In the ninth year of Chengtian, in June.

As soon as it docked at the Shanghai wharf, a group of dock workers wearing short-sleeved overalls hurriedly surrounded it, and the boat support boards, the cable pullers, and the large steam pulley cranes were also slowly pushed to the corresponding positions under the call of dozens of workers.

Isn't it a high spec?

Ordinary ships really don't have such treatment after arriving at the Shanghai docks, but who let this be a flying scissor gunboat returning from Europe?

This is one that accompanied Gao Yanming on his mission to Europe, and he came back once in the fourth year of Chengtian, and then it has been until now. It's been four or five years.

Many of the people in the mission who went there have already returned, and new people have gone to Europe, but there are also people who have been gone for seven or eight years before they return.

Gao Zhisi took France's beloved wife, Catherine Cullen, and stood on the bow of the boat, taking a deep breath of the air of his hometown.

Nanjing is his hometown, and his parents have moved from Beijing to Nanjing for many years, leaving their homeland for many years, and Nanjing has become extremely cordial in his heart.

Singapore's port environment is already very good, the air at the Shanghai terminal is even better than that of the Singapore port, except for the natural smell of the sea, Gao Zhisi feels that it is as fresh as a remote and uninhabited beach. And if you compare the current Shanghai port with those big ports in Europe, such as Marseille, Bordeaux, London, Manchester, Hamburg, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Genoa, Gibraltar, Gothenburg, Barcelona, St. Petersburg, etc., he has been to almost all the famous ports in Europe, but the sea breeze and smell there, the combined smell is like being in a rotten and spoiled sea fish and garbage heap, and the air in Shanghai is like a paradise compared to it.

Although Gao Zhisi knows that the sanitation management of the Shanghai port area is very strict, there is a higher evaluation with the comparison.

When the ship docked in Jinghai, it was still a small seaport, Singapore already had a bit of taste, and Shanghai was a big surprise.

Catherine Cullen, who was dressed in a sergeant's uniform, had a handkerchief in her hand, but now she obviously didn't need it.

In the whole of Shanghai, including the port area, the main roads are all cement paved flat ground, snow-white lines draw a grid of port work area, not far away is a neat dock warehouse, a series of tracks are intertwined with each other, a number of lawns, trees and green belts, including the street lamps painted in snow white, with beautiful windproof oil lamps hanging on them, are all scattered.

Workers in port uniforms or carts or carrying goods shuttled back and forth, and police officers in pairs hung batons and handcuffs around their waists, leisurely looking at the boats. There are also cleaners with red sleeves on their arms.

Looking west along the wide streets, Shanghai's chessboard-like urban area is hidden among lush greenery, but standing on the side of the ship, you can at least see the distribution of the port area, and you can see most of the port area. As a specimen of China's new urban construction, Shanghai's urban architecture and distribution are very geometric, and the roads and green belts are dividing lines, either horizontal and vertical, or graceful curves.

The downtown area of Shanghai, which is obscured by the buildings and trees of the port area, looks mysterious, and the port area in front of it is even more attractive and upscale.

I haven't returned to China for such a long time, and now the scene of the Shanghai port area and the changes in Shanghai in the distance make Gao Zhisi, who has been mentally prepared, still secretly surprised.

Obviously, this is completely different from the city of Beijing in the depths of his memory, and it is also completely different from the European cities he is familiar with.

As a template for China's new cities, Shanghai's template is a garden city and a green city.

Karen grew her mouth in surprise, Jinghai and Singapore had already shocked her, but Shanghai made her unexpectedly happy. No wonder she always listened to the French businessman who had returned from China telling her in an envious tone that she would fall in love with China. People living in Shanghai and Nanjing are happy.

And on weekdays, she also heard some oriental 'traditional culture' from her husband, and felt the implied superiority in her husband's tone, and became more and more accustomed to a large number of goods and materials from this country.

This is just Shanghai, not Nanjing. The place where they will live in the future will be Nanjing, unless Gao Zhisi is sent to Shanghai again.

And as the capital of a country, Nanjing should be more beautiful than Shanghai. Just as Paris is better than Marseille, London is better than Manchester.

"There are so many flowers, grass and green trees, I love this place. Father, will our home be as beautiful as it is here? Suddenly, a child's childish voice sounded, it was Gao Zhisi's baby daughter, who was only four or five years old.

A very smart child, looking at the beautiful port of Shanghai, he already thinks of his home.

"Of course, dear baby, the scenery of Qinhuai through the ages is better than here."

"I have already commissioned my family to help us build a villa, and I will definitely incorporate the French style into the furnishings, in reference to the New Century architecture and European style of Shanghai, with poor Monsieur Pierre as the Counsellor. Honey, you mothers and daughters will love it. Gao Zhisi said to his wife and daughter, watching Yang Dewang appear on the dock, a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

Yang Dewang came back earlier than Gao Likesi, he returned to China when he was five years old, and has been working in the office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Shanghai ever since.

I haven't seen each other for several years, but it has not affected the relationship between Yang Dewang and Gao Zhisi, in the entire Chinese officialdom, he married a foreign wife, and it is the main house, and there is no third one who does not accept concubines.

Young Dewang's wife's name is Marie Deneuve, who is also French. and Karen have known each other since they were teenagers.

Therefore, it is really difficult to 'separate' Gao Zhisi and Yang Dewang in this life.

Yang Dewang and his entourage of 10 people, he and a colleague from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and then eight were all police officers and national security in charge of security work.

"Welcome home!" Yang Dewang stretched out his hands and hugged Gao Zhisi, and then greeted Karen with an affectionate face, and finally pretended to be serious and greeted the cute mixed-race girl next to the French young woman, "Dear Miss Gao, welcome back to China." "That's Gao Zhisi's only daughter so far, only four or five years old.

was originally full of smiles on his face, but he was frightened by Yang Dewang's serious look, and his whole little face tensed.

"Thank you, I like China." He replied like a little adult. The voice was visibly nervous, but deliberately flattened. This appearance immediately made the adults on the side laugh, and even the police in charge of security and the national security couldn't help laughing.

Very cute little girl.

"Tall, welcome back to China. First Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs...... Gao Zhisi nodded slightly at another person wearing a five-grade official uniform, he knew that this was the person he would have to deal with a lot in the next few days.

Gao Zhisi has to hand over his work notes and some secret things to the person in front of him to sort out, and during this period, Gao Zhisi will report how to report to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The purpose of the latter is not to know the harvest of the higher class, but to prove other aspects from the harvest of the high-class thought, and to infer or discover some things that the high-class thinks themselves are not 'consciousof'. This official position of 'First Secretary' is subordinate to the intelligence department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and works jointly with the Military Intelligence Agency and the Intelligence Research Department.

After the cameo greeted Gao Zhisi, his eyes shifted to the faces of the servants behind Gao Zhisi and his wife.

Born into a French aristocracy, Cullen married with a large dowry, and in addition to wealth such as gold coins and real estate, she was a few slaves brought from home.

A butler in his forties, and his wife [cook], a coachman in his fifties, an old gardener of the same age, and six maids in their thirties and forties.

The eyes of the first secretary gradually became sharp, and when the eyes of the nine Frenchmen first touched him, everyone couldn't help but puff up their chests, because their master was obviously of a higher status, but soon everyone looked away unnaturally.

Sitting in the carriage, the twenty carriages were completely filled with people and salutes, and the carriage in which Gao Zhisi and his wife and Yang Dewang rode was the most relaxed one. Yang Dewang and Gao Zhisi did not talk about work, but about life.

There is no doubt that Yang Dewang also has some affection for France, and his wife's relatives are also in Paris.

"How so? Although France's finances are a big problem, the overall situation is relatively stable. The French were confident in their victory in the war. The Battle of Yorktown gave all of France hope of victory over the British. ”

"But even if France wins the war, the cost of the war will greatly damage the vitality of the whole country."

"There are prices everywhere, everything from grain, cotton, cloth, to copper, iron, lead and tin, to fish, meat, cheese, butter, everything is going up."

The economic order of France as a whole has changed. "And most importantly, the French government owes the debt, their national debt interest rate is almost twice that of the British, and the serious consequences of huge military spending are incalculable."

"The French government will definitely not be able to repay this debt unless taxes are raised. But raising taxes is not easy to say, and the consequences are even more fatal. ”

"These problems during the war were less serious than the huge debt crisis and social troubles that followed the war."

When leaving Europe, Gao Zhisi had advised the Cullen family to pack up their possessions and leave France as soon as the war was over.

If you really don't want to leave the land where your ancestors lived, you have to leave Paris.

"The French see the buying and selling of government bonds as an investment, not purely patriotic, but an investment mixed with economic interests."

Gao Zhisi didn't understand this, and Yang Dewang didn't understand this either, but when Yang Dewang left Europe, it was 1778 in the Western calendar, and he hadn't seen the enthusiasm and crazy enthusiasm of the French to buy national bonds after France declared war on Britain.

Gao believes that there is definitely a love for the country and a hatred for the British in that madness. But the war has been going on for too long, and this sentiment that distinguishes it from economic interests is weakening little by little.

"You mean that after the war, the victorious French will turn all their attention to financial gain, while their pride is satisfied. Are you worried that there will be chaos in Paris once the French government breaks out in a fiscal crisis? ”

Yang Dewang was surprised. Is it that serious? Isn't France without a fiscal crisis?

Paris is the capital of France, and if there is chaos in Paris, it is tantamount to saying that King Louis XVI has lost his grip on the state. Is that saying that there is a possibility of chaos in the whole of France?

Yang Dewang couldn't help but glance at Karen, who was obviously unconcerned about the conversation between her husband and Yang Dewang, who was now looking out the window to see the scenery of Shanghai, reveling in the cityscape of downtown Shanghai, which was very different from Paris.

"Looks like I need to speak to Deneuve's family." Yang Dewang shook his head, he really couldn't imagine the domestic chaos that broke out in the blink of an eye for a first-class European power. But for Gao Zhisi's words, Yang Dewang believes very much.

Yang Dewang's home is not an ordinary apartment building, but a chic manor. Just like Gao Xiangsi, who married a noble lady as his daughter-in-law, although Yang Dewang's wife is not a nobleman, the Deneuve family is a wealthy businessman in Paris, and when she marries Yang Dewang, she can bring a very objective dowry.

Otherwise, with Yang Dewang's salary of a few hundred yuan a month, how could he not live in public housing and buy land to build a manor by himself.

"There's no better place than yours. You haven't seen the scenery there, I promise you'll love it, it's really like a garden against the backdrop of the Qinhuai River. Although you haven't moved in yet, it's already a trend in Nanjing. ”

"On the banks of the Qinhuai River, several new buildings of that style have appeared in the past two years. Pierre shouldn't have been looking for you to collect his wages, you opened a new market for him. "The combination of Neocen architecture and European style is really beautiful and in line with Yang Dewang's aesthetics.

And Pierre, who turned his back on France, has now found his new position.

Yang Dewang's manor is not large, there are flowers and green grass when you enter the door, and there is a three-layer European-style water tray, which should be lifted up by siphon effect, and there is an oriental fairy sculpture with fluttering clothes on the top, which makes Gao Xiangsi always feel a little disobedient.

This should be the most appropriate place to put a little angel.

The carriage drove up the steps, and the main building of the manor was a two-story building in the shape of a mouthpiece, with flowers and plants and tables and chairs arranged in the open space in the middle.

There is a little bit of European style, but why didn't Gao Yisi see the statues and paintings? He clearly remembered that when Yang Dewang returned to China, he specially brought back a lot of sculptures and faith paintings from Europe.

"Butler, let people hurry up and move all the luggage!" Mary Deneuve, who is only 25 years old, is very warm to entertain Gao Zhisi's family of three, especially for doll-like children, she is really envious of her. Because Yang Dewang has three sons, he dreams of Deneuve wanting to give birth to a daughter.

As for the question that Gao Zhisi had just generated, Yang Dewang and his wife, who were sitting in the living room, looked at each other and smiled, and their smiles were full of bitterness.

"If you want to develop in officialdom, don't chase God too much in your brain."

"It's a secular world, it's the East."

Yang Dewang's face was full of helplessness. In Europe, he doesn't feel anything in that big atmosphere. Gao Yanming will not explicitly restrict him from going to church, not going to worship, and not reciting God. They will even indulge him intentionally, because it will make them better in Europe.

But back in the East is a different story.

"Every year, the Church Administration rejects Fr. Lee Soon Eun's application report. There is not even a single church bathed in holy light in the vast city of Shanghai. And with the outbreak of war, people can't see the hope of the holy light shining even more. ”

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