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Ling Ding Yang, also known as Ling Ding Yang. The pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info for the Pearl River Estuary in Guangdong Province, its name is completely due to Song Wentianxiang's poem "Crossing Zero Ding Yang" written by Ling Ding Yang.

Since a few decades ago, this piece of Lingdingyang, which was located at the mouth of the Pearl River, has become a transit point for merchants from Britain and the United States to smuggle opium, because opium is a contraband in China, and it is extremely risky to store it in the 13 warehouses, and once it is seized by the government, foreign merchants will be fined and deported. In the beginning, foreign merchants used to store opium in Macao, waiting for an opportunity to transport it to the mainland, but this was inconvenient. Six or seven kilometers south of Huangpu Island, some foreign merchants set up so-called "storeships," or water warehouses, on the sea. In this way, there was a convenient and hidden place for the hoarding and transfer of opium.

Prior to this, foreign merchants led by the British had premeditated the selection of some barren islands or sand dunes near the mouth of the Pearl River to establish a foothold under the pretext of waiting for customs inspection or drying goods. Later, some British and American companies towed barges by sea vessels and anchored in the Lingding Ocean off Humen, halfway along the sea route between Guangzhou and Hong Kong, and set up several large-scale opium storage sites.

These barges are forty or fifty meters long, or even hundreds of meters, with a total of three or four floors including the bilge, protruding one or twenty meters from the sea, which can be called "giants" on the water. The ship's equipment is readily available, and warehousing, trade and life are all in one. These barges on the sea echo each other with the previously successful island strongholds.

As a result, one after another opium mother ships flying foreign flags, barges, came one after another, and at this time there were as many as 31 barges moored in the Humen Sea, and only a dozen of them were moored for a long time, and the reason why there are so many barges here now is that Guangdong has further banned tobacco and soil, forcing merchants from various countries to increase the number of barges in order to store opium.

On the huge barges, several arm-thick anchor chains fell straight down twenty or thirty meters underwater, and the iron anchors weighing several tons clung to the bottom of the river. It's spectacular. But in Shen Ming's eyes, these barges were no less than a challenge to him, the admiral of the rebel army, because they were all anchored in China's territorial waters.

“…… After the whole ship of opium arrived at the sea surface of Humen, it was connected to the barge for storage, with each 840 kilograms per barge and about 300 barge per boat. Each barge can store about 1,000 to 1,500 boxes of opium. The opium trade here is usually carried out by local profiteers who pay money in one hand at the foreign banks of the Thirteen Banks, and receive a bill with the other hand, that is, a voucher, and go to the barge moored outside the mouth of the Pearl River to pick up the goods, and then transport the tobacco back to Dajiaokou in Guangzhou by self-employed barge, and then unpack and resell the next ......."

Wu Chengli bowed his waist slightly, stood one step behind the Admiral, and carefully explained to him that now the Wu family is completely no longer contaminated with opium, and the reason why he came here and stood on the gunboat "Chufeng" was to introduce the situation of opium barges from various countries in the Lingding Ocean to these righteous soldiers who came from afar.

"That means there are at least 30,000 boxes of opium stored in these tablet ships, right?"

Staring at the opium ships flying foreign flags on the Lingding Ocean, the corners of Shen Ming's lips lifted slightly, and the smile looked a little strange.

"So how much silver is a box of opium now?"

Yes?

Looking at the admiral next to him in surprise, Wu Chengli, who was used to dealing with officials, suddenly understood the other party's thoughts in his heart, so he spoke.

"My lord, the price now is different from the past, because on the shore, Lord Li strictly inspected the ban on tobacco soil, those who dared to violate the ban, and those who raided their homes and forced labor, although the price of tobacco was high, no one dared to ask. Therefore, the price at this time is not an ordinary price. ”

After this explanation, Wu Chengli added

"In the past, the price of a box of fine Indian tobacco in Lingding Ocean was 800 Spanish silver dollars, and it rose to more than 1,000 yuan after it was shipped to land. But now it is more popular to buy more cheap Turkish tobacco, which is generally about 300 yuan per box, and can be sold for more than 500 yuan after being shipped. And the cost of rehousing is lower. ”

"A box is about 300 yuan...... More than 30,000 boxes, that is almost 10 million. ”

Sighing at the huge wealth "stored" on this huge barge, Shen Ming ordered to the assistant staff officer beside him.

"Send someone to pass it over immediately as planned, and issue an ultimatum to these opium dealers!"

Ultimatum!

"My lord? What an ultimatum! ”

Wu Chengli's eyes widened and he looked at the admiral beside him in surprise. Didn't he want a piece of it?

"Of course, it is an ultimatum to restrict them from leaving China's territorial waters, these opium ships invaded China's territorial waters, Lao Tzu sank them without a single cannon, it is polite, give them seventy-two hours, seventy-two hours later, if they don't leave, Lao Tzu will arrest people and seal the ship!"

After saying these words sharply, Shen Ming's brows jumped slightly, and he watched the six-hundred-eighty-ton "Xiangyang" sail towards those barges, and he didn't notice Wu Chengli's trembling appearance beside him. His face turned blue and his lips trembled, and he seemed to be in his 30s as if he had once again seen the war that had been caused by the seizure of the barge by the Lord Chincha more than ten years ago.

In the living room of the Wu family garden in the city of Guangzhou, the atmosphere was extremely tense at this time, whether it was Wu Chongyao or Wu Tianheng, the merchants of the old thirteen lines and more than a dozen other wealthy people in Guangzhou were all sitting there, all of them frowning, and their faces were full of worries.

"This, how is this good, if the Admiral really goes on the ship to seal the ship and detain the cigarettes, I don't know what kind of chaos will be caused by then."

Mess.

They are not afraid, they are afraid, but when the time comes, it will lead to war. The last time the Chincha lord banned smoking, the war caused by the ban on smoking was still fresh in their memories, and it was that battle that not only caused these merchants to lose their business qualifications, but also caused them to suffer losses of nearly 20 million taels.

It's good now. First the Governor Li banned smoking on land, and now the Admiral has only just arrived in Guangdong, and even the smoke of the steam engine in the steamer has not stopped, and he is about to expel the barges of all countries in the Dingyang.

"What did the Admiral say at the time?"

Again, Wu Chongyao stared at his nephew and asked.

"Admiral Shen issued an ultimatum to order barges from all countries to leave our territorial waters, he said that these opium ships invaded China's territorial waters, and sank them without a single cannon, which is polite, give them seventy-two hours, and after seventy-two hours, if they don't leave, they will arrest people and seal the ships!"

Once again, Wu Chengli repeated the words he heard on the boat, and his words made the atmosphere in the room tense again, what is this? Just when they were ambitiously preparing to make Guangzhou City come alive again, who would have thought that they would encounter this accident again.

"How good is this, we have 10 million taels of silver in the official silver number, which is used to repair the railway."

Wu Tianheng complained on the side, the 10 million taels of silver is the first share capital of the Yuehan Railway Company, and now it has been deposited in the Guangdong Guanyin number, these silver are the samples of the 27 wealthy businessmen in Guangdong, and he made up millions of taels, and the Pan family took the most, a full three million taels, which also means that the Pan family accounts for 30% of the shares of the railway company.

"Zhaolin, what do you think? In case of a fight, this silver ......"

Wu Tianheng looked at Pan Zhaolin and asked, but it was he who he said that everyone set up this railway company, saying that he wanted to revitalize Guangzhou. Now the money is in the pockets of the government. As a result, the government wants to provoke those foreigners, in case of a fight, what will happen then?

The last war caused by the smoking ban can be said to have broken their hearts. Before the outbreak of the war, they had paid their own money and tried every possible way to prevent the outbreak of the war, and later the Qing Dynasty was not the opponent of others, so they let the family fight under the city of Guangzhou. It was the government that forced them to negotiate with foreigners to pay money to "redeem the city". Later, the imperial court paid money to the foreigners, and they were forced to pay silver, and even in the end, the more than 20,000 boxes of opium destroyed by the minister were also compensated by them.

It can be said that they were squeezed clean by the Qing government and foreigners in the last war, but they never thought that now when they were preparing to make a big show, this Han government that originally seemed to be good, was actually confused. I have to provoke some foreigners.

"How's that good?"

Raising his eyebrows slightly, Pan Zhaolin looked at the people in the room and said.

"Admiral Shen is right, that Lingding Ocean is our China's territorial waters, and those foreigners' opium ships just can't stop there. According to the "Public Law of Nations" of various countries, since we have changed our territorial waters, their ships are in our territorial waters, we have to abide by our rules, and if they leave, they must leave! Don't leave, follow our rules. ”

In fact, Pan Zhaolin's heart was also beating the drum, and this time the Pan family took out all their old foundations. The future of the Pan family can be all on this railway, if so, if this silver is collected by the government...... No, no, Handu would never do that.

"Could it be that you have forgotten which of the Chincha-sama caused trouble last time? Those of them who became officials caused trouble and raised their reputations. Then he patted his ass and left, and in the end, all the sins, aren't we still suffering? ”

Pan Zhaolin's words immediately aroused the dissatisfaction of others, and the lessons they had learned had to take as a warning. Those who are officials only do things for their own fame and official position, and a few people have considered reality and considered them.

"Aren't there two more days?"

The lessons of the uncles in the house made Pan Zhaolin smile reluctantly.

"Maybe they'll leave then, after all, even foreigners know how to give the government three points of thin noodles, right? It's really not good, let's pay for them to tow the boat to Hong Kong! ”

As soon as Pan Zhaolin's words fell, a coquettish sneer sounded next to him.

"Brother Pan, I think you are smart and confused. If we do, we'll be done. (To be continued.) )