Sure enough, Ji Qingwen hadn't had a few days of peace in Suzhou City, and Shen Liangzuo sent someone to invite him to the Songjiang Mansion Wharf. Shen Liangzuo was promoted by the Bo Division of Songjiang City, and Ji Qingwen, who was called the deputy lifter, used to use a very polite word "please" instead of the word "pass", which made Ji Qingwen unable to refuse.

And Ji Qingwen had actually guessed Shen Liangzuo's intentions to some extent, so he was not in a hurry to set off, but called Li Yan and Li Yuanyin, and only left Su at noon the next day and rushed to Dianshan Port in Songjiang Mansion.

The dock of Dianshan Port has nominally been taken over by the Beijing battalion sergeant brought by Shen Liangzuo, but the dock is still full of Ji Qingwen's people, so the three of them crossed the cofferdam effortlessly and came to the door of the high-rise building at the dock.

Under the tall building, Shen Liangzuo had already heard the news of Ji Qingwen's arrival, and was already waiting outside the door, and when he saw him coming, he greeted him from afar, and exchanged a few words with Ji Qingwen before welcoming Ji Qingwen and others to the tall building.

After a few people sat down and drank tea for a while, Shen Liangzuo couldn't hold his breath first, and said: "Lord Ji, you have been operating this dock for a long time, although you have entrusted me with the upper and lower affairs since three days ago, but the account books and other things have not been handed over, so that the miscellaneous family has no way to start if they want to operate it!" ”

Ji Qingwen is sloppy, but with the help of a brilliant Li Yan and a meticulous and cautious Li Yuanyin, how can he forget such an important thing as the account book?

Of course, he deliberately did not hand over the account books to Shen Liangzuo.

Therefore, Ji Qingwen pretended to blame himself, patted his head, and said, "That's my fault." Father-in-law Shen, the account books are not on me, and they are all kept by a missionary named John Tong. ”

"Oh? Is it? Shen Liangzuo asked, "Then where is this John Tang now?" Also in Suzhou? ”

When Ji Qingwen heard this, he already knew that Shen Liangzuo had not even known anything about the situation in Dianshan Port in the past few days, and that he was no different from a blind and deaf man in the city's official position - after all, John Tang, a blonde and blue-eyed German missionary, was very eye-catching in Dianshan Port, as long as his ears and eyes were a little clearer and his mind was a little more flexible, he should have inquired about John Tang's background.

Thinking of this, Ji Qingwen stole a glance at Li Yan, and saw that he was also looking at him with meaningful eyes, and suddenly felt that he had the bottom in his heart, so he said to Shen Liangzuo: "No, Gonggong Shen, Father Tang Ruowang is in Dianshan Port, don't you know?" ”

Shen Liangzuo's face turned red and said, "I'm not afraid of Lord Ji's jokes, the miscellaneous family has just arrived, and the road in the port is not familiar yet, and I really haven't come into contact with this foreign missionary." ”

Ji Qingwen said with a smile: "Don't worry, Tang Ruowang should be in the church next door, if Gonggong Shen doesn't know him, he will send someone to invite him over." ”

"Good, good!" Shen Liangzuo immediately agreed with Ji Qingwen's opinion, and added, "Remember to let him bring all the account books." ”

Ji Qingwen nodded lightly when he heard this, and asked Li Yuanyin to invite Tang Ruowang upstairs, with a confident smile on his face.

It turned out that because Ji Qingwen went to King Qinwang in Beijing last year, there was no one to govern the wharf, so it could only be temporarily handed over to Tang Ruowang to take care of; Later, although Ji Qingwen returned to Jiangnan, he was busy with the New Year and dealing with the arrival of Shen Liangzuo, so he did not have the time to re-manage the wharf. So in this small half a year, Dianshan Port was actually under the full management of John Tang, and the German John Tang kept accounts, so naturally he also used German.

In the seventeenth century, even Ji Qingwen, a person who had learned modern English, couldn't understand it, let alone a dead eunuch who couldn't recognize a single Chinese character in Shen Liangzuo.

Sure enough, as Ji Qingwen expected, the thick account book that Tang Ruowang moved over was written in Latin letters and Arabic numerals, and although the description was completed in detail, Shen Liangzuo couldn't recognize a single word.

In desperation, Shen Liangzuo could only turn to Ji Qingwen for help and asked, "Lord Ji, what did this foreigner write?" Do you recognize you, adult? ”

Ji Qingwen replied with a smile: "I don't know a well-educated person like my father-in-law, how can I know him?" ”

Shen Liangzuo ate a soft nail, so he had to answer truthfully: "The miscellaneous family really doesn't know." But Lord Ji has been in charge of the dock for a long time, if you don't know the accounts kept by this foreigner, how can you manage the affairs of the dock? ”

Ji Qingwen said with a smile: "It's very crude to manage, and I only ask the total income and expenditure of the terminal twice a year, who cares about the detailed accounts?" ”

Shen Liangzuo knew that what Ji Qingwen said was untrue, but he had no choice but to ask Tang Ruowang what the total income and expenditure of the wharf had been in the past few months.

Unexpectedly, because before the Chinese New Year, Tang Ruowang took it upon himself to buy a large number of German-made industrial products from a merchant ship from Germany - the two muskets that saved his life in Ji Qingwen's hand were purchased at that time - this big purchase, plus the silver taels issued during the New Year, Dianshan Port Wharf did not earn a tael of silver, but lost 300,000 taels of silver.

Of course, such losses were all arranged by Ji Qingwen in advance.

Shen Liangzuo didn't understand the economy, and of course he couldn't guess the strange things, so he could only ask: "Lord Ji, they all say that the silver in your Dianshan Port is like rivers, lakes and seas, how can you not make money, but lose money in it?" ”

Ji Qingwen sighed: "Alas, this is exactly the place where it is hard to go. If you want both face and lining, this day will not be easy. To hide from my father-in-law, in order to maintain the operation of Dianshan Port, I have to put money into the account of the weaving yamen every year! ”

Shen Liangzuo frowned and said, "How is that possible?" Is Lord Ji's Suzhou weaving yamen so rich? In addition to paying a large amount of silk and silver to the emperor every year, he even has to pay money to subsidize the wharf? ”

Ji Qingwen smiled proudly: "That's natural, otherwise how could the emperor let me run the Suzhou Weaving Yamen?" ”

Although it is not a matter under Shen Liangzuo's direct jurisdiction, after all, the celebrant is still in charge of the weaving yamen, how much money can a yamen make, Shen Liangzuo still has some ideas, so he heard him say: "Lord Ji, when I was in Nanjing, the miscellaneous family also saw Jiangning Weaving and Hangzhou Weaving. The weaving mansion under them doesn't have such a heavy task of paying tribute, but life is also miserable, and they can't come up with so much money at all! ”

When Ji Qingwen heard this, he handed over a soft nail with a smile, and said: "Gonggong Shen, you are the hand-picked city shipper, although the dock of Dianshan Port should be presided over by you, yes, but how much money can I make in the Suzhou Weaving Yamen, I'm afraid it's not Gonggong Shen's turn to ask, right?" I'm not a eunuch, right? ”

These words immediately blocked Shen Liangzuo speechless - all weaving yamen are places to make money for the emperor, their status is not high, but their role is very important, and the weaving commanders and eunuchs are directly subordinate to the emperor, and they can almost be on an equal footing with other eunuchs other than the eunuchs who are the eunuchs of the celebrant and the eunuchs of the celebrant and the eunuchs of the pen.

Therefore, with the identity of Shen Liangzuo and Songjiang City, although he has no authority to interfere in the affairs of the weaving yamen; And with the official authority of his ceremonial supervisor and eunuch, he can indeed only restrain the eunuchs and eunuchs.

However, Ji Qingwen immediately replied: "It is okay to talk to Gonggong Shen about this matter. If you ask why the weaving house in the lower part can make so much money, the answer in the lower part is just the words 'open source and reduce expenditure'. As for why the two weaving yamen in Jiangning and Hangzhou can't make so much money, then please forgive the officials for not knowing. ”

Shen Liangzuo was stunned, but he didn't dare to get angry in front of him, so he could only threaten: "Lord Ji, this newly established city department, you are also a deputy promoter, if you mess up, I'm afraid the emperor's side will not be easy to deal with......"

Ji Qingwen immediately retorted-for-tat: "Gonggong Shen's words are wrong. Since my father-in-law entered the wharf, the defense, personnel, and daily management of the wharf have all been handed over to my father-in-law for the first time. If running a dock is a big business, I'm a hands-off shopkeeper and a vice president. Now that the dock is at your feet, how to operate, please ask Shen Gonggong to make a decision, and ask him to ask what kind of flowers! ”

After that, he saw that Shen Liangzuo was speechless for a long time, so he smiled smugly again, said "farewell", and led Li Yan, Li Yuanyin, Tang Ruowang and others downstairs.