Since two years ago, Cao Ji never expected that he would come to the Northwest pit one day.

This is really a big pit, with bandits from the Three Mountains and Seven Villages, threats from the Western Xia military forces, and the complex interest relationship of the Ye family is rooted in it. It also involves the ambiguous attitude of Cao Shouyi, a relative who holds heavy troops, and is in a politically sensitive period. Theoretically, the Cao family faces some political risks. This is Cao Ji's usual idea of ​​not wanting to be involved in the Northwest pit.

But the situation is very strange now. The visible Song-Xia war has not come yet. Cao Shouyi and Wang Rong have a deep grudge, but there is no sign of Lao Cao's rebound, while the cake in the northwest continues to magnify.

The emperor in the capital has appeared and has not denied the Cao family. The political turmoil has passed. There have been news that Ye Wushuang's various black technologies are sprouting and slowly forming an industrial chain around the steam engine. Ye Qinghua has already exclusively acquired the steam engine in advance and is developing various application soils.

Cao Ji, who had always liked to make money and was worried, suddenly felt that he had been behind for almost two years. If he didn't go out, the benefits brought by this vigorous innovation would probably be divided by others.

There are still many people in the capital who scoffed at the innovation and black technology surrounding Wang Yun. They were complacent about the inherent bridges, river transport, traditional handicrafts, fields, etc. They sat and watched Wang Yun's jokes, and even waited for Wang Yun to go home to farm due to diplomatic rumors.

However, let alone political issues, Cao Ji suddenly discovered that the traditional tyrants were wrong. Ye Qinghua had already made great efforts to invest in this century-old gamble, and deliberately raised the value of Fanlou. He was gradually selling equity to get those people to take over. The withdrawn funds were used by Ye Qinghua to follow the trend.

The so-called trend is obviously a steam engine this time. Now Cao Ji has seen it clearly: Wang Yun, the crazy industrial party's banner, has been erected, the core is mechanical power, and the Ye family has made a big bet on Wang Yun's chariot. Of course, it is temporarily in a state of losing money, but this is called trend following.

Just at the right time, his cousin Cao Shouyi sent a letter to tell Cao Ji: Ye Wushuang developed something called railway, and it has been proved mature. Funing County has obtained the right to the road from Suide to Funing section, and has now entered the survey state to prepare for the start of construction.

Sima Guang, who received the news, was swearing with the queen's sister, "Funing County, Suide County is in chaos and does not take the imperial court seriously." However, Cao Ji knew that he really listened to their rap and thought that the railway could not move, so he lost.

Cao Ji did not deny that the Queen's sister and Sima Guang said something, but considering the execution ability of Dalian, the emperor was still there, and the sister's words did not count. Dalian's brother Han Qi went to Beijing to become the prime minister. These comprehensive factors were weighted. Cao Ji felt that no matter how these verbals said, if you don't get in the car and follow this trend, you will be really out of date.

Cao Ji didn't care who Lu Quan was in. He even saw this issue farther than Ye Qinghua, because Cao Ji knew about Da Lian, because Lu Quan could not give it to the Chamber of Commerce with the nature of Da Lian.

So Cao Ji did not intend to compete with the Ye family for the Funing Suide section railway project. Cao Ji knew very well that this section of railway was just a drop in the bucket in the entire Song Dynasty. Now, as long as you get on the bus and follow this trend, with the current construction qualifications and strength of the coal yard, I dare not talk about it. Cao Ji ate a lot of the railway network from the southeast to Bianjing, the construction cakes in these areas that rely most on the transportation of the canal.

This process will not even be influenced by the future emperor. No matter who is the emperor, Cao Ji felt that the result will be the same. Those people have been discussing the transportation reform of the Ministry of Works for too long and have no plans for them, so they will be tempted.

It can be foreseeable that they cannot kill Wang Rong and cannot make new laws. After Wang Rong's first railway was successful, the bureaucrats and local tyrants who were foresighted in various places would follow and start to take the horse. At that time, the opportunity came. But we must seize the visible opportunity. Now is the time to practice. There is no secret to being able to come up with a railway plan that can compete with the Northwest Investment Bank. We must develop it now and try it now. This is practice.

The nature of Dalian can tolerate profitable merchants making money, but will not make profitable merchants too comfortable. Cao Ji is very clear about this. For example, the Wang family and his son may be able to accept relatively high project quotations, but they will definitely not accept bribing officials and taking down the project with the quality of tofu.

Cao Ji, who was foresighted, believed that a group of profiteers and bureaucrats with such thinking would be killed in the future, and those who were left with a few who had the foundation could eat the cake of national construction with higher profits. This is Cao Ji's current plan, which requires the earliest opportunity to be invested and seize it when the opportunity comes.

It doesn't matter who is the emperor and the prime minister Cao Ji doesn't care. There is a way to make money under Pang Ji's rule, and Wen Yanbo and Chen Zhizhong's rule are another way, but now it's Fu Bi and Han Qi's rule. As a top profiteer, it's the most basic thing to follow the trend and have multiple response plans.

Thinking about these things, my uncle, who had never been to the northwest, looked at the scenery of the distance through the carriage window. Everyone was saying that the northwest was in chaos, but they just followed the crowd. Judging from the facts, Cao Ji didn't think it was too serious. Those rumors should be propaganda caliber for bureaucrats to get vaccinations and warlords to cheat military spending.

Especially the closer it is to Funing County, the more surprising it is. Cao Ji witnessed the busy situation of small and medium-sized vendors rushing on the road. Except for a few of the most developed areas in the Song Dynasty, it is rare to see people of this size moving between the two counties.

This has formed some new industries, and many people who were foresighted have built some sheds and stalls on the way, selling boiled water and dry food to passers-by. The business seems to be pretty good.

Sometimes a very large convoy was pulling heavy supplies and escorting goods with the flag of the Northwest Investment Bank. When they stopped by the roadside, a few idle little kids took buckets and brushes to wash the cattle and horses of the convoy, and feed some of the fodder collected by the little kids, so that they could get a reward of a few dollars.

This scene seems familiar. Although Cao Ji is generally heartless, he clearly remembers that the Bianjing coal farm started in this form. When I went to see it in a few years, the coal farm is now even better than a medium-sized county town.

Cao Ji also ordered the convoy to stop, looked at the grassroots scenes and took a deep breath, thinking of the Bianjing Coal Farm that year. If nothing unexpected happens, the Ye family is really big. When everyone was the least optimistic about Northwest and Wang Yun, Ye Qinghua took the lead and bought Northwest temporarily.

If nothing unexpected happens, within three to five years, Suide District will withdraw its troops and establish a prefecture, and Suide County will belong to Funing County, becoming a metropolitan area, and even relying on the convenience of foreign trade to become a large industrial base that matches the Tokyo area.

As for all this, the cunning Ye Qinghua has the first-mover advantage. No matter how stingy Wang Rong is, it is enough to allow the Ye family to gain excessive benefits.

Because in fact, Cao Ji has to evaluate him after getting along with each other. In fact, Da Yun is not a stingy person. He is mainly cruel and likes to kill people if he disagrees. But if he follows his ideas, it is not difficult for him to speak. The benefits he should give will be released...

One day later, when he arrived in Funing County, my uncle saw Lu Huiqing and Wang Rong go out to greet him.

I first visited the new city wall on the outer ring. The progress was very slow. It had been more than a year and a half since the start of construction, but the completion rate was less than one-third. I didn’t see the trend of being in full swing, but the few workers were slowly starting work.

This is because there is no one in Funing County, and Wang Rong does not need to work on the city walls.

Although the number of people is small, it is effective compared to other regions. Because Funing County Government has always purchased steam engines and used them. In addition, Cao Ji found that the large cranes made by the three Beijing coal yards have been initially modified by Funing County and have become more reasonable. They are also equipped with a transmission system and use steam engine power.

In traditional construction, things that require hundreds of manpower to carry out movement are now completed smoothly and quickly with less than twenty operators of large cranes and units.

These are just a microcosm of Funing County. Cao Ji was lucky enough to visit the rest of the factories, the vibrant but messy street markets, led by Wang Rong and Lu Huiqing.

There was nothing back then, but now there is a pretty good restaurant in Funing County. So after the visit, the dinner was arranged according to the procedures, and Ye Wushuang also came to attend the dinner. By the way, no one invited her, but she was involved in it herself.

Given that Cao Ji paid for the banquet, Erya and Xiao Lingling, who heard the news, also mingled in to eat.

Erya has such virtues. Whether in Shuzhou, Beijing, or here, if you hear anyone entertaining a banquet for the big family, Erya will bring her own lunch boxes to report. The lunch boxes brought by Xiaoluoli are empty and used to pack them after she has eaten.

After having a full meal in the restaurant, I had less content than traditional ones. The young lady who did not sing and dance came in and threw square scarves around. This is because Funing County has a small population and not many local tyrants, so there is not much market for brothels.

How can I still build brothels if there are not enough people in production? A local tyrant once organized a group of girls to come to Funing County to invest in brothels, but was seized by Dalian. All the girls were caught in the factory and worked, and they were finally stayed in Funing County to marry and have children.

Later, no one came to invest in brothels. Some of the liberated brothel women were grateful to Dalian, while others poked Dalian's backbone. They believed that: I was originally a high-income group, and they could make money when they raised their butts, but they were redeemed by this stupid official using administrative means. They caught them for training fifteen days and were assigned to work in the factory?

However, there were no girls this time, but Miss Ye Wushuang was present, which was indeed a beautiful scenery. Cao Ji always glanced at Miss Ye's figure with his eyes squintingly, feeling that this young lady has become much more beautiful again after more than a year. It is estimated that if she "got to the sea", she would have strong competitive strength even in Beijing.
Chapter completed!