"Well, I've seen that Indian, but he's a very polite man. However, that Indian seems to have a good relationship with Bafur, and he knew Mr. Consul when he was in India, and he did something for him, right?"

"That's... I don't know. These British have been developing in India for hundreds of years, who doesn't have any relatives and friends in India, maybe a poor relative, knowing that Bafur is now developed, wants to come over to fight the autumn breeze. ”

"That's possible, too. Wu Jianzhang smiled and squinted at Zhao Dagui, looking like I didn't know what was wrong with this.

Zhao Dagui is also hob meat, and he smirked with him, but he didn't explain the doorway clearly.

It turned out that after Zhao Dagui leased the land in the north and south of Wusongjiang and Pidgin, he did not build his own house, but entrusted part of the land to an Indian businessman to build a house, and then sold it to the compradors of foreign banks in Shanghai.

This Indian businessman was very powerful, and found many British architects and even British sappers to come over as commanders, and hired many Chinese construction workers through Zhao Dagui's connections, and within a few months he made a small Western-style western-style building on the bank of the Huangpu River, which was both beautiful and practical, and made many foreigners and foreign companies look at it.

However, these houses were not sold cheaply, because the Qing Dynasty did not allow foreigners to buy land directly, so these western-style houses were not sold, but only sold for a long time, that is, the right to rent for 30 years;

The price of this lease right is not low, the sum of one acre of land and the house is more than 20 yuan a year, that is, the appearance of 800 oceans in 30 years.

The rental of this house also said that the land is rented at an annual rent of ten yuan per mu, and the value of the house above is equivalent to five hundred yuan.

In the eyes of a Chinese businessman like Wu Jianzhang, this method is simply nonsense, building a random house in a wasteland, and wanting to sell it for 800 yuan, and it is not a property right, but a 30-year leasehold, this is poor and crazy or something.

The Chinese businessmen were not impressed, but those foreign firms and foreigners were very impressed, and felt that the price was very reasonable, and several companies came into contact with the Indians, and there were dozens of acres of land with the buildings on it, and they were sold at the above high price.

In 1844, Qichang & Co. developed well and made a lot of money, and those foreigners wanted to buy dozens of acres of land, use the docks, warehouses and shops attached to it to do business, and even said that the house could be subleased or transferred after it was in hand, making a lot of money, and asked Wu Jianzhang to help deal with this matter.

Wu Jianzhang originally didn't want to do this kind of thing that obviously made Zhao Dagui money, but he couldn't bear the Americans' repeated pleas, and finally decided to do it himself.

This matter was originally going to be discussed with the Indian, but Wu Jianzhang was meticulous and deliberately found someone to find out the bottom of the Indian, and then discovered the mystery:

It turned out that the Indian was very familiar with Bafur, and every time they met, he seemed very humble, and after careful inquiry, he learned that this Indian was Bafur's subordinate when he was in India.

This also explains why an Indian can be an authentic British architect and engineer officer, in just a few months, to renovate the wasteland on the other side of the Wusong River.

As soon as he heard about these circumstances, he knew what the relationship between the Indians and Bafur would be, and he also understood that there must be some kind of invisible cooperative relationship of interests between Bafur and Zhao Dagui.

British law clearly stipulates that consuls stationed abroad do business or buy property abroad, but in the actual implementation process, officials cannot be expected to be as light as water, and Wu Jianzhang did not mean to be surprised in the slightest.

However, since Consul Bafur was involved, many loose hands could not be used, and many words could not be said thoroughly when negotiating with complete strangers to Indians, so Wu Jianzhang decided to negotiate carefully with Zhao Dagui, the real boss behind the scenes, and touch Zhao Dagui's bottom by the way.

"We Qichang Foreign Bank want to buy some real estate north of the Wusong River, and we also entrusted me to do this, so my brother I came to my brother today to talk about this matter. Wu Jianzhang smiled and said the purpose of today's visit.

"Oh, we'll have to talk to the Indian about it. Zhao Dagui pretended to back down, and when he saw Wu Jianzhang pointing at himself and smiling, he changed his words again: "However, who let my brother get close, since my brother has spoken, I will help you do this."

By the way, where does Qichang Foreign Bank want to buy land, how many acres?"

Wu Jianzhang said the location of the land he wanted to buy, and Zhao Dagui couldn't help but think about it, this is the area north of the Wusong River and west of the Huangpu River, that is, the Hongkou area, which will be called the origin of the American Concession in the future.

In this way, history still carries a huge inertia, and when Americans come to Shanghai, they still take a fancy to this side of the land.

In fact, there has always been communication between the Americans and the British, knowing that the British are negotiating with Gong Mujiu Daotai and want to take the land between Wusongjiang and Pidgin, and they don't want to send people to the fence, so they want to enclose land outside this area, so they have their eyes on the Hongkou area.

This place is convenient for boats, can build docks and warehouses, and it is easy to go to Suzhou, but it is a good place to live.

"We want to buy 70 acres of land in this area and move the whole foreign bank over, and we hope that my brother will help. ”

"Well, this place you said is really a treasure of feng shui, the Indians are building docks and warehouses there, and then they will build Western-style shops, which are estimated to be completed in two or three months.

I don't know how much money Qichang came up with?"

"Spending money to buy 70 acres of land is to buy a field, that is, more than 10 yuan per acre.

However, who let my brother invest a lot there, I will pay 45,000 yuan for 70 acres of land, and I will take it all, how about it?"

"This, my brother is really embarrassed for me, the land over there is 800 yuan per acre, and the price is clearly marked, so I have to get 56,000 yuan.

Even if I see that my brother's face is cheaper, it will be reduced by five or six hundred yuan at most. ”

"Brother, it's not easy for me to make this money, and it's not scraped by a lot of money. In this way, I raised it to 46,000 yuan, which is not the same price, how about it?"

"I still have a big family to raise here, and besides, the Indians may not agree. In this way, the price still has to be negotiated, 55,000 yuan..."

"No, for the sake of the two of us, it's 47,000 yuan..."

The two of them bargained little by little, and finally Zhao Dagui called for 52,000 yuan, and Wu Jianzhang said 51,000 yuan, and the two sides were deadlocked, and no one was willing to give in.

The two of them argued for half an hour, but they just couldn't reach an agreement, and finally decided to put the matter on hold for a while, take a sip of tea, and rest for a while.

"Brother, there is a rumor among the compradors recently, saying that you think there will be problems in the foreign cloth business, and you want to quit and not do it, is there such a thing?"

While chatting, Wu Jianzhang asked seemingly casually.