Chapter 11 The British are cool
Xianfeng is not the only one who has the desire to move, and the number of people who go to the flower, bird, fish and insect markets near Beijing and Tianjin these days to pick up cages, walk birds, fight cocks and walk dogs has decreased significantly. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ο½ο½ο½ο½ο½ο½ γ infoOn the contrary, the three battalions in the capital are overcrowded, and the military camp is obviously a five-day exercise, and the three major battalions that usually don't see a ghost are now wrestling in circles, and there are also those who practice stone locks in the corners of the wall, and eighteen kinds of blades.
This is not all, that is, the yard at home is small, only to go to the three major battalions to practice, their own yard is large in the yard or in the village of the grain field to practice, the Beijing and Tianjin area of the flag people, the rich, the gentry of the style of martial arts is more and more popular. And this trend began to spread along the Beijing-Tianjin area with the cheap Oriental Daisan.
Just over half a month after Toyo was vigorously put on the market, shrewd British opium merchants discovered that opium was unsalableβand if opium had not been a good drug in this era, sales would have dropped dramatically.
So the British opium merchants gathered together and found the British consul in China, Ergin, to protest, the opium trade brought Britain ten times more wealth than other industrial products exported to China, and the British merchants believed that the Qing government secretly issued an order to ban opium, which caused the opium to be unsalable.
Once the goods are unsalable, the price will be reduced, and everyone will reduce the price together, which will cause the price to collapse maliciously, and the profit will be gone. Pot-bellied British merchants gathered at the consulate, slapping tables and stomping their feet to shout for the British Empire to teach the Qing government a lesson, to avenge them, to legalize the opium trade, and to allow more treaty ports and lower import and export tariffs.
With these large taxpayers in Britain, Ergin is also cautious: "I have understood what you mean, in fact, I have contacted the consuls of France, the United States, and Russia in China to put pressure on the Qing government to change the treaty. Now that the Qing government is dealing with the rebels in the south, I think that as long as the Qing government officials are sober, the reasonable demands of our British Empire will be granted. Long live the Queen. β
"Long live the Queen." Speaking of this, a group of obsessive and ugly Britons burst out laughing. China's misfortune is the luck of the great powers.
After laughing, a British businessman took out a porcelain bottle: "This is the latest snuff on the market, and this bottle of 50 grams costs two taels of silver." But refresh your mind and feel comfortable. Let's try it. β
At this time, in the Japanese Pavilion in the capital, Song Haiping and Yu Deqian were entertaining a visiting member of the Ministry of Rites Casting and Printing Bureau and a director. From the five-rank member Wailang and the sixth-grade director in the Ministry of Rites in the capital, this is an official position the size of a sesame mung bean, so it is reasonable to be sent out to run errands and pass on words.
As for the big figures in the military aircraft department and the cabinet of the imperial court, they are all in Japan, and they can't spare time at all.
The Wailang of the Ministry of Rites who came is called Gu Mancang, and the person in charge is called Agui. Originally, I also brought an interpreter, but when I entered the house, I found that the Chinese were slipping away from the other, so I sent the interpreter to the courtyard outside to chat with the Japanese guards. Song Haiping simply took out the silver and ordered a table of wine in the house, and talked while eating -- it is a tradition to talk about business at the dinner table.
Waiting for the banquet to be put up, Gu Mancang and Agui, who came here as guests, were not very satisfied, the two of them were reserved and refused to take chopsticks, Song Haiping didn't understand what was going on, and Yu Deqian couldn't do it.
In the end, Agui tapped his fingers on the table and said, "There are drinks and food but no beauties, how can you eat this." β
Gu Mancang sang with a red face and persuaded: "These two are from the East, they don't understand the rules of the capital, and those who don't know are not guilty." β
Song Haiping and Yu Degang glanced at each other and thought: I see.
Yu Deqian shouted at the courtyard: "Someone." β
A low-ranking Japanese samurai ran in when he heard the voice: "Hey. β
Gu Mancang Gu took out a red post from his sleeve and said: "Take my piece to Wanhualou, and let Hong Xi'er pick four Zhou Zheng Qingqi people to come over for tea gathering." β
Yu Deqian took the Qing Dynasty business card and handed it to the samurai: "Take that interpreter and go with you." β
Samurai: "Hey! Then he turned and trotted out.
At this time, the capital had not yet expanded, and the Bada Hutong was almost in the center of the city (opposite the Forbidden City), and after a while, four turtle workers carried four white flour on their backs, red lips, and wore embroidered cheongsams and plain clothes. Naturally, the turtle workers outside are rewarded.
One person in the house was divided into a Lori, and Lord Gu introduced it first, and the four primary and secondary school students named Mei Lan Zhuju began to help the four adults pour wine and cloth dishes.
In the past, Song Haiping had heard that the banner people of the late Qing Dynasty wanted to hire people to carry the monthly money and grain home, but now it is not a lie -- even having to be served for dinner, and going out is also in a sedan chair, and if you want him to carry a bag of rice back, isn't it a matter of life.
After three rounds of wine and five flavors, everyone talked more.
For example, Song Haiping here:
Song Haiping: "What's the girl's name?" β
Xiaolan: "Back to my lord, slave Xiaolan." β
Song Haiping: "Can you sing, Orchid Flower, will you?" β
Xiaolan: "I haven't learned yet, I just learned to sing 18.touch ...... before"
Song Haiping didn't know if he was molesting elementary school students or being molested by primary school students.
Halfway through the wine and food, Master Gu Mancang Gu remembered the matter and asked: "Court, let me ask, what does it mean that Japan has come to pay tribute to these ironclad ships, guns and the like this time?" β
Song Haiping said to Lord Gu, who was already a little drunk: "The two adults and the people in the court may not know that this Qing Dynasty is about to die. β
This sentence was like a thunderbolt on a sunny day, and Gu Mancang and Ah Gui's wine woke up halfway at once: "What do you say? β
Song Haiping: "We Japan have been sending spies to the countries of Europa, and this time, Britain, Russia, the United States, and France have formed an alliance to try to clear the country. In that Europa was almost a child woman, everyone knew about it. The Qing Dynasty is the pillar of the sky in this Asia, if the Qing Dynasty dies, how can Korea and Japan survive alone? Therefore, the Japanese shogunate decided to pay tribute to the arms and strengthen the armed forces around the Kyoshi. β
Ah Gui was already panicked, and Gu Mancang asked: "You say, after the alliance of these four countries, how can you plan for my Qing Dynasty?" Although there is a small chaos in the south, it is only the problem of ringworm, after all, I have thousands of miles of rivers and mountains and hundreds of millions of people. β
Song Haiping: "After the four countries join forces, there will be four or five hundred warships that can be sent, and each warship has seventy or eighty guns on it, not to mention this sea." On land, Russia is the master who can mobilize a million troops from the northwest and northeast to the south. It is said that the Russian tsar had deliberately turned most of the Qing Dynasty into Yellow Russia. The coastal provinces were divided between Great Britain, United States, and France. Among them, the interests of the Yangtze River basin are exclusively owned by the British. β
Gu Mancang: "When are these four countries going to war?" β
Song Haiping: "This year, the four countries have just formed an alliance and are going to war, and the four countries on sea and land will have to transport troops for thousands of miles, so it will be a year or two later." I have heard that Britain, France, Russia, and the United States are trying to make a breakthrough in the exchange of troops, but no matter whether the exchange agreement can be established or not, the four countries will not stop transporting troops, and they will start a war as soon as the troops arrive.
Last time, the British could not have any army to conquer a big city like Guangzhou and Jiangning, but in fact, it was a test of the reality of our Qing Dynasty. However, Britain is better than boats, so this time it invited three land powers to be allies, and these three land powers are all worth a million dollars. All equipped with fast guns and cannons, Britain and France have also built such ironclad ships, this time they are unwilling to die if they do not achieve their goal. China's ironclad ship is still the blueprint and design plan stolen by the spies sent to Britain and France, so that our country can build this ironclad ship simultaneously with Britain and France. β
Sending away Gu Mancang and Ah Gui, who had already sobered up in a cold sweat, Song Haiping sat on the third sister, and asked his subordinates to change melon seeds, peanuts, preserved fruits, and tea to continue eating, drinking, and laughing - anyway, the money for playing tea was also spent, so why should I play back.
Gu Mancang went to the Ministry of Rites to find Shang Shulin Kui of the Ministry of Rites, Agui went straight to Sushun's mansion, stumbled to Su Shun and cried: "Lord Wang, I am going to die in the Qing Dynasty." β
Su Shun was practicing health qigong in the front garden, and when he saw this slave's unruly appearance and his mouth was full of nonsense, Su Shun kicked him in anger: "What nonsense, slap your mouth." β
Ah Gui sobered up a little at this time, and after more than a dozen slaps in his mouth, he couldn't help but say everything he heard from the Japanese envoy.
After listening to this, Su Shun asked a few more times, and immediately asked someone to prepare a sedan chair to enter the palace. The court also panicked for two days because of this matter, and finally settled down, after all, it was the words of the Japanese envoy's family, let's see if the foreigners really want to change the treaty.