On the vast sea outside the Bay of Biscay, a thousand-ton Western-style sailing ship is full sail and full power, from the southwest to the northeast of Bordeaux, and on the mast, a red flag flutters high.

Judging from the flag, this is undoubtedly a Chinese ship, but on the deck, dozens of crew members are all Western faces, and their identities are clearly indicated by their white and red faces.

And just three days ago, the sailing ship named New Era sailed through Spanish waters under the French flag.

The wind and clouds are really fickle.

A few months earlier, the British had been punished by the Chinese emperor for the 'recklessness' of their allies, the Spaniards. But now, when Pierre and his gang sailed to the coast of West Africa in a sailboat, they learned about the latest changes in the situation in Europe from a Swedish ship they met.

- The Spaniards had abandoned the British, their new ally, and had once again thrown themselves into the arms of the French.

Pierre's eyes were about to fall to the ground. Was Carlos IV's brain really a pot of mush? What a stupid decision.

Even a pig as a king, all of them are more qualified than Carlos IV.

Spain will be in a desperate situation because of his decision.

From the collapse of the first anti-French coalition to the change of position of the Spaniards, it took only one year. This rotten country whose reputation is completely bankrupt.

Under the leadership of Napoleon, a young French general, the French smashed the first anti-French alliance in northern Italy and reaped huge benefits, and then the French began to settle accounts, and they could not reach the British across the Channel, so they could only point the finger at Spain and the Kingdom of Sardinia, which were close at hand.

As a result, the former was forced to sue for peace and switched to the French camp; The latter lost all of the kingdom's territory on the Italian peninsula, and its capital, Turin, was occupied by Napoleon.

Pierre was so confused by this change that he never imagined that Europe would change so much during the six months he had been at sea, so he hoisted the French tricolor flag for the ships when the New Age passed through the Iberian Peninsula.

The Spaniards would never trouble the French!

But as the ships rounded the west coast of the Ilibby Peninsula and entered the Bay of Biscay, Pierre had the ships lower the French tricolor and raise the Chinese red flag instead.

The French will not trouble the Chinese, and the British do not want to provoke China.

Although the ship was originally an Englishman, originally named Alexander Great, registered in Calcutta, it is now indeed Pierre's ship, and is registered in Canton under the name of 'New Era'. And Pierre himself did indeed obtain Chinese nationality. But in fact, except for five crew members of Oriental ancestry, the rest of the crew and the owner are of Western descent. They came from all over Europe, not only the Portuguese, the French, but also the English and the Dutch, a hodgepodge.

Of course, Pierre may no longer consider himself French. He is trying to be a Chinese.

Chinese do not recognize dual nationality, although nationality is still a conceptual consciousness in this era, but the Chinese attach great importance to this. Those who have acquired Chinese nationality will automatically have their previous foreign status revoked. Similarly, in the case of Chinese nationality, the Chinese nationality is automatically abolished after obtaining the nationality of another country.

Pierre, a Frenchman, was previously the ambassador of the Kingdom of France to China, but during the First Sino-American War, he betrayed France. Pierre has too many economic interests in China, but France, affected by Spain, must declare war on China, and if Pierre urgently disposes of his property in China [otherwise it will be confiscated by the Chinese government], he will suffer huge losses. So he chose to break away from France, and after several private deals, Pierre took possession of the yellow book, which became the red book five years later.

Pierre himself was a trader who had made his fortune with the French Indian company in Guangzhou, and seeing the change in China's foreign policy, Pierre used most of his savings to buy from Paris the predecessor of the French ambassador to China, the French commercial representative in Nanjing. A small businessman laid the foundation for his rise through speculation, and then, with an official status, his business was in full swing in China and France.

Pierre's success in China made him a 'star of the show' at the Paris Salon Ball. Many people followed him and really made a fortune. But when the test really came, Pierre's performance made people feel like he was a pile of rotten shit made in France!

Don't look at things from China's perspective. From the French point of view, Pierre is completely a person who lacks courtesy, righteousness and shame, and leaves his national integrity behind!

But in the Chinese history books, Pierre will surely become a representative of Westerners inspired by Chinese culture.

Because his property in France was confiscated by the Bourbon royal family, Pierre, who also suffered a lot of losses, hated the Bourbon royal family very much. So he supported the French Revolution, and even donated 10,000 silver dollars to the French revolutionary government through the European Office.

The Alexandre is Pierre's new second-hand cargo ship, which has previously travelled between India, Japan and China. Nominally, it was a cargo ship that carried tea, raw silk, cotton and other commodities as its main source of goods, but in fact the entrainment of opium was the most important source of interest for the ship.

The opium is not only sold in Japan, but also in China. It's just that the risk of selling in China is extremely high, and once discovered, the heavy ones will directly lose their heads, and the light ones will have to go to labor camps to catch up for 8, 9, or 10 years.

The Chen Han government has long since issued a smoking ban. Once caught traffickers of opium will be severely punished, both in China and abroad. But China is so big and so rich, there are always some people who can't resist the temptation to become addicts, especially in Guangdong Province, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanghai, Beijing and Tianjin, these rich and economically developed places, opiates are like drugs in later generations, the more strictly you prohibit it, the more people are curious.

Similarly, the more closely the Chinese side investigates, the higher the profits of this opiate will be.

What Marx said: If there is 100% profit, the capitalists will take risks; If there is a 200% profit, the capitalists will flout the law; If there is a 300% profit, then the capitalists will trample everything in the world! How profound!

Now China's opium trade, that's it. That's not 100%, 200% profit, but five, tenfold profit.

Chen Han is not the Red Dynasty when New China was just established in the original time and space, a powerful autocratic iron fist, which can sweep away 'pornography, gambling and drugs' within three months, sweep away all flies and dogs, and return the land of China to an unprecedented purity. Chen Han couldn't do that at all.

Therefore, it is in the greater interest of opium traffickers to bring opium to Siam and Annam, and then the idea of transporting it to Liangguang and Guangzhou, or directly to Guangdong Province. Far more profitable than shipping opium to Japan.

Japan's state power is not unified, the loopholes in local laws and management are much higher than those in China, and the decay of Japan's high-level power class is also higher than that of the newly established Chen Han, so it is not too difficult to transport opium into Japan. Naturally, then, Japan's opium profits are far inferior to those of China.

However, many people on the mountain eventually encounter ghosts. The Alexander was finally found to be a prohibited item by the customs of Guangdong Province, and then more than 100 people up and down were sentenced. Pierre stepped in to buy the ship.

It stands to reason that Pierre had already made a lot of money just in business. During his years in China, he organized a construction company specializing in the construction and renovation of Western-style houses, which really turned into a lot of money. But money is obsessed, it may be the influence of the past, or it may be that a touch of conscience in his heart makes him unable to completely forget France, Pierre not only took the Alexandria, but also personally went to Europe with the ship.

His purpose was to bring a shipload of military dry rations to France.

It's not the most lucrative business, but it's what the French need the most.

The poor governance ability of the Directory of Paris made countless French people hungry, and even more so that some French army supplies were lost, and Pierre felt that what France needed most at this time was food, and an ordinary shipload of grain had a shipload of compressed dry rations.

If outsiders were to talk about Pierre's current state of mind, he would have made a deal more to atone for his sins.

"Mazu Niangniang bless, bless the disciple and don't touch the British."

Seeing that Bordeaux was not far away, the tension in the heart of crew member Huang Hongen did not disappear at all. Bordeaux is a large port in France, and the British must have warships blockading, although the flag of the New Era is China's red flag, and it is definitely an authentic Chinese ship when it comes to procedures, but such a ship full of dry rations goes straight to Bordeaux, what it is going to do, at a glance.

If this is caught by the British, it will be different from being encountered by British ships in the Bay of Biscay.

Now it's a poor dagger, and there is no excuse to shirk it at all. This is going to be caught, and a little interrogation will be an ironclad case, and the Chinese government may not be able to handle it.

Huang Hongen prayed to Mazu Niangniang, and the rest of the Westerners all prayed to God. But the crews of the East and the West cannot all be of high quality.

"The British boy who hit the street will die early and die early. Only then can everyone have a good life. The Chinese crew member with a meaty face said indignantly.

"Ah Quan, don't say that. We are now in the West, and the imperial court can't control this place, and there are also British people on the ship, so people will be in trouble if they hear it. ”

Many Chinese still do not have the domineering spirit of the old beauty of later generations, even if they know that their country is extremely powerful, they will not cause trouble or make trouble when they go to foreign territory, and in a certain way they are 'timid and afraid of things'.

It is really very different from the British, French, Germans, and Japanese who flaunted their might on Chinese soil one by one when China suffered a century of humiliation in later generations.

Perhaps this kind of style will take time to develop. Anyway, Huang Hongen doesn't have this style.

If it was in India, he would dare to shout a few times, and in the heavenly world, he would dare to shout a few times, but this Europe is too far away from China's sphere of influence.

"God forbid, let the damned Britons all die." On the bow of the ship, a thin Frenchman in his thirties said uneasily.

This person is the patriot that Pierre contacted in Guangzhou, and his figure has been slimmed!

Pierre stood beside him and cheered him on: "Don't be afraid of the British. That's a bunch of shameful bandits. I am a citizen of the Chinese Empire, we are Chinese ships, and even if the British meet us, they will not dare to do anything to us. "Pierre was also apprehensive in his heart, but he deliberately said 'I don't care' in his words.

Pierre's friend pursed his lips and remained silent, for some reason, he was a little uneasy in his heart, there was always a feeling that something would happen today, but he also knew that he was idle on this ship, but he had no rights. I had to keep my head down and silently say, 'God bless, merciful Lord.'"

But it's really what to be afraid of, what to come. In the distance, a sail rose from the horizon, and then a bell rang from the mastboard. Soon, a British-flagged cruiser [Class 5] approached the New Era.

This is a small fifth-class sail warship, with a total length of 130 to 150 feet, 32~44 guns, a displacement of 600~800 tons, and a crew of about 250 people. They are mainly used to raid merchant ships at sea, to cruise in the oceans, and to act as a striker for capital ships. But because there is a catch gold to be obtained on this kind of ship, some of the crew are enthusiastic volunteers.

But the rice-shaped flag fluttering on the mast indicates the power behind them!

That's the British who dominate the seven seas!

Of course, the New Era is a Chinese ship, the owner Pierre is Chinese, and the red flag flying on the mast is a force that the British dare not ignore.

"Stop the ship and check!" When the two sides were about a mile closer, the British sailors on the cruiser sent flags.

"Sail down, stop the boat." Pierre had a ghost on his mind, so he really didn't want to stop. But he knew that this was outside the port of Bordeaux, and as soon as the cannon sounded, the other warships of the British would immediately kill. And even if you have to hold on to the hard top, the merchant ship can't outrun the fast cruiser.

So after much hesitation, he still accepted the order from the British. At this moment, he could only pray that the red flag above his head really worked.

The two ships approached, the British were not ordinary bold, and although there were really rockets on the New Era, he did not dare to set fire to the British warship if he was given ten dares. Twenty or thirty British soldiers climbed the New Age by rope, and at first glance they saw Pierre.

"It's a Frenchman!"

Just like the later generations of Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans met, Europe and the United States could not distinguish clearly, but they themselves could feel it very clearly.

It's the same thing happening in Europe.

In the eyes of many Orientals, Europeans are the same. But in the eyes of the British and the French, the taste of each other can be distinguished from each other.

This is not only because the British have a large nose, high cheekbones and a red face that are national comic features, but also because the French have some characteristics that are mixed with Mediterranean races, although they also have large noses with straight lines, but their skin tones and hair are dark. Rather, it is a perception of pure feeling.

The British sailors who climbed onto the ship immediately cheered up, and the second lieutenant officer, led by them, looked at Pierre like a thief.

"I am a subject of the Great Emperor of China, and you British have no right to inspect my ships."

This was an agreement several years before the Sino-British War, and the political landscape at that time could change too much from the current political pattern.

Is there such an agreement between London and China?

The second lieutenant officer at the head was a little confused. But he could clearly hear his 'pride' in Pierre's words, and his 'contempt' for the Kingdom of Great Britain. Pierre's pretended arrogant attitude greatly displeased the British.

"Who are you? Didn't you know that the Kingdom of Great Britain was blockading France? "The British unexpectedly searched out a large amount of Chinese military dry rations from the ship, which could not be counted.

If the goods on this ship were all military rations, it would have fed 100,000 French soldiers for three months.

The British, who had already raised their muskets, pointed their swarthy muzzles at the crew.

For the British officers and soldiers, maintaining the majesty of the Kingdom of Great Britain and safeguarding the interests of the British people is a discipline engraved in their bones.

"How dare you treat me like this? This is a Chinese ship, I am a citizen of the Great Emperor of China, a Chinese citizen under the protection of the Great Emperor. You have no right to arrest me, you are violating the rights and interests of Chinese citizens, is London going to war with China? Pierre struggled, but to no avail.

"Will the Chinese think you are a Frenchman and go to war with the Kingdom of Great Britain?" The British led by the British said with a little disdain. "Remember, this is Europe."

"All the people, take them all." Even if the Chinese office in Europe came to the door and then released all these people. At most, the ships and manpower were returned to the Chinese, but a boatload of military dry food here was enough for each of them to make a small fortune.