London is always so lively, so clean, so beautiful, and the people of London are always so elegant, with its shady parks and wide streets paved with cobs...... Of course, London is undoubtedly beautiful if you exclude the horse manure that can be found everywhere on the road, the beggars and thieves who rush out of the streets at any time, the hungry poor people, and the slums around the city.

London was good, at least in the eyes of some Britons, although more often than not, the aristocracy and the rich preferred to stay on their estates.

More than ten years ago, when some scholars returned to Europe from the Celestial Empire, they used the dungpit to compare European cities, and they introduced the differences of the Celestial Empire to Europeans, and the concept of urban parks was introduced to Europe at that time, and the Royal Park funded by the king became the first park in Europe. Although it is ostensibly an urban park and is open to the public, in reality, only well-dressed and upper-class people are allowed to enter the park, and ordinary people are still turned away.

For many of London's middle class, parks were built as places of leisure, and even pride. As usual, on the weekend, Thomson came to the park and sat down on a bench in Little Lake Country.

After a while, a middle-aged man walked up to Thomson and invited him to play chess, and the two chatted while playing chess. Their expressions seemed extremely focused, focused on the game. But the two of them spoke a language that ordinary people could not understand, and for almost all Europeans, it was a foreign language.

"I've already arranged for you to enter the Duke of Buckingham's mansion next month."

Then he added.

"What do you think? as his nephew. ”

Feeling the soft sunlight, Thomson looked at the chessboard and replied softly.

"Why not?"

"I don't know why I think you'd say no."

Thomson looked at the middle-aged man in front of him again, and said after a moment.

"From the day I trained, that's my job."

After a moment of thought, he continued.

"In general, this is a good choice, after all, as a relative of the nobility, it will be more beneficial to my task in the future."

As he spoke, he looked into the distance.

Although twelve years had passed, he still vividly remembered that drizzly day, when he was hungry and was struggling with the cold of the spring rain, and then the rain suddenly stopped, and a man stood beside him with an umbrella and said to him.

"Let's go, kid, you deserve a better life."

Half a year later, he arrived in Daming, the place of paradise in the eyes of people, where he no longer had to endure hunger and cold, and he truly felt the warmth of home.

Two years ago, he returned to London, no longer the street boy, but a well-mannered young man who had been well educated.

"The Duke of Buckingham has no heirs, and if nothing else, you will be the closest relative to him by blood......"

"In other words, it's possible for me to inherit his title, right?"

Putting down the chess pieces, Thomson said in the northern Zhejiang dialect.

"Who would have thought that a London outstreet would become a nobleman?"

Standing up from the bench, he said with a smile.

"It's really amazing!"

Life's circumstances are always so wonderful, at least for many people, they don't know when their fate will change, and for him, for many, too.

In June, a summer struck London, and although the rain had stopped, there was still a light rain, and the carriages walked slowly, and the people hiding under umbrellas carefully avoided the puddles on the road, and only the beggars would curl up and let the rain fall on them. The streets of London will always be a world of beggars, and there are too many beggars on the streets.

In some neighborhoods, however, beggars are rarely seen, and the patrolmen use batons to drive them out. After all, the city's upper-class people always need some clean streets for them to walk around.

William walked aimlessly down the street, his brow furrowed at times, the newspaper article distracting him from concentrating, and he had been thinking about it. So when he found out that he had walked to the city center, he couldn't help but be shocked.

The streets were full of beggars, maybe those beggars saw that he was pondering a problem, so no one bothered him, who knows?

At this moment, the screams of the newspaper seller were heard.

"News, news, the latest steam engine, the steam engine made in England, the Celestial Empire regrets it!"

News...... Don't be afraid, Britain's strength is about to surpass the Celestial Empire......"

Listening to the screams of the newspaper sellers, the corners of William's lips were raised, and his face showed mockery, this kind of news of "regret of the Celestial Empire" and "fear of the Celestial Empire" is the favorite headline of the newspaper people in London, although such articles are far from the truth and cannot withstand a little scrutiny, but they are welcomed by the public. They even really thought that now Britain had surpassed the Celestial Empire.

If the public likes to read it, the newspaper people like to read it.

"That's not bad, at least it can anesthetize their minds and make them really think they are invincible in the world......"

As William sneered, a carriage stopped in front of him.

"William, dear, did you go to see the steam engine too?"

As soon as the car stopped, a girl's delicate words came out, and the girl's beautiful blonde hair shone brightly in the sun.

"Miss Westminster."

As soon as William's words fell, the girl said unhappily.

"Call me Shirley."

"Miss Shirley, are you going there too? Perhaps, we can ride over together. ”

William's initiative immediately brought a bright smile to Shirley's face, and she immediately gladly accepted his suggestion.

The girl's reaction was seen in William's eyes, and only made him sneer secretly in his heart, these noble ladies always want to marry a "good family" in every possible way, just because they have no inheritance rights, after the death of their father in England, the property must be inherited by men, so the mother and all the sisters will not be able to continue to live in the original house, and they will lose all their income.

This is true for ordinary people, and even more so for nobles, so this daughter of the Duke of Westminster has nothing more to think about than marrying him - the nephew of the Duke of Buckingham, his only close heir.

"William, I've heard that a steam engine can send out more than a hundred horses with just coal and water, my God, that's amazing."

Shirley blinked her beautiful blue eyes and looked at the man next to her, if she could marry him, then she would be a duchess, and her status would be far greater than that of the sisters around her.

Knowing what the men liked to talk about, she tried to discuss with William what he liked.

"Indeed, the steam engine is a very magical power, and it was the Celestial Empire that invented it. As early as more than a dozen years ago. ”

"It's the Celestial Empire again, William, you say, is it true that the Celestial Empire is the closest place to heaven, as many people say, and the people there are also the smartest people in the world?"

Shirley's eyes were full of confusion, she could not understand many things, and she could not comprehend, all these doubts, not only her doubts, but also the doubts of all British, and even Europeans.

"Maybe, who knows?"

William said in a good mood.

"For more than a thousand years, the Celestial Empire has been ahead of Europe, Europe, after the collapse of the Roman Empire, the whole of Europe fell into darkness for hundreds of years, and on the other hand, the Celestial Empire, even if there were barbarian invasions and enslavements, but after they recaptured their country, they still rose very quickly, and then regained the lead in the world, I don't know if they are the smartest people, but it is certain that they must be very smart."

When talking about the Celestial Empire, William's heart once again swelled with thoughts about the Celestial Empire, only God knows how much he misses everything there, everything there is so beautiful, he would rather be a commoner in the Celestial Empire than a duke of England.

"If it's so good there, why would Blake come back from the Celestial Empire?"

Shirley asked rhetorically, a little puzzled.

Blake in her mouth was a scholar who had returned from the Celestial Empire, and it was he who brought the steam engine from the Celestial Empire and brought the most advanced technology of the Celestial Empire to England.

"I think that's something only Blake himself knows."

Who wants to go back to this?

William was also very curious.

“…… When I was in the Celestial Empire, almost every day, I missed this place, maybe England was far inferior to the Celestial Empire, London was not even comparable to an ordinary small city, let alone China, but this is my hometown. ”

Standing in front of the large steam engine, Blake's words were not finished, and the onlookers applauded for his patriotism.

"However, I can't leave easily, because I know that almost every day, the Celestial Empire is surpassing us, and when the Celestial Empire has more than 10,000 steam engines, the British are still hearsay watching the ominous structure of the steam mechanism drawing, and when the Celestial ships are sailing on the sea, the British don't even know how the steam works, even now......"

Turning his head and pointing to the huge steam engine behind him, Blake's expression became solemn.

"You see, this was the first steam engine in England and even in Europe, but in the Celestial Empire they have tens of thousands of such steam engines, gentlemen, times have changed, and now the Celestial Empire has entered the age of steam, and if we do not catch up, then soon, we will have to face a reality...... Come the threat of your own Celestial Empire! ”

Standing in front of the steam engine, Blake said with a serious expression.

"Some people will say that the Celestial Empire has never posed a threat to Europe, that they are not Turks, that they will not force the followers of God to convert to heresy, nor will they take away our children, turn our children into their warriors, and then slaughter us, but, gentlemen, do not forget that one day, when the Celestial Empire's railroad is paved all the way from China to Paris, their expansion will expand with the railroad all the way to Europe, and in the words of the Celestial Empire, there is a distinction between Huayi and Yi, and we, the Yi, are the barbarians in their eyes......"

This damn fellow, is inciting hostility towards the Celestial Empire, William immediately asked exasperated and aloud.

"Mr. Black, if this is the case, why are so many British, Europeans willing to go to the Celestial Empire, and they even think that it is the best place in the world, where there are not only temples of the Celestial Empire, but also churches that worship God, and how can this be explained?"

William's rhetorical question made Blake say with a smile.

"This gentleman, you must have never been to the Celestial Empire, only when you are in the Celestial Empire, feel the strength of the Celestial Empire, feel the backwardness of Britain, you will realize that if we don't catch up, one day, we will be the Indians of the Americas, and the Celestial Empire people will be the Europeans of the new university, gentlemen, we must face up to their threats......"

Of course, Blake's agitation did not resonate with everyone, and in the eyes of almost everyone, this exaggerated statement was merely a show off of his own merits.

Next, Blake naturally exaggerated how he fought with the customs all his life, how he disguised the drawings of the steam engine and many mechanical books under their surveillance, and how he hid all this along the way, in short, no one doubted that the Celestial Empire even sent a fleet to intercept him, and of course, was also dumped by a clever Dutch captain.

It's all a liar!

William secretly thought to himself, but this is what people like to see, no one will care, the contraband searched by the customs is only limited to undeclared goods, as for the books he carries, the customs does not care at all, and he still left from the Qin State, God can testify, there are cultural exchanges between the Xia never stopped, for the customs, they just regarded him as a scholar who went to the Qin State to give lectures, but he stepped on the Dutch merchant ship in the Qin State.

Although he knew that this was all boasting, it was undeniable that people liked to listen to it, and it also showed his patriotism.

Compared with Blake, William was more concerned about the books he brought back, looking at the few books on the table, he picked up one casually, he even saw a Chinese title page, "The Principle of the Steam Engine" This is the textbook compiled by Qinghe Academy, and it is also the most basic knowledge, although basic, with this book, any scholar and engineer in Europe can make a new steam engine.

What a damn guy!

Looking at Blake, who was enjoying people's compliments and people's flattery in the crowd, William scolded secretly.

"What's the matter, William."

Sensing William's displeasure, Shirley asked softly.

"It's nothing, I just think it's wrong for Blake to be like this, the Celestial Empire is our true friend......"

William shrugged his shoulders and said.

"He didn't even know what he was talking about! He's an idiot! ”