Chapter 1006: The Great Ming Profiteer Syndicate (Seeking Subscriptions)

Jiabusi's original name was Lin Yihu, a top Embroidered Uniform Guard secret agent planted inside the enemy's ranks. On the rolls of the Guard's Northern Provost Office, Lin Yihu held the rank of Vice Guard Commander, and he also bore the title of Count of Perseverance and Loyalty. He had estates in Fengyang Prefecture and Shuntian Prefecture, bestowed residences in Yingtian and Wuhan, and a mansion in Tangquan Town in Yingtian Prefecture.

But Jiabusi did not care in the least for the high office, rich salary, and illustrious title the Great Ming had given him. He was a man indifferent to fame and fortune, with no taste for officialdom, his one desire being to do something useful for the country, for the nation, and for His Majesty.

Yet now the Manchu bloc beyond the passes looked as though it could not last much longer! By his reckoning, within a few years it would crumble to dust!

Once the lands beyond the passes were recovered by the Great Ming, what was to become of him — the man who wanted no office and no title, the great proprietor of the Jiale Market Company, the richest man in Manchuria, Jiabusi, who had devoted himself wholly to serving the country and the people as a secret agent?

Could he remain the richest man? To whom would the Jiale Market Company belong? That was an enormous estate! In the beginning, the Jiale Market Company had been nothing more than a trading house that bought and sold goods, with no great standing in the market. But under Jiabusi's painstaking management over more than ten years, its market presence had grown larger and larger, gradually forming a great comprehensive commercial group spanning commerce, handicrafts, shipping, banking, pharmaceuticals, and salt, among many other trades. It had even opened branch offices as far away as Acapulco and San Diego across the ocean!

Such a vast estate, all built up through his own bitter toil, now yielding several hundred thousand to a million taels in net profit every year — the Ming court had merely put up a bit of capital, no more than a few hundred thousand taels in all.

Now to make Jiabusi hand over so vast an estate and go back to being Lin Yihu — how could he bear it? Of course, it was not for the money; the main thing was that the Jiale Market Company was something he had built up bit by bit. It was a part of his very life!

At the thought that a part of his life was very likely about to be lost, Jiabusi's mood soured at once, and he could not help feeling on the verge of tears.

Just as he was about to cry but had not yet, the carriage he was riding in suddenly stopped, and then the carriage door was pulled open by someone.

Home already?

At the thought of home, Jiabusi sighed again. His mansion in Hanyang was one where you could row a boat or ride a horse inside!

In it lived thirty flower-like concubines — one a day, a whole month without repeating.

If he had to return to Nanjing, what was to be done with so many concubines, and with the children born of so many concubines? A Count of Perseverance and Loyalty plus a Vice Guard Commander — how much income did that amount to in a year?

Would he have to dismiss some of the concubines?

But they had been together so long; long association breeds affection!

With another sigh, Jiabusi listlessly crawled out of the carriage. He looked up — eh? The facade was broad, and it looked imposing too: high walls and a great compound. Was this really a count's residence?

His mood had just begun to lift when Jiabusi saw the gate plaque. On it were four large characters: "Pang Family Garden"!

Had he come to the wrong place? Jiabusi thought to himself: how did it become the Pang Family Garden?

He was about to find someone to ask when one of the plainclothes Embroidered Uniform Guard who had escorted him said with a smile, "Master Jia, we have arrived. Please go in!"

"This place is—" Jiabusi still wanted to ask.

But the plainclothes Embroidered Uniform Guard answered, "I don't know!"

You don't know where it is, yet you brought me here. Jiabusi looked left and right, sighed, and thought: in I go! Inside it is most likely some office of the Embroidered Uniform Guard!

He strode to the tightly shut main gate. Just as he was about to knock, the gate opened a crack by itself, and from within came a duck-like rasping voice: "Is that Lin Zhongyong?"

Jiabusi started, then remembered that his title was Count of Perseverance and Loyalty, and hastily answered, "This humble officer, Lin Yihu."

Creak — the crack in the gate opened a little wider.

"Come in."

In it is, then!

Jiabusi drew a breath and stepped inside. Once inside, he discovered that this was no office of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. For the person who had spoken to him from inside the gate was actually wearing a tailcoat of extremely gaudy color, embroidered with ostentatious patterns, and a white wig on his head. The Embroidered Uniform Guard surely would not permit anyone to dress like that.

Moreover, the man's appearance and mannerisms looked somewhat like a eunuch!

What sort of place was this, after all?

His head full of questions, Jiabusi followed the eunuch through the courtyard of the great residence for a while, crossed a stretch of lush green lawn, passed by a flower bed, and at last arrived before a three-story Western-style building.

The door to the ground-floor hall of the building stood open, and there stood a somewhat elderly woman dressed as a palace matron. The Western-dressed eunuch addressed the woman: "Lady Wang, Count Lin has been brought."

What? "Lady"? Jiabusi was startled. That was the title of the matrons who managed affairs beside the Nine Concubines of the rear palace!

"Count Zhongyong, come with me." The woman beckoned to Jiabusi, but Jiabusi did not dare move a step.

"Count Zhongyong!" The woman was displeased. "Do you mean to keep His Majesty waiting?"

His Majesty?

Jiabusi felt a little dizzy. How could the Emperor be here?

What sort of place was this?

This was the cozy little nest of Zhu Cilang and his royal mistress Marie Mancini, and at the same time a place where the Zhu Emperor conducted his personal business activities.

And Marie Mancini, besides serving as Zhu Cilang's mistress, was also his little partner in commerce — the Zhu Emperor would earn money from anything; he would not fix his eyes only on arms, on banks, on minting silver coins, on digging gold mines and opening copper mines.

In his view, culture and fashion were even more profitable than arms, banks, and mining.

For example, the silk and porcelain the Great Ming now exported, the lacquerware Japan exported, the furs and eastern pearls Manchuria exported — what they sold was culture and fashion! In the eyes of England's Puritans, all of it was useless rubbish.

And what Zhu Cilang now hoped, through Marie Mancini and her foxy sisters, and through the King of France, Louis XIV himself, was to set off in Europe a craze for drinking tea, wearing pearl ornaments, and donning furs.

Among these, tea was a new market waiting to be opened, while pearls and fur products were markets requiring painstaking effort at deep development — previously, the pearls and furs the Qing had exported through Spain were only raw materials, not finished goods delivered into the hands of consumers, and there was still much profit to be dug out of that!

Zhu Cilang had summoned Jiabusi from Joseon precisely to discuss with him how to take over the pearl and fur trade — after the great battle of Kagoshima Bay, the Pacific fur and eastern pearl trade certainly could not continue. But demand in Europe remained, so the Great Ming could perfectly well take it over and carry on, and moreover do it well and do it big, seizing still greater profits.

Besides Jiabusi, the Zhu Emperor was also receiving Huang Jiang, the general manager of the Maritime Merchants' Bank, today at the Pang Family Garden. The two men sat on a terrace on the second floor of the little building, admiring the mountain scenery of Laoshan as they talked.

Marie was here too. She wore a long white silk dress, and off to one side she was fussing with a little red-clay stove, a copper kettle, a large bottle of milk, a canister of tea leaves, a canister of sugar, and some cups and saucers.

She was experimenting with making milk tea — after this, the world probably would not have English milk tea, but French milk tea instead!

According to Marie's research, the combination of milk, tea leaves, and sugar not only produced a wonderful flavor, but also had the effect of nourishing the complexion and beautifying the face — this was the little secret of the Mancini family. Why had her family produced so many great beauties? It was all the miraculous effect of milk tea!

The Zhu Emperor and Manager Huang each had a coffee cup, though the cups contained no coffee — only the milk tea Marie had brewed and mixed earlier.

The two men sipped milk tea as they discussed the business of opening a bank in Europe. In Zhu Cilang's plan, Huang Jiang was to be the first general manager of the Imperial Bank!

"Old Huang, I shall have to put you to trouble. The journey is full of wind and peril; you must take care of your health." Zhu Cilang said with a smile to this profiteer who had followed him since Beijing. "Once you reach Europe, you must prepare to stay for a long time. The environment in Paris is not very good; you may buy a manor in the countryside to settle down in.

Also, remember to bring plenty of pearls and furs — have the finest craftsmen work them, place them in the most precious Japanese lacquerware, and give them as gifts to the celebrated ladies and noblewomen who come and go in the French court. Marie, remember to draw up a list of names for Manager Huang."

(End of Chapter)