The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 298: Boss Yang from Northern Jiangsu, Mr. Zhao from Guangdong (Request for subscription, request for tickets)

Shanghai, Tongshun Building.

The afternoon sun shone into the reception room of Tongshun Building, making people feel warm. Prince Gong Yixin was sitting on a soft sofa, holding a copy of the Shanghai Times, which still smelled of ink, and reading it over and over again.

The Shanghai Times was nominally a newspaper funded by the Shanghai Military Governor's Office, but in reality it was manipulated by the God Worshipping Society's lecturers behind the scenes, and was roughly equivalent to the God Worshipping Society's official newspaper. Because this newspaper reported the ongoing war in the southeast very accurately and was able to promptly inform the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom of the Wu Wang Mansion's policies, it became the best-selling newspaper in Shanghai soon after it was launched.

After leaving Yangzhou, it was difficult for Prince Gong to learn about the situation on the southeast battlefield. Two days ago, he asked Wu Jianzhang for advice, and the latter recommended the Shanghai Times to him. Prince Gong asked Jin Aduo to buy it, and sure enough, there was a special page reporting the latest changes on the battle front.

At this moment, Prince Gong had spread a map on the coffee table in front of him, and was writing and drawing on the map with a brush while reading a newspaper.

The changes in the battle lines on the map are of course very unfavorable to the Qing Dynasty!

Needless to say, southern Jiangsu suffered a great defeat!

Once Suzhou City was lost, the main force of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's King Wu Luo Yaoguo's army was liberated. They immediately divided their troops into two routes, one heading north to capture Changzhou City, and the other heading south to invade Jiaxing Prefecture in Zhejiang.

At the same time, the Taiping puppet court in Jiangning Prefecture also sent reinforcements to Zhenjiang, led by Taiping's Dingtian Hou Qin Rigang, who immediately defeated the Qing army in Zhenjiang. It was estimated that Zhenjiang Prefecture would soon be captured by Taiping.

Zuo Zongtang's troops who crossed the river into southern Jiangsu were forced to move south along the west bank of Taihu Lake. After joining forces with the remnants of Yi Liang and Qiao Songnian, they were expected to retreat to Zhejiang. It was unknown how much territory in Zhejiang they could save for the Qing Dynasty.

The situation in northern Jiangsu was not much better. Zeng Guofan, Huang Shijie and Wei Yuan had already abandoned Gaoyou Prefecture and did not deploy defenses in Baoying County. They quickly retreated to Huai'an. Now in northern Jiangsu, Huai'an, Xuzhou and Haizhou could still be defended. Yangzhou Prefecture, Tongzhou and Haimen Hall were definitely lost!
Moreover, Prince Gong estimated that Huai'an would probably not be able to hold out for too long, and the Xuzhou area north of the Huai River had been the site of dozens of large-scale battles throughout the ages, which had determined the rise and fall of many dynasties. It was the so-called "place to conquer the Central Plains"!
It is estimated that the war that will determine the rise and fall of the Qing Dynasty and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom will also take place in Xuzhou. As for the time, it may be next year or the year after!
When Prince Gong thought of the current strength of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, cold sweat broke out on his forehead!
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty"

Gui Liang's old face suddenly came closer and called out twice. Prince Gong then realized that he was holding a brush, holding a newspaper, and staring at a map. He didn't know how long he had been distracted. Gui Liang, Jin Aduo, and Hong Daquan were all standing in the living room, bent over, as if waiting for him to give some order?
Oh, by the way, Yi Xin remembered that he was going to the newly opened HSBC Bank in Shanghai to deposit money today.

When he escaped from Yangzhou this time, he took away all the money in the Lianghuai Salt Transport Office, bringing hundreds of thousands of taels to Shanghai. Such a large amount of money is now kept in Tongshun Building. It is being coveted every day, and a lot of it has been lost!
It was not easy for Prince Gong to investigate the traitors among his entourage, so he asked Wu Jianzhang, who recommended that he deposit the money in HSBC, a foreign bank with shares owned by foreigners - this was a foreign bank that "exported to domestic sales"!

According to the propaganda in Shanghai, the HSBC was jointly invested by big businessmen from Britain, the United States, France and China. The ministers and consuls of Britain, the United States and France all invested in it, and foreign companies such as Jardine Matheson, Flagship, Boisson and Remy all participated in it. It was a bank with a credit and a backing as strong as steel.

Moreover, this bank also implemented a strict "customer confidentiality system". Prince Gong could open an account under a pseudonym. As long as he kept the withdrawal receipt and remembered the withdrawal code, he could withdraw money at any time in the future. He didn't have to worry about the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom coming to track him down. Of course, he didn't have to worry about the imperial court!
Wu Jianzhang also told Prince Gong that HSBC would open branches in all trading ports in the future. The money Prince Gong deposited in Shanghai could also be used when he arrived in Tianjin.

So Yi Xin and Gui Liang discussed it and decided to deposit the silver they brought into HSBC Bank.

In addition, Wu Jianzhang also told Yi Xin that buying land and building houses in Shanghai was a good business with no loss and recommended a piece of land to Yi Xin, located in the Xujiahui area. It was a bit desolate now, but it would definitely rise in value in a few years. Wu Jianzhang suggested that Prince Gong buy all of it for more than 10,000 taels of silver, and then invest tens of thousands of taels to build houses along several streets!

Well, the houses on several streets in Xujiahui, Shanghai!
If Yi Xin stops being Prince Gong in the future, maybe he can become the landlord king of Shanghai!

Therefore, he planned to deposit money at HSBC first, and then go to look at the land with Wu Jianzhang.
"Okay! Let's go out!"

Yi Xin put down the newspaper and brush, stood up and followed Gui Liang, Jin Aduo and Hong Daquan downstairs and out of the Tongshun Building. As soon as he went out, Prince Gong found that he could not leave for the time being, because there were dozens of carriages parked on the main road outside Tongshun Building, blocking the exit of the Tongshun Building!
These carriages were also filled to the brim. Yi Xin became curious, so he took a few guards as well as Gui Liang and Jin Aduo out to see.

Among them, Jin Aduo saw it and immediately realized that something was wrong.

"My lord."

He leaned close to Prince Gong's ear, pointed to a heavy box on one of the carriages and said, "That's the box containing the official silver."

A box containing official silver?

Could it be a corrupt official who fled to Shanghai? Prince Gong was a little annoyed. The Qing Dynasty was like this because of corrupt officials like you!
Thinking of this, he strode to a carriage and took a closer look. Sure enough, the carriage was filled with more than a dozen large boxes, many of which were sealed!

Prince Gong took a closer look and suddenly saw the words "Hubei Provincial Treasury"!

This was moved from the Hubei Provincial Administration Office. It turned out to be a corrupt official who escaped from Hubei! I don't know if it was Chang Dachun?
Prince Gong thought to himself, "Chang surrendered the city to the Taiping rebels and I heard he even became a high-ranking official of the Taiping rebels. The silver in the Hubei treasury must have been stolen by him!"

When he thought of this, he felt something was wrong with the way he looked at the cart of silver. He felt like he was going to pounce and grab it back. But a sturdy man guarding the cart stared at him and said, "Hey, who are you? What do you want to do by staring at the master's silver?"

This person has a Hunan accent.

Prince Gong knew that there were many Hunanese people in the Taiping Army, so his eyes narrowed immediately and he looked at the man with an even more unfriendly look.

The man did not hesitate and drew out his sword with a clang.

When Prince Gong's guards saw that an attack was about to take place, they immediately rushed forward to protect their prince and displayed their weapons.

Just as the two sides were about to fight, a Cantonese accent suddenly rang out: "Hey, what are you doing?"

"Master Yang, we have encountered a group of people with bad intentions, and they are suspected to be thieves!"

The Hunanese who had just scolded Prince Gong immediately reported back.

"Hey, when have I, Yang, ever been afraid of thieves?"

Prince Gong looked in the direction of the voice and found that the "Mr. Yang" was a short man with a pale face. One of his eyes seemed to be sick and very cloudy, and his beard was sparse. However, his every move was extremely imposing. Who knew where this big shot came from?
"I am Yang Silong, a salt merchant from Yangzhou! What's your name, little brother?"

A Yangzhou salt merchant with a Cantonese accent?

Prince Gong thought to himself, "I have met all the big salt merchants in Yangzhou, but you don't seem to be one of them!"

"I am Zhao Liu from Guangdong!"

Prince Gong clasped his fists and spoke in Beijing dialect, but he claimed to be from Guangdong.

When Yang Xiuqing heard the other party say that he was from Guangdong, he was also slightly surprised, but he did not ask further, and asked with a smile: "Mr. Zhao, do you live here?"

Prince Gong nodded and said with a smile, "I live in Wu's Garden. I am a family friend of Wu Daotai. I came from Guangdong to do business this time, so I am staying at his house."

"Oh," Yang Xiuqing said with a smile, "then we will be neighbors. I live next door to you at Huang's Garden. The owner of the garden and I are relatives. This time I also came to Shanghai to do business with foreigners. We should get closer in the future!"

"Easy to say, easy to say."

Prince Gong nodded with a smile. He had already seen Huang Xiqing at this time. He saw that Huang Xiqing had a look of surprise on his face, as if he had been hit by a spell.
At this time, the gate of Huang's Garden had been opened, and Yang Xiuqing's motorcade could go into the garden without blocking the gate of Wu's Garden.

Seeing the convoy moving, Yang Xiuqing bowed to Prince Gong and said with a smile: "Brother, I have some things to do. So goodbye!"

"See you later, see you later." Prince Gong also returned the greeting, and then saw Yang Xiuqing follow the motorcade into the gate of Huang's Garden.
(End of this chapter)