After October entered, all businessmen from various countries except Liu Zheng were ordered by Guangdong Customs to leave Guangzhou and either go back to China or go to Macau to stay until the tea trade season starts in May.
The neighbors on both sides got on the watermelon boats and left, and now only the servants at the door were left in the merchant houses from various countries. And these servants are also clerks from various trading firms, and outsiders are not allowed in at all.
This made Liu Zheng extremely depressed. Now even the British people who had quarreled and quarreled had left, leaving him even more idle. In addition to walking in the square in front of the door every day, he would also go to the office to sit for a while. Not only him, but the thirty or so people who came with him were also very annoyed, so everyone thought about three meals a day in different ways every day, "eating, sleeping and eating" like pigs every day.
Sun Shiyi, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, who knew the inside story, hated and feared these dozens of people in Baixiong. He wanted to take revenge, but he was also afraid that Zhao Ni would take action in the north if he knew about it. He was so entangled until the autumn. Sun Shiyi felt that I can't beat you, so I can scare you, right?
Therefore, in the 51st year of Qianlong's reign, Guangzhou's "Autumn Queen Wenbei" was scheduled for October, and the location was chosen on the riverside outside the commercial district. According to Liu Zheng's habit of disappearing for a walk every day, he could see clearly from the fence.
Originally, criminals in Guangzhou were killed in a narrow alley outside the city, and one end of the alley was blocked with a brick wall. Now that we are on the riverside, the noise is huge.
In the first two days, people from the governor's Biao camp came to clear the place and circled a rectangular area with ropes, where they set up a mat tent and a wooden frame more than two meters wide. Liu Zheng initially thought it was a gallows, but when it was finally completed, the frame was probably no more than three meters high, so it didn't look like a gallows.
On the day of the execution, both sides of the river were packed with people, and there were many people sitting on boats on the river to watch the excitement. The prefect of Guangzhou deliberately ordered people to leave the east-facing location of the execution ground vacant, and no one was allowed to stand and watch, just so that Liu Zheng and the others could see it.
Of course Liu Zheng saw it. He was busy with nothing to do and it would be in vain if he didn't watch the excitement. Although he was a little scared, his strong curiosity still drove him to the fence.
At eleven o'clock in the morning, seven prisoners were transported out of the city in cages, with crowds of people watching along the way. When he was escorted out of the execution ground, Liu Zheng saw that each prisoner's hands were tied behind his back, and a long and narrow piece of wood was inserted into the root of the braid on the back of his head. The men were divided into two rows and knelt with their backs to the mat tent.
Liu Zhengxin said that he was deceived by the TV series again. In the costume dramas I watched before, every prisoner on death row had a big sign stuck in the back of his head.
Not long after, with the sound of gongs clearing the way, the Manchu officials who were supervising the execution arrived on horseback. The official was very satisfied when he saw Liu Zheng and others not far away from the horse. When he dismounted and entered the mat booth to take a seat, the clerk next to him handed him a dossier.
The official took a sip of tea, cleared his throat, and began to read. What was different from the past was that this time there was an official outside the banquet tent who loudly repeated the contents of the case file, and he was actually facing Liu Zheng and others.
This is really annoying to Liu Zheng and the others!
The seven death row inmates are actually bandits who blocked the road, robbed and killed people, but when the official read out the sentence, he always said something like "treason, causing lawlessness, resisting officers and soldiers", which seemed to mean that you would end up like this in the future.
Not to mention Liu Zheng, even the faces of the thirty-two subordinates became extremely ugly. Someone wanted to go back and get the pistol on the spot, but Liu Zheng stopped him.
It’s easy to make trouble, but what to do next? The Manchus made it clear that they wanted to kill the chicken to show the monkeys.
When the official read out the case file, the executioners began to take up their positions. Behind each prisoner are two executioners. The one in front holds a large knife with his left hand resting on the prisoner's head; the other behind him holds a short knife.
When the officials had finished reading the case file, the executioner in front raised his sword and waited...
"Bang!" After reading the case file, the official was stunned and shouted "Kill!" The Biaoying soldiers who were present to maintain order also shouted "Kill!"
At the same time, tens of thousands of people watching around also shouted "Okay!"
This scene immediately frightened Liu Zheng. He saw the three executioners' broadswords falling like lightning on the necks of the first row of prisoners, while the executioner behind him was responsible for cutting off the heads that had not been chopped off by the first knife. Then the three in the row behind, and finally the main culprit. The whole process was over in less than a minute.
Before the officials left the banquet tent with their men, the men who were responsible for monitoring the movements of Liu Zheng and others came to report that the faces of those at the White Bear Hall were frightened, especially the representative named Liu, who had vomited in a mess, and was now all speechless. Fleeed back to the store. The official was very satisfied after hearing this, so he led his men to report to Sun Shiyi.
After the beheading, all the heads were placed in cages made of iron bars and hung on the three-meter-high shelf for public display. Anyone with a discerning eye would know who they were for at a glance.
When everyone in Beihai Town returned to White Bear House, the first thing they did after entering was to take out their weapons and load bullets. As long as the situation outside is not right, he will immediately escort Liu Zheng out.
After two days of fear, Cai Shiwen came to visit him and implicitly explained the intention of the execution, which made Liu Zheng angry and cursed. Although they were angry, everyone in Beihai Town, who had been in turmoil at first, finally understood that Man Qing was disgusting himself in a different way.
After more than ten days, Cai Shiwen's son Cai Zhaoping suddenly came and invited him to visit Haizhuang Temple. When Liu Zheng asked about the date, it turned out that it was the 18th of each month.
Since Sun Shiyi came to do this, he hasn't gone out for more than ten days in a row. Apart from eating and sleeping every day, he just reads in the house, which makes him depressed.
It is said that before the Opium War, the Qing Dynasty bullied foreign businessmen so much that they did not regard foreign devils as human beings at all.
Needless to say, get out of Guangzhou in winter; secondly, foreign women are not allowed to come to Guangzhou; foreigners must live in the Thirteenth Bank Commercial Building during their stay in Guangzhou. They are not allowed to ride in sedans when going out, cannot learn Chinese, and are not allowed to buy Chinese books; foreign businessmen are not allowed to have any needs. , must be forwarded by the public office; servants are limited to eight people, and must be hired by the Thirteenth Bank, and there cannot be female servants.
The officials who lead the Qing Dynasty must announce these prohibitions to each family in the government office once a year, and instruct each family to go back and enlighten those ghosts and beasts from all over the world who do not know etiquette, justice and integrity.
Various foreign businessmen were frustrated by the purge, so they protested to the public office in the past few years and requested to expand the scope of their activities. The Guangzhou government did not dare to make the decision without authorization, so they reported to Qianlong.
So starting from the 49th year of Qianlong's reign, the Qing government allowed foreign merchants to go on outings across the river to Haizhuang Temple and Chen's Garden on the south bank, accompanied by merchants, on the third and eighteenth days of each month.
After being stressed out for so long, it’s always fun to go out and have some fun. Even if you’ve already been there, no one cares. At present, there were thirty-three people in Baixiong, including Liu Zheng. They all got on the watermelon boat by the river and went to the opposite bank accompanied by the Cai family's son.
The Haizhuang Temple in the Qing Dynasty was much larger than that of later generations. Although the scale of the temple hall is not as large as that of Guangxiao Temple in Guangzhou, the garden area is four to five times that of Guangxiao Temple, making it very suitable for sightseeing.
But the strangest thing about this temple is that there is a group of pigs, about a dozen of them, which are so fat that they can't even walk. Liu Zheng estimated that each head weighed at least three hundred kilograms. When he first went there, he heard from the monk that these pigs were rescued from butchers by some believers and sent here to be released.
However, since all the monks in the temple were "fat and strong", Liu Zheng was very suspicious of the existence of these dozen pigs. So after the guy went back, "go see them" and "go see the pigs" became very disrespectful synonyms in his mouth, and this joke actually spread quickly within thirteen lines.
For example, Liu Zheng would say to the Austrian manager next door: "Let's go to Henan to look at pigs."
The chubby Austrian boss would smile and nod: "Okay! Let's go see the pigs (or the monks)."
Because the Cai family was very familiar with the abbot of Haizhuang Temple, they probably often gave out incense money. During lunch, Liu Zheng and his party had an extremely sumptuous vegetarian meal; after the meal, they also had various fruits and refreshments. Vegetarian food, as long as you are willing to add sesame oil, still tastes very good, and everyone is very happy to eat it.
However, while drinking tea after the meal, Liu Zheng noticed that Cai Zhaoping was not in a high mood and seemed to have something on his mind. After thinking about it, he excused himself from the table and went to the outdoor garden.
Sure enough, not long after he came out, Cai Zhaoping also came out with his personal servant.
"Mr. Liu, does today's meal taste good?"
Liu Zheng cupped his hands and said, "Let Mr. Cai worry about it. It's good to have a vegetarian meal once in a while."
"That's good, that's good."
The two chatted casually for a few words. Liu Zheng noticed that Cai Zhaoping always took out his pocket watch to check the time, so he asked, "Is there something urgent, Mr. Cai?"
Cai Zhaoping said quickly: "Oh, it's nothing serious. I'm really sorry for disturbing Mr. Liu's enjoyment."
Liu Zheng smiled and waved his hand and said: "Mr. Cai, we are not outsiders. During the days when I was in Guangzhou, thanks to the care of Wanhe Bank, my food and travel arrangements were very appropriate. Don't be offended if I say something. What's the matter? If you need my help, please ask, I will try my best to help you."
As the heir to the Cai family of Wanhehang, Cai Zhaoping knew that Liu Zheng was different from ordinary foreign businessmen. They were a group of rebels. Although the imperial court wanted to cut him into pieces, the boats were strong and the guns were powerful, so they could only knock his teeth out and swallow him. The Guangzhou officialdom also pretended to turn a blind eye to people like Liu Zheng. It seemed that as long as they stayed out of the scope of the thirteen industries, they could do whatever they wanted.
Cai Zhaoping knew that many of the vendors who did small business outside Baixiong Store every day were spies planted by the Guangdong Governor's Yamen.
But now, as the general merchant, the Cai family encountered a big problem. If they couldn't pass this threshold, let alone fail to become the general merchant, the Cai family might even be confiscated and sent to the frontier.
Regardless of the fact that these merchants in the Thirteenth Bank are usually wealthy, wealthy and enjoy the privilege of trading with foreign merchants, as long as something goes wrong, they will be abandoned by the government without hesitation. To the Manchu and Qing court, merchants were just tools to make money.
It is said that merchants must kneel down when meeting an official. Even if the official allows them to stand up, their eyes will never go beyond the ninth button of the other party's official uniform. If you make a mistake, the merchant will be beaten with a stick and have no status at all.
Since Qianlong issued an edict to purchase Western-style sailing battleships, because the Ministry of Revenue had no money, the burden of raising funds fell back on Sun Shiyi. Who asked you to apply for a discount? Figure it out yourself!
So Sun Shiyi set his sights on the money bags of the merchants, and he ordered eight merchants to donate five million taels of silver before the end of the year. This will make the merchants very worried!
You must know that the tea trade season has just ended, and the goods purchased by merchant ships from various countries will generally not be settled until they return next year; this is the case every year, year after year. If the foreign firm lacks funds, the merchants themselves have to advance the money on their behalf.
Due to the risks of maritime trade, the Ministry of Internal Affairs' loan funds were not open to merchants at all; therefore, merchants had to turn to other sources of loans when their cash flow was tight.
For example, in intra-peer lending, rich merchants become richer and richer by lending money, while poor merchants become poorer and poorer by borrowing money.
Due to lack of credit, some newly established or poorly managed merchants find it difficult to borrow money even through internal lending, so the only way left is to borrow money from foreign merchants.
Because of the recurring deficit in trade between the East and the West, loans became another channel for foreign merchants to make money. All British merchants, including the East India Company, rushed to lend money to merchants in Guangzhou, with interest rates as high as 20% to 40%; in later generations, Cantonese The "Big Ear Hole" in this book was born from this.
It is said that the biggest shortcoming of businessmen is that they like to gamble. Faced with the temptation of cash provided by foreign businessmen, many businessmen with operating difficulties have embarked on the path of no return with a desperate mentality and usury.
Once the merchants are finally overwhelmed by the interest and unable to repay, the foreign merchants will seek debt collection from the Guangzhou government. The way to bring someone clean is to ransack their home and use the proceeds from the sale of their property to pay back the money. If the debt is not repaid, the general merchant will take the lead in repaying it. Don't think that just confiscating your home is the end of it. Borrowing money from foreigners privately is a major breach of national integrity and will make foreigners laugh, so the whole family has to be exiled to a remote place.
Faced with the donation order from the Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, the eight merchants were unable to resist, and the Cai family, as the general merchant, even shouldered the donation amount of 1.5 million taels.
This could cost Cai Shiwen his life! All Wanhe Bank's current working capital combined is only 500,000 taels of silver, which is far from Sun Shiyi's requirements. Cai Shiwen is like an ant on a hot pot these days, raising money everywhere, even asking people to sell farmland in the countryside.
After hearing Liu Zheng's words, Cai Zhaoping suddenly had an idea in his heart. So he pretended to be gloomy and bleak, and said with a sad tone: "Mr. Liu, we are indeed encountering difficulties now. Alas!"
Liu Zheng, who has been working as a veterinarian, was just a newbie in front of a business veteran like Cai Zhaoping. After hearing this, he quickly asked: "Is there anything difficult? Tell me, maybe I can help."
As soon as Cai Zhaoping saw that there was a way, he borrowed a secluded room from the temple abbot and told Liu Zheng about the Yamen of the Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi requesting donations from businessmen.
In the past few months that he had known Liu Zheng, he had learned something about Beihai Town's strength. These merchants were actually intermediaries for trade between the Qing Dynasty and foreigners. They were at the forefront of overseas trade and had a strong ability to accept new things.
The Manchu Qing Dynasty's practice of killing chickens to obtain eggs made merchants completely unable to care about their patriotic sentiments and noble morals. These people had neither the heart to help those in need nor the willingness to pity the common people. Therefore, Cai Zhaoping did not hesitate to tell Sun Shiyi about buying warships from the British.
Liu Zheng was overjoyed after hearing this. After spending the past few months, he finally got an important piece of information and had to go back as soon as possible. He asked again: "Brother Cai, what will happen if the money is not paid on time?"
Cai Zhaoping replied sadly: "Alas! The whole house was confiscated and the people were sent away."
Liu Zheng pretended to be angry and cursed: "What the hell!"
As soon as Cai Zhaoping saw that Liu Zheng had "taken the bait", he briefly talked about loans from peers and loans from foreign merchants. Finally, he said: "If Brother Liu's White Bear Bank has sufficient funds, they can also do this loan business, with a monthly interest of two to three cents. As long as We don’t have to worry about our principal and interest if our business goes bankrupt, it will be recovered in three to five years at most.”
Liu Zheng actually had more than 100,000 taels of silver notes on hand, which he had found from Wang's house in Yangzhou and was given to him by Zhao Xin to fund his activities before leaving. It's okay to borrow money from the Cai family, but Liu Zheng doesn't really care about the interest rate. What he cares about is opening up the situation in Guangzhou, firstly to obtain information, and secondly to expand Beihai Town's influence in the business world.
"I wonder how much Brother Cai needs to borrow?"
When Cai Zhaoping heard that there was a way, he was very happy and said quickly: "Five hundred thousand taels."
Half a million? ! Liu Zheng was startled, thinking that if he had one hundred and eighty thousand, he could make the decision, but for five hundred thousand, he could only report to Zhao Xin.
Cai Zhaoping saw Liu Zheng's expression and said quickly: "Brother Liu, less is fine."
Liu Zheng shook his head and explained: "Money and interest are not problems, but I don't have that much on hand right now. Let me think about it and I will give you an answer in a few days."
"Then I'll look forward to hearing the good news from Brother Liu."
When he returned to Baixiongxing in the evening, Liu Zheng asked his correspondent to send a telegram to Beihai Town. Two days later, news arrived from Beihai Town that Zhao Xin had agreed to the loan. He was going to go south to deliver the money in person, on the evening of the third day of December, at Haizhuang Temple.
The Cai family was overjoyed when they heard the news, and their position as general merchant was finally saved.
By the way, Beihai Town's current silver inventory is not only captured on the battlefield in the past two years, but also the 200,000 taels of silver that Zhao Xin looted from Wang Yan's merchants. There is also a lot of silver in the gold mines on Lengji Island. output. Because silver was really worthless in another time and space, in addition to minting silver coins, the inventory of 500-gram thousand-foot silver bars has reached tens of thousands.
On the fifth day after Liu Zheng told the Cai family that they agreed to borrow money, Cai Zhaoping came to visit with a large number of gifts. In addition to brocade, lacquerware, antiques, calligraphy and paintings, and some daily necessities, he also brought three tables to express his gratitude. Although the gifts were rich and the banquet was full of delicacies, the money was nothing compared to the money the Cai family wanted to borrow.
After drinking a few cups of cat urine, Liu Zheng took advantage of the drunkenness to make a request to Cai Zhaoping, saying that he wanted to go on the flower boat to see something.
By the way, if it were another blond and blue-eyed foreign businessman, he wouldn't dare agree to kill Cai Zhaoping. But after all, Liu Zheng's appearance was different from that of foreign businessmen, and he spoke in Mandarin, which gave him room for maneuver.
The Cai family spent a few days, first bribing the soldiers guarding the gate, and then arranging a flower boat and female actors. Then they led Liu Zheng, who had shaved his head and put on fake braids, and two guards to dress up as Cai Zhaoping. The follower took advantage of the night to sneak out of the shopping mall area and boarded the flower boat outside Youlan Gate.
After this night, Liu Zheng, who knew the taste of food, finally said goodbye to the fifth girl's company.
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