"Two years ago, there was a news ...... in Shengjing" Wang Yi was listening to Li Yuzhen's story, and Shen Yazhi and Tong Qianjia were sitting next to them, and the two girls were much more serious than Wang Yi. It is said that after Lord Zuo Guigui finished beating Song Sanhao, he returned to Shengjing. In the tenth lunar month, Lord Chonghou succeeded his brother Lord Chongshi as General Shengjing. When Chonghou first arrived in Shengjing, he saw that Lord Zuo had made meritorious efforts to suppress bandits and governed the army in a good way, so he asked the emperor to commend him. Later, the emperor gave him a yellow coat and appointed him as the commander-in-chief of Gaozhou Town, but he still stayed in Shengjing, and at the same time asked him to choose a suitable place to build a mansion. Later, Mr. Zuo chose Shengjing Xiaoxi Road, but he never thought that when digging the foundation, he actually dug out eighteen cylinders of ingots. Lord Zuo ordered someone to seal all the eighteen cylinders of ingots at that time, and then reported to Lord Yan Chonghou. Lord Chonghou saw that there were too many ingots, and he did not dare to deal with them without authorization, so he prepared a submission and reported it to the imperial court. After the emperor knew about it, he was happy, and Zhu criticized the imperial pen: 'Your own blessing, wealth and silver are self-determined.' After receiving the holy decree, Lord Zuo kowtowed and thanked the emperor for his reward, and made up his mind to help the people and help the people. ”

The two girls listened attentively, but Wang Yi didn't care. Shen Yazhi was so angry that she pinched him and said, "Look at the people of Lord Zuo, he doesn't care about wealth when he sees it, and he is dedicated to the sake of the court and society." Look at you again, except that money is money, and you smell of copper. ”

As soon as he heard this, Wang Yiyi rolled his eyes and pouted: "What Lao Li said is all false!" You only believe in nonsense. ”

Qian Jiaqi said: "Why did Mr. say that? ”

Wang Yi smiled lewdly at this time, took Qianjia's hand, and said with a smile: "Sister paper, listen to my brother tell you, how old do you say that person in Beijing is today?" ”

Qianjia thought about it and shook her head.

These things are not taught at all in the affiliated elementary school, and Qianjia is not interested in the one in the Forbidden City on weekdays, so it is not surprising that he does not know Guangxu's age.

"Let me tell you, the turtle was born in 1871, what year did you say that Lao Zuo found a lot of silver? How old did you say he was then? It's nothing more than a little kid, and he is also happy, and he is a royal pen and Zhu Criticism. What about liars! ”

"People are emperors, people are dragons among people, different from ordinary people, can't they!" Shen Yazhi was not convinced, and deliberately choked with Wang Yi.

"Different from ordinary people?" Wang Yi laughed, as if he had heard an extremely ridiculous joke, and immediately said: "What about the dragon among people, if you shoot down, you will die!" ”

"If you shoot down, you will die, what does it have to do with whether you can be longyan Dayue, Yubi Zhu Pi, can't the emperor be a genius?"

Li Yuzhen watched the three of them arguing on the side, but she was secretly amusing in her heart, and said in her heart: "Chairman, chairman, when I saw you, you were a few years older than Guangxu Neng, aren't you just an eight-year-old child!" He didn't dare to say this, Li Yuzhen didn't want to get involved in the battle between Wang Yi and the two girls.

The argument ended after Shen Yatou kicked Wang Yi or twice, and the two girls who were comfortable had already gone to class at this time, and Wang Yi said to Li Yuzhen at this time: "If you have something, just say it, you won't come to me if it's okay." ”

Li Yuzhen's expression returned to normal and said, "Lanzhou is here!" ”

"Lanzhou?"

"...... of the Governor of Shaanxi and Gansu"

"Zuo Zongtang? What about Lanzhou machinery weaving? ”

"That's right!"

Speaking of which, Wang Yi probably knows what's going on. Lanzhou Machinery Weaving Bureau is the earliest machine textile factory in the Qing Dynasty. It was originally established by Lai Chang in the third year of Guangxu (1877), and in the fourth year of Guangxu (1878) by Zuo Zongtang, the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu. The Gansu Aftermath Bureau allocated 200,000 taels, and the chief soldier Lai Chang ordered 400 boxes of complete sets of equipment from the German Tailai Foreign Company. The construction started on August 12 in the sixth year of Guangxu (1880), with 1,080 yarns, 20 woolen looms, a complete set of dyeing and finishing machines, and a 24-horsepower and 32-horsepower steam engine. There are more than 230 workshops, covering an area of more than 20 acres. Thirteen German craftsmen were employed. The factory is quite large. Nominally, it was presided over by Lai Chang, and the real power was in the hands of the Germans. Due to the inconsistency between the performance of the purchased machine and the local raw materials, the product quality is poor, the cost is high, and the sales are not smooth. In the ninth year of Guangxu (1883), it was stopped due to the rupture of the boiler. Later, it was changed to the Foreign Artillery Bureau. In the 34th year of Guangxu (1908), the Qing government hired Belgians as engineers and renamed Lanzhou Weaving Factory, but the operation was still not improving, so it was invested in the second year of Xuantong (1910).

"Zuo Zongtang!" Wang Yi didn't speak, Li Yuzhen knew that Wang Yi was thinking about things, so he was also quietly waiting for his decision next to him. "Brother Yuzhen, I don't know something. How did Lord Zuo know about our big business? ”

"It's because of Hu Guangyong's relationship, he has a good relationship with Ding Xiaoyu, the president of our Shanghai branch, and probably heard that the weaving machines and dyeing machines made by our Dashang Light Industry are very popular, so he came to the door."

Wang Yi's impression of Zuo Zongtang is better than that of the current governor of Zhili, Li Hongzhang, no matter how those people in later generations bleached Li Hongzhang, Wang Yi still felt that this product was a bastard. In contrast, he has a very good impression of Zuo Zongtang, removing the limitations of history, this person can be regarded as a hero! Of course, heroes don't necessarily know how to do business, so it ended in failure in running the Lanzhou Machinery Bureau.

"Lord Zuo protects the family and defends the country, we can't stand by and send a message to Hu Xueyan that we are willing to do this business."

Wang Yi's reaction was beyond Li Yuzhen's expectations, what he meant was that he could ignore it, after all, Li Hongzhang and Zuo Zongtang did not deal with it, in case he did business with Zuo Zongtang, Li Hongzhang had a misunderstanding......

"Chairman, you have to think twice about this!" Li Yuzhen frowned. "It's hard to say anything about the court."

"What do you mean?"

"Lee-sama and Zuo-sama ......"

"The Hunan army and the Huai army have a contradiction, right?"

Li Yuzhen nodded.

Wang Yi slapped the table at this time and scolded: "I have already done this business, and he Li Hongzhang will send someone to Fengtian to arrest me if he has the ability." Don't mess me up then, be careful that I come to the door and snipe him to death! ”

Li Yuzhen knew Wang Yi's temper, since he had made a decision, he would implement it himself, and he didn't have the slightest good impression of Li Hongzhang.

In 1865, the Kokand military officer Aguba invaded Xinjiang, and later in 1871 the Tsarist Russians came to occupy Ili by force, and in 1872 Aguba hoisted the flag of the Ottoman Turkish Empire and issued currency throughout Xinjiang. A fierce controversy broke out within the Qing court, with Li Hongzhang leading the idea of coastal defense and abandonment of fortress defense. Zuo Zongtang expressed his dissent, believing that if we withdrew the barrier, we would retreat an inch and advance a foot, especially if it would be infiltrated by Britain and Russia, so he strongly advocated putting down the rebellion in Xinjiang. This point alone doubled Wang Yi's favor for Zuo Zongtang.

After more than half a month, Li Yuzhen waited for two people on the dock, one of whom was in his fifties, and his eyes were shining. The other was younger, not tall, and had a typical southerner look. After the two got off the boat, Li Yuzhen hurriedly stepped forward.

"Below is the general manager of Dashang Silver Furnace, Li Yuzhen, dare to ask the two of you, Brother Xueyan and Brother Yunting?"

The two of them were stunned for a moment, then looked Li Yuzhen up and down carefully, and then said: "It turned out to be Brother Yuzhen, Brother Ding often mentioned you in Shanghai." Oh, this is the general office of the Lanzhou Machinery Weaving Bureau under construction, Lai Chang Lai Yunting. ”

After the two sides exchanged admiration for a long time, Li Yuzhen greeted his subordinates, and then the three of them got into the Western carriage.

Here is an introduction, Hu Guangyong is Hu Xueyan, a famous official and businessman in the late Qing Dynasty, who first opened a silver account, and then prepared logistics supplies for Zuo Zongtang's Hunan army. In 1866, he presided over the Fujian Shipbuilding Bureau. After Zuo Zongtang was transferred to the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, he was the director of the Shanghai Mining and Transportation Bureau, and he was still working for Zuo Zongtang. Around 1872, he borrowed more than 12 million domestic and foreign debts, relied on the power of the Hunan army, opened more than 20 pawnshops in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Hunan, Hubei and other places, and set up Fukang Yinhao in various provinces, opened a Chinese medicine store in Hangzhou Yutang, and also operated the export trade of silk tea. In 1882, he opened a silk factory in Shanghai, and later spent 20 million taels of silver to buy millions of quintals of domestic silk at a high price, in an attempt to monopolize the silk trade. In 1884, he went bankrupt because he was squeezed out by Li Hongzhang and foreign businessmen. By 1885, he was depressed.

It is said that the path he took was very similar to Wang Yi's initial and Zhang family's tiyì, both of which were engaged in monopoly trade. However, unlike Hu Xueyan, the Zhang family chose Northeast grain and oil, and mainly for domestic sales, but Lao Hu's silk was engaged in foreign trade. Secondly, food is food after all, and people will die if they don't eat it, but silk has relatively no such attributes. In addition, in the next few years, the Qing Dynasty suffered a series of natural disasters, and the price of grain and oil soared, so the Northeast grain and oil monopoly companies led by Tai'an were all making a lot of money and making huge profits. The last point, and the most important point, is that the grain and oil futures market established by the Yingkou Grain and Oil Price Alliance, although it is all artificially speculating prices behind the scenes, there is still an excuse and façade. In Wang Yi's opinion, Hu Xueyan just didn't know how many catties he had, and he made it clear that he was working against foreign businessmen, although it was mixed with patriotic feelings, but it was really unwise.

In addition, I would like to introduce Lai Chang, this person is amazing, and he is a rare person with great ability in the Westernization movement. Lai Chang, a native of Guangdong, was valued by Zuo Zongtang, who presided over the Shipping Bureau, in 1866 because of his good performance in the Fuzhou Shipping Bureau. He was originally a subordinate of Lin Zexu's son-in-law, Shen Baozhen, the Minister of Shipping of Fujian and Zhejiang, and because of his meritorious work in imitating foreign guns and cannons, he was promoted to a deputy general by Ying Guibao, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang at that time, and entered the Fuzhou Machinery Bureau to make guns. In 1872, he was transferred by Zuo Zongtang to work in the Lanzhou Manufacturing Bureau, and later he made remarkable achievements. Someone once said that the guns produced by the Lanzhou Manufacturing Bureau at that time even reached the world's advanced level. Wang Yi has reservations about this, but the Lanzhou Manufacturing Bureau has made great contributions to the assessment of Agubai's rebellion, and this alone is enough for him to become famous in the annals of history. In 1878, Zuo Zongtang began to prepare for the Lanzhou Machinery Weaving Bureau, and Lai Chang became the general office. And because of Hu Xueyan's matchmaking, I arrived in Yingkou today.

To be honest, he was full of doubts about this trip, and he couldn't help but wonder in his heart, who is Dashang? Do you really have the ability to produce the machinery we need?