Chapter 16 A strong man breaks his wrist

Knocking on the middle door in the middle of the night, a letter came in, saying it was from a special messenger from the Fantai Yamen. Mrs. Snail woke Hu Xueyan up, and showed him a "foreign lamp" with a crystal glass cover, to read the letter. Not seeing a few lines, Hu Xueyan put the letter down and said, "I want to get up." So Mrs. Luoshi called the girl, lit the lamp, turned on the charcoal basin, and waited for Hu Xueyan to get up. He put Dexin's letter on the table and looked at it carefully. Besides the eight-line paper, there was another copy, the handwriting was small, and you needed to wear presbyopia mirror to see clearly.

The copy is a decree: "Decree to the cabinet: give Zhonglang a request for repairs, and order corrupt officials to donate huge sums of money to save 10% of their needs. It is said that they should be given to the most authoritative of the stolen goods in the matter, such as the late Governor Rui. Lin, Xuezheng He Tingqian, former Guangdong Customs Supervisor Chongli, Junqi, Xuezheng Wu Baoshu, Navy Admiral Zhai Guoyan, Salt Transport Envoy He Zhaoying, Zhaoqing Road Fang Junshi, Guangzhou Prefecture Feng Duanben, Chaozhou Prefecture Prefecture Liu Jinnian, Lianzhou Prefecture Zhang Bingyan, the prefect, Du Fengzhi, the county magistrate of Nanhai County, Lin Zhuozhi, the county magistrate of Shunde County, and Lu Lexu, the current magistrate of Nanhai County, all came from Guangdong. As for the reputation of the officials in Guangdong, we have to find out exactly what it is, and report it according to the facts." This has nothing to do with Hu Xueyan.

There is another attached piece, which is very relevant: "Another piece played: Wen Fukang Bank was closed, co-organized by Wen Yu, Minister of the Ministry of Punishment of the University, and the amount of silver deposited in this number reached more than 700,000. Please check the number immediately , the study has always been. According to the actual reference office and other words, the Shuntian Mansion has confirmed the investigation." Next, let's look at Dexin's personal letter. There are only two short lines: "The matter has been communicated to the heavens, and there may still be strict orders. Please act quickly. Let's talk about it."

"Look!" Hu Xueyan handed the letter to Mrs. Luoshi, "I didn't make it clear, is he coming for the 'face-to-face interview', or do you want me to go?" "Wait for me to ask." Mrs. Luosi summoned the girl who delivered the letter, Qiaozhu, who was transferred from Jingshen Pavilion, and told her to send a message at the middle gate, and hurried to the concierge to ask. Special job, is it still there?If it's gone, what words are left? It took a while to reply, Hu Xueyan lost his composure, got up and walked around, muttering to himself: "Strict decree, strict decree! Is it dismissal or ransacking the house?"

Mrs. Luosi was terrified when she heard that, but she didn't dare to show any signs. She just piled a big fur robe and a satin mandarin jacket on the chair, because whether Dexin came or Hu Xueyan went, she had to change clothes, so Be there early. "'Quick measure', how to 'measure'?" Hu Xueyan stopped suddenly, "I think I should go to Shanghai." "Why?" "At least I want to clarify the official affairs of the Transit Bureau, and make an explanation. Don't involve Mr. Zuo. I'm too sorry for him." "Just for this matter, I can entrust my seventh brother-in-law."

"No! There is also Mi Benchang. I want to meet him face to face and see how he has cleaned up the accounts in Shanghai." When the discussion was still pending, Qiaozhu came to report in a hurry, Dexin had already visited in modest clothes, Hu Xueyan hurriedly changed his clothes, and before he could go downstairs, four maids, holding palace lanterns, greeted Dexin Come upstairs.Hu Xueyan greeted him at the top of the stairs, made a bow, and said anxiously: "I really don't know what to say to work hard by myself in such a late night!" "My brother, you don't need to talk about this." Dexin entered the door and said before she sat down, "I'm afraid Wen Zhongtang won't be able to hold on."

"Wen Zhongtang" is Wen Yu, who is currently co-organizing the Minister of the Ministry of Criminal Justice, so it is called "Zhongtang".He is a well-known wealthy family in the Eight Banners, and he made his fortune as a general in Fuzhou.There are generals garrisoned in the important towns in the country. They are respected but not powerful, and there is no income. The only exception is Fuzhou General, because it is also in charge of Fujian Customs. Land, taxes surged, so it became a fat spot.Because Wen Yu is a relative of Prince Gong, his backing is very strong, so he occupied this fat position for nine years, and when he was transferred to Beijing, he was appointed as the supervisor of Chongwenmen several times. Over the past few decades, the eunuchs have accumulated no less than tens of millions.In Fukang, he was the first big depositor. On the one hand, he shared interests and shared weal and woe; The paper "Pian Zuo" is a reference, the paper can't cover the fire, and I can't take care of myself. Of course, I can't "top" for Hu Xueyan anymore.

"Xueyan," Dexin asked again, "Wen Zhongtang really has so much money, is it stored with you?" "Not that much." Hu Xueyan replied, "I don't know the exact number, but there are about four or five million." "That's a lot." "Xiao Weng," the confused Hu Xueyan finally found an important sentence, "Look, what will the court do after the Shuntian Mansion reports the facts?" "According to the custom, the imperial court should not listen to one-sided words, it must make Wen Zhongtang understand the echo."

"How does Wen Zhongtang play back?" "Then I don't know." Dexin replied, "You won't admit that the source of your money is unknown?" "He has made good and bad money through his career, lived frugally, and made profits. It doesn't seem like a lot to accumulate such a sum." "Good guy, you really sound like a 'God of Wealth'. The bank deposit alone has four to five million yuan, isn't that too much?" Hu Xueyan had no words to answer, but was just thinking: What kind of punishment will Wen Yu get? "Wen Zhongtang is going to be unlucky this time." Dexin said, "Qingliu's arrogance is in full swing now. In order to respect the way of speaking, the imperial court may use Wen Zhongtang as a knife."

Hu Xueyan was startled, "What?" He asked anxiously, "Will he be punished?" "There will be no punishment. I'm afraid he will be punished." "How? A fine?" "Of course. We are using troops now, and the military needs are in short supply. Zuo Xing will punish him for his salary. I don't know the amount." Dexin warned earnestly, "Xueyan, what I said is to plan early. The first step is to Get this money ready." "Which money?" Hu Xueyan asked blankly. "Wen Zhongtang's fine! As soon as the decree is issued, the amount of the fine will naturally be withdrawn from his deposit. At that time, you will become a money owed to the government, and it is the official money raised by special decree. It is as urgent as a spark." , it will not work if you want to delay it.”

"Oh!" Hu Xueyan thought to himself, the public and private funds to be repaid are tens of millions, so why care about this?But Dexin's kindness is always appreciated, so she replied, "Xiao Weng Guan Ai, I am very grateful. When I come to Shanghai this time, I will first prepare it and hand it in as soon as the edict arrives. " "That's it." Dexin asked, "When are you going to leave?" "Tomorrow is too late, let's go the day after tomorrow." "When will you be back?" "It depends on whether things are going smoothly or not. I also want to go to Jiang Ning to see if Mr. Zuo can help me." "You should have gone a long time ago." Dexin said immediately, "You should leave early! Anyway, the matter of sealing the pawn is going on here, whether it is public funds or private funds, everyone depends on the result of the pawn liquidation. I won't come to remind you for a while. You just take advantage of this gap and quickly sell Si Cocoon, and it will be easier to 'speak bad debts'." "Speaking of bad debts" means repaying by discounting.Any business failure is like this, but before you talk about bad debts, you must prepare cash first. Hu Xueyan has been waiting for the situation to ease, and the inventory can be sold at a better price, and the discount for "negotiating bad debts" can also be increased .But judging from the current situation, the pressure is getting tighter and tighter. After the pawn is sealed, following the case of Wenyu, there may be dismissal. , "It should be urgently planned as early as possible." Therefore, as soon as Dexin left, Hu Xueyan and Mrs. Luoshi re-discussed, "The arrow is on the string, and I have to shoot it." He said, "There is a saying called 'a strong man cuts his wrist'. I only have to cut off an arm. Although a person is disabled, his life is at stake." Paul. What do you think?" "It's up to you!" Mrs. Snail said with tears in her eyes, "As long as you cut off your arms, don't ask me to do it." "Although I don't ask you to do it, I'm afraid I need you to put more strength on my knife, otherwise I won't be able to cut it off. You must promise me this." Mrs. Snail nodded while weeping, and then asked, "What are you going to do when you go to Shanghai this time?" "I asked Yingchun to clear all the silk cocoons, and deposit the money in HSBC as a reserve for defaulting. I have to go to Jiangning again, and please speak for me, Mr. Zuo. The official money cannot be discounted or discounted. Don't chase me so closely, after all, I still have a career to make money, and if I earn it slowly, I will be overwhelmed all of a sudden, and it will not be of any benefit to the public." "What?" Mrs. Snail suddenly had an idea, thought for a while and said, "You mean, for example, pawning, the door is opened as usual, and the bill is settled at the end of the year. If you make money, you can use it to pay off the public account. When you pay it off, twenty How many pawns are still ours?" Hu Xueyan laughed, "You really have one hand and one hand, how can there be such a good thing in the world?" He said, "The so-called 'slowly earn and pay back' means making money. Maintain it, and then come to evaluate the price to offset the public funds." "What's the difference? Sooner or later, it will be all over." Mrs. Snail was very disappointed, her voice was very sad. "Although it will be empty sooner or later, there is still a difference. For example, the pawn shop's shelf is 200,000 taels, and the pawn is open as usual. If someone comes to redeem the pawn, it can be counted as 200,000 taels. We have to estimate the price according to the current price, three renminbi is not worth two renminbi, definitely not two hundred thousand taels, and we still have to pay for the shortfall. "Yes, I understand. But," Mrs. Snail asked, "can you keep some?" "That depends on the future. At least I'll have to wait until I come back from Shanghai to find out. It's too early to say." Mrs. Luosi thought about it back and forth, and asked something very important: "From the end of October to today, the twenty days, although the world has turned upside down, it will always be regarded as a temporary disturbance, except for the old lady who moved to live outside the city. Other than that, other ostentation and entertainment, but the scale is a bit smaller, basically unchanged. According to your current plan, this family must be dismantled?" Hearing this, Hu Xueyan's heart was pierced, but he always thought of others first, and compared his heart with his heart, knowing that Mrs. Snail was more sad than him, and he just suppressed the tears from falling down. Thinking about it like this, I felt that I should comfort Mrs. Snail first, "You and I will always be inseparable." He said, "Not only in this life, but also in the next life." How could Mrs. Snail's suppressed tears be able to withstand the agitation of his words?Tears rolled down immediately, leaning on Hu Xueyan's shoulder, a large area was wet on his lake crepe leather robe. "Fourth Sister Luo, Fourth Sister Luo," Hu Xueyan said while holding her hand, "don't be sad either. We've all experienced prosperity and wealth after all. In life, we have to experience joy, anger, sorrow, and joy before we've truly done it. People. Don’t gossip, I will discuss something with you.” This matter is dismissing Concubine Ji, the two of them have made a secret plan, and they have agreed not to let the third party—including Mrs. Hu, know about it, and only wait for Hu Xueyan to come back from Shanghai to implement it. "Look," Hu Xueyan asked suddenly, "how about the one in Huayinglou?" The residence of Huaying Building is Aunt Zhu, whose nickname is Qinglian. She was originally the daughter of Zhu Langzhong from Xiaxiaqiao, Shaoxing. , As a result, he was entangled in lawsuits and his family fell into ruin.Zhu Langzhong was in a hurry and died of illness, but Zhou Wanwan's family couldn't let her go, so that Qinglian was about to fall into the fire pit. Fortunately, Hu Xueyan took a fancy to her, hired her as the seventh concubine. Mrs. Snail didn't understand what he said, she was stunned for a moment and asked, "What do you say about her? She has no idea, where should I start?" "I mean what she is." "He is honest and honest." Mrs. Snail replied, "After all, she is the doctor's daughter, and she has a sense of proportion in what she says and does." "Do you think she will give birth?" Asked this, Mrs. Snail was even more surprised, "Why?" She asked, "Do you want to keep her?" "You made a mistake." Hu Xueyan said, "You just said whether she will give birth or not." "As long as you can give birth, she will give birth. Round face and big butt, isn't it suitable for a man?" "Okay!" Hu Xueyan said, "Zhou Shaotang's only son used to work in a foreign company and was quite promising, but he died of spring plague before he got married. Zhou Shaotang is fifty-four years old, and he is in surprisingly good health. I think it would be a good thing for Qinglian to follow him." "How did you come up with it?" Mrs. Snail pondered for a while and said, "A good thing is a good thing, but is Mrs. Zhou willing or not?" "Yes." Hu Xueyan answered very crisply. "You asked him?" "Yes. How else would I know?" "Maybe that's what came out of his mouth." "No! Shaotang and I have been together since we were young. I know his character. Sometimes he looks glib, but in fact he is a real and beneficial person, and he doesn't lie to me." "That's good." Mrs. Snail said, "But I don't know if Qinglian is willing or not. Let me ask her." "I don't think you need to ask. If you ask, she will definitely say no." Hu Xueyan said with emotion, "'Husbands and wives are originally birds in the same forest. When the deadline comes, they will fly separately." , she will willingly." Hu Xueyan had planned a long time ago. When he arrived in Shanghai, he would not stay anywhere. He found a small inn in the city to stay there, in order to hide his whereabouts.There are too many acquaintances in the concession, and the teahouse brains of "officials and officials" are even more well-informed. How can we not have seen the famous "Hu God of Wealth"?Therefore, to conceal the truth, the only option is to hide in a small inn far away from the concession. The arrangement was made, and the servant was sent to inform Gu Yingchun to meet him.Gu Yingchun had a big accident, but it's not difficult to understand Hu Xueyan's state of mind, so even though he felt a kind of desolation of a hero's end in his heart, when he saw him, his expression was calm, and he didn't even say "why does my uncle live here?" Don't ask any questions. "How is Seventh Sister? Are you feeling better?" "fine." "What about my business?" Hu Xueyan asked, "What did she say?" "She doesn't know." "I don't know?" Hu Xueyan was surprised, "How can I hide it?" "Thanks to Ruixiang, I tried my best to keep her from knowing. The most troublesome thing is the newspaper. I have to read the "Declaration" that is delivered every day. If there is news about my uncle on it, I will put this newspaper away. , don’t show her.” "Oh!" Hu Xueyan breathed a sigh of relief, his heart suddenly felt relieved. What he had been worried about all along was that he didn't know what to say to comfort Qigu's grandma when he met her. Now he doesn't have to worry. Let's get down to business.Hu Xueyan first told Gu Yingchun of his decision to "cut the wrists of a strong man", and of course asked his opinion. "My uncle has already made up his mind. I'm not qualified to say whether I'm right or not. What I've been thinking about day and night is how to save my uncle a fortune to make a comeback—" "Yingchun," Hu Xueyan interrupted him, "don't be delusional. I, Hu, have today because of the timing, location, and harmony of people, plus two rare opportunities that can never be met again. It was successful. May I ask, which one can I get, the right time, the right place, and the harmony of people? Even if I get all of them, I won’t have those two opportunities again.” "What are the two opportunities my uncle mentioned? One is probably Xizheng, and the other?" "There is also a sea ban. At that time, there were not many people who knew how to deal with foreigners. Now? How many people know how to deal with Western affairs? When dealing with foreigners and doing business, they not only know their market conditions, but also follow the Chinese way. I have learned the tricks of people very well, so it is my turn to be the market leader. Besides, Chinese people need to rely on mountains to do business—” Hu Xueyan shook his head and changed the subject, “You said you want to save a sum of money for me, I can only say that it is impossible to be so generous. Because all my accounts have been handed over, like silk cocoons, there are details, so how can I keep some of them privately?" "There is still a way." Gu Yingchun said, "The most important point is that the silk and cocoons are two things, my uncle must insist on handling them by himself." "I understand what you mean. But now I can't do anything wrong. Although the thing is in my hands, the sovereignty is no longer mine. We have an account, and whether to sell it depends on Liu Futai's willingness. He said the price is not good. If you don’t sell it, we have nothing to say.” "How about the price?" "How good is it?" Hu Xueyan blurted out and asked, seeing that Gu Yingchun remained silent, Fang continued, "Unless the price is good enough to cover my shortfall, I can take it back immediately and handle it myself. But it can't be done, As long as Liu Futai is invited to come forward to talk about the discount, then he has to decide." "However, Liu Futai may not be able to find customers for a while." "Yes, I also know that he can't find it. My original plan was that if he couldn't find it, I would just drag it there for a few months, or the situation would improve, or the foreign merchants couldn't wait for the goods, and the market would turn around." Wake up, maybe we can turn around. But judging from the current situation, it will be ugly if it continues to drag on." So Hu Xueyan explained in detail how Wen Yu's case might be implicated in his dismissal and punishment, and then discussed the purpose of this trip in detail. "The first thing I do when I come here is to find a buyer for Silk Cocoon, do you have any?" "Yes. It's just that the price tag goes up and down, and we have to grind it slowly." "Don't worry about it. We introduce this business as a broker. Liu Futai agreed, and we still have to explain the commission to him." "Then what about Liu Futai?" Gu Yingchun asked, "Should he also share the commission?" "Of course, and it should be a large portion. However, it is inconvenient to explain this to him, so we must turn a corner." "How to transfer? Shall we talk to De Fantai first?" "That's right. We need to talk to De Xiaofeng first. You know my relationship with him. Now that you have an account, we'll send him a telegram right away." "This uses secret electricity." "Yes." Hu Xueyan said, "Before I left, I asked him for a password book, and we made an appointment that everyone would use aliases." "That's quite appropriate." Next, Gu Yingchun talked in detail about the account he was in contact with. There was a French giant, Meyer, who opened the account with better conditions. After hearing this, Hu Xueyan asked about the payment method and the bank for guarantee, and thought it could be traded. , but still asked: "Is there any better account than Maya?" "No." "Okay! It's him." Hu Xueyan said again, "As for the commission, your share will be deducted, and mine will be included in the public account." "Mine is also in the public account." "No, no! I did it to show my sincerity, so why do you fill it in for nothing? If you say that after the discount is discounted, the shortfall will still be chasing after me. If you do this, I will be less burdened. It is still possible to say that now it is always a discount, and it is of no benefit to me if you do this, and I don't even need to see your favor. As for others, they don't even know that you don't want commissions, let alone talk about it." "I think I should share weal and woe with my uncle—" "Okay, okay! You don't need to say any more." Hu Xueyan interrupted him, "You can hear the noise when the copper coin is thrown into the water. If you die like this, no one will know. What's the matter?" "Okay!" Gu Yingchun made up another idea, without saying anything, just asked, "When will the telegram be sent?" "Type it now, you start a manuscript to read." Gu Yingchun nodded, thought for a while and said, "How do you say commission?" "I don't need to mention this first. You just quote a price and explain the payment method. What's more important is that there is no better price than this. If Liu Futai is interested, you can go to Hangzhou to meet him face-to-face, and we can talk about it at that time commission." "Uncle, wouldn't it be more appropriate for you to go back and talk about it yourself?" "No! First, I want to go to Jiangning; second, I'd better not get involved in this matter. It seems that De Xiaofeng is easier to talk if he stays out of it." "Okay! I understand." So he called the teahouse to fetch pens and inkstones, Gu Yingchun drafted a telegram draft, discussed it with Hu Xueyan, then took out the cipher book, the two of them worked together, turned it over and re-transcribed and proofread it, and it was not until evening that the work was completed. "I'll send it right away. If I don't send it, the telegraph office will be closed." Gu Yingchun asked, "Would you like to come to my place for dinner, or to have fun with a flower wine?" "Where are you in the mood to eat flower wine?" Hu Xueyan said, "Let's go out together, find a restaurant for dinner, and see Seventh Sister tomorrow." "That's good." So Hu Xueyan didn't even bring a follower, and went out of the inn with Gu Yingchun, first went to the telegraph office to send a secret telegram, and walked around the night market.