Chapter 4 Persuasion

  "Speaking of my father, in the past five years I have traveled extensively throughout Europe, America and Japan. First, I studied military affairs in Germany, then I took some other courses, so what I learned is quite miscellaneous, nothing too specialized, but I think the most important thing is that I broadened my horizons and opened up my perspective. Nowadays, the gap between China and the great powers is too large, however, the great powers are not all the same. America has a strong commercial atmosphere and industrial strength, but its military power is weak. Among the European great powers, Britain and France have already begun to decline, and now they are competing with Germany. I think that in the near future there will inevitably be war. As for Japan, it is small but has big ambitions, eyeing us covetously, and sooner or later it will become China's mortal enemy. As for Russia, it is unstable and its country is in turmoil."

  Qiao Yu briefly commented on the current situation of various countries and talked about the impact on the Qing court. Qiao Guangyuan nodded repeatedly, he was in Beijing when he felt the power of the powers, so he thought of sending his son abroad to broaden his horizons. Now that his son has gained such insights, the old man is very pleased.

  "Third son, in recent years the new policy has been very popular, I think we can also catch up with it and won't continue to fall behind!"

  It seems that Old Chiao still has hopes for the new government, and this probably represents the general view of China's gentry class. It wasn't until the imperial cabinet was newly formed that Han Chinese officials and gentry completely lost hope in the Qing government and turned to support the revolutionary party. In fact, there was originally a case of "stealing heaven and changing day" in history, which is the Huanghuagang Uprising.

  After the Huanghuagang Uprising, the revolutionary tide indeed swept across the country, but that was not the result of the Huanghuagang Uprising. Instead, it was after the uprising, within half a month, the imperial cabinet emerged, and the gentry's illusions about the Qing court disappeared, they began to abandon the Qing government. In the matter of the fall of the Manchu dynasty, the will of the gentry class played a significant role, rather than the power of the revolutionary party. It can be said that even if there were a hundred Huanghuagang Uprisings, it would not be comparable to the loss of people's hearts caused by one imperial cabinet. Later, some people took credit for others' achievements, which is really shameless.

  But for now, it's still too early to talk about these things. Qiao Yu must use the existing facts to convince Old Man Qiao, let him realize the crisis, and he will support himself in setting up a factory, expanding the Qiao family's power, in order to protect himself.

  "Dad, in my opinion, the new policy of the Qing dynasty has no chance of success at all. Any reform is actually just a reshuffle of power, to put it simply, the constitutionalists want to take power from the hands of the Manchu nobles, but the Qing court's powerful officials do not want to change, and when they have to, they can only go with the flow, but they will definitely cling to power tightly. That's why they drove away Han officials like Yuan Shikai. Haven't Zhang Jian and others instigated several incidents in recent years? Has the Qing court shown any signs of loosening up? Political reform is slow to happen, and changes in military and economic affairs are of no avail. If things go wrong, the new army and new intellectuals cultivated by the Qing court may even end up on the opposite side of the imperial court. Have there been few incidents involving the new army in recent years?"

  Qiao Guangyuan listened to his son's words, his face somewhat unpleasant. He had also thought about these principles, and Sichuan had not been peaceful in recent years, with occasional uprisings and rebellions. Qiao Guangyuan had also considered this issue, but it was far from being as straightforward as his son's approach to the problem. Although the old man wanted to refute his son for being disloyal, deep down he still agreed with his son's judgment.

  "If the reform had been carried out at the beginning, it would not have ended up like this. Alas, our family has always emphasized loyalty, filial piety and benevolence in our farming and studies. Don't talk about these things casually from now on, or we'll be no different from those rebels." The old man sighed and then asked: "You've studied for so many years, I'd like to see what plans you have for the future, are you going into politics or the military?"

  "Old man, our family already has one who joined the army, Third Son said that he can't go be a soldier again!"

  Is there a soldier? Who is it? Qiao Yu was taken aback at first. Although he inherited the original memories, after all, he didn't experience them personally and felt somewhat unfamiliar. But once reminded, he immediately reacted.

  "Where's Second Brother? Has Second Brother joined the army?"

  "That's right. Neither of you two lets me have a peaceful mind. After you left, this second child was restless and wanted to go out for a look. With his reckless temper, how could we dare to let our guard down? However, this family didn't manage to keep him under control either, and he secretly ran out on his own. Now he's already enjoying the imperial treatment!" Mother Qiao complained non-stop, but still with a hint of delight in her tone. Qiao Yu was somewhat perplexed.

  Qiao Guangyuan took over the conversation: "Your second brother joined Zhao Erfeng's border defense army and went to Tibet to quell the rebellion. It is said that he has become a battalion commander and completely became a hooligan!"

  Zhao Erfeng? Frontier army? Qiao Yu didn't expect that his cheap second brother would have the fate of becoming a national hero, it was truly unexpected. In the late Qing dynasty, the upper class in Tibet rebelled repeatedly with the support of the British, and almost completely split away. Zhao Erfeng repeatedly put down the rebellions, maintaining territorial integrity, and his merits will be remembered for eternity, he absolutely deserves to be called a national hero. However, he died miserably at the hands of Yin Changheng during the Xinhai Revolution, which is also an eternal regret. Now that second brother Qiao Zhen can get reused under Zhao Erfeng's command, it's both a help for himself in the future and may save Zhao Erfeng's life. It seems that heaven has been kind to him, he was originally thinking about how to expand his power, but now it seems that the chess pieces have already been laid out for him, it seems that fate is on his side!

  Qiao Yu was lost in thought, and the old lady Bai looked at her son's face with a look of yearning, and suddenly sank her face.

  "Third son, I'm telling you that you absolutely cannot join the army again. For your second brother's sake, my heart is always on edge. If you become a soldier again, I'll really not be able to live!" A good man doesn't become a soldier, and good iron isn't used to make nails. This is a deeply ingrained concept among Chinese people, and Old Lady Bai is no exception. She's extremely worried that this precious son of hers will also go off to war, and if something unexpected happens, the old lady really won't be able to live with herself.

  "Daughter, don't worry, as far as I know, the rebellion in Tibet has been largely pacified, and it's just a matter of stabilizing the area now. Second brother is definitely not in any danger. What I'm thinking about now is setting up a factory. That's why Uncle came to our house to discuss partnering with us to set up a factory."

  "You want to start a factory? Scholars, farmers, artisans and merchants, this business is the lowest of them all!" Qiao Guangyuan had originally relied on his past connections and his old face to find a good place for his son. Now with the new policies in the capital, they needed all sorts of talents, but he never thought that his son would want to start a factory, so he was very surprised.

  "Brother-in-law, what do you mean by this? Are you looking down on me?"

  Bai Kuan was a genuine businessman, although he had spent money to buy the title of Dao Yuan, it was just an honorary position. When he heard Qiao Guangyuan say that business was a lowly occupation, he naturally became unhappy, wasn't this like scolding a monk for being bald?

  "Your brother-in-law didn't mean it that way, San Er. This is about bringing honor to our ancestors or becoming an official. As the saying goes, 'Learn literary and martial arts, sell goods to the imperial family.' You've studied abroad for so many years, can't you at least secure a government position? If you go into business or start a factory, won't that be a waste of your talents?"

  Mrs. Bai, although born into a business family and her own family running several shops, still looked down on commerce from the bottom of her heart and did not want her son to engage in this industry. Qiao Yu also felt a sense of emotion, how strong is the deep-rooted traditional concept of Chinese people? The era has changed before our eyes, but how can we still follow the old calendar? However, I couldn't say that to my mother.

  "Mother, actually being an official and running a factory are two things that won't interfere with each other. I remember in the first few years wasn't there a proclamation rewarding investment? This time I plan to invest 500,000 taels and partner with my uncle to start a textile mill, at least I'll be able to get a sixth-rank official hat!"

  At the end of the Qing dynasty, the reward for investing in and setting up factories was still quite large. If the investment reached a certain amount, it would be rewarded with corresponding official positions, starting from 200,000 taels of silver to 20 million taels, which corresponded to the seventh rank of officialdom all the way up to the first rank. However, due to the prevalence of buying official positions, this kind of official position was not very valuable. To obtain a corresponding rank, one only needed to spend money to buy an official position, without having to take risks in investing. Nevertheless, it still had a significant impact on changing social mores.

  In the past, business was a despised occupation and was discriminated against, but now it is rewarded. However, the minimum standard is 200,000 taels, which is still quite difficult in China at that time. Although there are many rich people in China, they do not understand much about modern industrial and mining enterprises, and the risks are great, so they dare not invest a lot of money.

  Just like the Qiao and Bai families, all of their family businesses are absolutely worth over a million, but when Qiao Yu suddenly wanted to invest one million, with both families sharing the burden of 500,000 each, they were shocked.

  "Third son, if it were only 30,000 to 50,000 taels that you used, then so be it. But this is 500,000 taels! What if we lose everything? Rong'er, how can you follow the child's foolishness like this?"

  Qiao Guangyuan was also frightened by Qiao Yu's numbers, and he thought it was Bai Kuan's instigation, so he blamed his younger brother-in-law. Bai Kuan was unjustly accused, but Qiao Yu saw that it wasn't easy to do the work of a matchmaker, yet he couldn't give up either. So, on the spot, Qiao Yu began to tell his family in detail about what he had seen and experienced in Europe: steel mills that produced hundreds of millions of tons per year, shipyards that could build giant ships of tens of thousands of tons, developed textile industries, and booming oil industries.

  He also talked about those incredibly powerful financial groups that can manipulate the country, and after talking about foreign countries, he discussed the prospects for domestic development, listing one by one the difficulties of setting up a factory, and then explaining how to solve them. At first, Qiao Guangyuan thought his son was just temporarily crazy, but as he listened on, he became captivated. As someone who had been an official in the capital and had dealt with all sorts of people, Old Master Qiao could confidently say that even those high-ranking military ministers couldn't explain the key points of industry and commerce as clearly as this.

  Qiao Yu spoke for a long time, and Qiao Guangyuan went from initial shock to joy, then contemplation, and finally fell silent. Obviously, the old man was considering Qiao Yu's suggestion, which was a major matter concerning the prosperity of the family, so he had to be cautious.

  "Third son, are you really confident?"

  "Dad, I'm at least 80% sure we can do this. With the strong capital and connections our two families have, and with me working on the foreigners, there shouldn't be too many problems. As long as we can get the factory up and running, we'll be set to make a fortune!"

  Old Master Qiao pondered for a moment, then asked Qiao Cheng: "Shiwen, what do you think?"

  "Dad, since Lao San has the ambition and ability, as his older brother, I absolutely cannot stop him. I think we should pool our family's resources together and start this factory!"