"That's right, it's an insult to us that they've sent a merchant hostile to the British Empire!" An Englishman said angrily.

"That's right! He was not welcome at the British Merchant House. ”

"Damn the guys, they only do business with the down-and-out Yankees."

Several British businessmen echoed and expressed their dissatisfaction and hatred for Yi Zhifen, for the simple reason that although there were business dealings between Yuanqi Bank and the Guangzhou correspondent bank, Yi Zhifen, as the chief treasurer of Yuanqi, hardly interacted with British merchants, let alone traded with the British.

If it was an ordinary businessman, it would not have made the British businessmen so indignant, but they were easily satisfied with the hot fight with the Americans in the past year, ordered millions of silver dollars of machinery and equipment and goods from the American businessmen, built factories in full swing, and also intensively built the Foshan-Guangzhou Railway, hired American technicians, and greatly relaxed the constraints on the Americans.

All this made the British businessmen who were firmly in the top position of foreign trade in the Qing Dynasty feel aggrieved, angry, envious and jealous, and it was strange that they could have a good impression of Yi Zhicontent!

Li Wang came to the door of the British Merchant House again and stammered in broken English: "Yuan Qi's treasurer's subordinates, ask to see the translator Ma Ruhan." ”

The name sticker in front was taken upside down to pass it on behalf of the doorman, and the doorman saw the sedan chair coming and going, and his heart was a little weak, seeing Li Wang coming again, after hearing what he meant, he didn't dare to slack off and quickly trotted to call Ma Ruhan.

After a while, Ma Ruhan came to the door with brisk steps, and when he saw Li Wang, he said very politely: "I am Ma Ruhan, how can I help you?" ”

Li Wang had met Ma Ruhan twice, and was very impressed by this foreigner who could speak fluent Chinese, and immediately said: "I am the little guy in front of the big treasurer of Yuan Qiyi, and you are very rude." After explaining the situation, he sent a name sticker that was easy to be content. Said: "My young master has gone to the American Merchant House now, and he will leave in a quarter of an hour." ”

Hearing this, Ma Ruhan hurriedly asked the doorman, and after learning that the situation was true, he dropped a sentence, "Pray for God's blessing." "Just leave quickly.

Hearing Ma Ruhan's report, Yilu was angry and anxious. In Guangzhou, the people he most longed to see were Governor Deng Tingzhen and Governor Yiliang, followed by Yuanqi Treasurer Yi Zhicontent, and a few days ago he sincerely invited Yi Zhishu to come to the British Merchant House as a guest, but when people came, he was so rude, he quickly got up and put on his coat and said, "Go to the American Merchant House." ”

As soon as I got out of the office, I was met by a few businessmen waiting for him. At a glance at the name sticker in his hand, Yilu instantly understood, and he suppressed the anger in his heart and said, "You did something stupid!" ”

"Nope." He said unceremoniously: "It's the Qing Guoyan who deceives people too much." ”

"Mr. Yi is a guest I specially invited." Yilu said calmly: "You are so rude, not only have you lost my face, but also the face of the British Empire. ”

"Guests hostile to the British Empire are not welcome at the British Merchant Pavilion."

"Hostomicity? No business dealings is hostility? You should take a good look at the "Xiguan Weekly", Mr. Yi is the most enlightened and knowledgeable businessman in the whole Qing Kingdom, and you should strive to become his friend, not an enemy! Yoshiri said and glanced at his pocket watch. Lazy to pay attention to the crowd, hurry away.

The American Mercantile House is not far from the British Mercobank. Half a year apart from the merchant hall, Yi Zhizu received the warmest welcome at the American Merchant Pavilion, and when he heard that he was visiting, all the American businessmen in the merchant hall greeted him one after another, and enthusiastically introduced themselves and came forward to shake hands with him.

Yi Zhizhi smiled and shook hands with everyone one by one and entered the commercial hall. Consul Snow, Olifin, and Werthmore carried him up to the second floor and into Snow's office.

After taking his seat, Yi Zhizu asked directly: "I don't know what the price of your country's high-quality iron is now?" ”

The price of iron is directly related to the cost of the railway, and Olifin and Wetmore did not dare to speak indiscriminately, and Snow estimated that the other party had learned about the price of iron in England. Immediately asked, "I don't know what the price of iron in England is?" ”

"Eight pounds a ton."

Iron is a bulk commodity, the price of iron in England, the three of them are clear, seeing that Yi Zhizhi is content to quote the price of iron in London, Oliphyn said with a smile: "Mr. Yi should know that England's iron production is the largest, and the United States needs to import high-quality iron from England every year because of its large consumption of iron, and the domestic iron price is at least one or two pounds higher than that of England." ”

Yi Zhizhi didn't talk nonsense, and said straightforwardly: "How much does the CIF price need to be shipped from England to Guangzhou?" ”

Olifin's heart jumped, what do you mean by letting them resell it? After a quick estimate, he said: "In view of the economic crisis that has broken out in various countries now, and all industries are in a recession, ten pounds should be about the same when it arrives in Guangzhou." ”

Ten pounds per ton, but only about forty yuan, a difference of nearly one hundred yuan from the domestic iron price, this business is not an ordinary cost-effective, Yi Zhizhi nodded contentmently, and said: "One ton and ten pounds, how much is shipped, how much I collect, and I pay in cash." ”

That's big business! A thousand-ton sailing ship can make a profit of 2,000 pounds unilaterally at a time, which is more than 8,000 yuan! Returning to the ship to load some goods casually, you can also earn a few thousand yuan, a round trip can easily tens of thousands of yuan, the important thing is that this is a large quantity, the three of them are excited, happy, Olifen said: "Mr. Yi, if the quantity is too large, the price of iron in England will rise." ”

"It's normal." Yi Zhishu nodded and said, "The Thirteen Guilds will send fleets to join the English iron trade, but they must be listed in the name of the American Merchant House. ”

"No problem." Olifin and Wetmore said in unison.

Yi Zhishu glanced at Wei Temo, then looked at Snow, and said: "There is another thing, my imperial court is now strictly prohibiting smoking, for the sake of the reputation and interests of Yuan Qi and the Thirteen Merchants, and for the safety of the Thirteen Merchant and the Yuan Qi Silver Merchant, I don't want the merchants we cooperate with to continue to smuggle crows. Slice.

I know crows. Smuggling is a huge profit, but you have to make a choice, whether to do legitimate business or smuggle crows. Slice? ”

Hearing this, Snow glanced at Wertmore and said without hesitation: "Of course we choose legitimate business. ”

Weetmo shrugged his shoulders and said, "Okay, in order to be able to cooperate with Mr. Yi, I will give up the crow. Piece smuggling, I can swear to God. ”

"Swear?" Yi Zhizu laughed: "In 1821, the murder of the 'Emily' Dlannova was discovered, and the opium on the ships Robinson and Urgent Pilon was publicly exposed, and the American consul and merchants in Guangzhou vowed not to sell opium again, and your oath was forgotten after three days. ”

This is indeed a fact, it was exposed by Yi Zhifen in person, Snow and Wetmore both had some scorn on their faces, Yi Zhixiang smiled and said: "I don't ask for much, within this year, American businessmen will not smuggle crows. Pieces on the line, give you a month to finish the crow. In the film business, if you don't listen to the dissuasion, Yuanqi will cut off business with it and cut it off forever. (To be continued.) )