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Zhu Wencong left the factory content with a thousand British Pounds, not only failing to resign but also becoming James's assistant.

No need to clock in for work, nor to be responsible for the factory's affairs, all that was needed was to offer strategic planning.

James didn't do it for the factory, but for his own gain, he and Zhu Wencong together turned the factory into "privatized".

The boss above insisted on siding with the Southern Faction, and once the war was headed for failure, the enormous debt would make James and the boss jump into the sea together.

James wasn't so close to the boss that he'd die for him, so the task of jumping into the sea was left for the boss alone.

Zhu Wencong was also happy to share the mint with James, just needing to wait a year for the situation to rapidly reverse.

"How did we do this morning?" Zhu Wencong arrived at a Fujianese restaurant.

"Not too many people came to buy our stocks, but the profit was good," Sun Ji said with a smile.

"Most people don't understand this stock thing, a minority are just taking a chance; they can't lose much," Luo Chu described.

Zhu Wencong, seeing the dishes on the table, knew that they really made money today; his heart finally settled down.

With interest as motivation, there was no need for Zhu Wencong to take action himself; those below would work diligently.

Zhu Wencong opened the thick envelope, which contained a thousand British Pounds, an amount an ordinary person could hardly earn in their lifetime.

Everyone took a deep breath, thinking the boss is the boss, you know he has real Kung Fu as soon as he makes a move.

"Is this invested by the boss?" Hu Zhongshun's eyes were fixed on the envelope.

"And a suit! Leather shoes!" Zhu Wencong stood up, showing off his whole outfit.

"Boss... where did you get your suit from?" Zhao Da knew the suit was bespoke, and there wasn't enough time for it to have been made.

Zhu Wencong sat on the long bench, took a sip of tea first; as the boss, he needed to have a proper outfit.

"The boss gave it to me! Each of you take 10 British Pounds, order yourselves a suit, and get a haircut while you're at it."

From now on, pay attention to your attire, grooming, and conduct; as they say, clothes make the man, just as gold makes the Buddha.

"How can others believe your stock is 'gold stock' when you're wearing these rags?

When introducing stocks, you must be confident, and even more confident. If you aren't, how can you make others believe?" Zhu Wencong gave everyone a lesson.

"Boss... can you explain the stock thing to us?

To be honest, we really don't get it; we only know to buy low, sell high, to make a spread..." Luo Chu asked for advice.

Zhu Wencong fell into thought; to be honest, he didn't quite understand stocks and finance either.

He only knew that the markets of the 19th and 20th centuries grew wild without any rules or order.

Factories and businesses issued stocks when they were out of money, and how much was issued, and the price, in fact, included a huge amount of puffery.

Take for example, the birth of America's automobile industry, which directly exploded the rubber market, quickly turning Shanghai into a financing haven for Southeast Asian rubber companies.

The fall of Great Qing was linked to rubber; at that time, the financial crisis and the collapse of the rubber market led to the direct closure of Great Qing's eight major money houses.

The story starts from 1908, when an Englishman established a company in Shanghai that sold rubber stocks to the public.

They published the famous article "The Rubber World of the Future" (similar to 'The Internet Changes the Future' 'AI Replaces Manpower'), introducing the future rubber 'gold market' to the masses.

At that time, the financial center was not Wall Street but The City of London, where the hot market indirectly drove up the stock price of the company from an issue price of 3 taels to a peak of 17 taels.

For a time, everyone in Shanghai was talking about rubber; whether they were officials, businessmen, or common folk, they would all buy rubber stocks.

The poor used their life savings, the middle class mortgaged their assets, and the wealthy leveraged their funds. By 1910, close to 60 million taels of silver were injected into the rubber market, about 70% of which came from the East.

In June, America began to restrict rubber consumption, which directly pricked the rubber bubble; the price of rubber on the London market collapsed, and foreign banks that received the news beforehand quickly fled the scene.

At that time, the largest private mint in Great Qing, Ningbo's 'Yuanfengrun', and its affiliated money shops De Yuan and Yuan Ji went directly into a deficit of 5 million taels.

You may not recognize Yuanfengrun, but everyone should know about Hu Xueyan, his successor Yan Yibin was known as the political and business little prince, and a prominent merchant with a red hat.

In August, the Great Qing reacted, Governor Cai Naihuang urgently came to the rescue, and Yan Yibin mortgaged all his family assets, injecting 3.5 million taels to barely support the market.

In September, to deal with the 1.9 million taels of silver compensation, as part of the Boxer Indemnity, Shanghai was supposed to pay, Cai Naihuang applied to the Bank of Great Qing for funding and a delay in compensation under the pretext of saving the market.

The Regent Prince Zaifeng flew into a rage on the spot and directly issued a decree, angrily reprimanding Cai Naihuang, saying if the stock market collapses, it collapses; what does it have to do with Great Qing!

What nonsensical finance, what nonsensical rescues, things that cannot even be comprehended, as long as no one rises in revolt, all these are trivial issues!

In Zaifeng's eyes, a mere provincial governor disobeying the Imperial Court's commands amounted to rebellion! Failing to pay meant dismissal from office! The bankruptcy of Hu Xueyan was a classic example!

Consequently, the market collapsed, half of the money shops closed down, Eastern investors lost over 40 million taels, including 6 million from the Cantonese official silver reserves, 4 million from the Hankou Customs, and 3.5 million from the Shanghai Customs.

By the end of the year, a nondescript small company called the Hanchuan Railway blew up. The financial manager, Shi Dianzhang, embezzled public funds from the Shanghai branch to speculate in stocks, and with the money shops collapsing, the stocks were completely lost, resulting in a total deficit of 2.5 million taels of silver for Hanchuan Railway.

Afterward, Great Qing wanted to take back control of the national railways but refused to take on the debts of Hanchuan Railway, and the conflict exploded instantly.

Becuase the shares of Hanchuan Railway were forcefully distributed to the people of Sichuan as "rented shares"—it was the hard-earned money of the people.

So taking it back as state-owned without assuming the debts became the last straw that broke the camel's back, a touch off and the "Railway Protection Movement" unfurled its flag.

...

"To understand finance, you must learn deceit; without deceit, there is no finance.

This principle can be applied to stocks. A stock is only valuable if someone buys it; if no one buys it, then it's just scrap paper.

Our stocks cannot make it to the big stage; we can only set up a stall at the market entrance to sell them, hardly different from the regular stocks."

How should I put it? You could issue a thousand, ten thousand shares, but you couldn't unload them all in the market—it's all just scrap paper in the end.

Counterfeit money can be spent; counterfeit stocks will only attract fools as buyers, and the financial market is all about shearing sheep," Zhu Wencong found everyone staring at each other, wide-eyed.

"Am I making myself clear? The stock market is like a reservoir, storing the excess money in the market.

If there were no reservoirs, the excessive money would flood like water, causing prices to skyrocket, and food, clothing, housing, and transportation would become a luxury."

To maintain price stability, we need to build more reservoirs, such as the real estate and stock markets.

When the government is short of money, it can take money out of these markets and inject more when there is a surplus," Zhu Wencong explained while sipping his tea.

People looked at each other as if they understood and yet did not quite understand.

"Let's use another analogy! Everybody else fishes with a rod; we go directly to the fish pond to scoop up the fish."

The savings of the people are all in the stock market; how much you can take all depends on your skill—it's all legal and legitimate.

You only need to remember, when someone makes money, someone loses money; we aim to be the ones making money, without sparing a thought for those who lose it.

If you want to get rich and change your destiny, the stocks in your hands can make your dreams come true," Zhu Wencong emphasized again.