"I didn't expect that this high-level thinking is still a talent. Visionary. ”

Gao Zhisi's recital was sent to Nanjing on the afternoon of the second day after he landed in Shanghai, and handed to Chen Ming.

Chen Ming was really surprised to see Gao Si Xuan's speculation about the post-war situation in France. No one in the Foreign Office has ever said with certainty that the country would be in political chaos after the war because of the financial crisis, let alone that the political position of the British in Europe would not be weakened by the loss of the war with Fasso-Dutch, but would be made more prominent by the political chaos of the French.

Of course, he did not speak of the French Revolution, he only referred to the Enlightenment of the French bourgeoisie, believing that in the great political chaos in France, this new school of thought would become an important party in French politics.

That's already remarkable.

It's a pity that this high-class thinker, like Yang Dewang, is very obsessed with monotheism. However, China's social environment has an innate inhibition on it.

Chen Ming didn't care much about the return of Gao Zhisi and his party, compared to them who had returned to China, Chen Ming was more concerned about Gao Yanming and them who stayed in London.

The war is nearing its end. No matter how big the impact of the Sino-Spanish war may be, the war is really coming to an end.

The disadvantages of the North American and Indian battlefields will inevitably cause a depression in London, and China, which is actually on the same side as the British, may also suffer from its activities in Europe.

Now is the time when the atmosphere in Europe is at its most tense, and it is also a good time for diplomats to show their skills, do not think that European affairs are far, far away from China, as far as Gao Yanming's secret play, the Russians are taking advantage of the relationship of the armed neutral alliance, and are trying to win over the Dutch and Portuguese, and then close to the Spaniards.

The trend towards alliance in these countries is already evident.

In a future war, the Portuguese and Dutch may not have a direct military conflict with China, but they will be able to provide loans to St. Petersburg. Especially in the Americas, if China completely won the war against Spain, and if China showed a tendency to continue to advance southward, the Portuguese, who occupied Brazil, would certainly be willing to support Spain behind the scenes.

At the same time, on the question of the Americas, the French and Franklin, who settled in Paris, were also a threshold that could not be bypassed.

The diplomatic storm that pervades the road of Europe seems to be incompatible with China, thousands of miles away, but in fact it is very important. Moreover, China and the Ottoman Empire are getting closer and closer, and the Ottomans are not only enemies of Russia, but also of Vienna.

The first partition of Poland, why did Catherine II pull Austria in? That is to win over the Austrians, to resolve the contradictions between Russia and Austria. And among them, there is a Prussia that cooperates with Russia and Austria and has contradictions.

Russia's victory over the Ottomans in the Fifth Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774) strengthened the state and threatened the interests of the Habsburg crown in Central and Eastern Europe (especially the principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia). So Austria decided whether to declare war on Russia.

Central and Eastern Europe, which is not so vast, has three great powers at once, Russia, Austria and Prussia, and any one country wants to grow stronger will affect the interests of other countries, and the three countries are obviously unwilling to fight each other.

France, friendly to both Russia and Austria, proposed to redivide the territories of the countries. In this reorganization, Austria could receive the province of Silesia as compensation, while Prussia would receive Emmenland in Poland and the Duchy of Courland and Semilia, the Polish possessions that were already under the rule of the Baltic Germans. King Frederick II of Prussia was reluctant to give up Silesia, which had recently been acquired through the Silesian War; But he was also looking for a peaceful solution – his alliance with Russia would pull him into a potential war with Austria, and the Seven Years' War had weakened Prussia's finances and troops. Frederick II also wanted to defend the weakened Ottoman Empire so that he could draw the Ottomans to his side in Prussia's war with Russia (or with Austria).

So, diplomacy in Europe is really complex and dynamic. There are so many factors and benefits to consider here.

In such a big muddy water, the difficulty is hellish; In the East, where Chinese diplomats have to face a test of the situation, they are at the level of elementary school students, and it is no wonder that in the original plane of time and space, Chinese diplomats have been defeated again and again in a series of negotiation occasions after the Opium War. Not to mention that Westerners have a strong national support behind them.

Now the war on the west coast of North America has begun.

If the process goes well, the Spaniards will be tied up in the summer and autumn. At that time, the big duck can only sit obediently at the negotiating table, and whether the British can take this opportunity to turn around with one sentence depends on London's decision-making power.

It will only take two or three months for the news of North America to reach Europe, and at the end of the year, the diplomatic atmosphere over the whole of Europe will become stronger, and everything will be settled in the first half of next year.

Chen Ming felt that the war would end next year at most!

One is that the Europeans really can't fight; Second, China has swallowed up a large area of land, which needs to be digested well.

……

Gao Zhisi's recital has been sent to Nanjing, but Gao Zhisi himself has not left Shanghai.

He still has time to spare, and his wife, Catherine Cullen, clearly has a love for Shanghai. From the next morning, he followed Mary Deneuve to the business district of Shanghai by horse-drawn carriage.

Today's downtown Shanghai is no longer the Shanghai County of more than ten years ago, and the commercial streets are not only those intersections, but also the gathering of Eastern and Western goods, including the heavenly world, which is more dazzling than the commercial streets of Paris.

Today's Shanghai, in terms of population, economy and urban prosperity, is still a little worse than Guangzhou, but the distance has been greatly shortened.

After the two capitals in the north and south plus Guangzhou, China's fourth largest city will be the great demon capital of the original plane.

Even Suzhou, Hangzhou, Yangzhou, and Wuhan were chased and surpassed by Shanghai.

The development of this new city is a miracle in the history of mankind in the heart of Shanghai, which is located in the center of the entire eastern seaboard and backed by the golden waterway of the Yangtze River.

Ports, foreign trade firms, many factories and schools, plus government agencies and garrisons, there are really a lot of 'middle and high-income' people in Shanghai, not to mention so many foreign customers. The eyes of businessmen are sharp, so in recent years, Shanghai's land prices have been rising, and they failed to catch up with the gluttonous feast, and were forced to swallow some second- and third-tier land.

The entire economy is rising at a high speed, and the market dividend is making everyone a lot of money.

Karen is a place where you can find a lot of local high-end goods that you can't find in Paris or London, and the prices are much cheaper than in European stores.

In Europe, high-white porcelain, which is more precious than silverware, has become an ordinary commodity here.

This kind of porcelain is as fine as a work of art, and it was difficult for them to buy it from Chinese in the past. It was after the rise of Chen and Han that China's real high-end fine porcelain opened its door to Europe, and some art-like high white porcelain appeared in big cities such as London and Paris, and there were more precious exquisite porcelain, hollow porcelain and turn-heart bottles, which made Europeans think of treasures. Initially, many high-end porcelain that appeared in the European market was still oriental style and oriental color, but with the evolution of time, some high-end white porcelain that obviously incorporated Western elements, or directly Western design, also appeared in Europe, and even thin porcelain that Chinese themselves regarded as treasures appeared.

In the middle of the period, Monsieur Perrière used all his connections to obtain a thin porcelain vase depicting the Virgin in her arms, and then with great difficulty, the vase was shipped back to France and presented to His Majesty Louis XVI, and Cullen had the good fortune to see the beautiful treasure at the ball at the Palace of Versailles.

Under the candlelight of the night, it is really intoxicating and fascinating.

But in Shanghai, in the Jiangnan Trading Company's merchandise showroom, Cullen witnessed two very different styles of reborn porcelain. One East, one West, it's really an extraordinary luxury.

In addition to the porcelain that is synonymous with China, the silk silk here, the jewelry here, the clothing here, a Western woman wearing an oriental traditional hanfu, you don't care if you look at it or not, the latter is a hundred surprises for the former.

Women like beautiful and gorgeous clothes, and as long as you have money, the gorgeousness of Hanfu is definitely not comparable to the Western court-style women's clothing in this era.

At the same time, simplicity and elegance are also a sense of beauty.

After the stimulation of the red and purple colors, the light and elegant Hanfu is another beauty.

There are also handkerchiefs with exquisite embroidery, and the incredible craft of embroidery on both sides can exist, one side of the green mountains and green waters, and the other side of the small bridge, which is completely a work of art. And scarves, shawls, or cashmere from Tibet, and Cullen's eyes were red when she saw them.

In Europe, this is a real high-end product, which ordinary people with money can't buy.

In the sixties of the 17th century, the French, who first arrived in Kashmir, introduced "Shahtush" to Europe for the first time. In the 18th century, Kashmiri cashmere began to become popular in European palaces, and noble ladies began to wear cashmere shawls on their shoulders, and the best shawls from Kashmir were a symbol of prominence.

In fact, it was because Britain and France could not reach Tibet, which was the origin of Tibetan antelopes.

Nowadays, this shawl and pure Tibetan antelope wool are the largest fist products in Tibet in addition to medicinal herbs and dried yak cattle.

The total production is low, but the value is very high.

Karen can't buy a lot of Shahtoosh, the price in Shanghai is much cheaper than in Europe, but it's just as expensive. There is also a limit on the amount of purchases.

Then Cullen also bought a lot of sculptures, some in stone, some in wood, some in bamboo, even ivory rhino horns, and jade carvings. There are also a variety of scented perfumes and essential oils, toilet water, soaps, candles, high-end furniture and furs.

It is really worthy of being a famous port in the East, and she actually found a complete set of rosewood furniture here. It's really incredible.

Westerners have rarely seen red sandalwood, this thing grows extremely slowly, and a mature red sandalwood tree grows for hundreds or even thousands of years. The material rate is very low, and the resources are scarce, and there is a saying that "every inch of gold is gold".

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, red sandalwood was valued by the old Zhu family. The development of maritime transportation and Zheng He's voyage to the West also communicated trade and cultural exchanges with the countries of the South Seas. In their regular and irregular trade exchanges with China, countries often have a certain amount of precious wood, including rosewood. However, this was far from satisfying the needs of China's huge ruling group, so the Ming government sent officials to Nanyang to procure.

Subsequently, private trafficking also came into being. By the end of the Ming Dynasty, almost all the high-quality wood, especially rosewood, from all over the South Seas were bundled away.

By the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, the vast majority of the red sandalwood produced in the world at that time was gathered in China.

The red sandalwood used in the Qing Dynasty was all picked by the Ming Dynasty, which was seized from the Forbidden City by the Manchu Qing Dynasty. Even if it's better than nothing.

The Manchu Qing Dynasty also sent people to Nanyang to pick rosewood, but most of them were not thick and could not be used.

This is because the red sandalwood grows slowly, it cannot be grown for hundreds of years, it is cut down in the name, it has not been revived in the Qing Dynasty, and the source is exhausted, which is also an important reason why the red sandalwood is cherished by the world.

Compared with China, Westerners attach more importance to rosewood, because they have never seen red sandalwood in the previous 100 years, and think that it can only be used as a small object. It is rumored that there is a five-inch-long model of a rosewood coffin in front of Napoleon's tomb in the original space-time plane, and visitors are all amazed and thought it is rare.

It was not until the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty that Western missionaries came to China in large numbers and saw many red sandalwood vessels, and they knew that the red sandalwood elite was all in China.

When the Manchus ruled China, due to the shortage of rosewood, the office also purchased rosewood from private traders at high prices from time to time.

There are records of the purchase of rosewood almost every year in the work files of the Qing Palace.

So much so that an unwritten rule has gradually formed in the officialdom, that is, no matter what level of official, as long as they see rosewood, they will never let it go, buy it all, and hand it over to the royal family or local weaving institutions.

And now, Karen not only saw the red sandalwood Chinese furniture that decorated the whole room in Shanghai, but also really saw a lot of red sandalwood with her own eyes, and she even didn't know what the bracelet was used for, and she also sold several strings of red sandalwood beads with gold stars.

It wasn't until the roof of the carriage was fully loaded, and the hands of several attendants were full, that Cullen ended the day's sweep. She spent a total of more than 40,000 Chinese dollars. It has made a contribution to the economic development of Shanghai!

Gao Zhisi had a headache about this, although he could say to the outside world that this was his wife's dowry, not that he was corrupt, but it was a shame to say it. A big man is raised by his wife, and if he doesn't say it, he will be in trouble, even if Yushi doesn't look for trouble, the official reputation will be defeated.

When I was in Europe, this was really not obvious; But back in China, it suddenly became a problem.

Even if the wife has a good dowry, but now their income is small, low income and high consumption, no matter how much money they have, they will spend all of it. Gao Classi looked at a shopping invoice at night, and the corners of his mouth twitched. Such a ruined.

I don't know if money is precious, and I don't know if she will lose her entire family one day......