"I'm fine," said Mrs. Leigh, blushing as she placed a plate of roasted pork ribs on the table, "Lord Xiexie still remembers me." ”

It was noon the next day, and Li Binlai picked up Guan Zhuofan at the mansion and went to his home for dinner. The two double sedan chairs walked not far away, then put down, out of the sedan chair to see, is in a small alley of the alley, the inside is very narrow, the sedan chair can not be staggered.

"The alleys of Shanghai are also a scene!" Guan Zhuofan's historical illness was committed again, standing at the entrance of the hall, looking around, and sighing with emotion. Libin's erudition and respect for Guan Zhuofan is deeper, and he is an official under his umbrella, and for the first time in his life, he went out of Beijing, and the word "lane" was said casually, and he didn't even pronounce it wrong -- the word "lane" should be pronounced as "dragon" here.

Libin's home is a shikumen house in the alley. When he saw Libin's wife, the original Xiaotangchun, Guan Zhuofan couldn't help but sigh again: the red courtesan who used to sing and dance with the Ying Song Yan has now washed away the lead and turned into a housewife, but she has only a little bit of fortune, and she has seen the love of husband and wife, and her life is satisfied.

"Sister-in-law" made Mrs. Li blush, put the food on the table, and fled into the kitchen again. Guan Zhuofan looked at Libin and said with a smile: "Mr. Li, speaking of which, are you treating others a little thinly?" Sister-in-law Jing Hai cloth skirt, you are going to learn from Liang Hong Mengguang, raise your eyebrows. ”

He was joking, but Libin replied with a straight face: "Yixuan, you treat me as a national scholar, I can't take the money you gave me and spend it indiscriminately." You're the one to do big things, and I've got to help you put your money to good use. ”

When Libin said this, Guan Zhuofan was a little embarrassed, so he also changed his face and talked about business.

After Libin took Xiao Tangchun from the capital to Shanghai, he settled down, and went to the "Mohai Printing Library" where he was originally located, and met with his teacher, the Englishman who founded the library, Maddos. With the help of a high-ranking priest and a director of the Concession Bureau, Maildox was well connected in Shanghai, and with his help, Libin got in touch with the Chinese and foreign officials in Shanghai and many Chinese and foreign firms.

At the beginning of Zichun Pavilion, Guan Zhuofan once confessed to him three sentences, "If you want to strengthen the country, you can't do without a strong army; If you want to strengthen the army, you can't do without foreign affairs; If you want to do foreign affairs, you can't do without Shanghai." He carefully pondered the meaning of his words and found that Guan Zhuofan's focus was on the word "strong army", so in the course of communication, if he met someone related to the military, he would pay special attention to it, and he also put a lot of effort into studying foreign affairs and military affairs.

"Yixuan, the two calligraphy and paintings you handed over to me have already been delivered. Huang Tingjian's "Cloud Fu" sold for 18,000 taels, and I left 12,000; Liang Kai's "Six Ancestors Cutting Bamboo Map" is really a rare treasure, I entrusted a reliable person to find a family in Hong Kong, except for the kickbacks, and got a net of 37,400 taels, adding up, it is 49,400. The batch of French goods you asked me to buy cost a total of 22,000 taels, and the money I used before was ......"

Guan Zhuofan raised his hand and said as if to forgive: "Okay, okay." ”

"How?" Libin was stunned and said, "Since you are here, of course I have to pay the account." ”

Guan Zhuofan shook his head: "No! Not only do you not have to pay it, but I will give you more money. ”

"And the money?" Libin was a little confused, "Yixuan, you have all arrived in Shanghai, there are people in the yamen, do you still use me to manage the money for you?" ”

"That's public money." Guan Zhuofan smiled slyly, "This is private money, two different things." That batch of French goods will also be reimbursed from the customs bank. ”

"That's the same as not spending the money...... What else do you need to pay for? ”

"Let me ask you first," Guan Zhuofan said with a smile, "Mr. Li, have you ever heard of a 'joint-stock company'?" ”

"I don't know how you know so much." Libin smiled helplessly, "There are only two ...... in Shanghai for such a company" Speaking of this, he suddenly stopped and widened his eyes: "Do you want to join someone else's shares, or do you want me to set up a company?" ”

"Naturally, it is necessary to run a company, and it is also necessary to run a foreign bank!"

Libin gasped: "Then you have to find a foreigner to buy shares......

Guan Zhuofan nodded: "That's natural, but it's not urgent, you save this heart first, think about it carefully, and we'll discuss it in a few days." ”

With that, Mrs. Leigh prepared the dishes and beckoned them to the table to eat.

"Come and eat with you." Libin greeted Madame. He and Guan Zhuofan can be regarded as good at the family, and there is no need to avoid taboos.

Mrs. Li was still a little embarrassed, and said embarrassedly: "I don't dare to go to the table with Lord Qingtian." ”

"Sir? Your Mr. Jiali is the real master. Guan Zhuofan smiled and took out a "protection book" from his body, and took out a brand-new photo from it, "I almost forgot - Mr. Li, I donated a small pattern of the Wupin Prefect for you, which is a little bit of the younger brother's heart, congratulations to you and your sister-in-law, raise your eyebrows." ”

*

*

After eating, according to what the two of them said last night, they would go to the military camp outside Qibao Town, and this time they would not sit in a sedan chair and switch to horseback riding. Out of the city gates, Túrin was waiting by the roadside with more than two dozen cavalrymen, and a dozen carriages, loaded with goods and covered with tarpaulins, led by one of Libin's cousins, were also waiting for their arrival.

"Túrin, I've seen Mr. Leigh." Guan Zhuofan pointed to Libin.

Túrin has already been rewarded with a thousand titles, and he is still the captain of Guan Zhuofan's personal soldiers. He waited for Thurin to give a military salute, then turned to Libin and asked, "Are you in the car?" ”

Libin nodded: "Well, it was brought out of the warehouse in the morning, and it was all loaded." ”

"Let's go!" The group was led by four cavalrymen, escorting the carriage and marching towards the camp of the Xuan army.

The government of Songjiang Prefecture and the county government of Lou County were both located in Songjiang City, while the camp of the Xuan Army was located in Qibao Town between Songjiang and Shanghai, which was about ten miles away from Shanghai, and it took less than an hour to arrive. When he arrived at the camp gate, Ding Shijie had been waiting for a long time with several officers, and when he saw Libin, he couldn't help but be stunned - wasn't this the drunken lifter who was crying and screaming in the Kuiyuan Pavilion?

"This is Mr. Leigh, my own person." Guan Zhuofan saw Ding Shijie's expression and said with a smile. "I'm an old friend with Daniel Zhang."

Daniel Zhang naturally recognized Libin, not only recognized that he was still in charge of Xiaotangchun's redemption at the beginning, but he never imagined that he would see him in Shanghai, and he also became "his own person". Everyone greeted the salute and exchanged a few pleasantries, and when they entered the camp, the tarpaulin on the cart was lifted, revealing hundreds of wooden boxes. Ding Shijie called dozens of soldiers, carried the boxes down, and according to Libin's instructions, divided them into two piles and arranged them in the square in the camp.

When the carriage left, Daniel Zhang was the first to hold back, pulled out his knife and went to pry the box, and all the soldiers in the battalion were also surrounded from afar, excited—when they were on board, they already knew what the box contained.

"Boss, look, foreign guns!" Daniel Zhang finally pried open a long box, took out a rifle with a brown body and a jet-black barrel from the stuffed hay, and held it in his hand to show Guan Zhuofan. The soldiers around were in a commotion, and everyone's eyes were green - this is a foreign gun, a guy that can only be equipped with by the Shenji Battalion, and now he has to have it himself!

Guan Zhuofan took it with a smile, and saw that this gun was a little shorter and lighter than the rifle of the dead Indian soldier. He divided his feet, put the gun flat up, and made a standard standing aiming posture, which attracted a lot of admiration: Mr. Guan is really a god, and even foreign guns can be used, could it be that he was born to know?

That's all there is to it about the jiashi that I learned in military training in college, and if I go any further, I will be timid. Guan Zhuofan took the gun, returned it to Daniel Zhang, and looked at Libin.

"The French call this a 'carbine' gun, which is a carbine." "Although it was made in France, the prototype was a Portuguese design, and now the difference in this batch of guns is that it has rifling." ”

"Sugar filling...... What is it? Daniel Zhang asked. Could it be that foreign guns are still sweet and salty?

"This ......," Libin grimaced. He just copied what the foreign businessman told him as it was, and no matter how detailed the question, he couldn't say it. "Tomorrow there are foreigners' teachings, you go and ask them."

"Those bunches, are I talking about bullets?" Guan Zhuofan asked, pointing to another row of boxes.

"Yes, it's a subdrug...... Bullet. The name of the bullet made Libin feel very embarrassed, and he whispered, "Yixuan, I don't understand how you know this thing." According to the foreign merchants, this is a new product, and even the foreign soldiers in the concession are not yet! ”

A square box was carried over, or Daniel Zhang was the first to open it, and then took out a small box, opened it, and saw that there were hundreds of lead-gray conical bullets neatly lined up inside.

"What is this?" Daniel Zhang picked one up with his fingertips and looked at it dumbfounded. He had seen a bullet, it should be a round projectile, and this one in his hand was not only pointed, but also had a small piece of cork stuffed into the tail.

"This is a big killing weapon, called the Migne bomb," Libin said solemnly, "and it is foolproof to take people's heads a hundred paces away." ”