The Three Spirit Stones

Chapter 172 Besieged on four sides

After the two concubines were neglected, Mrs. Cheng wanted to take in two more concubines.

But Cheng Yu got angry!

Now Yelu Yuan and his two other concubines were pregnant, and he was thinking about having a good rest.

I haven't touched Ah Cai for a long time. Just as she said, she feels uncomfortable after a while. And now my mother says she wants to take a concubine?

He felt like his body was about to be hollowed out!

He lost his temper with Mrs. Cheng, saying that she treated him like a stud and didn't care about him at all except for letting him mate with women.

He asked his mother if she knew that he was under a lot of pressure.

Cheng Yu is under a lot of pressure right now.

In the past, his abilities and wisdom were almost as good as those of a god, but now he is just an ordinary mortal.

Cheng's business was so extensive that it was spread all over the Song and Liao dynasties.

As he said before, lack of energy can easily backfire on you due to wealth.

Nowadays, problems frequently occur in industries all over the country.

The coal mines in various places were more or less embezzled by the local tycoons, and fights often occurred. Reporting to the authorities was useless. They colluded with officials to blatantly embezzle Cheng's assets.

In addition, industrial competition in various regions is becoming increasingly fierce. For example, the sugar factory in Linping District, Hangzhou, had its production process secretly learned by others, and sugar factories of all sizes have sprung up like mushrooms after rain.

When there is more competition, profits will definitely decrease.

In addition, due to the rise in raw material prices during the disaster years, fewer people can afford sugar, and the sugar factories are now in a loss-making state.

There are also glass factories, soap factories, etc., all of which have suffered production process leaks, increased competitors, and reduced product profits or even losses.

However, Cheng's Industry still has many monopolistic technologies that cannot be easily learned.

For example, industries with high technological content such as reinforced concrete, steam engines, steam locomotives, and horse-drawn carriages.

After a concerted study by the top management, Cheng Yu decided to gradually phase out products with low added value.

Capacity upgrade is the only way for industrial society.

So Acai suggested developing products with high technical requirements.

For example, the most important thing at present is that the railway needs to increase the number of operating lines and the frequency of trains, which requires an upgrade in technical requirements.

In the days before computer control, a huge amount of work was required to make any change to a line.

We also need to build several cement roads based on Zhenzong Avenue.

You can also try to use steam locomotives instead of horses to build a batch of vehicles similar to small buses.

Human beings always have a strong demand for travel and cargo transportation.

Even if other industries do not make money, as long as Cheng Industry controls the railways and highways, it will always be the boss.

The expert in technology upgrades is none other than Acai.

Cheng Yu finally realized her importance!

If you have any questions, just ask her and she will give you the answer. Even if she doesn't know the answer, she will give you a solution.

In addition, she is well aware of the capabilities of the researchers in the institute and knows exactly who is good at which field.

To solve a problem, she would tell Cheng Yu who to contact and which person to contact for which problem.

Thanks to the efforts of relevant personnel, Cheng's Industry has added more than a dozen railway lines.

These are all hens that lay golden eggs, and the cash flow is endless every day.

Because the railways can make money, the huge fiscal deficits from before were slowly filled up!

Now Madam Cheng no longer dared to mention the matter of taking a concubine, because every time she mentioned it, Cheng Yu would definitely slam the table and walk away.

He now spends time with Ah Cai whenever he has free time. They have endless things to talk about every night.

Whenever he dragged his tired body to see her, he would just hold her in his arms and he would immediately feel strength and satisfaction in his heart!

And it was so fun chatting with her!

She would tell him about many things that happened thousands of years later, and she would describe some of the gossip scenes vividly, often making him laugh out loud.

What is a soul mate!

This is soul mate!

He felt that Acai was his life, and he loved her so much!

Every now and then, he would pick out a few precious jewellery from the storeroom and give them to her. As time went by, most of the precious jewellery in the storeroom had been given away by him.

Every time she saw him mysteriously take out a gift, Ah Cai would pretend to be very surprised.

She really couldn't bear to tell him that these things originally belonged to me, and you took my collection and gave it to me!

Railway transportation is a gold nugget. Everyone will be jealous when they see it, and the imperial court is no exception.

Previously, the court and Cheng's Industry split the dividends in a 30:70 split, with the court taking 30% and Cheng's Industry taking 70%.

But gradually, the court felt that 30% was too little.

The officials in the court believed that the railways and roads were built on the state's land and earned money from the people of the Song Dynasty.

Why can’t the imperial court take the lion’s share?

Therefore, several officials of the Secretariat specially interviewed Cheng Yu. They hoped that the court and Cheng's industry could be divided into 70% and 30%, with them taking 70% and Cheng's industry taking 30%.

This lion opened his mouth so loudly that Cheng Yu was so angry that he was speechless.

Then, these learned and talented officials quoted from classics, ranging from heaven, earth, the emperor, parents and teachers to the trivial matters of people's lives, and even brought up such mysterious things as Feng Shui and Yixue. Their purpose was to stand on the moral high ground and force Cheng Yu to give up 70% of his shares.

Cheng Yu is not a fool. He is solely responsible for the research and development of steam locomotives. The funds spent on maintenance every year are an astronomical amount.

The court can just get 70% of the profits by being a hands-off manager. Is this fair?

He really wanted to slam the table and leave.

He placed a stack of thick account books on the table and asked Chaoyan to bear the huge R&D expenses according to 70% of the shares.

If the imperial court is willing to give it, we are also willing to give it.

Now the officials felt a little embarrassed, after all, they spent real money.

It's unreasonable to want to pick peaches without making any contribution!

But looking at the huge profits of railway transportation nowadays, I am salivating again.

Finally, after much wrangling, Cheng Yu finally agreed to split the profits 50-50 with the court!

There are also many problems in Yanyun. The Liao people are much simpler and more brutal in dealing with the industries under the Cheng family.

For example, at the Zhuozhou wool factory, local officials directly sent people to take over and drove out all the original employees.

The Yanjing business district, the construction companies under Cheng's Industry, and many plots of land previously purchased by Cheng's were all seized by the Liao people for various reasons.

Also, many Song teachers who were unwilling to surrender were expelled from Yenching College on trumped-up charges.

When Cheng Yu learned the news, he was furious!

He really didn't understand why he made such a huge investment in Yanyun in the first place?

Now I have made wedding clothes for others, but it is all in vain.

Fortunately, except for the wool factory which had some technical content, the others were basically commercial investments. Apart from the confiscation of assets, there was no other loss. The only thing was that the expelled Cheng employees needed to be resettled.

Anyway, the investment in Yanyun area has gone down the drain!

In fact, there were signs of these things long ago. The fact that they did not allow grain to be transported back during the flood was a sign.

Cheng Yu once sent people to look for the Liao Emperor Yelu Ruan, but he refused for various reasons.

He once asked Chaoyan to ask for compensation from Liao.

But Chaoyan said that this was your unilateral investment and the court had no shares there, so how could you have any reason to come forward?

If we fail to reach an agreement, it could easily lead to a war.

There was no other way around it. Cheng Yu could only watch helplessly as his own business was torn apart by wild beasts like a piece of fat meat.

However, the Liao Emperor showed some mercy in terms of railways.

He asked someone to bring a letter to Cheng Yu, saying that the previous 25% stake was too little and asked for a renegotiation.

If their demands were not met, they would ban train operations until the problem was resolved, and set a date for Cheng Yu to go in person to negotiate.

The Yanjing Railway spans the Song and Liao dynasties. Unlike other industries, it requires constant maintenance. Train dispatching and train operation also require a group of experienced staff.

Without this group of people, these train tracks would be nothing but a pile of scrap metal.

Therefore, although the Liao people drooled over its profits, they had no operational capabilities.

Otherwise, given their nature, they would definitely take the railway for themselves.

For this reason, Cheng Yu planned to meet the Liao Emperor in person.

Today, the main source of profit for Cheng’s Industry is train operation. Even if he has to give up some shares, Cheng Yu does not want the trains to stop running.