In the northwest urban area of Guangzhou City, within the sphere of influence of the Qilin Gang, in a huge courtyard, a large number of foreigners gathered here, in groups of three or five, listlessly strolling in the courtyard, with strings of foreign words in their mouths, chattering for a while, not knowing what they were talking about. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Groups of soldiers dressed in unicorn uniforms are patrolling, shuttling between courtyards, wandering in the corridors, and there are even heavily armed sentry posts, all over the place, shocking these imprisoned foreigners.

Not only that, but there are also members of the Kirin Gang standing guard, responsible for the daily life of these foreigners. At this moment, the little leaders of the Qilin Gang came out from various places, speaking different foreign languages, including English, French, German, etc., but their content was the same, shouting: "Start work, start work, if you don't work, you won't be paid." ”

With this roar, most of the foreigners were still very obedient, moved, and followed the Qilin Gang outward, went to the nearby factory, and worked honestly. However, when the forest is big, there are all kinds of birds, and there will always be some outliers when there are many foreigners, and there are many wealthy merchants among these foreigners, who are not willing to do manual work, and still lie on the stone table, enjoying the warm spring sunshine.

It seems that this situation is not strange, the Qilin Gang in charge of guarding did not go crazy, the expression was very tolerant, and soon, the person in charge who knew foreign language walked out and came to the front of the foreigner, speaking in the corresponding foreign language, and said in a kind tone: "Sir, if you don't start working, there will be no corresponding wages, and the daily living and food expenses will be deducted from your temporary deduction of silver." Then, once your possessions are detained, not only will you not be able to return home, but you will not even have a daily meal supply. ”

A few foreigners were still lying there, unmoved, and it was obvious that they had heard enough of such words and were already immune. At this time, one of the foreigners squinted his eyes, but the corners of his mouth twitched, expressing his dissatisfaction and despair.

"Hmph, I don't know if we can leave China alive, but we have never thought about getting back the wealth that belongs to us. If our own wealth is deducted, and there is no money to pay for our daily food expenses, the same is true when the time comes. ”

Of course, the Qilin Gang in charge of talking to the gang members knew what these foreigners had in mind, but it was nothing more than that, since they didn't get back the silver that had been deducted, it would be better to consume it, enjoy it, and earn it back.

The person in charge smiled lightly and threw out the news that made these foreigners extremely excited, and his body was immediately full of energy, hope, and he was no longer so lazy.

"Gentlemen, I know what you think. If it had been before, I might not have been able to make any promises to you. But now it is different, and I can tell you clearly that if you really don't plan to work, continue like this, and consume your money. Then, after another one or two months, there is not enough silver taels, and you will have to watch the others leave and return to their own country, where you can only earn money and die in a foreign country. ”

All of a sudden, several foreigners opened their eyes, and as shrewd businessmen, they immediately caught the shocking news, and their hope of returning home was almost unanimous, and they asked the same question one after another: "Do you mean that in another month or two, we foreigners can leave Guangzhou and return to our own country?" ”

The person in charge showed a noncommittal expression and sold a pass: "Gentlemen, don't worry, what does it mean, when you finish work in the afternoon, you will receive an accurate answer, and you will definitely be satisfied." However, now that we can't start work, whether we go to work in the factory or not, we are still as before, and we are not reluctant. However, if your money is really deducted, there is really no capital to leave. ”

Then, the person in charge stopped talking, looked at everyone with a smile, and waited for the final reply, and the soldiers of the Qilin Army also stopped in the distance, responsible for sending the foreigners to the factory.

A few foreigners glanced at each other, you look at me, I look at you, and finally nodded heavily, anyway, after working for so long, I don't care about working for one more day, and there is nothing wrong with continuing to work. Immediately, several foreigners stood up, and one of the foreigners at the front said: "Okay, let's go to work, and I hope that when we finish work in the afternoon, there will be some good news that will not disappoint us." ”

The person in charge just nodded, waved his hand, and ordered to a group of Qilin soldiers in the distance: "Okay, gather them with other foreigners and send them to the factory together." ”

These foreigners are not the only ones in the entire detention area who have lost their temper and think so. All have a broken jar and broken mood, enjoy it first and then talk about it, and get by. Hearing the person in charge of their respective regions say this, all of a sudden, all kinds of speculations circulated among foreigners, saying that there was a general meaning, that is, they could finally leave!

However, some people are happy and some are worried, in the place of detention, some foreigners have consumed their wealth, there is not much left, and the remaining silver can no longer support them to go home, hearing such news, they only feel that they want to cry without tears, as if they have been struck by lightning, and secretly hate themselves, why don't they hold on for a while?

Next, there was a scene in the factories that shocked the factory director, usually lazy, lazy, and weak foreigners, today as if they had taken medicine, each full of energy, full of vitality, smiling, originally a day's work, less than half a day to finish, the efficiency of these foreigners suddenly increased by more than half.

After learning some news, these factory directors realized, they really didn't leave, led backwards, and had to give a little benefit, and said secretly: "No wonder these foreigners work so hard?" ”

By the afternoon, the foreigners had become more and more excited, and felt more and more that their guess was very probable. Because, the directors of each factory are even better, and the time to close the work is almost two hours earlier, which is unimaginable in the past!

At the same time, when foreigners from various countries gathered, before they left the factory, everyone received a pamphlet. When they opened the first page of the booklet and saw the first line of content, they were excited, their blood boiling, and they couldn't help but be excited.

Leaving China Guide~!

In six big words, they saw hope and fully confirmed their guesses, especially the outline discussion that followed.

"Ladies and gentlemen, if you want to leave China and leave Canton, you only need to fulfill the requirements in the booklet, and the Great Guangzhou Dynasty will never stop you, and your merchant ships can travel freely to and from China, and you will no longer do business in China according to the season."

"Not only that, but you can also settle in the Chinese mainland for a long time, and you can live in the interior with your wife and children. Moreover, the Great Guang Dynasty also opened other ports as trading ports with foreigners, namely Xiamen in Fujian, Shanghai in Jiangsu and Ningbo in Zhejiang, all of which can be used as places for you to do business and live......"

“......”

Gradually, all the foreigners were immersed in the contents of the pamphlet, and step by step, they were like zombies, walking unconsciously, completely out of instinct, so intently reading the pamphlet, following the front, not even knowing how to get to the place of imprisonment.

When the team disbanded, the soldiers of the Qilin Army stopped watching them, and these foreigners reacted and arrived at their place of residence. However, not everyone was very happy, some were sad, and some were complaining.

"How can this be? Those fines were made by your Chinese emperor, and they were not imposed by us foreign merchants! ”

"It's been many years, although you China has changed dynasties, but you can't take us foreigners? It's so unfair, I have to appeal, I have to complain to the ambassador, I can't pay this money! ”

"Your Chinese court has gone back on its word, and will it not let us foreigners do business in the future? Resolutely resist, even if I pay this money, I will never come here again to do business! ”

......

Obviously, the foreign merchants who said these words were the beneficiaries of the year, and when Qianlong issued a mediocre edict, these foreign merchants all borrowed money to the merchants of the Thirteen Banks in Guangzhou. Let them spit out the silver at once, these people are really unwilling, and if they don't make the last effort, they will definitely not easily spit out the silver that fell from the sky.

All of a sudden, the courtyard of the foreigner under house arrest was full of people, and there was a hustle and bustle everywhere, expressing their dissatisfaction, and secretly rejoicing, with a sense of expectation, ready to find the person in charge to go through the departure procedures, return to China early, and reunite with their families.

Gradually, the courtyard of the supervision returned to calm, some foreigners began to gather in groups of three or five, secretly discussed in the room, and there were corresponding foreigners outside to be in charge of guarding, once a supervisor entered, an alarm would be issued to notify the people in the house.

It seems that they have been informed a long time ago, and the members of the Kirin Gang ignore all this and let it develop, as long as these foreigners do not flee, they will not care.