In the evening, Xiao Zhenlei, Wang Yaqiao, Cheng Biyao and others had dinner at the Jingwu Gymnastics Club, and sat for a while before leaving, Xiao Zhenlei sent the two daughters back to Cheng's house and returned to the Xiao Mansion.

At nine o'clock in the evening, Xiao Zhenlei took a cold shower again and was about to fall asleep, when Goudan came over and reported: "Sir, a carriage came outside, and the coachman in the carriage knocked on the door and said that Master Cai of Shanghai Daotai is coming to see you!" ”

"Cai Naihuang?" Xiao Zhenlei was taken aback, "He's quite well-informed, I only came back for half a day, and he knows?" By the way, did you ask him, why did Cai Naihuang come to me? ”

Goudan said: "I asked, but the coachman refused to say, just said that you will know when you see Lord Cai!" ”

Xiao Zhenlei pondered in his heart, this must be a very important thing for Cai Naihuang to come over in person, otherwise Cai Naihuang would not come over in person, what is the matter? After pondering for a while, he couldn't think of any clue, so he had to say to the dog: "You go and open the iron gate and let him drive the carriage in!" ”

"Yes, sir!" The dog turned and walked away.

Xiao Zhenlei then put on a neat suit and walked to the door of the western-style building to prepare to greet Cai Naihuang, some guards around were patrolling nearby, and after a while, the dog opened the big iron gate and let the carriage enter the Xiao Mansion, the carriage quickly stopped at the door of the western-style building, Xiao Zhenlei stepped forward to pick up the carriage curtain, and saw that Cai Naihuang was bending down to get out of the car, "Lord Cai, please!" ”

Cai Naihuang got down from the carriage and asked, "Huanyu, I didn't bother you when I came here so late, did I?" ”

"No, no, please sit inside!"

The two came to the living room, Xiao Zhenlei invited Cai Naihuang to sit down, Cai Naihuang sat down politely, Wu's mother quickly came over with two cups of tea, Xiao Zhenlei made a gesture: "My lord, please drink tea!" ”

Cai Naihuang took two sips of the teacup and quickly put it down, he came here at this time to have something important, he had no intention of drinking tea at all, after putting down the teacup, he saw that he wanted to speak, but saw that the maid Wu Ma and Goudan were still around, so he swallowed back the words he was about to say, Xiao Zhenlei saw and waved to Wu's mother and Goudan; "Go down first!"

After the two left, only Xiao Zhenlei and Cai Naihuang were left in the living room, and Cai Naihuang said: "Huanyu, I can't hide it, this time I came to borrow money from you, this time you have to help me no matter what!" ”

Xiao Zhenlei was shocked when he heard this, he knew that Cai Naihuang was also arrogant, just like most literati at this time, and as a Zhengsipin Dao platform, he asked him to open his mouth to borrow money from others, unless he encountered something that was life-threatening, and he had to borrow a lot of arrears, so he hurriedly asked: "My lord, what happened to make you so anxious?" ”

Cai Naihuang sighed when he heard this: "Hey, this is also the old man's mistake, I didn't expect it to come here." According to the usual situation, the imperial court to September every year to pay Gengzi indemnity to the powers, according to the custom, I Shanghai Dao is responsible for bearing 1.9 million taels, this money is usually deposited by Shanghai Dao in the capital and reputation of the source of Fengrun, Yishanyuan money bank, but you also know that not long after the rubber stock boom, Yuan Fengrun and Yishanyuan after the run of the citizens did not have much silver left, the official treasury has already been poor. Where will I find 1.9 million taels of silver at this time and a half? I want to come and think about it, but I can only come to you to borrow it, carry this matter over, and then talk about it, and when the market is completely stabilized, and the official treasury has a silver tael, I will return it to you, what do you think? ”

Xiao Zhenlei thought to himself that although the relationship between himself and Cai Naihuang was not as harmonious as it appeared on the surface, how could it be said that the two were now also in the same camp, if Cai Naihuang fell because of this matter, then could the future Daotai live in peace with him? Shanghai Tang is the economic center of China at this time, if Shanghai Dao wants to make trouble for him, just a little instructions, those officials will embarrass Zhenhua Company, so that Zhenhua Company's products can not go out, and the products have no channel to sell overseas, which is simply a fatal blow.

But Xiao Zhenlei thought about it, if Cai Naihuang borrowed money in the name of the government, he was not afraid that the government would not pay it back, after all, the government also wanted to save face, but Cai Naihuang borrowed in his personal name, which made Xiao Zhenlei a little uneasy, if something happened halfway, wouldn't the money lent out be wasted? This 1,900,000 taels is not a small amount.

Xiao Zhenlei's mind turned countless circles in an instant, but he still decided to help Cai Naihuang, he said: "I am relieved of the reputation of adults, but I don't have so much money in my hands, you wait a minute, I will call the general manager of Zhenhua Bank, and this money should be raised from Zhenhua Bank!" ”

Cai Naihuang saw that Xiao Zhenlei did not refuse, and he was a little relieved, his news was still very well-informed, although Zhenhua Bank had merged 40 large and small money banks in Shanghai, although a lot of money was withdrawn by the citizens during this time, it should still be feasible to move 1.9 million taels.

Xiao Zhenlei got up and walked to the telephone and dialed the phone at Chen Huizu's house, after the phone was connected, Xiao Zhenlei said, "Guangpu?" Can you come to me now? Well, I'll wait for you! ”

After putting down the phone, Xiao Zhenlei returned to the sofa and sat down and said to Cai Naihuang: "My lord, wait a while, Chen Guangpu from Zhenhua Bank will come over soon, by the way, when do you need this money?" ”

Cai Naihuang said: "It's best before the early hours of the night tonight, because today is the 15th, if it exceeds the deadline for the silver two shipments after today, the imperial court will pay this year's money to the powers before the end of the month, if it drags on, some people in the court will definitely make a big fuss about this matter!" ”

Xiao Zhenlei understood, he took out his pocket watch and looked at it, and found that it was already half past nine, and it was less than two and a half hours before twelve o'clock, which was too hasty!

Soon, Chen Huizu drove to the Xiao Mansion, Xiao Zhenlei saw him walk in, and hurriedly said: "Guangpu, come on, come on, this is Lord Cai, you must know each other!" ”

Where can Chen Huizu not know Cai Naihuang, it is true to say that he doesn't know the new emperor, but if he doesn't know Cai Naihuang, it's a bit too much, "I know, Lord Cai is the parent official of Shanghai Tang, how can I not know it, meet my lord!" ”

Cai Naihuang said with a smile: "Okay, good, I didn't expect the general manager of Zhenhua Bank to be so young, okay, we have you young people in the Qing Dynasty, we old guys can rest assured, sit down!" ”

"Thank you, sir!"

After the three of them sat down again, Xiao Zhenlei said to Chen Huizu: "Guangpu, that's the case, Lord Cai is in urgent need of a sum of two million taels now, can you find a way to transfer it out of our bank as quickly as possible?" ”

Chen Huizu was surprised: "Right now? ”

"Yes, before twelve o'clock in the night!" Xiao Zhen thundered.

Chen Huizu shook his head and said: "Boss, this is impossible, you also know that the bank will close the bank when it is time to get off work, and it will not be opened until the next morning when it goes to work, this is a hard rule, no one can cross this line, no matter what the reason, otherwise once this opening is opened, the consequences will be unimaginable!" Besides, even if I agree, it is simply impossible to withdraw so much cash in such a short period of time, and now that it is the end of work, where am I going to find someone to get the silver out? 1,900,000 taels, how many carriages do you need to load in a carriage? ”

Xiao Zhenlei sighed to Cai Naihuang: "My lord, why didn't you talk about this earlier, you see that you are in such a hurry, even if I have money, I can't take it out from the bank!" ”

Cai Naihuang was so anxious that his face was haggard, "Hey, I was also forced to come to you because I had no choice!" ”

Xiao Zhenlei thought for a while and asked Chen Huizu: "Guangpu, is there no other way?" ”

Chen Huizu thought for a while and said, "It's not impossible!" ”

"Oh, tell me, what's the solution?"

Chen Huizu didn't say anything first, but asked, "Lord Cai, how is this money paid?" I mean, which bank or bank is the money paid to? ”

Although Cai Naihuang didn't understand why Chen Huizu asked this, he still replied: "First, the part of the silver borne by the provinces will be transported to the capital in two, and then the imperial court will pay it to the special accounts of the governments of the great powers in various foreign banks before the end of the month!" ”

Chen Huizu instantly understood, "Gengzi indemnity? ”

Cai Naihuang was a little embarrassed when he heard this, his face was a little red, and he thought that he was ashamed because of ****, but he still nodded cheekily and said: "Yes, it must be delivered before tonight!" ”

"I see!" Chen Huizu nodded, and then said to Xiao Zhenlei: "Boss, in fact, it can be like this, Lord Cai can explain to the imperial court, because the rubber stock trend has just passed, Shanghai Tang is now tight, and it is difficult to adjust the money, you declare that you have discussed with our Zhenhua Bank, and this money will be temporarily allocated by our bank to pay two million taels in advance, so that there is no problem of overdue zài, and there is no need to escort the army to the capital."

Xiao Zhenlei felt that this method was good, turned his head to look at Cai Naihuang and asked, "Lord Cai, what do you think?" ”

Cai Naihuang's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he hurriedly said: "This method is good!" ”

Cai Naihuang immediately rushed back to the Daotai Yamen and sent a telegram to the relevant yamen of the imperial court, explaining the reason why the money could not be transported to the capital in time, and also said that it had been discussed with Zhenhua Bank, and Zhenhua Bank would allocate this batch of silver to pay in advance.

Although Xiao Zhenlei and Cai Naihuang operated like this, some officials in the court who had long looked at Cai Naihuang unpleasantly still found a way to deal with Cai Naihuang.

Because Cai Naihuang "shared a little profit" in the process of lending to foreign banks, officials of the Imperial Court's Information Administration Yuan, Du Branch, and other departments began to condemn Cai Naihuang for various reasons after receiving Cai Naihuang's telegram, pointing out that Shanghai Dao's guarantee for the loan violated the principle of "borrowing from a merchant and repaying it", and held that Cai Naihuang also had many problems in the process of acquiring the "Shishi Bao" and "Declaration" in Shanghai. R1152