That night, the capital was completely in chaos. This chaos did not belong to the common people. They lived in their own bean juice stalls and pancake shops. The price of rice, noodles and soybeans every day was what they had to consider.
The poor people probably cannot understand the troubles of these rich people, let alone the pain of having a business worth millions of taels being stabbed.
Sure enough, the lower the desire, the happier it is. In the quiet night, snoring can be heard in the alley and the occasional barking of the domestic dog seems lazy.
The people were peaceful, but the nobles and servants of the wealthy families were in chaos all night long!
The family's stewards were called to a meeting overnight, and cronies were sent from all directions to the capital to settle matters. Hundreds of servants went to Tanggu alone to deliver gifts.
There are also a group of housekeepers and servants who are going to Jiangnan. They can only use their warm faces to touch other people's cold buttocks and try their best to restore the business to its original state!
Of course, there was also Prince Fuxi of Dingjun, who knocked on the door of the British Embassy with Guiziliu's post. The timid Fuxi only stayed there for more than forty minutes before leaving in disgrace.
"Greetings to Grandpa!" Fu Xi went to Prince Gong's Mansion overnight to pay homage to Guiziliu.
Yi Xin never rested, holding a book in the study and pretending to read it. In fact, she just wanted to suppress her shock when she saw Fu Xi coming and quickly asked, "What did the British say?"
Fuxi shook his head, "The people from the embassy knocked me down with a nail. They denied that this was an act of adultery!"
"Not only that, the British side also said that this is a very common commercial dispute, and the British government is very fair in it. It will not go astray just because it involves the interests of British businessmen, nor will it put pressure on our court! "
"When I heard this, I became agitated. I quickly begged them to mediate and stop the foreign businessmen from causing trouble... Is it just a matter of money? They are all in business, so we can discuss anything..."
"What did he say?" Yixin asked.
"Hey... the British refused. He said... He said that the UK believes in free trade. It only collects taxes and services and will never interfere in business transactions!"
"No matter who loses or wins in this business, or whether it can be continued, the government cannot interfere... As the British saying goes, the wind can enter, the rain can enter, but the king cannot enter..."
"Private matters of the people should be resolved by the private individuals themselves!"
"Fart! It's still a private matter. What does the official document they posted a few days ago mean? Wasn't it sent by someone from their embassy?"
Fuxi said tightly: "Yes, I asked about it too! But the British are even better at saying...this is the service provided by the government! British businessmen suffered losses in local lawsuits and did not believe in the credibility of local officials. That’s why I went to Beijing to complain!”
"Our embassy has the obligation to serve businessmen. We summarize the complaints they submit and send them to the Prime Minister's Yamen. This is not wrong!"
"Consolidated delivery is one thing, and we have no tendency to send these things. This is normal work! Just file the lawsuit how you want!"
"Our embassy will only observe and record... If you really make an unjust case, then the embassy will intervene!"
Fuxi sighed and said, "I heard it from my tone. These things this time were really not done by the embassy. They should have nothing to do with the British government from beginning to end!"
Guiziliu also understood. He frowned and said, "It's impossible! If the British government didn't take action, how could there be so many people collectively putting pressure on us? It's impossible without organized people!"
"Is it Xiao Letian? It must be, it must be Xiao Letian who stood up for Zai Chun, he is the organizer behind it!"
"But...but Xiao Letian didn't come back from Nanyang?" Fu Xi asked.
"He hasn't come back, but his power is still here! It must be him, it must be him..." Guiziliu himself could hear the panic in his voice.
There was dead silence in the study room. It took a long time for Fuxi to say quietly, "How is that possible... No matter how powerful Xiao Letian is, there is no way he can command so many British businessmen at once!"
"That's the UK! It's not the emerging Prussian Germany. It's definitely no problem for Xiao Letian's prestige to influence Prussia, but he wants to influence the UK?"
"It's still affected to this extent? Impossible, really impossible... I think the Chinese British are just a coercion, or the British took action, and Xiao Letian took the opportunity to work together to put pressure on us!"
Guiziliu slumped in his chair. He waved his hand and asked Dingjun Wang Fuxi to go back. He wanted to analyze the situation alone!
Sitting there in the middle of the night, his head was buzzing with pain. One moment he thought it was the British mastermind, and the next moment he thought it was Xiao Letian's conspiracy!
But it doesn't feel right no matter how you think about it. What Fu Xi said just now is right. No matter how powerful Xiao Letian is, he can't command so many British people. You must know that after the end of the law popularization, the British are also very wary of Xiao Letian!
And what the British Embassy said is not wrong. They believe in free trade, and what they value is that the government does not interfere with specific business, unless it is at the national strategic level, and in that case, the military will be directly used!
There is no way that a small conflict over tens of thousands taels or hundreds of thousands taels of silver could cause Britain to go into such a big fight!
But if it’s not the British Prime Minister, if it’s not Xiao Letian, then who else could it be? Where is this enemy hiding? Guiziliu was confused all of a sudden!
If you lose your ax, everyone will be a thief!
After sitting all night until about five o'clock in the morning, she couldn't stand it anymore, so Yi Xin reluctantly took a nap in the study. At about nine o'clock in the morning, suddenly there were rapid footsteps outside the study, and her son was carrying him. Cheng's sharp voice shouted.
"It's bad... It's really bad. Something bad is going to happen! Amma, something is going to go wrong..."
"Asshole! There are no rules for yelling!" Yixin was so angry when she got up, she grabbed a pillow and threw it over her head and face.
Zai Cheng took the pillow and knelt on the ground, "Ah Ma! It's broken... Our Xishan Camp's loan to purchase artillery shells and bullets was rejected by Standard Chartered Bank!"
"Ah! Refuted?" Yi Xin sat on the bed with a pale face, dumbfounded!
Through the two Opium Wars, the great powers opened the door to the Qing Dynasty. They not only gained the right to do business, but also gained the right to preach and establish embassies!
More importantly, the Western advanced banking system also began to blossom with the Second Opium War!
At present, all major British banks have branches in the main ports of the Qing Dynasty and major cities. However, because they have just entered China, the public still does not trust foreign banks, so they are not well-known!
These foreign banks concentrated in Dongjiaomin Lane are actually not responsible for the business of ordinary people and small merchants at all. Their main job is to cooperate with the embassies of various countries to contract foreign business.
