At the end of February 1857, China and Vietnam signed the Treaty of Phu Xuan, which later history books describe as the beginning of Vietnam's inclusion in the sphere of influence of the Greater China system.

In March 1857, the Guangdong sailors left Tuodan and returned home.

As Guangzhou has become the most dynamic treaty port, Hong Kong's wharf has become busy, with steamers flying flags flying various countries shuttling back and forth, and pedestrians in Sai Ying Pun and Wong Nai Chung becoming more and more bustling.

The two-story small western-style building, separated by stained glass, can overlook the densely shaded racecourse.

Ye Zhao and Green sat opposite each other, sipping coffee and chatting.

Green is the person in charge of the Shenghe Xing Gunpowder Factory, and the original branch factory in Hong Kong should be fully managed by Ye Zhao, but Ye Zhao has never had a suitable candidate, so he has tacitly accepted Green's identity as the person in charge of the gunpowder factory, but the name has not been corrected, and the identity translated into Chinese is "acting factory director".

Green introduced the operation of the gunpowder factory and the machinery to be shipped to Hong Kong, including a set of machines with a production capacity of 1,000 pounds of gunpowder, an iron hammer hammer, a copper drawing machine, an iron furnace gas furnace, and so on.

If it is completed, this will not only be an arsenal that produces rifles, bullets, grenades, and shells, but theoretically, with the cooperation of Foshan's iron and steel mills, and even giant caliber artillery can be built, as long as there are corresponding technicians, new equipment, and a little flexibility.

With work experience in an explosives factory, Green greatly appreciated the learning and comprehension of Chinese workers, because in addition to technical engineers, there are not many skilled skilled workers in China, and he is ready to train a large number of local workers, after all, the price of hiring Chinese labor is extremely low, and the annual salary is only one-tenth of that of London workers, and it is particularly hard-working, and there is no concept of overtime being exploited.

"The new site of the arsenal is set in Foshan, and in a few days, your industrial explosives factory will also move there."

Green was stunned and moved to Foshan? I haven't heard Mr. Wells say this, looking up, Mr. Ye's face is calm, as if he casually asks someone to pour a cup of tea.

"Mr. Ye, then, shall I write a letter to Mr. Wells?" Green cautiously consulted Ye Zhao's opinion.

"Yes, the equipment will arrive in a few days, right, and it will be shipped directly to Foshan."

Green felt bitter in his heart, he didn't know to tell himself, did he have to do this with or without writing a letter?

The Arsenal Explosives Factory moved to Foshan, and Green knew that this was clearly the Chinese grandfather who wanted to keep it firmly in the palm of his hand, and from a commercial point of view, there was nothing wrong with moving to Foshan, after all, the largest steel plant in the Far East was built there, and the arsenal had its support and wonderful development prospects.

But I'm afraid that after the arsenal explosives factory moves to Foshan, it will no longer be a pure commercial enterprise, and bandits will come to buy firearms, will my grandfather still sell it to him?

"You listen to me, Mr. Wells is here, and you have to listen to me." Ye Zhao's tone was very flat, but there was an unquestionable authority.

Of course, Green knows that the entire Shenghe Bank, the majority shareholder of Wells has 60% of the shares, and Mr. Ye has 40% of the shares, which is originally on an equal footing, and in China, Mr. Wells is afraid that Mr. Ye's opinion will prevail.

"Okay, then." Green finally made up his mind, it is better than being fired by Mr. Ye immediately, and if Mr. Wells turns over old accounts in the future, at least in China, Mr. Ye can save himself.

"Well, you do this errand well, if you have a problem, find Ruisi." Ye Zhao stood up and walked out as he spoke, Green hurriedly got up to send him off, Mr. Ye is always like this, there are a lot of words that should be said, and there are not many words that should not be said, and the tone of each sentence is flat but it seems to oppress you, and there is an irresistible pressure. Intuitively, this Mr. Ye is much deeper and more terrifying than Mr. Wells.

…… The Lotus Building of the General's Mansion has been completed, a combination of Chinese and Western styles, a pale red three-story building, glazed cornices, carved beams and painted columns.

Rong'er is wearing a cute little peony cheongsam, tall and beautiful flag shoes, and she is even more picturesque, from the main gate of the general's mansion to welcome Xianggong into the back house, seeing Xianggong, Rong'er is very happy, and she wants to take Xianggong's hand and walk together, but a group of maidservants are running and jogging to follow her, Rong'er has to put on the reserve of the housemother, and follow Xianggong back to the inner house lightly.

The layout of the lotus building is designed by Chinese and Western masters, there are more than a dozen large and small rooms such as a large banquet living room, a study room, a smoking room, a music room, etc., on the first floor, and the second and third floors are almost identical, all of them are suites, according to Ye Zhao, it is a bedroom and a living room.

The second floor, like the third floor, is a long corridor to the south, closed by stained glass windows, hanging European-style snow-white lace curtains, the corridor runs from east to west, and on the north side are luxurious and heavy mahogany doors, each door opens to reveal a one-bedroom suite.

On each red door, there are exquisitely carved gold lacquer plaques, carved with the name of each suite, such as Rong'er, who chose the "Daisy Pavilion" in the second room of the second floor of the east, and Ye Zhao, adjacent to Rong'er, the "Marigold Pavilion" in the first room of the east, in fact, from east to west, the name of the suite is named after the lucky flowers of the month, such as the marigolds in January, the daisies in February, and so on.

The hardware facilities of each suite are the same, as for the software, it is naturally decided by the owner, just like Rong'er likes to sleep on a small elastic cotton bed, and Ye Zhao's Marigold Pavilion is a shelf bed with a complex structure.

There are two rooms inside and outside the suite, the inside is a bedroom, and there is also a soft couch outside the room for the personal maid to rest, and it is said to be a bedroom and a living room, in fact, the bathroom and the restaurant are complete, and the toilet and bathtub are the top products selected, basically, there is no difference from the modern washroom, except for more luxury.

Because of the lotus building of the General's Mansion, Guangzhou has the first sewer leading to the flowing river outside the city, of course, it is only a ditch that sticks to the wall, covered with thick stone slabs, but Ye Zhao believes that slowly the sewers in the urban area of Guangzhou will develop in all directions, first of all, those rich households, after seeing the sewer system of the General's Mansion, even if they don't use the flush toilet, they will find that the very annoying problem of "night fragrance" is easy to solve, so no one wants to use that kind of dirty open-air toilet.

That's when the sewer pipes were actually erected.

Although the waterworks have not been officially put into operation, the pipeline leading to the General's Mansion has supplied water, and at the same time, a boiler has been erected in the General's Mansion, and all the hot and cold water in the Peony Building is automatically supplied.

Rong'er is very interested in tap water, although she chose a room, but has not moved in, followed Xianggong into the Marigold Pavilion, saw Xianggong washing his face and hands when the hot water coming out of the tap pipe, curiously looked, and secretly went to screw the cold water switch, snort, the water dragon squirted, Rong'er was startled, and hurriedly closed it.

Ye Zhao laughed, stretched out his hand and hugged her legs like a child, and said with a smile: "Little cutie, do you miss me?" In fact, Ye Zhao wanted to hug her a long time ago, but the maid outside followed, and she couldn't help but take care of her mistress's authority, and in front of others, she couldn't treat her like a child.

Rong'er was held by Xianggong like this, she almost died of anger, she really wanted to hit Xianggong's head with her small forehead, struggled hard, and said, "Let me down!" ”

(To be continued)