But when Ruan Yuan entered the city on this day, he went all the way south from the Dabei Gate in the north of Guangzhou, passed through the Guide Gate, and then arrived at the Governor's Hall in the southwest of Guangzhou City. In the Qing Dynasty, Guangzhou City was divided into two parts, the inner and outer parts.

From the gate to Guide Gate, it is the inner city. The governor of Guangdong, the Chief Envoy, and the Magistrate of Guangzhou Prefecture are all located in the inner city. And south of Guide Gate, to Taiping Gate, Youlan Gate, and Jinghai Gate,

It is the outer city of Guangzhou. The Guangdong Governor-General's Hall is located between Jinghai Gate and Youlan Gate in the outer city. It is adjacent to Maima Street to the south, Baimi Lane to the east, Yuzi Lane to the west, and Daxin Street to the north. The courtyard is very wide.

The governor-general hall of Guangdong and Guangxi is different from the governor-general hall of Zhejiang and Jiangxi. It was built after Kangxi in the Qing Dynasty and was not an office of the previous dynasty. This is also related to the constant changes in the governor-general of Guangdong and Guangxi. In the early Ming Dynasty, the governor-general of Guangdong and Guangxi was established, and the administrative seat was originally in Wuzhou, Guangxi.

Later it was changed to Zhaoqing, Guangdong. In the early Qing Dynasty, the Kangxi and Yong dynasties were still in Zhaoqing, but only built an administrative office in Guangzhou. It was not until the eleventh year of Qianlong's reign that Governor Celeng got the decree and moved the Governor's Mansion to Guangzhou, and the Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi sat in Guangzhou.

However, there were many arrogant and extravagant people before the governor-general of Guangdong and Guangxi. When Li Shiyao, Fu Kang'an and others were in office, they all expanded the governor-general's hall. Therefore, the grandeur of the governor-general's hall at this time was even higher than that of the Huguang Governor's Palace.

When they arrived at the gate of the ministry hall, Jiang Youzhu had been waiting outside the door for a long time. Seeing Ruan Yuan's arrival, Jiang Youzhu also stepped forward and smiled at Ruan Yuan: "Haha, Brother Boyuan, I really didn't expect that, eight years ago in Hangzhou, I took over

Your position as governor of Zhejiang has passed by in the blink of an eye. Today in Guangzhou, you are the one who will succeed me as the governor of these two provinces. It is really rare. In the future, all important matters in Guangzhou will be left to you. How about it, let’s

How about we hold the ceremony of taking over now?"

"Litang is very polite. It's just that when I come to Guangzhou this time, I am really entrusted by the emperor. There are some things in Guangzhou that I have to know about. This seal ceremony... It's okay to do it here, but I am also a little uncomfortable.

I need Litang to teach me the solution." Ruan Yuan also said humbly to Jiang You.

"Okay, I'll accompany you back in a while. If you have any questions, just ask me. As long as I know something, I will answer it without hiding anything!" Jiang Youzhuang immediately agreed to Ruan Yuan, and then the group of people

In front of the gate of the Guangzhou Governor's Court, the seal-receiving ceremony was completed. Ruan Yuan took the seal of the Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, thus starting his long road to governor-general of Guangzhou.

The seal delivery was completed, and Jiang Youzhu accompanied Ruan Yuan back to the inner hall. It seemed that Jiang Youzhu had heard about why he left office and why Ruan Yuan came to replace him. At this time, he recalled the cleanup of the crow film last year.

, and sighed to Ruan Yuan: "Brother Bo Yuan, in fact, when I think about what happened last year, I feel that it was inappropriate. I made the regulations for the opium inspection myself, but I did not implement it.

.Although there was no old practice to follow before, I still hesitated to make this change. Brother Boyuan, when you are in charge of affairs in Guangzhou in the future, you must learn from me and not make the same mistake again."

"What did Litang say? It's always difficult to do anything without precedent. It's a blessing for you and me if we can do it. It's reasonable if we can't do it. How can I blame you?" Ruan Yuan also said to him.

Jiang Youzhu comforted and said: "This time the emperor has issued an edict, which will make it easier to do things in the future. Whenever a foreign ship enters Guangzhou Port, and one ship has opium, then the ship is not allowed to open the cabin for trade. If every ship has opium, then each ship will have opium.

All ships will be sealed, and all opium turned in will be destroyed, regardless of the reason. In this way, the foreigners will no longer have an excuse. As for the usual opium inspections, I would like to thank Litang for preparing the regulations.

By the way, Litang, apart from foreigners, are there any other difficulties in Guangzhou now?"

"Brother Bo Yuan, I have always tried my best to deal with Guangzhou over the years, but there is a difference between planning and accomplishing things." Jiang Youzhu also analyzed Ruan Yuan: "There is another problem in Guangdong at the moment, which is the group of thieves in northern Guangdong.

Years ago, Cheung Po Tsai surrendered to the government, but there are still a lot of thieves on the road. In the past few years, I have tried my best to hunt down most of them, but there are still many thieves entrenched in the mountains of northern Guangdong, which cannot be underestimated. In addition, along the coast

Regarding fort defense, I have some fort topographic maps here, which I have left to you. Among them, you must know the artillery positions and the number of soldiers in each fort. There is also the Thirteenth Line over there. Brother Bo Yuan, to be honest, these few

In 2013, several merchants in the Thirteenth Bank went bankrupt, all due to poor management and excessive foreign debts. They may have to be replaced as merchants in the future. You must treat each other fairly and not be partial."

"Litang, I will naturally care about this." Ruan Yuan replied immediately. Just thinking of this, Ruan Yuan also gradually remembered that merchants of the Thirteenth Line often need to conduct business directly with foreign and Western merchants. In this way, perhaps Guangzhou's internal trade relationship

The people who were most familiar with Western affairs were these merchants, so they asked Jiang Youzhu: "It's just Litang. I came to Guangzhou this time to deal with Western trade matters, but I have never had any contact with them before.

Regarding human affairs in Guangzhou, I heard from Litang that many of the thirteen businesses have business debts, but I also want to know whether there are any general merchants among these thirteen businesses, or those who are wealthy and have many ties with Western businessmen.

Do I need to properly contact the people I have contact with in the future, whether it is about Western affairs or business donations?"

"There are still wealthy people in the Thirteenth Line, such as Lu Guanheng of the Lu family, Pan Changyao of the Pan family, Li Guangyuan of the Li family, and Liu Dezhang of the Liu family. These are all quite influential in the Thirteenth Line, but the real leader...

"Jiang Youzhu also paused. It seemed that this president not only had no business debts, but also had more substantial financial resources. He said: "Now the real president of the Thirteen Banks is one of them, Yihe Bank, with the surname Wu, and the official

The reported name is Wu Dunyuan. In addition, I heard that he also has the name of a businessman named Wu Bingjian. This man's Yihe Bank is currently running the most prosperous business. I heard that among the thirteen trades, six small traders still have

I have to borrow money from him to maintain the business. He is about the same age as me, and he was in his prime a few years ago, so he may be more concerned about business than others. As for Thirteen Banks, if it weren't for Hongshang, he would have to go bankrupt.

Seizing them means that their fathers will die and their sons will succeed them. Some merchants will start to owe money gradually as they get older, but this is just an ordinary thing."

"Really, Wu Dunyuan, Wu Bingjian..." Ruan Yuan also gradually remembered this name, but at this time, he still didn't know what kind of connection he might have with this president of the Thirteenth Party.

"Litang, what are the Western countries trading in Guangzhou today? Can you please give me some advice from cousin Li?" Ruan Yuan focused his attention on Western merchants again.

"Bo Yuan, this Western merchant, there are a hundred and one merchant ships coming to Guangzhou this year, and the largest number of them is the British." Jiang Youzhu also explained the British trade in Guangzhou patiently to Ruan Yuan: "The British can do it every year.

There are about sixty or seventy merchant ships coming to Guangzhou. They have a business house on the Thirteenth Bank, which is responsible for trade. It is called Gongbanya, also called Gongxing. I heard that the British ships came to do business.

More than 40 ships come through this company every year. There are also some merchants who do not belong to this company, but they must obtain the company's approval before they can trade in Guangzhou. They are generally called Gangjiao merchants. They can trade in Guangzhou in a year.

Let's bring more than 20 ships. In addition, the Netherlands has about five ships a year, and there are some small countries in the West, such as Switzerland and Lien. There are about one or two ships every year. The merchant ships of these small countries combined, that is, England

The majority of the merchant ships are still British." The "Gongbanya" mentioned by Jiang Youzhu was actually the British East India Company at that time. In the middle of the Qing Dynasty, it had a monopoly on British trade with China, as did most of the British merchant ships.

Under the East India Company. The so-called "port merchants" refer to individual traders from the UK. Individual traders also need permission from the East India Company before they can come to China. Sweden and Lien are respectively today's Sweden.

,Denmark.

"I see..." While Ruan Yuan was counting the number of ships from various countries coming to Guangzhou, he faintly discovered that Jiang Youzhu seemed to have many merchant ships that he had not mentioned, so he immediately asked: "But Litang, even if you count like this, one

The Western merchants in Guangzhou have only had more than 70 ships in recent years? Where did the extra 20 merchant ships come from? "

"Brother Boyuan, have you ever heard of...Milijian Kingdom?" Jiang Youzhu suddenly said an unfamiliar name.

"The country of Milician... There is no mention of this country in all the pictures of Kunyu that I have seen, including Jiang Youren's picture?" Ruan Yuan replied.

"Yes, this is the country that suddenly appeared a few decades ago." Jiang Youzhu also explained to Ruan Yuan: "I checked the old files and found that at the end of Qianlong's reign, these people from the country came to the country for the first time.

Guangzhou trades, and although they look similar to Westerners, they deny that they are from Europe. They say that they are from... North Asia and Mexico. In that case, it is further away than England. However, this country also has many strange and difficult to explain

Not to mention anything else, it has only been a few years since the end of Qianlong's reign. They have brought twenty merchant ships to Guangzhou in a year. After a while, I don't know how many ships they will come to Guangzhou.

"

"Litang, what kind of country is this country? There are so many merchant ships coming to Guangzhou every year. It should be a powerful country that is not inferior to England? But you just said that this country was only established decades ago.

In just a few decades, can the United States develop into a powerful country?" Ruan Yuan seemed to have a lot of questions after listening to Jiang You's words.

"Yes, it's just that I don't know much about the specific situation of this country." Jiang Youzhen pondered for a long time, and then told everything he knew, and said: "This country is different from England. British businessmen do not go through public relations.

Businessmen cannot come to Guangzhou to trade. But there seems to be no such restriction on the American side. Businessmen can come to Guangzhou if they want, and their country never cares about it. Moreover, their national system seems to be very different from other Western countries. They...

It is said that there is no king, but this country seems to be composed of more than a dozen tribes. Every few years, a few recognized capable men are selected from each tribe, and then lots are drawn. The ones drawn will be the chiefs for a few years.

A few years later, another person comes up. Most businessmen only care about making money, but they are not as arrogant as the British. But... there are also people who smuggle opium among them. That time I encountered fishermen robbing merchant ships of opium.

It's a Milician ship."

"Really? I don't think there is such a country overseas..." Ruan Yuan thought about what Jiang Youzhu said about the Millikin Kingdom. He felt that the information was very sparse and it seemed that it was still not enough to understand this country. He smiled at Jiang Youzhu and said with a smile: "In that case,

Leave the rest to me."

"Boyuan, I have told you all the things I know about the West. The rest...you should pay attention and be careful. After all, when it comes to Western trade, the emperor has always been lenient and unwilling to rashly fight with them.

We meet each other." Jiang Youzhen always felt that his thoughts were not finished, so he added to Ruan Yuan.

"What did Li Tang say? When I met Li Tang today, I learned the name of another country." Ruan Yuan also smiled at Jiang You.

Jiang Youzhuo exchanged a few polite words with Ruan Yuan and then left. Ruan Yuan also began to search for the archives of the Governor's Court, and gradually learned about other matters of the Governor's Court. However, neither Ruan Yuan nor Jiang Youzhu seemed to know at this time that the Mili they had just discussed was

Jianguo will become a country that the entire world cannot underestimate in the near future. What is really familiar to the people of the country is its other name, which is:
Chapter completed!