As a result, the Sino-Japanese delegation enjoyed a fortune that even the British capitalists did not have -- they had the opportunity to see Downing's advanced production line. Downing's products are the tide of the times, the market is in short supply, the output is large, the labor team is extremely large, and there are a large number of engineers, every day on the side to observe which link on the assembly line can be mechanically automated, their bonus lies in whether they can further improve the automation and efficiency of the production line, which is unique in all factories. Many cases have even been written into the textbooks of the London International School, so that students have a sense of excellence from an early age.

The members of the delegation now knew that Mr. Tang, who had brought them to England, was the most powerful industrialist of his time, and they were very excited, especially Yataro Iwasaki, a business genius with a talent for running a business. They feel that with such a big man supporting the reform of China and Japan, why worry about the big thing?

Downing finally gave them a lecture on economics himself, Adam? Smith's theory of the Wealth of Nations is the main body, emphasizing the decisive role of skilled workers in the prosperity of the country, and since both China and Japan are present, Downing spoke of Ricardo's "theory of comparative advantage". Why did he set a zero-tariff policy for Luxembourg? This is not just because he is a tyrant who can support the country's administrative expenses on his own, which is too inconsistent with the principle of sustainable development.

Zero tariffs would encourage the social division of labour between different countries. And a certain country can always produce a certain commodity at a relatively low cost, but it is impossible to produce all goods at a low cost or high cost. For example, because Britain has the most developed economy and the highest wages of workers, the cost of producing goods in Britain is generally high, but Britain has accumulated a considerable number of shipbuilding industry technology and skilled workers, so shipbuilding in Britain will be low, and the wages of German workers are low, but it cannot compete with the British shipbuilding industry. Similarly, with the rise of the Bavarian automobile industry and the rapid growth of a large number of supporting enterprises and workers, it is more cost-effective to build cars in Bavaria.

In Britain, capital tends to flow to shipbuilding because of cost-effectiveness, while in Bavaria, capital tends to flow to the automobile industry, and the dominant industries are getting stronger, leading the division of labor between Britain and Germany to two distinct branches. The same is true for China and Japan, because Japan is an island country and China is dominated by the mainland, China and Japan must give priority to the development of the navy and shipbuilding industry, while China will give priority to the army and land transportation industry.

The reason for the rise of Britain has a lot to do with the fact that it is an island country that has to go all out to develop the shipbuilding industry, and it happens that the navy is the most important in the Age of Discovery, so Britain killed Spain's invincible armada, and established the status of the first power for hundreds of years.

Tangning said that the Chinese and Japanese are the main body of Asia, and the people of both countries are very diligent, and the Malays and Indians can be compared with each other, so Tangning said that he is quite optimistic about the economic development of the two countries, and encourages them to establish a customs union, China becomes a land power, Japan becomes a sea power, and can barely compete with the European powers.

The Japanese are not confident enough to stand with China, and when they hear Downing's analysis, they can't help but feel more confident. The Chinese are very helpless, because the Qing Dynasty is now forced by the Taiping army to rule the power is about to be lost, and there is no way to develop the economy and change society.

A Chinese member said: "Now is the era of sea power, the Qing Dynasty should also focus on the development of the navy and shipbuilding, our coastline seems to be no less than Japan, what does Mr. Tang think?" ”

Tang Ning: "The meaning of the theory of comparative advantage is to see who has more advantages in comparison with the two industries, China, unfortunately, has always been dominated by land power, and the control of the entire continent is much stronger than going to the sea, and the country will naturally be divided into land power and sea power, and the two factions will fight fiercely, and the sea power faction is not optimistic, even if it is optimistic, it will be threatened by Russia from the north, and it will soon change its course." This is the same as why France was so powerful in the Napoleonic era that it could not develop a strong navy, and it is unlikely that the traditional land power power will suddenly unify its consciousness and devote all its energy to the struggle for hegemony in the sea, and no matter how strong the theory is, it is useless. ”

The Chinese member: "It seems that we only need to put a little effort into developing the navy to be strong enough, and we don't ......have anything to do without Japanese friends."

Tangning smiled: "It's good to have this ambition, it's really good to have a nautical ambition, you are the best among the Chinese." ”

It's a pity that this leader is only boastful, so that Tangning can't remember his name when he arrives.

The theory of comparative advantage can also be applied to this delegation, where the Japanese members are all seeking a plan for change, while the Chinese members are worried about the peace of the country. If it weren't for the fact that Tang Ning was a master of the Chinese language, their position in this expedition would have been completely marginalized.

Downing asked Engels, the leader of the Labour Party, to take the delegation around Birmingham, and in comparison, the members of the delegation admired Downing's industrial achievements even more.

With Downing's support, Engels has now become a member of the Birmingham Parliament, often making environmental proposals, and the Labour Party is nicknamed the Environmental Party. The Labour Party also has proposals to improve workers' salaries, such as the eight-hour workday, which is very strong and there is no possibility of getting it through for a while. Can the Labour Party run a strike movement? No. Because the Labour Party is now a tax-paying workers' party, and almost all of its members are from the factories in Downing, the only way to strike is to strike the workers of their bosses, this ...... Downing's factory has long been in place for an eight-hour workday, so how could the Labour Party dismiss its boss's work?

In any case, Engels now has a higher position among the workers than Marx, because Marx is a theoretician, and this worker does not understand much, while Engels is a doer, and the figure of this parliamentarian who speaks for the workers often appears in front of the workers, is very cordial, and the work of improving the treatment of the workers is very real.

Of course, these were not the focus of the mission, and now the Japanese wanted to work hard to catch up with the Europeans.

One day, the Japanese were debating whether or not the Japanese language should be alphabetized, because kanji and Japanese characters were obviously inconvenient for the invention of typewriters, and therefore for the invention of typewriters, which was very detrimental to the catch-up of Japanese civilization. Shimazu Saibin was inclined to abolish Chinese characters, which caused a great controversy among the Japanese. Yes, it seems that I have to reveal my Chinese typewriter plan in advance.

When Downing said he had a "random access" technology in the pipeline, Shimazu pressed for the development of a Japanese typewriter, which was much better than what would take Japan a decade or even decades to develop a new way of writing.

Downing was surprised to find that the lord of the Satsuma domain was actually a linguist, so the task of developing the Japanese typewriter naturally fell on the head of Shimazu Saibin, who was responsible for creating a pinyin standard for Japanese characters, and it was best to communicate with Wittoma, and it would be best to share most of the units between Hanyu Pinyin and Japanese Pinyin.

On this side, Downing is leading a history-changing Sino-Japanese delegation to Britain in Europe, and on the other side, China's political situation is brewing serious changes.

There were many times when the Qing emperors had good ideas, but it was a pity that the "humanistic spirit" of replacing the legal system with the rule of man made these ideas not only not bring benefits to the country, but instead promoted the decline of the Qing Dynasty. This situation could not be changed even by Emperor Qianlong at the height of his royal authority, and his ban on opium was a joke in terms of actual effect.

As soon as the policy of strictly banning opium was introduced, not only did it not ban opium, but it gave local officials an excellent excuse to collect protection money. The Qing Dynasty officials, who had nothing to do all day long, became a major consumer of opium, making the anti-smoking policy impossible to implement from the beginning.

Because opium was legal in Europe at that time, and semi-legal in the Qing Dynasty, it was allowed by the unspoken rules of the government. Moreover, Lin Zexu could take out the British opium dealers who had little ability to protect themselves, (using the strategy of besieging the British merchants and leaving them without food and water), but he was not capable of destroying the unspoken bureaucracy of the entire Qing Dynasty. Except for opium, all import and export commodities are like this, the official has a set of taxes and fees, but the local officials charge different protection fees, the real tax rate is very high, and the methods of Qing Dynasty officials are very shady, British merchants do not understand, and are often trapped. is still the same sentence, the British Empire is not a soft persimmon, and the Qing Dynasty is playing with fire like this.

The First Opium War ended, and the Qing Dynasty continued to play like this, secretly encouraging the people to kill foreigners, preventing the British from going to the city of Guangzhou, which should have been opened, thinking that they were very clever, and one day the British would break out again. Now, the British have finally found an opportunity to make a big fight.

The Yarrow incident happened.

The Yarrow was a Hong Kong-registered ship, and the Governor of Liangguang, Ye Mingchen, thought there was a pirate on board, arrested all twelve Chinese on board, and tore off the British flag on the ship. This is where the controversy lies, with Ye insisting that the Chinese side did not pull the British flag. This incident could have been big or small, or even dispensable, but the British admiral at that time, the governor of Hong Kong, Bao Ning, and the consul in Guangzhou, Pa Xiali, had been holding back their bad anger about "entering the city" for almost 10 years, and what they wanted was to make a big fuss and not only demand that the Chinese side immediately release the sailors on board, but also apologize to the British side. The British demand was actually quite unreasonable, because the criminals arrested by Ye Mingchen were Chinese, and according to the treaty between the two sides, consular jurisdiction was ineffective, and Ye Mingchen not only seized the handle of the other party to argue with reason, but let the people go. The main reason is that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom movement is in full swing, and Xianfeng gave an order to ask Ye Mingchen not to start a war as much as possible, otherwise it is estimated that it will be useless to release people. But Ye Mingchen refused to apologize, all in all, the Qing Dynasty is the most important face, and other things can be discussed.

Ye Mingchen didn't see that the British were here to fight this time, so for such an apology, Guangzhou was ravaged by the British army again. After the real fight, the British didn't mention the matter of apology, in a word: let me enter the city. At this time, although Ye Mingchen was defeated, when he heard it, what is it, it turns out that the British just want to enter the city! Ye Mingchen's past experience convinced him of one point: On the issue of entering the city, the British can't play any tricks, and this time they must make trouble again and get out. At this time, he also thought that the British were just here to scare him, as long as he stood up, so he reported to Xianfeng that he had won a big victory and killed the commander-in-chief of the British army, and Xianfeng instructed: Good job, but don't force the British to hurry, just give them a step down when they come to repent.

At that time, a minister was clear about the truth, but Xianfeng replied that it was Yingyi's "sensationalism", so that the minister "should not be confused". After that, Ye Mingchen sent people to Hong Kong to collect British intelligence, but he made a big mistake: he lied to Xianfeng himself, how could his subordinates tell him the truth? Typical Qing officialdom style. The intelligence gathered was either that Britain was beaten by Russia, or that Britain was beaten by India, or that it was financially strained, unable to make ends meet, an economic crisis, an unemployment frenzy, a workers' strike, in a word, Britain was in thin condition and was about to be finished. At this time, he was even more convinced that the British couldn't play any tricks, so they simply didn't do anything, and asked the soldiers not to fire back, and to "leave after dark". Until the British army broke through the city, Ye Mingchen happened to go out to burn incense, but he was not caught by the British, and the British were short of troops and temporarily withdrew from Guangzhou. It was under the support of this belief that Ye Mingchen was unexpectedly calm, and later generations jokingly called him the "Six No Generals" who "did not fight, did not defend, did not die, did not surrender, and did not leave", until he was captured by the British.

For the action of this ** ship in Guangzhou, the British Parliament considered it an "abuse of force" and voted for the withdrawal of British troops, but the hard-line Foreign Minister Palmerston dissolved the parliament for a new election and won a big victory in the general election, otherwise if Britain really withdraws its troops, Ye Mingchen will become a national hero again. Later, because this person single-handedly provoked the Second Opium War, Xianfeng's attitude towards him immediately turned 180 degrees, and the national hero suddenly became a sinner for the ages, which must be said to be ironic. In fact, Ye Mingchen's "six noes" also have a reason, at that time, the civil war was fierce, the military salary could not be paid, and people were also clever women who could not cook without rice, not so much that Ye Mingchen really believed that the British "fired a few shots and left", it is better to say that he was helpless and engaged in self-hypnosis.

The United States demanded that the treaty be amended and that the two countries be equal to each other, which is the most correct demand in the history of modern diplomacy. Britain demanded to enter the city, France demanded compensation and an apology for the murder of Marai, and these debts were all counted on the hard role of Ye Mingchen, and all of them became unsolved, and all the dissatisfaction completely broke out in 1856. However, although the United States really wanted to beat up the Qing Dynasty, the black slave issue was raging at that time, and the first Opium War was sweetened. In fact, France also wanted the British army to go up, and it was OK to get it naked afterwards, but there was a citizen who was killed and couldn't get an explanation, and it couldn't be said if he didn't send troops again, so he sent some soldiers to go with the British. (http：／/.）。 And Russia has been greedy for China for a long time, and at this time it has also jumped out to make waves, ready to reap the benefits. As a result, a British and French alliance army, carrying the ambitions of Britain, the United States, France, and Russia, the four most powerful countries in the world, our Qing Dynasty faced another threat of war at the level of annihilation.

All the members of the Chinese delegation strongly condemned the British's policy of "interfering in internal affairs" in Britain and marched to Downing Street to protest. At the request of the powerful Prime Minister Palmerston, Tang Ning sent them all back to the Qing Dynasty. Now it has been more than a year since the maiden voyage of the Great Eastern, Downing's has four 10,000-ton cruise ships, a 10,000-ton cargo ship, and has been fully operational, with the support of electric technology, the shipbuilding capacity has reached two months, when an ocean giant ship arrives in the Far East, there is another new ship sailing out of the crystal shipyard. These giant ships were all assigned to the Singapore Shipping Company under Temasek Capital, and the most recent one was transferred to the Dutch East India Company. They only knew that they wanted to save the country, but they forgot that their own death was the heaviest loss of the Qing Dynasty. The number of reformers, who were already not vigorous in the Qing Dynasty, was even closer to zero.

The Japanese were both regretful and happy to see the Chinese being repatriated, especially soldiers like Takamori Saigo, realizing that China and Japan are like brothers in difficulty in Asia, but this pair of backward brothers is likely to fight in the future because of the struggle for hegemony, and the appearance of the ocean-going giant ship has made the ocean no longer a graben, and the history of Japan being protected from the invasion of the Mongol army by the protection of the kamikaze as before is gone forever.