"It's Zhu Chenglie again." Wu Bingjian muttered softly before he said, "Read." ”

The old steward opened the newspaper and read aloud: "Foreign smoke is a thing, and it is especially harmful...... The greatest harm is the loss of silver, the southeast seaport, the transportation of silver to the sea, and the import of tobacco .......

Haikou, Guangdong, more than 30 million silver per year, Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangsu Haikou, no less than 10 million silver, Tianjin Haikou, more than 20 million silver, a foreign ocean, not circulating with China, how to wonder the day of silver is short, the day of money ......is cheap. ”

Without waiting for the end of the reading, Wu Bingjian put on reading glasses, stretched out his hand to ask for the newspaper, and looked down carefully, in recent years, the government and the opposition have banned foreign cigarettes, and there are not many calls for strict inspection of foreign cigarettes, but this is the first time that the silver has been lost in such a detailed display.

Yi Zhicontent and Wu Changqing did not go to the main gate of the Wu family, but took a boat along the waterway directly into the back garden of the Wu family.

Seeing Yi Zhicontent, Wu Bingjian put down the newspaper, glanced at him, took off his reading glasses, and said very kindly: "Contentment doesn't need to be polite...." As he spoke, he stretched out his hand to give up his seat, and then said, "Changqing went to boil water and make tea." ”

Yi Zhizhi, who was waiting, sat down at the bottom, and he handed over the Di Bao and said, "This is the Di Bao that was only delivered today." ”

Wu Changqing responded, walked to the side to prepare, in fact, the next person had already prepared everything for a long time, the charcoal fire in the small red clay charcoal stove was booming, and the mountain spring water taken from Baiyun Mountain had also been prepared, put the water on the shelf, clean the tea set a little, and he began to pay attention to the conversation between the two.

Yi Zhizhi carefully read the article in the Di newspaper "The Silver Price is Expensive and the Fraud is Deep, Please Investigate and Handle the Fold", it is really not good if you don't read it carefully, one is traditional Chinese characters, and the other is classical Chinese, after reading it carefully, he couldn't help but feel strange, there was a reaction so early? But the ban on smoking in the imperial court is clearly next year's thing, and after a little thought, he put down the newspaper and said: "Is it too alarmist to flow out 60 million taels of silver at the age of one year?" ”

Wu Bingjian said dryly: "The court officials don't understand the economy, and they are always exaggerating, how can they believe the data they list?" With an outflow of 60 million taels a year, they dare to say that the price of silver has not risen to the sky with such a flow method?

They only calculated, not counted, and calculated the retail price, not the wholesale price of the shore, this price is at least several times different, it is a fact that there has been a large outflow of silver in recent years, but it is not so exaggerated, it is estimated that there are five or six million taels of outflow a year. ”

"Five or six million taels." Yi Zhishu smiled bitterly and said: "Even if there is such an outflow, in a few years, there will be a silver shortage in the Qing Dynasty, how can the imperial court not be in a hurry?" As he spoke, he flicked his fingers and flicked the newspaper, and said: "Lord Zhu's excerpt is just to explore the direction of the wind, and the younger generation secretly thinks that it will be at least half a year or a year before the imperial court will reach a consensus and ban smoking on a large scale." ”

"Guangzhou Smoke. Smuggling is not a secret, but it can be said that the government and the opposition know it. Wu Bingjian's voice was dry and a little harsh, "In the past, smoking was banned in the imperial court, and the Qincha who came to Guangzhou was full of thunder and rain, and they accepted bribes, and went back to pay the errand after going through the motions, do you know why?"

It's not that those officials are bold, it's not that they don't want to ban smoking, it's that they throw rat bogey! Because Guangdong Customs and the Thirteen Lines are the South Treasury of the Son of Heaven, and they are the personal money bags of the Son of Heaven! Those officials knew very well that a serious ban on smoking in Guangzhou would not end well. ”

After a pause, Wu Bingjian said in a somewhat soothing tone: "You have also read the excerpt, why do the Haikous of Fujian, Zhejiang, and Jiangsu add up to only 10 million in silver?" And Guangzhou and Tianjin have 30 million in silver and 20 million in silver? Because Guangzhou is the Son of Heaven, Tianjin is a ...... of Manchurian and Mongolian relatives. ”

It turned out that the root was still in the Qing Emperor and the Manchu and Mongolian relatives, no wonder the smuggling of cigarettes was becoming more and more rampant, Yi Zhizhi was speechless for a while, and after a while, he said: "Crow. Smuggling has begun to shake the foundation of the Qing Dynasty, today is not a dumb king, which is more important, the natural distinction is clear, the court is not without the courage to admonish the ministers, the younger generation still insists that the court strictly ban smoking, it is imperative, and the first one is to take Guangzhou to open the knife. ”

Seeing that the tone of the two was a little stiff, and the water happened to be boiling, Wu Changqing hurriedly made tea and brought it up, and poured a small cup of tea for each of them.

Seeing that Yi Zhishu insisted that the imperial court would strictly ban smoking, Wu Bingjian didn't want to talk more about this topic, so after a few sips of tea, he changed the topic and said: "It is indeed a good idea for newspapers to be distributed in several southeastern provinces, but have you ever considered whether the imperial court will allow such newspapers to exist?" ”

Hearing this, Yi Zhixiang put down the teacup and said: "The newspaper was born to create public opinion and guide public opinion, and the newspaper that has an impact on the southeast half of the wall is really the blessing of the imperial court. ”

After a pause, he sneered and said: "Of course, it is not excluded that the imperial court is short-sighted, and it is better to defend the people than Sichuan, so the younger generation plans to deliberately arrange two American businessmen to join the shares." ”

Wu Bingjian said slowly: "The powerful people in the DPRK and China all regard themselves as the superior kingdom of the Celestial Empire, lonely and unheard, and Yelang is arrogant, how can they ever put foreigners in their eyes? How can they let the newspapers that affect the southeastern provinces go unchecked because of the participation of foreigners? ”

Now it is still the upper kingdom of the Celestial Empire, and it will be a semi-colony in two years, Yi Zhizhi smiled and said: "The imperial court is not kind to foreigners now, do you know if it will treat foreigners like guests in the future?"

"Treat foreigners like guests?" Wu Bingjian glanced at him with some surprise, tilted his face and was silent, and he said abruptly: "You mean that there will be a war between the Qing Dynasty and England?" ”

It's almost seventy, and there is such an agile and leaping thinking, Yi Zhishu has to be greatly admired, no wonder this old man can accumulate a huge fortune in just a few decades, he is not in a hurry to affirm, picked up the teacup, took a shallow sip of tea, and said: "The Thirteen Lines have dealt with the British East India Company for decades, Pinghu Gong has been in charge of Jardine Bank for nearly fifty years, and has served as the general merchant of the Thirteen Lines for decades, and has been trading with the company for most of his life.

The younger generation would like to ask why, the British East India Company, which is known as "too big to fail", a global giant company that has monopolized Britain's trade with Asia for more than 200 years, has hundreds of thousands of troops, has astronomical wealth, and millions of equal kilometers of land, collapsed and went bankrupt. ”

Wu Changqing looked at Wu Bingjian, and then at Yi Zhicontent, he was very depressed, he found that he couldn't keep up with the rhythm of the two people's thinking at all, wasn't he pulling the newspaper? How did Grandpa get involved in the war between the Qing Dynasty and England? And Yi Zhi's contentment is even more outrageous, will there be a war, not to mention, it is actually involved in the East India Company, it has been bankrupt and closed down for several years, what is there to ponder?