Hong Jun's "Diary of the West": "...... On that day, he went to Birkingham Palace with Kunyu to meet him. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 infoBefore the heroine of the Ying, her clan nobles such as the prince and grandson went to receive gifts first. Enter the heroine, guided by the British Prime Minister Gladstone, and Qin Xian and the attaché will enter in turn. As for the main hall, Qin Xian solemnly looked up, and saw the British heroine Victoria sitting on a gold-lacquered high-backed chair, wearing a royal robe, wearing a white veil on her head, wearing a white Luo belt on her left arm, and hanging a gold box below. The left head of the heroine is the crown prince and grandson, the princess of the clan and the nobles, and the right head is the prince and grandson. Gladstone stepped forward: 'The Qing Empire's envoy Lin Yizhe has arrived. The heroine bowed down to greet her. Qin Xian bowed three times, and recited the eulogy in his hand: 'The great monarch of England is enlightened, and the ministers are ordered by the emperor of his country to sail to the great United Kingdom, and ask the great monarch to live in good fortune and live a long life. Today, the envoy has to pay homage to Yurong and receive courtesy, which is really a blessing for three lives. I would like to be friends between the two countries and make peace with Yongdun. After the recitation, the bow is repeated, and the golden dragon and yellow satin royal seal containing the national letter is handed over to the British minister, and the British minister is transferred to the heroine. The heroine accepted the credentials on the seat and replied: "Qing has traveled a long distance and traveled far to our country, and I am very happy to be there. Qing's words are harmonious between China and English, which is exactly what I want. After the interpreter finished interpreting, the heroine got up and bent her waist to send her off. Qin Xian bowed and led the attaché to retreat. The heroine was still standing in place, watching Qin Xian and his party walk out of the palace gate before returning to the inner hall. ”

The next day, Queen Victoria summoned the Chinese envoys again, this time in the blue drawing-room, not as many as the first day, except for a few attendants, only Prime Minister Gladstone to accompany them, and on the Chinese side, the envoy Lin Yizhe and the deputy envoy Hong Jun, and the interpreter Zhang Deyi. This conversation was much more casual and relaxed than yesterday's.

"You may not know, Mr. Lin, not only me, but so many other women in England want to see you, the greatest fashion designer of the East, and express my sincere gratitude to you in person." Queen Victoria smiled and said to Lin Yizhe, "The clothes you designed have become the fashion attire of the British high society." ”

"You've won the prize, Your Majesty." Lin Yizhe replied with a smile, "Your wedding dress is a real classic, and my design cannot be compared with yours." ”

Lin Yizhe's words are not groundless, in fact, the white wedding dress, which was as popular in China in later generations, was initiated by the famous Queen Victoria.

In the West, the bride wore a white gauze dress with a floor-sweeping hem that was originally a Catholic dress. Because some countries in ancient Europe were the most important national bodies, people had to go to the church to receive the prayers and blessings of the priest or pastor when they got married, so that they could be regarded as a formal legal marriage, so the bride wore a white ceremonial dress to express her sincerity and purity to God. In 1840, when Queen Victoria got married, she wore a white gown made of beautiful Chinese brocade, with a tail up to 18 feet and a white veil, which amazed the audience with pure white from head to toe. Before Queen Victoria's wedding, the wedding dress of the British royal family was the traditional dress of wearing a jeweled crown, an evening gown studded with jewels and silver jewelry, and a fur coat. Her astonishing feat quickly became a popular fashion after it was so amazing that the white wedding dress became a symbol of inner purity and childlike innocence, and then gradually evolved into a symbol of virginity. As a result, white became the color of dresses used at weddings. Since then, it has become a traditional custom for the bride to wear a white wedding dress at Western weddings.

"But that's a dress that can only be worn at weddings, and you don't have the opportunity to wear it every day. And your design is to give a woman the warmest protection every day. Queen Victoria smiled, "When I met you, I realized that only an Oriental like you, who is attentive and meticulous and tender to women, can design such a great work." ”

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your compliment, and this time I have brought to Your Majesty and your family some new pieces, all of which are made of the most beautiful silks of the Orient, and I hope you will enjoy them." Lin Yizhe said with a smile, "I plan to give you the first sample every time a new work comes out in the future, I hope you can give me this honor, with your encouragement, I will design more and better works." ”

"That's great!" Queen Victoria was overjoyed, "Then we have decided, Lin!" ”

"The silk and brocade of the Orient are the best materials for making such clothes, and there is no one who does not like them." Gladstone also said, "I think that with His Majesty's support, the textile trade between the British Empire and the British Empire will be more prosperous." ”

"That's right, Your Excellency Prime Minister." Lin Yizhe said, "Compared with 30 years ago, the trade between our two countries has made great progress, but it is still not enough, I am here at the order of our emperor, and I also want to communicate with your country on the issue of further expansion of trade." ”

Hearing Lin Yizhe say this, Queen Victoria and Gladstone's eyes became focused.

"I've heard that France is already ahead of Britain in this regard." Gladstone looked at Lin Yizhe and said with a smile, "To be honest, we are very jealous. ”

Of course, Lin Yizhe understood what the British Prime Minister was jealous of, he just smiled and did not answer.

Sino-French cooperation in the naval field is no secret among the great powers.

"What the Emperor of France can do, we can do." Queen Victoria saw that Lin Yizhe had no interface, and said with a smile, "Moreover, we will do better than the French." ”

"I have no doubt about it, Your Majesty, Your Excellency the Prime Minister. It's just that because of many unfortunate events in the past, there have been many misunderstandings that have hindered the exchanges between the two countries," Lin Yizhe replied with a smile, "and the previous misunderstandings need to be eliminated by our joint efforts." ”

"That's right." Gladstone's face showed embarrassment, although Lin Yizhe did not say what the "misunderstanding" was, but Gladstone, as the British Prime Minister, already knew this.

In terms of navy, the reason why China did not choose the United Kingdom, the world's largest maritime power, as its partner was because of the bad impact caused by the "Aspen Fleet" incident.

The "Aspen Fleet" incident was an attempt by the Qing government to purchase Western ships and artillery under the auspices of Prince Gong Yixin to establish a modern navy. In 1861, the Qing government decided to buy ship guns from the British, Yixin and Hurd, an Englishman who was active in China at that time, agreed to hire a small number of foreigners to train guns and drive ships, and entrusted Li Tai, an Englishman from the General Department of Customs and Excise who was on vacation, to order seven paddle gunboats from the British, including "China", "Beijing" and "Jiangsu". Before the ships and guns arrived in China, Yixin, in order to prevent this fleet from being "used by the British to protect the port and not be dispatched by China", asked Zeng Guofan to equip the fleet with sailors as soon as possible. The Briton Li Tai, who was then the General Department of Taxation of the Chinese Customs, persuaded British Royal Navy Captain Sherald Aspen to help with the purchase of the ship, without waiting for authorization. With the acquiescence of the British government, Li Tai, who has Nelson family inheritance in his blood (Li Tai's mother is the niece of Nelson, a British naval hero), sees China's ship purchase as a shortcut to control China's maritime power. He entered into a contract with Aspen on his own in Article 13, stipulating that Aspen would be the commander-in-chief of the fleet, and that Aspen would only carry out the orders of the Chinese Emperor as conveyed by Li Tai, and not "any edicts communicated by other means." Aspen thought that he could not be satisfied with the order, and Li Taitai also promised to refuse to transfer on his behalf, so that this fleet became the "Aspen fleet" instead of the Chinese fleet. When the news reached China, the government and the opposition were in an uproar. Yixin believes that this contract "wants to be in charge of everything, and refuses to obey China's orders, especially ignorant of the system, and it is difficult to comply with it." He and Li Taitai repeatedly argued and agreed on the "Five Articles of the Steamship Regulations" and withdrew the Qing government's command of this fleet. After Aspen arrived in China with his fleet, he was greatly dissatisfied with the five articles of the charter, and together with Li Taitai, he asked the Qing government to accept the thirteen-article contract they had signed, but Yixin refused. Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang also resolutely opposed Aspen's conspiracy to control the Chinese fleet. On November 2, 1863, at the request of Yixin, the Qing government refused to give in again, decided to dismiss the fleet, and all the ships were sold by the British at a discount, and the proceeds were returned to China, and more than 600 officers and soldiers below Aspen were paid a total of 375,000 taels of silver and 10,000 taels of silver for nine months. In 1864, Britain returned the money from the sale of ships to China, and the "Aspen Fleet" incident began to settle. The Qing government's efforts to purchase Western ships to improve the operation of the old sailors lasted for nearly two years, costing hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, but ended in a dismal ending. The Aspen fleet incident, which was extremely embarrassing to the Chinese government and the opposition, taught a profound lesson to the bigwigs of the Chinese Westernists, and since then, not only has the idea of "power and self-control" become a purpose in handling foreign affairs, but Chinese Western-style officials have also become extremely vigilant against every move of Britain and do not easily deal with the British.

"We're working on preparations to do everything possible to eliminate the negative effects of previous misunderstandings," Gladstone said.

"In order to show our sincerity to the Emperor of China, I have decided to return 6,000 treasures of the Chinese 'Summer Palace' in my country to the Emperor of China." "And a new cruiser. ”

――――Dividing Line――――

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