In March of the third year of Xianfeng, Yuyao, Zhejiang.

A middle-aged man hurriedly turned the stone alley, and then approached the gate of a house, the door was written with two vermilion characters 'Lin Mansion', I saw him go to the side, and then knocked on the copper buckle on the side door, and soon the side door was opened, and a small guy with a melon skin hat came out, and after this little guy saw the person, he immediately smiled and said: "Steward An, you can come back, the old lady and the young master have been waiting for you for a long time!" ”

Steward An didn't look at him much, but nodded slightly and walked through the side door, and then walked straight inside.

After a short time, he appeared in a side hall, and in addition to him, there was a noble lady about fifty years old, wearing red silk and wearing an east-pearl hosta.

In addition, there was a man about twenty years old who was dressed in a dark blue brocade robe, with a white face and beard, and I saw him sitting in the second place, listening to Steward An with a flat expression.

Maybe he was in a hurry on the way here, and Steward An's voice was a little hurried: "Madam, young master, the little one has already found out clearly, the Guangdong thieves have conquered Zhenjiang many days ago, and the official army has been defeated and left, and the traces of the thief army have appeared in other places one after another, and the small one has heard some people outside that even Huzhou has found traces of the thief army." ”

Above, Mrs. Lin's already wrinkled face became even more wrinkled: "How is the situation in our warehouses in Zhenjiang and several surrounding prefectures and counties?" ”

Steward An said cautiously: "Wuxi and Changzhou have been safely evacuated, but Zhenjiang and the warehouses in Liyang and Lishui have all been raided by the thief army, and the shopkeeper Shen or the shopkeeper Shi have been killed......"

The old lady's expression changed slightly after hearing this, but her dim eyes still did not change, and she only heard her soft 'oh' and said: "I remember that in Zhenjiang and the surrounding places, there are at least 40,000 taels of cash and goods in the warehouse!" ”

Steward An replied: "Although there is no detailed number, the silver and goods in these warehouses add up to at least 40,000 taels of silver!" ”

The old lady's face still didn't change, but she said: "I know, you go back first to do a good job of the aftermath, the victims will be given generous pensions, and those who have school-age children in the family can go to the private school at home for free to study, since they have been killed in the work of my Lin family, my old wife will definitely not treat them badly!" ”

After Steward An bowed and retreated, Mrs. Nalin turned her head to look at the young man in this position: "It seems that Zhe'er is really right, this thief army has really taken Zhenjiang!" ”

The young man named Lin Zhe sighed lightly: "Our action is still a little late, if we can evacuate a few days earlier, I'm afraid it won't be ......."

Mrs. Lin didn't care at this time: "Now this situation is already rare, and we are still withdrawing early, so we can be regarded as withdrawing half of the warehouses, and the others may not be!" ”

Lin Zhe also nodded: "What my mother said is that now the thief army is strong, and we still have a warehouse in Suzhou and Huzhou to fight early, and we plan to withdraw to Hangzhou or Shanghai first, so as not to encounter accidents at that time!" ”

Mrs. Lin said: "That's the reason, it's getting more and more chaotic these years, although our Lin family has a big business, but there is no reason to send money and goods to the thief army in vain, you will work hard these days and withdraw the warehouses in these places!" ”

"The child got it!" Lin Zhe responded.

Mrs. Lin hummed softly and closed her eyes slightly.

Lin Zhe knew that it was time for him to retreat, but he just got up: "The child will go back first!" ”

Walking out of the side hall, Lin Zhe turned his head and went to the study in the front yard, and after a while, the housekeeper An and several other people, old and young, had already arrived at the study.

Lin Zhe glanced at these people, and said with the same flat face as before: "Now in this situation, the warehouses everywhere are going to shrink, the warehouses west of Suzhou are going to be withdrawn, and the warehouses in Huzhou, Jiaxing, Hangzhou and other places are also going to be reduced!" ”

As soon as these words came out, the faces of several people changed slightly, and immediately an old man with a white beard and about sixty years old said: "Young master, the raw silk purchased by the warehouses in these places every year occupies at least one-third of our volume, and once this is withdrawn, I am afraid it will have a big impact on this year's business!" ”

Another person also said: "We and several foreign companies have a large supply list, once we can't receive enough cocoons and cause a breach of contract, I'm afraid it will be ......."

Lin Zhe said: "The purchase of silkworm cocoons naturally cannot be broken, but Suzhou and Huzhou are not able to stock and store silver, and a batch of goods will be shipped if they are collected!" ”

"Uncle De, you have to continue to take on the matter of purchasing silkworm cocoons and soil silk, don't let the people below mess up!" Lin Zhe, who was speaking, looked at the white-bearded old man, and then looked at Steward An: "The personnel who have withdrawn will be arranged to Shanghai as much as possible, and the aftermath work will have to be done by Steward An!" ”

Then he looked around again: "Several shopkeepers are old people who have been with our Lin family for decades, and at this juncture, we still need everyone to work harder, go down for a walk more, and try to avoid the loss of this turmoil!" ”

Speaking of this, Lin Zhe paused slightly, and then said: "I'm afraid that you will have to work hard in the next month, so you will go to the account office in the house to pay one more month's salary!" ”

Hearing Lin Zhe's words, those people all looked frightened, and Uncle Nade, who was the leader, even said: "Young Master, how does this make us, we are all ......"

Before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by Lin Zhe raising his hand, and then: "You don't have to excuse yourself!" ”

The others listened to Lin Zhe's words, and immediately said, "Then thank the young master for his generous gift!" ”

Lin Zhe nodded: "Steward An stays, you all go back to do things!" ”

Immediately, several other people went out one after another, leaving only Steward An!

Lin Zhe spoke again: "How did you inquire about the purchase of the machine?" ”

Steward An was stunned for a moment, but soon reacted: "Young master, you are talking about running various machines in the silk reeling factory!" ”

Lin Zhe nodded!

Steward An said: "I inquired a few days ago, there is no machine reeling silk factory in China now, if we want to do it, this machine is afraid that it will be purchased from foreign companies, and the price over there is not low, and this set will cost tens of thousands of taels of silver!" ”

Lin Zhe listened and nodded: "It's good to be able to buy it, you can ask about the details again, not only to buy the machine, but also to ask the technician who understands how to start the machine, ask clearly, and hand me a charter!" ”

Steward An responded in a low voice, his face a little worried, but he didn't say anything and went out.

After Steward An went out, Lin Zhe stood up and walked out of the window, looked at the slightly gloomy sky outside the window, and then sighed deeply and said to himself: "If you don't run a silk reeling factory, I'm afraid that in a few years, the handicraft workshop at home will be squeezed to death!" ”

When he was talking to himself, he thought of the Taiping troops hundreds of miles away, and remembered the goods and dead employees in Zhenjiang and Jinling, and he couldn't help but smile bitterly.

As early as a month ago, he had warned his mother, saying that the Taiping army was attacking fiercely, and the official army had no way to hold Zhenjiang and a series of surrounding prefectures and counties, but his mother did not fully listen to it, and did not withdraw the personnel and goods in Zhenjiang and the surrounding counties in time, and suffered heavy losses.

With a wry smile, he felt a kind of powerlessness, he was originally a person in later generations, where he expected to wake up after a car accident, but he had spanned more than a hundred years, and leaned over Lin Zhe, the only son of the Yuyao Lin family in Shaoxing, Zhejiang.

When he first came to this era, all kinds of discomfort and hesitation aside, since he arrived in this era last year, he began to have the heart to collect some contemporary current affairs rumors, knowing that Hong Xiuquan had conquered Jinling as early as the tenth day of the second month, and conquered the inner city of Jinling the next day, and ten days later Tianping Heavenly Kingdom set the capital of Jinling, and changed this city to Tianjing.

So when he diligently read the official newspaper and other rumors he had gathered, he had already concluded last month that it was absolutely impossible for the Qing army to hold Zhenjiang and Yangzhou, a series of important cities in eastern Jinling.

And now it has indeed proved his inference: on February 22, the Taiping army fell into Zhenjiang, and only a day later, the Taiping army fell into Yangzhou, and both the imperial court and the local officials and gentry in southern Jiangsu and Jiangbei were greatly alarmed.

Even the foreigners in the Shanghai Concession were very nervous, and on the first day of March, they decided to set up a 'Shanghai Volunteer Army' in the Concession to ensure the security of Shanghai in the chaotic situation.

The panic of the imperial court and local officials is not to be said, but for the gentry in southern Jiangsu, the war is undoubtedly a catastrophe, and the gentry in the war zone have fled to Shanghai and other places in a panic, and for the Lin family, although the war has not yet spread to northern Zhejiang, it has had a great impact on the business of the Lin family.

What made Lin Zhe even more worried was that he remembered that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had come to Zhejiang, although he didn't know exactly what year and month it was, but it didn't matter when he came, the key was that the Taiping Army would come.

You must know that before the arrival of the Taiping Army, although Zhejiang was not a rich place in the world, it was also considered to live and work in peace and contentment, although the people were bitter but not full of corpses, but after the Taiping Army marched into Zhejiang, the Taiping Army and the Qing Army launched a tug-of-war in Zhejiang, especially in northern Zhejiang, a large number of people were killed and injured in the war, and some people fled, but more because of the impact of the war, agricultural production was almost completely destroyed, and countless people were starved to death.

For the Lin family, it is no exception, once the Taiping army comes to Zhejiang, this will be a heavy loss for the Lin family, if not a catastrophe.

Just as Lin Zhe was thinking about this, there was a rush of footsteps outside, and soon a middle-aged man walked in, this person was the third housekeeper of the Lin Mansion, and he looked panicked: "Young master, something happened to Zhuangzi in the east of the city!" ”

Lin Zhe frowned: "Speak slowly, what's wrong?" ”

The third steward slowed down slightly, and then said: "I don't know where a gang of bandits came from this morning to surround our Zhuangzi, and about 100 people want to attack Zhuangzi under the banner of the Taiping Thief Army!" ”