Because of the personal care of Fu Ankang, the governor of Liangguang, and the fact that Emperor Qianlong personally inquired about the situation of Fanbang's visit to the court many times, the efficiency of the yamen in Guangdong was unprecedentedly improved, and it only took half an hour for the fleet to dock at the wharf on Huangpu Island.

This is not an easy thing to do, because the Whampoa wharf has long been overloaded, and a large number of ships that come to carry out tributary trade are blocked in the port and cannot find berths at all, not to mention that there are nearly seven ships that came to Guangzhou with the British mission, many of which are large ships with a displacement of more than 1,000 tons.

The port of Guangzhou is now the largest port in East Asia, and the wharf on Huangpu Island is full of ships from all over the world, from European soft sailing ships to Chinese hard sailing boats, and Wickham has even seen Ataka boats from the Japanese archipelago. Large quantities of Chinese specialties such as silk, tea, and porcelain were gathered at the wharf of the 13th Hang in Guangzhou, ready to be loaded on ships and sent to all parts of the world.

Looking from Huangpu Island, through the sparkling Pearl River, you can see the magnificent city wall of Guangzhou City that is more than ten meters high. The south gate of Guangzhou City is full of restaurants and tea shops, and the places outside the city wall form a bustling commercial district. Many members of the British mission looked at the bustling scene on the other side, and all of them grew their mouths in astonishment, and could not say a word.

In 1790, London had already exceeded one million people, making it the most populous city in Europe, while Paris, which ranked second, was only half the population of London.

But the towering brick-clad city wall of Guangzhou really shocked these Europeans! Because in this era, there was no large city in Europe that was completely under the protection of the city wall, and the circumference of the city wall of the entire Guangzhou city wall definitely reached more than ten miles, which was definitely a huge project!

What the members of the mission did not know, of course, was that the walls of Beijing and Nanjing were much more magnificent than those in Guangzhou. Wickham didn't look stunned. In later life, he went to Xi'an, where the ancient city wall was very well preserved, much grander than the city wall of Guangzhou in front of him, so he was not much surprised.

Colonel Aldrich was a little uncalm, and exclaimed, "God, with such a high and thick wall, even if I give me a hundred thirty-two-pound guns, I'm afraid I won't be able to blast it open." Of course, this is just an exaggeration, although the solid shells of this era are not very powerful, but concentrated a large number of heavy artillery bombardment in one place, the city wall of Guangzhou is thick and cannot be carried out.

After the Qing army entered the customs, they liked to bombard the cities defended by the Ming army with captured Hongyi cannons, often dozens of cannons, and the city walls that defended against cold weapons collapsed in front of the power of hot weapons and weapons.

Wickham said leisurely: "It is indeed a heroic city, but no matter how good the defense is, someone has to defend it, right?" It is a great irony that this mighty city, in the eyes of Colonel Aldrich, would be easily captured by the British in forty years.

"George, you've finally arrived in Guangzhou, and I've been looking forward to your arrival." As soon as Wickham and Magarny got off the boat, they saw a group of people standing on the dock, and one of them, a middle-aged gentleman dressed in a decent dress and holding a civilized stick, quickly greeted them.

Magalny walked forward quickly, gave the middle-aged gentleman a big hug, and said, "Francis, it seems that your life in Guangzhou is good, even your belly is bigger, maybe you don't want to go back to England now." ”

The middle-aged gentleman didn't care at all about Margarny's quip: "George, don't expose my shortcomings." The range of activities of foreign merchant ships and merchants was limited to Whampoa Island, and I hadn't even ridden a horse for two years, because there was no place to run horses here. By the way, did you bring some pure Scotch whisky with you to Guangzhou this time, I've been dying of hunger for the past six months. ”

Magar glanced at the drunkard: "You don't want whiskey!" The ship was full of gifts from His Majesty the King to the Qing Emperor, but there was no room for personal belongings. ”

The middle-aged gentleman jumped up when he heard this, and said indignantly: "George, isn't a barrel of wine just a suitcase space, this guy is really not interesting to old friends." ”

Lord Margarny laughed and said, "Although there is no whisky, I have brought you a bottle of Bordeaux wine." Now France is a mess, and this thing is not easy to make. ”

"George, can you finish the words in one breath, my cardiology can't stand it if it goes on like this." Although he was unforgiving, it could be seen that the middle-aged gentleman was in a very happy mood.

Looking at this scene in front of him, Wickham was very surprised, Lord Margarny's connections were too strong, from Europe all the way to the Far East, almost everywhere he had friends and acquaintances, he was really worthy of being the most outstanding diplomat in the era of the British Regent, this network and background can never be compared with some upstarts.

Wickham whispered to Baron Standon beside him and asked, "Baron Stanton, who is this gentleman who is very familiar with Lord Magalny?" "Stanton used to be a staff member of the British East India Company, and worked in the office of the Guangzhou East India Company for a period of time, so he was familiar with the people here, so Wickham asked this question.

Because Wickham has been teaching little Stehindon Chinese culture, Baron Stehindon and Wickham are also familiar with each other, so Baron Stehindon replied very cheerfully: "This is Mr. Francis Balin, the head of the East India Company in Guangzhou, and one of the major shareholders of the company." A few years ago, Lord Margarny had worked together in the House of Commons, and had the same views on many issues, so the two had a very close relationship. Although he did not have a knighthood, his influence in the business world was huge, and several wars in the kingdom required the family to raise funds. ”

Damn, isn't this the banker who made his fortune from the war! As soon as he thought of the middle-aged gentleman's surname, it suddenly became clear to Wickham that the current Bahrain family is well-known in the British financial circles and the main rival of the Rothschild family in Britain in the future.

The two talked for a while, and then Margarny brought Francis Balin over and introduced: "Francis, this is my deputy, Baron Steindon, and this is my temporary assistant, Captain Wickham. "Wickham is full of black lines, is he a temporary worker with a black cauldron?

Baron Stanton nodded reservedly, and then said hello very decently, he is a person with a knighthood, and his posture naturally cannot be too low. But Wickham was different, he was just a low-level officer, so he bowed very solemnly. Truth be told, Wickham has had enough of Britain's strict hierarchy and is now even more determined to get ahead.

Francis Balin returned the salute to Wickham and shouted with some exaggeration: "Oh God, what a handsome lad!" It's a good thing I already have a wife, otherwise I'd be snubbed by those lovely ladies if I attended the ball with you, haha......"

Francis is known for his long-sleeved dancing in London's high society, and he always makes people feel like a spring breeze, and in just a sentence or two, Wickham has a good impression of the old gentleman in front of him.

"Captain Wickham is indeed a very good young man, not only brave and good at fighting, but also well-versed in Chinese culture. During my stay in China, he would assist me in the diplomatic tasks assigned to me by the King and the Cabinet. It is not easy for this evaluation to come out of the mouth of a person of Magalny's level. Wickham suddenly found that he had already mistakenly worked for the old fox Margarny twice, and it was really nothing to let him say a few kind words.

With such a high evaluation from his old friend, Francis also began to look at the handsome young man in front of him, and said: "I didn't expect Captain Wickham to be so young and proficient in Chinese culture, which is rare." The East India Company loses a lot of business every year because of the lack of staff who are familiar with Chinese culture and customs, so why don't you come to our company and ensure that you can earn two thousand pounds a year? ”

Wickham, who had been in the workplace for a year in his previous life, didn't dare to take Francis's words seriously, most of them were jokes, and he would be a fool if he did.

Wickham said lightly, "Thank you, Mr. Balin, for your appreciation, but I still like the life of the army, only to brush off your kindness." ”

Baron Stehindon had the intention of making fun of Wickham, so he smiled and said: "You are going to be disappointed, Mr. Baring, Captain Wickham only made a fortune of tens of thousands of pounds from the military operation on the coast of Ghana a few months ago, and his annual income of 2,000 pounds may not be worth it." ”

Hearing this, the three of them all laughed, the British army has reaped a lot of benefits from colonial expansion in recent years, otherwise why would your government let those soldiers risk the extremely high mortality rate to work for you in the harsh natural environment? There is always something good to do, such as a good booty.

The people here are all insiders, and they understand very well the fact that Wickham made a small fortune in the colony, and it is just a matter of rank that can be talked about and laughed at.

"George, I'm not just here to pick you up. Just now, the official of the Governor's Yamen told me to go to the Governor's Mansion immediately to discuss with His Excellency Fu Ankang, the Governor of Liangguang, about going to Beijing to meet the Emperor. ”

As the supreme representative of the East India Company in the Qing Dynasty, Francis knew very well the reason why the Qing officials were in such a hurry, all because Emperor Qianlong's birthday was approaching, and the emperor himself hoped to see the grand occasion of the coming of all nations at his birthday celebration.

"No problem, I'll go with you to visit Mr. Governor here now." Margarny also couldn't take a break, so he took Stanton and Wickham with him, and went with Francis to the governor's palace in Guangzhou.

After getting off the ferry, Wickham intuitively felt the prosperity of Guangzhou City in this era. Outside of Guangzhou, this bustling commercial district is bustling with people, with bluestone-paved roads filled with crowds and shops on both sides of the street, filled with goods from the north and south.

As the country's only foreign trade port, it is home to a wide variety of luxury goods and novelties from overseas, which are rarely seen even in Kyoto.

The officials of the Governor's Palace, led by a seven-rank petty official, had long been waiting on the side of the street. Seeing Magarni and his party getting off the ferry, he politely invited the four of them into a sedan chair. Wickham is making a sedan chair for the first time, and he is very curious about this kind of transportation that appears in the TV series, so he will touch it here and there.

However, it is a pity that the accompanying officials did not let them lift the curtain on the sedan chair at all, so Wickham did not know what the situation was like in the city of Guangzhou. About half an hour later, the swaying sedan chair was placed on the ground, and the curtain was lifted by a courteous officer, and Wickham guessed that the Liangguang Governor's Palace had arrived.

Sure enough, Wickham got off the sedan chair and was stopped by the magnificent building in front of him, the vermilion gate was full of copper nails, the stone steps were made of large pieces of white marble, and a pair of lifelike stone lions were placed in front of the door, showing the solemnity of the official residence!

A group of soldiers in armor stood in line outside the door, and the weapons shining with cold light all told the visitors that this was the highest military yamen in Guangdong and Guangxi-the Liangguang Governor's Palace. Wickham, who has been in the army for half a year, can clearly feel the strong murderous aura on the guards, this is obviously an elite soldier who has seen blood on the battlefield, and the appearance of the Humen sailors cannot be compared with these soldiers at all!

After a while, the middle door of the yamen was opened, and a Qing court official wearing a first-class official uniform came out with a group of officials from the governor's palace, and said to Magalny, Wickham and others: "Is the person who came from England?" ”