Coal can make a night of riches can also make people tear

Coal boss, a group with a brand of distinct times. Since the end of the 20th century, the coal price has risen rapidly with the economic boom, and on the land of Shanxi with abundant coal reserves, countless wealth myths have been born.

But coal can make a rich night, and it can also make people tear and deform. For the coal bosses, Shanxi at that time was full of opportunities to rewrite the destiny, but it also made them feel risky and involuntarily. The interest space has expanded rapidly with the rise in coal prices, but it has not produced a clear order. In an environment of lack of rules, people are used to solving problems with money and violence. Behind the huge profits, there are hidden crises that are not known to ordinary people. Peer trampling, officials martyrdom, gang blackmail... In the jungle of sinister killing, coal bosses are unable to control their own destiny while winning wealth.

Coal bosses were born because of the tide of the times, but also because of the tide of the times. After 2008, Shanxi's booming coal restructuring and reorganization, coal bosses with huge amounts of money from the historical stage scattered, each into the second half of life. Coal has given them considerable wealth in the times, and they have also experienced a fate gap after the tide has receded. This black ore is like a tool used by the heavens to test the quality of the people. How to manage the wealth that governs the hands and re-find the direction and value of life has become a problem that cannot be avoided in the latter half of life. The difference in heart and mind, the different understanding and response to the torrent of the times, led a similar life to a different direction.

One afternoon in early July, 47-year-old Zhu Xinning sat in a VIP private room in a golf course outside the West Fourth Ring Road in Beijing. He smoked a few cigarettes and could not help but sigh. He looked at the golf ball that flew from time to time outside the window: "Have you seen it? I was driven out of Shanxi by the same way as the ball that was shot."

Eight years ago, his life trajectory almost ended on the 44th floor of the International Trade Hotel Taiyuan, Shanxi. At noon that day, he talked to people about business, feeling a little tired, and specially booked a room to rest. He pulled the curtains, turned off the phone, and wanted to be temporarily isolated from the outside world, even for just a few hours. But he couldn't sleep, and troubled things were repeated in his mind. The light was too dark, the air conditioner was too cold, and lying on the bed for a while, he gave birth to extreme thoughts, got up and opened the window, wanting to jump down.

Whether in Taiyuan or in his hometown of more than two hundred kilometers, he is a successful person in the eyes of the people, the darling of the times. In this province with coal as its lifeline, he has a coal mine with reserves of hundreds of millions of tons, which is a non-renewable resource and a constant source of wealth.

But coal can make a rich night, and it can also make people tear and deform. In the past ten years, he often felt that his fate was kidnapped by coal. When he was in his twenties, his father took him to a coal mine wellhead five kilometers away from the village, just to make a living and make it affordable for the villagers. But later, the peers reported that the officials were killed, the gangs were blackmailed, and after a long time, they finally saved up to what he could not bear. The contractor who has been employed for many years suddenly turned his face and claimed to have obtained evidence of his illegal tax evasion for many years, extorting him 50 million yuan in cash, or he was sent to prison. He can afford the money, but he can't swallow it.

A few months ago, Shanxi coal prices experienced an unprecedented surge. At the end of the previous year, he had promised that the coal price could exceed 600 yuan, and a lot of loan sharks. After the Spring Festival in the second year, between two and three months, the coal price will rise to 1,600 yuan. The money earned in these months is more than the sum of the past ten years, but he feels puzzled and feared. Suddenly, the things that are not matched with the pay are met, the appearance is lucky, the back is likely to be a trap, even a disaster. .

Zhu Xinning

He imagined the scene after the death of the building, and could not bear the family's acceptance of people's arguments, and finally gave up. He closed the window and stepped back.

After calming down for a while, he calmly called the driver to pick him up, as if nothing had happened. He manages nearly 2,000 employees, and sometimes he can see that his subordinates may not be able to live well in the near future. But for himself, the mall is the battlefield, and it is necessary to control and even disguise emotions.

Afterwards, he repeatedly recalled the scene standing in front of the window. He feels that people come to the world to go, to be needed, and to be respected. He felt that neither of them had done it at the time, and he was so reluctant to die.

When talking about this past eight years ago, he was calm and his life and coal had nothing to do with it. A few months after the suicide, a state-owned enterprise took away his coal mine at a price of nearly one billion yuan and left him a 45% stake.

In the past three or four years, he has been accustomed to staying in this private room. In fact, he only played occasionally at the end of the game. More is to use it as a stronghold to contact with the outside world. When the coal boss was busy with it, now he has a hard time getting used to staying at home even if he has nothing to do. He is thin and accustomed to wearing sportswear, and it is difficult to see the past impressions from everyday speech. He knows that the coal boss is an identity that makes many people frown, and rarely talks about his past. Those experiences are somewhat enviable, coal prices can double in a month, and some are fearful, mine disasters, jail, and kidnapping.

One night at the end of July, a coal trader named Huang Zhihua, about Zhu Xinning, had dinner together. Huang Zhihua founded an Internet group buying website called Auntie Group in Beijing a few years ago. He lost in the "Hundred Regiments" and returned to the old bank of coal. Although he has returned to Shanxi for four or five years of coal trade, he still habitually lives in Beijing for a few days a month. He is afraid that staying in Shanxi will not keep up with the times. "Linyi’s life is too monotonous. I can feel all kinds of living methods in Beijing."

The two chatted about their experiences after leaving the coal industry. Zhu Xinning’s journey from Shanxi to Beijing was in a hurry, and even some escaped. In the spring of 2010, a family of four with a few trolley cases, lived in the Shangri-La Hotel, Beijing, and then rented a house, bought a house, renovated in Beijing, after a full two years, it was officially settled.

After the suicidal thoughts in 2009, the shock of fate continues. Zhu Xinning’s fear of the soaring coal price was fulfilled in the future. In those days, it became the end of the night for the coal bosses.

In September 2008, a tailings pond in Shanxi destroyed the dam, and 277 people died. The news shook the country, and the coal merger and integration, which was based on the containment of mine disasters, was immediately launched. Or become a state-owned enterprise shareholder, or sell the coal mine cash, no matter how to choose, private coal mine owners can not escape the control of the coal mine. The term coal boss has since become a past tense.

For coal bosses who suddenly have nothing to do, how to control the money and time at hand has become the number one issue in the latter half of life. The influence of heart-to-heart difference on fate is revealed. Once a similar life trend, it began to divide. Zhu Xinning also reluctantly became a part of it.

Huang Zhihua

The sudden huge amount of wealth made him regret. He calculated the reserves of coal mines, at least for 40 years, and the profits are likely to be more than one billion. However, he also felt a little bit grateful, because the state-owned enterprise's intervention solved the crisis of his extortion, "it is a backing." In order to avoid being involved in similar troubles again, he withdrew from the daily management of the coal mine and moved to Beijing with his family.

If only the value of wealth is used to assess life satisfaction, Zhu Xinning should be satisfied when he first arrived in Beijing. On the contrary, he fell into the most confused period of life. He has jurisdiction over nearly 2,000 people, has full-time drivers and assistants, and does not need to bring anything when he goes out. Everything is taken care of. But when it comes to Beijing, except for a lot of money, everything has to start from scratch.

In the first three months of coming to Beijing, the death of his father's stomach cancer aggravated his depression. He had hallucinations more than once and saw his father's phantom appear in the sky. The way to fight the loss of emptiness is to sit at home and play computer games, playing day and night. There are also many friends who have been in coal before and after coming to Beijing. They often call him a drinking party, but he rarely goes, others are doing well, their hearts are stimulated, they are not good, and their emotions are contagious. He played the spider card that comes with the windows system. There is no technical content. He can win more than 100 games at a time, but he still plays it day after day. It is pure time. Every time he eats, his wife puts a bowl of noodles on the computer desk. He doesn't talk, and he continues to play after eating.

Lost discomfort is the common reaction of many coal bosses during that period . Someone is immersed in the joy of releasing desires to divert attention. Four years ago, I interviewed a coal boss named Li Changwei, who had just returned from hunting in South Africa. He had four elephants, six giraffes, five zebras, and spent more than four million. That year he went to Africa three times. "Everyone else is playing an antelope. I don't want to fight. I have to fight big. I have been too depressed in the first half of my life. If I am too addicted, then I can understand it. Can you understand that feeling?"

Some people choose to participate in training and learning to get rid of the label of the upstart and gain more respect. Feng Xueguang, the coal boss of Datong, used to speak in the old saying: "Learning to learn from time to time, not to mention", "Tian Xingjian, gentleman to self-improvement." After the coal reform, he successively enrolled in the philosophy class of Renmin University of China. The Chinese language class at Peking University, the habit of speaking was developed at that time. “People have a culture, and the way they express their ideas is definitely different. They have come into my blood.”

Some people have begun to try new careers. Just as Zhu Xinning was caught in a psychological panic, Wudaokou, five or six kilometers away, and several coal bosses from Linyi, Shanxi, have been gearing up to prepare for the new battlefield. The leader is Huang Zhihua. In the coal boss circle in Linyi, he seems to be different from other people. Many people think that the coal boss is equivalent to a nouveau riche who is born in the rural area, but Huang Zhihua was born in a civil servant family in Linyi City. The iron rice bowl that passed the railway bureau has done environmental protection business in Shanghai and Beijing. He likes to read books, appreciates the thoughts of Ann Rand, and feels that it is a truly worthwhile life.

Compared with other coal bosses, Huang Zhihua bid farewell to coal two or three years earlier, went to the south to start a water treatment business, and missed the end of the 2008 soaring coal price. But in the eyes of his peers, he also knows how the world outside of coal works. They gathered the wealth at hand and set up an investment company, which was led by Huang Zhihua.

Huang Zhihua was 34 years old and belonged to a relatively young group of coal bosses. He is eager to open a more "higher" business than coal in Beijing. "The subtext of the three words of the coal boss is the nouveau riche. What is the nouveau riche? The level of intellectual knowledge is not enough to control so many assets, relying on some special methods. To put it bluntly, it is all about making money."

Shareholders have had differences about how the company is named. Some people proposed to have the word "Jin Merchants". Huang Zhihua felt that these two words framed the pattern and eventually named "Allied Power." The label of the coal boss has been attached to the body for so many years, he wants to tear it off.

3

The term "coal boss" appears frequently, after 2002. Prior to this, coal was a hard-working business in Shanxi, and it was often the ones who had no way to find them. The investment is large, the profit is low, and the account is still not collected. Most of them are trapped in the quagmire of debt. Today, Zhu Xinning, who is worth hundreds of millions of people, is one of them. In the late 1990s, he sold two thousand dollars to his wife in the first three months of the Spring Festival, so as not to buy the new year clothes and not wear new clothes.

In Zhu Xinning’s memory, the first half of life was boring and full of pain. When he was four years old, he was unable to receive food stamps because of the crowds in the village. His parents took him and two sisters and a younger sister to move to another village 30 kilometers away to seek a carpenter's job to support his family. When the family of six people is home, all the trolleys are pulled. The father carried him, turned over one mountain after another, walked all the way, crying all the way.

The time has gone backwards for thirty or forty years, and Zhu’s life is another scene. Zhu Xinning’s grandfather was a shopkeeper in Pingyao, and all of Shanxi’s counties were worthy of wealthy people. When his father was six years old, his grandfather passed away, his grandmother had to remarriage, and his family was getting weaker. And the family component was judged to be the landlord. In the words of Zhu Xinning, the endless misfortune began.

At the beginning of the land reform, the Zhu family's compound was taken away by the public, leaving only a small partial house, and three spacious houses were distributed to two families with more than a dozen people. Dozens of people crowded into a large courtyard, there are always disputes of big and small, because the class composition is low, the most vulnerable is always Zhu family.

A thought rose up strongly in Zhu Xinning's heart: leave here and go to the outside world. Reading was the only feasible path at the time, and he had no choice. In the middle school entrance examination, he was admitted to the county one, and all candidates ranked seventh.

This ranking became the culmination of his studies. Family, knowledge, living habits, hobbies... All kinds of factors constitute an invisible wall, dividing him and the children of the county into two different people. He wants to integrate into the city to get rid of the brand of the countryside, and try to spend time making friends, but learning is gradually falling behind in the process. In the second half of the second year of high school, he has clearly realized that it is an unreachable dream to enter the university to start a new life with his grades.

When he was a sophomore, he talked to a girl in the same class about his love. The girlfriend's father divorced a few years ago and did clothing sales in Shijiazhuang. After graduating from high school, he and his girlfriend went to Shijiazhuang to help manage the business. A few months later, my father told him to contract a coal mine wellhead and hoped he would come back to help. The two returned to Shanxi together and got married.

Zhu Xinning

Private access to coal mining began in the late 1980s. At that time, in order to solve the problem of energy shortage, the central government encouraged Shanxi to expand its coal industry. At the same time, there were almost tens of thousands of mines in villages. However, the state-owned coal mine was very difficult to live, and had to contract to the individual. The earliest "coal boss" was born.

After nearly two decades, Zhu Xinning’s life and ups and downs were tied to coal. When coal prices skyrocketed in the future, there was always someone who lamented his unpredictable prophet and stood in the forefront of the times ahead of time. But at the time, it was only forced to make a living. His father is holding a salary of 500 yuan a month, but he has to feed two men, six women and eight children. My father’s mentality at the time was: As long as it can be more than five hundred yuan, if it is lost, there would be no money anyway. The 60,000 yuan of the contracted wellhead is all borrowed from the East.

At that time, the coal price was more than 30 yuan per ton, and it could earn three or five yuan per ton. In the first year of contracting, there was a 10,000-ton coal in the mine, but the amount of money that can be recovered by the end of the year was only four or five thousand yuan. Even the small-selling department to buy toiletries should be credited. When the workers did not receive the wages, they sent several people to follow him, and the name was accompanied. The essence was monitoring. For three or four consecutive years, Zhu Xinning has been in the surrounding counties and cities throughout the year, often returning home on the New Year's Eve.

But when the footsteps of time entered the 21st century, the coal mine owners suddenly realized that the fate had changed. In January 2002, the state canceled the coal-guided price, and the coal price entered the market and rose. There are fewer and fewer fierce debt collectors, and instead they are people who buy large quantities of cash with large bundles of cash. They were full of faces, and the trucks that pulled the coal on the mine lined up.

Under the temptation of huge profits, more and more people have thrown away their former careers. Among them, Huang Zhihua is included. He resigned from the public office of the railway system carefully arranged by his parents and opened a coal washing plant. "Now the old saying is the vent, what is the vent? For the Shanxi people at that time, coal is the biggest vent."

Huang Zhihua lamented that it was too easy for the money to come. At that time, tax evasion became a wind, pulling coal did not open tax tickets, and buying coal inspection stations would be released. Huang Zhihua once pulled the coal up the mountain and caught up with the provincial assault inspection. The trucks of various roads were arranged dozens of kilometers outside the coal inspection station. His dozens of cars waited for one day and one night to be released. Unexpectedly, he was blessed by misfortune. Overnight, coal prices rose by 20%.

It was also in those few years that the original Rustic City of Linyi became very colorful. The booming of coal has boosted the prosperity of the business and stimulated the desire of Huang Zhihua to enjoy the pleasure of consumption. Holding the sudden wealth, the 26-year-old did not have the patience to stay in the coal washing plant, but stayed up late in the nightclub's feast. "In addition to drug crimes, you can think of the bad things that men can do. At that time, they are all dry."

The life of drunken dreams lasted for two or three years and was unsustainable. In 2006, the coal-washing business was paralyzed by long-term neglect of management, and the wife was reluctant to endure his embarrassing state, and the money earned was already squandered. He felt that he had no face to continue living in Linyi, divorced, shut down the coal washing plant, and went to the south.

That year, he was exactly thirty years old. Although water treatment is far less easy to make money than coal, he feels fortunate that he feels the true face of life in time. "To put it bluntly, the way to make money from coal is too basic. How long can you earn this kind of money, what should you do in the future?"

At that time, he hoped that life would be as far away as possible from coal. Two years later, the most insane wave of coal prices came, but it has nothing to do with him. He felt that this was unfortunate but also lucky. "When a person's experience and heart is not enough to control so much wealth, too much money is likely to mean a disaster."

Later, he repeatedly heard the story of the coal boss gambling bankruptcy or drug abuse. The first reaction was not to be surprised, but to be afraid and glad. "If it wasn't early in the year, I would probably break the family and it would be very likely to go to jail."

In the past three or four years, Huang Zhihua experienced the ups and downs of coal, and Zhu Xinning was still trapped in the quagmire that could not be used. After the five-year contract of the wellhead expired, he patched up six million yuan to contract another coal mine in the county. Although the reserves were considerable, the speed of recovering funds could not keep up with the investment because of the need to develop from zero.

Compared with coal, it is people who worry more about him. While being in a huge debt, the people around him thought he had already become a rich man. Recalling that year, the 47-year-old frowned, showing a helpless look: "Do you know what it feels like? There is a piece of meat on the barren beach, which wolf wants to bite you."

Zhu Xinning has done a total of 18 years of coal business. He feels both easy and complicated. It is easy to make money when excavating coal; complexly, in order to successfully dig coal, it is necessary to deal with the intricate interests. "The human nature is so complicated that it can't be touched. This is especially true in Shanxi."

Now talking about the past, Zhu Xinning habitually used a saying: "Shanxi at that time." It was a society that he was sick of but must be in. The space of interest expanded rapidly with the rise in coal prices, but it did not Clear rules, the space of order is filled with hidden rules.

After the completion of the wellhead contract, he contracted another coal mine at a price of 300,000 yuan per year. He did not expect that the person in charge of the mine would change his way to obstruct him. He built roads, planted trees, and opened canals around the mine. The coal was dug out and could not be transported. He often pulled coal from the mine to support the construction of the school. money.

Zhu Xinning was upset and dismissed the contract ahead of schedule more than a year later. Who is responsible for the person in charge, why is it difficult to him, is still a mystery in his heart. In the future, this mystery became commonplace. Coal gathers countless people to give people benefits, and they are involved in a network that is unclear because of the contradictions of interests. In it, it is difficult to control which strength you will be pulled.

In a world of lack of order, people are used to solving problems with money and violence. Industry and commerce, taxation, public security, environmental protection, security inspection, electric power... Coal bosses are passively coping with all kinds of eating and taking cards, while actively pondering how to find the right person and spend the money. It’s not uncommon to have hundreds of thousands of cash to go up the mountain to pull coal, but the coal bosses are used to preparing a few daggers or even guns for self-defense in the trunk of a luxury car. In order to grab the site, coal mine owners often hire "protection teams" for large-scale fighting, using large knives, shotguns, and even explosives.

Someone knocked on Zhu Xinning's house late at night and put 500,000 yuan in cash on the table: I heard that your boy is good, we believe in you, think that you need money, we don't have much money for 500,000, for you. "Do you dare to accept this money? You have to collect it. From then on, you are his cash machine, and you will be entangled in your life."

In the face of the violent environment, he often feels powerless. "I can't do it in my heart, like a steel-making furnace with an eight thousand degrees Celsius burning in my heart." When the situation was complicated, he used to make 16 calls in a minute to settle the problem. After he finished playing, he sat and couldn't speak for hours.

But he also couldn't pull out and felt that life was kidnapped by coal. The newly contracted ore reserves of 60 million tons seem to be attractive, but the national policy is increasingly strict, and the production capacity is constantly improving. He has to borrow more money to increase investment, and profits are nowhere in sight.

The feelings that wealth brought him began to deteriorate. At first, I just wanted to earn more money and live a stable life. Later, I was overwhelmed by fear. The hidden dangers in the complicated relationship, if you are not careful, may be a disaster. Dealing with government departments, the rules on paper are often imaginary, whether things can be done, all rely on private dredge. How to send a gift is a door to learn, send more, and later the Lion may open a big mouth, send less, and offend the offender.

One year in the Spring Festival, he sent a 2,000-yuan shopping card to the person in the tax bureau. The other person took a look at Yu Guang, revealing a disdainful look. Zhu Xinning is both disgusted and afraid. Later, when he inquired, others sent 10,000.

Along with the rise in coal prices, the number of flowers spent on the relationship is getting higher and higher. On the holidays, the coal bosses are inevitably moving around with the officials of the parties. The luxury cars drive past, and the other party repeatedly praises the “borrowing experience”, and no one will come back without any interest.

One year, he went to visit the leader of the new coal mine in the county. The other side praised him for being young and managing such a large mine. He smiled and sighed, the situation was too complicated, not a human being. The other party said that it would be sold. He didn't put it in his heart, but the other party later repeatedly mentioned it, and always asked the coal mine to stop working for various reasons, and he realized that he was in trouble. Later, when he found the city leader through his network, he solved the crisis. "I was so angry that I cried, hating my teeth. I really wanted to kill him."

He carefully responded to the relationship between the parties and developed a habit of being a last resort. Every time he touched a person, he always habitually doubted whether the other person wanted to count something. Because he was worried that people had a lot of misunderstandings, he seldom eats and talks about things in the county, but goes to the provincial capital Taiyuan. "The internal and external troubles, some people are like the wolves who never feed enough."

But there is always a disaster that cannot be avoided. One year, he pulled a batch of explosives for mining. The train came to the mine and soon the police said that he had received the report and took him and his two men to the Public Security Bureau. The famous policeman was his middle school classmate. He watched him in the iron gate and handed him a box of instant noodles. He joked with his classmates, what did your kid do, and didn't want me to leave? The classmates sighed: I can do this for you, and you can find a solution for yourself.

Zhu Xinning tried to clear the relationship and held it for a week before regaining his freedom. The smuggling of explosives was commonplace at the time, and he couldn’t figure out why he found himself on his head. "The feeling in my heart is really wrong. A lot of things can be settled by others, how can I not be flat?"

He also often feels the tear of family. There are always relatives who will arrange for their children to come to work in his coal mine. He can't erase his face and has to promise. Someone took him to steal the kickback, and someone took the bus on the mine for himself. He sometimes gets angry about these things, but the other person thinks he is mean.

In the past ten years, there have been accidents in the coal mines and they have been killed. One year, a gas explosion occurred in a coal mine. Three people died and the rescue team of 50 or 60 people was busy for four days and four nights. In one year, the miners suffocated in a 300-meter-deep mine. Zhu Xinning felt panicked at first, and couldn’t sleep at night. The first fatal accident was when a worker died of electric shock. He drove the body to the hospital morgue. At the door of the morgue, he got out of the car and wanted to pull the door open and smash the body in. But when he touched the doorknob, he was suddenly scared and turned and ran.

Later, at the funeral parlour, he saw a woman who had just turned 18 years old and handled the body with no expression. He couldn't help but ask, are you not afraid of doing this job at such a young age? The girl said that people are dead and there is nothing to fear.

Later, Zhu Xinning was not afraid, and began to become numb. I slept for a dozen hours a day, but I always felt confused and unable to lift my spirits. I kept wondering if I was going to endure these things for what it was worth.

In 2006, a state-owned company wanted to acquire his coal mine as a whole. Zhu Xinning and his family had a dispute. "They think that there is such a big company, they have light on their faces, they don't agree to sell. But I can't stand it myself. The whole pressure is carried on me alone. Who knows who suffers?"

Careful calculation of coal reserves and liabilities at the time, Zhu Xinning opened a price of 280 million. After several rounds of negotiations, the other party is only willing to pay 260 million. When the stalemate is dead, Zhu Xinning is anxious: in the future, even if you add another 200 million, you can't buy my mine.

At that time, he just came emotionally and spoke casually. Unexpectedly, two or three years later, it turned out to be true.

With the rise in coal prices, black coal kiln blossoms everywhere, and mine accidents occur frequently. Shanxi Province has continuously issued measures to shut down illegal coal mines and raise the threshold for mining. The result of the reduction in production is that supply is in short supply and coal prices are rising further. In such a cycle of round and round, in 2008, Zhu Xinning felt that it was difficult to describe the crazy incitement at that time. “The price of coal was calculated on an hourly basis, and the previous hour and the next hour were different.”

In order to grab a piece of the feast of this wealth, the coal bosses are busy organizing various wine bureaus to clear the relationship. At that time, a group of banquets was spent, and the wine alone would cost 890,000. Zhu Xinning hated this set from a young age, and felt that it was all insincere scenes to say that the cup was changed. But while he was ridiculous, he had to work hard to make a move. Everyone in the industry is like this. If you don't do it, you will get it. "The social atmosphere at that time was like this. What do you do? What do you do with the tide? I hate to die."

During that time, the number on the bank account jumped up at a rate of several million per day, and the income in half a year exceeded the sum of the previous ten years. He paid off all his debts in one go, but he began to suffer from insomnia. The sudden change of fate made him feel scared. He felt like a boat in the sea, fluttering, and was swept up high by the waves. When the tide will recede, he will take himself where he is, and he has no idea in his heart.

The shock of fate is more intense than he imagined. In the following year, extortion, suicide, transfer, and escape, followed. "At that time, you really understood what it meant to be involuntarily ."

Coal bosses were born because of the tide of the times, but also because of the tide of the times. After the vigorous reorganization of coal, the coal boss as a group concept has ceased to exist. But as an individual's life continues, coal bosses hold huge amounts of wealth and begin to walk into the second half of life.

Compared with Zhu Xinning, Huang Zhihua bid farewell to the coal business earlier, and began to try to transform earlier. When Zhu Xinning came to Beijing with helplessness, Huang Zhihua had lived here for two or three years. After leaving the coal, he first did a water treatment business in Shanghai, and then developed the business to Beijing. He chose his residence in Wudaokou Huaqing Jiayuan, opposite to Tsinghua Science Park, and wanted to learn more about modern business knowledge and keep up with the times. Looking back, coal in his eyes turned into a simple business that relied too much on human feelings, talking about business logic, rough to almost no existence.

Living in the vicinity of Tsinghua for a long time, he feels that the rules here are simple and transparent, orderly, and all over the place are young people full of passion and ideas. As long as they have talents, everyone has the opportunity to have their own place. In contrast, doing coal in Shanxi is living in a bloody and complex jungle society.

He wants to keep up with the trend of the times and do some "more advanced business." He was in Tsinghua to listen to business-related courses and lectures, and found that the trend of the times has changed. People rarely discuss traditional industries, and they are passionate about Internet projects. At the time, Huaqing Jiayuan, where he lived, had the title of “Private Silicon Valley”. Companies such as Meituan, Fasthand, and Storm Video were born in dozens of square meters of houses, and the bedroom was closed and the living room was office. In this environment for a long time, Huang Zhihua is also eager to try.

Another big change he felt at the time was that the former colleagues began to flood into Beijing after bidding farewell to coal. They bought the property in succession, and sometimes they called Huang Zhihua to help the staff.

Once, a Chen surnamed coal boss told him to go to the Downingone neighborhood of Wudaokou. Chen is not interested in small units, only looking at the big house of 380 square meters, 4 rooms, 3 halls and 3 bathrooms. Huang Zhihua thinks that he has only had an eye addiction. After all, he has bought several suites in Xicheng Haidian. But he did not expect that Chen did not say anything and paid for it.

This is just the beginning. Chen Ma bought more than a dozen houses without stopping. In order to take care of the property of himself and other coal boss friends, he even opened a housing agency.

Huang Zhihua was half surprised and half understood. He felt that this was a kind of retaliatory release after the inner depression was too long. "To put it bluntly, the coal bosses used to have money, but in fact they have no dignity. They are all earning money, and they have come back for a lifetime. Now that they are free, they want to stand and spend their money. "

When I first arrived in Beijing, the coal bosses were always looking for Huang Zhihua to drink and chat in addition to buying a house. For a long time, Huang Zhihua was aware of their anxiety and discomfort with the new environment. In the huge city of Beijing, they still lacked self-confidence and even inferiority. They were not willing to do nothing, but lacked the determination to start a new business: big business. I don't understand, I don't have the courage to try it; small business looks down, I feel that the money is too slow .

Therefore, I had to buy a house one by one.

Huang Zhihua understands the feeling of panic-- when people's mental development can't keep up with the speed of wealth growth, money is a problem for people, and even causes disaster. That kind of taste, he experienced.

He does not want to see his fate repeat itself in his friends. He gave birth to an idea to gather the money of the coal boss to do something. When he was drinking at a restaurant next to the Wudaokou cinema, he spoke and everyone said that he had this idea.

Coal bosses have only one requirement for investment direction and can make money quickly. Huang Zhihua originally planned to open several grilled fish shops, but he always felt a little boring and lacked excitement. But just before the start, he heard that Wang Xing had to start a business as a group buying website again in the Wudaokou bar, and he immediately became interested.

In 2005, Wang Xing founded the intranet in Huaqing Jiayuan, quickly became popular, and quickly sold out. Since then, he has become a star of attention in the Wudaokou entrepreneurial circle. Huang Zhihua inquired about the business model of group purchase, and firmly believes that this project can stimulate the enthusiasm of shareholders - every time you make a single order, you will receive a single amount of money, which is simple and direct, much like selling coal.

Before he became interested in group buying, Huang Zhihua saw a lot of Internet entrepreneurship projects. Then the investor's name hung in Zhongguancun 000,931, attending stocks entrepreneurial Hair Salon on business cards, write a few posts on the Tsinghua University Beijing University BBS, business plan will avalanche fly mailbox. But he vetoed it all, because in the short term, he couldn’t make any money, and he couldn’t say that the coal bosses had injected capital.

But he feels that group buying is different, and that even Wang Xing may not be his opponent:

First, group purchase involves physical trade, which is similar to coal business;

Second, the capital advantage, Wang Xing how much money is sold in the school network, the arguments are different, but Huang Zhihua feels that any version is not an order of magnitude with the coal boss can invest.

However, the coal bosses could not understand his explanation, and the Internet was too far away from their past lives. Huang Zhihua talked for three days in a row. They still questioned and asked the county leaders in the national training class in Beijing to help them get ideas.

This is the typical mentality of the coal boss to do things:

As long as the leader nods, things can be done, even if things don't matter to the leader.

In a hotel room in the People's University of China, the leader sat on the bed, Huang Zhihua sat at the end of the bed with a laptop, and the four coal bosses stood by. Huang Zhihua talked for more than an hour. The leader said that this can be done, get it, and lose it when you play.

The four coal bosses are from the same family, and the oldest named Tang Hu. When the leader spoke, Tang Hu took the lead and others followed suit, and things were fixed.

In the process of finalizing the funds, Wang Xing’s beauty group has been launched, and other similar projects have also been launched. The original idea of ​​Huang Zhihua was to select good projects for pure investment. He lives in Building 5 of Huaqing Jiayuan and talks with a team in Building 6 about investing in shares. The other party's asking price is 3 million and 15%. Huang Zhihua calculated his mind and decided to set up a team.

Huang Zhihua

Start with the wind. Huang Zhihua’s judgment at the time was that the Auntie Group did not lack the ability to expand offline, nor was it short of money. The only shortcoming was technology. But in the Wudaokou area of ​​Zhongguancun, as long as you can afford a high salary, recruiting programmers is never a problem. Compared with the coal industry, where the rules are closely related and everything depends on it, all of this makes Huang Zhihua feel simple, transparent and efficient.

黄治华亲自上阵，给线下拓展人员做培训。环五道口区域是各家团购网站相互较量的最前线，阿丫团一度占据上风，经常将对手已经谈成的订单抢过来。黄治华觉得这是做过煤炭带来的优势。“干这件事我们太信心爆棚了。 线下谈生意签订单这种事情，搞过煤炭的人吃得特别透。公关能力、沟通能力、谈判能力，谁也没我们强。”

很快，阿丫团将办公地点从华清嘉园搬到了北三环华龙大厦，整个团队沉浸在乐观的情绪里。聚美优品当时也在这座写字楼里， 只有两三间办公室。而阿丫团占了整整一层楼，因为唐虎把这层楼买了下来。

上线半年后，有家传媒公司想以三千万的价格将阿丫团整体收购。黄治华问唐虎的意见。唐虎的反应是：我们难道缺这点钱吗？

新玩家纷至沓来，媒体上开始频繁出现“百团大战”的字眼。黄治华起初很是兴奋，感受到与煤炭风口来临时类似的快感。但后来，他意识到自己当时不懂互联网竞争的逻辑： 煤炭的竞争只是赚多赚少的区别，而互联网却是非生即死。玩家越多，竞争越惨烈。

没过多久，价格战来了。黄治华以为这是抢占市场份额的短期行为，不会太持久。但对手们的攻势比他想象的要凶狠得多。有一次他谈定了一笔单价78元的合同，准备原价上线，不赚钱，只走量。但临上线时商家突然撤单，过了几天，他看到别家以56元上线。 “当时觉得简直神经病。卖一单倒贴20多块钱，这不是自杀吗？”

黄治华没有选择的余地，只能跟进。超过一万元的支出都由他签字批准，签一笔，赔一笔。每天对着成摞的申请单，他感到握笔的手指有点发软。唐虎给他打气，没关系，兄弟们有钱，玩得起。

但黄治华还是抑制不住地心慌。无论是速度还是规模，战争升级的程度完全超乎了他的预想，对手的口袋里像是有着花不完的钱。过了一阵子他才了解到，他为手握煤老板的资本而高兴的时候，对手已经开始吸揽风险投资的支持。

他开始为有人出三千万收购没有及时出手感到后悔，和煤炭生意比起来，这种竞争实在太血腥。“简直是吃屎般的感觉”，“你有多少钱可烧？煤老板再有钱，能比华尔街更有钱吗？”

资本施展出冰冷残酷的力量，火热厮杀中，战局已渐渐明朗。有一次接受采访时，记者问他，团购的冬天是不是已经到了。他想了想，回答说：现在是秋天，还没到冬天。“其实那会儿真的已经感觉到冷了。竞争已经到那种程度了，全国几千上万家，得烧多少钱进来？想都不敢想，害怕啊！”

2011年7月，他去参加一场互联网论坛。看着团购分会场里密密麻麻的三四百号人，有点透不过气。不一会儿，王兴走上台，高声宣布美团新拿了5000万美元投资，还打开笔记本电脑现场展示公司银行账户，现金储备超过6000万美元。

黄治华蒙了。在从会场回公司的路上，他心里不停默念：这游戏玩不起，不玩了。

他随即着手为关停阿丫团做铺垫，停止招聘、裁员、解散地方分站。有一天唐虎过来“视察战况”，却发现办公室变得空空荡荡，人数不足原来的三分之一。

唐虎急了，一脚踢飞了脚边的垃圾桶。“人呢？我的人呢！”

黄治华说：不敢再烧了，烧不起。

唐虎说：有什么不敢的？我再给你备一个亿，够不够？

黄治华苦笑着，不说话了。

事到如今，黄治华觉得当初成立投资公司是正确的，但如果能重来一次，他会拿那笔钱老老实实去做餐饮生意，开几家烤鱼店，绝不会再打互联网的主意。

“有些生意，真不是你有钱想做，就能做得了的。说白了，没那个基因。”

来到北京的第一年，朱新宁过着与外界隔绝的生活。他为前些年精力全部耗在煤炭上感到懊恼，甚至发觉自己欠缺基本的生活技能，“原先下面一堆人什么都给你服务好了，几乎什么也不会干。”

他起初适应不了这种落差，雇了一个司机，后来觉得会跟社会愈发脱节，开始逼迫自己学着开车、加油、上网、购物。他主动在亚运村附近的一家心理咨询中心接受咨询，四十岁初来乍到一个巨大而陌生的城市，只有这种方式能让他释放内心苦闷。

当时煤老板们接二连三地来到北京，朱新宁虽不愿意跟人接触，但通过以往搭建的人脉关系，还是打听到不少人的状况。大部分人的选择，都是买房，不停买房。他理解这种选择： 煤炭利润太高，赚钱太快，过惯了这种日子，看不懂也看不上别的生意。

朱新宁无所事事，也不想看着钱躺在账户上贬值，便也四处买房。北京、深圳、三亚、香港，别墅、会所、写字楼，一处接一处地买。时间久了，他觉得索然无味：“做实业赚一百万也算有意义，多少能创造些价值。买房就算赚几个亿又怎么样？不过是个数字。赚这个钱一点不值得高兴。”

那时他要解决的困境，说到底，是要找到后半生的活法。做了几次心理咨询，服用了抗抑郁的药物，情绪渐渐有了好转。他开始逼迫自己频繁参加社交活动，想先看看别人怎么活。最初接触的还是山西人的交际圈，混了一段时间，他发现很多人把自己局限在同乡圈子里，整天喝酒打牌消磨时间，久了感到空虚无聊，找不到存在感，不少人又回了山西。

但即使在山西，想要顺利转型新的事业，也并非易事。在距离山西大同市区70公里的乌龙峡风景区，我见到了50岁的冯学光。山西煤炭改制后，他将挣来的钱全部投在了这里，累计将近两亿。他强调自己不同于其他煤老板，要做一个有文化的企业家。“煤老板除了挖煤和请客吃饭，还会干什么？人得做点高档的生意。”

冯学光

回到大同后，他尝试把在国学班上学到的“高层次思想”传播给周围的人，但收效甚微。“很失望，别人都理解不了，以为我神经病。”

煤改后第二年，冯学光偶然发现了乌龙峡。在旁人眼中，这里不过是乱石丛生的荒谷，但他却兴奋不已。建设景区的过程并不顺利，仅清理山谷中堆积的巨石就花了两千多万。为了阻止他，妻子先后两次把他送进精神病院，但他依然照旧。

他强调乌龙峡不只是普通的旅游景区，而是他“展示学识思想的福地”。为此他在景区门口立起几十块印满名言警句的展板，还花费近百万元建起两座模仿上海世博会中国樽样式的雕塑，上面刻着“为有牺牲多壮志，敢叫日月换新天”的诗句，中间夹着一个大字，“干”。

他和妻子已断绝关系七年，有人骂他是疯子，他也并不在乎。“ 价值观不一样的人，多说无益。你得靠思想潜移默化地去影响他们 。”

而在北京的朱新宁，则渴望理解适应新的环境。他开始参加企业家俱乐部、上MBA 班、学打高尔夫球，“融入一些比较精英的圈子”。他起初把姿态摆得很低，很少主动说话，觉得和别人见识能力不在一个层面上。渐渐地，他觉得开始能跟上别人的思路，有能力接上话，才慢慢活跃起来。

他很少主动跟人提起曾经做过煤老板，每逢有人问他做什么行业，他总说，做文化的。但接触次数多了，总会让人知道。别人通常的反应是：真没想到，那你一定很有钱。他的回应是，有钱算什么？北京有钱人太多了，关键要有思想。为了提升思想水平，他买了不少名人名言的书，一条一条地琢磨。“我就喜欢看这些有哲理的能触动人心灵的东西，特别有帮助。”

和各个行业的人接触多了，他开始尝试投资一些生意。起初没有明确的目标，大江南北各行各业地看，差旅费就花了几百万。在北京的富人圈子里混久了，他觉得鱼龙混杂，并不全是他预想的“高层次”：有人真心实意地经营企业创造价值，有人炒概念混圈子虚有其表，有人属于高端精致的江湖骗子。“有人说北京集合了全世界最密集的骗子，这话是有道理的。 后来我就总结出一个规律，越是办公室富丽堂皇，开好车，戴好表的，这种人越不可信。 ”

考察过的项目里面，有些他一看就觉得荒谬，例如一个连锁餐饮项目，骑着独轮车表演削刀削面。有些他觉得前景诱人，但又担心受骗，想努力摸清门道，但总觉得只能了解个皮毛。他觉得归根结底是因为煤炭行业的门道太简单传统，过去十几年的经验都局限在里面，对新事物心里没底。

他尝试过与人合作在天津开发房地产项目，去俄罗斯开采金矿，但都不顺利，或是因为理念不合，或是觉得对方不可靠。后来他决定不再与人合伙投资。“好几次差点掉进他们设给我的陷阱。说真的， 这个社会不能轻易去相信别人，一些东西要掌握在自己手里面。”

摸索了四五年，各种开拓新事业的尝试都没能赚到钱。反倒是刚来北京时买下的房产一直在不停增值，“也不太多，现在市值大概四五个亿。”两相对比，他有些无奈：“这种钱赚起来，脸上实在没有骄傲的资本。你做一个实际的生意，就算只赚一千万，也是个有意思的事。买房就算赚几个亿，又有什么意思？”

7

距离阿丫团关闭下线，已经过去了六年。但黄治华仍然保持着一个习惯，只要有空闲时间，他就会拿起手机浏览互联网新闻。对于时下最火热的共享单车大战的种种细节，他如数家珍。今年年初，一篇创业者妻子哭诉丈夫辛苦创业七年却没有拿到股份的文章广为传播，黄治华边看边哭。“虽然后来剧情又有反转，但她描述的创业的那种艰辛，我一下子就感同身受了。太苦了，真的太苦了”，他指向自己的鬓角，“你看到了吗？我的头发就是那年开始白的。”

阿丫团运营了14个月，人去楼空，共计消耗了两千五百万。黄治华为此消沉了将近一年。 他感叹互联网生意看上去很美，真正投身其中，方才理解其血腥残酷。 “煤炭赔了，起码还能留下些固定资产。互联网玩输了，除了一堆服务器，啥都没剩下。”

无奈之中，生活还得继续。那一年他一本接一本地读哲学书，读尼采，读安·兰德，读王阳明，“想弄明白以后的人生该怎么活”。思考宏大命题的同时，他也必须应对日常生计。他提不起精神再启动需要很多心力的营生，正好朋友找他做几笔煤炭运销的买卖，他觉得轻车熟路，便上手做了。

起初，他每月只需花一周在临汾处理生意，其余时间都在北京。后来订单越来越多，到了近一两年，每月在北京只有两三天。一步步地，他从北京又退回了山西，重新成了煤炭商人。

时隔十年后重返煤炭行业，黄治华已人至中年，心境与当年截然不同。那时他为此主动放弃公职，此时却是迫不得已。回到临汾的第一年，他几乎每天晚上都在酒局上麻醉自己。

做过互联网之后，他觉得煤炭生意“实在太简单了，小儿科一样的东西”。阿丫团曾在北京北四环占据了一整层写字楼，全国近十家分公司，员工近千人。而现在，一个助理，一名会计，便足以帮他处理所有的业务。

命运的落差让他焦虑不安。刚回临汾时，他总感到气恼：“回来看哪都不顺眼。在北京那么遭罪，最后不一定能挣多少钱，回来跟以前做煤炭的人一打交道，觉得就你这个水平的人一年都能挣几千万？心里生气。”

煤炭行业的光景，与当年已然大不一样。开采环节已被国有企业占据，民营公司只能涉足加工贸易等产业链下游环节。而在2008年的暴涨过后，市场盛极而衰，陷入产能过剩，煤价连年在低谷徘徊。临汾下辖的一个县最多时有一百多家洗煤厂，后来关的关，停的停，保持经营的只有十几家。

在黄治华眼中，这注定是一门终将消亡的生意 ，对他而言的意义仅限于谋生。“煤不可再生，总有挖完的时候。以前红火时这楼底下全是路虎、宝马、奔驰，连路边修车的都能赚大钱。”他伸手指向窗外，“你再看看现在什么样子？一片萧条。”

2016年，因为国家颁布政策化解过剩产能，要求煤炭减产，供需关系的改变使得煤价迎来一波久违的上涨。黄治华因此收益颇丰，但他并无早年间的兴奋。煤老板的时代，终究已经过去了，置身于产业链的下游，无论如何，也难以再现往日的疯狂。

煤价的起落，反倒让他有些不安。他觉得这终究是一门难以掌控的生意，太依赖于外界变化，今天可能一夜暴富，明天可能一无所有。煤对人的心性施以诱惑的同时，也抛出了无法回避的考验。并非所有人都有能力掌控二者间的平衡。

在他的视野范围内，有能力掌握平衡的人，寥寥无几。有人去澳门豪赌背上巨额债务，还被人挑断脚筋，有人花几千万投资珍稀木材，后来才发现其实一文不值。有人沉迷女色，换了三个老婆。有人在家中遭遇入室抢劫，颈部被铁链勒住窒息而死。阿丫团曾经的金主唐虎后来不习惯在北京的生活，回临汾办起了私立中学，算是其中少有的能把控命运的人。“说到底，除了当初那些在北京买了大批房产的人，有能力把手头的钱保值增值的，真的不多。”

我在襄汾县见到一位黄治华做煤炭运输的朋友。煤改之后行情低迷，他有几年无事可做，建了一座水泥厂，赔了两千多万。我问他失败的原因，他无奈地笑笑：“煤以外的生意，我们搞不懂。如果我知道为什么会赔钱的话，我不就不会赔了吗？”

在北京待习惯了，黄治华在临汾总是感到孤独。虽然成天跟人吃饭喝酒，但能在精神上碰撞沟通的没有几个。少数能和他意气相投的人里，有一位名叫郑强，比他小10岁，父亲在太原做工程生意，郑强16岁时便去了英国留学。

2008年大学毕业回国时，郑强本有机会和他的同学们一样，在北京上海的跨国企业赚取高薪。但现在的他在离临汾市区60公里的山上经营着一家洗煤厂，皮肤晒得黝黑，过着与世隔绝的生活。

郑强在英国读的是信息工程专业，2008年回国时他本想发挥所学，去深圳开一家生产车载导航仪的工厂。他不想向父亲讨要启动资金，想赚一两年“快钱”再去深圳，便跟朋友借了几百万元建起了洗煤厂。但他没料到，刚一入行便赶上煤炭市场萧条，直到2016年底才刚刚回本。

我与郑强聊着近几年的经历，黄治华在一旁插话说：“他和我状况有点像，都不甘心蹲着赚钱，总想着有朝一日还是得站起来。”

“对”，郑强不好意思地笑了笑，“本来以为蹲一两年就行，没想到一直蹲到了现在。”

回国六七年，功能丰富的智能车载导航成了出厂标配，郑强昔日的梦想已经跟不上科技升级的脚步。对于当年的目标，他已不再抱有期待。“煤炭这行业，挖出来洗洗就卖了，每天都在重复，人没什么长进。不像你们在北上广这种大地方，只要自己肯努力，人可以不停地学习新东西。”

“那你将来赚够了钱，还想去深圳吗？”“不去，肯定不去。”他不停摇头。

“为什么？你说过，那边的机会多。”“外面的世界是很精彩，但已经不属于我了。我现在没那么多野心，多挣点钱，生活好点就行。”

黄治华能够理解郑强的想法——背了六七年债务，趁着这波行情先赶紧赚钱是当务之急。而对他自己而言，赚钱无法消解人至中年的焦虑。“我现在很困惑自己应该怎么活，你能理解吗？”他说，“我希望你能把我的困惑写到文章里去。大家都应该思考一下，究竟该怎么活？”

今年夏天，儿子中考结束，黄治华决定把他接回临汾读高中，这意味着他把生活重心彻底迁回了山西。但他仍会习惯性地每隔一阵到五道口住上几天，他仍然觉得那里是全中国最迷人的地方，汇集了最有活力和想法的年轻人，从不缺乏激动人心的新事物新思想。但过了这么多年，他终究觉得在那儿可以生活，却不适合生存。“人是有基因的，煤老板有煤老板的基因，互联网有互联网的基因。想蜕变成另外一种基因，太难太难了。”

人至中年，曾经反复念想的“做更高级的生意”的心愿，已经很难实现。一天晚上，他在KTV 一瓶接一瓶地喝着啤酒，点了一首《追梦赤子心》，嘶吼着唱了一半，突然停了下来，沉默地坐了一会儿。

过了一会儿，他拿着酒瓶半醉着对我说道：“你说我现在这么活着有意思吗？蹲着赚钱肯定不如站着舒服，但你不这样怎么办？你不蹲着，那就得跪着了。”

而如今的朱新宁，在“走了几年弯路之后”，终于感到渐渐适应了在北京的生活。几次不成功的合作投资经历让他意识到，如果无法自己主导事情的走向，便只是在重演经营煤炭时身不由己的感觉。

别人找他商谈合作，很多时候他只是听听，并不多说话，有时会直接拒绝。他不想让别人觉得他只是为了赚钱。“很多人只要开口聊几句，就能听出来他只冲着钱，我现在一点兴趣都没有。人到了这个年纪，没必要再为了钱，和价值观不一样的人搅在一起。”

他渴望实现一直期待的两个心愿，被需要，被尊重 。为此他开始调整管理财富的方式，不再与人合伙投资，开始寻找一些自己觉得有价值并且能独立投资的项目。最近一年多，他开始与一家高校的校办企业合作，共同组建一家生物医学公司，他出资金，对方出技术科研团队。尽管不懂得具体技术，但他觉得找到了渴望已久的意气相投的感觉，感受到久

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