Gu Pingyuan wins again against Li Wantang
When Li Wantang heard that Mr. Hu had rejected him, he came directly to see Mr. Hu. He was deeply surprised to find that Mr. Hu was meeting Wu Caishen from Hangzhou.It turns out that Wu Caishen was entrusted by Li Zhongdeng to buy all the tea in Anhui and transport it away.Only then did Li Wantang know that Gu Pingyuan wanted to transport all the province's tea to Shiliupu Wharf because he wanted to do business with foreigners. This approach was to go against the national laws of the Qing Dynasty.
Suddenly, the soldiers of the Western Affairs Bureau asked Gu Pingyuan to go with them on the pretext of being summoned by the Western Affairs Bureau.In the distance from the British warship, a large ship from the Western Affairs Bureau appeared.The Shanghai Maritime Affairs Bureau notified the customs to stop and inspect the warship.Because of a trade dispute, the British captain decided to sink the entire ship's cargo into the sea. Li Zhongdeng asked the captain for an hour to deal with it. At this time, the captain agreed and ordered the customs to stop the person for inspection.
Liu Ruifen of the Western Affairs Bureau came to handle the dispute. He did not want to cause trouble when he took office as a new official. He hoped that Li Wantang and Gu Pingyuan would each take a step back.However, the two held their own opinions and the two sides were in a stalemate.Liu Ruifen once again reconciled Li Wantang and Gu Pingyuan. The British warship and the customs ship were still in a confrontation. After a stalemate, Li Wantang finally gave up and the customs inspection ship also withdrew.The goods were pushed back to the warehouse, and the Chinese general congratulated Li Zhongdeng, saying that this batch of tea could fetch sky-high prices in India.Li Wantang was furious with Gu Pingyuan because of the failure.
