"No, no, we don't know, if we knew, we would have punished those guys." Staunton's expression was ugly, and the smile on his face looked like that of a constipated patient.

The British envoy reluctantly agreed to Liang Pengfei's request, and soon, accompanied by members of the British mission, Liang Pengfei's subordinates entered the cabin. But he set his eyes on the priest who was standing next to Xiao Si Dangdong, and after looking at it twice, Liang Pengfei smiled at Xiao Si Dangdong: "Do you know where your teacher is from?" ”

"My lord, I'm from Zhejiang." Father Li hurriedly interjected and replied, because he felt that the gaze of the chief soldier in front of him was a little evil, which made him feel a little nervous.

Hearing this, Liang Pengfei raised his eyebrows: "Zhejiang people's clan? Hehehe, I didn't expect it, I said that you don't think you've lived too long? ”

"My lord, I don't quite understand what you mean by that." Under the pressure of Liang Pengfei's gaze, that Father Li subconsciously avoided Liang Pengfei's gaze.

"Because you cut off your braids. Have you forgotten the shaving order to keep your hair but not your head? Also, have you forgotten the ban on teaching foreign Chinese privately? A sinister smile appeared at the corner of Liang Pengfei's mouth, and he had an absurd feeling in his heart, that is, he didn't expect that he would one day threaten his compatriots with this edict that he despised incomparably, but he had to do it.

Bai Shusheng showed a hideous smile very cooperatively, pressed his hand into the hilt of the knife at his waist, and slowly stepped forward. Bai Shusheng's cruel smile frightened Xiao Si Dangdong so much that he almost fell on the deck.

"What do you want to do, this is the interpreter of the envoy corps of our country." Because Liang Pengfei's conversation with this Father Li was in English, Macartney and other British people reacted immediately. Staunton stretched out his hand and grabbed his son, and by the way, he stood in front of Bai Shusheng and said loudly.

"But in my eyes, he is a citizen of my country, and he must be punished as he deserves." Liang Pengfei narrowed his eyes dangerously, and that devouring gaze made Staunton take a small step back.

As soon as these words came out, Father Li's face instantly turned gray, and his originally calm expression collapsed. His body trembled like a leaf in the wind, and he looked at Liang Pengfei like a wounded prey, desperately looking at the fangs of the beast that was approaching.

"Please wait, Your Excellency General, please listen to my explanation, there is some misunderstanding here." Macartney hurriedly walked over and explained to Liang Pengfei that he didn't want to clash with the Qing generals at this time, which would affect this important mission.

"Really?" Liang Pengfei glanced at Macartney. "Well, I can listen to your explanation, you better give me a satisfactory answer, or, show enough sincerity, I can also let them go."

"Enough sincerity?" Macartney blinked, not quite understanding, but soon he understood what it meant to be sincere...... －－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－

"What a troublesome character." Looking at the back of Liang Pengfei, who had returned to the Qing warship, Macartney took out a silk handkerchief from his arms and wiped the sweat from his forehead. "However, from him, I do see the essence of what you call a Qing official, arrogant and rude, greedy, selfish, and barbaric. I really don't know how this huge empire can exist for so long under the rule of these people, it's a miracle. ”

By this time, Macartney had no longer concealed his disgust. In order to get rid of this hateful fellow, Macartney had to find ways to satisfy the Qing general, and the other party's almost blatant request for bribes really made Macartney feel that he had encountered a robber who was blocking the road.

In return, however, the Liang general seemed to have generously spared the surnames of the four Chinese priests whom the British legation had invited from the Holy See, and promised to lend him four interpreters, and in addition to cooperating with telling himself a lot of useful information.

And what Macartney cared about the most was Liang Pengfei's evaluation of their high-ranking emperor, His Majesty. Stubbornness and good joy, I heard that it is the merit of the Qing emperor, but on the contrary, it is also a huge disadvantage, for the success of this trip may be surnamed, Ma Canny really does not know how high, the original confidence seems to have been worn out in India by those businessmen who often deal with the Chinese, and now, it has been worn out by this Liang commander. "Am I being too pessimistic? Or is that Liang Zongbing who takes pleasure in beating people's confidence? Macartney couldn't help but reach into her wig and scratch her itchy scalp.

"It seems that the last time our East India Company should have stood up when they were slaughtered in Sharka, and used this as an excuse, such a fleet, such a bureaucracy and an army, even if it only uses our Imperial fleet in India, or even the East India Company's own escort warships, I think there is a possibility of victory." Staunton, who was standing beside Macartney, thought with some chagrin.

He even suspected that the death of Pulsatilla Owen and others had nothing to do with this guy's "heroic and good fighting", maybe it was the pirates' internal strife and killing each other, so that this guy picked up a favor, otherwise, with the cunning and ferocity of Pulsatilla and other Western pirates, how could it fall into the hands of this arrogant and arrogant guy.

"What a hateful and greedy fellow, damn it, I'm ashamed that there are such admirals in the world, and the existence of such a person is simply an insult to the profession of the navy." Major General Ford said viciously, gritting his teeth. As a rear admiral of the Royal Navy of the British Empire, he really felt that his pride and the face of the Royal Navy were about to be lost. The humiliation of the other party made him want to order the cannon fire right now and bomb all these ridiculous warships to pieces.

"Forget it, those gifts are also for the emperor of the Qing Kingdom anyway, but it's a pity that it's not only the model of our British Empire's newest and most advanced battleship 'Sea King', this guy didn't even let go of my money bag and pocket watch, he is really insatiable to the extreme." Staunton shrugged his shoulders and smiled a little helplessly.

"However, this gift was originally meant to be given to them, but he was the first to get there, I thought he needed gold coins at first, but I didn't expect him to choose this, you can rest assured, Qing Guo does not have the ability or technology to build this kind of warship, otherwise, we will not give this model made according to the physical scale of the King of the Sea."

Staunton's words are not a consolation, but a fact, at least, the Qing State forbade the construction of warships with more than three masts, and as for merchant ships, it is even more impossible.

"It seems that I need to revise the gift list, a dignified imperial lieutenant general is blatantly asking for bribes, but fortunately, this Qing general is really as greedy and selfish as you say, otherwise, if there is an accident among the four priests, it is really ...... for the Holy See to find us trouble" Macartney shook his head and walked to the cabin, in addition to modifying the gift list and eliminating this ship model, he also had to record what he saw and heard today, Because his mission is not just to engage in diplomacy.

"Those stupid birds, now Lao Tzu is developed." Liang Pengfei was full of joy and held the model of the battleship of the Sea King, which was close to his arm's length, as if he were holding a newborn baby, and sat in the cabin and enjoyed himself.

Liang Pengfei already had a French ship designer kidnapped from Kunlun Island, as well as a large number of excellent craftsmen, but he could only build an old warship with more than 40 guns, because they did not have better drawings in their hands, so they could only build a model ship according to the warship owned by Liang Pengfei.

And now, with this ship model made according to the physical proportions of the British first-class battleship, as long as it is handed over to that designer and given him enough time, he can design and build a warship that is better than the Western battleship that Liang Pengfei now owns, and has more guns.

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And with this model of a first-class battleship, it can be deduced from this that a slightly smaller second-class or third-class battleship can be deduced, and Liang Pengfei has already swept across the ocean with a fleet of tall and majestic battleships loaded with a new type of long-range artillery designed by himself using maroon guns and shell warheads loaded with picric acid.

Because, just two months before the arrival of the Macartney envoys, the British businessman Smith finally brought what Liang Pengfei hoped to obtain: the recipe and extraction equipment of thundermercury and picric acid, and even hired a British chemist who knew how to extract and produce these two things.

In addition, he also brought a diagram of the structure of the steam engine and an apprentice who had been with Watt, who had watched Watt develop the steam engine step by step, and now, under the temptation of heavy money, he decided to cross the ocean and come to the East to pan for gold.

Of course, there are experts in smelting, in short, Liang Pengfei's 100,000 taels of silver did get quite a rich return, and Liang Pengfei paid them an extra 20,000 taels of silver as a reward, and placed a new order with them again to purchase various equipment.

In a word, Liang Pengfei wants to take advantage of the fact that the gap between the East and the West has not been widened, and first carry out the reserve and development of talents and science, so as to surpass Britain and catch up with the United States in the future? Anyway, that's what it means, you can't be left behind anymore.

"Lord Commander, I don't think these foreigners have any good things, one or two of them are like twenty-five or eighty-thousand, Lao Tzu really wants to clean them up and let them know how powerful we are." Returning to the warship, Wu Liang, who was sitting on the side, poured a sip of herbal tea and complained to Liang Pengfei, which was agreed by many people present.

"Don't fart to Lao Tzu, I don't think you can't get used to it, but jealousy, jealousy of those foreigners' warships." Liang Pengfei handed over the ship model to Bai Shusheng, and repeatedly told him to pack it carefully, and then send it to the shipyard in the central Luzon Islands, only then did he turn around and smile and scold at the itchy guy.

Wu Liang scratched his head a little embarrassedly and smiled: "One thing, damn it, those two battleships are really the last to look at the general's eyes, each battleship is actually loaded with sixty-four guns, our warship is simply a child's thing compared to his." ”

"Don't worry, what they have, we will have, and what they don't have, we will have." Liang Pengfei said with a smile. Now that three docks have been built in the central Luzon Islands, warships are being built, and four more are being built, and when it comes later next year, Liang Pengfei believes that he will be able to cruise the ocean on his first or second class battleship.

"When the time comes, we will first use the pirates and colonies of the South Seas as training objects, and we will be ruthless, and we will eventually produce an elite navy that is large enough and brave and good at fighting." Liang Pengfei secretly said ruthlessly in his heart.

(To be continued)