C78

Chapter 78 - The Chief of the Merchants' Association

"All of you are blind, you don't know your place, but you actually dared to fight with me for wealth, and want to use underhanded means to force me out of the Tanggu City? "All of you are delusional. I can tell you the truth, but I'm not in a good mood. I really want to kick all of you into the sea …"

Xiao Letian stood at the second floor window and scolded the group of merchants whose faces were ashen like ashes, as if scolding their third grandson. But somehow, the more Xiao Letian scolded, the more relaxed the expressions of these merchants became.

They weren't born with low status, but had accumulated experience in society over the years from doing business. They knew that you could still be saved if you were scolded. If the other party already treated you as a dead person, they wouldn't even say a word to you.

"A small High Scholar and a local thug can actually make all the merchants of Tanggu City submit to him as a grandson? Look at how arrogant you were yesterday at the foreign banks, as if you could kick me, Xiao, out of Tanggu City in the next moment. You even said that you don't need to use silver notes, and that you wouldn't be in arrears with anything … I'm spitting on your faces for being used like a dog by others, and all of you are putting on airs as though you were not ordinary? "Shameless …"

"Merchants are supposed to do what merchants should do. They are honest, honest, and honest. They are supposed to do your business well. Your house was raided by thugs and your warehouse was burnt by the mob. Go and report your losses to the High Scholar Huang! "Everyone, let's go …"

Xiao Letian's words were too sarcastic, and almost caused the group of merchants to jump into the sea to commit suicide. They should also be ashamed, last night when they went back to their homes and looked at the empty city gates and the burning warehouse, ten small merchants committed suicide that night, the feeling of lifting a rock to smash their own feet was too unbearable.

"You're all older than me, I don't think I need to teach you what retribution is …" Xiao Letian scolded for fifteen minutes before drinking a cup of tea and taking a breather, "Although what you have done was foolish and wicked, but you have already learnt your lesson during the riot yesterday, and what you have done was only violating morals, not a capital offense. So you don't have to worry about me settling the score, and you don't have to speak any nonsense about sparing your lives.

Hearing Xiao Letian's teasing words, the Zhou Mingkui whose face had just eased up to become a little red once again turned pale from fright, he immediately bowed his head and cupped his hands, "This official does not dare, does not dare …"

All the merchants who had harmed Xiao Letian before started to cry bitterly the moment they heard "Wuyou". Each of them bent down 90 degrees and could not even bend their backs. "Thank you, Mr. Xiao, for your magnanimity …"

Xiao Letian curled his lips: "But we can avoid the death sentence, living is not easy!" When the merchants heard about it, they were startled, but when they saw the stack of contracts that Xiao Letian had, they were all dumbfounded, and a few of them directly fell to the ground.

"Everyone, look. This is the pig's hair contract that you signed for me yesterday. How much money and how much is written in black and white." "Everyone, please deliver the goods to me in the next two days …"

Almost all the merchants kneeled down and cried, "Mr. Xiao, you should still kill us. In the huge fire yesterday, half of the pig manes in the warehouse were burnt. Even if you kill us, we don't have any goods left …"

"Mr. Xiao, please be merciful for a few days. Although my pig mane hasn't been burnt yet, the payment has been taken away by the thugs. I have already gone bankrupt, please give me a chance …"

The crowd wailed, but no one dared to mention the moment Xiao Letian smashed the thug with their silver coins. They were afraid that they would offend the God of Slaughter again. However, after the crowd begged for a long time, they realised that Xiao Letian had used up all of his kindness just now.

In the end, the merchants collapsed. The two outermost merchants stood up with a shout and ran towards the sea. At this time, while the captain's sailors were enjoying the show, they suddenly saw two figures jumping into the sea.

With one leading the way, there was a second one. In the blink of an eye, more than ten merchants jumped into the sea with their eyes closed. They really did not want to live anymore.

"Save them!" "Hurry up and save them …" Seeing that he had gone overboard, Xiao Letian was anxious and immediately ordered a rescue. However, the first to be saved was unexpectedly the seaport's sailors.

Captain Ke Xijia stood at the bow of the ship and shouted out French, causing the sailors on Lucky and the other merchant ships to jump into the sea like dumplings. It took them a long time to save all the merchants, but none of them died in time.

When they sat down side by side on the pier, Xiao Letian also went downstairs. He stood in front of them and pointed at his nose as he scolded, "Trash, stupid, don't you know how to earn money? To think that you guys are both maritime merchants, and can't even play with a plate that's worth more than a million? "

"You're right, it's easy. Although I have the ability to earn money, but the working silver taels have already been stolen. Since I don't have any working capital, isn't this just waiting to die?" A sea merchant's offer was already big, so even if they wanted to borrow money, it would be very difficult for them to do so! "Sob, sob, sob …" A merchant actually started crying after he finished speaking.

Xiao Letian stood up, and looked at the merchants around him, and said sincerely: "You all don't have money, but I do! It's just borrowing, I, Xiao Letian am not a miser, as long as you ask for as much as you want … "

Hearing this, the eyes of all the merchants present lit up. "How much profit do you want?" Xiao Letian smiled slightly: "If I say no, but you guys don't have any confidence, then just add 10%. With the annual period, I won't be playing the interest game with you guys either …"

Before he could finish his sentence, the people present surrounded Xiao Letian with a loud boom, scaring Xiang Shaolong, who was beside them, to the point that he wanted to attack. Mister didn't lie to us? Only one point? "Are you sure you don't want to play the ratchet game?"

Xiao Letian raised his hand and pointed to the sun as he said, "The Divine Buddha Ancestor is watching us in the sky. When everyone heard that Xiao Letian had sworn on his Divine Buddha or his ancestors' oath, none of them doubted him anymore.

"Sir, this one will never forget your great kindness for the rest of my life!" After everyone finished talking, they all kneeled down. Xiao Letian pulled on the Keeper Niu beside him with a bitter smile and said, "Enough, enough. You guys kowtowed too many times today. I really don't understand why you guys love to kowtow so much …" After he finished speaking, he reached out to help Keeper Niu wash the mud off.

At this time, all the merchants in Tanggu had already been crushed into mud by Xiao Letian. The mood of the people changed from high to low in the past two days.

Today, Xiao Letian had completely accepted the Tanggu's Sea Merchant's Heart. In just two short days, Xiao Letian had unified the business circles in Tanggu's Port and become the undisputed boss.

"Mr. Xiao, I am ashamed, I am really ashamed …" Keeper Niu did not dare to let his noble people help him dust away. She took three steps back and said respectfully, "From today onwards, I, Four Seas Trading Station, will follow Sir's lead!" He bowed again.

"From today onwards, the Tanggu Merchants will follow Mister's lead …" Just like the sound of thunder, all the merchants present actually pledged their loyalty to Xiao Letian. At that moment, Xiao Letian was already a little grateful to High Scholar Huang and the others. If they didn't cause such a ruckus, he wouldn't have accepted them all within two days.

With the show ending, there was nothing new to be had. Manager Fan Lian started to write a IOU at the execution ground, which allowed him to borrow all the money he needed in just two hours, and all the money he had earned amounted to 1,000,000 silver.

How much exactly one million silver taels was? According to the 35 grams of silver taels, it was more than 35,000 kilograms, which was a total weight of 35 tons. Such a silver mountain was enough to make even the foreigners swallow their saliva. The silver light shone in their eyes, but they could not pull it out.

From today onwards, the name of the Letian Firm would completely spread, regardless of whether it was merchants of Qing Nation or foreign merchants, none of them dared to doubt the financial strength of the Letian Firm. Gradually, the nickname 'Nan Hu and Bei Xiao' spread, and Xiao Letian became one of the two God of Wealth of the North and the South.

When most of the chores in the plaza were dealt with, Captain Ke Xijia brought a group of foreign merchants to personally pay a visit to Xiao Letian. Furthermore, they all greeted him with great respect, and actually prepared a name scroll.

"Dear Scholar Xiao, I didn't expect you to be such a great merchant. It has only been a few days since you've conquered the merchants at the port. I think we can thoroughly study our future cooperation. You have earned the respect of all of us …" After Ke Xijia finished speaking, over ten foreign merchants took off their hats and nodded towards Xiao Letian.

As long as you can suppress them, they are cuter than even the merchants in the country. Ke Xijia understood the subtext in his words the moment he heard it, this was a big business deal, only then did he become part of the inner circle of the merchants.

"Hahaha, many thanks for your support. Please accept my sincere thanks …" Xiao Letian spoke in fluent English as he led the merchants towards the backyard of the overseas bank, "Everyone, let's have a good talk. What good stuff do you have that you want to give me? Did you have the Mauser's rifle? American Remington can also, and silver ore, I now very much need silver ore, you have as much as I eat... Oh, right, Captain Ke Xijia, can I ask for your help when you return back to the ship … "

The inner chamber of the Letian Firm had become a meeting room for smugglers. A group of people lowered their heads and whispered to each other.

"Oh God, generous Xiao, you actually used gold to trade with us. You must know that the entire monetary system of Europe is supported by gold, gold is the life of our homeland …"

"Long live! With gold, let the law go to hell, dear Shaw, we love you so much... "

Amidst the wails and howls of the foreign devils, Xiang Shaolong quietly sat on the rooftop and said helplessly to the eagle who was not far away: "You should go back, it's just a mess of bird language, do you understand?"

The Eagle blushed a little at Xiang Shaolong's words, he cupped his hands and turned to leave.