Member Xue was serving tea and drinking water when he saw Xu Mince and Li Zhi walking up the stairs. He looked at Xu Mince, then at Li Zhi, and smiled at Li Zhi.
Li Zhi rushed towards Officer Xue and cupped his fists in vain as a return gift.
Seeing Li Zhi stop, the family member leading the way said again: "Please go to the top of the building, please!"
Under the leadership of Xu Mince, Li Zhi went straight to the top floor without any courtesy.
The top floor is where wealthy businessmen gather. There are only two tables in the large space, facing a stage. At this time, the guests have basically arrived, cold dishes and drinks have been put on the table, and there are seven people sitting at the main table, and the assistants
There were five people sitting at the table.
The host of the birthday banquet sitting at the main table was wearing a bright red silk round collar and was full of joy. He stood up and saluted Xu Mince and said, "Mr. Xu is here! I haven't seen you for a long time."
"Goodbye Mr. Lu, you are well!"
After saying hello to Lu Siqi, Xu Mince stood between the two tables and looked around, as if wondering where to sit. The family member who brought Xu Mince up looked at Li Zhi and said: "Xu Gong, my official, my master and Qi
Boss of a big business, there are only nine seats at the main table, why don’t I invite you, my little friend, to sit at the deputy table?”
The main table only had seats for the bosses of the eight major business houses and an "official" who had not arrived. Of course Xu Mince wanted to sit at the main table, so Li Zhi was sent to the deputy table by the family.
When Xu Mince heard this, he waved his hand and said, "In that case, my little friend and I will sit at the side table."
Hearing this, the Lu family members were stunned. They didn't expect that Xu Mince was going to sit down at the side table.
Xu Mince gave up the opportunity to sit at the main table in order to sit with Li Zhi. Obviously, he put Li Zhi's importance above other important guests. When the seven distinguished guests at the main table heard this, they all looked at Li Zhi curiously.
After a while, he secretly wondered whose son this was, who was so valued by Xu Mince. It seemed that Xu Mince was not here for the banquet today, but was bringing this kid to watch the fun.
However, these big businessmen were very well-educated people. They just glanced at them and stopped caring, leaving Xu Mince to act on his own. Xu Mince was not polite, and he walked to the side table and sat down.
The five people at the side table were all relatives and friends of the distinguished guests at the main table, and their status was slightly lower. Seeing Xu Mince coming over, these five people stood up and saluted and said hello. Xu Mince just clasped his fists slightly, which was regarded as a return gift.
Seeing this, Li Zhi also followed him and sat at the deputy table, sitting next to Xu Mince.
After everyone was seated, Lu Siqi was not in a hurry to start the banquet. He just sat there twirling his beard, as if waiting for someone.
Seeing Li Zhi sit down, Xu Mince smiled and introduced to Li Zhi: "The seven people on the table are the bosses of the eight major business houses in Tianjin. The one sitting in the middle is Lu Siqi from Long Shengxing, and Chao Pi, the chief military officer of Tianjin
Chang's cousin has been in Tianjin for two years. His business is just average. He likes to make friends and watch movies. Sitting on his left is Cha Yunke, the boss of Yuanxing Hang. He is now the largest businessman in Tianjin. He is Tianjin's biggest businessman.
The nephew of Bingbei Daocha Dengbei is ostensibly in the silk business, but in fact he relies on his uncle's connections to do business in the East and earns hundreds of thousands a year. Sitting on his left is Lu Huarong, the owner of Xianjin Trading Company.
This man is the younger brother of Lu Hualin, the commander of the Qing Military Department in Tianjin."
After a pause, Xu Mince said: "This person is best at bullying small businessmen, relying on his brother's power to buy and sell by force. His reputation is very bad. You should be careful when dealing with him."
When Xu Mince mentioned Lu Huarong, Li Zhi glanced at Lu Huarong. But as soon as Li Zhi's eyes fell on Lu Huarong, Lu Huarong felt it and turned around to stare at Li Zhi.
Li Zhi didn't dare to look anymore and quickly looked away.
Sitting on the seat, Xu Mince quietly introduced the people at the main table to Li Zhi and commented on them one by one. It was the first time Li Zhi saw this kind of scene, and he just nodded busy and kept Xu Mince's words in his heart.
Everyone chatted and waited for another quarter of an hour before they heard a voice singing from the bottom of the stairs: "The Chief Military Officer has arrived!"
Hearing this, more than a dozen people on the top floor stood up and looked towards the stairs.
After a while, a tall official wearing a red military attaché uniform walked up from the stairs. He wore a black gauze hat, soap boots on his feet, and a lion patch embroidered on his chest. Although the military attache had small eyes and a flat nose, he looked very handsome in a uniform.
It looks very majestic against the background.
Seeing the military attache arriving, more than a dozen hosts and guests knelt on the ground and sang loudly: "Here comes the military attache!"
Although Taizu of the Ming Dynasty issued an order in the Ming Dynasty: lower officials do not need to kneel down when meeting a superior! But in real life, the superior has a high position, and those with lower status will kneel down when they see the superior. These businessmen on the top floor of Zuixian Tower are
In the eyes of the common people, he was a wealthy family, but in front of the Commander-in-Chief, he was just a nobody, and everyone knelt on the ground.
Xu Mince, of course, also knelt on the ground. Although he was a civil servant, his reputation was nothing in front of the commander-in-chief. He knelt on the ground, pulled Zhu Zhu there and said to Li Zhi: "Brother Li, why don't you kneel down?
This is the second-grade governor-general Qian Shi. Chao Pichang, the commander-in-chief of Tianjin's army at that time, is only ranked under the governor in Tianjin."
The chief military officer was the military attache in charge of the military and horses of a place and a town in the late Ming Dynasty. The chief military officer was in charge of various military affairs at the local level, and upwards he was only responsible to the governor or governor. He had a very high status and was the highest position of the military attache. Tianjin
Although it had become a commercial city at the end of the Ming Dynasty, politically it was still an acropolis in name only and belonged to the military establishment of the garrison. Therefore, Tianjin's general military officer could manage various affairs in Tianjin and had great power.
As a time traveler, Li Zhi was extremely disgusted with the kneeling ceremony of the Ming Dynasty. But at this time, everyone in the scene knelt down. Li Zhi would get into trouble if he didn't kneel down. He had no choice but to kneel down and crawl next to Xu Mince.
.
For the first time, Li Zhi saw the power of power in the Ming Dynasty.
With such a cousin supporting him, it's no wonder Lu Siqi's business has become so big.
Seeing Li Zhi kneeling down, Xu Mince breathed a sigh of relief.
Seeing everyone kneeling down to greet them, the commander-in-chief Chao Pichang raised his hand and said: "No courtesy!"
When everyone saw Chao Pichang raising his hand, they stood up one after another and watched Chao Pichang take his seat at the main table. After taking his seat, Lu Siqi chatted and laughed with his cousin Chao Pichang. Others on the main table
From time to time, people would chat with each other, and the conversation was very pleasant. After a few words, everyone started picking up vegetables to eat, and the banquet had begun.
Hot dishes were served one after another, including tiger skin meat, dragon vegetables, shark's fin soup, and donkey meat roasted on fire. Zuixianlou is indeed the best restaurant in Tianjin Wei, and the dishes prepared are all delicious, exquisite, and ingenious.
The commander-in-chief congratulated Lu Siqi on his birthday. The birthday boy today was very honorable. However, as the official sat here, everyone paid little attention to the birthday boy. The stars surrounded Chao Pichang like a moon, and they went up to toast him from time to time. During the toast,
Those businessmen all raised their glasses and drank it all in one gulp. Chao Pichang only drank a little to moisten his lips, which further showed the difference in status between him and these businessmen.
Xu Mince couldn't help but went to toast Chao Pichang with a glass of wine before returning.
