Huang Zonghan drank a lot of wine there, and Bai Gui had another banquet, and Zhu Jinglun felt that he seemed to have drunk a little high. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

It's September, the weather is extremely hot, and he actually saw a group of British people gathering together to eat crows, is it a hallucination?

These Englishmen were in the same barracks as Baigui, and as prisoners, they surrendered all their weapons, but there was no shortage of daily supplies, but it was strange that there was a lot of smoke in this supply, and it was even stranger that they enjoyed eating a lot of smoke.

"You Britons also have crow addictions?"

Zhu Jinglun couldn't help but ask Hurd. He had come to see Hurd, and when he had just told Bai Gui about the crisis in the city of Guangzhou, Zhu Jinglun suggested that it was still necessary to talk about it, and it was not necessarily impossible to talk about a result without suffering losses with a temporary military victory as the capital. That's why I came to Hurd, hoping that Hurd would be an intermediary to communicate with the British army. Unexpectedly, when he saw the scene in Hurd's room, he instantly thought that he had hallucinated after drinking too much.

"How not. Most of the officers liked to quote the crows. But don't use your tobacco, they like the purer Turkish crows. ”

Hurd replied, in a normal tone, not as if he didn't think it was strange.

In fact, Zhu Jinglun also knew that the British had the habit of using big smoke, and he once argued with some diplomats of other countries about the justice of the Raven War, two wars, the Chinese called the two Raven Wars, while the British called the trade wars and the Anglo-French allied battles, and did not admit that the war was caused by the Raven trade, and they insisted on fighting for trade freedom.

Because it is too morally ugly to admit to resorting to force against another ancient country for the sake of blatant drug trafficking. One of the arguments of the British was that the crow trade was legal in Britain at the time. Zhu Jinglun does not agree with this statement, could it be that the British have the right to use force to force China to let the crow trade be allowed by force? In later generations, drugs in the Netherlands were legal, and I didn't see the Dutch forcing other countries to be legal. This is typical bandit logic, using force to enforce their worldview and values throughout the world.

Sadly, there are a number of Chinese scholars who accept the British's argument that because Britain does not ban the trade in crows, the responsibility for the war is not on the side of the British, but that Lin Zexu treats the crow merchants savagely. These scholars probably can't tell the difference between the use of force and the use of force against another country, even for the sake of regular trade, is illegal!

Zhu Jinglun knew that Britain had imported crows, but the information he saw said that Britain was mainly used for medicine, and of course there would be some addicts who would develop the function of crows as drugs, but he didn't expect that the British army would be so popular with crows, according to Hurd, if most of their officers eat crows, this situation is even more serious than that of the Manchu army.

Of course, the way the British use crows is different from the Chinese. Chinese addicts are called big smokers because they smoke cigarettes. The British, on the other hand, did not call the crows big smoke, because they did not smoke them, but drank them.

They dissolve crows in red wine and make them into medicinal wine to drink, or use crows and crows preparations as daily medicines like aspirin and paracetamol, and even make crows into baby sedatives to prevent them from crying, and give them all to babies, they are really perverted enough.

Listening to Hurd's description of the use of crows by the British, especially the use of them to make babies stop crying, he was full of sympathy for the British.

King George III was a crow eater, and his successor, George IV, liked to use brandy to give crow tinctures, and a large number of romantic British artists also used the hallucinations after taking crows to find inspiration, and Queen Victoria, who ascended the throne in 1837, even criticized British men for losing their masculinity.

Influenced by the ideas of the queen and some of the elite aristocracy, mainstream British society, despite the widespread consumption of Turkish crows, was full of contempt for addicts, believing them to be "a bunch of self-defeating people".

Zhu Jinglun nodded: "How consistent is this with my country, why do you all know the harm of crows, but don't ban it?" ”

Hurd shrugged: "Why forbid? The use of crows is the freedom of consumers, and there is no reason for the government to interfere with it. Moreover, the British trade in crows is huge, growing every year. According to our customs data, 30 years ago, about 90,000 pounds of crows were imported a year, and in recent years it has increased to 280,000 pounds. There's a huge tax at stake! ”

Well, the British actually know that the crows are not a good thing, but for some tax benefits, they can endure the corruption of the people.

But Zhu Jinglun was difficult to accept and smiled bitterly.

"Okay, let's not talk about that. I'm here to discuss with you, and we've decided to release you. You should know that war cannot be permanent. I believe that trade is in the interests of both of us, and the war that has occurred during this period has caused great losses to both you and me. ”

Before the war, the customs tariff in Guangzhou once reached 300,000 taels of silver per year, and in the last three years, due to the gradual corruption of the customs yamen, it has been able to hand over 180,000 taels of silver to BJ every year.

Hurd was a little surprised: "I heard that you won the battle?" ”

He was indeed a little surprised, he knew the Chinese, especially the pulse of the Chinese bureaucracy very accurately, knowing that from the emperor of BJ City to the local officials, they were not interested in whether they could trade with foreigners, unless they were personally involved, as for the matter of cooperation to promote trade, it was simply a fantasy. More than ten years ago, they were able to sign a trade treaty with Britain, but in the past few days, he heard that the Chinese had won a war, but Zhu Jinglun told himself that he wanted to negotiate, and he did not understand.

Zhu Jinglun smiled: "I'm different from them, I know the benefits of trade, because I was a merchant before." ”

Hurd nodded, the explanation was not convincing, but he couldn't think of a more plausible reason.

Hurd asked, "Since it's a negotiation, can I know what you're asking for?" ”

Zhu Jinglun said: "Peace." Peace is the greatest aspiration of our grown-ups. ”

Hurd said, "What are you going to give?" ”

If you want peace, you have to pay some benefits.

Zhu Jinglun said: "Trade." The British were allowed to trade in Canton. ”

Hurd shook his head: "This will not work, you must promise to respect the TJ treaty." ”

Zhu Jinglun did not agree: "Respect the TJ treaty, and let you occupy the city of Guangzhou?" Do you think this is possible? ”

Hurd sighed, "So what about your bottom line? Is it the city of Guangzhou? ”

This is a cliché, Hurd has worked in the consulate for so many years, of course, he knows that if he has to call out the city of Guangzhou, there is no need for the Chinese to negotiate. He still asked this question, just to know how much the Chinese were prepared to pay for the safety of Guangzhou.

It is not modest to say that Zhu Jinglun has more diplomatic experience than Hurd.

Smiled: "Mr. Hurd, you are just a bridge between us and us, do you think it is possible for me to tell you our bottom line?" ”

Hurd smiled, carefully thought through it, didn't speak, asked when he could go, and then began to pack up his salute.

Zhu Jinglun paid attention to the British officers who gathered around and drank red wine soaked in crow tincture, for addicts, as long as they control their drugs, even their minds can be controlled, if this is the case, these British officers can use it for their own use, and directly let them help deal with their compatriots.