Before Lu Wansu finished speaking, he heard a lot of chaos in the banquet hall outside, and there were even a few wails in the hall. ”

Lin Yuan said: "Let's go out and have a look." After Lin Yuan finished speaking, he took Lu Wansu out of the hall, only to see that the people in the hall were obviously divided into two parts, one was the people brought by Lin Yuan, each with a shocked face, and the other part was the Jin merchants, all of whom were depressed, and a few were still crying silently on the side.

Lin Yuan walked up to the crowd and asked, "What's wrong?" What happened? ”

An old man on the side said: "I am the great treasurer of Xinglongkui, and the collection team we sent to St. Petersburg has just returned, and according to the news they brought back, the entire St. Petersburg tea merchant should have paid us a total of 560,000 rubles, but only recovered less than 50,000 rubles!" The more than 500,000 rubles in the middle are enough for our Xinglongkui semicolons in Mongolia and Russia to close their doors! ”

A person on the side also said: "Yes, we also encountered the same trouble with the compound number!" Before the words fell, everyone next to him echoed and said: "That's right, the Russian government doesn't care about this kind of non-payment of debts, and it still speaks to those tea merchants, and our Qing court doesn't care about us!" ”

At this time, a middle-aged man stood up and said: "Lord Lin, we are alone in Russia, just like weeds without roots, like the Russians have an embassy in our country, and we can find the ambassador at any time to deal with something, but we are in Russia, and we don't even have a person to take care of things. ”

Lin Yuan stood in the crowd and waved his hand and said, "Don't panic, leave this matter to me, and I will deal with it for everyone." ”

A middle-aged man stood up and asked, "Lord Lin, how are you going to deal with this matter for us?" ”

Lin Yuan said: "Don't panic, everyone, do you know where the crux of the problem is?" ”

One person said: "Of course, the root of the problem is that the Russians' freight rates are much lower than ours, so we are subject to the Russians everywhere." ”

Lin Yuan nodded and said: "Yes, if you want to win against the Russians, one way is to raise their freight costs, which can be guaranteed by increasing the tax rate, but now there are all kinds of treaty restrictions, so this method is difficult to work, then there is only one way we can choose, that is, I think of a way to reduce your freight." ”

Everyone looked at Lin Yuan in surprise and asked, "Does Lin Shuai have any brilliant ideas?" ”

Lin Yuan said: "I just got the news, our Beijing-Yunnan Railway, has been repaired to Datong, our next step, we can build a railway from Datong, directly to the most important trade place in Mongolia - Kulun, at that time, your goods transported by a thousand camel teams, I can transport them in one train, you are now transporting a batch of goods, you need to travel a long distance in the sand sea for a month, and with the train, it only takes less than ten days to arrive in Kulen!" ”

Everyone looked at Lin Yuan excitedly, and Lin Yuan continued: "The most important thing is this: our railway, used by Chinese merchants, only needs to pay a small amount of taxes, while Russian merchants use it, I promise, their taxes will be ten times that of yours!" What do you think? You don't have to worry about competing with them, right? ”

An old man stood up and said: "Although Lin Shuai's plan is good, the Russians are not stupid, they have long regarded Mongolia as their own forbidden territory, can they let you build a railway there?" ”

Lin Yuan smiled: "I'm not afraid of the Russians, we are building a railway on our own land, why should we listen to the Russians?" If the Russians are not convinced, let them come and fight, and when they meet on the battlefield, it's not that they haven't fought, everyone says yes? ”

Everyone laughed and said: "That's right, that's right, we also donated silver when we played ** a while ago!" Just when everyone was elated, an old man stood up and said: "The old man admires Lin Shuai's courage very much, but there is one, I don't know when the railway will be built, and it will take three or two months, right?" This far water can't quench your thirst! ”

Lin Yuan said with a smile: "Everyone has persevered in the past few decades, but in the past three or two months, have you been unable to hold on?" If the trade in Mongolia and Russia really can't hold on, let's withdraw these deals, and when our railroad is built, we will make a comeback! If your money is really not turnover, you can borrow from me first, and rest assured, I don't charge a penny of interest! ”

Lin Yuan continued: "Not only that, but after I go back, I will also write a book, set up an embassy in Russia, and send a minister to Russia, so that everyone can find him for anything at that time." ”

Everyone was happy at this time, the haze just now was swept away, and when the banquet was over, Lin Yuan returned to the post house, and Xu Jingcheng came to him as soon as he entered the house, Lin Yuan saw that his face was full of worry, and couldn't help asking, "What's wrong with you?" ”

Xu Jingcheng sighed and said, "I'm worried about you, my lord!" ”

Lin Yuanha smiled and said, "What is there to worry about? ”

Xu Jingcheng said: "Is it true that you said in front of everyone today that you want to set up an embassy in Russia? ”

Lin Yuan smiled: "Of course it's true." ”

Xu Jingcheng hurriedly said: "This is what I'm worried about, my lord, this embassy must not be set up!" ”

Lin Yuan was stunned for a moment and asked, "What can't be set up in an embassy?" Besides, when you bought warships in Germany, didn't you use the status of a minister abroad? ”

Xu Jingcheng said helplessly: "These two things are different, I bought a warship that time, but if it is a foreign minister, it is a different matter, since our Qing Dynasty has been with foreign countries, we have only sent a minister abroad once, that is, in the United Kingdom, the person who went at that time was my friend, named Guo Songtao, he was sent to a foreign country as a minister, which caused an uproar in the imperial court. ”

Lin Yuan asked puzzledly, "Isn't it just to send a minister?" How can it cause an uproar? ”

Xu Jingcheng said: "Those high-ranking officials have written and said: How can we Celestial Empire officials live in the land of barbarians? There were also people who said that going to the barbarian land was to be a hostage, so they opposed it one after another, but Guo Songtao was familiar with Western affairs, and knew that Lu Dao could no longer use the views of the 'Celestial Empire' and 'barbarians' to handle relations between countries, so he still resolutely sent an envoy to Britain. ”

"But Guo Songtao only went for two years and was called back, the reason is very simple, there are too many discussions in the government and the opposition, and Guo Songtao's deputies often make up stories to slander Guo Songtao, for example, once, when the king of Brazil came to England, the Queen of England invited ministers from various countries to go to a concert, and when the king of Brazil entered, everyone stood up to welcome, which was originally a basic etiquette."

"But the deputy actually said to the court that Guo Songtao, as an envoy of the Celestial Empire, actually stood up to the king of a small country, which is really unseemly, at the concert, Guo Songtao flipped through the program list, and was slandered by the deputy and said: Turning over barbarian things will damage the majesty of a great country, and there are countless such things, so he was called back, and no one will send an envoy to a foreign country in the future."

Xu Jingcheng said this, and said earnestly: "My lord, you still don't want to touch this mold!" ”