He held the letter in one hand and murmured: "To Ye Shangshu: I have sent people to contact several gun merchants... They are currently doing business in the East China Sea. They are not far from here and will arrive after noon tomorrow. I will hide it from the pass and ask him to come ashore to talk things over. Don’t miss the deadline..."
"Sir, is it something important?" the servant asked.
"It's extremely important," Ye Yongjia folded the letter and said, "It seems that I have to go out and I won't be able to come back tonight. Please go to the Ministry of War to inform Minister Cai and ask him to perform official duties on my behalf." After that, He crumpled the letter into a ball, stuffed it into his sleeve, and hurried away.
"I know..." Before the servant could say anything, he was nowhere to be found.
At the port of Beitang, there was a large wave of waves on the calm sea. The sudden water splashed against the stone road on the shore, completely soaking the ground.
The fishermen sitting around stretched their necks to look, and saw a large ship with a flag coming along the waves, slowly approaching the pier, releasing a gangplank from inside, and walking out several red-bearded Western businessmen, followed by others. A group of guards armed with firecrackers.
Although the fishermen were used to seeing merchants from other places, but never seeing such a formation, they all picked up their belongings in horror and ran away into the distance.
"It's Wu Sixing from the church!"
A certain fisherman shouted in a low voice, and everyone stopped immediately. They saw Wu Sijing, wearing Confucian clothes and taking long steps, coming from the opposite side of them.
"Thank you for your hard work!" Wu Sixing went up and shook the hands of the leaders with a smile on his face.
A few brave fishermen hid behind and peeped, seeing that the group of businessmen were responding eagerly and seemed to be chatting with Wu Sijing for a while, but they couldn't understand what they were talking about.
"Sir Ye Yongjia from the Ministry of Revenue is sitting in the church and has been waiting for you for a long time. His attitude is very positive. If you have any questions, feel free to ask them," Wu Sijing said.
"Is Ye Yongjia easy to talk to?" the businessmen looked at each other.
"Oh, don't worry. He is Jian Wensheng's friend and he respects me quite a lot. As long as I give him a few words of advice, he will be able to persuade me. Please." After that, he straightened his clothes and walked at the front. The merchants led the way; but the group of gunmen happened to spot the fishermen, and they only aimed their guns at them, scaring them out of their wits and running away.
Hearing the sound of the wooden door, Ye Yongjia stood up quickly and saw that Wu Sijing had already entered the house with four or five people.
He bowed in turn and made a "please" gesture. Everyone understood and sat on the armchairs beside them.
"Ye will meet so many guests today, I would like to ask Bishop Wu to act as a translator." Ye Yongjia turned to Wu Sijing and said.
Wu Sijing poured tea and said with a smile: "You are wrong! These merchants have traveled many places and are all proficient in Chinese. Where is the place for me to speak? Just tell me."
Ye Yongjia looked at the four merchants in astonishment. Someone bowed and replied: "Yes."
He took a sip of tea and suddenly smiled: "It will be convenient for everyone. Let me say something first. After returning to Beijing, I conveyed the news to Zhongshu Province, but I have not yet received a reply from the court. So this time The purpose of the meeting is to hear your opinions and prepare for future contacts.”
Wu Sijing's expression suddenly changed. His left hand holding the purple clay pot hung in the air for a long time, and then he smiled and said: "Ye Shangshu, although there is no response from the court, in order to cope with the imminent war, sooner or later, we must agree. You can do it for the court. I will praise you for your foresight when it comes to this matter. Otherwise, if you keep delaying it like this, the border will be in danger."
A slightly fat merchant also advised: "Ye Shangshu is a high official in the imperial court, and the New Deal has been entrusted to you. If you want to make a difference in the world, who dares to stop you?"
Ye Yongjia punished the former's mistake and determined not to be bewitched by Wu Sijing again. He firmly replied: "I don't have an edict, so I don't dare to specialize! The results of the negotiation will be reported to the court and will not hinder your discussion!"
A bearded businessman was angry, his face turned red from suppressing his anger, and he cursed through gritted teeth in Western.
Wu Sijing was afraid that he would stir up trouble, so he quickly said with a smile: "Master Ye is worried about this. However, the guests did not know about this before, and they were not prepared in their hearts. You can go to the back room to rest first, and we will wait for you." I’ll discuss it with them for a while and reconsider it.”
"Okay," Ye Yongjia also saw that they were in a mood, "you can discuss it among yourselves." After that, two boys came and helped him to the back room in the side room.
The man with the beard immediately complained: "We have traveled across the ocean to come here, but you, a bishop, not only do not do your job properly, but you even want to deceive us as a businessman! If that Han Chinese doesn't agree, we won't go back!"
"Dear guests, I was negligent," Wu Sijing was so scolded that he was sweating profusely and had to pay several compensations. "But I never thought that Ye Yongjia would change so quickly!"
"We don't care, you have to give me an explanation!" The bearded man was still reluctant, slapping the table and roaring.
"But..." Wu Sijing wiped the sweat off the bridge of his nose and kept walking around the room, "Let me think about it, let me think about it..."
"Okay!" He stamped his feet and his eyes began to flicker, "Since you don't want to be merciful anymore, how about a tough move?"
"Speak quickly!" Bearded pointed at his face.
"Ye Yongjia is now in our hands. He is a civil servant. He has not experienced any storms, but he can be afraid of him! Let's do this..." Wu Sijing couldn't help lowering his voice and recounted the plan in his mind. Only then did everyone feel satisfied and their faces became radiant.
He hurriedly called a boy, whispered a few instructions in his ear, and sent him out.
"Master Ye!" After everything was settled, Wu Sixing clapped his hands and shouted, "The results of our discussion are very good, you can come out now."
Ye Yongjia walked out of the back room and saw everyone acting peacefully again. He was very happy and said with his fists in his hands: "I have offended a lot with my words just now. I hope you won't take it to heart."
"It's because we are too arrogant," Luo Hu took the initiative to shake hands with him, "and failed to learn anything from Mr. Ye."
"What the guests want is to invite Mr. Ye to the boat for discussion. There are people coming and going here, after all, it is not a place for discussion. Please forgive me." Wu Sixing stretched out his hand and pushed him gently, smiling all over his face, and all the guests were even more so. Try to persuade.
Ye Yongjia frowned slightly, aware of the murderous intention in the laughter, but after pondering for a moment, he thought to himself: "These people see the benefits of the celestial dynasty, but they dare not harm others." She changed her face to this, probably just to please me. ’ Then he no longer hesitated and responded decisively: “I’ll go with you!”
