Hong Kong.

It was not until this moment that the Chinese and Japanese missions found out that the Governor of Hong Kong, as the plenipotentiary representative to China, was going to salute Tang Ning, and they were deeply shocked, the Duke of London was powerful, equivalent to the Japanese "Edo Daimyo", China's foreign surname Wangye, Wu Sangui and the like.

Of course, the aristocracy was not so valuable, and what shocked the Chinese and Japanese envoys even more was the jury system being implemented in Hong Kong, in which civilians were the jury, and the judges were only responsible for presiding and sentencing. The final adjudication power in Hong Kong is, of course, in the House of Lords of the United Kingdom. The Japanese liked this design the most, their daimyo and the like found a soulmate, and after equal rights, there were judicial privileges, which made it less resistant to change, and if the nobles were completely deprived of their privileges, it would be more difficult to reinvent.

At the discussion in the evening, Downing introduced to everyone that in addition to this form called constitutional monarchy, there is also a federal system like the United States, and the designers of the American system have very cleverly made the state power very large, and each state also has two senatorial seats, so that each state has the same right to speak in the Senate, and effective competition has been formed between states, and the whole country has developed relatively evenly. In addition, there is a direct democracy for all, as in Switzerland, where any citizen can call a national referendum to reject a bill or a law.

Japan and Britain are very similar in terms of land area and population, so they especially like to refer to the system of the British Empire, and Zeng Jize is very interested in the federal system of the United States, because the state power is very important for a big country like China, and when the country is big, everyone has no sense of belonging, and the Chinese is more important to the countryside, otherwise the army will not be divided into Hunan army, Sichuan army, and your army. Wouldn't it be more reasonable to build China into a country with provincial power as the priority? It is a pity that now the Hunan army has been "defeated and fought repeatedly", and there is no end in sight to the disaster of the Taiping army, let alone the construction of a new country.

Worried about the war, Zeng finally noticed the unusual rifles of the Hessian mercenaries, but the soldiers were not allowed to talk about their weapons without permission, which was Downing's strict rule on the "mass killing weapon" of the FN-1855, and they did not understand Japanese or Chinese. Shimazu Saibin, Saigo Takamori and Okubo Ritsu had asked a long time ago, and they got a "no comment" answer.

Zeng Jize didn't dare to ask Tang Ning directly, so he went to Xu Rongcun to find out the wind first.

Xu Rongcun is just a businessman, although he has gained a lot of experience in collecting intelligence for Tang Ning over the years, but he is still just a small people's mentality, and Zeng Jize is different, the son of the soldier squire, he has a little sense of ownership of the Qing Dynasty, maybe the future of the Qing Dynasty is pinned on Xiao Zeng, these days Xu Rongcun tried to have a deep friendship with Xiao Zeng, and seeing that Tang Ning had no objection, he was even bolder, on the voyage from Hong Kong to Singapore, on a dark and windy day, Xu Rongcun invited Zeng Jize to come to his cabin to drink tea, The more I talked with Xiao Zeng, the more speculative I became, and I felt that China should also establish a modern system like that of Europe and the United States. The two decided to work together for this ideal, but the way they built their bond was very rustic - worshipping the son.

After calling for a long time, Lao Xu, who was the elder brother, finally revealed the shocking secret - the Duke of London, who was in Europe, was half of Chinese blood.

Xiao Zeng's tiger body was shocked, no wonder a certain Tang has such a strange appearance and speaks Chinese so perfectly.

Xu Rongcun: "Got it, right? If the Qing Dynasty wants to change, the hope lies all in Mr. Tang. When I heard this in London four years ago, he was just a well-known inventor, and today he is one of the most influential men in all of Europe, and even the monarch of a German state himself. If he is completely loyal to England wholeheartedly, then he will not go to Germany and Switzerland to mingle, I am afraid that the Europeans do not understand Mr. Tang's mind. What do you think of the defeat of the Zhenjiang Naval Division guarded by Wu Ruxiao of the Taiping Army on the Great Eastern? ”

Zeng Jize: "The imperial court thought that it was impossible for a cruise ship to defeat hundreds of warships, and my father thought that the Great Eastern was too big for the Zhenjiang Naval Division to engage in broadside battles. Anyway, I believe in the strength of the Great Eastern, standing on the world's largest ship is called shock, no need to fire, this speed and volume alone can knock the Taiping Army's water camp away. ”

Xu Rongcun: "I was on the boat at the time, and in my opinion, the secret lies in Mr. Tang's soldier's rifle, which is extremely accurate from a long distance, and the Taiping Army sailors have no chance to get close and open fire." If the Hunan army had this weapon, it would be easy to wipe out the thieves in one fell swoop. ”

Zeng Jize: "I also vaguely feel that this rifle is extraordinary, and after listening to you, I believe it even more." I had also seen many foreigners' weapons with my father's soldiers, but Mr. Tang's rifle had never seen one. ”

Xu Rongcun: "Mr. Tang is a great inventor, maybe this is a more advanced rifle invented by him himself, so he dared to break into Zhenjiang, and the purpose of his trip to Zhenjiang is more worthy of our guess, why did he go to the barracks of the Taiping Army?" Perhaps in order to verify whether the concept of the Taiping Army was worthy of his support, it was also his intention to let Mr. Qi report to the governor of Jiangsu, testing the attitude of various armies. ”

Zeng Jize: "Big brother means ......"

Xu Rongcun: "The Hunan army should seize this opportunity and become the force that Mr. Tang supports in China, so as to quell civil strife and resist foreign insults, Jie Gang (Zeng Jize's character) views on the modern system and his attitude towards the treaty are consistent with Mr. Tang's expectations, I heard Mr. Tang say with my own ears when he was arguing with the Queen of England that China should support the forces that China is willing to abide by the treaty, and Mr. Tang, as the founder of the famous Windsor Hospital in the United Kingdom, is against opium, according to my judgment, Mr. Tang is one of the very few virtuous people who do things completely for the well-being of the people of all countries! ”

After Xu Rongcun's flickering, Zeng Jize's thoughts of "rebellion" became stronger. The modern social system, at least to establish a constitutional monarchy, is naturally to destroy the authority of the imperial court, in fact, Zeng Guofan has made a very good start, before the first expedition of the Hunan army, Zeng Guofan wrote a famous literary and brilliant "Discussion of Cantonese Bandits", which did not praise the imperial court, but emphasized the Taiping Army's banditry and worship of God, so that the people are not happy, will destroy the Chinese Confucian and Mencian civilization and so on.

Zeng Guofan is now a squire of the military department, it sounds like a big official, but in fact there is no power, he can pull up the Hunan army is simply a strong expression of talent and organizational ability, Zeng Guofan has won and lost in the war, once won Wuhan, Hubei, made great contributions, Emperor Xianfeng was very happy, ready to grant Zeng Guofan the position of governor of Hubei This place is very powerful, at that time, there was a university scholar Qi Junzao into the words, said, "Zeng Guofan to the squire in the register, like the ear, the husband lives in the Lu, a shout, kicking up more than 10,000 people from it, I am afraid that it is not the blessing of the country." "Implying that Zeng Guofan has such a great appeal and ability, I am afraid that giving him real power in the local area will make him too big to lose. As a result, Zeng Guofan was still just a soldier in the army.

There is no local authority, the Hunan army is easy to do when it is in the old nest, once out of Hunan began to appear constrained, and now Zeng Guofan's "trapped in Nanchang" refers to his being squeezed out by local forces in Jiangxi, grain, grass, and government decrees are not going well, and the natural combat effectiveness will drop greatly, and the officials in Jiangxi will not listen to him, and even the subordinates he sent out to do things are often harassed and imprisoned, and he can't show his own orders. （http：／／.）。

The reason why the Qing court did not win the victory was also the reason why the Qing army's combat effectiveness was not good, and it was not impossible to be suspicious, and it was necessary to wait until the Cantonese bandits were almost beaten before they attacked, and finally there was an army that could fight and was consumed internally. should be like Liu Bang, once his generals won a big battle, he personally slipped to the generals to seize the military power, which is what Ming Jun did.

After realizing the possibility that Tang Ning had a strong desire to interfere in China's politics, Zeng Jize worked harder to study the political systems of various countries and became an extraordinary student.

After arriving in Singapore, he made an exception for Qi Taiyu, who was training, to take Zeng Gongzi to see the training methods of his hunting regiment and the performance of the FN-1855 rifle.

After seeing the FN-1855, Zeng Gongzi was really shocked, this rifle was even more powerful than the foreigner army he knew, and that night, Zeng Jize wrote a long letter to his father overnight, stating what he had seen and heard in the Great Eastern, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore. The conclusion is, "If you have Mr. Tang's help, why worry about the world's major events?" He no longer uses the word "begging bandits", hoping that his father can see that he cares about it. It's okay to level the world, but it doesn't have to be for the sake of the Qing royal family. There is a great meaning of "clearing the deer, and the world will chase it away".

After writing it, he felt that it was not enjoyable, Zeng Jize decided to turn around and return to China and tell his father in person. Before parting, Downing presented him with an FN-1855 for him to take home. Tang Ning was looking forward to what this Zeng's reaction would be.