Chapter 110 is all taken

Shanghai, a city that never sleeps in the Far East, the weather at the end of February is still full of cold, a cruise ship "Fania" from overseas docked at the port of Shanghai at the mouth of the Huangpu River, a group of young people of different ages appeared on the dock with their respective luggage, they were wearing Western-style clothes, but they were wearing Chinese-style horse coats, compared with the surrounding crowd, it looked very different.

The crowds on the docks were surging, and Shanghai was already one of the busiest ports in the Far East, and countless compradors and workers were surviving around this industry, and the flow of people came and went to this group of strangely dressed young people with a mocking expression, often after a discussion, and then laughed away.

After ten years of living abroad, they had imagined that they would at least have a formal welcome ceremony and a warm greeting from their loved ones, but the reality was so cruel - it was clear that they were a forgotten people.

"Shaochuan, why didn't anyone pick us up? Didn't you know we were back? The shorter, darker-skinned young man asked sideways.

Another slightly taller but thin young man suddenly laughed at himself, "Brother Chengcheng, I'm afraid I don't know, it's just that I don't take us seriously!" I don't think it's unusual to suddenly recall us this time! You see, those xiǎo brothers who are in the same boat are just studying and learning in xiǎo and middle school......"

"Yes, we are still lucky, we can finish our studies and come back, these xiǎo brothers have worked hard for a few years, and this is halfway!" The short, slightly darker young man sat on his luggage and shook his head and sighed.

On the roof of a building outside the wharf that marked the foreign goods store, Li Donglai was holding a clairvoyant to observe the various crowds coming down and down the wharf, while his brother Du Ping also put his hand on his eyebrows and looked into the distance.

"Brother Li, have you found it? It's been a long time since you looked here...... "Du Ping looked at the people coming in and out of the dock for a long time, and finally couldn't help asking.

"Du Ping, you go down and look for it, I'll continue to watch here, this is what I finally found out about my relationship with Guò Daotai Ya Mén, it must be here today!" I just don't know what it looks like, it's really troublesome to find!" Li Donglai is still searching around, but he hasn't found the target for so long, and he is a little anxious.

Unexpectedly, Du Ping ran into the dock and came out after a while, hurriedly ran upstairs, and said with a smile: "Brother Li, I found it as soon as I went in and looked for it, a large group of people, all squatting in the place where they just got off the dock, all of them are xiǎo children who are less than 20 years old, and a few of them are estimated to be thirteen or fourteen years old!" The people in Yamén have just arrived, and they are rushing those xiǎo sons on the road! ”

"In the Daotai Yamén? Is that the master here? ”

Du Ping laughed, "Brother Li, take these xiǎo dolls, come with a master, there are more than a dozen officials and an old man, I guess it's the ones who are in charge of chores in the yamén!" ”

"......", Li Donglai was speechless, came over for a while, and finally saw a long group of young people and teenagers in alternative clothes slowly coming out of the dock, many of those faces looked a little childish, and he couldn't help muttering in his heart, Qin Zhaocha's vision is really unique, and he actually made a special trip to Shanghai for this gang of dolls!

In fact, Li Donglai is also a blind guess, Qin Kai is indeed coming, but he is going to Tianjin Wei, this is not passing through Shanghai, just by the way, in addition, he has other arrangements to Shanghai.

Out of the wharf, the old man in charge of the chores in the yamén thought that he had treated these young people as goods, and instead of calling a carriage, he directly recruited more than 30 wheelbarrows outside the wharf, loaded these young men and teenagers with their luggage, and slowly walked along the riverside avenue to the yamén in the city.

There are a lot of people watching the excitement along the way, after all, these young people in strange costumes on these dozens of cars are indeed too eye-catching, and the officials standing in front and back are even more sneering and talking all the way, pointing at those young people from time to time, which has triggered the speculation of passers-by......

In the astonishment and ridicule of the passers-by, the wheelbarrow carrying the group of young men came to the front of the French Concession, and the French soldiers of the concession immediately came up to stop the wheelbarrows, signaling that they could not enter.

A group of young people had to carry their luggage bundled into large bags, although their luggage was not worth anything, they were all bedding, clothes, books, etc., which were very large and heavy, and some young people of xiǎo could only drag their luggage, and those officials were all standing beside each other, and they had no intention of holding hands at all. ,

When the older young people saw this, they were also indignant, but for these officials, it was obvious that they had no choice but to help each other take away a few pieces of luggage, but in this way, it was also a very difficult thing to carry the luggage across the concession, especially for those who were only thirteen or fourteen years old in this group.

Crossing the French Concession is a shortcut to the Daotai Yamén, but at this time it has become difficult!

At this time, a carriage suddenly came up from behind, and it seemed that seeing this situation, the carriage stopped, and Du Ping came out and asked, "Are you returning to China to study in the United States?" ”

When the official saw that someone was talking, he remembered that he was in charge of escorting these 'lawless and misbehaving' schoolchildren in the United States, and immediately a leader came up and asked: "Hey, the yaman is on a business trip, and the idlers are dying!" ”

Du Ping got out of the carriage with a smile and raised his eyes to look at the officer, "My lord, Alake is also doing things for the Yamén, and he was sent by Lord Ding, the governor of Fujian, so it's convenient!" This is a little tea for the brothers......" After that, a silver ingot of 5 taels has been stuffed over.

At this time, Li Donglai in the car turned his head and arched his hand towards the leader, "This is not Wan Ye!" Fortunately, I will be glad to be!"

"Eh, it's Master Li!" These officials are all local snakes, so they don't know this hot figure in Shanghai recently.

Li Donglai arched his hand to several other officials, "Master Wan, a few officials, do things for the governor, give it a convenience, I will be the east at night, come to Piaoxiang Pavilion to sit!" ”

The official surnamed Wan got the benefit, and naturally smiled and said, "Master Li, why is the Fujian Yamén interested in these xiǎo sons who stay in the United States?" ”

"Specifically, I've also heard that the Mawei Ship Governor wants to recruit some people, maybe the Governor thinks these people are suitable!" Li Donglai laughed and didn't say much, "I'll ask for your name and origin today, don't delay you too much, and ask as you go!" ”

At this time, Du Ping had already beckoned those students to put their luggage in the back of the carriage, and when they saw someone helping, these students were naturally very moved, and immediately moved the large and heavier luggage into the carriage, Li Donglai gave the old man in charge of internal affairs a tael of silver, nòng came to a list, asked a few words casually one by one, and then introduced himself to the matter of the Mawei Ship Administration, and did not say anything about the substance of the matter, these more than 30 people asked a few words, and the French Concession that had already been crossed, I arrived at a academy near the back of the Daotai Ya Mén.

After arriving at the academy, the officials naturally completed their tasks, and the officials surnamed Wan did not forget the table of wine and food that Li Dong came to Xu, and ran over to say a few polite sentences, and made an appointment before leaving. With the silver, this academy is now like the courtyard of Li Dong's house, and the two officials at the mouth of the mén are only two people running in and out......

Compared with those indifferent officials, Li Donglai's attitude towards the two was obviously affectionate, and in addition to helping to deliver a large amount of luggage along the way, when he arrived at the college, he also learned about the situation with the schoolchildren one by one, tossed until noon, and called meals from a nearby restaurant to deliver them to each schoolchild.

In the afternoon, after finally clarifying the situation of these schoolchildren, he hurried away, and when he left, Li Donglai did not forget to leave a name thorn and a gift money for each schoolchild, and politely took care of them, "Students, if you need our help in any emergency, you can come to me!" ”

After the two oldest young men also politely said goodbye to Li Donglai, they saw the figure of the other party hurrying away, the young man who was slightly shorter and darker, and was called Chengcheng, asked the other one quite strangely, "Shaochuan, what is the origin of this Mawei shipyard, it sounds like a government-run shipyard, we don't have any shipbuilding here!" ”

The tall and thin young man pondered for a while, but he couldn't get the point, "Cheng, I don't think it's a bad thing, at least it seems that this Fujian governor's subordinates are much more polite to us!" ”

Obviously, Li Donglai's appearance made these children who were originally quite lost have more reverie, but when it was time for dinner, the dinner arranged by the academy made them greatly disappointed for a while, the gruel and salted vegetables like clear soup, and the other students and children in the canteen ate indeed white rice and vegetables, of course, a few schoolchildren asked the steward of the canteen to ask.

As a result, a sentence was bounced back to the xiǎo official in charge, "Who are you, just some xiǎo sons who have no merit, you know what kind of place this is!" Seeking knowledge college, only famous students can come in to study and eat! Giving you food is already the grace of the lord above! ”,

These words made these overseas students ashamed......

Compared with the frustration of these American children, Qin Kai was twelve points proud at this time, he was just about to set off from Mawei, he received an urgent telegram from Li Donglai, a long string of 32 people, each person's age, learning process, and major were briefly summarized, this telegram of more than 500 yuan, huā fee amounted to dozens of taels of silver, but he felt that this silver was really worth it!

In the long list, two names that he is very familiar with are among them, Zhan Tianyou and Tang Shaoyi, these two future jīng British elements who have just returned to China, are only twenty and nineteen years old this year.

Of course, the surprise is not only this, among the 32 schoolchildren who returned to China, 10 only went to xiǎo school, 11 people went to middle school, but in addition to Zhan Tianyou and Tang Shaoyi, there are 9 people who are in Yale, Harvard, MIT and other colleges and universities for professional study, majoring in physics, chemistry, finance, architecture, this is the talent he urgently needs, although several of them did not have time to complete their studies, but in China in this era, it is undoubtedly a very rare talent.

However, the names of these people could not find any historical traces after Qin Kai's search, and it seems that they were all sent by the short-sighted Qing government to do some completely marginal work, and finally completely disappeared in the sea of people......

Qin Kai immediately sent a telegram to Li Donglai, mobilized all his forces, and understood the arrangements of this group of schoolchildren, so he could take Sun Fu and set off overnight to Shanghai.

Three days later, Qin Kai, who rushed to Shanghai, got off the ship, and Li Donglai brought new news, and on the morning of the same day, Shao Youlian of Shanghai Daotai summoned the students who studied in the United States, because these schoolchildren did not understand the rules of officialdom, and did not know how to bow down when they saw the officials, they were a little unhappy at that time, and after asking, they reprimanded these schoolchildren for their ridiculous answers and non-answers.

Hearing such detailed news, Qin Kai was also quite satisfied, Li Donglai seemed to be in vain on the beach, he smiled and said: "Donglai, this news is too important, do you have any inquiries, does this Shao Youlian have any acquaintances, as a guide for us to do things!" This matter has to be done by Master Sun, and if there is a person to guide it, it will be much more convenient. ”

"My lord, you probably forgot someone, this person on the beach can call the wind and rain......" Li Donglai reminded on the side.

"Hu Da shopkeeper?"

"Exactly, and the shopkeeper Hu Da can have a very close relationship with Shao Youlian!"

With the news, this matter is naturally very neat, this time, he originally wanted to meet the red-capped merchant, and now it is just right, he immediately set off to Hu Xueyan's mansion, this is also the first time he came to Shanghai, the first time to meet the legendary top businessman, although the trade between the two has been done in a hurry.

Hu Xueyan was naturally very curious about this powerful Lord Qin, who had never met before, and opened his house to greet him in person, but he was also very surprised to see that Qin Kai was only twenty-three or four years old, and after complimenting him, he welcomed Qin Kai and a few people into the hall.

Qin Kai is naturally very curious at this time, this Hu Weiyong is a model of modern Chinese businessmen, official and businessman, at least more than a hundred years later, China still maintains this model, but the current Lao Hu is already a standard old man, but he is well maintained, with long beard and white hair, a ruddy face, and his words are also full of neutrality.

"Lord Qin, what a distinguished guest, come here today, but let me go back to the east and show a little bit of heart!" Hu Xueyan is well versed in officialdom, so he naturally understands that Qin Kai is coming in person today, and there must be something big, but politeness is still necessary!

Qin Kai thanked him and said with a smile: "The big shopkeeper, I'm just on the way, I came here today because I want to ask the big shopkeeper to introduce Shao Daotai!" I have something to discuss with the Daotai! ”

Hu Xueyan originally thought it was a complicated matter, but now when he heard it, it was completely a matter of Xiǎo, and he immediately agreed, and immediately asked his cronies to accompany Sun Fu to Daotai Yamén with his name and handwritten letter, and he continued to accompany Qin Kai to speak, "Lord Qin, I just have a reluctant request!" ”

"Hu Da shopkeeper, but it doesn't hurt to talk about it!"

"Last year's foreign cloth business, we can be regarded as a defeated Japanese foreign cloth, now this cotton cloth business is very prosperous, and there are high profits in the huā cloth business, our Fukang silk factory is thinking about whether to expand the output, in addition to this cotton yarn, the domestic raw silk trade is still not smooth, the British, the French are in the country in large quantities, suppress the price, and we need raw silk factories, but often lack of raw materials!" ,

Qin Kai's mind was picked up at once, which is also the main reason why he came to see Hu Xueyan this time, Lao Hu shouted last year to engage in the competition of raw silk, but because the huā cloth business has just been put into production, and the profits of that piece are scared to death, it is estimated that he is busy improving the production capacity of huā cloth, and there is no movement until now.

Sun Fu has already arrived at the Daotai Yamén at this time, this officialdom is like this, if you come to see Shao Youlian in the name of the governor of Fujian or Qin Kai, the political envoy of Fujian, there are many questions that cannot be said, such as proposing to want more children to stay in the United States, if it is not for Shao Youlian's intention, it is definitely a lot of official truths, in this matter, this Taoist will definitely not say a word about shoulders, and every qiē will be in accordance with the rules......

Now it depends on how much energy this Hu Da shopkeeper has, Sun Fu secretly calculated the price, although Qin Kai was surprisingly generous in this matter, and let Sun Fu control it himself, he hoped for a result - to take it all! However, Sun Fu doesn't think so, the officialdom must give people sweetness, but it must not make the other party have a big appetite, in that case, it will mess things up!

Obviously, Hu Da's shopkeeper did not disappoint him, his cronies stabbed the Daotai Yamén with his name It was completely a green light all the way, and even the usual rules of the Ya Servant were exempted, and the xiǎo officials and Xu officials along the way saw that they were all very enthusiastic greetings and guidance, and soon they were led to the Yamén side hall, and the one who led the way was Master Han in the Yamén.

After Master Han went in to say goodbye, he came out and whispered: "Two, wait a minute, it's really unfortunate, the Daotai is seeing a distinguished guest, Master Shao asked me to sit with you for a while, and I'll come right away!" After that, he led the two to the living room on the side, chatted with them after tea, and inquired about Sun Fu's origin.

Sun Fu didn't hide it from this master, when could he hide it from the insiders, and replied with a smile: "Sun Fu, the political secretary of Xiafuzhou, came out on a business trip with the political envoy Qin this time, and Lord Zhongtang said that we have a group of students from Mawei Shipbuilding who are learning from the West, so come and take it by the way!" ”

Master Han was stunned for a moment, obviously he didn't expect it to be such a big thing, and he also worked on the face of Hu Da's shopkeeper, this Lord Qin is really a big face, but he obviously remembered it immediately, this Lord Qin ...... Could it be that he is the late star in the court recently, the person who has made great military achievements in Vietnam, "Lord Qin, the political secretary, is it the ...... of Vietnam"

"Exactly!" Sun Fu interface, that's a fast!

"Oh!" Master Han was shocked, this Qin Bu political envoy didn't know what to think, you must know that among the characters who can be put on the beach in Shanghai, Hu Da's shopkeeper can be counted, and he actually used such a big face for this xiǎo matter...... "Lord Sun, this is a Xiǎo matter, this group of students who stayed in the United States is said to have annoyed the Queen Mother, and they can't turn over, so why bother with you coming in person!" ”

"Yes!" Sun Fu pretended not to know, and said with a surprised face: "The people we have in charge of Governor Ding are nervous, and we are still thinking about asking for more people to go back!" ”

Master Han looked at Sun Fu, they are all old foxes in the officialdom, this is a lot of fiction and reality, he obviously wants to catch more people to go back, but he deliberately said this, but this group of students who stayed in the United States, almost all of them came back without what kind of Yamén wanted, and I don't know what Governor Ding didn't think, but he actually took a fancy to this group of people. Seeing that Sun Fu is a delicate character, you might as well sell him a xiǎo love face today, and it may be useful in the future......

"Master Sun, this matter is actually not difficult......

As soon as Sun Fu heard it, he threw a word in front of him, if this Master Han didn't answer, it meant that the other party had no intention of partnering with him, if he did, it would be willing to leave a feeling, and he hurriedly said: "Lord Han, can you give me some advice, brother, I will also accept your affection!" I can still speak in front of Governor Ding and Qin Bu's political envoys! ”

In a few words, the verbal contract of political investment was completed between the two, which is the norm of the Qing Dynasty officialdom, and the officialdom does not rely on this affection, of course, there are substantive things, so naturally it will have to wait for the matter to be done, and the two sides will have mutual trust!

"Lord Sun, this group of children who stayed in the United States came back but committed the taboo of the top, it is said that the adults of Zhongtang have spoken, commenting on this group of people 'deviant, fatherless and no king', so after coming back, Lord Shao also has a headache, the first batch of people are good to say, they are all stuffed into the telegraph office, this second batch of adults are having a headache!" ,

When Sun Fu heard such important news, he hurriedly thanked him, and inquired about the situation of the first batch of personnel. And Sun Fu was chatting while thinking about the truth of this important person......

After a while, another official came to call, Master Han immediately got up and led the two of them to the main hall, Sun Fu glanced out of the corner of his eye, and a person left the side hall where Shao Youlian was a guest, and went towards Da Mén, only to see a back, but this person's back looked familiar......

Hu Xueyan's cronies went into the room to meet Master Daotai, and when he came out, he approached Sun Fu and said softly: "Master Sun, it's all said!" Although there is something to be said clearly, Lord Shao promised to do it properly! ”

Sun Fu nodded, followed Master Han into the room, and after taking a seat, Shao Youlian had already said politely, "Lord Sun, it's all an official matter, what does Governor Ding want, just say it!" ”

Sun Fu arched his hand and said with a smile: "Lord Shao, aren't you recruiting some people for me!" Governor Ding meant that he wanted to get this batch of schoolchildren as much as possible, because there was a shortage of people who knew how to learn arithmetic and physics in the West, so this person was naturally as good as possible! ”