Hanxiang was not born skinny. Chu Guan taught her the knowledge to attract those dignitaries, but she also learned a lot from this knowledge.

The fact that Liu Rushi, a woman with a strong personality, integrity, intelligence, and great courage, can emerge from the Eight Beauties of Qinhuai is closely related to the education she received.

If they want to attract dignitaries who study Confucianism, they naturally want to study Confucianism and follow their fancy.

The content of Confucianism is extensive and profound, and many of its contents teach people to be independent and self-reliant. After long-term study, these women also developed their own values.

It was Chu Guan's education to Hanxiang that gave her the idea of ​​​​escape from her fate.

But she was looking in the wrong direction. She hoped to get rid of her fate by proving herself in front of Wu Jianzhang.

Obviously he was looking in the wrong direction. Wu Jianzhang still used her as a tool, just like using her body fragrance as an incense burner.

The largest building in the concession area is not the British Minister's Palace, but a building in the Queen Anne style. The white paint and plain brick walls form a strong color contrast.

The architect cut corners at the two corners of the building along the street, and made a semicircular shallow porch on the ground floor, supported by two short Ionic columns, naturally launching a unique balcony for the second floor.

There are also very exquisite brick carvings on the porch.

The owner of this building is Baoshun Bank, which was one of the first foreign banks to settle in Shanghai after the opening up of Kaifu and was also the largest foreign bank in Shanghai.

Baoshun Foreign Company was also called Biandi Foreign Company. Its boss, Biandi, was a director of the East India Company and the largest opium dealer. It is said that he was involved in the war that year.

These people have so much energy that they can even influence parliaments far away from home to make the decisions they need.

Diandi is already in his fifties, in the prime of life. He always holds a black pipe in his mouth, giving people a sense of energy.

Today, I called all the famous foreign bank bosses from Shili Foreign Market, including Robert, the owner of Jardine Matheson Company, and Hall of Welfare Company.

Robert's father is Bao Ling, and he has not set off for Dongfan Island yet.

Such gatherings rarely occur because most people's businesses overlap and they are competitors, and the relationship between some people is not good.

But today the land brought them all together.

"Everyone, we are currently facing the most difficult problem we have encountered since the founding of Shanghai. The route in the East China Sea has been cut off. The merchant ships that were supposed to come from the south did not come, and we have already transferred goods from those Chinese to

Received it."

In anticipation that the Taiping Army might come down the Yangtze River, these foreign firms reached deals with Chinese businessmen earlier than in previous years.

This was originally a very clever prediction, but it encountered new variables. It was really like the mantis stalking the cicada and the oriole behind.

Originally they took the opportunity to lower the price, but now it seems that they are the clowns.

"Mr. Diandi, Mr. Wenhan has appointed me to communicate with the pirates on Dongfan Island. I think these people should give in. They are just a rebel organization and there is no need to be at odds with the empire." Robert was originally not ranked among these people.

No., but because he was qualified to negotiate with pirates, he was very confident in speaking this time.

Diandi also placed him close to him.

"Oh, Robert, it's up to you whether we can make money this time. If the fleet can't arrive next month, we will have to keep the tea for ourselves."

It is actually a bit exaggerated to say this in Yunnan. Tea is not that easy to spoil, but the price of new tea and old tea is different, and foreigners mostly buy black tea, which is easier to store.

It's just that so many goods tie up a lot of their capital. If they can't turn it into profits in time, they won't be able to recover their working capital, and they won't be able to pay dividends to shareholders.

This is very fatal for a company.

Most of the executives of these foreign companies are agents who have been pushed to the front, and there are some big-name investors behind these companies.

For example, Wu Jianzhang is one of the seven major shareholders of Jardine Matheson.

Behind every foreign company sits a group of people. These people will not invest money in vain. What they value most is returns, which are stable and high returns.

"This group of rebels shouldn't be so easy to talk to. After all, they have achieved such a great victory. Robert, are you prepared to let a victor bow to you?" Hall was not as polite to Robert as Diandi.

"Mr. Hall, what they defeated was only a small second-tier army of the Royal Navy of the British Empire. Does this failure make you lose confidence in the Royal Navy?" Robert said tit for tat.

"The Royal Navy is very powerful, but Mr. Robert, you can't summon them to support you now."

…

Seeing that the conversation between the two fell into an argument, Diandi quickly stood up to smooth things over: "No matter what, we must open up the trade route, otherwise Shanghai will be finished. The money we invested here will be wasted."

Piao. Everyone may have to retreat to Hong Kong Island to compete for the little share of the outflow of the Thirteenth Industry. The tobacco trade market we have opened up will also be cut off."

Diandi interrupted the argument between the two, and he deliberately made the result more serious.

This is also true. If trade routes cannot be opened, can they still sell these goods back to those Chinese merchants?

Now that the upper reaches of the Yangtze River have been occupied by the Taiping Army, Shanghai has no other channels for external communication except going to the sea.

"Don't forget, everyone, Chongming Island in the north is also occupied by pirates. It is said that the other party's warships are also very numerous." The person who spoke this time was named Remy, and he was the first French businessman to come to Shanghai.

"Mr. Remy, according to our judgment, the pirates who occupied Chongming Island should be the same as the pirates on Dongfan Island. How could so many powerful pirates suddenly appear on the coast of the Qing Dynasty? Warships did not fall from the sky.

Come down," Thomas said.

In fact, he only learned about these inside stories when he listened to his father's conversation with the Minister.

The British reconnaissance ship ventured to the Yangtze River estuary and discovered that the fighting methods of these pirates were exactly the same as those of Dongfan Island pirates, so they made this judgment.

"Oh, I understand, they robbed our merchant ship in the name of another pirate group." Remy suddenly realized.

Both the French and the British did such things during the war.

"That's right, many of the warships they used were converted from merchant ships, and those ships were originally ours." Thomas said angrily.

"Everyone, we are now blocked in the Huangpu River. Not only can the goods not get out, but even we ourselves can't get out. Not a single merchant ship has entered the Huangpu River for half a month. And several of our countries

There are only a handful of warships here, and it is impossible for those adults to send these few remaining warships out to fight the pirates."

I walked to the floor-to-ceiling window of the living room. From here, I could still see the fishing fires on the Huangpu River. The original scene of row upon row of merchant ships was no longer there.

"We have worked hard here for ten years. If we continue like this, I believe Shanghai will become a pearl in the Far East. It will definitely be better than Calcutta because the people here are more civilized and enlightened than those in India.

It can provide us with exquisite commodities such as tea, silk and porcelain. We must keep this place..."
Chapter completed!