Hu Chuyuan doesn't really want to be an official.

His goal now is to stabilize China's economic market, make money first, and slowly develop the processing industry and industry from small to large.

Of course, it is a bit dangerous to be an official and businessman for Zuo Zongtang.

To put it more carefully, Hu Chuyuan is a very selfish person, he wants to stabilize China's economic market, that is because he looks down on small factories, as well as those so-called national industrial flour mills and textile mills, he wants to set up large factories, he wants to establish a Kang Caien-style chaebol empire integrating market channels, finance, raw materials, agriculture, industry and mining, light and heavy industry.

Therefore, he must stabilize China's economic market.

He wants to be in business, he wants to make a lot of money.

Now, he can rely on the Hanchen officials and the Hunan army faction within the Qing Dynasty to do his big business, and in the future, he can rely on the relationship between the revolutionary army and the Republican Party to continue to do even greater business.

Being an official is a "fart" word for him.

What's more, Yan Shizhang's own experience showed Hu Chuyuan a fact -- political struggle is always the most cruel, and if you are not careful, you will lose everything.

However, being an official also has the benefits of being an official.

If he can get a position with real power, hide under the protection of Zuo Zongtang to develop his own faction, skillfully use the Sino-French and Sino-Chinese wars to become bigger and stronger, and become the second Zuo Zongtang, even stronger than Zuo Zongtang.

Then, even if the Manchu Qing Dynasty is extinguished, the era of warlords has come, or he will directly avoid the warlord melee period and enter the capitalist republic, he will ...... at that time has both connections and prestige, as well as money and an army, and even the only iron army, a new army, and a strong army.

What else does he have to scruple about?

Of course, it's even riskier to do so!

Even if he really wanted to do this, he definitely couldn't tell Yan Shizhang the truth.

I thought about it all night in bed, and the next day, as soon as it was dawn, Hu Chuyuan went to the small courtyard where Yan Shizhang lived.

It's strange that Yan Shizhang didn't sleep either, and lit a dim kerosene lamp.

Hu Chuyuan knocked on the door and was about to ask, Yan Shizhang smiled in the room: "If it's the owner, please come in!" ”

Hu Chuyuan pushed open the door and found that Yan Shizhang was sitting at the table reading a book, the bedding on the bed was neat, and it seemed that he hadn't slept all night.

He asked curiously, "Mr. Yan, why didn't you sleep?" ”

Yan Shizhang closed the book and said, "Yan knows that the owner must have a lot of questions in his heart, maybe he will come to me in the middle of the night to ask for clarification, so he has been waiting." But I didn't expect that the proprietor was very polite, and he didn't come to me until dawn. ”

Hu Chuyuan laughed, sat on the chair next to the desk and said to Yan Shizhang: "Then I'll say it directly, Mr. Yan, forgive me for taking the liberty of being an official, with your academic talent, why didn't you continue to be an official, and you still fell into today's situation?" ”

Yan Shizhang looked back on the past, quite unbearable, he stood up with a long sigh, and asked Hu Chuyuan: "Dongjia, have you heard of the assassination case of Ma Xinyi, the governor of Liangjiang, commonly known as the 'horse assassination case'. ”

Hu Chuyuan said: "Who hasn't heard of such a big case? The dispute over this case has been going on for a long time, and there are many folk rumors, and I am afraid that very few people can know what the truth looks like. ”

Yan Shizhang sighed and said, "Unfortunately, I am one of the very few people. Time has passed, and there are probably only three people who know all the truths and are still alive, but I am one of them. I can't tell you the specific truth of this matter, I can only say that since then, I have been issued by the imperial court to the Lanzhou prefect from the criminal department, but there is no vacancy in the Lanzhou prefect, and the imperial court does not want to use me as the prefect, it is simply a disguised exile to the frontier. It was just exile to the frontier, but he was found by Zuo Zhongtang of the expedition to Xinjiang Province, nominally to call in military assistants, but rather to secretly supervise. ”

"This ......!"

Hearing him say this, Hu Chuyuan didn't want to risk being an official.

He is also a very smart man, but compared with those who are hiding behind the "Horse Assassination Case", the level of political gladiatorial is definitely amateurish, Zuo Zongtang may be a professional nine-dan, Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang are at least masters nine-dan.

After playing chess with these people for more than ten years, Cixi's level can at least be trained to the professional eighth dan.

The officialdom of the late Qing Dynasty was not easy, not easy.

Hu Chuyuan thought about it, and said with a wry smile: "Mr. Yan, the officialdom is so dangerous, didn't you push me up the fire pit?" ”

Yan Shizhang said: "This game of chess is indeed not something that ordinary people can play, with military power, you can play, before that, you and I are other people's chess pieces." People will grow, and your level cannot stop at this stage forever. I see that you are young, but you already have the ability to be in danger and have the ability to think wittily, coupled with the assets and connections left to you by your father, in time, you will definitely become a person in charge of this chess game! ”

Hu Chuyuan said: "I already have other plans, so I don't plan to follow Mr.'s advice to join the family." ”

Yan Shizhang said: "I know that the owner still prefers to follow the path of Lingzun. These days, I have also studied Ling Zun, he is indeed a rare businessman, rare in the world, but his opportunity is also very good, the same opportunity to give you the fourth uncle, the achievement will not be much worse. As for Ling Zun, he also has two shortcomings, one is arrogant and extravagant, and the other is impatience and bigness, you have to be careful. ”

Hu Chuyuan didn't like others to criticize Hu Xueyan so directly, no matter what, Hu Xueyan was really very good to him, and he also gave him a home in this troubled era.

He said to Yan Shizhang very seriously: "No one is perfect, how much a person can achieve is often not determined by his shortcomings, but by his strengths, and what a person will fail because of must depend on his shortcomings." ”

These words made Yan Shizhang think for a moment, and after a while, he replied: "It's true, I still support the owner to take Ling Zun's path again, but even if you do well, Ling Zun is already a limit!" Or rather, he was the limit of what the imperial court could tolerate for merchants. ”

Hu Chuyuan said decisively: "No, there is still a long way to go, my father is just at the beginning, and there will be more powerful officials and businessmen in the future." ”

Yan Shizhang didn't know how to answer, he thought for a while and asked: "Then you are just a chess piece, I have already said that it is impossible to have a chance to play the chess game of the Great Qing Kingdom without military power." ”

Hu Chuyuan hid some deeper thoughts and didn't answer, and said with a smile: "Without money, Zuo Zongtang also has to return to Liangjiang to raise military salaries, this is the role of money." Maybe one day, many people who play chess will find that none of them want to continue playing chess without my support. ”

Yan Shizhang was skeptical and said, "Then I won't persuade the owner anymore, and I will try my best to help you watch out." Even if we don't have the ability to dominate the chess game for the time being, we can't be used as a waste chess like Wu Yuanbing. ”

Hu Chuyuan couldn't help but ask, "Which faction in the imperial court are Wu Yuanbing and Mei Qizhao?" ”

Yan Shizhang said: "Wu Yuanbing and Mao Changxi have a close relationship, Mao Changxi has been in charge of the Hanlin Academy for fifteen years, and all the Jinshi in the world in the past fifteen years are his protégés. The powerful relationship is very clear to Lord Zhongtang, so the biggest possibility is to transfer him to the governor of Jiangxi. In this way, the governor of Jiangsu will leave a vacancy, and neither the Huai nor the Qingliu will dare to fight, and in the end it will still be in the pocket of the Hunan department. Looking at the Hunan department, only Tan Zhonglin and Yang Yuebin are the only ones who can hold this position. ”

Tam Chung Lun?

Hu Chuyuan has heard of it, who is Yang Yuebin? He didn't know, and he didn't care anyway.

He asked again, "What about Mei Qizhao?" ”

Yan Shizhang said: "Mei Qizhao is a pity. He is a little familiar with Western affairs and Western studies, and he is a relatively small talent among the hundred officials of the imperial court, focusing on practice and doing solid things, but unfortunately he neither belongs to the Huai system, nor can he tolerate the clear stream. This time, he was completely used by others, and he offended the Hunan family very deeply, I am afraid that he will not even be able to keep the position of governor, and most likely he will be transferred to an abandoned post! ”

Hearing Yan Shizhang say this, a thought immediately flashed in Hu Chuyuan's heart, feeling that he could join forces with Mei Qizhao.