The captain of the Royal Navy was confident in the future of the Royal Navy, but at the moment, when facing the battleship Goodway, he could only tremble, and the heavy guns of the battleship with a caliber of 305 mm only had to hit his Lion, and the Lion would be completely destroyed. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

The appearance of the Goodway here is naturally not a boring joke, but a serious interception at sea. The battleship dropped a small boat and came aboard the Lion. Judging by the epaulettes on the uniform of the comer, this is a lieutenant. He didn't have any extra pride or enthusiasm, just made a routine announcement to Robbins and Macartney.

"Colleagues from Britain, it's a pleasure to meet you. Why did you come to this sea? ”

Robbins naturally had more authority on the ship than the diplomat Macartney, even though Macartney had almost become the viceroy of India before. Robbins replied, "On the orders of our king, we are going to Jingshi, the capital of the Qing Kingdom, to meet the Qing Emperor. ”

He didn't have to answer, because this is the Tang people's sphere of influence, and they only have one warship in this water, and they must also look at the Tang people's faces.

The lieutenant nodded and said, "Understood, then where are you going to land?" ”

It's actually a sailing plan, and Robbins honestly replied, "We're going to dock at the mouth of the White River." ”

Baihekou is Dagu, which is now part of the Datang China United Special Economic Zone and the territory of the Tang Dynasty.

The lieutenant took the small notebook and recorded it, and when he heard this, he closed the small notebook and said, "Then I need to convey these few things to the two of you." First, the mouth of the Baihe River is my territory of the Tang Dynasty, and you are a foreign warship. Although Japan has diplomatic relations with yours, in principle, we will not accept any temporary docking of warships that have not been reported without prior notice. Second, according to China's regulations, the Bohai Sea is an inland sea, and warships of other countries are not allowed to enter without permission. So. You cannot continue to move forward now, and if you rush into the Bohai Sea, your navy will see it as an act of aggression and will immediately counterattack it. ”

Macartney and Robbins were both surprised, although this era is the era of the jungle, the big fist is the boss, and Britain has not been overbearing. But they still felt that the actions of the Tang people were too domineering.

Macartney had a gloomy face and said, "What does the Tang Dynasty mean, forbidding us to enter the Qing Kingdom. Diplomatic interaction with the Qing State? ”

The lieutenant still said indifferently: "This is naturally not, but there should be rules for doing things, and it is not okay to mess around." It is impossible for your ship to dock at any port in the Bohai Sea, and we can allow your ship to dock and replenish in Dalian Port in the spirit of friendly relations. However, diplomatic visas are required to enter our territory. If you wish to obtain a diplomatic visa, please submit your personally identifiable information and we will contact the embassy in the UK. And communicate and coordinate with your country's foreign affairs department, if it is faster. You should be able to get your diplomatic visa issued by our country within a week. ”

Robbins frowned and said, "This is too complicated, if this is the case, we would rather choose to dock at the port of the Qing Kingdom and disembark." ”

The lieutenant nodded and said, "You have the option to do this, but I still have to warn you." You can't call at any port on the Bohai coast. ”

Both Macartney and Robbins thought that it was no good to have a hard anal with the Tang people, so they could only change their course and go ashore in Qingdao instead.

Macartney also comforted himself and said to Robbins: "At least we have avoided the humiliation of the Tang people, and there seems to be a train here in Qingdao, from where we can take the train directly to Beijing." ”

At this time, Robbins seemed to be more interested in several Qing naval warships in the port of Qingdao. So he nodded casually, acknowledging Macartney's words. All diplomats and soldiers in this era were part-time intelligence agents, and the British did not know much about the situation in the Qing Kingdom. Robbins, in particular, had no idea that the Qing Kingdom had a sizable fleet. Many of the ships here are traditional Chinese sailing ships, but the chimneys on the decks confirm that they are steam warships. The tonnage is not very large, ranging from hundreds of tons to one or two thousand tons, which is roughly at the same level as the Lion.

Sure enough, after arriving in Qingdao, the treatment of the British immediately changed. Although the Tang Dynasty also has power in Qingdao and is in charge of customs and something, the local officials are still Qing officials. They quickly used a telegram to report the news of the British envoy's visit to the imperial court, and the imperial court replied quickly and received them with very high treatment.

Qing officials sent many gifts to the British, as well as a large number of pigs, sheep, chickens and other domestic animals and poultry, which made Macartney very amazed, in European countries, the general diplomats are responsible for their own food and lodging expenses, but I did not expect that when I came to the Qing country, I could eat and drink for nothing. Some of the animals that had been used as gifts were killed, and the British threw them out of the boat, and people nearby paddled over to scoop up the pigs and sheep, and seemed to take advantage of them.

The British officials who landed in Qingdao also saw two completely different landscapes, the port area with all kinds of docks, the nearby concrete roads were wide and flat, there were two rows of street lamps on the side of the road, and some of the surrounding buildings also looked very imposing, which made them feel that it was full of the light of advanced civilization. But when they came to other places, they found that there were dilapidated houses everywhere, and there were poorly clothed people on the side of the road, their eyes were blank, and behind their heads were dirty braids.

There was a pauper who seemed to have fallen overboard, and the people who passed by were just standing there pointing and pointing, and they didn't want to marry the rescuer. A young Englishman stepped forward to rescue the man who had fallen into the water. But the Qing officials who led them stopped them, and his reasons seemed ridiculous to Macartney. It's just a mud leg, if you fall into the water, you will fall into the water, you are honored guests, there is no need to waste energy because of this little thing. As for letting us officials save them, it is even more impossible, the uncle usually dislikes those mud legs and dirty, how could he jump into the water to save them?

Macartney looked incredulously at the Qing officials who thought they were speaking the truth or warning the world, unable to understand what kind of morality this was, nor how this indifference could arise. (To be continued.) )