The day after the Haijing Opium Crash, it was raining heavily, but Liuya Street in the west of the city was heavily guarded, with roadblocks on the intersection, and Hai Song's "Standards" filled every street nearby. They all moved from the army to the police agency, wearing flashing blue army uniforms, but a big "Ji" on the front chest and a big "Yan" on the back chest. They had their own private spear under their arms and a stick in their hands. They pushed and shoved reporters from all over the country who wanted to sneak in, and shouted in English and French. After all, only one-third of the Chinese locals in the journalist industry these days.

The night was misty and rainy, and one luxury carriage after another drove through the dusty reporters, through police interrogation, led by Chinese servants holding umbrellas in the corners, drove into this street.

"Here! Come! From Qichang Foreign Company." Someone shouted in the rain, and a group of wet reporters threw away their umbrellas and rushed towards the coming convoy.

"Mr. Forbes, what do you think of the opium crash?" As the convoy security guards pushed, the reporters shouted at the car window.

Forbes shrugged in the car window and pulled up the curtains in response. The American Qichang Convoy rushed past the sheriff's barricade.

"Baishun and the Navy are here too!" Behind Qichang, two teams of carriages were almost side by side, one with the British rice flag and the other with the cross flag. There were no bodyguards around at all, but Xiaodao Army troops riding horses.

The reporters did not have the courage to siege the two convoys and watched them enter Liuya Street, covered by misty rain.

"God, the Sea Emperor is indeed here!" Foreigners from some country pointed to the distance and shouted. Sure enough, another convoy drove over. In front of them was the Great Song Guard with live ammunition. They imitated the French Imperial Guards as their logo. The reporters and the people watching the fun surrounded them. Although they had no courage to attack the Little Knife Legion, they dared to attack the Emperor Imperial Guards!

"Your Majesty, please tell me your opinion!"

"Your Majesty, what do you think of the shameless behavior of the British merchants in manipulating the market?"

"Your Majesty, will those rich people go to hell?"

"Your Majesty! Is the four opium (opium incident) a tender hair (conspiracy) this time?!" A British reporter ran along the convoy while shouting in his immature Chinese language, until he was knocked down directly in front of a roadblock by a baton.

"Salute!" Amid a European-style military salute between the sheriff and the army, the convoy drove straight into the only gate on the street.

This long street is all the walls of Zhong Jialiang’s new house.

In Zhong Jialiang's yard, Zhao Kuo was wearing a yellow robe and got off the carriage with great swagger in the attention of Chinese and foreigners.

Immediately, a huge rain-covered object was supported by Zhong Jialiang's housekeeper on Zhao Kuo's head. Zhong Jialiang, who was smiling charmingly, knelt on the wet stone slab in the rain, knocked to the ground, shouting: "Your Majesty is here in the humble house, and the villain is supreme and honor."

Starting with this owner, everyone in the yard either kneels down or bows in the west.

Seeing the heavy rain, Zhao Kuo smiled and said, "The rain is so heavy, hurry up and calm down, Lao Zhong."

Zhong Jialiang immediately turned over and got up with a smile, and went to support Zhao Kuo's arm.

Zhao Kuo reached out and asked him to support himself like he was helping his father, but pointed at Zhao Kuo's secretary and smiled: "Old Zhong, you are smoking opium. Look, you don't have to kneel down..."

"Your Majesty, I can't quit." Zhong Jialiang sighed.

Because Zhao Kuo pretended to believe in God and hugged foreigners, he confirmed a new ritual not long ago: If Chinese believe in God, they would not have to kneel down in front of Zhao Kuo.

In addition to the Sun and Moon Legion, Zhao Kuo was almost all believers in the entire court and army, which was equivalent to abolishing the kneeling ceremony. Even if there were a few "Confucian scum" who "recommended" in, they felt uncomfortable not kneeling, and they even knelt several times, but when they saw that their colleagues did not kneel, they were not worried about poverty and unevenness, they felt uncomfortable, so they found a reason to baptize the pastor.

But Zhao Kuo did not completely abolish the kneeling ceremony. In fact, when he went on a patrol, there were people who were kneeling and worshiping him everywhere along the way.

Zhao Kuo is a future person, but he knows that he has to do things step by step.

If you can take one step, don't take two steps.

The former is called progress, while the latter is called self-destruction.

For example, bikini is called trend after World War II, and after World War I, it is also called indifference in the West. Now, wearing this point in the 19th century will be worn, and in the West, it will be beaten to death by angry people.

He abolished the kneeling ceremony under the guise of religion in a small area, but he could not blatantly abolish it. This is against the original civilization. Under the Qing civilization, there were slaves who were unwell to kneel. If they abolished the kneel, it clearly showed that he had abolished his emperor's power! The people might have turned against him!

Although Zhong Jialiang is Zhao Kuo's lackey, he cannot quit opium, cannot be an official, cannot believe in religion, and must kneel when he sees the emperor.

His secretary, a young Chinese man who once worked in a high vocational school in a foreign business, believed in Christianity and did not have to kneel down when he saw Zhao Kuo, just bow.

This is also the pretext that Zhao Kuo showed that he did not forget his roots when he started a religious rebellion. He also told the following people: If you don’t have to kneel down with me, we are all top-notch people, and we are in the same group and have the same faith.

In Zhao Kuo's eyes, just like the gangsters who have all wore black suits in later generations, this is called improving the cohesion within the gang.

So Zhong Jialiang had to kneel when he saw Zhao Kuo, but his little secretary just smiled and bowed his waist.

"Your Majesty, look at this." While helping Zhao Kuo walk into the hall, Zhong Jialiang pointed at the thing on Zhao Kuo's head in the rain and said with a smile.

Zhao Kuo looked up and said, "Old Zhong, you're too high in the rain? Why don't you give me an umbrella? I'm wet half of it."

Zhong Jialiang was stunned, then slapped the depressed face on his feet and said, "Your Majesty, this is the emperor's canopy. I specially found someone to do it for you. He Shen was the one who made this for Qianlong..."

"You are illiterate!" Zhao Kuo laughed: "Are you as handsome as Heshen? I don't like your butt either."

"My metaphor!" Zhong Jialiang slapped his face hard and said with a charming smile: "Anyway, it is the best embroiderer for the royal family, 7 dragons, pure gold poles..."

"There is too much money and I have no place to spend it. Leave it for you to use it yourself, otherwise I will be a carriage, where do I want me to put it?" Zhao Kuo laughed.

As soon as he entered the main hall, Zhao Kuo was suffocated. This girl really decorated her home into a palace: Yishui's marble floor, dragons and phoenixes carved on the beams, but the ceiling was a dome plus a mural of the Virgin Mary, the pillars were covered with gold, the windows were full of glass, the left side of the wall was a painting of Zheng Banqiao, and the right side of the wall was a large oil painting portrait of Zhong Jialiang. The bust of the God of Wealth and Venus stood side by side, the velvet sofa was paired with a mahogany coffee table, one side was a row of braided men, and the other side was A San, a black man, a mixed-race slave...

"This house is good to be a museum." Zhao Kuo shook his head, then moved away from Zhong Jialiang's support, and walked forward. There were a group of foreigners with smiles and raised their faces. Zhao Kuo kept smiling: "Sir Wenhan, Mr. Burbronn, Mr. Maichunlian, Mr. Madichen, Mr. Ronan, Mr. Jeanreva, Mr. Forbes... Oh, my dear Admiral, Big Gold Teeth..."

Then the Chinese emperor in yellow robe shuttled through the crowd of tuxedoes, shook hands and greetings.

In addition to a few diplomats, Zhao Kuo's focus on taking care of him was of course Madichen, Ronan, Jeanreva, and Forbes.

These four people are the leaders of the British, French and American business circles.

59-year-old Madichen is the general manager of Jardine Wong, Ronan is the boss of Jardine Wong's rival British Poshun, Forbes is the president of American Qichang Wong, and Jean Rewa has just arrived in China. Following the footsteps of French missionaries and soldiers, he is the secretary-general of the French Banking Association.

This group of people is not only the absolute boss in the business world, but also in the political world.

Taking Jardine Wong's capabilities as an example, the first Opium War can be said to be fought by Jardine Wong.

Jardine Wong was established in Guangzhou, China on July 1, 1832. It was founded by two Scottish British people, William Jardine (e, 1784-1843) and James Matheson (Jamesmatheson translated as Tycoon, 1796-1878). Jardine Wong was mainly engaged in opium and tea in China. When Lin Zexu implemented a smoking ban in 1839, Jardine Wong's founder William Jardine personally lobbied the British government to go to war with the Qing Dynasty, and advocated obtaining Hong Kong as a trade base from the Qing Dynasty.

Even if the king of foreign companies has this kind of energy, just saying that Zhao Kuo is a time traveler, he will curry favor with them, because even in Zhao Kuo's original history, Jardine Mahjong Industry has spread throughout Asia and other places: he initiated the establishment of Shanghai HSBC Bank, which includes Land, Milk Company, Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Jardine Mahjong Pacific, and Jardine Mahjong Automobile; his investment businesses include: construction (Kinmen Construction), real estate (Land), shipping (Hong Kong Air Freight Station, Yizhong Airport Service, Hong Kong Container Terminal), retail (Hyekan Supermarket, 7-11, pizzahut, Meixin Food Group), investment banking, hotel (Mandarin Oriental), insurance, etc., with a total number of employees exceeding 100,000.

Jardine Mahjong's old enemy was his British competitor: Baoshun Foreign Company. As early as when they discovered this treasure land in the Far East, they started a competition. The captain of their opium ship once launched a transportation competition on the sea of ​​China in the Indian Ocean.

Of course, commercial competition is never a life-and-death battle. Faced with the aggressive offensive of Qichang Foreign Company in Boston, the two of them joined forces to control the monopoly of drug trafficking, intending to squeeze this damn American company.

In short, the three companies, Jardinet, Baoshun and Qichang, engage in a wide range of activities in opium trade or legal treaty port trade: they develop their own fleet of speedboats and banking and insurance businesses, and also develop large port equipment such as stacks and even docks. This production capacity and its capital accumulation quickly led them to invest locally in real estate and consumer goods industries.

But now these three enemies are holding a Western cocktail party in Zhong Jialiang's new house. They drink and talk and hold the hands of the "New Emperor of Guangdong's bandit leader", and the laughter in the mouths of these sharks never stopped.

Not only foreigners, but also the same group of Guangdong opium merchants, Zhong Jialiang. They surrounded Zhao Kuo and were about to laugh.

Zhao Kuo shook the blood-like red wine in the glass, looked at his young follower Zhong Jialiang, and smiled and said, "Old Zhong, how much money did you buy from Wu Bingqian's house in this house?"

"Hey, Your Majesty, it's just a little money, I'm all thanking you for your Majesty's blessing." Zhong Jialiang smiled with a smile.

"I heard that his house was imitating the Grand View Garden in "Dream of Red Mansions"? Is there a map? Let me take a look?" Zhao Kuo asked, he was very curious about the legendary house.

But Zhong Jialiang looked like he had his chin dropped, and thought to himself that this rough man knew about the Dream of the Red Chamber, and he couldn't help but shout: "Do you know about the Dream of the Red Chamber?"

Zhao Kuo was stunned and turned to his mind and remembered: At this time, this "Dream of Red Mansions" is still a snow-level stone that belongs to the ten demon kings of Longkong Mountain in later generations. In the eyes of cultural people in this era, he is now at the sight of Xiao Ming leader who is at the level of Xiao Ming. At most, he shouts: Big, ** (female name) quickly push it down! If you push it down, you will smash the ticket!

But looking at the yellow teeth in Zhong Jialiang's mouth, Zhao Kuo was furious. I'm 160 years ahead of you. I'm just watching AV! Damn, you opium ghost who drools at Qingyi still looks down on my cultural literacy?

"I tell you, of course I have watched a little bit of Dream of Red Mansions, what is the first test of the love of the clouds and rains? The famous actress Liu Guorong also filmed the third-level film of the Red Mansions. I also know who wrote it. It was written by Cao Xueqin, which was written by Cao Yin, the son of Jiangnan Weaving Department." Zhao Kuo said hummingly.

Zhong Jialiang couldn't even close his mouth, and he looked at Zhao Kuo's eyes and glared out.

At this time, the local minister of Yihe Foreign Affairs came over to invite Zhao Kuo to come and talk. After Zhao Kuo got up from the sofa, Zhong Jialiang came back and stared at Zhao Kuo's back and murmured: "Who is Liu Guorong?"

"Your Majesty, thank you so much for opium futures this time." Ma Dichen and Ronan led Zhao Kuo to the corner and laughed quietly.

"I am protecting the interests of opium merchants." Zhao Kuo smiled treacherously and continued: "Everyone has made a fortune this time. Don't worry about transportation. Your opium has been shipped by Viscount He Bo's Haisong Royal Shipping Company. I have taken special care of it. Luo Qianjie led the navy to escort Shanghai, and the most powerful warship "Da Songhai" personally escorted it."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Several foreigners couldn't hold their mouths in a smile.

"Now you see my determination and ability to maintain free trade? Please make sure to ask me for the domestic opium policy of the Song Dynasty."

"Sure. We have sent people to contact several London MPs. I thank God for the appearance of a wise king like you in the Far East." Ronan said with a smile.

"I heard that some businessmen who suffered heavy losses were complaining to Sir Wenhan?" Zhao Kuo glanced at the Hong Kong Governor who was talking to the Navy Deputy General Luo Qianjie with some concern.

"Your Majesty, don't worry, those damn little opium merchants can't make a difference. The Far East is yours. The Song Dynasty is yours." Ma Dichen looked at Sir Wenhan and smiled and said, "He is ours."

Zhao Kuo breathed a sigh of relief and shook Ma Dichen's hand and said, "Thank you for your contribution to Haisong Business. I am very happy for your proposal to move your headquarters from Hong Kong to Haijing. I will give you the right to choose any location in Haijing. I believe that with the headquarters of Jardinet, it will be the Far East Commercial Center in the future..."

At this time, France, Gerva saw them, and walked over with a cup, bowed deeply at Zhao Kuo, and shouted: "Thank God, a person like you have emerged from the far east."

"Can you not thank me? This will soon become a spoils-sharing conference." Zhao Kuo looked at Forbes, another American who was walking over, with a smile on his face but a sneer in his stomach.

Hai Song's opium business has become a complete feast of plundering of the great merchant class and imperialism. When Zhao Kuo thought of this, he couldn't help but raise his wine glass to Forbes and use a laugh to hide his pride.

Since Zhao Kuo occupied Guangdong, opium has become a life-and-death issue in the Song Dynasty.

With the corrupt civilization of the Qing Dynasty, the corrupt ruling class, which was effective from the top and the bottom, was fond of this drug, also led to the suction of the entire country, and caused a large amount of wealth to flow out to India and Britain.

The Song Dynasty led by Zhao Kuo is a new country. No matter how bad the rebels are, they can jump around for ten minutes with full spirit. This is a new atmosphere.

The upper class of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has been corrupting so quickly and ruthlessly, hasn’t it been more than ten years?

But Zhao Kuo could not relax his vigilance against opium under the covetous eye of the Qing Dynasty opium civilization. If he relaxed his vigilance, the Song Dynasty, which was a regime that was not a united state and religion, would likely make a comeback under the free trade system and a group of illiterate and barbarians.

Zhao Kuo is not very kind-hearted. With a perspective that exceeds a hundred years, he believes that the most expensive commodity in the world is a terrible drug, so he must be banned.

In this era, foreigners are as savage and ridiculous: his queen Wan'er was pregnant and suffered pain, and before the doctor arrived, a foreign missionary in his palace mixed with odiola with wine to drink it to relieve the pain. If he hadn't known that this guy could not be an assassin, Zhao Kuo almost shot this stupid x.

But without the guarantee of strong civilization and enterprising atmosphere, opium will destroy an organization.

Even the drug lords of the Golden Triangle in later generations would not let their subordinates take drugs.

If opium walks are not prohibited, Zhao Kuo's own combat effectiveness will not be guaranteed at all. Moreover, these expensive drugs will cause wealth outflow. If they are not done properly, Da Song will go bankrupt.

Therefore, even in the eyes of Zhao Kuo, a ruthless and moral leader of the later gangster, this opium must be restricted.

But opium cannot be forcibly banned - these days, if there is no aircraft carrier to travel along, the UK will definitely kill you.

With the religious cloak, Zhao Kuo used the grand excuse that God hated any narcotics to forcibly ban opium in the court and the army. Any official or soldier of the Song Dynasty dared to smoke opium and immediately beheaded into the wooden cage - this is the only "Jintian Spirit" that Zhao Kuo unswervingly maintained (the Jintian Uprising of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom).
To be continued...