After the Ningbo people bought the Baoshun ship in Guangdong, they recruited more than 70 sailors from Guangdong and Fujian. These people www.biquge.info called "right-hand sailors" and even "dead men". On the one hand, they are familiar with water, but also their role in suppressing pirates; And "dead soldiers" means that they fought bravely without dying. These sailors are no longer sailors in the ordinary sense, but have become sailors. And in later battles, they also went ashore to pursue and eliminate pirates, which was simply an early Marine Corps. They were armed with muskets.

Pei Jinquan still remembers that he was the boss of the "Baoshun" ship at that time. The Ningbo government registered the "Baoshun" ship and issued a license for the "Baoshun" ship to go to sea, and the pirates did not know that the Ningbo merchants already had sharp weapons, and they were still rampant on the sea. In the following year, in 1855, more than 30 Guangdong pirate ships plundered the waters of Fujian and Zhejiang, and then fled to Beiyang to join other pirates. The ships carrying the grain were blocked. In the sixth month of the lunar calendar, the ship "Baoshun" went to sea, and on July 7, it bombarded the pirate ship in the Fuzhou Ocean, sinking 5 ships and destroying 10 ships. On the 14th, 4 ships were sunk in Huangxian Yang and Penglai Yang in Shandong, 1 ship was captured, and 6 ships were burned. The remnants of the pirates fled ashore, and the ship bravely pursued them, killing more than 40 pirates and capturing more than 30 people. On the 18th, one ship was sunk in Shidaoyang, Shandong, and more than 300 ships from Jiangsu and Zhejiang were rescued. In just 11 days, the "Baoshun" ship wiped out all the pirates in Beiyang and drove back to Shanghai. On the 29th, the "Baoshun" ship cruised to Shipuyang, Ningbo, and 23 pirate ships anchored in the harbor, and the "Baoshun" ship led the ship Shui Yong into the port to attack, and from 5 o'clock in the morning to 3 o'clock in the afternoon, none of the 23 pirate ships survived. The remnants of the pirates fled ashore, and the ship bravely pursued and killed more than 300 people. On 13 September, 4 pirate ships were sunk in Cen Gang Ocean, 8 pirate ships were sunk in Liegang Ocean on 14 September, and 2 pirate ships were sunk in Shek Po Ocean on 18 September. On 18 October, four more pirate ships were sunk in the Liegang Ocean. The South Seas were also completely purged. In a short period of three or four months, the "Baoshun" ship sank and captured 68 pirate ships, capturing and killing more than 2,000 drowned pirates.

Seeing the great power of the steamer, the Shanghai merchant also bought one the next year, named the "Tianping" ship, and made an appointment with Ningbo, one to patrol the Beiyang and the other to patrol the Zhejiang Sea, so that the traces of pirates were even rarer. Soon, the Beiyang was filled with foreign ships, and the Second Opium War broke out. In the eighth year of Xianfeng, that is, in 1858, the British and French forces captured Dagukou and invaded Tianjin. Xianfeng sent Guiliang, a scholar of the university, and Hua Shana, a scholar of the Ministry of Officials, to Tianjin to negotiate peace, and signed the "Treaty of Tianjin" with Russia, the United States, Britain, and France respectively.

When the "Baoshun" ship appeared, He Guiqing, who was the governor of Zhejiang at the time, said in private: "A ship cannot win without a steamer", but at that time, the government and the opposition had not yet realized the urgency of possessing Western technology, and the strong ships and sharp guns of the British and French forces made many people sober up to a point: We also have such a ship. In March 1861, Tsang again stressed that the purchase of foreign guns was "the first priority to save the time today". He pointed out that "the speed of the steamship and the distance of the foreign cannon are boasted of in Britain and France, but they are rarely seen in China", and then advocated that "we should visit and recruit people who think about it, and craftsmen who are clever and skillful, and then try to build it, but in one or two years, the steamship will be a common thing for Chinese and foreign officials and people, and it can be suppressed and rebellious, and it can be stored in the long run." In 1862, Zeng Guofan purchased a steamship named "Wellinmi"; The following year, Li Hongzhang also purchased two ships, the "Tang Sheng" and the "Flying Return". In 1867, the Qing government finally promulgated the "Regulations for Chinese Merchants to Buy Foreign Merchant Steamship Splints and Other Ships", allowing Chinese merchants to purchase Western-style ships within the scope of the regulations, which was 13 years later than Baoshun Ship!

Thinking of the past, Pei Jinquan was excited.

After the establishment of the Fujian Shipbuilding Bureau, Pei Jinquan and Zhang Sigui, the superintendent of the ship, were recruited together. Because of their exploits on the "Baoshun" ship, Shen Baozhen recruited them beside him. Later, because he was familiar with foreign affairs, Zhang Sigui was recommended by Shen Baozhen to enter the Prime Minister's National Affairs Yamen, and is now the deputy envoy to Japan. Pei Jinquan served as the pipe band of the steamship "Huafubao" purchased from foreign businessmen at the beginning of the Fujian Shipbuilding Bureau.

Now, although Pei Jinquan has become famous at home for Taiwan's extermination of the Japanese invaders, and has become the commander of the shipmaster and sailor (due to the rank of the shipmaster, there is no commander yet), and he no longer needs to personally command the ship, but in his heart, he still deeply misses those magnificent days!

The Chinese fleet soon sailed into the harbor, and the foreign warships anchored in the harbor immediately fired a salute, and the Chinese fleet returned the salute with a salute.

Seeing that Deng Shichang, an old comrade-in-arms, was standing on the flybridge of the "Fujing", the flagship of the shipmaster's sailors, Pei Jinquan seemed to understand something, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but show a smile.

On the flybridge of the flagship of the Beiyang Naval Division, "Long Xiang", in addition to Liu Buchan, Pei Jinquan saw another stranger.

This person was not wearing a royal blue Chinese Navy uniform, but a black coat, wearing an official hat, the age was similar to himself, the person looked quite loyal and kind, but he stood on the flybridge, but showed a majestic aura.

"My lord, His Royal Highness King Shangtai has sent an official to invite, and the ceremony is about to begin." Pei Jinquan was wondering who was coming, and a personal entourage came to report.

Pei Jinquan nodded, and took his subordinates down the fort together.

In the sound of gongs, drums and firecrackers in Shurijo Castle, the Ryukyu royal palace in Shurijo Castle hung the golden plaque of the Empress Dowager Ci'an's imperial pen "Shouli Tianmen" and the golden plaque of the Empress Dowager Cixi's imperial pen "Huai'en Yonggu", the Ryukyu King Shangtai led the civil and military ministers to burn incense and worship, and then took the "Ryukyu King" gilded silver seal from the canonized angel, placed it in front of the temple, and then asked the angel to move to the port, and led all the ministers and people to listen to the angel's decree.

When the angel unleashed the holy decree, the Ryukyu king Shotai led his ministers to shout long live and bow to the ground.

At this moment, the earth fell silent, and people fell to their knees and bowed to the ground. It was like a wave of salutation, spreading out to the surroundings.

Seeing this incomparably spectacular scene, all the foreigners present were in awe, and they did not bow down like the Ryukyu princes and the Chinese in Ryukyu, but they all bowed 90 degrees to show respect.

At this time, in the nest of a small hill, several men dressed in Japanese clothes stood behind a big rock, kept looking at it, and did not kneel.

The eyes of these people only wandered around the Chinese captains who attended the ceremony.

"Who is the person standing next to Liu Buchan? Never seen before. ”

"His name is Ding Ruchang, a native of Lujiang, Anhui Province, and he is now the new commander of the Qing Beiyang Fleet."

"He doesn't seem to be from the navy, how could he get such an important official position?"

"I heard that he is Li Hongzhang's fellow countryman, and he has served in the inland water army before, and for this reason, he was recommended by Li Hongzhang to be the commander of the Beiyang Fleet."

"It's really strange, the Qing Navy is not a new talent that has not been trained, why should a guy who has only worked in the inland water army be the supreme commander of a naval fleet?"

"Most of the officers of the Qing Navy are from Fujian, and Li Hongzhang probably doesn't want people from other provinces to get involved in his fleet, so he made this arrangement."

"The Qing Kingdom is really the same as before, even if there are new warships, the old methods used to manage these warships are still the same. Such a fleet, just a blunt knife. ”

Heihachiro Togo, who was disguised as a Japanese businessman, glanced at Ding Ruchang coldly and walked down the hill with a few people. He is now anxious to return to Japan and report to his beloved Saigo Takamori.

China, Shanghai, Concession.

At this time, in a small mansion, Hu Xueyan was having a secret conversation with a person.

"I'm going to invite a few 'Kang Baidu' to dinner." As soon as he opened his mouth, he said, "Lao Chen, you can make a list for me!" ”

According to the English transliteration, the Chinese are commonly known as "Kang Baidu", who is the head of the Chinese staff in the bank, nominally only managing accounts and all miscellaneous affairs, in fact, all negotiations with the Chinese, from handing over the officialdom to hiring laborers, are all compradors who ask. And Chinese have business connections in foreign banks, and they have to find compradors.

What he is looking for now is a person who is very familiar with the compradors, named Chen Guohua.

"Mr. Hu, is Lord Zuo going to borrow silver?" Chen Guohua asked: "Is it for the Western Expedition to pay the army?" ”

"It's not! I'm going to borrow money from them. Hu Xueyan said.

Listening to Hu Xueyan's words, Chen Guohua was secretly frightened, because he usually borrowed money from foreign banks, 100,200,000 taels of silver, and he could borrow it with just one sentence from Hu Xueyan. Nowadays, I want to invite foreigners to dinner, and it can be seen that the number is not small. Chen Guohua thought for a while, took out a book of names of foreign commercial banks, flipped to the "bank" column and asked, "Are there several of them?" ”

"Separate please." Hu Xueyan said, "Let's ask HSBC first." ”

"Well, next up is Mergary and Advantage!" Chen Guohua held the pen in his hand and ticked on several banks without thinking.

This is also expected by Hu Xueyan, because HSBC will not be less in Chen Guohua, there are HSBC, there are two Mequarie and Youli, because these two are British banks and have a deep relationship with HSBC.

However, HSBC is not a purely British bank. It was formerly known as "The Hongkong and Shanghai Bank Limited", and the head office was restructured in Hong Kong in three years of Tongzhi, with a capital of 5 million yuan, which was invested by Jardine Matheson & Co. and Yan Kee & Co. in the United Kingdom, Qichang & Co. in the United States, as well as businessmen from Germany and the Middle East. Chinese businessmen also joined the company, and Chen Guohua was one of them, and from this connection, he was able to serve as the comprador of the Shanghai branch.

The Shanghai branch of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank was established a year later than the head office, and the general manager named Millin, an Englishman, who was an old acquaintance with Chen Guohua, knew him for a long time to be capable and reliable, and was also the bank's investor, so he was appointed as a comprador. Chen Guohua's first suggestion after receiving the post was to "correct the name", the name of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank, according to the literal translation of the original English name, there is no mistake, but according to Chinese habits, no matter how big or small the store is, it is always necessary to take an auspicious name, use the name of the place, and use two place names as the name of the bank, which makes people feel inexplicable.

Milling accepted Chen Guohua's advice, and named the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) for short, or HSBC for short, in accordance with the Chinese custom of "begging for words". Moreover, there is no difference between the northern and southern accents, no more than the word Mecca in the Bank of Macquarie, which is not the same as that of the northerners among the population of Shanghai.

Chen Guohua's second suggestion is that shareholders with different nationalities and different positions will have different opinions, resulting in an unfavorable situation in which they hinder each other and have no way to spread. Therefore, he advocated taking Britain as the main body, gradually buying shares of other countries, and at the same time liaising with friends, gathering forces, and supporting each other, which was also readily accepted by Milling.

The two friendly banks that HSBC contacted were, of course, the Bank of England, namely Merquarie and Lee.

It is the oldest foreign bank in Shanghai, founded in Xianfeng for four years. It is one of the UK's overseas banks. The head office is located in London, with branches in Mumbai and Shanghai, India.

Macquarie Bank is a company limited by shares granted by Royal Decree to set up branches in India, Australia and Shanghai. The head office is located in London, Xianfeng opened a branch in Shanghai in seven years, and the Cantonese people call it "Standard Chartered Bank", which is the transliteration of the English word "chartered", but the Shanghainese people think that the word Standard Chartered is awkward, so they simply call it Macquarie Bank in the name of its first general manager, McQuarie.

The Macquarie Bank was set up entirely to facilitate the trade of British businessmen in India, Australia, and Shanghai, so in addition to Hu Xueyan's peer relationship in Fukang Qianzhuang, there were also business contacts in "Pinyangzhuang".

"Mr. Hu, you have to think of a charter, how to borrow, how to repay, how much interest, how much time to set? Let's say it first, and see if it works? ”

"If you borrow 1.2 million, the interest may as well be a little higher. The term is one year, the first half of the year is only interest, and the second half of the year is withdrawn on a monthly basis, and it is repaid in six installments. Hu Xueyan said, "The rules of foreign banks, the temper of foreigners, you are much more proficient than me, you see, what is the method?" ”

"As long as things are done, I will accept any conditions." Chen Guohua said, "Foreigners are a little different from us. We are talking about faith and commerce, and we only rely on one sentence to count, and do not think much about the consequences. What about foreigners, although they also talk about faith and righteousness, but they are more legal, and they are a bit of a 'villain', not good, first bad, take borrowing money, the first thing that comes to mind is that the other party will not be able to afford it in the future? What if I can't afford it? These two points, Mr. Hu, you must first think about it properly, otherwise it is better not to speak. ”

"I see. The first point is that it must be affordable, because the number of co-payers in each province is stipulated, and it is natural to play the Ming court, and the major events of the western expedition will be played in the Ming Dynasty. Besides, in the three provinces of Fujian, Guangdong, and Zhejiang, there are people from Zuo Daren there, and they must buy it. There are hundreds of thousands in these three provinces, which is a huge amount, so there is no need to worry. Hu Xueyan said with confidence.

"Okay, I can say this to foreigners. What about guarantees? Chen Guohua asked again.

"Since Fukang is inconvenient to guarantee, then I can only ask Lord Zuo to come forward himself." Hu Xueyan hesitated for a moment and said.

"Lord Zuo's temper, I'm afraid I can only come forward to borrow it, and I won't be a guarantor." Chen Guohua shook his head and said, "Without his words and seals, foreigners won't believe it." ”

"That's the case, Lord Zuo asks the governors of the provinces who are cooperating in the salary to make a guarantee, issue a printed ticket first, and collect it from the yamen of the provincial feudal divisions when it is due." Hu Xueyan hurriedly said.

"This ...... The governors of the provinces are not necessarily willing, right? Chen Guohua was stunned.

"You don't have to worry about this layer, this thing has already been done, there is a precedent first, and Lord Zuo can naturally do it." Coercing the Son of Heaven to order the princes' tricks, Lord Zuo is the best at it! Hu Xueyan laughed.

"Well, as long as you are sure, you can talk." Chen Guohua said: "I thought, please have dinner in the back, I will take the HSBC board out to meet Mr. Hu first, how about it?" ”

"Big Board" is the abbreviation of "Big Boss", and the Chinese staff of the foreign bank all call them "Yangdong". Hu Xueyan has never met Millin, HSBC's "big board", but he has heard that others are very shrewd, that is, what Shanghainese say is very "on the road", as long as everything is on the road, you can always talk about success. So Hu Xueyan readily agreed. But there are still some things to explain.

"Lao Chen," Hu Xueyan said, "I can't hide my situation from you." I'm a 'hollow old man' now, and the scene is too big and there are words of suffering. On the Zhejiang side, the account of the acting treasury has not been settled clearly. Some accounts are not easy to reimburse, and they are not easy to fight, because it hinders the face of Lord Zuo, and the advance of the Aftermath Bureau has to be put there. In this way, it is two or three hundred thousand, and there are five hundred thousand silver in total, and another five hundred thousand silver is lost at sea. ”

"There are so many bad accounts!" Chen Guohua was taken aback, "Mr. Hu, now that the two markets of silk and tea are going to be lively, we have to put a lot of silver on it first." At that time, if Fukang or the turnover was not effective, wouldn't it be ugly? ”

"Isn't it ugly? It's just damning! Hu Xueyan then said, "Speaking of ugliness, if there is something bad in the year, it will show its original shape." I shouldn't have been in charge of the salt affairs in western Zhejiang, but Zhejiang is finally under the jurisdiction of the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, which is barely reasonable. Now that I have been sent by the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, I will be stationed in Shanghai for a long time in the future, handling the transfer of military rations and salaries in the northwest, and the salt affairs in western Zhejiang. If you want to hand it over, you have a deficit of more than 100,000 yuan, how can you not return it? ”

"That is to say, it will take hundreds of thousands to pass the customs within the year."

"That's just this one, there's more. If this loan is successful, it will be remitted in batches, and I can use it first, and I will be active when the two markets of silk and tea are over and the payment will come in a steady stream. ”

"Good!" Chen Guohua breathed a sigh of relief. He said, "I must have an idea to make this loan successful." ”