All the heavens begin with the love in the courtyard.

The second objective is that the Guardian Escort Agency will develop into a security company similar to those in later generations, which will include private bodyguard services. The Bai family members, young and old, will be their main clients. In addition, they will provide escort services for the transfer of Bai family assets, including escorting the purchase of medicinal materials. Of course, they will also occasionally operate for the public.

If the Guardian Escort Agency is not established, during future times of war, if a large number of skilled guards suddenly appear around the Bai family members, it will be too sudden, and many people will associate the Bai family with the Black Army.

The real Black Family Army would never have been associated with the Bai family from the beginning. In fact, the Black Family Army members who have joined the Guardian Escort Agency now are all veteran members who have been with the Black Family Army for more than five years. Their loyalty is far higher than that of the newly selected members.

At least on the surface, no one can find out the relationship between the Black Family Army and the Bai Family, unless Bai Jingqi is exposed.

However, Bai Jingqi estimated that the truth would be exposed sooner or later, and he only hoped that by then he would have enough ability to protect himself.

In fact, Bai Jingqi has rarely appeared in the novice training camp since four years ago. The selection of trainees for the camp is entirely handled by the elite members of the Black Family Army. His job is to train only the true elite members of the Black Family Army.

Those newbies selected from the training camp at a ratio of 10 to 1, although already known as the Black Family Army, will still need to undergo three to five years of training before they can truly graduate. In recent years, the Black Family Army's annual casualty rate has been around 10%, meaning that almost every year in various missions, they suffer casualties of around 10%.

In the future, when true chaos arrives, there may be even greater losses. That's why Bai Jingqi wants to establish a long-term training mechanism. Otherwise, he estimates that in another ten years or so, the Black Family Army he trained will be completely wiped out.

The Guardian Escort Agency was only the first project established in 1895.

The second project is the establishment of the Drug Research Institute. This is a bit complicated. The main research members are members of the Bai family, because the Bai family members, young and old, have basically been exposed to this field since childhood. This includes many elderly people who dispense medicines at Baicaoting and pharmacists. They have all been brought to this research institute by Bai Jingqi.

The person in charge is Bai Jingqi's adoptive father, Bai Yingxuan. His father's medical skills and knowledge of medicinal herbs are absolutely top-notch. In a couple of years, Bai Jingqi will also try to get his uncle involved. The Bai family owns a pharmacy, and their knowledge of the medicinal properties of herbs is absolutely top-notch in the industry.

Besides the Bai family, he also invited some famous doctors in the capital to join the research institute, but the results were mediocre. No doctor with truly profound medical skills was willing to help the Bai family research any new drugs, even if they were offered a lot of money.

Therefore, Bai Jingqi had to find another way. He began to spend a lot of money to buy some family-inherited secret recipes from traditional Chinese medicine families, and tried to improve those recipes as much as possible, and even extracted more new drugs through modern medical methods.

Many young people in later generations look down on traditional Chinese medicine and even consider it cultural garbage. But they don't know that for thousands of years, the medical systems of one dynasty after another in China have been maintained by traditional Chinese medicine. So why is traditional Chinese medicine becoming more and more backward and losing its voice?

It's actually quite simple. One of the biggest bad habits of Chinese people is that if they research something good, they must keep it to themselves and use it only. At most, they will pass it on to their descendants, or even pass it on to their sons but not their daughters, for fear that someone of another surname will learn it. This mentality of cherishing one's own possessions is something that has been ingrained in the Chinese people for thousands of years.

Throughout China's thousands of years of history, whenever war broke out, entire populations would disappear, and countless family-inherited secret recipes would vanish into the annals of history.

In fact, these secret recipes contain the wisdom of traditional Chinese medicine accumulated over thousands of years, but the lost essence is not even dog poop.

Bai Jingqi's goal is to do his best to collect some secret formulas worth studying, and to research and purify them. He doesn't care about traditional Chinese medicine or Western medicine; as long as the medicine he researches has therapeutic value, he will increase his investment. This is a long-term project that will last for several years or even decades, and the investment will be an astronomical figure.

The development of Western medicine was truly due to the capitalist system abroad, which has only been around for about a hundred years. In the West, if you invent something, you immediately apply for a patent, then establish a company, make a fortune from the patent, and then use the funds earned to research more patents, eventually developing into giants centered on capital.

These giants only have one thing in their eyes: profit. Every word about birth, aging, sickness, and death is full of profit. With profit comes motivation.

Bai Jingqi will also import a large number of medical devices and research equipment from abroad, which will be used in the drug research institute and the pharmaceutical factory and hospital to be established later.

Yes, Bai Jingqi plans to establish private hospitals in several major cities in China, and pharmaceutical factories are also in the works. All of these require a lot of financial and human resources.

The drug research institute serves the pharmaceutical factory, which in turn serves the hospital. Bai Jingqi will begin to lay out this entire process. With chaos on the horizon, hospitals and pharmaceutical factories will be the truly lucrative industries.

Of course, one must have sufficient strength to control these things. Bai Jingqi believed that he had enough strength to make the Bai family money quickly for decades. When the people are in charge, these hospitals and pharmaceutical factories that cannot be taken away can only be donated. As for decades later, Bai Jingqi believed that the Bai family would have already made its mark on the world stage and would have enough strength to determine the fate of its family.

In fact, Bai family's Baicao Hall mainly makes a living by making and selling medicines. It already has the prototype of a modern pharmaceutical factory. Bai Jingqi wants to upgrade this family workshop-like pharmaceutical process here.

At the end of 1895, the Bai Family Pharmaceutical Factory was established. This factory would produce 26 common medicines, both for internal and external use. Most of them were secret recipes passed down through the Bai family, including the famous Angong Niuhuang Wan. From then on, these medicines would be sold under the Bai Family brand.

Bai Cao Tang will be merged into Bai's Pharmaceutical Factory, and all pharmaceutical methods will be scaled up and standardized. All the master pharmacists will pass on their experience and skills orally to be used for training apprentices. In short, under the offensive of a large amount of money, except for a few stubborn old men, no one can refuse the Bai family's recruitment.

At the end of the same year, Bai's Pharmaceutical Company was established, which included a drug research institute and Bai's pharmaceutical factory. Bai Yingxuan, Bai's father, served as the general manager, and the Bai family began to move in a new direction.

With the end of the First Sino-Japanese War, the Qing government began to raise money to compensate the Japanese. Some of the inside stories of the war quickly spread from the upper class to the lower class, and the names of the Black Family Army and Black Seventh Master quickly spread among the people, with all kinds of folk legends everywhere.

Even in the teahouses and opera troupes of the capital, stories about Master Hei and his Hei Family Army began to appear. Some people said that the Hei Family Army were descendants of Mongols and Genghis Khan, because each of them was as strong as a bear and each had a curved knife, which made the Japanese cry for their fathers and mothers.

Some say that Black Seven is eight feet tall and is the reincarnation of Guan Yu. He single-handedly fought his way through thousands of Japanese soldiers, killing several treacherous bastards one by one, which was quite satisfying.

The more incompetent the Qing court was, the more it proved the power of Master Hei and his Black Army. After all, the bounty notice for 100,000 taels of silver offered by the Japanese had already spread to the capital. Master Hei in the notice had a full beard, a broad back and a thick waist, and big, round eyes like a bull's eyes. He had a fierce look that made people avoid him. He truly had the effect of driving away ghosts and evil spirits.

Believe it or not, quite a few wealthy families have bought the bounty notices at high prices and posted them on their doors. I don't know if it's to curry favor with the Japanese or if they really consider them talismans against evil.

Unfortunately, after the First Sino-Japanese War, Black Master Qi and his Black Family Army disappeared without a trace. Throughout 1895, apart from legends, no one ever saw their true forms.

The Spring Festival of 1896 arrived quietly, and a heavy snow fell. The heavy snow that lasted for several days finally stopped on the fourth day of the new year. After lying in bed for more than half a year, Bai Sanye was finally able to jump around again at the end of the year.

He still couldn't help but grumble about everything Bai Jingqi had done for the Bai family at the dinner table. Bai Jingqi usually pretended not to hear it, but recently, no one knows who has influenced Third Master Bai, he has started to bring up the idea of ​​dividing the family again.

Bai Jingqi didn't make a fuss about this, but decided to give him a profound lesson that he would never forget, including the group of people he had instructed behind the scenes. If this guy hadn't been his third uncle, he would have been reincarnated several times over.

On the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, Bai Sanye hummed a little tune as he went to his usual Guihualou restaurant. As soon as he entered, the madam led him into a private room where a table of food and drink had already been set out. Three plump middle-aged men were already seated, and several young women were already serving them. Bai Sanye seemed to be familiar with the men and sat down with a smile as the young women served him.

After exchanging toasts and drinking several rounds, the middle-aged man asked the young women who were serving him to leave first. As professional service staff, these girls were quite professional and knew that the guests were probably about to discuss serious matters. So, they cleaned up the leftovers on the table and slowly left the room.

Once only four people remained in the room, a middle-aged man asked Master Bai with a smile.

"Third Master, what have you thought about our proposal from the other day?"

Master Bai picked up a piece of food, took a sip of wine, and then said with some annoyance.

"No way. Bai Jingqi, that little brat, is in charge of the Bai family now. I don't have the final say. I've said I'd split the family business several times, but he's ignored me!"

Several middle-aged men exchanged glances, and another man looked at Master Bai and then spoke.

"Third Master, I say, is your Bai family out of talent or what? A child who is not even sixteen years old is actually in charge of the Bai family. This is really too outrageous."

Master Bai showed no shame whatsoever, and instead said nonchalantly.

"I don't care who's in charge, as long as they don't get in my way of making money. But since that brat took over, I've had nothing to do. I haven't made any money in a year. In previous years, going to Anguo to handle medicine was such a good job, but this year, guess what that brat did?"

Several men took a liking to Master Bai and awaited his answer.

Master Bai snorted.

"That little brat sent people to set up a long-term medicinal herb purchasing point in Anguo this year, posted notices, and posted all the prices and specifications of the medicinal herbs to be purchased. The merchants who supplied the herbs delivered them to the purchasing point according to the quantity and specifications required by the notices. The price and quantity of the herbs were clear. The purchased herbs were directly escorted back to the capital by the escort agency. The Bai family didn't have to do anything at all!"

The three middle-aged men looked at each other in bewilderment. They actually thought this approach was quite good, but after considering their own goals, they could only feel helpless. They hadn't expected the Bai family to actually produce such a talented person.

Then a middle-aged man asked.

"Third Master, I heard that your Bai family's pharmaceutical factory is now producing more than twenty kinds of drugs?"

Master Bai took a sip of wine before speaking.

"It's not twenty kinds, but twenty-six kinds. They are all very famous medicines on the market. Eighteen of them are our Bai family's ancestral secret recipes, and the remaining eight are secret recipes that were purchased. The wound medicine from the Zhang family in the south of the city is said to be able to cure all knife wounds except for decapitation. You know that, right? Do you know how much money that spendthrift Bai Jingqi spent to buy the secret recipes?"

The group looked on with the curiosity of children, waiting for Master Bai's answer.

Master Bai snorted.

"Fifty-five thousand taels! In cash!"

The group gasped in shock. The Zhang family's wound medicine was indeed very famous in the capital. Unfortunately, the Zhang family was just a small pharmacy, and Old Master Zhang was getting old and hadn't made medicine for over ten years. It was almost extinct on the market.

Moreover, the Zhang family only has two daughters and no sons. Old Master Zhang is a stubborn man who, at seventy-nine years old, would rather take the secret recipe to his grave than pass it on to his daughters and sons-in-law.

This Zhang family's 300-year-old remedy for treating knife wounds was on the verge of being lost, but unexpectedly it was actually sold, and at such a high price.

However, after hearing what Master Bai said, the group's greed grew even stronger. The Bai family's truly valuable possessions were only a few dozen secret formulas. Now, they were acquiring secret formulas from other medical families. The value of these formulas was immeasurable!

The group clinked glasses again, and then one of them spoke.

"Third Master, don't worry, we absolutely support you in reclaiming your share. Even if the three branches of the Bai family split the assets equally, you should still get at least 33% of the property. Therefore, you should also get 33% of those secret formulas. So, Third Master, let's discuss how to force that brat Bai Jingqi to divide the family property. We've already come up with a good idea for you: send people to cause trouble at the pharmaceutical factory every day, and then..."

The group was plotting their scheme, and Master Bai listened intently. These men were no ordinary people; two were nobles with power and influence, and the other was the manager of Daxing Pharmacy, which was on par with Baicaotang. They had already agreed that once Master Bai successfully separated from the family, they would open a pharmacy together, using the Bai family's formulas to make medicine, which would surely make them famous.

Just as Master Bai was nodding repeatedly, thinking that the others' ideas were excellent, suddenly, several exclamations came from outside the door.

"Fire!! Fire!! Fire!! Flood!! Everyone come quick to put out the fire!!"

These exclamations immediately interrupted their secret plot. The group quickly stood up. They were all people of status, and they didn't care about putting out the fire; they just wanted to get out first.

The men rushed to the door, but when they pulled hard, it wouldn't budge. Their faces changed drastically, and they frantically called for their men outside to come and rescue them. But after shouting several times, there was no response. Their faces turned green, and they all rammed into the door.

As a renowned place in the capital, Guihualou's decoration quality is impeccable. Providing guests with the most private atmosphere is Guihualou's mission. The doors are all made of genuine solid wood, as thick as a child's thigh, and they didn't react at all.

The group panicked completely, especially Third Master Bai, whose face turned pale. He picked up a stool from the room and smashed it against the door. The door didn't budge, but a small hole was broken in the window. When they looked outside, they saw thick smoke billowing out, and there wasn't a soul in sight.

Just then, two dark figures suddenly appeared at the door. Before they could shout, the two turned their heads and looked at them, and everyone fell silent.

Upon closer inspection, it became clear that both men were masked and carrying a can-like object. They poured some substance towards the gate, and after a while, they took out flints from their pockets and struck them with a flick of their wrists, instantly setting the gate of Master Bai and his group ablaze.

Those who witnessed this scene through the window all paled, their faces filled with undisguised terror and despair. The door instantly burst into flames, the intense heat forcing them to retreat until they reached a spot against the wall inside the house.

At this moment, Master Bai was filled with despair, muttering incantations. If you listened carefully, you could hear him begging God and Buddha to save him. The others were also crying out in despair and pain, but even if they cried until their voices were hoarse, no one came to their rescue. The fire grew stronger and stronger, and the door was finally burned through by the fire. With a creak, it collapsed, and the flames rushed towards the group along with the floorboards.

Seeing that the gate had been burned through, the group realized this was their last chance to survive. They looked at each other in despair, then shouted and rushed into the flames.

Master Bai was the last to rush in, crying and shouting. He closed his eyes and rushed out of the room with a desperate scream. His clothes were instantly set on fire. Once outside, Master Bai rolled on the ground and finally managed to get rid of the flames on his body.

Thick smoke billowed, but one could still vaguely see the surroundings. Master Bai opened his eyes, coughed twice, and looked around. What he saw next terrified him.

The three people who had come out earlier were being poured an unknown liquid over their heads by two masked men holding unidentified jars. The liquid ignited wildly upon contact with fire, and the three were immediately engulfed in flames. One of them, unable to bear the burning pain, got up and ran around the outer hall. Before long, he was burned to a mummified corpse and collapsed dead. The other two had also long since turned into charred remains.

As Bai Sanye looked over, he saw two masked men holding jars, their white teeth flashing through the thick smoke as they smiled at him and slowly walked towards him.

The pain in Bai Sanye's body had not yet subsided, and he was now completely exhausted. The urge to urinate was flowing uncontrollably from his lower body, and he was wailing as he awaited his final judgment.

One person slowly walked up to him, placed the can next to him, and did not pour it on him. Another person bent down and shouted in his ear.

"Third Master Bai, Seventh Master asked me to give you his regards. He said he hopes you'll settle down and stay home to walk your birds and tend your flowers, instead of running around like that. Your old bones can't take a third time like this!"

After saying this, the man stood up and slowly disappeared into the thick smoke with another person. When Master Bai saw this, he was stunned for a long time. His skin was burning from the intense heat of the fire, and he finally came to his senses. He stumbled to his feet and rushed out the door...!

Chapter Seventeen: A Century of Shame

By 1897, the century of humiliation had come to an end. The Qing Dynasty was in a state of further collapse, and the lives of ordinary people were becoming increasingly difficult. Every winter, more and more people from all over the country were fleeing famine and heading to Beijing.

Most of the homeless beggars on the streets were emaciated and poorly clothed. They were everywhere. The increase in the number of people created a kind of abnormal prosperity. Various markets were bustling with activity. There were more people selling their skills and bodies, doing small business, and peddlers walking the streets.

The taxes levied by officials in various places are getting heavier year by year. Not to mention ordinary people, even small landlords are seeing their fortunes decline year by year.

Land taxes, mining taxes, salt taxes, tea taxes, and various other miscellaneous industrial and commercial taxes were levied in various places. Even the use of methods such as tax borrowing, likin (a tax on goods), and yigu (a tax on grain) to extort money was rampant, and the dynasty was on the verge of collapse.

There was no way around it; the Qing Dynasty was heavily indebted, and there were too many Manchu bannermen. Feeding those good-for-nothings required food and silver, and foreign powers were eyeing them covetously. The upper echelons were eyeing the pockets of ordinary people, while the foreign powers were eyeing the Qing court's pockets—one link after another.

After the First Opium War, the Qing Dynasty's doors were completely opened, and dozens of ports were built throughout the country. These ports were basically controlled by foreign powers, who transported the Qing court's silver and other raw materials back to China, and then shipped junk from abroad to sell to the Qing court. They had been doing this for hundreds of years.

Last year, the Qing government began to raise the second installment of indemnities to Japan. Like a contest for mating rights, the various powers rushed to demand that the Qing government borrow money from them. Among them, the most powerful country of the time, Great Britain, declared that if the Qing government did not borrow money from Britain, British warships would sail to the Qing government's doorstep and it would not hesitate to use force to make the Qing government borrow money.

Why were these foreign powers so eager to lend money to the Qing Dynasty?

The reason is simple. Take borrowing money from Britain as an example. If the Qing government borrowed 100 million taels of silver, it would only receive 94 million taels. The remaining 6 million taels would be for handling fees, plus an interest rate of 5%, to be repaid in 36 years. Early repayment was not allowed. Of course, when you borrow money, you always need something to guarantee it, right?

It's alright, Britain has already thought of a solution for the Qing Dynasty. During the 36-year loan period, your customs revenue will serve as a guarantee. In order to prevent the Qing Dynasty from defaulting on its debts, your Qing Dynasty's customs will be managed by our Great British Empire.

Thus, the Qing government's customs administration fell into British hands, and the Qing government's Inspector General of Customs was British. From 1863 to 1909, Britain controlled the Chinese customs for half a century.

The usurious loans on the internet in later generations must have been inspired by the traditions of their founders, the capitalists!

Last year, when we borrowed money from Britain, Britain demanded customs revenue. The year before, when we borrowed money from Russia, Russia's terms were even more treacherous and insidious. Not only did Russia seize a large amount of Chinese territory, but it also demanded the construction of a railway running through Northeast China. Even a blind man like Liu could see Russia's ambitions for Northeast China, but the Qing government just couldn't.

Even if they could see it clearly, they might be powerless to change the status quo. The Qing Dynasty had already knelt down and sung the praises of the foreign powers, like a prostitute with her legs spread wide, available to anyone.