Izumi Kanesotei is indeed a good sword.

Lost in the house for four years and unused, I didn't take it out to wipe it, and when I took it out of the scabbard, I saw that it was still as bright as a mirror, and Zeze was shining.

It's a pity that Li Cunyi thinks that this knife is good, but the weight is insufficient, and the single knife he uses must have enough weight to kill the momentum, but it can also be used.

It's embarrassing.

Hu Chuyuan could see that because the knife was not as good as the opponent, Li Cunyi could not cut straight ahead, and his power was greatly reduced.

He had such a good knife in his hand, Li Cunyi didn't like it that much, so he asked for his surname and gave Li Cunyi a thousand yuan, and asked Li Cunyi to find someone to make a really good knife.

As for the three generations of Izumi Kanesada, it doesn't seem to be a good thing that such a knife is always left in the warehouse and no one takes care of it.

Thinking that Chen Shanyuan could be said to have saved his life, Hu Chuyuan gave Chen Shanyuan the three generations of Hequan and Shouding, and let Chen Shanyuan play slowly.

…… Li Cunyi went to pack his luggage, and Hu Chuyuan sent someone to send a telegram to Rong Hong, first, he wanted to ask Rong Hong to be a matchmaker, and second, he also wanted to explore the Wu family.

That's pretty much it.

Hu Rong also came back from Hangzhou, and brought the eldest lady Hu Peng, and the eldest lady was responsible for these things, how to do it, how to propose marriage, and how to set the number of gifts...... There is no need for Hu Chuyuan to worry about this.

Hu Chuyuan wrote a letter to Zuo Zongtang at this time, one was to talk about his marriage, and the other was to ask Li Cunyi to come over.

After a while, Rong Hong accompanied the eldest lady Hu Peng to the United States to propose marriage, the Wu family already knew, and it was also 10,000 agreed, just waiting in San Francisco, as soon as the elders of the two families met, they picked all the children at that time.

At this time, Hu Chuyuan finally relieved himself, and then went to Fuzhou to take up his post, halfway, he also met with Mei Qizhao in Hangzhou, talked about a few things secretly, and asked Mei Qian not to rush to participate in next year's scientific examination, but to go to Nanchang Wubei Academy.

At this time, it was June 1882, which was the time when raw silk and tea were listed on a large scale, and the Jiangnan Commercial Bank and the Jiangnan Cooperative naturally monopolized the two industries as always, especially in the expansion of tea, and the speed of this year was more obvious.

Fuzhou.

After two years of investment and establishment, Fuzhou has undergone tremendous changes.

At the mouth of the wide Minjiang River, on the shore of Mawei, the scale of the Fuzhou Shipbuilding Yamen has expanded, and the Fuzhou Shipyard, Fuzhou Iron and Steel Factory, and Fuzhou Turbine Factory, which are jointly established by the Yamen and the Heavy Industry Bureau of the Jiangnan Commercial Bank, are also located here, and new factories are built one after another.

The most gratifying thing is the new warships that were bought back from Britain and France.

Two second-class ironclad ships of Weikang and Dingkang, two dominary cruisers of Guangwu and Jingwu, and four French-made Weijiang-class coastal defense ships have been successively incorporated into the Fujian Naval Division.

The Fuzhou shipmaster also designed new torpedo boats and patrol boats on their own, and the Frenchmen Bai Laoyi and Zheng Qinglian redesigned new gunboats on the basis of the Zhenzhong mosquito boat, and increased the displacement tonnage from 300 tons to 425 tons.

These three small ships were built relatively quickly, and the Fuzhou Shipyard had four docks, which could build seven or eight gunboats a year, and patrol boats and torpedo boats were built faster because of their thin protective armor.

Of course not, Hu Chuyuan knew it very well in his heart.

When he arrived in Fuzhou, he first went to the telegraph office to send a telegram to Wu Shuzhen, telling her that he had arrived in Fuzhou safely, and then went to the Fuzhou Ship Administration Yamen.

Although he hasn't been here for half a year, this is still his territory, and everything is only because of his money and his power.

Except for him, no one else can fully control the Fuzhou Ship Administration Yamen.

At this time, John Abbasnot-Fischer was already a brigadier general of the British Royal Navy, and he was not only the military adviser of the Fuzhou Ship Administration Yamen, but also the supervisor of the Fujian Naval Division, responsible for the planning and regular training of the naval division.

When he first arrived in Fuzhou, Hu Chuyuan didn't really want to talk too much.

After the dinner, he asked everyone to go back to rest, leaving only Wu Zhengbing, and specifically asked about the construction of the Luoyuan Bay dock, which was his secret trick, where three docks would be secretly built to produce gunboats and torpedo boats.

Because funding and technology are not a problem, the progress of the situation is not bad, and the first dock to be built has entered the state of trial production.

After confirming the news, Hu Chuyuan was much more relieved, and continued to let Wu Zhengbing be responsible with peace of mind.

For the military of the late Qing Dynasty, Hu Chuyuan has always been a bystander, his main contribution is to pay money, and everything is done by others.

But he gave a lot of money.

Taking last year as an example, the 13 battalions of the Hunan Army withdrew from Xinjiang Province to Liangjiang and Three Provinces and began to rectify the level of the Russian army, dismissing veterans, recruiting new fighters to replace them, replacing guns, and adding more than 200 new artillery pieces. Liu Jintang, the first general of the Hunan Army, purchased the Nanchang Military Academy in Jiangxi; Yang Yuebin, a veteran of the Hunan army, returned to Hunan to purchase the Changsha Military Academy; Zuo Zongtang purchased Jiangning Artillery Art School and Zhenjiang Sailor School in Jiangsu; He Jing set up the Fuzhou Artillery Art School in Fujian; Tan Zhonglin secretly purchased the first battalion of Xiangying Fubiao; Mei Qizhao secretly set up the third battalion of the Jiangxi Army; Yang Changjun rectified the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau in Shanghai, replaced new equipment, hired new technicians and foreigner consultants, and set up a branch factory in Anshan......!

These things were concentrated last year, and Hu Chuyuan spent more than 6 million taels of silver before and after, half of which was not reported to the imperial court, so as not to be disapproved by the Qing court, and half of it was donated by Hu Chuyuan, and the other half was borrowed by him.

He didn't even frown.

Of course, this is only a small amount of money for him.

In the following days, Hu Chuyuan carefully inspected all the affairs of the shipmaster yamen, and determined that the situation was generally good, so he continued to put Zhang Baixi, Wu Zhengbing, and Zheng Qinglian in charge.

That night, he asked Hu Rong and Chen Shanyuan to prepare their itinerary and go to visit He Jing.

As soon as he was about to go out, Yan Xinhou came again. This time, he brought with him a young man who was not tall, with a white face and a mustache, twenty-seven or eighteen years old, dressed very well, and holding a finely carved origami fan in his hand.

Entering the flower hall of the shipmaster's yamen and seeing Hu Chuyuan, Yan Xinhou smiled and said: "Congratulations to Lord Hu on being appointed to the post of Minister of Shipping, it is really well deserved, no one else can replace him, and it is also a blessing for my Great Qing Kingdom!" ”

"Mr. Yan has won the prize!" Hu Chuyuan got up and smiled lightly, looked at the young man again and asked, "Who is this ......?" ”

"Oh...... This is the eldest son of Li Zhongtang's family, the son of Li Jingfang. Yan Xinhou hurriedly introduced the two.

Li Jingfang immediately handed over the fan and said: "Li has seen the master of the ship, and I heard that although the master is young, Wen Taowu is proficient in everything, especially good at foreign affairs, but anyone who deals with foreigners is the best candidate for the imperial court. Li is a little older, compared with the younger generation in ability, he is both ashamed and extremely admirable. ”

Hu Chuyuan still smiled very flatly, and said: "Both of you are overrated, please sit down first, if there is anything, let's sit down and talk slowly." ”

At this time, Chen Shanyuan hurriedly came in and asked Hu Chuyuan: "Boss, the carriage is ready, are you going to meet the governor?" ”

Hu Chuyuan waved his hand and said, "I won't go today, let Hu Rong go and talk to the governor, just say that I suddenly have a few foreign distinguished guests here to sell me new warships, and I can't leave for a while." ”

Chen Shanyuan snorted, and immediately closed the door, not letting the idlers and others see the situation in the flower hall, and not letting others approach.

After a while, he brought tea in himself, and immediately stood guard outside the door.

Li Jingfang watched the whole process carefully, and then praised Hu Chuyuan: "Your Excellency's subordinates are really full of talents, such a close attendant has extraordinary ability and shrewdness that is different from ordinary people." ”

Hu Chuyuan hummed and replied: "If he hadn't been in a hurry in Tianjin, my life would have been gone." Attendants...... There should not be many, smart people, powerful people, one top ten. ”

Li Jingfang praised: "This is indeed the truth." ”

Hu Chuyuan smiled silently and invited him to drink tea with Yan Xinhou, and after a while, he took the initiative to ask Yan Xinhou: "Mr. Yan, did you come to me this time for the Shanghai Steamship Bureau and the layout of machine weaving?" ”

Yan Xinhou said with a smile: "I'm here for this, in fact, this is really a small thing for adults, but Jing Fang is here for national affairs." ”

Hu Chuyuan thought carefully for a moment and said, "Then let's talk about the little things first!" ”

Yan Xin said: "Well, when today's businessman, if you say second, then you don't dare to call it first." In your eyes, the matter of the steamship bureau and the weaving layout, that is, the lice on the bald head, it is obvious, and Lord Zhongtang does not want to hide it, the situation is indeed not optimistic, and the Beiyang Commercial Bank has made up a lot of money in the past two years. Lord Zhongtang said, after all, you and he are both fellow villagers in Anhui, just look at the feelings of fellow villagers, as long as you are willing to take over, the shares held by Beiyang Commercial Bank will be transferred to you free of charge. ”

Hu Chuyuan smiled and said, "Actually, there is no other way, right?" ”

Yan Xinhou also smiled helplessly, and said: "The business methods of the young owner are really clever, Lord Zhongtang asked me for my strategy, I can only tell the truth, I can't get along with you in the business field, that is, I can't get along with money, I can't do it." We're our own family, so let's get it straight. This matter has to be done by you, Lord Zhongtang has only one bottom line, then the income of the official shares must go to the Zhili Yamen. ”

Hu Chuyuan nodded, although he knew everything about the two bureaus, he had to beware of Li Hongzhang's fraud, so he asked again: "How much is the official share?" ”

Yan Xinhou said: "The steamship bureau accounts for forty percent of the shares, and Lord Zhongtang means that it can retreat to two and a half, and the machine weaving layout is three percent, and it can also be retreated to two and a half." As long as you take over, it's up to you to decide what to do. ”

Hu Chuyuan put down the teacup, said "yes" loudly, looked at Yan Xinhou and Li Jingfang again, and continued: "I took this matter." But I have one condition! ”

Yan Xin said kindly: "My lord, please speak!" ”

Hu Chuyuan said: "Let my hand reach into Tianjin, I want to open a new Tianjin Merchants Bureau in Tianjin, I will open fifty percent of the shares in the bureau, the remaining thirty percent will go to the Zhili Yamen, and the other two percent will be held by other businessmen, I won't ask much." The layout of the machine weaving belongs to the China Merchants Bureau, and the China Merchants Bureau and the Jiangnan Steamship Bureau are merged. The profit of shipping is running out, don't worry too much, the key is to get things done. The weaving layout is the most profitable and the widest market, but it is only in Shanghai, and it is not big. ”

"This ......!"

Yan Xinhou didn't dare to make a decision for a while.

Li Jingfang applauded and said: "Sure enough, he is worthy of being the first official and businessman in the world, Li admires it, admires it so much." Okay, I'll agree to this matter for my father, and everything will be done according to Master Hu's wishes. Tianjin Merchants Bureau will operate in Zhili in the future, and there will be absolutely no obstacles, but if there is something inappropriate, adults can come to the father, and naturally the father will be the master for you. ”

Hu Chuyuan nodded silently, he knew that it was Li Jingfang who really dared to make a decision, and Li Hongzhang could not really give power to Yan Xinhou.

Yan Xinhou asked: "Then who should be the general office of this Tianjin Merchants Bureau?" ”

Hu Chuyuan said: "There is no one else, it's you, but I don't know if Mr. Yan means this?" ”

Yan Xinhou was overjoyed and said with a smile: "If you can continue to connect with the owner, it would be really good." ”

Hu Chuyuan nodded.

Li Jingfang also smiled and said: "Mr. Yan is indeed a suitable candidate, but, Lord Hu, will your Tianjin Merchants Bureau be a Beiyang Commercial Bank to steal business?" ”

Hu Chuyuan thought for a while and said: "I only operate in Tianjin, I will not go deep into Hebei, whether there is a dispute or not, it depends on how Lord Zhongtang coordinates." If even so, Mr. Sheng Xuanhuai still refuses to let me go, then there is nothing I can do. ”

Li Jingfang said with a smile: "Don't worry, Lord Hu, Mr. Sheng naturally has me personally to say that he has already been prepared, and he also works for the imperial court, and he doesn't care about these subsections...... However, Mr. Sheng also told me one thing, Shandong's salt industry has always been run by the Beiyang Commercial Bank, but these words, Shandong Governor Wenge also intends to run his own Shandong Commercial Bank, I heard that it seems that he intends to find you to buy shares. ”

Hu Chuyuan said: "Master Wenge didn't discuss this matter with me, he asked Jing Lian, the head of the household, and Jing Lian recommended me, but I refused at that time." Shandong's business is of course very good, but at the moment, everything is focused on the Fuzhou Shipbuilding, and even the Jiangnan Commercial Bank is to let the big shopkeepers at home do it on their own, and there is no energy to manage Shandong. ”

Li Jingfang said with a smile: "Mr. Sheng really wants to manage the trading in Shandong, he said, if the adults can be trusted, Beiyang Commercial Bank is willing to cooperate with Jiangnan Commercial Bank to run Shandong Commercial Bank, and everyone will divide the account." ”

Hu Chuyuan also laughed.

He had been well prepared for this for a long time.

The person he selected was Hu Dazong, and he had already negotiated for Hu Dazong and Wenge, Wenge had a full staff of Hubu Shangshu Jinglian, Prince Su, Prince Gong, etc., who were full of care and support, and he was not afraid of Li Hongzhang at all, let alone Sheng Xuanhuai.

Jing Lian and Prince Su, including Prince Gong, all wanted to leave a piece of land in Shandong, which was under their control, and naturally they couldn't let Li Hongzhang's Beiyang Commercial Bank take it away—they thought it was quite beautiful, and what the outcome would be, I am afraid it was not something they could predict.

Therefore, the matter of running a Shandong commercial bank has been decided, and it will almost be done by the end of the year.

Shandong's salt industry has a huge output, once it is taken down, it means that the salt industry in Henan and Shandong will belong to Shandong Commercial Bank, and as long as there are 30% of the official shares, it will be able to draw out a dividend of 1 million silver every year.

So, Hu Chuyuan just smiled.

He knew in his heart what was important.

He immediately said to Li Jingfang: "I really want to cooperate with Boss Sheng, but unfortunately, this matter is not something I can interfere with." As far as I know, the real backstage is Prince Gong, who insists on letting the Shandong Commercial Bank read out without the interference of the two major commercial houses in Beiyang and Jiangnan. I talked to Prince Gong when I was in Jingshi, and he said that if I want to join one share, help the firm do something, that's okay, if I want to buy two shares, I can talk, and if I want to buy more than three shares, it's a dream. ”

"...... this?"

Li Jingfang was speechless for a while, although they had been plotting this matter for a long time, they really didn't know these details.

After thinking about it, he and Hu Chuyuan asked, "Could it be that there is really no other way?" Today's Shanxi Commercial Bank is getting better and better, and if Shandong also runs its own commercial bank, the business of Beiyang Commercial Bank is about to run out of way. ”

Hu Chuyuan sneered softly and said: "Then I can only blame Boss Sheng for being incompetent, and I don't have the heart to take care of those things, just the Fuzhou Ship Administration is enough for me to worry about." ”

Li Jingfang smiled.

After thinking about it for a while, he asked for his surname not to talk about those annoying things, and smiled with Hu Chuyuan: "Master Hu, you and I are both from Anhui, we might as well open the skylight and say something, as long as it is to take care of Anhui people, my father is happy to do it." In recent years, the adults have continued to sponsor many Huizhou businessmen, and many of them have made a fortune in Shanghai, which is indeed gratifying. My father wants to buy a Huizhou hall in Tianjin to recruit Huizhou businessmen to Tianjin to make a living. ”

The meaning of his words is obvious, that is, to win over Hu Chuyuan, even if he can't defect to the Huai system, the two sides should not continue to compete like this.

Li Hongzhang saw that with Sheng Xuanhuai's ability, he wanted to toss with Hu Chuyuan in the business field, which was too tender. In addition, in the case of children studying in the United States, railways and other incidents, Hu Chuyuan first maintained consistency with him, and then influenced Zuo Zongtang to change his long-term antagonistic attitude towards Hunan and Huai.

Based on these two points alone, Li Hongzhang felt that it was still possible to cooperate with Hu Chuyuan, and then using Hu Chuyuan's attitude to contain Zuo Zongtang would be a clever move.

Hu Chuyuan really didn't think that once he raised the banner of Hui merchants, to some extent, Li Hongzhang would also be a beneficiary.

Both of them have to be stained with the light of this "emblem" in order to establish their own systems in the political arena and in the shopping mall.

Thinking of this, Hu Chuyuan nodded slightly and said, "That's true." ”

If there are many words, it is inconvenient for him to say.

Both sides were still in the tentative stage, and in the evening, Li Jingfang and Yan Xinhou took their leave first.

As soon as they left, Hu Chuyuan sent a telegram to Zuo Zongtang, explaining the matter in detail, which basically means that first take down the weaving layout and the steamship bureau, and then talk about the follow-up things, step by step.

In this regard, Zuo Zongtang also agreed, if he could reach into Tianjin, it would obviously be profitable.

(To be continued)