Although full of talent, but poisoned by the ignorant policy of the Manchu Qing Dynasty's seclusion and seclusion, Luo Bingzhang, like the vast majority of people in the Manchu officialdom, was very uninterested in the foreigners' things, and there were some inner contempt and hostility, so when Wu Chaoyue held high the banner of foreign affairs in Hubei to establish the Daye Industrial Base, Luo Bingzhang not only did not have the slightest interest, but also ridiculed Wu Chaoyue for being worthy of being a comprador descendant, and he couldn't forget to please the foreigners. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

What gradually made Luo Bingzhang change his impression of Daye Iron Works was the continuous impact of Hubei wrought iron on the iron market in southwest provinces, wrought iron at the same price, wrought iron produced by Daye not only has better quality and easier processing, but also is more solid and wear-resistant, and the agricultural tools are durable and popular with the people, and the guns and cannons are not easy to blow up, and they are loved by the army and regimental training, and the supply is sufficient.

Shaoyang, the largest iron ore mine and wrought iron producer in Hunan, has suffered as a result, and has been forced to continuously reduce mining and wrought iron production, and the number of miners and smelters is increasingly unemployed, gradually endangering local security. In addition, Lianyuan and Yiyang, two other important iron-producing areas in Hunan, have also been significantly affected, with a rapid decline in sales, which in turn has seriously affected local tax revenues. After Luo Bingzhang found out through investigation and research that all this was caused by the product impact of Daye Iron Works, he naturally gradually became interested in Daye Iron Works - why is the wrought iron in Hubei better than the iron in Hunan? Is the production still that big?

Under such a background, when Hu Linyi ran to Luo Bingzhang to state what he had seen and heard in the Daye Iron Works, before Hu Linyi could open his mouth to instigate him, Luo Bingzhang had already had the intention of emulating Wu Chaoyue, and when Hu Linyi persuaded Luo Bingzhang to also build an industrial base in Hunan similar to the Gun Bureau of the Daye Iron Works, Luo Bingzhang, who was ignorant and fearless, immediately took up the pen in person, wrote the letter to Wu Chaoyue, and asked Wu Chaoyue for help on the establishment of Hunan industry.

After the letter was sent, Luo Bingzhang was still a little worried that Wu Chaoyue would hide his personal prevarication, but after receiving Wu Chaoyue's affirmative reply, Luo Bingzhang breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that he had misunderstood Wu Chaoyue's open-mindedness. However, after taking a closer look at the founding capital figures and daily expenditures of Daye Industrial Base, Luo Bingzhang gasped again, and involuntarily screamed, "Oh my God! So expensive?! ”

The daunting huge budget almost made Luo Bingzhang give up the idea of emulating Wu Chaoyue on the spot, but fortunately, Luo Bingzhang noticed that at the end of the letter, Wu Chaoyue suggested that he could set up a smaller iron factory, and Daye Iron Works could build its own steelmaking furnace to help Hunan greatly reduce costs, Luo Bingzhang rekindled a little hope, and asked Liu Rong, who had joined his shogunate: "Wu Chaoyue suggested that we first explore the existing iron ore and try to establish a small Hunan iron factory, Mr. Meng Rong, what do you think?" ”

"You can give it a try." Liu Rong replied: "The cost of exploration is not large, but if we can really build one or two small iron factories to produce fine wrought iron like Daye, even if we can't sell it to other provinces, we can make the wrought iron in our province self-sufficient, save a lot of expenses, and stabilize the hearts of the people in the iron-producing areas." ”

Luo Bingzhang nodded, holding the mind that even if he couldn't do it, he couldn't spend a few silver, and immediately wrote a letter to Wu Chaoyue in person, thanking him while agreeing on a date as required, and asking Wu Chaoyue to prepare technicians for himself to explore ore layers and test ores, and send people to Hubei Provincial City to meet these technicians.

After the letter was sent, Luo Bingzhang quickly arranged the greeting matters, and sent a confidential staff named Zhang Weiqing to lead a team to the Hubei provincial capital to greet scientific and technological talents, and explained to Zhang Weiqing very carefully: "Remember, we must entertain the technicians that Wu Futai lent us, and serve them with good wine and meat, if they like it, it doesn't matter if they get a few courtesans on the boat to serve them." When they met, one person first presented a hundred taels of silver to thank Yi, indicating that there was a heavy thank you afterwards. ”

With Luo Bingzhang's careful advice, Zhang Weiqing took three official boats covered in red and colorful on the road, and arrived in Hubei Province on the tenth day of the first month of February, but unfortunately, Wu Chaoyue, who was busy with official business, failed to find time to meet Zhang Weiqing, and called the accomplice Huang Sheng to negotiate with Zhang Weiqing. Huang Sheng, who was in charge of Hankou's trade affairs, was also very busy, and he also failed to hold a banquet for Zhang Weiqing to meet with the technicians in advance, but only asked where Zhang Weiqing's ship was, and promised to send someone to send those technicians to the dock early the next morning, so that they could return to Hunan with Zhang Weiqing.

In the early morning of the next day, when the staff of the Hankou Trade Bureau appeared in front of Zhang Weiqing with seven technicians with large bags and small bags, Zhang Weiqing was completely dumbfounded--among the seven technicians, three of them were blonde foreigners!

Hurriedly pulling the subordinates sent by Huang Sheng aside, Zhang Weiqing's voice trembled a little and asked, "This official, how can there be three foreigners?" ”

"What's wrong with foreigners?" Huang Sheng's subordinates were very puzzled and asked rhetorically: "Aren't you going to ask technicians to help explore iron ore?" Foreigners are technicians? The other four technicians were just his deputies, and they couldn't do anything without him. ”

"But we didn't say we wanted to invite foreigners?" Zhang Weiqing was so anxious that his forehead was a little sweaty, and said: "The rules of the Qing Dynasty do not allow foreigners to go deep into the mainland, and these foreigners must not find a lot of trouble when they enter the mainland?" ”

"I don't know about this, I just know to bring people to you as I am told."

Huang Sheng's subordinates spread their hands, their faces were full of scoundrels, and the three foreigners over there were even more scoundrels, and they took their luggage to the official ship of the Hunan Governor's Yamen, and one of the curly-haired foreigners also shouted in very proficient Chinese, "Hurry up and start the boat, open the boat, I have long wanted to go to Hunan to have a look." ”

It's easy to please God, it's hard to send God, poor Zhang Weiqing and Master Zhang really understand this sentence this time, of course he didn't dare to drive the foreigner off the ship, and he didn't dare to take the foreigner back to Hunan directly. Fortunately, Huang Sheng's subordinates came up with an idea in time and said, "Master Zhang, what are you afraid of?" At the beginning, our Wu Futai brought foreigners directly to Henan, isn't it a? Hunan Mountain is high and the emperor is far away, as long as no one makes a noise, who can know? ”

Although the idea was good, Zhang Weiqing did not dare to take this risk, so he could only order the fleet to go to Hankou to negotiate with Huang Sheng, but Huang Sheng happened to be not in the Trade Bureau. Zhang Weiqing stubbornly explained that foreigners were not allowed to go deep into the interior, but the three foreigners were furious, saying that they were hired to explore in Hunan and were not bound by the treaty, and that if Zhang Weiqing broke the treaty, they would ask their consul to protest to the Manchu court, demanding that the Manchu court compensate them for lost work and mental losses.

knows how taboo the Manchu court is about things related to foreigners, and also knows that if the foreigner consul really takes advantage of this to make trouble and stab the matter into the Manchu court, it will definitely cause a lot of trouble for Luo Bingzhang. Forced to be helpless, Zhang Weiqing could only choose a compromise idea, while ordering the fleet to sail back to Hunan, serving delicious food and drink for the foreigner uncle and deliberately slowing down the ship, while sending a fast boat back to Changsha, reporting the accident to Luo Bingzhang, and asking Luo Bingzhang to decide how to deal with it.

After confirming that the fleet of the Hunan Governor Yamen sailed upstream, Huang Sheng, who was busy with official business, naturally quickly appeared in front of Wu Chaoyue, who was even busier with official business, and reported the good news of the smooth plan to Wu Chaoyue with a smile on his face. Wu Chaoyue laughed when he heard it, and hurriedly asked: "Mai Dusi and Meng Zhensheng, what kind of reputation did they use to go to Hunan?" ”

"Maddox is the translator, Meng Zhensheng knows some chemistry, and directly hung up the name of the technician." Huang Sheng replied with a smile.

"Okay." Wu Chaoyue applauded and said with a smile: "As long as these two troublemakers enter Hunan, we don't need to worry about the rest." ”

"Weiting, what if Luo Bingzhang insists on sending Mai Dusi and them back in a desperate attempt to lose money?" Huang Sheng asked curiously.

"We don't have to worry about this, Meng Zhensheng and Maadows will clean up Luo Bingzhang." Wu Chaoyue said with a smile: "Those two scourges are about to go crazy when they think of missionary work in the mainland, and they finally come across such a good opportunity, and they will never stop if they don't make Luo Bingzhang cry and cry for his mother." ”

…………

So, soon, Luo Bingzhang was completely dumbfounded, and wanted Zhang Weiqing to forcibly send the three foreigners back to Hubei Province, afraid that the foreigners would really make trouble in the imperial court, so that the Manchu court would know that he had hired foreigners to explore iron ore in Hunan. Really bring the three foreigners to Hunan, in case something leaks out and is known to the imperial court, it will still be a lot of trouble. Dilemma.

In the end, Luo Bingzhang had no choice but to write to Wu Chaoyue to ask the reason, and at the same time asked Zhang Weiqing to directly ask those foreign uncles, how much silver do they need to stop and not come to Hunan to return to Hankou?

Because Zhang Weiqing's fleet deliberately went very slowly, Wu Chaoyue's reply and Zhang Weiqing's report were sent back to Luo Bingzhang on the same day, Wu Chaoyue's side, Wu Chaoyue was very frank to admit that he had made a stupid mistake, forgetting to explain that he was not allowed to send foreign technicians to help Luo Bingzhang, and promised that as long as Luo Bingzhang sent the three foreign masters back to the provincial capital, he would definitely do his best to appease them - as for whether the three foreign masters could stop making trouble, Wu Chaoyue did not dare to guarantee.

Wu Chaoyue's letter made Luo Bingzhang feel a little relieved, but Zhang Weiqing's report made Luo Bingzhang cry and laugh - those three foreign uncles turned out to be masters who didn't love money, and they said that they had to come to Hunan to take a look. At the same time, the three foreign masters also took advantage of the loopholes in the treaty, saying that they left Hankou on the official ship of the Hunan Governor Yamen, and even if they did not leave Hubei, they went deep into the interior, and all the consequences arising from this must be borne by the Hunan Governor Yamen!

Luo Bingzhang, who was completely helpless, and didn't dare to kill people, was very good at concealing his superiors and subordinates, and had no choice but to grit his teeth and say: "Let them come, just try to hide it." I really can't hide it, the old man is like Wu Chaoyue to take advantage of the loophole, saying that foreigners don't come to Hunan to wander arbitrarily! ”

By the way, why is Luo Bingzhang very good at concealing his superiors and subordinates? For example, in the fifth year of Xianfeng, in order to restore the people's livelihood, Luo Bingzhang secretly lowered the taxes of Xiangtan for three years without anyone reporting it, and it was not until the new policy of Xiangtan in the eighth year of Xianfeng that Luo Bingzhang made his own statement to explain what happened, and not only was he not punished afterwards, but the Manchu court also ordered the four provinces of Hubei, Anhui, Jiangxi and Henan to follow suit. Therefore, concealing the fact that three foreigners went into the mainland without permission is really a piece of cake for Luo Bingzhang.

In this way, under Luo Bingzhang's extremely reluctant invitation, the missionary madman Maddox and Meng Zhensheng finally entered the hinterland of Hunan that they dreamed of, and were personally received by Luo Bingzhang, and the result was not bad, Meng Zhensheng and Maddosi, who were already very familiar with China, knew when to rein, and could still be as restrained as possible in front of Luo Bingzhang, with good etiquette, and also agreed to Luo Bingzhang's request - try not to disturb the people, and try to have as little contact with ordinary people as possible, so that Luo Bingzhang can put his mind at ease.

After coaxing Luo Bingzhang to take it lightly, taking advantage of Luo Bingzhang's arrangement of people to escort the exploration team to Shaoyang for prospecting, Mai Dusi and Meng Zhensheng immediately revealed their original form, and found an opportunity to quietly sneak out of the pavilion, ran to Changsha Street to tour wantonly, surrounded by countless Changsha people who had never seen foreigners before, Mai Dusi and Meng Zhensheng not only did not panic, but also directly took out the gospels they secretly brought to distribute, persuading the people of Changsha to believe in religion and do good.

"Lamb, you are guilty, and only by throwing yourself into the arms of the Lord can you be washed away from your sins and ascend to heaven."

"You fucking went to heaven? What am I guilty of? ”

Logically speaking, Meng Zhensheng and Maddosi, who are already fluent in Chinese, have no big problem communicating with the people of Changsha, but because the communication is too convenient, trouble comes out -- Jesus Christ believes that everyone is guilty, and the Chinese follow ancestor worship, and Meng Zhensheng and Maddox want the people of Changsha not to worship their ancestors and worship God, and they curse others at every turn The whole family is guilty, and the conservative and closed Changsha people naturally cannot accept it at all.

What's worse, Meng Zhensheng and Mai Doos, the two troublemakers who persuaded the people of Changsha to worship God, happened to be the same person as the Taiping Army, and the people of Changsha, who had been surrounded by the Taiping Army for more than three months, were not only more difficult to accept, but on the contrary, they also suspected that these two foreign devils were sent by the Taiping Army, and they also reported to the officials everywhere to arrest them, and then, the matter naturally became inevitable.

Luo Bingzhang deserved to be unlucky, the first to arrive at the scene was the Hunan according to the inspection of the yamen's errand, although the Hunan according to the inspection of the envoy Kuilian is not in Changsha City at the moment, but it happened that because of Luo Bingzhang's exclusion was not able to live in Changsha City - the former Yuezhou prefect Kuilian personality is too straightforward, everything likes to argue, Luo Bingzhang does not like to work with him so he plays with power, in the case that the imperial court has appointed Kuilian as the Hunan envoy, still under the pretext that the Yuezhou army needs the command of Kuilian, and always refuses to let Kuilian return to the provincial capital to enjoy happiness, forced the Kuilian to continue to be stationed in Yuezhou. (Historical facts, later Kuilian forcibly returned to the provincial capital, and Luo Bingzhang used the excuse that Kuilian left the army without authorization.) ）

Therefore, even Luo Bingzhang's people soon arrived at the scene, and hurriedly took away Meng Zhensheng and Mai Dusi, the two troublemakers, and the news that Luo Bingzhang privately carried foreigners into the mainland still inevitably reached the ears of Kuilian. Kuilian, who had long been holding back Luo Bingzhang's anger, was of course overjoyed when he heard it, and he didn't even blink his eyelids, and immediately asked the staff master to write an impeachment note, which was sent to the capital with 600 miles to impeach Luo Bingzhang for colluding with foreigners for plotting against him, not to be able to bring down Luo Bingzhang, but to be able to export his evil anger! However, what Kuilian himself didn't expect was that the timing of his impeachment was too coincidental and coincidental............

…………

Looking back at Wu Chaoyue's side, a few days after forcing Luo Bingzhang's people to take away the three foreign masters, Huang Sheng took the opportunity to report on the trade situation in Hankou, Huang Sheng reported an important news to Wu Chaoyue, and said: "Weiting, yesterday the people from the Trade Bureau reported to me an incident, and recently there were rumors on the docks of Hankou that the British fleet was fighting with our Qing army again in Guangzhou, and the battle was still very fierce, maybe there might be a war again. ”

"The British are fighting with us in Canton again?" Wu Chaoyue was puzzled and said, "Impossible, right?" Didn't you say anything about these issues of the Imperial Palace? ”

"I also suspect it's just a rumor, but it has been rumored that it has a nose and eyes, and I heard that it was caused by a British ship called Yarrow." Huang Sheng replied: "I asked carefully, and it was rumored that it was brought by a French ship from Fuzhou, and I sent someone to investigate it carefully, and I will tell you when there is news." ”

"Yarrow? How do you seem to have heard of it? Wu Chaoyue, who had a sparse history, felt that he had heard the name of the ship somewhere, but he couldn't think about it carefully for a while.

"Weiting, could it be that the imperial court was afraid of affecting the hearts of the people, so it deliberately did not write it in the newspaper in order to block the news?" Zhao Liewen questioned and reminded: "Be careful, your father is doing business in Guangzhou, and he still runs a foreign firm, if the British really fight with the officials and soldiers in Guangzhou, your father and your family's foreign firm may be affected." ”

Wu Chaoyue nodded, while arranging for Huang Sheng to investigate the matter in detail, and also arranged for Zhang Dejian, the head of the secret service, to help Huang Sheng, and at the same time asked Zhao Liewen to use various connections to try to inquire whether the Manchu court deliberately concealed the news of another conflict between China and Britain. At the same time, Wu Chaoyue couldn't help but continue to scratch his head, and said secretly: "Yarrow? Yarrow? This name sounded so familiar yesterday? Damn, if my history teacher hadn't graduated from a sports school, why can't I remember where I heard the name? ”

The result of the sparse history was also unprepared, and at noon the next day, Huang Sheng returned to the provincial capital from Hankou again, and rushed directly into the back hall, shouting to Wu Chaoyue: "Comfort Pavilion! Big things are not good! That thing in Guangzhou is real! ”

"In the morning, a British ship from Shanghai brought accurate news, because the soldiers of the Guangzhou Navy Division insulted the British flag of the Yarrow, the British consul in Guangzhou, Pashali, asked Ye Mingchen, the governor of Liangguang, to apologize, but Ye Mingchen refused, and the British fleet bombarded the city of Guangzhou, and also captured the Humen Fort, entered the city of Guangzhou and sacked Ye Mingchen's Yamen, the governor of Liangguang! The people of Guangzhou took out their anger at foreign companies and burned down all the foreign houses outside Guangzhou! Your family's Tongshun Foreign Company is likely to have suffered as well! ”

"What? It's really a fight?! ”

Wu Chaoyue jumped up violently, not because of the loss of his own property, but because Wu Chaoyue finally remembered what the Yarrow was - one of the fuses of the Second Opium War! (To be continued.) )