Republic of China small businessman

Bai Mingyu was quite capable, so he went out for a trip and got to know two Russian businessmen through the introduction of the comprador around him.

One is called Philatiev, the other is called Nikki.

The two were agents in the Nerchensk area, and they purchased goods through castles such as Irkutsk and Nerchensk, and dealt in Chinese cloth and silk, metal utensils and medicinal materials.Now that the prohibition on alcohol has come down, all the goods added up are not worth as much as alcohol. With huge profits, there are not a few people who take risks.

The comprador next to Bai Mingyu is an old man who has been with his elder brother Bai Mingzhe for more than ten years. After so many years, he has accumulated a lot of contacts and selected these two carefully.

In the past, Chinese businessmen did not go to Russia to do business directly. They usually transported goods to the border through people gathered in some villages along the coast, and then transported them to Russia. After crossing the border, there were many military personnel and merchants of all sizes living there. , will purchase these goods in bulk.

The most popular one these days is Huaguo's shochu.

Reselling it to a Russian businessman, although the profit will be reduced by [-]%, but the shipment volume has increased greatly, and there is no risk of sales. Bai Mingyu is courageous. After discussing with the comprador, he made the decision and agreed. He collected the deposit and promised to send two batches before the year Soju passed.

Filatiev knew a few words of Chinese, and he was all smiles when talking with them. He also saw the profit in it, and he was even more enthusiastic and thoughtful when entertaining Bai Mingyu and others.

The men of the Bai family are all quite tall, and Bai Mingyu has also grown taller in the past two years, and at first glance he looks no different from an adult man. When the other party entertained him, he didn't ask his age, and called a few Belarusian beauties to accompany him.

The Belarusian woman is just young, fair and beautiful, with long straight legs and a smile on the corner of her mouth when she leans over someone.

Bai Mingyu was so panicked that his face turned red and he hid several times.

Filatiev was smoking a cigar at the side. He laughed and said to him, "Boss Bai, don't panic. They just admire you and want to get close to you."

Bai Mingyu hid on the other side of the comprador, and said with a bluff, "You don't have to. My family has strict rules, and you can't mess around outside."

Filatiev asked with interest: "Is it the order from Madam?"

Bai Mingyu looked like an adult on the outside, but he was actually only 16 years old. He had never even held a girl's hand at home, but he didn't want to lose his ambition when he heard the question from the foreigner sitting across from him. up.

Filatiev knew that Chinese people get married early, so he was not surprised. He raised his glass and said, "Then let us toast to my wife and wish you happiness."

Bai Mingyu couldn't drink him, and being in a strange environment, he was afraid that drinking would cause trouble, so he hid after a few drinks, and said cheekily: "My wife won't let me drink too much, she can control me a lot, and I will be beaten if I don't obey. "

Filatiev looked at him in surprise: "Is Madam so fierce?"

Bai Mingyu searched in his mind, and soon found a fierce and beautiful girl, probably slightly drunk from alcohol, the person in his mind gradually became clear, it was actually Bai Hongqi.

With a real person in my mind, what I said became more and more true.

Bai Mingyu said slowly: "It's very fierce." After a while, he frowned slightly, and finally hummed: "Tigress."

After using Bai Hong as a "madame" for a few days, Bai Mingyu gradually felt more at ease.

He had never seen such a colorful world before, and as soon as he was fascinated, he immediately remembered Bai Hong's eyebrows that seemed to be smiling but not a smile and the riding whip in her hand, and he became more sober.

With the blessing of "madam", Bai Mingyu's business was done very quickly.

Filatiev was in charge of negotiating specific contracts, while Nikki concentrated on delivering the soju.

The two of them had some ideas, otherwise they would not have been able to make a living at the border after so many years. After more than ten days, the shochu from Huaguo was delivered, and Nikki went to the pier in person, and a batch of wine was delivered to the station with the Russian flag. Many soldiers were on the ship, while the other batch was transported to Siberia by Nikki, and then transported from Siberia to Russia.

Bai Mingyu was not interested in their route, nor did he intend to explore other people's business, so he didn't ask much about it.

When the second batch of shochu was delivered, an acquaintance of Bai Mingyu came with him.

When Bai Mingyu saw the other party, he stood up in fright, sweat broke out on his forehead, and he called out respectfully: "Sun Guanshi."

Steward Sun Fu stood in front of him with a smile, cupped his hands and bowed to him, and then said, "Jiuye asked me to say hello to Second Young Master, saying that Second Young Master has worked hard. He has probably heard from Steward Xie since he was a child. Big, worried that the second young master would not be able to do it alone, so he specially sent me to help."

Bai Mingyu scratched his head, feeling a little embarrassed after being caught, hesitantly approached and asked in a low voice: "Is Master Jiu angry?"

Manager Sun Fu said, "It's hard to say."

Relying on the fact that he often ran to the east courtyard and was a student next to Master Jiu, Bai Mingyu pestered him for a while before he asked Sun Fu, "Xiao Xie was not scolded".

Bai Mingyu relaxed a lot.

He thought, Xie Jing, the mastermind, was not scolded, he was just working, so it would be fine.

Thinking of this, the tight strings in my heart were loosened, and I stood there silly.

Steward Sun Fu brought high-strength shochu over here this time, asked the two Russian businessmen for some space, and temporarily built a wine shop.

The place was chosen on the bank of the main channel of the Amu River turning to the northwest.

Originally, there were only a few summer houses there. The Chinese were good at building houses and they were hardworking. Within half a month, they used local materials to build a small village.

Filatiev also went to see it and was amazed.

These houses are only built of mud, with a large birch forest in front of them, and they are of average strength, but they are enough to survive a winter.

Sun Fu and others brought many wine baskets with them, as well as many other containers, and skillfully let the workers start making shochu.

Bai Mingyu grew up with his father and elder brother in the winery since he was a child, and he is familiar with these things. He doesn't like to eat and socialize with those Russians, he prefers to come here to help with work, roll up his sleeves and work harder than anyone else. With great strength, even Sun Fu was surprised when he lifted the whole wine tank for the first time.

Bai Mingyu proudly said, "Where to put it?"

The wine maker at the side quickly pointed to the place, and Bai Mingyu moved over step by step with his arms in his arms. After putting it down, he wiped the sweat from his forehead. He felt that he had been marinated, and he smelled like wine even without drinking.

He moved the tip of his nose and asked, "The wine delivered these two times is different from the previous one."

Sun Fu said: "Yes, vodka is limited, but fortunately there is enough shochu, and the stocks of other wineries have been moved."

Bai Mingyu: "Master Jiu talked about moving those people?"

Sun Fu: "It is the nature of a businessman to seek profit."

Bai Mingyu said happily: "I bet, the Lord definitely didn't charge those people a high price. Damn, let them not come earlier. Now that it's all over, it will be difficult to follow the big mouth!"

Sun Fu smiled and said, "Jiu Ye still offered the previous price."

Bai Mingyu's eyes widened: "Why?"

Sun Fu took out a letter from his arms, handed it over and said, "This is a letter from Master Jiu. After the Second Young Master has read it, pack it up and go back. Master said that you have done a good job these past few months, so you can go back." It's been really hard, I call you home for the New Year."

Bai Mingyu said: "I don't! I'm just getting started. If I don't make a lot of money, what kind of year will I be at home!"

Sun Fu persuaded: "Second young master, this business is not a long-term solution. The stricter the ban, the tighter the time. You should listen to Jiu Ye."

Bai Mingyu opened his mouth and closed it again.

He struggled a little, but when he held the letter, he looked down and saw the familiar words on it, and felt warm in his heart.

Master Jiu was worried about his safety, so he called him back.

He was at the border, had limited contact with people, and received limited information.

Although Master Jiu is on the other side of the river, he has the intelligence network of the governor of the province, so he naturally knows more.

This business probably won't last long.

Although Bai Mingyu was reluctant to give up a lot of silver dollars, he was still obedient, packed his luggage, and prepared to return to Heihe.

When he came back, he exchanged all the silver coins for gold bars according to the instructions in Master Jiu’s letter. The Russian businessman didn’t have enough cash on hand, so he allowed the other party to use goods to resist. Except for rubles, anything is fine, especially some precious horses and deer antlers. , The price is also very kind.

The two Russian businessmen were also happy. They called the antler "Panti", and each pair of antler was 30 rubles in silver coins. If the antler was large, the Baijia caravan would pay 60 rubles.

When Bai Mingyu came back, he brought two ships of goods, most of which were leather, ointment, leather and antlers, and the horses were bought in bulk in the cabin of the freighter.

The goods he brought back were actually a cover, and the real weight was a few boxes of gold bars.

The past few months have not been in vain, and I have gained a lot.

Halfway through the boat, I suddenly saw a cargo ship approaching faintly on the river.

The boss of the ship at the helm has sharp eyes and rich experience, and shouted loudly: "Change the flag! Change the Russian flag!"

The sailors on the ship responded quickly, and the replacement was almost completed before the fog on the river cleared.

The "freighter" on the other side was very fast, light and weightless, and when it saw their flag from afar, it hesitated for a moment, then turned around and drove away.

Bai Mingyu didn't understand, but he also felt the tense atmosphere on the boat, so he stepped forward and asked, "What happened?"

The person on the boat said: "Just now it was a Japanese boat. These Orientals are really hateful. They know that most of the awning boats are owned by our merchants, and they rob them when they see them. Today, thanks to the Bai family's steamer, the boat on board The Russian flag was hung again, and they thought it was a Russian ship, so they dared not mess around.”

Bai Mingyu said: "Why can I avoid it by flying the Russian flag?"

The other party scratched his head: "This, this little one is not very clear, there must be some regulations. Anyway, only Chinese and Russian ships are allowed to sail on this waterway."

There were people from the East Court on board, and Bai Mingyu explained to him: "The Russians want to occupy the route, and they will not let Japanese merchants come on board. When they see them, they will shoot. The Japanese are afraid of them after a long time."

Bai Mingyu felt uncomfortable when he heard that.

I was depressed for several days in a row.

After arriving at the bank of the Heihe River, Bai Mingyu recovered a little bit of energy on the way back to the shop with the goods whizzing around in a horse-drawn carriage.

He lifted the curtain of the carriage, and the cold winter wind swept snow like salt grains onto his face, making people squint their eyes and freeze their breath.

Bai Mingyu carefully inhaled the breath of the winter wilderness, and slowly exhaled the stuffy breath that had accumulated in his heart for several days. When he saw the familiar place, he felt refreshed. Looking at the surrounding silver-covered land, he felt refreshed again. After touching a few large wooden boxes at hand, my heart slowly became more at ease.

One day, their boats will sail on the river without changing the flag of other countries.

Heihe, Baijia firm.

The shop was extremely lively today, as soon as Bai Mingyu's convoy came ashore, it was picked up by several groups of guards from the Bai family, and returned home smoothly.

After Bai Mingyu came back, he only talked to his elder brother Bai Mingzhe at the door, before he had time to say more, he went to find Master Jiu first.

Bai Mingyu stopped at the gate of Master Jiu and took a breath. For some reason, he could pretend to be a dignified shopkeeper outside, but he was a little flustered at the thought of meeting Master Jiu.He thought about what he was saying for a while, raised his hand and knocked on the door, and waited until the door called "Come in", then he straightened his clothes and walked in.

This side of the small building was the same as in previous years, with thick blankets and earth dragons, Jiu Ye was sitting there wrapped in a velvet robe, holding a stove in his hand, he only nodded slightly when he saw him: "You're back? Sit down and talk."

Bai Mingyu was about to sit down when he suddenly heard Xie Jing who was standing behind Master Jiu cough, and immediately stood up again, bowing and saying, "Master, I won't sit anymore, I'll talk standing up, stand up hard Son."

Master Jiu laughed, and said: "That's the case, you just stand up and talk."

Bai Mingyu took out an account book from his pocket, and respectfully presented it to Jiuye's case, explaining all the accounts and the exchanged goods clearly.

"...The total amount of gold I got this time is more than [-] yuan in silver dollars. I have obeyed your order. I didn't ask for rubles. I exchanged all of it for gold and goods. I got a few good horses, all of which are army horses. They were used by the Cossack cavalry, and I thought they were very good, so I ordered another batch on my own initiative, and the other party agreed, but the river is not navigable right now, and they will be sent together after the spring." Bai Mingyu spoke dryly. , but didn't dare to take a sip of tea. He raised his eyes and looked carefully at Master Jiu. Seeing that Master Jiu was expressionless, he winked at Xie Jing who was standing behind Master Jiu, and pouted to hint at him.

Xie Jingquan pretended not to see it.

Bai Mingyu became anxious and coughed lightly.

This time Master Jiu looked over, took a look at him, and said, "The errand was done well, I just wanted to ask you, is there anything else you want to say?"

Bai Mingyu didn't care about Xie Jing anymore, he knelt down with a plop, and kowtowed to Lord Jiu first. He was used to kowtowing since he was a child and he didn't feel embarrassed at all. He knelt there and said, "Master, I was wrong, I shouldn't have listened to Xiao Xie. For such a big deal, if Grandpa hadn’t asked Sun Fu to take care of it, I almost couldn’t stop it.”

Master Jiu laughed and said, "You listened to him?"

Bai Mingyu said: "Ang, I listened to Xiao Xie's analysis."

Master Jiu said: "Jing'er, do you have something to say?"

Xie Jing walked to the front, saluted and said, "Second Young Master is right."

As soon as Bai Mingyu heard this, he thought badly. Sure enough, Jiu Ye turned cold and said to him: "He is just a manager, when will he be able to order you, the big shopkeeper? If you want to excuse yourself, there is no need to use this method. "

Bai Mingyu: "Master, that's really not the case, I..." He turned his head and asked Xie Jing, "You said it yourself, after you analyzed the ship's cargo with me that day, what else did you say? Did you say that the Russians banned alcohol, and opportunities are rare? , can you make a big deal?"

Xie Jing said slowly: "Yes, but I also advise the second young master to think twice before acting, it's a big deal."

Bai Mingyu: "??"