The Qiao family reached the peak of Chinese business society at the end of the 19th century, and then ushered in a rapid decline. Without Song Biao's strong invitation at the time of the governor of the three eastern provinces, the Qiao family was first seriously injured during the Revolution of 1911.

After that, the warlords entered a very painful period of decline. Later, there were very few people in the Qiao family doing business, and most of them followed the Kuomintang to Taiwan.

Qiao Zhiyong's cousin Qiao Zhiyuan had a great-granddaughter who was later famous. She was a Mug girl and starred in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon".

Qiao Wanting is Qiao Zhiyong's granddaughter.

Qiao Zhiyong had long passed away. Song Biao still remembers that Qiao Jingyan was still wearing filial piety when he went to Northeast China to invest in the rice business. At that time, Qiao Jingyan was really a distinguished guest to Song Biao. Song Biao also really hoped that the Qiao family would invest in the Northeast China.

In the Industrial Industry, the two had a long talk all night long, which should be said to have a great inspiration for Qiao Jingyan.

When Song Biao arrived at the Qiao family compound, more than a hundred people from the Qiao family, led by Qiao Jingyan's uncle Qiao Zhiyuan, went out to greet each other. All etiquette affairs were strictly carried out in accordance with the requirements of the General Administration of the Inner Court. The Empire did not

It is important to kowtow, but you cannot block the emperor's path, you cannot turn your back to the emperor, women cannot wrap your feet, men must not keep braids, wear cheongsams, or wear jackets.

In short, there must be no things that symbolize the Qing Dynasty. Everyone can only greet them on both sides inside and outside the gate. Unmarried young women and children can be inside the gate. The wife and wife stand with their husbands. The lonely elderly in their seventies

Elders can be welcomed without any respect.

All under the sky and the shores of desert soil are the king's land.

The emperor lived in the Qiao family compound, and it became an intern. The General Administration of the Inner Court also paid a gift from the Qiao family according to the specifications and area. The emperor was the owner of the place, and your Qiao family is now the guest.

Even if the Qiao family is now considered a royal relative, it is not qualified to entertain the emperor. The emperor's food, clothing, housing and transportation in the courtyard are still in charge of the General Administration of the Inner Court. Without the place where your Qiao family wants to ask about it, your Qiao family will just rent a house.

The house is used as a palace for the emperor. If you don’t have anything else, don’t expect to host a banquet to entertain the emperor with the friendship of the landlords. You are not qualified yet.

Who has this qualification?

The Tsar, the German Emperor, the British Empire, the French Republic...they have this qualification. The same level, and there is no other one.

Of course, etiquette is etiquette. Rules are rules, law is law, and legal principles are nothing more than human feelings.

Song Biao is still a very nostalgic person and a reasonable emperor. After arriving at the Qiao family, because his concubine Qiao Wanting failed to make a trip this time, he went to the Qiao family's ancestral temple as a junior to burn three incense sticks for the Qiao family's ancestors, hoping that they would

If there is a spirit in heaven, Qiao Wanting will be blessed to give birth to the prince and the daughter successfully.

As a wife and father, he naturally hopes that everything will go well and that the mother and son will be safe.

After the incense, Song Biao did not take Qiao Jingyan seriously because he was the emperor. When he arrived at the Beisihe Douyuan he occupied, it was already evening. He took Qiao Jingyan

Mrs. Shen, who was still alive with Qiao Wanting, invited her over.

Qiao Wanting's father is Qiao Jingyan's second brother. He passed away in the first year of Xuantong. Mrs. Chen is a side room and has a low status in the Qiao family. Therefore, when Qiao Wanting was sent to the inner court, Qiao Jingyan specially replaced Qiao Wanting to the second house. The eldest wife. But Song Biao didn't care about this matter at all.

The queen was born in the Shu family's side room. Now, who in the empire dares to point fingers behind her back?

The inner court prepared a small emperor banquet with very local characteristics of Shanxi, with four main dishes and two soups, two snacks, one salty and one sweet, mainly exquisite, with not much portion size. In addition to Qiao Jingyan and Mrs. Shen, Song Biao No third person was invited.

This is still a very simple royal banquet, which must be different from the royal style in Mrs. Shen’s heart, and the Manchu and Han banquet.

After dinner, when the guards put tea and wet wipes, Song Biao tried it out, rinsed his mouth with the tea and changed it to a cup of Qimen black tea that was good for the stomach, and asked Qiao Jingyan and Mrs. Shen to bring a cup each.

At this time, Song Biao thanked Mrs. Shen: "Thank you, Madam, for giving birth to a good daughter. Wanting has a good temperament, gentle and generous. The queen also praised her. Now she is pregnant. As a husband, I am naturally happier. .”

When he heard the emperor's words, Qiao Jingyan and Mrs. Shen were so happy that they almost knelt down and thanked him.

Without the emperor's compassion, how could their concubine Wanting get pregnant?

Qiao Jingyan was so excited that he could hardly speak, and Mrs. Chen was also very excited, and maybe she fainted as soon as she closed her eyes.

Song Biao continued to say to Mrs. Shen: "I heard that you only have a daughter like Wanting. It seems not easy for years. I asked the General Administration of the Inner Court to buy a quadrilateral yard in Beijing and ask you to live there. Of course, if you don’t want to go to a strange place in Beijing, it doesn’t matter. I will send someone to pick you up for a walk in the palace regularly. When it’s convenient in the future, you can also let Wanting go back to her parents’ home to visit you.”

Mrs. Chen was very regular and replied: "Report to the emperor, since the civilian woman has married into the Qiao family, she has never planned to leave the threshold of the Qiao family in her life. Although she is worried about her daughter, the married daughter is just thrown out. Even a basin of gold water was poured out. Now it is the queen, how dare the civilian woman come to the palace to see her?"

Song Biao nodded slightly. Each school has a difficult sutra, and everyone has their own ideas. Since Mrs. Chen’s concept is relatively conservative, he forced it.

Song Biao said to Qiao Jingyan again: "Then you can take care of Mrs. Chen. There will be a maintenance fee every year in the inner court, which will be paid monthly, and the amount is not large. If there are any shortcomings, you can discuss with the inner court to solve the problem. ”

Qiao Jingyan immediately replied: "Please rest assured that the people must take good care of Concubine Shu's family."

Money and support expenses are all insignificant things for the inner court. Qiao Jingyan dares not boast or show off in this matter, and it is not suitable to interfere in the matter, so it is the best choice not to mention this.

Women are lightweight.

Mrs. Chen was also a woman who knew the generality. She guessed that the emperor and Qiao Jingyan had something to talk about, so she stood up and said goodbye. She did not dare to show off here because of the emperor's mother-in-law's identity, and hurriedly left the banquet hall.

After she left, Song Biao and Qiao Jingyan sighed: "We have known each other for many years. I didn't expect to marry your Qiao family's woman back then. It's quite interesting. In fact, what I originally meant was to let the secretary's office I arranged some women like Northwest and Hui people to comfort the Northwest by marriage, but I also saw some of them, and it was still very hindered to communicate. Sometimes it was not possible to marry a wife like a wife."

Qiao Jingyan replied cautiously: "What the emperor said is, so we have an old saying that we meet thousands of miles away. If we don't know each other, the matter between husband and wife is still the destined fate of heaven. The moon in the sky is connected by the old man. How many men and women in the world are

Fall in love and become a good partner.”

Song Biao laughed loudly and agreed: "It's so wonderful... Unfortunately, the matter in the northwest is still a big thing that cannot be avoided. I heard that since the Soviet Revolution, your Qiao family has lost money in Russia.

Xiao, is this really the case?"

Qiao Jingyan replied: "I lost more than 4 million rubles. Last year, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued an announcement to ask companies to summarize the list of losses in Russia and Germany. I have reported it. The loss of private property banks and properties directly confiscated by the Soviet Union is quite large.

, but in the past two years, foreign trade with Russia has not recovered, so the losses are more."

Song Biao nodded slightly.

China and Russia have always been important trading partners. Russia imports tea, sugar, soybean oil, raw silk, cotton and textiles from China. In the past few years, it also imported a large number of military products. China's imports from Russia mainly focus on raw materials and fur.

In recent years, it has basically become less and less, and the import of oil is more important. But overall, China's trade surplus with Russia is still large.

Shanxi merchants account for a very high proportion of Sino-Russia trade. After the establishment of the Soviet Union, Sino-Russia trade was interrupted, which basically caused Shanxi merchants to be fatal. Fortunately, the Qiao family's transformation was relatively fast. In the past ten years,

The main investments are concentrated in the Northeast.

In the early years, at the suggestion of Song Biao, the Qiao family and other Shanxi merchants joined forces to handle the Jinshang Bank, and gradually became one of the dominant banks between China and Russia, second only to China-Russia Daosheng Bank.

, Nowadays, branches are set up in Moscow, Kazan and St. Petersburg, and as a result, they are naturally considered the most direct losses. The branches in Russia are all confiscated by the Soviet Union in the name of foreign capitalist assets.

The Soviet Union is actually bad, and France and Britain's assets are not in a hurry to confiscate. First of all, they test from China, Japan and other countries. After confiscation, they have been observing the trend. Now they simply confiscate the capitalist assets of Britain, France and other countries in Russia. Anyway, Russia is

Foreign assets have also been confiscated by various countries.

So later, one thing came out, that was, Zhang Xueliang wanted to confiscate the Soviet Union's railways in the three eastern provinces, and as a result, it caused a series of major events, but this incident was obviously impossible. The empire had forcibly confiscated Russia in China.

All the state assets, including the railway and the Far East Fleet set up in Lushun, have earned several old models of ironclad ships.

The China-Russia Daosheng Bank is naturally within the scope of confiscation, so the empire is not losing money overall, but is just waiting to go to war with the Soviet Union and demanding that the Soviet Union compensate for all losses of Chinese companies.

Song Biao asked Qiao Jingyan: "To the general point of view, the problem should not be very big, right?"

Qiao Jingyan thought for a while and said, "By relying on the business of the three eastern provinces and Shanxi, we can basically make up for it and can hold on. But we have to find a way. The risk of international trade is still too great. I have been thinking about it recently that I still have to continue to collect capital.

In Shanxi, at the end of last year, I thought I wanted to buy the coal-iron and iron bidding separately, but I didn’t know what Shanxi Coal and Iron Corporation would say.”

Song Biao felt it was quite strange and said, "When the Far East Bank established the Shanxi Coal and Railway Corporation, they didn't let you invest in the shares?"

Qiao Jingyan said: "That's right, but doing business is always like this. You can make more money, especially Shanxi is making a lot of losses in Russia. You have to find another way out."

Song Biao thought for a while and suggested: "When the 175 project was launched, Tang Shaoyi was willing to ask you Shanxi to run coal and iron. When you saw that the investment bottom line of the cabinet was too high, every family refused to invest too much, and said that they wanted it.

It's nonsense to start from a small group. The cabinet has a cabinet plan. In the end, there was no way, and the cabinet made it cheaper to travel to the Far East. If you were willing to invest in a joint venture to establish this large Shanxi coal and iron company, how could there be so many things today?

”

Qiao Jingyan nodded and said, "What the emperor taught is that Shanxi merchants are not like the past now. Our familiar business is gradually fading, and we are not familiar with the new money-making business. Everyone just wants to be stable, my uncle and I

After several persuasions, everyone was unwilling to invest too much. Now, these people have seen Shanxi Coal and Iron Company and Steel Corporation become more and more popular and make money every day. Only then do they feel that Shanxi's coal and iron cannot be cheaper than outsiders.

I just want to join forces to run a large company and compete with the coal and iron company."

Song Biao smiled and said, "That's your own business, I can't control it. But, I don't think the Qiao family has to do these businesses. First, you don't know what to do, there are too many technical problems here. You

None of them works; secondly, although the profits of coal and iron are large, they cannot make money in a day or two. Therefore, I suggest that the Qiao family should run the bank well. In addition to running a bank, department stores, and real estate are all old schools.

The business is easier to do, and the turnover is faster than coal and iron. The business of liquor, vinegar, sauce, oil and sugar is also good, it depends on whether your family will do it. Let me give you an example,

The Qiao family can still run the warehouse more. There are them all over the country, and they will invest in the company to handle liquor, vinegar, and sugar, mainly invest in shares, and help others to make a big deal. If you really can’t think of a way out, I suggest you go abroad for inspection.

It takes a year or two to see how foreigners do business, especially the United States and the United Kingdom. Today's United States and the United Kingdom will be China ten years later. For example, the cigarette business can also be done, travel to the Far East

These days, it is planned to sell off the Far East cigarette factory. This business is very profitable, but for Far East travel, it is actually an outside business. Instead of continuing to spread the capital here, it is better to do the main business in a concentrated manner."

Qiao Jingyan nodded repeatedly as he heard this and said, "The Emperor is very saying."

He knew in his heart that Song Biao did not want Shanxi merchants to travel to the Far East in coal and iron business. The Shanxi business gang is not as good as before. Only Qiao Qu's two families have invested a lot in the three northeastern provinces and have not been affected. The rest are all

The strength of the family is greatly damaged. As long as Qiao Qu continues to stabilize cooperation with the Far East Consortium, he will not be able to compete with the Far East even if he joins together.

Song Biao gave Qiao Jingyan some idea, and then talked about another thing, saying: "I have another problem when I come to Shanxi this time. You and Qu Benqiao need to come forward and beat the other people with a side drum. The Empire

There are currently three major bans, one is to ban opium, the second is to ban foot binding, and the third is to ban private silver and private money. It can be said that Shanxi has the most serious problems in these three bans and has the most serious bad habits. Shanxi has been since the Guangxu year.

The largest opium-growing area in the country has been repeatedly banned since the empire was built. If the fields outside cannot be planted, then they will go to the mountains to plant them and cultivate new lands and heavy opium. They are even more a bastard. I won’t say much about foot binding, but I will continue to do it.

It is emphasized that there is still no major change in Shanxi. As for the issue of private silver and private money, I don’t need to say it explicitly. Your wealthy gentry in Shanxi also understands in your heart that every household has a cellar of silver. The former governor of Shanxi was your locals, so he was too weak to start.

, The law enforcement is not strict, and the governance is not tight. I will transfer a more ruthless governor from Sichuan to you. From this year on, I will forcefully arrest Shanxi. I will replace you, the Chief of Patrol and the Chief of Police, and the General Secretary of the Police.

Catch. Unpleasant words, I don't want to say them publicly, but you'd better communicate with others and don't give me the chance. If you catch the chance, you will be nice. It's not that you don't have money to buy national debts to the imperial government, but the government will

I won’t tolerate evildoers, and I don’t have any doors.”

Qiao Jingyan sneered in his heart, but he was actually very gloating.

The Qiao family has a low status among the Shanxi business gang, but it has only become rich in financial resources in the previous generation. Therefore, Qiao Jingyan repeatedly advised the Chamber of Commerce to go with him, but generally had no effect, and even was ridiculed.

If the central government was about to investigate Shanxi strictly, Qiao Jingyan would be very happy to watch the wall and watch other companies make jokes.
To be continued...