[It's another 6k+ big chapter, brothers, it's cool to watch, remember to vote~~]

Zhang Kui had been standing at the door of the mansion for a while, holding a bouquet of colorful roses in his hand, and the shopkeepers who walked by couldn't help but look at him a few more times, but this guy didn't look uncomfortable at all, and finally he saw the main owner.

He strode up with flowers in his hand, and in the stunned eyes of everyone, he smiled slightly, gave a standard new-style military salute to the strange-looking old man opposite, and then turned his head and smiled at the beautiful woman in the dress next to him, "Shopkeeper Qi, on behalf of the Mawei Ship Administration Qin Kai, I will give this bouquet of flowers to this beautiful girl!" ”

With that, he handed the beautifully wrapped bouquet of flowers forward.

The big beauty blinked her eyes, looked at the old man on the side, smiled, gave Zhang Kui a Chinese-style blessing gift, and said sweetly: "Thank you Supervisor Qin on my behalf!" He took the flowers, and then put his arm around the old man and walked away.

Out of the gate of the Wu family, there was immediately a rather spacious and luxurious carriage parked in front of them, after the two got into the car, the old man looked at the beautiful woman in dress opposite, and asked with a smile: "Xuan'er, this Qin supervisor doesn't seem to be the doctor with excellent medical skills you say!" ”

"Father, but he did bring Mr. Kirard back to life that day, and I met that German Doctor David, who is said to have learned medical skills from Lord Qin!" The big beauty's eyes blinked, and she looked at the bouquet of flowers in her hand with a focused expression, and whispered in her mouth, "...... What a strange person."

This man in Western-style clothes ignored his thank you letter, and at least he should have replied to the letter! However, this old-fashioned-looking person also knows how to send roses?! But it's colorful...... It was boring, but she immediately saw the pink card hanging from a pale pink rose! This......

"I know a wonderful story, there is a magical power from the seven-colored flower, it can achieve people's wishes, today I make the first wish to the seven-colored flower, I hope that the girl who sees this bouquet of flowers will always be happy, for the faux pas who failed to reply to the letter before, I apologize, Qin Kai." The corners of the girl's mouth gracefully formed a downward arc, and a smile appeared on her face.

History will record this day, October 10, 1879, although there has been an astonishing news among the foreign compradors that the price of foreign cloth will collapse, but most of the compradors actually do not care very much, this so-called collapse, production reduction and other news has been passed around, no one knows whether it is true or false.

However, some shrewd foreign businessmen and compradors have also found some anomalies, there is a small batch of foreign cloth in the market is dumping at a low price, and the price is lower than the current Indian Ocean cloth and Japanese foreign cloth two to three percent, this is an obvious emergency return of funds, you must know that the Qing Dynasty has huge population resources and private wealth, so that the trade of foreign cloth has always been very good.

The wholesale price of high-grade Western cloth from the port is 28-30 taels of silver a horse, these brightly colored foreign cloth to the inland provinces, the price will rise a lot, as for the foreign cloth and cotton yarn from India and the country, but the texture and color are much different, but it is cheaper, and the profit is as lucrative.

However, early in the morning of the 10th day of October, the Fukang warehouse at the Shanghai port sent a message to the foreign compradors who were squatting in the port, saying that a large amount of foreign cloth was sold at a price of 14 taels of silver per horse, and the texture and workmanship were absolutely guaranteed.

Not far from the Bund, there is a Western-style restaurant with rococo architecture, which is a favorite place for the breakfast party of Shanghai Ocean compradors. Since the last time he stabbed the fat man in Mawei Shipyard, waiting for the lawsuit to pass, he still returned to Shanghai Tang according to the family's arrangement, the largest comprador place in this era.

However, unlike before, when he came out to develop on his own, now he has a completely different foundation. He has been a comprador for foreigners for more than ten years, and he is already middle-aged, although he relies on his own efforts and has a high status in the family, but a question that his daughter once asked him has always made him unforgettable.

That day, the youngest daughter came back from a nearby church school, but unexpectedly asked: "Father, why do some classmates say that our family is a fake foreign devil!" ”

Tong Yan Wuji, he also has too much helplessness, a qiē has undergone earth-shaking changes in this year, although he is still a foreign comprador identity, but he is now doing an authentic domestic business, which makes him feel very comfortable, more importantly, he wants to witness a history today, a domestic self-improvement. ,

"Oh, isn't this Brother Dong!" Someone greeted him next to him, he had been in the foreign market for more than ten years, although he was not a big comprador, but he was also familiar with people, and when he turned his head, he saw that he was a few new small compradors from German and British comptoirs.

"Xiao Huang, Xiao Du, have you already had your breakfast card?" Li Donglai greeted in pidgin Shanghainese.

"It's been a card, it's been a card!" A few small compradors immediately came over, "Brother Dong, have you heard about today's big news?" ”

"Didn't I just have breakfast? What could be the matter! Li Donglai asked knowingly.

"It seems that the shopkeeper of Fukang Silver is going to deal with the merchants of the Japanese Kingdom! Brother Dong, you are outdated today," Xiao Huang's name Huang Risheng is a local Xiao Kara (rich young master) in Shanghai, and he didn't know that he was tied to the tendons, so he came to be a comprador.

"Xiao Huang, what does this have to do with us, there are more foreign goods, even if foreign cloth can't be made, can you still do other business!" Li Donglai said quietly, "By the way, did your boss speak?" ”

"Our boss will speak, but I just went to the consulate to inquire about the news, and there are not many German freighters running this foreign cloth business!" Huang Risheng said lazily, and pointed to Xiao Du on the side, "Du Ping, he is miserable, their foreign company is doing Indian cotton business, just came to a boat the day before yesterday, and there will be a boat tomorrow, if it can't be shipped, hehe......"

Du Ping's face looked unlucky, "So I came out early this morning under the pretext of asking for news, and slipped away earlier, Brother Dong, have you heard any news?" ”

"There is definitely no accurate news, but I have a familiar comprador in the rumor, this time the price of foreign cloth is reduced because a large number of weaving factories and silk factories have been opened in several southeastern provinces, it is said that they are using new machines, how much can this cotton cloth and cotton yarn cost, can the price not be reduced!" Li Donglai remained silent and said casually.

However, when they heard these news, it was a shocking secret in the ears of Huang Risheng and Du Ping, and they only found out that the newly opened weaving factory of Fukang Silver had hundreds of new looms, but with such a large number of Western machinery imported, how could it be that foreign companies and foreign compradors did not get the news.

"This machine qì...... Brother Dong has heard which country it is made in! Du Ping has already figured out some flavors, this time it is obviously not the Fukang family sitting in the village, and the price of this foreign cloth is really about to collapse as it was rumored some time ago.

"This ...... I don't know, what are you anxious about this, anyway, the loss is a foreigner, and there are ghosts," Li Donglai smiled slightly, "Later, I took a telegram to an acquaintance in Guangzhou, if the price of foreign cloth in Guangzhou also drops, then this momentum will not be stopped." ”

When Du Ping heard the news, although it was a foreigner who lost money, it was his own rice bowl that he couldn't smash, so he couldn't sit still, so he got up and arched his hand, "Brother Dong, thank you so much today, I'll be Dong another day, please eat, I'm in a hurry, go back first!" ”

However, on the second day, the news transmitted between foreign compradors was even more thrilling, and the price war escalated!

The price of foreign cloth from the Fukang warehouse fell by 1 tael, 13 taels per horse.

At this moment, the compradors who were still preparing to take advantage of the low price to look at the purchase were dumbfounded, this day fell by one or two, what did Fukang want to do! What's more, soon, foreign cloth from Jiangsu and Zhejiang also entered the market, with the same shipping price of 13 taels, closely following the pace of Fukang Yinhao.

On the third day, the price of foreign cloth fell again, and the price of Fukang silver had been listed at 12 taels and 5 yuan.

Soon, these true or false news from the comprador to the foreign firms, are going wild, it is said that from the south to the north of the treaty ports, the price of foreign cloth has collapsed, and then the news spread among the consuls in various places, and when the ministers of various countries in Beijing heard the news of the distortion, it was already the afternoon of the fifth day, at this time, the price of foreign cloth hung out by the Fukang Cargo Bank had fallen by 11 halves.

The Prime Minister's National Affairs Yamen has been idle for many months, and today Prince Gong suddenly convened several Zhangjing to discuss the matter, this National Affairs Yamen is definitely a super idle department, Tongzhi three years because of the strict prevarication of each Zhangjing, the Prime Minister had no choice but to set up British shares, French shares, Russian shares, and coastal defense shares.

The devil Liuyi sat in the hall, and his eyes swept at the following Zhang Jing, these are all famous idle officials in the capital, and the one who is in charge of the British stock is Bakshi, the yellow belt of the three products of the yellow flag, let him go to eat, drink and have fun, that must be the number one person in the whole capital, and the matter of this file today is ......,

"Bakshi, this matter is under your jurisdiction, you can see what to do!" Yi threw down a fold.

"Scum!" Bakshi was also well-behaved in front of the power-leaning sixth prince, and then he took the fold and looked at it, and after looking at it for a moment, he smiled.

Prince Gong's face was flat, and he was naturally a little dissatisfied in his heart, you can't do anything, so let's be honest, this is inexplicably still laughing, he can be annoyed by this, "Bakshi, what are you laughing at?" You can do this! ”

Hearing that the prince's tone was not good, Bakshi arched his hand, "Lord, this foreign thing sold by this foreigner, don't say that we can't see it, you see, those Han people can't get used to it!" This foreign cloth business...... Since it is a business, of course, it depends on who sells it cheaply, can't the Jiangnan Weaving Bureau also make foreign cloth, isn't our court also suffering, but we can't manage this matter, and we can't manage it! If he asks again, let's just say, send someone to investigate first, to see if these businessmen have any illegal behavior, and if not, they can't take people. ”

Yi is also a black line, what kind of reason is this fool said, this is like two bitter masters complaining to each other, but with this fool in the way, he also fell quietly, these English businessmen, how much silver we have earned in the Qing Dynasty, and they are not satisfied, this is also the time to return some silver.

"Okay! Bakshi, the English minister's side is so good to deal with it, don't lose our face!" Yi lightly put this matter to an end, but he secretly wondered in his heart, this time I don't know which God of Wealth has the great ability to leverage the British industry.

As soon as the other Zhang Jing heard Yi's disposition, they immediately understood what the prince meant, this is all a dispute over the following business, our Prime Minister Yamen doesn't have that much spare time, whether he is English or French, he will come with one word - drag.

Li Donglai soon got the news that British businessmen had lowered the price of Indian Ocean cloth to 12 taels of silver and continued to sell it, and the price followed the price of Fukang Goods Bank, but the price of high-end printing and dyeing cloth and fancy foreign cloth was very strong because there were no competitors for the time being.

In the end, the British consulate had already delivered the news that it would not intervene in the price competition of cotton cloth and cotton yarn, and it was obvious that Western merchants would do their best to clear their goods, or export cotton cloth to ports in Korea, Southeast Asia, or the Arab region.

To Li Donglai's surprise, the textile factory opened by the British in India is said to be less than ten taels of silver because of the low labor cost, and the total cost of this foreign cloth is less than ten taels of silver.

However, the Japanese trading houses, which had just begun capital accumulation, were obviously slow to react in this foreign cloth business war. Mitsui Cloth Company at the Shanghai port actually discovered that the Chinese were selling cotton cloth at a large price at a reasonable price when its sales had plummeted for three days, and after Mitsui Cloth Company sent someone to buy back a piece of cloth, it suddenly realized that the cotton cloth and cotton yarn that had been transported from China all the way had completely lost its price advantage.

Naturally, this news was immediately transmitted to the Japanese consulate in Shanghai, and the ronin who was responsible for inquiring about the news outside the consulate flocked out, but their ability to penetrate European and American foreign companies was too weak, and most of the news they found was something that sounded worthless from some compradors, but a very clear conclusion had been placed in front of the Japanese consul Kato.

On October 20, the tenth day after the foreign cloth trade war, the Japanese embassy in the British Concession in Shanghai was brightly lit, and Consul Yugo Kato was discussing with the bosses of the Japanese foreign firms.

"Kato-kun, I don't know if the country knows about the sharp drop in the price of foreign cloth this time?" The one who asked was Mitsui Yoko, the boss of Mitsui & Co., who gestured excitedly, "If the price of foreign cloth cannot be restored to normal in the short term, these backlogged finished products alone will make us bankrupt!" ”

Mitsui Yofuko was an important Mitsui chaebol industry in Japan, so it was natural for many Japanese businessmen to look at Mitsui and Matou.

"Kato-kun, please pass on the situation that happened in Qing to the Prime Minister in time, if this cotton cloth and cotton yarn cannot earn high profits in Qing country, domestic textile factories will also face great difficulties!" The boss of Youdao also excitedly stated his opinion. ,

Kato Yugo's tired look on his face, this sudden foreign cloth turmoil, has put his position in jeopardy, and the huge power behind the manipulation of this whole thing, he is unaware of it, for the growing empire, this is an unforgivable dereliction of duty, as a lesson from the past, Captain Kinoshita, who is in charge of intelligence at the Tianjin Consulate, apologized for the inaccuracy of the information he heard.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the details of this matter have been sent back to China 7 days ago, and the Secretary of the Interior in charge of the Ministry of Industry, Lord Ito Hirobumi, has always attached great importance to the domestic industry, and I think there will be specific moves in China soon!"

"Could it be that the British have acquiesced in such disorderly competition this time? The price of the foreign cloth they shipped from India is not much different from the price of our exports, and this time it must have been a heavy loss! Mitsui said out loud the doubts in his heart.

"Having visited the British Consulate, the British Consul in Shanghai, George, has made it clear that this is a normal competition for goods, and the UK will not intervene! Afterwards, I learned that the Chinese do not compete in price at present, so the British still safeguard their interests! Kato explained weakly.

"Where's their Indian Ocean cloth?" The other merchants asked anxiously, apparently this was their primary concern.

"Gentlemen, according to the information I have inquired, the British have issued an order to stop the transportation of Indian cloth and clear the warehouse at a low price, as for the low-price sales of foreign cloth, in addition to the Fukang Silk Factory, there are a large number of cotton cloth and cotton yarn made in the Qing Dynasty in Quanzhou, Wenzhou, Fuzhou, and Guangzhou in several major ports, and there are ......

Hearing this news, Japanese foreign businessmen immediately discussed, it is obvious that there are only two ways to go now, one is to carry it to the end, but looking at the current posture of Chinese dumping cotton cloth, it is basically a dead end; The second way is to leave immediately after the warehouse is cleared, and at this price, the foreign cloth shipped from Japan and the transportation cost will not make any money at all.

"Gentlemen, we must not lose the market of the Qing Kingdom, although the momentum of the Chinese merchants' sell-off this time is very strong, but I believe that the Emperor and Secretary of the Interior Ito-kun will soon provide our most powerful support!" Mitsuiwa stood up and cheered for the Japanese merchants.

"What Mitsui-kun said is very reasonable, Chinese businessmen are fighting on their own, and the Qing government will not provide them with any support at all, if they want to fight a trade war with the entire Great Japan on their own, they will definitely lose all their money!" Ito saw Mitsui and intended to fight, and immediately decided to take the initiative to fight.

The Japanese merchants came out of the consulate one after another, talking about how to reduce the losses along the way, Mitsui and when he left, he had already made up his mind, and the family appointed him to manage the trade of the Qing country, and now he encountered unimaginable difficulties, but behind him, the Mitsui chaebol of the first class in Japan and the huge textile productivity they controlled.

Even if you want to urgently reduce production now, it will be an impossible task, but as Chinese said, people who have no long-term concerns must have immediate worries, and now is the time to propose to the family to slowly reduce cotton production...... Then switch to the production of high-end color dyeing fabrics, but are the Westerners willing to sell their technology? Mitsui and depressed thoughts.

Soon from the Shanghai port to the Guangzhou port, everywhere the foreign cloth is a sound of price reduction, in the face of this large price reduction, for a time, but caused the unsalable foreign cloth, which is the member of the Chinese Textile Association, anyway, in the profit period, the slow earning is bearable, everyone knows that the ultimate goal of this round of foreign cloth price war, that is, the textile association occupies half of the domestic foreign cloth, for this, everyone is looking forward to it for a long time.

On October 25, the Japanese merchants at the ports of Shanghai and Guangzhou finally could not withstand the pressure of half a month and began to ship goods at prices below cost.

In the shortest possible time, the news was reported to the big merchants in various ports, and Fukang Yinhao made a bolder decision, and the price of foreign cloth at Shanghai port was reduced by two percent again.

This news directly made the bosses of a number of Japanese foreign banks collapse, this steady stream of cotton cloth, brought no longer a huge amount of wealth, but the pain of a blunt knife to cut meat, Mitsui foreign companies in the past fifteen days on the book has reached 300,000 taels, this is only the previous hoarding of domestic inventory, this dock has just arrived the latest batch of cotton cloth. ,

And the news spread to Japan, and the chaebols in Japan who got the news, after communicating with Guò, realized the result of this price war for the first time, and the failure was the loss of the Qingguo market! However, in the face of the huge losses that have been generated, there are also huge differences among the chaebol groups.

Mitsui chaebol, a textile predator who developed from a small silk cloth village back then, of course he didn't want to see the golden rice bowl he had been holding smashed like this, and the big shopkeeper of the Mitsui family, Minomura Rizaemon, immediately went crazy.

"We, the Mitsui family, will unite all the textile companies in Japan to deal with the cotton price war provoked by the Qing Dynasty! It must completely drag down the textile industry of the Qing Dynasty! ”

The Mitsubishi consortium is doing shipping, won the attention of Ito Hirobumi, these years of rapid development, in Japan is in the big competition with Western merchant ships for shipping, this Mitsui family does not transport cotton cloth to the Qing Dynasty, but there is less financial resources, but if it is shipped over and can not get the freight, it is a business that sticks to the old book.

"Mino-kun, we Mitsubishi Shipping are fully supporting the price war between your consortium and the Qing Kingdom, but recently we have been competing with the British shipping is also very fierce, in view of the current situation, we have built a good way, it is best to transport the goods to a place with sales value, otherwise the transportation costs will not be able to earn back, but it is not the way to success in business!"

Mitsubishi's head - Iwasaki Koyata unceremoniously pointed out the madness of the Mitsui family, since five years ago, Japan participated in the World Expo held in Austria, Japanese goods in Europe and the United States have also achieved good sales performance, and Mitsubishi shipping has also benefited a lot, let them give up the golden route, and Mitsui to the Qing Dynasty "make two", pay the freight first!

The only one who expressed their willingness to support was the Yasuda Zaibatsu of Fuji Bank's Genesis Group, which is now the largest financial chaebol in Japan, and they expressed their willingness to provide some funds to help Mitsui Zaibatsu tide over the difficult period. Obviously, Mitsui's chaebol has deep roots, and a small loss of foreign cloth is obviously not enough to shake the fundamentals, and even if it relies on the consumption of nearly 40 million people in the country now, Mitsui can still accumulate great financial resources.

The Sumitomo Foundation, a veteran consortium, has remained silent throughout the incident, and the consortium that made its fortune from the "silver extraction" has a crazy pursuit of new technologies, and of course has no interest in saving the eliminated industry, but he brought the words of the Japanese Secretary of the Interior Ito Hirobumi, Ito will make every effort to support the textile industry and avoid the collapse of the domestic textile industry.

Faced with such a situation, Mitsui Heinao, a young generation of the Mitsui chaebol family, was appointed as a special envoy, shouldered the heavy responsibility of this foreign cloth price war, and embarked on a trip to Shanghai in the Qing Dynasty.

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