Volume 2: Eagle vs. Dragon Chapter 64: Mr. Liu San is missing
After Mr. Liu Sanye left, Wu Chengjian said, "I'll take over the Tiejinchi business. You don't have to worry about it until the ship enters the port. Take care of the other business first."
Although the foreign tea business was coming to an end, the sundries and foreign goods business had just begun. Among the Wu family's major businesses, the in-house tea business had the simplest source and the highest profit, followed by the foreign tea business. The sundries business was more complicated than the previous two combined. As for the purchase and shipment of foreign goods, the complexity was no less than that of the sundries business.
Last year, the Wu family just swallowed up half of the Xie family and exchanged many industries of the Ye family. There were groceries to be stored and exported, and new foreign goods to be introduced and sold domestically. There were all kinds of things to deal with, which were more complicated than in previous years. There were many matters that still needed to be adjusted. These transactional matters were easy to make mistakes even if there were no major accidents like this, so Wu Chengjian asked the six shopkeepers to focus on this first.
After the meeting at Shanggong Garden was over, Wu Chengjian returned to Ritianju. At this time, Ye Youyu's belly was already showing a little. She came out and helped Wu Chengjian change his clothes. She asked, "I heard that there was another accident with our tea?"
The Wu family's original tea had an accident again, and the news spread throughout Xiguan in less than half a day. The whole family in Wujiayuan also knew about it.
Wu Chengjian said: "Don't worry about these things, just take good care of your baby."
"I know. I won't interfere in official matters." Ye Youyu said, "But there are some things you need to tell me. Only after you tell me can I feel at ease."
Wu Chengjian pondered for a moment and said, "This matter is actually not a big deal. Don't worry, I can handle it."
Ye Youyu hummed and didn't ask any more questions.
That night, Wu Chengjian couldn't sleep well. In the middle of the night, someone suddenly broke into Wu Garden, followed by Wu Qi, who hurriedly entered and knocked on the door.
Wu Chengjian lifted the mosquito net and asked, "What's wrong?"
Wu Qi said from outside: "Officer Hao, it's bad, Mr. Liu San's speedboat sank in Lingdingyang."
Ye Youyu felt a sinking feeling in his heart when he heard this.
"What!" Wu Chengjian ran out without even having time to put on his coat: "What's going on?"
Wu Qi said, "I heard that Mr. Liu San's ship sank in Lingdingyang. I don't know if it was an accident or man-made. The people from Hongmen went out to sea to search and rescue, and Brother Junba also went there."
Wu Chengjian said bitterly: "Good fortune never comes alone, but misfortune never comes alone!"
She went back to the inner room, pulled on some clothes, and was about to go out, but she stopped and said to Ye Youyu, "The most important thing for you now is to take care of the baby, okay? No matter what happens, Yi Jin and I can handle it."
Ye Youyu said, "Don't worry, I know what's important and what's not." She was halfway inside the quilt, touching her belly and said, "This is the most important thing."
Wu Chengjian nodded, and then went with Wu Qi.
Wu Chengjian ran all the way to Baietan. It was not yet dawn, but the news had already spread, and even Ou Jiafu came.
Wu Chengjian saw Liu Sanye's junior Huang Chong on the shore and asked, "How is it? Did you find my brother Liu San?"
Huang Chong said: "Not yet."
Wu Chengjian said, "Send out all the boats that Yihehang can sail, send out all the people that can be sent out, and stop unloading and loading the cargo. Third brother's life is the most important thing."
Many brothers of the Hongmen gathered on the shore. After hearing his two sentences, the news that Tie Jinchi had detained the Wu family's goods had spread. Everyone knew that the batch of goods was of great importance to the Wu family, but when they saw that Wu Chengjian asked about the person first and not the goods, they felt relieved and thought that Mr. Liu Sanye had made the right friend.
This commotion revealed Wu Chengjian's strength. Although there were many Hongmen brothers, they still had to rely on Haoguan when it came to matters on the water. Wu Chengjian not only sent out ships from his own company, but also borrowed ships from the Ye, Pan, Liang, Ma, and Lu families. He also mobilized the men from the Tanka families. Hundreds of large and small ships and thousands of people were sent out to search the Lingdingyang on a large scale .
The search lasted until noon of the second day, but there was still no trace of him - Master Liu San was not traveling alone in his boat to look for Tie Jinchi this time. There was another boat following him. It was dark after the boat passed Shajiao. The boatman suggested finding a place to rest for the night and continue their journey . As a result, not long after passing Shajiao, the boat in front went too fast and soon lost sight of him. The boat following behind him circled in the Lingdingyang and thought something big was going to happen, so he hurried to report.
Wen Tianxiang has a poem that says: "I speak of fear at the Huangfeng Beach and sigh of loneliness in the Lingding Ocean" - the Lingding Ocean is located at the mouth of the Pearl River. The water surface is vast and the ships feel lonely in it. Finding a sunken ship here is like looking for a needle in a haystack. The boatmen drifted on the sea everywhere. The Hongmen brothers landed in Xin'an County in the east and Xiangshan County in the west and searched for clues along the coast. The people of Yihexing landed on several small islands, but they searched for three days and still found nothing.
Everyone knew that Mr. Liu San had little chance of survival this time. But Wu Chengjian and the Hongmen brothers still refused to give up.
Tie Jinchi had also sent people to inquire and found out that Master Liu San had indeed never been to his water stronghold, so he was certain that an accident had indeed occurred on the way. However, after all, this incident was caused by him, so the Hongmen brothers had no place to vent their anger and all took it out on him. Tie Jinchi knew that he had caused a big disaster and closed the gate of the water stronghold tightly - but at the moment everyone was busy looking for Master Liu San. Once Hongmen decided to retaliate, his small water stronghold could not withstand the anger of the entire Hongmen.
Because everyone was anxious to search for Master Liu, the matter of Yihehang's own tea was temporarily put on hold. Although Manager Liu was anxious, it was unclear whether Master Liu was alive or dead at that time, so he couldn't say anything for the first three or four days. On the fifth day, he finally couldn't help but come to Wu Chengjian and said, "Master Liu's matter is indeed a great misfortune, but the matter of our own tea can't be delayed. If it is delayed, the livelihoods of many of Yihehang's employees will be in jeopardy, and even the Hongmen will suffer a lot of losses."
Hongmen has no share in Benjia Tea, but if Benjia Tea is lost, Yihe Bank will at least be seriously damaged if it does not collapse. If Yihe Bank is damaged, it will naturally affect other businesses and settlements.
However, things were really difficult to deal with at this time - Tie Jin Chi was a branch of the Hongmen, and Liu Sanye had already taken over the matter, so the Hongmen could not be avoided to resolve this matter.
Before, he could pay the money as Liu Dazhang said, but now he couldn't show weakness - there was news in the Hongmen that the brothers wanted to catch Tie Jinchi and cut him into pieces! Tie Jinchi knew that he had indirectly made a big mistake, so he kept the tea to protect himself, and even sent someone to privately tell Wu Chengjian that he would only hand over the tea if Wu Chengjian saved his life.
If Wu Chengjian went to Tie Jinchi in private to show weakness, pay money and act as a guarantor in order to get the tea back at this time, the brothers of the Hongmen would think that Wu Chengjian was greedy and disloyal, that he looked down on the promise made by Liu Sanye before the accident, that he valued the goods more than Liu Sanye's life, and that he was ruining the way of the underworld.
Besides, Wu Chengjian couldn't guarantee it now. Since he was a close friend of Liu Sanye, how could he let the person who killed Liu Sanye go just for money? At this time, the shopkeepers of Yihehang began to understand Liu Bei's anger and helplessness after Guan Gong lost Jingzhou.
But if the Hongmen were really allowed to arrest people in Shangshui Village, would Tie Jinchi surrender? At that time, in addition to strict defense, they would definitely use tea as a threat. If the situation develops to that point, Yihe Bank will only be more passive. If they are not careful, the batch of tea may be burned.
Therefore, Wu Chengjian shook his head repeatedly.
Thousands of Jianghu men were simple-minded and passionate. They valued face and loyalty in everything. It was difficult to explain the truth to them when they were calm and peaceful, especially as an "outsider". Only the big bosses in the sect could think calmly and consider the pros and cons, and pressure thousands of Jianghu men to make a more rational choice. But now that Liu Sanye was in trouble and everyone said that Tie Jinchi must be severely punished, no one dared to come out and offend the public anger at this time.
Shopkeeper Wu Wu said, "Why don't we discuss this with the officers and soldiers and have them put pressure on them and suppress the bandits?"
Shopkeeper Yao Si said, "That would give us another handle to blackmail us. Besides, the soldiers are not always careful. Once they attack the water fort, they won't care whether our tea is lost or not."
So after all this talk, things are even more difficult than before.
Just at this time, Milton sent someone to the door and asked Wu Chengjian if he needed his help, but Wu Chengjian politely declined.
Manager Liu was puzzled and asked, "It's rare that Mr. Milton is willing to help, why doesn't Haoguan agree? Letting the foreign ghosts handle this matter, without involving the Hongmen or the government, is the best choice."
Wu Chengjian did not want to mention the opium issue, but said ambiguously: "The foreign devils are so attentive, how can they be kind? Milton never does business at a loss. If he helps me with this today, he will definitely repay me with interest in the future."
Although he did not make his words more clearly, the six shopkeepers actually accepted this truth.
Ou Jiafu asked: "What should we do now?"
Wu Chengjian said, "I still say the same thing. You guys try to take care of the daily affairs and don't let me have any worries. I will handle this sudden incident. You all go and do your work."
The six shopkeepers all heard that Hao Guan had no good solution for the time being, and they were helpless.
Just when the entire Yihe Bank was in a state of panic, Hubuta suddenly came to visit and said, "The contact person is here. You should prepare to deliver the goods the day after tomorrow night."
After Hubuta left, Wu Chengjian said to Zhou Yijin, "These things can be dealt with at once, but once you come, they will all come together."
Zhou Yijin said: "There is nothing we can do about it, let's proceed according to the plan."
Wu Chengjian called Ou Jiafu and said, "There is a batch of red goods in the secret warehouse, which is a batch of important goods. The day after tomorrow at noon, when there are many people, take your capable assistants and treat it as ordinary goods and take it to Xu Jiu's house next to Zhenhai Tower for delivery. Remember to be tight inside and loose outside, so that people don't know that you are transporting important goods, but we ourselves must be careful."
He also secretly notified Captain Zhou and asked him to bring people to help keep an eye on Ou Jiafu along the way the day after tomorrow at noon.
In terms of seniority, Ou Jiafu is not as good as the great shopkeeper Liu, and in terms of experience, he is not as good as the fourth shopkeeper Yao, but everyone knows that he is now the most trusted one among the six shopkeepers. Ou Jiafu himself is also aware of this. Seeing that Wu Chengjian was so cautious, he must have been entrusted with a heavy responsibility, so he immediately became fully alert and prepared for this matter.
