Chapter 279 The rules of the local area and Tianjin are different

I carefully read the three accounts submitted by Hao Ren.

One account is for the Fuyao Steel Plant, one account is for the operation of the Railway Chamber of Commerce, and the other is for the newly-established Kaiping Railway.

After reading it, Zhou Tieyi circulated it to many shareholders present without hiding it. Anyway, the accounts were there, and he was worried every day about how to invest the money, and he had no time to make any money out of it.

Half of the Railway Chamber of Commerce's 2.1 million taels of silver were gone in an instant.

It is foreseeable that with the advancement of the second and third phases of the Fuyao Steel Plant by the end of the year, it would be considered a sign of Hao Ren's thriftiness if the remaining money could last until the end of the year.

In the past six months, we have been able to recover some funds, for example, from laying railways and purchasing rails from steel mills, which naturally brought in corresponding income.

However, according to Zhou Tieyi's estimation, before investing five million taels to build the entire Fuyao Steel Plant, this would be a real den of money, and the money would be wasted much faster than visiting a brothel.

When you open your eyes, you see two or three thousand people eating and looking at you. When you close your eyes, you see white money flowing through your mind.

Once the railway construction begins, this process cannot be stopped. More and more workers will be recruited, and redundant costs will also increase.

Zhou Tieyi did have another source of income, which was the "luxury tax" from the God-Slaying Division and the property of the wealthy merchants in Tianjin that was confiscated this time.

However, he could not arbitrarily embezzle this money to the Railway Chamber of Commerce.

The most important thing for those who do big things is to not keep the accounts clear.

The God-Executing Department is a public tool.

The Railway Chamber of Commerce is still a private property to this day, so public property must never be used for private purposes.

Zhou Tieyi subconsciously looked at Qian Guangyun who was checking the accounts.

Seeing the Railway Chamber of Commerce spending money like water, Qian Guangyun felt a little frightened. In less than two months, even if one million taels of silver were thrown into water, it would make a sound, but when placed in the Railway Chamber of Commerce, it really formed a bottomless vortex, swallowing up more silver at a rapidly expanding rate.

Qian Guangyun felt Zhou Tieyi's gaze and the corners of his mouth twitched.

Although the Southeast Chamber of Commerce has quickly occupied a large number of good shops and industries in Tianjing with the help of Zhou Tieyi in the past two months, it is not without cost.

The luxury tax paid to the Zhushen Division is one aspect, the cost of purchasing shops and industries is another aspect, plus the investment in newspapers, railway chambers of commerce, railways, etc.

Now the Southeast Chamber of Commerce seems to be getting bigger and bigger, but it is just a fat man who has eaten too much and has not digested the food.

Before digesting the shops and properties purchased through Zhou Tieyi this time, the Southeast Chamber of Commerce really needs to squeeze out the money bit by bit.

Even Qian Guangyun has taken the lead in the Southeast Chamber of Commerce to have two meals a day.

What is the purpose? Isn't it to tell the people below that they have to suffer recently, there are many places to spend money, and once this period is over, good days will naturally come.

Qian Guangyun gritted his teeth, and Zhou Tieyi looked at him. He had to agree to whatever he said. Even if it meant pawning his family's fertile land, he had to come up with the money.

Zhou Tieyi saw Qian Guangyun's expression and knew Qian Guangyun's difficulties. He stretched out his hand and pressed, "You should manage the Southeast Chamber of Commerce seriously in the past six months. The shops in the hands of the Southeast Chamber of Commerce will become the sales channels for the products of the Train Chamber of Commerce."

He rubbed his chin.

The Railway Chamber of Commerce was nationalized and began to transform into the Railway Department?
Zhou Tieyi shook his head slightly, it’s not the right time yet.

Now the Railway Chamber of Commerce has just started, and the people it has trained have not yet grown up to become the indispensable core and backbone of the entire chamber of commerce.

All the philosophers will certainly be very happy about the transformation at this time.

We still have to push the Moshi case forward.

After plundering the wealthy merchants in Tianjing, it was only time to plunder the wealthy merchants in other places.

Zhou Tieyi thought seriously.

Moreover, the coal and iron in the three states of Taihang Mountains are the core of the entire steam revolution. We must master a part of it, which is even more important than the inkstone mine.

Hang in there until the end of the year and everything will be fine.

And now the Railway Chamber of Commerce can still hold out until the end of the year.

But there is one more thing that needs to be done at the same time.

Zhou Tieyi looked at the fourth prince Li Jing.

As Zhou Tieyi's "iron party", Li Jing naturally also invested in a railway chamber of commerce, but his attitude at the time was similar to Qingkong Ming's. He only invested 10,000 taels of silver to show his attitude, and did not do anything else.

"Brother Jing, I have a plan here, take a look."

After saying that, Zhou Tieyi took out a plan and handed it to Li Jing.

"Plan for a Steamship Merchant Factory".

Li Jing was delighted when she saw the question.

When Zhou Tieyi and Qian Guangyun were talking just now, he understood that the Railway Merchants Association would have certain financial difficulties. He was also thinking about whether to tell Zhou Tieyi in person that he could make additional investments or to talk about it in private.

My identity is different from that of an ordinary businessman, and my brother already knows my ambitions.

Therefore, if he suddenly spoke up on behalf of the royal family when the Railway Chamber of Commerce was in financial difficulties, it might not only fail to leave Zhou Tieyi with the image of someone helping in times of need, but would backfire and appear to be taking advantage of someone's misfortune, with his father's suggestion behind it.

Now, after seeing the plan for the shipbuilding investment factory, Li Jing immediately understood that Zhou Tieyi had already considered this.

He carefully read the entire plan, which listed the key points of the Railway Chamber of Commerce since its establishment, as well as the things that needed to be paid attention to in shipping expansion. Combined with his own personal experience, he suddenly felt enlightened.

Zhou Tieyi drank his tea quietly while other shareholders of the Railway Chamber of Commerce around him looked through the account books while paying attention to Li Jing's expression.

It seems there are good things coming!
After Li Jing had finished looking at it, Zhou Tieyi spoke up, "Since it is a blessing from heaven, the train and the ship are both indispensable, so they can work together. But Jing'er has also seen the current situation of the Train Chamber of Commerce. I am busy with this matter and have no time to take care of other things. So I am thinking of setting up another shipyard, with Jing'er taking the lead, and my Zhou family providing technical support and shares. Jing'er, do you think this can be successful?"

It seems that running a shipyard involves no less worries than running a railway company, and maybe even more.

Compared to trains, the biggest advantage of ships is that they have waterways and do not require laying rails, which invisibly reduces huge costs.

But success or failure depends on the channel.

Trains are a new thing, and at most the only concern is the encroachment on fertile farmland. But when it comes to waterways, the livelihoods of tens of millions of upstream and downstream workers depend on them.

Zhou Tieyi had previously briefly discussed the Cao Gang with the miscellaneous expert Chu Wensheng.

The entire waterway involves the combination of the Cao Gang, the Cao officials, and the provincial officials from both sides of the Taiwan Strait. The number of people and things to deal with may be ten or even a hundred times more than what Zhou Tieyi has dealt with in the past two or three months. It is truly related to the lifeblood of the country and must not be acted upon rashly.

Zhou Tieyi didn't have the energy to change the waterway, but the manufacture of ships was an indispensable part of the steam revolution, so he needed to choose someone with a big enough background and a clear enough mind to do it.

We must not lag behind in the early stages and delay the entire industrialization process.

The one who perfectly meets this requirement is the fourth prince Li Jing.

Of course, in addition to this main reason, there is another hidden meaning, which is to show His Majesty the Great Xia that I can delegate power to you on the newspaper so that you can feel at ease. I can also delegate power to you on this steam engine so that you can feel at ease.

I have given half of my achievements to your son. You can't be worried, right? This is also a way of repaying the title of Shengshi Hou that you gave me.

After reading the entire plan, even Li Jing, who was very shrewd, couldn't help but tremble slightly.

This is the opportunity I have been waiting for!
In the past two months, Zhou Tieyi has been like a dragon riding the wind and rain.

In the eyes of outsiders, as Zhou Tieyi's eldest brother, he is undoubtedly the one who has won a great victory among the many princes. He even took off the title of "King Anle" from his head in one fell swoop. With Zhou Tieyi's current power, he has a tendency to suppress the crown prince and the seventh prince.

But my family knows their own affairs.

The stupidest decision he made at that time was to use Zhou Tieyi to test Zhao Fure.

Although I was just adding fuel to the fire, I didn't leave any evidence.

But now it seems so ridiculous in Zhou Tieyi's eyes at that time.

The only thing that was lucky for me was that Mei Qingchen's incident suddenly happened and my brother needed my help to go to Fengyu Lake. I also reacted quickly and quickly repaired the relationship between the two. From the perspective of outsiders, it was naturally the two of us who had been hiding in the red-light district.

However, as Zhou Tieyi's power expanded rapidly, he did not benefit from it at all. In addition, Zhou Tieyi's favorite concubine became the manager of Linshuixuan, which inevitably made others see the real problem.

And now all the problems have been solved.

Zhou Tieyi, the shipyard, asked me to handle this, which not only meant that Zhou Tieyi really accepted me again, but also that all my previous efforts were rewarded. It also gave me a place to really show my talents. The canal transportation problem was indeed complicated, but if I could handle it well, then there would be no problem in dealing with the world.

"Brother, the technology investment is only 20%, isn't that too little?"

Li Jing took the initiative to speak.

Cast me a papaya and give it to Qiong Ju.

The Mohists understood this principle, so did Li Jing.

Zhou Tieyi smiled and waved his hands, "It's not much, but it's not a small amount either. This shipyard is led by Jing Ge'er. I invested in the technology, and 20% is already a lot. If I owned more, I could just merge it into the Railway Chamber of Commerce. How can Jing Ge'er lead it?"

After listening to Zhou Tieyi's explanation, not only Li Jing, but also other businessmen and military heroes present were thoughtful.

The Railway Chamber of Commerce now has a funding gap. In addition to the Southeast Chamber of Commerce, which will definitely support it, if the many military heroes in White Tiger City invest more money, they will consider and ask for more.

This moment, that moment.

At the beginning, everyone just thought that Zhou Tieyi was looking for an excuse to collect money, so the military heroes took out a total of 100,000 taels.

Although the Railway Chamber of Commerce is in trouble now, the future is promising.

Therefore, once Zhou Tieyi asks for money from the military heroes, they will definitely take the money, but they will also ask for power.

in business.

Zhou Tieyi has given a lot of lessons to the military heroes recently.

For example, Zhou Tieyi did not pamper the military heroes in the small flag and general flag of the God-Slaying Division, and naturally a gap arose between the two sides.

Brothers should settle accounts clearly.

Zhou Tieyi was able to use the rules of the God-Slaying Division to settle accounts clearly, so naturally the military heroes also followed these rules to demand power.

So this is the second reason why Zhou Tieyi cannot confuse the Railway Chamber of Commerce with the shipyard.

The Zhou family only takes a share of the money, so many things are discussed by the royal family represented by Li Jing, and the resources that can be raised are in another direction.

For example, the royal relatives and maternal relatives, this is the area that Zhou Tieyi has never taken action against. Their extravagance is even worse than that of wealthy businessmen.

But I couldn't move, I could only let Li Jing move.

Of course, good things should be kept within the family. Zhou Tieyi looked at his flag bearer Shen Tuyuan and asked with a smile, "I heard that the Shen Tu family has a military camp in Liuhe Town, thirty miles outside Xuanwu City?"

The Shentu family is in charge of the Feixiong Army. Although their foundation is a little weaker than that of the Zhou family, they are able to control a titled army, so their strength should not be underestimated.

Although the Shentu family was not able to open a military base directly in the four cities of Tianjing like the Zhou family, they also opened a military base in the surrounding areas of Tianjing, located in Liuhe, a tributary of Luoshui.

Shen Tu Yuan clasped his fists and said, "Yes."

Zhou Tieyi looked at Li Jing again, "To open a factory, it is best to have a military workshop as a foundation, so that you can get twice the result with half the effort. I think the Feixiong Military Workshop is good. Brother Jing can go and have a talk."

Li Jing looked at Shen Tu Yuan and smiled, "Then I'll have to trouble Brother Shen Tu to introduce me."

Shentu Yuan took a deep breath and said to Li Jing, "I will definitely fulfill my mission."

The Shentu family is different from the Zhou family.

Shentu Yuan was almost abandoned by the Shentu family. The brothers in their family fought much more fiercely than those in the Hao family.

Although Shentu Yuan is now appreciated by Zhou Tieyi and has gained some status in the family.

But there is still a world of difference between him and Hao Ren, who is in charge of the Railway Chamber of Commerce.

And now, with Li Jing setting up a shipyard, Zhou Tieyi will naturally take the opportunity to help Shentu Yuan fight for it. Anyway, the opportunity has been given to Shentu Yuan. If he and Li Jing are unable to deal with Shentu Yuan, it either means that the two of them are too useless, or that this generation of the Shentu family has truly produced someone worthy of his attention.

After making arrangements for Shen Tuyuan, Zhou Tieyi looked at the military honors who were eagerly waiting for him and said with a smile, "Of course, all the brothers need to invest first, and you can discuss it directly with Jing Ge'er. I will only supervise the accounts of the shipyard and will definitely not send anyone to supervise it. Jing Ge'er will be responsible for it."

Li Jing smiled and said, "You can't be lazy. I will often ask you questions when I don't understand something."

After Zhou Tieyi and Li Jing said this, the military heroes and businessmen present immediately praised them. The scene was prosperous and all the wise men gathered.

Qingkong Ming, who had been listening nearby, sighed softly. He had accomplished another great thing.

The opening of the shipyard, even if Zhou Tieyi is not in power, also means that Zhou Tieyi has formed a bond of interests with the royal family through Li Jing.

Combined with the Railway Chamber of Commerce and the God-Slaying Bureau that Zhou Tieyi now controls, he has split the Confucianism and Legalism schools, and vaguely won over the Mohist school and other schools. In terms of power in the court, Zhou Tieyi is no longer afraid of the uncrowned Confucianism.

Even if the emperor does not take sides, Zhou Tieyi can now use various means to restrain and deal with the problems of Confucianism in the court. Of course, this is only in the court.

Once it is implemented at the local level, it is another model.

Even when the emperor was at his prime, the light of the sun and the moon could only illuminate the mountains and four cities of Tianjing. This was enough to show that there was still a huge gap between the court and the local areas.

I have also heard vaguely that there seems to be a big incident in the local area, involving Confucianism, the Zhou family and King Ning.

······
June 20th, Lakeside Academy.

Over the past twenty days, with the help of the experts from Lake Heart Academy through the accounts stolen by Shi Yutong, he wanted to verify the inkstone mine accounts of the Zhou and He families.

The He family already knew that the Confucian family was going to take action, so they had begun to urgently settle accounts during this period. Without external accounts to verify the errors in the internal accounts, it would be extremely difficult to move against the Zhou family through the He family.

Knowing this, He Qiming tried to save himself by letting Shi Yutong steal the incomplete accounts and letting the Confucianists check them.

As a member of the team that excavated the inkstone mine, He Jiatai knew a lot about the tricks in the inkstone mine.

There are so many tricks that even the insiders don’t know how other companies’ accounts are aligned.

For example, when the He family sold ink stones to Prince Ning over the years, they discovered a strange thing: a large amount of ink stones purchased by Prince Ning's palace were not transported to the palace for use, but were transported back to the Shantong Palace through a secret line.

It’s just that in the past, each family took care of their own business, and the He family would not bother to check the accounts of Prince Ning’s Mansion. Anyway, every year, they received a large amount of cultivation resources from the ink stones sold to Prince Ning, and that was enough.

But now this is a point that can be exploited.

The fact was just as Qiming had expected. If one wanted to check the inkstone, it was impossible to check only one household at a time. A large amount of inkstone was transported by various households, it was just a matter of amount.

When Li Jianhu and others followed the clues and found a monk named "Zhi Xin", the Ning Wang Mansion erupted!

In the guest room of Lakeside Academy, several people were discussing the next plan.

Shi Yutong was the most excited. She said, "As long as we find the temple behind Monk Zhixin, we will be able to find out where the inkstone that Prince Ning's Mansion bought privately has been shipped to!"

In addition to Shi Yutong, several other practitioners who received the mission from Taixu Illusion Realm to protect Li Jianhu gradually gained the basic trust of Cui Yu and others during the twenty days of operation.

It was not until now that they realized how tricky this mission was.

They originally thought that they would only protect Li Jianhu for a few days, but as soon as Li Jianhu entered the Lakeside Academy, they sensed that a great scholar of the third rank was watching them in secret.

This made them even more afraid to leave easily. They could only continue to pretend to be chivalrous and righteous, getting deeper and deeper into this matter. When they found out this, one of them couldn't help but say, "But Monk Zhixin has been silenced. I think it would be dangerous for us to continue investigating."

They had already discussed it secretly yesterday, and now they have a perfect reason to withdraw. Moreover, they have done so much for Confucianism. According to the nature of Confucianism, they should not kill people to silence them. All they need to do next is to sneak away and escape from the sphere of influence of Prince Ning's Mansion.

Shi Yutong curled her lips and said, "What are you afraid of? This is Lakeside Academy!"

She looked at Cui Yu who was in deep thought. She dared to continue investigating, on the one hand, for her own practice of "Dao Men", and on the other hand, she was sure that if the Confucianists wanted to investigate this matter, they would definitely withstand the pressure from the Ning Wang Mansion.

As long as Confucianism is around, Prince Ning is nothing to worry about.

Cui Yu suddenly felt something in his heart and looked out the window, "Not good!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a giant ape a hundred feet tall suddenly fell from the sky. In the dim moonlight, it looked like a hill. Then a human voice uttered from the giant ape's mouth, "The Lake Heart Academy is harboring a demon. By order of the God Punishment Officer, you must arrest him immediately. Anyone who obstructs will be executed immediately!"

Then a horn sounded.

Along with the sound of the horn, there was also an extremely dazzling, three-meter-thick beam of light that spewed out directly from the mouth of the giant mountain ape, illuminating the dark lake surface with a bright white glow.

(End of this chapter)