Ye Wensheng was quite neat, and the next morning Fauber took a group of senior carpenters to the dock where the British fleet was moored.

"Let's be a villain first and then a gentleman, and please don't be surprised by Lin Gongzi." Fauber bowed to Wickham without being arrogant, and then motioned for the veteran carpenters to come to the cabin to inspect the rosewood. at

Business, Wickham waved his hand indifferently: "Fuber, you are serious, favors are favors, and rules are rules." ”

After a while, the group of carpenters came out of the warehouse with an excited face, and one of them, an old man with gray hair, walked up to Fauber tremblingly: "The shopkeeper is full of rosewood trees that are more than a thousand years old, a full hundred and fifty roots!" I've lived for so many years, and it's the first time I've seen so much rosewood. ”

It's not that these master carpenters have never made precious furniture out of rosewood, but those woods are all left over from the Ming Dynasty, and the number is not too much, and the neatly stacked rosewood in the cabin is really a wonder that has never been seen in his life.

Fu Bo nodded lightly to those craftsmen, and then arched his hand towards Wickham: "I didn't expect that Lin Gongzi's goods are good materials for thousands of years, and according to the original price, our Dafeng firm took advantage of you." Let's do it, let's add another 100,000 taels to the original price, but the old man didn't bring out the extra silver today, and we will make it up together tomorrow, what does Lin Gongzi think? ”

Fauber originally thought that Wickham's hands were some new materials that were six or seven hundred years old, but he didn't expect them to be thousands of years old. ”

Hearing this, Wickham hurriedly waved his hand and refused: "This rosewood is the same as an antique, the price will only be high if you meet the person you want, and those who have the money to buy rosewood will not care if the wood is hundreds of years old or thousands of years old, they just spend money to buy an identity, so Fubo, don't mention the price increase again." ”

In fact, Wickham was thinking that he would have to purchase a batch of goods from Guangzhou to ship back to the UK on his return trip in the future, and it was necessary to have a good relationship with the Ye family at this time, so he didn't mention the price increase.

Old man Fu wishes he owed a few more favors, so that there would be a reason to deal with him in the future, right? Fauber took out a box wrapped in brocade from his arms, and then handed it to Wickham: "This is 400,000 taels of flat silver, and I ask Lin Gongzi to check it." ”

Wickham took the small box with trembling hands, 400,000 taels of silver is equivalent to about 100,000 pounds, which is already an out-and-out huge amount of money, and it is also the largest amount of money he has earned since he was reborn. Although the diamonds in South Africa were worth nearly 200,000 pounds, the money was not yet exchangeable and only existed on the books. And now this box contains a real 100,000 pounds!

Wickham couldn't wait to open the box, not because he didn't trust Dafeng Commercial Bank, but because he was a little curious about the silver bills in China in this era, and wanted to compare the silver bills of the Daqing Shanxi Gang with the bank cashier's checks in Britain.

However, to Wickham's surprise, what was in the small wooden box was not a silver note, but a stack of bearer notes issued by the Bank of Baring, each with a denomination of 5,000 pounds, a full twenty!

Wickham looked at these bank bills with some dumbfoundedness, and after a while he said to Fauber: "Didn't you use silver bills in the Qing Dynasty, and Fubo, your Dafeng Commercial Bank still used our English bank bills?" ”

Fu Bo smiled and explained: "Lin Gongzi, in the past, the trading houses of the Thirteen Banks in Guangzhou used cash when trading with Yi merchants, but this is very inconvenient, hundreds of thousands of silver are pulled by horse-drawn carriages for several carts, but the Yi people do not recognize the silver tickets of our money village, so they have to trade with cash silver. Later, we found out that after the merchants got the silver, most of them were in the office of the English East India Company in Guangzhou, and exchanged it for your English 'silver tickets', and they would not ship the silver back. After receiving the guarantee from Mr. Balin, our Dafeng Commercial Bank also began to accept these English silver bills, and anyway, we also had to purchase foreign goods from the Yi merchants, which could be written off and would not lose anything. ”

Damn, at the end of the eighteenth century, the Bank of Bahrain was already doing international trade settlement in Guangzhou! Thinking of Mr. Francis Balin, the head of the East India Company in Canton, it dawned on Wickham.

When he first heard the name of Francis Bahrain, Wickham had a sense of déjà vu, but he didn't think much about it at the time, and now it seems that this Mr. Bahrain in Guangzhou must be from the famous Bahrain family!

The Bank of Bahrain, run by the Bahrain family, now has the rudiments of London's financial hegemon, and the bank has underwritten war bonds for the British government many times, raising war funds for Britain's foreign wars, and is the British government's god of wealth. In addition, the Bahrain family also specializes in solving personal financial problems for the British royal family, and if it were not for the Bank of Bahrain, several royal nobles might have been forced to go bankrupt! For these reasons, the Bahraini family is highly respected in London high society.

The elder Mr. Bahrain was also one of the shareholders of the East India Company, and in line with the principle that fertilizer and water would not flow into the fields of outsiders, the East India Company naturally chose the Bank of Bahrain as its financial service institution for its trade business in the Far East. Therefore, notes issued by the Bank of Bahrain are more common in the Far East than those issued by the Bank of England.

Wickham carefully put away the box, and with this capital, his plan to purchase fine silk, tea and porcelain in China will be successfully realized, and he will surely make a lot of money again on the return trip.

Thinking of the glittering "money road", Wickham was in a good mood, hugged his fist to Faber and said: "Fauber, I hope we will have the opportunity to cooperate in the future." ”

Fu Bo laughed: "Our Dafeng Commercial Bank will definitely not live up to Lin Gongzi's trust in us, and we will see you another day." With that, he left the dock with a caravan of horses and a group of old carpenters.

After having the capital, Wickham's whole body is full of strength, and his mind is full of ideas for a big job, just like the last cotton trade, this time Wickham will also pull Barnett and Bert.

With the connections of the Barnett family and the Magalny family in the aristocratic circle, the act of grabbing food in the bowl of the East India Company would not be in danger this time. As for the reason for calling Bert, it is that Wickham values the influence of the Bert family in the London business community, and then the Bert family's network in the business community, so that the Oriental goods shipped back can be sold quickly.

Wickham quickly returned to the warship and called Bert and Barnett to his cabin. As soon as Bert saw Wickham, he muttered, "Sir, you disappeared as soon as the ship docked, so you can't go to the city and not call us, right?" ”

This guy is an idle master, there is no place to vent his energy, he has long coveted the city of Guangzhou on the other side of the river, but the Qing government pays for the personal control of foreigners is very strict, and it is impossible to go to the hinterland without consent. Therefore, Bert was very resentful of Wickham being able to go to Guangzhou City with Magalny, and his tone of voice was also sour.

"Aren't you thinking about the taverns and girls in the city again, boy? But even if you enter the city, you won't be able to do it, because no one in the Qing Kingdom wants to accompany us Yiren. "As far as Wickham knows, the Chinese in this era are very arrogant, even the sisters in Fireworks Willow Lane do not disdain to receive ghosts, even if they pay more money, it is useless.

Bert was distracted by Wickham, touched his head a little embarrassed, and whispered: "Why are the girls of this Qing Kingdom so strange, can they turn a blind eye to the gold coins?" ”

Wickham laughed and scolded Bert again, and then said, "Let's not talk about this for now, I have something serious to discuss when I called you over today." You also know that the two merchant ships we hired are still docked in the port, and I plan to buy some silk, tea and porcelain in the Qing Kingdom and ship them back to England, which will be several times the profit, I wonder if you are interested in this business? ”

Bert was a little excited when he heard this, and he had made thousands of pounds in the cotton trade last time, and it was also the first money he had made on his own, which filled his heart with a sense of accomplishment.

Just thinking of the monopoly privileges of the East India Company, the fire in Bert's heart was poured with cold water, and he said with some discouragement: "Now that the trade in Guangzhou is still in the hands of the East India Company, there is no problem for us to do this, right?" After saying that, he gave Barnett a careful look.

Barnett met Bert's inquiring eyes and said with some amusement: "You don't have to worry about this, my uncle's face is still useful for the time being." Let me tell you a secret, the two East India Company merchant ships in the fleet that were responsible for transporting the gifts will immediately return to Canton in the Qing Dynasty after unloading their goods in Tianjin, where they will purchase goods from the East. ”

Wickham said with some doubts: "It's a merchant ship of the East India Company, and it will naturally run the route from Qingguo to Europe, isn't it a secret?" ”

Barnett smiled disdainfully: "It's really not a secret, the key is that most of the members of the mission have shares in these two ships, and my uncle and Baron Staunton account for the most, because this can be regarded as a disguised bribe of the East India Company, after all, my uncle has a lot of influence in the council, so you don't have to worry about the East India Company coming to us for trouble." ”

Barnett still hasn't said a word, even the family behind him is not vegetarian. He was able to tell Wickham and Bert such an obscure inside story, and he really regarded them as friends who could be trusted. Wickham and Bert were directly stunned by this exciting news, but they didn't expect the old fox Margarny to get such a big benefit quietly!

Wickham slapped his hands on the table, stood up and said, "They fish for theirs, we fish for ours, let's do this business for the three of us today!" The huge sum of 100,000 pounds inspired the element of reluctance to be mediocre in Wickham's heart, and the British financial income in this era was about 8 million pounds a year, which was enough capital for him to do a big job in this time and space.

Different from taking one step at a time in the past six months, now Wickham feels as if he has found the lighthouse of life again, and the eldest husband should turn his hands into clouds and rain with his hands, not to mention that he has more than 200 years of knowledge! If Wickham was a sleeping lion in the past, now he shows his claws and fangs!

Barnett noticed the change in the aura around Wickham, and said solemnly: "Sir, do what you say, we will all listen to you." ”

Bert also shouted, "Barnett is right, sir, you can tell me what to do!" ”

Wickham took it up proudly and said his plan: "You two will each contribute twenty thousand pounds, and I will contribute one hundred thousand pounds, for a total of 140,000 pounds of share capital." After arriving in Tianjin, wait for the Hindustan and the Oriental Princess to return to Zhejiang to purchase Qing specialties, and then Bert, you will follow them with those two merchant ships. Remember, only buy silk and tea, not porcelain! ”

Barnett glanced at Wickham a little strangely: "Sir, isn't the merchant ship of the East India Company going back to Guangdong to purchase, why do you want to go to Zhejiang?" ”

Wickham secretly screamed in his heart, but he didn't expect him to tell what was going to happen in the future for a while. Annoyed, Wickham hurriedly remedied: "Didn't I go to the Liangguang Governor's Mansion a few days ago to meet His Excellency the Governor Fu Kangan, and the Governor revealed to us that His Majesty the Emperor of the Qing Kingdom was very pleased with our visit, so he specially allowed the merchant ships of our mission to go to Zhejiang to purchase goods. However, there is still an official document on the matter, and Lord Magalny and Lord Baring have asked all those who know to keep it a secret for the time being, so do not go out and talk nonsense. ”

"That's right." Barnett did not doubt him, and said no more. At this moment, Bert interjected, "Then sir, why don't we buy some porcelain back?" Although we in Britain can still make beautiful bone china, Qing porcelain is still loved by the upper class, and we can make a fortune if we ship large boxes of porcelain back to London! ”

Wickham secretly breathed a sigh of relief, but fortunately, Bert came out halfway to bypass the topic, and hurriedly took over the conversation: "Porcelain is a fragile item, and after long-distance sea transportation, at least half of it will be broken during transportation!" This is a waste of space for us who don't have many ships, so we might as well transport some gorgeous and expensive silks, full of characteristic oriental furniture or something, these things are expensive enough and do not take up space, and will not cause loss in the process of transportation, it is really the most suitable cargo. Bert, when the time comes, I will let one of my Chinese friends follow you to Zhejiang, and let him be in charge of dealing with the merchants of the Qing Kingdom, and you will only need to control our payment. Hongmen is quite influential in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, so let Zhang Mingxia help Bert by the side, and Wickham can go to Beijing with confidence.

Wickham then handed Bert a cashier's note of 100,000 pounds sterling to Bert: "Take these cashier's checks and go to Sir Francis Bahrain, who will exchange you with enough silver for the Treasury." ”

Bert scratched his head, he could feel Wickham's trust in him, and after taking the huge amount of money, Bert smiled strangely: "I didn't expect the chief to be richer than the rich man in the countryside of Derbyshire, as soon as he made a move, it was 100,000 pounds, and it was the first time I saw so much money." Bert and Barnett didn't know about Wickham's sale of rosewood, and thought that Wickham came from a wealthy family and that the money was brought from the family.

Wickham punched Bert in the back and directly lifted this guy's old bottom: "How can your family have a property of nearly one million pounds, will you look up to my little one hundred thousand pounds?" ”

When chatting with Barnett, Wickham learned that the Bert family is the shipping overlord of the Port of London, nearly one-third of the docks in the Port of London are the property of their family, and there are more than 30 sailing merchant ships that can go to sea, and their business covers four continents on both sides of the Atlantic. As the only legal heir in the family (European illegitimate children do not have the right to inherit property), these properties will be his.

Bert shouted: "Sir, you have wronged me, all the money belongs to my old man, usually ask him for a few hundred pounds for a long time, not happy at all, tens of thousands of pounds of cashier's check, I have not seen it once!" ”

Barnett glanced at Bert: "If you don't spend all that money on the actresses at the opera house, your father will probably be a little more generous to you." ”

Bert's face turned red all of a sudden, and he retorted: "The old man makes so much money, I don't spend who will spend it, isn't it just a few opera house actresses, compared to the old man's woman outside." ”

Wickham burst into tears in his heart, he really doesn't understand the world of the rich second generation.