is Chen Jiaxie, who mainly works in business and is a boss.

The youngest of the three, Chen Jiakang, was only twenty-five years old. In 1907, before the education reforms, he bribed a lot of money to get into Peking University as a student, but he still hasn't graduated and is being scolded like an animal by his professor every day.

Of the three sons, Chen Jiaxie is the most successful, with a net worth of several hundred thousand. It's not a dream that his assets will exceed one million in two years. However, his father, Chen Yachun, just can't stand him and insists that the future of his eldest brother and third brother is more important than his.

Chen Yachun always believed that studying and entering officialdom were the most promising paths. Even if the eldest son was a county magistrate and only earned two or three hundred yuan a year, it was still better than the second son's salary. Even if it was only twenty or thirty yuan, it was still government pay!

Although the current republic has overthrown many old orders and taken great strides in new policy reforms, the ideology of prioritizing officialdom is still the mainstream of society.

In fact, the status of businessmen has improved significantly compared to before. The Huaiyang Chamber of Commerce is a typical example. Its president, Yu Jingqian, is now the Minister of Finance of the Central Government!

But the Chen family had suffered many losses in the past, so they had become very stubborn. The Chen family used to be a prominent family in Jiangnan, but they never had a pillar of support, so they were always wealthy but dependent on others, not a true aristocratic family. They had wealth but lacked resources. They had always been humble and subservient, and Old Master Chen Yachun desperately wanted a high-ranking official to emerge from the family.

In 1906, Zhao Yan was almost at the capital, and the revolutionary army was advancing eastward into Jiangnan with unstoppable momentum. The Chen family realized that a major change was about to happen, so they began to bet on it again.

Chen Yachun presided over the division of the family property. The two married daughters were no longer needed, and the three sons who remained at home were all separated from the family to prevent any turmoil that might wipe out the Chen family in the event of a major upheaval.

The three sons each received a large sum of money and left home to make their own way in the world. The eldest son received the most, 50,000 taels of silver, while the second son, Chen Jiaxie, only received 30,000 taels. The youngest son, Chen Jiakang, inherited all of the Chen family's land and property.

The eldest son, Chen Jiali, was assigned to a political career and paid a huge price to become the county magistrate. He used all the family property he received to achieve political success, funding education and infrastructure projects himself. In just four or five years, he rose from an ordinary clerk to a section-level county magistrate, and his next step is to become the deputy mayor.

The higher authorities greatly appreciated Chen Jiali's selfless dedication to the greater good, and the province even nominated him for the title of National Outstanding County Magistrate. After hearing about his deeds, the central government also sent a letter of commendation.

If 50,000 taels of silver were used for bribery and buying official positions, Chen Jiali's grave would probably be overgrown with weeds by now. But if it were used to develop local people's livelihoods, there would be no problem at all.

If you use it for officials, that's bribery, a crime! But if you use it for the people, that's a political achievement, a perfectly good deed.

Unfortunately, there aren't many officials like this, otherwise the central government would be overjoyed. If there were a few hundred of these people, the central government's annual finances would be so much easier.

The third son, Chen Jiakang, was arranged by Chen Yachun to study in the capital. Chen Yachun believed that Peking University was the modern-day Imperial College, and she forced the third son to sell his land and property, going bankrupt to study at the university, even if he didn't graduate, he had to at least have the status of a university student.

The second son was the only one who was assigned to go into business. With the 30,000 taels of silver he received, Chen Jiaxie went from a blacksmith shop to a steam engine workshop, and then developed into the Tongda Power Company. He was riding the wave of success and soared to great heights.

Chen Jiaxie now routinely dine with the department heads of the municipal government. He knows the mayor and deputy mayors of Shanghai, and they all have good relationships with him.

In his eyes, the so-called county magistrate was nothing special, nothing remarkable. If his factory could provide thousands or tens of thousands of jobs and generate hundreds of thousands of yuan in tax revenue each year, Chen Jiaxie was even confident that he could challenge for a seat on the local committee!

Chen Jiaxie's biggest challenge now is how to rapidly expand the company. Once he overcomes this most difficult hurdle, everything will be smooth sailing from there.

Orders are pouring in, and once production capacity increases, things can snowball and grow bigger and bigger.

But that's where the difficulty lies. Overcoming this hurdle requires funds. Chen Jiaxie has already sold 20% of the shares, and continuing to sell would be too much of a loss for him. Moreover, selling too many shares would affect his control over the company.

Selling 20% ​​of the shares still allows for control, but if 40% or even 50% of the shares are sold, it's uncertain who will be in charge of the company in the future.

After all, the law stipulates that anyone holding more than 3% of the shares can join the board of directors, and every board member has the right to participate in company decision-making.

If he doesn't sell stocks, then he can only take out a bank loan. Chen Jiaxie probably already took out a loan, otherwise how could he have grown his business from 30,000 taels of capital to hundreds of thousands of Han Yuan so quickly?

After much deliberation, Chen Jiaxie finally set his sights on his father's last savings for his funeral. Although Chen Yachun had never said anything, his three sons all knew that he must have hidden some money for his funeral. It certainly wasn't several hundred thousand, but it should be tens of thousands.

This is a considerable sum of money, and it will be very useful.

But at this moment, Chen Yachun was unwilling to do anything. He supported his second son in starting a business so that he could make money to help his other two sons improve.

I never imagined that doing business these days would be so strange. Once you've poured money in, you can't get it out no matter what. You can only keep going all in to expand the scale, and the government is forcing you to move forward step by step.

Chen Ya-chun was unwilling to invest her last bit of capital in a business that only took in money and never gave it back. No matter how big or powerful a businessman became, Chen Ya-chun only saw him as a fat pig.

He was even afraid that his second son, Chen Jiaxie, was too strong and that the government would slaughter him for the New Year!

Chen Ya-chun had expressed these concerns to her son several times, but Chen Jia-xie ignored them all, because it was simply impossible.

Unless the higher-ups have lost their minds, they will not take action against the business class under any circumstances, because businessmen are one of the original shareholders of the revolution, especially in the Jiangzhe region, where a group of financial groups led by the Huaiyang Chamber of Commerce have been desperately investing money to support Zhao Yan since he started his uprising.

Otherwise, how do you think the Northern Expeditionary Army was fed? There was also the continuous financial support during the Northern Expedition, the war preparations before the Far East War, and the massive financial losses incurred by the Jiangnan region in purchasing national bonds.

The merchant class has always supported Zhao Yan because he had long promised to elevate the status of merchants, and he has now fulfilled his promise. Many merchants who were veterans who supported the Northern Expedition have been promoted to central positions. The current mayors of Shanghai, Zhejiang, and Heilongjiang, as well as the Minister of Education and other cultural and educational officials, are all from the Jiangnan financial group.

Capitalist forces have become an undeniable force in the politics of the Republic, and Liu Shangsheng, one of the five tigers of the Revival Party, also represents their interests.

These bigwigs will be the first to object to anyone who dares to touch the legitimate interests of businessmen. They won't even be able to give a warning to businessmen without a legitimate reason, let alone treat them like fat pigs. They won't allow anyone to affect tax revenue, not just the bigwigs of the capitalist faction, but even other bigwigs in the central government.

But even after Chen Jiaxie told his father about these things, his father still disagreed and remained stubborn.

Chen Jiaxie tried everything to persuade his father, but his father simply refused to part with the money he had saved for his coffin.

Chen Jiaxie finally snapped: "We're father and son, you're my own dad, you have to help me with this, otherwise..."

Chen Yachun said nonchalantly, "Otherwise what? You don't actually dare to hit me, do you?"

Chen Jiaxie immediately knelt down: "Your son apologizes in advance, please forgive your unfilial son!"

Chen Yachun felt a sense of foreboding and exclaimed in surprise, "What do you want to do?!"

"You'll find out when the time comes!" Chen Jiaxie stormed out without looking back, leaving his uneasy father sitting there.

That night, Chen Jiaxie secretly climbed over the wall and returned home, where he found Chen Yachun's coffin money behind the ancestral tablets in the family ancestral hall.

He knew exactly where his father hid the money, but he just pretended not to know.

After obtaining several bankbooks and a stack of property deeds, Chen Jiaxie forged his father Chen Yachun's signature, carved a radish seal, and copied an authorization letter. He then used his father's savings to withdraw money from the bank and take out a mortgage loan.

If it were someone else's bankbook or land deed, Chen Jiaxie wouldn't dare to do this even if he had the guts of a bear and a leopard. This kind of serious crime carries a minimum sentence of ten years, and there would be a fine several times the amount involved.

But Chen Jiaxie was confident in his own father. He didn't believe his father would risk losing both his money and his reputation to report him. Even if the report was successful, the money would only be recovered and he would have to pay a fine.

Two days later, Chen Yachun discovered that the money for her coffin was missing. Behind the memorial tablet was only an IOU left by her unfilial son, Chen Jiaxie. In front of their ancestors, he had given his own father an IOU. Chen Yachun was so angry that she almost turned into the memorial tablet and put it on the tablet.

But in the end, he could only swallow his anger and bear it. No matter what, he couldn't possibly report his own son, so he had no choice but to accept the consequences.

But Chen Jiaxie could do much more than that. Feeling that the money was still not enough, he used the name of the old man of the Chen family to visit old friends and borrow money everywhere.

No one suspected anything when they saw Chen Jiaxie borrowing money in Chen Yachun's name. Moreover, the interest rate offered by Chen Jiaxie was as high as 10% per annum, so everyone readily lent the money.

Chen Jiaxie's reputation as the owner of Tongda Power Company is quite influential; some of his old friends have even bought shares in his company.

The old master of the Chen family nodded. With his own son Chen Jiaxie on his side, he was not afraid of anyone, so he lent the money without hesitation. No one suspected that this was all a dirty trick by Chen Jiaxie, the unfilial son.

These days, fathers and sons are considered one entity, and it's only natural for a son to represent his father.

It's just that Chen Yachun is suffering. He's already quite old, and his ancestral home has been mortgaged to the bank. He's still sighing and complaining in the yard, unaware that his son is still out there desperately trying to borrow money on his behalf.

Chapter 232 Tongda Power Board of Directors

Having emptied his father's savings for his funeral and overdrawn his father's life savings, Chen Jiaxie managed to scrape together over 400,000 yuan, which he then transferred to the company account without hesitation.

Chen Jiaxie, who raised so much money to invest, not only brought a surge in Tongda Company's assets, but also restored his own equity by five percentage points.

The trading center also received a capital injection notice from Chen Jiaxie, the owner of Tongda Company, and updated the asset review of Tongda Company again, causing the company's stock price to rise even faster.

The new shareholders' confidence in Tongda Company has become even stronger. If the largest shareholder is investing heavily, what do the smaller shareholders have to worry about?

Having raised so much money, Chen Jiaxie was ready to spend it to expand production. Money left in the account was useless; it was only effective when it was spent and transformed into productivity and market share.

However, how to spend money now requires a meeting. Previously, Chen Jiaxie held sole ownership, and any decision was made unilaterally without discussion or meetings.

But things are different now. Listed companies must have a board of directors, and investors holding more than 3% of the shares automatically become board members. Major company decisions must be made by the board of directors, as required by law.

The first board meeting of Tongda Company invited all board members, which was only three or four people. Among them was a German, Karl, who was not invited. He had been stationed at Tongda Power Company ever since he bought the shares and had been keeping an eye on things.

The remaining three are all local shareholders, and one is from Shanxi. They all rushed over to attend the meeting after receiving the invitation. Before receiving the invitation, none of them knew that they were company directors.