Chapter 68 Leaving
"My lady is asleep. [Read full text]" Chunliu immediately realized that this person must have important news to tell her when she came to visit secretly late at night, and immediately added, "I will wake her up right now."
"No need," Wu Zhixiang said unexpectedly, "Tell Miss Pei that Lu Yizhong, a bad guy with rotten intestines, has written a note to Nanhai County, asking them to use a ticket to arrest the lady. Please stay out of the way."
Chunliu originally thought that Wu Xiucai was just a money-hungry and lustful playboy, but he never expected that he would have such a chivalrous heart at a critical moment. I couldn't help but feel warm in my heart, and I felt blessed:
"Thank you Mr. Wu Gaoyi."
"You don't have to thank me. It's better to ask your young lady to find a place to hide. Once she's in prison, even a deity will have to shed her skin. And her matter is so big that no one dares to protect her." Wu Zhixiang said, putting up her gauze. Dai Xun turned around and disappeared into the darkness.
The news that Nanhai County wanted to arrest Pei Lixiu quickly reached Guo Yi. Although he didn't know why he caught her first instead of himself, Guo Yi believed that the time to retreat had come. If he can't catch Pei Lixiu, he will catch himself instead.
He thought for a moment and asked someone to call Sun Chang:
"Send people to Ziming Tower immediately and evacuate people according to the plan. Don't let go of the bulky belongings. The out-of-town clerks should go to Shopkeeper Sun's place to hide. Ask a few of his unfamiliar subordinates to come to Ziming Tower early tomorrow morning. Block the local guys nearby. Don’t go to the store.”
If Nanhai County can't catch the real owner, it will probably arrest a group of employees who are still in the building - there is no need for them to be involved.
Guo Yi gave Sun Chang a certificate and seal, "This is an account opened in Delong in the name of Sun Kecheng. You give it to him to pay for everyone's settlement expenses."
"I understand, I'll do it right away." Sun Chang left in a hurry.
Guo Yi is packing things, processing documents, and moving objects. Unconsciously, it was already getting light, and I was very hungry. I was busy asking someone to bring breakfast. Originally he had a dedicated cook, but he had been dismissed a few days ago. Now he and the rest of the group had breakfast in the common room.
While eating, Sun Chang came back in a hurry and said: everything is done.
"You should also eat quickly. Go to Zizhenzhai later and tell Shopkeeper Shen that the business will be stopped today. It's also best for him to go to the countryside to avoid the disaster."
"Yes." Sun Chang saw that the entire Zicheng Ji had become empty, and he couldn't help but feel uncomfortable in his heart... He had suffered this disaster for no apparent reason. "Proprietor, can we come back?"
"Of course." Guo Yi said calmly, "We will be back in a few months."
"Yes" Sun Changchong was full of confidence, but he didn't know where the confidence came from? In his opinion, Australians just know how to make money by working in unions, and they really can’t fight against the Ming Dynasty. Are they going to Beijing to find connections with the big boss? While he was thinking wildly, the servant quietly came to report: someone asked to see him.
"No." Guo Yi said. Now there is no need to compromise with anyone.
"Someone said there is something urgent"
"Who is he and where is the post?"
"The person who came here refused to tell me. He only said that the matter was urgent and I could only have an interview with Dongzhu Guo."
"Okay, just please meet me."
The visitor was a middle-aged man who looked like a scholar. After seeing the ceremony, he looked at Sun Chang hesitantly.
"I have confidential matters to report."
Sun Chang quickly retreated.
"I'll tell you the truth." The middle-aged man lowered his voice, "I came here under orders to tell you that Guangzhou Prefecture has been ordered to send the proprietor and all the three Zizi shops to the rescue early tomorrow morning. Jailed.”
Guo Yi raised his eyebrows in surprise: He had expected that someone would be arrested, but he didn't expect that someone would come to tell him specifically.
He also has certain friendship arrangements in various yamen on weekdays, but currently only vague information has leaked out. This is the first time I heard such clear news.
"Thank you very much, sir, for coming to tell me this," Guo Yidao said, "Who do you think you are? I will thank you very much someday."
"I can't tell you who Bidong is. I just want to tell the proprietor: walk cleanly and don't leave any documents or documents behind. Don't panic, the Guangzhou government will come tomorrow." After saying these words, the visitor stood up and left.
Although Guo Yi didn't know who this person was, his words were 99% credible. His words of caution were the key point. What does it mean not to leave anything behind? Obviously, sending the envoy made people fear that leaving something important in the purple letter would harm his interests.
Although I couldn't guess who he was for a while, he must be a member of the officialdom, and his position was not low. Doesn't the last sentence: "Don't panic, Guangzhou Mansion will come tomorrow" clearly telling him that he can run away all day today, and even leave with others in a swaggering way?
Thinking of this, Guo Yi suddenly understood and immediately ordered people to gather all the people who stayed on Huifu Street.
There are thirty or forty people supporting the facades of the houses on Weifu Street, Zizhenzhai and Zichengji. Most of them are outsiders who cannot go home for a while. Guo Yi has already made an agreement with Sun Kecheng to leave these people to him for placement.
"Everyone comes from their hometowns to work here for our Purple Brand. This is our fate." Guo Yi said, "Purple Brand has never treated you badly. Your monthly schedule and year-end dividends are the first in this city of Guangzhou. One share. Our purple-branded business has always been an orderly business in Guangzhou: we never do anything illegal. Not to mention the royal grain and national taxes, even the rewards from the officials are never too small. This time, everyone is just afraid I also know: the government will not allow us to do business safely, and will close down this store..."
Many of the guys shed tears. They have been here for as little as a year and as many as almost three years. There are many big stores in Guangzhou, but there is no one that can be as considerate to its employees as Zizihao. Not only is the monthly rate better than elsewhere, but dividends are distributed at the end of the year according to ability, and the store takes care of people when they are sick and takes medicine. When some employees die, the store not only They opened coffins and bought a cemetery for funerals, and even brought the family members and placed them on the outer cabinet: even if the old people, children, and women couldn't do enough work, they still arranged some light work to survive for a few months.
Such a benevolent and righteous owner is now being forced to close down. Everyone feels dissatisfied because of what happened to the owner, but also thinks that their future is bleak, and they feel bleak.
"It doesn't matter if the store is closed. As long as our people are still there, the Purple Brand will always be there." Guo Yi said loudly, "It can take as little as three months, as long as half a year. I, Guo Yi, will come back and stand on my side." Here, stand here..." He originally just wanted to calm people's hearts, so that everyone would not disperse and wait for their return with peace of mind, but now he thought of the days and nights he and his colleagues spent in Guangzhou, and couldn't help but be filled with emotion. I didn’t know how to continue talking for a while, so I paused and then said, “Let’s set off firecrackers with everyone to reopen the store.”
After that, he promised to pay everyone six months' salary and pay travel expenses for those who were willing to return home temporarily. Those who don't want to go back will work at Sun Kecheng's place first.
The guys received the money and left in batches reluctantly one by one. Guo Yi didn't have time to feel sad, so he quickly took people to search everywhere to see if anything important was missing. I was busy until the light was about to turn on, then I quietly changed my clothes and left among the crowd.
During this period, there were other warning signs: a broken black earthen jar was left at the door of the house on Welfare Street. This was a signal sent by his informants in the yamen of Nanhai, Panyu, and Guangzhou Yifu counties at a critical moment, indicating that the government was about to go against him.
The entire residences and properties on Weifu Street and Ziming Building were completely empty at this time, leaving only two clerks and ten intimidating escorts guarding each place.
"Everyone has left?" In a warm pavilion, a middle-aged man in a brocade robe and jade belt, described as stalwart, asked casually while flipping through a book.
"To tell you the truth, there are only a few escorts looking at houses everywhere now."
"Have the people from Nanhai County been dispatched?"
"No."
The middle-aged man reading the book is Li Fengjie, the governor of Guangdong. Early this morning, the magistrate of Nanhai County came to him personally to ask for instructions: Lu Yizhong gave him instructions to arrest Pei Lixiu immediately. Should we do this?
On normal days, the county magistrate would not come to ask him for instructions. There is absolutely no reason to refute the arrest of an individual for the praise painting by the Governor's subordinates. But catching Guo Dongzhu's concubine is another matter.
Not only Tian Hongyu and Eunuch Yang, but also several big bosses are interested in the three purple-branded industries. The magistrate of Nanhai County was deeply afraid that he would help Lu Yizhong arrest someone and thus transfer the property to Tian Guozhang... If this were the case, he would not be able to bear the consequences if Eunuch Yang and several other big bosses were to turn their anger on him. rise. He hurriedly came to report to the governor.
"If Lu Zanhua wants to arrest someone, just arrest him, but you should still take a look at the charity warehouse in your county. You should go and check out the charity warehouse first." Li Fengjie said this in a nonchalant manner.
"Yes, yes, I understand." The county magistrate understood.
After the county magistrate left, Li Fengjie walked around in the signing room several times. A patrolman was called over:
"Go to Guangzhou Prefecture and ask them to prepare fire-signed tickets and prepare to go out to capture Guo Yi and other Australian criminals."
Then he called a close disciple and took care of him in this way.
Now he heard that the retainer sent to report back that everything was according to his plan, and he felt very proud.
"Humph, let's see how you guys with wishful thinking go on." Thinking of Lu Yizhong's indescribable embarrassment when facing Tian Da, Li Fengjie showed a happy smile on his face.
The next day, government officials from Nanhai County and Guangzhou Prefecture went out in large numbers and sealed off all the residences on Huifu Street, Zizhenzhai, Zichengji and Ziminglou. Of course, neither Guo Yi nor Pei Lixiu got one. Even Sun Chang, Shen Fan and other witnesses who were supposed to be "brought into the case" were nowhere to be seen. Only a dozen bodyguards guarding the house were taken to the Yamen. Naturally, these bodyguards knew nothing. They only knew that they were invited by Dongzhu Guo to guard the house. Sun Kecheng had already prepared the "big threshold" post and money, and bailed out the escort before nightfall.
Various city gates immediately drew shadows and patterns to capture Guo Yi and others, but everyone knew that this was just a waste of effort. Anyone who knows the inside story of the seizure knows that the Australians walked very calmly and had obviously planned it long ago.
Wang Zunde was extremely unhappy, and the search results were disappointing. Regardless of whether it was Weifu Street or the three purple shops, the property was fine and soft, and a lot of Australian goods were harvested. However, there were no important things such as documents and letters. Not even a single word was left in the land deeds and ledgers. As for the characters in it, don't worry. When I say "yes", I don't even have anywhere to look for an important guy.
After listening to the report from the Guangzhou government, he knew that someone must have leaked the news. I couldn't help but feel secretly annoyed. Wondering who this might be? It was Li Fengjie who ordered the arrest of Guo Yi. Since he wanted to arrest him, he would definitely not tip off anyone. After much deliberation, I couldn't think of anyone who would leak the news.
Wang Zunde felt very upset when he thought that there were people in Guangzhou who did not regard the imperial court as a priority and actually tipped off the Australians. I wanted to investigate, but I didn't know where to start: the Governor's Yamen, the Governor's Yamen, Guangzhou Prefecture and Nanhai County all knew about the seizure and arrest. There are hundreds of officials, big and small, in these four yamen, and everyone may know about this.
Is it possible that the city of Guangzhou is full of traitors? Wang Zunde felt great worry.
At this time, Lu Yizhong came to see him and asked what to do with the seized Kun thief's property.
"How much property was seized?" Since someone secretly reported that Lu Zanhua had secretly given a note to Nanhai County to arrest Pei Lixiu, Wang Zunde's trust in this Zanhua has been greatly reduced. He has always been dissatisfied with people like the honorable minister Qi Wan: he thinks that they either rest on the merits of their ancestors or rely on women's nepotism. They only know how to enrich themselves without real talent and learning. Lu Zanhua despises him for being mixed up with this kind of person?? This person still has too much ambition for fame and wealth.
"Guangzhou Prefecture and Nanhai County are still being counted, and a detailed list will be submitted soon. Here is a brief list." Lu Yizhong's face was gloomy: He had confirmed Tian Da, but he did not expect that the Nanhai County Magistrate would But he was not in the yamen. Other officials in the county either said that something happened or that the main hall was not around and it was inconvenient to deal with it. As a result, I went to fetch people a day late, and Ziming Tower was already empty. Later, the officials from Guangzhou Prefecture came to seize it again. Not only was the offer completely unsuccessful, Tian Da also failed to catch Pei Lixiu that Tian Da wanted.
Tian Da was so angry that he accomplished nothing in Guangzhou this time. How will he explain it when he returns? So he cursed him loudly in his house and threatened to strip him of his post of painting praise, which made Lu Yizhong very embarrassed.
Wang Zunde casually looked through the list. In addition to the properties on Huifu Street and Ziming Building, there are also various commercial "money-making guys", chairs and benches, and some small machines with unknown uses...
Wang Zunde was not interested in these. What he focused on was how much property could be seized.
There was a lot of property collected from several properties, but no money. After looking at it again, there was nothing like gold or silver. Apart from the various goods left behind, there were only some toys and ornaments. The most valuable items are the life-size glass mirror and mahogany clock in Pei Li's show room.
"Isn't it as soft as gold and silver?" Wang Zunde asked. He had originally hoped that the seized information would be used to reward the soldiers during the expedition.
"Except for all kinds of goods, Xinruan only found hundreds of pieces of brocade women's clothing. There were also hundreds of bolts of silk and cloth. There were also dozens of boxes of women's jewelry."
"What's the use of this?" Wang Zunde shook his head in disappointment. These things cannot be rewarded to the army, let alone sufficient military pay. As for the price of the seized goods, it would take several months... And he knew that the officials below would inevitably have to enrich themselves when dealing with such matters. It would be good if the goods worth ten taels of silver could be paid back to the officials for three or four taels of silver. He suddenly became suspicious: Was a lot of gold and silver stolen by the people below? But thinking that they had swallowed up half of it at most, he absolutely did not dare not place orders at all.
"I heard that Zizihao has a lot of contacts with various big brands in Guangzhou. Don't you have money deposited elsewhere?" Wang Zunde asked.
"Without the account books, I don't know the names and numbers, so I can't trace them."
"Huh, let's issue a notice immediately, asking each shop to report on its own and pay within a time limit. If you fail to report or pay within the time limit, I will not be lenient."
Yi Zhong thought that the Governor was trying to use bluff to force the merchants to obediently hand over the money from Australians, but he might not be able to do it... Needless to say, Gao Li would not buy it. It is necessary to have an account book or some proof.
However, it would be too ugly to not be able to pay even a penny. Lu Yizhong suddenly thought about it. At that time, no matter what, he would have to force the various brands that usually dealt with Zi Zihao to give some money. In this way, we should be able to get 50,000 to 60,000 taels of silver. Although it is not enough for military pay, it is still enough for rewards.
Lu Yizhong knew that by running for Tian Da this time, he would greatly lose Wang Zunde's heart. Decided to try to save a little bit on this matter.
While there was a commotion in Guangzhou city surrounding the things left behind at Guangzhou Station, Guo Yi and others had already withdrawn from the city. But they weren't too far away. Zhang Xin sits in the Dongguan branch of the Qiwei Escort Agency and directs the operations of the Escort Agency. Now their main eyes and ears are the escort agency. Some of the indigenous staff who had been evacuated from Guangzhou also temporarily obeyed his command and dispersed to inquire for information. Especially news about official and military operations.
As for Delong Bank, Meng Xian was also ready for the transfer. Although everyone judged that Delong was not very dangerous, he had backed up all the ledgers. All the original documents were transferred to a secret location for storage. The most important ones were several secret exchange accounts, which Delong handled for the dignitaries in Guangzhou. Some materials can become good materials for the censors to hear about and make troubles with just a little bit of gossip. For safety reasons, Meng Xian also temporarily moved to a safe house in the city and hid first, letting the shopkeeper handle everything on the cabinet.
Others were scattered in various counties in the Pearl River Delta, hiding and waiting for opportunities. Yan Maoda simply went to Leizhou to discuss the next step of sugar industry cooperation and trade with Vietnam with Leizhou Station.
As for Guo Yi, he decided to take this opportunity to return to Lingao. On the one hand, he would report on his work and on the other hand, he would also discuss the next work arrangements with the Ministry of Colonial Trade and the Foreign Intelligence Service. u! ~!
