Cao Jianqiu, Zheng Yizhi, and Liang Yanqing were all famous comprador businessmen in Tianjin, and before the traverser landed, they were all influential figures in Tianjin's business circles, and they were also the figures that Zhao Weizhong needed to look up to in the past. After many years of playing the role of intermediaries between local Chinese and foreign businessmen, the three of them have not only accumulated a lot of wealth, but also accumulated a large number of contacts between foreign businessmen and mainland China, from Hebei and Shanxi.

Although East China ** occupies Tianjin, it does not have much impact on the business operation of the three after its establishment, but because East China ** attaches importance to the development of industry and economy, and needs a large number of raw materials and material supplies, and the three of them have a lot of ways in this regard, so East China ** and the three have close business contacts, because it is in the early days, the cooperation with the three people is very large, and because Zhao Weizhong and the three acquaintances, so Zhao Weizhong is mainly responsible for contacting and negotiating with the three people.

Later, with the expansion of the strength of East China, the proportion of business cooperation between the three and East China was declining, but the absolute amount increased significantly, and after the industrial development of East China, they also began to provide consumer goods to Chinese society. In the past few years, we have cooperated well with each other. All three have seen a significant increase in their assets.

Due to the preparation of the Far East War, the materials needed have increased greatly, and the opportunity for the three of them has come, so two years ago, the three of them united more than 30 businessmen from Hebei and Shanxi to establish the Changhe Chamber of Commerce, which can not only better cooperate with East China, but also improve their own level.

Originally, the two sides seemed to be able to cooperate for a long time and achieve a win-win situation, but after the breakdown of the Portsmouth negotiations, Britain and France decided to send troops to the war, and in order to weaken the strength of East China, they asked their merchants in China to fight East China from the economic level, and stop or reduce trade with East China.

The three of them have close contacts with British and French businessmen, and have large commercial contacts with East China, so they are also the key personnel of Britain and France. On the one hand, he threatened to interrupt business contacts with the three people, and on the other hand, he promised some benefits and benefits, coerced and lured the three people, and promised to let the Changhe Chamber of Commerce be the general agent of Tianjin after defeating East China, and demanded that the Changhe Chamber of Commerce terminate trade with East China.

On the one hand, the three of them are forced to coerce and pressure from Britain and France, on the other hand, because the three of them have a lot of contacts with British and French businessmen, they also have a certain understanding of the world, and they know that Britain and France are strong, but the vision of the three can only be limited to China, at most it also disturbs the surrounding North Korea, Japan, etc., so the understanding of the general trend of the world is not enough, so they also have a wrong judgment of the current situation, thinking that in the next war, due to the participation of Britain and France, East China ** The probability of winning is very small, but the probability of losing is very great, and the probability of even perishing is not small.

Of course, before the naval battle in the Taiwan Strait, there are indeed many people who think like Cao Jianqiu, Zheng Yizhi, and Liang Yanqing, after all, since the Opium War, there have been nearly 70 years, and the Qing court has almost no victories in foreign countries. Except for Russia, other countries basically sent troops from the colonies, while the Netherlands, a small country in Java that protected overseas Chinese, could boast but was not enough to strengthen itself; although the Far East War was fought by Japan and Russia, after all, it was not enough to serve the public, so East China really did not have any real combat achievements. Britain and France are recognized as the first and second strongest countries in the world, and this time they sent a huge fleet with a huge momentum, which is indeed difficult to be optimistic about East China under normal circumstances. And what can make people choose to continue to support East China**, in addition to forming a community of interests with East China**, is the Chinese who hold a sense of family and country and a simple patriotic concept.

If Cao Jianqiu, Zheng Yizhi, and Liang Yanqing are not patriotic, they are not all right, but the three of them are obviously more of their own personal interests, and the conditions offered by Britain and France are indeed quite tempting, the three finally decided to manipulate the Chamber of Commerce, and East China ** for a comprehensive cut, cut off all business exchanges with East China, several batches of materials have been deposited, ready to be shipped, as a result, the three not only deducted the goods, but also did not return the deposit.

And Zhao Weizhong has also found the three of them to theorize twice, persuading the three not to do things too desperately, leaving a way back for themselves, it is best to only reduce the trade volume with East China, but don't cut it all off, you might as well hide it from the foreigners, and maintain a certain amount of trade with East China, so that there is also an explanation for the foreigners, and there is also room for redemption for the East China **, with the current energy of the three people, it can be operated in this way in a short period of time.

But all three of them decided at this time that East China** will be defeated, but also by the British and French Tianjin general agent commitment to get carried away, for a while is also Li Lingzhi dizzy, so the attitude is very resolute, and the three of them also have a lot of envy, jealousy and hatred for Zhao Weizhong in their hearts, because before the Gengzi State Change, Zhao Weizhong was just an ant in the eyes of the three of them, and Zhao Weizhong took the line of overseas Chinese, and a few years of hard work was above the three of them, of course the hearts of the three were unhappy, and now that they decided to cut it, the negative emotions suddenly broke out, and naturally there was nothing good to say about Zhao Weizhong, but to ridicule Zhao Weizhong, saying that overseas Chinese have not been able to last long, but Zhao Weizhong is ridiculous and does not know it, I thought I could hug the thighs of overseas Chinese, so it was better to beg myself to say a few good words in front of foreigners, so as to save my life and so on.

In fact, at that time, Zhao Weizhong was not completely sure whether East China ** could defeat the expeditionary force, but after all, he had a close relationship with East China**, and found that all overseas Chinese were very calm, and they seemed to be disdainful of the expeditionary force between words. As a result, the three of them broke up unhappily.

And after the naval battle in the Taiwan Strait, the wind direction has changed greatly, at this time, as long as people with a little brains will know that East China ** not only won the victory of this war completely, but also will dominate the world in the future, and establish a dynasty, that is, 10 years and 8 years, and those who were eager to cut off with East China ** were also panicked, this is to offend the emperor, so they have to find a way to repair the relationship with East China.

Cao Jianqiu, Zheng Yizhi, and Liang Yanqing also regretted that their intestines were green at this time, and after cutting off with East China, the three of them lost a lot of money, and now they are afraid that they can't even save their lives, and the three of them know each other in East China, and only Zhao Weizhong can speak, so they can only be cheeky, and prepare a generous gift to find Zhao Weizhong, hoping that Zhao Weizhong can help them say good things in East China, and is willing to donate most of their family wealth to East China.

In fact, East China ** has also discussed this matter, there is an attitude that these people are not to blame for the past, because the original and East China ** cut is also forced to do so, after all, except for the traverser, no one is really optimistic about East China**, and there is pressure from the Qing court and foreign countries, now East China ** needs to unite all the forces that can be united; If it is due to reasons that cannot be exonerated from responsibility or even guilt, then the murderer can also think that he is forced to kill by himself, and the traitor can also go abroad because he is forced to do anything. "Got a consistent drink.

In the end, East China ** made a decision, under the pressure of the Qing court and foreign countries, but still maintain a certain relationship with East China** can be exempted from responsibility, but it must not be the object of **support in the future; and completely cut off with East China**, even harmful to East China**, it cannot be forgiven, East China ** will sever all relations with it, and in the future propaganda, it will be branded as treason and traitor. For businessmen, it is only to reduce the trade volume with East China, but still maintain a certain amount of trade contacts, which can be forgiven, but completely cut off the trade of East China, and even withhold deposits, goods, or deliberately raise prices, malicious competition, it cannot be exempted, and forever hit the pillar of shame.

From Zhao Weizhong's heart, it is not impossible to reconcile with the three of them, after all, Zhao Weizhong is a businessman, everything can be measured by interests, but it depends on whether the benefits offered by the three are enough, so instead of completely breaking off relations with the other party, it is better to maximize his own interests. But after the principle of dealing with East China was determined, Zhao Weizhong also knew that he would definitely be able to reconcile with the three of them, of course, Zhao Weizhong did not feel a pity, Bi Jing East China ** has become a general trend, and he will establish the cause of the country in the future, and he is also a hero from the dragon, why bother with this little profit? So he avoided the request of the three people, and all the gifts were refused, of course, except for the deposit and goods that were deducted at the beginning.

Cao Jianqiu, Zheng Yizhi, and Liang Yanqing are also able to bend and stretch, Zhao Weizhong is not seen, so he guards the door every day, or goes to the shop to leave a message, which makes Zhao Weizhong tireless, so he ordered all his shops not to interact with the three of them, and the shopkeepers of other shops naturally followed, only Han Jin didn't know the depths, took 500 silver dollars, and ran to Zhao Weizhong to intercede for the three of them.

After explaining the cause and effect clearly, Zhao Weizhong said: "You said, what Jin'er did is not annoying. ”

Although Han Yuping is a woman's family, after all, he is from an official family, and he still understands the stakes, so he couldn't help but change his face greatly, and said: "Foolish thing, is this kind of thing also done? Don't blame your uncle for being angry and complaining about you, if your father knows, he will have to break your leg." ”

Han Jin was also taken aback, he is also the son of an official eunuch, although he has a little bit of a gentleman's temperament, but he is not really unreasonable, he was just greedy for the 500 silver dollars before, and when he heard Zhao Weizhong explain the reason, he was also scared into a cold sweat, if this is left in the Qing court, it is a big crime of colluding in rebellion, and 10 heads are not enough to cut off, so he hurriedly knelt down and said: "Uncle, aunt, don't tell my father, I will go and return the money immediately, and I will not dare to do it in the future." ”