When Bafur went to Shanghai to take up his post, he brought a copy of these materials for reference, and Zhao Dagui also borrowed these materials from Bafur for ulterior purposes, copied them, and kept them in the firm.

(Note: After the British occupied Wusong Fort and the county seat of Shanghai, Li Taitai obtained a fairly complete set of customs tax returns, from "R.M. Martin: China, Political, Commercial, and Social" in 1847.)

In view of the fact that many book lovers complain that the information they know is too detailed and there is a suspicion of the number of words, they try to simplify it as much as possible after knowing it, only indicate its general idea and source, and do not cite the content too much.

I know that I have gained a lot of joy in the process of analyzing these modern historical materials, and I also want to share them with my book friends, but unfortunately it seems to have the opposite effect. ）

"You're going to use this information to come to the conclusion that the cloth business will collapse? Let me see your derivation process. Knowing that he was cheated by the ignorance of his shopkeepers, Zhao Dagui didn't know what it was like.

It was only at this time that Zhao Dagui realized that his use of the information in his hands was not enough at all, and his efforts to obtain these data were just due to the habit of modern people who like to collect all kinds of data, and it was not of much use except for using it to calculate the transactions of other commercial banks.

Using these information, using mathematical tools to analyze and monitor the trading situation in Shanghai, Zhao Dagui did not expect this, and even if he did, he did not have enough mathematical ability to do this.

Only a real mathematician like Li Xinlan has the ability and leisure to do such a thing.

Li Xinlan took out a lot of information, including various curves and reports.

"According to my calculations and Wen Qiang's calculations, the sales volume of foreign cloth has been slowly declining since September last year, reaching the first trough in March this year, and then starting to climb slightly, and there will be a good rebound in April and May, and then it will start to decline slowly.

Then, by September and October of this year, it will reach a certain critical point and begin to fall off a cliff, and in a very short period of time, it will be reduced to a very low level.

What's even more frightening is that by that time, the liquidity of most merchants will also be exhausted, reaching an extremely dangerous level, and things will deteriorate dramatically.

In other words, if no one pays attention, around November this year, the foreign cloth can no longer be sold, and then a large number of businesses begin to close down, and the entire industry enters a harsh winter period. Li Xinlan took out a few curve charts and introduced.

Zhao Dagui nodded after reading it, not knowing what to say.

To tell the truth, he only knew from historical sources that in December 1845, there would be the first economic crisis in Shanghai, and a large number of foreign firms, compradors, and Chinese trading houses engaged in the foreign cloth trade would close down and go bankrupt, but he did not know the details.

After reading the trend chart of the foreign cloth business calculated by Li Xinlan, Zhao Dagui had a more specific feeling about this bankruptcy tide, and knew that the stagnation of the foreign cloth business was not a linear decline, but there were many rebounds in the middle, just like the stock market, a little bit to seduce businessmen to invest, lower their vigilance, and only at the last moment did there fall off a cliff.

When the time comes, even if someone sees the opportunity and doesn't want to get out, they won't be able to do it.

With these materials calculated by Li Xinlan, Zhao Dagui is equivalent to getting a strategy map of this economic crisis.

"It's interesting and important, but it's also dangerous.

In this way, these materials will be put on my side first, and I will do the math carefully.

In addition, I would like to make an agreement with you that you must not disclose this information or the judgment that the foreign cloth business is about to collapse, and you must not tell anyone, otherwise you will be in great trouble. Zhao Dagui quietly took the information away from Li Xinlan's hands, and instructed him to agree never to leak these secrets.

Li Xinlan hesitated a little, not understanding how important these mathematical statistics were, but she couldn't bear Zhao Dagui's constant requests, and finally agreed never to disclose these statistics and statistical conclusions to others.

"This Li Xinlan and Sheldon are the same problem, they have superb IQ, but their EQ is zero, and they don't understand how shocking what they are doing.

He was idle and could analyze so many things, but he didn't know their importance, no wonder Cao Cao wanted to kill Yang Xiu when he saw him.

However, this time I was also a blessing in disguise, and I had a clearer ability to foresee the collapse of the foreign cloth business, and I could take this opportunity to wipe out all the foreign compradors in Shanghai.

Hmm, by the way, that Xu Wenqiang still has to deal with it well, and he can't be allowed to go out and talk nonsense. ”

Zhao Dagui said goodbye to Li Xinlan and went out, and his heart was extremely disturbed for a while, and he had any ideas.

Next, there were small personnel changes in Dagui Commercial Bank.

Xu Wenqiang, a disciple of mathematician Li Xinlan, was received by Zhao Dagui, and the two of them discussed secretly for five or six hours behind closed doors, reaching some kind of ulterior consensus.

In the end, Zhao Dagui summoned his shopkeepers and set up a "secretary room" to assist him in handling the affairs of the firm, and the first head of the "secretary room" was Xu Wenqiang.

"Isn't this the master or staff used by high-ranking officials, and they have to give a secretary office such a strange name. "After the shopkeepers knew the specific responsibilities of the secretary's office and the secret arts, they felt a little guilty in their hearts, but there was nothing to say, just deal with this new department in the future.

The secretary's room looks inconspicuous, but it is actually the department closest to the final decision-maker, and the shopkeepers have made up their minds to provide this secretary's room well, unless they can't, don't jump out and call it out.

Xu Wenqiang was originally a mathematics lecturer at the Oriental College, so he left the academy and entered the business bank, becoming one of the high-ranking and powerful figures in Shanghai.

"Nothing else, but the first secretary I recruited was a male secretary, has anyone calculated how big my psychological shadow is? Zhao Dagui enveloped and appeased Xu Wenqiang, solved the hidden risks, and got useful help, but he also complained in his heart.

A few days after Xu Wenqiang was promoted, a guest arrived, but it was Wu Jianzhang, a veteran comprador from Guangzhou.

The relationship between Zhao Dagui and Wu Jianzhang is somewhat complicated, and the two can be regarded as allies and comrades-in-arms in terms of forming a price alliance together to make foreigners pay more money, but in terms of competing for Shanghai's business market and gaining more market share, the two are in competition again.

It turned out that Zhao Dagui had almost monopolized all the land north of the county seat of Shanghai, and Wu Jianzhang and Qichang Foreign Bank wanted to buy land on the Huangpu River Beach to build a commercial bank and wharf, so they had to pay Zhao Dagui a considerable amount of land rental fees.

"This ready-made bamboo pole is not knocked on white. Zhao Dagui entertained Wu Jianzhang happily in the special reception room.

At this meeting, Wu Jianzhang brought his housekeeper over, and Zhao Dagui brought the newly promoted secretary Xu Wenqiang.

The four of them greeted each other, and Wu Jianzhang looked at Xu Wenqiang curiously.

As an important figure in Shanghai's comprador industry, Zhao Dagui's every move has received great attention, and many people know that Zhao Dagui has a trusted confidant around him.