Chapter 7 Playing chess and pieces

Hu Chuyuan doesn't want to be an official.

His current goal is to stabilize China's economic market, make money first, and slowly develop processing industry and industry from small to large. In this era, officials and businessmen are the most suitable choice for him.

Of course, it's a little dangerous to be an official businessman for Zuo Zongtang.

In detail, Hu Chuyuan is also a very selfish person. He wants to stabilize China's economic market because he despises small factories, as well as those so-called national industrial flour mills and textile factories. He wants to run large factories. He wants to establish a market channel, finance, raw materials, agriculture, industry and mining, and importance. The Kang Caien-style chaebol empire that integrates industry.

Therefore, he must stabilize China's economic market.

He wants to do business and make a lot of money.

Now, he can rely on the Hanchen officials and Hunan army factions within the Qing Dynasty to do his big business. In the future, he can rely on the relationship between the revolutionary army and the Republican Party to continue to do bigger business.

Being an official is a "ass" word for him.

What's more, Yan Shizhang's own experience shows Hu Chuyuan the fact that political struggles are always the cruelest, and if they don't pay attention, they will lose all over the game.

However, being an official also has the benefits of being an official.

If he can find a position with real power, hide under the protection of Zuo Zongtang to develop his own faction, skillfully use the Sino-French and Sino-Japanese war to become bigger and stronger, and become the second Zuo Zongtang, and even stronger than Zuo Zongtang.

Then, even if the Qing Dynasty was destroyed, the era of warlords came, or directly avoided the warlords and entered the capitalist republic during the melee. At that time, he... had both network prestige, money and army, and even the only iron army, new army and strong army.

What else does he have to worry about?

Of course, the risk of doing so is even greater!

Even if he really wants to do this, he definitely can't tell Yan Shizhang the truth.

I thought about it all night. The next day, as soon as it was dawn, Hu Chuyuan went to the small courtyard where Yan Shizhang lived.

It's strange that Yan Shizhang didn't sleep and lit a shiny kerosene lamp.

Hu Chuyuan knocked on the door and was about to ask, but Yan Shizhang smiled in the room and said, "If it's the owner, please come in!"

Hu Chuyuan opened the door and found that Yan Shizhang was sitting at the table reading. The bedding was neat, and it seemed that he had not slept all night.

He asked curiously, "Mr. Yan, why didn't you sleep?"

Yan Shizhang put the book together and said, "Yan knows that the owner must have a lot of questions in his heart. Maybe he will come to me to ask clearly in the middle of the night and wait all the time. But I didn't expect that the owner was very polite and didn't come to me until dawn.

Hu Chuyuan smiled and sat on the chair on the side of the desk and said to Yan Shizhang, "Then I'll just say it directly, Mr. Yan, I'm sorry to take the liberty. With your talent, why didn't you continue to be an official and fall into today's situation?"

Yan Shizhang recalled the past and couldn't bear to look back. He stood up with a long sigh and asked Hu Chuyuan, "My host, have you heard of the assassination of Ma Xinyi, the governor of Liangjiang, commonly known as the 'assination case'."

Hu Chuyuan said, "Who hasn't heard of such a big case? The dispute in this case has a long history, and there are many folk rumors. I'm afraid few people can know what the truth is like.

Yan Shizhang said, "Unfortunately, I am one of the very few people. As time went by, I'm afraid there are only three people who know all the truth and are still alive, but I am one of them. I can't tell you the specific truth of this matter. I can only say that from then on, the court has reissued the governor of Lanzhou from the Ministry of Criminal Justice, but there is no vacancy for the governor of Lanzhou at all. The court does not want to be used to be my governor, but to exile the frontier in disguise. It's enough to be exiled to the frontier, but it was found by Zuo Zhongtang of the expedition to Xinjiang Province. In nominally, it was called for military affairs, which was better to be secretly supervised.

"This...!"

Hearing what he said, Hu Chuyuan didn't want to take the risk to be an official.

He is also a very smart man, but compared with those who hide behind the "stabling horse case", the level of political fighting is absolutely amateur level. Zuo Zongtang may be a professional Jiudan, and Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang are at least masters Jiudan.

After playing chess with these people for more than ten years, Cixi's level can at least be trained to eight levels of the profession.

The officialdom in the late Qing Dynasty is not easy, it's not easy.

Hu Chuyuan thought for a second and said with a wry smile, "Mr. Yan, the officialdom is so dangerous. Didn't you push me to the fire pit?"

Yan Shizhang said, "This game of chess is really not something that ordinary people can play. With military power, you can play it. Before that, you and I were all other people's pieces. People will grow up, and your level can't stop at this stage forever. I think you are young, but you already have the ability to be calm and scheming in the face of danger, coupled with the assets and connections your father left you. If you say so, you will definitely become a powerful person in this chess game!"

Hu Chuyuan said, "I already have other plans, so I don't plan to follow your advice."

Yan Shizhang said, "I know that the owner still prefers to follow your father's path. These days, I have also studied your father. He is indeed a rare businessman, rare in the world, but his opportunities are also very good. The same opportunity is given to your fourth uncle, and his achievements will not be much worse. As for your father, he still has two shortcomings, one is arrogance and extravagance, and the other is impatience. You should be careful.

Hu Chuyuan didn't like others to criticize Hu Xueyan so directly in his heart. Anyway, Hu Xueyan was really good to him and gave him a home in this troubled world.

He said to Yan Shizhang seriously, "No one is perfect. How much success a person can achieve often does not depend on his shortcomings, but his strengths, and what a person will fail for must depend on his shortcomings."

These words made Yan Shizhang think for a moment. After a while, he replied, "It's true. I still support the owner's way of your father again, but no matter how well you do it, your father is already a limit!" In other words, he is the limit that the court can tolerate to businessmen.

Hu Chuyuan said decisively, "No, there is still a long way to go. My father is just at the beginning, and there will be more powerful officials and businessmen in the future."

Yan Shizhang didn't know how to answer. He thought for a few words and asked, "Then you are just a pawn. As I said, it is impossible to have a chance to play the chess game of the Qing Dynasty without military power."

Hu Chuyuan hid some deeper ideas and said with a smile, "Without money, Zuo Zongtang has to return the two rivers to raise military pay. This is the role of money. Maybe one day, many people who play chess will find that without my support, none of them can continue to play chess.

Yan Shizhang was skeptical and said, "Then I will stop persuading the owner, and I will try my best to help you be on guard. Even if we don't have the ability to dominate the chess game for the time being, we can't be used as a waste chess like Wu Yuanbing.

Hu Chuyuan couldn't help asking, "Which faction are Wu Yuanbing and Mei Qizhao in the court?"

Yan Shizhang said, "Wu Yuanbing and Mao Changxi have a close relationship. Mao Changxi has been in charge of the Hanlin Academy for 15 years, and all the scholars in the world in the past 15 years are his disciples. Lord Zhongtang is very clear about the powerful relationship, so the biggest possibility is to transfer him to the governor of Jiangxi. In this way, the governor of Jiangsu will leave a vacancy. The Huai system and Qingliu dare not compete, and in the end, it is still the bag of the Hunan system. Looking at the Hunan Department, Tan Zhonglin and Yang Yuebin are the only two people who can take this position now.

Tan Zhonglin?

Hu Chuyuan has heard that who is Yang Yuebin? He doesn't know, and he doesn't care anyway.

He asked again, "Where's Mei Qizhao?"

Yan Shizhang said, "It's a pity for Mei Qizhao. He is a little fluent in Western affairs, and is a relatively small number of talents among the officials in the imperial court. He is more important than practical and does things solidly. Unfortunately, he neither belongs to the Huai Department nor tolerates Qingliu. This time, he was completely used and offended the Hunan department deeply. I'm afraid he can't even keep the position of governor, and most of them will be transferred to a deposed position!"

Hearing Yan Shizhang's words, Hu Chuyuan immediately flashed an idea in his heart, feeling that he could join hands with Mei Qizhao.