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"Love Xinjueluo. Qiying and Bai Siwen met in an audience, led by Mu Zhang'a! ”

The shrill voice of the eunuch had already sounded in the room, Mu Zhang'a didn't hurry to pick up the top on the table and buckle it on his head, and without speaking, he nodded to Qiying and Bai Siwen, and walked out first. Bai Siwen only felt dizzy in front of him, and he was going to the Heart Cultivation Hall to face the saint! It's like a dream when I think about it, I've seen the emperor, and my own from the four-grade Guangzhou prefect will be implemented.

"Enming, what do you think? Still not keeping up? Qiying saw that Bai Siwen was stunned, and hurriedly pulled him, and the two followed Mu Zhang'a's footsteps together, went out of the courtroom, and came to the door of the Heart Cultivation Palace.

By the way, the emperor here in the Qing Dynasty is more noble, and the foreign ministers usually give red envelopes to the eunuchs when they meet them, unlike the United Kingdom, where the queen Bixia "free" let Zhu Jishi see several times. Bai Siwen was so excited that he was about to faint now, so he naturally forgot to give the red envelope, but fortunately, Qiying had already prepared and gave double copies, so there were no bad rules.

"The Governor of Liangguang loves Xin Jueluo. Qiying, Guangzhou Governor Bai Siwen waits to meet. Mu Zhang'a bowed down outside the door to sign up. Personally introduced by the foreman and the Minister of Military Aircraft, this honor can be regarded as unique in the Daoguang Dynasty, and the honor of Qiying and Bai Siwen's favor can be seen.

Of course, Bai Siwen can have the current favor, not only because of Zhu Jishi's "support", but also because of his ability to speak as an official. He was born in the banner, although he was down, but he has heard and witnessed the officialdom since he was a child, and he can't understand it better. If Zhu Jishi had returned to China for refuge, most of them would not have the status they have today.

"Come in." A low, hoarse voice came from the Heart Cultivation Temple.

Bai Siwen knew that this was the voice of Emperor Daoguang of the Great Qing Dynasty! I don't know what's going on, when I heard this "come in", Bai Siwen was so nervous that he was sweating, and he almost couldn't even take a step. Zuihou still dragged him again, and then reluctantly stepped into the hall according to etiquette, knelt down on a pre-arranged haode mat, and then took off the top flower feather, and kowtowed to say goodbye.

"Slave Qi Ying, please Saint Ann!"

"Slave Bai Sven respectfully invites St. Ann!"

These two are banner people, so they naturally want to be called slaves, and they are indeed the servants of the Qing Emperor. In fact, in the whole of China, everyone who eats court meals and wears court clothes is the emperor's minion.

"Look up and talk." This sentence is still hoarse and low.

"Your Majesty." Bai Siwen put his hat on, and then looked up. I saw a very thin and elderly man, sitting listlessly behind the imperial case covered with bright yellow satin, looking at himself with unsparkled eyes - this is the Daoguang Emperor of today's generation?

"Qiying, this errand of negotiation with Fayi was well done, your excerpt said that there is still room for reversal in the negotiation with Citigroup? It won't cause any trouble, right? ”

"If you go back to the emperor, the slave is 100% sure, I think that Citigroup is tens of thousands of miles away from our Qing Dynasty, and it is not a strong country in the Western Ocean, and the Liliang of Citigroup's sailors is not strong, so there is no way to transport the army to our Daqing. The slave was deceived by the envoys of Citigroup, but fortunately, the White Prefect and the French Minister Marquis Lasany reminded them in time, so as not to make a big mistake. ”

"Well," Emperor Daoguang is extremely satisfied, how can his subordinates not make mistakes? Knowing that mistakes can be changed is a loyal minister, compared to those courtiers who blindly cover up, I don't know how many times better, this Qiying loves the Xinjueluo family in the end, and it is reliable. "That's how to negotiate with Citigroup."

"Minion Command."

Daoguang finished asking Qiying, and then looked at Bai Siwen. "Bai Sven, huh?"

"The minion is none other than Bai Siwen."

"You're not bad, you've traveled tens of thousands of miles, traveled more than a dozen countries in the West, not bad, not bad, very good."

"Thank you for your praise."

Emperor Daoguang nodded, "Bai Siwen, I have a question for you, how much does the most ordinary foreign gun in Xiyi cost per shot?" ”

This question made Bai Siwen stunned - he didn't know that Emperor Daoguang had a habit of selling prices in various places, and often asked such questions when summoning ministers, and then compared the price he got with the price of goods purchased in the palace reported by the Internal Affairs Bureau, and then he was half angry and went back to the palace to draw a circle to curse the corrupt officials of the Internal Affairs Office. Over time, when the big officials who have been in the officialdom for a long time see the emperor, they will deliberately report the prices outside higher, so as not to offend the masters of the Internal Affairs Office. However, Bai Siwen didn't know this rule, and when he heard Daoguang's question, he answered truthfully.

"It's about 2 to 3 pounds, and the specific price depends on the model of the gun, for example, the ex-factory price of Yingyi's brown bass smoothbore gun in the UK and India is 2 pounds and 4 shillings, which is converted into about 7 taels of silver."

"It's only 7 taels?" Emperor Daoguang was so angry in his heart, yesterday the Ministry of Internal Affairs reported that the approximate cost of replicating a Western smoothbore gun was 100 taels of silver per shot - in fact, it was not expensive, and it was less than the price of two eggs.

"If Daqing wants to buy it, can you get it at this price?" Emperor Daoguang asked through gritted teeth.

"This ......" Bai Siwen thought for a while, shook his head and said: "I'm afraid I can't get it, after all, we don't have a good relationship with Yingyi, and it is the ex-factory price in England and India, and it is shipped all the way to Guangzhou, and twice the profit is always required." ”

The double profit is multiplied by three, twenty-one taels of silver, which is also eighty percent lower than the price of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. If the more than 200,000 soldiers of the Eight Banners in the country are equipped with foreign guns, six million taels of silver will be enough, and if the Internal Affairs Office is tossed, I am afraid that 20 million taels of silver will not be able to be taken!

"If you are given 500,000 taels of silver, can you send 20,000 foreign guns to Beijing within a year?"

The books such as "Taixi Military Strategy", "Taixi Political Strategy", and "Westward Journey" on Baisi's literature have been read by Emperor Daoguang. Knowing how the Mughal Dynasty in India became a vassal of the British, and knowing how the Ottoman Empire was weakening step by step to the point that even the vassal Egypt could be bullied at will, he really had a little bit of military reform. However, after all, Daoguang is not a generation of heroes like Peter the Great and Ali Pasha, and he is reluctant to take out millions of taels of silver to smash into the new army at once, so he wants to replace those Eight Banner masters with foreign guns, and he is not willing to replace them all at once, so he is only willing to spend 500,000 taels of silver to change 20,000 yuan first.

"If 500,000 taels of silver ......" Bai Siwenxin said, 500,000 taels of silver should be implemented, of course, it is enough, the problem is that the rules in the officialdom of the Qing Dynasty cannot be broken.

"That's all for the silver, give you the title of the purchasing director of the Armament Institute, stationed in Guangzhou to be responsible for the purchase of Western weapons." Emperor Daoguang said, "In addition, don't do the errand of the prefect of Guangzhou, go to be the superintendent of Guangdong Customs, and assist the governor of Liangguang Qiying to run foreign affairs." ”

Guangdong Customs Supervision! When Bai Siwen heard this appointment, he had the thought of dying in the Heart Cultivation Palace! This errand, if it was left before the Opium War, would be the first-class fat difference of the Great Qing Dynasty! It's not the Eight Banners pro-noble, don't want to get involved at all. Because it was a trade at that time, the Guangdong Customs managed foreign trade through the Thirteen Lines, and the filial piety received by the Customs Supervisor from the Thirteen Banks was in the millions of taels every year!

And now it is a five-port trade, although Daoguang's tariff revenue in the past 24 years has hit a new high, but it is only a matter of time before it goes downhill. When the market in Shanghai rises, the import and export of the Yangtze River basin will not need to be re-exported through Guangzhou, so the scenery of Guangdong Customs is coming to an end. However, the filial piety of the Guangdong Customs to those Beijing officials and uncles in Beijing and the relatives and nobles of the Eight Banners is a precedent, and after he, a customs supervisor with no background, takes office, he can only increase, not decrease!

"Slave thanks." Although I want to cry without tears in my heart, I still have to kowtow with gratitude on my face.

Emperor Daoguang smiled, he didn't know that the Guangdong Customs was about to die, so he only gave Bai Siwen a fat shortage - of course he knew that the allocation of 500,000 taels could be implemented by seventy or eighty percent, and the insufficient part would be filled with oil and water from the Guangdong Customs!

"Bai Siwen, tell me about that Zhu Jishi, his letter, I have already read it, and the books you sent are also signed with Zhu Jishi's name, or he translated them, what is the situation of this person, you tell me everything you know."