Yao Cuo and others were playing cards, and no one had time to pay attention to Li Guolou. They chatted for a while with a hammer and a mallet. Li Guolou took out his pocket watch. It was already 3:30 in the afternoon, and said: "You guys are playing cards, I will find Second brother is in trouble."
Yao Cuo played Dongfeng and said, "What's going on?"
Li Guolou chuckled and said: "Borrowing the east wind, the road to wealth and wealth, playing tricks on both sides of the tiger, you don't understand, it's better not to participate, or you will be beheaded."
Yao Cuo snorted coldly: "You guys are plotting against Master Bao and dragging Bao Qingtian deeper and deeper. Sooner or later, Master Bao will turn into a black-hearted Bao."
Li Guolou ignored the cynicism of his brothers. They only had the brains to use their brains for this kind of high-level work.
In the lounge, Wu Defu was still grinding his teeth in his sleep, so he pushed Li Guolou to wake him up. There was a charcoal stove in the room. Wu Defu was sitting on the bed without wearing a coat, while Li Guolou was sitting on the edge and talking about things.
Li Guolou said: "Second brother, please wake up. I'm going to tell you something about the road to wealth. It's the way to get promoted and make a fortune. If you succeed, you won't have any problem getting promoted to the second level in a row. You can become a seventh-grade official. Don't dare to do it. Just pretend that I didn’t tell you, and you will be destroyed by Master Bao in the future, so don’t blame me for not reminding you.”
When Wu Defu heard this, he slapped his cheeks with his two palms, hurting himself so that he could wake up. He said with a smile: "Okay, you have another clever trick. Last time, one move from Chaoyang Plan helped me turn disaster into good luck. This time If you have any good ideas, please tell me quickly. If I get promoted two ranks, I will ask my wife to sleep with the chief, and I am willing to do it."
Wu Defu was a scholar, but he was not admitted to the Jinshi. He could not be promoted in the officialdom without an unexpected encounter. Wu Defu became a prison chief, and he could not even think about taking the imperial examination again. His official career was over.
Li Guolou solemnly said: "Second brother is not joking. Wealth is gained through danger. This deal is about seeking the skin of a tiger. I told you. When I was a child, I had a master who later joined the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and later became the little king, pole king Yang Dongting. , have you heard of him? He still has a nationwide arrest warrant and a reward of one thousand taels of silver."
Wu Defu said: "It's an old thing. This kind of thing is not unusual for Xiao Wang. Where is he hiding now?"
Li Guolou said: "Where can the remnants of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom hide? Not in the embrace of Christianity, the Heavenly Father they believe in. This time I accompanied Yelia to the French Concession in Tianjin and met him on the street. He has now joined the British Commonwealth A man of Singaporean nationality was protected by British devils. He changed his name to Su Xuli and started a shipping business. Shunli Shipping Company was opened by a group of opposition people. Second brother, do you understand what these people are doing now?"
Wu Defu laughed and said: "Become a teacher before the time comes and train the next generation of counter-revolutionaries. The reactionary slogans posted in the capital are the work of these people."
Li Guolou shook his head and said: "Second brother, you underestimate them. Do you remember the last time Zhang Guozhi, the military guard officer and leader of the Ministry of War, was assassinated? It was their group who did it. They are a group of national heroes who like to engage in assassinations. It can be said that they are rebels. My master Yang Dongting knows that group of people. Yang Dongting is not a national righteous like them. He belongs to the type of people you mentioned just now who cultivate the next generation of counterrevolutionaries. Yang Dongting asked me to help. He said there are several His people were imprisoned in the prison of the Ministry of Punishment, and he asked me to find a way to release them, and I agreed to him."
Wu Defu said calmly: "Being imprisoned in the prison of the Ministry of Punishment is not a word. As long as you are not a death row prisoner, I can turn my hands over to make clouds and rain, and re-examine the listed crimes. I can take care of it all by myself." After saying these two words, The crossed legs changed up and down.
Li Guolou glanced at him and said: "Second brother, if this is the case, do I still want to be so serious with you? Some of the people in the prison of the Ministry of Punishment are originally charged with trumped-up charges. It's a piece of cake to get out of their pockets. I want to What we are talking about is what happened later. Yang Dongting and the gang of assassins did not deal with each other. The two gangs were vying for favor in front of the British devils. He wanted to sell those gangs to us. Do you understand? Do you know who those gangs are planning to assassinate next? ?”
Wu Defu's eyes widened and he said, "Is it possible?"
Li Guolou nodded and said: "Wealth is right in front of you. Second brother, if you have the seventh-grade official hat, Master Bao will be more polite to you, and you will no longer have nightmares in the future."
Wu Defu said angrily: "Screw you, I never have nightmares, I just can't sleep."
Li Guolou asked: "Is there any difference?"
"Of course there is, the difference is huge!" Wu Defu quibbled, with an expression on his face full of yearning. The bluestone-colored official uniform and red-topped official hat of a seventh-grade official were already in front of him.
Li Guolou warned: "Second brother, there are merits and demerits. Some people will lose their heads over this matter, so don't take all the merits. Don't do anything like jumping into rivers and bridges. You should report it to Mr. Bao."
When Li Guolou saw that Wu Defu was thinking about something, he rolled his eyes and said, "I can do the math myself. Don't talk too much. When will you contact Yang Dongting and let me know? I will talk to him personally."
Li Guolou said: "Yang Dongting will send someone to give me a list in the next two days. Take a look at half of the people who have been released first. As for the others, we will go to the Tianjin Concession to interview him after the New Year. The money must not be less, and we must He thinks we are greedy people, don’t be polite to these national righteous men, they are better at scrapping the land than we are, and overseas Chinese are their food and clothing parents.”
Wu Defu stood up and said with a smile: "Third brother, we are greedy people. When have I ever been polite?"
The two looked at each other and smiled, holding their four hands tightly together. It is harder to share wealth than to share adversity, at least Li Guolou did it.
Wu Defu said gratefully: "Third brother, you brought me wealth and officialdom. I will not let you down. I am willing to support you if I have the opportunity. But now that you have such a good opportunity, I think you should take the examination." I think you have no problem bribery of the examiner."
Li Guolou smiled and said: "Second brother, I have thought about this, but I have discussed it with my family and decided not to be an official anymore. I have been working for Mr. Bao for at least twenty years, and I am still hanging around below to get everything. Leave the high boy behind and work far away, and the wife will be my third brother."
Wu Defu shook his head and said: "I can also see that you have no confidence in the Qing Empire and are ready to run away at any time. I am right."
Li Guolou rolled his eyes and said: "How can this happen? Didn't I come back from abroad? There can only be one sister Huajia in the foreign world of flowers. Now I catch three, and there will be more in the future."
Wu Defu held his chin and said, "Oh, really? Vomit all over me tonight, or you'll have to drink."
Li Guolou was extremely upset and followed Wu Defu with a grimace. One cannot get carried away, as his background is too dirty.
Among the fake foreign devils, Yu Hanbing was the first one to come, and everyone exchanged tacit greetings. Yu Hanbing was actually Ge Laohui's eldest brother in the capital. He was engaged in the tobacco business and had his own smoking den "Le Piaopiao Smokehouse".
At this time, the Qing Dynasty had begun to grow opium poppies in the Yunnan-Guizhou region. Middle and low-end opium no longer needed to be imported and had become domestic products. The British East India Company's business had plummeted. Those with money had a say. The East India Company no longer had a voice in the British Parliament. The British have also made the transition from dumping opium to the Qing Empire, and instead focus on selling heavy industry products. The Qing Empire has become the bottom of the biological chain, exporting silk, cloth, and porcelain, moving towards light industry and Japan Competition in the weaving industry is particularly fierce.
Yu Hanbing had his own textile factory and was in the business of exporting cloth with foreigners. When he came here, he began to criticize little Japan. The reason was that the highly competitive textile industry had been completely eaten away by the Japanese.
Yu Hanbing was filled with indignation and said: "What's wrong with us people in the Qing Dynasty? We have to use Japanese products for food and clothing, and even the clothes on our bodies have to be touched to see where they are made. The workers in my factory work twelve hours a day , but the cost of production is still higher than that of Little Japan, don’t Little Japanese people sleep? They set the ex-factory price so low, don’t they want us all to die together?”
Everyone was talking and scolding Little Japan for being shameless. How could a businessman do a loss-making business without making money?
Li Guolou sang the opposite tune and said: "Mr. Yu, this is a management problem, not a sleeping problem. Even if your workers work for eighteen hours, they still can't compete with Little Japan. They are not doing business at a loss. You are falling behind."
Yu Hanbing said: "Didn't I hang out with the big guy? I wanted to get into the upper class circles. It was very smooth in the past few years. But this year, Little Japan went crazy and cut prices one after another. I was almost driven crazy by Little Japan and sold five stores. Lepiaopiao Cigarette Shop is still not getting better. It seems that next year we can only close the factory in Tianjin and stop playing with Little Japan."
Li Guolou shook his head and said: "Mr. Yu, your business will be transformed in two years. You will cry after you are closed. Do you understand the production costs? Now in little Japan, people work twelve hours a day, but business has prospered and people's lives have improved. If it is raised, workers will ask for higher wages. In the future, labor will still be cheaper in the Qing Dynasty. We are a country with a large population. Small Japan competes with us in the textile industry. The final winner is us. My brother opened a textile factory in Shanghai. Now it is small Japan. The scale is such that in two or three years, my brother will be a big boss in the textile industry. If you catch this boat, you can make a lifetime fortune. Sooner or later, the smoking den will be banned by the government."
Yu Hanbing glanced at him and said, "I don't believe what you say. You are the best at deceiving people. When I come to visit your brother during the Spring Festival, what he says is still reliable."
Li Guolou said: "Mr. Yu can't go wrong if you hold on for two years. In another two years, you will be number one among the fake foreigners. Don't listen to the other fake foreigners who ask you to sell the factory to them. Three years later, you will be in Tianjin in the north." The textile industry in China is booming, and the cloth is sold all over the world. If it weren't for this industry being so tiring, I wouldn't tell you."
Yu Hanbing said angrily: "Xiao Lizi, I think you lied to me about the smoking club and want to sell the smoking club to you again, right?"
Yao Cuo shook his head and said: "Mr. Yu, we don't do your business, we leave it to other gangs. We are a black and white gang. We will not touch this kind of all-black business. We want a good reputation from the beginning." , unlike you who turned from black to white. Xiao Lizi is our dog-headed strategist. He decides what business we do. We have grown up in just a few months. Mr. Yu, we don’t understand your business. I'll grab it."
Yu Hanbing said angrily: "I won't tell you anymore, little Li, come with me." After saying that, he pulled Li Guolou out of the room.
Wu Defu sighed in the room: "The third brother is amazing. He can see things two or three years from now. If I have money, I will definitely buy Yu Hanbing's factory."
Yao Cuo said: "Second brother, how many years did it take for me to get this kind of wealth? You should stop dreaming."
Wu Defu sighed: "The gap is huge. Industrialists are not comparable to people like us who receive commissions."
/ Everyone in the room sighed, they are nothing compared to the fake foreign devils.
In the corridor, Yu Hanbing said anxiously: "Xiao Lizi, I am the person who helped you get to the top. You can't deceive me. Tell me the truth."
Li Guolou said: "Brother Yu, why am I lying to you? I want to see the enemy's weakness. They are in their final madness now. It's not like you can't stand it. You should know which one is bigger, an industrialist or a gangster." "
Yu Hanbing retorted: "Then why are you in the underworld?"
Li Guolou defended: "Brother Yu, tell the truth, we want to be bankers when we do big things. From now on, we will lend you factory loans. This is the reason why we are together. The gang boss was not killed by the enemy." , I was betrayed by my brother, we will clean up our innocence in the future and become industrialists like you."
Yu Hanbing sighed and said: "Xiao Lizi, you look so meek, why do so many people believe you? If others say the same thing, even if I die, I won't believe it, but if it comes out of your mouth, I will do my best." The last chance in my life is to gamble with Little Japan. If I lose, I can only go back to my hometown in Sichuan to farm, and the immortal will turn into a square head."
Li Guolou glanced at me, pointed at the sky and the earth, and said: "Brother Yu, you are so damn sick. You think I don't understand that you are scolding me. I lied to you that I raised you from your gray grandson."
Yu Hanbing laughed non-stop, hooked Li Guolou's shoulder and walked to the gate of Baozhifang to meet the real boss Du and others. In fact, he was very unwilling to withdraw from this battle with the little Japanese in the textile industry. In the duel, someone showed him a bright future, and the biggest gamble in life will continue to be staged.