Ps. First of all, I would like to thank the two book friends who gave the name of Shen Annoyance and Lazy Meow for their rewards, thank you for your support.

The weather in Berlin in June is cool and pleasant, but the city of Beijing in June is also hot and dry.

After drifting on the sea for more than a year and crossing the equator many times, Prince Heinrich has long been afraid of the cold and heat, but after really going north from Hong Kong and coming to Beijing, Heinrich still feels that the heat in Beijing is unbearable in June.

The route plan of Heinrich and his entourage was to board the ship in Hong Kong, pass through Xiamen, Ningbo, and Qingdao, go ashore from Dagukou in Zhili, take a carriage through Tianjin City, and then travel northwest along the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, passing through Tongzhou, and arriving at Beijing City.

It can be said that every Westerner who came to East Asia for the first time imagined the capital of the Qing Dynasty in the description of the mysterious, gold-covered oriental capital recorded in Marco Polo's travels, and the great capital that fascinated generations of Westerners.

When he first arrived in Asia, he visited the mysterious capital of this great travelogue for the first time, which filled Heinrich with infinite reverie and anticipation before setting off from Hong Kong, but as soon as he boarded the ship, Minister Barland poured cold water on Heinrich first.

"Henry, you have to know that the higher the expectations, the greater the disappointment. I have here a pamphlet written by Mr. James Bruce Jr., and I think you should read it first, for this Earl was the first person in the modern West to describe the country of the East. ”

Earl James Bruce Jr., the eighth generation of the Earl of Elgin of Scotland, led the LinkedIn French army to march to Beijing in 1860, and wrote his diary of what he saw and heard along the way in East Asia, which was later compiled into a book and published in the West, causing a huge sensation.

In any case, the contrast between the 13th-century Marco Polo's travelogue and the 19th-century pamphlet of the Count of Ergin, with their descriptions of the land, its customs, and its characters, only aroused Heinrich's greater curiosity.

When they first arrived at Dagukou, the British merchant ships had just entered the mouth of the Haihe River, and Heinrich, who was standing on the deck, saw from a distance the Dagukou fort group built by the Qing army on the north and south banks of the Haihe River.

These cyan forts made of bricks and stones, shaded by the willows on both sides of the Haihe River, and the blue sky and white clouds, are very poetic and picturesque.

Under the efforts of Minister Barland, Heinrich realized that the five largest and most conspicuous round batteries in this huge group of batteries were called "Wei", "Zhen", "Hai", "Gate" and "Gao" by the Qing people.

"The Qing people attached great importance to coastal defense, and they were very romantic, and they would actually give the fort a romantic name." Heinrich smiled and commented on his first impression of Qingguo, but this romantic feeling only lasted in Heinrich's heart until he landed.

As soon as he landed on Qing soil, Heinrich immediately discovered a shocking sense of poverty, which was caused by the officials of the Qing Prime Minister's Yamen, who came to greet the German mission, and these officials hired a large number of ordinary people in Tianjin to serve the German mission.

These hired to serve tea and pour water, sweep the floor and cook for the German mission, ordinary Qing people can no longer be ordinary Qing people, in Heinrich's eyes, everyone is so thin, in this group of Qing people, Heinrich can not find anything similar to the beer belly body of ordinary Germans, or the joyful faces of ordinary Germans.

At the beginning of the landing, after enjoying a sumptuous lunch prepared by the Qing officials, Heinrich was surprised to see that the Qing officials paid these Qing ordinary people were actually the leftovers of their food, as well as the tea used by the mission and the Qing officials.

In stark contrast to the leftovers of his own people, the gift received by the German mission to the Qing court was, in Heinrich's eyes, the most generous gift he had ever seen.

As soon as he arrived at the wharf at Dagukou, Heinrich saw from a distance that the open space outside the wharf was crowded with a large number of cattle, sheep, pigs, and even a large number of poultry. When Minister Barand told Heinrich that this was the highest tradition in this ancient country to welcome foreign envoys, Heinrich was surprised by the large number of livestock.

According to Western diplomatic practice, except for the special invitation of the country concerned, the expenses of the general mission visit are at their own expense, from food to transportation, to accommodation, but the two officials of the Qing Prime Minister's Affairs Yamen, who greeted Prince Heinrich and his party, told Prince Heinrich that from the moment they set foot on the land of the Qing State, they and his party will be received by the Qing court free of charge and luxurious.

And the cattle that greeted the German mission were only the beginning.

Looking at this first generous and rich gift, Heinrich vaguely saw Marco Polo's pen that the eastern country was super wealthy. But the evaluation of this wealth and generosity, in Heinrich's opinion, seemed to apply only to this court, and not to ordinary people.

The most direct example is that because these two Qing officials sent too many livestock, and some of the livestock and poultry had become dying due to crowding and collision during transportation, the German mission that accepted these gifts was ready to discard these dead animals.

But after discovering this intention of the Germans, the ordinary people of the Qing Dynasty who were watching the excitement around them rushed to grab these discarded items, some of them were quick to wash them directly with the water of the Haihe River, and then quickly found containers and salted them in salt.

Minister Barland, who had long been surprised by this situation, explained softly to the newcomer Heinrich, "Henry, don't be surprised, it is not easy for ordinary Qing people to eat meat. This is an ancient country with strict hierarchies, and the rudeness and recklessness of these lower classes is due to long-term hunger and poverty, so please forgive Henry for their recklessness and rudeness. ”

"Uncle Maximilien, I'm not surprised by the behavior of this group of ordinary people, I just think ....." Heinrich scratched his hair with his hand, "I just think that the court that treats ordinary people like this, their rule may not last long." ”

Minister Barland shrugged his shoulders and said helplessly, "Contrary to our perception, the emperors of the Qing State have ruled this country for hundreds of years, and the lives of these ordinary people have been like this, even after the terrible civil war in the past few years, the emperor and government of the Qing State can still effectively control the country, if there are no accidents, it seems that they can rule for another few hundred years." ”

"And they." Balander Gong used his mouth to signal to the Qing people who were watching around him, and said, "They are an indescribable people, they are especially good at patience, and they can endure those things that we Westerners think are impossible to endure. ”

"Henry, this country is ancient, there was once a glorious civilization, and although it is now defeated, this people, especially their nobles and officials, have never realized this, and they are proud, proud enough to reject everything that might change the traditions of this country."

"To understand what's going on in this land, Henry, you need to start as an observer, take a closer look at everything in this magical country, shock, this is just the beginning." Minister Barland patted Heinrich on the shoulder.

As it turned out, as Minister Barland said, this was only the beginning of a series of surprises for Heinrich.

On the way from Dagukou to Tianjin, there are large and small villages scattered across the vast North China Plain. Heinrich was keenly aware that there were hardly any trees to be seen along the way, except around the village, and that as long as there were trees in the distance, it must be a village.

As he walked through the villages, Heinrich saw low, thatched-roofed, mud-walled bungalows, and only as he walked through the village did he occasionally come across a courtyard made of gray masonry. Along the way, there was no tall house and farmhouse like the German Junkers, and Heinrich could see it, and the Qing village under the shade of trees was a scene of poverty.

It was only when he walked through the farmland that the green wheat fields gave Heinrich a sense of relief, because it was afternoon, and there were no farmers doing farm work in the fields, and Heinrich could not compare the gap between the agricultural tools used by the farmers of Germany and Qingdao to work.

If the countryside still gave Heinrich the impression of poverty, then the impression of Tianjin city on Heinrich was downright dirty and ugly.

In the city of Tianjin in the summer, under the hoarse shout, Heinrich on the horse raised his eyes, there are an unbelievable number of tinea capitis patients in the Qing country in Tianjin, almost every step will be encountered, the head of the head with scabies jaundice and alopecia of the Qing people, this situation makes Heinrich, who has just had lunch, unbearable and just wants to vomit.

Trying to remove his gaze from the heads of the surrounding crowd of onlookers, Heinrich's gaze fell on the road in Tianjin, which was wide, very wide, and not inferior to Unter den Linden Street in terms of the scale of the road. But apart from being wide, the road is nothing good, full of potholes, and the pavement is paved with gravel and cinders.

In Heinrich's mind, the pavement of Unter den Linden is paved with a single stone slab, and the city administrators of Berlin do not even allow the slightest damage to the pavement slate, but if there is any damage, it will be replaced immediately, and this road condition will never appear in the city.

Looking at this poor road condition, Heinrich could only blame the problem on the dereliction of duty and malfeasance of Tianjin officials.

Echoing the poor roads are the buildings in Tianjin, although there are many shops on both sides of the road, but the decaying colonnades and loose trusses indicate that these buildings are old buildings, and the city is full of dilapidated old houses and ruins, Heinrich really could not find any signs of breaking ground to build new houses.

Heinrich shook his head lightly and said in his heart, "It seems that this city of this ancient country has not had new buildings for a long time, and a city that does not build new buildings, or even a country, shows that they have long stagnated materially and spiritually. ”

The officials sent by the Governor's Office to protect the mission, and at the same time to maintain order, were whipping the crowd that dared to approach the carriage of the mission, and the clothes of the officials, like the crowd of onlookers, were not neat and clean at all, and even the clothes of the most simple craftsmen in Germany were more decent than those of these officials.

And these curious crowds of onlookers of the German mission simply ignored the whips in the hands of the officials. The whips of the servants fell on these people, and they only whipped the already tattered clothes even more.

"Oh my God!" Heinrich shook his head helplessly, turned to Minister Barand and said, "Dear Uncle Maximilian, should we protest against the actions of this group of officials, these ordinary people in the Qing Kingdom are just curious, there is no need to beat them at all." ”

Minister Barland looked at Heinrich's sympathetic face, shrugged his shoulders helplessly, and after a few words of negotiation with the officials of the Yamen who accompanied the Prime Minister's affairs, he turned to Heinrich and said, "Henry, the officials of the Qing Kingdom said that if we do not drive them away, they will hinder our trip, and the Qing officials insist that this is their tradition, and they have been managing these people in this way for thousands of years. ”

"Ah, it's been like this for thousands of years?!" Heinrich was surprised and asked, "Don't they know that whipped their own people in the presence of a foreign mission was a repealed law in the Middle Ages in Europe?" ”

"And every European lord knows that such a misconduct of his subjects can only cause others to have more contempt for this lord in the eyes of outsiders?"

"Henry, this is the East, it is a country without Western civilization, this is their tradition, according to our foreign policy, we should not interfere, this kind of thing is currently the internal affairs of the Qing State."

"It's a terrible foreign policy, it's not in line with the Christian spirit of our faith, but we can do better, we should bring civilization here....."

"Yes, Henry, I think so too, but Berlin wants to help the Qing Kingdom obtain material civilization first, and Berlin thinks that a rich Qing country is always more receptive to the modern civilization of the West than a poor Qing country, so this is the important purpose of your visit." Minister Barand explained as best he could.

With endless regret, Heinrich crossed the city of Tianjin, came to the canal, prepared to change into the ships prepared by the Qing Dynasty, and traveled along the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal to the city of Beijing.

In order to allow the German mission to enter Beijing as soon as possible, the two officials of the Prime Minister's Affairs Department temporarily decided to requisition the common people to pull fiber. Heinrich watched the two officers shout at his entourage, and after a while an officer in armor hurried with a small group of soldiers.

Minister Barland, who was familiar with the Qing official system, introduced Heinrich, "The general summoned by these two officials is a general in charge of the grain transportation department of the Qing State, and according to the official rank of the Qing State, he should be called the General Army. ”

The general soldier mentioned by Minister Barland is the Tianjin general soldier Lei Ming under the governor of Zhili River Water Conservancy, which is often referred to as the Caoyun general soldier.

In Heinrich's eyes, the general made a cumbersome greeting to the two officials from the prime minister's office, and then stood in front of the two officials and respectfully accepted the reprimand.

Minister Barand glanced at Heinrich, who was shocked, and explained, "In the Qing Dynasty, civilian officials had a higher status than generals, and even a small civilian official could reprimand a general of a higher class than himself. In addition, there is a saying in the Qing State that officials in Beijing go out and are automatically promoted to three levels. ”

"Generals are so humiliated, is there still the dignity of a soldier? How can a soldier without dignity fight a war?! Heinrich shook his head and complained in a low voice, "The soldier regards honor as his life, and if this happens in Germany, I think the German soldier will throw white gloves in the face of this official, and only by killing him, or being killed, can he defend this honor of the soldier." ”

"God, the soldiers of the Qing Kingdom are simply incredible......"

Next, the performance of the Tianjin general soldier continued to shake Heinrich's almost numb nerves. Lei sent his soldiers out and began to sweep the villages of Tianjin on both sides of the canal, quickly driving the people out of their villages.

In the memoirs of Heinrich's later generations, the scene was described as follows: "The soldiers they sent soon brought back a group of men. The men were the most miserable-looking men I had ever seen, and one by one they fell to their knees and were questioned by the soldiers, who pleaded in vain that going far away from home would ruin their business and bring misery to their wives and children, and their families, but the general was unmoved by these pleas, and ordered them to be ready in an hour, or they would be killed. ”

"This is a scene unimaginable in Europe, and the arbitrariness of this general Lei reflects that neither the rule of law nor the protection afforded to the people of the Qing State is very good. The injustice and tyranny of the Qing Dynasty is a manifestation of the injustice and tyranny of the Qing Dynasty to force a group of honest and hard-working citizens to abandon their families and engage in labor that is harmful to themselves. ”

"These poor people only pay about fifty pfennigs for a day's salary, and General Lei of the Qing State not only does not provide food and arrange accommodation, but also does not give them the money to go home. Such servitude would be considered cruel slavery wherever it was, so many Qing people did not want this salary, and they kept fleeing along the way. ”

While brutally killing the fugitives, in order to find a replacement, the general sent his soldiers to a nearby village, and unexpectedly pulled some villagers out of their beds to join the slenderman's team. The soldiers kept whipping these thin men, who were obviously short of food and clothing, and the emaciated slender men, in order to urge them to speed up the speed of pulling the fibers, and watched the long whips in the hands of these soldiers whip at these poor people without hesitation, and in my eyes, these poor people seemed to be a team of horses. ”

"To make matters worse, as I walked along the famous canal of the Qing Kingdom, I could see little pale hands from abandoned babies at any time in the garbage floating in the river. God, abandoned babies are an unpardonable sin in Christendom, but here they are taken as commonplace. ”

"I once saw the body of a dead baby, with a gourd tied to it, drifting among the passing ships. People turned a blind eye to it as if it were just the carcass of a dog. In fact, if it was really a dog, it might be more able to attract the attention of these Qing people on the boat. ”

"The officials of the Qing State are doing their best to implement the emperor's will, and in all the links that greet us, they are making every effort to show the wealth and strength of this Eastern Empire, and the gifts given to us are unusually rich, and the officials who receive us along the way are also respectful, but I think the will of the emperor of this empire has not been understood by every ordinary Qing citizen after all."

"The towns and poor ordinary people we see along the way, who have been enslaved without dignity, these details expose the unimaginable embarrassing side of this large country that is prosperous and prosperous on the outside, poverty."

"Five hours after leaving Tongzhou, when we walked through a particularly bad road, we suddenly saw a tall city wall standing majestically in front of us. The city walls are built around the city, with tall towers interspersed or towering over the walls, and the tops are inlaid with colored porcelain. One of the towers leads to a gate that leads us into the city of Beijing, the capital of the Qing dynasty. ”