Zhu Jinglun very warmly received the consuls from Macao and Hong Kong, but apart from symbolic negotiations with the French, he copied the treaty of commerce signed with the British and reached an agreement with the French, clearly stipulating that the levy of all imported goods except crows should be stopped before the exchange of the treaty, and he politely refused the negotiation requests of the ministers of other countries. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Tell these envoys that the reason for negotiating with Britain and France is that there are some remaining issues from the war between the two countries that need to be resolved, for example, the biggest purpose of Zhu Jinglun's visit to Guangzhou this time is to report to Bai Gui and get Bai Gui to agree to release those British prisoners.

So what Zhu Jinglun said is not unreasonable.

In the face of Zhu Jinglun's attitude, other small countries have no choice for the time being.

Fortunately, they have nothing to lose for the time being, because the management measures introduced by Zhu Jinglun are actually based on the regulations negotiated with the United Kingdom, and the tax on the vast majority of goods has been temporarily abandoned. However, there is an essential difference between the two, one is negotiated and guaranteed by international law, and the other is a unilateral management method.

It is as if China and some major powers have been at odds in the South China Sea since then, one insisting that the South China Sea is an open sea, an international waterway, and that free navigation is guaranteed, while China claims that some parts of the South China Sea are China's territorial waters, but promises not to interfere with freedom of navigation. It seems that the effect of the two is the same, but there is no dispute, because one is active, the other is unilaterally by others, and it can be withdrawn at any time, and it cannot be fundamentally guaranteed.

But these small countries can't help it, when they faced the Qing court in the past, those officials were very generous and gave them a lot of privileges that needed war to plunder, but since they contacted Zhu Jinglun, they found that this guy is a difficult person, or a knowledgeable expert, they are a little strange why such a guy does not work in the diplomatic department of the capital, but instead succumbs to the place of Guangdong as a small county commander.

The French were satisfied with their departure, but the representatives of other countries, including the United States and Russia, were very dissatisfied, and of course they only had the power to be dissatisfied, and asked them to organize dozens of warships to fight in Guangzhou, and they really did not have the ability to do so. Countries like the Netherlands and Belgium don't even have the power to be dissatisfied, so they can do business for the time being, anyway, it's also a temporary clause, I'm afraid that after the Anglo-French alliance changes the contract, these officials in Guangdong will still be like this, and it will be bad.

Britain and France have the strength to protect their own interests, and they can start fighting when the time comes, but these small countries are rejected by local forces, so there is really no way, and they even hope that the local government of Guangdong will still generously use the terms of the treaty to unilaterally manage trade, in short, as a small country, they are very passive, insecure, and have no sense of security.

The state of Sinseong has basically been restored to the state before the war, and the law and order in the county town has been restored, and the people who should have done business have done business, and those who have fled during the war have returned. Chiwan was even more prosperous than before the war, after all, it was only a smuggling port in the past, but now it undertook a considerable part of Guangzhou's trade resources, and the arrival of the four major merchants of the Wu family, the Pan family, the Lu family and the Ye family, instantly turned the port into a center of tea and silk trade. These two commodities attracted merchant ships from more than a dozen countries to anchor here, and Chinese merchants brought silk and tea upstream along the Pearl River.

Everything is moving forward quickly on the right track, but there are also unsatisfactory ones, that is, the commodity exchange promised by Zhu Jinglun has never been opened, because of the lack of talents who know how to operate. There is no problem for foreigners to play this, and relevant talents can be found in Hong Kong and Macau, but Zhu Jinglun does not trust those people. He was going to ask Hurd, but Hurd refused.

For this reason, Fang Shan, who had already lobbied Hurd three times, was extremely depressed, seeing that Zhu Jinglun, Chen Zhiting and others had done so many things one after another, but he didn't even do this one thing well, and he couldn't raise his head when he saw Zhu Jinglun.

Zhu Jinglun didn't criticize Fang Shan, but just carefully inquired about the specific situation. It turned out that Hurd was reluctant to resign from his public office, saying that he was a staff member of the British Consulate in Guangzhou, and that he would not voluntarily resign to accept an offer from China without being dismissed.

Zhu Jinglun has the impression that it seems that Hurd in history has been in charge of China's customs for half a century as a Chinese employee, why did he bite his small second-class translation position this time, Zhu Jinglun couldn't help but suspect that it was a blow after blow, but it made Hurd become stubborn, and he had to fall down and get up.

Although Hurd has a slick approach, there is no doubt that there is a kind of stubbornness in his bones, an Irishman, who can stay in China for most of his life, is not greedy for money, it is not an exaggeration to say that this kind of person has a revolutionary spiritual belief, of course he is very stubborn in his bones.

It had been delayed for a month, and Zhu Jinglun knew that he would not be able to convince Hurd. He originally planned to use a private way to deal with it and use a hired method to use Hurd, but Hurd actually bit the official identity, so it would be impossible to bypass the British, but Zhu Jinglun really wanted to use this person, not to mention anything else, just the fact that he could build a clean administrative department was enough for Zhu Jinglun to find a way to recruit him, because even Zhu Jinglun himself did not know how to cure corruption, a stubborn disease of Chinese officialdom.

"Take my letter to the British Governor of Hong Kong, and hand it to Elgin, who I am sure will be more than happy to persuade Hurd to accept our offer."

Later generations explained that the British conspired to control the Chinese customs, and some thought that the British just couldn't stand the inefficiency and corruption of the Chinese customs, but no matter what the reason, Ergin was very willing to let Hurd, an Englishman, join the Chinese administrative department, no matter how you look at it, infiltrating the power departments in China will be beneficial to protect British interests.

Fang Shan was very successful this time, he went for three days, was warmly received by the British, and when he came back, there was Hurd!

Zhu Jinglun also welcomed Hurd very warmly, and then informed Hurd of some of the difficulties he was currently experiencing, such as the shortcomings of the bureau and the difficulties in building a commodity exchange, and then appointed Hurd as the assistant of the bureau and the commodity exchange, and let him be fully responsible for solving these problems.

Hurd asked for some details very casually, saying that he was willing to take over these jobs, but he made a difficult request to accept, he demanded that in these two departments, he was fully responsible, even if it was Zhu Jinglun, he was not allowed to interfere with his work, without his consent, Zhu Jinglun could not put anyone in it, and without his consent, Zhu Jinglun could not fire anyone at will.

Zhu Jinglun has high hopes for these two departments, believing that they are the most important parts of his foundation, and can even be said to be the cornerstone, but Hurd is on the cornerstone of his power and wants to divide the most important power.

Zhu Jinglun was silent for a long time, and finally agreed, but he had a request:

"I grant your request. But I remind you that your identity is an employee of our side and a foreign assistant of the Xin'an government. I can't dismiss the person you've hired, but I can dismiss you at any time. I will sign an agreement with you on behalf of the Xin'an government, and these will be written into the agreement. Of course, the power you want to have, it will also be written. I hope that in the future, we will strictly follow the agreement! ”

Hurd also thought this was good, and agreed very decisively: "Of course, I am very happy to see that our rights are guaranteed." ”

The agreement was drawn up by Zhu Jinglun himself, and after he carefully grasped every sentence and every clause, and after being sure that there was no legal loophole that could be exploited, he handed it over to Hurd for a careful look, and the two sides discussed it again, explained the disputed clauses, and then remarked that Hurd signed the agreement.

Now Hurd has become an assistant of Xin'an, a foreigner's assistant, responsible for re-reforming the Xin'an bureau and setting up a commodity exchange in Chiwan as soon as possible. In the process of reform and preparation, Zhu Jinglun could not interfere in any affairs, and even if there was a dispute about Hurd's approach, it must be approved by Hurd, otherwise it could not be easily changed.

This means that Hurd now holds the personnel and administrative powers of these two departments, which are undoubtedly the most important powers in a modern executive branch.

This has always worried Zhu Jinglun, worried that the British government will use the power in Hurd's hands, but for the time being, I have not seen that the British government has never abused its control over China Customs too obviously in history, at least not during Hurd's tenure, when Hurd left office, the successor Customs and Excise Department immediately began to intercept Chinese tariffs, and used this as a threat to constantly interfere in China's internal affairs. When Hurd was there, he was resolutely opposed to this, and even sometimes fought for the interests of the Chinese government in front of the foreign powers.

Obviously, the historical Hurd always remembered that he was a Chinese employee, and although he took care of the interests of Britain intentionally or unintentionally, he was ultimately seeking benefits for the Qing court, which is also an important reason why he was able to take charge of China's customs for half a century, and he could also satisfy the government and the opposition, as well as the Chinese and foreign parties.

Zhu Jinglun hopes that in this history, Hurd will still remember his status as a Chinese employee and not do things that seriously deviate from his identity, all of which is obviously not enough to rely on morality, so the agreement that Hurd can be fired at any time is very important.