However, seeing that these Britons were all looking very seriously, and they all took out paper and pen to record the prices of various commodities, Zhao Dagui understood that even if these traders in the magic capital could shout high prices and slaughter these Britons, they might not be able to do it for long.

Moreover, Zhao Dagui found that these British people wanted to help buy not all daily necessities such as rice, flour and paper, but also cloth, rhubarb, sumacy and other commodities that were not in short supply, and it seemed that they wanted to prepare for future business and investigate the price.

After a long walk, buying a lot of things, finding a money bank to exchange some silver dollars for copper coins, and finally finding a restaurant for a big meal, the group returned to the consulate satisfied.

The experience of several people set off a wave of envy among the people who stayed at the consulate, and many people made an appointment with Zhao Dagui to go shopping together in the afternoon.

No, I just want to go shopping and I don't want you big men, foreign beauties can still think about it, Zhao Dagui was slandered in his heart, but he knew in his heart that Bafu spent so much money to hire him, and he wanted to do this job, so he agreed with a smile.

These people in the consulate today are either famous missionaries or politicians in history, or they are the leaders of famous foreign firms, and it is necessary to establish good relations in the future.

In the evening, Zhao Dagui had a big meal with the British, touted each other, and then left the consulate with satisfaction and went back to his home, of course, carrying fifty authentic Spanish silver dollars in his pocket, which was specially paid by Consul Bafour, which was equivalent to the signing fee for later generations, and was not included in the salary.

After returning home, I told Zhao Xiaohu and Zhao Xiaomei that I had found an errand in the British consulate, and the two children looked inexplicable.

"Didn't you say that foreigners are all red guys, brother, why are you involved with them?" Zhao Xiaohu asked with a strange expression.

According to the locals, the red guy is the meaning of ghosts, and the Cantonese people call the foreigners as ghosts, and the people of the magic capital are called the red guys, which seems to have the same effect.

"What kind of red guys, they are all raised by their fathers and mothers, how different can they be. Just because other people's hair, skin color, and appearance are different from their own, it is very inappropriate to call people ghosts.

As for the difference between foreigners and Huaxia, and whether you can work and do business for foreigners, there are many truths in this, and I can't say it clearly, let me tell you about it. ”

Zhao Dagui felt that he had just time today, and he was more leisurely, so he talked for two hours from the location of the five continents to the historical exchanges, the exchanges between the Central Plains dynasties and foreigners, and the current world pattern, etc., until the two children yawned again and again.

"Well, so foreigners are also ordinary people. By the way, brother, you are on an errand with foreigners, how much is your salary?" Zhao Xiaomei was a little sleepy, covered her mouth and asked.

"Five hundred dollars a year, but the real big head is doing business with them, not this little money. Zhao Dagui told the truth, and took out the newly obtained fifty yuan of ocean to show his younger brothers and sisters.

"Five hundred yuan is not too little, but it is still a little worse than selling white sugar. Zhao Xiaohu said disappreciably, and Zhao Xiaomei couldn't help nodding beside her.

Since they made money by selling sugar, the Zhao family's brothers and sisters have a much higher vision, and they really don't look at it when they have a little money, forgetting that just over a month ago, a foreign debt of fifty taels of silver was enough to force them to sell their fields, houses, and daughters, and their families were ruined.

"Okay, it's so late, let's go back to the house and rest. Zhao Dagui thought that his younger brothers and sisters would happily pounce and cheer for finding a stable job, but he didn't expect the other party to react so flatly, so he felt a little bored.

At night, when he went back to his room and lay down, Zhao Dagui thought in his heart, his younger brothers and sisters are not young, and they should find a teacher to teach them well, and they can't always be idle like now, playing all day long.

Fortunately, the younger brothers and sisters are still young, and they didn't say anything faceless and inferior to foreigners.

Don't look at me in the Qing Dynasty a few years ago I was beaten so badly by the British, most of them feel good about themselves, it is one thing to spend money to watch foreigners live and be addicted to Western scenery, but in real life they are never willing to deal with foreigners.

Especially for the literate scholar class, the rejection of foreigners has reached its peak, and if people know that a former child-level scholar like Zhao Dagui works for foreigners, I don't know how much gossip will be caused.

As soon as he thought of this, Zhao Dagui sighed a little, although this approach is not necessarily correct, but the appearance of being eager to do his best to foreigners in later generations can hardly be said to be good.

Starting the next day, Zhao Dagui continued to work in the consulate seriously.

His job is actually not difficult, that is, to take people all over the house to buy things, and by the way, to find out price information or something.

Zhao Dagui abides by two things when he goes out on the street: first, it is okay not to bargain excessively, but the quality of the things must be good; second, no matter how trivial the things he buys, the accounts must be clear.

As soon as he did this, he immediately won the respect of most British people, who felt that he was a good person who was serious and never cheated, and even Consul Bafur also felt that Zhao Dagui did not show a greedy face in the process of buying things, which was somewhat unexpected.

At this time, it is very common to take advantage of the middle when helping people buy things, not to mention the Chinese, even among the British.

These people in the consulate came from afar, almost all of them were shrewd people, and they didn't necessarily praise Zhao Dagui at the beginning, but at this time, they had a little more respect for Zhao Dagui and began to truly accept him.

Within a few days of joining the company, Zhao Dagui took these big men from the United Kingdom to visit the streets and alleys around Yao's house, accumulated a lot of experience, and also obtained a lot of useful price information.

In fact, when it comes to the degree of unfamiliarity and desire for these price information, Zhao Dagui is only above the British, not below them.

There are many of these goods whose prices are very meaningful, so I will use a little more space here to record them.

The cotton consumption of the magic capital is very large, after all, it is the origin of Songjiang cloth at home and abroad, and the local cotton is also abundant, which is exported to China and foreign countries, and the price of cotton is about 15 yuan per quintal when the supply is oversupply, and it is as high as 23 to 24 yuan when there is a shortage;

The quality of hemp is very good, eight to nine yuan per load, and a lot of hemp is needed for the rigging required by the more than 7,000 ships that enter and leave the magic capital every year;

The price of Sumu is very long, five yuan to three yuan per quintal;

When the market supply is good, the price of wheat is about 5 yuan per quintal, and in the right season, the price of flour can reach 2 to 2 quintals per quintal;

Nanking homespun cloth, a cloth woven from yellow cotton, costs forty yuan per 100 horses (each horse is 21.5 feet long, which should be a foot);

The price of tea in Modu is about 20 percent cheaper than that in Guangzhou, especially green tea can be 25 percent cheaper;

The price of rhubarb is the same as that in Guangdong, that is, about 45 yuan per quintal;

Each five-pound high-quality ham costs one yuan;

Superior Mianyang, five yuan per head;

small fat cows, 11 to 15 yuan per head;

Large and good pheasants are about 0.23 yuan per head.

(Note: The above information is mainly from Robert Montgomery Martin's 1847 book "Chinese Politics, Commerce and Society")

This price information is of great reference significance for understanding the business transactions of this era.

Ningbo, which is also one of the five major treaty ports, has some gaps in prices compared with the magic capital, but the difference is not big.

Zhao Dagui later made a market survey of Ningbo, and announced its prices for comparison (note: in fact, he was lazy and didn't want to list the prices in Ningbo in the future, so he released them directly).

Locally produced first-class white cloth 24 feet long and 16 inches wide is priced at 600 wen per horse (30.48 cm for one foot, 2.54 cm for one inch, 12 inches for one foot);

18 feet long and 12 inches wide pale yellow bleached Nanjing native cloth 600 Wen;

The same quality of the true color of Nanjing native cloth 400 Wen;

The average price of sheep is three and a half yuan each;

The price of rhubarb is much lower than that of Guangzhou and Modu, with 35 yuan per quintal for the first-class and 17 yuan per quintal for the second-class;

The quality of (large) hemp is very good, nine to ten yuan per quintal, but the local demand is very high, and it is unlikely to be exported;

The cotton is of good quality, the fibres are long, clean, and pure white, and the price of local cotton is twenty yuan per quintal, and the weavers like Manila cotton, and the inferior American cotton and Bombay cotton cannot be sold here at almost any price;

The price of rice is two to three yuan per quintal, and it is difficult to imagine that Ningbo will import rice at any time, and it is also difficult to sell Bangladeshi rice here at a price of two yuan per bag;

Sugar is shipped from Dayuan or Fujian, the cheapest is 6 to 7 yuan per quintal, white sugar is 9 yuan per quintal, and the best rock sugar is 11 to 12 yuan per quintal;

black pepper is 9 to 12 yuan per quintal;

Bird's nest is 80 yuan per catty for the top grade, 60 yuan for the second class, and 40 yuan for the third class;

The demand for sandalwood is not large, and the price is 13 to 15 yuan per quintal;

The price of lead ingots is about seven yuan and five jiao (unfortunately I don't know how big the lead ingot is);

The width of the woolen wool is three cubit (about 18 inches) and a half, and the price of each wrist ruler is only 180 to 1 yuan;

The tobacco leaves are very soft, much inferior to the American tobacco leaves, seven yuan per quintal;

Skins (cow hides and bull hides) are 10 yuan per quintal if they are cooked skins, and more than 7 yuan per quintal for raw skins;

White lead is 14 to 15 yuan per quintal, mainly used as cosmetics;

Locally produced castor oil is more than 6 yuan per quintal, which is used as a lacquer material, not as a medicinal material;

The quality of black tea in Ningbo is not good, and it is not easy to sell in foreign markets, ranging from 20 yuan to 67 yuan per quintal;

Ningbo's green tea, for foreigners, is much more popular than black tea, but the leaves are slightly too large, and the price ranges from 27 yuan to 78 yuan per quintal;

The silk fabrics in Ningbo are very similar to those in Guangzhou, with an average price of about 410 yuan to 450 yuan per horse (20 yards, 91.44 centimeters per yard), raw silk from 410 to 450 yuan, and silk from Hangzhou by weight, with an average price of about four corners and five cents per tael.

(Note: The above information is also from Robert Montgomery Martin's 1847 book "Chinese Politics, Commerce and Society")

These price information may not seem important, but Zhao Dagui will soon be glad that he has obtained these price information, so that he will not be in a hurry in the future business, at least he will not lose the business inexplicably.

After working in the consulate for a few days, mainly to pay the British for shopping, eating, drinking and having fun, Zhao Dagui's long-awaited business opportunity finally arrived.