Lord Magalny held his wine glass and said with a rare smile: "It seems that Lieutenant Wickham and my lieutenant have a good chat, let me guess that your topic is Chinese culture, right?" ”

Baron Staunton raised his glass and gestured, "Your Excellency, I think you guessed wrong, it was not me who had a happy chat with Lieutenant Wickham, but my son Little Staunton. Just now, Lieutenant Wickham had already agreed to teach little Stan Dongqing the official language. ”

Lord Magalny nodded, "Thanks to Lieutenant Wickham, I know that there are many accents in the Qing Kingdom, which are as complex as the Indian subcontinent, and I am only learning the dialect of Guangdong Province in the Qing Kingdom. ”

Wickham understood that Margarny was talking about the last ball at Viscount Bernard's house, and that time he showed Margarny a little Beijing dialect in order to catch a ride on the Chinese delegation. In his previous life, he studied and worked in the imperial capital for five or six years, and it was not a problem to speak fluent Beijing accent.

Baron Staunton frowned, and said with some concern: "Your Excellency, the translator provided by the East India Company this time can only speak the dialect of Guangzhou, and when we go to Beijing to meet His Majesty the Emperor of the Qing Kingdom, effective language communication will be a big problem." Unlike Catholic countries such as France and Portugal, British Protestant missionaries did not have the opportunity to reach Beijing at all, and they could not learn to speak the Qing Mandarin fluently. In contrast, Catholic countries have been operating in China for many years and have good relations with the Chinese ruling class, and there are many Catholic missionaries in Beijing at present.

Wickham vaguely recalls that in his memoirs written by Magalny, he attributed the failure of the diplomatic operation to "the barrier of language communication." This is an opportunity for Wickham, as no one here is more fluent than his Qing Mandarin.

The warships of the Royal Navy could only be parked at the Tongzhou docks, and in order to go to Beijing, they had to be members of the diplomatic corps. Wickham didn't want to stop at Tongzhou: "Lord Magalny, Baron Staunton, although it is presumptuous, I still ask you to be the interpreter of the mission. I can guarantee that my Chinese language level is not inferior to that of a real Chinese at all. Just kidding, brother is a fake Chinese, Wickham muttered in his heart.

Magalny had already made up his mind to invite Wickham as the mission's interpreter. It's just that last time he was at Viscount Bernard's house, he didn't help others, so now when he asks others for help, he feels a little unspeakable. This time, Wickham was able to take the initiative to take over the job, and he was naturally happy to see it happen: "Lieutenant Wickham, the Kingdom of Britain and His Majesty George, will not forget your contributions. When I return home, I will explain your contribution to the Kingdom in my report to the Cabinet. ”

The meaning of Magarni's words is that when you return to China, you will be indispensable. Wickham replied, "All for the sake of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, Your Excellency, and I will do my best." ”

Looking at the anxious look on Fritz Mellon's face, Magalny remembered what Mr. Governor had asked him for: "Lieutenant Wickham, the Royal African Company has been in some trouble lately, and Mr. Fritz Mellon hopes to get help from the Marine Corps. Mr. Mellon will tell you the details. ”

Wickham then remembered that Barnett had said before the dinner that the Royal African Company seemed to be in trouble. Originally, he was still a little gloating about these slave traders, but he didn't expect that this trouble would come to his door. Wickham glanced at Barnett, who was holding a wine glass across from him, and the guy just shook his head slightly, indicating that he didn't quite know.

Fritz Mellon stepped forward and said to Wickham: "Lieutenant Wickham, you must also know what the main business of our Royal African Trading Company is, right?" Wickham rolled his eyes, very unhappy with the trickery of Fritz Mellon, the old fox, does this need to be asked, who in all Britain does not know that you made your fortune from the slave trade? Thinking of this, Wickham just replied lightly: "Isn't the black slave auction market outside already explaining everything?"

Fritz Mellon nodded and said, "That's right, the main business of the Royal African Company is to capture the indigenous blacks of the Gold Coast, some of them are sold to slave traders from Liverpool, and some of them are shipped directly to Jamaica by the company's fleet. The old fox paused, and then continued, "Although the blacks in Ghana have also formed several countries, but the level of civilization is very low, and we often only need to send a company of German mercenaries to break a small kingdom of blacks and capture a large number of slaves. But just a few days ago, something went wrong with the company. Our German mercenaries were on their way to the princely state of Mossi to hunt slaves when they were attacked by the combined forces of Ashanti and Mosse, and their troops suffered heavy losses. ”

The Royal African Company is essentially a private company with a profit goal, and it is not their style to send troops directly and fight against the natives. Generally speaking, the most common way they used to do this was to provoke wars between tribes, and then to buy prisoners of war after the war. However, in recent years, the southern states of the United States have been vigorously developing tobacco and cotton cultivation, which requires a large number of slaves. Tempted by huge profits, the company ventured and plundered the black slaves directly in the villages of the Princely State of Moxi. Unexpectedly, on the way back to the fortress to escort the slaves, he encountered the combined forces of the two princely states of Moxi and Ashanti, and he suffered a great loss.

Although Wickham was very interested in history in his previous life, the history of Africa was indeed very out-of-the-way, and he really didn't know much about the situation on the Ghana side, so he asked: "Director Mellon, are there still princely states on the Gold Coast?" Isn't it unique to the Indian subcontinent? "In Wickham's impression, African black eggs were very low in civilization before they were colonized. Until the 21st century, the political system of many African countries was based on a low-level political framework such as tribal alliances, which were simply a group of highly autonomous tribes coming together, and whoever had the strongest tribe had the final say in the country. Unexpectedly, in the eighteenth century, there were already feudal princely states in the Ghana region, which surprised Wickham.

Fritz Mellon saw that Wickham really didn't understand the situation here, so he continued to explain: "Lieutenant Wickham, there are indeed many feudal states with a very high level of civilization on the Ghana side, and the larger ones are Ashanti, Adansi, Moxi, and Dunkuella. Among them, Ashanti was the most powerful of these princely states, but after the conquest of the Portuguese and the Dutch, his strength was not as strong as before. This time Ashanti and Moxi were able to form an alliance, and I guess Ashanti could not resist the pressure and wanted to unite the smaller princely states against our British merchants. We must not allow Ashanti to successfully unite the princely states in this region, otherwise the cost of our company's acquisition of black slaves will be too great in the future. ”

After talking for a long time, Wickham probably knew what Fritz Mellon meant, and the old guy must have wanted to borrow the strength of the Marines to attack the local princely states. But why should he Wikeham work for the Royal African Company, he won't do anything that is not beneficial. Thinking of this, Wickham simply pretended to be stupid: "yes, these damn Ghanaian natives. Mr. Mellon, you must teach this barbarian a good lesson in order to safeguard the commercial interests of our United Kingdom on the Gold Coast. "I have seen too many press conferences of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in later generations, and it is not too easy to talk about official clichés.

Fritz Mellon saw that Wickham did not take the bait, so he scolded the little fox, and then had to make it clear: "Our company needs the help of the Marines, Lieutenant Wickham." "The Royal African Trading Company has a very strong background in London, with big nobles and influential parliamentarians having a stake in it, so Fritz is very confident that he will bring in the king's ** team to help. The old god Fritz took a sip of the whiskey shipped from Scotland, smiled, and said, "Lieutenant Wickham, I heard from Second Lieutenant Bert Chelsea that there are a full 180 men in the independent company of the Marine Corps that you came with this time?"

Seeing that there was no way to avoid it, Wickham had no choice but to reply: "That's true, Director Mellon, but these soldiers are peasants who have just laid down their hoes, and their combat effectiveness is still far behind." Wickham had no choice but to use a roundabout tactic, emphasizing that his army was still recruits, in order to dissuade Fritz Mellon. Of course, this is also the big truth.

Fritz Mellon, the old fox, deliberately ignored Wickham's hint and said to himself: "The battle a few days ago caused heavy casualties among the German mercenaries of our company, and on behalf of our company, I ask Lieutenant Wickham to command your subordinates and protect the interests of the merchants of the kingdom!" Of course, we will send a battalion of Hessian mercenaries and two three-pounder guns to assist you in your military operations. What Mellon didn't say was that the battalion of Hessian mercenaries had already lost more than half, and the remaining troops were not more than a company of Wickham.

When Fritz Mellon had finished his request, Wickham looked at Lord Margarny, who was the supreme head of the entire mission. In fact, he also knew in his heart that Lord Magalny and Fritz Mellon had already discussed it just now, and this time he came to talk to himself about this, which was just to breathe. Even if she disagrees, it doesn't work.

Lord Margarny nodded slightly when he saw the inquiring look from Wickham, and his mind was a little better impressed by this young man, not every young man would know the rules so well.

With the approval of the boss Margarny, Wickham turned to Fritz Mellon and promised: "Since your company is in trouble, then the kingdom's army will not ignore it, so follow the deployment of Director Fritz." Wickham smiled self-deprecatingly, not expecting that he would one day become the notorious colonist in later history. But no one can be blamed for this, natural selection, and if you fall behind, you will be beaten. The level of civilization of African black eggs is too low, and they can't be beaten without being beaten.

After the conversation, Director Fritz Mellon waved to a company employee with a relaxed face, whispered a few words, and the employee left the hall. After a while, mercenaries from several companies walked in with two dozen black girls, dressed in European-style tunics and ladylike hats, but they seemed a little grotesque when they looked at it. The girls looked at the white people around them with trepidation, and their hearts were terrified to the extreme.

Fritz Mellon took a sip of his glass and said to the members of the mission: "Gentlemen, welcome to the 'Gold Coast' of men. Life at sea is boring, and I know this all too well. Now, it's time for everyone to relax, so let's pick your favorite girl and spend a wonderful evening. With that, Mellon Councilor Dimagalny raised his glass and motioned for him to come first. After all, Magalny is the most honorable person here, and he should be allowed to come first.

In an instant, Magalny showed a look of disgust, but his good cultivation still made him suppress the disgust in his heart, and then chose a girl with a smile. The Margarney family in Scotland was notoriously conservative and had always been reluctant to do so, but he endured it in order to save face for Fritz Mellon.

Baron Staunton took the child with him, and it was not easy to stay, so he took little Staunton and left. While the others happily picked their own girls and returned to their respective rooms.

To be honest, Lin Zihan has no interest in these dark-skinned girls, this kind of pure-blooded black girl really doesn't fit his aesthetics. Remembering Bert's anxious look, Wickham pulled the kid over, and then handed him the girl he had picked: "This is yours, I'll go back to the barracks first." ”

Bert hugged left and right, and looked at his chief in disbelief: "Sir, you don't want the 'princess and princess' sent to the door, you won't be ......" This guy thought to himself that Wickham wouldn't have a problem in that regard, otherwise why wouldn't he be impressed at all? Of course, he didn't dare to say this, otherwise he would definitely be beaten up by his company commander.

Who isn't a great youth with nowhere to vent? It's a pity that Wickham couldn't stiffen up against those black charcoal-like eyebrows, so he had to go back to the barracks first.