Moreover, with the continuous improvement of Jiangnan Group's confidentiality system and the deepening of confidentiality education, especially after the security group established a confidentiality bureau specifically responsible for confidentiality and anti-infiltration work, the difficulty of spying on intelligence has increased sharply.

In the first year of the Wanli reign, the group issued “Several Resolutions on the Deficiencies in Entry Examinations during the Initial Period”, which stipulated that anyone who was instructed to join the group during the Longqing period and voluntarily surrendered himself, after being examined by the higher-level security bureau, would not be dismissed or demoted, but only transferred from a confidential position (to control their use) if no loss or damage was caused to the group.

As soon as this regulation came out, undercover agents sent by various gods voluntarily surrendered themselves, reported their merits, and sought lenient treatment.

Afterwards, the newly established Security Bureau carried out a cleansing operation codenamed "Tide". Relying on a large number of clues and employee reports, the spies who had infiltrated the group were caught one by one.

Under the Bureau of Secrets's continued high pressure and long-term strategy of relying on the masses, espionage activities by all parties can no longer gain momentum, let alone infiltrate key departments of the group.

On the other hand, it was becoming increasingly difficult to recruit talents from Jiangnan Group. In the past, Lao Xier could recruit a junior engineer by offering a few hundred taels of silver a year.

However, with the improvement of the group's employee rank system, the improvement of welfare systems such as pension, medical care, and children's education, as well as the completion of publicity and education, and ideological and political work, the employees' sense of belonging, security, and dependence on the group have been greatly enhanced.

These are things that cannot be measured with money...

'It's not about the money.'

In recent years, when the old guys were poaching people from Jiangnan Group, they heard this sentence more and more frequently.

If it's not about money, then what is it? Is there anything in this world that money can't buy?

In fact, the old guys also know that as long as you are willing to pay more, you can still dig them up. If you offer them 10,000 taels a year, you see, it's not just a matter of money!

But the old guys are so smart. They know that none of the ones they can dig up are worth the money. Not even one tenth of it!

Those who are worth this much money have all signed a death contract... oh, it’s called a lifetime contract, and they can’t be dug out.

As a result, more than a decade has passed, and the old people still don’t know the complete production process and specific formula of cement, how glass is fired, how to turn brown sugar into white sugar...

There is also the Zhengtai Railway that the old people are thinking about.

Because Zhao Hao had not made any progress, and Shanxi was rich in coal and iron, and the iron smelting industry had been very prosperous since ancient times, and it was also the iron smelting center of Mongolia and the future Later Jin. So the old people decided to do it themselves, and the road was mine.

In the fifth year of the Wanli reign, they built the tracks of the Zhengyang Line. Because they could not gather enough pig iron to cast pure rails, the old men used a cheap method. They used very thin iron sheets and nailed them on the wooden rails, and that was the railway.

But the load-bearing capacity of this type of track was very poor, and the cast iron sheets of the coal car were broken after just a few trips. In addition, the air in the Taihang Mountains was humid, and the cast iron sheets that were not broken gradually rusted and became unusable...

As a result, the first railway that the old men spent 50,000 taels of silver to build was scrapped that year.

However, the Mentougou Railway of Xishan Group has been running coal trains for more than ten years and is still working normally...

This is the gap, a gap beyond imagination!

There are countless examples like this. Old Xi'ers have gradually come to understand a truth - the advantages of Jiangnan Group can be learned, but blindly copying them and thinking that they can do the same is doomed to failure!

Even if they poached all the people from Jiangnan Group, they would not be able to create a second Jiangnan Group.

How can they build thousands of schools and educate the people to literacy?

How can they pay high salaries to their millions of employees and establish a welfare system that covers them from cradle to grave?

How do they build the world's most powerful production, supply and marketing cycle?

How can they defend all this?

Even if we leave all of this in their hands, it will inevitably collapse completely within a few years!

The old Xiers are the most skilled in management among the Shanxi merchants. The more experienced they are, the more they know that managing such a complex and sophisticated system is more complicated and difficult than governing the Ming Dynasty. However, the Jiangnan Group can run it in an orderly and unified manner. This terrifying management ability is really beyond reach and unimaginable.

To describe it with a Shanxi idiom, it is 'the old cow doesn't give birth - Niu Boyi is bad'!

So when it comes to Jiangnan Group, all the old people in China turn pale.

~~

Zhang Yangmeng disagreed. He smoked a Luzon cigar, drank Yilan soda, and passionately pointed out the situation:

"Everyone, wake up! This is the Ming Dynasty of the Zhu family, not the Song Dynasty of the Zhao family! Ever since the day when Taizu abolished the prime minister, the emperor has held supreme power in the world. Those who obey will prosper, and those who disobey will perish, without exception!"

"Yes, Gao Xin, Zheng He and Zhang Wenzhong are extremely powerful and unstoppable! But that's because the previous emperor was lazy and the current emperor is young, so he entrusted the power to them temporarily. So that's not a fixed rule. It just depends on when the emperor wants to take back the power - the fall of Lord Yan is enough to prove this point!"

Zhang Yangmeng said as he looked towards Chu Yu:

"Mr. Ai Suo said that times have changed and that he thinks that Mr. Zhao and his son are invincible. May I ask how they compare to Mr. Yang and his son in Yang Xindu back then?!"

"This..." Chu Yu was speechless after being asked.

The father and son Yang Xindu and Yang Ge Lao are Yang Tinghe and Yang Shen, father and son.

When Emperor Zhengde passed away, Yang Tinghe drafted the imperial edict and selected the son of Prince Xingxian to succeed him, which led to the birth of Emperor Jiajing.

Afterwards, the young emperor, who was born in a different place from the ancient times, had a protracted confrontation with Yang Tinghe, who had served in four dynasties and twice as prime minister, over the issue of who should be recognized as his father. This was the so-called "Great Ceremony Debate"!

Yang Tinghe originally thought that a young boy who had never seen the world would be easy to deal with, and that he could be frightened by showing enough power. So he ordered the Minister of Rites Mao Cheng and more than 60 civil and military officials to report to the emperor, asking him to regard Emperor Xiaozong as the emperor's father and his biological father, King Xingxian, as the emperor's uncle, and declared that "anyone who has dissenting opinions is a traitor and should be executed!"

The young emperor was naturally unwilling to do so. He initially tried to favor Yang Tinghe and gave Mao Chenghou gold, but neither of them was moved. Jiajing issued several edicts to honor the emperor's title of King Jiaxingxian, but they were also revoked by the six departments!

The emperor could not accept such humiliation, and the two sides reached a stalemate.

In March of the third year of Jiajing, seeing that the emperor was as hard as stone and completely ignored the protests of his ministers, Yang Shen, the son of Yang Tinghe and the young cabinet minister, shouted out the famous words:

"The country has nurtured scholars for 150 years, and today is the day to die for justice!"

He led more than 200 court ministers to kneel down and cry at the Zuoshun Gate of the Imperial Palace!

Those two hundred people were not random people. Eight of the nine ministers from the six ministries were gone, and not a single vice minister was missing. The Imperial Academy and the Imperial Academy were all out, and officials from the six ministries below the seventh rank were not allowed to show up...

What was the result? He was beaten by the intolerant Emperor Jiajing until he could no longer take care of himself.

Then, no one asked who had the final say in the Ming Dynasty...

~~

"Back then, Yang Xindu and his son were much better than Zhao Xiuning and his son today! He was the one who established the emperor, and he is the old minister who holds the imperial edict. He has the righteous title of maintaining the imperial lineage, and he has the full support of the civil and military officials in the court!" Zhang Yangmeng said in a deep voice:

"The Jiajing Emperor came to Beijing alone, with only the stubbornness of a young man and the supreme throne. However, facts have proved that as long as the emperor holds on to his principles, no matter how united his ministers are or how hard they fight, it will be useless..."

"If the Yangs had won, or if any minister had won once in the past 200 years, I would have supported the Zhaos!" Zhang Yangmeng extinguished his cigar fiercely and said firmly:

"Otherwise, even if you let me choose a hundred times, I will still choose to stand on the emperor's side!"

"That makes sense..." Lao Xier was mostly convinced by him.

"I still think that Lord Zhao and his son are better than Lord Yang and his son." Chu Yu insisted on his own opinion.

"Kneeling and crying at Zuo Shunmen's door is the limit of our resistance as civil servants!" Zhang Yangmeng looked as if his head was caught in the door and said disdainfully: "Can civil servants still rebel?"

"That being said..." Chu Yu still shook his head and said, "But the Yang family father and son don't have the Jiangnan Group."

"The Jiangnan Group is certainly useful, but its usefulness is limited!" Zhang Yangmeng said arbitrarily: "Even if their control over the southeast coast is stronger than our control over Shanxi and the northwest. Even if the government is in cahoots with them, it's all useless in front of the factory guards and the imperial army!"

"At least at sea, the imperial court is no match for them," said Chu Yu.

"Yes, Jiangnan Group has a maritime police fleet and has defeated several small maritime nations, but so what?" He sneered and said, "Back then, the Wufeng ship owner was still the king of the sea. Once the imperial court decided to wipe him out, he would be wiped out."

"And unlike Wang Zhi, the coastal areas are the base of the Jiangnan Group. If they cause trouble at sea, they will be the ones who will suffer." Someone echoed.

"Don't forget, they have been immigrating overseas for more than ten years!" Chu Yu raised his voice and said, "It is said that everyone overseas is a soldier!"

"Hiss..." The old men all took a deep breath and finally understood what Chu Yu meant by "times have changed".

"It is true that we cannot regard the Zhao family father and son as ordinary civil officials." Even Liu Dongxing, who had been silent all the time, nodded slowly and said, "They are more like princes who dominate the southeast and have overseas support."

"Brother Ziming, you are too serious!" Zhang Yangmeng said anxiously, "That is just the result of Zhang Wenzhong's indulgence. The emperor will not tolerate such a powerful person in the Ming Dynasty. You see, in a few years, the emperor will take action against this snow lion! By then, Zhao Xianggong's status as the prime minister of the Ming Dynasty will restrain them and prevent them from taking risks. They can only allow the court to dismember them!"

"Okay, okay!" At this time, Wang Guoguang finished a pack of cigarettes and stopped the debate:

"I asked you to decide whether to follow the emperor or not, but your words are getting more and more outrageous, as if the Zhao family is going to rebel?"

"Don't worry, it won't happen. Elder Zhao and his disciples will never agree to it!" He tapped his pipe on the steps to reassure the old people:

"However, if the emperor wants to kill the Zhao family, forget it. Our young minister has a hundred ways to make the emperor uncomfortable."

"What will happen in the end?" The old men looked at Wang Tianguan and said, "It's impossible for Zhu and Zhao to share the world, right?"

"Who knows what will happen in the future?" Wang Guoguang said with a bitter smile: "If Yu Pogong were still alive, he might know. But I can't see that far, so I can only help my nephew to carry a lantern - as usual."

"This is the only way." The old men nodded.

That was naturally their traditional skill - betting on both sides before the situation was clear, and then kneeling and licking the chin when the outcome was determined...