Han Xiufeng said goodbye to Qiao Songnian and rushed to the mansion behind Qichang Foreign Bank, and as soon as he walked into the garden, he was surrounded by a group of women and children crying heartbreakingly. After asking for a long time, I found out that it was Ajiga and Akdan, and other deputy members of the Jiang Customs Office, almost all of whom were on the "Antelope", and all of them were killed by the bombing, and some of them had not even been fished out until now, and these women and children were all their family members.

Han Xiufeng had no choice, he could only say that it was done by the chaotic party, saying that the imperial army had arrived and would soon attack the city. When the county seat of Shanghai is recovered, we will definitely interrogate in detail those rebellious parties who have been captured, find out the ins and outs of the matter, and then punish those rebellious parties in a proper manner.

Those women and children cried again about the death of the man, how did they live the life of orphans and widows, Han Xiufeng simply sent someone to call Wu Jianzhang. How could Wu Jianzhang not know why Han Xiufeng sent someone to call him, and hurriedly asked his family to bring three thousand taels of silver. The women and children's families took a few hundred taels of silver, and then they wept and left.

When a person dies, the matter is not over, after all, several court officials have died.

Han Xiufeng sent Wu Jianzhang away, walked into the study and asked Xiao Wuzi, who came in a hurry, to polish the ink, and write official documents to the imperial court about the martyrdom of Ajiga and Akdan and other deputy members of the Jiang Customs.

"Fourth master, should these official documents be sent to Qiao Futai quickly."

"Qiao Futai can't control Jianghaiguan, let's keep it first, and then submit it when Lord Xu arrives."

"Then I'll help you collect it first." Xiao Wuzi put away the official document that had just been sealed with Cao Yun, and then muttered while cleaning up the desk: "Fourth master, your supervisor is really aggrieved, not only does he not have a government office, he does not close the seal, he does not have the account books for collecting customs duties, he has no bottom copy of tax stamps, and even the subordinate officials who are familiar with customs affairs are gone. ”

Han Xiufeng picked up a book and said lightly: "Yes, there is nothing, how much tax was levied in the past has become a confused account, and there is no reference for whose tax to be levied in the future and how much tax to be levied, it seems that I can only be a confused official." ”

"Fourth master, don't be joking, how can you be a foolish official."

"I'm not kidding, I really plan to be a foolish official," Han Xiufeng sat on the soft Western chair, cocked Erlang's legs gracefully, and said with a smile while flipping through the book: "The tariffs of the Citi people will be collected by Lord Wu, persuade donations, recruit strong soldiers, and let Wu Xu and Sun Feng handle the matter of helping the same officials and troops recover the county seat of Shanghai." As for negotiating with foreigners, my grade is too low, my official position is too small, and I can't negotiate if I want to, so I don't have to do anything, I don't have to do anything. ”

"That's not going to be a shopkeeper." Xiao Wuzi couldn't help but laugh.

"What's wrong with being a hands-off shopkeeper, if I want to take care of everything, people will not be happy."

"Why aren't they happy?"

"They are in a hurry to atone for their sins, or they are in a hurry to make meritorious contributions, and we can't steal the limelight from others."

Xiao Wuzi finally realized that Master Han was not joking, and couldn't help asking: "Fourth Master, you don't care about anything, so what are we going to do?" ”

"As the saying goes, there is no end to learning, we can read, write, and write."

Han Xiufeng made up his mind to be the shopkeeper, but as soon as the words fell, the English, French and American consuls who he had never seen before actually came to the door together, and so many foreigners came at once, Chen Hu and Datou, who were guarding outside, were startled and hurriedly ran in to report.

"Yes, please." Han Xiufeng subconsciously walked to the window and looked at it, then turned around and asked, "Xiao Wuzi, will you soak in that coffee that Lord Wu gave you?" ”

"Fourth master, do you mean that the tea that foreigners drink is similar to sheep?"

"Yes, it's that tea."

"You won't soak me!" Xiao Wuzi said with a bitter face.

"I won't forget it, I won't make our Chinese tea." Hearing footsteps getting closer and closer, Han Xiufeng opened the door and went out to greet him.

The foreigners look at the Chinese who look similar, and Han Xiufeng looks at the three foreigner consuls who just came in and also feels that they look similar. Not only are they tall and big, but they also have high noses, colored eyes, and furry backs of their hands, and if they are not so well-dressed, it would not be an exaggeration to say that they are uncivilized barbarians.

Just as he was hesitating whether to salute them or not, a thin and tall foreigner interpreter suddenly stood on tiptoe, then took off his hat and put it on his chest, bowed slightly, and said in a stiff Chinese voice: "Your Excellency the Customs Superintendent of the Great Qing Dynasty, please allow me to introduce to you His Excellency Ali Guo, Consul of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Shanghai. ”

"It's an honor to know you, Overseer." Ali Guo raised his hand and touched the brim of the tall hat.

Han Xiufeng felt that bowing to foreigners was detrimental to the national body, and realized that touching the brim of the hat should be a courtesy for foreigners, and he also wanted to touch the brim, but he didn't even wear an official uniform, let alone an official hat, so he simply arched his hand and returned the salute.

Ali Guo put down his hand and smiled, not objecting to the etiquette. Naturally, the interpreter didn't say anything, and then introduced: "This is His Excellency Aitang, the consul of the French Empire in Shanghai. ”

"It's an honor to know you, Overseer." The French consul was a little arrogant, not only did he not touch the brim of his hat, but he was not even very polite.

Han Xiufeng thought to himself that you are rude, at least you know what it means to follow the customs of the locals, and you can speak a few words of Chinese, so you don't care, just like just now.

"This is His Excellency Kim Neng-hyung, Consul of the United States of America in Shanghai."

Without waiting for the Consul of Citi to speak, Han Xiufeng immediately learned and sold: "It's an honor to meet you, Your Excellency the Consul." ”

Jin Nengheng didn't expect the young Chinese official in front of him to greet him like this, after all, the Chinese officials he had contacted before were not only more rigid than the other, but also more slippery than the other. Every time they went to negotiate something, they avoided it, and they couldn't hide it, but they could only see it with a dead face, either silently, or humming haha, and the negotiation could not reach a result for most of the day, so that he was no longer willing to deal with the second Chinese official except for selling chicken shuang.

Ali Guo was also surprised, but thinking of the purpose of this trip, he immediately dispelled the idea of chatting with the Qing official in front of him, but clenched his cane and muttered a lot with a serious face.

Han Xiufeng didn't understand a word, thinking that you could only speak a few words in Chinese.

Just as he was thinking about going back and learning from Lin Qingyuan's two devils, and if he encountered this occasion again, he could use a few polite words in the words of a foreigner, when the interpreter suddenly said: "Your Excellency, Your Excellency Aliguo, on behalf of Britain, France, and the United States, is concerned about the stationing of your troops on the west side of the concessions of the three countries, and I would like to ask your commander to tell the commander of your country and his army to keep a safe distance from the concession, and it is best to retreat five miles west to avoid unpleasant incidents." ”

"Commander?" Han Xiufeng asked subconsciously.

"He is the commander in chief of your army."

"Oh, I see." Han Xiufeng thought for a while, and said without humility or arrogance: "Your Excellency the three consuls, this official will tell you on your behalf, but as far as this official knows, the concession is the land of my Great Qing Dynasty, and it is only temporarily lent to the overseas Chinese of your country to do business and live. As long as my Qing army is stationed on the territory of my Qing Dynasty, the three of you have no right to intervene. ”

The interpreter paused, and then turned back and muttered to translate.

After listening to this, Ali Guo looked at Han Xiufeng like an idiot, muttered again, and then touched the brim of his hat again, and walked out of the living room without looking back. The French consul snorted coldly and followed. The English consul shrugged, as if to show that he couldn't help it.

"Your Excellency, you can take the words of Consul Ali Guo as a warning, this is an official document jointly signed by Your Excellency Ali Guo, Your Excellency Ai Tang and Your Excellency Kim Nenghyung, please forward it on your behalf."

The interpreter took a ghost-like official document from the hand of the entourage, gently put it on the coffee table, and immediately stretched out his arm to make a gesture of invitation, and waited for the American consul Jin Nengheng to walk out of the living room before following out with the entourage.

Han Xiufeng looked at their backs and muttered, "I'm still going to talk to them about tariffs, but I actually said that I would leave, it's really not more than half a sentence of speculation." ”

Xiao Wuzi came up and asked, "Fourth master, we don't know foreign languages, we can't understand what they write." ”

"Go find Lin Qingyuan, and after you find it, you take this official document from him and the foreigner to report to Qiaofutai."

"Don't you want the surname Lin to help you take a look first?"

"I don't think it's useful, I don't count what I said, I'm just a messenger."

"Okay, I'll go find it."