In the study, the forty-four-year-old Hong Chengchou, who is lean but has a strong gaze, is sitting on a sofa chair, wearing a pair of low-sighted glasses, and looking at the issue of "Oriental Times" published today in his hand.
Hong Chengchou read the headline article on the front page [Railway investment bonds have been sold out and the construction phase has begun], and then fell into a daze for a long time, not knowing what he was thinking.
Why!
He let out a long sigh.
I irritably closed the newspaper and put it on the desk, then stood up and walked back and forth with my hands behind my back, walking around and around the small study.
From time to time, he made long and short sighs.
It can be seen that he is not in a good mood, he looks worried and gloomy.
In fact, his development has been very good in the past few years.
Especially since the winter of the sixth year of Chongzhen, when he joined the "Allied Forces to Exterminate Profiteous Merchants" and went to Shanxi to destroy eight Shanxi merchants and earn a lot of extra money.
With the first pot of gold he got this time, he trained a total of 30,000 elite Qin troops who were loyal to him. In the following years, he relied on this Qin army to achieve many military exploits.
His official position was promoted to the first rank and he was the crown prince's Taibao, and he won royal titles for his wife and mother.
In terms of personal wealth, he has invested in maritime trade in recent years, introduced technology from Xujiazhuang, invested in and opened many factories, and his net worth has already exceeded 10 million.
There is also the railway investment bond issued by Xujiazhuang this time. He bought 3 million silver dollars without blinking an eye, which can be described as very heroic.
That being the case.
Since his life has been so successful and complete, why does he still sigh and feel unhappy at all? How can this make people who are far worse off than him feel embarrassed?
In fact, most unhappiness comes from gaps and comparisons.
In the winter of the sixth year of Chongzhen, under the organization of Xujiazhuang, troops were sent to annihilate sixteen imperial armies of the eight Shanxi merchant families. Their chief generals were Hong Chengchou, Cao Wenzhao, Yang Yufan, Wang Hong, Deng Qi, Zuo Liangyu, Qin Liangyu, Wu Xiang, Zu
Da Bi, Wang Yinghui, Zuo Guangxian, Li Bei, Ai Wannian, Tang Jiuzhou, Chen Yongfu, Liu Zeqing - among these sixteen people, Hong Chengchou had the highest official position at that time, and was even the superior of some generals. In addition, he was a civil servant.
Naturally, he was half a head taller, and his status was far above the other fifteen people.
But less than four years have passed.
He was transferred from the governor of the three sides to the governor of the Qin army, taking charge of the military affairs of Shaanxi. His rank remained unchanged, but his power was slightly weakened.
The other fifteen people have not been promoted much, and they are all jealous of the court. There is nothing to say about this. There is no need to compare themselves.
What is difficult for Hong Chengchou to accept is that in just four years, everyone except himself has undergone earth-shaking changes in terms of territory and industrial management.
For example, Yang Yufan, the commander-in-chief of Tongzhou, is now known as the "Canal King". He lives at the end of the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal and feeds on the river. He formed his own river transport caravan and opened a food processing factory, a brick kiln factory, a cement factory, and a briquette factory.
, River Sand Factory, with the help of convenient water transportation, the Tongzhou Army made a profit of four to five million silver dollars every year. It continued to grow and gradually had a tendency to monopolize the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal.
Another example is Wang Hong, the commander-in-chief of Tianjin, now known as the "King of Tianjin". He not only opened dozens of factories, but also cooperated with Xujiazhuang to monopolize the entire Tianjin Port, with an annual cargo throughput of nearly 100 million shi.
, also set up a fishing fleet to go fishing in the Bohai Sea, and entered the mining industry, earning tens of millions of silver dollars every year.
Another example is that the Guan Ning Army, with Wu Xiang, Cao Wenzhao, Wang Yinghui, and Zu Dabi as the core giants, actually developed into a huge military business group, with an annual income higher than the annual income of the imperial court, forcing the slaves to give in step by step.
, let Mongolia outside the Guan Dynasty be willing to become their little brother, and they have no idea how cool they are.
Qin Liangyu, chieftain of Shizhu, Sichuan, although Hong Chengchou admired this heroine very much, he was quite disdainful of Shizhu, a poor and poor place like Shizhu. But now it has developed and is shining in the textile industry. Qin Liangyu
She is also known as the Queen of Textiles.
There are also Zuo Guangxian, Li Bei, Ai Wannian, Tang Jiuzhou, Chen Yongfu, Liu Zeqing and others. In the eyes of Hong Chengchou, these people used to be small characters worth mentioning, and they were just warriors who made him disdain in his heart.
They have also made a fortune in the past few years, starting factories, mining, operating logistics, etc. Especially Zuo Liangyu, a rat who is willing to be a dog for Xujiazhuang, has also flourished in many fields. Now his net worth is at least as much as that of Hong Chengchou
twice of.
all in all.
Hong Chengchou discovered that among the sixteen generals, he had obviously fallen behind in the past few years, or simply was at the bottom - Hong Chengchou had private correspondence with them, and after Xujiazhuang's telegraph station allowed them to use it, in the past two years,
The private communication between them is quite frequent. They often exchange experiences and discuss their respective development situations. They know each other quite well.
So when he found that he was obviously lagging behind and even ranked at the bottom, Hong Chengchou felt anxious and began to reflect. He obviously had a very high starting point, but why was he left so far behind?
He quickly concluded three points.
One, being noble.
He felt that he was indeed a little pretentious. When others were begging Xu Jiazhuang to cooperate every day, trying their best to please, and introducing various technologies to open mines and factories, Hong Chengchou couldn't let go. He felt that he was a civil servant and a Confucian scholar, so
It is difficult to have an attitude of asking for help. Only when there is a real need for Xujiazhuang, a request will be issued. As a result, only a few factories have been opened. The timing is relatively late, and the market share has already been occupied by others.
Second, there are insufficient resources.
Shaanxi is too barren, with few mineral resources, and the fields have suffered from drought and poor harvests for many years. Agriculture has been unable to develop at all. War broke out many times in the past, and millions of people were immigrated by Xujiazhuang and became miners. Today, the total population of Shaanxi
However, it is only five to six million, resulting in a small labor force and lagging economic development. These factors make it difficult for Shaanxi to develop. The market capacity is small, and naturally it is not possible to make much money.
Third, there is no room for external development.
This is a very fatal problem and the main reason why it cannot develop.
For example, the Guan Ning Army can develop in Liaodong, a land full of forest resources and mineral resources, in Mongolia, where cattle and sheep are abundant, or even face the sea and expand overseas - there are many directions for external development, and the future development space is endless.
For example, the Zheng Group in Fujian, following Xujiazhuang's expansion overseas, has occupied countless warm and fertile lands and established countless manor ports. Its development potential is also unlimited.
Another example is Qin Liangyu of Shizhu, Sichuan. Although the transportation into Shuchuan is not convenient, the Sichuan Basin is the land of abundance after all. Even if it can only be done here, the potential is still very huge, not to mention that it can also expand to Yunnan and Guizhou.
When the Haichuan Railway is completed in a few years, it will be ready to take off.
The rest will not be given examples one by one.
And what about Shaanxi where Hong Chengchou is located?
Going west is a breathless plateau.
To the north, there is endless desert and Gobi.
If you go south or east, you will encounter other people's territory, which will seriously offend your colleagues, and the court will punish you severely. Of course Xujiazhuang will not support it. After all, even if the entire Shaanxi territory is a little barren, he should be content.
Death place.
Hong Chengchou felt that he was trapped in a dead end with little room for development. Although he still had a lot of resources and was living a healthy life, there was really not much room for improvement.
In the end, the gap will only widen even wider, making it increasingly impossible to catch up.
what to do?
How can we break this situation?
Of course there are ways, and there is more than one.
For example, if you give up the territory of Shaanxi, ask Xujiazhuang for help, and develop in a new place, such as going overseas or to Nanyang, you can occupy a small island of tens of thousands of square kilometers. It is estimated that there are more leaders than Shaanxi - it's just the Qin Army.
Most of the 30,000 elites are Shaanxi natives. Moreover, their current life is quite good, with sufficient food and wages. If they are asked to leave their hometown and go overseas, I am afraid there will be a lot of opposition and mutiny is possible.
Unless he abandons the Qin army that he invested so much money and built with his own hands, and only takes a few people to go overseas... But this is also impossible.
So I can only stay in Shaanxi.
Or you can follow the advice of Xujiazhuang experts and invest huge costs to transform Shaanxi's ecological environment, plant a large amount of grass and trees, restore greening, and spend fifty or sixty years turning Shaanxi into a paradise full of green mountains and green waters, even if
Its ecological value is difficult to estimate.
But fifty or sixty years later, everyone else will be gone, and even if the ecological environment improves, he won’t be able to see it. What’s the point?
Eliminate and veto one plan after another.
Hong Chengchou thought quickly.
Combining the various information he had seen in the "Oriental Times" these days and making a series of connections, he suddenly discovered several key points.
For example, through reports about the young explosives genius Li Dingguo, Hong Chengchou knew that with today's blasting technology, it is a relatively common thing to break open mountains and blast rocks, and the cost has been reduced, which can greatly improve the efficiency of mining and road construction.
In recent days, Xujiazhuang has been promoting the concept of heavy-haul railways overwhelmingly, which has made people realize the huge potential of heavy-haul railways, which can transport tens of millions of tons of resources to several cities in just three to five days.
Thousands of miles away.
The Western Region outside the Northwest Great Wall is a desolate, remote place, but full of countless mineral resources.
Although it is very far away, if a heavy-haul railway is built and extended to the Western Region, wouldn't a massive amount of various resources be able to be transported continuously?
What if there is desert Gobi everywhere? As long as he overcomes the difficulties and builds the railway, there will be wealth everywhere, which will not limit his ability to seize wealth - that is, the transportation problem to the Western Regions will be solved through the railway, allowing him to bring it with him
If the Qin army enters certain remote areas and can ensure logistical supplies, it will never be defeated and driven back.
As long as the railway can be built, Hong Chengchou may be the "King of the Western Regions" one day in the future.
So a "Western Region Development Plan" gradually took shape in his mind, making his eyes brighter and brighter.
At the same time, the strongest desire and unwillingness erupted in his heart, causing him to clench his fists and secretly say:
"I, Hong Heng, was born as a ninth-level scholar. I am full of knowledge and have outstanding talents. How can I be ranked behind those reckless men?"
"I also want to get rich and make more and more money."
"I also want to be king, gain higher power, and control the lives and deaths of more people!"
"I am 40 years old this year. I can't live much longer. Within ten years, I must do something big. I must not be stuck in the shallows for a long time and waste my time!"
"No matter how much effort and price I pay, I am determined to be the king of the Western Regions!"