Dong Shuheng met Wu Jianzhang at noon the next day. This man was tall and thin, with a pointed chin and a pair of small eyes, but he looked extremely shrewd.
He was born into a poor family and worked as a servant in the Thirteenth Bank of Guangzhou at a very young age. He was well-behaved and diligent, good at understanding foreign people's thoughts, and fluent in English. He was highly regarded by foreign businessmen.
Then he accumulated funds, traded with foreign businessmen, and gradually became rich. He also opened Tongshunhang, which ranked among the thirteen merchants.
During the First Opium War, Wu Jianzhang accumulated huge sums of money by operating the tea trade, and invested in Qichang Foreign Company, becoming one of the seven largest shareholders of the bank.
About the twenty-fifth year of Daoguang's reign, Wu Jianzhang ended his business in Guangzhou and went to Shanghai, where he engaged in tea trade, pawnbroking, etc., and became a big comprador in Shanghai. After Wu accumulated huge sums of money, he continued to donate money to officials. In the twenty-seventh year of Daoguang's reign, he donated money to officials.
With a donation of five hundred thousand taels, Su Songtai was given the prestigious position of registered envoy of the Military Preparation Road and supervisor of Jiangguang Customs (Shanghai Customs).
Wu Jianzhang represents the interests of comprador merchants with the Thirteenth Party of Guangdong as the core. What they pursue is to continuously expand trade activities with foreigners. The interests of these people are more tied to foreigners. They have a strong influence on the great powers in China.
The colonial activities played a promoting role to a certain extent.
Dong Shuheng knew that this person was not easy to deal with. It was best to be direct when talking to such a person, because if you beat around the bush with him, he would be more roundabout than you, and in the end nothing could be discussed.
"Hello Mr. Dong, Mr. Dong is really young and promising!"
"Master Wu, thank you for your hard work. I asked you to come all the way here. It should be the junior who goes to pay homage to the senior."
"Hey... what did Mr. Dong say? Mr. Dong fought against Chang Mao and made extraordinary achievements many times to keep Jiangsu safe. He takes care of everything every day and has great achievements in hard work."
…
"Master Wu, let's go to this garden together!" Dong Shuheng invited.
"I am honored to be the official."
The two walked towards the garden together, with Peng Yulin and Li Cunxun following behind.
"Sir Dong, I heard that your Excellency is planning to open a new large market in Yangzhou. I wonder if Shanghai merchants and foreign companies can buy a commercial port?"
"Of course that's no problem. Does Mr. Wu still have business on hand?"
"Xiaguan no longer cares about business, but Xiaguan's clan brother still manages a foreign company and does some trade to supplement the family income."
"Oh, Mr. Wu, there is no need to worry too much. The canal market is mainly to ensure the supply of supplies in the capital. This matter was brought up by Mr. Qishan. Changmao is currently cutting off the southern section of the canal in Zhenjiang. The supplies in the capital are temporarily tight. I will wait.
As a minister, I have to share the emperor's worries!"
Dong Shuheng heard this, and Wu Jianzhang was afraid that Dong Shuheng would start anew and use Yangzhou to replace Shanghai to trade directly with foreigners, which would harm the interests of compradors like them.
Dong Shuheng seriously suspected that the official Wu Jianzhang was not donated by himself, but was promoted to him by the Thirteenth Bank of China in order to control Shanghai's foreign trade.
Whether they are Chinese businessmen or foreigners, their import and export goods have to go through their foreign firms. Foreign firms can make a lot of profits by doing nothing.
In fact, what disgusted Dong Shuheng the most was that these thirteen merchants were the ultimate promoters of the opium trade. It was impossible for the British to sell opium directly to the interior of China. They all used large ships to transport opium to the offshore. Then, these comprador merchants took advantage of
A very fast smuggling ship that transports opium to shore for distribution.
In addition, the activity of selling Chinese labor is also inseparable from them.
To a certain extent, these compradors are more hateful than foreigners.
"Master Dong is so loyal to the imperial court."
"Master Dong, I heard that you are planning to establish the Yangtze River Navy. I wonder if you can send the navy to protect the southeast coastal trade routes? In recent years, pirates along the coast of Zhejiang have gradually increased, and domestic merchant ships offshore are often hijacked."
This thing should be true. Most of these compradors are Guangdong businessmen. They own most of the offshore fleets along the coast. As the number of foreign ships increases, some of the original small offshore merchant ships have lost their livelihoods. Many people have become offshore merchants.
pirates. Most foreign ships are protected by force, and they generally dare not move. Chinese merchant ships offshore have become their main targets.
This is extremely detrimental to compradors who rely heavily on trade. Most of their goods are transported from various places by Chinese merchant ships along the coast.
"Master Wu, I am actually very willing to help you with this. However, the little strength of the Yangtze River Navy that I have in hand has to prevent the long hair from flowing down the river. Moreover, the Yangtze River Navy mostly uses sampans and small boats, which are not suitable for sea navigation.
."
"This..." Wu Jianzhang looked disappointed.
"Mr. Wu, there is actually nothing we can do."
"Master Dong, please clarify!"
"Master Wu can write a letter to Master Qishan and talk about the rampant piracy. Please ask Master Qishan to jointly submit a letter to ask His Majesty to order the establishment of the Nanyang Navy. With this title, we can find foreigners to buy warships and set up a navy.
From now on, there will be no shortage of troops whether it is escorting or anti-smuggling and banditry at sea. Of course, the Governor's Office will provide most of the money for running the navy." Dong Shuheng said that most of it was actually funded by himself. The other thing he meant was that you in Guangdong
Businessmen also have to contribute part of it.
"Thank you Mr. Dong for your advice. Mr. Qi Shan also needs some kind words from Mr. Dong." Wu Jianzhang always believed that Dong Shuheng was Qi Shan's person. Qi Shan was the mastermind behind what Dong Shuheng did. You must know that there is no backstage.
At Dong Shuheng's age, it is impossible for him to hold a high position.
Dong Shuheng knew that this matter would definitely fall on him after it was transferred from Qishan to the upper level. Wu Jianzhang was a civil servant and it was impossible for him to be allowed to build the water division.
The reason why Wu Jianzhang was asked to co-sign was to make this matter look more reasonable. At the same time, since the imperial court could not afford the money to run the navy, it would definitely have to delegate some powers to offset it, such as taking part of the customs duties.
Today's conversation with Wu Jianzhang basically clarified the power of the two major interest groups. A temporary compromise was reached between the Jiangbei Industrial Group headed by Dong Shuheng and the comprador group at the core of the Guangdong Thirteenth Party.
The large market in Yangzhou will not directly involve foreign trade for the time being, and trade with foreigners will still have to be re-exported from Shanghai. This ensures the interests of the compradors.
In addition, Dong Shuheng must block the long hair from developing downstream to ensure Su Song's safety.
In terms of pricing power for exported goods, the comprador agreed to let Huaihai Group and Yangtze River Group participate. This is equivalent to transferring part of the pricing power. In addition, the Susong Region will raise 500,000 silver dollars in military expenditures for the Huaihai Navy every year.
Of course, all this is only temporary. Dong Shuheng has already made plans in his mind on how to deal with this gang of compradors.
Speaking of which, Dong Shuheng has a greater chance of success. Many of the industries in Dong Shuheng's hands are domestic sales industries. At the same time, Dong Shuheng also controls the logistics lines of inland rivers. In addition, he has strong financial support from Yangzhou salt merchants, and the Yangtze River Bank has nearly 100 million in deposits.
Silver dollars, most of these money are saved by big businessmen in Yangzhou. They are stable long-term deposits, and some of them can be used for emergencies at any time.
Now Dong Shuheng is in urgent need of a maritime fleet, even if it is just cruising offshore.
The escort fleet in his hands has not been able to form a combat effectiveness for more than a year and a half. Moreover, the escort fleet under construction is a secret killer weapon in his hands, and he will not show it to others easily.
If he can win the title of Nanyang Navy this time, he can first buy a small-scale second-hand fleet from foreigners, hire some instructors, and reserve talents for future fleet expansion.
In Dong Shuheng's plan, the Nanyang Navy is a transitional product of the future navy. In the future, China will have at least three fleets to ensure the security of its maritime borders. Of course, these are all things for later.
Wu Jianzhang was sent away. Dong Shuheng called Liu Qingbei. Liu Qingbei was Dong Shuheng's contact person in the concession. He had already made an appointment with the foreigners for negotiation time with Qishan's credentials.
Dong Shuheng asked Liu Qingbei to make appointments with the ministers from Britain, France and the United States respectively. He planned to negotiate with them separately instead of letting them sit together. That way he would become one-on-three, and such negotiations would be very detrimental to him.
"President, today we will talk to the British first. I have already contacted Minister Wenhan."
"In this case, you, Xueqin and Cunxun will come with me."
…
At the Peace Restaurant, Wen Han came here with his assistant, escorted by a group of British soldiers.
"Hello, Mr. Minister, nice to see you." Dong Shuheng extended his hand to Wenhan.
"Oh, you are that General Dong, I didn't expect you to be so young!" Wen Han also stretched out his hand and held it tightly with Dong Shuheng.
"Mr. Minister, our Lord Governor attaches great importance to your note. Britain has always been our important business partner." Dong Shuheng said.
"I'm glad that the Governor can send General Dong to discuss with us. I feel that communication between us will be easier."
"Mr. Dong, Her Majesty the Queen very much hopes to expand trade with the Qing Dynasty. But you know, the cotton cloth we sell in China every year is not as good as India, and you have to know that your population is much larger." Wen Han said straight to the point.
"Mr. Wenhan, you can't just look at cotton. You have to know that the cost of machinery, steel, and ships we purchased from Britain this year has increased several times compared to previous years. You can't just consider the interests of textile factory owners!"
"Besides, you know that most Chinese people weave homespun cloth themselves. They don't have any extra money to buy foreign cloth."
"General, I have to say that your explanation is very reasonable."
"Then let's talk about the next topic. We hope to open up the Yangtze River, at least to open Wuhan in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River as a trade port. In addition, we also hope to expand the area of the Shanghai Concession. Now the concession is too crowded." Wen Han continued.
said.
"Mr. Wenhan, you should know that much of the Yangtze River Basin in our country is still in the hands of rebels. This is not the right time to talk about opening up the Yangtze River. As for the concession issue in Shanghai, we can talk about it slowly. This requires the approval of our court.
."
"Mr. Wenhan, I have to say that you cannot limit Britain's foreign trade to a small area. Do you remember the last time we purchased a merchant ship from your country?"
"Oh, I remembered. You were talking about the warship? Liu told me about this matter. Can you settle this matter?"
"Of course, I can make the decision. In fact, I brought all the money here. But I don't know, can the minister be the boss of the arms trade?"
"This is no problem at all, and we have ready-made warships."
France's development of new ironclad warships has entered the final stage, and Britain's pace is a step slower, but the foundation of the British shipbuilding industry is there. The Royal Navy has put forward new shipbuilding requirements. The new warships will be fully armored structures. This means that before
All wooden warships will be eliminated. So if Wenhan can sell some of the old warships at this time, it will undoubtedly be a great achievement.