Volume 2: Eagle vs. Dragon Chapter 59: Fundraising for Shipbuilding
After his daughter and son-in-law left, Ye Dalin asked his sons to arrange the gold screen and Ru kiln porcelain in the study. Then he opened the painting "Almighty God" and held it in his hands. He was afraid that his sweaty palms would damage the paper, so he quickly asked someone to bring him gloves to put on. Then he slowly admired it.
Ma came in and looked at the screen, which was indeed made of real gold. She looked at the Ru porcelain again and couldn't tell whether it was good or bad. Finally, her eyes fell on the calligraphy and she sneered, "It doesn't even have a signature, and I don't know if it's real or fake, but you treasure it so much."
Ye Dalin seemed not to have seen her come in, and laughed, "The paper is from the palace, the ink is the imperial ink, and the font is right, so people only believe it 50%. This calligraphy was brought by Hao Guan, and he is now the favorite of He Zhongtang. Since it came from his hands, people only believe it 70%. This calligraphy is the last to appear after the golden screen and Ru kiln porcelain. The first two things worth a million gold are real, so how can the latter be fake? People only believe it 90%."
Ma said: "Then there is still a possibility that it is fake."
"Even if it's fake, so what." Ye Dalin said, "As long as everyone in Xiguan knows that I, Ye Dalin, may have a calligraphy work by He Zhongtang, and I was able to get this calligraphy work because I responded to He Zhongtang's call to donate money and rice to the disaster-stricken areas in Gansu. Everyone just needs to know this. Haha, haha."
At this point, he finally put the calligraphy away and placed it on the top of the antique shelf. He smiled and said, "As long as everyone in Guangzhou knows that I, Ye Dalin, will be He Zhongtang's man from now on, then our Ye family will be smooth sailing and as stable as Mount Tai in Guangzhou."
The insurance merchants in the Thirteen Hongs were never afraid of making little money, but they were most afraid of making unstable money. Now that they could cling to an elephant-like thigh, they could rest assured in the future.
Ma snorted, slammed the door and left.
Ye Dalin ignored her and told Ye Duofu, "Go, pick two more maids for Yingyang Garden, pick the better ones, and give Sixth Aunt an advance of 2,000 taels of silver, and make a set of jewelry to go with her hair. From now on, whatever grains, fish, meat, vegetables, fruits, etc. that the Madam has in her room, prepare a portion for Yingyang Garden."
Ye Duofu thought to himself, "I didn't expect that the Sixth Concubine could still turn things around with the help of her daughter when she was old." He replied, "Yes."
After Ye Duofu left, Ye Dalin said to his sons Ye Haojia, Ye Haoye and others, "I know you all had problems with Youyu before, but we are grown men, and making a fortune is the most important thing. In the future, stay out of the inner house and hang out more with Haoguan. This kid has a bright future, and as long as you learn a little bit, my Ye family will have no worries about having no successors."
Let’s not talk about Ye Dalin scolding his wife and children. Instead, the Wu family returned to the Wu residence. When no one was around, Ye Youyu suddenly said, “Thank you…for today.”
Wu Chengjian said: "Hmm?"
Ye Youyu said: "After what you did today, you didn't just give my mother face. I know that from now on, as long as the Wu family's influence remains, my mother will live a good life in the Ye family."
Wu Chengjian smiled and said, "Isn't this the agreement between us?"
Ye Youyu said: "Although it is an agreement, I am still very grateful that you can do this today. From now on, whatever you ask me to do, I will not only do my best, but also do it willingly."
Wu Chengjian smiled and said, "Anything is fine?"
Ye Youyu said, "Yes, whether you want to perform the Zhougong ritual or to continue the family line, I am willing to do it. Although it is an agreement, from the moment you knelt down for my mother... I, I will be grateful to you for the rest of my life."
Wu Chengjian wanted to take the opportunity to say a few teasing words, but seeing Ye Youyu's true feelings, those frivolous words could not come out of his mouth, and he blurted out: "I will take you to see her every year in the future."
Ye Youyu asked: "Ah?"
Wu Chengjian said, "From now on, I will take you to see your mother on the second day of every Chinese New Year. Well, it doesn't mean that you two can only see each other once a year. I mean... you understand."
Ye Youyu understood what he meant very well. Bringing her back to her parents' home every year was not just a way to get together, but also a ritual to support the Xu family and allow her to live a good life in the Ye family for a year.
Ye Youyu said: "You... weren't trying to coax me?"
Wu Chengjian said: "Of course I'm telling the truth."
Ye Youyu lost her composure for a moment and threw herself into his arms, crying.
Wu Chengjian had always told Zhou Yijin that this little girl was full of schemes, but he never thought that she would cry like this for such a thing. He was caught off guard for a moment and froze for a moment, but his hands naturally hugged her.
But he heard Ye Youyu's voice almost vibrating from his chest: "Thank you... Thank you..."
Manqian Penglai.
Zhou Yijin was fishing, while Wu Chengjian was watching him fishing in a daze.
Suddenly, Wu Chengjian said, "Yijin, am I possessed by a demon?"
Zhou Yijin asked: "What kind of demon is this?"
"Didn't you listen to me?" Wu Chengjian said, "When she was crying in my arms, I almost wanted to tell her a lot of things . Hehe, this little... little girl is really full of calculations! She must have calculated all this before, and calculated all my worries. She is so amazing!"
"Just stop it." Zhou Yijin said, "Is it really okay to say that about your wife?"
"Anyway..." Wu Chengjian said.
Zhou Yijin interrupted: "I don't want to hear you talking nonsense. You've just been too idle lately!" He took out a letter from his arms and said, "Take a look at this. I think after you read it, you won't nag about those boring things in your room anymore."
When Wu Chengjian opened the envelope, his face changed suddenly.
Zhou Yijin said: "These are the days before the Chinese New Year. From some changes in the palace and some signs of palace purchases, it can be seen that...if nothing unexpected happens, the new year will be around the corner, maybe even on the first day of the first lunar month."
Since the founding of the Qing Dynasty, each emperor has only used one reign title. Changing the reign title means changing the emperor, which is also called internal abdication!
All signs indicate that Emperor Qianlong is really going to abdicate.
Originally, if there was a change of emperor in Beijing, people in Guangzhou could still drink wine, eat meat and make money as usual, and the lives of the citizens would not be greatly affected.
The only exception is Shisanhang.
Although the Thirteen Factories are far away in Guangzhou, they are like the second heart of the Forbidden City. Any disturbance in the palace may cause an earthquake in Xiguan Street.
All the wealthy families in Xiguan knew that Jishan was Heshen's man, and the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi who came last year was the teacher of the fifteenth prince Yongyan. In the court, Governor-General Zhu Gui and Heshen and Zhongtang were openly at odds with each other.
Originally, no matter how the two sides fought, Zhu Gui was always at a disadvantage. But if Beijing really abdicated... and the fifteenth prince really ascended the throne...
Then Zhu Gui will become the emperor's teacher!
A new emperor appoints his own ministers!
By then, who knows what else will happen.
Zhou Yijin said, "My master didn't lie. If nothing unexpected happened in Beijing, it might take a month for the official report to arrive in Guangzhou, but the news won't be that late. At the earliest, it will be ten days, at the latest, half a month. I'm afraid Guangzhou will know about it. If Beijing changes, Guangzhou will also be in trouble. There are some things that we have to prepare for early."
According to Guangzhou customs, the fifth day of the first lunar month is the God of Wealth Day, so all businesses, big and small, rush to open for business on this day to get a good omen.
The sound of firecrackers for the opening of the market could be heard throughout the entire Shisanhang Street that day. Some shops here were extremely busy, while others were relatively deserted. The large shops were crowded with customers, and even if they were not really doing business, there were still a lot of people supporting them. The small shops also had their own relatives and friends.
Among the nine major merchants, Pan, Wu and Ye are the most popular, while Cai's family is deserted. Lu, Guan and Huan are somewhere in between the two, not very lively, but not deserted either.
After the market opened, Lu Guanhuan spread the news that he wanted to raise funds to build ships for the Governor's Office. However, when the news came out, few people responded.
After a whole day, he only received five large sums of money and seven or eight perfunctory ones. Cai Qinghua almost slammed the table when he saw this. Suddenly, he pointed at the top and asked, "What is this?"
He was referring to a merchant named Zhou who was listed after Lu, Pan, Liang, and Ma in the response list. After Lu Guanhuan issued the call, Pan Youjie invested a large sum of money. Liang and Ma were Lu Guanhuan's yes-men, and they followed whatever Lu Guanhuan did, so they also invested a large sum of money. But what happened to this merchant named Zhou?
"It's a small business that popped up after the Xie family collapsed last year." Lu Guanhuan said, "It's an outsider, it seems to be from Zhejiang, but it has lived in Guangzhou for a few years. It slowly made a fortune by doing small business. It was not very noticeable at first , but last year it saw the chaos and took advantage of the collapse of the Xie family to do a booming business."
During the great upheaval last year, the big families ate meat and the small families drank soup. In addition, some new merchants took the opportunity to rise, and the Zhou family was one of them.
"He's a man with good vision." Cai Qinghua praised him. Hearing that he was from Zhejiang, he felt a little closer to him, so he said, "I've accepted his money. But... this is still not enough."
Building large ships and a new navy is a bottomless pit. The money raised now is only enough for a start. Responding to the call initiated by Lu Guanhuan and donating money is only the first step. What to do next is to rely on the responding families to continuously fill this bottomless pit. Now Pan Youjie is obviously just giving face to the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi to show that he does not offend them. Liang and Ma are of average strength. In the final analysis, Lu Guanhuan is the only pillar. This will definitely not work.
To accomplish this major event, not only the top five businesses, but at least half of the other businesses in Xiguan Street, big and small, must be mobilized. As the saying goes, there is strength in numbers, and only then will this event be able to be accomplished.
