Volume 2: Eagle vs. Dragon Chapter 56: New Year
Pan Youjie soon received Hutabu's note.
He called a few of his confidants and told them about this matter, saying, "I have only been in the position of General Merchant for a few days, and this kind of trouble has already happened."
Manager Liu said, "Since you are in this position, such things are inevitable."
Pan Youjie said: "This matter originally didn't involve many people, but some people didn't know the whole story and made a fuss out of nothing!"
Pan Haigen said from the side: "Why don't we let the 'victim' handle it?"
Pan Youjie pondered for a moment and said, "Hao Guan is not stupid, he will not take the blame easily. But we should inform him first, and also inform Lu Guanhuan, and discuss this matter together in two days."
After Wu Qi sent Pan Haigen away, he returned to the viewing pavilion of Manqian Penglai and heard Wu Chengjian say, "Milton is going too far!"
Zhou Yijin asked: "Is this matter directed at you?"
Wu Chengjian said: "At least more than half."
Zhou Yijin said: "I guessed it, but I can't figure out what the relationship is between you and Old Wanshan Island."
Wu Chengjian said: "After Duan Longjiang's incident, the people in Huizhou changed. The new general was very polite and willing to provide us with convenience as usual. But since something happened, I can't bet the safety of Fujian's tea trade on this road."
Zhou Yijin said: "So you have been making arrangements to open a sea route directly to Baietan. Although you didn't tell me the details, I heard a little bit about it."
He was a legal advisor, but he didn't take care of everything. However, Wu Chengjian usually didn't hide anything from him.
Wu Chengjian said: "If you take the sea route, you have to go around Tai Sing O, Aberdeen, Xin'an County.The soldiers in this area need to be taken care of, and the heroes on the sea also need to be taken care of. The talks have been almost done. After Mr. Liu San took over, everything went smoothly. Now it is a peaceful and orderly time. The court does to plunder at will. It is too expensive for them to rob the foreign pirates' large ships. How much money can they get from the small fishing villages along the coast? So they regularly collect our water purchase money. This business is ten times more cost-effective than robbing. Therefore, the heroes on the sea are very happy for us to buy water from them, and even rushed to show their goodwill to me. "
Zhou Yijin said, "What does this have to do with Lao Wanshan Island?" He had a deeper grasp of the news in Beijing's officialdom than Wu Chengjian, so he was surprised that he didn't know about the news in Nei Chan while Wu Chengjian did. However, he didn't know as much as Wu Chengjian about the affairs at sea.
Wu Chengjian said: "Laowanshan Island is a fishing village on the surface, but it is actually their nest. There are some goods hidden on the island, and they supply water when ships pass by."
Zhou Yijin suddenly realized: "So Milton's attack was to scare the monkeys."
Wu Chengjian said: "We are doing business with the East India Company. It is not right for them to directly seize our tea-carrying ships. How can we do business in that way? But the attack on Lao Wanshan Island is to tell us that if they don't agree, this sea tea transport route will not be safe."
Zhou Yijin said, "It's their own daring. They don't even think about the temper of the current emperor. They dare to touch the tiger's butt. Aren't they afraid that the court will be furious and even Guangzhou will be closed down?"
Given Emperor Qianlong's personality, he might have done it. Maybe it wasn't a permanent closure, but it could be closed for one or two years, three or four years. Qianlong could afford the loss, and at most he would just move the border and close the sea again.
"If the court questions them, they will also say that they are fighting pirates ," Wu Chengjian said. "Although it is not their turn to fight pirates in our waters, this is at least a way out of the situation. It may not be impossible to deal with it. These British are very smart and have calculated every aspect."
Zhou Yijin asked: "Then what are you going to do?"
Wu Chengjian pondered for a moment and said, "Qi Guan is well-informed about this matter and should know about 50% to 60%. Even with guesswork, I think I can estimate 70% to 80%. I don't know if he knows about the opium issue. Lu Guanhuan should know less than Qi Guan. The Guangdong Customs knows even less, and the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi knows even less. It will not be good for us if this incident is expanded, but we cannot give in to Milton... Let's think about it again."
British ships bombarded a small fishing village overseas. Occasionally, some rumors spread about this incident, but it did not cause any waves in Guangzhou. The wealthy families on Xiguan Street continued to drink and live their lives as usual, and were not affected by this incident at all.
The Pan, Wu and Lu families met for this matter. They had different amounts of information about each other, but they were not like the Guangdong-Guangxi Governor's Office which was completely unaware of the inside story. However, when they really talked about it, it seemed that none of the three knew anything about the inside story, and they were just negotiating based on the situation that the Guangdong-Guangxi Governor's Office already knew.
Finally, the three companies came to the conclusion that the head of the Thirteen Hongs should send a note to the East India Company, asking them to explain the situation and strictly demanding that they should not allow similar incidents to happen again, otherwise they would be severely punished.
"It's almost the New Year." Pan Youjie said, "And yet they came up with something like this to make us sigh.. "
Wu Chengjian smiled and said, "There is no other way. Since we earn this money, we naturally have to worry about the emperor and the people of the world."
Lu Guanhuan snorted twice and said nothing.
Pan Youjie sent a note to the East India Company, issued a severe rebuke, and replied to Hutab. Hutab went to report to Jishan.
Jishan said: "Let the Guangdong and Guangxi Governor's Office know about this matter, but it is not an official document."
It's not an official document, so I don't take any responsibility. By passing this on, I am telling Zhu Gui: This matter is not my responsibility, but I still tried my best to help you.
After Cai Qinghua learned about the handling of the Thirteen Hongs from Lu Guanhuan and Hutabu, he reported it to Zhu Gui again. Zhu Gui was silent for a while and sighed: "They are all people who have no interest in the country! What's the point of sending out a few official documents! If we really want to make the barbarians know to be respectful, we still have to use military force!"
Cai Qinghua said: "Mr. Ya...you must be cautious when using troops."
Zhu Gui said: "I will not mobilize the army easily. For such a major event, the order must come from above. But...but I think that neither your majesty nor the crown prince will allow the barbarians to cause chaos in the southeast, but we have to prepare."
Even though he was restrained by many parties and it was difficult for him to mobilize troops with ease, he was the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi after all, and the nominal military and political leader of Guangdong and Guangxi. He immediately issued an order to check the naval ships.
You don't know until you check. Once you check, you will find out that the Qing navy does not even have a large ship that can compete with the East India Company's gunboats.
After Zhu Gui learned about the situation, he became very worried and said, "How can this be possible? The barbarians are coming from the sea, how can we fight them without ships?" He immediately made up his mind to build warships.
After Cai Qinghua knew Zhu Gui's idea, he became worried again: They had no money!
The disturbances in the officialdom and the undercurrents in the business world could not stop the arrival of the New Year. Wu Guoying thought of Wu Chengjun's mansion in Xiguan, so she decided to go back to the old house to celebrate the New Year this year. Both daughters-in-law were fine, but Wu Chengjian seemed to have disappeared on the third day after his marriage. Cai Qiaozhu said, "Let the master decide on this matter. Haoguan still listens to the master for family matters."
That's settled.
There is another round of moving at the moment - mainly the people from Ritianju and Yiyangtang are moving there. Ritianju is for temporary residence, while as for Yiyangtang, Mr. Wu plans to move back to Jiangbei and will not come back for the time being.
Chunrui came to ask the Third Young Lady what to do, and Ye Youyu said, "You are more familiar with the family affairs, so you can arrange them." Chunrui started to make arrangements after hearing this. She did things properly, so naturally everything was in order.
The whole family moved back to the old house in Xiguan on the 28th day of the lunar year, and Ye Youyu moved into the left courtyard. The place was a little more crowded than the Wujiayuan, but relatively speaking, it was just Ye Youyu and his servant, so it wasn't a big problem - Changzi stayed in Henan Island to recuperate.
It was not until the evening of the 28th day of the lunar year that Wu Chengjian appeared at home.
After he came back, he didn't look very well. As soon as he entered the door, Chunrui handed him clothes to change. However, when he looked at Ye Youyu next to him, he remembered something and handed the clothes to her again. Ye Youyu guessed that he probably needed to be helped to change clothes, so she and Dongxue went forward to help Wu Chengjian change clothes.
Wu Chengjian seemed to be distracted, and he casually stretched out his hands and feet. Ye Youyu was not familiar with his habit of dressing, so she did not follow his movements. Wu Chengjian said angrily, "What's going on!" He looked up and saw that the person in front of him was not Chunrui. Chunrui hurried forward to catch the clothes that were about to fall.
Wu Chengjian reacted and said, "Let Third Young Madam do this in the future. I will get used to it slowly."
Chunrui said "oh" and went out. Wu Chengjian then said to Ye Youyu, "I like to wear fancy clothes, but my father likes simple ones, so I have to change into a new set of clothes as soon as I get home, otherwise he will see me and scold me. In the past, Chunrui always helped me change clothes." As he spoke, he put on his clothes according to Ye Youyu's movements.
Dongxue watched from the side and felt relieved: "The son-in-law still cares about the girl."
Ye Youyu also slowly followed Wu Chengjian's movements.
Xia Qing walked in. She had heard that Wu Chengjian was unhappy, so she wanted to come over to tease him. But when she caught a glimpse of the situation in the room, she pursed her lips, snorted, and left.
Ye Youyu saw it and smiled faintly, "Are you not going to coax your beloved maid?"
Wu Chengjian said with a smile: "If you want to coax her, you can't do it in front of your newlywed wife."
Ye Youyu smiled softly and said, "You still know that you're newly married? How many days have you been away? You haven't sent any message back."
Wu Chengjian smiled and said, " Why , are you angry?"
Wu Chengjian had already put on his clothes. Ye Youyu hesitated for a moment before saying, "We agreed not to interfere with each other in some matters, but I am the Third Young Master's Madam after all. If I don't know your whereabouts, I sometimes don't know how to explain it to the Master and the Eldest Sister-in-law."
Wu Chengjian hesitated for a moment, and finally said, "The East India Company is messing with me."
Ye Youyu was stunned. This was the first time Wu Chengjian talked to him about the business after they got married.
"Besides that, there is another big concern in the group." Wu Chengjian said, "I originally went to Huachahao to relax, but Sanniang said something that spoiled the mood, so I went to Shenxianzhou in a rage and drank all night. I went to the South China Sea the next day."
Ye Youyu hummed and whispered, "Is there anything I can help with?"
Wu Chengjian said: "As long as it can reduce my other troubles, it has helped me."
Ye Youyu said: "Okay."
