Two hundred thousand silver dollars, this is a huge amount of money. One silver dollar is worth one thousand Taiping coins, and two Taiping coins are worth one liter of rice. If converted, two hundred thousand silver dollars is worth at least four hundred thousand taels of silver in the Ming Dynasty. However,
It's no wonder that as the silver dollar is the legal large-denomination currency of Shuntian Prefecture, the purity of silver is inherently high, making it more suitable for value preservation and circulation.
As the first "leader" of Shuntian Mansion, Wan Lei is actually very poor. The reason why he has 20,000 silver dollars for investment is because he sold several patents, especially the facial cream processing technology. This technology was popular at the beginning of the year.
At that time, it was transferred to Grandma Liu, and he received 14,000 silver dollars in one lump sum.
Adding in the commission income from the wax factory, steel factory, copper smelting factory, cement factory, glass factory, etc., the income this year is only about 30,000 silver dollars, but nearly 10,000 silver dollars are used as education funds, so there are all kinds of
With a net worth of only 20,000 silver dollars, he invested all of it in Huihuang Oil Company at once, and he immediately became a poor man.
Originally, Wan Lei planned to invest the capital in the railway company. However, since the war situation has not yet stabilized, the railway construction is only preliminary preparations for the time being, and it will not be possible to add additional rails until the year after next at the earliest. The main purpose of preliminary preparations is to pull in
Straightening and smoothing the road surface requires slave labor and does not cost much.
Just investing money is not enough. You have to convince the senators and they agree. Only then can the company be established, have the exclusive right to exploit oil resources, and get the government's capital injection of 40,000 silver dollars. But this is not enough for Wan Lei.
There is no problem at all. As long as profits are guaranteed and those senators are given priority to participate in shares, they will support it with both hands and feet.
It is said that everything in the world is for profit, and all the noise in the world is for profit. The only word "profit" in a person's life is "profit".
We are all smart people. Needless to say, after Wan Lei’s high-sounding speech, the senators almost unanimously approved the establishment of Huihuang Petroleum Company. After the Chinese New Year, the company will start preparations for establishment, and it will be ready after the snow melts.
Pull the production team to the oil field area to start drilling operations.
Of course, the workers in the production team are still mainly slave workers. After all, the company is a government-controlled enterprise, and it is normal to use slave workers. And this year's land and sea war gave Shuntian Mansion more than 40,000 slave workers.
Naturally, with so many people, we should make good use of it.
In the midst of the gathering, New Year's Eve soon arrived, and Wan Lei, who rarely had any leisure time, finally realized the difficulty of being a "leader". Even someone like him who was not involved in everything would be exhausted by all kinds of military and political affairs.
Alas, everything is difficult at the beginning.
Flowers are similar every year, but people are different every year. On the first day of the Lunar New Year, a temple fair is held in Peiping City, and all major parks are crowded with people. There are many officers and soldiers in blue military uniforms in the crowd. It is rare for them to have a holiday.
, either taking the family with them to visit the park, or finding time to go on a blind date.
A mass wedding was held in the Triumph Square on the shore of Houhai. Dozens of newlyweds came to the ceremony one after another to get married in front of relatives and friends. The gongs and drums were noisy and the crowd was full of laughter. It was very lively. Wan Lei also stood aside with his wife to watch the ceremony.
, while sending blessings, they also carefully issued marriage certificates to each couple.
From this year on, a new marriage law came into effect. All couples in Beiping City were required to register their marriages and issue legally binding marriage certificates. This new marriage law was not very different from the regulations of the Ming Dynasty. It was still
Monogamy is practiced. Of course, rich people can take concubines, but they must be mutually agreeable and cannot be forced.
At the same time, the Marriage Law clearly stipulates that domestic violence, abuse or abandonment of wives and children are strictly prohibited, and the sale of people is also strictly prohibited, and various provisions to protect military marriages are added. In short, it is becoming more and more humane and protects women and children to the maximum extent.
rights and interests.
In addition, the Marriage Law is only one of a series of civil laws that have been enacted. A series of laws such as Civil Law, Commercial Law, Contract Law, Company Law, etc. have been implemented. The most important of them is the Contract Law, because it is the most powerful legal guarantee for maintaining the capitalist employment relationship.
At the same time, it also provides legal support for creating a business environment that is law-abiding and honest.
Legal provisions alone are not enough. There must also be judicial organs to enforce the law. Therefore, a civil court was set up under the parliament and more than a dozen veteran members who were familiar with the law were assigned to hear various civil cases. Of course, the civil court only
The original government is still responsible for handling civil cases and criminal cases. After all, civilization is a gradual process, and it is far from the level of separation of powers.
There is a New Year's atmosphere outside, but the inside of Yang's house is lifeless. Although the funeral of Mr. Yang has been completed, the Yang family has obviously not come out of the grief yet. What's more, their new head, Yang Zirong, doesn't know either.
What to do next.
In fact, judging from Wan Lei's attitude of ignoring and ignoring, Yang Zirong also knew that it was impossible for him to be reused by Shuntian Mansion. Even if he took refuge at this time, people would not give him too much courtesy. And now although the Yang family
You don't have to worry about food and clothing, but to put it harshly, it's all donated by others. If they become unhappy one day, they can cut off the supply and let the Yang family fend for themselves.
How could Yang Zirong be willing to eat this kind of food, but he asked himself that apart from reading some sages' books, he had no merits, but this was Shuntian Mansion, and the most useless people were those who read sages' books. Even if he was willing to put down his body and give it to
Even though he was a master in a wealthy family, they would not accept him because he had neither the acumen to manage finances nor the ability to socialize with others.
If you can't be a master, you can't be a teacher. Now that there are no private schools in Beiping City, and all children go to school for free, who would spend money to hire someone to teach? And the Four Books and Five Classics he knows, in the eyes of Peking people,
It's just liberal arts. Nowadays, people value science. He can't even understand this knowledge, let alone teach it.
Unable to engage in mental work, there is only one way to go, and that is to do physical work like those rich and powerful people. Unfortunately, he is a typical scholar with no hands. Even if they want to hire workers, they will not hire him. Engage in handicrafts.
Right? No one
Even his wife and concubine knew nothing about weaving, embroidery and other female crafts. Even if they wanted to learn from scratch, someone would have to teach them. And they were unfamiliar with the place and had offended "King Shuncheon" many times.
The people of Tianfu didn't even look at them seriously.
Just as Yang Zirong's family was worrying about their future livelihood, there was a knock on the door. The old lady at home was taking care of Mrs. Yang, who was ill in bed and could not leave for the time being. Yang Zirong's concubine, Mrs. Zhou, went to answer the call.
Door.
"It turns out to be Mr. Liu and Mrs. Liu, please come in quickly." Mrs. Zhou was also enthusiastic, because Mrs. Liu helped persuade her husband and wife to let her son Yang Zhi go to school. As the saying goes, the mother is more valuable than the son.
As a concubine, she was already inferior to others in the Yang family. All she hoped for was that her son would be successful in the future, so she naturally hoped that her son would be able to leave the house.
"I'm here to pay you New Year's greetings, don't you bother me?" Mrs. Liu was wearing a pure blue Confucian skirt, with a bun on her head. She looked very energetic, and she also carried a large bag of things in her hand.
"Madam, you're so polite. Just come over here. What are you bringing something for?" Mrs. Yang also hurriedly came out to greet her. After all, the Liu family and the Yang family were neighbors, and the Liu family had helped her family a lot, so she couldn't help but give her this face. .
"These things are not for you, but for the children. School will start in about ten days. In this schoolbag are textbooks and notes. Let the children take a good look at them so that they don't fall too far behind others when they go to school. "Mrs. Liu said seriously.
"Madam is so enthusiastic about supporting and treating the child, why don't you quickly kowtow and say thank you."
"No, no, I can't bear this kowtow ceremony. I'm afraid of losing my blessings." Mrs. Liu said hurriedly. She was not the only one. People in Quanshun Tianfu have long been discouraged from kneeling. In addition to paying homage to their ancestors, No matter how big an official you are, you don't have to kneel down.
"Oh, I was so busy that I invited Madam into the house as soon as I was happy. It's really rude. Come on, please come and sit in the house, so we can do our best as landlords." Mrs. Yang is obviously much more generous and decent than before, and she does many things well. Dare to make up your own mind.
"That's fine." Mrs. Liu didn't refuse, because she had another purpose in coming to Yang's house.
As the head of the family, although Yang Zirong is somewhat grateful to the Liu family, he still doesn't look at the Liu family from the bottom of his heart. A loyal minister will not serve the two masters, let alone Liu Jing, who serves the two masters and is not reused. Therefore, he just After politely greeting Liu Jing for a few words, there was nothing else to say.
The two families sat down separately. After a cup of tea, Mrs. Liu went straight to the topic: "Mr. Yang, what are your plans for the New Year?"
"My father has just passed away, and we should observe mourning for three years." Yang Zirong said sadly.
"Well, we should respect our father's filial piety." Mrs. Liu's face was indifferent and she added: "However, if people like you don't work, there is no way to just sit back and have nothing. You should also know that this is Beiping City, and no one can get something for nothing. "
"This, we understand." Yang Zilao's face looked a little ugly. What he was most afraid of was his livelihood, and of course he could see that Mrs. Liu's coming here must be Wan Lei's arrangement. The purpose was naturally to make him bow his head and act like a second-hand man. minister.
Yang Zirong doesn't want to bow his head, let alone become a second minister, but in this world, the situation is always stronger than the person.
"My old man has an errand. I wonder if Mr. Yang is willing to do it." Mrs. Liu didn't play tricks and got straight to the point.
"Errand?" Yang Zirong looked at Liu Jing, who had been silent.
"I am currently the librarian of Beiping City. I am responsible for sorting out all the books in Beiping City. We are short of manpower now. I wonder if Mr. Yang is willing to help." Liu Jing said sincerely. Of course, he, as the librarian, has personnel rights, but This power was given by Wan Lei, and even all the funds for the library were paid for by Wan Lei.
"It would be a great honor for me to be able to work with you, sir. It's just that I have to attend to the funeral of my father and it's inconvenient for me to show my face." Yang Zirong declined politely.
"It doesn't matter. I am my assistant. You only need to copy and write on weekdays. You can also work at home. You can receive a monthly salary of two silver dollars. If the article you write is favored and selected by the superiors, you can be paid per word. With the young master's talent and learning, this must not be difficult." There was a wry smile on Liu Jing's face, because he had now completely "become" Wan Lei's trumpeter, and he had to write whatever Wan Lei asked him to write.
But fortunately, Wan Lei just asked him to write some vernacular essays that argued that "the people are more important than the country and the king is less important". These are not divorced from pre-Confucianism and are not trying to force people to do anything. What embarrasses him is that Wan Lei always knows
Add his name to the end of the article and let him jump into the Yellow River to clear his name as "Second Minister".
Since the name of the Second Minister could no longer be washed away, Liu Jing simply "broken the pot" and followed the Shuntian Mansion wholeheartedly. After all, the development of the Peiping Army was still very rapid, and it was not known that it could really compete in the world.
"Sir, if you say so, it would be disrespectful for me to refuse any more." Yang Zirong also had a wry smile on his face, and then he glanced at Mrs. Liu and asked in a low voice: "Sir, can you take a step to speak."
Liu Jing glanced at Madam, and Madam Liu waved her hand and said: "You go ahead, Madam Yang and I still have something personal to say."
With the wife's permission, Liu Jing and Yang Zirong left the living room and came to a small study. Yang Zirong closed the door and then lowered his voice and said: "Mr. Liu, there are no outsiders here. Can you follow me and tell the truth?"
"Truth?" Liu Jing glanced at Yang Zirong, who had a serious face, and said with a wry smile: "I have nothing to hide. I was entrusted by that person to invite the young master to come out."
"Oh, what does that person need to do next? Is it just copying and writing?"
"Yes, maybe not." Liu Jing sighed and said: "That person is very ambitious. If he wants to compile a book about Paul, he will naturally need a lot of literati. In addition, if he wants to win people's hearts, he will also need a lot of people.
The pen of a scholar."
"That's it? Nothing else?"
"No, that person doesn't trust literati like us at all, and will only let us bury ourselves in copywriting. As for military and state affairs, we have no right to know about them. Even teaching and educating people, we can only use Shuntian Mansion's own people." Liu
Jing shrugged and said helplessly. To be honest, because he was not reused, he felt a lot of resentment in his stomach.
But what if you have grievances? People only believe in their own people. If you want to be reused, you must first gain the support of the people of Shuntian Mansion. Only by being elected as a member can you enter the circle of power.
In addition, although everyone in the power circle is Wan Lei's best friend, Wan Lei is famous for being fair. I have never heard of him promoting private individuals in an exceptional way. All officials are selected and recommended.
To get ahead, you also need to gain recognition from people in the power circle. For Liu Jing, who is just like an outsider, this is as difficult as climbing to the sky.
Precisely because she was desperate for her future career, Liu Jing could only pin her hopes on her grandnephew Liu Zhi. Now that Wan Lei is very good to Liu Zhi, he might be able to be vigorously cultivated. In the future, he should be able to make a name for himself in the army.
Liu Jing knew that Wan Lei had the final say on Jingzhongwei, and he could promote whoever he wanted.
"Sir, are you willing to do so? You never thought about it..." Yang Zirong lowered his voice and looked at Liu Jing nervously.
"I understand what you mean. I've also thought about it this way, but it's not feasible."
"Why isn't it possible? Peiping's warships have powerful guns and many ingenious skills. All we have to do is..., in the future, it will be regarded as a waste of time. Maybe it will still be a meritorious service."
"I'm not even qualified to look at those things, and I can't steal them even if I want to. Besides, your family is still here. Even if they open the city gate and let you go, you can't leave."
"Why can't they leave? Could it be that they will implicate others."
"You have just arrived, and you don't understand their methods yet. If you defect, they will definitely not implicate your family, but they can find ways to make you betray all your relatives, and even make your wife, children, and children turn against you. I am someone who has been here before, and I would like to advise you.
One sentence: Don’t be half-hearted, this is Beiping City, this is that person’s Beiping City.”
"Is that man really that capable?" Yang Zirong was still unwilling.
"You still don't understand. When your children go to school, when your wife goes out to socialize with those noble ladies, you will understand: this is Beiping City, there are some authorities that are invisible, but they must not be provoked.