In this way, it was originally a happy situation, but I didn't expect Wu Sanniang to have a sidewalk, and asked to make some adjustments in the literacy shopkeeper provided by Guangzhou.

Wu Sanniang took out a piece of paper, there were fifty or sixty names on it, Shen Baozhen took it and saw that many people still knew it, but it was a famous chief steward and shopkeeper in the Thirteen Lines and other big merchants.

can make Shen Baozhen an official hear the name, these shopkeepers and stewards are naturally the most capable people in Guangzhou, but they are not the kind of ordinary businessmen who can be compared, even their owners must be polite to them.

For example, one of them is named Zhang Sicheng's shopkeeper, but the second shopkeeper of the Shouwu family of the Thirteen Lines has the fame of Xiucai, but he turned into business because of the middle of the family, but he also did well, and every year there are millions of taels of silver in business to pass through his hands, which is more powerful than many owners of the Thirteen Lines.

The special list that Wu Sanniang took out was full of characters who were about the same as this forty percent, and asked that the five hundred shopkeepers sent by Guangzhou City must include these fifty or sixty big shopkeepers.

Shen Baozhen felt unhappy for a while, not because of how troublesome this matter was, nor because he cared about these so-called big shopkeepers, but because the agreement was about to be negotiated, but there were going to be complications here, which was really unpleasant, and couldn't help muttering to himself that only villains and women are difficult to raise, and argued with Wu Sanniang on the basis of reason, pointing out that the other party did not do it properly.

In this way, after arguing with each other for a long time, Shen Baozhen reluctantly agreed to this proposal, so that the entire negotiation was successfully concluded.

After the negotiation, Shen Baozhen made a suggestion, that is, to meet Li Xian for an interview, Wu Sanniang thought about it for a while, and felt that this was inevitable, so she agreed to this request and arranged for Shen Baozhen to meet Li Xian.

Shen Baozhen was captured by Li Xian and placed under house arrest for a period of time a few years ago, so he is familiar with Li Xian.

According to the unique relationship between the two parties, as well as the current situation, most people will think that such a meeting between two people should be tense and full of gunpowder with each other, but the truth is the opposite, and the meeting between the two is very calm.

Li Xian has a characteristic, that is, he will not be aggressive towards his captives, and after Shen Baozhen was placed under house arrest, he used it to knock on the bamboo pole of Governor Lin, but he has always treated Shen Baozhen himself with courtesy, and even provided the other party with a lot of translations of European books, and when they had spare time, they also talked about world affairs together.

To be honest, from this point of view, the personal relationship between Shen Baozhen and Li Xian is not bad.

After the two of them met, they exchanged a few words of greetings, chatted about the current situation, and exchanged views on the British or something, not necessarily very close, but they did enough courtesy, which surprised the onlookers on both sides, these two people were too personable.

However, the two of them also pay attention to the scope of the topic, and do not talk about sensitive topics such as whether they want to meet each other.

After chatting a few words, Shen Baozhen turned to the topic.

"What kind of free trade zone does Brother Li want to engage in, and what is his real intention, please let me know.

If it's some prevarication, it goes without saying. ”

Whether it is according to the practice of officialdom or the etiquette of diplomatic negotiations, such a straightforward way of talking is very inappropriate.

However, Shen Baozhen is somewhat familiar with Li Xian, and knows that this person doesn't like to talk around corners the most, he only likes to be frank and straightforward, and only such a straightforward way of speaking can he get some useful information.

"I have such a free trade zone, naturally because this is the most feasible method, and it is also the only feasible method. Li Xian thought about it and felt that he had to reveal some real material.

At this moment, Shen Baozhen frowned: "What is the only feasible method, this is too general." ”

Li Xian knew that Shen Baozhen was a rare and capable official in the Qing Dynasty, but it was a pity that he grew up in an official family, and he had a contempt for business in his bones, and he couldn't understand all the details of business activities at all.

"I know that Brother Shen has a lot of questions in his heart, but what I take for granted here, Brother Shen may not be able to understand it, so I'll start from the beginning. Li Xian thought for a while and said: "I started in Xuwen County, Leizhou, Brother Shen should remember." ”

Shen Baozhen nodded, but he didn't take a stubble, and let Li Xian continue.

"When I settled down on Donghai Island, I made whaling cannons to develop the whaling industry, made soap, and opened a salted fish processing factory to make pickled salted fish, which Brother Shen knew.

It's just that Brother Shen should also remember that when I first started these businesses, I sold these things to Guangzhou, but I was boycotted by Guangzhou, and the business never went up.

Selling locally in Leizhou, but also encountering resistance from local merchants and guilds, the price of good whale oil to sell lard is not good, it is piled up in the warehouse, and other goods are almost smashed in my hands, almost forcing me to go bankrupt.

It was the most difficult time for my business, and although Brother Shen was in Guangzhou at the time, he should have heard about it. ”

Shen Baozhen thought to himself that it was I who secretly pressured the merchants in Guangzhou behind my back to not sell Leizhou's goods, and as for Leizhou, I also wrote letters to the local officials to suppress the business of the Mixed Yuan Sect together.

It's just that later, Li Xian took the risk of plundering British merchant ships, which solved the financial difficulties at once, and then freed up his hands to clean up the merchants in Leizhou, and finally this kind of commercial suppression ended without a problem.

However, it was not suitable to talk about his role in it now, so Shen Baozhen nodded expressionlessly, indicating that he understood.

"It's just that Guangzhou can't open the situation, after all, it's a foreign place, but at that time, my mixed Yuanzong was very powerful in Leizhou, but it couldn't stand in Leizhou, so it was a bit excessive.

It's just that there are people in the world who are forced to become prostitutes, but there is no reason to force people to do business, so I began to think about how to open the market in Leizhou. (Shen Baozhen thought to himself what it means to not force people to do business, I have seen this kind of thing a lot.) ）

Later, when I saw Governor Lin's severe crackdown on opium smuggling, I suddenly thought of a clever trick and knew how to do it.

At that time, I vigorously cracked down on pirates in Leizhou, seized dozens of pirate ships, and had many brothers under my command, so I took my brothers to patrol the sea every day to severely crack down on smuggling pirates in Leizhou.

Not to mention, there are still a lot of opium smokers in the land of Leizhou, and I took my brothers to check all the merchant ships in and out of Leizhou Bay, and found a lot of opium.

I will detain any ship that has illegally possessed opium, and will not let people go back without paying a fine; as for ships that do not have opium, I will educate them and release them back, which has made the area around Leizhou much cleaner. ”