Wang Qing's eyes flashed, and he hated Shen Bingcheng a hundred times in his heart. But he is very sober-minded, Shen Bingcheng is a big man who can't even be handled by Ding Richang, although his Axe Gang is powerful, but they are all lower-class people, and there is nothing to do with this Shanghai Taotai.

Gang forces have always been a urinal in the eyes of the upper echelons, and they are used when something happens, and they are very treated; It's okay, how far to throw it, not distressed at all.

This sentence is a sentence that Liu Xian told Wang Qing when the development prospects of the Axe Gang were good. But Wang Qing didn't understand, but after all these years, he really understood the meaning of this sentence.

Now Li Hongzhang wants to set up a steamship company, form an alliance with the Qin army, and grab the territory of foreigners. The 'workers' association' shrouded by his own axe gang can really help a little from it, so Zhu Qiang and Li Hongzhang's staff Sheng Xuanhuai are kind to the axe gang. But to expect these people to speak in front of Shen Bingcheng for the Axe Gang is wishful thinking.

"The Chuansha Fumin Hall only received your greetings? Are those dogs going to work so hard? ”

"You don't want to offend my Axe Gang, just make a show for Shen Bingcheng? Are you a fool to be Lao Tzu? ”

Wang Qing spoke harshly, and in his words, he seemed to want to put a piece of cotton cloth on Wang Yuanbin's face again. "Slow, slow. There is also Xi Zhengfu, a brother of Xi Zhengfu who met with Chuan Shatong and sentenced Lord Wu the day before yesterday. ”

Dongshan Xi Jia Xi Zhengfu, one of the four major compradors in Shanghai today, is a native of Dongshan, Wu County, Suzhou. The second comprador of the British HSBC Bank in Shanghai.

In the fifth year of Tongzhi, that is, in 1866 in the Western calendar, he became the running street of the British merchant HSBC, and in 1869 in the Western calendar, Xi Zhengfu represented Wang Huaishan, the comprador of the HSBC Bank, to negotiate with the Qing government about the loan for the southwest chaos. At last. HSBC lent the Qing government a loan of 3 million 20 years at a much higher interest rate than at that time. The success of this loan set a precedent for HSBC's political loans, freed the bank from its financial predicament, and enabled Xi Zhengfu to gain momentum from then on. not only became a comprador of HSBC, but also was appreciated by Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang and others.

From then on, in order to obtain huge loans, the bureaucrats of the late Qing Dynasty vied with each other to win over Xi Zhengfu, and Li Hongzhang also specially wrote to Beijing to sponsor him for his official position, and Xi Zhengfu accepted the second-rank red-capped flower feather. He also donated the post of the platform. By virtue of his close relationship with the Qing court and his status as a comprador of HSBC, he benefited greatly from left and right. From 1870 to 1872, the Qing government borrowed three loans from HSBC, and local ministers borrowed five from HSBC. It was all handled by Xi Zhengfu, and in addition to getting a large amount of commissions, HSBC also communicated with Xi Zhengfu up and down, and the business was booming, which made him even more generous.

The Chinese have always said that 'one person attains the Tao and the chicken dog ascends to heaven'. Xi Zhengfu is the same, using his social connections to introduce relatives, friends, and acquaintances to the foreign bank at this time, and a visible Dongshan Gang is rising.

"Xi Zhengfu?" Wang Qing sneered. It's really unexpected. When the Xi family came, he thought he was talking about building a warehouse on the land in Gaoqiao Town. There was not the slightest suspicion at all.

It turned out to be the Xi family!

Xi Zhengfu, Tang Tingshu, Xu Run, and Zheng Guanying are collectively known as the four major compradors of today's Western affairs. In the original space-time. The fate of three of the four was inextricably linked to Li Hongzhang's steamship China Merchants Bureau. When Li Hongzhang was preparing to build the China Merchants Steamship Bureau, Tang Tingshu and Xu Run were already famous in the southeast. Both of them have already laid a "great fortune" for their respective foreign proprietors in China. But as soon as Li Hongzhang summoned them, the two immediately gave up the preferential treatment in the foreign bank and defected to the China Merchants Bureau in the grass creation. Part of the reason for their move may be Li Hongzhang's social status and personality charm at this time, but it is unavoidable that both of them have a heart to serve the country. As a Chinese. Seeing foreign foreign companies running rampant in China, my heart is always not happy. Willing to enter China Merchants. Maybe it's a bit for the sake of "getting rid of the king's affairs in the world and winning the name of the past and the back." ”

Although China Merchants has not yet been officially established. Wang Qing understood, however, that Qin Jun's Nanyang Shipping Company had already begun to meddle in the Guangzhou-Shanghai route, and was now fighting with the three major foreign merchants. Tang and Xu met and discussed with Fan Debang who came to Shanghai during this time. In Wang Qing's view, these two should be regarded as 'their own people'. Even now Qichang Foreign Bank in the United States values Xu Run and wants to hire him with a high salary. It's just that Xu Run has decided to defect to the China Merchants Administration of Steamship. [Jin Nengheng of Qichang Foreign Company opened China's first steamship company, Qichang Steamship Company, built 16 shops of "Jinliyuan Wharf", opened the Shanghai-Hankou route, and now occupies 80% of the Yangtze River shipping share. 】

Zheng Guanying, on the other hand, is now co-operating with the Impartial Steamship Company. However, judging from the information Wang Qing got from Fan Debang, Zheng Guanying was also preparing to take a stake in the steamship China Merchants Administration.

Among the four major compradors, Xi Zhengfu was the only one from beginning to end, and he ignored Li Hongzhang's solicitation. Moreover, Xi Zhengfu has repeatedly led HSBC's loan agreements, and the interest rate is always much higher than the market rate, which is really a national thief and a traitor.

"Xi Zhengfu himself, I don't dare to move. The branches and leaves of the Xi family, the master will cut off one for you first. After Wang Qing sneered, he directly ordered in front of Wang Yuanbin: "Sue the people of Gaoqiao Town, throw the surnamed Xi into the Huangpu River to plant lotus flowers for me." ”

……

In February, with the official arrival of Nanyang Shipping Company in Shanghai, and with the arrival of Fan Debang, an inconspicuous store opened on Nanjing Road.

The store is more like a haberdashery store than traditional Chinese trading. Sale: grain, cloth, salt, candy, matches, cigarettes, ironware, tea, etc. The structure inside is like that of the supply and marketing cooperatives in China in the 80s in the previous life, with one person at each counter, another shopkeeper and two cashiers. This shopkeeper is also the owner of this store, and he is a person from within the Qin army. He did not belong to the intelligence department, and he came to Shanghai with only one task - to concentrate on business and make money.

Shanghainese people are very welcoming to such shops. All kinds of goods are involved, and the price is clearly marked, and the price is not more expensive than others, so the business is very hot on the opening day.

Especially the candy sold in the store. Whether it is colorful fruit candy, pure white milk candy, or crystal clear white sugar, rock sugar, it is immediately famous in Jiangsu and Shanghai. In less than ten months, a large share was snatched from the hands of foreign sugar.

A month passed, and the profitability of the store shocked Vanderbang. Impressively up to tens of thousands of eagles!

And almost without hesitation, Liu Xian gave an order, and in March, Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangzhou, Fuzhou, Hankou, etc., more than half of the 15 ports of the Qing Dynasty opened to the outside world, such shops appeared, and there were not one or two in each city.

Taking Shanghai and Guangzhou as examples, in 1514, nine were opened in the two cities. (To be continued) R655