Chapter 44: Hitting the Nail

The Zhou family started from Zhou Fu as Li Hefei's staff, and Zhou Fu served as a political envoy to Sichuan, a political envoy to Zhili, a governor of Shandong, and a governor of Liangguang. Zhou Xuexi was admitted to Xiucai at the age of 16 and was promoted at the age of 28, but he has not been able to enter the Jinshi.

When Zhou Xuexi turned to industry, it was when Yuan Shikai was ruling Beiyang. The hardships of the New Deal at the end of the Qing Dynasty are difficult for future generations to imagine.

The opening of the Luan Coal Mine has always been a pain in Zhou Fu's heart, and if it weren't for the Boxers, the British would have been unable to support it. All in all, the state is too weak for businessmen to get support from the state.

Zhou Xuexi, who experienced the end of the Qing Dynasty and even the reign of Beiyang, has finally ushered in a day of raising his eyebrows. Since the initial investment in the Northeast Creek mine, the Zhou family has ushered in the New Year and regained its vitality. The new cement plant in Tangshan received an order from the government, and the output was underwritten for five years. The Xi Coal Mine has a stake in the military, and the huge orders from the army and the Eurasian Northeast Iron and Steel Group are enough to survive.

With the support of these two large industries, the Zhou family quickly returned to the first place in the northern business community, although it could not be regarded as a fall before, but it could not compare to the current scenery.

Tianjin, Zhou House. The garden is brightly lit and a Western-style dance party is being held. This kind of dance party is often held by the Zhou family, visiting political and business figures in Tianjin, Hebei and other places, and the Zhou family provides a communication platform for the northern business community, and also plays a huge role in the gathering of its own popularity.

The purpose of today's ball is to celebrate the Zhou family's recapture of the Kailuan Mining Bureau, and Zhou Mingtai, the eldest son of Zhou Xuexi, stood at the gate with his wife to welcome visitors from all sides. In the past two years, Zhou Xuexi has completely faded out of the foreground, and Zhou Mingtai has come forward in the face affairs of the Zhou family. Today's events are for Zhou Xuexi. It is a major event worth celebrating, and his long-cherished wish has been fulfilled, but Zhou Xuexi still has no intention of coming forward to socialize, just putting a few small dishes in the study in the backyard, pouring himself a drink, and accommodating the wine with the "Historical Records" at hand.

Wang Zhaoming got out of the car, smiled at the lady beside him, and raised his arm very gracefully. Mrs. Wang, who was dressed in popular fashion but still couldn't hide her ugly face, took her husband's arm and walked forward. "The ugly wife is a treasure in the house". I don't know which guy who lacks virtue is used to describe Wang Zhaoming, in short, the current Wang Zhaoming can be described as a spring breeze in the party.

Since the Japanese government expelled Sun, the Kuomintang has conducted a review. After arriving in Honolulu, Sun, announced his resignation as party leader. Immediately the Kuomintang held an election, and Sun Zhizhong Hu Hanmin was elected chairman. Zhang Ji, the pioneer who overthrew Sun in Japan, was elected as one of the vice chairmen, and the other vice chairman was Xie Zhi. The Kuomintang also elected 18 members of the Standing Committee of the Central Committee, nicknamed the 18 Arhats in the press. Wang Zhaoming is also one of the 18 Arhats, Zhang Taiyan, the editor-in-chief of the "Minbao" in Japan, and then failed to assassinate the regent in Beijing, and then mediated on the occasion of the North-South peace talks, accumulating enough political resources for the younger generation of the Kuomintang.

In the past few years, Sun has learned from the pain during his time in Japan. Focusing on cultivating newcomers, Wang Zhaoming, Liao Zhongkai, and Kong Xiangxi stood out through Sun's strong recommendation and arrangement, and were known as the troika of the Kuomintang's future hope. Wang Zhaoming is charming and dignified. Long-sleeved is good at dancing, and it is very popular in various social occasions, especially by big girls and small daughters-in-law, so as long as they can walk. Chen Bijun will follow Wang Zhaoming to attend various occasions.

Today's Wang Zhaoming is a rising star of the Kuomintang, and was appointed by Hu Hanmin as the secretary general of the chairman's office. In terms of real power, the de facto second person of the Kuomintang. In contrast, Liao Zhongkai, as a member of the Standing Committee of the Kuomintang Central Committee, is much more low-key, mainly doing some internal affairs chores. His personality is upright and resolute, and although his social skills are average, he is very valued by the old-timers in the party. The internal affairs of the Kuomintang are mainly handled by Liao Zhongkai. There is also Kong Xiangxi, who was the money bag of the Kuomintang, a descendant of the Confucian family, who is good at business and financial management, joined the Kuomintang during his study in Japan, and unexpectedly married Song Zi's sister.

Song Zi was valued by Song Hanzhang and became the vice president of the Bank of China, although Song Hanzhang still wore the hat of president, in fact, Song Zi was in charge of the bank's business. Song Hanzhang put aside the business of the Bank of China and was mainly busy preparing for the establishment of a central bank, that is, the People's Bank of China. I have to say that the name of the People's Bank of China is the result of someone being lazy.

It can be said that Kong Xiangxi became the head of the Kuomintang finance, and he had a lot to do with Song Zi. However, Song Zi, the eldest brother, doesn't seem to buy his brother-in-law's account very much, and there are rumors about this.

To get back to the point, Wang Zhaoming appeared in Tianjin for next year's county council elections, and the long-term goal is for the provincial council elections in 22. Tianjin is the earliest port opening port of the municipality directly under the central government, and an important military, political and commercial town in the north, and there is no doubt that it is a key area for the Kuomintang to seek great political development. Therefore, Wang Zhaoming was dispatched to Tianjin to seek good results in the election.

Zhou Xuexi is a pivotal figure in Tianjin, and the misunderstanding held by the Zhou family, Wang Zhaoming was not invited once or twice. In fact, in the past three months, Wang Zhaoming will appear at Zhou's house as long as there is a ball. Every time he came to Zhou's house, Wang Zhaoming would ask to see Zhou Xuexi, which was also strange, every time he couldn't see Zhou Xuexi at home.

Today, the Zhou family celebrated the withdrawal of the Kailuan Mining Bureau's ball, and Wang Zhaoming came to the door again. Although he couldn't see Zhou Xuexi before, he got along well with Zhou Mingtai. Don't say it, Wang Zhaoming is a person with excellent social ability. A handsome guy with a good demeanor, extraordinary conversation, elegant manners, and a spring breeze. When he was a teenager, he was merged into the Guangdong Navy Admiral Li Zhunfu as the western seat, and he experienced various scenes, and he was absolutely comfortable in general social occasions.

"With Brother Fu, congratulations!" Wang Zhaoming saw Zhou Mingtai who stepped forward to greet him, and took the initiative to greet him.

"Thank you Ji Xin for cheering, there are drinks in the garden, talk about respect, and there will be entertainment below." Zhou Mingtai replied politely, and asked Wang Zhaoming to continue to greet guests after entering.

When the guests were almost over, Zhou Mingtai turned around and came in, but he heard that Wang Zhaoming was chatting with a group of businessmen.

"Now that Europe has stopped the war and the world is peaceful, I secretly think that the Republic of China should seek peace and development as the outline of the country. The United States, which is only 200 years old among the European powers of today, has appeared on the world stage as the world's first-class power. The key to the success of the United States lies in its long-term stable external environment. Looking at the success of the United States, it cannot be replicated in the Republic of China. ”

This argument has been in vogue lately, especially in several media outlets controlled by the opposition party, which are touting the state of the US system. On the surface, it seems that the government and the opposition are very pro-American, but in fact it is not. The federal system of the United States, once moved to China, will definitely be out of shape. When the time comes, it will inevitably be a situation in which the provinces are divided and the central government is hollowed out.

There is no doubt that this situation is in the interests of the opposition parties, so it has been widely promoted.

"People like Wang Zhaoming are born to be the darlings of social situations, right?" Zhou Mingtai glanced at it from a distance, and had no intention of going up. The Zhou family has been deliberately avoiding contact with other opposition parties, especially the Kuomintang, and Fu Shuai does not like it.

This time, the Zhou family was able to take back the Kailuan coal mine, mainly because the government was behind it, and the British minister Zhu Erdian found the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to protest, and Gu Weijun directly replied: This is a private business behavior, and the government must not interfere. The affairs of the market are left to the market to solve, and it is illegal for the government to intervene.

The reason why the Kailuan Coal Mine could not be operated in the past two years was that it was boycotted by the China Federation of Industry and Commerce. When Europe was at war, business was easy to do, but the Chinese did not buy Kailuan's coal and cement, and Zhou Xuexi also recognized the losses of other shareholders. After holding out for two years, the British had to give up, and finally transferred the shares in their hands to Zhou Xuexi for 5 million yuan.

There is no doubt that this is a commercial victory, but it is based on the support of a strong government of the country, otherwise how can private business capitalists have the courage to do so? With a phone call, you have to obey obediently. Of course, Zhou Xuexi also made full use of the media to expose the disgraceful means of British businessmen who took advantage of the scheming.

Wang Zhaoming had good eyes, and when he saw Zhou Mingtai, he immediately apologized to a few interlocutors and strode over. "With my assistant brother, I came to the door several times in the next few times, and I didn't have the opportunity to meet Mr. Lingzun Zhou with the salute of the younger generation, and Mr. Zhou can be at home today?"

Zhou Mingtai looked at Wang Zhaoming, who had a confident face, and said in his heart that this person's face was strong enough. Knowing that the old man didn't want to see him, he still wanted to come forward, the Zhou family relied on Fang Dashuai to regain his strength, and it was okay to treat the Kuomintang politely on the surface, who has this friendship with you? If you want to talk about relatives and ancestors, the Zhou family is from Anqing, and Fushuai is a genuine fellow.

"Jia Yan is old, and he only came back from Tangshan in the afternoon, and he has already rested first." Zhou Mingtai remained polite and said perfunctorily.

Wang Zhaoming's expression was pale, the previous excuse was that Zhou Xuexi was not at home, but this time he was at home, he actually said that he was resting, and it was only eight o'clock in the evening, okay? Wang Zhaoming, who has always been known for his popularity, touched a sturdy nail and was stunned on the spot. Zhou Mingtai apologized and walked away, greeted the guests all the way, and found a vacancy to go to the backyard.

Zhou Xuexi is not only at home, but also drinking with the guests, the guests are Wang Zhu of United China Airlines and the general manager of Lianhua Company, Ryan of the United States, this time with Fang Dashuai's letter of recommendation, Zhou Xuexi came to join the shares. The lack of water in northern China is really not suitable for the development of industry, and the northeast, the Yangtze River basin and the Pearl River basin have always been the key areas for the country's industrial development.

The headquarters of United China Airlines is in Beijing, and I didn't feel much at first, but then I slowly found that it was inconvenient. In particular, logistics is much higher than building a factory in Northeast China. In addition, the orders of the Air Force and Navy are too large, and the production capacity of Lianhua is too small to meet the demand, and the only way in front of us is to expand production capacity.