In the afternoon of the same day, another incident occurred that was not big, but it was by no means small. Zeng Fuxiang, a well-known squire in Jinan Prefecture, personally came to the prefect's yamen and registered three businesses under his name, which finally increased the number of shops registered with the Jinan government to 10.

In fact, if you only talk about assets, Zeng Fuxiang can only be regarded as medium in Jinan, but firstly, he is old, and he was born in a family of eunuchs, and his qualifications in Jinan are very deep; second, he has the fame of lifting people, and he has also served as two teachers, and three children have been admitted to Xiucai, and one has also been promoted. Therefore, among the squires of Jinan, it can also be ranked in the forefront, when Wang Shengchu arrived in Jinan and met with the squires of Jinan, Zeng Fuxiang attended as a representative of the squire.

When Xu Chang, Jiang Mingyi, Zhao Pinghe and others planned to confront the traverser, they also invited Zeng Fuxiang to join, but Zeng Fuxiang refused to do so, but after the Jinan government asked the merchants in Jinan to register, Zeng Fuxiang did not register immediately, but took a wait-and-see attitude. But now Zeng Fuxiang has registered his shop with the Jinan government, which shows that he is not optimistic about the villagers in this confrontation.

And this news also made the squires who were fighting against the traverser even more nervous, so that night, Nawu came forward to gather everyone to his house to discuss.

Na Wu was one of the main initiators of this operation against the Traverser, but unlike other squires, Na Wu's main business was opium business, and the land he occupied was actually not much, less than 1,000 mu, and the proportion of land income in Na Wu's total income was very small, so the impact of the land reform of the East China government on Na Wu was not great. And the reason why Na Wu insisted on opposing the East China government was actually for his own opium business.

Na Wu was born with a blue flag, and his ancestors were also eunuchs, and he had done a blue flag of Jiala, stationed in Shandong, and was awarded the title of hereditary auxiliary general, and when he arrived at Nawu's father's generation, the family has been in the middle, but after all, there is a hereditary title of auxiliary general, so he has a certain social status. When Na Wu was young, he met a British opium merchant by chance, so he started an opium business and became an opium agent in Britain.

Because of the protection of the bannermen and the British, the general local forces did not dare to provoke him, so the business became better and better, and became bigger and bigger, and he also got into contact with some domestic opium dealers and expanded his own supply sources, so he simply set up his own door and became the largest opium merchant in Jinan, and sold it to all parts of Shandong.

However, although Na Wu had set up his own door and had several sources of opium, the British had advanced technology for purifying opium, was of good quality, and belonged to high-end goods, so although the opium imported by Britain now accounted for less than 40 percent of the total opium he traded, the profit reached nearly 70 percent.

But just a few months ago, a British merchant told Nawu that he would stop supplying goods from Shandong, because overseas Chinese had come and the business could no longer be done. It turned out that this British merchant also supplied opium to Tianjin before, but after the traverser occupied Tianjin, he banned the operation of opium and confiscated a batch of opium, and the merchants all knew how to avoid evil, and knew that overseas Chinese were not easy to provoke, so they stopped the supply of opium in Tianjin, and now the overseas Chinese have occupied Shandong, and they have given up the Shandong market very wisely, after all, although the money is easy to make, it is also necessary to spend life.

As a result, Nawu's opium business suddenly plummeted, and because he was a big customer, he was accustomed to absorbing high-end goods, and he was also very dissatisfied with Nawu's current supply of low-grade cigarettes, so Nawu naturally hated overseas Chinese in his heart. And Na Wu's knowledge and experience are very limited, thinking that he is a banner man, and related to foreigners, to a little fearless, so when the Shandong squire discussed the alliance with the overseas Chinese, Na Wu is the most active, and others also intend to push him out as a shield, as a result, unintentionally, Na Wu became the leader, and he can't help but know nothing about it, and quite complacent.

The collapse of An Luotang caught Na Wu by surprise, and the overseas Chinese ordered a strict ban on opium business, which touched the fundamental interests of Na Wu, so Na Wu recruited personnel that night to discuss countermeasures.

Nazhi Nawu sent out more than 20 invitations, but only 11 people came, less than half, after all, at this time, everyone could see that the wind was on that side, so the wise people had to hurry out and dare to wade into this muddy water again. The people who come are more resolute or deeply involved, and it is not easy to get out. Fortunately, several organizers Xu Chang, Jiang Mingyi, Zhao Pinghe and others came, and they were able to discuss.

However, after a long time of discussion, they could not come up with any result. Although these people were resolute in their opposition to the Travelers, the destruction of An Luotang also showed them the strength and means of the Travelers, which they had relied on before. If the merchants are threatened to strike the market, at this time, it is obviously impossible, because after the collapse of Anluotang, I am afraid that no businessmen will be at their mercy anymore, and without Anluotang, they can't even prohibit merchants from registering, let alone asking them to boycott, Zeng Fuxiang is a good example.

And to take the high-level route, to file a complaint with the imperial court, and let the imperial court deal with overseas Chinese, regardless of whether this road can be feasible or not, but now the imperial court is still in Xi'an? I am afraid that it will not be possible to count on it in a short period of time.

Just when everyone felt helpless, suddenly the family came to report, saying that Zeng Fuxiang asked to see him.

Everyone was also very surprised, because Zeng Fuxiang was not their ally, and Wu said: "Didn't this old thing go to the overseas Chinese to register? I didn't invite him, what is he doing here? Is it to persuade us to register too?"

Xu Chang said: "Since Zeng Lao is here, he will not visit, after all, he is an old-timer, and maybe he has brought some overseas Chinese message?" Xu Chang's knowledge is much higher than that Wu, as soon as he heard Zeng Fuxiang ask to see, he estimated that he would not come for no reason, Zeng Fuxiang used to be respectful of his own group of people, and he had just registered with overseas Chinese, maybe he was entrusted by overseas Chinese to come to everyone to make peace. To be honest, Xu Chang has no idea of driving overseas Chinese away, and it is best to be able to make peace, as long as the conditions of overseas Chinese are not too excessive, even if it is to sacrifice some of his own interests.

And other people also had some such thoughts, so Na Wu also instructed his family to invite Zeng Fuxiang in.

After a short time, Zeng Fuxiang came in and sat down with everyone, and before the master could speak, Xu Chang preemptively said: "I don't know if Zeng Lao has come here, what do you have to say?

Zeng Fuxiang smiled and said: "You have misunderstood, Lao Yu and overseas Chinese have no friendship, how can they bring words for them, I came here at this moment, I have something to say to you, whether it is right or right, you listen or not, please listen to Lao Yu." ”

Xu Chang hurriedly said: "There, there, Zeng Lao is an old-timer for us, Zeng Lao has something to say, so we naturally listen to it." ”

Although Zeng Fuxiang said that he did not believe for overseas Chinese, Xu Chang and the others were not stupid, could it be that Zeng Fuxiang was here to visit the door?

In fact, Zeng Fuxiang really didn't talk nonsense, he really didn't have anything to do with the traverser when he came here, but was entrusted by Lu Xiangming to persuade everyone. It turned out that after getting the consent of the traverser, the first object that Lu Xiangming looked for was Zeng Fuxiang, and he Cheng Ming took advantage of him, persuading him to compromise with the traverser as soon as possible, and if the confrontation continued, there would be absolutely no good result.

After listening to Lu Xiangming's persuasion, Zeng Fuxiang was also basically moved, and it happened that the traverser exterminated An Luotang and brought great shock to Zeng Fuxiang, and he was secretly glad in his heart, fortunately, he did not join the alliance against overseas Chinese, so there is room for redemption now. So Zeng Fuxiang immediately rushed to the government office, registered the three shops under his name, just at this time the Jinan government issued an announcement, requiring brothels and pawnshops to close down for rectification, Zeng Fuxiang did not open a brothel, but there was a pawnshop, and Zeng Fuxiang also expressed acceptance, and immediately let the pawnshop close down after going back, and according to the requirements of the Jinan government, and at the same time willing to hand over their own land, with the land reform of the traverser.

Such an attitude towards Zeng Fuxiang also made Wang Sheng very satisfied, and the effect of exterminating An Luotang was shown so quickly, so he also praised Zeng Fuxiang, and also assured Zeng Fuxiang that he would let him run it well, and the rectification of the pawnshop would not take too long.

After returning home, Lu Xiangming came to Zeng Fuxiang again and asked him to come forward to persuade the others, since he was the squire who opposed the overseas Chinese, and compromise with the overseas Chinese as soon as possible, so as not to end up all of them being poisoned by the overseas Chinese.

In this regard, Zeng Fuxiang and Lu Xiangming have the same idea, under the iron-blooded methods of overseas Chinese, there is no benefit in confronting them, and they can only die in vain, so they can save one by one. So Zeng Fuxiang immediately sent his family to inquire about the actions of the squires who opposed the overseas Chinese, and learned that they were gathering at Nawu's house tonight, and Zeng Fuxiang also took the initiative to come to the door.

After the polite words were finished, Zeng Fuxiang said: "Old decay is a sentence, don't think about going against overseas Chinese anymore, hurry up and admit defeat, you can't win, or register with overseas Chinese as soon as possible, what overseas Chinese say is what they say, just be obedient." ”

After everyone heard this, they were also shocked, although everyone had the intention of making peace with overseas Chinese, but since it was peace, that is, both sides made a step, so that they could protect some of their own interests, but Zeng Fuxiang asked them to surrender unconditionally, which was very different from everyone's thinking.

Immediately, someone jumped up and said, "What about then, what about our business?"

Zeng Fuxiang said: "What else can I do, stop what should be stopped, close what should be closed, the old man has already decided to close my pawnshop and rectify it according to the requirements of overseas Chinese, so that although it is a loss, it can still save his life, otherwise the fate of An Luotang is the best example." ”