"Old Qin, who is this Zhang Peilun? On the telegram, he is Li Hongzhang's son-in-law, so he should be a little famous in history."

Qin Zheng laughed and said, "This person is of course a little famous. In his early years, he was the famous 'Qingliu Silan' in Beijing. In fact, he was an angry young man with great abilities. During the Sino-French War, he was sent to the Fujian Governor of Coastal Defense and Military Affairs. As a result, he did not seriously deploy defense and was caught off guard by the French fleet, resulting in the annihilation of the Nanyang Navy and the Mawei Shipyard being destroyed. Therefore, he was dismissed by the Qing court. From then on, he helped Li Hongzhang and never became an official again. However, his granddaughter is more famous than him. You should all know that it is Zhang Ailing."

Everyone was also surprised by Qin Zheng's example. Of course, everyone knew Zhang Ailing, but no one expected that she would have something to do with Li Hongzhang. Wang Yunpeng said, "When this happens, Zhang Ailing is still Li Hongzhang's decent niece."

Qin Zheng bowed his head and said, "But Zhang Ailing has not been born yet, and it is difficult to see whether there will be Zhang Ailing in this time and space. After all, history has changed, and Li Hongzhang and Zhang Peilun are all related to us. Whether their future will be the same as the old time and space will be as accurate as in the old time and space. In the old time and space, Li Hongzhang died of illness while negotiating with the Eight-Nation Alliance. Now it seems that this possibility is not great."

Xia Bohai said: "Don't discuss Zhang Ailing's matter anymore. Li Hongzhang sent Zhang Peilun to Tianjin. Is there any purpose?"

Qin Zheng said: "What else can we do? It must be for us to control Tianjin's tariffs and increase the tax rate. In the past few days, everyone has seen the telegram content of consulates in various countries. It is all about this. It seems that we have really touched the cheese of various countries this time, and Li Hongzhang was also anxious, so he sent Zhang Peilun to Tianjin to test our attitude."

At this time, Xu Jichao said: "We have taken back the customs and raised the tax rate. Is it a rash decision to ignore the attitudes of various countries?"

Qin Zheng shook his head and said, "It is imperative to withdraw customs and increase the tax rate. Politically, retrieval of customs can demonstrate our ability and determination to safeguard national interests and win more support from knowledgeable people; and economically, increasing tax rates can protect our national industry, give our national industry a room for development and growth, and at the same time attract national capitalists to invest in Tianjin. In addition, this is also to ensure that we have a stable tax source and increase fiscal revenue."

Xia Bohai also said: "I think the attitudes of various countries should be taken seriously, but we should not take them too seriously. In the final analysis, this world depends on strength. I do not deny that the strength of any country in the Eight-Nation Alliance is much stronger than ours. However, this world is not only divided into China and foreign countries. Each country has a lot of things. Moreover, there are many contradictions within the Eight-Nation Alliance. Germany and France, Russia and Britain, Germany and Britain, Russia and Japan all have structural contradictions, which are irreconcilable at all. Therefore, no country can devote all its strength to China. In this case, we don't need to worry about the interference of various countries. Just do our own things well."

Wang Yunpeng said: "No matter what, we have already taken back the Tianjin Customs and announced the tariffs. It is impossible to change it now. However, if Zhang Peilun is coming to Tianjin, how should we treat him?"

Xia Bohai smiled and said, "Of course, he was warmly welcomed. Li Hongzhang was able to send someone to Tianjin. We have already achieved the goal of sending Zhao Weizhong to Shanghai. Although it is not the time for negotiations between countries, it is still necessary to establish an effective communication channel with Shanghai. When the right time for negotiation comes, this channel will be useful."

Just then, someone said at the door: "Report."

Xia Bohai Road: "Come in."

The door opened, and a guard walked into the office and said, "Reported, De Cuilin, Director of the Tianjin Customs and Taxation Department, asked to see our person in charge, and he would not leave if he could not see anyone this time."

Xia Bohai smiled and said, "He is here again, this is the third time."

It turned out that the time traveler took back the customs and increased the tax rate, which did indeed cause consulates and merchants from all over Tianjin to recover the customs, but raising the tax rate did indeed cause great losses to the interests of merchants from all over the country. In the past, the customs tax rate was only 5%, and after foreign goods paid the tariff, there was no need to pay other taxes in China. Now the tariff has been increased to more than 15%, and after the tariff has been paid, there is also income tax. This tax rate has been increased several times, so merchants from all over the country naturally cannot bear it.

But now time travelers are in a strong position. Of course, merchants from various countries dare not go to time travelers to protest, so they have to go to their consulates to complain. However, the consulates of various countries cannot do anything else except sending messages to the country. The Russian consulates were forcibly seized by overseas Chinese because of their strong leadership. Now the Russian consulates are still in the French consulate, and the consulates of other countries will automatically cause trouble.

However, if you don’t do it yourself, it doesn’t mean that you can’t instigate others to do it. You can use the skills of “Sha Ji”. The old imperialist countries are extremely skilled in playing, and the Sha Ji, who was selected by the consuls of various countries, is De Cuilin.

Although De Cuilin was a German from the British, he was an official of the Qing court in the famous discussion. This identity made him quite detached in the Tianjin New District. There were no consulars from various countries and merchants in panic. Because the time travelers were under the banner of returning to China, De Cuilin believed that this group of overseas Chinese would not make things difficult for him. Moreover, after the time travelers occupied Tianjin, they did not ban the Tianjin customs of the Qing Dynasty like embassies and shops in various countries, which also made De Cuilin feel good about himself. However, the time travelers blocked Tianjin's external connections. Without merchant ships to the port, there would naturally be no customs taxes. Therefore, the Tianjin customs had never had anything to do.

But De Cuilin is not worried that overseas Chinese cannot block Tianjin's external relations all the time. As long as overseas Chinese lift the blockade in Tianjin, they will have a place to use their skills. If overseas Chinese are defeated by various countries, they can also stand firm.

Although overseas Chinese lifted the blockade in Tianjin, they also announced that merchant ships coming to Tianjin must pay taxes to the Maritime Department opened by the Provisional Government of the Tianjin New District before they can enter the Tianjin market. This is equivalent to overturning Tianjin Customs.

De Cuilin naturally quit this time. He held that he was a Qing official and was fearless. In addition, consular consuls from various countries instigated him, so De Cuilin even came to Gordon Hall and protested to the time travelers.

In fact, the time traveler decided to withdraw the customs and raise the tax rate so seriously that he carefully considered how to deal with the relationship between Tianjin customs, because this actually undermined the customs in Tianjin. Although the customs tariff rate of the Qing court was not high and was controlled by foreigners, it was still an organization of the Qing court in famous discussions. Now the time traveler is not even able to break up with the Qing court. However, Qin Zheng assured the Executive Committee that he had a way to deal with Decuilin, so the Executive Committee made the final decision.

De Cuilin came twice, but the time travelers did not see him. They were collecting information about De Cuilin. However, De Cuilin knew nothing about it and thought that it was an overseas Chinese who felt guilty and dared not see him. Therefore, this time he released the words that he would not leave if he could not see anyone.

Sure enough, after the person who reported the news went in for a while, he came out to tell De Cuilin that it was Qin Zheng who wanted to meet him. De Cuilin couldn't help but feel energetic when he heard this. Now De Cuilin has a certain understanding of the situation of overseas Chinese and knows that Qin Zheng is the top three important figure among this group of overseas Chinese, and he personally meets him. It can be seen that this group of overseas Chinese attaches great importance to him, so he has a little more confidence.

After the two met, of course they made some polite concessions first. Then De Cuilin put away her smile and said seriously: "Mr. Qin, I think your behavior of setting up a customs privately is very inappropriate."

Qin Zheng smiled and said, "Mr. De Cuilin, is there anything wrong with it?"

De Cuilin said: "Since you think you are Chinese and want to return to the rule of the Qing Empire, you should respect the legal system of the Qing Empire. Customs is the foreign tax agency of the Qing Empire, representing the sovereignty and dignity of the Qing Empire. Your actions have seriously damaged the sovereignty and dignity of the Qing Empire. Your private customs is a serious act of treason. I ask you to stop your wrong behavior immediately, cancel the Maritime Department, and return the power to collect tariffs to the Customs."

Qin Zheng said lightly: "Mr. Decuilin, we reject your request."

De Cuilin was stunned and said, "Reject?"

Qin Zheng bowed his head and said, "Yes, Mr. De Cuilin, you can go to the Qing court to respond, but we will never cancel the Maritime Affairs Department, and we will not discuss customs duties with you again. If you want to continue discussing, we can only ask you to leave."

De Cuilin originally thought that he could suppress this group of overseas Chinese with the big hat of the Qing Empire, but he never expected that the other party was very tough and would not be able to surpass the Qing Empire at all, and he didn't talk to him about customs duties at all. Therefore, De Cuilin didn't speak for a long time. After a while, he said: "You... are you going to betray the Qing Empire?"

Qin Zheng smiled and said, "Whatever you want, we have already made it clear."

De Cuilin stayed for a while and then realized that she had indeed underestimated this group of overseas Chinese. Qin Zheng's tough attitude blocked all his words. Of course, he did not dare to turn against him, so he had to say, "Okay, even if that's the case, I have nothing to say, goodbye."

At this time, Qin Zheng said, "Mr. Decuilin, I have something to discuss with you."

De Cuilin was a little surprised and said, "What's the matter?"

Qin Zheng said: "Mr. Decuilin, I want to discuss with you about the Kaiping Coal Mine."
Chapter completed!