When he was in Tianjin, Zhang Peilun also told Qin Zheng that he had an old department named Rong Junye, who worked as a copywriter under Zhang Zhidong, and wrote a letter to him, asking him to do his best to deal with this matter. Eight?? Chinese.com ≈. Therefore, I heard that Rong Junye came to pick up the boat, and Qin Zheng sent someone to invite him to the boat to speak.

Seeing Qin Zheng, Rong Junye was also very respectful, and he was courteous to his subordinates, firstly, because of Zhang Peilun's letter; secondly, after negotiating from Shanghai, Qin Zheng had already determined his considerable reputation, and more importantly, behind Qin Zheng, there was also the powerful group of overseas Chinese, even if Zhang Zhi saw Qin Zheng, he should be polite, not to mention Rong Junye's staff.

However, Qin Zheng didn't have a shelf, so he asked Rong Junye to sit down first, and said: "Before I came to Wuchang, I heard Zhang Youqiao talk about Mr., and only said that if there is something in Wuchang, you can find Mr. for help, but I didn't expect that when I first arrived in Wuchang, I hadn't seen Xiangshuai yet, so I saw Mr. first." ”

Rong Junye hurriedly bowed and said: "The political commissar of Qin is too polite, Zhang Youqiao is the old master of Xia, and he also received a letter from Youqiao below, and he has always admired the nobles. ”

Qin Zheng said: "I came to Wuchang to meet Zhang Xiangshuai this time, firstly, because I have long admired the name of Xiangshuai, and I took the opportunity to meet him this time; secondly, I also hope to buy some guns and ammunition from Xiangshuai to reject the Russian army, but I don't know what Xiangshuai's attitude is." ”

Zhang Zhidong's word Xiangtao, directly subordinate to Nanpi, the ministers of his colleagues generally call him Zhang Nanpi in private, but the subordinates of the younger generations and others usually call him Xiang Shuai, but in the concept of the traverser, Xiang Shuai generally refers to a role in a martial arts, which is quite awkward.

Rong Junye said with a smile: "Political Commissar Qin, it's just a copywriter, how can you know Xiang Shuai's intentions, but according to my humble opinion, Xiang Shuai is likely to sell some weapons to you." ”

Qin Zheng said: "How can you see it? Mr. Rong can you elaborate." ”

Rong Junye smiled: " The nobles were originally descendants of China, this time they did not forget their homeland, returned to China, and were still loyal; and they were able to resist strong enemies, raise the prestige of our China, and strive for the ambition of China, still for the wisdom and bravery, so loyal, righteous, wise and brave, Xiang Shuai is also very respectful to the nobles, not to mention that this time the nobles bought weapons, in order to resist the Russian army, the same Chinese lineage, although Xiang Shuai fell because of his duties, can not go to the front line, but in the rear to support the noble people to fight, it is a matter of course, and such a big business to the door, Xiang Shuai is not begging, who will push the God of Wealth outward？”

Needless to say, as long as there are a few sentences of Guan Jian, those in front of Rong Junye are actually clichés, only the last sentence is Guan Jian, it seems that Zhang Zhidong is short of money, and this time he bought weapons from Zhang Zhidong, and he fell asleep and encountered a pillow.

Qin Zheng knows, to be fair, Zhang Zhidong's contribution to China's modern industrial exhibition is quite large, he founded the Hanyang Iron Works, is China's first, but also the largest steel complex in Asia at that time, far beyond Japan's Yawata Iron and Steel Plant, before the Xinhai Revolution in the old time and space, Hanyang Iron Works already has 3 iron-making furnaces, 6 steel-making furnaces, about 80,000 tons of iron, nearly 40,000 tons of steel, more than 20,000 tons of rails per year. This production record has not been broken until the founding of New China. As a supporting Hanyang Iron Factory, the Hanyang Arsenal has been almost throughout the entire modern China, the pre-modern history, its 1896 began to produce the Hanyang Type 88 rifle, until 1944 before the production was discontinued, the total output of about 180,000 pieces, is the largest number of guns used in the Anti-Japanese War period. Therefore, although Zhang Zhidong's official position, power, merits, historical status, and influence are not as good as those of his contemporaries Li Hongzhang, he is far better than Li Hongzhang in the creation of China's modern heavy industry. Therefore, the Hanyang Iron Works and the Hanyang Arsenal have become Zhang Zhidong's biggest political achievements and political capital.

However, due to Zhang Zhidong's own low eye, vanity and exaggeration, more than bold, not enough practical, and advocating false fame, good success, the Hanyang Iron and Steel Factory, gun factory, and weaving factory he founded were all corrupt and prevalent due to poor management, and they were in deficit year after year, and finally Zhang had to hand over the Hanyang Iron Factory, which he was proud of, to Li Xuanhuai's subordinate Sheng Xuanhuai to operate, and finally even fell to the maintenance of selling iron ore, until the arsenal was maintained because of the orders of the imperial army.

Although the Hanyang Iron Works has not yet fallen into an unsustainable place, due to the huge cost, insufficient production capacity, and poor product quality, it has been unable to make ends meet for several years, so Zhang Zhidong founded the Hanyang Iron Works at the same time, and also founded the Hubei weaving layout, and also absorbed considerable private capital, on the one hand, it is to develop the national industry and compete with foreign businessmen for the Chinese market; on the other hand, it is also hoped that the income from the Hubei weaving layout can be used to subsidize the production of the Hanyang Iron Works. From this point of view, buying weapons from Zhang Zhidong is actually the income that Zhang Zhidong needs.

In fact, Qin Zheng didn't know that now Zhang Zhidong is facing a very serious funding gap, although due to the formation of mutual insurance in the southeast, southern China has been less affected by the Gengzi change, but it is not completely unaffected, after all, the north has always been an important market for southern commodities, and when the north is in chaos, the commodities in the south have lost a considerable part of the market, which is naturally greatly affected.

First of all, the sales volume of Hubei weaving layout decreased significantly, and the imperial court was turbulent, and there were no orders for weapons produced in the arsenal, so the income naturally decreased greatly. What made Zhang Zhidong even worse was that after the Qing court fled to Xi'an, Zhang Zhidong also sent 3ooo Hanyang-made Type 88 rifles to defend the imperial court. And unlike Li Hongzhang, who is worth a lot of money, Zhang Zhidong is an honest official, and his family has no money to spare, so naturally he can't come up with money to subsidize the production of Hanyang Iron Works, and if there is no source of income, Hanyang Iron Works can only last for 2 months at most before it will stop production, so Zhang Zhidong has begun to negotiate with Japanese businessmen to sell iron ore transactions to maintain the production of Hanyang Iron Works. And now the traverser buys weapons from Zhang Zhidong, which is actually sending carbon to Zhang Zhidong in the snow.

It is precisely because of these reasons that Rong Junye thinks that the cooperation between the traverser and Zhang Zhidong is very likely to be successful, but these words are not easy to say directly, so they can only be pointed.

Qin Zheng didn't dwell on this topic, and asked again: "But the sale of weapons has a lot to do with it, and Xiang Shuai is an important minister of the country, I don't know how Xiang Shuai will explain the past on the side of the court." ”

Rong Junye said with a smile: "On the side of the imperial court, Xiang Shuai has his own way to deal with it, please rest assured that the political commissar of Qin can rest assured, in fact, such a feudal official like Xiang Shuai, even if the imperial court knows about it, it will turn a blind eye, not to mention that the nobles buy weapons to resist the Russian army, in the final analysis, it is for the interests of the imperial court, so the imperial court will never pursue it." ”

In fact, Qin Zheng knew very well that this was the late Qing Dynasty, and since it was after the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, the biggest changes in China's political situation were the rise of local forces and the weakening of the central forces, and the rise of the Han bureaucracy and the weakening of the Manchu bureaucracy, and these two changes complemented each other, that is, the rise of the Han bureaucracy at the local level, and Bu Jijing had the strength to compete with the Manchu bureaucracy in the central government.

And this change reached its peak when the Gengzi Kingdom changed. "Southeast Mutual Insurance" When the central court of the Qing court declared war on the Eight-Nation Alliance, and the local officials in the southeast reached a peace agreement with the Eight-Nation Alliance, when the people who ate melons came to sit back and watch the court and the Eight-Nation Alliance fight, in the old time and space, after the end of the Geng Kuoguo Rebellion, the Qing court also had to give commendations to the local officials who participated in the southeast mutual protection, and recognized the correctness of the southeast mutual insurance, which was also regarded as the local power of the Han bureaucracy has risen in an all-round way, and can ignore the authority of the central government, setting the groundwork for the success of the later Xinhai Revolution。 In this era, no matter how the Gengzi Revolution ended, the weakening of the Manchu bureaucracy in the central Qing court was an irreversible fact.

Under the background of this great era, Zhang Zhidong, as a representative of the local faction, is also the beginning of mutual protection in the southeast. It can be said that as long as Zhang Zhidong does not openly raise the flag and rebel, no matter what outrageous things he does, the Qing court will basically not move him, not to mention that now the crossing group has also become a powerful force in the land of China, and it can also be classified as one of the local forces, so if Zhang Zhidong and the crossing group have formed a cooperation agreement, then in the face of these two local forces, the Qing court can only pretend not to know.

Since the Qing court has not become an obstacle for Zhang Zhidong to sell weapons to the traverser, and Zhang Zhidong also needs to have a new source of income, then the rest is naturally the exchange of interests between the traverser and Zhang Zhidong, Qin Zheng still has some confidence in this, after all, Zhang Zhidong is a famous historical figure, and as a latecomer, he has a considerable understanding of him, and knows what Zhang Zhidong really needs? Mr. Rong, this conversation with Mr. has also given me a lot of insight, and I hope that Mr. can do more from it this time, so that we can cooperate with Xiang Shuai, and it will be beneficial to the country and ourselves. ”

Rong Junye said: "The political commissar Qin is too awarded, he should do his best, it's not too early, Xiang Shuai is still waiting at the governor's yamen, and has prepared a banquet to wash the dust for the Qin political commissar, so we still go ashore as soon as possible to meet Xiang Shuai, if Xiang Shuai is in a hurry, I'm afraid to blame." ”

Qin Zheng nodded and said with a smile: "Okay, I also delayed Mr. a lot of time, let's go ashore." ”