Volume 1: Mission in Danger Chapter 72: The Foreign Ghosts Come to the Door
These people who came to collect debts were yelling at the Wu family, but when they saw the flag soldiers holding knives and guns, they suddenly became weak and dared not say a word.
Ga Liu rushed in and pointed at everyone, saying, "Don't move!" He then pointed at Wu Chengjian and said, "Don't pay back the money!"
Wu Chengjian said, "Manager Galiu, it is only natural to pay back debts. Some of them lent money to our Wu family, and some of them delivered goods to Yihe Bank. Whether it is paying back the money or settling the bill, our Wu family cannot refuse."
The creditors all summoned up their courage and shouted in unison: "Not bad, not bad!"
"You're right!" Ga Liu pointed at the boxes and said, "These, these, are all the emperor's money now! If anyone dares to move, it will be considered as hijacking the royal bank and will be punished with death! If anyone wants to be beheaded, stand up!"
His wild shouting scared all the creditors back off - even though his words were full of flaws.
Wu Chengjian said, "Manager Galiu, is it really impossible to be flexible?"
Ga Liu sneered, "You know what you promised at the Merchant Protection Conference! Before the donation is paid, not a single ingot of silver from your Wu family can be moved!" Pointing at the boxes, he said, "Move them all back! Take the seals and seal the door of the warehouse! Whoever dares to remove the seals will be considered to be hijacking the royal treasury!"
Wu Chengjian looked helpless and shook his head at Wu Qi. Wu Qi could only cover the two open boxes and take people to move the boxes back. A team of flag soldiers escorted them back to the warehouse along the way.
Wu Chengjian said to Galiu, "Master, whether our Wu family is defeated or destroyed, that's fine. Why should we drag so many people into this?"
Ga Liu sneered, "I don't care whether you live or die, or whether they live or die. But the silver must be paid in full! This is the order from above. Anyone who dares to disobey will be punished with a sword!"
Wu Chengjian then put on a fake smile and said to his many creditors: "Look, there's nothing I can do, right?" Suddenly, the fake smile turned into a real smile, and the real smile turned into a loud laugh.
Many creditors suddenly realized that they had been fooled by Wu Chengjian! They were so happy for nothing, but with the flag soldiers suppressing them, how could they dare to act rashly? They could only curse in secret and watch Wu Chengjian laugh loudly and walk into the door.
Wu Chengjian returned to the hall. Wu Guoying glanced at him and said, "Why bother? I let you play for a while, but what's the point?"
Wu Chengjian glanced at Mr. Liu San and said with a smile, "Why is there no benefit?" He took out the additional contract from his arms, clapped his hands twice, and said with a smile, "When our silver pool is full, we will settle accounts with them one by one in advance. Although we can't cheat them out of most of their debts and payments like we did today, we can still get back 30% or 40%. Why not take the money that they deliver to your door? Besides, it's not a small amount after adding it up."
The three gangsters, Duan Xiantong, who looked sinister, narrowed his eyes. Liu Sanye's fat face also stopped smiling and looked thoughtful. Ma Dahong scratched his head and seemed to be completely confused about the situation.
Cai Qiaozhu thought to herself, "Uncle San is right, provided that our Wu family can survive tonight."
Finally, some of the people outside who were collecting debts could not hold back any longer. Some started cursing and even tried to rush in, but were stopped by the flag soldiers with drawn swords.
Wu Guoying said, "Go and persuade that Galiu quickly, don't let anyone get killed."
Wu Chengjian said: "With swords and guns in front of them, if they want to die, what does it have to do with us?"
Cai Qiaozhu said: "Today is the master's birthday. If you see blood, it is not a good sign."
Wu Chengjian thought that was true, so he turned around and went out. Just as he was about to negotiate with Ga Liu, a banner soldier suddenly rushed in and whispered something to Ga Liu. Ga Liu's face changed immediately, and then Ci Ye also rushed in anxiously. He ran to Wu Chengjian breathlessly and shouted, "No... No! The foreign devils... are coming!"
Cai Qiaozhu asked: "What?"
Master Chuan Longci said, "The foreign devils! The foreign devils are coming! Even the bannermen can't stop them! I recognize the leader. He had dinner with the Third Young Master. He's that... Mr. Milton! He brought two teams of musketeers and has already arrived at the gate!"
Wu Guoying was shocked: "What?"
When Wu Chengjian heard the word "Milton", the expression on his face became a little embarrassed, and he said to the shopkeeper Liu: "Uncle Liu, I'm a little tired. You can greet the guests for me. I'll go to the study to rest for a while." Then, regardless of everyone's surprise, he took Wu Qi and left.
There was already a commotion outside the door, because the group of British had entered the house. The leader was a tall British man, Mr. Milton, the representative of the East India Company. He was dressed in British gentleman clothes, but this was Guangzhou during the Qianlong era, and this dress looked strange to Guangzhou people. Behind him were two teams of soldiers carrying muskets, which not only frightened the debt-collecting guests so much that they retreated and pressed against the wall, but even the banner soldiers did not dare to stop them.
Galau only put on airs in front of the Han people, and was nervous when he met the foreigners. The bannerman leader behind him stepped forward and said, "Sir, you have to take charge of the situation now."
Fortunately, it was not the time after the Opium War, and the bannermen were only afraid of foreigners, but not scared to the core. Ga Liu was forced to step forward, pluck up his courage, point at the group of British and say: "Why did you come ashore? How dare you come ashore! And bring a musketeer team with you!"
Milton glanced at him and mumbled something. An interpreter beside him translated what Galiu said. Milton answered and the interpreter translated it again: "Mr. Milton said that this is not Guangzhou City. He came here to celebrate the birthday of his old friend Mr. Wu. He has no other intentions."
After a moment's pause, he remembered that this was Xiguan, not Guangzhou. The Qing government had strict restrictions on Westerners. They could only live in places designated by the government, and in theory, they were not allowed to enter the city. But Xiguan was close to Baietan and outside Guangzhou. Most of the people living in Xiguan were wealthy businessmen who had business dealings with foreigners, so sometimes some foreigners would come to Xiguan to stroll around, shop and have fun.
It was not uncommon to see one or two foreigners in Xiguan, and the people of Xiguan were no longer surprised by it, but the problem was that this time Mr. Milton brought two teams of musketeers.
Ga Liu pointed and said: "Why are you bringing troops with you if you want to celebrate your birthday?"
The interpreter said: "These two teams of musketeers are just Mr. Milton's guards."
The guests in the courtyard all thought, "If I believe you, there must be something fishy!"
However, Mr. Milton just gave the other party an explanation and did not intend to entangle him any further. He shouted to the hall: "Get out, get out!"
Everyone was stunned when they heard this, and then they realized that he was calling "Hao Guan"", which is Wu Chengjian's business name, but the tones are all messed up and it sounds weird.
When Mr. Milton saw that no one agreed, he walked in directly. No one dared to stop him. After entering the door of the central hall, he looked around the hall. When he didn't find Wu Chengjian, he said something. The interpreter said, "Is this the old boss of Yihe Bank?"
Wu Guoying had already stood up with the help of Wu Chenggou, and he said with a cupped hand, "It is me."
Mr. Milton bowed and said, "Go away, and do what you want to do in the east, and get closer to Lam Mountain."
Wu Guoying was stunned for a moment, but he had dealt with foreigners before, so he immediately realized that the other party was saying, "Old Haoguan, I wish you good fortune as vast as the East Sea and a long life as long as the Southern Mountains."
He quickly bowed in return and said, "Thank you very much, thank you very much."
The central hall had a wide window and door, and the guests in the courtyard outside could see the scene inside clearly. They were all a little puzzled: "Could this foreigner really be here to celebrate the birthday?"
Mr. Milton waved outside, and a musketeer leader shouted something, and a team of burly sailors came in. Every four of them carried a huge box. A total of twelve boxes were carried in, eight of which were carried outside the yard, and the other four were carried directly into the hall. There were already quite a few people standing here, and the open space between the yard and the hall was almost filled up at once.
Mr. Milton waved his hand, and with a few clicks, two boxes inside and two outside were opened. Everyone gasped. The boxes were filled with all kinds of gold bars, silver ingots, and silver dollars, shining yellow and silver. Everyone was stunned. They thought, how much money would such twelve large boxes cost? No wonder the other party had to bring musketeers. If it were them, they would not dare to carry so much money on the street without heavy guards.
But what ? Is it a birthday gift? But this is too much! Every box here is big enough to fit a person.
Then Mr. Milton mumbled something again, and the interpreter said, "Mr. Milton said that the Wu family's tea is of very good quality and is very popular in London and even in the whole of Europe. The East India Company is very grateful to Yihe Bank for providing us with such good goods."
Wu Guoying bowed and said, "Okay, okay."
Mr. Milton muttered again, and the interpreter said, "Mr. Milton said that in the past few years, Yihehang has always delivered goods on time, and the Wu family has a very good credit. But this year, someone has gone wrong. The inspection time has long passed, and the delivery time is almost here. I don't know why the batch of our tea has not been seen yet. A few days ago, the East India Company sent several people to the Wu family to inquire, but they were all blocked outside by the government soldiers. So Mr. Milton took the opportunity to come here today to celebrate the birthday and brought the payment for the batch of our tea."
Mr. Milton walked to one of the opened boxes and said something, "Here is the down payment for our tea. Please check it at Yihehang. At the same time, please take out the other batch of goods so that we can check the tea quality and quantity."
After he said that, he turned around and stared at Wu Guoying without saying anything else.
The flag soldiers and guests outside heard it clearly. The guests thought to themselves, "I thought so! It turns out that this foreigner is just like us. We are here to extort money, and he is here to extort goods."
Wu Guoying almost couldn't stand. The family's tea was lost and had not been found until now . He knew this better than anyone else, but he couldn't say it directly. If he said it directly, in case he angered the foreign devils, who knew how they would react? The foreign devils forced the goods to come to the door, and even brought guns into Xiguan. This was already a major event involving Chinese and foreigners. If it went further and caused a conflict, or even caused a loss of life, the matter would probably be reported to the emperor.
The Emperor of the Qing Dynasty hated to hear news of conflicts between the Yi and Han people. Faced with this situation, there was no way that His Majesty could protect his own people. When it came to the matter of punishment, even if the Wu family wanted to commit suicide, they would probably not be able to do so, and most likely the entire family would be executed.
Seeing that Wu Guoying was unsteady on his feet, Manager Liu quickly gathered himself together and prepared to go and help deal with the foreign devil. Suddenly, he heard the sound of horse hooves, followed by a commotion outside.
Someone came in hurriedly and reported to Galiu: "Five hundred green soldiers have come outside and have surrounded the house inside and outside. The one leading the troops is Deputy General Wang Degong."
Galiu shouted in shock, "Who asked him to lead the troops? Who!"
"It was a military order issued directly by the Guangdong-Guangxi Governor's Office."
