For two whole days, He Feitu and a group of wealthy businessmen learned court etiquette under the guidance of the officials of the Department of Etiquette, including how to walk after entering the palace, how to salute when he saw Emperor Lin Zhehou, and where to stand and sit during the banquet.

He Feitu and others are also top rich people, and they are complimented by others on weekdays, but now they have to be taught etiquette like dirt buns, which is the first time in their lives.

However, although he was regarded as a primary school student and a dumpling, no one said a word of complaint, after all, everyone knows that this state banquet is not trivial, and if there is any failure at the banquet, it is estimated that it will not be as simple as losing face.

After two days of study, the third day was the official time for the state banquet, and He Feitu began to prepare from the morning, specially brought from Shanghai, two sets of short suits and dresses made by Mr. Li, the top tailor in the business area, and a set of Han-style dresses were also prepared.

After some hesitation, He Feitu felt that he was a businessman, although the He family was a wealthy family, but it was far from being a scholarly family and a wealthy gentry, so he didn't follow them to wear a Han-style dress, anyway, although this state banquet was a state banquet, but it was not a formal national ceremony, and wearing a Han-style dress in the past seemed too grand, so he immediately chose a black short Western-style dress, with a walking stick, a top hat and a pair of black leather shoes.

After the entourage circled around a few times and said that it was all right, he went out and got into a four-wheeled carriage, in order not to be rude, the accompanying coachman and the two entourages were all dressed in full clothes, otherwise it would be difficult to enter the Zhonghua Palace.

As the carriage swayed all the way, He Feitu arrived at the gate of the Zhonghua Palace at half past ten in the morning. After the entourage handed the invitation to the officials in front, He Feitu also got out of the car and underwent a full body examination. Then he entered the palace gate under the leadership of a palace affairs department staff, and as for the carriage and the entourage, they were naturally not allowed to enter the palace. You can only wait outside.

After entering the Zhonghua Palace from the small palace gate on one side, He Feitu saw the tall and magnificent Xinhua Hall at a glance, but unfortunately this grand hall has not yet been completed, and after walking for a long time, he was brought into a side hall, and there were already many people waiting for the state banquet like him.

Looking at it, these rich gentry who were calm in the past couldn't help but put excited looks on their faces, and it didn't take long for them to be able to see the holy face, which is for contemporary people. It is undoubtedly a major life event.

After entering this side hall, the people in the palace hall left first, and He Feitu also knew the etiquette training he had participated in two days ago, and now he should have waited for everyone to gather and then enter the venue together.

Taking advantage of this time, he started talking with those rich businessmen again!

When these wealthy businessmen were about to enter, in a side hall on the other side of the China Palace, a group of high-ranking officials in Chinese costumes were also chatting with each other, and of course, they inevitably said complaining words.

Especially Gangdo Spring. When facing Qi Xuanhao, he didn't have a good face, he was a minister of education, and he would be the secretary of the Ministry of Rites in the Ming and Qing dynasties, and he was the most noble minister. But today, he actually wanted to bring Qi Xuanhao as a companion, and he was also a group of mountain merchants full of copper smell as a companion, which made Jiang Daoquan feel a little uncomfortable.

But look at the hundreds of thousands of funds promised by Qi Xuanhao. Jiang Daoquan also endured it, although he didn't give him a good face. didn't scold Qi Xuanhao on the spot.

After a few minutes of small talk, they heard footsteps outside. Not long after, I saw a group of high-ranking military generals wearing generals' uniforms rushing in, and these people were headed by Chen Yuntao, chief of the Joint Staff, and the rest of the ministers, as well as the commanders of a small number of field units.

The pomp and circumstance of these military generals is much greater than that of these civilian officials, not to mention anything else, that is, the knighthood medal on the chest of the group of generals led by them is incomparable to that of a civilian official.

Among the military generals here, nearly half of them have knighthoods, but there is none on the civilian side, and Bi Yutong, the only one with a knighthood in the civilian system, is still driving in Pingrentang at this time.

After those military generals entered, they didn't talk to the civilian officials, and they formed a small circle chatting on their own, Qi Xuanhao listened carefully, okay, among the ten people, five people said about the war in Shanghai, and the remaining five were all scolded by their own finance department for withholding funds.

Occasionally, the gaze towards it is not kind, and it is estimated that he wants to swallow Qi Xuanhao alive.

This made Qi Xuanhao feel a little unhappy, damn, what is Lao Tzu working so hard to hold a fundraising state banquet for? It's not to raise military expenses for you warriors, it's good now, I don't appreciate it but continue to scold Lao Tzu, and when I don't fight, I see if Lao Tzu doesn't deduct your military expenses.

The two groups of civil and military forces, one occupies the left and the other occupies the right, which can be said to be distinct and do not interfere with each other.

After waiting for a while, the officials of the Etiquette Department and the officials of the Palace Affairs Department in front of him entered together, and the director of the Etiquette Department headed by him immediately bowed down and said to the many bigwigs present: "Ladies and gentlemen, the venue is ready, please enter!" ”

Chen Yuntao on the military side didn't reply, he just raised his feet and left, and he crossed the group of civilian officials to enter the venue, and the civilian officials watched a vote of generals pass in front of them, and a few wanted to open their mouths to say something but didn't say anything, but honestly waited for the military people to go in first, and they followed behind.

The place where the state banquet is held is a side hall of the China Palace, called Taihua Pavilion, which is not a large office building or ceremonial building, just a small side hall, but before the completion of the Xinhua Palace, this just completed side hall temporarily undertook the place of ceremonial activities.

Taihua Pavilion is not luxurious, and the area is not large, but the interior is a pure hall, not divided into offices and the like, so the cabinet appears quite wide, and the Western-style building has a large number of glass windows, which makes the interior lighting very good.

After entering the Taihua Pavilion, this state banquet can be regarded as officially begins, rich businessmen and gentry from all over the country chatted with the high-level civil and military officials, and most of those businessmen took advantage of this rare opportunity to ask some policy questions. For example, the most important concern of the raw silk industry is whether the high tax policy on domestic sales of raw silk will continue. How long will it last, and is there any possibility of reducing the tax rate on raw silk products. How much can be reduced, etc.

Qi Xuanhao, who is in charge of this matter, also tries his best to answer the questions of these raw silk merchants from Jiangsu and Zhejiang, of course, he will never promise anything, such as the tax rate of raw silk products that these raw silk merchants are concerned about.

Raw silk products from ancient times to the present is a luxury, most of the people can not afford to wear, only the rich family can be a brocade, and for this luxury jewelry The tax policy of the Ministry of Finance has always been very unified, that is, high taxes.

In particular, the tax rate on domestic raw silk products is higher than the tax rate on exports, which actually has the chill of fiscal control.

Although the domestic raw silk production has developed, it will still maintain a total amount on the whole. That is to say, if there is more domestic sales of raw silk, then there will be less exports, and if there are fewer exports, there will be less foreign exchange such as pounds sterling that can be exchanged back, and it will be difficult to buy imported goods with less foreign exchange.

If there are fewer imports and exports, there will be a negative impact on the revenue from customs duties.

Therefore, for the raw silk industry, the empire's policy tended to encourage exports and suppress domestic sales.

When he saw those people from the Shanghai Raw Silk Chamber of Commerce leaving Qi Xuanhao's side, He Feitu also hurriedly pulled his friend forward, who had seen Qi Xuanhao. Just in time to introduce him.

When the friend arrived at Qi Xuanhao, he said respectfully: "Master Ge, this is He Feitu of Huisheng Textile Company!" ”

Immediately, He Feitu said respectfully: "I've seen Elder Ge!" ”

It is said that Qi Ge is old, but in fact, Qi Xuanhao is not as old as He Feitu. He is forty-six years old this year, a few years younger than He Feitu, who has already run five, but this old word in Qi Ge Laozhong is not the 'old' it originally intended. It's the 'guy' of the big guys.

Qi Xuanhao glanced at He Feitu and thought for a while before remembering who this person was. Although he is in charge of the finance department, although it is impossible for him to be familiar with those businesses and enterprises with the people in the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, he basically has an understanding of those large taxpayers.

This Huisheng textile company is not small. The annual tax payment is also a large enterprise of one or two hundred thousand, so he naturally understands it.

Immediately, he said loudly: "Oh, how is Mr. He's cloth business?" ”

"Thanks to the elder Ge's concern, this cloth business is still going on!" He Feitu carefully considered the words and chatted with Qi Xuanhao.

However, he also knows that he can't delay it for too long, and it is impossible for people to talk to you for too long, so after saying a few words, he said some problems in his heart, the most important of which is the import tariff of foreign cloth.

Qi Xuanhao listened to He Feitu talk about the tariff issue of foreign cloth, he did not speak immediately, but a set of numbers flashed in his mind, according to the financial situation in his charge, the current production and sales scale of foreign cloth and domestic woven fabric is not large.

For example, last year, that is, in 1857, the four major customs of Shanghai, Ningbo, Fujian, and Xiamen were combined, and the total value of imported foreign cloth was about 6 million yuan, which was still due to the development of the Shanghai Trade Zone to increase the demand for cheap finished cotton cloth.

At present, the tariffs contributed by the total import value of about 6 million are only a few hundred thousand, which is really not much.

In terms of domestic woven fabrics, there is only one large-scale enterprise in Huisheng Textile Company, and there are several small-scale woven fabric factories, but those are too small to be on the table.

Huisheng Textile Company contributed less than 200,000 yuan in total tax revenue last year, and this tax is not all from the sales of woven fabrics, but also includes the company's spinning, printing and dyeing, terminal sales and even the company's operating income tax, so it is estimated that their final woven fabric sales are about 2 million.

It can be seen that the current woven fabric industry is still too small, and it cannot be compared with the raw silk industry!

However, since he talked about these, Qi Xuanhao also remembered that at the imperial cabinet meeting some time ago, when the Ministry of Industry and Commerce reported on the development of the industry, Lin Zhe once said that he should pay attention to the support of the textile industry.

The textile industry in Lin Zhe's mouth is not only raw silk, but also includes raw silk, cotton, wool, leather and other industries! (To be continued......)