In the early morning, as usual, Jacob Yillias Sassoon, the chief executive of Sassoon Company, left his villa in Yuntai Mountain in a carriage after breakfast.
"...The Chinese's local opium production is getting higher and higher, which has a great impact on our market. I found that last month, our opium sales dropped by more than 15% compared to the same period last year."
On the way, listening to Hartung's report, Jacob just nodded from time to time. He admired Hartung, a young man in his twenties, very much, otherwise he would not have made such a big difference in just one year.
He was promoted many times.
Of course, another reason is that he is also from Baghdad, and the Sassoon family is also from Baghdad. Influenced by the Ottoman anti-Semitic trend, he fled to Bombay, India almost twenty years ago. He came to Hong Kong alone two years ago and moved to Hong Kong the next year.
Haizhou worked for Sassoon Company and won Jacob's trust in just one year.
After all, they are all Jews, and Jews always have to help each other. Of course, although they are Jews, the Sassoon family is a famous family. The history of their family can be traced back to the Canaanite period. Since the Jewish people were driven out of Canaan,
The Sassoon family dispersed to Baghdad.
And what about Hartung?
He was just an ordinary Jew, and he was still very poor, but he was a very smart guy and good at learning.
"Old medicine!"
Jacob opened his eyes and said.
“The Chinese call it local medicine, and their government has even formulated corresponding policies—trying to use local medicine to drive out foreign medicine, that is, the opium we shipped from India. Compared with local medicine, Indian opium is of better quality and more cost-effective.
Popular with the rich, as for native medicine, all poor people can afford it, but if you smoke tobacco, the rich will eventually become poor unless they grow their own..."
As he spoke, Jacob tapped his fingers. In recent years, the Qing people were promoting the development of their opium cultivation, and even their government was encouraging people to cultivate opium, because cultivating opium could earn more tax revenue.
The rise of so-called "local medicine" has naturally affected his business. After all, "foreign medicine" is expensive.
"Hartong, we must find a way to take advantage of the train to transport our opium as far inland as possible and further expand our market. Of course, the biggest advantage of foreign medicine compared to local medicine is that the tariff is low, and there are no
Lijin, so there is no need to worry about the impact of local medicine. This impact will have a very limited impact on us."
Thanks to the British Empire, how could they have made such huge profits in this land without the many privileges the British Empire had here.
"Yes, sir, but I think we can buy local medicine, process it, such as cellaring and fermenting it, improve its quality, and then sell it to the Chinese?"
Hartung's suggestion was naturally...rejected, because the Sassoon family had large opium plantations in India. How could they cut off their own financial resources?
In another world, Hartung finally left Sassoon and relied on purchasing domestically produced "native medicine" for in-depth processing. In just a dozen years, he became as rich as Sassoon.
The most fundamental reason why Hartung chose "local medicine" was because he did not have a supply chain that belonged to him. In order to compete with other banks, he chose "local medicine".
He also took advantage of the many privileges of foreigners to further expand the market for "local medicine". It can even be said that it was through his efforts that the "localization of opium" that we in the Qing Dynasty had dreamed of for many years finally came true.
From now on, silver will never flow out again. As for poisoning people's bodies? They have never considered that people's bodies are not as important as money.
Of course, now, Hartung is just a clerk who has just entered a foreign company.
"The car is coming, send the signal!"
Li Chengliang, who was standing on the roadside, saw the carriage of Sassoon Company and immediately made a gesture to his subordinates not far away. The team members on the roadside quickly took out their mirrors and flashed signals in the sun in the other direction of the mountain road.
.
"Ready for action!"
After receiving the signal, Zhang Wenjie moved the carriage across the middle of the car, creating a car accident scene where the carriage hit people. Several other team members hid in the woods on the roadside.
For the passengers in the car, of course they didn't know that someone was waiting for them ahead. Even the two Indian bodyguards standing behind the carriage were standing behind the carriage as usual, without any vigilance at all.
Why be wary?
No one will provoke foreigners, whether inside or outside the concession. Provoking foreigners is more troublesome than offending them.
In our Qing Dynasty, there have always been first-class foreigners and second-class officials. As for the common people, they are not human beings.
Asan from India is also a foreigner.
When the carriage driver saw a car blocking the way ahead, he quickly stopped the carriage. The moment the carriage stopped, the four Rangers on the roadside immediately pulled the triggers of their crossbows, and four sharp arrows roared towards the people who had just left.
The Indian bodyguard jumped out of the carriage,
"ah……"
The two Indian bodyguards only came and screamed, and the man fell down.
Before the coachman could react, someone else came out from the roadside with a gun, and the black muzzle was pointed at him.
"Sir, sir..."
When the coachman was desperate and wanted to warn him, another team member pulled the trigger of the crossbow.
"Whoosh..." was heard, and the force penetrated his chest accurately. When the coachman fell off the carriage, Jacob used his stick to open the carriage curtain, and then he saw a Chinese man appearing in the carriage.
outside.
"what happened?"
The car door opened and Zhang Wenjie pointed a pistol at him.
Hartung immediately shouted loudly.
"Who are you? Don't you know who we are?"
Zhang Wenjie asked.
"Are you Jacob Yillias Sassoon? Now you are under arrest!"
"What, what did you say? Who are you?"
Jacob, who has been in China for more than 20 years, can certainly speak Chinese, and he can understand it, but when he heard this sentence, it was like listening to a book from heaven. Arrest?
Is he kidding?
arrest?
Who are they and what authority do they have to arrest him!
"What power do you have? Whose subordinates are you? I am the director of the concession. You damn yellow-skinned monkeys!"
Jacob shouted a little excitedly.
"Do you know who I am? I am Sassoon! Jacob Yillias Sassoon!"
No wonder he was so excited, he was Sassoon! He was the king of the concession and the most powerful person in the British concession. How could they dare to arrest him?
Not to mention that he didn't commit a crime, even if he killed someone and set a fire, he didn't have to pay any price.
And now?
A Chinese man stood in front of him and actually said he wanted to arrest him!
This was simply a joke, no, it was a joke at all, but Jacob couldn't laugh because he felt ignored!
It's not that he is ignored, but that he is looked down upon. Who is kidding him?
Why is this guy so arrogant?
A tablet dealer was arrested, but he was still so arrogant. It was simply an insult to them!
Feeling that his dignity as a police officer had been insulted by this opium dealer, Zhang Wenjie grabbed him by the collar and slapped him in the face. He picked him up like a chicken and opened his arms from left to right, slapping Jacob until his eyes went straight.
Mao Jinxing, he was completely confused.
Amidst the sound of slaps, Hartung was also dumbfounded. He never thought that one day someone would dare to slap Mr. Sassoon!
He is Mr. Sassoon.
How dare you hit him?
These people were too violent. Facing these wolf-like Chinese people, Hartung was so frightened that he did not dare to speak. After all, coming from a lower class background, he knew very well what it meant to know the time.
"Snapped!"
After several slaps in the face, Zhang Wenjie said loudly.