After talking to Yan Shizhang about the gift, Hu Chuyuan couldn't help but think about another thing...... The year of famine in the north.

Beginning in 1876, there was a severe famine in Shandong, which then began to spread, and by 1877, the famine began to break out in Shanxi.

This year, the disaster has not abated, but has become more serious, with more than one million people starving to death in Shanxi Province alone, and large local households being looted.

Yan Shizhang had just returned from the north and knew a lot about it.

He bluntly said that it was indeed a great drought in the past two years, but the real cause of the disaster was that all the fertile land in Shanxi Province was growing opium.

After the Opium War, the Qing Dynasty was unable to ban smoking, so it had to cultivate opium in the country, and promulgated the "Regulations on the Collection of Local Medicine Taxes", which semi-openly encouraged the cultivation of opium in various places in exchange for a large amount of taxes and reduced the outflow of silver.

Today, Shanxi and Shandong provinces are the largest opium growers in China, and opium is cultivated in all the fertile fields of the two provinces, and only those inferior fields are grown with wheat, sorghum and corn, and they are poorly managed and have very low yields.

Opium taxes were high and profits were high, and local officials, wealthy gentry, and common people were keen to grow opium, a situation that had been maintained for nearly two decades, leaving food reserves very low throughout the country.

In the past two years, as soon as there was a slight drought, Shandong and Shanxi fell into an unprecedented famine, and every household had no grain in stock, and the same was true for the rich gentry in various places.

Hearing Yan Shizhang say these things, Hu Chuyuan couldn't help but sigh a little in his heart.

He said: "Mr. Yan, my family actually has a little spare power, which can help the victims in Shanxi and Shandong, when you go to the north this time, I will send a few more people, you might as well get this matter done." ”

Yan Shizhang snorted and sneered, and said, "Dongjia, I just told you that Lord Zhongtang is also bottomless when he is turbid. He doesn't know that you still have the strength to revitalize Shanxi, but you have to understand that he only wants to take revenge on Li Hongzhang at the moment, take over the salt government, and regain control of the two rivers. He and the imperial court Shen Zheng your family is almost bankrupt, just to do these things, and now you suddenly take out so much silver to help the victims, aren't you against him, and clearly tell others that Lord Zhongtang is lying? ”

Hu Chuyuan was speechless for a while.

He silently closed his eyes, and there were many words in his heart, but he really couldn't say a word.

He kind of got it.

Yes, Zuo Zongtang is also bottomless.

What a great victory it was for the local opium to defeat the imported opium, bringing nearly 10 million taels of silver to the Qing Dynasty every year!

Seeing that he was silent, Yan Shizhang said: "Dongjia, you are still young, but since you are a businessman, you have to be like a real businessman, don't worry about these things for the time being." You think, the Qing Dynasty itself doesn't care, what do you still care? ”

Speaking of this, he paused slightly, and suddenly lowered his voice again: "Boss, you just believe what I want to say, in my opinion, I am afraid that the time of the reincarnation of the five virtues is already coming, and you have to make other plans as soon as possible." In the last few years, when the war broke out and the corpses were rotting for thousands of miles, you should think about saving people again. If you can save it now, you won't be able to save your life! ”

Hu Chuyuan was unwilling, but he had to admit Yan Shizhang's judgment.

He also understood that Yan Shizhang's heart was very sober, and years of hardships and experiences, as well as those encounters in the past, made him more and more aware that China in this era was terminally ill, and the Qing Dynasty was no longer the Qing Dynasty at the beginning of the founding of the country.

He decided to ignore the outside affairs for the time being, and to manage his own affairs first, only in this way could he stabilize his footing before a greater disaster struck.

Without Hu Xueyan, it would have been very difficult for him to support such a situation alone.

He is so rich, but he is like a mud bodhisattva.

The north has long been in chaos, the homeless people are harassed, and thieves are rampant, although the official road from Tianjin to Beijing is still protected by the Huai army and the green camp, which can barely be regarded as safe, Hu Chuyuan does not dare to be careless.

He asked Wang Baotian to pick a few more nurses with the best skills, followed Yan Shizhang all the way to the Beijing Division, and also wrote a letter to the shopkeeper of the Jingshi branch in Fukang Qianzhuang, asking him to cooperate with Yan Shizhang to do things, if the money is not enough, he can transfer another 30,000 taels of silver from the Jingshi branch.

After he finished writing the letter, Yan Shizhang sighed: "Owner, 100,000 taels is too much, 50,000 taels is about the same." ”

Hu Chuyuan said: "If you go to Beijing this time, if you have any old friends, you can also go and see it, and run through the door." When I am really free, I will personally go to Jingshi to live through the door, and if I want to do big things, I can't be afraid of spending money. As for gift-giving, those of you who are officials have the rules of being officials, but we businessmen also have the rules of businessmen, either we don't give gifts, or if we want to give them, we will make people startled, and only in this way can we make the relationship as solid as iron. ”

Yan Shizhang was very grateful to Hu Chuyuan for his trust, and said: "That's good, it's just that I have been away from the government for many years, and I still have big cases on my side, so I can't move around." Now I go to Jingshi to dredge up the owner, I can only find two people, one is the teacher Wan Shangshu, and the other is the champion Sun Jianai in the same year and the first, he is now the same emperor as Weng Tongyi, and the dignitaries of the Beijing division want to make friends with them. Sun Jianai and I were in the same year and first, and our personal relationship was good in the early years when we were editing at the Hanlin Academy. ”

Hu Chuyuan said: "These things are handed over to you, how to do it, I don't know more carefully." There are several freighters from Hangzhou to Shanghai, you can go to Shanghai first, and then take a steamer to Beijing, and I will order someone to take care of it for you along the way! ”

Yan Shizhang arched his hand and said, "Thank you, the owner, then I'll pack my luggage now!" ”

Hu Chuyuan nodded silently, then got up and left.

When he returned to his room, he immediately invited Tan Yiyun over and asked Tan Yiyun about Mi Shi.

He is a very sober person who knows what he can and cannot do. Since you can't save it, let's ask for the surname to be a businessman and do a good business.

When he is richer, we will talk about the future!

The catastrophe in the north, the price of rice has been four or five times more expensive than in previous years, Yufeng Rice Bank has of course made a lot of money, has been transporting rice to Tianjin, but more places dare not go.

Displaced people from all over the country are grabbing rice in groups, bandits and rogues are more like cattle hair, as long as the convoy transporting rice is sure to be robbed as soon as it leaves the city gate, let alone transporting rice, even if it is a convoy transporting stones, it has to be robbed.

Hu Chuyuan pondered calmly for a moment, and asked Tan Yiyun, "How much rice do you estimate we can buy from Jiangsu and Zhejiang?" ”

Tan Yiyun said: "Opium is grown in the north, silk tea is raised in the south, and the rice production in Jiangsu and Zhejiang is not very large. If you really want to buy rice, you have to go to Huguang, now that Huguang has enough rice market, Jiujiang and Wuhu rice market should also have a lot of margin, the price is not low, compared with previous years at least three percent, the problem is that there is no way to transport it. The rice market in Tianjin and Yanjing did not rise too high, because everyone was sending rice to Tianjin, and the official road from Tianjin to Yanjing was also protected by the Huai Army, not in other places, and the convoy transporting rice did not dare to go out of the city gate at all, and was robbed as soon as it came out. ”

Hu Chuyuan gritted his teeth and calculated, he knew that he couldn't do this business directly.

If he did, it would prove that his family still had a lot of money and was not crushed by debts, which was tantamount to a slap in the face to Zuo Zongtang.

Even if he did this business in a different way, he would have to consider security.

The green battalion of the Qing court was no longer able to suppress the Liukou, and tried its best to avoid the Liukou to avoid "senseless sacrifices".

The Qing court let Zuo Zongtang return to Beijing to take up his post some time ago, and he has been staying in Beijing, just to withdraw Zuo Zongtang's Hunan army at a critical moment to suppress the possible "Shanxi Uprising".

As long as it doesn't turn into a real uprising, the Qing court won't care, just grab it, just grab it, just don't rob the court.

After pondering in his heart, Hu Chuyuan quietly became ruthless, and said to Tan Yiyun: "Tan Da Shopkeeper, I estimate that this year's Xia Si business will definitely be very difficult to do, everyone will come to grab the land, the purchase price will be very high, and it may not be able to make much money by selling it to foreigners." ”

Tan Yiyun said with no lack of concern: "The owner is high, in fact, I and the shopkeeper Liu Da also have this opinion, not to mention anything else, the raw silk in Huzhou has to be speculated at sky-high prices." There is another problem this year, although the drought in the south of the Yangtze River is not serious, it has an impact on the growth of mulberry leaves, and the output of raw silk in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces has fallen by about 10% compared with previous years. Everyone is expected to be bullish, which is even more troublesome. ”

Hu Chuyuan said: "Tan Da shopkeeper, I think we should be flexible in doing business, we will only protect the silk of Hangzhou and Jinqu this year, if we can keep Huzhou, of course it is the best, forget about other places." Let's concentrate the financial resources we can gather to make a rice market transaction, make a profit first, and then sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight, watch others compete for territory, if they lose, let's come back next year. ”

Tan Yiyun said with a smile: "The owner is shrewd, but there is a problem, the price of rice in Tianjin and Jingshi is not too high, although the price of rice in other places is high, but we don't dare to go!" ”

Hu Chuyuan said: "Don't worry for the time being, first let people go to Huguang and Jiujiang to negotiate the purchase of rice, and then negotiate with the steamship company to rent a ship to transport rice." You can pay a deposit first, if you can't get it, let's make a small loss, if you get it, we can make a big profit today! ”

Tan Yiyun pondered a little.

As an old businessman, of course, he understands that there are always risks in doing business, but the higher the risk, the higher the profit.

After thinking for a while, he felt that he could make a bet, so he agreed with Hu Chuyuan's idea.

Hu Chuyuan has no control over Yufeng Mi Xing at the moment, but as long as Tan Yiyun agrees, Mi Xing can do what he thinks.

After dinner in the evening, Hu Chuyuan wandered around the garden alone, pondering how to talk to Zuo Zongtang.

Putting aside the disaster in the north for the time being, he has another account in his heart.

In addition to Standard Chartered Bank, Xiangjun also owed a large amount of money to other foreign banks and domestic businessmen, all of which were pressed to the Hu family, plus the three million taels of silver that he had recently lent to Liu Kunyi, the debt owed by the Xiang army to the Hu family was also as high as 12.94 million taels of silver.

The interest on this debt is 12% per annum, and the imperial court pays the interest on a monthly basis.

Carrying such a large amount of debt, even the Hu family has a feeling of difficulty.

Hu Chuyuan really wants to raise more funds by reforming the money bank business, but this kind of thing is easier said than done.

There are five main sources of profit in traditional banks, namely, flat scale, loan interest, water exchange, water remittance and bill exchange. The standard of the silver treasury is different in different places, and a certain handling fee is charged after the exchange in the bank; The interest on the loan is the interest on the loan; The exchange of water is the exchange of copper coins for silver, or the handling fee for the exchange of insufficient silver for full-colored silver; Remittance is a handling fee for remittance from another place; Redemption is a handling fee charged for exchanging silver tickets into silver.

At this time, the money village also has the concept of "deposit", called "sticker", but since the Shanxi people started the ticket number business, each money bank does not do the sticker of small households, all the stickers are negotiated before the year, and they must be put into the warehouse within one month after the end of the year, just like the shares of a fixed term, and they are allowed to be withdrawn at the end of the second year.

Shanxi people have set a lot of rules for the ticket number, and these rules have gradually spread to the entire money village business, for example, the owner is not allowed to personally run the money business, and the big and small rights must be handed over to the big treasurer, even if the money is checked, the owner is not allowed to stay overnight.

Hu Chuyuan wanted to reform the business of Fukang Qianzhuang, but like Yufeng Rice, without the consent of the big shopkeeper, he did not want to control Qianzhuang.

If Chen Xiaobai and others do not agree to the reform, it will cause new contradictions.

After weighing the pros and cons, Hu Chuyuan decided not to make any adjustments to Fukang Qianzhuang for the time being, so he considered it from the perspective of officials and businessmen and chose another set of methods to operate.

After pondering the new hall in his heart, he asked Yan Shizhang, Liu Chengxiang and Wang Baotian to call over and discuss.

As he was talking, the fourth shopkeeper Shen Furong hurriedly broke in, and as soon as he entered the door, he and Hu Chuyuan knelt down, and cried bitterly: "Boss, I deserve to die!" ”

The Hu family has a big housekeeper and four big shopkeepers, Wang Baotian and Tan Yiyun are the youngest, but they are also forty-five or sixteen years old, Chen Xiaobai and Hu Xueyan are the same age, and Liu Chengxiang and Shen Furong are both about fifty years old.

Hu Chuyuan pulled him up in surprise and asked, "What's wrong with you?" ”

Shen Furong was very distressed and cried: "I just heard that the national treasure I bought last time when I accompanied my old club to Toyo was actually a ghostwriting forgery, and I lost 60,000 foreign yen to the owner in vain. I was saved by my old boss in danger, and I wanted to repay the favor, but I didn't expect to do such a ruined thing, I want to die! ”

Hu Chuyuan wondered in his heart, only he, Yan Shizhang, and Wang Baotian knew about this matter, and he didn't plan to say it at all, Yan Shizhang was not a talkative person, so only Wang Baotian leaked the news!

He glanced at Wang Baotian complainingly, and then smiled with Shen Furong and said, "It's okay, it is not easy to let Shen Ye and you also look at the goods." Mr. Yan said, it is Shen Shichong's boutique, and the price is not low! ”

Shen Furong said hatefully: "The owner, don't say it's Shen Shichong's, even if it's Zhao Zuo's, ghostwriting is ghostwriting, and the price is a cut behind the boss, at most three thousand taels of silver." I hate those Oriental dwarfs, I hate them, I can't live with my old club, I can't live with you! ”

Hu Chuyuan laughed out loud and said, "Master Shen, don't hate this, hate that." No one did it on purpose, just let him go, just talk about it. If you really don't want to go, just make an IOU first, let's lose half of it, you owe me 10,000 taels of silver, and when you make money later, you will pay me back! ”

Shen Furong was eager to make up for his mistakes, and immediately said: "Owner, I'll pay now." ”

Hu Chuyuan smiled even more and said: "I'm joking with you, how can you not lose money in business, just think of it as a gain of knowledge, and be more careful when you meet Dong Qichang's Mobao in the future." Don't worry, I have a lot of things to ask you to take care of in the future, as long as we work together, let alone 60,000 foreign yuan, even if it is 10 million foreign yuan, we can get it back! ”

"Thank you for your understanding of Haihan!" Shen Furong suddenly became much more silent again, as if he was gritting his teeth and swearing in his heart.

Yan Shizhang, who was standing on the side, immediately sighed: "The owner is benevolent and righteous, the father and son pass it on, and the world is even better!" ”

Shen Furong said: "Mr. Yan, in the future, the pawnshop will buy calligraphy and paintings, and I would like to ask you to take care of me, I am from an antique background, porcelain and jade are slightly rough, and my ability to play calligraphy and painting is really not worth mentioning." ”

Yan Shizhang arched his hand and said: "Mentor each other, support each other!" ”

Hu Chuyuan was smiling beside him, he originally cared about the loss of tens of thousands of foreign yuan, and in the future, he would definitely be able to buy a large number of precious antiques at a low price by using pawnshops and antique shops as cover

If he had the opportunity, he could buy Yuan Qinghua, which is not worth much now.

If he had the opportunity to go to Europe, he would also like to buy all of Van Gogh's paintings, and in a hundred years, each one would be worth $100 million.

Leaving these Eastern Tibetan provinces at home to children and grandchildren is much more useful than burying 3 million taels of silver, and it can continue to increase in value!