[Chapter Word Count:3574Last Updated:2014-09-2507:00:00.0]

"Shenwen, Shenwen! Such a genius appeared in my Qing Dynasty, this is the blessing of the community, the blessing of the people...... Blessed by the emperor's ancestors, it turns out that foreigners have gone through so many hardships to conquer the sea?"

"Hateful, hateful! Why didn't this book come out earlier, and we should know the details of foreigners earlier, so why should we be so confused and let foreigners bully like this...... But why did you print it out before it was finished? What about the rest of the article?"

"Shameless, shameless! This guy named Xiao Letian is so shameless, why did he have to print a book before he finished writing? And look at the quality of this printing, it is cheaper? What is going on behind the scenes, what happened to this Inca Empire after it met the Spaniards...... Eunuch, you dead eunuch!"

On the second day of February in the fourth year of Tongzhi, it is the time when the dragon raises its head, and on this day the old and young masters in Beijing want to eat spring cakes, and those children who are ready to be enlightened will also shout a few words on this day, "February 2nd, the dragon raises its head, the dragon does not raise its head, I look up", to please their lifelong studies.

However, on February 2 of this year, there was such a small strange thing, and the major bookstalls in Beijing suddenly published a book called "Journey to the West", the author is not famous and the name is really vulgar. Xiao Letian: Look at it, the literati of the Qing Dynasty didn't write their own names, they had to use their own characters at the worst, and they had never heard of using their real names, and they were still so earthy.

However, this person named Xiao Letian had a big tone, and he actually placed a wooden board at the door of every bookstore in the capital, and a line of big characters on it almost didn't make the literati at that time crazy.

"After 20 years of European travel, I am the strongest in Western studies. Who can make a mistake or omission, and tattoo five thousand taels of silver. ”

Of course, few Qing literati at that time were willing to read this kind of book that introduced Western knowledge, and they did not take the imperial examination, and they did not use it in ordinary drinking parties and poetry meetings, so few people were really willing to learn Western studies in the Qing Dynasty at that time.

But there are exceptions to everything, and in the inland provinces, in those places where there is no intuitive feeling of the power of Westerners, people will definitely not care about Western learning. But in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin...... In these cities that were forced to close and close, the scholars deeply felt the power of foreigners, and they still had a great longing for Western studies in their hearts.

For example, in the city of Beijing, the tragic scene of the burning of the Old Summer Palace four years ago is still in front of them, and people are eager to get the secret of the power of the foreigners, but unfortunately the Qing Dynasty at that time did not have a book that could systematically introduce Western politics, economy, culture, history and even customs.

It is not that Western missionaries do not want to communicate with the scholars of the Qing Dynasty, but the East and the West are completely two sets of cultural systems, each with its own origins, and they are not really digging from the roots. The reason why Wei Yuan's atlas of the Sea Kingdom has not been taken seriously is here.

Using the values of the East to explain the development history of the West for thousands of years, there will always be a sense of rigidity between the lines. This made those Qing literati who only knew the words of the saints confused.

Xiao Lotian had already considered this question, why did he use the form of a storytelling novel to describe the entire modern history of the West? His purpose was to fill in the most crucial basic link, at least so that the people of the Qing Dynasty could understand it.

It was a standard that could not be lower, but at that time the literati were not even willing to use punctuation, their purpose was to bundle knowledge in a high cabinet and concentrate it in their small circle. Reading and understanding has become a luxury.

Xiao Letian's tone was very crazy, because he himself was very convinced that the ruling class of the Qing Dynasty, which had been turned twice by foreigners, would never ignore this book, but any literati with a little foresight could not give up this book. Therefore, Xiao Letian wants to use an extremely arrogant tone as a propaganda slogan, and he wants to use the gimmick of five thousand taels to completely stir up the atmosphere of Beijing.

Xiao Letian shamelessly plagiarized the copyright of the famous American journalist Snow and occupied the title of the book "Westward Journey" in advance. In this book, Xiao Letian describes himself as a Chinese born and raised overseas, a hero who has returned from a journey to Europe in his home country.

Five thousand taels, a full five thousand taels of silver, you can definitely buy a courtyard house with a garden in Beijing, don't look at those sour literati who are so high every day, most of their pockets are cleaner than their faces, and they can still have money to take this group of sour dices when they hear the mistake. Anyway, this book sells extremely cheaply, and ten big children can buy one.

But these literati fell into the trap carefully compiled by Xiao Letian and could not extricate themselves. When they turned the first page and began to look down, they could not get rid of the influence of this great master of Western studies for the rest of their lives.

In Xiao Letian's pen, a continent of Europa that Chinese have never seen before is displayed in front of him, and there is even a map in it. The beginning of the story still begins with the adventure of Prince Enrique, from the primitive black tribes on the west coast of Africa, to the distant North American Indians, the ancient Inca empire on the South American continent...... The great picture of the conquest of the world by Westerners is presented in front of the reader.

It is undeniable that Xiao Letian's writing is straightforward, vulgar, strictly colloquial, and not refined at all, but it is this kind of Mengtong-like text that gives everyone a sense of picture.

Since the second day of February, the literati in Beijing have collectively lost their voices, and even the Bada Hutongs have been doing light business in the past few days, and those top brands have been puzzled, only to find out that Beijing has produced a strange book that has made the readers of the whole city crazy.

All the readers were in private together, and all they talked about was one thing: "Have you read it today?" Within three days, all the sentences that everyone was talking about had become "Where does this dead eunuch live......?"

The literati class in the entire city of Beijing was completely sensational, and everyone's mouth was full of "Journey to the West", and Xiao Letian's name was all open and closed. There are obviously few people in the teahouse, and a few Eight Banners masters can get together to discuss whether the earth is round.

The officials and masters in the Bada Hutong can't smoke sweetly, and they are lying in the arms of the top brand thinking about what it is like for Western women to tie their waists very thin and their tits to be squeezed very high, and even look forward to the atmosphere of people stealing men casually.

Of course, there are also some rotten Confucians who are jumping around after reading the book, desperately looking through the sage's classics one by one to find a basis for refuting Xiao Letian, God knows if they really want to defend the sage's words, or they are working hard for the five thousand taels.

However, in ten days, the city of Beijing was a complete sensation, and even the nearest Tianjin was also a sensation, along the Grand Canal and the post road network of the Qing Dynasty, this divine book began to spread in all directions.

It was only at this time that people collectively discovered a question: "Who is this Xiao Letian, where does his family live, and why does no one in the entire literati system of the Qing Dynasty know him?"

Inquired and asked, people just got a little clue from the bookseller, it turned out that this book was printed by Fan Yao, the shopkeeper of Jin Shang Guangde, and if you want to know who Xiao Lotian is, you must first find the old shopkeeper Fan Yao. But when everyone flocked to the Guangde to investigate, they learned that Fan Yao had actually separated from his brother a few years ago and had already come out of his head.

"Let's go, I've already found out where Fan Yao's shopkeeper lives, it's in Daliushu Hutong, I'm going to go together, let's go together to urge the draft......" A group of scholars gathered in Guangde did not ride horses or sit in a sedan chair, and a group of black pressure walked straight to Fan's house.

Now in the Fan family in Daliushu Hutong, it just so happened that Xiao Lotian was here to meet guests, and the person he saw was not an outsider or Pastor Lewis who was separated in the mountains.

"Pastor Lewis, is it okay to give you a house? I want to build a small church, it's okay......"

"Thank you for your generosity, and the Lord will bless you. But what I'm talking about today isn't this, it's the 'divine revelation' you gave me, where did you get this information?" Lewis stared at Xiao Lotian tightly.

Xiao Letian smiled, "This question is really not easy to answer, I can only sue sù that you are a divine revelation, you just need to know that this news is not a prank."

The two were talking about an important piece of information, because Xiao Letian remembered an incident that happened in 1865, that is, the assassination of Lincoln.

If Xiao Letian's memory had not been confused, and if the history of the United States had not been changed by his own butterfly, Lincoln would have been re-elected president of the United States in November 1864, but his abolitionist cause and reform program had offended too many people. On April 14, 1865, inside the Ford Theatre in Washington, D.C., a madman was about to end his life.

Xiao Letian did not want this tragedy to happen again, on the one hand, he admired Lincoln himself, and on the other hand, he also considered his own actual interests, and if he wanted to establish a real cooperative relationship with foreign powers, he must have a springboard, and Lincoln's assassination incident may be an opportunity for him.

Pastor Lewis can be trusted, not only because he is a clergyman, but more importantly because of his egalitarian attitude toward Simon, a little black man. It is certain that Lewis must have been a supporter of the abolitionist cause, belonging to the same camp as Lincoln, and the information handed over to him should be credible.

Lewis pondered for a moment, "Now that there are a small number of telegraph transmissions in the east and west of the United States, and the fastest clippers have been chosen to cross the Pacific, I think it will be possible to send the intelligence over at the time you are mentioning." However, Shaw ...... Is it really good for you to gamble like this?"

Lewis seemed to be very entangled, and thought for a long time before he spoke: "If this is a false piece of information, then Minister Hua Ruohan and I will become the laughing stock of American politics." Frankly, the Minister is not a kind person, and I think he will take revenge on you, and I hope you will be mentally prepared......"

Xiao Letian smiled bitterly, and said in his heart that Lewis is really not bad, and it is enough to be able to tell him in advance. But he didn't know Xiao Letian's hardships, what this Qing Dynasty was like in his bones, Xiao Letian had already seen it clearly from history. His career is still inconspicuous in the initial stage, once the power is huge, the Manchu Qing will not reason with Xiao Letian, and will definitely destroy it as soon as possible.

"You don't understand my distress, the crisis I am facing is much bigger than you think, and in my eyes, Hua Ruohan's threat is not comparable to the crisis I am facing...... Forget it, you still help me calculate, if this thing is true, will the US government agree to the conditions I want?"

Xiao Letian's question made Lewis very embarrassed, and just as he was frowning and thinking, suddenly there was a commotion in the direction of the gate in the distance.

"We want to see Mr. Xiao, you little porter dares to stop me, get out of the way......"

"You guys are trying to lie to me, I just came from the Guangde, Fan Yao only has such a mansion now, where else can he go?"

"Mr. Xiao is out, we want to see Mr. Xiao......"

The courtyard of the shopkeeper Fan has only three entrances in total, and it is the kind with smaller specifications, and the main entrance is noisy and the study is clear. At first, these passionate literati were just buzzing like flies, but after a while, there was already a unified roar like a tsunami outside.

"Update...... Update...... Update ......" At that moment, they shouted out the hearts of the readers in the capital.