Chapter 8 Goat City

  "Uncle, are you feeling better? Eat something!" Deng Zixuan turned his head to look and saw that under the dim lantern, a sailor was sitting with some difficulty leaning against the rope, and a young man holding a bowl of coarse rice was anxiously inquiring. Deng Zixuan involuntarily walked over, and Chen Jintan also followed. Upon closer inspection, they found that the sailor leaning against the rope was the one who had been beaten up during the day, and the young man next to him was about ten years old, similar in age to himself. The uncle and nephew duo became alert upon seeing strangers arrive.

  "Don't be afraid, we are passengers on the ship. We saw you being beaten up during the day, why did the foreign captain beat you?" Deng Zixuan asked kindly. "My uncle has had diarrhea for the past two days, and the foreigners thought he was clumsy with his hands and feet, so they punched and kicked him. To be honest, sir, the foreigners are really cruel, my uncle's body is covered in injuries." The young man said indignantly.

  Deng Zixuan hinted, Chen Jintang took out the golden gun medicine. "Old brother, apply the medicine, if it gets infected and inflamed, it's bad." The sailor struggled to stand up and said: "Thank you, sir, you are a good person." The young man took over the golden gun medicine and applied it to his uncle. After applying the medicine, the sailor's dark red face had spirit, and saw that he had finished eating. Deng Zixuan asked: "Old brother! Why do you still want to sacrifice your life for foreigners who treat you so poorly?"

  The sailor let out a sigh and said, "Sir, my uncle and I owe the fishing boss some money, so we had to sell ourselves to pay off the debt. Last year, foreigners recruited sailors and bought us from the fishing boss. What can you do? When you're under someone's roof, you have to bow your head!" "Where are you two from?" The young man answered quickly, "We're from Fuzhou!" "This is outrageous! What kind of world is this?" Chen Jintang said angrily.

  Suddenly, Deng Zixuan had an idea and asked: "Old brother, what's your name?" "My humble self is called Chen Fugui, my nephew is called Chen Gensheng!" "Old brother! I'm going to Guangzhou for business, and I happen to need to buy a boat. I need sailors, are you two willing to follow me?" "That's great! The young master's intention is understood, but..." "Don't worry, old brother, I'll take care of the foreigners. The two uncles were overjoyed and immediately knelt down to thank him.

  Before long, Deng Zixuan led Chen Jintan and the two uncles to appear in front of the foreign captain. At this time, the foreign captain was leisurely drinking foreign wine while holding a cigar. This guy had his legs raised and didn't put the incoming people in his eyes at all. "Excuse me, are you the captain?" Deng Zixuan asked in English. Upon hearing the fluent English, the foreign captain suddenly opened his eyes, sat up straight, and said somewhat arrogantly: "I am, what can I do for you."

  "Captain, I've bought these two people. Name your price!" Deng Zixuan said straightforwardly. The foreign captain glanced at the uncle and nephew, then carefully examined Deng Zixuan again, his eyes rolling around in thought. Probably he thought that someone who could speak fluent English must be quite important. This guy weighed it for a moment before saying: "20 taels of silver, no haggling!"

  "Deal! But from now on, they're your guests!" "OK!" Chen Jintan slapped 20 taels of silver on the table. The guy picked up the silver and examined it carefully, a smile spreading from the corner of his mouth. As he was about to leave, Deng Zixuan saw the foreign captain take out a cigar and then pull out a match from his vest pocket, deftly striking it against the vest to light it.

  Match? Deng Zixuan walked out of the cabin with great joy. Yes! Why don't I build a match factory? Matches are small but profitable, and currently in the Qing Dynasty, there probably isn't a single match factory. Moreover, foreigners use phosphorus-headed matches, which are easy to ignite and very unsafe, while safety matches have been developed by foreigners, but they haven't become widespread. The key is that although safety matches have low profits, their market space is huge, and Deng Zixuan knows this better than anyone else.

  As for the formula of safety matches, it was something that an ordinary middle school student in that era would be familiar with, and Deng Zixuan couldn't help but feel impressed. Thinking about this, Deng Zixuan couldn't help but let out a loud whoop, startling both Chen Jintan and his uncle. "Young master! What's got you so excited!" Chen Jintan could sense his excitement in the darkness. "The heavens' secrets cannot be revealed!" Deng Zixuan tossed off a sentence before heading towards his own cabin.

  A few days later, the passenger ship entered the wide Pearl River waterway. Deng Zixuan held onto the railing and gazed out at the vast river surface, his heart slightly astonished. He had been to Guangzhou several times before, but now the city's old layout of three cities from the Song Dynasty was still evident. Especially the wide Pearl River surface and the Guangzhou of a hundred years ago were worlds apart.

  Sailboats and small boats with awnings were scattered all over the river. Occasionally, a foreign cargo ship would appear, belching thick smoke as it passed by. Dèng Zǐxuān seemed to be in a trance. "This is Yangcheng, more prosperous than Shanghai!" Wáng Xiǎo'èr, a habitual thief, was probably very sensitive to the bustling streets or had a unique fondness for them, and his words were always tinged with his professional habits.

  "Do you know why Guangzhou is called the City of Rams?" Deng Zixuan asked, and his family members all chimed in to say they didn't know. Deng Zixuan said: "Guangzhou is also known as the Five Rams City or the City of Flowers. Legend has it that during the Zhou Dynasty, Guangzhou suffered from years of famine and drought, and the people were on the brink of death. One day, five colorful clouds floated in from the South China Sea, carrying five immortals riding on rams, with the rams holding five-colored rice ears in their mouths. The immortals gave the rice ears to the people and blessed the land to never suffer from famine again. After the immortals left, the five rams stayed behind because they missed the mortal world and protected the local area from natural disasters. To thank the five immortals, the people built a temple called the Wu Xian Guan, with statues of the immortals and five stone sheep, which is why Guangzhou is also known as the City of Rams."

  "Master Deng is indeed erudite!" exclaimed Wu Bao, the long-legged one. "Hey! Bai Banshan! You usually show off your knowledge in front of us, claiming to know everything from ancient times to the present, why are you speechless now?" teased Leng Yifei. "To be honest, I was just fooling people around, I only read a few years at a private school, Master Deng is truly a master of five carts of books. His knowledge on this journey has left me in awe!" sincerely confessed Bai Gejin. Along the way, Deng Zixuan became a respected teacher in everyone's eyes.

  "Still, Master Deng said it well, without learning is like being blind with one's eyes open. I've decided to start learning to read from today! Master Deng, please don't hold back and supervise me!" Chen Jintang said sincerely. "Brother Chen has such determination, I feel very delighted. If you all acquire knowledge, it's as if you've grown wings, flying higher and farther!" Then Deng Zixuan took the opportunity to explain the importance of learning. Those who are close to vermilion become red, those who are close to ink become black, Deng Zixuan must reform them bit by bit.

  As the distance from the city gets closer, the Yuexiu Mountain in the north bank of the Pearl River is getting clearer and clearer, especially the Wanghai Tower on the city gate is towering high and very eye-catching. "Six veins entering the sea, green mountains half into the city, a true portrayal of Yangcheng." Deng Zixuan muttered to himself, unable to help it.

  Deng Zixuan led his brothers to Guangzhou, not just to do something big. More importantly, he wanted to establish a foothold in Guangzhou and expand his influence, paving the way for even greater development later on. In the future, Guangzhou would be one of the indispensable bases for him to achieve his grand ambitions, no less important than Shanghai.

  Upon entering the city, I indeed found the winding and tortuous Ming Canal. Deng Zixuan clearly remembered that this year, Guangzhou's Governor Wang Kaitai made a big effort to dredge 6 canals, which greatly facilitated the travel and trade of Guangzhou citizens, making the logistics within the city much faster.

  Walking into the bustling streets, both sides are lined with shops. The old commercial street is only about 4 meters wide. Moreover, the shops on both sides are densely packed and almost identical in pattern. Most of the shop door curtains are filled with long strips of cloth banners, with the shop name written on them. Everyone was excited, but Deng Zixuan felt a bit suffocated due to the narrow space. Four Seas Inn! Deng Zixuan gazed at it for a moment and thought the name of this inn was very auspicious. So he decided to stay in this inn.

  That night, after dinner, the uncle and nephew went to bed in another room, while all the other brothers gathered in Deng Zixuan's room. "Brothers! This time, Master Deng has come to Guangzhou for a big matter. This matter is related to our great undertaking, and I have already learned about it. Due to confidentiality reasons, Master Deng did not tell everyone, this is absolutely not because he does not trust everyone, please understand." Chen Jintang said with a stern expression first.

  Deng Zixuan continued, "Compliments aside, Brother Chen has already spoken for me. To be honest, we came to Guangzhou with two purposes: one is for silver and the other is to establish ourselves in Guangzhou!" "Silver?" Everyone's interest was piqued. Deng Zixuan continued, "Have you heard of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's gold vault?" Pei Gejin said, "I've heard rumors about this. When the Huai Army captured Tianjing, Zeng Guofan ordered a thorough search for the gold vault by digging three feet underground throughout the city, but in the end, nothing was found!"

  Deng Zixuan said: "I got a message that at the time, Zeng Guofan was in Nanjing for three days searching for the treasury after killing people continuously. He reported to the emperor: When Tianjing was broken, the Heavenly King's palace was burned down by a big fire and nothing was left behind. The court had doubts about this. They wanted to investigate clearly, but at that time, the Huai Army group was too powerful, so the court could only let it go."

  Later, many Huai Army generals became rich, which means that Zeng Guofan did not tell the truth!" "Deng Gongzi, if you suspect that Zeng Guofan hid his treasure, why should we come to Guangzhou instead of going to Hunan?" Pei Gejin asked in confusion. Deng Zixuan seemed to recall: "Zeng Guofan's younger brother Zeng Guoquan transferred some of the treasure to Shaoguan, Guangzhou, and it is said that the hidden gold, silver, and jewels are worth about 30 million taels of white silver!" "30 million white silver?" Everyone was shocked.

  "Everyone will definitely not believe it, and I don't believe it's true either. But there is no smoke without fire, some things are not just rumors. So I have to take a chance, as for the source of the news, I'll tell you later, now let me assign tasks to each of you!" Deng Zixuan said.

  Highly recommended: