Starting from the eleventh day of the twelfth lunar month, the senior executives of the Jiangnan Group, who were scattered all over the place, went to Xishan Island one after another.

Even the old couple Xu Wei were half-forced to come by Zhao Hao.

Zhao Hao also thought of Zhao Liben coming to join in the fun, but the old man had to stick to his post, so he sent his uncle as a representative.

The guesthouse, which originally seemed empty when only Zhao Hao and his friends were there, suddenly became lively.

When the meeting was about to start, the Guest House was already overcrowded, and the senior executives had to send their own entourage away to make room for the new colleagues.

Zhao Hao and Jiang Xueying have been very busy these days. They have been meeting with heads of various companies and listening to their year-end reports every day.

Zhao Hao also had to take time to meet with the senior executives attending the meeting one by one and communicate with them in advance about relevant appointments and decisions.

If you want to hold a 'conference of victory, unity and progress', you must eliminate all factors that are not conducive to victory, unity and progress before the meeting.

Generally speaking, factors of disharmony come from conflicts of interest.

However, Jiangnan Group is doing well at present. Firstly, Zhao Hao has the final say within the group, and secondly, the group is still in its infancy, so the pie that can be divided is too big and everyone's interests can be taken care of.

What Zhao Hao was mainly worried about was that the group’s senior management and executives were unable to change their mindset and were still only focused on the Ming Dynasty, or even only on the small piece of land of Jiangnan.

Therefore, he focuses his main energy on ideological work so that everyone can have a unified understanding, broaden their horizons, and agree with the group's long-term planning.

Zhao Hao had mentioned these to Jiang Xueying, Hua Bozhen and others before. Seeing the good effect, he had the confidence to promote them at the group level.

Although Jiangnan Company is united by interests, if the group wants to reach the heights he expects, it cannot do without pursuits other than interests.

Seeing that Zhao Hao and Jiang Xueying were very busy, the county lord's brother and sister and Zhang Xiaojing were sensible enough not to cause them any trouble. They went to Suzhou for a trip accompanied by Zhao Shixi and Qiaoqiao.

As for Secretary Ma...she meets so many people and talks about so many things every day, can Zhao Hao leave her?

~~

At dusk on the fourteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, when Yu Shensi, Chen Huaixiu, and the two elders Niu and Ma, who came from Chongming County, arrived at the guesthouse, all forty-nine people who were going to attend the meeting the next day were present.

The four of them learned from Hua Bozhen that they were the last to arrive, and they were immediately terrified. Moreover, they had not yet completed the task assigned by Zhao Hao - to ask Pan Zhongcheng, who was still on Chongming Island, to come along.

Pan Jixun hated meetings the most. He would rather be exposed to the wind and sun and eat dirt on the levee every day than run a long way to listen to a puppy fart.

The four of them and Jin Xuezeng didn't have the courage to kidnap a third-rank official, so they had no choice but to give up. This was also the reason why they were late.

Without taking the time to settle down, the four of them went to Qingyi Villa to apologize.

Unfortunately, Zhao Hao was talking to someone, but Gao Wu told them that the young master's conversations were short, so they waited anxiously by the lake.

Inside the room, Zhao Hao was sitting on a large single sofa, talking to a fat young man.

The young man was Tang Baolu, the eldest son of Tang Youde. After old Tang withdrew from Tang's Southern Goods Shop, he took over the family's "century-old shop".

How smart is Old Tang? How could he let his son be trapped in a small southern food store for his whole life? When Zhao Hao came south from Beijing, he said to Master Zhao with a calm face, "Your nephew Baolu has been working in the store for a full year and has made great progress in all aspects. Go back and see if he can be used."

If you like her, then stay by my side and serve the young master on my behalf.

Apart from anything else, just because Old Tang was so good at licking...oh no, so sensible, Zhao Hao couldn't treat Tang Baolu badly. Besides, this young man had Old Tang's ability, but he wasn't as smooth and sophisticated as Old Tang, and he was also chubby, so Zhao Hao naturally valued him.

Therefore, after the Jiangnan Group was established, Tang Baolu joined it as soon as possible.

Why did he show up only now? Because he was sent by Mr. Zhao to Guangdong to buy southern goods.

It’s just that the southern goods they bought were rather special—there were bird-beaked guns privately made by Panyu craftsmen, clocks and watches brought by Portuguese traders from Haojingao, and even various bronze cannons produced by the Bugalo Cannon Foundry…

Although he was protected by the Hua and Wang families, the fact that he was able to handle the matter flawlessly was enough to show how capable this guy is.

"Thank you for your hard work over the past six months, Paul." Zhao Hao leaned back on the soft big sofa. It was only thanks to this magical weapon that he was able to hold on until now.

Ma Xianglan brought tea to Paul, who quickly bowed to thank her and then sat with only half of his butt on the long sofa.

"Uncle, what's the point of being young is to travel around. It's not hard." Paul smiled and said, "I'm just worried. I'm going to buy all the Guangdong-made guns in Guangzhou. I'm really afraid that one day the government will catch me as an arms dealer."

"Hahaha, thank goodness. You have done a great job. The 'sprayers' you brought back will be enough for next year." Zhao Hao laughed and said, "It's just that there are a few 'get out of here'."

"There's nothing we can do, uncle. The red-haired devils are keeping a close eye on us. Each cannon has a number. Even if one is scrapped, we have to replace it with a new one. The few we got back were given to the Guangdong government troops by them." Paul said with a wry smile:

"From what I have seen, the Red-haired Demons' sense of secrecy is far superior to that of the Ming Dynasty... Of course, it is still far behind my uncle."

"Normal. The Portuguese, with a population of only one million, less than that of Suzhou, were able to establish a maritime empire and set up bases in the Ming Dynasty. They are definitely not just doing it for free." Zhao Hao smiled. If it were normal, he would definitely ask about the details of Guangdong, but there would be a meeting tomorrow, and he was so tired that his head hurt and his throat was smoking, so he cut to the chase:

"Take a good rest during the New Year. I will have to give you more responsibilities next year."

"Uncle, just give me your instructions." Tang Baolu listened attentively with a solemn expression.

~~

When Zhao Hao sent Fatty Xiao Tang away and was about to go back to the house to rest, he heard a familiar Shandong accent behind him.

“Master!”

"Oh, Lieyang, you still remember to come?" Young Master Zhao turned around unhappily, and saw Chen Huaixiu and the second elder Niu Ma, following the fifth disciple and walking towards him.

"Oh, Sister Huaixiu, you are finally here." Zhao Hao showed a pure smile from the heart.

"We are late, I hope you will forgive us." Chen Huaixiu smiled embarrassedly and bowed to Zhao Hao to apologize.

"Sister Huaixiu, the meeting won't start until tomorrow." Zhao Hao smiled and invited her into the house, saying, "I know you are busy repairing the dike. It's not an important matter. I really don't want to disturb you..."

"I'm sorry, sir. Pan Zhongcheng doesn't want to waste time..." Chen Huaixiu whispered again.

"It's okay. I don't think he will come. But if I don't invite him, it will be my fault. I don't know how he will bully me." Zhao Hao waved his hand nonchalantly and asked with concern, "How is Xiao Teng after he was discharged from the hospital?"

ps. The next one is two chapters combined into one.