The magnificent mansion of the Pan family, a splendid corridor, carved beams and painted columns, flowers and plants everywhere such as jade, everywhere towers such as fairy pavilions, it is hard to imagine that this is actually a merchant's residence. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

Although the old man is still energetic, presiding over various businesses of foreign banks and often meeting with Yi merchants, the greatest achievement for the elderly is still to spread the branches and leaves of the family. Pan Zhencheng married ten wives and concubines, got seven sons, and regained seven grandchildren, except for the original concubine Pan Youxun was ordered by Pan Zhencheng to return to his hometown in Zhangzhou, Fujian, "return to his hometown", the remaining six heirs are in Guangzhou.

Pan Zhencheng's knee is the youngest son of the fourth son Pan Youdu, born not long ago, it is the time to be likable, Pan Zhencheng has a lot of children and grandchildren, Pan Zhencheng is extremely happy for the birth of every family member.

Pan Zhencheng peeled off the icing of a piece of candy and carefully stuffed it into his grandson's mouth, and the little grandson tasted the sweetness, giggled, and also made Pan Zhencheng laugh. The piece of candy he fed to his grandson was a real foreign product from the Portuguese colonies, and it was very expensive. During the Qing Dynasty, special sweets imported from the West to China have always been a favorite snack of the upper class. Ordinary people can't afford to consume such imported goods, but for Pan Zhencheng, it is no problem for the whole family to eat openly for as long as possible.

At that time, a French merchant came to China and wrote a travelogue, which did not give much detail to the annual consumption of the Pan family, saying that the Pan family spent three million francs a year, enough to buy a fleet, and the Pan family's assets were more than the estates of some kings in Western Europe. Therefore, some people think that Pan Zhencheng is worthy of the name of the richest man in the world in the 18th century.

Whether Pan Zhencheng is the richest man in the world is uncertain, because it is not easy to do a global wealth survey in this era, and it is rarely difficult to dig out those invisible rich people even in later generations. However, it is indisputable that this Fujian merchant, who had worked as a shipwright after finishing his studies, had been to Luzon three times, and was now the head of the thirteen merchants in Guangzhou, played a pivotal role in East Asian trade.

Winter in Guangzhou has come to an end, and the temperature is not low, Pan Zhencheng leisurely enjoys the afternoon, but there are always mundane things that will disturb him.

Pan Hong, a trusted housekeeper, took three steps and made two steps, and walked quickly into Pan Zhencheng's study, and gave Pan Zhencheng a thousand, he was not young, Pan Zhencheng did not ask him to kowtow, he has always been a fool.

"Proprietor, something has happened!" Pan Hong has followed Pan Zhencheng for more than 20 years, and his experience has been deep, and it is rare for him to lose ground like this.

However, Pan Zhencheng was better educated, and he asked: "What the hell is going on, so panicked, but disaster is coming?" ”

Pan Hong shook his head and said, "It's not a disaster, at least it has nothing to do with my family." There were four large ships in Huangpu Harbor, which were even bigger than the English galleons of the past, two of which were more than 30 zhang long, several times the size of ordinary foreign merchant ships, and two smaller ones, but also three or four times the Portuguese merchant ships that came a few days ago. Not only that, but these four giant ships had no wind on their own, and they didn't even hang a single sail, but two huge chimneys suddenly spewed black smoke, sailing as fast as galloping horses in the open ocean. ”

Pan Zhencheng was taken aback and said: "That Portuguese galleon bonito is a large ship of nearly 2,000 materials, and it will take 30,000 quintals of goods to carry away, which is three or four times larger than the Portuguese merchant ship, how much cargo can it carry?" Where did this ship come from? Anglia? France? Or Spain, Portugal? I'm afraid it's not, if it is, Pan Hong, you will say which country's merchant ship this is. ”

Pan Hong bowed down and said, "The proprietor is wise, these four giant ships are not from Taixi, but from the East. ”

Pan Zhencheng frowned, "Japanese ship? ”

Pan Hong waved his hand again and again and said, "No, it is said that Japan is thousands of miles to the east." ”

Pan Zhencheng smiled: "Isn't that the new continent that Waiyi said?" ”

Pan Zhencheng has been in contact with European businessmen for many years and has seen a lot, but he is familiar with the world geography that the Qing people of this era do not know. When he was young, he worked under the wealthy merchant Chen Taoyang, and he saw the globe paid tribute by the English, although it was not very accurate, but he also knew the affairs of the American continent thousands of miles away.

Pan Hong said: "I don't know the little one, but I'm afraid it's there." ”

Pan Zhencheng said: "Since there are Yi merchants to do business, it is naturally a good thing, these four ships of goods, there are no rare things, there are great profits, but how can I see you with a panicked look?" ”

Pan Hong's face was also a little strange, and said: "This Yishang from the East, all of them are the appearance of my Qing people, black hair and white skin (the concept of yellow people came later, people thought they were white-skinned at that time), they spoke Chinese, and they actually claimed to be the relics of the Tang Dynasty. These Tang people are strangely dressed, different from the costumes of the former Ming Dynasty, but more like the costumes of the Taixiyi people, but they seem to be more concise. Everyone in the Tang Dynasty has short hair, no braids, no buns, and they are like Yiren. ”

Pan Zhencheng was curious: "Is it actually a descendant of the Tang Dynasty?" Isn't that a thousand years ago? I haven't heard anything for a thousand years, and now it suddenly pops up, and it's really suspicious. ”

Pan Hong clapped his hands and said: "Yes, Li Wenzhao, the superintendent of Guangdong Customs, has just been raided, and no one is in charge of Guangdong Customs. As soon as the green battalion soldiers entered Huangpu Harbor, the Tang people saw the opportunity quickly and had already withdrawn to the ship. The governor went to the governor again, Lord Li, and asked him to open the Humen Fort and bombard the Tang merchant ship. ”

Pan Zhencheng's face changed, and he said: "This Debao is really a bad person, and the details of this Tang Dynasty are not clear, so he will provoke the border." ”

Pan Hong said: "I see, this governor has a plan to fight for merit, no matter what the origin of this Tang Dynasty person is, he took them down first, saying that it was a rebellion, just because this Han man did not have braids, it is enough to make a fuss, and it is not a merit, and he, the governor, can follow it up to a higher level." ”

Pan Zhencheng snorted coldly: "The Tang people came from the extreme east, with four giant ships and merchant ships, I don't know how many rare goods they loaded, if they can serve the Tang people in one pot, it is not only a great achievement, but also can pay countless amounts of property, just report a part of it, and the big head will stay and be greedy for ink, this idea is really good." ”

The more Pan Zhencheng thinks about it, the more he is embarrassed, as a foreign businessman, although it is easy to make money, but it is also a good way, in recent years, the corruption in the officialdom has become more and more serious, especially the supervision of the Guangdong Customs, it is more than corruption, the previous Li Yongbiao, Li Wenzhao, who was just raided last year, are all huge corruption. And the big and small feudal officials can also make as much money as they can.

Debao, the governor of Guangdong, is a man with no ability, but his ability to make money is not small. When he took office, he received a lot of benefits, and this time he caught the Han people in the overseas country, and he will inevitably make a big fuss about it. And Pan Zhencheng, as the general manager of the thirteen merchants (equivalent to the president of the guild), naturally knows how much profit these four big merchant ships can make. Debao makes such a play, which is equivalent to snatching food from the mouth of the thirteen lines.

"No, this thing must not be done by Debao!" Pan Zhencheng made a decision, although he is a businessman, he is also an official businessman, and donated an alternate soldier and horse commander to add three products of flower feathers to wear, this thing has no practical use, it is to give him an official body, and he doesn't have to kneel when he sees a junior official.

As an official and businessman, Pan Zhencheng has a wide range of contacts with Guangdong officialdom, and he can talk to several officials, so he immediately said: "Prepare horses, go to the governor's palace, I want to meet the governor." ”

In the Qing Dynasty, the local governor could only be in charge of local administration, while the governor was also in charge of the administration, economy and military affairs of several provinces, of which the military was also the most important duty of the governor. Militarily, although the Guangzhou general has more power and directly checks and balances the governor, the position of Guangzhou general was temporarily vacant a few years ago, and the clan Yongwei, who had just been transferred to the Guangzhou general, was still on his way to Guangzhou at this time.

Governor Li Shuyao served as governor and general of Guangzhou, and the actual military power of the two Cantons was in his hands. Of course, if there is really a large-scale operation, even if it is a defensive operation, Li Shuyao must first report to the military aircraft.

Pan Zhencheng's annual filial piety to Li Shiyao is also an astronomical amount, and it can be said that the economic income of the Thirteen Banks is an important weight to stabilize the officialdom of Guangxi and Guangzhou. Li Shiyao also relied on Pan Zhencheng, Pan Zhencheng was sleek and shrewd, rarely made mistakes, and he could get money when it was critical, and he dared to ask which official didn't like such a businessman.

When Pan Zhencheng arrived at the Governor's Palace, Li Shiyao just wanted to go out.

"Xunxian (Pan Zhencheng's character) is here for the Tang Dynasty merchant ship of Nalao Shizi?" Li Shiyao was obviously also very scratched by the impulse of the arbitrary governor Debao, he had always trusted businessmen like Pan Zhencheng when it came to foreign businessmen, so he was not in a hurry to go out, and pulled Pan Zhencheng to ask questions.

"My lord Mingjian, Xia Guan is here for the matter of the Tang Dynasty merchant ship." Pan Zhencheng has an alternate officer, although it is useless, but he can call himself a subordinate official.

"What do you think?"

Pan Zhencheng said: "If the Tang people are really the descendants of the Tang Dynasty thousands of years ago, it is difficult for mortals to believe it, after all, it has been a long time, and there is no similar hearing in the middle, and there are many suspicions. But as the governor said, it was a traitor to the former Ming Dynasty, and the possibility was extremely low. These Tang people have a degrading posture, short hair and short clothes, and they don't look like Chinese people anymore, and they have changed more than the overseas Chinese in Luzon. If it weren't for the fact that I still use Chinese and have my Chinese face, I'm afraid the governor wouldn't be too lazy to care about it, and he would directly be a foreign businessman. ”

Li Shuyao asked: "Xunxian, you are familiar with Yiwu, do you know the origin of these Yiren who falsely claim to be Tang people?" ”

"Forgive the lower officials for being lonely and unheard, and the lower officials have never heard of it. However, Xia Guan believes that these South Vietnamese people were also pioneered by our Chinese descendants outside the territory in the past, and North Korea also used my Chinese script, which was influenced by our Celestial Empire. These people have changed their appearance greatly, and they are said to be Chinese who have gone abroad within one or two hundred years, but I don't think it looks like this, but I am afraid that it is really hundreds of years of going abroad and interacting with Yi people to become like this. This Tang people came from thousands of miles away, I am afraid that they also admire the majesty of our Heavenly Empire, and it is only for profit, but the governor is indiscriminate, and he will use force, which is contrary to the benevolence of my heavenly kingdom, and it is not conducive to the continuation of Guangzhou's commerce and trade, so I also ask the governor to make the governor retract his order, communicate with this person first, and then decide how to deal with it. ”