In the fifth year of Guangxu (1879), on the sixth day of the second lunar month, Zeng Guoquan, the minister of the Qin Mission, officially closed the case, and set the charge of "fornicating with foreign countries and plotting to disrupt the salt administration in the south of the Yangtze River" against Tang Tingshu, Gu Shousong, and Zhang Songxian, and exiled to the frontier according to the law.

The Tang and Gu families absconded in fear of crime, and were fined 200,000 taels of silver, all of which were pursued and arrested by the Prime Minister's foreign yamen.

Salt merchants around the country privately hoarded 115.8 million catties of salt, all of which were paid to the public, and were transferred to Jiangnan Commercial Bank at a price of 7 cents per catty, and the proceeds were used to make up for the military salaries of Liangjiang. Salt merchants in Nanxun, Shanghai and other places were fined 800 yuan per catty of salt, and the deadline was to pay it off within three months.

At this time, the "Jiangnan Salt Disaster Case" that shocked the entire five provinces and the imperial court in Jiangnan finally came to an end, however, its influence continued to expand, and the Nanxun merchant gang was rapidly disintegrating like the Thirteen Banks in Guangdong.

According to this fine standard, the total fine is 30.88 million taels of silver, as long as the businessman who is involved in salt speculation, he will basically go bankrupt this time.

This amount is the heaviest in the history of the Qing Dynasty, in previous years, when encountering salt speculation and salt hoarding, at most it was a fine of 300 yuan per catty, not to mention that this time the area involved was too wide, covering almost the entire five provinces in the south of the Yangtze River.

……

Making money is actually very simple, as long as you seize the opportunity to invest money to absorb at a low price and sell at a high price.

The key is to have capital, to have courage, but also to be able to predict, not to predict, then to master a special source of information.

There must be people who want to make this fortune, but the question is where the funds are, and those who have them must be temporarily transferred...... While others were busy with these things, Hu Chuyuan had already escorted the silver of Snowflake to various places and traded it in cash.

The big thing has been decided.

Hu Chuyuan could finally take a breath and decided to go home.

He has two homes, one in the luxurious Hu family compound in Hangzhou, and the other in Zuo Zongtang's heart.

He went to Jiangning first.

It just so happened that the translation agency he stayed in also delivered the first batch of translated drafts, including the Chinese translation of "The Theory of a Rich Country", as well as a large number of current political news from the book and Europe and the United States, so he took these manuscripts with him and prepared to send them to Zuo Zongtang

Riding the river wheel upstream, when he arrived at the yamen of the governor of Jiangning Liangjiang, it was already late.

Hu Chuyuan took a rented sedan chair and parked in the yamen sedan hall, and Hu Rong went in with a post, but after a while, Hu Ruilan and a thousand generals led several Hunan soldiers to greet him.

Hearing the sound, Hu Chuyuan walked down from the sedan chair and met Hu Ruilan head-on.

This person is already down, but he is Hu Chuyuan's mentor, out-and-out, without his support, Hu Chuyuan has no chance to become a lifter.

Hu Chuyuan stepped forward to greet him and said, "Teacher, how are you doing recently?" ”

Hu Ruilan laughed and said, "Hu Shao, don't come to harm!" ”

Strange, since Xu Run made a head and called Hu Chuyuan with "Hu Shao", this abbreviated honorific title has swept Shanghai, and it has been blown to Jiangning so soon.

This honorific title is also just right to use.

Calling Hu Chuyuan "Young Master Hu" seems to be less respectful, after all, people are the richest man in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, calling him "Hu Ye" and "Boss Hu", but he is too young, he just called him "Hu Ye" when he was just twenty years old, and when he is forty years old, wouldn't it be to call him "Hu Zuzong"?

Therefore, everyone thinks that "Hu Shao" is easier to use.

Hu Chuyuan nodded silently and asked, "How is Lord Zhongtang?" ”

Hu Ruilan smiled: "Okay, I'm waiting for you in the flower hall, so come with me!" ”

Hu Chuyuan nodded again and entered the side courtyard of the yamen with Hu Ruilan.

Entering the Qiyun Pavilion, where the governor often rested, there were more than a dozen sturdy officers and soldiers guarding it, and there was also a staff general wearing a military attache uniform from the sixth rank to lead the team.

In the middle of Qiyun Pavilion is a flower hall, which is much larger than the ordinary flower hall, this is the place where the governor of Liangjiang usually talks with his staff, back then, Zeng Guofan died here.

Many years later, Zeng Guoquan also died here.

When Hu Chuyuan walked in, Zuo Zongtang was sitting on the cloud couch reading a book, and a tung oil lamp was lit next to him, he was already old, his eyes were not only dim, but also glaucoma, with a pair of crystal reading glasses, and he had to use a magnifying glass to see the handwriting clearly.

Seeing this scene, Hu Chuyuan felt an unspeakable sadness in his heart, and couldn't help but sigh that the years are urging people to grow old, and life is ...... It seems to be passing by in a flash, and if you say old, you will be old.

Who can have a next life?

He asked people to put those translations on a pang, and stepped forward to see: "Junior Hu Chuyuan has seen Lord Zhongtang!" ”

Zuo Zongtang had already heard his footsteps, saw him, put down the book, and waved his hand to send him back.

After Hu Ruilan and the others left, Zuo Zongtang asked Hu Chuyuan to get up and sit down, looked at the pile of manuscripts and asked him, "What are these?" ”

Hu Chuyuan said: "The last time I went to Yuben, I left a translation agency in Tokyo to specialize in translating current political news and the latest books, which was the first batch of manuscripts they translated in the past two months. ”

"Oh?" Zuo Zongtang was slightly overjoyed, and said secretly: Sure enough, he is a caring person, this thing is very wonderful.

But he still said quietly: "Then stay with me and let me take a look." ”

Hu Chuyuan nodded silently.

Zuo Zongtang asked again: "After the salt case, your family is much richer than before, how much money can you have now, but there is a standard?" ”

Hu Chuyuan didn't hide it, and said: "Thanks to Zhongtang's care, my current financial resources are 30 million taels is not too little, 50 million taels is not too much!" ”

Zuo Zongtang bowed his head slightly and asked, "Then what do you want to do later?" ”

Hu Chuyuan asked, "Is Lord Zhongtang asking about my family affairs or state affairs?" ”

Zuo Zongtang said: "Family affairs are uncertain, why talk about state affairs, let's talk about family affairs first!" ”

Hu Chuyuan said: "Recruit talents and continue to make money!" ”

"...... this?" Zuo Zongtang could only continue to ask: "What about state affairs?" ”

Hu Chuyuan said with a smile: "Recruit talents and continue to make money!" ”

"Huh!" Zuo Zongtang couldn't help but chuckle, and hummed slightly reproachfully: "You kid is not honest, let's talk to the old man about the details!" ”

Hu Chuyuan chirped and said: "At present, there are several things that are the most important, the first thing is, of course, the silk and tea industries in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, I am ready to concentrate manpower and financial resources to build a silk industry cooperative in the south of the Yangtze River, issue loans to small farmers, and open nurseries and silkworm seed nurseries in various places." The second thing is to open a canal to build a reservoir, I recently researched, the reason why the lake silk is good, the key is that the mulberry leaves are fat and tender, which must have sufficient water source irrigation to ensure it. Therefore, if the silk industry in Hangzhou, Jinqu and other places in Zhejiang Province wants to improve, the key is to build reservoirs and repair canals. ”

Zuo Zongtang nodded silently and asked, "What about the third thing?" ”

Hu Chuyuan said: "The Chinese Culture Museum, the Western Culture Museum and the Agricultural Science Museum cultivate talents. ”

Zuo Zongtang bowed his head and said: "Yes, these three things are very important, but I have three urgent things for you to handle right now!" ”

This...... That's a lot!

Zuo Zongtang's urgent matter will definitely not be a trivial matter, if it is a trivial matter, he will not let Hu Chuyuan do it.