A Deal is Struck at Lintin
In the sixth month of the fifteenth year of Daoguang (June of 1835), Shi Hou decided that transporting the opium himself was too inconvenient, and contrived the idea of enticing the foreign boats to come anchor off the Fujian coast and sell opium. He shared the idea with Shi Shubao, and each invested 1,600 in foreign silver.
They brought the money to Lintin near Macao and gave it to the foreigners Big and Little Li, who had set a price of 480 silver per chest (each containing 40 bricks of opium). Shi Hou and the others handed over their 3,200 in silver, and began trying to figure out how to transport and sell the opium.
Big and Little Li had just then purchased a lorcha, and they invited on two other Chinese middlemen (Chen A'tiao and Yang Ming) who were just then thinking of starting a business. When Wang Mazhi heard about this, he too bought a large amount of opium and hired Chen A'tiao to rent a "Redhead Boat" [a boat from Chaozhou, in Guangdong Province] and travel along with the others up the coast.
Optional: Follow the story of Shi Shubao as he learns the foreign language and relocates to Macao
Source: Junji chu Hanwen lufu zouzhe (Grand Council Chinese-Language Palace Memorial Copies, often cited as LFZZ), Beijing: First Historical Archives, 03–4007–048, DG 18.10.29.
