"Chief, the Japanese secret telegram, the Tokyo Branch of the Investigation Bureau has sent back news that the Japanese Combined Fleet has left the berth and its whereabouts are unknown." At seven o'clock in the morning on February 6, 1904, Lu Liang, who had just had breakfast, received a secret telegram from the Investigation Bureau, and Japan finally couldn't help but start working!

From the day the Bureau of Investigation was established, the intelligence of Japan and Russia was the focus of the arrangement, and there were branches of the Bureau of Investigation in the mainland of the two countries, in the Northeast, North Korea, and Taiwan, and several agents of the Gene Man who successfully penetrated the upper echelons of the two countries. As a result, a steady stream of information about the two countries flowed into the headquarters of the Investigation Bureau and fed back to Lu Liang.

The beginning of the Russo-Japanese War prompted Lü Liang's sense of urgency to intensify, and if according to the original history, there was still more than a year for Lü Liang to squander. But he is not sure whether things will be unexpected, for example, in the war of 1902, Japan suffered a big loss on the head of the Zhenguo Army, whether it will imitate mortars and other weapons, whether there will be changes in strategy and tactics, these are unpredictable effects. The existence of the Chinese revolutionary government actually objectively accelerated the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, and Lü Liang feared that more changes would occur.

I am afraid that I can't change the facts, and the world will not revolve around Lu Liang, what Lu Liang can do is to do his best to improve himself and meet the changes in the world.

Ordering people to pay close attention to the progress of the war, Lu Liang turned his attention back to China, and the most important thing at present is to strengthen his own strength. The south was pacified, the war ended nearly two months, large-scale infrastructure construction was about to begin, and the planning and survey work in the early stage was stumbling, but it was finally basically completed, which also benefited from the huge database of the steel base, many things can be copied, and the survey and planning can be completed in a short time.

Infrastructure, capital, resources, labor, and industry are not problems, and the organization of these things is the strength of the revolutionary government, and the work in Liangguang and Fujian has always been very large, and it has not stopped during the Northern Expedition, accumulating a strong team and experience. The most important survey work is to consider the cultural situation of each place, the local economic situation, population situation, public security situation, and so on.

The level of economic development in various places is uneven, but they all have a fatal characteristic, that is, primitiveness. Except for Shanghai, Guangzhou, Wuhan and other port cities, the rest of the area seems to have not awakened in the dark, and it is difficult to see traces of modern civilization. It can be said that these places have not undergone major changes for thousands of years, and a Qing Dynasty person travels back to the Three Kingdoms period as if he returned to his hometown.

Even the larger provincial capitals don't have much of a modern metropolis, and now that the United States is building skyscrapers like crazy, much of China is still in a backward era of rural closed life. This is not to describe the backwardness of the country, but to show that there is a lack of resources for infrastructure development.

Steel, cement, building materials, etc. all need to be transported from the south, and the heaviest task is still undertaken by Guangdong Province. Steel, cement, building materials and other industries have been the fastest development, the hottest, with the increase of human resources costs in Guangdong, more and more enterprises will open factories in Fujian, Guangxi, but the land transportation conditions in these two places are very poor, most of the products to meet the local demand, the amount of export is small. With the victory of the Northern Expedition and the opening of waterways, ports such as Guangzhou prospered again, and unimaginable quantities of goods were transported along the Yangtze River through the coast.

Of course, there will always be a cost to transportation, and it will account for a large part of the cost, so mature capitalists in Guangdong and other places have begun to set their sights on the newly recovered territory, which is an undeveloped virgin land, and whoever can take the lead will have an advantage in the future competition.

Wu Group is currently the largest capital group in the country, Wu Shimin, the head of the Wu family, in early 1902, the group's business focus from which light industry enterprises to building materials enterprises. Wushi Group has the largest cement plant in Guangdong, with an annual cement output of one-third of the country's output, as well as various building materials products, vehicle parts factories and so on. Over the past few years, although the Wu Group has expanded year by year, it has accumulated a rich net worth, and anyone with a discerning eye can see that although Wu Shimin is shrewd, but without the guidance of Mr. Lu Lianglu, he would never have developed the group to such a point. There are smart people everywhere, why don't others have the same vision as Wu Shimin? However, who called someone Lu Liang's father-in-law, everyone has to admire this, when Lu Liang's career was founded, he was willing to spend a lot of money to give his only beloved daughter to others.

"Father-in-law, I don't want to drag on my marriage with Xiaoyue. In the past few years, Xiaoyue has been by my side, and she is tired from work, and she has no name. There were too many things before, but now, I can still take some time to get married. Lu Liang took Wu Yue to the headquarters of Wuhan Wu Group. Wu Shimin has always followed Lu Liang wherever he goes, although the focus of the group's operation is still in Guangdong, he has ordered people to rebuild the group's headquarters in Wuhan.

This time Lu Liang came over for his marriage to Wu Yue, after a delay in the past few years, he is also thirty-three years old, and Wu Yue has a good youth, so he can't waste it on himself. Of course, for marriage matters, Lu Liang has to come to the door to discuss marriage in person even if he is the prime minister.

"Prime Minister, it's good for the two of you to discuss this kind of thing, the old man couldn't agree more, let's do it when we set a date!" Wu Shimin's posture is still very low, not to mention that he is a good person, even if he is someone's father-in-law, he has not forgotten his duty, the future of the family and Lu Liang cannot be separated, if you show off the identity of your father-in-law, it depends on what the identity of your son-in-law is!

"Father-in-law, don't call me the prime minister, just call me Lu Liang, and Xiao Lu is fine. My marriage, you agree, Xiaoyue agrees, you set the date, but there is one thing, we won't make a big deal, now all over the country is busy, I don't want to make a storm in the city because of this. ”

"That's, that's, that's it. By the way, Lu Liang, you give me an idea, I want to invest in a steel plant, do you think it's okay? Wu Shimin asked.

Lu Liang looked at him with some surprise, Wu Shimin also made some taboos for himself, and hurriedly said no, forget it, Lu Liang waved his hand and said: "Father-in-law, it's not that you can't do it, but I didn't expect you to invest in heavy industry." Can you tell us why you want to invest in a steel plant? ”

"Not only me, but also Medron's gang, a lot! Now there is a shortage of steel everywhere, and the demand gap is very large, we have to import a large number of steel rails from the United States every year, and railways, construction sites, and buildings need steel. Metroline and I have consulted with people from Guangzhou Investment Consulting Company, and it is profitable to invest in steel mills, but I don't know if our government allows private people to open steel plants, so I want to ask you. ”

Negligent, Lu Liang said in his heart, he didn't expect that in just a few years, the private capital group has the ability to open heavy industry factories, of course he allows private investment in heavy industry, the previous factories are all state-owned capital to start, although there are genetic people to control, but there is always a lack of development momentum, only profit is the biggest driving force for industrial development, and the capitalist is the best carrier.

"If you want to start a steel plant, I will order someone to issue a document on the private establishment of heavy industrial enterprises, and I will do my best to help you to do so. However, you must know that heavy industry enterprises have large investment, slow results, and cannot recover costs in a short period of time, so they must have enough patience and continuous investment. In addition, you can participate in steel mills, automobile factories, machinery factories, etc., but you must pay attention to the cultivation of talents and scientific management. ”

On March 8, 1904, the wedding of Lu Liang and Wu Yue was held secretly in Wuhan, and there were only a few genetics and Wu Yue's family members present, which was extremely simple and warm, this was the most perfect wedding in Lu Liang's heart.

The first private steel plant was established in Nanjing, along the Yangtze River, with a number of holdings, and a diversified approach to business minimizes risk. But when the steel mill was commissioned and began producing at the end of October 1904, the investors found it to be a surefire deal, and the profits were amazing, although it took a little longer to recover the costs, but these people were patient people. As a result, a large amount of capital poured into heavy industry, which greatly promoted economic development.

The biggest highlight of the year was not in heavy industry, but in light industry. Not everyone has the same strength as the Wu Group and the Mei Group, and most of the investors founded light industry enterprises. The small investment, quick results, and high profits of these enterprises require workers with low technical level, and the assistance from government departments has greatly accelerated the speed of construction and reduced many troubles, which has also dispelled the concerns of many investors.