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Change the dynasty!

For foreigners, this term is undoubtedly a little new. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

They may have been accustomed to the change of kings, but they have not adapted to the rise and fall of dynasties, but for foreign merchants from all over the world in Guangzhou, in the past month or so, they have found themselves in the midst of a real change, not just the banner on the head of the city, but a seismic change.

Almost as soon as he stepped off the boat, Hurd felt the difference in his face, and he couldn't believe that he was coming to Guangzhou from Hong Kong. Especially when he saw the soldiers in blue Western-style military uniforms at the dock, his eyes widened in surprise.

"Isn't it surprising!"

Henry, who was picking up Hurd outside the dock, noticed the look of surprise on his face and said seriously.

"Of course, a month and a half ago, I was just like you, believe me, now China is experiencing a revolution, and we are witnesses to this revolution......"

Sitting in the carriage, facing Hurd and his group of five, Henry pointed to Guangzhou outside the carriage and said.

"A month ago, there were still a lot of people here with braids, but now they have all cut their braids, of course, under the orders of the new government......"

The Chinese have already cut off their ugly braids!

Even when he disembarked, Hurd was uncomfortable, because for this reason, his understanding of China can be said to be extremely limited, but he knew that Chinese people have braids. But now, the Chinese he saw had no braids at all, which was very different from the Chinese in the picture.

"Do you know why you were transferred from Hong Kong to Guangzhou?"

Like the others, Hurd and his entourage were originally recruited by the British Foreign Office to serve as diplomats in China, and like others, Hurd was originally assigned to the British Trade Inspectorate in Hong Kong as a trainee translator. But they were notified in Singapore that they were transferred to the consulate in Guangzhou.

"Although many years after the treaty was signed, the Chinese allowed us to set up consulates in treaty ports, but in fact those Chinese kept us out of the city, so the consulate had to rent the Western-style building of the thirteen lines as a consulate for a long time, but now, after their new governor took office, he immediately received Mr. Consul and agreed to sell land in the city for us to build a consulate, and they hoped to send diplomats to Britain!" Gentlemen! ”

Henry looked at Hurd and the other young men, his expression a little excited.

"Once upon a time we used our fleet only to agree to their establishment of treaty ports, but now the new government wants to be able to communicate with us in all aspects, just like normal European countries, gentlemen, believe me, for you you will one day be honored to be able to experience this change for yourself!"

Just when Henry was excited about the breakthrough of the Chinese asking to send diplomats, a voice suddenly sounded. "Mr. Henry! When we were in Singapore, we noticed that the new government seemed to be more stringent in prohibiting opium than the old government, and I heard that after the new governor took office, they enacted a strict anti-smoking law, and anyone who sold tobacco would not only be fined more than 100 times the fine, but also punished with capital punishment, so would it affect our trade with China! ”

Hurd looked at Wilkinson, and the most fundamental reason why he was so concerned about opium was because his family was in the opium business itself.

"Mr. Wilkinson, maybe opium is legal in Britain, but China has never been a legal trade, whether it is the old government or the new government on this point, but now the Chinese are more strict, just yesterday they arrested several opium dealers!"

Henry's position on opium was more "official", but Wilkinson was clearly a little unrelenting, even speaking in an extremely arrogant tone.

"Didn't Mr. Consul notice that such a prohibition would in fact cause great harm to the interests of British merchants? Had Mr. Consul forgotten that one of his duties was to protect the interests of British merchants? ”

"Mr. Wilkinson, you must understand that in the territory of the Chinese, they have the right to make any decision, if the Chinese hurt the British merchants, then the consulate should naturally protect the merchants, but if the Chinese arrested their own merchants, the Consul Pashali took action, then this claim is undoubtedly stupid and irrational!"

As soon as Hurd's words were finished, the people in the carriage burst into laughter, and Hurd continued when Wilkinson was annoyed.

"I think that the most important thing now for Mr. Consul is to fully demonstrate our goodwill and pave the way for the development of further diplomatic relations by taking advantage of the new government's eagerness to engage with Britain and Europe, and of course at the same time as diplomacy is opened, we can see that real trade is unfolding."

When Hurd was referring to real trade was British production, not opium from India or the Ottoman Empire, and when he was a student at Queen's College Belfast, his professor made no secret of the fact that the war 14 years ago might have forced the Qing to open its doors and approve new treaty ports, but it was actually a failure for Britain.

"What we have to see is what the war waged by the East India Company fourteen years ago for the benefit of the opium merchants brought to Britain? Compared with before the war, China's exports to Britain are not shrinking, but increasing, now China's exports to Britain are 1.9 times that before the war, and Britain's exports to China are stagnant, even declining, British cotton, machinery and any other kind of industrial products, is not China's needs, indeed, the British fleet knocked on China's door, however, the Americans, Jews have begun to replace the position of British opium dealers, opium smuggling is indeed increasing, but unfortunately, It had nothing to do with British industry, at most it was just the opium dealers who raised it, and the maharajas of India, and of course even now the opium in India is being replaced by cheap opium grown by the pagans of Ottoman Turkey! ”

When Hurd made these remarks, Henry looked at the 20-year-old man in surprise, and for a moment, he seemed to understand why he was the only young man in his group of five who had been exempted from the examination, and his vision was not possessed by anyone else.

"Hmph, Hurd, you also said that the Chinese do not need British cotton, British wool, British machinery, if there is no opium, then even such a pitiful profit is deprived, then for Britain, it is undoubtedly disastrous! We'll have to trade more gold for their tea and silk! ”

Wilkinson said in a mocking tone that he hated most of all "hypocrites" like Hurd, who advocated respect for the so-called "barbarians" but forgot what was in British interest.

"That's in the past!"

Hurd looked at Wilkinson, unlike the arrogance in Wilkinson's bones, during his stay in Singapore, he had already made up his mind that he must seriously understand the Chinese, Britain may have arrogant capital, but it is undoubtedly unwise to deal with the Chinese with an arrogant attitude.

"When I was in Singapore, I had the privilege of knowing an engineer who was employed by the new government of China, and the new government, unlike the old government, not only bought industrial products, but also bought a lot of machinery, gentlemen, maybe you don't know, that Mr. Wilson was a railway engineer!"

"Railroad Engineer!"

Wilkinson snorted contemptuously and said,

"Could it be that the Chinese are ready to build a railway? Rather than saying that they wanted to build a railroad, I prefer to believe that this railway engineer had only come to the East to pan for gold, and not to forget that on that ship we also met retired officers from Prussia and France, and even the British, and believe me, the railway engineer, like every gold digger, would not have come to the East at all if it had not been for the bursting of the British railway investment bubble, he had only come here to look for work. ”

For Wilkinson, who came from a family of businessmen, he can say that he has the most say in the railway speculation bubble, after all, his family was also involved in it, and because of this, in his opinion, the reason why the railway engineer left Britain was because of the bursting of the railway stock bubble four years ago, not only the former "richest man in Britain" and "railway king" went bankrupt, but also thousands of ordinary stock holders. Many railroad engineers have also been hit, with hundreds of engineers going bankrupt and having to flee abroad to avoid debt. Accepting a foreign offer is undoubtedly the best choice for them.

"You know, since the railroad bubble burst four years ago, the best railway engineers have either gone to the European continent or to the United States, and now they come to the East, I personally think they are just adventurers!"

"On that ship, and machines, thousand-ton machines?"

Hurd still insisted on his opinion,

"I don't know much about it, but I believe that the new government must be different from the old government, and they even sent students to the UK a long time ago, I think ......."

Before Hurd could finish speaking, Henry interrupted him,

"My friend, don't forget, you don't speak Chinese yet, which means you don't know them, and if you want to know them, you have to learn their language first!" That's the bare minimum thing. ”

Henry winked at Hurd kindly, as if to remind him of his words.

"As for Canton, this is just the beginning, and if all goes well, maybe we will have the opportunity to set up a consulate and even a legation in Wuchang, you know, it is the heart of the new government, and if you learn to Chinese, maybe you will have the opportunity to ......go there in the future" (to be continued. )