In the laughter of everyone, three more people came into the living room, it was Jiang Tinghuang and Fei Zhengqing, Fei Weimei and his wife.

Fairbank had a good relationship with Jiang Tinghuang, and it was through Jiang Tinghuang's help that Fairbank had the opportunity to teach at Tsinghua University. Moreover, Fairbank's curriculum was groundbreaking, as he pioneered three courses at Tsinghua University: Economic History, European Renaissance History, and Chinese Customs History.

Mind you, it's economic historiography, not economics!

Fairbank's wife, Fei Weimei, had close relationships with Liang Sicheng and Lin Huiyin. Because Fei Weimei also studies architecture, she even went to Shanxi with Liang Sicheng and Lin Huiyin to investigate ancient buildings last year.

"John, this is Mr. Zhou Hexuan Zhou." Liang Sicheng introduced.

Fairbank's eyes lit up, and he held Zhou Hexuan's hand and said respectfully: "Mr. Zhou, my wife and I admire you very much, and we are very happy to meet you!" ”

Zhou Hexuan smiled and said, "Mr. Fei, you speak Chinese well. ”

Fairbank said playfully: "Of course, I will also speak a few Shanxi and Henan dialects." ”

Lin Huiyin explained beside him: "Mr. Fei and Mrs. Fei often go to various places with us to investigate. ”

Zhou Hexuan asked, "What does Mr. Fei think about China?" ”

Fairbank shrugged and said: "The political situation in China is unfathomable, beyond my comprehension, and even beyond my attention." ”

"For example?" Zhou Hexuan asked.

Fairbank thought for a while and said: "For example, Yang Quan (Yang Xingfo) was assassinated last year, and I have studied the causes and consequences of this case very carefully, and it involves too many factional forces in China, and there are even shadows of the United States, the Soviet Union, and Japan. ”

"Your research is really deep enough." Zhou Hexuan said.

Fairbank said: "The assassination of Yang Quan reminds me of the assassination of Lincoln back then. One of the assassins involved in the assassination of Yang Quan committed suicide on the spot, and the police happened to be at the scene. The assassin who assassinated Lincoln also committed suicide afterwards, and the police were also present. Whether the assassin committed suicide or was killed by suicide, I have deep doubts about this. Since its founding, the Republic of China seems to have had a striking theme: arresting potential opposition leaders as a warning or outright killing them. That year, Soong Jiaoren integrated the Kuomintang and passed the 1913 parliamentary election, which was assassinated by President Yuan Shikai, and the Kuomintang was immediately in disarray. The same is true of the current Kuomintang government, after the assassination of Yang Quan, the Civil Rights Protection League was almost paralyzed, and Cai Yuanpei, one of the founders of the League, almost completely ceased political activities. ”

Zhou Hexuan smiled: "Mr. Fei, I think you still see things too simply. The assassination of Mr. Song Jiaoren is still an unsolved case so far, and no one can be sure whether it was committed by Yuan Shikai. Personally, I don't think Yuan Shikai would do this kind of thing, first of all, the Beiyang family has no tradition of playing assassination, secondly, Yuan Shikai has no need to assassinate, he can achieve his goal through more legal means, and finally Yuan Shikai is too suspicious, so big that as long as he is a normal person, he will not choose to assassinate. ”

Fairbank was surprised: "It's not Yuan Shikai, could it be someone else?" It's not the same as what I've read. ”

"Information can also deceive people," Zhou Hexuan said, "Zhao Bingjun, one of the suspects, died too strangely, and the possibility of being killed cannot be ruled out." The murderer was caught too quickly, not only did he not flee after the killing, but waited for someone to arrest him, and was inexplicably killed afterwards. Moreover, the mastermind of the assassination was a leader of the Youth Gang who betrayed the revolutionary party and switched to Yuan Shikai, and after this person defected to Yuan Shikai, he still had close contacts with the revolutionary party in Shanghai......"

"Ahem," Hu Shi suddenly coughed a few times and interrupted, "This kind of old past, don't discuss it, no matter how much you say, it's in vain." ”

Zhou Hexuan shrugged: "Okay, I won't say it." ”

Fairbank looked at the two playfully, smiled and didn't speak.

Jiang Tinghuang also helped to change the topic and asked, "John, you came to China this time to write a doctoral dissertation, is the content eyebrow-eyebrow?" ”

"I've recently been researching the legality of the opium trade in the late Qing Dynasty," Fairbank said. ”

"Do you need to ask?" Zhu Guangqian took it for granted, "The opium trade has been illegal in China since Humen sold tobacco. Despite repeated prohibitions in practice, it is unlikely that the government will openly acknowledge the opium trade. ”

Zhou Hexuan said with a smile: "On the contrary, the result of the Second Opium War was that the Qing government openly allowed the opium trade. ”

"Is there such a thing?" Zhu Guangqian was surprised.

Zhou Hexuan explained: "During the Second Opium War, the Qing government was forced to sign the Treaty of Commerce and Rehabilitation and Customs Tariffs with Britain, France, and the United States, allowing foreign merchants to sell opium in treaty ports and levying taxes in the name of foreign medicines, and opium became a legal import commodity in the late Qing Dynasty. ”

Zhu Guangqian did not have any research on modern Chinese history, he seemed to have been subverted, and was shocked: "How can this be? The Qing government went so far as to legalize the opium trade. ”

Zhou Hexuan said: "At that time, the main route of the opium trade was 'Guangzhou-Shanghai-Wuhu', and then sent from Wuhu to the whole country. In the 34 years from 1878 to 1912, Wuhu imported 90,000 quintals of opium, with a total outflow of more than 50 million taels of silver. Due to the huge profits from the opium trade, domestic dealers often relied on smuggling to evade the tax on gold, and the Qing government contracted the opium tax to private individuals in order to collect the tax. The results of the contract were very gratifying, and in just one year, tax evasion was greatly reduced and the gold increased sharply, which aroused strong opposition from opium merchants, and the Qing government was forced to abolish the contract system under pressure from foreigners. ”

Those in the know could only smile bitterly, and those who did not know were dumbfounded.

One country has openly legalized the opium trade, swaggered to collect taxes on opium, and has been so entrained by tax evasion that it has contracted the opium tax to private individuals. This is ridiculous enough, and what is even more ridiculous is that the opium dealers dare to unite to scare the government, making it clear that Lao Tzu is going to forcibly evade taxes, and the Qing government has made compromises due to the pressure of foreigners!

Jin Yuelin shook his head and sighed: "If the Qing government does not collapse, how can there be heavenly reason?" ”

Fairbank went on to say: "The paper I am going to write this time is entitled 'The Legality of the Opium Trade Before the Treaty of 1858.' I have looked through a lot of relevant information, and before the Qing government legalized the opium trade, the opium trade was actually semi-legal in China. For example, during the negotiation of the Treaty of Nanjing, Pu Dingcha formally raised the issue of opium trade, and the Chinese official Qi Ying replied that the Chinese government would no longer ask whether the merchant ships of various countries carried opium. In essence, it is a public admission of opium smuggling. ”

Zhou Hexuan followed Fairbank's words: "So after the Opium War, although the Qing government ostensibly banned the opium trade, in fact it did not dare to manage it at all. Therefore, the opium trade was legalized later, because after the opium trade was legalized, at least the Qing government was able to tax it, which greatly increased the government's tax revenue. ”

Fairbank added: "Morrison's words to Qing officials sums up the situation very well. He said: China can't help banning opium, and it is called a ban on smoking, which is actually tax-free, and it is better to tax it than to ban it. ”

Everyone was speechless, and when it came to the Qing government, everyone naturally remembered the current Nanjing government, which was not much better in comparison.

Fairbank said to Zhou Hexuan: "Mr. Zhou, I am very interested in all the situations in China, can I ask you academic questions in the future?" ”

"Of course, we can keep communicating." Zhou Hexuan said.

"Then it's a deal!" Fairbank was overjoyed.