Volume 1: Mission in Danger Chapter 26 Huizhou Land Route
In addition to Ga Liu, there were two other people in the meeting room. One was a clerk sitting behind a desk in the corner, and the other was a middle-aged scholar with a gaunt appearance. Cai Shiwen said, "Mr. Pan is ill and cannot attend the meeting, so he entrusted Mr. Liu to act as the councilor of Tonghe Bank."
Wu Chengjian also recognized the manager Liu. He knew that although Liu was a low-key person, he had a very high status in Tonghe Bank. Even the major families in Xiguan had to give him some face.
Manager Liu bowed slightly. He did not sit down on the chair, but stood behind it to show that his status was different from that of the other business owners.
Everyone in this room became wealthy when they walked out, but after laughing, no one wanted to say a word.
——
The Wu family mansion in Xiguan.
Wu Erliang came and reported: "Old Gu is back."
Wu Guoying hurriedly said, "Let him in, let him in!"
Wu Erliang and Lao Gu were Wu Guoying's right-hand men when he started his business. Wu Erliang took care of both internal and external affairs, while Lao Gu was more concerned with external affairs. They were about ten years younger than Wu Guoying. After Wu Chengjun took over Yihehang, Wu Erliang still worked hard for the Wu family. Lao Gu, after working for several years to help Wu Chengjun get on the right track, finally retired two years ago.
Although he retired, it was only two years after all, and his relationship with his old friend had not completely cooled down. When something happened in Huizhou this time, Wu Guoying invited him out again - Lao Gu was also one of the people in charge of the Huizhou line. When Lao Gu heard about this, he did not hesitate to accept the job and left, and did not return until today.
An old man in his early fifties walked into the room, put down the bamboo hat in his hand, revealing a wrinkled face. He looked much older than his actual age, as if he was an overworked old man, but his long arms and legs and strong muscles were no less than those of a middle-aged man.
Wu Guoying stood up with the help of a chair to greet him. Lao Gu said, "Brother, why are you being so polite to me? Sit down quickly."
Aunt Yang followed the old rules and served two large bowls of tea to Old Gu before leaving. Old Gu drank one bowl in one breath and said, "The water from Guangzhou is still better. It doesn't have that salty taste."
Wu Guoying asked: "The water in Huizhou is salty?"
Old Gu said: "Jieshiwei is so close to the sea. Even if it is not salty originally, it will change its taste after being blown by the salty sea breeze for a long time."
There was something behind this sentence. Wu Guoying's eyelids drooped. Since they were brothers, there was no need to beat around the bush. He asked directly, "Is there really something wrong with Duan Longjiang?"
Duan Longjiang is the general of Jieshi. He was one of the keys to the stability and prosperity of Yihe Bank in the past few years; he was also one of the keys to the trouble with Huizhou tea this time.
The Wu family's tea in Fujian was shipped from Fujian by sand ships along the near-shore sea. According to the agreement between Wu Guoying and his son and their Fujian relatives, if anything happened to the tea in Fujian, Fujian would bear all the losses. However, once the tea passed Dongshan Island and entered the Guangdong waters, it would be the responsibility of Yihehang.
After entering Guangdong Sea, tea leaves mainly passed through the sea areas of two prefectures and two guards - Nan'ao in Chaozhou Prefecture and Jieshi in Huizhou Prefecture. After landing in Huizhou, they were transported to Guangzhou by land. The Wu family invested a lot of money in the generals who governed the sea areas of the two prefectures, and the general of Nan'ao in Chaozhou Prefecture was led by Duan Longjiang. The pirate forces along the coast of the two prefectures were also paid by Yihehang and dealt with by Duan Longjiang. After landing in Huizhou Prefecture, half of the land routes were also directly responsible for Duan Longjiang.
This tea transport route avoided the bumpy journey of traveling by land from Fujian, and also avoided the thieves that were everywhere in southern Fujian and eastern Guangdong. Since the route was formed, there had never been any problems in the past few years. Unexpectedly, something went wrong this year: the tea boat landed in Huizhou, and after being protected by Duan Longjiang for a while, it was handed over to the team sent by Wu Chengjun. Not long after the team went out, they encountered bandits in Boluo County, and a large batch of tea was robbed.
"The robbers attacked right between Huzhen and Luoshui outposts, where the officers and soldiers were the weakest." Lao Gu said, "The leader of the group escorting the tea was Du Tieshou, and the second was Hu Pulin. Du Tieshou was an old hand, and he was very careful when passing through there, and he would change the departure time every time. But this time, he still fell into the robbers' trap."
Wu Guoying understood that if they met on a narrow road, there was still room for resistance, but if they fell into a trap, they would be at the mercy of others - no wonder the tea was completely lost this time. Not only did Wu Chengjun personally walk the entire route for transporting tea, Wu Guoying also walked the land route in Guangdong, so he knew where the robbers were lying in ambush as soon as he heard it.
"Were they ambushed in the circle?"
"Yes, the other side has twice as many people, occupies the terrain, and even has more than a dozen muskets, so Lao Du and his men dare not move."
Wu Guoying was even more surprised. Firearms were strictly prohibited in the Qing Dynasty. Du Tieshou was doing legitimate business, so he naturally did not dare to keep them privately. But his opponent actually had a firearm. He was either a big thief who was not afraid of rebellion, or he was secretly backed by government soldiers - or even an government soldier pretending to be him.
"When Lao Du saw this situation, he knew that resistance would not end well, so he decided to surrender on the spot. He thought that small thieves might act recklessly, but big thieves had their own rules. Everyone came for profit, and they would just find a mountain to pay homage and spend a lot of money. If he fell out on the spot, not only would he have no chance of winning , but if the tea fell into the water, he would lose both his money and his life."
Wu Guoying nodded, "There's nothing wrong with what Lao Du did. If it were me, I would do the same. But although Quanwa is right at the junction of the two outposts, it's still very close to Boluo. I remember that there were sailors and warships patrolling from Huzhen Outpost every two hours. Has the rule changed?"
"The rules haven't changed. I asked clearly. Now they still patrol every two hours. They may be lazy at night, but they still do the same during the day."
"It's a peaceful and prosperous time now. The thieves in Guangdong don't dare to confront the soldiers. Those who dare to confront the soldiers are rebels. Huizhou is very close to the provincial capital. If such rebels appeared, they would have caused a big commotion long ago. It's impossible for them to stay there for a long time." Wu Guoying said, "Quanwa is patrolled by warships regularly. So many thieves can't stay there for a long time. But they can set up an ambush there, unless... unless they not only know our route, but also calculate the time when Lao Du will arrive."
Old Gu nodded and whispered, "Brother, if we can survive this crisis, we have to clean up Yihe Bank and even this Xiguan mansion. There must be someone inside."
"Let's talk about Huizhou first." Wu Guoying sighed. The people who knew the details of this tea transport route were either the senior executives of Yihe Bank or the confidants in the Xiguan mansion. He really didn't want to doubt the family's backbone and relatives at this time: "What did Duan Longjiang say?"
"He denied it all!" Old Gu was annoyed. "The route of transporting tea was probably leaked from Guangzhou, but even for us, we couldn't know when Du Tieshou would leave after receiving the tea. If it was a day or two late, the trap would fail. And to calculate the time of action, there might be something wrong with Old Du's men, but Duan Longjiang is also involved!"
"We have been friends for thirty years!" Wu Guoying sighed to the sky. In fact, Duan Longjiang's attitude could reveal the problem. If they were still old friends and were still on the same front, he would not shirk responsibility. He would be more anxious than Wu Guoying, because if the tea leaves could not be recovered, it would mean that the cooperation between the two sides would collapse, and Duan Longjiang would lose a large annual source of income: "How much money did our Yihe Bank spend on him to get to where he is today... Can't he figure it out himself!"
"People always strive for higher positions. He probably found another wealthy owner." Lao Gu said, "I also heard in Huizhou that he might be promoted, at least to a higher level."
"Oh, it's my fault!" Wu Guoying said, "Two years ago, Haoguan mentioned to me that I should try to open up the line between Aberdeen and Xin'an to transport tea directly to Baietan. Chengjun actually had this idea as well, but I couldn't let go of my friendship with Duan Longjiang and thought that since the old route was working smoothly, there was no need to change it, so the matter was delayed. Oh, it's all my fault!"
The reason why Yihehang ordered the tea boats to transfer to land after arriving in Huizhou instead of going straight to the Pearl River Estuary was not because they did not want to, but because they could not. Pirates in the Guangdong waters used Daxingao as their base.The east of the Pearl River is the world of Chaozhou pirates, and the west is the territory of Xiangjiang pirates. Without the escort of gunboats, the sand ships of Yihehang have to bypass Aberdeen and go straight to Guangzhou from the Pearl River Estuary. If they want to travel this route safely, they must deal with not only one or two generals, but also the complex forces and relationships in the entire Pearl River Estuary, including the Xiangjiang pirate group.
At the beginning of the planning and construction of this tea road, the Wu family was not able to open up the entire sea route, so they chose this half-sea and half-land route. However, Yihe Bank has been thriving in the past two years and actually has such strength. However, to open up a new route, there is always a new price to pay - this price includes paying the black and white road to the west of Daxingao, and also includes appeasing Duan Longjiang's dissatisfaction. The opening of the new road, in addition to making the tea boats go more smoothly, may not necessarily bring greater benefits. Therefore, after a comprehensive calculation, Wu Guoying opposed Wu Chengjian's proposal in a small-scale tea talk between the father and son, thinking that since the old road was still smooth, there was no need to change it. Although Wu Chengjun was more inclined to Wu Chengjian's idea, he also felt that he could wait a few years until Yihe Bank's strength was more consolidated.
Unexpectedly, just two years later, an accident occurred on this road in Huizhou.
After hearing what Wu Guoying said, Lao Gu was stunned: "Hao Guan has such insight?"
"His eyes can actually see farther than anyone else's," Wu Guoying said when talking about her youngest son. "It's just hateful that this brat doesn't learn his lesson! He refuses to do anything."
"Don't talk nonsense." Old Gu said, "Brother, you have to be careful this time! He can buy off spies at home, collude with Duan Longjiang, and quietly mobilize people who can suppress Du Tieshou. His methods are not ordinary. And such a person should either not take action, or if he does, he will not just let Yihe Bank lose a sum of tea goods as compensation - if you don't kill the snake, you will suffer! The other party will understand this principle."
Wu Guoying asked, "Are you saying that the other party's goal is not just this batch of tea, he also wants my Wu family to be wiped out?"
