Chapter 54: First Signs
There are all kinds of things, about ten or so things that require reciprocity. [Read the latest chapter] Most of the time, she only needs to prepare a gift and a post to send it to someone, but if she has one, she has to go there in person.
In addition to various etiquette matters, there are all kinds of people who want to visit her.
"At two o'clock in the afternoon, Mrs. Wu came to pay her respects——"
"Oh, it's time for class again." Pei Lixiu couldn't help but feel a little bored, curling her temples with her fingers.
This Mrs. Wu is a well-known local "boudoir tutor" and the widow of a famous person in Henan. She lives in Guangzhou to make a living. In order to prevent herself from showing timidity during the conversation, Pei Lixiu specially invited her to teach her some common sense and response skills.
Facts have proved that although Miss Pei is determined to be a Ming Dynasty lady, she does not have enough perseverance. After learning it a few times, I complained endlessly, so this kind of learning began to become an accident.
Even so, studying is boring. She found an excuse and changed it from once every five days to once every ten days. When Pei Lixiu heard that today was another day of study, she couldn't help but feel a little bigger after her hangover.
"Master Wu and Master Dong will also come to visit Miss today."
"Oh? They two are quite interesting." Pei Lixiu became energetic after hearing these two people. Since the last time they lent money to the Guangzhou Railway Station to sell Leizhou sugar and made a huge profit, these two officials' sons admired Guo Dongzhu's skills very much, and Ziminglou became more and more diligent in the future.
They have a lot of money at home to squander, and they have nothing to do every day except to have fun. Ziming Tower has become a place where this group of people must go almost every day, whether it is Pei Lixiu, Guo Yi, Zhang Xin, etc. He knew that this group of people had money and that the father and brother family behind them had political power, so he tried to win over this group of young men. Not only did they try their best to clone modern gadgets, but they also specially invited several famous Qing Dynasty guests from Guangdong. Some of these Qingke are good at arranging music and teaching singing, some are good at stacking mountains and stones, some are appraisers of antiques, framers of calligraphy and paintings, and tamers of flowers and birds. They are all hired with high salaries to contribute to the entertainment business of Ziminglou. Two theater troupes are also under preparation.
After having "breakfast", Pei Lixiu went to her "office" as usual. Zheng Shangjie was already inside, and she could only be heard scolding her loudly:
"How many times have I told you that although a silver card is not a valuable item, it cannot be abused by just one person, and others will look down upon it. Do you understand? You have to keep one even if everyone wants it but can't get it. Just hope."
Chunliu opened the curtain and shouted: "Miss Pei is here." The voices inside stopped.
Pei Lixiu walked in, and the two stewards who were being scolded by Zheng Shangjie quickly bowed together. After Zheng Shangjie arrived, Ziminglou's business operations became more orderly. In particular, great progress has been made in marketing. This woman who has worked as an air ticket agent, cosmetics agent, health care product agent, insurance agent, travel company agent, copycat machine agent, etc., etc., is very good at sales promotion. Under her guidance, a business promotion department of Zishi Enterprises was established to promote various products and services. The promotion activities of Ziminglou are the focus of her attention.
"Okay, you go first. You have to pay attention to the card in the future." She emphasized this point again and then swatted the person away.
After Zheng Shangjie arrived in Guangzhou, she had to change into Ming Dynasty women's clothing according to Ming Dynasty customs. However, this kind of wide robe and large sleeves was really inconvenient, and it took a long time to get used to it. But no matter how you look at yourself, you feel awkward.
For this reason, she rarely appears in public and spends more time on internal management and administrative matters, which greatly makes up for Pei Lixiu's weaknesses. The two men complemented each other perfectly. In addition, Lingao began to train local indigenous personnel in Guangzhou and Leizhou on a rotation basis. In particular, it screened and trained the original managers and established a complete management system in business. The management of various enterprises under the Guangzhou Station is much more rigorous than in the past.
The "cabinet room" or "general manager's office" in Ziming Building is a small room decorated in the style of the Ming Dynasty, but the layout is modern. Two modern rosewood desks were placed back to back, and Pei Lixiu and Zheng Shangjie were working face to face.
Several of their secretaries, the so-called maids, sat at the back on four small desks pushed together. Zheng Shangjie also has two maids under her name, one is in charge of her writing and paperwork, and the other is an accountant, specializing in bookkeeping.
Pei Lixiu sat behind her desk and yawned first. Chunliu quickly made her a bowl of usnea tea. Zheng Shangjie gave her a disdainful look: "It's already noon and you haven't woken up yet?"
"I drank too much last night -" Pei Lixiu lay weakly on the table, "You must despise me."
"I can't be bothered to look down on you. But there's still a lot of work to do here."
"God, did I come to Ming Dynasty just so that I could sit in an office as a white-collar worker again?" She groaned in pain, "Why is this becoming more and more like the days before?"
"Aren't you still a socialite at night?"
"Alas -" Pei Lixiu sighed. No more words were said. Her head was still groggy - life as a courtesan was not easy either.
"Dongzhu Guo has already approved the construction of the Purple Garden." After Zheng Shangjie arrived in Guangzhou, like the people at Guangzhou Station, he also changed his name in public to avoid attracting attention.
Zheng Shangjie's current identity is Guo Yi's cousin - she was specially invited to help.
Although Ziming Tower has been renovated and rebuilt, the layout has been greatly improved than before, but after all, it is located in a busy city and cannot be expanded. For this reason, Guo Yi sent people to explore the land outside the city to find a good place with mountains and water to build a villa and manor to serve as a branch of Ziminglou. This place is called "Purple Garden".
"Someone suggested that we invite Ji Cheng to build the construction." Pei Lixiu thought of this incident, "But this person seems to be in Jiangnan. We need to send someone to specially invite him-"
"If you ask me, it's best to wait for a while before asking for a commission." Zheng Shangjie said, "We only know that this person is in Nanjing, and we don't know anything else. If we send someone thousands of miles away, we might not be able to return within three or four months. Come on, it will cost a lot not to mention that you may not be able to hire people. The audit will not look good."
Guo Yi specifically mentioned at the last Guangzhou Station work meeting that the Cheka should soon go to Guangzhou Station to review the accounts after completing the audit of the People's Committee of Agriculture, and asked everyone to pay more attention to accounting work, especially account management. and cash on. It is best not to spend unnecessary expenses.
"What about the Ziyuan project?" Pei Lixiu had no idea about such matters.
"Normally, I would just stop. I'm afraid it wouldn't be good to stop after hearing the news now. I think it would be good to go to Ziyuan. There is one more place to make money. Besides, Laishan Master is not just a calculation, right?"
"He seems to be the most famous." Pei Lixiu sighed, "We are not in Jiangnan."
The two women talked and dealt with the matters at hand. Chunliu, who suddenly went to the concierge to pick up the morning's post, came back in a hurry.
She put the post on the table and quickly reported a strange thing to them.
Dong Jizhong and Wu Zhixiang, who were originally going to come to Ziming Tower in the afternoon, unexpectedly sent someone to tell them that they were not coming today because they were in violation of their health.
"Did they say to change the date?" Pei Lixiu didn't feel anything strange yet.
"It's strange that it's strange here. If they don't come on weekdays, they always have to make another appointment. Today, when the servant came, he just said this and left."
"Maybe I forgot." Pei Lixiu also felt strange now, but she didn't feel too big.
"No, there's more to it than that." Chunliu told her that there were more than 30% fewer messages on the door today than in the past, and many people who were originally going to come also said they would not come for the time being.
"?" Pei and Zheng looked at each other. This is strange. Coming to Ziminglou is a very honorable thing, because the reception capacity is limited. Even if you have a drink here or take a bath, you have to make a reservation several days or even ten days in advance. Some special items can only be reserved by VIPs holding gold and silver cards. Unless something important happens, it will not be cancelled.
So something big happened in Guangzhou. Zheng Shangjie was keenly aware of this.
"Hurry up and send someone to see Guo Yi on Huifu Street. Something has happened in Guangzhou City."
But there was no news from Guo Yi. Zhang Xin quickly asked people to ask around. Is there any news in Guangzhou recently? Everyone reported back that night that nothing was out of the ordinary. When we arrived in the evening, Ziming Tower was bustling with traffic and crowded as usual, except for the dignitaries who had canceled their appointments and did not show up.
That night they finally got the first news.
The news was revealed by a Qingke who was close to the governor in the governor's yamen - Zhang Xin and others usually control a group of middle and lower-level personnel who work around various yamen and officials.
This person told them: Wang Zunde, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, was secretly planning to attack the Kun bandits in Lingao.
Of course, the matter is considered extremely confidential, but in ancient society, there was no real concept of confidentiality, and any information would be revealed to those nearby.
"It's a bit unbelievable," Meng Xian said at an emergency meeting held in the safe house of Guangzhou Station. "Why is there suddenly an invasion?"
"This will happen sooner or later," Zhang Xin said. "When the government pretends to be deaf and dumb to a certain extent, there will come a day when it can no longer pretend."
"According to the point of view of intelligence science, this kind of information must be verified first."
"Well, I have sent people to various yamen to verify our 'relationship'. If it is true or false, there will definitely be news in the next few days." Yan Maoda frowned and said, "I'm afraid the person who came to this matter is evil. I'm afraid Guangzhou Station It’s going to be a test.”
"Just report the situation to Lingao." Pei Lixiu was puzzled, "We are all serious Guangzhou natives now."
"This is just a formality." Guo Yi said, "They could register us in the first place, but this time they can deny it. Who doesn't know that these brands are actually Australian properties? Whether they want to punish us or not, it all depends on In just one thought of these officials."
"But aren't we nominally citizens of the Ming Dynasty now? They must have a reason." Zheng Shangjie has not been in the Ming Dynasty for a long time. The officials she has seen in the Ming Dynasty are at best a bit obscene, and she has not seen their insidiousness.
"There are so many reasons. No matter how you say the word "official", it is his reason." Yan Maoda said, "The matter is indeed very dangerous."
Guo Yi nodded and said: "The Ming Dynasty household registration is unreliable. Don't say that we are fake registrations, we are just serious Guangzhou natives. Officials can take care of it if they want. Not to mention that such a big industry as Guangzhou Station has already been There are quite a few people who are jealous. If the suppression of the thieves this time is really successful, the officials and wealthy gentry who seek to seize these businesses will probably have their heads broken."
When it comes to this, everyone is a little silent. In the past few years, Guangzhou Station has had good weather and good weather. Several people in charge have become well-known figures on the ground in Guangzhou. As soon as Guo Yi posts, someone from Guangzhou Prefecture and Nanhai and Panyu counties will come forward immediately, and ordinary matters can be settled immediately. Even if they go to the yamen of the sub-inspection department, the yamen of the chief envoy, or even the yamen of the governor and governor, they still have social contacts and can always use the internal channels. Any message can be sent anytime and anywhere.
When Guangzhou Station used Qiwei Escort Bureau to expand the inn, warehousing and logistics industry, it had a fierce battle with the local land tiger, Wo Dilong. During this period, the special reconnaissance team repeatedly did dirty work in Guangzhou city, killing people and setting fires. I have done a lot of things for the whole family because I have a strong relationship with the government and have a good background. Not to mention that the owner of the suffering is held accountable, there is not even a person who talks too much.
This situation gave them the feeling that they were the "invisible godfathers" of Guangzhou. Guangzhou Station is rock solid. During the meeting in the safe house, it almost became a routine at the meeting to make fun of the corruption, corruption and incompetence of the Ming Dynasty officials - as long as you are willing to spend money, you can do anything. This has become the thinking mode of everyone at Guangzhou Station.
Some people even joked while drinking too much: Even if Lingao's headquarters is destroyed one day, the Cross Travel Group can regain its strength by relying on the foundation of Guangzhou Station.
Now, just the news that force was about to be used against Lingao made them feel like they were struck by lightning.
They have never felt so clearly their dependence on the entire Lingao Group. There is no need to think, measure or calculate anything. Without the support of the entire group behind them, the demise of Guangzhou Station will happen in an instant - they are just a big fat piece of meat.
"We don't have to be impatient." Yan Maoda said, "This news has not been confirmed yet. But since it came from the governor's office, I think the authenticity is more than 90%. Some preparations should be done."
"Well, I agree with Lao Yan's view." Zhang Xin said, "Although this matter comes a bit strangely, it cannot be used as a precaution. My opinion is that people are the most important thing, and wealth and things don't matter. If the matter is urgent, just Retreat immediately."
"Are you going to start Operation Hun?"
Operation Hun is the general retreat plan of the Guangzhou Station. This includes the demobilization and evacuation of personnel, the transportation, concealment and burial of materials and property, as well as the management of various business relationships. This plan has been formulated since the establishment of the Guangzhou Station. As the scale of the Guangzhou Station has grown larger, the plan for Operation Hun has become thicker and thicker.
Guo Yi said: "Of course not. It is just a possibility now. We don't need to be too nervous and we can't mess up our position."
"Once they attack Lingao, we will definitely not be able to defend our place." Zhang Xin said.
"Whether there will be an expedition against Lingao has not yet been confirmed." Guo Yi said, "We cannot rule out the possibility that someone is trying to use the fact that we are Australians to cover us with a big hat."
"What do you mean?" Zheng Shangjie didn't quite understand.
"You're saying that someone is using the attack on Lingao to force us to give up our profits. It's not certain that we will attack Lingao?"
"Yes. We have to consider this possibility. Guangzhou Station is a fat place, and there are many people who are eyeing it. In Guangzhou, are there too many things where people take advantage of others just because they are doing well? We have always been strong in the background. , if we want to eat the Zi Group, we have to deal with us from the root. Release such true and false news to force us into chaos. "
"Are you saying that the news may be false?"
"No, the news may be true. But the crusade against Lingao may not be implemented. It is said that the bow is crossed but the arrow is not fired."
"This group of officials are very capable of adapting to the wind. So I say, even if there is really an attack on Lingao, we don't have to worry. There are many aspects involved in Guangzhou's standing here. Once it is over, many people's The interests will be seriously damaged, and they will not let it go - such as Gao Zhi. Even if each other's payments can be hedged, he will still lose the supply of Australian goods, and the gain will not be worth the loss." Yan Maoda said.
"Now we should find various channels to confirm the news, and by the way, we should also find our allies. Let them come out to speak for us when necessary." Guo Yi said, "Of course, this news will be reported to Lingao tonight Go. From today on, the movements in Guangzhou will be reported twice a day."
"Okay." Everyone agreed.
"There is also Meng Xian." Guo Yi said, "Delong Bank has very few public connections with Guangzhou Station, and there are a large number of private deposits of officials in it, so it is unlikely to be affected too much. Don't go there recently. Purple sign is coming. If something happens, send a traffic officer to contact us. If something urgent happens and we lose contact, you can arrange your own retreat or be on standby according to the situation."
Xian nodded solemnly, "I'll try my best to persist."
"Also, you'd better take stock of your savings and see how much can be used." Guo Yi said, "I estimate that if this news is true, these purple-branded companies will face a large-scale disaster in a few days. There is a run on the bank. I’m afraid there will be a run on your own place. Each family must prepare at least 50,000 taels of cash." a! ~!
