Li Mingfang saw that Qin Chuan was fascinated by what he heard, and he began to tell Qin Chuan the anecdotes of some rich people outside the eight families in Tianjin. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

"If you want to talk about the new rich people in Tianjin, you have to count those foreign compradors. If you want to talk about compradors, you have to be the first to recommend Wu Tiaoqing, the chief comprador of HSBC, followed by Zheng Yizhi, the comprador of the British Swire & Co., Wang Minghuai of the German Tailai Foreign Company, and Liang Yanqing, the comprador of the Jardine Matheson & Co. and the German Gaolin Foreign Bank, these four people are known as the four compradors of Tianjin Wei. ”

"Wu Tiaoqing's ancestral home is Anhui, first in Suzhou a pen shop as an apprentice, then to Shanghai for the ship as a cabin, do odd jobs, and then for HSBC to drive a carriage, and then learn pidgin English, gradually contact foreign affairs, Guangxu six years to Tianjin Wei, began to be the chief comprador of HSBC Tianjin Branch."

"This Wu Tiaoqing is different from other compradors, that is, he is very keen on foreign affairs, of course, for his own money. Not only did he co-founder the first water plant in Tianjin, but he also co-founded the Gas Company in the British Concession, invested in the Tianjin Electric Light Company and the Water Company, and was even a shareholder in several British companies in Shanghai and Hong Kong. ”

"Because Wu Tiaoqing is shrewd, and Li Hefei who is stationed in our Tianjin Wei is a fellow villager, and Li Hefei has dealt with Li Hefei when he was still in Shanghai, and now the two have a very thick relationship, and he has won Li Hefei's trust, Li Hefei even let Wu Tiaoqing participate in the construction and management of the Jinyu Railway, which is not yet completed, whenever the road construction money is insufficient, Wu Tiaoqing borrows from HSBC."

The so-called Jinyu Railway is to expand on the basis of the Tangxu Railway, the first railway of the Qing Dynasty, to the west to Linxi Town on the Jingu Railway, and to the north to Shanhaiguan, which is also known as Yuguan.

"Wu Tiaoqing not only has a huge amount of money, but because of his relationship with Li Hefei, HSBC also has to use him to undertake Beiyang's business, so he has a leading reputation and ability among the Tianjin Wei compradors."

The Li Hefei in Li Mingfang's mouth is Li Hongzhang, because Li Hongzhang is a native of Hefei, Anhui Province, and is known as Li Hefei.

Qin Chuan still remembers that there is a very neat couplet, the upper couplet is: Prime Minister Hefei is thin in the world; The next link is: Si Nong Changshu is a famine.

This couplet is about Li Hongzhang, because Li Hongzhang is not only the governor of Zhili and the minister of Beiyang trade, but also has the title of Wenhuadian scholar, and this scholar was the prime minister in the previous dynasty. The next link is about Tongzhi and Guangxu two generations of emperors Weng Tonggong, Weng Tongrong is a frequent acquaintance, and he is the secretary of the transfer department. Since the Qin Dynasty, the official position of Dasi Nong was set up, mainly responsible for the national tax economy, although the name of each dynasty was sometimes different, but the position remained basically unchanged. In the Qing Dynasty, it was basically the position of the head of the household.

According to Li Mingfang's introduction, Qin Chuan also knew the roots of Zheng Yizhi, Liang Yanqing, Wang Minghuai and some other good compradors in Tianjin.

Liang Yanqing is very business-minded and very good at doing things, but he is low-key and regards money as his life. Although he was very rich, not only did he not gamble, nor did he afford to smoke or drink, but he never even had a carriage or horse. In addition, this Liang Yanqing is also very characteristic of doing his own business, he often hangs on his lips a sentence, "If you can't do it, you can't make money", he thinks that he can only do it within his ears and eyes, and if he exceeds the scope, he can't entrust others.

In other words, he will not touch any business that he can't take care of himself. In addition to making money from the business of HSBC and Gao Lin & Co., he only bought stocks and real estate. And he also believed in the company of the British the most. For example, the stocks he holds are mainly British-funded enterprises, such as the Dagu Barge Company, the Lishunde Hotel in the concession, and the British-funded Xiannong Company engaged in real estate.

In Qin Chuan's opinion, although this Liang Yanqing is very shrewd and has a great tendency to catch up among the four major compradors, he still can't rely on this Liang Yanqing and Zheng Yizhi of Swire & Co.

However, Wang Minghuai, who is in the German businessman Tailai Foreign Company, has a chance to make friends. This is not only because Wang Minghuai, like Wu Tiaoqing, has a good relationship with Li Hongzhang, but what attracts Qin Chuan the most is that Wang Minghuai's Tailai Foreign Company, which specializes in machinery imports and arms trading.

There is also Ning Xingpu of the British Xintaixing Foreign Company, who sold boiling water and illicit salt, and later went to Swire & Co., and was appreciated by Zheng Yizhi. There was a "dead debt" of a London merchant who could not be recovered by the British in a foreign bank, which was a payment of 150 pounds, and Ning Xingpu recommended himself to go to England to recover it, and when he returned, the manager of the foreign bank gave him half in public. It is said that when this Ning Xingpu was collecting debts in London, he even alarmed Queen Victoria, and the payment was still recovered under the queen's personal inquiry, which shows that this Ning Xingpu is very courageous.

There is also a legend about Ning Xingpu, it is said that when Ning Xingpu was a child, he once wanted to cross the river, and the boatman refused to cross him because Ning Xingpu had no money, so Ning Xingpu had to swim over by himself, and swore in public on the river bank that he must build a bridge for the poor who have no money to cross the river in the future.

Li Mingfang, who was happily speaking, grabbed the teacup and tilted his head, drank the remaining half of the tea that had been cold, and then started talking.

"Our Tianjin Wei this place, since ancient times, is the bottom of the nine rivers, businessmen gather outstanding people and treasures, not to mention how many people in our Qing Dynasty have made a fortune here, even foreigners in our Tianjin Wei make a fortune There are also many people. For example, the Englishman Gao Lin, and the German Greeder 。。。。。。 ”

Gao Lin was originally a small boat owner, after coming to Tianjin, he first worked as a navigator in Dagu, and later made a fortune by purchasing furs in the Qing Dynasty for processing and shipping abroad, and in less than ten years, he opened the famous Gao Lin Foreign Company in the current concession. In particular, since the sixteenth year of Guangxu, according to the Sherman Act, the United States began to purchase a large number of silver, resulting in a sharp rise in the price of silver in our Qing Dynasty. ”

The German Schreider was a homeless man who was penniless when he first arrived in Tianjin, with no food to eat and no place to live. But he relied on a pack of German-made sewing needles he picked up to make a fortune, and now he has opened a leather goods store in the concession.

Listening to Li Mingfang's narration, Qin Chuan couldn't help but be secretly surprised, he couldn't imagine that these foreigners, who were penniless in their own country, came to Tianjin Wei as if they were like divine help, and they were all open-minded. It seems that this Tianjin Wei is really a treasure of nature, and he is an outstanding person!

"The owner."

Li Mingfang was a little tired from speaking, leaned his back on the sofa, and sighed: "We don't have those newspapers of foreigners in the Qing Dynasty, if there are also such newspapers in the Qing Dynasty, and as soon as the affairs of these foreigners are published, those shrewd people in the provinces will not have to come to our Tianjin. ”

"Newspapers!"

Li Mingfang's words made Qin Chuan feel excited.

Qin Chuan said in his heart: "Grandma's, why did I forget this stubble, now Tianjin Wei Ke does not have a newspaper run by the Chinese, but there are two English newspapers in the concession, "Northern Post" and "China Times". Among them, the "Northern Post" was run by Western missionaries who came to Tianjin to preach, and the "China Times" was called "Yiwen Xibao" by Tianjin people, and was founded by the German De Xuanlin, who is currently the assistant director of the Tianjin Customs and Excise Department. ”

"Good!"

Qin Chuan suddenly made a voice, startling Li Mingfang, who was sighing, Qin Chuan knew that he was a little out of shape, and said with a smile.

"Lao Li, let's also run a newspaper. Not only did they open a salt factory, but they also ran a newspaper. ”

"That's right."

Qin Chuan took two puffs of the cigarette in his hand and said to Li Mingfang: "In addition to the salt factory and the newspaper, let's just set up a cigarette company at the same time." ”

The matter of the salt factory has not yet been settled, and Qin Chuan suddenly wants to start a newspaper and a cigarette company, which can't help but make Li Mingfang dumbfounded.

It took Qin Chuan a long time to make Li Mingfang settle down.

In the end, the two agreed that since they wanted to do it, they would build a big one, and if it really didn't work, they would mortgage the dyeing factory first. However, borrowing money will not go to a foreign bank, so as not to be cheated, the two thought about it for a long time, and finally decided to find a reputable local silver number or personal to borrow money, as for the silver number, the best is Da Deheng.

Li Mingfang went to Dadeheng for a loan, and went to the Yamen of the Drum Tower Changlu Yanyun in Tianjin to handle the paperwork and pay taxes, and Li Mingfang had to go to the city of Tianjin to find out a few big salt merchants to find out the matter, and finally Qin Chuan came forward to discuss in detail. In addition, Qin Chuan told Li Mingfang to find a way to find someone to inquire about a person named Ai Xiaomei in Hankou.

At the same time, he asked Li Mingfang to let out the wind, saying that he wanted to find capable foreigners as partners, and if he was interested, he could first send his resume to Lihua Dyeing Factory and not accept interviews.

As for Qin Chuan, he had to stay in the dyeing factory for the past ten days, and no matter what, he had to drive out the batch of colored cloths of Li Yundong and the golden shopkeeper within the agreed time.