"Send... Guest..."The long entourage behind Gong Mujiu finally reacted, and shouted in a long voice, officially announcing the end of this meeting.

Bafur and the others saluted Gong Mujiu and said goodbye to the door, and when they all arrived outside the Daotai Yamen, someone slapped the wall and laughed.

"I actually knew that it was tea for the guests, but I forgot about it in a hurry. Zhao Dagui's face became like a pig's liver, and he tried his best to explain, but no one from Bafur to the shopkeeper paid attention to him, and laughed to himself.

A bunch of weird ancients, what's so funny about this, Zhao Dagui scolded in his heart, but he couldn't think about it.

"The customs declaration procedures for this first trade have finally been completed, and the merchant ships that come to trade in the future will follow this process to go through the procedures. Bafur was the first to pause, commenting on the results of the visit, and seemed to be quite satisfied with it.

"Lord Gong is quite kind and close to the people, he doesn't put on an official show, and he doesn't collect much money.

We asked the Taoist master to pay taxes directly, only pay regular taxes, and did not need to pay bad rules, and the tax rate for doing business with the British was lower than the usual domestic sales tax rate, so we made a profit. The shopkeeper Lu said very excitedly.

"I'm going to spend my two thousand five hundred taels of white flowers, and it's too much, let's see if I can reduce it in the future. The only thing that was dissatisfied was Zhao Dagui, who was distressed about the two thousand five hundred taels of tariffs he paid.

Zhao Dagui actually knew that he had offended Gong Mujiu's Qing Dynasty officials this time, but if he was a little weak on his side, the government would inevitably have to make inches of progress and set the tax high, so he could only pretend to be tough and confused, and refused to kneel and kowtow at the beginning.

Once it is seen as weak, it may pay thousands of taels of extra taxes, and Zhao Dagui also feels helpless.

In any case, the first ship of the British's business in the magic capital was a successful end.

After Captain Kellett left with a truckload of tea, other British merchant ships also came to the magic capital to trade.

According to the official information of China and Britain, in 1843 there were seven foreign ships trading in the magic capital, and by 1844 the number of foreign ships that had immediately expanded to 44, and the normal customs clearance between China and Britain (except for smuggling and opium) alone amounted to 2.52 million yuan in imports and exports to 2.36 million yuan, and the total import and export trade was close to 5 million yuan.

Later, in 1852, on the eve of the Taiping Rebellion, the import value of the magic capital will reach 4.6 million yuan and the export value will reach 11.4 million yuan, officially surpassing Guangzhou (9.9 million yuan in imports and 6.5 million yuan in exports) to become China's largest foreign trade port, and maintain this title until the twenty-first century.

In the next period of time, Zhao Dagui was very busy.

From the opening of the port in November 1843 to the end of December, a total of seven ships visited the city to trade.

Zhao Dagui's first business, that is, Captain Kellett's business, won him a great reputation, and also made many Western businessmen willing to cooperate with him and make money together.

In early January 1844, Zhao Dagui had accumulated more than 100,000 yuan in cash, all of which were exchanged for silver tickets from reliable banks and kept secret.

For normal people, these gains are big enough, and earning more than 100,000 silver dollars from scratch in a few months is also a fantasy in any era, but Zhao Dagui still feels insufficient.

According to Zhao Dagui's plan, he hoped to accumulate more than 10,000 taels of gold in the shortest possible time, and then upgrade the main god library.

Zhao Dagui carefully checked the information, it seems that many people here in the magic capital are self-made, and they have earned hundreds of thousands of yuan in just a few months, or millions or even tens of millions of yuan in a few years, and it is no wonder that the magic capital was later called an adventurer's paradise.

There is a commendable thing that Zhao Dagui finally bought the Zhao family's courtyard, spent 1,100 yuan, and then inexplicably felt a lot more down-to-earth.

After that, ask a teacher to impart knowledge to Zhao Xiaohu and Zhao Xiaomei, hire a helper, and the most important thing is to replace the delicious and lazy cook, which is also on the agenda.

Then, Zhao Dagui spent money to rent a large yard for business.

This compound, there are more than 60 warehouses and rooms, not far from the Zhao family's courtyard, very clean, there are five two-story buildings inside, with three wells, the warehouse is strong and spacious, and there are two shops facing the street, which can do business and attract customers.

This place, later known as the Zhao Family Compound, was distinguished from the Zhao Family Courtyard where the three members of the Zhao family lived.

The annual rent of the Zhao family's compound is only 400 yuan, and the white deed is signed, and the area of the courtyard is not much smaller than the Yao family's compound or the Gu family's compound.

The British only occupy about half of the Yao family's compound, and the Yao family's own people have to use the other half, and then the British pay as much rent as Zhao Dagui found an independent yard.

Zhao Dagui now has some contacts in the magic capital, in addition to the original Chen father and Chen Hao's family, as well as a number of big warehouse shopkeepers he met this time, and then through various relationships, he hired two honest and reliable shopkeepers, as well as six apprentice-level guys brought over by the two shopkeepers.

These two shopkeepers, one surnamed Chen and the other surnamed Xie, have been doing business in the magic capital for decades, and their connections and experience are not comparable to Zhao Dagui, who has just entered the business world.

With Zhao Dagui's current net worth, he could have bought all the Zhao family compounds directly (the total price was less than nine thousand), but thinking that he would take up too much money, he just rented it.

The Zhao family's compound and the Zhao family's courtyard are in Yaojia Lane, West of the East Gate of Modu County, Consul Bafur and Mai Huatuo and others came to take a look, and praised the cleanliness of the two courtyards.

Bafur seems to have been annoyed by the Yao family's private tourism business during this time, and he seems to be quite tempted.

Anyway, Zhao Dagui has read from the history books that Ba Fuer and others only lived in the Yao family compound for a few months, and then in February or March 1844, they rented the Gu family compound in the Yao family lane west of the east gate of the county seat, and then all moved over to live.

After the British came to celebrate the housewarming, three Chinese came to celebrate, and although Zhao Dagui was busy making money, he still found time to entertain these three.

"Master Zhao's yard is well found, it is magnificent and close to the Yao family's yard, and it will definitely be rich in the future. "The leader is dressed gorgeously, with a rich atmosphere, and is a Cantonese in his fifties.

"Master Wu is polite, I am much younger than Master Wu, if you want to look up to me, just call me Brother Zhao. Zhao Dagui laughed.

"That's... I'm not welcome, just rely on how old I am, call you Brother Zhao, and you also call me Brother Wu. The man was not polite, and said with a smile.

"Brother Wu is good!" Zhao Dagui arched his hand and said, turned to the two people who came with this cheap brother, and said with a smile: "I will call you two in the future, and I will also call you Brother Lin and Brother Yang, how about it?"

"How dare you?" the two hurriedly bowed their hands.

These two people are very famous in history, but at least their net worth and status at this time are still a little worse, for the two of them, whether it is that Master Wu or Zhao Dagui, they are unattainable behemoths.

"We are all eating together in the circle of foreigners, and there will definitely be a place for each other to use in the future, and it is appropriate to be close to each other. Zhao Dagui also learned the style of businessmen in this era during this time, and insisted on showing affection.