Chapter 20: The Birth of the Yanghang

  Yee Sang & Co.

  "When Mr. He comes later, just let him in directly, no need to report again, it's a big yard, not so particular."

  "Yes, sir."

  He Wan Nian hastily strode in with big steps. "Brother Yao, good news!"

  Yao Fan was somewhat surprised. "Brother He, what's the good news?"

  He Wan Nian was so excited that he didn't even bother with formalities, and walked in to sit down directly next to Yao Fang on the chair, leaning over half his body onto the table, tapping his fingers on the tabletop, stretching his neck and laughing loudly: "Rising Sun Trading Company! Rising Sun Trading Company has ordered a thousand watches from our Early Sail Trading Company!"

  Yao Fanshen was also somewhat surprised when he heard this.

  "A thousand! ? What a big handwriting of Yi Sheng Foreign Firm! What business were they originally in? Do they pay cash? What price did He brother give them?" Yao Fang asked hastily.

  He Wan Nian sold a pass."Brother Yao, is there water? I've run all the way here and I'm dying of thirst."

  "Heh heh, I've just brewed this cup of tea to the perfect temperature. You drink first." Yao Feng instructed He Shi Cheng to hurry up and serve the tea, but his eyes were fixed intently on He Wan Nian, waiting for him to continue speaking.

  He Wan Nian indeed ran over, he picked up the small tea bowl and almost drank it all in one gulp, wiping his mouth: "This Rihai Yixing Teahouse is also an old shop, to say that in those years it was running distribution with Guangzhou's Thirteen Hongs, nominally speaking it was doing business with British cotton cloth, actually it has always been treating smuggling as the top priority."

  Yao Fan heard that the Yi Sheng Foreign Firm was doing a shady business, and he couldn't help but frown, but he knew that this kind of firm was the most profitable and had connections with both the underworld and the legitimate world, and in these times, such firms were big clients, so he didn't say anything.

  He Wan Nian said: "Yi Sheng Xing's Wu Zhuanggui this time is following the silver car of Jinan Prefecture to come, planning to transport the silver from our Qingdao port onto the ship to Shanghai, and then deposit it into the foreign bank.

  I heard at noon that he had arrived in the city by silver car, so I went to visit him immediately. Who knew that Wu Zhanggui, the righteous and living, was very pleased when he saw the watch, saying that he had been running a foreign goods business for so many years but had never seen a foreign watch as good and delicate as this one!

  "Brother Yao, you think that Wu the shopkeeper would say something in English, he's used to dealing with foreigners, and even he hasn't seen a watch like yours before. It's clear that this watch is indeed top-notch goods from the West, not easily available outside!"

  Yao Weng smiled but did not speak.

  He Wan Nian's face was full of eagerness: "Brother Yao's family is really good at this! They can get such goods! At that time, I took Wu Zhuanggui from Risheng Foreign Firm to see the goods. After he saw the watch, he didn't want to let go of it and entangled me for an entire afternoon, pulling and dragging, actually with only one purpose, which was to make me give him a low price."

  "How much money did you give them per piece?"

  He Wan Nian said: "Two hundred and twenty taels for one! A total of one thousand, altogether twenty-two million taels!"

  Yao Weng jumped in fright.

  In Yao Fan's opinion, selling at two hundred taels was already a good deal, but now He Wannian can sell it for 220 taels, which is really making a huge profit!

  He Wannian saw Yao Fan and didn't say a word, carefully asking: "Brother Yao, are you dissatisfied with the price I'm selling it for?"

  Yao Fan came back to himself and said: "Where's that? Being able to sell a thousand so quickly, I'm delighted."

  He Wan Nian let out a sigh of relief and said, "Brother Yao, don't worry, this watch is so exquisite, as long as we put it on the market, it will definitely sell well. I estimate that this batch of goods will soon be in short supply."

  Yao Fan knew that He Wan Nian was worried about his goods, so he quickly explained: "There is no market that can't be sold, and there are no goods that can't be supplied! Brother He, rest assured, my next batch of goods will arrive immediately! In fact, I am worried, the Qing Dynasty is so poor, everywhere is full of bitter struggles, where can we sell many foreign watches?"

  He Wan nian saw Yao Fangan and guaranteed that the goods were sufficient, happily saying: "Brother Yao, don't just look at our Qingdao port and think that the whole world is as unbearable as this. Beijing, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Shanghai and other big cities, which one is not a gathering place for the rich? The provincial capitals of all provinces in the country, which one is not filled with wealthy officials and merchants?"

  "What does Brother He think this watch can sell out in a year?"

  He Wannian didn't expect Yao Feng to ask this, and he hastily counted on his fingers before saying: "Out of the 250 million people in the Qing Empire, there are three hundred who can afford this watch."

  Yao Feng curiously asked: "Why are there three hundred people?"

  "Brother Yao, think about it, our Great Qing Empire uses the Baojia household registration system, ten households make up one jia, ten jia make up one bao..."

  "I know this, ten plaques one guard, if one person rebels, the whole guard will be implicated." Yao Feng interrupted.

  He Wannian said, "I was talking to you about sales, how did you bring up the topic of rebellion and collective punishment?" He glanced at Yao Fan and continued.

  "One family name represents a hundred households, but in reality it's often not enough to make up the number, and there are only about three hundred people. A rural gentry member controls around three hundred people, so their family assets are naturally substantial; as long as they're willing to spend money, buying two watches at home is no problem - we'll just say they bought one."

  "Brother He is right in a way. In that case, can this table be sold for one million yuan?"

  "I don't dare say for sure, after all there are still some places in the world where even the village heads have been impoverished. But these days, many rich rural gentry have moved to the cities, so we just focus on selling to each city. Selling 200,000 yuan, it's a smooth deal."

  "I see, Brother He's insight is indeed profound."

  Yao Feng's eyes rolled around and he asked: "Why didn't Risheng Foreign Firm take a liking to my soap?"

  "Who says they didn't take a liking, not only did they take a liking to foreign soap, but also our cotton cloth. That Wu shopkeeper even showed interest in our bicycles."

  "Have you bought it?"

  "Wu said he would host a banquet tomorrow and specially invite Brother Yao to meet."

  Yao Fan didn't say anything, just nodded.

  He Wan Nian frowned and said, "There's something else I need to tell you quickly. My shop assistant reported that a servant from the Guo family village ran to Jimo County and sent an express letter from the post office. I don't know where the letter was sent, but I think it's likely that Guo Ji Xiu is going to report to his father."

  Yao Fanzhen thought: "I wonder how Guo Jixiu's father will design me, this is really hard to guess. It's easy to avoid open attacks, but difficult to guard against hidden arrows. This can't be taken lightly."

  Yao Feng stood up and bowed to He Wannian, saying humbly: "Please teach me, brother He, how should I deal with this matter?"

  He Wan Nian hastily stood up and returned the courtesy.

  He Shicheng had just made a bowl of tea for Yao Fang and brought it over. As soon as he put the teacup on the table, he saw Yao Fang bowing to He Wannian for guidance. He Shicheng suddenly knelt down in front of He Wannian and said: "Second Master must help our master, our master is new here and doesn't know anyone, if Second Master doesn't help, he will definitely suffer a loss."

  He Wan Nian's heart skipped a beat, and he thought to himself: "This kid has only been following Yao Fang for one day, yet he is so devoted; what kind of magical potion did Yao Fang give him?"

  He thought for a moment, then stretched out his hand and invited Yao Fang to take his seat back. He himself also sat down, saying: "You little scamp, do you still want to make a fuss? Your second master and your master are people in the same boat, hurry up and don't show off."

  Yao Feng smiled and looked at He Shi-cheng, saying: "Good boy, Yao Ye knows you're loyal, go down, I want to discuss important matters with your second master."

  He Shicheng hastily got up and went out, closing the living room door behind him.

  "Zao Fan brother, how did you train him? I see that Shi Cheng this kid is completely devoted to you."

  Yao Fan smiled silently, thinking to himself that the salary he paid him was enough to hire ten apprentices. With such generous treatment given to a young man like him, how could he not be loyal? But this was something that couldn't be said out loud, so all he could do was smile.

  He Wan Nian thought that He Shi Cheng wanted to show his loyalty in front of his new master, so he smiled and said: "My little son from the He family is indeed honest, haha."

  Yao Feng smiled and said: "It's still Brother He's family style that's good, our clan has such a good young man."

  He Wan Nian heard Yao Fang praise his family, and happily said: "The words have come back to the right place, Brother Yao, we must be on our guard now."

  "What precautions should be taken?"

  He Wan Nian stared at Yao Fan, his eyes wide open, and leaned sideways across the table to ask: "These five big families in Ji Mo, although they occasionally intermarry, have always been secretly scheming against each other.

  As the saying goes, people tend to move towards higher places and water flows downwards. These five families do not want to be suppressed by others, so they all try to climb up to become high-ranking officials with large households. However, they are relatively indifferent to intermarriage between families of equal social status.

  Moreover, the lands of these five villages are adjacent to each other, and conflicts have been constant. Just this spring, a fight broke out between the Guo and Lan families over water for irrigation, resulting in seven or eight deaths and over 200 injuries on both sides. Ha ha, Brother Yao, did you know that the seventh master of the Lan family is actually married to the sixth aunt of Guo Jixiu?

  Yao Feng saw He Wan Nian's misfortune and asked excitedly, "How can you fight so fiercely? Isn't this a case of turning against each other? Aren't they close relatives? Why not discuss things properly?"

  He Wan Nian explained: "Brother Yao doesn't know, since the beginning of this year's spring, there has only been one light rain in the territory of Lai State Prefecture. The rain fell at midnight and stopped by dawn, lasting less than half a day. Now, the water levels in the surrounding streams and rivers are all dropping!"

  The Guo family was clever enough, seeing the abnormal weather, they flipped through their ancestors' agricultural records and knew that a severe drought was coming. They gathered all the villagers and built an earth dam on the Xiaoqing River to divert water into their fields. Brother Zhen, you think, how could the downstream Lan family agree? This is related to the real income of the land, let alone relatives, even if it's your own father, it wouldn't work."

  "Doesn't the government care?"

  He Wan Nian snorted heavily and said, "The government? The government can't even get the rain to come, how dare they intervene? Let them just fight it out among themselves. Once a winner emerges, this matter will be settled. Government officials don't want to risk getting burned. Brother Yao should know that these water thieves' mutual beatings are more brutal than military battles. They've always been relentless, refusing to yield an inch. Unless several people die, they won't back down."

  "Whose house won?"

  "The Lanz family, although suffering heavy casualties, managed to breach the dam on the river. Then the Huang and Zhou families sent many servants to mediate, as these three families were the most powerful in Jimo and had always stuck together. The Guo family, seeing the ferocity of the Lanz family and the neutrality of the Huang and Zhou families, had no choice but to give up."

  Yao Feng's eyes lit up and he said: "Brother Wan Nian means that I should go ask the Blue family for help?"

  He Wan Nian hastily said: "Exactly! My He family and these five families have a relationship, now that we've become friends with you, Early Sail brother, of course, we'll work together to deal with the Guo family. In this way, naturally, we should win over those four families. I've already prepared generous gifts, waiting for tomorrow when we can go visit those four families one by one with you, what do you think?"