There were many foreign firms in the concession area, and Gong Mujiu was worried about these foreign smuggling, so he sent officials to inspect the concession area, and every ten days he had to inspect the warehouses of the foreign comprador firms, and record the quantity and type of goods in them, as the basis for levying tariffs.

The foreign firms in the concession were intimidated by Gong Mujiu's obscenity, so they could only accept this kind of inspection, and they didn't know what Gong Mujiu would be scolded behind their backs, but they couldn't think about it.

It is also indisputable that the power of public security management and law enforcement in the concession area is also in the hands of Gong Mujiu.

It was only after the "Qingpu Case" in 48 that the Qing government began to lose all kinds of jurisdiction over the concession area, and during the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, even customs sovereignty was lost.

Before the signing of the "Shanghai Land Charter", the Qing government in principle did not allow foreigners to buy land in the Qing Dynasty, and even did not allow them to rent land to build shops.

Merchants from other countries came to the Celestial Empire to do business, and they were neither allowed to buy nor rent land, which was simply a practice of pushing people into the sea, which can be seen in the arrogance of more than 100 years before the Qing Dynasty.

From this point of view, the signing of the charter does give foreigners more residency rights, but it seems far-fetched to regard it as a traitorous agreement.

Of course, this is only a little academic idea that I know, and I don't have the idea of washing the floor for Gong Mujiu or Bafuer, and if someone wants to scold this charter, they can scold it happily, and they will never come out to defend it; perhaps the experts of the history department have a more comprehensive and objective evaluation of these things.

The signing of the "Shanghai Land Charter" was supposed to be a big deal, but because it was the most intense time of the foreign cloth crisis, a large number of foreign banks were going bankrupt, and the Shanghai business community reacted indifferently to this.

However, many knowledgeable businessmen know that the thousands of acres of land in the north of the county town in Zhao Dagui's hands, especially the more than 500 acres of land in the demarcated concessions, are worth a lot of money, and sooner or later they will bring Zhao Dagui incomparably rich returns.

Stark's visit to Shanghai is of course a lot of personal matters to deal with, but it is also inevitable to inspect the Shanghai concession area and make some reports to the Hong Kong and British authorities.

Zhao Dagui was a big landowner in the concession, and he was familiar with the way, so he took Stark to start walking around along the Huangpu River, from the shop area lined with foreign banks, to the college district where his Oriental College is located, and the Maijia circle established by Maddos.

With a certain amount of financial strength and the support of Zhao Dagui, Mai Dox moved the original hospital in Dinghai and renamed it Renji Hospital, which was put together with the Mohai Bookstore where the printing press was stored, and surrounded by a fence, which was nicknamed "Mai Jia Quan", which was also a very important building in the concession decades later.

Stark looks extremely delicate on the surface, but in fact he is extremely shrewd and very knowledgeable, carefully inspecting these areas, chatting with the British and Chinese here, carefully understanding the situation, especially Zhao Dagui's "Oriental School of Science", carefully examining the composition of teachers and students, as well as the subjects and teaching materials of professors.

At this time, the Oriental College had more than 200 teachers, and the students were relatively small, only about 100, but the college was also responsible for giving lectures to the workers of the shipyard and the employees of the Dagui Firm, and the teaching task was not light.

Because of the short period of time, Stark couldn't get too deep into the academy, and just a few things he saw could give him enough information.

"Zhao Dagui, this is fledgling. Stark sighed secretly.

The overall level of Oriental College is not high, and there are many universities in the UK that are stronger than this, and the rich collection of books and financial support of the college alone is enough to make the level of Zhao Dagui's staff reach a very high level.

"It is said that Brother Zhao's shipyard is on the north bank of Suzhou Creek, can you also go over and have a look?" Stark made another request.

"Oh, that's not hard. Zhao Dagui didn't mean to hide it.

Zhao Dagui knew that the Qing Dynasty government had always opposed the gathering of too many people, so he deliberately placed the shipyard in the north of the Wusong River, which was far away, and divided the shipyard into two parts: a Chinese-style shipyard and a Western-style shipyard, corresponding to different ship types.

After looking at the shipyard, Stark was slightly disappointed: "Brother Zhao's shipyard is very large, but the technical level is average, if you want to build a ship, I'm afraid it's a little difficult." ”

Stark's family is a famous British family, runs a military factory, and is also very famous throughout Europe, and he can see through the technical level and production capacity of the shipyard at a glance.

"That's right. I hired a lot of Western engineers in Macau, but they were all pulled away by the shipyards in Hong Kong, and none of them made it to Shanghai.

Therefore, until now, the technical level of the shipyard has not been improved, and it is difficult to repair ordinary Western sailing ships, let alone steamships. Zhao Dagui did not hide it, and said frankly.

"And this kind of thing. Stark was a little embarrassed and snorted, not daring to continue on the topic.

The two wandered around for a day, and in the evening, Consul Bafour was still holding a banquet in the consulate to entertain Stark.

Bafur was only an artillery captain before he became a consul, but Stark was a major, his family power was far above Bafur, and he was in a high position in Hong Kong, and sometimes his words were more effective than when he was Governor Deber, and this time he came with a certain investigative nature, Bafur did not dare to offend this big man.

Stark was polite and friendly to Bafour, without the slightest domineering, and then met with Bafur alone, and the secret conversation ended for several hours.

In the next few days, Stark himself asked the British businessmen and even the Chinese compradors in Shanghai to find out the situation, and only occasionally met with Zhao Dagui, without revealing his true intentions.

Zhao Dagui didn't seem to be aware of it, and every time they met, he just treated him politely.

After a few days, the unsalable foreign cloth in Shanghai became more and more serious, the retail sales continued to fall, and the news from Hong Kong and Guangzhou was all bad news, and the unsalable foreign cloth there was no lighter than here.

Lin Aqin of Yisheng Bank was controlled by the creditors, if it weren't for his insolvency, the warehouse full of foreign cloth would not be able to sell for money at all, and those creditors would have carved up the foreign cloth by themselves and ran away.

The most troublesome thing is that Lin Aqin's Yisheng Bank is engaged in the trade of goods between China and Britain, and his creditors are both Chinese and British, and although he has a strong backstage behind him, he does not dare to make a move at all, but only worries about the loss of his interests in Yishengxing.

In this case, Stark couldn't think about it, and finally found Zhao Dagui's side.

"The business situation in Shanghai is very serious, what does Brother Zhao think?" Stark asked.

"I'm a small businessman, what else can I do? The last time the factory caught fire, I also suffered serious losses, isn't this rebuilding the silk reeling factory? Zhao Dagui was stunned for a moment and said.

"Oh, yes, I heard that Brother Zhao lost a lot last time, so please mourn and change. ”

"Thank you Brother Stark for your concern, but the word "mourning" is not used here. ”

"And this kind of thing, taught. However, I have a reluctant request, I want to ask Brother Zhao to calm this crisis and prevent the bankruptcy tide from continuing to spread, I don't know what Brother Zhao wants?"