I'm going to post a chapter today, a big chapter. Everyone is interested in adding a group: four, four, six, five, six, one, three, four, two.

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Wei Lianli went to Canton on a ship called Harald.

Of course, Harald did not send Wei Lianli to go, Zhou Lang told Harald to let him go to Guangzhou to purchase goods, and make another trip to India as soon as possible, although it has reached January of the solar calendar, but China is still winter, and now it is a normal sailing season, and he will return before June next year.

Zhou Lang had reached a tacit agreement with Colin, Colin sent a ship to send two thousand rifles, and also sent thirty heavy guns, and ten technicians casually, who would help install these thirty 24-pounder fortress guns on the fort, and the old fort of Drumxun would also be renovated.

Sending two thousand rifles, this is the tacit agreement, Colin is going to recruit three thousand, and the rifle stock is only five thousand in total, so he has a good reason to intercept three thousand. As for sending thirty heavy artillery, this was not Colin's sudden kindness and planned to strengthen the firepower of Zhou Lang's army, but it was used to arm the battery, and the port of Tagu was in the hands of Zhou Lang, which was in the interests of the East India Company and even the British, so this was to protect the port of Tagu. If he really had the heart to strengthen Zhou Lang's strength, he would not only give heavy artillery, but none of those infantry guns.

With these heavy artillery, the firepower level of Zhou Lang's army is not without improvement, at least the old guns of the Qing army on the fort, as well as the naval guns on Xie Qinggao's ship can be vacated, those old guns are let craftsmen build artillery trucks, converted into infantry guns to use, and the naval guns are left five as siege guns, and ten are loaded on Xie Qinggao's ship again.

In the past few months, Zhou Lang has not slackened, and the training of the army is extremely strict, at least Fischer has said that Zhou Lang's 800 soldiers are now capable of fighting and can be sent to the battlefield. It is not easy to teach illiterate soldiers observation techniques, but it is not difficult to reload operations and the like, and under hard training, a hundred artillery soldiers have been able to mechanically carry out all tactical actions such as loading and firing.

Chen Zhizhi was appointed as the commander of the artillery and led the 100 artillerymen, because Chen Zhizhi, as a son of a landlord, he really had read books, and all technical arms could not all be illiterate, under Zhou Lang's strict supervision, Chen Zhizhi was also hardworking, and he was the only officer who learned the art of artillery observation and sighting. In addition, there is another important reason for Chen Shunzhi to be the commander of artillery, this person is not bold enough, he has lived in a family that has been oppressed by his sisters-in-law since he was a child, so he is timid by nature, such a person to charge into battle, it is simply to drive sheep and tigers, and he can only let him command artillery for long-distance combat.

Now that Chen Zhizhi has eight Qing cannons in his hands, as well as five heavy guns converted from naval guns, Zhou Lang's army finally has a decent artillery.

As for going to the battlefield, there is no chance yet, Colin made a suggestion to send troops to attack the Qing army in Donggang, he will send five warships to come, but on land Zhou Lang has to send troops.

For this suggestion, Zhou Lang was full of suspicions, the other party only sent the navy, but not infantry, he doubted whether the other party was holding the purpose of weakening himself by the hands of the Qing army, if he really wanted to fight Donggang, why didn't he send his three hundred soldiers, those are the modern army that can skillfully use rifles, and Zhou Lang's soldiers, although according to Fischer, have completed the training, but they have just been equipped with rifles, their pace training has indeed become instinctive, but most people have just begun to contact the use of rifles, How could such an army go to war.

So Zhou Langwan rejected Colin's proposal. On the contrary, it is suggested that Colin let the fleet go to Guangzhou to purchase supplies as soon as possible, and take advantage of the end of the winter monsoon to make a trip to India, and strive to make the company profitable as soon as possible to return to shareholders. Colin couldn't refuse this, anyway, the purpose of occupying the left battalion was for trade, the temporary military pressure was not great, the material reserves were sufficient, and it was a complete waste of capital to leave five armed merchant ships empty.

However, he only sent three armed merchant ships to Canton to trade, and two remained in Zuoying in case of emergency.

At this time, it was the end of January, and the visit of the Magalny mission had ended, and both Zhou Lang and Colin had received the news through different channels that the Magalny mission had failed, as in history.

Zhou Lang learned the news through Harald's fleet, and before returning to Zuoying, Harald had made a brief call in Macao, which was still December, but the news had already grown wings and spread among the foreigners in Macao, because everyone was concerned about this matter, the British wanted to obtain privileges, and the merchants of other countries were worried about the British obtaining privileges. As a result, Magalny's defeat made the British angry and angry, while merchants and business representatives from other countries were eager to open champagne.

Zhou Lang can't judge what kind of psychological reaction Colin will have after learning the news, nor can he judge what actions he will make because of this, but he thinks that Colin's mood will not be too good.

But Zhou Lang himself did not have any special feelings, because of the defeat of Magalny, in his opinion, this was inevitable, Zhou Lang's appearance, as well as Zhou Lang's actions in Taiwan, were not enough to change the major events of history, and Qianlong, who decided the outcome of this historical event, would not have any thoughts about the British because of what happened in Taiwan, so he would not give the British privileges.

However, this historical event, Zhou Lang has some new views. In the history books, both the West and China blamed this matter on Qianlong's arrogance, saying that it was because of Qianlong's arrogance that China opened its doors decades late, and eventually led to the Opium War and the decline of China.

But judging from the news obtained by Zhou Lang, Qianlong did not have the same face as described in the history books, and the Manchu government was not so arrogant in treating the British envoys, but on the contrary, it gave the British extremely high preferential treatment, but this preferential treatment was in the Chinese way and was not recognized by the British.

On the contrary, from the very beginning, the Magalny mission had some smack of provocation, and even according to the Western way, they did not reconcile with etiquette. Originally, it was stipulated that the Magalny mission should land in Macao, which is why Zhou Lang had planned to wait for Magalny in Macao, and then take the land from Macao to Guangzhou, and then travel all the way inland north to Beijing.

However, after a short stay in Macao for more than 6 months, the Magalny delegation did not go to Guangzhou in disregard of the reception itinerary arranged by the Guangdong government, but directly and rashly sailed from the sea to Zhoushan to land, and this was the first time in 36 years that a Western merchant ship had entered the waters of central China since Qianlong announced a trade treaty, and this was a serious provocation. However, the local authorities in Guangzhou, out of a friendly mentality, sent official letters to the provincial governments that were supposed to receive them along the road, saying that they had taken the sea and land because the British had prepared a lot of gifts and were worried about the damage caused by the land route, and hoped that the coastal provinces would receive them.

After landing in Zhoushan, Magarni was received in the ports where he passed, and they were entertained on their ships.

In the end, when Emperor Qianlong learned of the situation, he also approved their landing from Tianjin, which was considered to have resolved the possibility of diplomatic conflict caused by this accident.

According to some true and false information, Zhou Lang knew that the Magalny fleet had also been well received between Tianjin and Beijing, and all the grain, vegetables and meat they needed were provided by the local government. The government even mobilized public opinion to publicize the arrival of the British minister, and the major opera troupes in the capital worked overtime to rehearse the drama of the English envoys worshipping the emperor.

However, these kindnesses were finally interpreted viciously by Magalny, who did not regard the help provided by the local government as a kind of kindness, but lashed out and ridiculed in his diary, saying that the local government sent endless meat, and they threw the dead pigs and sheep into the river, and the local people immediately jumped into the river to salvage them, for which Magalny lamented the poverty of the Chinese.

When their big boat arrived in Tianjin, they found that the Baihe River was shallow, and the local government caught some local boatmen on the street, carried them into Beijing in small boats, and ran aground because of the drop in the water level, and beat the boardboards of these boatmen.

It is true that the Manchu government was very unkind to its own people, but how could the British government in this era treat their people kindly? It is true that the Chinese in this era were very poor, but the poor in the slums of London were not rich. In short, Magalny saw the dark side of Chinese society and ridiculed everyone, but he completely despised the friendliness of the Chinese official to the British mission, and after returning home, he suggested that Britain start a war against China.

The basis for waging the war was to take advantage of the convenience provided by the Manchu government to allow Magalny to collect enough information along the way, including the hydrology of the Baihe estuary in Tianjin, and they also made measurements, went to Rehe to meet Qianlong, and when they passed the Great Wall, they also assessed the defensive function of the Great Wall.

Sadly, this malicious interpretation by the British was even more exaggerated by a large number of Chinese master intellectuals during the Republican period.

Zhou Lang was also convinced of this before, because these were iron cases written into history textbooks.

But he suddenly found that many things were full of weirdness and had no common sense at all. For example, some people even said that Magalny's fleet brought a model train, but Qianlong dismissed it, in fact, the train had not yet been invented at this time. The model brought was a model of a warship, which was likely interpreted by Manchu officials as a military threat, so it was dismissive and a political ploy.

Saying that the Manchus were arrogant, there was indeed this. But to say that this arrogance is due to ignorance of the outside world is nonsense.

In fact, the reason why the Manchu government attached so much importance to Magalny's visit to China was not just because it was a flattering political achievement for Qianlong's birthday. It was because the Manchu high-level had a certain understanding of Britain and knew that the British were stronger than the Spaniards, Dutch, Danes, and Swedes they had met before, so they gave them a higher standard of reception than other foreigners, and a year later, the reception of the Spanish and Dutch missions was not so enthusiastic.

Where did the Manchus learn about the strength of Britain, and the information obtained from the foreigners may not be credible, because all the Western countries in China, in the process of contact with the Chinese government, all boast about their own strength and belittle the strength of other countries, so no one will say that the British are the first power in Europe.

When the Qing court learned of the situation in Britain, it was completely touched by itself.

A few years ago, the Manchu vassal state Nepal invaded Tibet, and Qianlong sent the general Fukangan on an expedition. As a result, a number of European military advisers were found in the Nepalese army. Magalny's diary records that the three Chinese officials who received them in Tianjin had "said with certainty that the British army in Bengal had recently come to the aid of the Tibetan rebels."

Obviously, the top brass of the Qing court not only knew that the British were very powerful, and even touched the power of the British by quelling the Nepalese rebellion, but also knew that the British had occupied Bengal in India, which shows that the Manchus knew the fact that the British had expanded beyond the borders of China, and were not in a state of ignorance of the outside world as depicted in the textbooks.

Before the British, the Manchu Qing Dynasty's most intuitive understanding of Europeans came from Russia, and it was also because of the border with Russia and the military conflict, so why did the Manchu high-level at this time look at the British mission differently, the reason is probably that they compared them with Russia and regarded each other as China's neighbors.

Obviously, in the eyes of the Manchus, although the status of the British was higher than that of the Dutch and the Spanish, it was not as good as the Russians, because Russia had a permanent representative in Beijing, and there was an Orthodox church established during the Kangxi period, which was the famous Rakshasa Temple.

In addition, Zhou Lang also got a definite news, which is also a big controversy in history, that is, the etiquette dispute. In the history books, Qianlong's insistence on the use of kneeling in Magalny is regarded as irrefutable evidence of Qianlong's arrogance. Whether kneeling involves the issue of dignity and whether it is decadent, this is the concept of later generations, but in this era, he is an important and normal etiquette in Chinese society, Magalny went to meet Qianlong, but insisted on refusing to kneel, and he could get a large number of well-known praises, which in itself shows a very serious inferiority complex, why do Chinese ministers want to worship the emperor, but British envoys do not need to, doesn't this mean that the British are born nobler than Chinese?

Zhou Lang was in favor of abolishing the kneeling ceremony, but before the abolition of the kneeling ceremony, Qianlong, who represented the Chinese regime, was qualified to accept the bowing of Western envoys, which could reflect equality. You must know that during the Yongzheng period, the envoys sent to Russia to congratulate the Russian queen on her accession to the throne were all bowed to the Russian tsar. Russian documents record that the Manchu envoys bowed three times and bowed to the Russian queen, and knelt on the ground to listen to the empress's words of thanks before getting up.

Since the Manchu Qing could make three kneels and nine bows to the monarch of the equal country they recognized when they were sent abroad, why should the British envoys not make this great gift to Qianlong, this is not only a question of equality between the British and the Chinese, but also a question of equality between the two countries.

But what Zhou Lang didn't expect was that according to the news he got, Magalny finally knelt down! There is no Westerner's discerning description of Magalny's righteous rhetoric, which he can only bow down to God and is praised by the Chinese public. In fact, Magalny knelt on both knees, not on one knee as Westerners say, but it is a pity that later Westerners had the right to speak, and the whole world thought that Magalny did not kneel to Qianlong.

This explains why during the Opium War, Xianfeng was still obsessed with the British refusing to kneel, if his grandfather Qianlong did not let the British kneel, Xianfeng would not have the reason to insist.

In this regard, some Chinese officials deceived themselves that foreigners' legs would not bend, and this saying was widely spread, and even during the Opium War, there were constantly statements in the officials' plays, such as foreigners' legs were not good, and they would never dare to engage in land warfare with the Eight Banners, because the Manchu officials really could not understand the reason that the British were unwilling to bow down to the emperor, and in their opinion, kneeling to the emperor was not ashamed at all, and not everyone was qualified to kneel to the emperor. There is only one reason why the British are not grateful to Dade for bowing to the emperor, that is, they can't kneel, and they can't bend their legs.

At the insistence of the Chinese officials, Magalny knelt down to meet Qianlong, but Qianlong refused all his demands, let alone allow them to establish a commercial base in Zhoushan, and did not even agree to open the northern market, I don't know if this was the reason why Magalny was angry later, if kneeling in exchange for enough benefits, it would be fine, but if he knelt down and got nothing, he would have reason to be angry enough to suggest that Britain go to war with the Manchus.

However, Magarny had not yet replied to the East India Company, and his fleet was still waiting for the wind in Macao, when suddenly the Canton authorities became unfriendly to the British and seized several British merchant ships, including the three armed merchant ships that sailed from Zuoying to Canton.

The East India Company's Taipan had no choice but to send someone to ask Magalny to come forward, hoping that Magalny, in his capacity as an official British minister, would put pressure on Canton to release British merchant ships and allow normal commercial trade.

The reason for these situations is that Magalny's mission failed, but Zhou Lang's mission to Guangzhou Wei Lianli was completed, and he successfully made the local authorities in Guangzhou understand that it was the British East India Company that occupied Taiwan and caused the Heaven and Earth Society to revolt, because the Taiwan issue has now been taken seriously by Qianlong, and the local officials in Guangzhou have also taken it seriously, and the Manchu government and officials at this time are still full of arrogance in the face of foreigners, so without thinking, all the British merchant ships were seized first, and the crew members were arrested first. After interrogation, it was discovered that the British were really involved in the Taiwan incident, which was an unexpected surprise for the magistrate, and it was a credit to the door that he sent to the door.