Shandong salt transport envoy Zhang Lianfen is 51 years old. He also has an identity, that is, the Chinese general office of Huadeyi County Coal Mine, that is, the general manager of later generations.

Zhang Lianfen felt that since following Li Hongzhang, the "master", she decided that industry to save the country was the only correct way, and she was busy for more than ten years, and she took stock of what she had done, and the biggest achievement was the Yixian Coal Mine. And this largest mine in China, which reached an annual output of 2 million tons five years ago, is also coveted by foreigners, like other mines. Shandong since the 23rd year of Guangxu (1897) Juye Case, the German Rear Admiral took Trife to attack Jiaozhou Bay, and then occupied Jiaoao, in February of the following year, the imperial court and Germany signed the "Jiaoao Concession Treaty", the term of 99 years. Shandong's railway minerals are all undertaken by Germany. The Zhongxing Coal Mine in Yi County, which had already opened mines in Lunan Yi County, was also infiltrated by Germany and forced to make a joint venture, but through the arduous efforts of the Chinese representatives headed by him, the right to operate the coal mine was finally retained. It is a good thing, not a bad thing, for Zhang Lianfen that the German capital has not been in place, so there is even more reason to reject the Germans.

Since a flooding accident killed dozens of miners a few years ago, the Yixian coal mine caused a lot of turmoil, and was ordered to close by the imperial court for several years, and then Zhang Lianfen's activities finally resumed production. Zhang Lianfen realized that the only way to run the coal mine well was to build a railway from Zaozhuang to Taierzhuang, where the coal mine is located, to the Grand Canal. This has been unanimously recognized by the shareholders of the coal mine. It was reported to the imperial court, and after several twists and turns, the construction of this small railway was finally approved. The construction of the railway was hindered by Germany. It was also resolved after negotiations. When we enter the implementation stage, the biggest difficulty comes, and that is that the problem of money is exposed.

It is delusional to expect the imperial court to allocate funds. Since the Gengzi Incident, the imperial court has hunted Taiyuan in the west, and it still needs to be solved from all over the country. Don't count on Shandong Province, the newcomer Yuan Futai supports the construction of a coal railway, but he doesn't pay for it, and everything depends on the coal mine to raise its own money. The local gentry who had tasted the benefits of coal mines had no problem, but they could not afford to pay for this huge budget of nearly 1.8 million taels. Moreover, the coal mine itself needs input. The cost of digging old wells is getting higher and higher. According to the survey, new large wells should be opened in the east and north directions, and if you do the math, you can't do it without more than 100,000 silver.

Zhang Lianfen did not go home during the Spring Festival of Xin Chounian. It was in the mine - planning with several major shareholders to raise silver taels. The railroad was built a day earlier. Coal mines benefited a day earlier. Everyone knows this, but they just can't raise money. Yixian County was suddenly attacked by the calf, and Zhang Lianfen was very worried that Xiangma would take the opportunity to occupy the coal mine. It made him nervous—it was only a few dozen miles away, and it would be even worse if he was sacked by the Ringing Horse. The Ringing Horses did go north, but instead of entering the mining area, they swept through the mining area and headed straight into Fei County—their target was the entrenchment of another Ringing Horse. This made Zhang Lianfen breathe a sigh of relief.

The neighboring Fei County has long been entrenched in another ringing horse, which is also Zhang Lianfen's heart disease. It wasn't until they were recruited that Zhang Lianfen was relieved. Then came the fall of the Baoqianggu - the team that was ordered by King Qin after being recruited suddenly returned to Lunan, infiltrated from Tengxian County, outflanked the back road of the Baoqianggu people who were attacking Zhengjiazhuang, and wiped out this giant force that had been a disaster in Lunan for decades. The new Yanzhou town guard and the Yanzhou prefect also went to Yixian County in person to dismiss the Yixian county magistrate who had escaped from the battle, and comforted the residents' businesses, which was well received. Zhang Lianfen thought that at least that Wu prefect would come to Zaozhuang, because Zhang Lianfen's grade was much higher than that of the newly arrived parent official. Who knew that these two hurriedly returned to Zhengjiazhuang's lair. Subsequently, a stuttering pipe band (they called themselves the battalion commander) who stayed in Yi County led a team of soldiers to Zaozhuang in the name of chasing down the bandits who had slipped through the net, and met with him. Zhang Lianfen was surprised that the stuttering pipe band claimed to have been ordered by the town guard to learn about the local economy. Zhang Lianfen felt strange that it was relatively rare for a military general to care about economic issues. But Zhang Lianfen was not disgusted, nor did she put up a show, but simply talked to the stuttering tube band who looked very honest about the construction of the railway, praised them for their feat of annihilating the calf in one fell swoop, and said that the appeasement of the place was to pave the way for the construction of the railway. The steward said that he would definitely report what Master Zhang said to their Dragon Town Guard.

Zhang Lianfen did not want the garrison to help her. It would be nice for them to eliminate the bandits and calm the place. Zhang Lianfen knew the origin of this garrison, and was worried about the security of Yi County, so she returned to Yi County after the manager took it away. But the situation in Yi County is very calm, and the people from the Chamber of Commerce said (Zhang Lianfen is very familiar with the people of the Chamber of Commerce) that Wei Shengjun is highly disciplined, and Qiu has not committed any crimes, and he has traded fairly, and he has not reached out to the local people to ask for a penny of silver. This made Zhang Lianfen let go of her hanging heart.

Soon, Long Qian and Wu Yong, the prefect of Yanzhou, went to Yixian again, they met with Zhang Lianfen, and said straight to the point that they came to solve the funds for the railway. This made Zhang Lianfen overjoyed.

Long Qian explained that Battalion Commander Cheng reported to him about the construction of the railway, believing that it was a great thing for the benefit of the country and the people. The Yanzhou government and garrison have an unshirkable responsibility. He had already contacted the gentry of Fei County and a ticket number in Beijing, and had raised some silver taels. This time, I came to discuss with Mr. Zhang how to start the construction of the railway as soon as possible.

Zhang Lianfen's headache is money. He has feelings that others can't understand about the coal mine, as long as it is not foreign capital, Zhang Lianfen welcomes it with both hands. So he set up a banquet to treat the two civil and military officials, from the construction of the railway to the development of the coal mine, and had a good conversation with the envoy of the dragon town. Zhang Lianfen was very happy that this young military general had a very profound insight into the economy, not only supported the construction of the railway, but also had greater ambitions, and suggested that after the completion of the construction of the Zaozhuang to Taierzhuang railway, a railway from Zaozhuang to Haizhou would be built to open up the sea and connect Yanzhou with Yizhou, which would certainly play a great role in promoting the economy of Lunan. In addition to building the railway, the town guard also put forward his own suggestions for the reconstruction and expansion and comprehensive development of the coal mine, which made Zhang Lianfen very excited. The two talked at night until dawn, Zhang Lianfen let go of Long Qian turned out to be a returned overseas Chinese, no wonder he was so keen on running an industry, and his idea of comprehensive utilization of coal opened Zhang Lianfen's eyes. According to the idea of this Longzhen guard, relying on Zaozhuang Coal Mine. A series of industries will be built, including power plants, coking, machining, etc., and Yixian will become a new industrial center in Shandong Province. After communicating the connection with Yizhou, combining the coal of Zaozhuang and the iron of Yizhou, the economy of Lunan is promising.

Zhang Lianfen was very excited and fully agreed with Long Qian's proposal to re-establish a company to set up an industrial business. He was satisfied with Long Qian's statement that he still established a new company with Zhongxing Coal Mine as the core. Long Qian meant to form a comprehensive joint-stock company with coal mines, iron mines, and railways as the core, but to set up a series of companies, each with independent accounting. Be responsible for its own profits or losses. The government will never interfere in the operation of the company, and leave the company to the business.

Zhang Lianfen fully agrees with this. He has followed Li Hongzhang to run foreign affairs for many years, and the pros and cons are as profound as ordinary people. It has long been believed that industry must not be interfered with by the government. I've finally met a magistrate who understands things. This made Zhang Lianfen very happy. For the multi-party fundraising promised by Long Qian. The proposal to divide the shares, set up a board of directors and managers, and hire experts to govern the industry is deeply appreciated.

The two spent two days discussing the establishment of a new company. It was initially decided to integrate Zhongxing Coal Mine. On its basis, Zhongxing Industrial Co., Ltd. was established, and the registered capital was preliminarily determined to be 3 million taels, Zhongxing Coal Mine invested in the existing assets, and the rest was raised by Longqian to lobby wealthy merchants in Yizhou and Yanzhou. The candidates for the board of directors are decided according to the investment of share capital, and the board of directors agrees on the plan for the candidates of the general office.

The reason why Zhongxing Coal Mine was changed to Zhongxing Industrial indicated the expansion of business, and the construction of local small railways and thermal power plants that were about to begin would be undertaken by Zhongxing.

The last thing is funding, Zhang Lianfen is eager to raise funds to start building a railway, and Long Qian agrees. It is recommended that the company be set up first, set up shares and articles of association, so that the funds raised have a name, otherwise he will not be able to convince the shareholders of the investment.

As for the German side, Zhang Lianfen is confident that she will overcome its interference. The Jiaoji Railway, which is currently under intense construction, is also in trouble, and a dispute with the people during the construction has led to a massive public opposition, forcing the German railway, which has already begun, to stop. Now the Germans simply don't have the energy to take care of this side of things. Moreover, the funds from the German side have not yet arrived. Taking this opportunity, it is Zhang Lianfen's wish to completely get rid of Germany, at least to keep the coal mine and power plant from Germany. Zhang Lianfen unreservedly told Long Qian about the preliminary exploration and budget, and Long Qian said that he could immediately mobilize 200,000 taels of silver, and then invest another 800,000 taels of silver within half a year. This is enough money to start the railroad project.

Long Qian thought that half a year was enough for Jia Jiying to set up a semicolon of the Jinyuan ticket number in Lunan. The gold and silver hidden in Beijing will be continuously "washed" out through the Jinyuan ticket number and put into the industry.

Zhang Lianfen did not ask Long Qian how he could have 200,000 taels of silver in his hand, and he even doubted whether Long Qian had the ability to raise 800,000 taels of silver in half a year. Thinking about it again, since he said that he could invest 200,000 silver in advance, it was enough to solve the current predicament, even if his silver was not in place in the future, he would not have any loss. Therefore, I will not mention the rest of the matter. The two made a division of labor, and Zhang Lianfen was responsible for preparing for the construction of a new company and opening up all joints, recruiting engineering technicians, etc. Long Qian was responsible for local security and delivered 200,000 taels within one month of the establishment of the new company as an upfront start-up capital.

Although the two are very different in age and have different careers, the two days of conversation allowed the two to quickly eliminate the distance. From official affairs to private affairs, from the Gengzi national disaster to the ongoing peace talks, from the Westernization Movement to the development of industries in Western countries, from the new policies to be opened by the imperial court to how Lunan implemented the new policies. The topic is getting wider and wider, and the more you talk, the more speculative it becomes. Zhang Lianfen listened to Long Qian's account of the details of the Xigu victory, admired Long Qian's feat of leading the army to defeat the foreign soldiers and capture the British general, and deeply admired Long Qian's transformation of a ringing horse entrenched in Mengshan into a powerful army of the imperial court. Long Qian deeply felt Zhang Lianfen's broadened vision, worry about national affairs and pragmatic spirit. This man was not like an ordinary bureaucrat, but a mixture of a businessman and a technician. Long Qian thought that perhaps not all officials were stupid, and that there were actually a large number of talents hidden in the local area, because they were gradually buried by the rotten system of the imperial court.

Long Qian solemnly said that the newly integrated Zhongxing Industry will still be helmed by Mr. Zhang, and even if he invests more than half of the funds on his side, he will be responsible for persuading the new shareholders to hand over the management rights to the team that Zhang Lianfen has worked so hard to build. Master Zhang has done a lot of work before, and he can't change his ways. Under Zhang Lianfen, anyone needs to be hired, and it is completely up to Zhang Lianfen to decide. However, the managers led by Zhang Lianfen must implement the resolutions of the board of directors and be responsible to the board of directors and shareholders. If the shareholders are not satisfied, the board of directors has the right to adjust the person in charge of management.

The separation of ownership and management rights is not a Western invention or patent, and some industries in China, such as the Shanxi ticket number industry, already have very mature operating rules. But Long Qian clearly explained the difference between the owner and the operator, which still made Zhang Lianfen greatly admired. He believes that Long Qian must have such a clear understanding of the company's operation because he grew up in the United States. Therefore, Zhang Lianfen sincerely invited Long Qian to participate in the management of the new company, but Long Qian politely refused. Long Qian said that the new investor is expected to send representatives to the management of ZTE, which is the right of the people, and we cannot refuse. However, the premise of a well-functioning company is that all parties work together to abide by the unanimously adopted articles of association, which is a key. As an official in charge of the military of the two states, he is not suitable to participate in the operation of the company.

Zhang Lianfen is an official himself, but he doesn't seem to care so much about his official position. When Long Qian asked what if the imperial court, including the Yamen of Shandong, did not allow him to devote all his energy to Zhongxing Industry? Zhang Lianfen even said angrily that she would rather not be an official than do a good job in this mess! Long Qian smiled, it was a pity that Master Zhang was so enthusiastic about saving the country through industry, and he was not an official. If you have the opportunity to go to a higher level, it will be a blessing for the people. Don't give up easily.

Zhang Lianfen deeply agrees with Long Qian's idea of increasing the "added value" of coal. Praise Long Qian's twelve-character policy of "no agriculture, no stability, no work, no wealth, no business, no life" is a wise saying, and the more you think about it, the more incisive it is. It is expected that Huayuan Company will set up railways, electric power and mechanical processing one by one, and the economy of Lunan will undergo great changes.

During more than two days of negotiations, Wu Yong became an audience. After Zhang Lianfen had made a big plan, she insisted on taking Long Qian to Zaozhuang to see the current situation of the coal mine on the spot. (To be continued......)