The diagonal bridge does not mean that the bridge is oblique, and the East Lupu, a tributary of the Wusong River, flows here from north to south. There is the famous entertainment garden Zhang Yuan in the west of the river, and the English Country Club in the east of the river. In order to facilitate transportation, the two sides collaborated to build a wooden bridge over the river. Since the direction of the road leading to the bridge is also irregular, and the river is winding, the bridge is oblique from any angle, so it is called an oblique bridge.

The diagonal bridge is famous in Shanghai because of its clear water and dense trees, and pleasant scenery, so it has become the choice of some wealthy gentry and decent foreigners to buy houses. Therefore, in the design of the diagonal bridge residence, Chinese and Western styles are combined, with both traditional Chinese halls and pavilions, as well as a large Western-style garden and lawn.

A carriage stopped in front of the gate of Shengfu on Xieqiao Road, as soon as the carriage stopped, Lu Guozheng, who had been standing behind the car, jumped out of the car, took a red paper from the car, and walked to the gate of Shengfu.

When Lu Guozheng tapped the door knocker, Chen Moran in the carriage glanced out of the carriage. When the black iron door opened, it was only a flash of a crack, and a black-clothed servant could be seen through the seam, and when the man took the sticker, he first looked at the carriage, and then looked at Lu Guozheng, but his face showed a little contempt, and after Lu Guozheng took out a few yuan from his clothes, he closed the door and sent the post.

"The style of this Sheng Mansion is big enough!"

This scene made Chen Moran feel evil, and he couldn't see this kind of dog fighting power thing the most. Looking at the closed black iron gate, Chen Moran snorted coldly in his heart. This time I came to Sheng Mansion to ask for a meeting, saying that it was a request, but it was actually to send him Sheng Xuanhuai silver, but he never wanted to be unhappy at the door, not to mention that originally, he had prejudices against this "patriotic businessman".

"However, it is not surprising that Shanda is now in the post of supervision of the National Railway Corporation, and is still the boss of the Han Yeping Company, the China Telegraph Administration, and the China International Commercial Bank.

Sun Mingjiu said softly on the side, looking at Chen Moran's appearance, if it wasn't for his father's send, he was afraid that he Chen Moran would not even be able to enter the door of Lord Sheng.

The closed black iron door was not opened, but the side door was opened, and the porter, who was in his fifties, stood outside the side door.

"Sun Gongzi, master, please go to the front hall."

The arrogance on his face only made Chen Moran's heart block for a while, but Sun Mingjiu got out of the car with a smile and hugged his fist towards the porter.

"Excuse me!"

As he spoke, Sun Mingjiu put his right hand between his sleeves, and actually took out an ingots and stuffed them into the hands of the porter. This will make the porter reveal that the servant should have done his duty, bent over, and asked with his right hand.

"Sun Gongzi, please, Chen Gongzi, please!"

"Lead the way!"

Sun Mingjiu's posture and perverseness after getting off the car only made Chen Moran sigh in his heart, the gap between this person and people, right here, when he met this kind of person, he didn't say anything, and even moved the idea of stroking his sleeves and leaving, but this Sun eldest son, although he was not in the officialdom, he also donated the official title of six products, which would be so respectful to a house.

sighed that he had to learn from others, so he followed Sun Mingjiu into the courtyard and walked towards the main house.

Sheng Xuanhuai, who was sitting in the hall, had a little worry on his face, not for anything else, just for the Hanyang Iron Works thousands of miles away, two days ago, he received a telegram asking him to go back to the factory to preside, saying that he was going back to the factory to preside, but what was inside, he couldn't be clearer, the iron factory had no money.

Five years ago, Zhang Zhidong, who had run the Hanyang Iron Works for seven years, was overwhelmed, lost all his capital, and owed five million taels of debt, so he couldn't hold on anymore, so he came to Shanghai to ask Sheng Xuanhuai to take over, which made Sheng Xuanhuai see a big joke and secretly steal fun in his heart.

At that time, he Zhang Xiaoda wanted to set up the Hanyang Iron Works, and discussed with Sheng in Shanghai. Sheng Xuanhuai told him that he wanted to do business and never run it officially. Businesses and shareholders are all careful and energetic, and they will not do loss-making transactions. As for the official office, everyone is not in pain, anyway, it is the official capital, and life and death have nothing to do with it, it is easy to breed right and wrong, procrastinate in doing things, and get twice the result with half the effort.

The reason why I say this, on the one hand, is because Sheng Xuanhuai has been plotting for a long time on the iron factory, from the thirteenth year of Tongzhi to Hubei to find mines, up to more than ten years, although the final mine was not completed, but Xuanhuai's reputation as a loser from then on was at that time, such as Zhang Xiaoda's official Daye iron mine, iron mine, he Sheng Xuanhuai can not interfere, this is for selfishness, and on the other hand, wandering between officials and businessmen, he can not understand the officialdom well, and what he said is also the truth.

However, Zhang Zhidong did not listen, he was full of ambition, thinking that running a heavy industry could be like a twist, and with a single drum and foreign guns and cannons, he could hope to seize the mountain. Now that Zhang Zhidong can't do it well, what tricks does he have for Sheng Xuanhuai? The reason why he dared to go next was because he had his own way. first dragged his partner Zheng Guanying, let Zheng serve as the general office of the Hanyang Iron Works, and seized the opportunity to take over the key points of the factory.

Due to the lack of burning fuel, Hanyang Iron Works could not produce normally, and the price of coke was much higher than the price of iron, and the furnace would lose money in iron smelting, and the monthly fixed expenses would be 80,000 taels, which would also cost money. The most urgent difficulty faced by desperation was coke, which could not be produced without fuel.

In order to solve the fuel problem, only began to use the western method to mine the Pingxiang coal mine, and at the same time to build a railway to transport the coal out, these are all silver, three years ago, first asked the German bank for a loan, two years ago and signed a "coal, coke and iron ore mutual sales contract" with the book in exchange for a loan, finally put the Pingxiang coal mine down, although the Pingzhu railway has not been repaired, for the time being only by water to transport coal, but the coal problem has finally been solved.

The iron factory can start work, the steel plant is finally out of iron, and the original road has been able to flow silver since then, but when I went to meet a thing a year ago, Sheng Xuanhuai never expected. Steel is refined, but as the saying goes, "I'm not afraid of not knowing the goods, I'm afraid of comparing the goods". The steel produced by Hanyang Iron Works somehow looks very good, but it is not useful, the quality is very brittle, and it will break at every turn, which is really not the same as the steel imported from abroad.

The quality of steel is not good, and it can't be sold naturally, Hanyang Iron Works, since it is still a factory that loses silver, for which Sheng Xuanhuai can be described as a big headache, but at the moment there is no way, can only hold it like this, but it is supported, and tens of thousands of taels of silver are pasted towards Hanyang Iron Works a month. All the silver was borrowed by Sheng Xuanhuai and borrowed from it with the guarantee of the steamship China Merchants Bureau and the telegraph company.

"It's hot!"

Thinking of the appearance of the iron factory now, Sheng Xuanhuai couldn't help but sigh, eighteen years ago, he fell into the name of "Xuanhuai loser" on coal and iron, and he didn't think that Han Yeping, who was now taken over from Zhang Xiaoda, was so hot!

When sighing, the sad Sheng Xuanhuai glanced at the sticker on the table, which was a letter from Sun Jingnan, and Sheng Xuanhuai knew him when he ran the steamship China Merchants Bureau.

"Master, Sun Gongzi and Chen Gongzi have arrived!"

"Let them in!"

With a look on his face, Sheng Xuanhuai stroked his hand and ordered.

Stepping into the hall with his front foot and seeing Sheng Xuanhuai sitting on his head, Sun Mingjiu lifted the hem of his robe and bowed respectfully.

"Little nephew Mingjiu has seen Uncle Shi!"

When saluting, Sun Mingjiu's words brought the relationship between the two closer.

"Ming Jiuxian's nephew, exempt, exempt, please get up quickly......"

Having said this, Sheng Xuanhuai sat upright and accepted this salute.

"Junior Chen Moran has seen an adult!"

Chen Moran, who was inconvenient with his legs, didn't want to kneel like Sun Mingjiu, so he just hugged his fists and bowed.

After accepting Sun Mingjiu's big gift, and seeing the young man dressed in Western style who bowed next to him, Sheng Xuanhuai frowned slightly, but his eyes glanced at Chen Moran's crutch, and when he contacted the name, he remembered a person he had seen in the newspaper before. When he was contacted to walk with a limp, it suddenly became clear to him.

Chen Moran is the "Chen family's lame man" who is competing with the 12th class. ”

Being called such a thing by Sheng Xuanhuai, Chen Moran hurriedly bowed again.

"Don't dare, in front of the grand adult, the younger generation dares to be proud!"

"Dare to get, dare to get, how dare not, at your age, don't say more than a million taels, I'm afraid it's a hundred taels, I'm afraid it's difficult to come out, this big word, you deserve it!"

Okay!

Sun Mingjiu, who was still standing next to him, would be surprised, what happened to this grand man today, he would do this to a junior.

But after actually recognizing Chen Moran as the "Chen lame man who returned from Jinshan", Sheng Xuanhuai, who was worried about Han Yeping, started thinking in an instant, adding a commercial stock to come in, which can always make Han Yeping hold on, accept the commercial shares, and increase investment and transform the equipment.

However, until Sheng Xuanhuai asked the two to sit down, Sun Mingjiu still didn't figure out the joints, and was so "complimented" by Sheng Xuanhuai, Chen Moran was so comfortable that the slight bad feeling in front of the door before disappeared in an instant.

It was precisely in the atmosphere that each had its own plans, Chen Moran and Sheng Xuanhuai, an official and businessman who "connected the southeast mutual insurance", chatted about overseas interesting things, and inevitably mentioned the industrial theory, while Sun Mingjiu was complimenting "Uncle Shi" from time to time, and the atmosphere in the hall was not harmonious for a while.

"Hehe, then, it's rare for you to have this kind of insight!"

Listening to Chen Moran's theory of enriching the people and strengthening the country through industry, Sheng Xuanhuai smiled slightly and praised it.

"If you want to make a fortune, I'm afraid that the printing factory is just a small test!"

Speaking of this wealth, in the ears of outsiders, Xu and Cai retreated, but what Sheng Xuan said was "wealth".

"I really don't hide it from my lord, this time I took the liberty to visit my lord, just because I had something to discuss!"

"Oh!"

Sheng Xuanhuai raised his eyes and looked at Chen Moran who was sitting on the left.

"I don't know what's going on!"

"Iron of Hanyang!"