CHAPTER XIII
MY INTERVIEWS WITH TSANG
KWOH FAN
In 1863, I was apparently prospering in my
business, when, to my great surprise, an
unexpected letter from the city of Ngan Khing, capital
of An Whui province, was received. The
writer was an old friend whose acquaintance I
had made in Shanghai in 1857. He was a native
of Ningpo, and was in charge of the first Chinese
gunboat owned by the local Shanghai guild. He
had apparently risen in official rank and had
become one of Tsang Kwoh Fan's secretaries.
His name was Chang Shi Kwei. In this
letter, Chang said he was authorized by Viceroy
Tsang Kwoh Fan to invite me to come down to
Ngan Khing to call, as he (the Viceroy) had
heard of me and wished very much to see me.
On the receipt of the letter I was in a quandary
and asked myself many questions: What could
such a distinguished man want of me? Had he
got wind of my late visit to Nanking and of my
late enterprise to the district of Taiping for the
green tea that was held there by the rebels?
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