Blatant corruption and going through the back door, this is really a trivial matter in the Celestial Empire.

If there is a shortage of fat in the navy, there must be, and Dang Xuanming is to ask for directions, and Liu Yu does not need to stretch out his hand to operate.

"Fourth brother, this is the ...... How to say it. The Navy now has a shelf, and whether it will be promoted to the Admiralty in the future or not will have to wait for the decision of the court and His Majesty. For now, I advise you not to rush for the time being. ”

"So many of you have followed Qi Guogong around, Your Majesty will definitely have an arrangement. In this way, I will go to Qi Guogong to find out the bottom first, and I will reply to you when I get the news. ”

"Let me put it this way, it's not a good time to squeeze into the navy now."

In the future, once the Admiralty is established, there will definitely be a lot of redundant personnel in it, and many fat shortages will inevitably be occupied by the children of these nobles or officials, such as logistics, clothing procurement, etc., and the front-line captains ...... It's not something you can squeeze in by squeezing in.

There is no more of him, and there is no less of him, in the end, it depends on how the emperor gets it.

Dang Xuanming didn't feel that Liu Yu was prevaricating, so he had to say: "Qi Guogong, there is also a rumor." It is said that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be established, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be in charge, and the government of Li will stand side by side. The government is only in charge of tributary countries, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is in charge of non-tributary countries. Honestly, it's not a good job. ”

"It's not a tributary country, and there's no oil and water. You see, this time the Korean tribute mission entered Beijing, and the Li government brought some oil and water, and there was a custom of collecting money for house repairs, food, clothing, housing, and transportation. ”

"People go to North Korea to canonize, which one is not getting 35,000 taels? The subordinates are divided, the main and deputy envoys eat meat, and the subordinates drink soup...... This Ministry of Foreign Affairs doesn't look like it has any oil and water. I don't want to go. ”

The oil rubbing for the DPRK has been going on since ancient times. Except for North Korea, the tributary is actually an official monopoly trade, and there must be a lot of oil and water in it.

Diplomacy...... Many people still can't understand diplomacy, and always feel that if it weren't for the tributaries, free trade, and all the oil and water were taken away by the customs people, then what was left of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs?

Dashun is not the late Qing Dynasty, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is of great significance, after all, the head of the land guard, whether he can rule depends on the face of the foreigner.

Now this situation is really awkward.

Those who kneel and lick are under the control of the government; The rest of the trade and disputes belong to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and there is no need to look at the faces of foreigners, it really sounds like a Qingshui Yamen.

Liu Yu smiled: "You are so unoptimistic? ”

"Not optimistic. It's like surveying the boundary with Rakshasas, this must be under the control of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, let the Li government take care of it, one is not a tributary country, and the other is not understandable. ”

"Boundary survey, can you get money? Of course you can hug it, but this money ...... When you hold it in your hand, it's easy to lose your head. It's different when you go to North Korea, and it's already customary to ask for money for canonization. The king of Joseon gave, can you not do it? You don't have to open your mouth, you have your own routines. ”

"Even if the Rakshasa people give money, who would dare to accept such a big thing as boundary surveying? That's why I said, this Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the whole Qingshui Yamen, is still issued by His Majesty's internal funds. The money in the treasury is easy to earn, and the money in the treasury is hot. ”

"Hahahaha......" Liu Yu laughed for a while before he said, "Let's go!" Cease! I'll go to Qi Guogong to inquire. In this case, I'll make a game in a few days, and you can call all the friends who went to Europe this time, and let's have a good talk. My earl's palace hasn't been built yet, so let's borrow my father's first. I'll also inquire about the news in the next few days, and we'll talk about it then. ”

"Then I'll go first. Go to your uncle and aunt to say goodbye. Don't leave for food. ”

got up to say goodbye, turned to his uncle and aunt, said a word, and hurried to Qi Guogong's.

As soon as he entered the door, Qi Guogong, who had not seen him for many years, came to greet Liu Yu and entered the main hall.

When he came before, Liu Yu was still a nephew with no identity; Now it is very different, and the etiquette that should be followed is not missing at all.

"Usual, you've come just in time. This time I went to Europa, and I was very emotional, and I had so much to say. Your Majesty kept me for two days, and I only said half of it. ”

is completely different from Dang Xuanming's emotion, Qi Guogong's emotion is much more, and it can be seen that his expression is also extremely excited.

After a few years of wind and frost, he looks a lot older, after all, he is on the road most of the time, and the broken places like Russia and the bitter cold of Siberia are too tiring. Even if you just pass by, you must have suffered a lot.

Talking about the fact that he had just come out of his uncle's place, he couldn't help but talk about Dang Xuanming's insight into this trip to Europe.

"What do they know about these dolls? It is what the bird sees, and what it eats; What the fish sees, so does the water; What the scholar sees, righteousness also; The holy place is seen, and the way is also. ”

"I've walked this lap, and I've felt a lot of emotion. As the saying goes, the ruler is short and the inch is long, and there are some things that Westerners still have to learn in the Celestial Empire. ”

Judging from Dang Xuanming's attitude, Liu Yu really didn't think that Dang Xuanming was a little arrogant, stupid and ignorant.

It's the European system, and there's really nothing to learn at this time. Culturally, the Celestial Empire still has a great sense of superiority.

The real strength is hidden beneath the surface, and it is difficult to say whether Europe's sudden explosive growth is a qualitative change caused by quantitative changes, or a kind of suddenness under the coincidence of chance.

For the time being, even if Watt improved the steam engine, not to mention the East, even France that was so close reacted for a long time, and it was not until the textile industry was affected that it reacted to stress.

However, Qi Guogong felt a lot of emotion, and now he was excited, which made Liu Yu quite curious.

"When I was in France, the French invited me to see the siege, and I knew that it was the French showing their national prestige. Even though it ended up being a joke, I was also apprehensive. ”

"Fortunately, before I came back, I heard that the Celestial Empire Army had changed, and my hanging heart was put down. Normal, this thing is well done. Otherwise, when I come back this time, I will definitely ask Your Majesty to reform the matter. ”

Seeing that he was talking about the army again, Liu Yu didn't want to talk about it, but modestly revealed it and said: "I was at my uncle's place, and I heard that His Majesty wants to entrust the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Duke of Guo?" ”

"It's not just the Ministry of Foreign Affairs." Qi Guogong couldn't help sighing, he felt a little headache about the things that the emperor asked him to take care of.

"He also asked me to be in charge of translating Western books. This time, the books of 30,000 or 40,000 taels of silver were not the bamboo slips of Confucius's time, but dozens of carts full of books, tens of thousands. Although I don't do the translation work directly, there are not enough translators. ”

"Those who know Western may not understand the content of the book. The imperial court forbade Christianity, and those who knew Western dialect were mostly Catholics, and His Majesty was unwilling to use them. You know what I mean? ”

Translating foreign books, Qi Guogong is just a name, and doing organizational work is it. This kind of thing is also the daily life of the nobles, Liu Yu's father is still famous, in order to express the importance of the previous dynasty and the replacement of the old and the new, he also famously repaired the history of the Ming Dynasty.

Qi Guogong's meaning is easy to understand.

In fact, there are many people in the DPRK and the world, who know Western languages.

However, many people who know Western languages are proficient in science, not science.

Even for characters like Xu Guangqi in the previous dynasty, the second half of the original geometry can't be understood, so they can only wait for Matteo Ricci to translate.

But Matteo Ricci used this thing to fish, where is he willing to turn it all at once? After that, the missionaries who came were of average level, but fortunately, there were a few characters in the imperial court before, and they were finally finished.

But those are all books from 2,000 years ago, and a lot of books that I got back this time are troublesome to translate.

Especially in the context of the ban on religion in the imperial court, there was also a huge "translation project" in the previous dynasty, but most of the books in that plan were religious books.

This time, we must eliminate religious books.

Excluding religious books, some people who know Western languages will not be useful, because they know the most religious vocabulary, and they are also worried about these people adding religious private goods to them.

Besides, it's okay for them to translate a theological book, and to translate and translate the content of these science and engineering subjects, especially the new achievements of the past few years, ordinary people don't have that ability.

Hearing the strings, Qi Guogong is looking for someone to borrow from himself? This is completely different from the route he envisioned, and he does not think that it is very cost-effective to spend a lot of effort to translate a large number of books.

"Guogong, in fact, you want me to say that there is no hurry to translate. I have a few young men who can translate these practical books, but ...... There is a priority in everything. ”

"To put it mildly, which books should be translated first, and which books can be said later, the kid has a good idea in his heart."

"I can't move the manpower on my side. If I really want to use it, it will take three or five years, and I will train a group of people who can take over the translation of these practical books, but I haven't learned them yet. ”

"Your Majesty has given you a time limit?"

Qi Guogong shook his head and said with a smile: "I didn't give it." But Your Majesty's temperament, you also know. Just say that if you want to win, you must first communicate, and if you want to communicate, you must first translate. His Majesty listened to me about the situation of the war in the West, and he was also impatient. ”

"I spent tens of thousands of taels of silver to buy a book and came back, and Your Majesty also knows the superiority of Westerners in machinery and military formations, so he is naturally anxious."

"But this is different from military reform after all. Military reform, with the foundation left by Emperor Taizong, it is easy to train officers; But this translation, relying on the foundation left by Emperor Taizong, is not enough. ”

His Majesty deliberately instructed that when translating, it must be strictly examined. In order to prevent the demagogic language of Western religion from spreading, the missionaries who were officials in the DPRK and China were unreliable, and most of the people in the DPRK and China who knew Western languages were former believers. I'm thinking about it, and I can only find someone from you. ”

"But since you say there is a priority, I don't quite understand what it is. In this way, you can translate a few copies over there, and send them over, and I will be able to hand them over. ”

"The main reason is that His Majesty told me to choose people, and I can't use religious people, where can I find so many people who know Latin?"

After talking about the shortcomings in talents, Qi Guogong talked about one thing that he had deeply understood before.

Translation of Xinyada.

When I found Liu Yu, I asked Liu Yu to help translate the national letter to the Rakshasa Kingdom, and I listened to Liu Yu talk about Russian history and a brief history of Byzantium for most of the day, which was to figure out the quality of the translation.

Now that we have to translate, we need to remove religious books, and there are historical books, practical studies, and technology, which makes it even more difficult to translate.

Experience in translating technical books; To translate history books, you have to understand the history of the West; The practical study of translation must have a mathematical foundation.

This can also be boiled down to the problem of "talent", and the standard of translatability is the real headache.

"For example, if you speak of 'algebra,' the missionary translates it as 'Alzhebara,' when you say 'Ireland,' the missionary translates it as 'Zepenia,' and when you say 'Spain,' it translates as 'Ezebiña,'......"

"Now, those who study with you know Ireland, but they do not know Zepenia; Those who follow the missionaries know Alzhebara, but not algebra. ”

"How can the same book be translated into two books if the translators are different?"

"If I hadn't gone to Europa in person, even if His Majesty asked me to preside over the translation, I would have dealt with the matter, just find some people to flip through it casually, I don't care if it's Algebara or algebra?"

"But now that you are gone, you should know the length of the size. In this case, this translation is not a trivial matter, and it must be translated well. ”

"Otherwise, it should be a great responsibility to mislead the country."