Today's first more is offered, and the third watch will be exploded, and then ask for collections and recommendations

With a creak, the door of the study was pushed open, and Madame Duran walked in from the outside like a gust of wind, and placed a copy of the name on Zhu Jishi's desk.

Zhu Jishi looked up at the old lover and housekeeper, Madame Duran, smiled gently, and said, "Roman, what's the matter?" ”

"Jason, you remember that Ricciardo. Rodriguez? Mrs. Duran pointed to the name and said softly, "He has recently fallen into bad luck, a sailing ship laden with opium has sunk on a reef in the South China Sea, and he has lost a lot of money, and is almost bankrupt, and wants to cooperate with the World Bank to make up for the loss." Now the other person is waiting in the living room, do you want to see it? ”

Deserve! Zhu Jishi scolded secretly in his heart, but his face was still silent - with the increasing status, this kind of joy and anger was gradually practiced.

"Big business?" Zhu Jishi picked up the famous post and glanced at it, the post was completely Chinese. On the white mono-fold cover, three Chinese characters are written in ink, Rodley! Below is a line of small print: Rodley foreign firm big class Rodley worship.

It seems that this Rodriguez has been dealing with Chinese businessmen a lot during this time? I don't know what big business I want to cooperate with this time?

Zhu Jishi played with the post and said with a smile: "Please come up, I'll see him here." ”

After speaking, he lowered his head and looked at a stack of manuscripts, this is the textbook of the Department of Medicine of Jishi University, after Zhu Jishi arrived in Hong Kong, in addition to going to the Hong Kong Governor's Mansion to show his face, the main focus was on running the school. Jishi Academy has now opened, first opened English, mathematics, Gezhi, physical education and other four courses, Confucianism has not been opened for the time being, because there is no suitable Confucian students to teach, as for the military school on Apleizhou, it is still under construction, and the students of the military academy temporarily take classes with the students of the ordinary academy. Jese University has not officially opened, but there are many students, some of whom are from Europe who want to study medicine, and some of whom are graduates of Anglo-Chinese College. Jeseki University plans to open four faculties: Medicine, Chemistry, Law, and Military Affairs. Each department has a small class at the top, and the so-called "college" is really bragging. However, the level of the Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of Chemistry of Jese University is definitely first-class.

In addition, Zhu Jishi also planned to set up a Chinese newspaper to propagate his ideas, and the name had already been chosen, which was called "Ta Kung Pao." He also wrote an editorial for the inaugural issue of the upcoming Ta Kung Pao, which said: "Middle school is the foundation, Western learning is for use." The draft of this article is also in this stack of manuscripts.

"Ricardo, please come in." Madame Duran pushed open the door of the study again, and politely invited in a foreign devil in a robe and a horse coat, it was none other than Ricardo, who had a few acquaintances with Zhu Jishi. Rodriguez, now has a very Chinese name, called Rodley.

Zhu Jishi put down the manuscript and raised his hand slightly to signal this Rhodes to sit down by himself.

Luo Li was also not polite, according to the Chinese etiquette, he arched his hand to Zhu Jishi, and sat on the side with his own care.

"Should I call you Mr. Law or Ricardo?" Zhu Jishi asked with a smile.

Rodli Haha smiled and said in a stiff Cantonese: "If you follow the customs, the lord is still called the word below." ”

"Words?"

"In the next word Hai'an, take the meaning of sea road Antai, but unfortunately the boat capsized."

Speaking of this, Rodley's face darkened, revealing a distressed expression. Shipwrecks are a common occurrence for those who trade at sea. However, the Great Ocean Company, such as Jishi Foreign Company, which has 8 armed merchant ships, and Jardine Matheson, which has 19 armed merchant ships, has the strength to bear the risk of sinking one or two sea vessels. However, there are only two ships in the row, and if one is sunk, half of the belongings will be lost! Moreover, there are dozens of sailors missing, and it is estimated that they may not survive, and at least 10,000 pounds of compensation will be paid, which is a huge loss. Another merchant ship laden with opium did not make Rodley as expected, because the price of opium in Hong Kong fell as much as expected.

So at present, Rodley is in trouble, but at this moment, Rodley received a somewhat special deal from Jardine Matheson - 20,000 smoothbore guns!

It is the loss-making business that Daobai Siwen pressed to Yihexing to buy a gun for Emperor Daoguang of the Qing Dynasty. To this end, Wu Shaorong has contacted five major foreign companies, including Jardine Matheson, Baoshun and Qichang, Yan Kee and Hua Kee. And the quotations of these five foreign companies are all the same, a brown bass smoothbore gun is charged 12 pounds, and it is delivered in Hong Kong. 20,000 smoothbore guns cost 240,000 pounds, which is equivalent to nearly 720,000 taels of silver!

In other words, Jardine will lose at least more than 300,000 taels in this transaction. Wu Shaorong was naturally reluctant, so he asked some small and medium-sized foreign companies for quotations, and as a result, Rodley & Co. won the bid with the lowest price of 9 pounds for a brown bass. Today, Rodley came to visit for this sale.

"Brother Hai'an...... You're going to work with me to sell brown bass rifles to the Manchus! Do you know who I am? ”

Rodeli stroked his beard and nodded with a smile, "I know, you are the descendant of the Ming Dynasty in China, and now Guangzhou has spread all over the country, and they all say that you want to use the support of the British to oppose the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty!" There are also rumors that now the Manchu Governors of Liangguang, the General of Guangzhou, and the Governor of Guangdong have jointly signed a petition to the imperial court to request the training of the Eight Banners New Army in Guangzhou! It is estimated that in the near future, Fujian, Zhejiang, and Liangjiang will also train the New Army of the Eight Banners.

The 20,000 brown bass is likely to be just the beginning of a series of arms deals, and there will be more orders in the future, and the reason why I am willing to trade with Jardine at a lower price is because I like the big orders in the future. However, my Rodley & Co. doesn't have many ways to purchase a smoothbore gun, so why don't I just supply it to Rhodesley & Co. at a price of £8.5? ”

What does this guy mean? Zhu Jishi's gaze froze. Luo Li glanced at Sir Zhu, leaned forward slightly, and said in a low voice: "Sir, you have a conflict with the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and you don't wait to earn Manchu silver, don't you?" You have eight galleons that can run the oceans, and you don't want to do the opium business...... It's a waste to let them sit idle! Moreover, the Grand Duchy of Lanfang under your control is a vassal state of the British, and it is only right to buy foreign guns from the Kolkata Arsenal, and you can even open your own factory to make guns and sell them to the Qing government. Of course, the signboard of Jishixing is not very convenient to play, so it is better to be represented by Rodley Foreign Bank. ”

"Ricardo! You mean you want me to sell guns to the Manchus so that they can use these brown basses to beat me up in the future! ”

Zhu Jishi held back his anger and did not provoke anyone. But Rodley looked at Zhu Jishi with a surprised expression and said, "Jason, you have fought a war, and there are many experienced officers around you, do you still think that relying on tens of thousands of old-fashioned brown bess can make the Manchu Qing army's broken army strong?" In the Battle of Xindang, your enemy also has smoothbore guns, which are several times more numerous than your Jishi army, and they will not be wiped out? ”

That doesn't seem to be a bad thing! Zhu Jishi was a little moved. His 8 galleons are indeed quite idle, and they will definitely expand their fleet in the future - this Ming navy can only be slowly cultivated through the merchant fleet for a long time, so the Western soft-sail sea ships under the Nanyang Company must gradually increase, and these sea ships should be allowed to play a sufficient benefit.

It's just that selling guns to the Qing Dynasty is still a little inappropriate.

"Jason, I still have a business I want to work with you, but you have to promise that you can't cheat my feelings like you did with the coca leaf last time."

Uh, cheating feelings? Why does this foreign devil's Chinese sound so awkward?

"What business?"

Luo Li smiled and took out a cone from his pocket, and there was a small wooden plug at the bottom and put it in front of Zhu Jishi's eyes.

"What is this?" Zhu Jishi picked up the lead block and looked at it again and again, and Zuihou asked.

"It's a bullet that's designed specifically for rifled rifles."