War is cruel, in a cruel war, death is always inevitable, even if the price is a small war, it will always take people's lives and plunge countless families into grief, but in war, it is also full of all kinds of opportunities, which can make a once unliterate person become a hero, can change people's fate, just like those nobles of the Kaihong Dynasty, many of them were once worthless little people, and their fates have changed fundamentally in the war. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

War is full of opportunities!

Even for ordinary people, even if they have never thought of changing their fate through military exploits, there are all kinds of opportunities in war, and they can only seize it.

What kind of changes will be made in people's fate, no one can predict, and for Qiao Zhiyong, in the past few years, he can be said to have experienced real ups and downs in life, a few years ago, like most of the wealthy gentry families in Jin Province, they were almost bankrupt under the looting of the bandits, although so, it has been blessed by God, after all, I don't know how many families have been ruined, just the family wealth has been plundered, it is already the ancestor manifestation.

For Qiao Zhiyong, he is not willing to live a dull life, he did not sink like some people, but picked up the only few thousand taels of silver left in the family to start a business, for businessmen to change the dynasty There are many opportunities, but for the new dynasty, even if he has read poetry and books for a long time, he can't understand the new dynasty, unlike the previous dynasties, the new dynasty is heavy on business, and successful businessmen can get the emperor's "duke" and other non-hereditary titles, so as to achieve the change of identity from the rich and noble.

Unlike in the previous dynasties, when you bought a red top by donations, the title given by the emperor was not something that could be bought with money, nor could you become a "prince" or obtain other titles just because you had money, which was equivalent to the contribution it made to society. It is precisely because of this that the merchants in the country are now very rich and are willing to do good deeds, so as to become social elites, so as to enter the eyes of the royal family and obtain the emperor's gifts.

For Qiao Zhiyong, he also hopes to get the emperor's gift, so that the Qiao family will be prominent again, it is his dream, but it is not easy to realize this dream, in the past few years, he has been to North Korea for business, and has also been to Japan, Vietnam, the reason why he did not go to Mongolia like his ancestors, is because after the army put down the Mongolian rebellion, immediately carried out a comprehensive rectification of Mongolia, in addition to suppressing those recalcitrant princes, but also set up a company to form a trade team, As a result, the monopoly of the Jin merchants on the trade of Mongolia was broken, and at the same time, the old debts owed by the Mongolian people to the Jin merchants were cleaned up, and all the unreasonable old debts should be abolished, and overnight, the losses of the Jin merchants were more than hundreds of millions.

In this regard, those Jin merchants tried to enter Beijing to make a request, imploring the government to protect the Jin merchants, but the response was cold and even extremely arbitrary: "If you have the financial support of the Jin merchants, the Manchurians will never enter the customs, and it is precisely because of this that the Jin merchants have monopolized the trade in Mongolia, and the profits obtained from Mongolia are all extraordinary commercial benefits."

In this regard, Qiao Zhiyong, like many Jin merchants, did not dare to speak despite the bitterness in his heart, after all, the "traitor monuments" built in various parts of Shanxi clearly wrote how Fan Yongdou, Wang Dengku, Jin Liangyu, Wang Dayu, Liang Binbin, Tian Shenglan, Zhai Tang, and Huang Yunfa's so-called "Eight Great Manchu Imperial Merchants" manipulated Zhangjiakou's trade activities, and secretly transported military supplies and intelligence to the Manchus in the name of business. They provided food and funds to the Manchus during the most difficult period of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and made great contributions to the Manchu colonization of China.

"His money is full of countless souls!"

Although it was the Eight Families who betrayed the country, the Jin Merchants monopolized the Mongolian trade but benefited from the privileges obtained by the Eight Families, so the Jin Chamber of Commerce in various places would be confiscated later, perhaps many later Jin Merchants had nothing to do with the Eight Families, but the existence of the Eight Families did tarnish the name of the Jin Merchants.

It is precisely because of the existence of the "Eight Imperial Merchants" that the government of the Chinese Dynasty did not have the slightest good impression of the Jin merchants, and when he was in North Korea, Qiao Zhiyong may have been quite successful in business, but for the officials stationed in North Korea, as soon as they heard that they were Jin merchants, they would show impatience.

This is true in Japan, in Vietnam, and at home.

The Chinese Dynasty is the remnant of the Emperor and Ming, for all this, Qiao Zhiyong can be reasonable, but he is not willing to be discriminated against like that, he doesn't want his son to be despised because of his background when he studies and does business in the future. The eight families may be "valuing profit over righteousness", but the Qiao family is not!

Because of this, after the outbreak of the war, he immediately saw the opportunity, just like the business opportunity that the ancestors of the Qiao family saw when they were in the Manchu Qing Dynasty when they were in Junggar City, and now, after the outbreak of this war, he also saw the business opportunity, of course, this business opportunity could not be like the tenfold profit that could be obtained by transporting grain for the Manchu Qing Dynasty, but if this business opportunity is seized, it can at least turn the Qiao family around, so that the reputation of the Qiao family will not be burdened by the eight families.

Because of this, almost at the first time of the outbreak of the war, Qiao Zhiyong transferred all the business in Korea, Japan and Vietnam, and then ordered three merchant ships, at that time the merchant ship had not risen in price, a few months later, when the three iron-ribbed wood-hulled steamships were delivered successively, his capital increased by fifty percent because of the rise in ship prices, but he did not sell merchant ships, but founded a shipping company, and began to participate in the transportation of military supplies under the allocation of the Department of Commerce, from soldiers to material transportation, The shipping company's profits were far from what it had been in the past, so much so that in order to expand his business, he placed an order for five more ships from the shipyard, and it was at this time that he, as a private shipowner, received a letter from the General Staff.

There were six ship-dealers who received the letter, and the general of staff asked if they were willing to send supplies to Ireland, and in the absence of naval escort, which meant that they would be intercepted at any time, and their ships could be sunk or captured by the British at any time.

Although after being sunk or captured, their losses will be compensated by the insurance company, but it is clear to all shipbuilders that the compensation of the insurance company has no meaning at all, and now is the time to make money, even if they get the compensation, but it will take at least half a year from ordering the ship to receiving the ship, and how much will be lost in half a year? According to the current freight rate, it may even lose a ship out in half a year, and because of this, everyone seems very hesitant.

The reason for their hesitation is very simple, on the one hand, they rely on military transportation, so they do not dare to offend the military, and on the other hand, they do not want to suffer such losses.

Ten ships!

This is the number of troops that the army needs, and the army needs ten merchant ships of more than a thousand tons!

"Jinming Shipping now has a total of four ships, three with a displacement of 1120 and one with a displacement of 834 tons, all of which are the latest fast sailing ships, if the general agrees, our company is willing to take out all four ships!"

Just when everyone was hesitating, Qiao Zhiyong took a deep breath and looked at General Li and gave his answer.

Sometimes, it's as simple as opening and closing your lips to say a word.

And the reason why Qiao Zhiyong is willing to take out all the merchant ships is very simple, he needs this opportunity, he needs this opportunity to prove himself, to revive the reputation of the Jin merchants and the Qiao family.

Until now, Qiao Zhiyong is very glad that the decision he has made, there is a reward, his leading behavior has been recognized by the military, and his four ships have all been used for dangerous secret transportation to Ireland, and even in the process of transporting supplies, he has lost one ship.

Just three months ago, in order to compensate for his losses, at the behest of the General Staff, two newly captured British merchant ships were sold to the Jinming Shipping Company at a low price, and although they were only two sailing ships without steam power, they could still meet the basic transportation - at least 60% of the merchant ships in China's shipping companies were unpowered Western-style sailing ships.

Now Qiao Zhiyong's payment not only allowed him to get the ship, but also won the favor of the military, and handed over many orders with low timeliness requirements to his company for transportation, so that he could get more profits than in the past.

In the eyes of outsiders, Qiao Zhiyong is undoubtedly successful now, and even in the eyes of many people, he is not far from obtaining the title of "Gongshi" given by His Majesty, which is a sign of a successful businessman.

But for Qiao Zhiyong, he is not only thinking about all this in front of him, shipping is only a part of his career, he needs to revive the Qiao family's family business, which means that he can't just focus on shipping, he needs to seek new business opportunities in other fields.

Where are the new business opportunities?

Just as most merchants began to turn to the new colonies, he set his sights on another place, Ireland. Although he has never been to Ireland, Qiao Zhiyong knows very well that it is not only full of various business opportunities, but more importantly, because of the British blockade in Ireland, under the shortage of goods, he can naturally obtain extremely rich profits, which is the news brought back by his captain.

Of course, Qiao Zhiyong was not sure about all this, but in the face of such a vast market, he couldn't press his heart's desire at all, so he immediately made a decision - to go to Ireland, just like the ancestors went to Montigo as a buddy.

It's just that the journey to Ireland is now much longer than that of our ancestors, and it is full of unknown risks.

"Let's hope everything goes well......"

Qiao Zhiyong, who was on the bow of the boat, silently thought about it in his heart.

"Brother Qiao, are you worried about this trip?"

Suddenly, just when Qiao Zhiyong was worried about whether the trip would go smoothly, a voice sounded in his ears, and he didn't need to look back, Qiao Zhiyong also knew who it was.

"Brother Xiuran, after all, ......"

"At war?"

Sun Maocai looked at Qiao Zhiyong, and then said:

"As the saying goes, wealth and danger are sought, so why Huguang businessmen can have today's trend, isn't it that they don't mind the risk!"

Then Sun Maocai looked at the black and pressed Haitian and said.

"Qiao Dongjia, I miss my Sun Maocai, I tried and failed many times in the previous dynasty, and now I think about it...... Hey, my parents are poor and helpless, and I have to think about it, so I have to make a heartbreak, change my course, follow the old path of my down-and-out scholar in Shanxi, come to the merchant to help, and earn a few taels of silver to survive......"

Another Sun Maocai mentioned the reason why he had to defect to Qiao Zhiyong, in the past two years, he has contributed a lot to Qiao Zhiyong, and because of this, as soon as he said this, Qiao Zhiyong immediately interrupted him and said.

"Brother Xiu Ran, if it weren't for my brother to help me in the past few years, how could I be where Qiao is today!"

Suddenly, Qiao Zhiyong sighed and said.

"Isn't it going to be too risky this time......

It's good to have someone around to give advice, just like handing over the ship to the army, it was the idea he made after discussing with Sun Maocai at that time, and now it seems that it was the idea that was knocked down at the beginning, which made the Qiao family benefit a lot, not only money, but more importantly, reputation!

But this time, it was too risky, maybe for Qiao Zhiyong, he knew that this trip to Ireland was related to the future of the Qiao family, but going to danger still violated the principle of "a gentleman does not stand under a dangerous wall".

Sun Maocai smiled slightly, looked at Qiao Zhiyong and said:

"Qiao Dongjia, if it is not a dangerous place, how can there be a chance for Qiao Dongjia?"

Sun Maocai's answer made Qiao Zhiyong nod and said:

"That's the truth......"

Seeing Qiao Zhiyong like this, Sun Maocai immediately laughed, looked at Qiao Zhiyong and said:

"Qiao Dongjia, there are so many truths in the world, how many people can catch them? Just like Sun, if he can seize the opportunity, he will not be proud of his talents when he is young, or even a few years ago, if he can make up his mind and go south to the present day like a friend, what will he ......

When the words came to his lips, Sun Maocai shook his head and sighed as if he remembered something.

"It's a pity that not everyone can see the truth in this world, let alone everyone can do it, maybe it is because of this that you and I have today's ......"

For Sun Maocai, perhaps, what he regrets the most in this life is probably that a few years ago, when his friend went to Wuchang to go to Jinshang, he still made ridiculous theories, still pointing out the rivers and mountains there, and pointing out the shortcomings of Wuchang, but who would have thought that it was only a few years, in his eyes, Wuchang could not be done, so he sat firmly in the world, and as for the Qing Dynasty, there was no shadow, and even the hard-working comrade emperor fled to America.

Who would have thought that the world would be like this?

Listening to Sun Maocai's words, Qiao Zhiyong couldn't help but smile, and then said:

"Brother Meng Maocai does not give up, Qiao Moufang has today, Qiao Mou is naturally grateful for Brother Tai's help for many years, think about it, Qiao Mou is also lucky, otherwise, I am afraid I will miss Brother Maocai!"

"Missed ......"

Sun Maocai smiled slightly, but he didn't say anything, but looked towards the sea, Qiao Zhiyong saw him like this, and also looked towards the sea, he looked at the sea and sky without the stars and moon, holding the side of the boat, and even looked a little nervous in his heart, the reason why he was nervous was because now, they had come to the coast of Ireland......

There is only one change today, thank you for your support and love all the time, thank you again~! Every one of your subscriptions, recommendations, favorites, and every monthly pass is a great support for Iron and Blood, thank you! Iron and Blood Grand Plan Group: 150536833, welcome friends to join and discuss the plot together!