Lu Bolin

Ye Hai was very satisfied with the actions of his eldest disciple.

Returning from a long journey only to pay respects to his master first—this was truly an excellent habit.

With the stories finished, it was time to discuss serious matters.

"The goods have all been sold."

Lu Bolin's voice lowered, yet it remained clearly audible:

"Our people from the Great Yan Dynasty are capable of enduring hardship and willing to work; once they go abroad, they are highly sought after!"

Ye Hai nodded slightly:

"It is not easy for our fellow villagers to work away from home. Have their lives been properly arranged?"

Lu Bolin replied:

"Everything is arranged. They have basically all entered the factories of the Griffin Family, earning a full 16 Eagle Dollars a month—

That is a full 160 silver coins!"

In the local factories of Puxi City, even for a skilled worker, working maximum overtime would only net them 40 silver coins at most, and that is only for technical positions.

Ye Hai said:

"They truly earn quite a lot.

But with so much money, can they hold onto it? The England bandits are thick-skinned and black-hearted; will they allow a group of honest people to live peacefully in their land?

I previously told you to help them safeguard their wealth; what was the outcome?"

Lu Bolin's voice was steady:

"The villagers are in a foreign land, and life is not easy. They do not know the language and cannot even step outside the factory grounds.

Even if we gave them the 160 silver coins a month, they do not speak the England tongue, so they have no way to save it or spend it.

Therefore, to help them manage their affairs, I have taken temporary custody of these funds.

It is not easy for us to send out a ship, so I intend to wait until their work term ends. After deducting living expenses, management fees, dormitory fees, ship tickets, entertainment costs, and any money deducted by the factory for fighting... and other such expenses, we will settle the accounts with them in one go."

Ye Hai nodded with satisfaction:

"Good!"

"How many years is the contract they signed with the Griffin Family factory?"

Lu Bolin said:

"Fifty years for the first term, with renewals upon expiration."

Ye Hai was even more pleased:

"They should be very happy to earn so much money.

In Puxi City, they wouldn't earn that much in their entire lives!"

"Tell the brothers guarding the factory to buy more meat so the villagers can eat their fill."

Lu Bolin said:

"Yes, Master!"

Ye Hai added:

"If there are any bad seeds among the villagers who affect everyone's ability to earn money, do not be soft-handed."

Lu Bolin cupped his fists:

"Yes, Master!"

Ye Hai was very satisfied with this eldest disciple, feeling more pleased the more he looked at him.

"What about the matter of the opium?"

At the mention of this, Lu Bolin's expression turned serious:

"The manager of the Griffin Family, to whom Master introduced me, took me to the East India Company. I spent some money to become a nominal employee there."

He took a map from his pocket and spread it out flat:

"I left the factory for a few months this time specifically to visit the Ganges River Basin Plains.

Primarily Bihar State's Patna, as well as Benares—these two places."

He used a red ink fountain pen to mark these two locations on the map.

"I did not go to the Malwa region that Master once mentioned, because that area is not controlled by the East India Company. It is mainly operated by local princes and merchants, and I heard it is very chaotic, with people dying constantly day and night."

"In Patna and Benares, the East India Company established an agency to directly control the local farmers' planting, and then hand it over to local monopoly warehouses at the price of raw materials.

Afterward, local factories process it into opium balls and auction them to private traders.

These private traders then use 'Clipper Ships' to depart from a port called Calcutta, passing through the Bay of Bengal, the Andaman Sea, the Strait of Malacca... all the way east, until they enter the South Sea of our Great Yan Dynasty.

Clipper Ships are extremely fast, as if they are cutting through the waves to fly forward; these ships were born for speed!

There are also routes that pass between Sumatra and Java... but not many ships take this route because the voyage is quite long, and the distribution of reefs and shoals is complex, making it very easy to capsize."

"No matter which route they take, they eventually end up in the South Sea or at the mouth of the Pearl River.

When they get close to land, they have to offload the cargo onto hulks (floating warehouses), and then use Swift Crab Ships to pick it up."

The Swift Crab Ship is a type of extremely fast armed galley, featuring a slender, streamlined design with minimal wind resistance.

A look of sudden realization flashed through the eyes of Mr. Ye Hai:

"So that's where all those Swift Crab Ships at the private docks along the Green Shore River come from!"

The Green Shore River runs through the entirety of Puxi City, connecting the inland to the sea. Private docks are scattered all along its banks, and since the current government of Puxi City has yet to find the time to regulate them, the resulting chaos at the docks has provided fertile ground for gangs to survive.

Lu Bolin nodded:

"In the end, these Swift Crab Ships will dock at the Green Shore River in Puxi to unload.

Or perhaps they go a bit further south to come ashore at Yang City."

Mr. Ye Hai stroked his beard lightly:

"Every few days, a fleet of Swift Crab Ships arrives at the Griffin Firm's warehouse docks at midnight.

At first, I couldn't figure it out; the warehouses are so large, yet the capacity of the Swift Crab Ships is so small—what could they possibly be transporting?

Later, I sent men to investigate, but I never expected that the trail would lead all the way out to sea, where it vanished, leaving me with no leads.

I previously suspected it was opium, but I never had any evidence.

The reason I sent you out to investigate this time was precisely because of that suspicion."

Lu Bolin's gaze darkened:

"I have also uncovered the truth regarding the profits."

As he spoke, he took a stack of papers from his briefcase, perhaps thirty or fifty pages thick, each page densely packed with foreign text and stamped with the seal of the East India Company.

The seals were black and white; it was clear that he had used some unknown connection to secretly photocopy the original documents.

A small portion of them bore the seal of the Griffin Firm.

"Master, look at this."

Lu Bolin pointed to the foreign text and numbers on the papers, explaining them to Mr. Ye Hai while pulling a fountain pen from his suit pocket to perform calculations on the page.

Back and forth he went, until he had calculated a profit margin nearly 180 times the purchase price—

Even after transporting the opium from its origin at the Ganges River to Puxi City and deducting the costs for transport, distribution, and other human resource expenses, the Griffin Firm still made 180 times the purchase cost!

Mr. Ye Hai held the tea Lu Bolin had served him up to his nose, not drinking it, but merely inhaling the aroma as his eyes narrowed slightly:

"A business with such exorbitant profits, yet only they, the Griffin Firm, are allowed to do it, while we struggle even to get a sip of the broth..."

He quickly realized his mistake and corrected himself:

"What broth is this...

We aren't even getting the water used to rinse the pot!"

He looked at Lu Bolin:

"Bolin, what is your take on this?"

Lu Bolin realized this was a test from his master and immediately sat up straight.

After nearly three years of tempering, the moment of verification had finally arrived, and Lu Bolin was fully focused:

"In this disciple's view, we cannot be satisfied with just the broth; we must find a way to eat the meat inside the pot!

This matter can be divided into upper, middle, and lower strategies."