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Get off the horse!

Although there is no such word in the English word, Lord Wenhan knows very well that the ironclad ship that he "encountered" in Jiujiang and the artillery drill was not a "chance encounter", but a "salute" deliberately prepared by the Metropolitan Governor of Wuchang?

"Believe me, the shells fired by this group of people are even more accurate and fast in the Royal Navy, maybe they have carefully arranged everything, but it is impossible to fight so fast, even my sailors, they can only shoot three shells at most in a minute!"

Uncle Ho's surprise kept coming to Wen Han's mind, and it was even just a reminder to him that this place was different from the rest of China, but at least one thing was certain, there was no arrogance to be seen here, maybe they showed their strength through the ironclad, but they wanted to gain respect through this display. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

After the "Halmis" sailed through the Jiujiang River and entered Hubei, whether it was Wen Han or He Bo and other British sailors on the warship, they looked at the Yangtze River and both sides of the river in amazement, they did not expect to see so many steam ships in the hinterland of China, and what surprised them even more was to see the construction site of the ironworks in Daye, where a modern ironworks were being built.

"We are not in China, but in a very different country!"

Wen Han said in a surprised tone that he finally understood why every Englishman who came here looked at everything here with joy, because anyone could see the wealth contained in the changes here.

"Your Excellency, there is a figure that may tell the story, the cotton cloth and cotton yarn imported from Wuchang Port are equivalent to one-fifth of our exports to China! Many merchants in Shanghai believed that if the Wuchang regime ruled China, British exports to China would increase at least tenfold, not only textiles, but also other British industrial goods, such as machinery, which would fundamentally change Britain's trade deficit with China! ”

Midile's words made Wen Han fall into deep thought, the trade deficit with China has not changed for hundreds of years, and it is now getting worse. Britain's trade deficit with China, even the war of a decade ago did not change all that as one might expect.

After the war, although a steady stream of British goods began to flow to China, the total export of British goods to China increased dramatically, of which more than 90% were cotton and woollen fabrics. However, there was no expected market for British goods, before the trade of Wukou, raw silk and tea were China's main export commodities, and after the trade of Wukou, China's export varieties gradually increased, such as leather, bristles, tin, beans, seeds, edible oil, raw cotton, straw hat braids and other small handicrafts, but tea and raw silk still occupy a dominant position, accounting for more than 75% of China's total export value. Britain's imports of silk tea from China increased rapidly, while exports to China progressed slowly, which inevitably caused a huge British trade deficit with China, from 1850 to last year, Britain's trade deficit with China gradually expanded, in just a few years, the deficit rose from 4274880 pounds sterling to 6336072 pounds, an increase of almost 50%.

The huge trade deficit caused by trade with China is a problem that the British business community has been unable to get rid of, and it is also the heart of the minister in China, and Wenhan's trip is also shouldered with the purpose of expanding the market.

"When the war broke out more than ten years ago, everyone was very optimistic about China's vast market, and after the war, through the signing of the Treaty of Nanjing, the implementation of the five-port trade made the entire capitalist circle ecstatic, and all the people who wanted to trade with 30,000,000 or 40,000 people seemed to go crazy."

A young man beside him spoke in a mocking voice.

Many British merchants wondered why a country with such a large population consumed less than half the manufactures of the Netherlands, and less than half of the sparsely populated colonies of North America or Australia. Faced with a trade deficit of more than £6 million a year, many merchants called for as much opium smuggling as possible into China to make up for the huge trade deficit, and although the smuggling of opium to China was increasing, we should see that China's exports to Britain were also increasing, and the profits of opium were not enough to make up for the huge trade deficit with China, which could be offset by the increase in raw silk exports alone. ”

Looking at the 19-year-old Hurd beside him, although he was only a trainee translator with a very low position, he was one of the people personally selected by Wen Han, and if all went well, then he would set up a consulate in Wuchang, and Midile would be the consul, and the rest of his entourage, including Hurd, would assist him in setting up a consulate here.

"So what do you think about Hurd, how can we make up for such a huge trade deficit?"

"Aren't they expanding their trade with Britain now?"

Faced with the minister's inquiry, Hurd said without fear.

"Wuchang is Britain's largest trading partner in the Far East, and they are not only buying our weapons, they are importing almost all British industrial goods, but they are also going to build railways, the railway from Canton to Wuchang, which alone is more than 700 miles!"

Facing the minister's gaze, Hurd's tone seemed calm, but his expression was a little excited.

"Now there are only 3,000 miles of railways in the whole of Britain, and one railway in China is close to a quarter of the size of Britain, and this huge country, if it tries to connect their provinces by rail, like the European countries, they will probably need to build tens of thousands of miles of railways, and it will cost 10,000 pounds for every mile of railways to build, so what will China buy from Britain in the process of building the railways? Steam locomotives, railroad tracks still need to hire a lot of engineers, just like what is being done here now, haven't they already built a railway in Guangzhou? ”

His words paused, and then he looked at the minister and said seriously.

"Mr. Minister, now that the world's largest market has opened its doors to us, shouldn't we open our hands? Go and welcome them? ”

Hurd's words made Wen Han ponder for a while, and he looked at the steamboats on the river, and the Chinese boats, the two formed a stark contrast, one symbolizing the future and the other symbolizing the past.

"But this market can only be brought to us by them, and if it were the Emperor of Manchuria or the Emperor of Jiangning, they would not have been able to build railways, buy steamships and machines like here,"

"They don't even buy machines to improve the quality of their raw silk, and the best raw silk in China right now is not the Hu silk produced in Jiangsu, but the factory silk produced in the silk reeling factories in Hubei and Hunan."

Midile then shrugged his shoulders helplessly.

"And that means we need more of my silver to buy the quality raw silk they provide, and maybe this year's trade deficit is likely to exceed £7 million, or more, given that opium smuggling is being hit like never before in Guangdong, where the most important opium market is."

"But their imports are also increasing, and when I left Guangzhou, I heard that there were people in Guangzhou who had started to invest in the construction of machine textile factories, and they would not only import more machines from the UK, but they would also import more cotton yarn from India."

Midile's helplessness made Wen Han shake his head and say.

"And India's largest export commodity, tea, can already be supplied, and in the last few years India's Assam Tea Company has grown amazingly, they have been profitable for a few years, and they have begun to pay dividends, and it is safe to say that in the future, Britain will only import less and less tea from China."

Wenham knew about the Assam Tea Company because he was also a director of the company. With an understanding of China, he is convinced that investing in the Assam Tea Company will be one of the wisest investments of his life. And now the facts have proven it.

"But we must consider that now, without opium, the British merchants would have lost more than £3,000,000 a year! Therefore, I suggest that during this trip to Wuchang, we must fully demonstrate to them the attitude of the United Kingdom. ”

Midile, who maintained friendship with many British merchants, naturally stood on the side of those merchants at this time, hoping that the minister would be able to protect the interests of British merchants and, of course, cigarette merchants, in his meeting with Zhu Yifeng.

"What kind of attitude do you indicate?"

Hurd immediately asked rhetorically.

"Do we mean to say, Mr. Hanto, that Britain will respect the smugglers and allow them to transport opium legally as you do. No, Your Excellency, if we do, then. I can say with great certainty that we will not gain anything from this trip, and we will not even be able to set up a consulate in Wuchang, Your Excellency."

Turning to the minister, Hurd continued to ask rhetorically.

"On the surface of the Jiujiang River, they welcomed us with ironclad ships, why is this? Is it to show us strength? Of course! But why would they do it? For the sake of war with the British? Of course not, they are in exchange for the respect of the British! ”

It's only been a few months since he came to China tonight, but Hurd knows better than anyone else how to deal with the Chinese, because he has a lot of friends who are Irish, and he knows what those Irish friends need. Respect is equal treatment, and this is also the premise of dealing with Chinese.

"That's right, it's respect!"

Wen Han naturally had no objection to this, he looked at Hurd and asked,

"So what should we talk to them about in Wuchang this time?"

"You can talk about anything, but you must not talk to them about opium, even if he takes the initiative to mention it, you should avoid it, because opium is an illegal trade and there is no need for us to negotiate with the Chinese about the illegal trade!"

Despite his youth, Hurd showed his cunning, and his advice also made Wenhan nod his head in agreement.

"Yes, we don't have this at all, now that we are getting closer and closer to Wuchang, I don't know how they will welcome us!" (To be continued.) )