newbobooks Chapter 1296 Extra Xu Yubei
Chapter 1296 Extra Xu Yubei
As the second oldest, Xu Yubei was not as good at fighting as his elder brother, nor as courageous as his younger brother. For a few years, he did not have a good life.
As the son of a great general, his elder brother and younger brother were both talented, but he not only knew nothing about this, but also had no interest in it and refused to listen at all.
It was Xu Sibei who said to him, "Second brother, if you don't like this, then learn something else. Anyway, we already have an older brother and I in our family. If you don't like it, you don't have to work hard on it."
Xu Xiaobei also agreed and said in the letter: "My younger brother's words make sense. The reason why my younger brother and I followed in Dad's footsteps is because we really like it."
Xu Yubei suddenly understood.
Apart from military affairs, he has some interest in everything, including astronomy, geography, craftsmanship, medicine, and economics. He wants to dabble in everything.
The old lady couldn't bear to see him idle. The youngest one had something to do, and he couldn't be more unsuccessful than his younger brother, otherwise people would gossip about him.
Therefore, he was given several shops and businesses to manage.
As long as Xu Yubei is not allowed to go to war, he will do anything, including business.
But he didn't expect that he would get so hooked on it that he actually fell in love with it.
In just one year, the profits were much more than in previous years.
Seeing that he was working harder and harder, the old lady gave him more tasks. It was not easy to do these things well. Since her second son liked it, there was no harm in letting him do it.
She was not like other old ladies who thought it was shameful and a pity for their legitimate son to do such things. She thought that as long as the child liked it, the family did not need him to go to the battlefield to earn this honor.
Besides, all the men in the family are on the battlefield, so what's wrong with keeping one?
She is very supportive.
By the fourth year, Xu Yubei had completely taken control of the Xu family's economic lifeline.
In the fifth year, the Xu family's economy increased five or six times compared to five years ago. As a result, the Xu family's business became bigger and bigger.
The annual profit is enough to pay the military salaries of more than 100,000 people in the north.
At this time, the world was in chaos, and he had relied on these industries to support the military salaries in the north in recent years.
But later on, the number of people in Xu's army increased, from a few hundred thousand to two hundred thousand or three hundred thousand, and then to five hundred thousand or six hundred thousand...
No matter how capable Xu Yubei was, he couldn't sleep all night because of the huge salary.
At this time, he can only publish once or twice a year. If he publishes more than that, he will be the god of Xu's army.
Of course, this god does exist.
For example, later on, he often saw a name, Zhou Guo, in letters from the army. This name later began to change to Xu Anbei.
Although he had never met her, they had known each other for a long time. He was deeply impressed by her ability to build such a large industry from scratch in just a few years.
Moreover, not only did she live a good life herself, but the people who belonged to her side also lived a good life.
Although these "good days" are not the best, they are already very good compared to their previous lives.
At least people were no longer starving or freezing to death, and they gradually had some extra money. The number of people in the north gradually increased, and in troubled times, more and more people went there.
He thought about the businesses he held in his hands. Not many people had benefited from them over the years. At most, in these troubled times, they had provided those who came to him with a job to support themselves and their families.
He also couldn't make sure that any of the common people on his side could benefit and live a good life. He absolutely couldn't do that.
Moreover, the grain collected year after year was more than enough to feed the hundreds of thousands of troops of the Xu family army. He would no longer lose sleep over the food problem of the Xu family army.
Once the problem of food and fodder is solved, the issue of military pay will not be a problem.
He could still afford this. Even after giving it away, his Xu family didn't have much left every year, barely enough for the family to eat and drink.
But the Xu family army is also part of his Xu family. Since these people have come for his Xu family, they have the responsibility to ensure that everyone has enough food to fill their stomachs and can get what they deserve.
Xu Yubei earned military pay in the back, while Zhou Guo earned food and fodder in the north. The two men cooperated well and solved the most difficult problems of Xu's army.
With the two of them, Xu's army had no worries and was invincible on the battlefield.
When Xu Yubei met Zhou Guo for the first time, he watched the child galloping on horseback from a distance. He only saw a vague figure, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but curl up. He inexplicably felt a sense of intimacy, as if he was destined to be a member of their family.
I thought to myself, no wonder my father and my older brothers and younger brothers all praised her so much, she really has a connection with their family.
He liked her even more when he saw her beautiful androgynous face, her neat and tidy figure, and her straightforward and frank personality.
After doing business for a long time, I have met many people with ulterior motives. This is the first time I have met someone as straightforward as this one. I feel surprised that the other party has been doing business for so many years but still speaks so directly.
Say whatever you have to say.
Later, Xu Yubei followed her out to see her businesses and saw how she negotiated with people. He found that this girl was also straightforward when doing business. He was curious. Could it be that she did business in the same way before? Why did people buy her account?
Zhou Guo laughed and said, "Second brother, what is my current status? Do I still need to engage in intrigue with these people?"
Xu Yubei said: "It is very likely that they don't know your identity either."
Zhou Guo said, "I'm not saying I'm a prince. I'm saying that with my current wealth, any one of these things in my hands is a top-notch item. Now it's not me begging them to do business, it's them begging me, so of course what I say is what counts."
Xu Yubei was amused by her smug look and asked, "I'm asking if you were like this when you first started doing business?"
Zhou Guo thought about it and said honestly, "No, there weren't many twists and turns back then, but there were some. I was lucky, and I could usually accomplish anything I wanted to do. If it was difficult, I could accomplish it with a little more effort. If it was extremely difficult, I could also accomplish it with a lot of effort. Basically, there was nothing I couldn't accomplish."
Xu Yubei: "..."
So there is no need to beat around the bush to get things done, no wonder...
Xu Yubei actually didn't believe it, but after experiencing more things, he found that Zhou Guo caught more fish than him, even when fishing, so he felt that it seemed to be the case.
He had to believe it from then on.
Fortunately, this person is from his family, otherwise if he stood on the opposite side of them, they would be in big trouble.
In order to find something to do, Xu Yubei, who became a prince, went to the Ministry of Works. The new dynasty had just been established and water conservancy projects were in need of development, which he could do.
After so many years of doing business, he didn't want to do it anymore. And most importantly, he couldn't beat Zhou Guo in business. It would be better for him to go to the Ministry of Industry, which was what he was most interested in at the moment.
Xu Yubei spent his entire life in the Ministry of Industry and solved many difficult problems for the ministry. In terms of water conservancy alone, his contribution is invaluable and it is not an exaggeration to say that he is famous in history, no worse than what he did in business.
The Emperor and the Empress were very satisfied with their son. He was very good at what he did and had made a name for himself. Many people could not achieve anything in just one thing in their entire life.
Xu Xiushan said to his old queen, "At the beginning, I wanted to throw the child to the army, but you refused to agree. I was so angry that I said that this child would definitely be ruined by you. I take it back, his mother, you did the right thing, you raised him very well!"
The old queen smiled, with tears in her eyes.