"Retreat, this time I went to Beijing, everything went well?"

"Overall fine. The Ministry of War has fully approved the appointment of the officers and assistants of the various ministries to which I have submitted. I met the Queen Mother and Prince Qing, and also met with Yuan Shikai, the Minister of Beiyang, and the Queen Mother summoned me again before leaving, and waited for two days, which was delayed for several days. How's it going, everything is okay at home? ”

"Before leaving, I heard something. You already know. What's going on in Lushan? ”

"Are there any rumors over there in Yizhou?"

"There are some rumors. It is said that Lu Shan ran away with a few people, isn't it true? ”

"It's true. However, Lu Shan did not defect, but carried out an important mission. ”

"I see. Let's just say, how could Lu Shan defect? Chen Chao finally put his mind at ease.

"The news was deliberately spread by Jiang Yun. There's no way around it. In order to cover people's eyes and ears. After all, Lu Shan was registered in the imperial court, and he disappeared suddenly, so there must be an explanation. I'll handle this well, don't worry. In the process of explaining, Long Qian remembered the meeting with Lu Shan at the secret junction point of Deshengmen Street in Jingshi, and estimated the itinerary, they were probably out of the customs, right? The first batch of people who followed Lushan to the north were all real elites, and they didn't know when they would be able to meet again, and when they met again, they would disappear those familiar and friendly faces...... Long Qian's face became gloomy, "Lu Nan's situation is normal, right?" It's been almost five months. ”

"There are a lot of things going on in Huayuan, and there are several things that you need to decide...... However, I'm more concerned about the situation in Kyoshi......"

Long Qian rubbed his face, "Let's talk about your mess first." After Huayuan's business. Get rid of the military project, you can discuss it with Zhou Xuexi, you are the chairman. I'm afraid I won't have the energy to take care of this mess in the future. I invite you to come this time because I want to move the headquarters of Huayuan Company to Jinan. To this end, ZTE and Huayuan will make some industrial adjustments, and most of Huayuan's factories will be handed over to Zhongxing Industrial. However, ZTE's Western pharmaceutical factory will be replaced by Huayuan. Of course, capital replacement is not such a simple matter, according to the company's articles of association, it must obtain the support of a majority of directors, and it is necessary to calculate the net asset value and expected profit in detail. Exceeding. Converted to the other party on the basis of shares.

"Huayuan or ZTE. After our army takes over the defense of the whole province, at least one of them will move out of Lunan. This is the trend of the times, and I think it is not difficult for shareholders or managers of the company to see this step clearly. The reason why Huayuan chose to move out. It is considered that ZTE's foundation lies in coal mines as the core. It makes more sense to hand over Huayuan's steel to ZTE. Moreover, Zhang Lianfen's gang was even more reluctant to move. In this way, Huayuan needs to start a second business

"In the future, after Huayuan moved to Jinan. It is necessary to cooperate closely with the Machinery Bureau. With Zhou Fu's support, it shouldn't be difficult. You probably know the situation of the Machinery Bureau, it has been painstakingly operated by Ding Baozhen, Li Bingheng, Yuan Shikai, Zhou Fu and other governors, and it can already produce black powder and rifle cartridges. If you can grasp the Shandong Machinery Bureau in your hands, you will get twice the result with half the effort. ”

"I know a little bit about the situation of the Machine Bureau, but how are they willing to cooperate with Huayuan?"

"Funding. Under the current circumstances, neither the province nor the two lakes, nor the industries in the north and south of the Yangtze River have been troubled by funds. This is where we have the greatest strength. The last time Zhou Fu went to Yizhou to cut the ribbon for the iron factory, he mentioned that Xu Jianyin was trapped by funds. This time, Huayuan transferred some industries to ZTE, and a large amount of cash will be realized, and Xu Jianyin will be interested in taking this money to Jinan! If you think about Zhang Lianfen, you can understand. So, the second important thing for you to come this time is to talk to Xu Jianyin about this. Let him rest assured that if he is willing to merge the Machine Bureau into Huayuan, we will naturally consider his position, and the Machine Bureau has his hard work, and we will not exclude him. In fact, Zhou Xuexi is in Lunan and has already set an example for him. If you don't want to, there are many ways to cooperate, Huayuan has skills and funds, and he is not afraid that he will not be moved. ”

"Retreat, I know your thoughts. Arms manufacturing is the most important. The Machine Bureau is engaged in arms, this thing has a very strong official color, isn't it more convenient for you to find Xu Jianyin with your current identity? Or is it more convenient to move Zhou Fu to come forward? ”

"Business is business, and it must be solved by commercial means, and it is inconvenient for me to come forward."

"Okay."

"Zhou Fu's side, I'll visit tomorrow. I'll say what I need to say, and I'll do some foreshadowing for you. In addition to vigorously developing the arms industry, Huayuan will focus on higher-end industries, especially financial business. The Jinan cigarette factory was soon put into operation, which is Huayuan's factory. You can go and inspect it. The profits of cigarettes are amazingly high, and foreigners have long been eyeing this fertile market. Cigarettes are only one aspect, such as vehicle factories, garment factories and even textile factories, all of which must be assigned to Huayuan. This is the civilian part, another pillar of Huayuan is the military industry, and the current idea is to use the basic development of the Machine Bureau, focusing on weapons, gun factories and artillery factories, all the weapons that the Mengshan Army needs, Huayuan must be able to manufacture. Therefore, grenades and explosives should also be returned to Huayuan, you don't have to worry about your factory being returned to ZTE, and the current stall is not small.

"I have great ambitions to build Huayuan and ZTE into the strongest and largest industrial groups in China and among the top in the world. Taking advantage of the changes in the next ten years, facing the whole country and the world, while making a lot of money, we will cultivate research institutions at the national level and carry out research and innovation in many aspects, rather than blindly copying. I plan to reorganize Jinyuan into a modern bank at the appropriate time, and incorporate it into Huayuan, which will become the source of the huge amount of funds needed by Huayuan. It is important to know that the overseas industrial groups of Ludao are all based on banks. Therefore, you, the chairman, should expand your vision from a corner of Lunan to the whole province and even the whole country, and in the future, you will have to go out and see how the Americans, British, and Germans manage their large industrial groups. At present, the most important thing is talent, David father and son will come with you, through them, to hire a large number of overseas talents, but also to absorb domestic talents who understand foreign affairs and are willing to work hard. More importantly, it is to cultivate their own management, technical skills and technical workers. Huayuan's treatment must be the best in China, so that it can support people. ”

Chen Chao was dumbfounded. After a while, Fang said, "Retreat, I'm afraid I'm not up to the task." ”

"Why? No one is born to know. Since you took charge of Huayuan, I think you have done a good job. There is a trick to doing everything, and the perspective of the upper level and the middle and bottom level is different. As the chairman, the main task is to manage the company's business direction, and it is good to make no mistakes in major decisions. The second is to manage people well and hire good managers. The last thing is to determine the salary of the manager, and how much money to pay Zhou Xuexi, which is the power of the board of directors. General affairs of the company. You don't have to ask. Day-to-day business problems are managerial matters. It's Zhou Xuexi's business. The company is losing money, and there are major problems in management, and the board of directors is only asking the manager. This is the separation of powers between the owners and operators of capital, which has been explored and proven in the West, and the operators must be experts. But the chairman of the board of directors is the owner's representative of the company. You don't have to be an expert. To put it bluntly. Huayuan and ZTE are the property of Mengshanjun and our group, and it is most suitable for you to be the chairman. ”

"You have to have a specific idea, right?"

"I only have a general idea. After gathering a few of them together, we will discuss it specifically, and it will depend on the outcome of the negotiation between you and General Manager Xu Jianyin. Now we are looking for the address of Huayuan's headquarters, as well as the layout of Huayuan's enterprises in the province, of course, we can't move all the enterprises in the plan to Jinan, such as Qingzhou and Dengzhou, all of which need to be distributed. This is a matter for the board of directors, and you, the chairman, are probably going to be busy for a while. ”

"I'm not afraid of being busy......"

"The other thing is that we have to move again. The headquarters of the Mengshan Army and the headquarters of Huayuan are both located in Jinan, and the move is certain. Now my aunt and Shu'er are afraid that they will be unhappy, and you have to help me do their work. ”

"What do women know?" Chen Chao disagreed.

"Also, Yan Bing and Xiaoxian's wedding date is probably going to be postponed. Yan Bing's troops have just arrived in Dongchang, there are many things to recruit and train soldiers, and he has only one old battalion under him, which is inseparable for the time being, let's talk to Xiaoxian, push it for two or three months, I think it will be almost before the Spring Festival. ”

Chen Chao was very happy that Long Qian was discussing housework with him, "This is as it should be, don't be distracted, you can't scold you for a big thing." I'll do that. By the way, this time I went to Beijing, what did the Queen Mother say? ”

"Met twice. As soon as I went to Beijing, the Queen Mother summoned ......" Long Qian's eyes appeared in front of the scene, and Long Qian, who was kneeling on the gold brick, peeked at it, Cixi was much older than two years ago.

"Long Qian, do you know why Lu Dao organized your troops into the Fifth Town?"

"That's the Queen Mother's letter. Long Qian couldn't repay it, and did his best to build the fifth town into a first-class elite soldier, and when the Queen Mother pointed to it, Long Qian hit there. In front of Cixi, Long Qian has his own method of patting sycophants, and he seems to be very smart.

Sure enough, Cixi listened to Long Qian's "trendy" statement and praised, "Okay, if you think like this, the palace will be relieved." The old woman lowered her head and fiddled with the finger cuffs on her fingers, "Come on, give Long Qian a seat!" ”

Li Lianying glanced at Long Qian, and thought to herself, this kid has a seat every time, and the treatment is higher than that of those military planes, so he moved an embroidery pier and placed it in front of Long Qian, "Please get up?" General Dragon. ”

Long Qian didn't move, still kneeling there, "Queen Mother, I have seen that you have lost a lot, two years ago, Gengzi was in a national disaster, although the situation is critical, but the spirit of your old man is much stronger than today, Queen Mother." There are thousands of families and one person in charge, and the Qing Dynasty must not live without the Queen Mother, and the Queen Mother of Wanwang will take the society as her mind and cherish herself......"

Li Lianying was secretly taken aback, Cixi had not slept well recently, her appetite was also poor, and she was indeed in poor spirits, but no one dared to point out to her face that the Queen Mother was not as good as in the past. peeked at Cixi and saw that Cixi was not angry.

These words evoked Cixi's memories, especially the night when he escaped from the Jingshi and stayed in the broken temple, Long Qian went to the difficulty, and the scene of King Qianliqin was vivid, and he sighed, "Compared with two years ago, it didn't make the palace worry much!" Now that the revolutionary party is making trouble in the south, Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao are hiding in Japan and advocating the return of power to the emperor all day long...... Long Qian, have you heard of all this? ”

"I have heard of lowly duties."

"What do you think?"

"I think that Kang Liang is poor and not enough to worry about. On the contrary, the revolutionary party instigated ignorance and foolishness, which deserves vigilance. However, as long as the imperial court works hard and strives for self-improvement, even if there are a few clowns who jump off the beam, it is not difficult to exterminate them as long as they send a brigade of elite soldiers. Shandong, where the lowly post is located, will never allow the revolutionary party to make trouble, and ask the queen mother to let go of 10,000 hearts. ”

"You're doing a great job in Shandong," Cixi said with relief. "Get up and speak. It was this time that he led the troops to protect the river defense and did a good job. If you are as diligent in the king's affairs as you are, I will have a lot of peace of mind. How's your Fifth Town going? ”

Long Qian stood up, thanked the Queen Mother, did not sit down, and began to talk about the formation of the fifth town and the plan for garrisoning important places in Shandong, Li Lianying did not care about the formation of the fifth town, but felt that Cixi's trust in Long Qian had not decreased, and seemed to value this suddenly rising military general more.

"Hmm," Cixi listened to Long Qian's brief description. Yuan Shikai mentioned Fifth Town several times. You can compare yourself with those towns. After a while, the Ministry of War will go to Shandong to conduct an on-the-spot inspection, so don't lose face. ”

"The fifth town is the queen mother's personal soldiers, and Long Qian naturally doesn't dare to lose the queen mother's people. Please rest assured Lafayette. Long Qian would never dare to slack off in the slightest......"

All the best with the summons. At least I don't see any dissatisfaction on the part of Cixi. The gifts that should have been given have also been given. Including heavy gifts to Li Lianying and Yi Xuan. In the Qingwang Mansion. Long Qian talked about the issue of military spending in the fifth town, and hoped that the fifth town, like the Beiyang towns, would be directly paid by the household department.

"The fifth town is one of the six towns in Beiyang. There should be a standard for the salaries of officers and soldiers. "However, the right wing of the Weisheng Army set a precedent, and the military expenses were borne by Shandong, so the household department wanted to follow the routine. It's hard to get that. ”

"Lord Mingjian. As far as the lowly officials know, the salary of the Beiyang army is very high, a pipe belt, the monthly military salary is one hundred taels, and another three hundred taels of public expenses, and the lowest man also needs three and a half taels of silver. Much higher than the standard of the Wasion Army. Calculated in this way, the military salary alone is nearly 200,000 taels per month in the town! And that's not even counting the cost of weapons purchases! The right wing of the Weisheng Army has been expanded into the fifth town, and there is a huge shortage of weapons, and the humble position does not dare to live up to the trust of the queen mother and the prince, in case something happens to the court, the fifth town is going to be pulled up to fight! Therefore, I hope that the prince will turn around on his behalf. ”

Although Yuan Shikai strongly opposed it, due to Yixiao's activities, the household department finally agreed with Long Qian on the amount of military expenses for the fifth town, and fully allocated 200,000 taels of silver per month, including the purchase of weapons that the fifth town lacked. If the single military salary is calculated based on the establishment amount, this figure is okay. However, when the cost of weapons acquisition and training is taken into account, the shortfall is significant. What's more, the fifth town is in an overstaffed state, and the intensity of training, especially live-fire training, is greater than that of Beiyang towns, so even if the central government pays 200,000 taels a month, Long Qian needs to replenish at least 150~2 million taels of silver every year to maintain the operation of the Mengshan Army! No wonder some people say that it is difficult to raise soldiers, it is simply burning money!

Long Qian agreed to this condition. In fact, he does not want the central government to pay the full amount, including training expenses. In that case, the Fifth Town would have no freedom. Now you admit that the military is insufficient, right? Then don't blame me for figuring it out.

Before Long Qian left Shandong, he was summoned by Cixi again. This time, Cixi asked about Lunan Industry, and Long Qian reported truthfully, of course, he would not tell Lunan Industry the source of funds. Fortunately, Cixi didn't ask. When Cixi praised Long Qian's good new policy, Long Qian became humble and said that the reason why Lunan Industry has today's scale is not his Long Qian's credit, but Tang Shaoyi, Zhang Lianfen's strategic work, and of course, he did not forget to praise Zhou Fu's wise leadership. The iron law of officialdom is that the sedan chair carries people, and it is foolproof to do so. Another consideration is that Long Qian can't let Cixi think that he is good at economics, in case the old woman transfers him to the center, such as entering an institution such as the Ministry of Commerce as an errand boy, even if he becomes a high-ranking official like a squire and leaves the army, he will be finished in this life.

"The Northeast should also carry out a new policy, set up a governor and governor, and separate the military and the government. Tang Shaoyi did a good job in Yizhou, and it has been agreed that he will be the governor of Fengtian. Long Qian, who do you think can take over Tang Shaoyi's prefect? Cixi asked.

"The name of the imperial court is not the one who dares to put a beak in Long Qian. Moreover, Long Qian, as the commander of the new army, should avoid suspicion. Of course Long Qian was not fooled.

"It's good that you think so. However, your contribution to Lunan's new policy is not small, although the palace is in the deep palace, it can't hide it from me. In this way, there is no doubt about employing people, Feng Guozhang went to Zhili, the governor of Shandong was vacant, and Zhou Fu mentioned it several times. This palace will appoint you as the governor of Shandong, coordinate the military of Shandong, not only train the fifth town, but also manage the patrol battalions in various parts of Shandong and properly arrange them. In the future, the imperial court will vigorously organize and train new troops, and if these old armies are not properly placed, it will always be a trouble. ”

"Empress Dowager Xie is trustworthy, Long Qian will do his best, train soldiers for the Empress Dowager, and stand at a good post." Long Qian was overjoyed in his heart, turned over and knelt down, and kowtowed again and again.

"Don't let this palace down. Shandong's geography is important, and Germany and Britain are entangled in it, so don't be ruthless and start disputes. But don't be weak, either. ”

Easy to say. Long Qian sneered, you do it, how can you do this? But the mouth must be repeated, please rest assured that the Queen Mother is here, and Shandong will be as safe as a rock......

There is no need to tell Chen Chao about this, it's not that he doesn't trust him. Long Qian was thinking about the meeting with Zhou Fu tomorrow, the document appointing him as the governor of the imperial court had probably arrived in Shandong, and he would change his identity to start a new level of cooperation with Zhou Fu in the future. How to firmly grasp Zhou Fu in his hands still has to take a lot of thought, but this matter must be done well, if the governor is in the way, it will be difficult to do. (To be continued......)

PS: Once again, I wish all book friends a happy New Year, all the best, put Lian Zhuang, put the handle to self-touch, make a fortune, and have great luck.