Liu Xihong is familiar with Guo Songtao's temperament, and understands that Guo Songtao misses the old feelings very much (otherwise he would not know anything about Zuo Zongtang's back), so he took the initiative to visit him, every time he was not empty-handed, with such and such gifts, and told Guo Songtao what he heard in Beijing from time to time, implying that he was still Guo Songtao's "confidant" and "eyes and ears". Pen Fun Pavilion www.biquge.info sure enough, Guo Songtao was very happy to see him walking around as often as before, and still treated him as before.

"Every time Yunsheng comes, he brings me some gifts, which is so polite." Guo Songtao noticed the gift box brought by Liu Xihong, and said with a smile, "I don't know what it is this time." ”

"It's all common things." Liu Xihong smiled and took the gift box from the servant's hand, opened it, and took out the contents inside: a copper hand stove, a pair of leather mattresses, a box of pastries, and a book.

Lin Yizhe noticed that the leather mattress seemed to be made of golden monkey skin, and the copper hand stove was also square with a handle and a hollow lid and a delicate carving.

"The winter weather in the capital is cold, and it is not as good as the south, so you must pay attention to keeping warm." Liu Xihong said to Guo Songtao with concern, "These two are small things, but they are necessary to keep out the cold. ”

"Yunsheng is so expensive, it really makes me feel sorry!" Guo Songtao listened warmly in his heart and said with a smile.

"Guo Gong is polite, these little things are not worth mentioning." Liu Xihong smiled and turned to Lin Yizhe and said, "I don't know if Lord Lin is prepared?" The cold in the north is no worse than in the south, so you have to be careful. If Lord Lin doesn't have it, I'll send it to Lord Lin when I turn around. ”

"Thank you Brother Yunsheng for your concern, hehe, when I came, I heard the severe cold of this northern land, and I was already prepared." Lin Yizhe replied with a smile.

Liu Xihong then took out the bookcase he brought and handed it to Guo Songtao, "This is Mr. Xu Songyan's "Yinghuan Zhiluo" three engraved books and ten volumes, I heard that Guo Gong wanted to read this book, so it was specially purchased for Guo Gong. ”

Hearing the title of "Yinghuan Zhiluo", Lin Yizhe's heart moved slightly.

"Yinghuan Zhiluo" was compiled by Xu Jishe, a famous minister of the Qing Dynasty. Written in the 29th year of Daoguang (1849), the book consists of 10 volumes, about 145,000 words, and contains 42 illustrations. In 1844, Xu Jishe handled the opening of the treaty port of Xiamen to the outside world, and found that he knew nothing about the outside world. At this time, he met the missionary Ya Li, obtained foreign atlases and other materials, and began to delve into new topics. After that, he collected extensive information, wrote carefully, and revised it repeatedly, and finally completed this high-quality work of geography in 1848.

The book begins with an introduction to the Earth and introduces an overview of the Eastern and Western Hemispheres. After that, we introduced the customs of various countries in Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Americas. When introducing Indian, Arab, and European civilizations, he discarded the prejudices of scholars and scholars against regions outside China, and tried to be as objective and truthful as possible. The book is heavily illustrated, as well as numerous maps. Except for the "Complete Map of the Emperor's Qing Dynasty" and the maps of Korea and Japan, all other maps were made by copying the maps of Europeans.

In addition to the introduction of local customs, Xu Jishe also introduced the Western political system, which is unprecedented in Chinese history. For example, the British parliamentary system is described in detail in the book.

The introduction of external knowledge in Yinghuan Zhiluo is more detailed and accurate than Wei Yuan's Atlas of the Sea Kingdom, and there is no such speculation as people at that time. It has many praises for the Western humanistic system, but it also uses old ideas.

Despite this, Xu Jishe still deserves to be regarded as the most advanced thinker of his time. He has really poked his head out of a closed container, opened his eyes to see the world, and can really put down the shelf of "**** Shangguo" and look at another civilization calmly, which can be said to be an earth-shattering move. If the Chinese people could build on this and make a little progress, they would be able to enter the house and enjoy the new scenery. But at that time, this brilliant masterpiece was regarded by many people as Zhang "Yi" and was despised.

It is said that in the first edition of Xu Jishe's "Yinghuan Zhiluo", he placed the "Emperor and Qing Dynasty Unification of the Whole Map of Public Opinion" after "Asia", and his friend Zhang Mu was worried that his arrangement might touch the resistance of domestic literati and doctors, so he suggested that he adjust the position of the "Emperor and Qing Dynasty Unification of the Whole Map of the Land". Xu Jishe followed Zhang Mu's suggestion and put the "Complete Map of the Emperor's Unification of the Land of the Qing Dynasty" at the front of the first volume, so as not to be faulted.

Just last year, Xu Jishe passed away suddenly, and although his masterpiece has been reprinted, not too many people know about it in China today. On the contrary, it was the Japanese who knew the goods and translated the book to Japan, which inspired the occurrence of the Meiji Restoration in Japan.

Thinking of this book and Xu Jishe's fate, Lin Yizhe remembered the difficulties ahead, and couldn't help but sigh secretly in his heart.

Among the "****" cultural people, Xu Jishe is lonely, which is their personal misfortune. What is even more unfortunate is that even China's best thinkers have not yet discerned China's direction, which is the misfortune of the entire Chinese nation!

"If it's a new version, Yunsheng has a heart." Guo Songtao was very happy, he couldn't wait to take the book, and while flipping through it, he talked with Lin Yizhe and Liu Xihong.

When Lin Yizhe heard Liu Xihong talk about the content of this book, he still mostly talked about the customs and customs, wonders and customs, and did not mention anything about the political system of Western countries, especially Britain and the United States.

Liu Xihong's purpose in sending this book to Guo Songtao is nothing more than to vote for Guo's favor in order to achieve his personal goals!

"Guo Gong knows that I gave Guo Gong this book so that Guo Gong may come in handy in the future." Liu Xihong said with a smile.

Hearing Liu Xihong say such a sentence, Guo Songtao was very surprised, and Lin Yizhe was also slightly surprised.

Listening to what Liu Xihong said, it is very possible for the imperial court to appoint Guo Songtao as an envoy abroad!

In the original history, Guo Songtao was ordered to go to Britain to apologize because of the "Margaret Incident" and served as the minister to the United Kingdom.

"What do you mean by Yun Sheng?" Guo Songtao asked.

"Hehe, I came from Lan Sun Gong yesterday and heard that the imperial court wants to appoint Guo Gong as an envoy to the United Kingdom." Liu Xihong replied with a smile, "The Japanese envoy to France, Hong Taoshi, sent a letter, saying that he was also an envoy of the four countries, and his strength was not caught, and Britain and France were both European powers. And this envoy, all the cardinals are collegial, and it should be Guo Gong. ”

After listening to Liu Xihong's answer, Guo Songtao and Lin Yizhe immediately understood.

"I heard that Guo Gong's appointment as an envoy this time was the single-minded sponsorship of Wenbo Chuan Zhongtang." Liu Xihong continued, "Lan Sun's public will will not be issued in a few days, I got the news first, so I hurried to Guo Gong's office to report the good news." ”

When Lin Yizhe heard this, he already understood that because of his own relationship, history has changed again!

In the original history, Guo Songtao went to the UK as an apologetic envoy for humiliation, but after the news came out, the **** scholars felt humiliated, scolded, and claimed to be unfavorable to the Guo family, Guo Songtao also hesitated again and again at that time, wanting to refuse, and later embarked on the road to Britain under the persuasion of the Empress Dowager Cixi.

And this time, the situation is completely different, Guo Songtao no longer has to bear the infamy of "ghost envoy" to go to the envoy, and his identity has changed from the "special envoy" in the original history to the "envoy", and the envoy Hong Jun, who has been stationed in France, is at the same level, and is also recommended by Wen Xiang, the minister of military aircraft, and his status is completely different.

Because of this, Liu Xihong came to talk to Guo Songtao like this!

Suddenly realizing that it was Li Hongzao who revealed the news to Liu Xihong, Lin Yizhe couldn't help but feel a pang in his heart.

Thinking of the great harm that Liu Xihong brought to Guo Songtao in history and the huge obstacles caused to the Westernization Movement, Lin Yizhe suddenly had the idea of hypnotizing Liu Xihong. It's just that he was afraid that he would hurt Guo Songtao at the same time, so he didn't do it.

For Liu Xihong, either he will not be allowed to follow Guo Songtao, or he will have the opportunity to be strongly hypnotized when facing Liu Xihong alone, just like the "brainwashing" of Hong Jun back then!

If he is a person with a paranoid personality and is not easily receptive to hypnosis, I am afraid that there is only ......

After talking for a while, Lin Yizhe took his leave from Guo Songtao, and then returned to his residence to prepare a telegram to Chen Hong and his wife in London.

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Taiwan, Langqiao, Nangang, warship "Mount Fuji".

At this time, the warship "Mt. Fuji" had been completely renovated, and the hull was still painted in white according to its original appearance.

Unlike the original, all the guns on the ship have been disassembled.

But on the mast of the "Mt. Fuji", the Japanese Navy's Japanese Seal flag still flutters.

Because this warship, which still belongs to the Japanese Navy. The Chinese disarmed the warship and returned it to Japan to transport prisoners of the Japanese Navy.

During the longevity of the Empress Dowager Cixi, the Chinese side decided to release the Japanese prisoners in order to express the meaning of universal celebration, and according to the order of the Chinese government, the Japanese army prisoners who were imprisoned in Taiwan were released one after another and returned to China on the merchant ships sent by the Japanese side, but the Japanese naval prisoners were kept in custody and were not released.

It was only after the signing of the "Beijing Treaty" that the Japanese naval prisoners were released. In order to show its friendship, the Chinese side returned the warship "Mt. Fuji," which had been captured by the Chinese Navy, to Japan after repairing and disarming it, and used it to transport the Japanese naval prisoners.

At this time, Ito Yuma, who was the captain of the "Mt. Fuji", was asking someone to untie the last few iron cables that held the "Mt. Fuji" to the dock bollard.

Ito Yuhiro, the former commander of the Japanese Navy's ironclad ship "Higashi," who served as the first mate of the warship, was unwilling to delay for a day or even an hour, and he wanted to quickly sail the warship into the sea. He called the ship's chief engineer.

"Is the steam burning enough?" Ito asked him.

"Burn enough, sir." The chief engineer replied.

"Let's get on the boat!" Ito shouted.

The command to sail the ship was transmitted to the machine room through the microphone, and the engineer immediately got the wheel to turn. Steam poured into the half-open mechanism; Whirring and whistling. Rows of horizontal pistons make a rattling sound that pushes the levers of the axles. The thrusters' wheels continued to increase their speed, stirring the sea, and the Mt. Fuji "abruptly" moved forward in a row of ferries and motorboats full of spectators who had come to "farewell".

The Chinese gunboats escorting the "Mt. Fuji" kept following closely until they left the lightship near the lightship, where two lights marked the exit of the route.

The coal fire was added, the wheels stirred the water more rapidly, and the "Mt. Fuji" sailed along the low yellow shore of the island of Taiwan, and the warship sailed on the sea, the engine room rumbled and roared, and the white foam of the waves stirred up on the side of the ship, scattering into a stretched channel behind the ship.

Major General Ito Yuma looked up. The sun is very bright and dazzling; The sea is blue and glowing. Mountains and mountains, trees and trees, grass and grass, mountains and trees, trees and grasses, constitute a bright green. The sky is as clear and blue as the sea. The sea breeze is as gentle as a girl's fingers. A blue sky above, a blue ocean below. Here, it seems to be a colorful world, a fairyland in a fairy tale.

However, not long ago, the shells that exploded, the dust and mist that flew on this land, the smoke that filled the air, the burning fire, and the figures of the people who fought bloody battles seemed to be the historical relics of millions of years ago.

Ito Yuma's gaze passed through the lush woods. The verdant tree swayed its wide leaves, as if extending a hand to him congratulatory victory. He looked at the sparkling white sand. The tide rolled in a graceful curve, stirring up waves and splashing sounds, as if dancing joyfully and singing merry songs to him. The wildflowers, which had not been blown down around the crater, were blooming more brightly, smiling at him.

He was immediately enchanted by this moving picture.

The coast was getting farther and farther away from them, and there were clouds hanging over the top of the hill, which made it somewhat obscure; The sky ahead was clear, the sea shone brightly in the sun, and the shore and mountains in the distance showed light and dark pale cyan and pale gray.

As the Mt. Fuji sailed forward, away from the shore, Ito remembered what had happened these days, and felt a little lost in his heart.

Perhaps it is the emptiness and infinity of the sea, without the reference object that the shore is accustomed to, which makes people feel a little helpless and at a loss; However, what came to his mind more was a kind of relief and unrestrainedness.

The "Mt. Fuji" swayed up and down with the waves, and Ito Yuma couldn't help but feel a little dizzy. In this sea, where there are no familiar coordinates of daily life, people feel their own insignificance and helplessness; The feeling of watching the sea is different for everyone; And for those who are tired of some senseless troubles and strife and trivial life in the world, perhaps in this calm, broad and tolerant sea, temporarily throw away the usual thinking coat, so that the essence of the spirit can be stripped of the erosion of time in the cleansing of the sea breeze, and some of the blocks that have been accumulated in the heart for a long time will collapse, and will be splashed down in the sea and melt away with the current.

Even if you don't want to do anything, let your eyes wander on the horizon. The waves in front of me splashed snow-white foam, and the boundary between the sea and the sky in the distance was not very clear, and they almost blended together in harmony. Nothing in his ears disturbed his mind except the roar of the "Mt. Fuji"—in the embrace of the sea, all his irritability was filtered away by the sea breeze, and only a quiet embraced the return of his heart; It turns out that there are always some things, a period of time or space in the world, when they have no time to take care of them, they are still silently waiting for the soul to look back and understand another meaning of life in sincere hope.

Ito Yuma felt like a passer-by in a hurry, and every time he went to sea, he just wanted the boat to dock as quickly as possible; And ignoring the existence of the sea, in fact, during the voyage, there is also a beautiful scenery. In the endless ups and downs of the sea, the sea seems to be the kind of person who wants to live with it in life, always giving people upward vitality, inspiring people with their enthusiasm for life, giving people courage and hope, inspiring cowardice to be brave, and narrow-mindedness becomes broad.

In the midst of the waves, the Mt. Fuji drove at a constant speed. The blue sky, the white clouds, the distant mountains, the bright sun, the undulating waves, the harmonious horizon, everything is so simple and unified, perhaps this is the achievement of the eternity of the sea: there is no painstaking management of the complex, and there is no regret of failure. No matter how the wind blows, it is always the same, and it is natural. Digging for sand, grinding the reef, testing the will of the seagulls, and interpreting and dissolving scenes of intense or bland stories. And on days when the wind and waves are high, the sea will also show the other side of its own unbridled ocean; But when the distant mountains show their blue colors under the clear sky, the renewed enthusiasm will make every tired drifter embark on an unknown voyage again.

The coast is getting farther and farther away, and the island is covered with clouds. The people of that island may be feeling the damp and dignified flow of air under the gloomy sky. Ito, who was watching from the sea, was like facing an ancient freehand landscape painting, and suddenly forgot that he had just walked out of it.

And how unpredictable life is, just immersed in the vast tranquility brought by the sea, looking back, the bustling shore shows a clear level in the distance. On shore, will the heart return to the sea? Perhaps under the same blue sky, the mind will spread its wings of freedom, fly far to the sea, rest among the undulating crests and valleys, and quietly dialogue with the sea......

"I can finally go back to Japan!" Ito Yuma sighed.