Chapter 5 Maybe--

"The Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary was assassinated..."

The shouts of newspaper sellers echoed on the streets of Nanjing, but it seems that this has not attracted much attention. For many people, this does not seem to be a big deal, at least far from affecting their lives. Even for many people, they don't even know where the Austro-Hungarian Empire is at all. Naturally, There is no interest in the so-called crown prince being stabbed.

Nanjing Xiaguan, No. 75 Changxing Street, Sino-German Sodium Saltpeter Company. This company should be the largest enterprise co-organized by China and Germany. After the founding of the empire, the outside world once said that China had entered the "peter era". In the first year of the empire, China and Germany reached an agreement on the mining of sodium-sale ore in Xinjiang Province. Germany invested 150 million marks. After the construction of the Xi'an-Dihua Railway, China took a stake in mineral deposits, both of which held 50% of the shares of the saltpeter company. After four years of construction, the railway was built to the mining area. As early as a few years ago, the mining equipment was transported to the mining area by car, and the saltpetre mine in Xinjiang, which had completed the construction of the mining area, entered a large-scale mining period.

In that year, the output of saltpeter ore exceeded 500,000 tons. Three years later, the output of saltpeter ore exceeded 2.4 million tons. The sodium nitrate ore in Xinjiang Province is the largest saltpetre ore in the world. 2 million tons of saltpeter was exported, which was exchanged for a huge additional exchange for China, and the export tax of saltpeter and the base by-product iodine was as high as 150 million yuan. As far as China is concerned, in the past four years, Xinjiang's saltpetre can be said to be a pillar industry of China's political axe.

In an office facing the Yangtze River on the third floor, Wei Nan, holding a stack of documents in his hand, seems to enjoy his current job. Life is always so wonderful. In the past, he once wanted to be a philosopher who did not like science, but later, he entered the first "company" in China, with an annual turnover of hundreds of millions of yuan, that is, Even the industrial company under His Majesty's name may not be able to compare with Sino-German Sodium Saltpeter Company, although everyone knows that the Industrial Bank holds 30% of the shares of Sino-German Saltpeter Company.

Now Wei Nan is the director of the company's equipment department, which is still related to machinery. At this time, he, holding a pipe in his hand, looks like he is looking at the document, but in fact, he has a report on the pile of documents in his hand.

"...The Mingzhu regime, known as the restoration of the nation and the implementation of the constitution, finally, under our vote, created a [***] political system with the supremacy of imperial power. What is expected is not returned, the ideal is defeated by reality, and the system is defeated by the hearts of the people. It is nothing more than this at home and abroad. It's a pity... so what? ......"

Looking at the newspaper's subordinates under the pseudonym "Fasting in front of the door!", Weinan still shook his head and sighed. If he guessed correctly, he knew that it might be the same period of the hunger strike Wei Xian. Until now, no one is willing to give up. Constitutionalism, like a dream, once made people full of longing, and now But then... "Oh, you'd better do your job!"

After whispering to himself, Wei Nan pinched the teacup on the table and took two mouthfuls of tea. The fragrance of the new tea made him squint pleasantly. The monthly income of hundreds of yuan made him more and more comfortable in life. After putting down the teacup, he continued to look through the documents on his lap.

These documents are mostly the purchase list of new equipment added to the mine, and as a mechanical professional, all he needs is to put forward his own views, that's all. This is an idle.

No matter how you look at it, this is an idle job. He has been in the company for five years. In the past, he did not expect that he would sit in this office at all. Even now, he has only been to the mining area twice. That is, after entering the company, he knew that Zhongde Saltpeter Company set up The company's headquarters in Nanjing, to some extent, is only a political need. The real heart of the saltpeter company is far away in Xinjiang Province, with tens of thousands of workers in that mining area, and here, it is just an office.

But after looking through the boring documents without a trace of freshness, Weinan still gave up. Most of the machinery mentioned in those documents were old-fashioned machinery. Now, for China or Germany, there seems to be no intention of adding equipment. The Germans invest most of their profits in industries with higher returns, and The royal family turned profits into bonds, and the political axe put profits and taxes into the nationalized industrial construction.

What is the saltpeter era is to make full use of the high profits brought by the saltpeter trade and invest it in heavy industry projects that are crucial to the survival of the country.

"Heavy industry is related to the survival of our country. If we don't have enough machinery, we can't make weapons. If we don't have enough steel, we can't make warships..."

Thinking of the emperor's words, Wei Nan shook his head helplessly.

"... It seems that men are really afraid of entering the wrong industry."

He sighed helplessly. Wei Nan threw the documents in his hand on his desk, then got up and stretched out, walked to the window, pushed open the window, took a deep breath of the humid air of the Yangzi River, and looked up at the Yangzi River in front of him. On the Yangzi River in front of him, ships were spitting coal smoke or upstream or downstream. Yes, but there are more cement fleets towed by barges, which are almost a feature of domestic river transportation in China.

While shaking his head and sighing, Wei Nan still thought of the resignation letter he had put in the drawer. In five months, if nothing happened, he could resign.

As the first generation of college graduates of the Chinese Empire, Weinan was lucky to be one of the first batch of college students to be assigned according to the percentage. This is the reason why they received political axe to subsidize university tuition and provide living expenses. As a price, they must obey the division after graduating from college, and it is also known as "system priority division". Set".

But not everyone likes to get a job according to "system priority". At least Wei Nan doesn't like the current job. Compared with this boring office life, he prefers to enter a research institute or factory like many classmates, at least it is far more pragmatic than here.

But he has no right to object, at least for five years. Otherwise, it is not only the summons of the court that awaits, and is doomed to lose the trial to compensate the economic losses of the country. Well, very reasonable compensation, tuition fees and living subsidies plus the interest of the current year are 100% reasonable, but the most frightening thing is Records in personal files.

In the first two years, hundreds of people gave up their jobs because they were dissatisfied with their work. After going to court with the political axe, the stain of "denial of service" in their personal files made them unable to find any more "deserving" jobs, and some people even drove taxis on the streets.

Although he doesn't like his current job, he doesn't want to take risks. Taking risks have never been his surname.

"Dangerous Director, the Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary was stabbed..."

At this moment, a voice suddenly sounded behind him. Without looking back, he knew that Yu Peng, who had just entered the company last year, was a young man. He was more suitable for the work here than himself.

"What, the crown prince of Austria-Hungary was assassinated?"

Wei Nan, who turned around, didn't react. When he took over the newspaper, there was still a trace of doubt on his face. What kind of news is this? How could Yu Peng be so happy?

"Finally, there is a war. This time, Austria-Hungary will definitely fight with Serbia. In this war, the sodium saltpeter produced by our company will definitely soar. Maybe this year's corporate fund can exceed this number, at that time..."

Yu Peng, who is full of joy, draws a number with his face. Although Sino-German Sodium Saltpeter Company is a joint venture company, as a "state-owned enterprise", Sodium Saltpeter Company, like each "state-owned enterprise", has its own enterprise fund. In the state-owned enterprise, enterprises can withdraw 1 from the planned profit. -6%, 30-60% from over-planned profit, and 90% from equipment depreciation as a corporate fund. The enterprise fund is completely determined by the enterprise independently and is used for the development and production, cultural facilities, residential construction, material encouragement and other expenses of the enterprise.

Although Sino-German Sodium Saltpeter Company is a joint venture company and has "private capital", it does not hinder the withdrawal of some "enterprise funds", and the withdrawal of enterprise funds is closely related to the interests of employees. As a young man, it is naturally normal for him to care about himself.

The outbreak of war means the large use of nitric acid, and there is only one source of nitric acid in the world, that is, sodium saltpeter. Any war between countries will lead to the rise of sodium saltpeter in the international market. It only takes a few months. As the world's largest supplier of sodium saltpetre, the profits of Sino-German sodium saltpeter companies are possible. Achieve an unprecedented breakthrough, and this is excessive profit, which means that today's corporate funds can... While thinking about it, his eyebrows suddenly jumped. Austria-Hungary, Serbia, war, Balkans, Slavic peoples, Russia, alliances, France, Britain, Germany and so on. It flashed in the mind of Weinan, and the source of these words was, Brother Lobby, who is now a brigadier general.

Since the end of the Balkan War last year, he and his colleagues have always heard talking about these issues in his family.

"The Balkans are like a gunpowder barrel, which explodes at a time. If a European power is involved, considering the alliances or agreements between the major European countries now, it is likely to lead to a large-scale war between countries, at least the situation is tense, but no one can predict what the tension will be..." < /P>

Brother Lobby's words sounded again in Weinan's ears. At this time, he looked at the newspaper report carefully. Just looking at the words in the report, he could also smell the full smell of gunpowder. What does the assassination of the crown prince of a country mean? What else could there be besides war?

"The time has finally come!"

"Danger, what did you say?"

"War," Wei Nan spit out two words, and then looked at the river face becoming dignified. He knew that maybe his dream of resignation might be shattered.

"Maybe it will be a future war!"

(to be continued)