Volume 2: Eagle vs. Dragon Chapter 71: Equity in the East India Company
Wu Chengjian asked, "Who is it?"
Short-legged Charlie said, "One is an American I met on the road, his name is John. The other is Lord Ellot's special envoy. Lord Ellot was very interested after learning about the situation in the Far East and wanted to discuss a big business with Hao Guan."
Of course, due to the delay in information caused by space barriers, what Lord Ellot knew about the "Situation in the Far East" was only the situation last year at most.
"Lord Ellot?" Wu Chengjian asked, "The family of the original shareholders of the East India Company?"
"Yes, Hao Guan, you still remember." Short-legged Charlie said, "He sent someone to follow me this time just to ask Hao Guan if he is interested in the shares of the East India Company."
Wu Chengjian laughed when he heard it, but he just laughed and didn't say anything.
Short-legged Charlie said, "I mentioned this to you last time, Hao Guan. The founders of the East India Company obtained the royal charter from Her Majesty the Queen of the British Empire more than a hundred years ago and established the East India Company. Over the past hundred years, the company's shareholders have changed a lot, and Lord Ellott is one of the original shareholder families that has not changed since the company was founded. After more than a hundred years of development, the shares he holds have become an immeasurable wealth."
Wu Chengjian said: "The equity itself is indeed a huge fortune, but people in his position have a large income and even greater expenses."
Short-legged Charlie smiled, "Yes, so in the past ten years, his family has been in a state of not making ends meet. There are people in London who keep trying to buy his shares, but the prices they offer are not satisfactory to him. In addition, if the shares are really sold, the lord will lose his influence on the East India Company, and even his political reputation will be affected, which may weaken his voice in the House of Lords. So although Lord Ellot has been living a tight life over the years, he has been holding on to his dry wallet. Knowing that he heard what I told him about Hao Guan's situation, he suddenly became happy. Hao Guan, I think this cooperation can go ahead!"
Wu Chengjian nodded: "What does he think?"
Short-legged Charlie said: "He hopes to sign a secret transfer agreement of the East India Company's shares and a share agency agreement with Hao Guan."
Wu Chengjian understood immediately: "That is, he sells the shares to me, but the transaction will not be made public for the time being. At the same time, he will continue to represent my shareholder rights in the East India Company. In this way, his dignity and his political future in the House of Lords will be preserved."
"Yes," Short-legged Charlie said, "Haoguan, you are really smart. You are really the most internationally minded businessman in Guangzhou - no! In China! I understand it as soon as I hear it."
Wu Chengjian said: "Under normal circumstances, I can't go to London, and I really need a British gentleman to be my agent in the East India Company. So Lord Ellot's proposal is in my interest."
Short-legged Charlie nodded repeatedly.
"Money is not a problem." Wu Chengjian said, "But Charlie, if I remember correctly, there are at least dozens or even hundreds of shareholders in the East India Company. Lord Ellot's small stake is not enough to attract me."
"Of course there are more," Short-legged Charlie said with a smile, "Like Lord Ellot, he is not the only shareholder who is in financial trouble. It all depends on how much money Hao Guan can come up with."
Wu Chengjian smiled and said, "Can you find all the shareholders who are in similar trouble and negotiate the terms of sale with them? I didn't realize, Charlie, that you have such a strong network of contacts in London."
"Oh, Officer Hao, you think too highly of me. I'm just a sailor. I was able to hook up with Lord Ellot because of the large amount of money you gave me. How could I have such a wide network of contacts in London's upper class?" Short-legged Charlie said, "But I can't do that, but Lord Ellot can. There is a Chinese idiom: Birds of a feather flock together. These powerful and financially troubled upper-class families are all connected to each other. What's more, the lord is the original shareholder family. After more than a hundred years of accumulated connections, the chain of relationships is very large."
Wu Chengjian smiled and said, "So, Lord Ellot is still willing to be my general agent in London, right? He will act as the middleman in London and use similar terms to secretly acquire the shares of these East India Companies, so that these old shareholders will become my equity agents in the East India Companies, and then Lord Ellot will become the head of these equity agents."
"Yes, yes," said Short-legged Charlie.
"He really had a good plan," Wu Chengjian said. "In this way, he not only got money to help him get out of his financial difficulties, but also controlled many equity agents, forming an immeasurable political potential."
"Haha!" Short-legged Charlie said with a smile, "I knew I couldn't hide it from Officer Hao."
"It's normal for him to want these." Wu Chengjian said : "I am also willing to help him seize power, but the benefits and responsibilities must be equal. I think Lord Ellot should be mentally prepared for this. You should also tell him that Dongfang Haoguan is not a fool who allows him to scheme against him."
"What Hao Guan said is right," Short-legged Charlie stood up and saluted in a gentlemanly manner. "I think Lord Ellot is also willing to establish a long-term and mutually beneficial cooperative relationship with a wise oriental tycoon."
Wu Chengjian nodded: "Very good, very good, then we can discuss this business . As for that John, who is he?"
"That? To use a Chinese phrase, he is just a poor man, not important. If Hao Guan is free, it would be good to meet him and ask about the situation in the United States."
After Wu Qi sent Short-legged Charlie out, he came back and said, "Officer Hao, this is good news, right?"
"Well, good news, very good news." Wu Chengjian said.
Wu Qi said: "Can you help to break this dilemma?"
"Of course not." Wu Chengjian said, "That's another battlefield, another war. If I can succeed, then I may have a chance to influence London remotely and prevent opium from flowing into China from the source."
Wu Qi was stunned.
"But if I can't pass this hurdle, then Lord Ellot's ambitions and expectations..." Wu Chengjian said, "I'm afraid they will all be in vain."
Cai Qinghua spent half a night and most of the morning searching the warehouse of Tonghe Bank. Zhu Gui then assigned him more people, splitting them into two groups: one led by Cai Qinghua and the other led by Zhu Qing, to search the warehouses of the Lu and Cai families. The Lu family had always worked for the Guangdong-Guangxi Governor's Office, and the Cai family had recently surrendered, but Zhu Gui's move was to tell everyone that he was selfless.
The warehouses of the Lu and Cai families were not small, and a careful inspection would take a lot of time. Cai Qinghua didn't even have time to eat lunch. He just ate two bites of steamed buns with a bowl of hot water, and then devoted himself to the search and suppression. Zhu Gui suppressed Jishan and forcibly sent troops to surround the entire Thirteen Factories, resulting in the interruption of Guangzhou's foreign trade that day. This not only broke the "rules", but also affected the smooth progress of trade in the entire region. The consequences are difficult to estimate.
Cai Qinghua was well aware of the huge political pressure the owner would have to bear for doing this, so he had to search out that batch of "hot goods".
After Lu and Cai finished their search, it was the Ye family's turn.
Ye Dalin had been restless at home since he got the news last night. Seeing Zhou Yijin's successive moves, including Hutabu and even Jishan, he still couldn't stop the anger of the Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi. Originally, everyone thought that the incident was targeting Yihehang, so they just watched the excitement. However, after thousands of soldiers suddenly surrounded the warehouse of the Thirteenth Bank, the situation took a turn for the worse, and it was too late for Ye Dalin to do anything.
Ma had been angry with Ye Dalin for a while, but they had been married for most of their lives after all. She knew what happened to Ye Dalin and how serious it was earlier than anyone else. She walked into the study and saw him trembling in panic on the recliner, so she asked, "Boss, is this matter related to our Ye family?"
"Wu Chengjian, this black-hearted, vicious bastard!" Ye Dalin screamed, "Not long after Youyu got married, he asked for our Xingchenghang secret warehouse!"
Ma was startled and asked, "What does he use it for?"
“I don’t know!” Ye Dalin said, “He sealed it up after borrowing it. Borrowing a place to store something is not a big deal—” His tone suddenly rose: “Who knew he would put a disaster here! Lost property in the palace, lost property in the palace… He actually put the stolen property in our place… This is punishable by death!”
Ma was horrified and said, "Boss, this...is there any other way?"
"What else can we do?" Ye Dalin said, "The entire Thirteenth Floor is under surveillance now. Thousands of soldiers and tens of thousands of eyes are watching us. What else can we do?"
Ma went out for a while, sent the two confidants outside the door away, and then came back and whispered, "I remember that there is a secret passage in our warehouse."
"It's useless!" Ye Dalin said, "That secret passage doesn't lead to the secret warehouse. If not for this, I would have asked Ye Zhong to do it long ago."
At this moment, Ma also started to cry: "What should we do now?" She pointed in the direction of Yingyang Garden and cursed: "I knew it, I knew it! That vixen mother and daughter will not bring anything good to our Ye family! Boss, let's not talk about anything else, just take that bitch down and vent our anger first!"
"Shut up!" Seeing the disaster coming, his wife still didn't forget the quarrel at home. Ye Dalin said with a dark face: "If I die this time, you can do whatever you want to Ah Liu. But before the dust settles, no one should touch Yingyang Garden."
