Nanyang Storm 1864

Chapter 61 Minister Smith

It was the fourth day after arriving in Beijing, that is, the ninth day of the fifth month in 4 (the fourth year of Tongzhi), early in the morning.

Zheng Guohui bathed and burned incense, then put on the court dress of a second-rank military officer. He took his two followers, Zheng Gui and Zheng Fu, and rode straight to the Forbidden City to meet the emperor and express his gratitude.

He dismounted at the post road outside the palace, handed the mount to two followers, and told them to wait here.

Zheng Guohui took the official seal and went straight into the palace. He checked the official seal at the guard post at the palace gate and waited for a while. Then a young eunuch came to lead him into the palace.

We walked along one side of the palace wall, around the three main halls of the Forbidden City, and entered the Qianqing Palace. The young eunuch who led the way said goodbye here and handed Zheng Guohui to the eunuch of the Qianqing Palace.

This is where the two Empress Dowagers assisted the young emperor in running the government. The majestic hall with its flying eaves and brackets is magnificent, giving rise to a majestic and profound royal style.

The eunuch of the Qianqing Palace led Zheng Guohui to the foot of the red steps and pointed to the square paved with bluestone.

"General Zheng, please kneel here and say hello loudly so that the masters in the palace can hear you. I will help you reply."

"Thank you, eunuch." Zheng Guohui said, and handed over a thick stack of silver notes worth one thousand taels.

I definitely won't be able to see the emperor today, so I can only kneel here to pay my respects. If the eunuchs in the Qianqing Palace do something bad, I might have to kneel here for hours.

As expected, the eunuch of the Qianqing Palace took the banknote as a matter of course and said to Zheng Guohui bluntly:

"Well, the general seems young and sensible. Okay... you can pay your respects here, and I'll go to the palace to report back."

Zheng Guohui could only kneel on the ground, introduce himself, his name, and his official title, and respectfully wish His Majesty and the two Empress Dowagers long life and good health. Finally, he declared, "Long live our emperor, long live our emperor, long live our emperor!"

He was young and had a loud voice, and the echo of his voice lingered throughout the Qianqing Palace.

The eunuch standing nearby, upon hearing this, said with a mixture of laughter and tears, "You... General Zheng, huh? You really have a naturally loud voice. Even if I didn't report this, the master in the palace would have heard it too. You're quite the man."

After saying that, he shook his head, stepped directly onto the Dragon and Phoenix Steps and walked towards the palace, leaving Zheng Guohui kneeling here and waiting.

Now is different from the past
Now sitting on the throne is only a ten-year-old emperor. The two Empress Dowagers are in charge of government affairs from behind the curtain and will not easily receive foreign officials, so as not to undermine the dignity of the royal family.

Zheng Guohui was well prepared. He tied two thick cotton pads on his knees, so he didn't feel any discomfort when kneeling on the hard stone slabs. This was all due to his experience.

Waited for nearly half an hour

The eunuchs of the Qianqing Palace finally arrived and delivered the Empress Dowager Cixi's oral instructions: "You are blessed by the Emperor's grace and should be diligent and take good care of yourselves in your duties for the court. I have received all your requests. Please kneel down and greet me."

After Zheng Guohui kowtowed to thank the emperor for his grace, he stood up and staggered, almost falling.

The eunuchs in the Qianqing Palace stood aside indifferently, but their faces couldn't help but twitch.

I guess he will tell this as a joke to his master when he gets back to cheer him up.

Led by a young eunuch, Zheng Guohui walked out of the Qianqing Palace and along the long palace wall with a smile on his face.

His little trick was just to deepen the impression of the two Empress Dowagers.

Just do it, it doesn't cost anything anyway.

After leaving the palace
Zheng Guohui took his visiting card and paid a visit to all the pillar ministers of the Grand Council one by one, from Prince Gong Yisu, to Grand Council ministers Wenxiang and Baojun, and two Han Grand Council ministers, Shen Guifen and Li Hongzao. They all showed proper courtesy and offered their greetings at the same time.

The gift presented to the residence of the Emperor's uncle, Prince Gong Yisu, was a door package of 300 taels of silver, and another taels of silver, pieces of brocade, two carts of Jiangnan mountain products, and a cart of Huizhou ink and rice paper. It was obviously a very sincere and valuable gift.

The gifts given to the residences of other military ministers were 50 taels of silver as door packages, 1500 taels of silver, pieces of brocade, and a cart of Jiangnan mountain products.

There is no other way. Since I have come to Beijing, I have to worship Buddha.

Zheng Guohui also paid his respects to the coffin of the Minister, and presented 300 taels of silver, ten pieces of brocade, and eight kinds of sacrificial offerings, paying tribute to the Minister Fuzhu Shoushan with a solemn expression.

Originally, he was going to offer the regular silver of 10 taels of silver, but now that the minister has passed away, Zheng Guohui wisely decided not to mention it.

There is a huge difference between the two.

There is nothing wrong with Zheng Guohui's approach. The minister was extremely prominent and powerful during his lifetime. The key is that he has great protection for his subordinates, which is certainly worth the monthly regular silver of 2 taels.

Now, once I ascend to heaven, everything will turn to ashes.

It is extremely rare that one can go to pay tribute and offer 300 taels of silver to express gratitude out of the past friendship.

That day, he visited the residences of several important officials of the imperial court. Apart from meeting the housekeeper and the second son Shen Yubei at Shen Guifen's residence, he didn't meet any of the people he really wanted to meet.

Fortunately, I have made an appointment with the stewards of the important court officials to visit again in 1 to 2 days.

By then, the chances of meeting with the ministers of the Grand Council will be much greater.

At the gate of Prince Gong's Mansion, Zheng Guohui witnessed with his own eyes what it meant to be "crowded with people". There were no less than forty or fifty carriages and sedan chairs lined up densely, and every family presented generous gifts.

How much silver will you earn at the end of this year?

Most of the officials who came to seek an audience presented generous gifts, but their names were just recorded. Whether Prince Gong Yisu would look at them or not was another matter, and there was no chance of an audience.

Compared with others, Zheng Guohui is extremely confident.

Because he was now the second-rank deputy general of Jiangnan, his status was much nobler than the merchants and wealthy people who wanted to see him. In addition, the gift he gave was 1 taels of silver, which was much more generous than ordinary court officials.

Reasonable
They should all be able to win an opportunity to meet Prince Gong Yisu. If that doesn't work, then they can send him another gift. Zheng Guohui had already prepared 3 taels of silver for activities when he came to Beijing, and with the taels of regular silver that had not been given away, he was very generous.

Day 2

At the door of a teahouse near Dongjiaomin Lane, a tightly covered covered wagon was parked.

Zheng Guohui got out of the car in disguise. He was wearing a neat tweed suit, a top hat, and a mustache. He walked hurriedly into the teahouse with two guards and was immediately led to a private room on the second floor.

Waited a short while

Two American foreigners, one tall and one strong, also came here. Under the guidance of the tea doctor, they walked to the second floor and arrived at the door of the private room.

"Oh... Hello, respected Mr. Smith, I am the partner introduced in Mr. David Copperfield's letter. My surname is Zheng, you can call me Mr. Zheng." Zheng Guohui stood up first and introduced himself in English with a smile.

The tall foreigner Smith was the American minister. When he saw that this young Chinese gentleman could speak fluent London-accented English, he immediately felt a surge of favor towards him.

He extended his hand and said, "I received David's letter. He said he and Mr. Zheng had two very successful collaborations. You are a gentleman of integrity and respect."

"Thank you very much for Mr. David's introduction. Please take a seat, Mr. Smith. I have a cigar here. Would you like one?"

"Oh, my God! This is a genuine Cuban cigar. Please allow me to introduce my partner, Mr. Joe Johnson, the military attaché of the embassy. He is a devout Puritan."

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Joe Johnson." Zheng Guohui took the initiative to step forward and shook hands, asked the two foreigners to sit down, lit a cigar and started smoking.

Zheng Guohui took out a bank deposit slip from his pocket, placed it on the table and pushed it over, motioning the other party to take a look.

Minister Smith took the bank deposit slip and saw that it was inscribed on the British-owned Bank of Shanghai, a powerful bank operating in the British Concession in Shanghai. Many cross-border trades had to go through this bank.

What shocked him was that the deposit slip showed a total of 8 pounds.

Minister Smith looked at it again and again, and after confirming that it was correct, he was shocked and handed the deposit certificate to Joe Johnson beside him, asking him to take a look at it too.

"Oh my god, that's equivalent to $40, God, it's more than that... it's worth $44 now, which is a huge sum of money." Joe Johnson exclaimed immediately. He expressed it more directly, with shock in his eyes.

This deposit certificate of 8 pounds was a bank certificate exchanged for 43 taels of silver, which is indeed an astonishing fortune.

Zheng Guohui collected all the gold, silver, pearls and jade that were easily exchangeable from the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom treasures he had excavated, as well as the silver he had extorted from the two salt merchants, Zheng and Wang, and exchanged them for a huge amount of pounds in a British bank in Shanghai.

Doing so is related to his next move.

Such a large sum of money is the most Zheng Guohui can offer now. Apart from the tens of thousands of taels of silver on him, it can be said that he has given up everything he has.

He knew the nature of Americans, which was that everything was about money, and having money made one act like a boss.

Otherwise, with his status as a second-rank deputy general, he might not be able to curry favor with the American envoy. These foreigners could enter and leave Prince Gong's mansion as they pleased and could simply come to ask for a meeting.

In the Zongli Yamen, they were all treated as guests of honor.

This large-denomination British pound certificate of deposit, when thrown over, indeed produced an extraordinary shocking effect.

The contempt in Minister Smith's eyes completely disappeared, and all that remained was a serious look.

He gently pushed the bank deposit slip back and asked, "Mr. Zheng, how may I be of assistance?"

"Your Excellency, I learned by chance that you have another identity, that is, one of the shareholders of the Bank of China. Is it true? If it is true, I hope we can have a major cooperation." Zheng Guohui stated his purpose straight to the point.

"A major collaboration?"

"Yes, including but not limited to the number of the pound certificate of deposit on the table. I hope this kind of cooperation can continue, not once or twice, but for three, five, ten or even longer years."

"Mr. Zheng, you have successfully aroused my interest. So what exactly is it?"

"British blast furnace steelmaking equipment, bankrupt American gun production and casting equipment, naval cannons ready for recycling, steam engines, steamship production and manufacturing equipment, and some retired sailing warships. This is roughly the range above."

"Watt, are you kidding? Every area of ​​equipment you mentioned is of great value. It is not a problem that can be solved with just tens of thousands of pounds. This is absolutely impossible." Minister Smith shouted in surprise.

Zheng Guohui sat there motionless and said with a smile;

"Dear Minister Smith, I believe that you are not only a qualified diplomat, but also an outstanding businessman, for which I have great respect.

In addition, one more thing

On behalf of my family, I would like to express my deepest condolences on the assassination of President Lincoln of your country. This is an extremely unfortunate event.

at the same time
The unprecedentedly brutal five-year Civil War has finally ended, which will bring a long period of peace and tranquility to North America. I would like to express my congratulations.

Just two simple sentences revealed the truth. Minister Smith looked at Zheng Guohui deeply, sat down calmly, and exchanged glances quickly with Joe Johnson.

This is a tough little rascal who seems to be very clear about our strength. It looks like this will be a difficult negotiation.

Joe Johnson nodded calmly. He had also noticed. This Mr. Zheng must be a person of great status. This kind of aura he exuded could not be faked.

Moreover, he was very knowledgeable about Western affairs, far more so than the Manchu bureaucrats they had met.

(End of this chapter)