Volume 2: Eagle vs. Dragon Chapter 93: Showdown
A look of displeasure flashed across Pan Youjie's face.
He stared at the purple clay teapot covered by Zhou Yijin for a long time before he said in a cold tone, "Master Zhou, do you know what you are talking about?"
Zhou Yijin said: "In the past few years, Qi Guan, you have been hiding yourself so well that even though you are the top insurance merchant in the Thirteen Hongs, everyone has almost forgotten your existence. But as long as a person does something, there will be clues revealed. Even if he erases the clues, new clues will be exposed when he erases the traces. This is in line with the saying: If you don't want others to know, don't do it yourself!"
Pan Youjie raised his head and said nothing.
"Originally, we didn't suspect you. After all, we didn't see any signs of you being involved in this whole thing. But..." Zhou Yijin said, "Because you were too clean and tried to distance yourself from the matter, you revealed your true colors."
Pan Youjie sneered softly, as if mocking Zhou Yijin's pretentiousness.
Zhou Yijin was not influenced by him and continued, "Among the Thirteen Hongs, Hao Guan is the one who can see the essence of the Thirteen Hongs very clearly. What is the essence of the Thirteen Hongs?" He knew that Pan Youjie would not say anything, so he answered himself, "The essence of the Thirteen Hongs is that the emperor monopolized the benefits of the people's sea voyages and placed a monopoly business in Guangzhou. Therefore, although the Thirteen Hongs is located in Guangzhou, its roots are in Beijing. It's not that Hao Guan is the only one who sees through this point, but many people have thought of something but did not take further action. Only Hao Guan took action after thinking of it."
Pan Youjie still seemed to have no interest in Zhou Yijin's words.
Zhou Yijin continued, "There are so many merchants in the Thirteen Hongs. Even if most of them occasionally think of the true meaning of the 'Emperor's Southern Treasury', they still only care about the present when doing business. A small number of people can find connections with the Guangdong Customs and the Guangdong-Guangxi Governor's Office, which is already amazing. But Haoguan is different. He made plans in Beijing without any connections. Although the Wu family had no foundation in Beijing at the beginning, he still settled down in Beijing and sent people to the Imperial City to collect various intelligence. With this, he distanced himself from other merchants. The Wu family has been able to rise so rapidly in recent years, which is certainly related to the solid foundation laid by Wu Chengjun, but if Haoguan had not accumulated intelligence in Beijing, when the Wu family faced a major crisis last year, even if Haoguan was smarter than Zhuge Liang and better than Zhang Liang, it would be impossible for him to turn the tables."
Pan Youjie still didn't speak, because Zhou Yijin's words still failed to impress him.
"But Yihe is not the only one among the Thirteen Hongs who can think of this and implement it . There is another insurance company. Not only did they think of this and implement it a long time ago, they also did it earlier than Yihe. This insurance company..." Zhou Yijin's eyes fell on Pan Youjie again: "It's Tonghe Hong, it's the Pan family!"
Pan Youjie smiled lightly, and it was unclear whether this smile was a sign of complacency or a continuation of his mockery of Zhou Yijin for bringing up something that was known to everyone.
Zhou Yijin said, "Tonghehang was established in Beijing earlier than Yihehang. Whether you are in the Forbidden City or the Imperial Household Department, you have deeper connections and wider eyes and ears. If so, then the question is: Did you really not know beforehand that the red goods were stolen goods from the Imperial Household?"
Hearing this, Pan Youjie's smile faded slightly.
Zhou Yijin said, "After Haoguan and I became suspicious of this, we thought further: before Yihehang took over, it was obviously the Cai and Xie families who were doing the selling of stolen goods. So what about before the Cai and Xie families? If the Ministry of Internal Affairs stole imperial items from the palace and sold them in Guangzhou, it was a 'tradition' that existed long before Heshen took over, then who was doing it before Cai Shiwen took over the Thirteen Hongs?"
He looked up at the sky through the hollow window. It was clear without a single cloud. This was not necessarily a good thing, because no clouds meant no rain, and no rain meant drought. The dry climate was comfortable for the wealthy families in Guangzhou, but a long period of no rain could be a disaster for the common people.
Zhou Yijin said, "So, according to common sense, since you, Qi Guan, know the inside story of the red goods, you should have known the cause and effect of this red goods incident through clues - just like Cai Shiwen was still able to infer many things related to the red goods after being kicked out of Heshen. Now the Wu and Ye families have formed an alliance with you as their leader. As the head of the Thirteen Hongs and the chief of the three alliances, you know about this matter, but you don't say a word. Not only did you not say anything, you also pretended that you knew nothing about the whole thing, from beginning to end, as if you had nothing to do with the red goods. It was this point that made Hao Guan and I suspicious of you - because you shouldn't have been so uninvolved in this matter, Qi Guan, am I right?"
Pan Youjie's smile finally disappeared.
Zhou Yijin said: "Once there is a gap in the doubt, the further you think, the more doubts there will be. Since we suspect that you, Qi Guan, have ulterior motives, we naturally have to ask a question based on this suspicion: If the matter is really related to you, then why did you do this? Once you think about this question, everything will suddenly become clear!"
He turned around and faced Pan Youjie: "The reason you want to deal with Hao Guan is the same as the reason Cai Shiwen wanted to deal with Wu Chengjun last year - because Hao Guan threatens you, right?"
Pan Youjie chuckled, and it was unclear whether he was covering up or mocking.
Zhou Yijin said: "Qi Guan, you can still laugh, then it seems that the above words did not touch the depth enough."
Pan Youjie finally spoke, and he said coldly: "If this is all you want to say today, then you can leave."
"Why do you have to chase me away so quickly? I've only said half of what I want to say." Zhou Yijin changed his tone and said, "In fact, Qi Guan, you also knew about the situation last year where the hungry dragon came out of its lair and the beasts shared the food, right? In fact...you were the one who intentionally promoted that situation from the beginning, right?"
Pan Youjie's expression finally became a little unnatural, and then he said coldly: "Master Zhou, in Guangdong, you can eat whatever you want, but you can't say anything you want. If your nonsense gets out, it will ruin the reputation of my Pan family and the friendship between my two families for three generations. If there is no evidence, please take back these two words immediately!"
"Evidence?" Zhou Yijin smiled and said, "Of course there is none. But there are two coincidences that are ready-made."
Pan Youjie said coldly: "What coincidence?"
This was the first time he took the initiative to start a conversation since they met today. Zhou Yijin smiled. "When Yue Hai Jin Ao passed away, you inherited the family business and took charge of Tonghe Bank. Given the status of Tonghe Bank in the Thirteen Hongs, it was normal for you to inherit your father's position. However, the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi and the Supervisor of the Guangdong Customs at that time were relatively conservative and thought that you were too young to control the situation, so the matter was dropped and Cai Shiwen took over. A few years have passed, and you are getting older, while Tonghe Bank has a stronger foundation. Calculating the age, the reasons that prevented you from becoming a general merchant no longer exist. In this case, it is time for you to make a comeback. And just at this time, the incident last year happened. Tell me, is this a coincidence?"
Pan Youjie snorted coldly and said, "If you want to convict me based on this, it's too ridiculous."
"Is it ridiculous?" Zhou Yijin laughed and said, "Based on the situation of the Thirteen Hongs before last autumn, Qi Guan, you have three obstacles to becoming the general merchant.
"The first obstacle is, of course, Cai Shiwen. When your father was in charge of Yuehai Jin'ao, the scale of Wanbao Bank was no match for Tonghe Bank. But after Cai Shiwen became the head merchant, he diversified his business. Not only did his own business continue to grow, but he also formed both open and secret alliances with the Xie and Wu families.
"The Cai and Xie families are an open alliance. They prosper together and suffer together. The two families joining forces are enough to compete with the Pan family. The Cai and Wu families are indirectly married. Although they have not formed a formal alliance, they have always echoed each other at the Thirteen Hongs Merchant Protection Conference. This can be regarded as a secret alliance. The Wu family has always been linked to the Ye family. In addition to Pan Yi's two lackeys, Cai Shiwen's situation at the Thirteen Hongs Merchant Protection Conference is that one person proposed and six families responded. It can be said that it is as stable as Mount Tai. If we compare the industries of the Pan and Cai families alone, the Pan family still far exceeds the Cai family, but in terms of overall power, the Wanbao Bank can no longer be easily shaken."
Pan Youjie said calmly, "What do you mean it can't be moved? It's just a piece of clay chicken or a clay dog - didn't it collapse overnight last year?"
Zhou Yijin ignored his interruption and continued, "The second obstacle for you to return to the Thirteen Hongs is the attitude of the Guangdong Customs Supervisor. During the period of Guangdong Hai Jin Ao, your father acted fairly and justly, and was able to stand up and protect the interests of small and medium-sized merchants and small businesses in the Thirteen Hongs. Therefore, he received strong support from the people below. With a deep foundation, he had the confidence to resist the unreasonable demands of the Guangdong Customs.
"His successor, Cai Shiwen, did not have a strong foundation at the beginning, so he had to use the authority of the Guangdong Customs to intimidate other merchants. Therefore, he was afraid of not doing his best when doing things, and afraid of not flattering when flattering, so he could only squeeze the lower ones to please the higher ones.
"So, in Xiao Baoshang's eyes, your father's reputation is far better than Cai Shiwen's. But in the Supervisory Office, I'm afraid they think Cai Shiwen is more useful than your father. If that's the case, why did the Supervisory Office replace Cai Shiwen, who works on his knees, with Pan Qiguan, who works with airs?"
Pan Youjie said: "It sounds reasonable, but it's all speculation! Master Jishan and I have always had a good relationship."
"Personal relationships are personal relationships, and interests are interests!" Zhou Yijin refuted, but did not continue the debate. Instead, he continued, "Let's talk about the third obstacle for Qi Guan to return to take charge of the Thirteen Hongs. This third obstacle is the rise of the Wu family.
"After the Wu family separated from the Pan family, they formed an open alliance with the Ye family while indirectly forming a secret alliance with the Cai family. The triangle alliance between Wu, Ye and Cai is almost the same as the triangle alliance between Cai, Xie and Wu. The only difference is that when the Cai family is the center, Cai and Xie are the open alliance, while Cai and Wu are the secret alliance. When the Wu family is the center, Wu and Ye are the open alliance, while Wu and Cai are the secret alliance. These two groups, with the Wu family as the intersection, had actually become the largest force in the business protection conference at that time.
"The Wu family is at the most critical intersection. Once the Wu family's business is on the rise, and Hao Guan plays a role again, and reaches an agreement with Cai Shiwen to take turns in power, then even if the higher-ups think that Cai Shiwen has been in the position of general merchant for too long and want him to step down, the successor does not necessarily have to be you, Qi Guan. I'm afraid the possibility of Wu Chengjun taking the position will be higher."
Pan Youjie said: "Chengjun is indeed a talented person, but it's a pity that God is jealous of talents. After he fell ill, I often sighed."
"Whether it's a sigh or a relief, God knows!" Zhou Yijin said, "I only know that if Haoguan hadn't turned the tables last year, the result of this situation would be that the Wu family would be doomed, and the Cai-Xie-Wu and Wu-Ye-Cai triangle alliances would collapse at the same time.
"By then, the Ye family will have no choice but to side with the Pan family, and Xingcheng Bank will once again become a subsidiary of Tonghe Bank. Once the truth of the 'beasts sharing the food' situation is known to everyone, other merchants will also feel grief after seeing the fate of the Wu family, and will develop fear, disgust and fear of Cai Shiwen. The Pan family alone can already compete with Cai and Xie. If you can get the Ye family as your entourage, and then stir up the dissatisfaction of other families in the Thirteen Banks towards Cai and Xie, then when you face Cai Shiwen again, you will have an absolute chance of winning."
At this point, Zhou Yijin said, "So if things turn out like that, who will benefit the most in the end? Not the Cai family, not the Xie family, not the Lu family, it can only be the Pan family, it is Tonghe Bank, it is you, Pan Qi Guan! And this is the second coincidence I was going to talk about just now."
This time, Pan Youjie did not speak, but this time of silence seemed subtly different from the previous one.
"However, it's a pity," Zhou Yijin said, "Hao Guan ruined your plan! You just said that looking back, Cai Shiwen's forces were just a bunch of small fry. But in order to make this 'small fry' collapse, you, Qi Guan, must have put a lot of thought into it. Not only that, in the end, it was not you, Qi Guan, who really defeated this 'small fry', but Hao Guan. Hao Guan's counterattack on the night of the autumn festival shocked the entire Thirteen Hongs. All your plots not only failed to succeed, but instead became a stepping stone for Hao Guan to become famous!"
Pan Youjie was a very well-mannered man, and had already reached the point where he could not show his emotions on his face. But when he heard this, his breathing suddenly became unnatural, as if he was feeling annoyance that was difficult to suppress, as well as uncontrollable resentment and unwillingness.
Zhou Yijin saw Pan Youjie's reaction and change, but continued to stimulate him: "Although, in the end, you still became the chief merchant, but this position of chief merchant was a bit unfair, because you had to compromise with Hao Guan, and even gave up the opera troupe that you had spent countless efforts on, in order to obtain the support of the Wu Ye Alliance. Even so, you only won one vote at the voting meeting to protect the merchants. In the eyes of others, you won that battle, but you know very well that your position as the chief merchant is very empty. After Cai Shiwen fell, the situation of the three families of Pan, Lu, and Wu in the meeting to protect the merchants was already a three-way confrontation. And among the three families, the most powerful one is no longer the Pan family, but the Wu family."
With a swish, the folding fan in Pan Youjie's hand slammed shut, and Zhou Yijin knew that his words had finally touched the proud string of this wealthy businessman that could not be offended.
The two of them looked at each other quietly for a long time before Zhou Yijin spoke: "Last year's disaster relief incident and this year's red goods incident seem to be an extension of the court's power struggle, and Guangzhou's business was affected by Beijing's political situation. In fact, behind this are two undercurrents of commercial wars. They were able to take advantage of the court disputes while chatting and laughing, and this year they even took advantage of the imperial power. Such a large-scale commercial war is rare in the world."
Pan Youjie raised his head and said coldly, "Master Zhou is indeed a person who likes to listen to operas. He made up a story with a beginning and an end. It is obviously a far-fetched thing, but you made it sound like it was true."
Zhou Yijin said: "If something is suspicious and someone benefits, then if this thing sounds like it's true, then... it's true!"
Pan Youjie laughed loudly, and his laughter could be heard far away. But just when his laughter reached its peak, he suddenly stopped talking, and the laughter stopped abruptly: "Master Zhou, I don't understand why you came here today and told me about such a big drama. What exactly do you mean? Do you want me to find someone to write a script for the opera troupe to sing?"
Zhou Yijin said: "The trick has been exposed, but Qi Guan is still as calm as sitting on a fishing platform. I think he has calculated that even if Hao Guan and I see through everything, we are powerless to save the situation. It's a pity that you still underestimated the two of them."
Pan Youjie asked, "Which two people?"
"The first one is Heshen and Zhongtang." Zhou Yijin said: "A person's vision is related to his position. The higher you stand, the farther you can see. Qi Guan, you stand higher than other merchants in the Thirteen Hongs, so you can see farther than others. You can see things that Cai Shiwen can't see, and you can also think of things that Cai Shiwen can't think of - this is normal. However..."
He paused and sneered, "Qi Guan, you are just a mere merchant after all. No matter how high you stand, can you be as high as the prime minister? No matter how far you can see, can you be as far as the military minister? When you are not as powerful as others, how dare you take advantage of a powerful official who stands higher and sees farther than you! This is the first reason why you are not as good as Hao Guan. At least Hao Guan knows how to be humble better than you. No matter what he plans, he dare not look down on the people in the world, especially those who are higher than himself."
Pan Youjie asked coldly: "What do you mean?"
Zhou Yijin said: "I guess you still don't know enough about this 'red goods' situation. If you know even the last part, then even if I give you ten guts, you still wouldn't dare to touch this matter!"
Although Pan Youjie did not respond, his expression became serious for the first time.
Although he saw that there was no one around, Zhou Yijin still walked closer and whispered, "Cai Shiwen doesn't read, so he doesn't know what the 'Seal of Sui'an Room' means. But according to my guess, Qi Guan, you already know it. In a word, you know one more thing than Cai Shiwen."
Pan Youjie did not respond, not even a word - this involved secrets from within the imperial palace, and hearing one more word might get him into trouble, let alone responding.
Zhou Yijin lowered his voice and continued, "So you guessed from the beginning that exposing this matter would not overthrow He, and those who tried to overthrow He would only get into trouble in the end . So you deliberately wanted to lead Haoguan down this dark path, such as using some unknown means to make Cai Shiqun think that he had succeeded in persuading the eldest young lady of the Wu family, and then let the eldest young lady of the Wu family persuade Haoguan. However, you still don't know the last layer."
He moved closer and closer, and finally spoke directly into Pan Youjie's ear: "In fact, Heshen knew about the whole thing from the beginning."
Zhou Yijin only said this one sentence and then stopped talking.
This sentence went through Pan Youjie's mind once, and then, it was like a thunderclap in his mind. He could no longer hold back his expression and glared at Zhou Yijin: "You...you...why are you telling me this!"
With a smug smile, for the first time he shifted his focus from Pan Youjie to Zhou Yijin: "Qi Guan is indeed Qi Guan. He figured it all out so quickly."
Of course Pan Youjie figured it out - he was so well versed in the intelligence of Beijing City, the Imperial Household Department, and even the Imperial Palace, how could he not understand what these words meant!
Heshen knew the whole thing from the beginning, but still pretended to be used. So Heshen's intentions are obvious!
If the situation was limited to Zhu Gui's attempt to overthrow the emperor, it would only be a court struggle and officialdom infighting. Those who were caught in the center of the vortex would hardly be spared, but those involved on the periphery would still be safe.
But anyone involved in that unspeakable thing will probably not have a good death.
Zhou Yijin said: "Unfortunately, I have already said it. Even if you don't want to know now, you already know it."
Some things are better left unknown, but knowing them is like a pack of dynamite that can explode at any time! Moreover, if we dig deeper into this matter, Pan Youjie may not be really clean!
What a resourceful and insightful Pan Youjie was! Since he knew the beginning, he could already imagine the myriad of threads that would follow. The more he thought about it, the more frightened he became. The more he thought about it, the colder his heart became. He suddenly slapped the armrest and kicked over a few pieces. The Yixing top-grade purple clay teapot, which was worth a thousand gold coins, fell to the ground and broke into two pieces.
"Zhou Yijin!" Pan Youjie shouted angrily, "You guys are desperate, so you plan to drag me to death with you?"
Seeing Pan Youjie lose his composure, Zhou Yijin put away his smile and said, "I just said that you underestimated two people. The first one was He Zhongtang. Who is the second one? What do you think?"
Pan Youjie was angry and did not answer. If he was disdainful at first and then deliberately put on airs, then the reason he did not answer now was because he was simply not in the mood to do so.
Zhou Yijin said: "The second person you underestimated is Hao Guan ."
"What do you mean?" Pan Youyi's eyes flashed: "Can you still save yourselves after this?"
Zhou Yijin said: "The bigger a person's mind is, the bigger his imagination and courage will be. The bigger his imagination and courage are, the bigger his achievements will be. In this matter, Cai Shiwen could only think of personal grudges, Heshen could only think of how to prolong his life and property, and Zhu Gui could think further, and he did have the ambition to be loyal to the emperor and patriotic. Haoguan was in prison, but when I went to see him, he inadvertently mentioned something, guess what it was?"
Pan Youjie asked, "What?"
Zhou Yijin said: "Official Hao said, 'I'm afraid I'm doomed this time. It's okay if I die, but I hate that no one in the world knows the harm of opium, and Milton has already completed the layout of importing opium. After I die, I'm afraid that within a few years, opium will flow into China in large quantities and it will become an irreversible trend, which will bring disaster to the country and the people, and cause endless harm.'"
Pan Youjie asked, "Opium? What is that?"
"Qi Guan, you have been focusing on business competition and intrigue lately, so it's not surprising that you don't know what opium is." Zhou Yijin was not interested in educating Pan Youjie about the harm of opium at this time: "But Hao Guan is different from you. He is in a situation where he is in danger of death, but he still cares about stopping the influx of opium. Such a mind is obviously more than one level better than yours. I believe that God will not treat a person who still cares about the country and the people in his heart well."
Zhou Yijin finally bowed, turned around and said goodbye. He paused before leaving and said one last word: "If God has eyes and can give Haoguan a way out, I hope Qiguan will not hinder God at that time, let alone make mistakes."
