With the advent of the second industrial revolution, power plants will become the most profitable business, and around electricity, industrial appliances and residential appliances will be new large-scale industrial investment hotspots.

Now he is no longer willing to be a passer-by in the American market, and he cannot compete with JP Morgan in the traditional steel and railway business, so he decided to focus on the high-tech field.

Nikola Tesla chose to try his luck at Wanqi Lab because of his monthly salary of $55, and this small thing made Hu Chuyuan further realize that the high-salary policy can be promoted on a larger scale, and the United States has the largest education system and the best immigration space, which determines that there are countless scientific and technological talents in the United States.

To this end, he decided to establish a world-class technology research center in New York to attract the best technicians in the world.

After careful selection, he decided to organize it near Columbia University in Morning Heights, and funded more attention to Columbia's science and engineering program.

He didn't need to come forward himself, and through the efforts of Albert and others, he began to quickly sketch out the patterns he wanted.

When he had bought all the specific plots and was about to select an architect to rebuild a new base, Chen Lanbin finally found him through Rong Hong.

Since he came to the door, Hu Chuyuan always felt that he still had to give some face, so he met Chen Lanbin at the Imperial Hotel where he stayed.

As soon as they met, Chen Lanbin couldn't wait to sigh: "Lord Hu, hurry up and say something, the court is waiting?" ”

Hu Chuyuan pretended not to know and asked, "What are you waiting for?" ”

Chen Lanbin sighed: "Master Hu, don't hide it from me, don't I know yet?" In short, it is up to now, Prince Su said, as long as you are willing to continue to guarantee the debt, everything is negotiable. ”

Hu Chuyuan sneered and said, "I really don't know what happened. All my assets in China have been transferred to Wells Fargo Investment Bank and Bank of America agents, I don't care, how much they can get back, that's how much, I'm preparing to invest in a new research institute in New York. A few days ago, I just bought a telephone company and was about to build a large telephone network in the United States. ”

"...... this?"

Chen Lanbin was speechless for a while, and only after a moment did he say: "Master Hu, then I'll just say it directly, Citibank has the support of the Americans, and now it has put forward two conditions with the imperial court, either to immediately repay 137.7 million taels of silver, or to raise the interest to 24%. How can this be? ”

Hu Chuyuan was also not polite, and said: "Even if it is increased to 24%, the Jiangnan Commercial Bank can pay it off, isn't it okay for the imperial court to send a person to take care of it, when I was in office before, the profit of the commercial bank was still thirty or forty million taels of silver every year." ”

Chen Lanbin sighed: "Don't say anything, as soon as you walk on the front foot, the Jiangnan Commercial Bank will announce a strike on the back foot, if it weren't for the opposition of Prince Su and Prince Gong, the Queen Mother would almost send troops to suppress it." Can't you go on like this? ”

Hu Chuyuan was even more dissatisfied, and said: "What do you mean to make such a fuss, do you think that these are all things I did?" Okay, you go back and tell Prince Su that now give me 172.5 million taels of silver, and the Jiangnan Commercial Bank is the official bureau of the imperial court, and it has nothing to do with me. If the imperial court wanted to buy this transaction of the CITIC Bank, it could also sell it for 47 million taels of silver. After the court paid, I didn't plan to return to China, and stayed in the United States to run the industry here. ”

Chen Lanbin sighed: "Master Hu, why are you suffering. Businessman, why should he compete with the imperial court? Prince Su said that the imperial court had no intention of buying back the business shares of Jiangnan Commercial Bank, and the Queen Mother was angry at the time, and she was worried about your good these days. You, be nice, go back to Shanghai to continue to run your business, deal with the matter of foreign debts, and say everything else. ”

Hu Chuyuan thought about it for a while, and said to Chen Lanbin: "It's easy to say other things, now that I, Lord Li and I are incompatible, and I am still assassinating me everywhere, who doesn't have only one life." These days, I have also thought about it and do not plan to return to China. He said that he dared to assassinate me under the nose of the Qing court, and gave them ten dares, and they did not dare to assassinate me on the territory of the United States. ”

"This ...... Are you really not going back? ”

Chen Lanbin was depressed for a while, but listening to Hu Chuyuan's words, it was clear that there was something in his words.

Hu Chuyuan nodded seriously, and even said disdainfully: "No, I have another asset in the United States, even if the imperial court confiscates all my family business, I can be regarded as one of the top ten richest people in the United States." From now on, I don't have to worry about the shipmaster's heart, let alone the heart of the silk industry, how love suffers. The imperial court and Li Hongzhang were staring at my Wanguan family wealth in front, and said that he was staring at my life...... I can't afford to take my life out and mess around, don't you think that's the case? ”

Speaking of this, he got up very unceremoniously to see off the guests, and asked Chen Lanbin to convey the words to Prince Su.

After Chen Lanbin left in a huff, Hu Chuyuan continued to run his own industry with his heart, thinking about speeding up the research of electric lights and launching his own electric company.

He was certainly not an expert in this area, but he was a master of management, and when looking for a new base for the institute, he reached an agreement with Columbia University and New York University that he would be responsible for acquiring land in Uptown and Midtown New York and leasing it to the two universities.

In return, the two universities are willing to recruit more Chinese students, as well as invest in the institute.

When these lots gradually become valuable, Hu Chuyuan can also get the land back and reinvest it into better commercial real estate.

In fact, as long as you have money, good business will always come in a steady stream, and opportunities are never reserved for those who are prepared, but for those who have money.

A few days later, Chen Lanbin came to Hu Chuyuan again, and this time, he brought better news to Hu Chuyuan.

It turned out that the Americans' demands were getting higher and higher, demanding not only an increase in the interest on the debt, but also an expansion of the area of the Tianjin and Shanghai concessions.

This is really bitter Li Hongzhang, he is tired of it, and he ...... encountered such a thing again!

He suppressed Zuo Zongtang, but the price of victory was huge, not to mention Sheng Xuanhuai, and he completely fell out with Hu Chuyuan, and was marked as a Han annihilation and suppression of the people's voice.

Cixi handed over everything to Prince Gong to deal with, and Prince Gong was the first two big, and the Americans held so many debts of the imperial court, and suddenly they were even more terrible than the British, if the Americans got the new concession, what would the British do?

Therefore, everything can only continue to hope that Hu Chuyuan will come out to mediate.

There's no way, he's the most powerful at dealing with foreigners.

Prince Gong made a condition, as long as Hu Chuyuan was willing to come back to deal with these things, the matter of Jiangnan Commercial Bank would be regarded as a fart by the imperial court. Within five years, the banknote issuance rights of the Hubu Banking Bureau were sold to China CITIC Bank, and after five years, other banks could participate in the issuance of banknotes.

As for Hu Chuyuan's personal safety, Prince Gong himself will take care of him, and his safety will be guaranteed, and the imperial court will also negotiate with the political axe strongly, and without the approval of the Qing court, no one is allowed to enter the non-concession areas in China.

Of course, Prince Gong also demanded that the debt should be borne by Hu Chuyuan alone, and the interest should not be increased, and the new lot in the concession was limited to Tianjin, and the Shanghai concession was resolutely not negotiable.

Since there are such conditions, Hu Chuyuan will no longer be high-profile.

At the end of June 1883, Hu Chuyuan and his wife Wu Shuzhen returned to the Shanghai Concession and lived in Yongyuan again.

The Shanghai business community has long been his world, and among the top ten foreign companies in Shanghai, he holds shares in six of them, and in the Chinese business circles, he supports almost all of the current national industries, and he has shares in more than 60 various Chinese merchant factories, and moreover, Hui merchants are the mainstay.

The fact that he was able to return to China is enough to show that he has the upper hand in the game with the Qing political axe, and the foreign industry and the Chinese business community jointly held a grand welcome ceremony for him, and as many as 10,000 people lined up in a huge procession to fill the entire Shanghai Bund.

What a crown in fact, everyone just has to show the imperial court clearly, see how much influence Hu Chuyuan has on China's economy and Shanghai's economy, and think about it before moving him.

In fact, there is another concern in everyone's hearts, if the Qing Zheng axe even dares to move Hu Chuyuan, wouldn't other businessmen be even more dangerous?

The Qing court tried every possible way to invite Hu Chuyuan, the richest man in the Qing Dynasty, back as a savior, but this time, what they invited back was an out-and-out plague god.

Hu Chuyuan finally understood, these people in the Qing court are shameless and do things for it, it treats you as a slave, you clearly blackmail it, but it is an uncle for you.

Cheap!!!

Hu Chuyuan is still a fake foreigner.

Before returning to Shanghai, he had already made contact with the British, American, and French envoys to China through Ye Tongguang, the head of the general ledger office, and proposed to them a huge plan for a new Tianjin, which was to invest 30 million yuan to clean up the Haihe River channel and port in Tianjin, and to clean up the swamps and saline-alkali flats.

After taking over the Tianjin Merchants Bureau, Hu Chuyuan had already bought more than 60,000 mu of land in Hedong District of Tianjin and Tanggu District of Haikou in Tianjin through various means, especially through thousands of Jixi grain merchants under Yufeng Society, but continued to lease it to farmers and small businessmen for their own business.

Through secret negotiations with John Young, the U.S. minister to China, and Sir Pashali, the British minister to China, Hu Chuyuan basically reached an agreement with them, that is, to vigorously develop Tianjin.

After returning to the Shanghai Concession, Hu Chuyuan personally held a so-called negotiation at the Hu Mansion in Yongyuan, and finally "persuaded" the Shanghai Citigroup Branch of the Bank of America not to increase the loan for the time being, on the condition that it "appropriately" increase the area of the American Concession in Tianjin.

At the same time, the British and French ministers were willing to persuade HSBC and Crédit de France to provide a certain amount of debt guarantees, also on the condition that the concessions be increased.

As for whether the Qing government axe agreed to increase the concession, it has nothing to do with Hu Chuyuan.

He threw this problem back to the Prime Minister's Yamen for State Affairs, and the Yamen threw the matter to Li Hongzhang.

In the face of Li Hongzhang and Qing Zheng Axe, the foreigners were not so reasonable, and could even be described as unreasonable, and proposed to Qing Zheng Axe to add a total area of 21,740 acres of Tianjin Concession, a total area of 4,295 acres of Shanghai Concession, and an additional concession in Xiamen.

Li Hongzhang, who was in charge of negotiating with the ministers of the three countries, burst into tears that night, lamenting the old and weak of life and the difficulties of the country......!!!

(To be continued)