As soon as Smith and Liang Pengfei's eyes met, they felt like there was a bucket of cold and biting snow water, and when they poured their heads, the blood all over their bodies seemed to be stiff, and their bodies involuntarily shivered.

Liang Pengfei only glanced at him lightly, and this glance made Smith have a feeling of being completely seen through, the indifference of looking at everything, making Smith feel like a humble creature that would be trampled under his feet by giants at any time.

"If this young man is really an ordinary Qing maritime merchant, then I am a pig." Smith wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, he felt that he had rushed to take over this big business, originally thought it was his luck, but now it seemed that it was the beginning of his nightmare.

Smith is a typical European, with the European concept and principle of only believing in strength and succumbing to strength, and now he has understood that the young man in front of him is definitely not a master who can fool himself, in that case, it is equivalent to sending his net worth and surname to a point of no return.

He also knew that in Europe, there were also many people with dual identities, just like the East India Company, which on the surface seemed to be a regular company specializing in commodity trading, but in fact, under the company, there were several privateer fleets, specializing in those illegal activities, and sometimes fighting their commercial rivals for the East India Company.

The young man in front of him must be such a person with multiple identities, a guy who is extremely dangerous. "Please rest assured, Mr. Liang, that we British businessmen are absolutely reputable, and I am willing to swear to God for that." Smith's tone was now very humble. In terms of business practices, it is common for businessmen to fight openly and secretly, and to use the rules to take advantage of them, but once they meet outlaws, they can only obediently submit to the soft.

"By the way, since you've just come from India, you must know about the East India Company, right?" Liang Pengfei's eyes rolled and he thought of another question.

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Smith nodded: "Yes, I first came to the East as an employee of the East India Company, but later, I started my own business and left the East India Company, but I still have a few friends in the company. Smith didn't feel the need to hide anything, he didn't want to anger the young man who claimed to be a serious maritime merchant.

Liang Pengfei nodded, but did not ask any further, because there was Pan Youdu present beside him, you know, in this era, the proportion of opium in the goods imported by Britain into China has become higher and higher, but only a small amount of this kind of thing is in the name of medicine, through formal channels into the mainland, the vast majority of the remaining opium is through illegal means into the mainland, you know, merchants will never touch this kind of thing, they only rely on regular trade goods, there are countless wealth, And why risk touching such a thing?

In fact, some of the opium smugglers were pirates, but more were the private ships of the Manchu sailors and officials.

Since Liang Pengfei talked to Pan Youdu about that Cai Panlong last time, he has conducted a deeper investigation of the water master again, and found out this news that made him jaw-dropping. This cannot but be said to be a kind of irony, a kind of greatest irony for the Manchu army, and the Manchu Qing Dynasty, the political axe system that has been clamoring for a smoking ban for decades but banning more and more.

The next is much simpler, after learning that Liang Pengfei is definitely not a person they can easily deceive, Smith They are much more cautious on the issue of cigarette trade, although at this time, in addition to Liang and Cai, there are several cigarette factories one after another, but all people's favorite brands are still those exported by Liang's cigarette factories.

These cigarettes have been exported to Suzhou and Hangzhou in the north, and to the south, even Luzon, Liang Pengfei has also seen his own tobacco products, Smith hopes to obtain the exclusive overseas management rights of Liang's tobacco, for this, Liang Pengfei will definitely not agree.

But in the end, Liang Pengfei didn't bother Smith too much, allowing him to buy from his own tobacco factory and sell overseas, but the monthly ration was from 100 boxes.

After bidding farewell to these two British businessmen who left satisfied, Pan Youdu shook his head: "Pengfei, I really don't understand, why would you spend so much money to buy a patent for a dye, you know, it's 100,000 taels of silver." ”

"Uncle Shi, in fact, the little nephew spent these 100,000 taels of silver, but he just imitated an old story about buying bones with a thousand gold." Liang Pengfei smiled at Pan Youdu, his eyes revealing shrewdness and cunning.

"Uncle Shi has been dealing with these Westerners for many years, and you must know that many of the things that those Westerners have have that our craftsmen in the Great Qing Kingdom have not been able to make so far, right? Like the spinning machines that made England so rich, and the huge warships, and the dyes and the kind of thundermercury that I need today. ”

"It's true, if we could make these things ourselves...... Hehe, I understand, but the virtuous nephew, it's one thing to know, but it's another thing to do. Pan Youdu patted Liang Pengfei's shoulder in a colloquial language and sighed.

"There is nothing difficult in the world, but I am afraid of people with hearts, this ancient saying can be passed down to this day, because it has its own truth. And I happen to be one of those people who have a heart. In my eyes, in the world, whether it is now or in the future, there will be nothing I want to do but can't do, absolutely not! Liang Pengfei walked to the railing of the balcony on the second floor, looking at the sea shadow in the distance, thousands of sails fighting on the sparkling sea surface, white seabirds shuttling and chirping among the clouds, and the air with a slight smell of sea was extremely fresh at this moment.

Pan Youdu held the glass of red wine in his hand, looked at Liang Pengfei's straight backbone, and his ears echoed with Liang Pengfei's seemingly casual but deafening words, and he couldn't help but jump in his heart. Some relieved, but also a little apprehensive, it seems that the eyes of this Liang Pengfei Liang's nephew are not only limited to this piece of land.

Is it strange that he would want to get involved in officialdom, it is a good thing to have such confidence, but whether he has such ability or not, it is not easy to say whether this Pan Youdu is too much, and he dare not say it, so he can only wait and see.

"Miss, what are you looking at?" In the small pavilion in the garden not far from the bungalow, Yahuan came forward curiously and asked Pan Bingjie, who had been looking in the direction of the small bungalow.

"Ah, scare me, you girl is looking for a fight!" Pan Bingjie retracted her gaze in a little panic, and glared at the girl next to her angrily.

"Miss, the little maid didn't mean to scare you, but you were just too attentive." There was a narrow smile on the corner of Pan Bingjie's personal maid's mouth, and she deliberately pretended to be pitiful and said.

"Why do you little girl talk so much, I look at what I am too attentive to, begging for a beating!" Pan Bingjie's pink and tender pretty face turned red, as magnificent as the clouds rising in the sky, and she was incomparably charming.

Liang Pengfei, who was standing on the balcony, heard the sound of laughter coming from the shelter of the grass and trees not far away, and couldn't help but look over, but only saw a green shirt dancing in a flash...... －－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－

The old Liang family's action of establishing the Liang clan in Guangzhou was quite low-key, and by the time those Liang children came from Shunde one after another, the Liang clan had begun to take shape under Liang Pengfei's high attention.

Smooth road, a two-story brick and concrete house that is different from ordinary Chinese houses rises from the ground, Liang Pengfei asked his steward to invite more than 300 craftsmen, plus there is almost no frost in the winter in Guangzhou, so the speed of construction is quite fast, two and a half months, it is enough to make this two-story small building to the ceiling, and now the rest is to do some internal decoration, brush lime, and level the field between the school and the classroom This series of miscellaneous matters.

Among the teachers hired, Liang Pengfei did not choose those old talents and gentlemen, but invited some people who had read books, but because they could not pass the examination, they had to act as accountants for those merchants, or for those young and middle-aged people who were interpreters when they traded with foreigners.

These people, although they don't understand the subjects set up by Liang Pengfei a little, but because they have a wide range of knowledge and broad vision, they are not as stubborn as those old gentlemen who stick to the old traditional ideas, at least in the Liang Mansion's generous salary, and after the young master Liang personally communicated with them, they decided to accept Liang Pengfei's arrangement, and the Four Books and Five Classics will pick some to teach, not only to make students read and write, but also to deal with the inspection of those officials who are in charge of education.

At the same time, it is necessary to teach those students their Chinese, of course, this needs to be taught in different categories...... "Now there are a total of fifteen teachers arranged in the house, three of them were originally account rooms, and the others were all interpreters before, five of them were just hired the day before yesterday, one of them had been an interpreter for the Governor of Macao for two years in Macao, and there were ......" The steward here presented the list to Liang Pengfei, and reported the resumes of these people to Liang Pengfei with the memory in his mind.

"Well, it's not bad, but when the time comes, I still have to meet in person, and I can rest assured." Liang Pengfei let out a long sigh, these words really kept him busy. The tobacco business, the problems of ethnography, the arrangements made after the arrival of the Liang family, and the various affairs of remote control of the relocation of people from Luzon to the Central Islands.

If it weren't for the fact that he was waiting for news from the court in Guangzhou, Liang Pengfei and his father might have gone to Nanyang to inspect the new territory.

was communicating with the steward about the matter of ethnology, at this time, Liang Pengfei suddenly heard the calls and cheers of the people in the family, and there were hurried footsteps coming towards this side.

Soon, a person with a happy face rushed into Liang Pengfei's study. "Young master, great joy, great joy, the government has come, and it has brought a holy decree, young master, you are really going to be an official!"

Liang Pengfei stood up straight suddenly, and after the subordinate repeated the news again, Liang Pengfei took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

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(To be continued)