Fourth, ask for collection, ask for recommendation! There is still a day and a half to push it, do you still have any collections for book friends? Hurry up and put it away, please!

Hearing Qiying mention the errand of Guangdong Customs, Bai Siwen's brows furrowed even tighter. Customs supervision is not a direct dealings with foreign merchants, and it is only through the 13 banks that they can manage maritime trade matters, and the income of customs supervision mainly depends on the filial piety of the 13 banks. However, the gang of profiteers in the Thirteen Lines also watch people cook, and those of them who can become merchants are supported by big people behind them, and of course they know exactly what Bai Siwen's background is. There are also precedents to follow for how much filial piety should be given to this kind of customs supervision without any background.

Moreover, although Guangzhou's maritime trade has developed well this year, the donations to the Thirteen Banks have also increased a lot--Emperor Daoguang still wants to squeeze out the military expenses of the silver he lost in the Opium War!

In this way, Bai Siwen, the eunuch of the customs superintendent, is so rich, and the filial piety silver received is deducted from the above Tan Jing, Bing Jing and all kinds of filial piety, and there are only about 100,000 taels left, and they can't make up for the hole in purchasing 20,000 foreign guns. And Bai Siwen will not be stupid enough to ask for his due share of silver to make up for the shortfall in official duties.

"What the marshal said is that fortunately, there is an errand of customs supervision, and he has already gone to handle it with the thirteenth general merchant, and I believe that there will be eyebrows soon."

"Oh," Qi Ying nodded thoughtfully, and said, "After this errand is done, the Wu family will have to advance a lot of silver, right?" ”

"20,000 smoothbore guns, to get the goods in Guangzhou, it will cost at least 200,000 pounds, almost 600,000 taels of silver, and the Wu family will lose 250,000 taels of silver for this transaction."

This brown bass smoothbore gun is one price in Calcutta and another price in Guangzhou, and it is one thing to go to the Kolkata Arsenal to buy it through the way of Qiu Fatzi, and it is another thing for ordinary traders to want to buy it. Coupled with the high profits of Haimao, the price of a smoothbore gun in Guangzhou is 7 pounds. And Bai Siwen reported an extra 3 pounds, knowing that Qiying would not let Jardine Hong throw silver into it in vain, and he would definitely compensate for it.

"Let's give Wu Shaorong the title of political envoy." Qi Ying pondered, "In this way, he can work harder." ”

"Shuai Jue." Bai Siwen bowed and said, "Sir, do you want to write an excerpt to report to the emperor about Lan Fang?" ”

The Guangdong Customs Superintendent also has the mission of spying on the movements of foreign countries, and the Lanfang change is within the scope of the secret fold.

"It's definitely going to be reported." Qiying stood up and paced in the study, "But what should be written on the fold?" ”

Of course, this question is not Bai Siwen's excerpt, but the excerpt that Qiying wants to take. Bai Siwen's excerpt only needs to write down the matter of Lan Fang's change, but Qiying's excerpt has to put forward a specific way to deal with it.

"It is necessary to strengthen the defense of Guangzhou, Fujian and Zhejiang, and strictly prevent the invasion of anti-Ming and anti-thieves."

If you buy a master of the rivers and lakes to assassinate Zhu Jishi, you can't write it in the memo to the emperor Lao Tzu. First, if the emperor Lao Tzu approved the assassination, it would really damage the image of the Ming monarch; Second, the emperor doesn't like assassins or anything, and if you leave an impression of an assassin in the emperor's mind, it will greatly damage your career.

"It's time to guard against it!" Qiying stopped and frowned, "But the Eight Banners and the Green Camp have been in trouble for a long time, and it is not easy to rectify them......

Qiying was a general in Guangzhou and participated in the Opium War, and he couldn't be more clear about the virtues of the Eight Banners and the Green Battalion. And Bai Siwen is from the Guangzhou Banner Camp Sailor, and he also knows that the Eight Banners and Green Camp have many dishes, even if they change foreign guns, they may not be able to beat the rebels.

"The Manchurian disciples still have the courage to spare, or they can train a new army of the Eight Banners in Guangdong with Western methods."

Bai Siwen looked at Qi Ying's expression, and said thoughtfully, "At present, there are more than 6,000 people in the Guangzhou Banner Ding Zhuang, of which there are only 1,500 or 600 errands. ”

"Expand the number of banners by 4,500 at once...... Do you want to replace all the foreign guns? ”

"Not only do you have to change foreign guns, but you also need to be equipped with foreign guns. 6000 flag soldiers are almost equal to a division in the West, and should be equipped with 12 6-pounder and 9-pounder cannons. Bai Siwen thought for a while, and added, "By the way, the cavalry of the Eight Banners in Guangzhou does not need to change their clothes, and the Western cavalry also uses spears and broadswords." ”

"That also requires a lot of silver, just 4,500 Eight Banner soldiers, a year of silver, rice, festival rewards will be hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, and you have to change foreign guns, foreign cannons, and Western French drills, over the course of a year, how can the expenses of the Guangzhou flag soldiers be seven or eight hundred thousand taels, right?"

"The marshal is a feudal territory!" Bai Siwen opened his mouth to remind.

The vassals of the frontier have the responsibility of defending the territory, and if Zhu Jishi is allowed to enter Guangzhou, he will be martyred!

Qiying was shocked, stroked his beard and said, "How about using the people?" ”

The use of Minzhuang as cannon fodder began when the White Lotus Sect was encircled and suppressed, and now there are militia regiments in various places, and Guangdong is no exception. However, at this time, the training of the Minyong Regiment was completely different from the later Hunan Army and the Huai Army, but it was just a local armed force guarding their hometown.

Bai Siwen shook his head and said: "After Zhu Zhi's family was in the former Ming Dynasty, there were many bandits in the two Guangxi associations, and they were intertwined, and they had long been deeply rooted in the people, and it was difficult to eradicate them, maybe they would serve Zhu Jishi as the mainstay!" ”

In 1854, Guangdong Hongmen responded to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom to launch an uprising, once besieged Guangzhou, and after the defeat, the rest retreated to Guangxi to establish the Dacheng State, which was maintained until 1864. wants to use Guangdong Minzhuang to deal with Zhu Jishi, the overseas emperor of the Ming Dynasty, but it is not reliable at all, maybe people will defect before the battle.

"Sir, even if this people are reliable, they are of no great use," Bai Siwen analyzed, "Western guns are sharp, and they cannot be defeated by relying on the strength of many people, if foreign guns and foreign cannons are used by civilians, in case they ......"

"You can't give civilian foreign guns, it seems that you have to rely on our flag people!" Qiying thought about it again and again, and finally determined the general direction, but where did the seven or eight hundred thousand taels of silver come from every year?

"Sir, how about opening the coastal defense donation?" Bai Swen said.

"Selling officials?" Qiying shook his head. Selling officials has always been an important part of the Qing Dynasty's fiscal revenue, but it is difficult for officials from the donation class to have the opportunity to fill the vacancies, and the market for selling officials has begun to decline in the past two years. Moreover, the household department has already made arrangements for how to use the proceeds from the sale of official positions, and it is unlikely that it will be used to train the New Army of the Eight Banners.

"It's not about selling officials, but about finding a way to sell goods on the acres of land, and you can set up a donation bureau in the two Guangxi localities, distribute donations to the fields and shops in the two Guangzhou, and you can also set up tax cards to persuade customers to donate."

"This ...... Not really, right? Qi Ying still shook his head, Bai Siwen's method was actually to collect more taxes from the Han people to train the Eight Banners New Army. Actually, it's nothing, in a place as big as Liangguang, all kinds of taxes add up to millions of taels every year, what's not to do with an extra seven or eight hundred thousand taels? The point is that the Qing bureaucrats' strength in collecting money is inversely proportional to the efficiency with which they spend money! If the top wants to collect 700,000 taels of silver, the people below will have to take out almost 2 million taels, and the results that can be obtained by spending these 700,000 taels of silver are at most one-third of what is expected. This one in and one out, the common people gave 10 taels of silver, but the court only did 1 tael of silver.

"Sir, I think that these Eight Banners recruits have to be trained!" Bai Siwen took two steps forward, walked to Qiying, and said solemnly, "Since ancient times, the way to strengthen the country has been to strengthen the army, and now in China, it has suffered a strange disaster that has not been seen in three thousand years. Not only the training of the Eight Banners recruits in Guangdong, but also the flag soldiers in Fuzhou, Hangzhou, Zhenjiang and other places must be refined. ”

"Either way, no matter what!" Qiying clapped his hands and said, "I, Qiying, am also a descendant of Aixin Jueluo, and the Qing Dynasty has my share, and I am on this excerpt, even if those Qingliu mouths and pendencies!" As long as the emperor knows that I, Qiying, am dedicated to the country, it will be. ”