After dinner, everyone said goodbye to Zhao Weizhong and Zhao Ping and left Zhao's house. And Zhao Weizhong called Zhao Ping to his study to drink tea together, and Zhao Ping also knew that it was time to know the answer, so he was also quite uneasy.

Zhao Weizhong said: "I have discussed the matter between you and Qiuqing, and Lan'er has no objection to this, I just ask you to treat Qiuqing well in the future, and don't despise her because she is a servant, and Qiuqing is also willing, so let's settle it like this." ”

When Zhao Ping heard this, a big stone in his heart also fell to the ground, and he couldn't help but feel ecstasy, and hurriedly said: "Thank you uncle." ”

Zhao Weizhong waved his hand and said, "You don't have to be busy thanking me, although Qiuqing is just a maidservant, she has been in our family for 7 or 8 years, and she has been serving Lan'er, so she can't be too shabby when she gets married." You only have five days off this time, and it is definitely too late to prepare for a lot of preparations, and you will go to Germany immediately after returning to Qingdao, which is more than 4 months, and you can't spare time, I mean this time you just set the family affairs down, and then you still go back to the army, this time you will go to Germany to obey the arrangements of the troops, behave well, and after returning from Germany, it is not too late to prepare for marriage. ”

Zhao Ping nodded again and again when he heard this, and felt that what Zhao Weizhong said was indeed reasonable, of course he knew that the task of going to Germany to receive new warships this time was important, and it was a very important opportunity for him to be selected, and if he could successfully complete this task, it would be of great benefit to his future development prospects. But this also means that before returning from Germany, there is really no time to arrange the marriage, so he said: "Okay, listen to my uncle's arrangement." ”

Zhao Weizhong was also very satisfied, and said: "That's it, a man should focus on his career, and you are now a second lieutenant, and the official position of the Qing Dynasty is a 7-rank general, and it is not too small in our family, but I still hope that you can be promoted to the first or second level, so that not only can you improve our family's disciples, but also you can be more beautiful when you get married?"

Zhao Ping hurriedly said: "Yes, I will definitely work hard to live up to my uncle's expectations." ”

Zhao Weizhong said: "Okay, you can rest early tonight, and you will go out with me tomorrow." ”

Early the next morning, Zhao Ping accompanied Zhao Weizhong's father and daughter to breakfast, Zhao Weizhong also officially confirmed the marriage of Zhao Ping and Qiuqing in front of Zhao Shuilan and Qiuqing, and Zhao Shuilan also congratulated Zhao Ping, and joked that they would salute Zhao Weizhong together, Qiuqing was still a young girl after all, and she was so ashamed that even the roots of her ears were red, but she still twisted and pinched Zhao Ping to salute Zhao Weizhong.

After breakfast, Zhao Shuilan went to work in the government administration building, and Zhao Weizhong took Zhao Ping and more than 10 relatives out.

Yesterday, Zhao Weizhong invited a total of 11 businessmen, all of whom are well-known figures in Tianjin's business circles, and in terms of net worth and property, all of them are far above Zhao Weizhong, and not only have assets in Tianjin New Town, but also have a large number of industries in the old city. Zhao Weizhong specially booked a large private room in Lishunde, and several movies to show his importance to this party.

After everyone arrived, Zhao Weizhong first introduced Zhao Ping to everyone. Everyone understands people, knowing that Zhao Weizhong only has one daughter, and a nephew suddenly appeared at this time, it is not clear what is going on, and seeing that Zhao Ping is a soldier again, it is obviously a person arranged by Zhao Weizhong on the overseas Chinese side, so the attitude towards Zhao Ping is also very different, very polite, and no one dares to put up a fight in front of Zhao Ping. Others introduced Zhao Ping to the juniors they brought.

Each of the people who came was not single, but brought a lot of retinues, and some people brought their juniors, mainly to take this opportunity to let them see the world, and at the same time to know some people. This is a very common thing in this kind of gathering.

After a few pleasantries, the juniors gathered to watch a movie, and everyone began to discuss business. Zhao Weizhong first talked about the establishment of the Federation of Industry and Commerce, which immediately aroused everyone's interest.

Although after listening to Zhao Weizhong's words, everyone understands that the East China Government's Federation of Industry and Commerce is very different from the traditional Chamber of Commerce, not only the scope is broader, but also not limited to industries, and the connection with the government is also closer, which is of course conducive to the Tianjin Government's management and control of industry and commerce, but it can make all the industry and commerce in Tianjin organized, although whether or not to join the Federation of Industry and Commerce is based on the principle of voluntariness, but everyone also believes that once the Federation of Industry and Commerce is established, Tianjin's industrial and commercial people will join, so that they can unite with the government to carry out a game of interests, express their own opinions, and better safeguard the interests of industrial and commercial peopleThis is of course beneficial to the business community as a whole.

Moreover, the people were not worried that the government would turn this federation of industry and commerce into a mere control, and even narrow the tools of the industrial and commercial people, because the traverser had controlled Tianjin for two years, showing not only that he attached importance to the development of industry and commerce, but also that he was quite fair and impartial in administrative management.

Everyone has industries in Tianjin New Town and Old Town, and there is no harm if there is no comparison. Although the current ruler of the old city of Tianjin is Yuan Shikai, who is also a member of the Westernization faction and attaches great importance to industry and commerce, whether it is the transparency of government policies, the efficiency of administrative affairs, the municipal public setting, and the supporting settings, Tianjin New Town is far more than the old city.

This is still the situation under the leadership of a capable official like Yuan Shikai who understands foreign affairs, and if an official is changed, I don't know what the situation will be. Everyone is clear, and the practice of the Qing court is that the government rises with the people, and the government dies with the people, and the policies of a place rise and fall with the coming and going of local officials. Of course, it is not clear whether the East China government is like this, but the policies of the East China government are very open and transparent, and the general guidelines are all issued in the name of the East China government, which is indeed much stronger than the Qing court in this regard. Therefore, everyone was also very enthusiastic about the establishment of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Of course, the Federation of Industry and Commerce could not be set up by just relying on these 10 or so people, but it was much easier to do it with them taking the lead, so everyone consulted and decided to set up a preparatory committee first, recruit more people, and carry out the work. So everyone went out of their way to determine the list of the preparatory committee, and assigned the personnel to be pulled, and the time of the next meeting.

Next, Zhao Weizhong explained Li Songchen's analysis of his business composition and suggestions for the next development to everyone in detail. And this time, after everyone listened, many people were moved and changed, because now Zhao Weizhong's development bottleneck, others have encountered some of them, but their foundation and door are much deeper than Zhao Weizhong's, so they are not so urgent and prominent, but everyone knows their own affairs, and these situations will be encountered sooner or later.

This is mainly due to the fact that most of these businessmen were born as compradors, and they started their business independently by assisting foreign merchants and trading houses in their trade activities in China, acting as intermediaries or managers, and extracting commissions from them. The business activities engaged in are mainly foreign trade and sales.

However, under the East China government, foreign merchants lost their privileges to do business, and tariffs were raised, and the government controlled most of the import and export trade, so that the compradors also lost the market they had operated on both sides in the past, and could only turn to self-management. However, due to the lack of industrial foundation of these businessmen, and the lack of scale or brand advantages in sales, they will face some difficulties in their operations.

The development suggestions put forward by the traverser are also an inspiration to these people, pointing out a path of transformation. Because it was Zhao Weizhong who proposed a joint venture, it also aroused the interest of many people, because the joint venture can reduce personal risks, and gather everyone's strengths and work together, Guan Jian is still able to pull Zhao Weizhong in, everyone knows that Zhao Weizhong has a deep relationship with overseas Chinese, and with him together, the insurance coefficient is much greater.

After some discussion, they decided that the transformation paths proposed by the traverser were feasible, so they decided to form two groups to develop a large shopping complex and open a factory at the same time, and it was up to the individual to choose voluntarily, of course, they could choose both or neither. Of course, there is also a brand management that belongs to an act, so there is no need to engage in joint ventures.

Due to the rush of time today, everyone has to carefully evaluate the pros and cons of these two items, and at the same time entrust Zhao Weizhong to communicate with overseas Chinese again to understand what kind of help overseas Chinese can provide them. and agreed to meet again in three days to discuss.

The next day, Zhao Weizhong asked Li Songchen again to report to him on the progress of the two things. And Li Songchen was also very happy after hearing this, because the establishment of the Federation of Industry and Commerce was his suggestion, and if the pilot project in Tianjin was successful, it would of course be one of his political achievements. Moreover, it is also another political achievement to promote the transformation of these businessmen from compradors to industrialization and promote the development of the private economy.

So Li Songchen explained to Zhao Weizhong that the help that the government can provide to businessmen is mainly in the scientific management system and production technology of enterprises, if it is determined to open a factory, the government can improve the basic supporting facilities such as transportation, water and electricity supply, and help contact foreign countries, purchase the required machinery and equipment, as well as personnel training, etc., of course, this must first change the type of factory production, If it is to open a large comprehensive supermarket, Li Songchen suggested that they go to Qingdao to investigate, and now there is a large comprehensive supermarket in Qingdao, so they can go and experience it for themselves, and the traversers who opened the supermarket will introduce to them the management and operation process of the supermarket.

After the businessmen gathered again, most of the people who participated in the preparatory committee were indeed identified, and they all thought that it was very useful for the government to help, so everyone divided the labor again, Zhao Weizhong and two businessmen went to Qingdao to inspect the operation of the supermarket, some of them were responsible for inspecting the production type of the factory, the location of the factory, etc., and the other part continued to determine the personnel of the preparatory committee, and arranged the relevant matters, and Zhao Weizhong immediately held the preparatory meeting after returning from Qingdao.