Chapter 21: 21, Republic Of China Finance, Catching Up At The Airport
To figure out the exchange rate between US dollars and silver dollars, Fang Wen returned to Citibank again.
It was still very quiet there, but the hotel manager was quite enthusiastic.
“Mr. Fang, you’re back again. What business do you need to handle?”
“I want to know the exchange rate for US dollars to silver dollars.”
“Sorry, there are some situations I need to explain to you.”
Perhaps out of boredom, the hotel manager explained the entire situation regarding exchanging US dollars.
The financial foundation of the Republic of China era was the silver standard, so although Yuan Shikai fell, the silver dollar economic system he established continued to be used.
At the same time, the US currency foundation was the gold standard, meaning that the exchange between silver dollars and US dollars was actually based on the gold-silver ratio.
But the actual situation was not that simple.
Currently, large quantities of silver dollars of different versions were circulating on the market, among which the Republic of China 3-year version had the highest silver purity. The silver dollars from Republic of China years 4 to 8 also had mint marks, but their quality was highly problematic because the mints’ equipment wasn’t actually operating in those years—who knows where those marked silver dollars came from. Later, other equipment purchased from abroad was used to produce more silver dollars successively, resulting in many different qualities on the market.
Therefore, although silver dollars circulated in China, they were filled with a large number of counterfeit and fake coins, making them unusable for exchanging US dollars based on the gold-silver ratio.
For this reason, Citibank set its own gold listed price, changing it every half month.
To exchange for US dollars, one had to use gold directly.
After hearing the explanation, Fang Wen calculated in his mind.
In other words, to purchase the Boeing 80, it had to be settled in US dollars, so he would need to exchange silver dollars for gold, then exchange for US dollars.
And now the bank’s gold listed price was: one ounce for 21 US dollars, up 2 US dollars per ounce from last month, reportedly due to the situation in the Northeast, which caused silver dollars to depreciate and US dollars to appreciate.
After conversion, it was approximately 2.9 silver dollars per US dollar.
130,000 US dollars was about 377,000 silver dollars.
So expensive?! Fang Wen finally understood what Howard meant when he said the Boeing 80 was very expensive.
Not to mention buying the Boeing 80, even a military fighter jet for 20,000 US dollars per unit, he couldn’t afford.
He thought he was quite wealthy, but it turned out he was only middle class.
Fang Wen mocked himself inwardly, then took Howard and left the bank to return to the airport.
Another two days passed, and not much time remained before the vacation ended.
The people from the south came to receive the Rhine NYP-2.
It was still that same driver, and with him came his assistant, as well as Shopkeeper Liu and Sun Debiao.
Back then, things were rushed and there was no communication; this time, Fang Wen talked with this colleague.
He learned that the pilot’s surname was Lu, an air force lieutenant, the kind who studied abroad and returned.
At the moment he revealed his identity, a sense of inexplicable superiority emerged from him.
In comparison, Fang Wen, who graduated from Nanyuan Aviation, was inferior to him in every aspect.
It was precisely this superiority that made him unwilling to risk going north for some rewards back then.
It was also this arrogance that made the communication uninteresting, so Fang Wen said nothing more and directly took the group to the hangar.
There, Lieutenant Lu conducted a detailed inspection of the airplane and found no issues; in fact, its condition was even slightly better than when they arrived.
Somewhat surprised, Lieutenant Lu said nothing, directly asked Shopkeeper Liu for the final payment, then took a box of silver dollars, boarded with his assistant, and flew south.
Watching the airplane leave meant the Northeast operation was officially over; Fang Wen smiled and looked at Shopkeeper Liu and Sun Debiao.
“Shall we four gather? Get some small wine and some small dishes.”
Shopkeeper Liu and Sun Debiao smiled back; the bond from sharing life and death was extraordinary.
Of course, this private relationship was not suitable to show outside.
The four chose to gather for a meal and chat inside the airport.
In the dormitory room, the four ate braised dishes and shao wine brought from the canteen, speaking freely.
“This Northeast flight really opened my eyes, Sun Debiao. Airplanes are great—high above, dropping some bombs and machine gun fire below, and others can’t hit you. Shopkeeper Liu, wasn’t that thrilling?”
The usually refined Shopkeeper Liu downed the wine in his cup in one go and wiped the liquor from his beard.
“Absolutely! I’m just a scholar; normally, even seeing a chicken killed makes me dizzy. But that day, pushing the big oil barrel down, with flashes of fire lighting up the sky—I felt exhilarated for some reason.”
“Yeah, those short winter melons usually bow and scrape, but in battle they’re vicious. Who knows what they’ll turn the Northeast into.” Sun Debiao nodded with emotion and downed his cup too.
Shopkeeper Liu looked at Fang Wen: “Commissioner Fang, what do you think this world will have to become chaotic like before it ends?”
Fang Wen poured for the two and replied.
“Do you think China will eventually unify?”
“Yeah, since ancient times, after long division comes unity—always so.” Shopkeeper Liu nodded seriously.
Even an accountant had this realization; Fang Wen felt somewhat emotional.
But this process was very tragic.
He didn’t want to dwell on this topic, so he changed the subject.
“Are your families planning to stay in Shanghai?”
“Yeah, Shenyang has fallen, the Northeast is almost gone, and the Japanese will definitely enter the pass next to attack Beiping. Our families can only move to Shanghai.” Shopkeeper Liu, having drunk, was more talkative.
He continued.
“But here, the waters are too murky. Foreigners’ compradors, warlords, bankers, merchants, even the gangs all have their territories. They see us like treasures; it’s extremely difficult to take root here.”
Sun Debiao interjected: “Our roots are in the Northeast; now we’re homeless. It’s hard enough to hold onto our current estate, and if we show weakness, Shanghai’s various forces will devour us clean.”
Fang Wen nodded in agreement.
Shanghai was extremely complex; don’t think hooking up with some connections makes it easy—various interest relations and struggles are hard for outsiders to understand.
Precisely because of this, over the past year, he focused on mastering his ‘skills’ and didn’t seek out old classmates to cultivate connections.
But now, hearing Shopkeeper Liu’s words, he had another idea.
These Northeast families definitely couldn’t make it in Shanghai.
The money they brought, spent on various kickbacks, couldn’t salvage anything.
If he could persuade them to invest that money in a private airline company, it would solve his funding problem and their desire to gain a foothold in Shanghai Station.
Thus, Fang Wen smiled, got up, took a box from the bedside cabinet, and placed two cloth-wrapped gold bars—one in front of Shopkeeper Liu and one in front of Sun Debiao.
“This is the reward for going to the Northeast, a little return for our shared life and death.”
The two looked at the two gold bars wrapped in red cloth before them.
Full of surprise.
“Take them. Howard and Yue Jinping have theirs too; you’re the last two.”
The two were immediately tempted and pocketed the gold bars.
Fang Wen continued: “I have a proposal that’s good for your families and greatly beneficial to me.”
