Under the mediation of the Pan family, Li Shuyao, the governor of Liangguang, finally agreed to the docking of four merchant ships of the Tang Republic, and went to the governor's palace to meet Li Shiyao on behalf of Bai Nan and several attachés. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

Bai Nan was not wearing a military uniform, and he was not suitable to appear as a soldier on such an occasion. Bai Nan was wearing a light gray tunic, looking quite handsome. Although the male aesthetics of the Qing Dynasty people in this era are still a little strange, people who see Bai Nan will still be impressed by the aura radiated by Bai Nan.

As soon as Bai Nan walked into the courtroom, Li Shiyao couldn't help but secretly admire. From ancient times to the present, all over the world, it has been a society that looks at faces. If a person has a poor image, he may hit a wall everywhere, on the contrary, if he is born with an invincible and handsome face, he will take advantage of him wherever he goes.

Chinese pay attention to each other, if a person does not look good, the essence is definitely not good, although some generalizations, but this is a fact. In modern times, it is also said that people do not have the energy to discover the extraordinariness and talent of a person through his scruffy and unkempt appearance. As a result, Pang Tongfengxiao, who is extremely ugly, is not welcomed by Cao Wei and Sun Wu, which is the norm.

"Bai Nan, the commercial representative of the Tang Republic, meet the two adults." Bai Nan's language was concise, and he didn't have too many humble words, probably because he didn't have a good impression of these Tartars in his heart.

Li Shuyao hadn't spoken yet, but Debao, the governor of Guangdong, was in a thunderous attack, his hand slammed on the table, and reprimanded: "Boldly Diao Min, seeing that this official and the governor are not expensive, are you looking for death?" ”

Bai Nan's salute to the two is just a more formalized gesture, but in fact, after the Ming and Qing dynasties, especially after the Qing Dynasty, kneeling has become the most important etiquette in China, especially the etiquette of the following pairs. It's not that Bai Nan doesn't know, it's that he simply can't accept kneeling and prostrating to people other than ancestors and gods.

So, he stood there and saluted back: "Please forgive me for not understanding the etiquette of your country, in my Datang, kneeling is a great ceremony, and it is not available to the ancestors in heaven, and I am a citizen of the Tang Republic, not for the people of the Qing Dynasty, and my lord is not my honorable elder, and the ritual of kneeling is not applicable." ”

Debao's eyes widened, "Bold! ”

Pan Zhencheng and Pan Youdu stood on the side, their hearts jumped, and they fell to their knees, Pan Zhencheng scolded in his heart: "This Tang man still seems to be very well-behaved, why do you want to make a mistake at this time, it's just a bend of your knees and kowtow, how can it be like asking for his life." ”

Pan Youdu was also beating a drum in his heart, "This Bai Nan is so stubborn and disobedient to the governor, if Shangfeng really wants to deal with him, it is inevitable that our Pan family will also suffer as a guarantor." ”

The foreign trade of the 13 banks in Guangzhou implements a kind of business guarantee system. Foreign merchants from overseas are exposed to risks because they cannot be controlled by the imperial court and the government, so they need local merchants to guarantee them, which is the guarantor. Once something goes wrong with the foreign businessman, the Chinese insurance company will naturally pay for the corresponding loss.

Just now, Bai Nan had agreed with the Pan family to make a contract with the same bank, and the Pan family, as the guarantor of the Tang merchant ship, would trade Bai Nan's profits for the first time. However, before the people of the Pan family could get happy, Bai Nan on this side collided with Governor Debao.

Although Debao is known as a Manchurian who is superior in Chinese and is quite literate Tartar, he is still incompetent compared to ordinary Han readers. He saw that Bai Nan was quite unpleasant, and he hated others for hindering his great contribution to "arresting the rebellious party", and said loudly at this time: "Come on, take down this rebellion for me!" ”

Bai Nan also regretted it, not that he regretted not kneeling for Debao. The son of the daughter does not sit in the hall, when he came, Lin Youde once proposed that he should negotiate, and Bai Nan was hidden behind the scenes. But Bai Nan felt that Lin Youde was just a simple businessman, and he couldn't grasp all the issues in many issues, so he still needed to handle it himself. When he entered the Doge's Palace, all his weapons were taken away, and of course he did not carry any firearms with him when he came ashore, only a military dagger. If the Qing soldiers are difficult for him, then he is really difficult to deal with.

At this time, Li Shiyao finally spoke, he said: "Lord De, don't be impatient, what Bai Nan said is also reasonable, he is a foreigner who comes to the court, and he doesn't understand everything, although he has the same language as my people of the Qing Dynasty, but he is no longer a person of a country, and he is harshly criticized with the rules and regulations of the Qing Dynasty, and he will inevitably lose the way of benevolence, loyalty, and forgiveness." After all, he is a foreign envoy, and he can easily move it, which will hurt the dignity of our Celestial Empire and make it easier to breed chaos. ”

When Debao heard this, although he was still a little tough, he was not good at resisting Li Shiyao to take down Bai Nan, "Hmph, who knows if he is really a foreigner, I see that this person is just a Chinese outcast who escaped from the sea." ”

Li Shiyao smiled, but also for the relief of Debao, his official position is a level of great Debao, naturally able to suppress him, Debao was originally born in politics and politics, although he has been in Guangdong for a long time, but it is far from being as good as him who has been operating in Guangdong for decades and served two terms as the governor of Liangguang.

Before Bai Nan entered the Governor's Palace, Bai Nan had already asked the people of the Pan family to send a gift slip to the Governor's Palace. The richness of this gift list is beyond imagination, there are more than 20 pieces of high-grade glazed ware, several high-grade weapons, several luxury leather goods, a small box of jewelry, and 10,000 yuan of Datang gold coins. It can be said that Bai Nan also made a bloody investment in order to bribe Li Shiyao.

Li Shiyao was regarded as a capable minister during the Qianlong period, and once pacified the Fengshun Zhu Alou peasant uprising for Qianlong, pacified the rebellion of Zheng Shuangwen in Taiwan, conquered the southwest during his tenure as governor of Yunnan, and quelled the rebellion of the Hui people in Gansu in his later years. However, this capable minister also has his own shortcomings, that is, this person's virtue is not very good, and he will be powerful and wealthy in any place. To put it simply, this is a corrupt official with ability, which is in line with the characteristics of many officials in the Qianlong period.

It was precisely because Bai Nan realized this that he was determined to put the breakthrough on Li Shiyao. So before entering the Governor's Palace, he used a huge bribe, Li Shuyao was naturally happy when he saw it, and when Bai Nan entered the hall to visit, Li Shiyao saw that Bai Nanfeng was handsome and very cherished, so he naturally blocked Debao for Bai Nan.

Bai Nan doesn't plan to give Debao a penny for the time being, although Debao is the one who jumps the hardest. But in Guangdong, it is Li Shiyao who really counts.

Li Shiyao sat on the top of the throne, his face was kind, and asked, "I don't know if the white envoy has a name?" ”

Bai Nan hurriedly said: "Lord Lao asked, in the next word Pengxi." ”

Li Shuyao nodded and said with a smile: "Pengzhi migrates to the south of the underworld, the water hits three thousand miles, the one who sways up is ninety thousand miles, and the one who goes to rest in June is also." Although you and your people have been in the land of China for thousands of years, they are the same as the same text, which is true. ”

Debao was very unhappy when he saw that Li Shiyao seemed to be deliberately biased towards Bai Nan, but there was nothing he could do but keep silent.

"What my lord said is that although I have been away from the mainland for thousands of years, in the final analysis, the Tang people and the Qing people are both sons and daughters of China, and they are connected by blood." It's the best to climb the relationship or something.

Debao couldn't help but stab: "Those who enter Huaxia will be Huaxia, and those who will enter Yidi will be Yidi." If you borrow the name of the Tang Dynasty, even if it is true, you have already broken away from Chinese orthodoxy, and my Qing Dynasty is the orthodoxy of the Celestial Empire, what kind of China are you? ”

Bai Nan didn't want to fight with Debao this time, the more he felt that his name was not right, the more he liked to fight for orthodoxy, just take a look at the ghost island regime in Bai Nan's era, there are few people in the world who admit it, but they like to talk about orthodoxy. Bai Nan also disdained to be in front of a group of Tartars, debating whether the Tang Dynasty was orthodox or the like.

Li Shiyao saw that Bai Nan did not argue with Debao, and also calmed down. He casually asked: "I heard that the Tang Dynasty is a republic and has no monarch, is this true?" ”

"Returning to the Governor, it is true. I Datang practice the system of public peace, by the domestic talented and virtuous people into the cabinet, to discuss national affairs, the head of state is the president, five years for a term, after the expiration of the term of office by the people elected. Bai Nan introduced.

The people he is talking about here are not all the people, and in fact, Li Shiyao did not think that all the people had the right to decide who was the head of state.

At this time, Pan Zhencheng also added: "Among the Western countries, the Dutch are also a similar system, there is no monarch in the country, and the ruling is elected, which is quite similar to the Tang State." ”

Debao snorted: "No king and no father, the country of villains." ”

Li Shuyao can't refute Debao, the Qing Dynasty monarch centralized power to the peak, although Zhao Gong Zhou and in the history of Confucian culture has always been a positive evaluation, but it is not tolerated by contemporary monarchs, Li Shiyao naturally can't refute, let Debao take the handle, turn back and sue himself.

Bai Nan didn't talk to Debao, what does this thing like to say.

Li Shiyao originally wanted to ask why your Tang people's clothes and hairstyles have changed, but thinking about it, their group of Han people is not the same as the Han family's clothes after the Manchu Qing Dynasty entered the customs, so the Qing people have no position to question the Tang people about this question.

Li Shuyao continued to ask Bai Nan some questions, Bai Nan answered without hindrance, Li Shuyao was quite eye-opening, after all, what Bai Nan said was not empty, such as the Tang Dynasty political system, it is by no means like something made up casually, its complexity is amazing, and it is very inspiring. If Bai Nan really wants to cheat, why not just make up that they also have an emperor in the Tang Dynasty, which is similar to the three provinces and six departments in ancient times, and saves more trouble.

It was generally determined that there was really a country behind Bai Nan, and it was the first time he came to the Qing Dynasty from abroad, and Li Shiyao was also relieved. The other party only came to trade, and the opening of the door of Guangzhou naturally allowed others to do business, and the income of Guangdong Customs was a large part of Guangdong's finances, and the number of merchant ships that came to sail every year was actually not large. The success of this business is self-evident to the officials and people of Guangdong.

So, Li Shuyao didn't think much about it, and after being satisfied, he said to Pan Zhen: "Xunxian, this matter of Tang trade will be handed over to the Thirteen Lines." After reporting the specific situation to the Lord, the Judge will draw up a recital and report it to the Holy Lord. ”

Debao was still dissatisfied: "Lord Li, this Tang merchant ship still has a lot of suspicions, it is better to let the saint make a decision first, and then make a plan." ”

Li Shuyao said: "This matter does not need to be so troublesome, as in the previous example, there are Taixi merchant ships coming to Guangzhou, and it is also handled by my Governor's Mansion and Guangdong Customs." There is no tributary in the Tang Kingdom, so there is no need to go through a lot of trouble, and when its trade is completed, it will leave the port as soon as possible. ”