After the longevity celebration, Lord Magalny did not give up completely, and took several opportunities to ask He Shen for the opportunity to meet Qianlong, but Emperor Qianlong did not agree, which shows how bad Qianlong's impression of the English mission was.

After returning to Peking, Lord Magalny finally gave up completely, because He Shen had repeatedly hinted to them that foreigners could not stay in China for more than forty days, and that the length of their stay in China was close to this rule. According to the old rules, they had to leave China as soon as possible after the celebration.

After an in-depth discussion with Baron Stanton, Lord Magalny had to face the reality that the trip had been a complete failure and had not achieved any tangible results.

For this result, Wickham has long been prepared for this, and the wheel of history has not changed because of his little butterfly, and is still moving forward according to its huge inertia. The first official meeting between China and Britain in history ended in failure.

Disheartened, Lord Magalny sent a letter to Qianlong to express his willingness to resign from the British mission. Emperor Qianlong was also very straightforward, and immediately agreed to the resignation of the English mission, and gave each member of the mission a rich reward, even the ordinary sailors of the British Royal Navy stranded in Tongzhou, there was a small gift.

As a person who met Emperor Qianlong, Wickham also received a rich reward, which was equivalent to about 6,000 pounds. The most surprising thing is that when Emperor Qianlong learned that Wickham was the only person in the British mission who was proficient in Chinese culture, Qianlong also specially rewarded him with a complete set of hardcover editions of the Four Books and Five Classics. The members of the mission were very envious of this, believing that Wickham was lucky.

After Wickham glanced at the set of the Four Books and the Five Classics again, he threw it aside without any interest, and he couldn't understand this thing, so it was better to give more gold and silver.

On October 7, 1793, members of the British mission boarded the fleet docked at the Tongzhou wharf, followed the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal to Nanjing, then exited the Yangtze River to the sea, and arrived at the Huangpu wharf in Guangzhou on December 9.

As soon as Wickham got off the ship, he found Bert waiting on the docks with Ruhl.

"Sir, our goods have been purchased, according to Mr. Zhang, all of them are the best Suzhou and Hangzhou silks, and some of the goods have exquisite Suzhou embroidery on them. God, I can assure you that there is not a single embroiderer in the whole of England who can do this. We're going to get rich, sir! As soon as Wickham came down the gangway, Bert couldn't wait to pull Wickham and nag.

Wickham patted Bert on the shoulder and said with a smile: "Bert, you have to learn to be calm, how much money is it that makes you like this?" We'll be able to earn even more when we come back to the UK! ”

Bert coquettishly straightened the golden bangs on his forehead, and said with a grin: "Sir, you are a rich man of 100,000 pounds as soon as you make a move, how do you know the bitter tears of our poor people?" By shipping the goods back to London this time, I would have earned at least £40,000 at once, and with the original £20,000, that's £60,000. Gosh, I've never taken so much money in one go! ”

Wickham kicked Bert in the ass and scolded with a smile: "Don't think I don't know your old bottom, your kid is the first heir to the Chelsea shipping company, with a million-pound fortune, and you dare to come to me and cry poor?" ”

Bert didn't think it was a joke, "That's the old man's money, and I don't know how many years it will take to get it." Since I still like the old man in the family and don't want him to go to God so soon, I have to make my own money. ”

Wickham almost didn't choke to death by this guy, this kid even made jokes about his father, but he didn't dare to take this joke, otherwise it would be disrespectful to his elders.

Wickham coughed twice in embarrassment, turned to Ruhr and said, "Ruhr, how does it feel to be in trade for the first time?" "Ruhr is an inconspicuous private, but Wickham takes him very seriously, this is a soldier he personally brought out, he knows the roots, and he is very alert, and he will be a useful assistant if he hones it.

Ruhr bowed to Wickham gratefully and said, "Thank you, Sir, for taking me seriously and giving me this opportunity." This time, I found that the gold-silver ratio of the Qing Kingdom is very low, about 1 to 6, while the gold to silver ratio of the United Kingdom is 1 to 9, if we can use a lot of silver to buy gold and ship it back to London, we will definitely make a lot of money! ”

Wickham was shocked by Ruhr's words, Ruhr's education level is not high, and he can only achieve a literacy level, but he can see the current difference in the exchange rate between China and Britain and realize the profits, which is enough to show that he has a very keen sense of smell in the financial industry!

In fact, it is no secret in the British financial world, and the Bank of Bahrain receives huge profits from gold and silver arbitrage activities every year. But Wickham did not intend to get involved, because he did not have sufficient capital to operate it, and second, he did not have a bank that had a large number of ocean-going traders as customers, and therefore did not have the means to carry out such capital flows.

"Ruhl, you are excellent! When we get back to England, you're going to retire from the army and help me, I don't know if you'd like to? Although Wickham did not intend to take Ruhl's advice, he happily made an appeal to Ruhr.

After hearing Wickham's invitation, Ruhl's face was filled with joy: "Of course I am willing, it is my honor to serve the chief." "By this time the news that Britain had sent ground troops to fight in the Netherlands had reached the Far East, and who would want to die in a foreign land. With Wickham's assurances, he Ruhr could leave the army safely and never have to die on the continent again.

Wickham looked at Bert: "After returning to London, I will leave the matter of Ruhr's discharge from the army to you." ”

Bert waved his hand indifferently: "It's not a big deal, then we can find a doctor to prove that this kid Ruhl has an addiction." ”

After a while, Wickham saw that there was still no figure of Zhang Mingxia, so he said strangely: "Bert, why is this Zhang Mingxia Mr. Zhang not with you, isn't he in Guangzhou?" ”

Bert patted his head, a little embarrassed: "Sir, I was talking to you just now, and I almost forgot about Mr. Zhang." Mr. Zhang is not with us now, and he asked me to tell you that when you come back, you will go to Dafeng Commercial Bank to find him. ”

Wickham then remembered that there was still a batch of made rosewood furniture in the Dafeng Trading House, so he instructed Bert to take care of the two ships of goods, and then walked towards the Dafeng Merchants according to the route in his memory.

Dafeng Commercial Bank.

"Brother Wen Sheng, I mobilized my old brother who used to be in Hongmen, and I have been searching in Guangzhou City for three days, but I still haven't found Miss Ye." Seeing his friend's restless look, Zhang Mingxia felt uncomfortable.

In order to find the lost Miss Ye Family, although he is no longer from Hongmen, he is still cheeky to find his former brother and mobilize many disciples to search the whole city. But this fifth lady of the Ye family is like evaporating from the world, and she can't find it no matter how she looks for it.

Now there are many homeless people in Guangzhou, and it is difficult for a delicate lady with fine clothes and fine food to survive safely in this mixed market. Thinking of what happened to Ye Shihan, Ye Wensheng felt chills all over his body, if something went wrong with his only sister, then he really didn't know how to explain to his dead mother.

Ye Wensheng's eyes were bloodshot, his face was pale, and his voice was a little hoarse: "Brother Mingxia, please pass a word to the brothers of Hongmen, who can find the fifth miss of the Ye family and reward five hundred taels of silver!" "The reward of five hundred taels is not low, and buying a small house in Guangzhou City is seventy or eighty taels. Ye Wensheng can only hope that those Hongmen disciples can only hope that when they hear that there is a reward to take, the search will be more attentive.

Zhang Mingxia didn't have much hope in his heart, but in order to comfort his friends, he should come down: "Brother Wensheng, don't worry, I'll go and pass the word to the brothers." After saying that, he got up and walked outside, and as soon as he came to the door of Dafeng Trading House, he found Wickham standing outside the door, apparently just coming.

When Zhang Mingxia saw the old man, he greeted him very happily: "Brother Zihan, I didn't expect you to come back from Jingshi so soon, today I have to get drunk and rest." As soon as the greeting was finished, Zhang Mingxia remembered the troubles, and his expression dimmed: "Eh, Brother Zihan, I still have some things to do today, let's save this wine for later." ”

Seeing that the other party's face changed so quickly, Wickham was a little puzzled: "Brother Mingxia, what's wrong with you, is there something difficult?" If you're still friends with my wickham, let me know if I can help you a little more. ”

Zhang Mingxia is a man with a true temperament, and he is not coy, and said bluntly: "I, Zhang Mingxia, am now alone, what problems can I have." It was the sister of Ye Wensheng, the fourth young master of the Ye family, who escaped from marriage, and the Pan and Ye families mobilized all their forces, and I also asked my friends in Hongmen to search for the whole city, but this Ye girl was like evaporating from the world, and there was no trace at all. Brother Wen Sheng and his sister have the best relationship, and now that there is such a thing, do you think he is in a hurry? ”

"Miss Ye?" Wickham's mind quickly conjured up the slim image of the girl. "My Fair Lady, Gentleman", it is impossible to say that Wickham did not have a crush on that girl. That charming face had long been deeply imprinted in his mind, and he couldn't get rid of it.

"What the hell is going on? How could Miss Ye suddenly run away from marriage? "Wickham is also confused about the situation.

"I don't know what the master of the Ye family thinks, so I have to marry Miss Ye to Pan Shijie, the second ancestor of the Pan family. That Pan Shijie is a muddy man who can't support the wall, Miss Ye was heartbroken, so she ran away with the little girl, and now no one has found it. Then, Zhang Mingxia told him about what happened in the Ye family recently.

Wickham was also booed when he heard it, he didn't expect such a thin girl to be so tenacious and dare to make a move to escape from marriage. You must know that it is a feudal society now, and what is important is the words of the matchmaker of the parents, Miss Ye's escape from marriage can be regarded as shocking, but fortunately, the Pan and Ye families jointly blocked the news and did not let the city be full of turmoil.

"I see. Forget it, I'll go see Ye Gongzi, how to say that he is also my business partner. With that, Wickham walked up his leg and walked into the firm, and although he couldn't help, he could still say a few words of comfort.

Zhang Mingxia said helplessly: "That's it, I'll go to the brothers of Hongmen in the past to help." With that, he hurried away.