Chapter 134 Life and Death

Hu Chuyuan never thought that it was a rain of bullets to greet him.

More than a dozen bandits went up with guns, scattered in two strands, one left and one right. These people were all holding revolvers, short and easy to hide. In addition, more than a dozen bandits disguised as dockers, suddenly took out a large number of long guns from the wooden box beside them, and aimed at Hu Chuyuan and others under the cover of the wooden box.

In an instant.

Seven or eight of the nursing homes around Hu Chuyuan fell, with a total of only more than 20 guards, but at present half of them have fallen.

Zheng Xitai also brought more than a dozen people, but they were all temporary grooms and hard workers. In the rain of bullets, they fell faster... Everyone tried their best to protect Hu Chuyuan and squeeze into a carriage, and the rest of the people relied on the other two carriages as obstacles, shooting at the bandits to cover Hu Chuyuan's carriage and leave.

In this series of moments, Hu Chuyuan only felt that his consciousness seemed to have stopped. When he woke up, he had been pushed into the carriage by Chen Shanyuan, and Wu Shuzhen also reluctantly got into the car. Chen Shanyuan drove himself and rushed all the way.

At this time, Hu Chuyuan found that there was some pain in his waist. When he touched it, his hands were full of blood. The blood had stained the hem of the long shirt and dripped all the way down the silk trousers.

"How could this happen?"

Hu Chuyuan couldn't figure it out. He suddenly felt something was wrong. It seemed that good luck had been used up today.

"Ah...!"

Wu Shuzhen also saw it. Her frightened face turned pale. She couldn't help covering her mouth, and tears had gush out of her eyes.

She soon came to her senses, suppressed her inner fear, tore open Hu Chuyuan's long shirt, tied his waist and abdomen, and pressed hard on the wound to prevent blood from bleeding.

She shouted loudly to Chen Shanyuan, "Go to the hospital... He's injured!"

Hearing this, Chen Shanyuan was shocked and could only continue to drive forward. At this moment, the farther he went, the safer it was. It would be better if he could meet the hospital.

At this moment, Hu Chuyuan tried to calm himself down. He felt that the bullet remained in the abdomen, did not penetrate the body, and there was no injury to the back.

He thought that it might be caused by a short gun, and the trauma was not very big.

He hopes that he can still be saved.

The carriage ran forward thousands of meters all the way, and soon arrived at Baoshitu Road. To the north, it would be the American Concession, where there were not many people at all.

Fortunately, she finally saw a small hospital. Chen Shanyuan immediately stopped the carriage and rushed over like crazy. Wu Shuzhen was also very flustered and wanted to help Hu Chuyuan get out of the car.

But before they got out of the car, Chen Shanyuan had forced the doctor and nurse out with a gun, took the surgical equipment and disinfectant to be used, and quickly rushed into the carriage.

As soon as the foreign doctor got on the car, Chen Shanyuan asked the man in English, "Where is the patrol room in the British Concession?"

"No... There is a Ministry of Industry, on the Sea Avenue!" The foreign doctor was quite shrewd. He probably had experience in the army. He was not panicked by a gun. Instead, he said, "I'll sit in the front and lead you!"

" OK, you get in the car!"

Chen Shanyuan agreed, sat in front with the foreign doctor, and drove away quickly in the carriage.

followed closely, the bandits' carriages also arrived, and there was only a distance of a few hundred meters between the two cars. If Hu Chuyuan stayed in the hospital for surgery, he would definitely be robbed or killed directly now.

Because of Chen Shanyuan's shrewdness, he escaped.

A person's shrewdness and ability can be reflected at this moment, and his value is also revealed.

Hu Chuyuan thanked Zhang Lingpu very well. Zhang Lingpu recommended a very shrewd person and saved his life at the critical moment.

When Chen Shanyuan drove into Hai Avenue, he noticed that he was going to the Bureau of the Ministry of Industry. The bandits could only stop the carriage and turn back. Although there was no special patrol room in the British Concession in Tianjin, there were still Indian guards in the Bureau of the Ministry of Industry.

The carriage rushed all the way into the door of the Ministry of Industry. I heard that it was Hu Chuyuan. Several British directors of the Ministry of Industry were shocked. Everyone was busy, carried Hu Chuyuan into the building, and temporarily found a lounge for surgery.

The doctor kidnapped by Chen Shanyuan once worked as a ship doctor in the British Royal Navy and had experience in dealing with gunshot wounds. He quickly took out the bullet and sutured the wound for Hu Chuyuan.

It depends on fate later, because there is no injury to the point. As long as the wound does not fester, it should be able to survive this disaster, but if the wound is purulent, it will be troublesome.

Who is Hu Chuyuan?

He was ambushed by dozens of armed bandits in the British Concession. What's the matter?

Several directors of the Ministry of Industry, including the Consul General of the British Empire in Tianjin, turned pale with fear and quickly borrowed personnel from the French Concession. On the one hand, they strengthened their vigilance to prevent people from rushing on the Ministry of Industry and Bureau building. On the other hand, they also sent people to track down and informed the customs to send patrols of the coastal defense fleet to prevent the bandits from escaping from the sea.

Due to the lack of anesthetics, the severe pain and blood loss during the operation made Hu Chuyuan faint.

Next, the moment of dawn.

He slowly woke up from a coma, and the wound was still painful. He opened his eyes and saw that he was in a small room full of alcohol and seemed to have been carefully disinfected.

By the bedside, Wu Shuzhen fell asleep on the edge of the bed. Her skirt was still stained with blood spots, and her whole body looked particularly tired.

Looking at her, Hu Chuyuan couldn't help thinking of more things in his heart.

He didn't die in a disaster, but his heart was overshadowed, and he also felt the fragility of life again.

There are too many possibilities in a person's life. They may be developed, or may be killed, attacked, or live for a hundred years.

This is life. You can never guess what will happen tomorrow.

He thought it was time to cherish his life.

He is not destined to be a great man. It is impossible to sacrifice everything for the fate of the country, let alone the era when the Qing court was in power?

He sighed, and his heart suddenly became very relaxed. He was determined to give up those things that he could not afford and could not bear.

Listening to his exclamation, Wu Shuzhen woke up quietly. Seeing that he was also awake, she couldn't help but be happy.

She said happily and angrily, "You really scared me. Fortunately, there was no big deal. The doctor said that you were lucky, but you were hit by a left-wheel bullet. It was not deep into the body. It didn't hit the key point, and the warhead was also taken out. If the wound is not infected, it will recover in about half a month.

Hu Chuyuan smiled silently and thought, is this still called good luck?

He quietly held Wu Shuzhen's hand and said a thousand words in his heart, but he couldn't say a word. However, Wu Shuzhen seemed to understand.

She was very happy, smiling affectionately, elegantly, and her beautiful eyes were filled with warm friendship.

She thought that this was fate. From the day they met, each other's fates had been firmly tied together and could no longer be separated.

The two of them squeezed each other's palms silently, as if they were playing something interesting, and their hearts were sweet.

This inadvertent disaster seems to make them understand more about how painful it is to lose each other, although they have never really thought about it before.

After a while, someone knocked on the door.

After waiting for a moment, Chen Shanyuan pushed the door open, followed by another person, who was more than 50 years old. He was thin, with a white beard, a black melon skin hat, and a silk satin coat with plain blue flowers.

As soon as he entered the door, the man arched his hand with Hu Chuyuan and said, "Young master, are you in good health?"

Hu Chuyuan was slightly surprised. There was no such person among the shopkeepers he knew. His accent sounded like people from Ningbo, Zhejiang.

He still nodded and said, "I'm lucky. I don't have to worry about my life for the time being!"

Seeing that Hu Chuyuan couldn't remember his identity for a while, the man said, "Young boss, old and honest, Cixi people, worked as a letter house in the Xinyuan Silver Building of the old club for more than 20 years in the early years. Later, he was recommended by the old boss to Li Zhongtang to handle the accounting in the camp. Now he is in charge of salt distribution in Hebei and Henan in Beiyang Commercial Bank."

"Oh, I remember!"

Hu Chuyuan hummed and asked Chen Shanyuan to bring a chair to Yan Xinhou and asked him to sit down.

Xinyuan Silver Building was an industry established by Hu Xueyan in the early years. In the 11th year of Tongzhi, because there was too much business in Hangzhou Silver Building, it was not easy to make money, so it was demolished by Hu Xueyan and arrived in Fukang Qianzhuang.

At that time, many people in the silver building were recommended by Hu Xueyan to work in other silver buildings, and Mr. Xinfang went to Li Hongzhang.

In traditional Chinese business, the branch shops in various places will record the situation in detail after a day of operation and send them to the main shop through letters, and the shopkeeper will be responsible for full review.

Write letters and receive letters. The people who sort out the letters are called the letter room. They play a particularly important role in silver buildings, money houses, pawnshops and other businesses. They have always been selected from scholars, mostly scholars and so on.

Yan Xinhou is such a person.

As soon as Yan Xinhou sat down, he took out a letter from his waist pocket and gave it to Hu Chuyuan, and said, "Last night, Lord Zhongtang heard that Shaodong's family was attacked in the Tianjin Concession. He was shocked by a cold sweat and couldn't sleep at night. Later, he learned that the situation of Shaodong's family had changed, so he was relieved and wrote a letter to me to forward it to you."

"Oh?"

Hu Chuyuan wondered that this "middle hall" was of course Li Hongzhang, but why did Li Hongzhang write to him?

He opened the letter and took a closer look. In fact, he didn't say anything. He just asked him to be more careful, saying that he had offended many people over the years and should pay more attention to safety. In order to avoid new accidents, Li Hongzhang specially sent dozens of elite Huai army in plain clothes and temporary stationed around the Bureau of the Ministry of Industry to protect his safety.

He smiled bitterly, folded the letter, and said to Yan Xinhou, "Thank you very much for Li Zhongtang's care."

Yan Xin said with a thick smile, "As the saying goes, auspicious people have their own celestial phenomena. The young master's family was attacked this time, and he died for a lifetime. If he will not die in a great disaster, he must be blessed."

Hu Chuyuan smiled and said, "I hope so."

He thought to himself that the so-called Houfu is to make him understand... The most important thing in life is not necessarily money, nor is it necessarily the so-called political career, but the other half.

Yan Xinhou quietly raised his eyebrows and said, "Actually, Lord Zhongtang appreciates the young master very much. Zhongtang specially asked me to give you a message and ask you to do something. Of course, Lord Zhongtang will never treat you well. What the Zhongtang in the south gives you, our Zhongtang can give you anything... And it will only be more. As long as you say a word, the Shanghai Shipping Merchants Bureau and the machine weaving layout are yours.

Cut.

Hu Chuyuan sneered in his heart, but the wound hurt so much that he didn't want to work harder at this time.

By the way, are the Shanghai Shipping Merchants Bureau and the Shanghai Machine Weaving Layout still a thing for him now?

Besides, sooner or later, it's all his.

Don't look at how much money these two bureaus have lost!

Let's not talk about the ship investment bureau, let's talk about the layout of Shanghai machine weaving.

At the beginning of its establishment, Li Hongzhang had high hopes and tried his best to criticize the court. He did not allow other official bureaus of the same type to appear within ten years. He also restricted merchants from opening similar textile bureaus in the concession through various ways, and wanted to be arbitrary.

Hu Chuyuan did it through four ways. On the one hand, he co-organized the textile factory in the concession with Cheng Jinxuan and Pang Yunyu, and on the other hand, he let Wanqi Yanghang of the United States and Wanbao Yanghang co-run the Wanqi Textile Factory in France. The former imported equipment from the United States, imported technology and personnel, and mainly engaged in medium and low-grade foreign cloth, and the latter was imported from France. High-end fine workshop.

The third method is to deliver a large amount of refined South American long fiber cotton to two textile factories through Yufengshe.

The fourth way is to distribute the foreign cloth of two textile factories through Jiangnan Commercial Bank, Fumao Department Store and Zhongrun Department Store.

He does not have an official textile bureau, but he can't breathe the Shanghai mechanical weaving layout through this series of means. Anyone with discerning eyes can see that he will lose as much fabric as he weaves.

Hu Chuyuan weighed it in his heart and said to Yan Xinhou, "Please take me to the middle of the court to thank him. Thank him for his appreciation. It's hard to say whether I can get through this at present. For the time being, I really don't want to think about business matters. Let's talk about it for a while.

"Good!"

Yan Xinhou said yes and said with a smile, "Young master, Lord Zhongtang has an old house in the Tianjin American Concession, which can live in more than a hundred people, and the real estate is entrusted to my name. Lord Zhongtang means that I want to invite you to go there to recuperate. After all, this is the Ministry of Industry of Foreigners, so I'm afraid it's inconvenient. I'm thinking that the young master's family will often travel between Tianjin and Shanghai. He might as well take stock of this house. Anyway, it doesn't cost much money. Zhongtang said that if you want to buy, thousands of taels of silver is enough. He only spent a few thousand taels of silver to buy.

"Oh?"

Hu Chuyuan wanted to laugh. He only heard that he bribed others, but he didn't hear that a middle-class scholar bribed him.

This is fucking fresh!

He knew in his heart that Li Hongzhang wanted to dig him into the Huai army camp. Even if he couldn't dig away, at least he had to let him do things on both sides at the same time, so as not let Zuo Zongtang enjoy his own benefits.

He is much more powerful than Sheng Xuanhuai, Yan Xinhou, Tang Tingshu and Xu Run. Li Hongzhang knows this account very well.

It's not easy to refuse this kind of thing.

He nodded and signaled that he had accepted Li Hongzhang's benefits. If Li Hongzhang had something to discuss in the future, it would be easy to say.

Yan Xinhou is quite happy, and at least he has accomplished one thing.

With this foundation, it will be convenient to talk about anything in the future.

He left in a hurry on the grounds that he would not disturb Hu Chuyuan's injury.

(to be continued)