Volume 2: Eagle vs. Dragon Chapter 31 Resource Reconfiguration
"General, there is a letter from the Far East."
On a huge warship, Du Luli received the letter and saw the ink on the envelope. His face became cautious. He returned to the cabin and then cut the ink. The wind and waves were shaking the ship, but it did not affect his reading of the letter.
The letter talked about everything in the Far East, from business to politics, and some military issues. The content was very rich and had great strategic reference value. Du Luli had his own focus, so he read the letter again and focused on the things that interested him.
Europe today is in a period of great turmoil, in stark contrast to China, which is in a period of dead stagnation.
The French Revolution was still ongoing, and the great Emperor Napoleon had already stepped onto the stage of history and was on his great journey to unify Europe. If nothing else, most people would think that the French Revolution was modern history, and the Kangxi and Qianlong eras were ancient history. However, by aligning the historical coordinates, we can discover that Emperor Qianlong, Napoleon and Washington were actually contemporaries.
Although he was a rear admiral, he was also very concerned about what was happening on the European continent. He might not have the opportunity to go to the European continent to participate in the war against the First French Empire, but this did not prevent him from being deeply wary and vigilant of Emperor Napoleon and his First Empire, who dominated Europe.
As for the Far Eastern emperor who called himself "the Ten Perfect Old Man" mentioned in Milton's letter, Dululi sneered. Perhaps China's territory could be comparable to the entire European continent, but in his mind, Qianlong could not be compared with Napoleon. To be honest, he was just a large sultan. Such a so-called empire was just taking advantage of the chaos in Europe and not having time to look east. Otherwise, the British Empire's warships would have crossed the ocean and would have definitely conquered China - just like conquering India.
“Although Milton’s letter is full of temptations and may even be misleading,” Dululi thought, “the deadlock in the Far East should indeed be broken—at least we should try to break it.”
Breaking the impasse in China may not have a decisive and direct impact on the situation in Europe, but the Queen never minds having one more jewel in her crown.
Thinking of this, Du Luli put away the letter.
Ma finally completed his second contact with Cai Qiaozhu.
Completely different from the first time, the atmosphere at the second morning tea date was very bad at the beginning. Although Cai Qiaozhu was calm and composed, Ma was furious. However, as the mistress of the family, she would not lose her temper in front of outsiders. She immediately discussed the details of the marriage, starting with "the time and date have been matched, so it is a good match", and then pointed out that "my master also agrees with this marriage".
Then, Ma reluctantly used Ye Youyu's statement: "It's just that our Anhui customs are a little different from those in Fujian. You Fujian people value dowry, but we in Anhui value betrothal gifts. This is the rule brought from our hometown. Our ancestors must not break it."
In fact, this is a lie with open eyes. Although the Ye family moved from Anhui, they have settled here for a long time. If the Wu family still retains many habits of Fujian people, the Ye family does not have much of the Anhui temperament. The Ma family can't even speak Anhui dialect, let alone the rules of ancestors.
Cai Qiaozhu did not expose the truth, but just smiled: "Of course it should be. Our Haoguan is a man of the highest rank and richest man in Xiguan Street, so the betrothal gift will certainly not be small. I will discuss it with my master later and then reply to my aunt."
Ma didn't expect the other party to answer so readily. Doesn't that prove that Ye Youyu's prediction was correct? But when she turned around, she used this as ironclad evidence that Ye Youyu and the Wu family were secretly colluding. "If the two parties hadn't colluded, how could it be so coincidental? It's like they had discussed it in advance."
Ye Dalin thought it made sense and became even more disgusted with Ye Youyu. He said with a dark face, "Let's see what kind of betrothal gift they are willing to give."
A day later, the Wu family sent someone to deliver a letter. Ye Dalin opened it and saw a list after a few greetings. There was not much gold and silver, but a long list of properties. Ye Dalin's eyes turned red - most of the properties on this list were originally the properties of the Xie family, and a small part originally belonged to the Wu family. However, no matter the former or the latter, they all had one feature, which was that they were highly complementary to the Ye family's properties.
For example, the large piece of land in Fangcun is connected to the fields of the Ye family; if a trade route in Jiangxi is incorporated into the Ye family, Ye Dalin will be able to swallow half of the cargo flow of 26 kinds of goods in Jiangxi; for example, the three stores in Guangzhou city are also connected to the five stores of the Ye family. If they are given to the Ye family, Ye Dalin will be able to occupy half of the street - these are all fertile lands that Ye Dalin had been eager for but could not get before. If they are really given as a betrothal gift, their value to the Ye family will be far greater than these industries themselves.
Ma took a look and was also moved, but said: "If we don't count the dowry list, this is of course a huge fortune, but the dowry..."
Ye Dalin gnashed his teeth when he thought of the dowry. Although the betrothal gift from the Wu family was also large, it was far from enough to offset the loss caused by the dowry. Ye Dalin thought about it, called Ye Youyu over again, showed her the list and said, "Although the Wu family agreed to the betrothal, this deal still cannot be done."
Ye Youyu said, "Since Dad feels that the betrothal gifts from the Wu family are insufficient, then you can also prepare a list and send it over. We have only been bargaining for two rounds, haven't we?"
Ye Dalin clapped his hands and said, "That makes sense!" He glanced at Ye Youyu again and thought, "I don't know if you two are colluding or not. If not, it would be a pity for his intelligence and it would be a pity that he is not a son."
This time, Ye Dalin asked his chief manager Feng to ask for a meeting with Wu Guoying, and Wu Guoying did not refuse again. When Ye Dalin heard that Wu Guoying was willing to meet the person he sent, he knew that the Wu family was indeed ready to reconcile, and this was a signal that the relationship between the two families was moving towards normalization.
Wu Guoying met the shopkeeper Feng, drank a cup of tea, and then asked Ou Jiafu to entertain the guest on his behalf.
Manager Feng thought to himself, "Why is it you who came instead of Old Liu?" He is the chief manager, but the Wu family only sent Ou Jiafu. This conversation was somewhat unequal in terms of the identities of both parties. Manager Feng couldn't help feeling a little aggrieved and felt that the Ye family was being belittled. However, with the Wu family's arrangement like this, he couldn't mess things up because of his temper.
The two big shopkeepers started talking in the accounting office of Wu's family. It was no longer like they were discussing dowry, but they were discussing business under the pretext of marriage. At the beginning, both of them mentioned the reason of marriage, but later they talked directly about business cooperation and exchange of interests.
The Wu family rejected all of Ye Dalin's new conditions and refused to increase the "bride price" at all. However, with the insistence of Manager Feng, Ou Jiafu was willing to reduce the "dowry" little by little. They talked from morning to night, from the general direction to the details of the cooperation, and finally reached an agreement on a huge resource reallocation plan.
Finally, Manager Feng took the new list of betrothal gifts and dowry back to the Ye family. Ye Dalin called Ye Zhong, and Ma also came over. She watched Ye Dalin looking at the two lists and didn't speak for a long time.
Ma only had a passing knowledge of the business of the merchant company. The two lists were so complicated and cumbersome, with each company making concessions and gifts, and the relationship between the two parties was so intertwined that it was beyond her control. So she just asked, "Boss, how is it going? Will we suffer any loss?"
Ye Dalin covered his forehead and said, "I'll suffer a loss, of course I'll suffer a loss!"
Ma said: "Then we can talk about it later!"
When Manager Feng heard this, he frowned. This was the result of his whole day's hard work. If he could still fight for it, he would have done it long ago. He looked at Ye Dalin - if the merchant was still not satisfied, he would be ready to give up.
Fortunately, Ye Dalin just slapped his forehead and didn't respond to Ma's words, because the situation at hand really made him feel embarrassed.
Although the Ye family will suffer a great loss from this "marriage list", it will not hurt their vitality. However, from now on, the three main businesses will be subject to the Wu family to a certain extent. If the Wu family's dominance can continue, the Ye family may become a vassal of the Wu family in ten years.
But there are also benefits: firstly, in terms of wealth alone, the Ye family has even improved compared to before; secondly, with such a combination of the two parties, they will have to support each other's staunch allies in the future. With the Wu family as a backer, the rapid development of the Ye family is just around the corner.
After a long while, Ye Dalin finally said, "Call the fish over here."
Ma said indignantly: "We are discussing important matters, why are you asking her to come?"
Ye Dalin said angrily: "This is a business matter of the business, not a family matter of children's marriage, you shut up!"
For Ye Dalin, in the face of such a huge industrial integration, the matter of marrying off his daughter is no longer important - he believes that Wu Chengjian must think the same way.
Ye Youyu arrived soon. After reading the betrothal list, he was secretly surprised, but his expression remained calm. He said, "Father, this list is extremely beneficial to the Wu-Ye alliance. It has more advantages than disadvantages for the Wu family, and it has both advantages and disadvantages for the Ye family. If our Ye family agrees, we will be controlled by the Wu family in the future, but our wealth will definitely increase. In time, we will be able to compete with the Cai family and the Lu family."
Ye Dalin sneered, "But from now on, the Ye family will have to depend on the Wu family."
Ye Youyu said: "Yes."
Ye Dalin slammed his hand heavily on the table. If it were Wu Chengjun, he would have insisted on not agreeing to the end. However, Ye Dalin's business philosophy was more flexible and adaptable, so he was so hesitant.
"Ah Zhong, Lao Feng, both of you tell me whether you want to agree or not."
Ye Zhong said: "I will do whatever the master decides. I don't understand things that are too complicated."
Manager Feng said, "This is the best offer I can get for the Ye family, but this matter is too serious, so the merchant needs to make the decision."
The ball was kicked to Ye Dalin again. Ye Dalin turned his head to look at Ma, then immediately turned his eyes away and stared at Ye Youyu's face, saying, "Youyu, tell me. What do you think?"
