The small episode on the wharf was not at all insignificant to the busy town of Hankow, and did not stir up the slightest wave. But the secret conversation in a house on Hanzheng Street had a profound impact on the future fate of Hankou Town.

Hanzheng Street, which is roughly parallel to the direction of the Han River, is no more than half a mile away from the Han River Causeway Wharf. Because of its unique and superior geographical location, Hanzheng Street has become the most lively commercial street after the opening of Hankou.

However, the instability and deterioration of the situation has seriously affected the business of Hanzheng Street.

The three-year catastrophe in Huizhou and the surrounding areas brought many cheap coolies with foreign accents to Hanzheng Street. The merchants who had not been open for a long time sat bored outside the store, their eyes scanning back and forth over the pedestrians on the street, hoping to jump in for a big business or two. And those big businessmen and tycoons who have made a fortune on Hanzheng Street continue their decadent life of being drunk and obsessed with money. The mansions around Hanzheng Street seem to be the best illustration of their huge wealth.

An alley south of Hanzheng Street is called Tiantong Lane.

Among the dozens of branch alleys on the north and south sides of Hanzheng Street, Tiantong Lane is just an inconspicuous narrow commercial alley. There are a number of large and small vendors along the street, just wide enough to accommodate a horse-drawn carriage to enter and exit.

Recently, however, the alley's fame has skyrocketed. The reason is that a money bank suddenly opened in this shabby alley.

Zhou Wenzheng, who was short and fat, slowly got out of the carriage, and his face and forehead were full of large beads of sweat. He carefully guarded his silk shirt, squeezing it crampedly through the narrow gap between the wet body of the horse and the eaves of a steamed bun shop, so that the clean and elegant silk shirt did not come into contact with the dirty and oily pillars, and did not let the new soap boots step on the large pool of oil-stained soup on the ground.

"Why did Lao Wu choose such a ghost place to open a money bank? Does the portrait here have any money in the bank? Zhou Wenzheng came to the wide place on the street and muttered.

The sun was shining brightly overhead, and the alley could not be seen at a glance. As far as you can see, there are endless dilapidated pavements on both sides of the alley.

"Uncle Wu, that's a good wine, not afraid of deep alleys!"

Zhou Wenzheng's pearl in the palm Zhou Shuying disguised herself as a man, while holding his father's fat hand and dragging it forward, she retorted in her mouth:

"Besides, how long has Uncle Wu been here in Huguang? People have opened eight or nine stores in a few months, and there are three in Wuchang, Hanyang, and Hankou alone, so how can he have time to pick and choose? According to my daughter, in terms of the ability to open a store, Uncle Wu is older than you! ”

Uncle Wu in the daughter's mouth, named Wu Qianyi, is the actual big shopkeeper of the current Huitong Qianzhuang Huguang General Account.

Huitong Money Bank's money bank in Xinzheng Dam, its first treasurer was Wu Qianyi. At that time, Zhou Wenzheng, as a native of Xinzheng Dam, deliberately befriended Wu Qianyi from the Shu Palace, and the two soon became brothers and sisters, and became irreversible friends. Wu Qianyi, who has no children and no daughters, especially likes Zhou Shuying, so he almost accepted him as his goddaughter. Unexpectedly, not long after, the three of them were dealing with this distant town of Hankou again.

"You Uncle Wu is a fox and a fake tiger, playing the signboard of the prince of the world, and spending the silver of the prince. Now your father also has a signature silver...... Good, good! He's bigger than your father! ”

Zhou Shuying is not speaking for Wu Qianyi, but for Luo Jingyun, who is currently in charge of Huguang.

Zhou Shuying did not find Luo Jingyun in Yiling. I heard that Luo Jingyun went to Jingzhou, but he didn't find it in Jingzhou, and he said that he went to Wuchang. Luo Jingyun's foothold in Wuchang is mostly in Huitong Qianzhuang. It happened that Zhou Wenzheng was also going to discuss things with Wu Qianyi, so Zhou Shuying hurriedly pulled his father to visit.

Zhou Wenzheng's mind was thinking of his future son-in-law Luo Jingyun, and he looked at her daughter Zhou Shuying, who had loved her for more than ten years, and suddenly a sour water welled up in his throat. It is said that the daughter is the closest to her father, but she is not married yet, and she only has her little lover in her heart!

"Okay Dad, don't be jealous, my daughter is called love! Hey, the money bank won't be closed, will it? Dad, you take a few steps by yourself, I'll go ahead and find you the temple gate first! ”

"A money bank, how can it be closed in broad daylight? It's really that the bigger you are, the more you can't speak, the more you fall in love, the more your head is blocked, and it's unlucky when you open your mouth! Honestly walk a few steps with your dad! This alley is also strange, the car is not easy to come in and not easy to get out, how to transport the silver and copper of the bank? ”

……

Zhou Wenzheng's father and daughter's trip to Huguang, the serious errand was to deliver salt to the displaced people in Sichuan.

After the reform of the salt industry, Zhou Wenzheng did not work part-time in Boryeong Wangzhuang like his in-laws Li Junying and Li Juncheng. He first worked as a shopkeeper in the Chisel Mountain Society, which was a partnership of Li, Zhou and He, for a few months, and then at the invitation of Miss Luo, he became the deputy general manager of the Sichuan Salt Industry Monopoly Corporation.

Zhou Wenzheng, who has changed from the shareholder and big shopkeeper of the Chisel Mountain Society to one of the seven or eight second shopkeepers of the Sichuan Salt Industry Monopoly Corporation, is lazy by nature and relies on his brother-in-law Li Junying politically to get ahead. But he couldn't stand his baby daughter's turns, so he had to pinch his nose and take office.

Since the Shu Wangfu took over the tax revenue of the salt industry and implemented the reform of unified purchase and sales, the Sichuan salt industry has ushered in a rare high-speed development opportunity in a century.

Because of the small damage and fast recovery of the salt-producing areas of Xinzheng Dam and Beiyuan Temple, and the military presence of Shu Wangfu in northern Sichuan, the Sichuan Salt Industry Monopoly Company set up its first branch in the Xinzheng Dam in the three major well salt areas.

Zhou Wenzheng, who is also the vice president of the head office and the head of the branch, sits in Xinzheng Dam, responsible for collecting salt and increasing taxes on salt production, and occasionally coordinates the interests of salt merchants in Xinzheng Dam on behalf of Sichuan Salt Industry Monopoly Company, and resolves conflicts between salt merchants and salt workers.

Salt was delivered to the displaced people in Sichuan, mainly from the salt warehouse of Beiyuan Temple. Although this task is extremely important, in terms of its own complexity, there is no need for Zhou Wenzheng to personally go out.

However, since the little lover Luo Jingyun was transferred to Huguang, Zhou Wenzheng's over-energetic daughter Zhou Shuying has become restless.

She pouted her father and gave Miss Luo an excerpt, saying that she wanted to be a pathfinder for "Sichuan Salt Jichu".

There are industry experts who are willing to go out to do things, and this person is his future father-in-law, so he is overjoyed that Miss Wangluo is of course approved. With the approval of the Shu Palace, there were two large red pieces with a height of one foot like wedding banquet invitations, asking him to take them to Huguang.

One of the films was awarded to Zhou Wenzheng, on which he was officially appointed as the "special commercial counselor" of the Shu Wangfu in Huguang and Jiangxi provinces;

The text of the other film is even more domineering, indicating as: The "Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary" of the Shu Wangfu in Huguang and Jiangxi Provinces. The owner of this letter of appointment of the plenipotentiary ambassador is, of course, from the princes and nobles, down to the peddlers and pawns, to the ethnic minorities.

Now that there is this film, Zhou Wenzheng's task on this trip to Huguang is not as simple as transporting salt.

As a senior salt boss, vice president of the Sichuan Salt Industry Company, and the "commercial counselor" of the two provinces of Sichuan and Chu in the Shu Dynasty, Zhou Wenzheng not only shouldered the important task of occupying the Huguang and Jiangxi markets for the Sichuan salt industry, but also wanted to export Sichuan's surplus industrial products to Huguang and Jiangxi, and buy the agricultural products that were in short supply in Sichuan from Huguang and Jiangxi.

That's the essence of business: connecting what you have.

Of course, business has never been just about money and goods. It also interacts profoundly with politics and economics, and even changes the fate of a dynasty.

……

In the second hall of the inner courtyard of Huitong Qianzhuang in Tiantong Lane, a middle-aged man with the same thin figure and face, and a few beards on his chin was sitting alone, thoughtful.

The counter in the front room was silent, and there was neither the greeting of the man greeting the guests, nor the plucking of the abacus beads. The only movement in the courtyard was the never-ending singing of the sycamore tree in the patio.

This person is Wu Qianyi, who came to Huguang with Zhu Zhihan, Lu San and others at the end of last year, and was one of the people who were besieged by tens of thousands of people called Huazi in Jingzhou.

After Wu Qianyi, Zhu Zhihan and Lu San came to Wuchang together, they set up the house of Huitong Qianzhuang Huguang General Manager in Pinghu Gate. Then, Wu Qianyi went non-stop to various places in Huguang to establish semicolons.

After more than a few months, others have lost more than a dozen pounds, but a network of money villages covering Jingzhou, Wuchang, Hanyang, Huangzhou, De'an, and various prefectures and counties has taken shape.

Accepting the payment of last year's autumn grain in Huguang Province with the exchange of silver banknotes is Wu Qianyi's most proud largesse in recent times. This move not only established the leading position of Huitong Money Bank in Huguang and even Jiangxi and Nanzhi Money Bank, but also used the big killer of silver money to sweep away the old psychology, cognition and even rules of Huguang officialdom and shopping malls. Recently, the officials of the Jiangxi feudal division and the three prefectures of Hui, Chi, and Anqing in Nanzhi vied with him to contact him for the payment of summer grain in August, which was a follow-up effect of this incident.

However, Wu Qianyi, who was invincible in the siege of Huguang and the village, fell into a big laughing stock in the small town of Hankou.

At the beginning of the opening of stores in Wuchang and Hanyang, Wu Qianyi thought that Hankou was only a big market and a big wharf on the periphery of the two prefectures, just like the Shashi outside Jingzhou City and the Jin City outside Lizhou City, so it was inevitable that he would have some contempt.

The budget is not enough, so the store is naturally chosen in the poor streets.

By the time Wu Qianyi found out that he had made a big mistake, the big money village in this alley had already laughed all over Hankou.

Let others laugh casually, Wu Qianyi was ruthless to himself: Sooner or later, one day, everyone who laughs will come in on their knees and beg him!

Now, the opportunity he was waiting for may be coming soon!

……

"Is it right here?"

Zhou Wenzheng scraped the sweat around his eye sockets with his fingers and fell to the ground, and looked up again with confusion, trying to see the plaque above his head. The thorny sun quickly shot out a dazzling arrow of light, which made Zhou Wenzheng feel the world spinning.

Zhou Shuying, who was sweaty, pulled her father's sleeve impatiently: "Dad, when you get to the gate, why are you struggling?" The plaque is clear: Hui ...... Open...... Money...... Village! If you don't go in, I'll go in!" The sun in Hankou is much more poisonous than Langzhong City! ”

Father and daughter were talking, and a burst of laughter came from the small shop under the plaque. In the blink of an eye, Wu Qianyi, who was full of smiles, appeared in front of Zhou Shuying's father and daughter.

"Uncle Wu! My niece has seen Uncle Wu! Seeing Wu Qianyi, Zhou Shuying was like being amnestied. She couldn't wait to bless Wu Qianyi, and immediately jumped into the store to shade and enjoy the shade.

"Come all the way, let my brother go back and forth! Brother Xian, how did you choose such a place to open a store! Lo and behold, there is a porridge shop on the left, a pickled one on the right, and the opposite side ...... A whole row of shops are selling incense wax paper money sacrifices! ”

Zhou Wenzheng shook his head sharply at Wu Qianyi, walked through the rotten wooden threshold at the door exhausted, and walked into the lobby of the Hankou branch of Huitong Qianzhuang with only one bay and half counter.

"Si is a burrow, only Wu Dexin! Brother Tai came to Hankou by royal order, and the younger brother never greeted him from afar, forgive his sins! Wu Qianyi laughed at himself politely, and welcomed the old man in with a smile.

The two of them turned the counter one after the other and went out through the back door, but suddenly there was a clear vision in front of them. It turns out that this store has a small mouth and a big belly, but there is no hole in it.

The atrium is a square courtyard with a tall sycamore standing in the middle. The sycamore leaves that cover the sky and the sun cover the small sky in the courtyard tightly.

Zhou Shuying, who had escaped in advance, had already occupied a stone bench in the shade, and was fanning her sweaty face with a handkerchief.

"Brother Tai Mingjian, this shop in Hankou is exquisite! Look here, it was originally a family that rented out two shops on the street. When the younger brother took over, only the middle one was left in the shop.

The younger brother thought about it and felt that the size of the shop didn't matter. The key place is inside. Look there," Wu Qianyi whispered, pointing to the ear room in the corner, "There is a side door here, and there is a separate alley that leads directly to the Hanshui Wharf......

In troubled times, the younger brother who opened a money bank must leave a way back! ”

"I see, it's still a thoughtful brother!"

"Dad, Uncle Wu, you two only talk to yourself, and deliberately ignore others!"

Wu Qianyi looked at Zhou Shuying, who was angry but wanted to speak, and laughed: "Even if you Uncle Wu forgets the ancestors of heaven and earth, you don't dare to forget you, the heroine of the world!" Don't worry, since you have a letter sent before you come, then Luo Jianjun will naturally know about it! ”

Zhou Shuying suddenly pursed her mouth.

"Now that he knows, why don't you come to the dock to pick me up!"

"Luo Jianjun has important tasks, how can he squat on the dock every day? He is in Wuchang these days. Yesterday, he sent news that today's Dragon Boat Festival, the small county lord of Chu Wangfu invited the talented East Lake (Note 1) in Chuzhong to go on a boat ride. Luo Jianjun is about to pretend to be a friend of Lin Yingguan, take a good look! Lin Yan's marriage has been pending for a long time, and there has been no response for a long time, and the prince is already in a hurry, but it is not good to openly urge.

That old guy in the Chu Palace, maybe he is really old and confused! ”

Note 1: According to the preliminary examination of Xiangmu, East Lake was called Sand Lake in the Ming Dynasty. In order not to be confused with the Sand Lake in Wuhan today, this book still calls it East Lake.