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Shanghai in 1852, its prosperity is far less than decades later, in the concession of Shanghai, there are no high-rise buildings, and there is also no weaving sea of cars, those are not spacious on both sides of the street, you can only see some two-storey to three-storey British buildings, most of these Western-style buildings with red walls and black tiles are directly facing the Huangpu River, on the side of the Huangpu River, the Bund that was known to the world after a few decades is very prosperous, but more warehouses, warehouses are close to the riverside, and the warehouses of the Zhu family are among them.

Looking towards the Huangpu River, you can see a little white sail, of course, there are many steamers spewing soot, and merchant ships from various countries transport goods from various countries to China or fill them with raw silk and tea from here to transport back to Europe and the United States.

Although since the "Treaty of Nanjing", opened the era of trade between five ports, but in the city of opening the port, no city can be compared with Shanghai, raw silk from Jiangsu and Zhejiang, tea from Anhui, porcelain from Jingdezhen, and so on can be shipped to Shanghai, and then shipped from Shanghai to all parts of the world, for Europeans, Shanghai's biggest advantage is its appropriate geographical location, and it is precisely because of its location as the leader of the Yangtze River that Shanghai, to be precise, Shanghai's concession, in just a few years, has developed into East Asia" The most modern" port, attracting merchant ships from all over the world. A few decades later, of course, the city will receive another title, the "Paris of the East".

However, for Zhu Yifeng, who walked out of the door for the first time after crossing, his attention was not on the foreign companies lined up on the roadside, at most he occasionally turned his attention to the sailing boats in the Huangpu River, the antique sailing boats, which always aroused his interest, but what really left a deep impression on him was the tattered Chinese people he saw along the way on the way to the concession, many of whom were beggars, there were shacks made of broken wooden boards, and there were also British foreign houses with beautiful environments. There are beggars on the streets, but there are rich people everywhere.

However, the reason why Zhu Yifeng walked out of the house this time was not to enjoy the street scene of Shanghai in 1852, but to go out to do business, and almost as soon as he went out, he walked directly towards the wharf, and the reason why he went to the wharf was to solve some debt problems.

"Young Master, are you really going to take that ship?"

Zhu Wang, who followed the young master closely, looked a little nervous when he spoke, as if he didn't understand why the young master had to do such a loss-making business, you know, it was impossible for the young master to accept such harsh conditions in the past. But that's a debt, or even a scoundrel.

"Ngawang, in these years, if you can come back, you will get a point!"

Port!

Almost at the same time as the opening of the port of Shanghai, the concession tenants' meeting formulated the plan - because it is based on entrepot trade, it determines the foundation of Shanghai's development, this is a city that lives on the port, after nearly ten years of development, the concession located on the river beach has shown the rudimentary form of the city, and on the riverside line, it is covered with wharf trestle bridges, more than ten wooden or stone foundation trestle bridges extend into the river, and both sides of the trestle are full of merchant ships from various countries.

After coming to the wharf, Zhu Yifeng saw the Chinese people more intuitively, the coolies on the wharf, although it was a cold winter, and the sea breeze with moisture was very cold, but on the wharf, those coolies dressed in single clothes were just numbly huddled on the edge of the wharf, and there was no expression on the dark face, only the slightly blue lips and trembling bodies, indicating that they were fighting against the cold, and their eyes were full of numbness without a trace of brilliance.

After the carriage drove into the wharf, Zhu Yifeng could see that the coolies on the wharf were carrying heavy goods, their waists carrying heavy loads were completely bent, and bean-sized sweat droplets dripped from the coolies' foreheads.

Looking at these people, there was only one word that came to Zhu Yifeng's mind - insensitivity. Perhaps, this is the biggest characteristic of Chinese people in this era, almost all of them have the same expression, the same numbness, and the same lack of hope for the future.

Hopefully, I don't know when this word disappeared from the Chinese dictionary.

"Hey!"

After a long sigh, Zhu Yifeng took his gaze back, and at this moment, the carriage also stopped, and after getting off the carriage, Zhu Yifeng saw that a carriage had already been parked on the dock, and there was a foreigner wearing a suit and a top hat standing next to the carriage, he was Thompson, the American who owed him nearly 20,000 yuan.

"Zhu ......"

When Zhu Yifeng got out of the car, Thompson couldn't help but be stunned, because he saw that Zhu Yifeng was wearing a suit, which was completely beyond his expectations, even in Hong Kong under British rule, only a few compradors would wear suits, and most people here still wore Chinese-style robes.

"Zhu, you know what? You're born to wear a suit. ”

Although he was a little surprised, Thompson praised it.

"Oh? Why? ”

This suit is the only suit in Zhu Yifeng's wardrobe, and he prefers this suit to the Manchu robes, at least in terms of wearing habits, closer to the clothes of later generations.

"The Chinese I have come into contact with, they are either arrogant or groveling, but you are standing straight, like the Americans, the suit can only show its temperament when it is worn on you, if it is someone else, it looks a little unusual!"

Thompson, who has been in China for nearly ten years, has come into contact with many Chinese, but he is still a little curious in his heart, why Zhu Yifeng has changed so much after a serious illness, he has seen his anger in the past, and he has also seen his humility, but he has never seen him like now, is it confidence, or? No, how should I say that? What kind of attitude is this? Is it self-confidence? It's not just confidence, but there are other emotions in it.

"Oh? Is it? ”

Asking rhetorically, Zhu Yifeng replied bluntly.

"That's because you're not really Chinese! Where is the ship? ”

"What is a real Chinese?"

Although he was a little curious, seeing that the other party was not ready to explain, Thompson shrugged his shoulders, and then pointed to a wooden-hulled sailboat at the berth with the civilization staff in his hand.

"This is the Pacific!"

Sitting on the sampan, looking at the "Pacific" getting closer and closer, although Zhu Yifeng wanted to calm down when he wanted to calm down, it seemed that the tall mast on the ship, his mood was still a little excited, as long as he signed the agreement today, then the ship would be renamed Zhu and become his own ship.

When I got on the boat, I looked from the stern to the bow of the boat, and all I could see were wooden posts and ropes. The most attractive thing is the tall mast and bundled sails, on the side of the ship, Zhu Yifeng even saw 8 front-loading guns, which is the common denominator of merchant ships in this era, and the guns are used to defend against pirates.

“…… Built in 1844 at Smith Dimon in New York, the ship's hull material was the finest North American red oak and was built by the most famous American naval designer and builder, Donald Smith. Mackay designed and supervised the clipping boat, which was very fast, and used to transport tea, from Shanghai to New York, in only 120 days, and at most 130 days! It's the fastest ship in the world, faster than a steamboat! There have never been any problems during the run. ”

While Thompson was introducing the clipper, the accompanying American mechanics from the Bowei Ship Company were inspecting the merchant ship.

"Mr. Zhu, according to the ship's records, the ship crashed into a reef two years before the port, and when it was undergoing complete repairs, its wood was changed to Australian eucalyptus."

The technician's words made Zhu Yifeng look at Thompson, and there was a smile on his face.

"Mr. Thompson......"

"Mr. Zhu, you know, the ship is in operation, it is inevitable that it needs to be repaired, my friend, believe me, ten years ago, this ship cost more than 20,000 dollars!"

Despite the lie being exposed, Thompson did not show any embarrassment, and even continued with confidence.

"And, if it weren't for the age of the guy, ready to go back to the United States, my friend, this ship will not be sold anyway, it is precisely because we are friends that I consider you first, please believe me, Qichang and other companies are more than happy to buy this ship!"

"Mr. Thompson, if I'm not mistaken, if you add interest, your arrears are already more than 20,000 yuan, that is, 20,000 dollars!"

After unceremoniously and directly exposing Thompson's lies, Zhu Yifeng looked directly at the Yankee in front of him, who was over fifty years old.

"That's enough money for me to buy a new ship of the same kind! And this is only an old ship that is ten years old! I think it's hard for me to agree with you to pay off your debts with just such an old ship, which is also in arrears for a huge amount of berth fees. ”

Without waiting for the other party to object, Zhu Yifeng, who had already made plans, changed the conversation again,

"So, I need other compensation besides this ship!"

He had already studied this man in his mind before he came to see him today, Thompson founded the U.S.-China Trading Company eighteen years ago, and for many years he had been using Hong Kong as a base for entrepot trade, and his company was not only engaged in tea, raw silk, fur, and opium, but also engaged in some other business.

A little bit can be squeezed out of him, it's a little!

And more importantly, he really needs to get some special goods from him.

"For example, some goods from abroad!"