Meeting the British consul may sound awesome, but it's not that hard. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

If it was after the Opium War, the status of the British consul in China would have improved a lot, but now, the so-called consul is only the president of the British Chamber of Commerce in China, and he may not have a high status in the eyes of the Qing people.

What's more, Li Xian, as the leader of the largest armed force in Leizhou Bay, a large part of the European ships that went to the Qing Kingdom to do business had to pass through there, and the British consul had to give some courtesy.

In short, Li Xian just sent the original second treasurer, Qian Dafu, to the British Chamber of Commerce hall that had been relocated to Hong Kong, and it was easy to get the opportunity to meet Yilu.

It's just that the interview between the two people is definitely not pleasant.

After the two sides finished greeting and sat down, Li Xian couldn't wait to say his intentions.

"Mr. Consul, I have heard that you have ordered your navy to blockade the mouth of the Pearl River, and I think this matter is inappropriate, and I hope you can correct it. ”

These words, whether by the standards of the Qing Dynasty or with the diplomatic habits of Britain, are a little too straightforward, so that the well-informed righteous laws are choked up.

"The blockade of the Pearl River Estuary is an act of retaliation taken by our side for our own businessmen who were bullied by the Qing court, which is in line with international practice and our country's position in the world.

I would like to ask if your government has authorized your Excellency to express your protest here?" Yilu wanted to walk away, but considering the delicate nature of the current situation, he decided to allow the person in front of him to be presumptuous again.

"I am here on behalf of the merchants of Leizhou.

Your blockade of the Pearl River Estuary has made it impossible for local sugar, whale oil, soap, fish and other commodities in Leizhou to enter the Guangzhou trade, so I hope you can lift the blockade as soon as possible. Li Xian replied.

Yilu couldn't help frowning, with Li Xian's current situation, it is understandable that he came on behalf of the merchants of Leizhou, but this is probably not in line with the officialdom customs of the Qing Kingdom.

"The blockade of the Pearl River Estuary is an act of revenge for British merchants, and if Your Excellency has the leisure to ask your government to compensate British merchants for the losses caused by the smoking ban at an early date, and to resume maritime trade. Yilu said firmly.

"Opium itself is harmful to human health, and I don't see anything wrong with smoking bans.

Your government has taken the lead in a few opium dealers, and it will inevitably leave a bad name in the history books in the future. Li Xian was unmoved, and said lightly, but he had no intention of dwelling too much on this.

"In addition to expressing my protest against the blockade of the Pearl River Estuary, another important thing for me to do this time is to establish friendly business relations with businessmen from your country. Li Xian said.

"Business partnership, I don't know what kind of cooperation Your Excellency is talking about?" At this moment, Yilu was really curious.

"We are rich in all kinds of high-quality commodities in Leizhou, and I would like Mr. Consul to allow me to trade freely with the merchants of your country. Li Xian said.

If in the past, there were Qing merchants who bypassed the Qing government and the Thirteen Lines to secretly trade with British merchants, the British would have asked for it, and they didn't even need the approval of the consul.

However, since the Sino-British feud, Yilu issued a rather severe order in the name of the consul, prohibiting any British merchant from trading with the Qing people without permission.

Earlier, two British merchant ships violated this order, secretly went to Canton to sign a pledge not to sell opium, and then transported tea leaves, but on the way home, they were shelled by British naval warships and had to barely escape.

Therefore, if Li Xian wanted to trade with the British, he still had to obtain the written consent of Yilu.

"Oh, I don't know what goods you have?"

"It's all good things, there are traditional earth sugar and white sugar, but also whale oil, soap, leather goods, tea, porcelain, cloth and other light industrial items. ”

Li Xian took out the big suitcase he brought and showed it to Yilu.

Sugar products were originally a traditional commodity in Leizhou, and since the rise of Li Xian, whale oil, soap and whale leather goods have also become good things to get their hands on.

In addition, after all, Leizhou is the territory of the Qing Dynasty, and tea, porcelain, cloth and other things can also be obtained, and the price is not high, if it can be sold directly to British merchants, there will be huge profits.

However, the maritime trade of the Qing Kingdom has always been controlled by the Thirteen Banks, and if the Thirteen Foreign Banks knew that Li Xian was trading privately with foreign merchants, they would definitely be desperate.

Yilu asked about the price of these goods, and couldn't help sighing in his heart, these are all good things, and the profits in them are not low, if it is an ordinary time, it can also be used to pinch the Qing government and the big businessmen of the Thirteen Lines.

Unfortunately, the timing is too delicate now, and many things have to be thought twice.

"These things look good, but I wonder what you want to get with these goods?" Yilu asked after pondering for a while.

This matter is a bit redundant, and if he sells the goods, of course he wants to exchange it for real money, but Li Xian understands it.

The biggest problem of the Qing State has always been that there are too many goods exported and too few goods are imported, and Britain has put up such a big battle with the Qing State this time, and the result is to exchange more silver for more Qing goods, such a thing that gives people money for nothing, but any country with a normal mind will not do it.

(Anyway, hundreds or even millennia ago, it was the countries around China that gave real money to get all kinds of goods made in China, and it was really strange that they were not allowed to spend money, and it is very rare in the entire history of the world.) ）

The British traded with the merchants of Leizhou, and if the result of the cooperation between the two sides was to get the British merchants to come up with more currency and buy more goods, then such a trade relationship was not what the British needed.

"Mr. Consul is worried about importing too much and exporting too little, right?

Our merchants in Leizhou are different from the people of the Thirteen Lines, not only to sell goods to the British, but also to import a lot of things from the British, and I hope that Mr. Consul will take a look at the list of goods we wish to import. Li Xian had been prepared for this, and took out a stack of papers from his arms as if by magic.

What was written on these pieces of paper was naturally the goods that the Leizhou forces represented by Li Xian wanted to buy from the British.

He took the paper and examined it carefully, and found that it contained a list of British ships, marine canvas, iron and steel, metal and wood cutting machines, books, steam engines, sulphur, saltpeter, artillery and muskets, gunpowder, and a wide variety of goods.

After reading it, the corners of Yilu's mouth twitched inconspicuously, and it was still the same sentence, if it was before the start of the war, such a trade relationship was what the British government dreamed of, but after the war began, it was not like that.

Among other things, Britain has always had an export ban on advanced metalworking machine tools, and it was not until the twenties of the 19th century that this ban was lifted, allowing machine tool manufacturers to export machines to France and other European countries.

Selling this kind of militaristic weapon to the Qing people during the war with the Qing State would not have done such a stupid thing even because Britain, which had always advertised free trade.