Pawn Crossing the River

When things don't go as planned, just as Qi Xuansu's flying boat always crashes, Qi Xuansu always encounters accidents when he visits Hu Songting.

As soon as he arrived at Hu Songting's side, a message came from Tianfu Palace, saying that a representative of the West Posuzhou Company wanted to see the chief deputy palace master.

Speaking of this representative, this is not the first time Qi Xuansu has dealt with him. However, the last time we dealt with him was not a direct one, but an indirect one. It was not in Shenglong Mansion, but in Fenglin Continent.

The representative gentleman's name was Maginot, and he was a great duke in the West. During the Fenglinzhou War, he went to Xiujing to see Qingwei Zhenren, the real person in charge of the army, because of the issue of prisoners of war.

Although Master Qingwei did not see him, he still appointed Li Tiangang, the second deputy head of Fenglinzhou Taoist Palace, to meet him on his behalf.

It can be seen that the status of the Grand Duke of Maginot is quite high. He believes that he is qualified to meet Master Qingwei. Even if Master Qingwei does not want to see him, he still sends a second deputy palace master.

In other words, Master Qingwei believes that the grand duke is almost at the same level as the second deputy palace master. Now he wants to meet with people from the Taoist palace, and Xu Jiaorong is not in the Lion City, so it is most appropriate for Qi Xuansu to come forward in person.

Xie Jiaofeng is not suitable. Besides, with Xie Jiaofeng's slippery temperament, even if he is suitable, he will not rush forward.

Qi Xuansu had some understanding of Maginot. One year before the fall of the Wei Dynasty, the West Posuzhou Company was officially established. Its original full name was

"Company of Rune Merchants Trading in Western Borneo". It was formed by a group of influential merchants who received a fifteen-year trade patent charter for Western Borneo from the Rune royal family in 1600 AD.

The company has one hundred and twenty-five shareholders and a capital of eighty thousand gold crowns. Over the next hundred years, the West Posas Company continued to grow and develop, and soon transformed from a trading company into a separatist force, or even a country.

The composition of its shareholders has become more and more complex. Most of the original businessmen have been squeezed out. The new shareholders are mostly big businessmen, big nobles, big workshop owners, a small number of princes from the West Posas Island, and the priests from the Holy See.

Soon, the priests and nobles took complete control of the West Borneo Company, and with the promotion of these priests and nobles, West Borneo obtained some assistance in governance and military functions.

According to the Western company system, the highest decision-making level is the board of directors, which is an operating decision-making body composed of directors, in charge of company affairs internally and representing the company externally. It is elected by the shareholders' meeting.

Generally, elections are held every three years. Today, the board of directors of West Posas Island Company has a total of thirteen members. White, who once secretly funded the Zunhu Faction in Fenglinzhou, is one of the directors, and Maginot is also one of the directors.

However, there are differences between the two. White is an independent director and Maginot is an executive director. Executive directors are the opposite of non-executive directors.

The so-called executive director participates in the management of the company as a director. Independent directors have no relationship with the company and can express their own opinions independently on the company's board of directors decisions, including some major issues.

Its status is relatively aloof and will not be too involved by the interests of internal factions. Generally speaking, the number of independent directors cannot be less than one-third of the total number of board members.

As a Holy See priest, White mainly performs various duties related to the Holy See. Naturally, he cannot be deeply involved in the operation and management of the West Borneo Company. Therefore, he is an independent director and generally plays a supervisory role.

As a nobleman, Maginot's primary goal is to make money. In addition to investing heavily, he is also personally involved in operation and management, so he is the executive director.

The behavior of the two people in Fenglinzhou also reflects the difference in their identities. White funded the Zunban faction, with the apostle Tronus behind him, and was obviously implementing the Holy See's strategy.

Maginot, on the other hand, wanted to engage in slave trade and purchase prisoners of war from Fenglin Continent. He did not care about the outcome of the war in Fenglin Continent. He was obviously negotiating business from the standpoint of the West Posas Island Company.

However, this does not mean that Maginot will not obey the instructions of the Holy Court. It can only be said that there is a different division of responsibilities between these directors.

In addition, although the decision-making process of the board of directors is one person, one vote, including the chairman of the board of directors, who has only one vote, the board of directors is determined by the shareholders' meeting, and many directors are even concurrently held by shareholders themselves. The chairman of the board of directors is generally concurrently held by the largest shareholder.

According to procedures, the shareholders' meeting is the company's highest authority, and the board of directors is the highest executive agency.

When it comes to resolutions at the shareholders' meeting, votes are not counted based on head count, but by majority of the capital. That is, those who invest more bear greater risks, so their words carry more weight. That is, the shareholders' meeting votes based on the proportion of shareholdings. If more than half of the shares are held, the company will have absolute control.

Maginot's identity is very special. He is a shareholder, and he holds a high shareholding ratio. He is not the largest shareholder, but he is also one of the major shareholders. He is also an executive director, and a member of the West Borneo Company in Nanyang and Fenglinzhou areas. The highest decision-maker, so his status is higher than that of ordinary directors. He cannot be compared to ordinary deputy palace masters, but to the level of chief and second-in-command.

Qi Xuansu had no intention of seeing it and asked fellow Taoists from the branch hall of the temple to meet him on his behalf. However, considering the impact and Master Qingwei's attitude of attaching great importance to this person, he had to temporarily change his schedule and go to see the director and the elder first. His Excellency the Duke.

In fact, the power of seeing or not seeing is completely in the hands of Qi Xuansu. It's not that Qi Xuansu has to see, but Qi Xuansu also wants to use Maginot, a big shot in the Western world, to find out what's going on in the Holy Court. After all, he also has other responsibilities on his shoulders. One mission is to deal with matters related to the Holy Court.

Trade itself is a kind of exchange. You come and go, and the penetration that comes with trade exchanges is always unavoidable, so weeding needs to be done regularly.

As for how to weed weeds without scaring away ordinary merchants or affecting normal trade, it will be a test of methods.

However, after Qi Xuansu arrived in Borneo, the Holy Court did not take much action. Even when Chen Shuhua made a fuss in Shenglong Mansion, the Holy Court did not come forward.

Of course, we do not rule out the possibility that the situation changed so quickly that the Holy Court failed to react. After all, the Taoist government, as the person involved, almost did not react. In addition, the Shenglong Mansion is in a special location, and the Holy Court is relatively weak, and it is powerless to participate. .

The Lion City is different. This is the most developed place in Nanyang for commerce and trade. The foreign population is even equal to the local population. Therefore, the Lion City is a place seriously penetrated by the Holy Court. Many people from the Holy Court can do business under the banner of doing business. Coming to the Lion City openly, the situation is more complicated.

Now, the Holy Court finally couldn't hold back anymore and jumped out. This will undoubtedly bring some variables to the situation.

After Qi Xuansu returned to Tianfu Palace, he let Xiao Yin play by himself and took Chen Jianchou to see the director. Chen Jianchou is actually a very talented person. He is proficient in five languages. In addition to the Mandarin of the Central Plains and the Borneo dialect, there are also Runeese, Ibia, and the Borneo dialect.

He and Chen Jianqiu can communicate normally in Runeese, which is a huge plus because they can also act as translators when necessary.

However, after meeting Maginot, Qi Xuansu realized that it was unnecessary. As the top decision-maker of the West Borneo Company in half of the Eastern world, Maginot was naturally proficient in the Central Plains Mandarin, and his accent was authentic, and he was familiar with the various wording habits of the Central Plains people. There is absolutely no weird feeling like ordinary Westerners speaking in Chinese Mandarin. If you close your eyes and listen, you will still think that a Central Plains person is speaking.

"Qi Zhenren, to use the Chinese dialect, I have admired him for a long time, but I just met him once." Maginot was arranged in a Western-style living room. Maginot, who was originally sitting on the sofa, saw Qi Xuansu in front of his daughter. After entering the living room under the guidance of the Taoist priest, he immediately stood up and enthusiastically gave Qi Xuansu a hug.

Qi Xuansu politely declined this overly intimate Western etiquette and said: "I have heard about Mr. Maginot's reputation as early as when I was in Fenglinzhou. That time, Li Cixi of Fenglinzhou Taoist Palace received him. Mr. Maginot.”

"By the way, Master Qi was also working under Master Qingwei at that time." Magino said suddenly,

"It's just that the real person Qi at that time was not a real person." Qi Xuansu smiled and said: "So he couldn't get into Mr. Maginot's eyes."

"Master Qi is making fun of me." Maginot also smiled and said,

"It's sarcastic that I don't recognize the real person in front of me."

"I don't mean that." Qi Xuansu waved his hand and said,

"At that time, I didn't expect that I could become a second-grade Taiyi Taoist priest in such a short period of time. It can be said to be a coincidence, or it can be said to be a coincidence. There are no heroes, so Zhuzi became famous." Maginot said. Wearing the unique smile of a Western aristocrat, his eyes were cold and calm, but the lower half of his face was very enthusiastic: "Master Qi is too modest. There is an old saying in the Central Plains that a hero emerges from his youth. Judging from the length of a hundred years, Today's Master Qi is still a teenager. "Ma Qi Nuo should be a flattering word, but Qi Xuansu is not very happy, because many people now criticize his age, it is nothing more than his lack of ability to do things, Ma Qi. Nuo also wanted to count Qi Xuansu among the young people. Qi Xuansu had no interest in Hedong for thirty years.

So Qi Xuansu said: "There is an old saying in the Central Plains, which is: Don't bully a young man into being poor. If I call him poor now, someone should scold me. So this young man should just be inappropriate." Maginot also realized that he might be flattered. On the horse's hooves, he skipped this topic: "In any case, Master Qi is the youngest official second-grade Taiyi Taoist priest in the entire Eastern world." Qi Xuansu made a gesture to sit down: "Mr. Maginot, Let's sit down and talk." After the two sat down, Qi Xuansu said: "Mr. Maginot is a man with many things to do. If you are anxious to see me this time, you won't be drinking tea with me. You might as well say so." Kino slowly suppressed his smile and said seriously: "I heard that the Taoist government plans to seal down the Nanyang United Trading Company. Is there such a thing?"