Founded in Liverpool in 1816 by John Swire, RS Butterfield became a senior partner of Swire & Co. in 1866, and the company's business began to fully shift to the Asia-Pacific region.

In 1870, Swire & Co. commenced operations in Hong Kong, and in 1874, R.S. Butterfield became the second largest shareholder of Swire & Co. and became Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Company.

R.S. Butterfield was an insignificant figure in the overall economic history, but it was he who ushered in the glorious period of Swire & Co., which enabled Swire & Co. to occupy a large share of the silk, tea, real estate, port and shipping industries in the Asia-Pacific region, and to continue to make inroads into mining and Ceylon tea.

It was an Irishman, of medium stature, who looked relatively young, only about thirty years old, with thick black black hair, thin cheeks, and deep and quiet eyes, who seemed to be a man of great self-restraint and quietness, and also very mysterious, but at the same time possessed special spiritual powers.

Thirteen years ago, when the Fuzhou Shipping Administration Yamen was opened, he was only an ordinary manager in charge of handling the raw silk and tea trade at the British Thai & Foreign Company, but now he is one of the most famous and powerful figures in the Shanghai shipping industry, and the rapid development of Swire & Co. in the raw silk and shipping industry in recent years also depends on his personal talent and efforts.

Not to Hu Chuyuan's expectations, after the reception dinner with the surname of etiquette, RS Butterfield politely proposed a private meeting with Hu Chuyuan.

Hu Chuyuan agreed.

Returning to the study, Hu Chuyuan asked directly: "Mr. Butterfield, are you struggling with the problem of shipping?" ”

RS Butterfield quietly raised his eyes and replied without hesitation: "Yes, in fact, my original plan to find Mr. Delano III was to contact you through him and sell the cargo ships and terminals of Swire Shipping Company to the Jiangnan Steamship Bureau, and only keep the ocean trade routes from Hong Kong to India and the United Kingdom. ”

Hu Chuyuan replied without thinking: "Unfortunately, although I am very interested, I will not buy it." For some reasons that are not appropriate to be said directly, I would like Swire to continue to participate in the Yangtze River shipping competition. ”

RS Butterfield said: "Then, I want to tell you that Shanghai Steamship China Merchants has sent someone to negotiate with me about the acquisition, and even if the acquisition cannot be reached, they are willing to set a new unified price with me and stop the current low-price competition." ”

Hu Chuyuan didn't care very much and laughed, and said: "We still have to consider greater cooperation, at least in my heart, Swire & Co.'s shipping business has a very special role." I hope that you will continue to maintain the existing low-price competition, and if there is a loss, I can pay for your loss privately. ”

"......!!? like this" RS Butterfield couldn't understand, and after thinking for a moment, he said: "Swire & Co. is a company listed in London, and we can't hold a loss-making subsidiary in it for a long time. ”

Hu Chuyuan said: "Then please buy a small foreign bank, transfer the Yangtze River route business to the small foreign bank, I will pay all the losses in advance, and continue to support the development of this steamship company." When the time is right, I will convert the debt into shares and buy the company outright. ”

RS Butterfield is still a little skeptical.

Hu Chuyuan laughed mysteriously and said, "Don't worry, I won't frame you, it's all for political reasons." If Swire Steamship withdraws from the shipping market, Jiangnan Steamship Bureau will lose the reason to compete at low prices, and I will not be able to continue to squeeze Shanghai Steamship China Merchants. ”

Only then did Butterfield understand that Hu Chuyuan's Jiangnan Steamship Bureau was just using the Swire Steamship Company as an excuse to implement a low-price strategy, and the actual target of the run was the Shanghai Steamship China Merchants Bureau.

He said, "Well, I'll be happy to help with that." I think you should be the most brilliant merchant and capitalist in the Qing Empire at the moment, and this is one of the reasons why I have come to you from Hong Kong, and I would like to maintain a relationship of friendship and cooperation with you. I believe that if you work with smart people, you will become smart, and if you work with stupid people, you will become stupid. ”

Hu Chuyuan said: "This statement is very interesting. ”

RS Butterfield said: "In fact, I can convince the Swire family to sell you more shares, and on the London stock market, if you are willing to pay for the shares, you can also take more shares of Swire & Co. At least at this stage, the London stock market has not recovered from the global financial turmoil of 1866 and 1873, and the share price of Swire & Co. is pitifully low. ”

Hu Chuyuan thought for a while and asked, "How much can I hold?" ”

RS Butterfield deliberated for a moment, and deliberately lowered his voice: "Please allow me to be honest with you to say that the current Swire Company is a very bad low-priced stock, and the Swire family itself has no intention of continuing to operate. The company's outstanding shares on the London stock exchange, 32 per cent, totalling 1.2 million shares, are currently priced at less than four shillings per share, totaling less than £240,000, or about 987,000 taels of silver. At present, we already have 15.6% of the shares available for immediate sale to you, and I am the second largest shareholder of Swire & Co. with 17.4% of the shares, the Swire family with 32% and Swire & Co. 3% with the comprador of Chinese businessmen, Mok Shiyang. ”

Listening to what RS Butterfield said, Hu Chuyuan couldn't help but have a feeling - as long as you have enough money, speculation opportunities are everywhere, and as long as you have enough money, cooperation opportunities are also everywhere.

Among the many foreign companies in Shanghai, Swire & Co. is not even in the top 10, with a total market value of only 750,000 pounds. Because of the lack of capital, they have not developed well in the raw silk industry, which requires large-scale capital dispatch.

This is one of Hu Chuyuan's opportunities.

Before seeing Swire & Co.'s accounts, Hu Chuyuan couldn't have blindly bought Swire & Co. at a high price, but in terms of the current market value, he could make a move.

He thought for a moment and said to RS Butterfield: "I'll buy those outstanding shares through the London stock market." ”

RS Butterfield said: "I'm very happy if you're willing to buy these shares. In fact, I am now faced with the difficult question of how to get Swire out of its current quagmire. The shipping industry was a direction I really wanted to make a breakthrough, but now I feel lost. Although I do not think that the future of Shanghai Steamship Merchants will be bright, I am deeply afraid of the Jiangnan Steamship Bureau under your jurisdiction. ”

Hu Chuyuan said: "I have already said that your bank only needs to concentrate on ocean shipping, relying on shipping business to operate minerals and other industries in the British colonies, which is the most stable road. If you really want to go ahead, then I want you to get into the oil extraction industry and the iron mining industry in Australia. ”

RS Butterfield sighed: "Of course, this is very safe, but whether it is international shipping or raw materials industry, this requires a large amount of capital injection, and it is difficult for us to expand if we can't raise enough money in the stock market." ”

Hu Chuyuan said: "As long as I get enough shares, I will solve the problem of funds, you don't have to worry about this." ”

"Then ......!"

RS Butterfield finally opened all the precautions, told Hu Chuyuan about his plan, and the two worked together, RS Butterfield wanted to further increase his shareholding, and Hu Chuyuan could also get more than 40% of the shares, or even more...... Of course, this means that the Swire family has to be out.

Hu Chuyuan agreed to cooperate.

He needed to take control of a British-owned foreign company to do something, but he also had conditions, and he asked RS Butterfield to return to England early to pave the way for him to buy warships in Europe.

They have a lot to talk about, not only the cooperation and acquisition with Swire & Co., but also the cooperation between individuals.

With such a foundation, the next day, RS Butterfield left Fuzhou with great ambition.

After sending him away, Hu Chuyuan returned to the shipmaster's yamen, and Wu Shuzhen handed him a letter brought from Shanghai Yongyuan, written by Zhang Lingpu.

Zhang Lingpu had already returned to Shanghai, bringing back a list of arms purchases, the total price was only 60,000 taels of silver, and if Hu Chuyuan agreed to pay, he wanted to purchase them in Shanghai immediately and personally escorted them to Guangxi.

After Hu Chuyuan finished reading the letter, Wu Shuzhen said: "I read the person who wrote the letter, it seems to be your cronies!" ”

Hu Chuyuan smiled and decided not to hide the matter from Wu Shuzhen, so he said: "It is indeed my cronies, I sent him to Vietnam to contact a civilian general who was fighting against the French expeditionary force in the local area, you can also say that it was a mercenary force fighting for the Vietnamese court." ”

Wu Shuzhen was slightly surprised, and asked a little puzzled: "Could it be that the Qing court is sending you to do this?" ”

Hu Chuyuan said: "No, it's purely my personal behavior, I want to support this general to do a great career, you can also understand it as a special investment, I contribute, he contributes." ”

Wu Shuzhen smiled faintly, clearly knowing what Hu Chuyuan meant, and reminded: "Then you have to be more careful." This kind of thing can either make a lot of money, or lose a lot of money. ”

Hu Chuyuan snorted and said, "Don't worry, this person can invest." ”

Wu Shuzhen sighed: "You are really a very confident person." ”

Hu Chuyuan didn't say anything more, and wrote a letter to Zhang Lingpu, telling him that a batch of arms had been prepared in Hong Kong, and asked Zhang Lingpu to go directly to Hong Kong to pick up the goods, and in the future, he would only use Hong Kong to deliver the goods, and he would not have to set foot in the hinterland of Vietnam for the time being.

After writing the letter, he asked Hu Rong to come in, and Hu Rong personally sent it back to Yongyuan and handed it over to Zhang Lingpu, the facts were kept secret, and no one had to ask.

After dealing with these things, Hu Chuyuancai and Wu Shuzhen said: "The general I want to invest in is actually a remnant of the army, after more than ten years of fighting in the east and west, and being chased and suppressed by the imperial court several times, he can still live to this day, which is enough to prove this person's ability to use soldiers." ”

Wu Shuzhen couldn't help but be a little curious, and said: "Such a person is really a strange person, and it is also worth investing." Since Pfister Delano is also here, it is better to discuss with him, and in the future, Wanqi Foreign Bank will be responsible for supplying arms, even if it is known by the imperial court, it will not be blamed on you. ”

Hu Chuyuan thought about it carefully and felt that this was okay.

The key is to make Liu Yongfu bigger and stronger, to have enough threats and diversion to the French, and he is responsible for paying for it.

Before the Sino-French war was in full swing, if he could give Liu Yongfu 30,000 taels of silver per Chinese New Year's Eve, or even 1 million taels of silver, it would be a headache for the French.

He invited Pfister-Delano III over to discuss the donation at his own expense, while Wanqi & Co. was responsible for arms trafficking, and the arms were delivered in Hong Kong, Macao, or Guangxi, and Liu Yongfu himself was responsible for transporting them back to Vietnam.

Pfister-Delano III is a little scrupled, but Hu Chuyuan and Wu Shuzhen agree with this, the current Wanqi Foreign Bank is actually a joint decision of the three of them, and he can only agree.

This made Hu Chuyuan discover that Wu Shuzhen is really not a very ordinary woman, and she also hides some special thoughts in her heart, but she will not say it easily.

Hu Chuyuan can understand this, she actually has hatred for the Qing court.