Early the next morning, Han Xiufeng sent away the grief-stricken Yu Sangu and Ren Yu'er, as well as Pan Er, Lu Daming and others, and then cheered up and asked about the situation in Jianghaiguan.

"The day after the Yamen of the Jiangxi Customs was destroyed by the Hui Party, the British Consul Ali Guo issued a notice saying that the customs administration had come to a standstill, and they had no obligation to abide by the customs regulations and pay customs duties. A charter for the "Provisional Rules for the Clearance of Ships during the Suspension of Customs Administration" was also published with the expatriates of the English and Citigroup countries. "Wood has been helping to find out the news all these days, and mentioning these things is like a treasure.

Han Xiufeng asked in a low voice: "What does the charter say?" ”

Woodquan hurriedly said: "Master Han, the constitution of the country of Ali says that the amount of tax payable by their importers, shipping carriers, and freight forwarders must be paid to the consulate of their country, and their consulate will collect and keep the tax on their behalf. ”

"Foreigners collect taxes on our territory?"

"Not only did they collect taxes, but they also issued notices saying that the Hui Party in the city was a dignified regime, no matter how many Hui Party members there were, whether they occupied a large or small place, and that they would strictly abide by neutrality, that is, they would not help each other."

"It is unreasonable that the party that committed rebellion has become a dignified regime!"

"That's why I'm going to negotiate with foreigners." Wood Quan smiled wryly.

In Master Xu's opinion, it was very tricky for foreigners to meddle in the affairs of Jianghaiguan, but Han Si could think that it would definitely be a good thing to ask these questions, and couldn't help asking: "Master Han, have you figured it out?" Are you willing to act as the superintendent of Jiangxi Customs? ”

"Uncle Xu, your young master has a noble status, so naturally he can't be ruined because of negotiations with foreigners. But the foreigners are here, they can't get rid of them if they want to, and now they are blatantly meddling in our tariffs, if you don't go, he won't go, someone has to negotiate with the foreigners, just like you said yesterday afternoon, I, Han Xiufeng, am a donor, and I don't need to care about my reputation. Han Xiufeng said it lightly, but his face was ugly.

Master Xu was embarrassed, and hurriedly arched his hand: "Master Han, you have been wronged." ”

"The supervision of Jianghai Customs is the fattest lack in the world, and no one can do it if they want to, and I am not aggrieved at all." Han Xiufeng took a sip of tea from his cup, and said lightly: "As soon as the official document from the Taiwan Lord ordering me to act as the superintendent of Jiang Customs arrives, I will change into an official uniform and go to the concession to negotiate with the foreigners." But before that, I have to find those assistant commissioners and tax collectors from the Yamen of the Jianghai Customs, otherwise I don't know which foreigners to collect and how much tariff. ”

In Wu Quan's opinion, as long as Master Han can take office, the tax and silver of the Jiang Customs will naturally be handed over to "Rishengchang" to handle, and he immediately said happily: "Those committee members and deputy committee members are easy to find, and they are all hiding in the Qichang Foreign Company in the US Concession. Fourth master, I didn't know at first, until I helped find out the news in the past few days, I didn't know that Citi's Qichang Foreign Bank had shares in selling chicken shuang. ”

"No wonder the Consul of Citi wanted to save him, it turned out that he partnered with the Citi people to open a foreign business business." Han Xiufeng thought about it and asked, "Is there any news about him, can Citi rescue him?" ”

"Master Han, the surname Lin is really exquisite, not only can he enter the city, but he also has a little friendship with the foreign monk of Citigroup, and yesterday he entered the city with the foreign monk named Yan Matai. In the morning, he told Mr. Xu that he had seen Liu Lichuan and other bandit leaders, and he also saw the chicken seller.

Xi Yuan, who was originally imprisoned in the Provincial Affairs Department, was detained in the Guangdong Hall in the west of the city just before yesterday. As for how to deal with the chicken sellers, those chaotic parties have different opinions, the Fujian gang wants to put the chicken sellers to death, and the Guangdong gang, especially the bandit leader Liu Lichuan, is not only a fellow villager with the chicken sellers, but also has received the favor of selling the chicken in the past, so they advocate not killing. ”

Wood paused and continued: "In the morning, the surnamed Lin also said that the bandit leader Liu Lichuan quietly went to the Citi Consulate on the Bund with a team of people last night and visited the Citi Consul Marshali. told Ma Lisha that they hoped that Selling Chicken Shuang would start up together, and said that when they captured Suzhou in the future, they would let Selling Chicken Shuang stay and be the governor of Shanghai. said that if he didn't want to sell Ji Shuang, he would also try his best to save Ji Shuang's life. ”

"The surname Lin is very well-informed."

"Fourth master, his news is well-informed, but his news is not cheap, so he helped to investigate for five days, and he asked Qian San for 1,600 silver dollars."

"The value of this silver dollar flower, otherwise how would we know this," Han Xiufeng put down the cup, and turned back and said: "Uncle Xu, these silver dollars can't let 'Rishengchang' come out in vain." ”

"This is natural, Master Han rest assured, my young master has already spoken, and when Qingpu and Shanghai and other counties are recovered, the public treasury of our Songjiang Mansion will be handed over to the General Office of Rishengchang."

"Mr. Xie Xu."

"You don't need to thank me, if you want to thank me, thank my young master."

Han Xiufeng is not a shareholder of Rishengchang, the reason why he said this to Master Xu is just that he doesn't want "Rishengchang" to help the court and have to post money, so he thought about it and asked: "Mr. Wu, is there any other news in the city?" ”

"Yes, Fourth Master, as you expected, those members of the party are a bunch of rabble."

"What's wrong?"

"It's only been a few days since they got into trouble, and Li Xianchi, the leader of the Fujian Longxi Gang, secretly swallowed ingots and gold worth tens of thousands of taels of silver, which were discovered and recovered by Liu Lichuan. Li Xianchi lost face, if he hadn't heard that the imperial army had arrived in Jiading, the two gangs would almost fight. ”

As he spoke, there was a sound of footsteps outside.

The three of them looked up, it turned out that Qian San, who was in charge of dealing with the second devil Lin Qingyuan, had returned from the concession, Qian San was Qiao Songnian's eldest follower, and Qiao Songnian was not only a fellow villager but also a relative, Han Xiufeng beckoned him to sit and motioned to Woodquan to continue.

"It is said that Li Xianchi plans to take his subordinates to part ways with Liu Lichuan, Liu Lichuan, the generalissimo of the Ming Kingdom, was originally recommended by the five people, and his subordinates are not the most or the most capable of fighting, even if they know that Li Xianchi wants to take the people of the Longxi Gang and wants to stop them."

"Master Han, Li Xianchi saw that Xu Yao's counterattack on Jiading was unsuccessful, and he felt that it would be impossible to get together with Liu Lichuan and them, so he had already quietly taken his men on the Huangpu River by boat last night." Qian San came back for this, got up and arched his hand and added: "Many people in the concession know that they have gone crazy at this time. ”

This is definitely good news, Master Xu couldn't help but smile and said: "Before the army of the imperial court came to the city, they were in chaos, and they were really a rabble. ”

Han Xiufeng didn't dare to take it lightly, and muttered: "Could it be that they made a deception, will it give the court a blow?" ”

Qian San hurriedly said: "Master Han, the little one thinks that not only is it unlikely to be a treacherous plan of the chaotic party, maybe the other leaders of the chaotic party will not be able to sit still." ”

"What do you mean?"

"Li Xianchi left with the people of the Longxi Gang, and Lin Afu and Chen Alin of the Fujian Tong'an Gang will definitely feel that they Fujian people will be bullied, after all, they had a grudge against the Guangdong Gang before the rebellion. If Lin Afu also followed, the strength of the chaotic party would be reduced by half! ”

Han Xiufeng pondered for a moment, and suddenly said, "Since they are not all the way, let's think of a way to let Lin Afu go faster." ”

"Master Han, are you looking for someone to make some noise?"

"You don't need to go to the city to spread the news, just spread some news in the concession, anyway, there are their eyes and ears in the concession," Han Xiufeng took the account book full of thieves from Wood's hand, and muttered while looking at it: "If Lin Afu takes the chaotic party of the Tong'an Gang to part ways with Liu Lichuan, then there will be Liu Lichuan, Chen Alin, Li Shaoxi, Pan Qiliang and Xu Yao, who fled to the city from Jiading, these five people are left, among which Li Shaoxi is relatively innocent, and he has also entrusted him with important tasks by selling chicken Shuang and Yuan Zude, and most of his subordinates have also been village warriors." , you can think of a way to try to persuade you to surrender. ”

"This is a good way, Master Han, or I will write a letter to find someone surnamed Li, it is best if he is willing to surrender, and we have nothing to lose if we don't want to." Master Xu couldn't help but laugh.

"Then hurry up and write and see if we can get this done before the army arrives." Han Xiufeng stood up and turned back and said, "Xiao Wuzi, you go with me to the Citi Concession to find those committee members and deputy committee members of Jiang Customs." ”

Xiao Wuzi hurriedly said: "Obey!" ”

Han Si was willing to take care of the affairs of Jiang Customs, and Master Xu finally breathed a sigh of relief, and immediately bowed down and said, "Master Han, please take care of everything." ”

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