Qiao Zhiqing instructed Ma Xun to take pen and ink, and sent a letter back to his home, because he couldn't see people with his brush, so he asked Yan Yuting to write a letter on his behalf.Although Yan Yuting usually likes to play, she is not sloppy at all when she gets down to business, and she writes a neat and neat fly-headed small letter, only ten centimeters square of paper, but writes five hundred brush words, which makes Qiao Zhiqing surprised, when she is really a secretary's material, she will design a tight-fitting open-breasted suit for this girl to wear, and then put on a miniskirt that just covers her little fart, with black hollow stockings wrapped around her thighs.As soon as you bend over and stand up, the spring will be exhausted, and it will make people feel hot and dry when you think about it.Qiao Zhiqing reported his safety to his family in the letter, but did not mention his plan, only shirked the Jiangnan long-haired thieves to make trouble, the trade route was blocked, and he could not go home for a while.The letter specially reminded the second brother to beware of the problem of starving people rebelling after taking office, and northern Shaanxi, a place where the land is barren and birds don't, has been a base for the production of anti-thieves from ancient times to the present.The Twist Army north of the Yangtze River is sharp, and its sphere of influence has spread to Anhui, Henan, Shandong, Suzhou, Hubei, Shaanxi, Jin, and Zhiji provinces, with hundreds of thousands of people, compared to the Taiping Army.In ancient times, the transmission of information was inconvenient, and people who did business outside generally kept carrier pigeons in captivity, and it took only two days to go back and forth from the north and south, but for Qiao Zhiqing, this speed was still too slow, and it was okay to do business, if there was a war, it was easy to let the opponent take advantage of the loophole because of poor intelligence communication, Qiao Zhiqing had to use his brain in this regard, and secretly decided to introduce the Morse telegram from the United States once the conditions were ripe.Everyone rested for a day, and at dawn on the second day, Qiao Zhiqing instructed Wang Shumao and Ma Xun to lead ten men each, and went out of the city with loaded guns and ammunition to recruit soldiers in the nearby villages of Anqing City.Qiao Zhiqing went to the warehouse to get a tea brick, and asked the dumb man to drive the carriage to the Yazhong of Anqing Mansion again.Since Li Hongzhang's appointment letter has been issued, portraits of Qiao Zhiqing have been posted everywhere in the city, and the men guarding the mansion immediately gave Qiao Zhiqing three points politely, and the grandfather licked his face and shouted.Qiao Zhiqing was also very generous, and as soon as he made a move, he took out ten taels of silver and distributed it to Menzi.Qiao Zhiqing entered the mansion and did not go to see Li Hongzhang, but asked his subordinates to take him to Gordon's east wing.Because it had just dawned, Gordon hadn't gotten up yet, and the maid waiting at the door spread the word for half an hour before Qiao Zhiqing was able to enter the house."
Isn't this the newly appointed Lord Qiao, how can you have time to come to me, please take a seat, please take a seat."
Gordon didn't understand the structure of the Hunan army, and all the generals he dealt with were called adults."
I'm here to negotiate a deal with Captain Gordon."
Qiao Zhiqing sat down at the tea table upright, instructed the maid to boil a pot of boiling water, and talked to Gordon in English, on the one hand, to show goodwill to Gordon, on the other hand, he was afraid that the wall would have ears, and the conversation with Gordon was overheard."
Business, no, no, no, Master Qiao, you may not remember, I was only in charge of surveying affairs in the army, and I didn't do business."
Gordon rinsed his mouth, glanced at Qiao Zhiqing unexpectedly, his expression was really much more friendly, he applied a hot towel to his face, and sat down opposite Qiao Zhiqing."
Captain Gordon knows that this is this" Qiao Zhiqing chuckled, took out Yiyang's brick tea from his arms, broke some on it and put it into the tea bowl, picked up the hot water that the maid had just handed over, brewed a bowl, and handed the rest of the brick tea to Gordon.Gordon picked up the brick tea and sniffed it at his big nose, and couldn't stop praising it, "Good tea, good tea, it's really fragrant, it's more fragrant than the Xinyang Maojian that Master Li Hongzhang gave me." ”Qiao Zhiqing said with a smile, "That's natural, this kind of tea is picked before and after the rain in the valley, and it is made after more than a dozen processes, so it is also called tea before the rain."
Because it is easy to transport and preserve, it was exported overseas at a very early stage, and it was expensive. ”"What does Master Qiao mean, you might as well say it directly."
Gordon smelled the fragrance of tea that filled the room, and couldn't help but take a sip of the brewed tea bowl and praise it.Qiao Zhiqing smiled and discussed with Gordon, "I know that the captain came to Anqing this time to discuss arms procurement with Li Dashuai, and you also know that my "Qingzi Battalion", which was temporarily cut into the queue, is an illegitimate son who does not want his mother's pain, and he has to eat and drink on his own, and Li Dashuai will not send me a single ammunition."
So I want to exchange these brick teas for a batch of arms with you, and you sell these brick teas to Europe, but there is a lot of profit in the middle, which is a private transaction between me and you. ”"Oh, it's not difficult, but with my ability, I can only provide Master Qiao with some guns and ammunition, and artillery warships can't do it."
Gordon seemed very interested, and the conditions given by Qiao Zhiqing were very tempting, at that time, China's civil strife and the tea trade with the West were also affected, so the price of tea was once very high."
That's enough, I only need a thousand rifles, 100,000 rounds of ammunition, and none of this should be a problem for Mr.
Captain."
Qiao Zhiqing reported the number of guns and ammunition he needed."
Oh God, that's not much, you know, your commander Li has only pre-ordered two thousand guns from me, and he has to distribute them to ten battalions of sergeants."
Gordon exclaimed.Qiao Zhiqing smiled lightly and continued, "According to my investigation, the Yiyang black tea exported from China to the West is about two taels of silver per catty, and I can exchange this batch of arms with the captain at half price, which means that the captain can get a profit of seven thousand taels of silver in the middle, and I guarantee that this is the first transaction with the captain, but it is not the last, and the number will increase more and more in the future, I think there should be no problem with the captain." ”During the Qing Dynasty, a foreign gun was purchased for about ten taels of silver, but the bullets were not very expensive, and one tael of silver could buy 400 rounds of ammunition.Gordon thought about it in his heart for a while, and finally couldn't resist the temptation and nodded in agreement, "Okay, everything is according to what Master Joe said, I'll find a way to bring the arms over."
However, Master Li and I delivered in Shanghai, and we must also deliver in Shanghai.Also, you have to pay me half of the tea in advance so that I can fund this thing. ”"Deal, happy cooperation."
Qiao Zhiqing raised his hand and held Gordon tightly without thinking about it.Gordon liked this young man who was familiar with Western etiquette and language, and asked jokingly, "Isn't Lord Qiao worried that I won't pay you arms if I take the tea?"
Qiao Zhiqing smiled indifferently and said confidently, "I understand Captain Gordon's character, you are not those people who are greedy for small profits, besides, this is just a small business, and we will have greater business cooperation in the future, so I don't need to worry." ”Gordon laughed out loud and said cheerfully, "It's a pleasure to talk to Master Qiao today, you have an old Chinese saying, call and don't be rude, and I will try my best to get you two Armstrong guns as the beginning of our friendship." ”"That's great, and the question is how you're going to get this batch of tea, it's not a small amount."
Qiao Zhiqing looked at Gordon with some confusion."
This is not a problem, my ironclad ship has just escorted Li Dashuai back, and it is moored at the ferry outside the city, and someone will accept it if you transport it there."
Gordon shrugged his shoulders easily."
I see, no wonder Li Hongzhang came back so quickly, it turned out to be escorted by a foreigner's gunboat, this old thing is quite enjoyable."
Qiao Zhiqing secretly said a word in his heart, and then got up and said goodbye to Gordon."
Then I wish us a happy cooperation."
Gordon excitedly curled the mustache on the side of his mouth and shook hands with Qiao Zhiqing.Qiao Zhiqing went straight to the church after leaving the palace, and arranged for his subordinates to sort out 7,000 catties of tea from the warehouse, which was loaded with four carriages, and was personally escorted to the ferry outside the city.On the side of the ironclad boat, a group of migrant workers were carrying boxes to the boat, and a fake foreign devil in a suit and tie led five or six strong men to supervise the work, and from time to time waved the whip in his hand and whipped the people's body.An elderly man was whipped on his body, and his steps were unsteady, and the box he was carrying on his shoulder fell to the ground, and the calligraphy, painting, and antiques inside rolled to the ground.The fake foreign devil was more like a mad dog now, and he stepped forward and kicked the old man to the ground, and the five strong men behind him also rushed forward, waving the whip in his hand at the old man, punching and kicking.Qiao Zhiqing saw everything in his eyes, gritted his teeth angrily, stepped forward and shouted to the group of mad dogs, "Who of you are in charge here, I am here to bring tea to Captain Gordon." ”The fake foreign devils and strong men stopped beating, squinted their eyes and stepped over the old man's face, shook their heads and shouted at Qiao Zhiqing, "You are Qiao Zhiqing, my foreign adults have all explained, there are seven thousand catties of tea to be transported, and the amount is not enough" Qiao Zhiqing could no longer control the anger in his heart, and grabbed the big braid behind the fake foreign devil's head and pressed it to the ground, yelling, "You are fucking blind, dare to talk to this military master, you better weigh it carefully, if there is a shortage of one or two, this military master will pay you ten taels of silver." ”The strong man behind the fake foreign devil rolled up his sleeves and wanted to make a move, Qiao Zhiqing's subordinates immediately pulled the bolt of the gun and aimed the muzzle of the gun at it.Seeing this scene, the five strong men were shocked into a cold sweat, and as soon as their legs were weak, they knelt on the ground and begged for mercy loudly.The fake foreign devil also hurriedly changed his tone and begged, "Spare your life, master, the villain has eyes and doesn't know Mount Tai, you don't remember the villain, let the villain go, these teas, the villain will load you on the boat immediately." ”Qiao Zhiqing let go of his hand, kicked the fake foreign devil aside, and ordered, "Forget it, the master will spare you this time, don't think that you can do whatever you want if you follow the foreign devil as a dog."
Business belongs to business, you still weigh this batch of tea, you don't want to fall into the infamy of profiteers. ”"Master, I really don't need it, the villain can still call the shots in this matter, and the villain won't waste the master's time."
The fake foreign devil licked his face and opened the fan in his hand, fanned Qiao Zhiqing hard, and hurriedly ordered his subordinates to load the tea onto the boat
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