Port of Shanghai.

Fulong ascends to the teeth.

This is one of the 18 foreign dental shops controlled by the Gusu Sheng family, and it is also the most important white glove of Li Hongzhang, the governor of Jiangsu.

The imperial court has been without pay for more than a year, but the Huai army has never been short of silver, relying on this business of trafficking people to Citigroup and then reselling foreign goods.

In fact, as people were constantly sent to inquire about Citigroup's information, especially the Chinese-language newspapers of the Orientals gradually flowed into Shanghai and other places, Li Hongzhang gradually came back to his senses.

The Citigroup country he visited last year seems to be ...... A little off!

He had a clairvoyant mirror secretly observe the large ships that were responsible for receiving Chinese laborers.

It turned out that there were more Chinese faces and few foreigners.

Most of the high-nosed and deep-eyed foreigners are on the beach to give them a façade!

Such a discovery shocked Li Hongzhang.

You must know that last year, he got a ticket for the children of Xianghuai to study in "Citigroup"!

And he also claimed the shares of "Citigroup...... Boss a sum of money!

After thinking about it, he turned several hairs white, and finally Lao Li realized.

That Citigroup may be fake, but the grain, foreign cloth, ginseng, cigarettes and other foreign goods that can be exchanged for mud legs are real!

There are also stock dividends every ten years, which are also real money, and they have never been deducted one or two!

From time to time, the "Citigroup" will also eliminate some old foreign guns for themselves, and the price is much cheaper than the foreign goods of the British and French......

Who dares to say that this is fake, Lao Li dares to be in a hurry!

As a result, the Huaijun side sold piglets, sold foreign goods, and made foreign money.

Since Li Hongzhang went down, the Huai army and the governor Yamen all treated it as if nothing had happened.

……

Bai Xia'er grew up in Jingci Temple by the West Lake, and her father was a well-known monk who was famous for his ability to kill pigs. (See Chapter 97, "The Covenant of the Old Years")

That Master Zhixin was tall and fat, and he had a hundred catties of strength in one arm.

Coupled with the steel needle-like stubble and copper bell-like eyes, Lu Zhishen starred in it without makeup at all.

But for some reason, the appearance of this little white lady is not five big and three thick at all, but in the beauty of the Jiangnan woman, there is just a little more heroism of the children of the rivers and lakes. (See chapter for pictures)

Of course, that's what he said, but Bai Xia'er is not a fool.

It's useless to do a lot of kung fu on this mixed Shanghai beach.

In this male-dominated place, she had wisely wiped her face with yellow mud, stained her originally white arms with charcoal black, shrunk in the corner, and stuffed her delicate figure tightly with a large handful of torn cotton wool in her tattered jacket.

Bai Xia'er lowered her head and clasped her knees with her hands, huddled with those desperate women who were desperate and wanted to try their luck in "Citigroup".

Jingle bells, a short bell ringing.

Then walked in more than a dozen figures in robes and horse coats, like men.

The leader was a lethargic-looking foreigner old man, and a young young master in his early twenties.

"Mr. Qiao, according to what you mean, this time we Li Shuai have recruited 8,000 Wu girls at once, but it took a lot of effort!"

The young master was Sheng Xuanhuai, who had just entered Li Hongzhang's shogunate, and the sleepy foreigner old man was naturally Tang Sangui's confidant Joseph.

He was in charge of affairs in China for a long time, and the Huai military generally referred to him as "Mr. Qiao".

Today, the Citigroup minister has long been fed and empty, and the White House has no ability to manage the Far East.

Therefore, in the one-third acre of Citigroup land in Shanghai, the minister of Citigroup is a puppet, and the old Joseph is the puppet behind the puppet, and he executes Fengdu's orders step by step.

In order to further optimize the population structure of Fengdu, the number of female workers among the 20,000 Chinese workers recruited in this period has reached almost half.

It is much more difficult to recruit female workers to go to sea than to recruit men.

It's not just a matter of money, it's also a question of feudal etiquette.

But thanks to Zhu Fugui's good son, he smashed the big god stick.

Although he himself was extravagant, he was a model worker in breaking feudal etiquette.

The Yangtze River valley was plowed by him, not only did there be countless widows, but also caused the power of silver to overwhelm the shackles of etiquette.

The 8,000 Wu girls in Sheng Xuanhuai's mouth are actually all hard-working people.

But old Joseph didn't have time to sympathize with them.

Today, Daming has 3 shipping formations.

Each formation can transport 20,000 people per month.

That is to say, on average, every ten days, the old Joseph has to come to hand over, which is indeed a bit tiring for an elderly colleague like him.

After saying for a while, there was no reaction, Sheng Xuanhuai touched the beard that had just grown, and said: "Mr. Qiao, I see that you have a lot of Han people under you, and you are also very diligent, why don't you let them be compradors in the future and come directly to settle with us, what do you think?" ”

The interpreter translated this sentence, and old Joseph's drooping and closed eyelids suddenly lit up, and he said, "Very good, very good!" ”

Da Ming asked him to be this puppet, just for Li Hongzhang to see, since they don't matter, old Joseph should finally retire.

After all, I'm almost eighty years old, and I don't know how many years I have left to live.

……

"Slackers, you're ready to get on the boat, are you still waiting for the uncle to stay with you early?"

A few Huai soldiers wearing horse coats with the word "Yong" drove up all the Chinese workers who were squatting with sticks.

"Women on the left, men on the right!"

"Which one do you say is left? Your Grandpa Zhang Long and I are on the left, and the other side is on the right, all of them will go to the dock for Lao Tzu! ”

……

Amidst Huai Yong's sticks and shouting, Bai Xia'er, together with other women and children, walked quickly through the door and alley with her head down, and came to a wharf by the Huangpu River.

As soon as he arrived, a short-haired military man in a blue and white sailor uniform blew a sharp whistle and raised his hand to Huai Yong to signal not to move forward.

Facing the fierce and vicious Huai Yong of the Chinese workers, they quickly stopped their footsteps and took a few steps back obediently.

Obviously, all Huai Yong who does not abide by the rules of these sailors has already received an unforgettable lesson.

The flag commander of the sailors was a tall and thin young man, he took out a small handful of candy from his pocket and threw it to the Huai Yongs: "Oh - three-year sailor chocolate, you are cheap!" ”

Huai Yong hurriedly stretched out his hand to pick it up, and those who received it were beaming, and those who didn't receive it didn't dare to fight.

These short-haired sailors don't look at the harmlessness of humans and animals, and from time to time they will throw some wonderful food for everyone to taste, but if they annoy them, they will really shoot!

"Thank you Soldier, thank you Soldier-Woo-It's so sweet!"

These Huaiyong's mothers-in-law and children are all in their hometown in Anhui, so there is nothing to be reluctant to, so they opened the candy paper and ate it on the spot.

After eating, they also carefully folded the candy wrapper, saying that they could lick it when they were hungry in the future.

Looking at these Huai Yong's unpromising appearances, the sailors couldn't help laughing.

It's not a trick on people, it's just the simple feelings of returning home.

The sailors wanted to tell those Huai Yong that in fact, they were also caught up on the dock like piglets more than a year ago.

But it was this seemingly desperate journey that turned them from ghosts to humans.

However, under the secrecy discipline of the troops, they can't say that it is very hard to hold back.

Three-year Sailor Chocolate is an energy food developed by the Navy Headquarters according to the professional characteristics of sailors, which can quickly replenish energy and improve the concentration of soldiers in a short time.

Its widespread spread also benefited from the Army's capture of the southern region of California last year.

In the southernmost part of the empire, in the province of New Guangdong, there were originally many plantations left by colonists, but now they have been taken over by the Ming Dynasty.

Cocoa, which is used to make chocolate, is one of them.

In general, even near the new spike at 32.45 degrees north latitude, it is still a little too cold for planting cocoa, and the yield is not high.

Zhu Fugui used it as a royal tribute to taste fresh, which was enough, but it was still far from good for military supplies.

However, Mexico, which is close to Xinsui, is one of the world's top 10 cocoa producers.

Many of Hershey's and Ferrero's high-quality products are sourced from Mexican cocoa.

By some means, the Ming imported cocoa from Mexico at very affordable prices, while dumping surplus industrial products on them, signing trade agreements under the noses of the Texans.

Mexicans are still in the aftermath and cheering for the opening of markets for their produce.

After a few years, they will understand what it means to be too far from heaven and too close to Daming.

In short, the quota of each sailor for the three-year sailor chocolate is still relatively sufficient, so the sailor flag commander chose to take out a part of it to satisfy his vanity.

Of course, this is only a small episode.

Soon, under the command of the sailors, more than a dozen large ships docked in batches to accept Chinese workers on board.

Bai Xia'er, along with more than 1,000 other female workers, was arranged on the transport ship "Equality-C".

Under the side of the tall boat, Bai Xia'er glanced back at the land behind her, and her mind was full of the figure of the wooden boy on the shore of the West Lake in the midsummer eight years ago.

Because she couldn't forget the midsummer of that year, and she couldn't forget the sugar pill that she shared with each other, she named herself Bai Xia'er.

Now there is finally news of him again, although far away in the unknown......

Holding a worn-out newspaper in her arms firmly, Bai Xia'er gently toe and climbed the soft ladder to get on the boat.