Part 2 Chapter 19

Bah, Smith spitted on the ground, took out a wine pot from his pocket, and took a sip. The wine brewed by the Chinese was strong, and the strong white wine passed through his throat like fire. It did not relieve the dry mouth caused by the continuous shouting and talking too much, but instead aggravated Smith's desire for water. Put the wine pot back in his pocket, Smith turned to look at the prosperous wonton stall next to him. The young Chinese mother was still busy with a child on her back. The woman turned around from time to time to coax the child on her back, while quickly greeting the guests on the stall.

Smith walked over and smiled at the woman and said, "Madam, can you give me some water?"

The woman was confused when she heard this. After looking around, she realized that Smith was talking to her, with a hint of fear on her face. She pointed to the wontons on the table, looked at Smith quickly with her inquiring eyes, and then her eyes quickly avoided Smith's gaze.

It seems that the woman thought Smith wanted to eat wontons. Smith then remembered that few people in China could understand what he said, so he painted and expressed his intention to drink water. The woman looked confused when she saw it. Smith pointed to the bucket containing water next to her and then made a move to drink water. The woman then understood and nodded suddenly. Seeing the woman nodded, Smith ran to the bucket and fucked the water scoop hard and poured water into her stomach. As soon as she took a sip, she felt someone patting her shoulder.

, when he turned his head, he found an eight- or nine-year-old boy holding a bowl of water in his hand and smiling at him. The water was hot and there was a heat floating from the bowl. Smith understood that the water was for him, so he smiled at the child, took the water and drank it all, and then stroked the child's head a few times. The boy took the bowl and smiled embarrassedly and turned back to a wooden basin, and started washing some bowls in the wooden basin. The woman smiled friendly at Smith and continued to work on her hands.

It was already ten o'clock in the morning, and it still didn't open today. Smith was a little desperate. Damn White was just a liar, saying that kerosene lamps were new in China and had a huge market. After he bought these rags for the last five hundred dollars, White, the pig, ran back to the United States overnight. With this pile of rags, Smith had been hawking on the street for three days, and no one cared about it. No matter how vigorous Smith shouted, the Chinese people coming and going quickly ran over to their stalls, as if they were the carrier of the plague. Smith had no penny in his pocket. Today

There was no business anymore, so I had to drink the northwest wind. Seeing the guests at the wonton stall eating wontons very much, Smith couldn't help but swallow, and then rubbed his stomach with his hands. He hadn't eaten since last night. Thinking of this, Smith picked up a kerosene lamp, lit it with a match, and then delivered it to the woman. In the woman's puzzled eyes, Smith pointed to the wontons shyly and made an exchange gesture. This time the woman seemed to understand, and soon burned a bowl of wontons. Smith didn't care much about it. She took the wontons and sat on the table and ate it. A diner at the same table threw a few copper coins and ran away.

Smith was eating deliciously, and suddenly three rogue-like men came to the wonton stall. They swaggered to the woman and didn't know what they were saying. The woman was talking to them with a pleading expression. As they were talking, one of the men suddenly lifted up the table where Smith sat, and the wontons that had just eaten half were brought to the ground. Smith angrily looked up to look for the perpetrator. With a "pa!", a man slapped the woman, and the woman fell to the ground. The guy who hit the man also came forward and kicked the woman a few times, saying something Smith couldn't understand, and it seemed that he was threatening the poor woman. What Smith didn't know the most was that men hit the woman, and these guys destroyed the food he had mentioned. The angry Smith rushed forward and punched the man hard on the chin. The man was

The other two people looked at Smith in fear when they saw a foreigner killing on the way, and helped Smith to run away. Smith was reluctant to let it go. He rushed forward and grabbed one of the chests and punched them. But the raised fist could not be hit. He grabbed his wrist with a forceful hand. Smith felt that his hand seemed to be clamped by an iron rod, and he could not use any strength. When he looked back, he saw that it was a young Chinese looking at him with a stern look. Smith let go of the rogue's chest in anger, and his left hand was freed to punch the man in front of him. The person who came gently dodged, then took a step forward, turned around and fell over his shoulder. Smith suddenly felt that he flew up like a cloud of clouds, and then his butt fell to the ground hard, and Smith grinned.

The person who came was none other than Yang Yi, the new governor of Liangjiang. Today, it was rare to accompany the Shen sisters on the street. Two women clamored to eat the famous Wang Sao Wang wontons. As soon as they arrived, they found Smith was beating people, so of course they had to come forward to stop them. Yang Yi, who hadn't fought with someone for a long time, was just about to go up and teach the arrogant foreign devil a lesson. Wang Sao Wang, who was helped by the Shen sisters, called: "Good gentleman, please stop, he is a good person, he is helping me fight a hooligan."

"Are you helping her?" Yang Yi pointed at Mrs. Wang and said in English.

"Oh, damn, are you blind? Let the hooligan run away, oh!! I fell so hard." Smith struggled to get up, and suddenly Smith seemed to think of something and said to Yang Yi: "You? Do you know English? Chinese?"

"Yes, what's wrong? Are you okay? Sorry, I made the mistake just now." Yang Yi said as he reached out and pulled Smith.

"Damn it, I felt so painful when you fell. If I hadn't eaten two meals, you wouldn't have fallen to me so easily. To show your sincere apology, you should have invited me to eat." Smith found that he didn't know what the wonton was called, so he pointed at the wonton and said, "This, please two bowls, no, no, three bowls."

Haven't eaten two meals? Yang Yi was very surprised. Foreigners didn't eat anything in China. This is really new. He also helped Sister Wang beat a hooligan. At first, Yang became a little interested in Smith in front of him. He smiled friendlyly and said, "No problem, I'll treat you as much as you want."

When Smith heard Yang Yi say this, his eyes lit up: "You have to keep your word."

Yang Yi laughed and turned to Mrs. Wang and said, "Sister Wang, let us, a foreign friend, have three bowls of wontons first."

The wontons were quickly brought up. Smith was not polite, and she threw her cheeks and ate them. After eating five bowls in one go, she burped with a satisfied expression. Smith, who had a full stomach, was not polite, stood up and ran back to his stall, brought a kerosene lamp, brought a small iron bucket to Yang Yi, and put the things on the table: "I don't eat you for nothing, I'll give you this one."

"Haha, kerosene lamp? This is a good thing." Yang Yi took it and said with a smile.

"What? You know the kerosene lamp. Oh my god, I finally found the person who knows the goods." Smith suddenly felt energetic and began to boast about how easy his kerosene lamp was to Yang Yi. After blowing for a long time, Smith found that Yang Yi was unmoved and immediately curled his lips in a disgusting manner.

"What's your name?" Yang Yixiao asked.

"Where are you, Smith?"

"Call me Yang Yi, are you an American?" Yang Yi asked.

"Yes. Not really." Smith replied with a lonely expression.

"What is and isn't it?" Yang Yi asked in wonder.

"I am a Jew." Smith said this and showed a kind of sadness.

Yang Yi nodded in understanding, pointed to the kerosene lamp brought by Smith and said, "How many of these do you have? I want them all."

Smith was excited when he heard this, "What did you say? You want it all? OK, okay, I have a lot, there is a room, and as long as one hundred taels of silver, everything will belong to you." Smith didn't expect that Yang Yi would pack all the things. He wanted to say more about the price, but he thought that Yang Yi undoubtedly saved himself, so he eliminated the idea of ​​making money and just wanted to get back the capital of 500 US dollars.

"The price is very reasonable." Yang Yi replied with a smile, and took out a silver note from his arms for Smith. Smith took it and saw that it was probably China's check. Just as he was about to say a few words of thanks, Yang Yi suddenly turned dark and said in Chinese dialect that Smith China could not understand:

"Li Zhuzi, get out of here." Seeing that there was no movement in the alley, Yang Yi continued, "You dare to run away and go back and put you in custody." This time, four people came out of the alley obediently and came to Yang Yi with their heads down.

"Okay, Li Zhuzi, I've told you all. I want to have some private space with my wife so I won't let you follow me. You guys, just follow me secretly." Yang Yibanqi looked like a stepmother's face.

"Forget it, they also care about us, don't blame them too much." Looking at Li Zhuzi and the others, Chen Dieyi helped to plead with her head down.

"You can't just spare them like that." Yang Yi and Chen Dieyi said, pointing to Smith and said to Li Zhuzi and the others: "Today I will punish you to work, go back to get a carriage, and follow this gentleman to bring me the goods back to the house." When Li Zhuzi and the others heard that this was the punishment, they immediately looked up and laughed.

"I'll send my wife back first. Later, you will take these people to my house and I'll treat you to dinner in the evening. I have business to discuss with you." Yang Yi shook hands and Smith and said goodbye.

After dinner, Yang Yikong asked Smith to have tea in the living room.

"Smith, tell me, why are you here in China?" Yang Yi picked up the teacup and signaled Smith to drink tea as well.

Smith heard Yang Yi’s question, a sad expression appeared on his face. After taking a sip of tea, he thought for a while before he told China about his experience of coming to China. Smith’s father was originally a Jew who immigrated from Europe to the United States. Smith’s family has five children. Due to his poor family background, Smith went out to work and earn money after graduating from junior high school, and helped his parents support his younger brother and sister. The family is very harmonious. Although life is a little harder, he lives a happy life. The thing is that Smith fell in love with the daughter of an Italian tailor, a girl named Carrie. The two are very close. Love, but Carrie's father disliked Smith for being a poor employee and refused to let them be together. Later, Carrie married a rich family according to her father's arrangement. The disheartened Smith saw a truth clearly. In the American society, no matter how hard you work and excellence, as long as you have no money, you will be looked down upon and lose your beloved woman. When Smith heard that China could make a lot of money, he bid farewell to his parents, took all his savings and boarded the "July Fire" cargo ship, drifted on the sea for more than two months, and then arrived in this mysterious land in China.

When I arrived in Shanghai, Smith found that it was not easy to get along in China, at least it was difficult to communicate with Chinese people in language, and it was difficult to find a job, so I wanted to do some business by myself. It just so happened that White, the owner of the "July Fire", had a batch of kerosene lamps and kerosene that he didn't take action. Smith, who didn't understand the market, was deceived by White to buy these things, but ended up having no food to eat.

After listening to Smith's self-described, Yang Yi basically had a rough understanding of Smith. Judging from the fact that Smith helped Wang's wife fight, Smith was basically a good person.

"Smith, do you want to make a lot of money?"

"I think, of course I think, even if you have money, Carrie won't marry anyone else." It seems that Carrie's affairs have a great impact on Smith.

"Okay, come and help me and be my agent in the United States. What do you think?" Yang Yicheng looked at Smith earnestly and said

"Tell me what you want me to do." Smith did not agree immediately, and stood up and asked cautiously.

Yang Yi was very satisfied with Smith's caution, smiled and signaled Smith to sit down and said:

"I have a cosmetic product, I want you to be my agent in the United States, and there are some other things that I need to be responsible for in the United States."

Smith laughed at the moment he heard this: "It's okay to be an agent, what else are you talking about?"

Yang Yi took a sip of tea and continued to smile and said, "I need a large number of technical and educational talents. After you return to the United States, you are responsible for helping me recruit a group of talents to come to China. For each recruitment you will give you a 10 taels of silver. As long as you are willing to come, you can receive a fifty taels of settlement fee after signing the agreement. After coming to work in China, you can arrange your work according to your personal actual situation. You can tell them that as long as you are hired after the assessment, the monthly salary will be no less than ten taels of silver."

When Smith heard what Yang Yi said, he knew that he had met a wealthy man and his interest was aroused.

"You can tell me what kind of talents you need in detail."

"Well, I need teachers in physics, chemistry, mathematics, and technicians, and a large number of technicians. I like to make some small inventions. I welcome them. By the way, you need to separate the levels of teachers in middle schools and universities. The ratio of teachers in middle schools is about 2:1. Are you willing to do it? In addition, as my agent, your monthly salary is twenty taels of silver."

Of course Smith is willing to do such a good thing, and Smith said on the spot: "Thank you so much, when can I set out?"

Yang Yi smiled and took out the silver notes and put them in front of Smith and said, "Don't worry, you can contact a cargo ship first to bring a batch of goods back to the United States. Here are 50,000 taels of silver notes, as your fund for your activities to the United States."

"Wait, Mr. Yang, don't worry if you give me so much money? I think it's better for us to sign an agreement." Smith said as he pushed the silver bill back in front of Yang Yi.

Yang Yi finally showed an extremely satisfied smile: "Smith, I'm very happy that you can say this. This just shows that you are an honest person and a trustworthy friend. If you just left with the silver bill just now, you will lose the job. Don't worry, of course this agreement needs to be signed. Let's do this, go back and prepare an English agreement. Come and sign the agreement tomorrow, and we will be considered a deal." Yang Yi said and took the silver bill back.

Smith was about to get up and say goodbye, and Yang Yi stood up and planned to give Smith one.

At this time, Zhang Jian hurried in from outside, walked to Yang Yi and said, "I just received the news that something big happened."

Yang Yiyi was shocked, but he still sent Smith out first, and then rushed back to the living room. When he saw Zhang Jian Yangyi, he hurriedly asked:

"Minsi, what big thing happened?"

Zhang Jian showed a painful expression on his face and said, "The Yellow River, the Yellow River has broken its mouth, and the disaster in Shandong and Henan is serious."

Yang Yi sighed: "Oh!! The Chinese nation is full of disasters and difficulties...!"

(In the fifth year of Xianfeng (1855), the Yellow River broke the Tongwaxiang in Lankao, Henan, and fled into the Bohai Sea, thus ending the history of flowing south to the Yellow Sea. The Tongwaxiang was west of Dongbatou Township, Lankao County, and was one of the key river protection measures in the Ming and Qing dynasties. The Yellow River flowed from west to east, and turned south here. The northeast is low-lying, and the Yellow River broke the entrance here many times in history. In mid-June of that year, the Yellow River was flooded, and the water level in Kaifeng and Lankao rose sharply, and it encountered heavy rain again, and the water was surging.

The dam was endless, and the water level of the embankment was leveled in many areas. On June 18, the section of the ungong embankment below the Tongwaxiang collapsed three or four feet. At that time, the wind was strong at night, and the wind helped the water, causing the collapse to expand rapidly. On the 19th, the embankment was completely broken. After the Tongwaxiang broke, the Yellow River was divided into three branches: the southern branch flowed eastward from the Zhaowang River in Heze, Shandong; the other two branches flowed north and south from Dongming County to Zhangqiu, and then merged into the northern branch. Later, the northern branch gradually became blocked, and the southern branch became the main stream, and the Daqing River was seized from Lijin to the Bohai Sea.)
Chapter completed!