On Saturday, March 18, 1645, February 21 of the first year of the Ming Empire.

In a pavilion halfway up Victoria Peak on Hong Kong Island, a simple and exquisite outdoor banquet is underway. The one who is going to do it is Zheng Sen, who is about to leave Hong Kong.

"Mr. Kim, do you have something on your mind?" Zheng Sen saw that the other party was obviously absent-minded, but with a wave of his hand, the two followers behind him retreated a little farther away.

Coming back to his senses from the distant spring, Jin Xiaohan smiled and shook his head slightly: "It's nothing...... I heard that the Manchus had already moved south from Shandong and Henan, and the situation in Jiangbei was urgent. But some adults in your court still have ideas, and they are contacting Zuo Liangyu in Huguang to deal with Fuma Shiying, I wonder what will happen to your ......court if there is any accident."

Zheng Sen's expression changed drastically, and it took a long time before he sighed softly: "There are still hundreds of thousands of elite soldiers in the four towns in Jiangbei, but Ma Shiying's power is leaning towards the government and the opposition, nepotism, and the princes of Donglin are already dissatisfied. The mentor (Qian Qianyi) is full of opportunities, and he also writes to his father, and he is widely ......"

"Speak up? Hehe, it's actually very simple, your court officials are in a hurry to take advantage of the situation and the soldiers and horses outside to force Ma Shiying to step down. In fashionable terms, it is to win over the local civil and military forces and have a 'military force'. With the Yangtze River defense line, the threat of the Manchu Qing Dynasty is not taken into account at all, and they even wish to reshuffle the cards, right? ”

Jin Xiaoleng smiled coldly, and tilted his head out of the window again: "Since the Ming court is very busy and doesn't care about the renewal of the Huamei government's contract and diplomatic proposals for the Hong Kong concession, then there is no need for me to waste time and wait." Mr. Zhao Youheng is there, we will also inform you. Mr. Zheng, I would like to thank you very much for your enthusiastic help in the past six months, and thank your father, Mr. Zheng Zhilong, for his 'friendly' attitude towards us. ”

Hearing Jin Xiaohan's lukewarm answer, Zheng Sen seemed to be mentally prepared, and he also knew that his father had been secretly obstructing Huamei's possible official contact with the imperial court, so he couldn't help but feel a little angry.

"However, for Mr. Zheng's idea of wanting to build a new army. Personally, I greatly appreciate that, if given the opportunity, we would like you to lead this new army, not your father. ”

Jin Xiaohan picked up the wine glass, and the moment he poured the wine, he secretly glanced at Zheng Sen.

As Jin Xiaohan expected, although Zheng Sen seemed calm at this time, a trace of consternation flashed in his eyes, and he didn't seem to have thought about this kind of thing.

……

Outside the pavilion, Zheng Sen stared blankly at Jin Xiaohan's back. It's not a good taste in my heart. He knew that the other party was right, but there was nothing he could do.

The year before last, following Chen Zilong in Zhejiang to suppress the Cangshan Uprising, Zheng Sen accumulated some merits, and also officially stepped into the official career with the influence of his father Zheng Zhilong, and was awarded a clerical position in Nanjing Hanlin that had already flooded the Ming Dynasty. The northern capital fell, and the Fu King Zhu Youxiang ascended the throne in Nanjing, and in order to win over the Fujian warlord Zheng Zhilong, Zheng Sen obtained the official title of Nanjing Jinyi Wei Shi in name than in fact. However, the so-called second-generation status of officials is far from the point of participating in the central politics of the country.

In the name of study tours, he observed the Guangdong New Army and the Huamei 6th Army in Hong Kong for a long time. Zheng Sen has been trying hard to lobby his teacher Qian Qianyi and father Zheng Zhilong to promote relations with Huamei and other Nanyang foreign states, and also carry out training affairs similar to the Guangdong New Army to prevent the Manchu invasion in the south. If necessary, you can even invite Nanyang soldiers and horses. After learning that Huamei had officially sent a diplomatic messenger into Guangzhou, Zheng Sen inquired about the progress all day long.

But the final result was still disappointing for Zheng Sen, because just a few days earlier, the governor of Liangguang had finally received a reply from Nanjing. Under the obstruction and destruction of his father Zheng Zhilong. The Nanjing Imperial Court refused to accept any diplomatic intentions from the Chinese and American sides, and put an end to the revision of the Hong Kong Concession in a cold tone of "the lease is exhausted, and the time limit is limited."

The country is in danger. Zheng Sen was anxious. But Zheng Sen also understands his father Zheng Zhilong's position, if it is really as Huamei hopes, then the Zheng family's foothold in Daming will basically go by more than half.

Zheng Sen was stunned, while the other two young men standing behind Zheng Sen had different expressions.

The young man who was about the same age as Zheng Sen had a dignified face, while the other tall young man with a strong body and obviously a few years younger had a disdainful face.

"Eldest prince, this Mi Yi is so arrogant! If it weren't for his proximity to the eldest prince, and the governor of Guangdong, Lord Zhao, who raised his words, he could still stay in Hong Kong for a long time? From ancient times to the present, foreign vassals ask for tribute, whether they can agree to make a decision in the imperial court, how can they judge for themselves! ”

Liu Guoxuan, the general of the Zheng family in history, was only a young man who had just turned seventeen at this time, because he was far ahead of his peers, he was recruited when Zheng Sen participated in the suppression of the Cangshan civil unrest, and now he has become Zheng Sen's henchman together with Shi Lang.

"This is not true, we follow the eldest prince, don't we know what the strength of this gorgeous sea state is? To put it mildly, if these people were separated, would Liangguang still have the peace and prosperity now? To put it mildly, without the donations behind those Nanyang maritime merchants, Zhao Youheng, the governor of Guangdong, can he train the new town of Guangdong? The theory of the imperial court's 'joint capture and expulsion' is really absurd as seen below! When Mr. Jin knew that my Ming court was alone in half of the wall, there were endless internal strife, and it was difficult to succeed, so he said this...... After Huamei boasted of being a descendant of the Song Dynasty, she crisscrossed the West and the South Sea, and her strength should be above that of Zheng Zongbing, and her morale may not be inferior to that of the princes of the court. ”

On the other side, Shi Lang, who had a more calm attitude, had a different opinion, and could even guess Jin Xiaohan's idea of giving up official contact with the imperial court this time. Shi Lang's set of "short-sighted internal strife, it is difficult to succeed" follow-up evaluation, which suddenly made Zheng Sen's face extremely ugly.

"Hmph, just a small overseas remnant of Fanbang, in broad daylight, I am not ashamed to talk about the length of my Ming state affairs. Now in addition to the Ming Dynasty, what other way can he fail? ”

Liu Guoxuan can be regarded as a brave and resourceful talent on the battlefield, and now he is still just a hairy boy who has never seen much of the market, let alone much political sensitivity, if Jin Xiaohan heard what he said, it is estimated that the latter will laugh for three days and three nights.

"Respect (Shi Lang's word), be careful that the partition wall has ears! Sightseeing (Liu Guoxuan's words) is true, if I don't find my Zheng family's way in the imperial court, I am proud of my high level, and the ten-year lease in Hong Kong will come to an end, and I am afraid that Mr. Jin will regret it in the future. ”

As soon as he thought of the current crises in Jiangbei, the Manchu Qing Dynasty was advancing towards the Yangtze River step by step with the heels of Li Zicheng's rout, and Zuo Liangyu, the general soldier of Huguang, was becoming more and more arrogant in interfering with politics with force under the "persuasion" of the Donglin Party, Zheng Sen was in a very bad mood, and he was even unhappy with the realistic truth he said to Shi Lang.

……

Two days later, on March 2o, the lunar equinox, in Xin'an County, Guangzhou Prefecture, an opening ceremony was being held for a magnificent shop covering a large area.

Surrounded by the people of Xin'an County, the door plaque covered by red satin rose above the main entrance of the shop in the beating of gongs and drums. In the noisy sound of firecrackers, the slapping flat revealed its true face, only to see the three gilded characters of "Guangfu Xing" written on it.

Although most of the businessmen who joined this emerging group were small and medium-sized businessmen who were not well-known in Guangzhou, the total number of them was quite a lot, and most of them were people who had been squeezed by the Qiongzhou Nanhai firm over the years. Luo Huide is confident that as long as he receives preferential policies from Huamei Oriental Union Group that are no less than those of Qiongzhou Nanhai firms, it is only a matter of time before Guangfu Bank succeeds.

Although OUCC did not directly send people to Xin'an County to congratulate the opening of Guangfu Bank, it handed over a letter of intent for business cooperation to Luo Huide through private channels as early as possible.

In accordance with the instructions of the headquarters of the Oriental Union Group, the Hong Kong branch of the Oriental Union Group gave Guangfu Bank a large piece of cake that he had never imagined.

First, Oriental Union Group Oriental Industrial Company will personally invest 50,000 taels of silver in Luo Huide and occupy 5% of the shares of Guangfu Bank in an anonymous form. Then the Hong Kong branch of Oriental Bank publicly granted a low-interest commercial loan of 50,000 taels of silver to Guangfu Bank to help Guangfu Bank expand its maritime commercial capacity.

However, the loan is limited to Guangfu Bank's order of a batch of simple medium-sized long-term long-term cargo ships at the Pearl Island Shipyard of Yacheng Shipping Company, and the Oriental Union Union Corporation will also purchase some obsolete old steam merchant ships for Guangfu Bank in China and the United States.

Secondly, the Hong Kong branch of OUCC Group contracted a considerable amount of commodity and material procurement and transportation contracts for Luzon Manila and Pearl Island Overseas Territory Princess Port (Puera Puteri Port of Palawan) to Guangfu Bank.

Luzon's demand for Ming goods has been strong for more than half a century, and now it has multiplied several times. In addition, Puerto Putersa, a port town under construction on Palawan Island, is being built by the overseas consulate of Huamei Pearl Island, and the massive demand for material procurement and commodity transportation is enough for Guangfu Xing to eat for several years.

Finally, and most importantly, OUCC will restructure its business in the Far East in the second half of the year, redividing the general agency rights according to the agency authorization model implemented by Huamei in Europe on a single commodity basis. In this way, the popular commodities that were once monopolized by most of the Nanhai merchants in Qiongzhou will be divided into considerable varieties and handed over to Guangfu Bank.

In addition, the Hong Kong branch of OUCC Group will also gradually open up the qualification of Huamei Industrial Machinery Agency to Guangfu Bank, allowing the latter to recruit Guangzhou gentry in the Hong Kong Island Industrial Park and set up workshops in accordance with Qiongzhou's "bidding for shares" model. It is believed that with the tolerant and acquiescing attitude of Zhao Youheng, the governor of Guangdong, and the effect of Luo Huide's early demonstration, more Guangzhou gentry will be happy and buy real estate in Hong Kong.

The opening of the first store in Xin'an County after the establishment of Guangfu Bank is still a bit insignificant for the long-term commercial prosperity of Guangzhou Prefecture, but a large number of Huamei seafood transferred from Hong Kong on the opening day of the discount promotion, still attracted great attention from the people of Xin'an County.

When the gorgeous high-quality calico with fine warp and weft was sold at a price similar to that of Daming native cloth in the Xin'an County store of Guangfu Bank, several nearby shop owners were closed. (To be continued......)

Tips: The new domain name "biquge.info" has been launched by Biquge, and the original domain name is about to be discontinued. Please tell each other, thank you!