After the team escorting the hearse left the capital, they reached Liuli Bridge in the south of the city, and saw a crowd of officials in front of them, including seven ministers and five officials.
It was Duke Dingguo Xu Wenbi and the Prime Minister of the Cabinet Zhao Shouzheng who led all the civil and military officials, waiting at the Farewell Pavilion to bid farewell to Grand Tutor Zhang.
Except for the nobles like Xu Wenbi, most of the civil and military officials present, including Zhao Shouzheng, were promoted by Zhang Juzheng. At this time, they bid farewell to the Grand Tutor with gratitude for his past and confusion about his future. They cried sincerely and moved people to tears.
While the wine was being prepared for the sacrifice, Wang Guoguang found Zhao Hao among the crowd of people wearing green clothes and fringe belts.
After an eye contact, the two men stood up and walked to Zhao Hao's car to talk.
Zhao Hao poured a glass of liqueur, added ice cubes from the ice bucket and handed it to Lao Wang, then poured himself a glass and proposed to toast the Grand Master.
"Cheers to the Grand Tutor." Wang Guoguang raised his glass with a solemn expression and took a sip of the orange-flavored liqueur. He found that the wine was sweet and very suitable for the elderly.
"Uncle, what can I do for you?" Zhao Hao sat on the sofa with a glass of wine, looking at him leisurely.
"I've come to ask you, young minister, what's the meaning of the two pieces of steel rails you gave me yesterday?" Wang Guoguang asked slowly. The heavenly officials have their own style.
"What else could it mean? It's what you think it means." Zhao Hao smiled and took a sip of wine.
"Can your group really lay hundreds of miles of tracks with steel?" Wang Guoguang asked softly.
"As of this year, the total mileage of track laid by the group has exceeded one thousand miles." Zhao Hao seemed to be talking about something insignificant.
Five hundred kilometers of railway are indeed nothing. It is only due to the extensive water network in the south of the Yangtze River and the dense mountains in the south of the Lingnan region that such a short distance is built on the mainland.
Moreover, the group has laid more than 1,000 kilometers of railways in 18 overseas provinces! In the next 20 years, there are still tens of thousands of kilometers of routes planned!
"Really... that's amazing..." Wang Guoguang took out a handkerchief to wipe his sweat, swallowed his saliva and said, "Does the young cabinet minister want to build a railway for us?"
"It's still a little short of what you want." Zhao Hao said with a teasing smile: "I want to tell you that I can repair the Yang Railway for you at any time, and even repairing the Tai Railway is no problem."
The implication is that whether to repair it or not is another matter.
"Young cabinet minister, you're really something. You've been using a railway to lure us for twenty years." Wang Guoguang smiled bitterly.
"Time flies by so fast." Zhao Hao also showed a nostalgic look and said: "The Heavenly Official at that time was still Lord Yang Xiangyi."
Lord Yang Xiangyi was Yang Bo. After his death in the second year of Wanli, he was awarded the title of Taifu and was given the posthumous name "Xiangyi".
In the second year of the Longqing reign, Yang Bo invited the newly emerging Zhao Hao to the Ministry of Personnel to seek advice on how to better utilize Shanxi's coal to benefit the local people.
At that time, Zhao Hao gave him a roadmap. First, monopolize the high-quality coal mines in Taiyuan, and after laying a solid foundation, build a railway in Jingxing Road to completely open up the connection between Shanxi and the Central Plains!
With this railway, Shanxi will be able to integrate with the prosperous Central Plains, and Lao Xier’s dilemma will be solved in an instant!
At that time, Zhao Hao promised to build this railway for Shanxi in the future. However, 20 years later, Zhao Hao only gave the old people two sections of rails, which were only two meters long in total.
"We have been looking forward to this railway for a long time." Like Yang Bo back then, Wang Guoguang also said emotionally:
"Shanxi Province is located in the northwest, with few rivers and many mountains, and no boats. The only roads that can reach the inland are from Taiyuan to Yangquan in the east, Yongji in the west, and Datong in the north. The rest are traveled by porters and porters, and the transportation is a hundred times more difficult. When there is a famine in the province, there will be starving people all over the land and refugees in large numbers. The government has no way to help. This is because buying rice in the province costs several stones per stone! We can't afford it, and we can't transport it in!"
"The people of Shanxi are indeed suffering, otherwise they would not have gone to the west." Zhao Hao sighed and nodded.
"Even if it's not a disaster year, the people are suffering. Our province is dry and barren, and production is limited. Good coal and iron have become waste because there is no road. Although our Shanxi merchants are as famous as Huizhou merchants, the freight for transporting goods by land and water in Wu and Chu is ten times the cost. Merchants move away secretly, fearing and hesitating. Foreign goods cannot enter, and local goods cannot go out. This is the difficulty of having no roads!" Wang Guoguang stood up and bowed deeply to Zhao Hao, saying:
"The construction of the Zhengtai Railway is to save Shanxi Province from the difficulties of transportation. It is also the foundation for prosperity and strength, and it is also the main track to the Central Plains! It will definitely eliminate the source of poverty and weakness in Shanxi Province and open up the stagnation of the atmosphere! I beg the young minister to save the people of my province!"
After saying that, he actually fell to his knees in front of Zhao Hao.
"Oh my God, please get up quickly. What are you doing?" Zhao Hao quickly helped him up. Seeing his tears streaming down his face, he seemed to be expressing his sincerity.
Humans are very complex animals. Although Lao Wang is greedy for money, lustful and loves young women, as the leader of the Jealous Party, his love and sense of responsibility for his hometown are no different from Yang Bo's.
"When will this railway be built? Please give me a definite answer, young minister!" Wang Guoguang refused to stand up and said, "Otherwise, I will die with regrets like Yang Yupo..."
"Oh, after all this incident, why do I feel like I'm the bad guy?" Zhao Hao sighed.
"That's not what I meant. Young Master has built bridges and roads, promoted education, and helped the poor. He is a great philanthropist!" Wang Guoguang shook his head and said, "It's because Zhang Siwei is too ignorant and always wants to compete with Young Master, which has caused him to misunderstand us."
"Oh, it was Zhang Siwei who was behind this? I didn't expect that." Zhao Hao looked as if I was not familiar with him, as if Xiao Wei's ups and downs had nothing to do with him.
"He has passed away, and his whole family died of the plague after the disaster. It's so tragic..." Wang Guoguang sighed, "If there were railways, maybe so many people wouldn't have died and the plague wouldn't have happened."
Zhao Hao sneered secretly, it was because the richest man in Shanxi was so unkind that he didn't help the dying. He wanted to make a fortune by taking advantage of the famine, but ended up screwing up...
"God is really jealous of talented people." He lit a cigarette calmly.
"Of course, in addition to Zhang Siwei, there are some other factors that prevent us from getting too close to the young master. But the dead are gone, and it's time for us to start over." Wang Guoguang said with a pun.
"Start over?" Zhao Hao repeated without comment.
"That's right." Wang Guoguang nodded and said with a smile: "In fact, the young minister has always been a shareholder of Shanxi Company. We have never really separated."
"If you hadn't told me, I would have forgotten it." Zhao Hao said, brushing off the ash from his cigarette.
When Lao Xier founded the Shanxi Company to trade in honeycomb coal, he gave him half of the shares but refused to give him any dividends.
How could Zhao Hao allow someone to take advantage of him for free? After they got married, he wrote a letter to Yang Sihe, informing him that he would transfer the 5% of the shares to Zhang Xiaojing.
Yang Sihe wanted to refuse at first, but when Zhang Xianggong came to power, he quickly transferred the ownership and personally handed over a deposit certificate for 500,000 taels of silver. Not only did he not lose a cent of the dividends over the years, but he also paid 2% interest every year, which was compounded there.
Seeing Lao Xier being so reasonable, Zhao Hao finally calmed down. Yang Sihe took the opportunity to propose building the Zhengtai Line, but he declined...
"Young Lord, how about this?" Wang Guoguang suggested, "How about we issue 200,000 shares to you at a price of one tael of silver per share in exchange for this Zhengtai Railway?"
At present, the price of Shanxi Company's listing on the Dashilan Exchange is 28 taels of silver per share, and the total share capital is 1 million shares. If Zhao Hao accepts it, it would not be surprising if the share price of Shanxi Company rose to 50 taels under the great stimulus of the railway construction!
Zhao Hao safely got assets worth several million taels of silver, Lao Xier got this railway that was related to the fate of Shanxi Province, and could also enjoy the benefit of a doubling of the stock price.
After the private placement, Zhao Hao's shares in Shanxi Company increased to 20.8%, making him the single largest shareholder, but Shanxi merchants still hold nearly 70% of the shares and are still the absolute owners of Xishan Company.
The old men have always been shrewd in their calculations, and this time is no exception.
Unfortunately, Zhao Hao was also very cunning. He put out his cigarette and said, "I can no longer invest in the company in my personal name. That would damage the interests of the group. Therefore, all cooperation should be carried out between Shanxi Company and the group."
"Young Lord is right. I was not thoughtful enough." Wang Guoguang nodded hurriedly. Although in his opinion, Zhao Hao was the Jiangnan Group, and vice versa.
"As for the details such as the equity amount and the amount of the fixed increase, let's leave it to the people below to worry about." Zhao Hao said calmly: "Let's talk about business."
"Yes, yes, what the young minister said is absolutely right." Wang Guoguang nodded quickly, pretending to listen attentively.
"We will become one family in the future, so we must advance and retreat together, and share honor and disgrace." Then Zhao Hao said slowly: "Don't be two-faced and do things like stabbing people in the back."
"Don't worry, young minister, we won't do that again!" Wang Guoguang said with a flushed face, "We will follow your lead, even if it means risking our lives!"
"That's the attitude I want. You can rest assured that I, Zhao, have never treated my own people unfairly!" Zhao Hao smiled and said as if he remembered something: "Oh, by the way, I heard that our fellow countryman, Section Chief Zhang, seems to have a lot of opinions about our group."
"Let him pack up and leave tomorrow!" Wang Guoguang, together with Liu Dongxing and Chu Yu, had guessed Zhao Hao's intention last night. But he deliberately said, "As for that Pan Butang, we must protect him."
"Forget about Minister Pan." Zhao Hao waved his hand and said, "Since the emperor has already spoken, how can a minister force him to break his promise? Besides, Minister Pan is old and no longer has the heart to do so. It was Eunuch Feng who insisted on reinstating him."
"Is that so..." Wang Guoguang seemed to have just understood, and said with a look of sudden realization: "Young Lord wants us to protect Eunuch Feng?"
"First, we have some friendship, and I can't just stand by and watch him die." Zhao Hao nodded, and did not deny it. "Second, if the emperor takes down Eunuch Feng's party, I'm afraid he will not be satisfied, but his appetite will grow."
He looked at the officials kneeling and crying outside the car window, as well as the huge golden nanmu coffin, and said softly, "That would be too ugly."