Wu Bingjian also means this? Yi Zhixiang was a little surprised, and unconsciously slowed down, to be honest, he reached an agreement with Yilu in private, and Yuan Qi and the Wu family took out four or five million silver dollars to quietly compensate the British merchants, which can be said to be the only way to resolve the Qing Ying Crow. Pieces of crisis, the way to avoid the outbreak of war.

He is eager for crows. The outbreak of the war, so he was unwilling to compensate the British merchants in private, but Wu Bingjian was ******** to avoid the outbreak of war, why was he unwilling? The Wu family's net worth of tens of millions of yuan is two or three million yuan, not to mention a dime, at least it will not hurt the muscles and bones.

Besides, by making this suggestion, it is obvious that he is testing the reaction of Yilu, as the commercial director of Anglia in China and the highest-ranking official of Anglia in China, Yilu's attitude is very important, it can be said that it is very important! Why did Wu Bingjian test the attitude of righteousness?

If the righteous law agrees to make amends privately, and they repent, it will be tantamount to playing with and provoking the righteous law, and it will provoke the outbreak of war! Did Wu Bingjian change his attitude? Or did he not dare to take risks? But if you're afraid of taking risks, there's no need to play with fire!

There is only one possibility, Wu Bingjian's attitude has changed! Like him, he wants war to break out! What prompted Wu Bingjian's sudden change in attitude?

After a while, he asked, "The old man didn't say why he did this?" ”

"What a brother should want to get." Wu Changqing smiled and said: "The old man is completely disappointed in the fifth uncle (Wu Shaorong) this time, for fear that he will follow in the footsteps of the fourth uncle, if a war breaks out and the thirteen lines are disbanded, the fifth uncle will no longer need to serve as the chief merchant of this business." There was a pause. He continued, "One more thing. Now there are rumors in the outside world. It is said that the Lord of the Chincha exchanged tea for the crow. For this reason, Lord Lin once sternly warned the fifth uncle that if he dared to compensate the British businessman privately or afterwards, he would take his life. ”

For this explanation, Yi Zhifen was a little skeptical, but he didn't ask more, tea for crows. Piece of this thing. Wu Shaorong did handle it improperly, putting the Wu family in a thankless situation, and it is normal for Wu Bingjian to change his attitude because of this, but it took so long to change his attitude, but it does not seem to be Wu Bingjian's style of acting.

Take the sedan chair back to Yuanqi Zonghao, the sedan chair landed, Yi Zhizu got off the sedan chair, and the welcoming guy hurried up to report: "The big shopkeeper, Shunde silk merchant - He Shutai and Wang Chaoyi asked to meet." Now waiting in the living room. ”

"Invite them to Rongyuan." Yi Zhizhi said and walked quickly to Rong Yuan.

Seeing him come back, Jin Ying diligently brought water and waited for him to wash his hands and face. Yi Zhizu instructed: "Don't wait, go make a pot of tea." ”

"Yes, young master." Jin Ying responded with a smile, and then said softly: "Senior Sister Bai is back, saying that she wants to see you, Young Master." ”

"Nope." Yi Zhisuff simply refused, he knew very well that Bai Zhi, a cheap senior sister, saw that there was nothing good about him, it was nothing more than two things, asking for silver and urging a sugar machine, so he didn't have that much spare work.

Jin Ying glanced at him and said, "Senior Sister Bai is here to ask the machine, even if the young master doesn't see it, there must be something to explain, right?" ”

Wiping his face, Yi Zhizhi said: "Tell her that now the machine factory is busy producing silk reeling machines, and there is no manpower to produce sugar machines, and the steam engine is not available now, and now is not the season for sugar extraction, what is she urging so urgently?" I'll talk about it in half a year. ”

"Half a year?" Jin Ying glared at him, her little face tensed, and said, "I don't dare to say this, you go and say it yourself, or let Senior Sister Bai Ming'er come to Rongyuan by herself." ”

Yi Zhifen really didn't dare to let Bai Zhi come to the door, but he knew that Bai Zhi had been active in Shunde for most of the year, according to the information of Lin Da'an and Ren An, Bai Zhi was quite active among the silk reeling women, and had attracted the attention of the silk merchants. ”

"This-how do I know, young master, if you see her, you will know."

"You go and ask in the evening." Yi Zhishu dropped a sentence, then turned around and walked out of the room, "Coward, are you afraid that Senior Sister Bai will eat you?" Jin Ying muttered softly behind his back.

In the living room, He Shutai and Wang Chaoyi came in contentment, got up and said, "Big shopkeeper." ”

"You're welcome, sit down." Yi Zhishu said and sat down on the main seat, and after the two of them sat down, he asked: "It's time for the spring cocoon to be listed, how can you have time to come to Guangzhou?" ”

He Shutai said with a smile: "It is precisely because the spring cocoon is about to go on the market, I rushed to see the big shopkeeper, and now Donghuang has basically monopolized the cocoon market and silk market in Shunde. ”

Wang Chaoyi said simply: "The Yuanqi Protector Merchant Group is equipped with muskets, and Donghuang also wants to set up a Protector Merchant Regiment with muskets, just in case." ”

Hearing this, Yi Zhixiang was not in a hurry to express his position, the Yuanqi Guardian Business Group wanted to expand its scale, it was too conspicuous in Guangzhou, he had already wanted to set up a factory protection team in the Shunde Silk Reeling Factory, arranged for people to train, and had not acted, he was waiting, waiting for the conflict between the Guangdong Navy Division and England, and waiting for the Guangzhou military and political officials to take the initiative to ask the surrounding prefectures and counties to form a group training, and then push the boat along the river to take advantage of the trend, so as not to arouse the suspicion of Guangzhou officials.

Although the Opium War broke out in 1840, the attack on Guangzhou by the British army was not the same year, it seems to be in the following year, more than a year of training, although it was hasty, but it was better than safety, if it was done too quickly, it was likely to backfire, out of precaution, Guangzhou officials were likely to restrict the local gentry from forming regimental training.

Now Shunde silk merchants take the initiative to ask for the formation of a business group, this is a good opportunity, Shunde's silk cocoon city is large-scale, the flow of silver is large, this is a fact, there is this requirement is also logical.

After a slight hesitation, he asked, "The taxes and fees of the machine silk reeling factory have been set?" ”

He Shutai nodded and said: "The preliminary decision has been made, according to the meaning of the big shopkeeper, the tax fee for the government is one percent, and the result of the discussion with the county government is that the tax of a silk reeling machine is ten yuan a year, which is eight yuan on the surface, and two yuan is the fee." ”

A silk reeling machine has a net profit of 100 yuan a year, which is calculated according to six times the efficiency, in fact, after the silk reeling woman is skilled, it can reach eight times the efficiency. This is easy to know and contentment very well. But. A silk reeling machine, a tax of eight yuan a year, Shunde County alone a machine silk reeling factory tax as high as 200,000 yuan, Shunde County, Guangzhou Prefecture, Guangdong Province of a number of officials of all sizes should laugh from ear to ear.

With this generous tax fee, if he wanted to come to Donghuang to build a business group, no one would have an opinion, so he nodded, and then said: "The matter of building a business group." Is Shunde County Ya Dotted Okay? ”

"No need to deal with it." Wang Chao smiled and said: "As soon as the taxes and fees are discussed, those officials are full of promises. ”

Yi Zhizhi smiled and said, "So, you came here to ask for a musket?" Okay, as much as you want, give you the number. ”

"The big shopkeeper." He Shutai hurriedly smiled and said: "How dare a small county magistrate in Shunde take it upon himself to approve the merchant group, let alone be equipped with muskets, this matter has to be applied to the Lord of Futai, Lord Futai, and Lord Taiwan, and I hope that the big shopkeeper will lobby one or two." ”

"Nowadays, the ban on smoking is the top priority, and the energy of Guangzhou's civil and military officials is on the ban on smoking. It is not appropriate to mention this. Yi Zhizhi said: "Unless there is a case, it is better to take advantage of the situation." ”

Listen to this. Wang Chao comprehended, and hurriedly nodded: "Don't worry, the big shopkeeper, this matter is simple." ”

"The spring cocoon is about to go on the market, don't delay this matter, don't make too much trouble, don't let the Shunde County Ya not be able to get off the stage." Yi Zhisuff admonished, and then said: "Don't wait, each silk reeling factory will first set up a factory protection team, one hundred people in one factory, select no more than twenty years old young and strong, I will draw a group of backbones from the merchant group to help train, once the government approves it, the merchant group can be selected from the factory protection team." ”

"It's still the big treasurer's thoughtfulness." He Shutai casually flattered, and then asked: "What is the standard for the treatment of the factory protection team?" If it is lower than the silk reeling woman, I am afraid that no one will want to come. ”

"One standard with Yuanqi staff." Yi Zhizhi said: "Allow Ding Donghuang's body stock to be two oceans per month." ”

As soon as he heard that he could take his own shares, Wang Chaoyi hurriedly said: "Big shopkeeper, I'm afraid this is inappropriate, and those silk merchants may not agree." ”

Yi Zhixiang smiled and said, "If the silk merchant has an opinion, then Ding Yuanqi's body." ”

Isn't that the factory protection team in Shunde under the name of Yuanqi? The two glanced at each other, and He Shutai hesitated and said, "Ding Yuanqi's body, I'm afraid it's not right." ”

Yi Zhizhi said disapprovingly: "Yuan Qi is the largest shareholder of Donghuang, what is wrong with the name?" ”

This is also the truth, at least Ding Yuanqi's body is stronger than Ding Donghuang's body, and there is no loss to the silk merchant, and after a slight groan, He Shutai nodded and said: "Then follow the will of the big shopkeeper." ”

Thirteen Merchants Pavilion District, British Pavilion.

Sending away Wu Shaorong, Pan Zhengwei, and Lu Jiguang, who had found nothing, Yilu returned to his spacious director's office on the second floor, and was alone in the room in a daze. The exchange conditions of five quintals of tea, but when Wu Changqing, who listened to it, clearly said that it was impossible, he still couldn't help the anger in his heart, an annoyance of being deceived and teased.

However, the Wu family and Yuanqi Bank are willing to compensate privately, so that he can get some comfort, at least, he still has a choice! But it is precisely because he has a choice that he has some gains and losses.

Accepting the private compensation of the Wu family and Yuan Qi means that Ying Li will be forced to give up the crow from now on. Piece trade, once the Thirteen Lines and Yuan Qi joined forces with the Qing court, they worked together to ban smoking, and then wanted to smuggle crows on a large scale. It is almost impossible to monopolize foreign trade for more than a hundred years, and he does not dare to despise the ability of the thirteen lines to monopolize foreign trade for more than a hundred years.

If he doesn't accept private compensation, he is playing with fire and taking risks! He was the ruler of Great Britain. In the name of the government, the crows in the hands of the various tobacco merchants were confiscated. and issued receipts, issued a bill for the cashier in the London Treasury, and gave a period of twelve months to repay the opium paid by the National Treasury, and did not accept private compensation. The government will have to compensate for this loss!

And the British government. The government has publicly announced that it will not protect opium smuggling, although he knows very well in his heart that this is only a superficial gesture, but now that there is a serious economic crisis in the country, the government. If the government makes public compensation, it will inevitably cause a great turmoil.

To say that at that time to the government. In the name of the province to collect the crows. film, he just has an extra heart, worried that the exchange that Wu Shaorong said will not be honored, after all, there is no written basis, and Wu Shaorong is not an official official of the Qing State. In the name of the government, he wanted to make the Qing Qincha have some scruples, and of course, he also took a big risk in this move.

Is it to accept private compensation? Still not acceptable? Perhaps this is an extremely rare opportunity if the British government. The government did not want to be responsible for compensating the price of cigarettes from the tobacco dealers, so it had the strength to claim compensation from the Qing court, and the situation of staying out of the opium trade as in the past could no longer be maintained.

Thinking that there are many careerists in China who have been brewing an armed invasion of the Qing State, Yilu clenched his fists vigorously, this is an extremely rare excuse and opportunity! However, for him, the risk is not ordinary.

Early the next morning, Yi Zhixiang stayed in Rongyuan for half an hour, and when he saw that there was nothing to do, he wanted to go to the newly built factory on Luoxi Island to have a look, Wu Changqing hurriedly walked in, and retreated from the small house, he said: "Yilu replied, refuse to compensate privately!" ”

Yilu's attitude was already expected by Yi Zhicontentment, he was not surprised at all, smiled, and said, "Didn't I say that Yilu was against crows before. Piece of trade, look at his attitude. ”

This was said by Wu Changqing, and he immediately said: "People will change, isn't the brother of contentment also a Shibei who should be impressed for three days?" As he spoke, he smiled, "The old man invites you to go to tea, let's go." ”

Wujia Garden, Yanhui Building.

After Wu Bingjian stretched out his hand to invite tea, he took a few sips of the teacup before he spoke: "Yilu is just the commercial director in China, and he has the ability to provoke a war between England and the Qing Dynasty?" ”

"Yoshiro does not have the right to decide to start a war, but it can provoke trouble and widen the contradictions between the two countries." Yi Zhizhi said and put down the teacup, and continued: "Besides, there are many careerists in England who peep into the Qing Dynasty, and the call for opening the Qing market by force is not low. ”

After being silent for a long time, Wu Bingjian said: "Contentment estimates, how long will it take for war to break out?" ”

"It's hard to say." Yi Zhixiang smiled and said: "This year should be a period of conflict, depending on the size of the conflict, the conflict is fast and fierce, it will break out next year, Yilu refuses to compensate privately, it should be a big risk, the younger generation thinks that he will deliberately provoke all kinds of conflicts, and Lord Lin does not seem to be weak." ”

"In other words, contentment expects war to break out next year?"

"More than seventy percent sure."

Wu Bingjian is now convinced of Yi Zhi's ability to predict, this kid is more than seventy percent sure, which is equivalent to affirmation, he habitually gently taps the handrail with his fingers, and only after a while does he speak: "The defense of Humen has been greatly strengthened now, can England still win the battle?" (To be continued.) )