Li Hongzhang stood at the porthole, looking down from his elevated position at those varied expressions below.
He couldn’t help wondering: among these people, how many harbored guilt in their hearts because of the Jiangnan Arsenal?
After a brief verbal sparring with the rebel, Li Hongzhang changed his mind again. He didn’t believe this man could help him successfully root out the moles in the Jiangnan Arsenal. Once they disembarked, just one street away lay the foreign concession. This man would most likely take the opportunity to muddy the waters and cause him trouble.
Even if what he said was true, if there were responsive secret society groups in the factory, and with so many subordinates watching…
His dignity as Mr. Li was worth something, too.
Better to first meet with his subordinate officials and drop some hints and warnings. If they could quietly resolve the matter, that would be best.
As for this man surnamed Su, let him stay on the Qing ship—don’t even think about setting foot on concession ground.
The steamship came to a steady stop, and Li Hongzhang leisurely disembarked.
Amid the sounds of gongs, drums, and suona horns, a crowd of officials departed with great fanfare. Common people craned their necks to watch the spectacle.
Then, following routine, dock coolies bent their backs as they boarded the ship to refuel, add water, and load coal…
Su Minguan was confined in a small storage compartment next to the coal bunker. Shovelfuls of coal chunks flew back and forth outside the door, with black dust swirling everywhere.
He found it somewhat strange. He shouldn’t be this close to the boiler room…
The two guards watching over him both covered their noses, spitting: “Move slower! Don’t you see there are people here!”
The coal carriers suddenly revealed fierce glints in their eyes. With two swift shovel strikes, they knocked those two guards flat on their backs, faces covered in black.
“Minguan!” A withered, elderly figure rushed tremblingly to the door. “This time it’s Uncle Cheng’s turn to rescue you! You’re something—managing to trick that dog official back to Shanghai. We almost set sail to search for you!”
“Uncle Cheng, step back.”
Blood rushed to Su Minguan’s cheeks as he leaped up from the corner, gathered his strength, and kicked open the door that wasn’t particularly well secured.
Only then did he smile: “I didn’t trick him. He has guilt in his own heart.”
He Weicheng pulled him along the maintenance passage, walking while urgently saying: “The dog official wants to seize Yixing. When you wouldn’t comply, he locked you up—outrageous! We absolutely cannot let him succeed. Everyone has communicated. Those from Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Guangdong—they’ve all come to help you this time. I have a superior strategy: if we want to assassinate the dog official, stage another ‘assassination of Ma’ case, we can organize it! Make it so they can’t trace the leads! You…”
Su Minguan laughed despite himself: “Without this dog official, there’ll be another. Tell me the middle strategy.”
Still talking about “untraceable leads.” The “assassination of Ma” case was indeed a mystery, but it had become a laughingstock among the people. Yet during those years of investigation, how many people died under torture in confusion, accompanying Ma Xinyi to the grave?
“In any case, we cannot let our ships fall into the court’s hands, letting the court squeeze the people’s blood and sweat money!” He Weicheng persisted undaunted, saying, “If you’re willing to sacrifice them, just blow the ships to the bottom of the river—mutual destruction…”
“I’m not willing.”
That stubborn youth from years past hadn’t changed a bit. He Weicheng smiled bitterly, looking at him with pity.
“As for the inferior strategy, first transfer the cash silver from Yixing’s accounts. They can seal the storefronts, but they can’t seal the HSBC bank accounts. We’ll protect you as you hide in the countryside, and we’ll start over from scratch.”
Su Minguan nodded, enduring the pain from his injuries as he nimbly stepped over several pipes, then turned back to give He Weicheng a helping hand.
These superior, middle, and inferior strategies were too casually decided, made in haste without proper deliberation.
Su Minguan suddenly asked: “Where’s Bai Yushan? When you all discussed these ideas, which one did she propose?”
Just as he finished speaking, he saw another equally short and thin “coolie” guarding the end of the passage, face smeared black with coal dust, only a pair of bright white eyes visible, sparkling with lively light.
Su Minguan’s heart skipped a beat. Speak of the devil—his crow’s mouth was most accurate at times like this.
“Why did you come too?”
He looked at He Weicheng as he spoke, his tone questioning.
He Weicheng innocently gestured with his eyes, meaning: I couldn’t stop her.
“There are quite a few personnel remaining on the ship—all shipworkers and Li Hongzhang’s entourage. We didn’t dare alert them.” Lin Yuchan said while removing the tattered, oversized coolie rags, “Brother Peng sailed alongside for an hour, observing from all sides. This is the only exit that won’t be detected.”
Behind her was indeed a small ventilation window, ten feet above sea level, with bursts of fishy, salty wind blowing in.
Su Minguan fell silent. With the ragged clothes removed, she wore a close-fitting Western-style men’s vest and tight riding breeches underneath, barefoot, showing her waist’s curves without any pretense.
Dock rules required coal-carrying coolies to have identification tags. Official ships were strictly inspected, with regulated departure times. Smuggling out an additional person was impossible. Only two people could return the original way, with the third person escaping through the ventilation window like a cicada shedding its shell.
The ventilation window was narrow—ordinary men couldn’t squeeze through.
Su Minguan was both angry and amused. Whose idea was this? Most likely hers.
While putting the coolie clothes on her, he complained: “Couldn’t you have brought an extra axe?”
With a crash, something fell from his body with his movement.
Lin Yuchan crouched down to pick it up. A chipped jade longevity lock with gold fittings, the gold portion split into large and small pieces. The larger piece had fallen off.
This was a keepsake from his mother that he wore close to his body. Ever since it was damaged by a substandard lead bullet years ago, it has become increasingly fragile. Over more than ten years, through countless adventures and escapes, it had become more and more damaged.
Today, it had finally completely cracked. It had suffered a considerable external impact again.
Lin Yuchan suddenly felt a sharp pain in her heart. Her gaze fell on Su Minguan’s chest and shoulders, then she reached out to gently wipe away a bloodstain on his cheek.
“Are you injured? Did they torture you?”
Su Minguan wrapped up the broken lock pieces and tucked them into his chest, nodding nonchalantly: “Flesh wounds, no impact.”
Of course, it wasn’t as light as he made it sound. But it also wasn’t as severe as Li Hongzhang had seen. He’d put on a dying appearance to lower Li Hongzhang’s guard.
He Weicheng was startled. Just now, Su Minguan had moved so agilely, showing no signs of injury at all.
He was even more alarmed: “What’s this about?”
Everyone had only thought that Su Minguan refused to give up Yixing, so the official found fault with him, giving him a taste of imprisonment to frighten him.
But if they tortured innocent civilians without cause, even as the Zhili Governor-General, he theoretically didn’t have that authority. If political enemies caught hold of this, they could make quite an issue of it.
Unless… his crimes went beyond “clinging to Yixing.”
The situation was more serious than imagined.
Su Minguan bent down, whispered a few words in Lin Yuchan’s ear, then said: “You go back with Uncle Cheng the original way. Tell everyone to hide in the countryside first. How much of Yixing’s assets were confiscated? I’m worried Shanghai might face a purge.”
Then he reached out to test the width of that porthole.
Lin Yuchan blocked him without question, stuffing the coolie identification tag into his hand, saying firmly: “Wait on shore to receive me.”
With injuries all over his body, still wanting to bungee jump, he thought there weren’t enough ways to die in the Qing Empire.
Su Minguan fingered the identification tag, gauged his build, sighed quietly, pulled her head close, and lightly touched his lips to her forehead.
“Thank you.”
Moments later, two “coolies,” one tall and one short, pushed empty carts off the ship.
Behind the steamship, a hemp rope extended from the ventilation window, lowering an inconspicuous figure.
When the rope reached its limit, the figure swung in the air, suddenly twisted, and dove gracefully into the Huangpu River like a hunting seagull.
…
Su Minguan yanked the little mermaid from the water, wrapped her entire body in a bath towel, and held her dripping wet form tightly.
Brother Peng rowed the boat, which shook once before racing swiftly into the Pudong waterways.
Lin Yuchan glimpsed the three characters “Li Shun De” embroidered on the towel, her ears and neck turning red.
“Where did this come from…”
He held her tightly, burying his head against her neck like a drowning man clutching a life ring, gripping her so tight she could barely breathe. It was early summer, so the water wasn’t cold, quickly steaming with heat. She brushed the sweat from her nose tip against his ear.
But he still wouldn’t let go. Lin Yuchan had the dazed illusion that he was practically lying on her, sleeping for a long, long time.
She didn’t dare move, not knowing where his torture wounds were or whether they had worsened.
“A’Mei,” after a long while, he finally spoke in a muffled voice, “what should I do?”
Lin Yuchan remained silent. Although Uncle Cheng’s proposed “superior, middle, and inferior” three strategies were highly impractical, they also showed that even the most hardheaded brothers recognized that Yixing would likely be difficult to preserve this time.
It wasn’t such a big deal. “Yixing” was just the financial department under the Hongmen. It could be any profitable enterprise—teahouse, restaurant, general store, money house, gambling den…
It didn’t necessarily have to have ships.
As long as he didn’t willfully sell everything off like last time, changing Yixing’s name and starting over would be perfectly normal.
But clearly, he wasn’t resigned to it.
She said with some difficulty in a soft voice: “I read the newspaper explanations about the China Merchants’ Steam Navigation Company. With so many regulations and loans backing it… with that in place, other scattered independent shipping warehouses probably won’t be able to survive.”
This was already a very conservative statement. She knew that the China Merchants’ Steam Navigation Company would not only thrive but, like the Jiangnan Arsenal, survive for over a hundred years, even branching out into countless subsidiary enterprises: China Merchants Port, China Merchants Land, China Merchants Shekou, China Merchants Bank, China Merchants Securities…
Su Minguan’s lips curved into a small, bitter smile. Winner takes all—he understood completely.
“And it will severely impact foreign shipping.” He said, “If the government-run steamship company can get started, within three years it can reclaim at least one-third of shipping rights. Foreign shipping will shrink by at least half.”
This was the scenario he had dreamed of for ten years. In the past, he could only fight alone, at most joining with a few others, starting from a single cargo hold and passenger ticket, struggling to carve out market share from the foreigners while enduring official exploitation.
Now, the government was directly entering the field, for the first time giving Chinese ships a complete green light in Chinese waters.
If he could manage such a company—or even just be a manager or assistant—standing on the unobstructed bow, racing alongside foreign steamships, how exhilarating that would be.
He didn’t know what to say. He took out a cloth bundle from his chest, unwrapped it, and stared obsessively at the longevity lock broken in half.
It was originally made for children to wear. Though exquisite and precious, it wasn’t some heirloom meant to preserve value. That it had held together until now before cracking could be considered a natural end to its life.
He unconsciously moved his fingers, trying to piece the lock fragments together. But it was all futile.
Lin Yuchan said softly, “Find a craftsman to repair it.”
He shook his head slightly, wrapped up the fragments, and put them away.
“A’Mei, I…”
“You’re optimistic about the China Merchants’ Company in your heart.” Lin Yuchan quietly spoke his inner thoughts. “You won’t sink Yixing’s ships. You’d rather see them fly Qing flags, continue serving Chinese people, continue competing with foreigners, making an even bigger name.”
“I didn’t…”
A flash of wariness and resistance passed through Su Minguan’s eyes, followed by a long sigh.
To be loyal to his ideals meant betraying the organization. Confined in the ship’s cabin for several days, he’d thought without finding a position that could satisfy both sides.
Moreover, though the China Merchants’ Company had good prospects, Li Hongzhang’s methods were domineering—not even having purchased a single ship yet, he was already strangling all domestic competitors. If he dared compromise or even cooperate with such humiliating bullying, he wouldn’t forgive himself.
He suddenly said: “A’Mei, if I… if I do things that others oppose, will you blame me?”
Lin Yuchan smiled, broke free from him, and went into the cabin to change into dry clothes.
“I forgot to tell you,” she said lightly, “while you were missing, we cobbler-strategists also acted first and reported later, doing some things…”
Li Hongzhang, surrounded by officials, received welcoming banquets and entertainment, even arranging opera troupes, with his sleeves inevitably receiving numerous silver envelopes of various sizes. The plan for a “swift surprise inspection” was completely shelved.
However, this was also expected. Being an official involved in social connections, how could such courtesies be omitted?
The next day, the police station sent over the confiscated goods from Yixing: two thousand taels of cash silver and various bills of exchange, a cabinet full of documents and manuals. The ships were all locked at the docks, and due to the shipworkers’ agitation, they hadn’t dared board for inspection yet. Several account books with burnt edges were incomprehensible, their contents topsy-turvy, seeming like some child’s scribbled practice books.
Li Hongzhang had the silver distributed to thank the messengers, then darkened his face and flipped through those “account books.”
This shipping company had something fishy going on. Otherwise, which merchant would keep accounts using coded symbols?
While pondering the mysteries within, suddenly Sheng Xuanhuai burst in with a tense expression.
“Sir, telegram…”
The Shanghai-Hong Kong cable had been newly laid this year. However, Li Hongzhang was already familiar with “telegrams.” Foreigners had been persistently lobbying him for several years, requesting to set up telegraph lines and telegram companies, painting rosy prospects. As a frontier official, how could Li Hongzhang let foreigners control postal communications? He refused without negotiation every time.
However, this didn’t prevent him from being willing to try new things and make maximum use of this foreign cable lying in the sea.
“From Hong Kong?” Li Hongzhang took it. “What’s the matter?”
Opening the telegram, he coughed violently.
The newly established Hong Kong branch of the China Merchants’ Steam Navigation Company had just selected premises, hired staff, and rented docks and warehouses—and been smashed!
Just two hours ago.
The urgent telegram was filled with blood and tears. It said the Hong Kong British authorities didn’t respect the Qing’s dignity, neglected Chinese business, and still hadn’t sent police after a full day. They could only hire private detectives and discovered it was likely the work of local “Triads.” The subordinates were outnumbered and couldn’t contend with local criminal forces, so they could only swallow their anger.
Reconstruction required money. The Hong Kong branch requested delaying the opening by one month and increasing funding. If Mr. Li could lobby the Hong Kong British government to help them seek justice and severely punish the perpetrators, that would be even better.
“A bunch of idiots!” Li Hongzhang threw the telegram at his feet. “Didn’t I tell them to keep their tails between their legs, maintain good relations with all the local riffraff? This is business, not running a government office! Who told them to act like officials?”
The Jiangnan Arsenal officials stood by with faces alternating between red and white, all feeling that Mr. Li was pointing at the mulberry to scold the locust tree.
The temporary residence of the Zhili Governor-General was furnished magnificently, with curio shelves displaying top-grade foreign goods—exquisite clocks, music boxes, ornaments set with enormous South Sea pearls. Opposite hung traditional calligraphy and painting scrolls, their signatures all from important figures.
These hastily accumulated displays of tremendous wealth now seemed like an enormous mockery.
Li Hongzhang pondered for a moment, then suddenly had another thought. This “Triad” sounded somewhat familiar.
He had a pile of advisors under him. Summoning them for questions, one with well-informed intelligence explained, saying they were a group of anti-Qing rebels hiding in Hong Kong who had accepted many fugitive Taiping remnants in recent years, occasionally moonlighting as pirates, specifically robbing Qing ships. The court had repeatedly demanded that the Hong Kong British authorities take this seriously, but until now, not a single person had been extradited.
Li Hongzhang was furious again. Those silver envelopes in his sleeves couldn’t cheer him up anymore.
“Within the four seas, all are brothers; criminal gangs worldwide are one family.” These rebels had set their sights on his China Merchants’ Steam Navigation Company!
“Bring that man from the ship!”