Everyone present praised Ye Guoji in their hearts because Old Man Ye said what they wanted to say but dared not say. Of course, only Ye Guoji could say these words. They didn't have the courage to say them, but no matter what, it was a good thing that someone rushed to the front and made it clear first. Everyone looked at Zhu Yicheng with expectations and uneasiness in their hearts, trying to judge the result from Zhu Yicheng's reaction.

"It's okay, I said earlier, this is a private banquet." Zhu Yicheng raised his hand to stop Jiang Jin's anger. As for Liao Huanzhi's side, he was just polite and honest. Unlike Jiang Jin, Liao Huanzhi was a person who had been a few top leaders, and he must be much more cunning and well-educated. Moreover, as a dog-headed military advisor, he guessed something in his heart when Zhu Yicheng invited these people to dinner, but he was not sure.

"Mr. Ye, please sit down first. We have never had a deal before. It is normal for Mr. Ye to be a little cautious about Hong. Come on, drink a little wine first and then chat slowly." Zhu Yicheng said with a kind look. Liao Huanzhi beside him stood up tactfully, lifted the wine pot and took the initiative to pour a glass of wine for Ye Guoji.

Liao Huanzhi, who was once a marquis of Baili, a county, was able to lower his figure and know his feelings so well, which greatly satisfied Zhu Yicheng.

Ye Guoji said what he said just now was ultimately holding his breath, but it was impossible to say that he had no regrets at all. Seeing that Zhu Yicheng was not angry, but on the contrary, he still treated each other with reason, Ye Guoji felt a little embarrassed. He immediately raised his glass to apologize to Zhu Yicheng and drank the wine in the glass.

"Master Hong, we are all businessmen, and we have read a lot of books. Just now, I asked Mr. Hong to forgive me more. But then again, I still want to ask Mr. Hong to express his intentions today. If we can do anything, we will not give in. I wonder what Mr. Hong is thinking?"

"Hahaha!" Zhu Yicheng suddenly burst into laughter, looked at everyone present, and asked with a smile: "This is probably not only Mr. Ye's idea, but the rest of you think so too?"

Everyone didn't say anything, but the expression on their faces already indicated that it was indeed the case.

Nodded, Zhu Yicheng sighed: "I originally wanted to take this opportunity to get together with everyone, drink and exchange feelings, and then talk about other things. Now, if you don't talk about the matter first, you may not be able to eat this meal. Since that's the case, then okay..."

Seeing that Zhu Yicheng was finally about to make the conditions, everyone's ears stood up, everyone looked at Zhu Yicheng intently, and at the same time, his heart was raised in the air.

"Ningbo was one of the customs gates of the Qing court. In fact, Ningbo had a prosperous business style as early as the Ming Dynasty, and various industries developed rapidly. Nearly a hundred years ago, due to war, the Ningbo business community was severely damaged. Now, after nearly a hundred years of restoration, the current situation is now..."

Zhu Yicheng spoke slowly and said, everyone present was Chu Qiao from Ningbo’s business community. All the families had experienced the times step by step. How could they not know the ups and downs of Ningbo’s business community? Hearing Zhu Yicheng’s remarks on the changes over the past century, he felt a little moved.

Playing with the wine cup in his hand, Zhu Yicheng continued: "The main purpose of businessmen is to be business-oriented, thereby obtaining profits and development. You are all the arrogant people among Ningbo merchants, and they have also operated like this for so many years. Today I invite you, Mr. Hong, to do a deal with you, a big deal!"

Hearing this, everyone's hearts suddenly jumped, thinking that it was finally here. As for what business, big business, etc., everyone thought it was just an excuse. Everyone was just thinking about how Zhu Yicheng would speak and what his appetite would be like.

Putting down the wine cup in his hand, Zhu Yicheng looked at the uneasy people and said with a smile: "Don't get me wrong. I don't want to embezzle your property. I, Hong, are not the Qing Dynasty, and I can't do anything to kill chickens and get eggs."

This sentence calmed down a little, but some people still wondered, it was not that Zhu Yicheng deliberately put a high hat on himself, right? Where is there a cat in the world that doesn't smell fishy? Maybe the other party was just deliberately gilding on his face.

"I only have three conditions." Zhu Yicheng stretched out his hand and raised his first finger: "First, I need you to come forward to appease the Ningbo business community and calm the market in Ningbo area. No hoarding or other disturbing the market will occur. In a word, the stability of Ningbo's commercial market must be guaranteed!"

"I understand what Mr. Hong means, but there are many Ningbo commercial banks, so we cannot represent all Ningbo merchants..."

Someone immediately said, but before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by Zhu Yicheng: "You are all from Ningbo. One place is the land and the other. This is not only your hometown, but also your fellow villagers. You know the way of doing business better than me. Although you are a businessman for profit, businessmen are different from businessmen. You will not want to use the pain of your fellow villagers to make your own profits, right? Besides, you are the leading figures in the business world of Ningbo. The influence of the business in Ningbo can be imagined. Of course, if there are some merchants who do not abide by the rules and cannot solve the problem, I think Mr. Jiang can help."

"Please rest assured, Master Hong, I will definitely serve you!" Jiang Jin, who was beside him, quickly stood up and agreed.

Ye Guoji nodded slightly. Zhu Yicheng's request was not too much, but to stabilize the situation in Ningbo. Everyone is from Ningbo. As Zhu Yicheng said, Ningbo is his hometown. If he hoarded goods and disrupted the market, the family members of his hometown would be chasing their backs behind his back and cursing Xipi, they would not have the shame to keep going in Ningbo.

"I have no problem with this condition, and I think there will be no problems for you all!" Ye Guoji, as the leader of Ningbo merchants, immediately agreed, and everyone also nodded and said yes.

Zhu Yicheng raised his second finger with satisfaction and said, "Secondly, Jiangnan has suffered severe disasters this year, and the prices of private grain continue to rise. What is even more worrying is that the harvest forecast after autumn is not optimistic, so Ningbo must prepare early. You have to travel around the world with a wide range of channels. You can transport grain from other places to Ningbo. I wonder what you think?"

"This..." Zhu Yicheng's words made everyone not know how to answer for a while. The shortage of grain in Jiangnan has not been a day or two. Ningbo is still better, but other places have particularly severe food shortages. However, it is not easy to transport grain from outside to Ningbo. First, to purchase grain is nothing more than purchasing from Huguang. Second, to buy grain and transport it requires a lot of money. Third, Zhu Yicheng occupied Ningbo, but wanted to transport grain from the Qing court to Ningbo. Is he so relieved?

As if he saw everyone's doubts, Zhu Yicheng explained with a smile that he could provide part of the silver for purchasing grain, and then the merchants raised the part themselves. After the grain arrived, it was divided according to the proportion of their respective funds. One was used as military and the other was put into the market. Although the profit would not be large, it would not cause losses to the merchants. As for other aspects, they did not have to worry too much. As long as they could transport grain in, the more they would be better.

If this is the case, this request is not unanimous. However, everyone needs to study how to operate and how to allocate this part. Zhu Yicheng was not in a hurry to talk about this, and then talked about his third condition.

When Zhu Yicheng's third condition was expressed, everyone present was surprised and happy, because they never expected that Zhu Yicheng's third condition was to require Ningbo business community to form a new commercial bank with him, and the main business scope of this commercial bank was actually Haimao.

As a coastal area, Ningbo has always had a tradition of maritime trade, but given the court's restrictions on maritime trade development is not very good. Especially in recent years, with more and more people going to sea, the Qing court has begun to control the scale of maritime trade and even has the idea of ​​banning maritime trade.

All these made Ningbo’s business community worry. Everyone knew very well how profits the maritime trade were. Moreover, Ningbo, one of the customs officials, had a better understanding of the world than the mainland. While the Qing court was still dreaming of the Celestial Empire, these coastal business elites had already begun to contact Western countries and some understanding of the world, thus opening their horizons.

None of them expected that Zhu Yicheng actually wanted to do maritime trade with Ningbo business circles. This was indeed a deal, a huge deal! But the risk of this deal was also extremely great. The first thing was Zhu Yicheng's identity. If Zhu Yicheng became their partner, it would not mean that they were also a member of the traitor? The world is still the world of the Qing Dynasty. No matter how good the cakes are painted, it would be useless if they couldn't eat them.
Chapter completed!