Sheng Xuanhuai is now supervising Tianjin Customs. In 1882, Li Hongzhang asked Sheng Xuanhuai to establish a telegraph line from Shanghai to Guangdong, Ningbo, Fujian and Xiamen. However, because of insufficient funds, he began to use his power to embezzle customs money and grain to subsidize the telegraph business and confuse the funds of various departments. As a result, he was reported and exposed. Fortunately, all parties pleaded with each other and finally passed without any danger. Sheng Xuanhuai sometimes wondered, why is it so difficult to do things in the Qing Dynasty? He really envied the people in the Northeast who were very bandit-like and fought with disagreement. He issued a statement a few days ago and the people were autonomous.

Now the governors and governors in various places are in a state of autonomy, and most of the money and grain are in their own hands, they work their own careers, and they raise their own soldiers. But like Da Shang, who directly demonstrate autonomy, they are definitely the only ones of scorpion cakes. In addition, the Qing Dynasty was the ancestral land, which caused a storm. Later, Da Shang sent two airships around the city of Beijing, and then dropped a bomb in the wilderness of Xizhimen. After a loud bang, it really shocked the government and the country! The old and young men of the Qing court finally learned to shut up! Northeast Autonomy seemed to no longer exist.

"This Wang Yi is really a big deal." Sheng Xuanhuai was listening to his servants' introduction to the situation in the Northeast. "You mean, they voted for the village chief in the village?"

Now the person is in his thirties and speaks cleanly and neatly, so he is deeply appreciated by Sheng Xuanhuai. "Yes, their autonomous government has appointed nearly 100 supervision teams to enter each village. Every adult with a normal mind has the right to vote, and anyone can run for the election. The village chief serves every three years and can be re-elected, and he will not be allowed to run for the election again after that."

"Why don't people at or above the county level implement this method?" Sheng Xuanhuai asked.

"I heard that Wang Yi believed that the villagers only knew the situation in the village, but did not know the situation at the county level, so county officials were selected by civil servant training."

"There is no check or balance?" Sheng Xuanhuai asked with a smile.

"Yes, local citizen congresses, they have the power to reject local fiscal budgets and the right to submit the removal of local officials. They are held at the same time as village chief elections, and the election of representatives of the autonomous region citizen congresses, and the three are one, so they are also called three-in-one elections."

"Their county-level officials are difficult to do, and they are also responsible for the top and the bottom, as well as the ICAC and newspaper supervision."

The servant smiled and said, "That's true, the official salary is very high. Wang Yi said that this is a high salary to raise integrity, and the same is also the same as the cool law to raise integrity. Government officials commit crimes, and the crimes are extra-level, and property disclosure must be implemented."

"Who else wants to do this official?" Sheng Xuanhuai said with a smile.

While the two were joking, someone came to report: "Mr. Xi is here."

Sheng Xuanhuai immediately stood up and went out to greet him, but before leaving the door, he suddenly turned around and said to the man who had told him about the situation in the Northeast before: "Write everything you know about the Northeast and give it to me tonight."

The servant bowed and said, "Yes!"

Xi Zhengfu, whose courtesy name is Sugui, was from Dongshan in the late Qing Dynasty. He was the second comprador of the Shanghai English-Shanghai Bank. Now he is middle-aged and looks kind and gentle.

"Brother Sugui, please sit down." Sheng Xuanhuai was very enthusiastic, and a servant offered tea at this time.

"My brother Xingsun is coming down, I don't know what's going on?" Xi Zhengfu sucked the tea lightly, then smiled straight to the point.

"I heard recently that there was a little problem with the ground in Shanghai?"

* Sheng Xuanhuai said it was very obscure. Xi Zhengfu smiled after hearing this and said, "Recently, domestic tea has been competition from Indian tea and Ceylon tea, and raw silk has encountered competition from Japan and Italy, so sales are difficult. My brother also knows that the business of tea silk requires loans for money shops these days, otherwise the business will not continue. However, now the business of tea silk is not good, so the business of money shops can be imagined. In order to prevent certain problems, our bank collects payments in advance to prevent financial risks. Therefore, we no longer give loans to money shops, so they can lend them out."

"It's understandable." Sheng Xuanhuai smiled.

"I heard that more than fifty small money houses have gone bankrupt..." Xi Zhengfu introduced the situation.

"Is there any money on the market?" Sheng Xuanhuai began to ask what he wanted to know.

"It should be... the two major money houses of Chuntai and Taimi, which are both in the big silk merchant, have gone bankrupt. In order to prevent losses from occurring, Shanxi Piaohao has also changed its practice of not recovering loans for the time being. With the September lunar month (1st to 30th of the Gregorian calendar), hundreds of thousands of taels of silver released on the market will be recovered together, and will not be released. At this time, the business of money houses in Shanghai is similar to the weather. From 78 at the beginning of the year, there are only 10 of the big money houses left, and the money shops are closed down by no less than three or four hundred."

"I didn't expect the situation to be so ruined!" Sheng Xuanhuai sighed, looking worried about the country and the people. However, Xi Zhengfu could see the excitement flashing in his eyes, as if a hunter was about to capture the most proud prey in his life.

"The situation in Fukang is very bad now. Hu Guangyong and Lord Hu now operates the export silk industry, hoarding raw silk, and monopolizing it. It is said that "the silkworm breeding villages and towns in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces are all given a deposit, so that they will not sell outsiders and sell them completely with Hu's family." The backlog is so serious that when encountering the current season, there may be big problems."

Sheng Xuanhuai fell into silence for a while, and after a while, he looked up and smiled again: "Mr. Hu is also for the country and the people. He wants to regain the pricing power of raw silk that the Qing Dynasty controls the hands of foreigners. His heart is commendable, and his heart is commendable."

Xi Zhengfu smiled and said, "It's true as the Lord said."

After seeing Xi Zhengfu away, Sheng Xuanhuai walked around in his study room, struggling for more than half an hour, and seemed to finally make up his mind. So he sat in front of the desk and began to write quickly. Soon after, he raised his head and whispered: "Shengfu, Shengxi."

Two servants walked in and said, "Master, please give me instructions."

"A dozen letters here were sent to the Telegram Office and sent them overnight, so there must be no delay." Sheng Xuanhuai said with a serious expression.

Sheng Fu and Sheng Xi agreed and bowed and left the room.

Sheng Xuanhuai thought about it and said, "Sheng Lu, prepare a horse!"

Sheng Xuanhuai rode his horse and went straight into the Zhili Governor's Office. Li Hongzhang was reading the official documents and heard from his servants that Sheng Xuanhuai was asking for a meeting. It was already too late after seeing that it was too late. He was puzzled, so he ordered: "Please."

"Xingsun is so busy and doesn't know why?" Li Hongzhang was still holding a pretentious airs.

Sheng Xuanhuai looked happy and said, "Sir, God gave you a good opportunity!"

This was a dead end. Of course, Li Hongzhang couldn't figure out what was going on, so he hurriedly said, "Xingsun, don't worry, tell me slowly if you have something to do."

After taking a sip of tea, Sheng Xuanhuai looked excited and said with a smile: "Sir, we decided to defeat Zuo Zongtang, we must defeat Hu Xueyan first. Now the opportunity is here!"

When Li Hongzhang heard this, he raised his eyebrows and said, "Oh? I don't know where this opportunity comes from?"

"Today, Xiaguan met with the comprador of Shanghai HSBC Bank, Xi Zhengfu. I learned a piece of news from his Xiaguan..." Sheng Xuanhuai began to repeat Xi Zhengfu's original words from beginning to end.

After listening to it, Li Hongzhang pondered for a moment before saying, "I didn't expect that there would be such a thing!"

"Sir, my subordinates have sent a message to buyers from all over the world overnight, asking them to refuse to buy Hu Xueyan's raw silk. But the official here asks you for something!"

Li Hongzhang smiled and said, "I don't know what Xingsun wants?"

"Please come forward and ask Susongtai Road, Jiangsu Province, and Jianghaiguan Road. Lord Shao Youlian and Shao delay Hu Xueyan's salary, the longer the better." Sheng Xuanhuai stood up and bowed.

"This matter is easy!" Li Hongzhang agreed casually.

"Sir, don't worry, leave the rest to the officials to ensure that everything is foolproof!"

Li Hongzhang laughed and said, "If so, I will wait for the good news."

How could Li Hongzhang not be happy that he could destroy the money bag of his political rival Zuo Zongtang for the rest of his life? After Sheng Xuanhuai left, he ordered his servants to warm up the wine and drink it himself, and Lao Huai was very relieved.

Hu Xueyan also felt the coldness of the severe winter at this time. Even though he was in the south and the climate was warm, the coldness still penetrated into his bones and unconsciously made people tremble.

The Hu family's mansion in the old Ximen was in a tense atmosphere. The capital, Zhenjiang, Ningbo, Hangzhou, Fuzhou, Jinling, Hankou, Changsha, and more than ten Fukang shopkeepers rushed back from other places. Everyone started emergency consultations with local news. Hu Xueyan, the shopkeeper of Fukang Money House, was calm on the surface, listening to the shopkeepers' reply.

"Big shopkeeper, since you transferred 800,000 taels of silver from our Hangzhou to pay the silver silver in order to pay for raw silk for turnover, a few days later, rumors spread in Hangzhou that our Fukang was about to go bankrupt. Now the boss who added shops began to take the money away from the bank. We made every effort to explain that the other party was unwilling to obey. Now there is only 30% of the deposited silver in the bank, and there are more and more people coming to queue up every day, and there is no sign of reduction. If this continues, it won't take long to go, we will have no silver in Hangzhou. Big shopkeeper, you should think of some solutions as soon as possible."

Several other big shopkeepers also said at this time: "Since the run in Hangzhou, similar situations have gradually begun to occur here. Although there are still money banks in other places, the far water cannot resolve the near fire. I hope the big shopkeeper will make a decision early."

The stuff of money is a conspiracy, and there is no groundless thing in the world. If you want Hu Xueyan, you only have a few people with your fingers. The one who is most likely to do this is Sheng Xuanhuai.

In fact, it is not true or wrong to do business. Sheng Xuanhuai was forced to take down the supervision position of the China Merchants and Shipping Bureau because of a letter of complaint from Hu Xueyan. Now it is just a meeting, and the Gurney Investment Bureau has also fallen into the hands of Tang Tingshu, Xu Run and others, and Sheng Xuanhuai almost went to prison for this. It is impossible to say that Sheng Xuanhuai does not hold a grudge for this. In addition, both of them participated in the struggle between Li Hongzhang and Zuo Zongtang, and the obvious situation is that you either die or I die. Therefore, it is easy to understand that each other is stumbling and stabbing each other.

Hu Xueyan has never spoken. He has been doing business for many years and is not unaware of the current danger. The capital chain is so tight that it is at risk of collapse at any time. However, if the silk source cannot be controlled and foreigners can purchase raw silk at low prices, then the raw silk that he had accumulated for nearly a year will not be far away. Only by persevering and continuously putting pressure on foreign merchants to force them to accept their own quotations. This can break the foreigners' monopoly on raw silk quotations and thus establish their own huge raw silk trading empire!

However, the situation in front of him was critical. Hu Xueyan pondered for a moment, and finally spoke in the enthusiastic expectation of the shopkeepers: "Ma Zhangkeeper, how much money do you think they can give us Shanxi Piaohao?"

The expression on Ma Zhangguan's face was like a bitter gourd. He shook his head and sighed: "Big shopkeeper, this matter is mysterious. Now, the bill number in Shanghai has tightened the money and the silver money will not be released. I have found the big shopkeeper of Sanjinyuan. Although their family did not say that they would not help us. But I can also see that they can do only because of their love for many years, and they release so little bits. In my opinion, there is no difference between whether they are left or not."

After hearing this, Hu Xueyan narrowed his eyes and smiled bitterly in his heart. He knew the strength of Shanxi people, but he had a deep understanding of the temper of Shanxi people. There are dozens of Shanxi pie companies on the market now, of which there are at least four or five of them that are large in scale and no longer below Fukang. Rishengchang in Pingyao, other Dashengchuan, Dadeheng, Dadetong, and Dadetong, and can easily take out millions of taels of silver. But the problem is that Old Xier from Shanxi people is not for nothing. Some people do business, and the business is good, everything is easy to say, and if the business is not good, no one can borrow it.

Hu Xueyan sighed. The world is cold, it is easy to add icing on the cake, and it is difficult to provide timely help... But if others fall into their own fields, they may not have made any money.

Shopper Ma continued at this time: "Yesterday, he summoned the shopkeepers of various silk shops to join forces to cut off the silk source of foreigners again. They were all present, but when I mentioned the problem, they were all frowning, most of them were nervous. Less than half of the people who were really willing to fight against the shops to the end. There were also several shopkeepers who wanted to enter the raw silk industry, but when they saw that the situation was not good, they now lost their plans to join. Other shopkeepers who originally wanted to continue to follow up with us to collect silk are now hesitant."

Hu Xueyan tapped the table with his right finger, but his left hand clenched into a fist under the table, trembling endlessly.

The blow to him was even greater than the run-off storm in Fukang. After decades of shopping malls, Hu Xueyan has never felt like he could not control the situation like today. He can still resist Fukang's affairs, but once there is a problem with the monopoly of raw silk, everything will collapse instantly.

Now that Hu Xueyan is moving in and out of Weigu, the raw silk is like a bunch of trouble, now it is all wrapped around Hu Xueyan. If you want to withdraw immediately, it seems like a delusion.

From last year to now, Hu Xueyan has accumulated 14,000 bags of raw silk at hand. Although this part was purchased by other merchants in the raw silk alliance, the money was loaned from Fukang. Based on the average price of 80 taels early, this was more than 11 million taels of silver. There were foreign merchants who came to bargain with him and were willing to add 6 million to buy all the raw silks. However, when raw silk was at its most intimate, other foreign companies' bids could make these raw silks worth 8 million taels of silver for Fukang, so Hu Xueyan directly refused the transaction request without considering it at that time. Later, Japan increased the price of 3 million to buy raw silks, but Hu Xueyan still refused.

But now that Hu Xueyan is in a troubled city, he will say that he will not regret it, which is also a self-deception.

Looking at the big shopkeepers in front of me, they were following him for many years, but when the foreigners raised their prices to acquire, these people did not raise any objections... It seemed that someone had rejected their invitation to join the joint acquisition... By the way, it was the Northeastern people - Da Shang and its price alliance. They opened silk factory, cotton mill, textile factory, embroidery factory, and garment factory in Anton. I also heard that last year, they fought with the Japanese and French people, and they had to destroy the Eastern and Western people, and they also took back the Hokkien and Ryukyu. Later, they even sued 75 million taels of silver from Japan. However, now they use Northeast self-produced silk, and they have come to Jiangsu and Zhejiang to collect silk before. However, their own monopoly on production, and they did not come again when they saw that there was no source of silk.

Hu Xueyan suddenly saw a glimmer of hope, and the man became excited in an instant and said, "Ma Zhanguin, if San Jinyuan is unwilling to lend us silver, then you can go to the four families of Rishengchang Dashengchuan, Dadeheng, and Dadetong. We don't bother too much, but how much can we borrow. Tell them that as long as we can distribute the silver to us at the moment, I, Hu Xueyan, swear that I will never treat them badly in this life. If there is anything in the future, I, Hu Xueyan, will only need to have a small note three fingers wide, and I, Hu Xueyan, will do the work for them myself."

"I understand, the big shopkeeper, I will do it later. I will give up my old face and don't want it. I will do it for them to wash clothes and cook for them. Even if I cut the door and steal the hole, I will do it too!" The shopkeeper Ma promised with his chest.

Although everyone didn't know why Hu Xueyan suddenly regained his momentum, he also wanted to have a backbone in his heart. After Hu Xueyan arranged everything, he suddenly stood up and said, "Prepare the carriage and horse immediately, I'll go to Shanghai!"

But at this moment, a series of footsteps that were so rapid that it was so messy that it was heartbreaking, especially at this critical moment of storm, everyone heard different information.

"Big shopkeeper, big shopkeeper!" The two people with the showcase looked like men and their friends shouted before entering the door.

Hu Xueyan knew at the moment he heard that it was the two shopkeepers of his Futai Silk Store and Zhang Ji Silk Store, the shopkeeper Qiao and the shopkeeper Liu. He was stunned. Although he didn't know what happened, he also had an unknown premonition.

"What's wrong, bring them in!"

The two shopkeepers were pale and panting. As soon as they entered the door, they both looked sad and angry. Because they were too excited, they were a little stuttering when they spoke.

"Big palm...shopkeeper!...big...big big...thing is not going well! Zhao Xingtian and Chen's later years, they signed a contract with foreign companies today with everyone on their backs! They dealt with all the raw silk at hand at a low price!"

Thinking of this, a dagger seemed to cut everyone's throat in an instant. They were shocked and speechless, and there was a silence on the scene, and the death was so quiet that it was so quiet!

"What did you say!?" Hu Xueyan could not believe what Qiao and Liu said at all.

They had to repeat it again.

"Zhao Xingtian and Chen had secretly sold the raw silk in their hands to foreign companies at a low price."

At this moment, the mind was finally back to the minds of all the shopkeepers present. Everyone understood that the monopoly of raw silk had collapsed in an instant, and the thousand-mile dike collapsed into the ant hole! Now this ant hole finally appeared in everyone's fear waiting.

There are one and two. Once a large number of raw silk merchants start supplying, large-scale supply will inevitably cause the price of raw silk to plummet. Foreign companies will take the absolute initiative in the scene. The situation of the two sides will now endure with a sharp turn of the monopoly of raw silk.

The raw silk monopoly alliance is over, Fukang is over, and Hu Xueyan is over!

"These bastards!"

Hu Xueyan was shocked. It was indeed a big warning, but it was difficult for the thief to prevent him. Now he completely missed his confidence. Even if he tried his best to persuade the shopkeepers of other families, he might be in this situation. Everyone was thinking about running early and rebirth early, and no one could be willing to go into the coffin with Fukang anymore.

After walking around the house for a few times, Hu Xueyan, who became more and more hated, grabbed the teacup on the table and threw it to the ground fiercely. The porcelain pieces flew everywhere, but no one dared to move.

"What can you do?"

Hu Xueyan looked at the big shopkeepers around him with a cold look, but without exception, they all had their usual arrogant and high heads. Everyone looked panicked, with more than one million taels of raw silk on their hands. They could have shocked any foreign merchants, but now they have become a super mountain that crushed all the Hu family's industries.

"Prepare the horse!" Hu Xueyan didn't look at everyone present anymore and shouted directly to the servants.

To solve the current situation, Hu Xueyan has only two ways out, either to find someone to sell the raw silk at a fair price, or to hire a ship to transport all the raw silk to export. The first one is not to mention whether there will be other merchants to buy raw silk in addition to foreign companies. The second one is even more difficult. Shanghai's Shipbuilding Merchants Corporation is controlled by Li Hongzhang, and his old rival Sheng Xuanhuai has real power in it. If you want them to help, it is tantamount to seeking fish in Yuanmu, and there is no possibility at all.
To be continued...