Chapter 91 Initial Installation Fee

[91] Initial installation fee

Of course, Yao Fan only wants silver, and he only dares to ask for silver. As an outsider, any unscrupulous thoughts will arouse the suspicion of others. And the most helpless thing is that even if you suspect Yao Fan with the greatest malice, you can't wrong this grandson. The greatest malice this year is undoubtedly that you want to rebel, but Yao Fan really wants to rebel. The crotch is indeed not yellow mud, but really shit.

Ding Baozhen saw that Yao Fan was silent and knew that he had no intention to be an official. In this regard, Ding Baozhen has seen that being an official for Yao Fan is a means to attract him, but if this form of solicitation will weaken Yao Fan's own overseas procurement ability and block the channels for the Qing Dynasty to buy advanced machines, it will be too stupid.

Ding Baozhen said slowly, "Since you don't want to be an official, you can do business well. With me, I will always keep you safe."

Yao Fan didn't expect that Ding Baozhen, such a happy and angry person, could say such kind words, and he was really moved.

"Your Excellency loves you, Yao Fanming feels five times!"

The political envoy and inspector who was invited to the celebration banquet tonight also looked at Yao Fan with a smile and said to himself, "This son got Ding Baozhen's words. Who dares to touch him in Shandong in the future? I'm afraid he can leave horizontally."

For a while, the banquet was intertwined, and everyone was full of "Congratulations on my Qing Dynasty!" Congratulations to the emperor!" The machine bureau must show its skills!" Such nonsense.

Lao Ding still didn't eat until the end. His habit was to leave when he was full, so he got up and left the table in the middle, sued him and left. Before leaving, he left a sentence for Yao Fan: "Yao Fan, prepare for it. Lord Li is going to Jinan in the next two days and wants to see you."

Yao Fan stood there and sent Ding Baozhen away from the banquet with everyone. He was already a little drunk. Hearing the words, he thought to himself, "Which Lord Li?" Which Lord Li I don't know?"

As soon as Ding Baozhen left and everyone sat down, He Zheng's envoy Li Yuanhua raised his glass and said to Yao Fan, "Congratulations to Brother Yao. It turns out that it has been favored by Lord Li! In the future, your Tengda will not be in Shandong.

Yao Fan woke up after drinking this glass of wine. He guessed that Li Hongzhang wanted to see himself and couldn't help but be a little worried.

Yao Fan remembers that Li Yuanhua in front of him is about to take over the position of Hu Zhen's part-time political envoy. In the future, Hu Zhen will be full-time responsible for the Taiwan government. Once Ding Baozhen was transferred from Shandong, Li Yuanhua would be the governor of Shandong. Before Wen Ge, the governor of Yunnan, who was ordered to be transferred to Shandong, Li Yuanhua, was the real leader of Shandong. It was not until July 1877 that Wen Ge arrived from Shanshan from Yunnan with countless boxes of cages.

"Lord Li is the governor of Zhili. What do you do when you see me as a buyer? I would rather be closer to Lord Li in front of me. Yao Fan is very flattering.

"Hahaha." Li Yuanhua likes Yao Fan's humility and smoothness very much.

"In this case, respect is better than obedience, so I will be closer to Yao Dong's family in the future. Yao Dong's family, all kinds of foreign goods sold in your business, both folding umbrellas, foreign fire and thermos bottles, are very pleasant. My family bought a lot.

"Thank you for taking care of me." Yao Fan laughed.

He thought to himself, "After dinner tonight, I have to prepare a generous gift to send to this house."

When everyone learned that Li Hongzhang wanted to see Yao Fan by name, they couldn't help looking at this young businessman even more. Invite to drink frequently. If Yao Fan hadn't been good at drinking, he would have been drunk long ago.

Then Yao Fan was busy for two days, pulling wires and electric lights everywhere in Jinan City with the workers of the Machinery Bureau and his own team of villagers. He also ordered Luo Guanqun to send 10,000 taels of silver to Li Yuanhua's mansion.

Li Yuanhua was shocked. He had no friendship with Yao Fan before. He really didn't understand how his river governor was worthy of Yao Fan's favor. Does Yao Fan want to contract the project of Hezheng Yamen in the future? Although Li Yuanhua was puzzled, he would not be able to get along with Yinzi. He accepted it calmly, and deliberately praised Yao Fan in front of Luo Guanqun, and asked Luo Guanqun to tell Yao Fan that he felt that he was very close to Yao Fan. If he had something to say in the future, he did not need to beat around the bush, just come to him directly.

"Do you see it? Pull down the gate knife and the power will be turned on, and the neon bubbles in this electric pen will be bright. Once the electricity is on, don't touch any exposed copper wire, otherwise you will be electrocuted and deserve to be electrocuted.

Training electricians is a troublesome matter. Yao Fan dares not teach these people who don't even understand the laws of left and right hands to operate with electricity. All teaching contents are the most basic, and all of them require pulling the brakes to connect electricity. In addition, more than a dozen pairs of insulated gloves and electric shoes were sent, requiring them to wear gloves and shoes no matter how hot the weather is.

As electric lights were connected to several major government gates in Jinan, the rich families in Jinan City were gradually shocked. The electric lights of the major government gates that were as bright as fire were rumored by the people.

"Did you see it last night? Each government is as bright as day! It's so precious!" In the teahouse in Jinan City, a tea guest spit.

"What kind of treasure? I think it looks like a demon. It's really upside down day and night. It's really abnormal. Nowadays, there are more and more foreign goods. It's really evil. Another tea guest looked at the chrys in the basin in front of him and shook his head and sighed.

............

"Ocean electric lamp, it's really strange, it doesn't light a fire, it doesn't smoke, it's bright, how happy it is." Even the children's songs played on the street were made up.

The Electric Light Bureau under the Machine Bureau has just opened an office in Jinan City, and a notice of "appointment to install electric lights" was posted at the door, and some rich businessmen came to inquire.

Many stores are even more interested in attracting customers. In line with the idea of installing one in the store without pretending at home, so as to attract guests, they agreed to the 50 yuan initial decoration fee proposed by the Electric Light Bureau.

The first civilian project to install electric lights in Jinan City was actually the Wanhua Building in Qianyan Hutong - a large-scale brothel.

Not to mention, the businessman's vision is really brilliant. As soon as the Wanhua Building was installed with electric lights during the day, the business was booming at night. When the guests came, they were unwilling to leave for this bright and noble enjoyment.

In this way, several high-end brothels around immediately fell indifferent, so they also ran to the electric light bureau one after another, gritted their teeth and said, "No matter how much it costs, you have to install it!"

"Three-meter wire with one taels of silver? No problem! Wanhua Tower pulled a few meters, and you doubled the wire for me!" Cui Yantang said loudly with her waist in the office of the Electric Light Bureau.

"5 taels of silver in a light bulb? No problem! Isn't Wanhua Building only equipped with 6 light bulbs? You pack 12 for me! Isn't it only three taels of silver a month? I'll give you the money now! Please install it for me today! They are all good-fashioned. You can't be biased!" Yuehong Pavilion's old duckling jumped with her feet and said angrily.

Ding Baozhen was really moved by Yao Fan's words. Ding Sihe, the old three of his family, was arranged as the general office of the Electric Light Bureau. In the face of the urgent requirements of many brothels, Ding Baozhen shouted "disgraceful" and almost borrowed erres from the government office to beat out these bitches who required electric lights.

However, in the face of the real gold and silver taken out on the spot, and the clerks around him, "Good start, good luck... It's good to make a profit... Let's not get along with silver..." and so on, Ding Tinghe can only put up with it.

Three days after the opening of the electric light bureau, the number of people who made an appointment to pay the deposit alone has reached 571. Based on the initial installation fee of 50 taels per household, the net collection of 28550 taels of silver was received.

This night.

Jinan Fuqian Avenue.

A brightly lit happy building.

"Brother Yao! Your idea for the initial decoration fee is really amazing! This money comes like running water! I didn't know that there were so many rich people in Jinan that they could get 50 taels of silver for nothing just to make an appointment for the first outfit. I toast this glass of wine!" Ding body and Tao.

Ding and Yao Fan were invited to a banquet in the Kuaiyi Building that night, and also asked his eldest brother Ding Tite to accompany him.

Yao Fan raised his glass and laughed and said, "A few years ago, the Taiping Army made a mess, causing all the big rich people in Shandong to move to live in Jinan. Nowadays, everyone knows that the body and the eldest brother are the general manager of the electric light bureau. With Lord Ding's reputation, the people can naturally believe it. In terms of credit, you are the first.

Yao Fan thought, not to mention the initial installation fee of 50 taels, even if it is a special 500 taels, someone will come to you to install it for your father, the governor, secretary of the provincial party committee and commander of the provincial military region. They don't do anything just to get familiar with each other. Do you believe it or not? As long as I can see you, you can decorate a white paper lantern for him, and he will recognize it!

Ding Tite often said, "Lao San, is this money on the account?"

Yao Fan immediately interrupted and said, "This can't be billed. This is the hard money up and down the electric light bureau in the past few days, not the construction fee. This money should be divided by the bureau itself. The cost of wires and light bulbs during the installation process are charged separately. What's the initial installation fee? The big guy handed in this silver in order to install the electric light as soon as possible, and the silver is in the order of first-come and first-served.

Ding and very agree with Yao Fan's opinion: "Brother Yao is right. I have been exhausted up and down my electric light bureau in the past three days. I have been busy from morning to night. Some people are deliberately looking for me and are willing to spend hundreds of taels more money to install electric lights early. Of course, I can't ruin my reputation, so I have to disown it. This money definitely can't be accounted!"

Ding often advised, "You'd better ask your father. If your father agrees, your electric light bureau will keep the expenses by yourself."

Ding and said urgently, "What are you asking?" Why do you want to ask your father! Brother, you want Brother Yao to talk about why this money is on account! This money is just what you don't have! It was Brother Yao who came up with a wonderful idea! Besides, this is not forced to come, but people are willing to hand it over! Take it in order!

This is not a hard spread in the government! I didn't force anyone at all! I'm not afraid of this lawsuit in front of the emperor!"

Yao Fan said, "I think it's good not to ask. Lord Ding is loyal to the country. In case he makes a mistake and treats this silver as a public account, won't his colleagues in the Electric Light Bureau be busy these days? At that time, there must be complaints below. In the end, aren't you going to scold the third brother and not care about the people in the bureau?

Ding Ting often listened and said urgently, "That's right! What Brother Yao said is reasonable! Brother, don't worry about this matter anymore. If Dad asks, tell him to find my third brother! I'll carry everything!"

Ding's third brother's battle is common. He knew that he would hurt the love of the big house and three rooms, so he had to give up.

Yao Fan changed the topic and said, "Brother Sichang, I heard that Li Hongzhang arrived in Jinan yesterday and wants to see me tomorrow. Do you have any news to remind you?"

Ding often picked up a chopstick of shredded radish and chewed it, "Last year, Li Hongzhang advocated the establishment of a navy in his debate. He said that although he felt that the navy was not as important as the army, the security and interests of the coast would be impossible without the navy.

This year, the new emperor ascended the throne and promised him 4 million yuan. With the approval of the old Buddha above, this matter will be easy to do. In April this year, Li Hongzhang asked Hurd, the chief of the General Tax Department of Customs and a consultant to the government departments of the Prime Minister of various countries and a British envoy, and asked him to help buy four gunboats. It should be to start building a Beiyang Marine.

Yao Fan was overjoyed and thought, "That's true."

"I heard from my father that Li Hongzhang came to him this time to pick some young people from Shangzhi Academy run by his father to make up for the lack of studying in the United States this year. However, people from good families are unwilling to cross the sea to study in the West. Those with poor families often don't study much and have poor qualifications, which is really difficult to do. There are several young people in Shangzhi College in Jinan, and their families are rich, but none of them is willing to study in the United States. Ding Ting, as the eldest son, really knows the most inside stories.

"The Japanese just bombarded Jianghua Island this month and destroyed the fort. What does Lord Li think of this matter?" Yao Fan found out.

"The Japanese are buzzing about this matter and creating public opinion, saying that *provocation comes first and forcing Concubine Min to make a contract for trade. At present, our Qing Dynasty is just watching to see what regulations the Japanese can come up with."

Yao Fan sighed secretly that his butterfly wings still failed to affect history. The Qing government was still the same, insensitive and blindly compromised.