Humble Administrator's Garden. (First release)

When the cold wind came, the branches that were almost as broken fell a few yellow leaves, which seemed to be more and more shiny. However, when people were happy, Qi Taiyu had a very cultural garden and was happy, so he was not moved by the cold wind of winter. He stood outside the round door on the side of the "Jingshan Tower" surrounded by water on three sides, waiting for his VIP.

The name "Seeing Mountain Tower" is taken from Tao Yuanming's poem: "Picking chrysanthemums under the eastern fence, leisurely seeing the southern mountains." It reflects the feelings of Wang Xianchen, a frustrated official in the officialdom more than 300 years ago, after he retired. Wang Xianchen was the founder of this Humble Administrator's Garden.

"The Humble Administrator" was taken from the "Fu of Leisure Living in the Jin Dynasty": "Build a room and plant trees, and you will be happy and content... irrigated the garden and sold vegetables to provide food for the day and night... This is also a sloppy ruler." Therefore, Wang's family was rushing through the officialdom and went ups and downs for 40 years, and only retired as the magistrate of Gaozhou (the sixth rank) and made fun of his peers. Because Pan Yue pretended to be a self-deprecating person who was a rude ruler.

Qi Taiyu's "gain" was not that he had already obtained the Humble Administrator's Garden, but that he and Li Hongzhang had a crush on this garden at the same time. As the comprador of the Duke of London, he was definitely confident that he would take the garden. He was a businessman, and the businessman did not fight with officials, but Qi Taiyu was extraordinary. He was one of the two compradors appointed by Tang Ning, and the other was of course Xu Rongcun.

Qi Taiyu knew that the current Duke was the Supreme Emperor of the Qing Dynasty, so he was not afraid of Li Hongzhang at all. Not to mention Lord Li, he was not afraid of even the emperor. So Li Hongzhang was very puzzled, how dare this kid fight for this garden with him?

Even if Tang Ning messed up, Qi Taiyu slapped his butt, left the Qing Dynasty, went to Nanyang, and Europe, and the territory of the Duke of London was everywhere. Since he was beaten by a Qing official, Qi Taiyu has particularly hated the entire Qing Dynasty official, and even Lord Li hated him. Lord Li was willing to pay 3,000 taels, but he would pay 10,000 taels to see who has money. Li Hongzhang is an official, and it would be too conspicuous to buy a garden, and he would not be willing to leave this famous Suzhou garden. Therefore, today he came to negotiate with the comprador of Qi, hinting that he should not fight with the officials, otherwise there would be no good results.

As for the problem that officials are not suitable for investment, he has already thought of a solution. In the official world, an official will always have a solution. Even if he doesn't want to, as long as he makes a noise, others will naturally think about it. He also found a comprador to act as a substitute.

The comprador was very eye-catching, with his surname Hu, his name was Guangtang, and his courtesy name was Xueyan. The comprador Hu originally bought grain and grass for governor Wang Youling in Zhejiang. Now that the Qing and British Allied Forces attacked Suzhou, the pressure on Zhejiang was reduced suddenly. He was ordered by Lord Wang to help Lord Li handle military rations. It can be said that the remaining defeated generals of the Qing army, such as the green camp, were integrated into some of the food and grass for the encirclement work, and the British army's rations were responsible for Qi Taiyu. One was a local comprador and the other was a foreign comprador. At present, the status of the foreign comprador is obviously higher than that of the local comprador, because the main force in the attack on the Taiping Army was foreigners.

In addition to these three characters, there is an indispensable character - Wu Jinde, the original owner of Humble Administrator Garden. Why is it called the "original" owner? Because of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, King Zhong Li Xiucheng fell in love with it after breaking through Suzhou, turned "Wu Garden" into the Zhongwang Mansion, and built a large-scale construction. Until now, you can still see the shadow of garden projects under construction everywhere. Unexpectedly, it was in full swing and suddenly it became a sudden change of hands. Suzhou soon changed hands. This turned into a confusing account. Who should this garden belong to?

Today, they are here to solve this problem.

Qi Taiyu is not alone. Xu Rongcun helps Tangning handle state affairs in Beijing. Because he is Tangning's intelligence chief in the Qing Dynasty, and the comprador is his part-time job, so Xu Rongcun, a comprador in Jiangnan, handed over his nephew Xu Run.

At the age of 15, the young Xu Run followed his uncle Xu Rongcun to Shanghai and entered the Yingshang Baoshun Foreign Business as an apprentice. He was extremely diligent and studious, and had insight, so he was highly valued by foreign companies. At the age of 19, he was allowed to go to the school to help, and now he has become Xu Rongcun's right-hand assistant.

"Oh! The nephew is here, it's very early!" Qi Taiyu greeted Xu Run happily. It was supposed to be the junior who greeted him first, but he was in a good mood and couldn't help but speak first.

Xu Run laughed and said, "Uncle Qi is so happy? Will there be a difficult negotiation later?"

Qi Taiyu didn't hear the words "hard negotiation" in his ears. He pointed to the scenery of the grass, wood, pond, bridge, brick and tiles around the mountain building, and said, "A garden that has been around for more than 300 years is a strong cultural atmosphere. This is a rare opportunity. We dare not buy the Old Summer Palace. Haha, it would be nice to have a humble admin garden. Do you build it? There is Wen Zhengming's couplet on the pillars of Yuanxiangtang: the cicadas are quieter, and the birds are singing more secluded. There is the "mountain flowers and wild birds" by Ni Yuanlu of the Ming Dynasty in the center of the pavilion. The three words Yuanxiangtang are also the legendary poet of Qianlong, and Shen Deqian, who was only 66 years old, passed the Jinshi. Have you seen it? How honest and honest it is written!"

Xu Run smiled again: "Uncle Qi is educated! I don't understand this. I didn't know you still understand this before."

While the uncle and nephew were chatting and laughing, their guests and negotiators came.

Xu Run didn't know the inside story of Tang Ning wielding the emperor to command the princes. When he saw the emperor's imperial envoy Li Hongzhang who was sent to suppress bandits with foreigners, he was a little scared. After all, it was the people of the Qing Dynasty who were used to being the same. Qi Taiyu was full of confidence. The Supreme Emperor was his own childhood! Is there anything in this world that would increase his ambition and destroy others' majesty than this?

According to the etiquette system, the people should kneel down when they see officials, especially officials like Lord Li with a high rank. He was recommended by Zeng Guofan as the governor of Jiangsu, and was promoted to the second-rank senior official and was given the title of Minister of War. However, because the jurisdiction was in war, it was not yet fully authorized. Xu Run was about to kneel down honestly, but his uncle stopped him and said lightly: "You don't have to be too polite. Foreigners don't have to kneel down when they see the emperor. We are Malayan nationality and are also considered foreigners. Lord Li thinks the Caomin is right?"

The governor suddenly felt a fire, but after half a second, he immediately suppressed his anger, adjusted his face, laughed, and said, "So that's it, you are no longer my Qing subjects. It's interesting, it's interesting... It's okay, you two are casual!" He made a gesture of invitation. Li Hongzhang was a scammer. He knew that everything was abnormal, so he had to see what this tyrant merchant said. If he had changed to Zuo Zongtang, he might have been overturned.

"Please!" Qi Taiyu took Lord Li's expression in his eyes, "Please sit down!" Of course he was not afraid of Lord Li. It has been occupied by his private soldiers. Don't forget that he is a person who participated in the training of Chinese armed forces in Singapore. According to the general of the Hessen Hunting Corps, Mr. Qi still has a little talent to lead the troops. He has no talent. He can still be competent to lead the road police of a branch of the Qing Dynasty Train Bureau. Tang Ning's plan now is to control the road police of the Shanghai Branch, which is the most important branch. In his plan, the military power of the local governor and the strength of the train bureau are upside down, that is, he deliberately wants to make the strength of the governor far inferior to the train bureau. Lord Li doesn't understand now, and one day he will understand.

Lord Li is no longer polite to this tyrant businessman, and he held his seat with his chest high and raised his chest first. The governor's aura is undoubtedly revealed. Xu Run secretly wiped his sweat with his sleeves. This matter was a mess and offended the governor from the beginning! Isn't it good to make good fortune by being kind?

Qi Taiyu is not a fool either. He just knew that one day Lord Li would know the upside down plan of the Supreme Emperor. Instead of hiding it, it would be better to let it go. Being able to show off in front of the governor was his dream of being more serious. What he hated the most was the governor, especially the governor of Jiangsu, because the governor of Jiangsu firmly beat him, the bird of good news. He had heard of the dog of falling into the water. Have you heard of the bird of good news? Humph, this is a lifelong hatred.

After the guest and host took a seat, Qi Taiyu put out his master's song and called out: "Xiaolan, look at the tea!"

Xiaolan is a tea art master he has chosen from Shanghai with an outstanding appearance, especially a pair of white and tender chess, which can especially stir up ripples in a man's heart.

Qi Taiyu showed his strength in the conversation and laughter: "Today, please ask all of you to taste the tea produced in Nanyang and see what's different. This is the black tea produced by Manor No. 7, and the quality is excellent. Oh, I have to introduce why it is No. 7. Back then, the world's richest manor, the Duke of London, sent 8 biologists including Wallace to plant rubber. Among them, No. 1 is the most famous manor of Wallace, a great scientist who is the secret of the origin of the species, together with the Duke of London and Mr. Darwin, to discover the secret of the origin of the species. However, Mr. Wallace does not take the manor very much in mind. The owner of Manor No. 7 is different. He works very hard, not only planting rubber, but also growing tea."

Hu Guangyong was very interested in the big cast of "the richest man in the world": "Why? How much money does this duke have? How can he be called the richest man in the world?"

Qi Taiyu waved his hands repeatedly: "Actually, the title of the richest man in the world is the least valuable name of the Duke of London. Anyway, his money is too much to calculate, so I guess he doesn't know how much he has. Let's put it this way, do you know how much the budget of the Beijing-Shanghai Railway this time?"

Of course, the businessman Hu Guangyong knew this number well. He had the idea of ​​investing in the Qing Dynasty Train Bureau, but because he didn't understand the background of this foreigner, he gave up and said casually: "500 pounds, that is, 18.5 million taels of silver."

Qi Taiyu, a little incompetent businessman, unknowingly attracted everyone's attention: "By the way, it's 18.5 million taels! Do you know how expensive it is to build a railway? Our Qing trains use less steel, but the foreigners use rails. It turned out to be rails. Since our Duke of London invented the method of rapid steelmaking, railways around the world have become rails. The Duke is the king of steel. Just this one, just let's do it, how much money does the Duke have? Besides, steel is not just the purpose of building railways. Building roads, building bridges, building houses, and building ships. Which one doesn't use steel? Steel is the skeleton of this world!"

Hu Guangyong gasped: "You mean, all the steel in this world comes from the Duke of London's factory?"

Seeing that he was frightened by Lord Li's companion, Qi Taiyu nodded proudly: "That's right, the Duke is a talented person. How could he learn what he invented so easily? Others can make steel, but most people can't make steel quality, so there must be a secret here. (http://.). Look at what the names of our Duke's factories are: British Steel Factory, Indian Steel Factory, Japanese Steel Factory, European Steel Factory, and Qing Steel Factory in the future. They are all monsters with extremely large output."

As a big profiteer, Hu Guangyong knew best that monopoly status was the most profitable way. For example, he monopolized the supply of military rations in Zhejiang, and made a fortune from it, and monopolized global steel. This was so cruel. No wonder he heard that the Duke wanted to build a railway. Foreign capital came to invest like a tiger smelling blood, and even ignored the war.
Chapter completed!