this man is not calm

Chapter 445 Overcoming
After hearing Jin Shang's words, Huang Zhengkuo smiled without comment, casually sprinkled a handful of fish feed into the pond, and then said leisurely:

"I knew you were a very smart kid, but I lacked experience and had never seen the real world, so I was a little worried. But I overthought it. You are better than I thought..."

It seems to be admiration, or perhaps it is a sigh of emotion, Lao Huang sighed:

"You are better than your grandfather in that you truly understand and care about people's livelihood, know the importance of ordinary people, and know how to cater to their needs. Although the children of wealthy families have received strict elite education, they are bound to make empirical mistakes. Having parents who are too rich and growing up in a too smooth environment is also a kind of shackle..."

"Praising me won't change my attitude towards you...and the Huang family."

"I don't expect you to really help those useless students in the future. I just hope you can move faster and more steadily. After all... I may not be able to wait for too many years."

"Oh? Have you thought it through and decided to put aside your worries and spend your old age in peace?"

"It doesn't matter whether I let them go or not. If I'm gone, I don't ask you to protect them from the wind and rain. As long as there is such a big tree, people will be afraid of it. 'Jiangxia Huang' has not been around for nothing for so many years. Even if it has fallen, there are still some residual influence, and outsiders will not be cruel. Leave a way out for others so that we can meet again in the future. We are all in this class. Who doesn't have useless descendants? When the family falls, it may be our turn. We need a friend to help us..."

In the Qin, Han and Three Kingdoms periods, Jin Shang was like an official with a salary of two thousand stones in the imperial court. As long as there was such a person, the literati would accept you as one of their own. If there was no one outstanding person in the entire clan, then it would be a pity. If one was successful, he would become a local tyrant. If one was unsuccessful and blocked the way for others, he would be called a "clan traitor" to be hunted down by everyone.

Ever since Huang Xiumin passed away, Old Huang has been eager to have another person who can support the family. Even if he doesn't like those mediocre people in the family, as long as he can still use the name of "Jiangxia Huang" to cheat people, he will have a chance to make a comeback.

Loyalty and honesty are passed down from generation to generation, and poetry and books are passed down from generation to generation!
Even if it is weak, it is still a poor family with "maintained family traditions" rather than a common people with lost manners. Daughters of the family can marry talented sons of wealthy families, and sons can marry daughters of noble families. If they lose this title, according to the tradition of "equal status", they will probably have to accept a situation of class demotion, and it will be even more difficult to get back on their feet.

Jin Shang's second uncle Mei Yingnian is also a business tycoon on the surface, but it is so difficult for him to break into the mainstream circles in the Gyeonggi region. It can be seen that some things cannot be solved by just making money.

It is better to say that having money is just one of the basic conditions for sitting at the "poker table".

"Whether we admit it or not, we all have the same blood, right?"

Huang Zhengkuo grinned:
"In fact, a clan like ours that has survived countless historical twists and turns and has been passed down through generations is more or less concerned about the theory of bloodline, but we don't really believe in it. We think it's a good tool. On the contrary, we quite admire cultural background and self-identity!"

Huang Zhengkuo smiled mysteriously and said with great pride:
"Before your unexpected appearance, I was ready to absorb fresh blood from outside by recruiting a son-in-law. If the child is particularly outstanding, it is acceptable not to marry into the family. Just keep one child and change the surname to Huang. I don't care about the last request, but I am afraid that those guys who are not good at doing things but are good at making trouble will be unbalanced and make trouble, which will ruin my big plan."

"Really!"

Shrugging nonchalantly, Jin Shang was about to make a few jokes when he suddenly realized,

"Those two just now, are they the seeds you picked out?"

With a teachable expression on his face, Huang Zhengkuo responded approvingly:

"On the surface, they are your great aunt and your grandfather's cousin..."

"Oh my god, he's so senior?"

This is one of the disadvantages of the eldest son's family. They are relatively older, but have a lot of uncles, aunts, and grandparents. Maybe the Huang family can now find a lot of children who are not yet out of the five generations and are still in their infancy, but in terms of seniority, they are of the same generation as Jin Shang's grandfathers.

Facing Jin Shang's incredulous expression, Huang Zhengkuo rarely showed a hearty smile:
"Their husbands were carefully selected and confirmed with my approval. Their performance in recent years has also been very eye-catching..."

"To get your praise, it seems that you are really amazing. What do you do?"

"One of them is a real estate upstart, and the other is deeply involved in the automobile market..."

"That... is indeed quite impressive."

Even with Huang's endorsement, it would be difficult to achieve anything in these two fields without some ability.

It drives huge capital, has a long industrial chain, and provides a large number of jobs and tax revenues.

"The choices of smart people are actually similar. The most basic, core, most demanded, and largest market are nothing more than 'food, clothing, housing, and transportation.' You plan to focus on clothing and food, while they are thinking about houses and cars..."

It is hard to say which one is more brilliant. The thresholds for clothing and food are low, and it is difficult to expand and even more difficult to occupy a dominant position. The thresholds for real estate and automobiles are extremely high, but once they are established, it is incredible.

In the future, Jin Shang is also likely to get involved in real estate and automobiles, but it is unlikely to enter directly. Instead, it is unlikely to intervene through indirect investment in finance, holding or integration of industrial chains.

CSSC Electromechanical has a strong capability in supporting electromechanical equipment and has made some achievements in the field of automotive parts. Although they are all unimportant non-core categories, it is a good start after all.

As for real estate, with his second uncle Mei Yingnian as a partner, it would be even less likely for Jin Shang to spend more energy on speculating in land and selling pre-sale properties.

only……

"Although I don't know who they are, I don't really care. You said you had high hopes for them before, but have you changed your mind now?"

"No, but I won't rely on them completely like before."

"Don't put all your eggs in one basket?"

Although they are only niece's husbands-in-law, they are not much different from Jin Shang, the "outsider" who changed his surname.

If Jin Shang did not have the power of "destiny" inherited from his family, Lao Huang would probably just place more bets to see who is more worthy of support.

Thinking of this, Jin Shang suddenly asked with some evil interest:
"Are those two... 'aunties' trying to get close to you, the master, and say bad things about me?" "It hasn't come to that, but they are saying good things about their own family, and their intention to 'compete for favor' is obvious. I know you are annoyed by these things and never care about them. In fact, I am too lazy to pay attention to them, but... as the head of the family, there are some things that you have to be patient about. What's more, they speak nicely and are good at complimenting people. I don't dislike them, so I just let them perform."

"You have nothing to do, want to entertain yourself?"

"Don't say such harsh words!"

To be honest, the old man and the young boy actually have a lot of common topics and their values ​​are not too different.

After chatting about trivial matters for a while, Huang Zhengkuo started to talk about some practical matters:
"Whether it is harder to make money or spend money depends on the stage. Since ancient times, history has basically revolved around disputes over land. The more land, the more food, the more people, the more coal and iron, the more tools, the more land, and gradually formed a virtuous circle. However, this routine also has its limits. In the traditional model, the radiation range is so large, and it is a bit powerless to go further."

Human power is limited, and destiny is beyond our control!
In ancient times, it would take a year or two to walk from one end of a vast empire thousands of miles away to the other, so it would be impossible to manage it directly. Over time, there would definitely be a tendency towards separation.

My motherland has been strong for a long time in this life. In the modern voyages of discovery, it has also reaped the benefits of the first wave of the industrial revolution and globalization.

However, after the "unknown world" was almost divided up, contradictions began to emerge.

Just like the partition of Poland, the last "no man's land" in Europe was the Balkans, which the Ottoman Empire could no longer control after its decline. So this place naturally became a "powder keg" that would ignite at any time.

After dividing up Africa, Germany, which had nowhere to colonize, began "struggles" again and again. What followed was endless wars that dragged all the traditional powers into the war. A sign of the accelerated process was that Poland, Italy and other buffer zones between the powerful countries were divided up or integrated into new powers. There was no room for maneuver, so fighting was a matter of course.

The process of this life is somewhat different, but the essence is the same. More than a hundred years ago, it was possible to send tens of thousands of troops across the ocean to fight in foreign lands, but the benefits were too poor, and it was completely not worth it. After persisting for a long time, especially sixty or seventy years ago, it seemed that it was beyond one's ability.

After securing their core interests, they maintained their influence through restraint or crawled back through economic and military alliances, and finally became what they are now.

Of course, there are various considerations involved, so there is no need to go into detail. Jin Shang and Huang Zhengkuo are both smart people and they understand it immediately.

After talking intermittently for a while, Jin Shang gradually figured out what Lao Huang wanted to say.

“Neo-colonialism?”

"It seems that your abilities are not limited to business, and a career in politics is actually quite good."

Huang Zhengkuo explained calmly without trying to hide his feelings.

"Your feeling is not wrong. The richer you are, the harder it is to spend money, because the money that nominally belongs to you may not necessarily be your personal wealth. Liquid money is capital, and static money is debt."

“It is inevitable that credit currency will prevail.”

Jin Shang nodded in understanding.

This common sense is meaningless to most ordinary people, because short-term financial changes do not have much impact on them. Instead, people or business entities like Jin Shang who hold huge amounts of money are more concerned about where to invest the capital they control.

"How to overcome this capital-driven instinct? First, you must be aware of its danger. In fact, you must tame and master it. Otherwise, you will be nothing more than a tool devoured by the flood and the beast... a pitiful creature."

Since the precious metal standard was changed to the credit standard, the value of currency depends on credit. To put it bluntly, it is whether you can use it to buy the desired goods when you need it. If not, the more you hold, the more you lose, because it will continue to depreciate in the uncontrollable inflation and eventually become waste paper, and huge wealth will be wiped out.

When there is not much money in hand, it is relatively easy for capable people to make high profits; but once the amount of money is too large, it becomes extremely difficult to outperform inflation, or outperform the over-issued money supply, and to maintain and increase the value.

How to turn the shrinking paper wealth in your hands into resources that can be truly controlled and produced in large quantities becomes the top priority.

In ancient times when productivity was underdeveloped, there was naturally nothing more valuable than land, especially arable land. But in modern times, it is different. It is not that land is not important, but that it is no longer the only key.

"Our modern history is actually a story of how to transition from a classical empire to a modern new model and build a mode of coexistence that adapts to the modern world. Whether it is crawling back, fighting and retreating in exchange for a more relaxed environment, or establishing ties with tradition and culture, strengthening ties with manufacturing and the market, and building a moat with culture, it is actually the same thing. Among them, the flow of money... that is, capital, plays a key role."

Capital itself is neither good nor evil, but it has the side effect of naturally triggering the deepest desire in people's hearts - greed. Rather than being a monster, it is a materialized product of the unconscious will of a large group of mobs.

How can an inanimate object have its own thoughts?

The unconscious instincts of the group are what we really need to pay attention to.

"I think I understand what you mean. You should think about your original idea and not waste too much energy on making money. Money is just a tool and making money is just a means. It cannot be alienated into an end."

Many people, unknowingly, have forgotten their original intentions and have been blinded by the vast amount of wealth.

"We... are not the kind of ignorant people who have no ideas of our own and are just swept up in the world. I really look down on ordinary people. You and your father are a little interesting, but... your father doesn't have much ambition. Although you are not a person with great ambitions, you have some classical romantic sentiments. In the final analysis, only people like us will have the leisure to calm down and consider more fundamental issues."

"Meat-eaters are despicable and fail to think ahead."

"Haha, you are really interesting."

I didn't expect that Jin Shang would say this just to piss off the old man, which completely destroyed Old Huang's righteousness. I couldn't help but laugh.

In fact, what Huang Zhengkuo really wanted to say to Jin Shang was not to focus too much on what is happening in front of you and forget what you really care about.

The real capital is not the money, but the means of production that belong to you and are at your disposal, as well as the manpower that you can deploy. This is the real wealth.

(End of this chapter)