Volume 2: Eagle vs. Dragon Chapter 65: Closing the Warehouse
After Ou Jiafu left, Wu Chengjian asked Zhou Yijin, "Are you ready?"
Zhou Yijin said: "I have prepared three obvious clues and three hidden clues. I will start to introduce them the day after tomorrow. I am sure that no one will be able to figure them out."
Wu Chengjian said: "During this period of time, I have screened and screened the people who have access to the secret warehouse. Logically, the news should not have leaked out. I have made such complicated preparations just in case."
Zhou Yijin said, "How come you were smart all your life and suddenly became stupid? No matter how you filter it, the news will definitely leak out."
Wu Chengjian asked, "How did it leak?"
Zhou Yijin said: "It doesn't have to leak from Yihe Bank. It has to leak from Guangdong Customs, Jishan Prefecture, and the buyer. With so many links, who knows if any of them has Cai Shiwen's spies."
Wu Chengjian slapped his head and said, "Oh, I'm confused!"
Zhou Yijin said: "So this news must have leaked. The time of shipment and receipt was leaked , and then from the clues, we can guess 30% to 40% of the route of the shipment."
While they were discussing this, Cai Shiwen entered Cai Qinghua's room at night and reported: "Master Cai, they are going to take action! The day after tomorrow. They didn't specify the place, probably so that Yihehang can arrange it."
Cai Qinghua pondered for a moment and said, "Has any information leaked from Yihe Bank?"
Cai Shiwen said, "It's very difficult. On the surface, Wu Chengjian seems to be living a life of debauchery in Shenxian Island all day long, but in fact, he has put a lot of effort into his business. During this period of time, he has made it so that no one can get in."
"In that case, the other party will definitely arrange all kinds of real and fake things the day after tomorrow." Cai Qinghua said with a smile: "My disciple, I know it best. At that time, there will be a mixture of real and fake things, so that you can't figure out which line is real and which line is fake. If you think that the hidden line is the real one, maybe the bright line is where the prize is. But if you think the prize is on the bright line, then the hidden line is the real one."
Cai Shiwen asked, "What should we do if this happens? Should we send more people to keep an eye on them all?"
Cai Qinghua said: "No matter how many people we have, we can't guarantee that we won't miss anything. We won't watch any of them anymore."
Cai Shiwen was stunned.
Cai Qinghua said with a smile: "My disciple made me suffer a loss when he was fifteen, and he was even better than me when he was eighteen. If I try to play tricks with him, I will fall into the mud. So this time we will not play tricks with him, but use the most brutal method to defeat him."
Cai Shiwen said, "Please give me some advice, Master Cai."
"One force can defeat ten skills!" Cai Qinghua said calmly, "Do you think I didn't take action for so long just to wait for them to show their weakness? Haha, I was waiting for that 'one force' to come."
Cai Shiwen didn't quite understand what he said, and Cai Qinghua didn't want to explain, so he waved his hand and said, "You don't have to wait until the day after tomorrow. Tomorrow morning, you will go to the gate of the Guangdong-Guangxi Governor's Office and report that Yihehang is buying and selling prohibited items."
On the second day, Ou Jiafu was arranging the transportation of the red goods. He had considered every detail carefully to make sure that there would be no flaws in this trip. Just when he had arranged everything properly, there was a sudden commotion outside.
Ou Jiafu shouted, "What's going on? This is a very important warehouse, who is making trouble?"
Then someone ran in and shouted, "Manager Ou, it's bad, the government has come and blocked our front and back doors!"
Ou Jiafu was surprised and asked, "What government office? Nanhai County? Or Guangdong Customs?"
The area around Xiguan and Baietan should be under the jurisdiction of Nanhai County in terms of territory, while the area around the Thirteen Hongs that protect merchants should be under the jurisdiction of the Guangdong Customs in terms of rights and responsibilities, so Ou Jiafu pointed out these two at once.
"Neither. It seems that he is an official sent by Guangzhou Prefecture."
Ou Jiafu was even more shocked and thought to himself, "Something is going to happen!"
Guangzhou is a magical place with various forces intertwined, especially in the Xiguan and Baietan areas. Don't underestimate those small squad leaders, clerks, county magistrates, etc. They may look insignificant, but behind them may be someone from the royal family. Therefore, all government offices have always tried their best to follow the rules to avoid getting into trouble.
Although Guangzhou Prefecture is a large provincial capital, it is against the rules to bypass Nanhai County and directly interfere in local affairs.
Ou Jiafu immediately said: "Go and tell Officer Hao!"
At this time, the front and back doors were blocked, so a nimble fellow climbed over the wall and sneaked out. He wiped his sweat as soon as he came out - because he immediately saw countless militiamen running over, almost one man every ten steps, surrounding the entire warehouse of Yihehang.
The clerk was shocked and hurried to report the news. Wu Chengjian would not return to Henan Island in the next two days. Zhou Yijin stayed in the company while he stayed in Shenxianzhou. Zhou Yijin received the news and his eyebrows jumped. He thought it came so fast! He hurriedly called for two people, one to go to Shenxianzhou to tell Haoguan, and the other to go to Nanhai County to find Lao Zhou.
Inside the warehouse, Ou Jiafu hurriedly ordered people to seal the secret warehouse, and then he brought people to block the warehouse gate.
The Guangzhou government servants were about to enter the gate, but fortunately they were stopped by the gatekeeper. Ou Jiafu brought his servants and ordered them to move things to block the door. "No matter what happens, don't let anyone in!"
Then he brought people forward to question them.
According to common sense, "the people should not fight against the officials", but the merchants of the Thirteen Hongs were "imperial merchants" with their roots going straight to Beijing, so as long as the boss did not lose power, they were not afraid or shrink back when facing local officials.
At this time, there were dozens of guys in the warehouse. Ou Jiafu led his men forward and shouted, "Who are you from? How dare you be so presumptuous here? Do you know where this is?"
The person leading the way was a criminal secretary from the Guangzhou government office. He held up a signature and said with a smile, "The governor has issued an order to seal up Yihe Bank."
Ou Jiafu did not even ask the reason for the closure, but sneered, "Our Yihe Bank is under the jurisdiction of the Guangdong Customs and Nanhai County. When will it be the turn of the Guangzhou government to make decisions?"
The criminal secretary had been in Guangzhou for a long time and knew how deep the waters in the Thirteen Hongs were. He was acting on orders, but he didn't want to offend anyone. He just smiled and said, "I am only here to seal it up. Before the matter is investigated, you should all stay away."
At this time, more and more people came to Wei Yihehang. I was afraid that not only people from Guangzhou Prefecture, but also people from Panyu County had been transferred here.
However, Ou Jiafu and his men blocked the door and did not let anyone in. The militiamen and yamen runners who surrounded the Yihe warehouse had no intention of breaking down the door - everyone was waiting for the arrival of the person who truly had the power to make the decision.
At this time, Shenxianzhou also received the news, and everyone was surprised.
Qiu Ling thought to herself, "Is something going to happen again?" She looked at Wu Chengjian and then at Foshan Chen.
Yu Lian'er was serving tea to Wu Chengjian when she also froze.
But Wu Chengjian stretched his legs and said with a smile, "Someone is itching again."
Chen Dao from Foshan: “Do you want to go and have a look?”
Wu Chengjian smiled and said, "No hurry. Let's have another drink."
Foshan Chen smiled and said, "Okay."
Hua Niang and Gui Nu of Shenxianzhou saw that Wu Chengjian didn't even come downstairs and only sent Wu Qi downstairs, so they thought it shouldn't be a big deal.
All kinds of news on the shore spread very quickly, and people in various government offices kept selling intelligence. Zhou Yijin had a general understanding of what happened during a meal. He knew that Cai Shiwen broke into the Governor-General's Mansion of Guangdong and Guangxi at dawn today. He didn't know what happened inside. After that, an order was sent to Guangzhou Prefecture. The Guangzhou prefect immediately signed and dispatched officers to block the front and back doors of the warehouse of Yihehang. At the same time, he urgently dispatched militiamen to surround the warehouse, and ordered the government officers and militiamen of Panyu County to rush to Baietan for reinforcement.
Zhou Yijin thought that the Guangzhou government's action was so swift that the troops arrived before the news leaked out. This must have been communicated beforehand. He couldn't help but think: "The prefect has either been subdued by Governor Zhu, or he has secretly surrendered to Governor Zhu after seeing Emperor Jiaqing ascend the throne."
After these things were understood, Yihe Bank was surrounded by troops from Guangzhou Prefecture and Panyu County. The whole Xiguan Street was in an uproar. Some long-time businessmen couldn't help but shake their heads and said, "The Wu family has had bad luck in the past two years! It was like that last year, and it's like that again this year."
But someone nearby said, "If something goes wrong, my wealth will double. This is a bad year, so I'd better give me a few more years of trouble."
The old businessman said, "No matter what, this is a troubled time. It's better to have less trouble like this. Isn't it better for everyone to do business in peace? Why do we have to go through so much trouble all the time?"
When Wu Qi met Zhou Yijin, new news had just been sold from the Guangdong and Guangxi Governor's Office. Although Zhu Gui had spent a lot of effort to rectify the Governor's Office, money was a powerful motivator and there were always people who would take risks for the huge sums of money. However, what happened in the Governor's Office came first, and what happened in Guangzhou Prefecture came later. But now the news from Guangzhou Prefecture came first, and the news from the Governor's Office came later. It could be said that Zhu Gui had done a good job in rectifying his office.
According to the news that came out early this morning, it was said that Yihehang was buying and selling prohibited items, and now the prohibited items are in Yihehang's warehouse. Governor Zhu was furious when he heard the news, and immediately ordered the Guangzhou government to investigate the matter strictly.
Wu Qi listened to the whole thing and couldn't help but say, "Governor Zhu ordered a strict investigation, but he didn't order the Guangdong Customs or Nanhai County, but ordered Guangzhou Prefecture. He has been here for almost a year, but he still doesn't understand what's going on."
Zhou Yijin said: "It's not that I don't understand the business, it's that I already understand it very well."
In fact, Wu Qi knew it very well in his mind - if Zhu Gui really asked the Guangdong Customs or Nanhai County to handle this matter, Yihehang would definitely know about it before the officials even leave the house.
"Master Zhou, what should we do now?"
Zhou Yijin said, "The Guangzhou government's criminal records are still quite polite now, but when the people from the Governor's Office arrive, it won't be so easy to talk to them. I'd better go there. Ou Jiafu can't stop my master. In addition, the Guangdong Customs should have heard the news, but we still have to make a formal request. You go and inform Master Ci to send someone to guard the gate of the Guangdong Customs Supervisory Office. If the warehouse can't stop them, we can only ask Master Jishan to come to the rescue."
Wu Qi was shocked and said, "This... to investigate a prohibited item, Master Jishan has to come in person to take charge?"
"Prohibited items... hehe!" Zhou Yijin said calmly: "This matter... is much more serious than you can imagine!"
