Chapter 299 Finding cooperation with the vassal king, full of ambitions
March 6th.
Xu Yuan is back, and this time he plans to stay for three days before returning to modern society.
nature.
Under the initiative of Li Jin, Yang Zhongyuan and other rotating consuls, Xu Yuan quickly saw Hong Chengchou's "Plan to Conquer the Western Regions" and was quite surprised. Unexpectedly, Hong Chengchou was unwilling to be ordinary and wanted to expand the territory.
With an eye on the Western Regions, they even thought of using a transportation tool like the railway to gain a firm foothold and stabilize their rule over the Western Regions, making it unlikely that they would be defeated again.
Therefore, the wisdom of the ancients must not be underestimated.
Xu Yuan saw a list selecting the top ten counselors in ancient China, and Hong Chengchou was among them.
Now that I see his "Plan to Conquer the Western Regions", people have to admit that this man has a lot of skills and is a true hero among men.
Although his moral integrity is not good and he is unscrupulous, in a society that values morality, no matter how talented and capable such a person is, he will be rejected by one vote.
But Xu Yuan doesn't care much about these. He only cares about interests. As long as it can bring benefits to him, it doesn't matter if the partner's moral level is low, the lower limit is low, the private life is chaotic, etc., as long as it does not harm his interests.
"Husband, 80% of the railway holdings, and the construction of a hundred manors. The conditions I negotiated are not bad, right? With these two terms, Hong Chengchou led the Qin army to conquer the Western Regions and led his people to mine countless
Minerals are also very dependent on us. Even if he becomes the so-called 'King of the Western Regions', he can only be severely restricted in front of us. He will be our loyal dog for our interests and will never dare to do anything wrong.
An act of obedience.”
Fang Qingyan said in a showy tone, quite complacently, and also said implicitly that if Xu Yuan talked to that Hong Chengchou in person, it is estimated that half of the railway control rights would be given away, and few manors would be built - of course
In fact, there is also anxiety. It is a taboo for a woman to be the master of the family and interfere with men's affairs! If Xu Yuan gets angry and wants to punish her severely, she may be sent from heaven to hell.
"It's okay, not a loss."
Xu Yuan said calmly: "The resource richness of the Western Region is no less than that of Shanxi, and the Western Region is rich in light resources. As long as a small area of photovoltaic panels is laid, enough energy can be generated. If a hundred years later,
Build another 2,000-kilometer-long water transmission channel to transport fresh water from Lake Baikal in Siberia to the Western Regions. The nearly one million square kilometers of desert arid areas in the Western Regions can all be transformed into places like Jiangnan. Think about it.
One million square kilometers, how many acres of fertile land does this equal?”
One square kilometer equals 1500 acres.
One million square kilometers, that is 1.5 billion acres, which is comparable to the cultivated land area of the entire Ming Dynasty.
Fang Qingyan's face immediately changed: "No, it's a loss, we have suffered a big loss! There is enough energy and land. As long as the water supply problem is solved, it will take off immediately. Our Xujiazhuang needs to build at least a thousand manors."
, otherwise we will suffer a big loss.”
Regret it.
She had a strong urge to break the contract and wanted to re-sign the cooperation agreement.
Or simply kick Hong Chengchou away, and Xujiazhuang will swallow up all the resources and land in the entire Western Region, leaving a treasure land for future generations and avoiding the problem of insufficient property.
"Husband, otherwise we won't cooperate with that Hong Chengchou. It's better for us to eat all the land in the Western Regions. You have six sons and four daughters now. In the future, there will be hundreds of grandchildren and thousands of great-grandchildren.
, if we don’t prepare more resources and property for them, they may fall into the cycle of rise and fall just like the Zhu family royal family in the past two hundred years. The huge land of the Western Regions can at least allow the Xu family’s wealth to continue for another hundred years.
…”
Fang Qingyan took Xu Yuan's hand and shook it.
"Look at how greedy you are. You can't withstand the temptation of profit. You pictured the cake as a little bigger, so you decided to eat alone, without even considering how much fat you can eat in your belly."
Xu Yuan couldn't help but laugh and said: "Okay, Xujiazhuang is about business reputation. Since you have negotiated everything, we can only cooperate according to this plan. We will adjust it according to the situation in the future. That's it for now."
"No! What I say doesn't count. You are the head of the Xu family, and only what you say counts! Besides, the railway construction has not started yet, and bonds have not been issued. There is no problem in adjusting the contents of the contract." Fang Qingyan said anxiously.
"How come the cooperation project that you and the six governors unanimously approved is not counted? The effect is the same as if I talked about it in person. How can you go back on it? Stop messing around."
"Husband, I was wrong. I am no longer good at making decisions! Next time I encounter this kind of project, should I wait for you to come back and make the final decision? I thought I got a big advantage, but millions of square kilometers of land in the south of the Yangtze River
Ah, we can’t let others take advantage of us.”
Fang Qingyan begged again and again, as if she shot herself in the foot.
Xu Yuan was unmoved and ignored her plea, which was regarded as giving her a small lesson.
…
The other side.
Hong Chengchou, who successfully reached a cooperation with Xujiazhuang, has been crazy busy these days.
He will return to Xi'an first.
Then in just a few days, he successively visited seven or eight important Ming vassal kings, including Zhu Cunshu, King of Qin in Xi'an, Zhu Gongzhen, King of Zhou in Kaifeng, Zhu Changxun, King of Fu in Luoyang, and Zhu Qiugui, King of Jin in Taiyuan, seeking cooperation with them.
Speaking of which, most of these Zhu family vassal kings are drunkards, short-sighted or greedy and violent people. They are just burdens and have no contribution to the Ming Dynasty. They are just parasite-like existences. Why does Hong Chengchou want to cooperate with these vassal kings?
There was no way, if there were better choices, Hong Chengchou would not consider looking for these vassal kings.
But the vassal kings had money, manpower, and various resources. They were one of the richest groups of local tyrants in the Ming Dynasty.
Even though King Zhou, King Fu, King Jin and other vassal kings suffered heavy losses during the eight-year food war in Chongzhen, and they have not yet recovered, they still have rich financial resources and can still easily spend hundreds of thousands or millions of silver dollars.
, can never become poor.
So Hong Chengchou wanted to bring them together to open up the land in the Western Regions, unite and cooperate, and have a good time in the Western Regions.
At that time, Hong Chengchou would send troops to wipe out all resistance forces and create a stable and peaceful environment for farming and mining.
The vassal kings provided money, people, and various resources, whatever they had, and fully supported Hong Chengchou. After he established a foothold in the Western Regions, those who wanted to enclose land for farming could enclose the land, and those who wanted to mine could contract mines.
Those who want to enter the industrial and commercial field can also open stores and factories. In short, there are many ways to make a fortune.
One of the benefits is that the vassals can use this to break through restrictions and change the living dilemma of being treated as pigs. After all, the Western Regions are thousands of miles away. No matter how dissatisfied the emperor is, he will not feel that this will pose a threat, let alone
If it can reduce the burden on the court, the emperor has no reason to object, but should support it.
The second benefit is that once the Western Region is successfully developed, there will be huge profits of tens of millions and hundreds of millions of silver dollars every year. Even if you only hold 1% of the shares, you can get a lot of dividends. This is a big way for the lords to make a fortune.
The wind outlet is far better than being restricted in a fiefdom.
The third benefit is the opportunity to establish oneself as a king and claim to be a lonely country. The mountains in the Western Regions are high and the emperor is far away. If the development is good in the future, you can make a lot of money and support a large army. In this case, why not just
How about laying down a piece of territory and establishing a country of your own? In your own independent kingdom, you can be as unrestrained as you want, and the imperial power has no control over them. As long as you don’t want to rebel and do bad things, it doesn’t matter if you are a little profligate, and you can be free.
, without any restrictions, it is no exaggeration to describe it as heaven.
and other benefits, etc.
But after listening to Hong Chengchou's bewildering words.
My heart is moved.
There is no feudal prince who does not feel moved.
To be honest, most of the dozens of large and small vassal kings' fiefdoms in the Ming Dynasty were located in Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, Huguang and other places. Some of them were willing to be trapped in one state or one county. Which one didn't want to achieve greater development and success?
Room for upside?
For example, after Xujiazhuang colonized Nanyang and achieved huge gains, many vassal kings also wanted to invest resources in Nanyang, but they were quickly warned by the court. Xujiazhuang also despised these vassals and rarely gave them opportunities to cooperate.
Even occasionally target them.
Therefore, they failed to seize the opportunity to expand overseas and did not gain much dividends from it.
Now comes the real chance to change your destiny.
If you miss it again, you will only be eliminated by the times, and you will not even be able to maintain the airs of a rich man. After all, the descendants of the vassal kings are becoming more and more, growing at an exponential level. After three or five generations,
I guess I can only be reduced to a farmer and craftsman, and I have to do the work myself.
Inside the palace of King Qin.
King Qin Zhu Cunshu, who felt a strong sense of crisis, said to Hong Chengchou: "Director Hong, what you said is very reasonable. In a few generations, everything in the Qin Palace will be completely divided. The ancestors
The legacy left behind can no longer be enjoyed. If we can't find a new way out, the three hundred years of wealth will come to an end. But...does the land of the Western Regions really have such great potential? As long as I, Prince Qin's Palace, are willing to devote all financial and material resources.
With the support of manpower and development, can we really create another three hundred years of prosperity?"
"That's right, as long as you put in all your efforts, your wealth will be more or less in three hundred years. The princes and grandsons of Qin in future generations will be extremely grateful to you for your decision and enjoy the prosperous incense."
Hong Chengchou drew a cake for him.
"Then what do you need?" Zhu Cunshu asked.
"An elite army of at least 50,000 people, but I have organized and trained this army myself, and solved the food and salary problem myself. I have spent all my wealth to maintain this army for three to five years. But what I need is a start of 50 million silver dollars.
Funds, or resources that can replace these funds, such as workers to build railways, large quantities of food and clothing, as well as gold, silver, copper, iron, wood and other resources. Anyway, provide whatever is available and what will be used, just provide it by selling iron! If
You vassal kings cannot provide resources worth fifty million silver dollars. I can only find other channels for financing, or advertise in the "Oriental Times" to attract investment. But once I take this step, I will not be able to continue.
I have cooperated with you, because this is very likely to be exposed. When the court convicts me, Hong Hengjiu will be fine, but you vassal kings will definitely not be in trouble. With the current energy of the court, it is still very easy to abolish the vassal king. King Shu will not
Was it because he made a mistake and was easily removed from the domain?"
"Never advertise it widely!"
Zhu Cunshu was startled and bowed in panic: "Director Hong, I'm begging you, if you want financing, just come to us. You don't have to make a big show of it so that everyone knows it. I, the Prince of Qin, will be the first to go bankrupt to support you!
The resources of the Prince of Qin's palace are not enough, so I sent my trusted aides to convince King Zhou, King Fu, King Jin, and King De, especially King De of Shandong. He has followed the trend and invested in mining over the years, and I don't know how much he has made. We have so many vassal kings working together to pool money and resources.
, it’s impossible that we can’t raise 50 million!”
"Okay! If the financial problem can be solved by just relying on the help of the vassal king to raise funds, I won't tell the public. When the Western Region is successfully developed, you will definitely get returns tenfold and a hundredfold, and you will never be disappointed."
Hong Chengchou smiled, his eyes flashing with mischief.
So I relied on this set of seductive and intimidating words.
All the accumulation of the Qin Palace was emptied by the first one.
Then came Prince Fu's Mansion, Prince Zhou's Mansion, Prince Jin's Mansion... All the vassal kings were taken in and were hollowed out one after another. There was no way. Now in the Ming Dynasty, all the forces are developing rapidly, but they are standing still. If they don't seize this
Opportunities, they can only fall into ruin, which is unacceptable no matter what!
By mid-March.
Hong Chengchou basically raised property and resources worth 50 million silver dollars - the accumulation of knowledge of the vassal kings over one or two hundred years is terrifying. Even in this era, they are seriously behind the times, but they still cannot be underestimated.
After the fundraising goal was achieved, Hong Chengchou became even more ambitious and immediately threw himself into the busy work, vowing to work hard.