In ancient China, only when greeting the respected old man and the person with a higher status than himself, would the middle door be opened to greet him, which is the highest kind of welcome etiquette. The governor of Liangguang, Fucha Fukangan, was a member of the first rank of the Eight Classics, and except for the Qincha, the emperor and the elders of the family, there was no need to open the middle door to welcome guests.

But Magarny is very special, he is the envoy of the British king, which in the eyes of the Chinese is like the emperor of the chincha, and Magarny represents the British king George III at this time. In the tributary system of the Qing Dynasty, the king of the vassal state was equivalent to the brother and courtier of the Chinese emperor, so it was necessary to be blessed and healthy in terms of etiquette, which is why Fu Ankang opened the middle gate of the governor's palace and brought people to greet him personally.

is different from what Wickham imagined, the important minister of the Qianlong period in front of him is very young, and he looks like he is in his thirties, but he didn't expect that he would be able to reach the level of Minister of Military Aircraft at such an age, which is at least a ministerial-level high-ranking official in later generations. Wickham sighed a little, whether it is ancient or modern, the special group of red children is just as awesome.

Ma Garni, who knew some simple Chinese, quickly took out his letter of appointment and power of attorney when he heard this, and handed it to Fu Ankang with both hands: "I am George Margarni, the envoy of the United Kingdom of Britain, this is my identification, please check it." "These documents are written in both Chinese and Latin, so you don't have to worry about whether the other party can read them.

Fukangan took the document, glanced at it symbolically, handed it to the entourage behind, and then invited Wickham and his party in. The Liangguang Governor's Mansion is roughly divided into two parts, the front is the office of the Governor and his subordinates, and the back is the place where the Governor's family lives and lives.

After everyone took their seats in the flower hall in the front yard of the governor's palace to receive guests, Fukangan opened his mouth and asked: "Lord Gong, I heard from the people of Humen Sailor, do you want to go to Beijing by sea?" However, according to the practice of our dynasty, the overseas tribute envoys all disembarked from Guangzhou and then went to Beijing by land, and the request of the tribute envoy seemed to be a little inappropriate. ”

Because of his perennial military career, Fukangan's personality is very straightforward, and he is not polite at all, so he gets down to business. Wickham was not high enough to stand behind Magalny and act as a translator and retinue.

Seeing that the other party was going straight to the other, Magalny also said truthfully: "It is true, Your Excellency the Governor. We have come to the Qing Kingdom to bring a large number of gifts to His Majesty the Emperor of your country, including the most accurate celestial globe in Europe, the most advanced steam engine, and two of the latest howitzers. That's why I'm asking Your Excellency to allow us to go to Tianjin by sea. ”

In fact, Magalni didn't care about the safety of those gifts, he cared about whether he could catch Qianlong's birthday, and then take advantage of the Qing emperor's happiness to make a request for trade to increase the possibility of success.

This reason is reasonable, and Fukangan has no reason to oppose it, but he feels that this Yiren put forward conditions as soon as he came up, which made him, the governor of Liangguang, feel a little embarrassed: "In the seventeenth year of Qianlong, the envoy of Francoji traveled from Guangzhou to Beijing by land, and later the Western feudal states came to the court, and they were all handled according to this practice, without exception. If the delegation of the country takes a boat to the mouth of the Baihe River in Tianjin, what should the rest of the countries do? Moreover, I heard that the Humen sailors reported that there were more than 50 Hongyi cannons on the warship on which you and the others were riding, and it was very inappropriate to go directly to the Chongdi. ”

The front is all, and the back is what Fukangan is worried about, a super powerful warship appeared in the Bohai Sea region, which is likely to anger the face-loving Qianlong Emperor. At that time, Taiwan's Ming and Zheng had hundreds of warships, dominating the entire Chinese waters, and Kangxi spent a huge amount of money to build a naval division in Fujian, which captured Taiwan.

Based on such a profound lesson, although the Qing court did not attach importance to sailors and sea power, it paid great attention to coastal defense. As a matter of fact, the policy of closing the country to the outside world and the conservative coastal defense strategy are also in the same vein.

Wickham knew that Lord Magalny did not understand Chinese culture and could not say anything beautiful, so he hurriedly took over: "Your Excellency the Governor's concern is not unreasonable, but these are the sincere gestures of our King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain. Before the departure of the mission, our king specially instructed us to deliver these gifts to His Majesty the Emperor of your country in perfect condition, otherwise we would be ashamed of the benevolence spread thousands of miles away from the Qing Dynasty. In addition, we are preparing to present to His Majesty the Emperor a model of the strongest warship equipped with a hundred guns, and the ship we are on is far worse than this one. ”

Wickham knows the virtues of the Chinese people very well, whether in ancient times or in later generations, it is a very good-looking country, and even sacrifices some real interests for the sake of face, so he specially picked out the good words to say, which can be said to have given the Qing court and Fukangan enough face.

Magalny did not show any dissatisfaction with Wickham's stealing of white, because he was very confident in Wickham's Chinese cultural cultivation, and the effect of such a "China expert" in dealing with Qing court officials must be much stronger than his slow exploration.

Seeing that the other party's entourage dared to interject casually, Fukang An was very unhappy, if the clothed slave in his family had such a move, he would have been beaten to death with a stick. It's just that seeing that the other three didn't come forward to stop it, Fukangan suddenly understood that the young entourage in front of him was not simple, and he decided to probe the other party's origin: "Who is this?" ”

Seeing that Fukangan was a little unhappy, Francis Balin hurriedly explained: "Your Excellency the Governor, this is Captain Wakeham, Lord Magalny's translator, and the special adviser to the entire mission. He is a well-known linguist in Britain, well versed in your country's culture, especially his ability to speak Mandarin very well. ”

Francis, who knew why Fu Ankang was unhappy, hurriedly temporarily installed several titles on Wickham to elevate Wickham's identity and status. Francis Balin didn't dare to upset the Qing court member opposite, so he didn't have to stay in Guangzhou.

After listening to Francis's explanation, Fukangan's expression softened, and Wickham's pure Beijing accent just now impressed him very deeply, so he didn't doubt Francis's words at this time. Besides, Wickham's words were very reasonable, his most important job at the moment was to make the Emperor happy, and the rest was a trivial matter.

Qianlong was very concerned about the matter of the British coming to China to pay tribute, and after learning that the mission had departed a few years ago, Qianlong issued an edict to the governors of various coastal areas, hoping that the local officials would receive the British envoys attentively.

As the governor of Liangguang, Fukangan also received such a will, so he would not have struggled with the English envoys on such a trivial issue: "In that case, then in two days, the mission will go to Tianjin by sea." ”

Lord Magalni was very happy in his heart, so that he had time to arrive in Peking before Qianlong's birthday, and he was one step closer to completing the diplomatic mission of the kingdom: "Thank you very much for the generosity of Your Excellency the Governor, and I am sure that our two countries will surely form a deep friendship. ”

After discussing some details, Margarny and Wickham took their leave of the Governor's Palace. In order to assume the posture of the Celestial Empire, the Qing court was very generous to the British mission, and they went to Whampoa Island with Wickham, as well as a fleet loaded with a large amount of rice and flour, pigs, sheep and silk cloth, and the escort officials said that this was the supply allocated by the Governor General to the English mission.

Naturally, the four of them would not go back empty-handed, and each of them got Cheng Yi with fifty taels of gold. Wakeham held a heavy bag of gold, thinking to himself that it was no wonder that those small East Asian countries were so fond of paying tribute to China, and economic factors must have played a part. As long as you get some tribute and send it to Beijing, you can get a lot of rewards, and this business is simply a million profits.

It is said that during the Ming Dynasty, whenever there was a financial crisis, they would organize a fleet to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty, and the rewards they received could basically solve the country's financial problems. It can be seen that the tributary trade system is very unreliable, and China has basically become a blood transfusion country rather than a beneficiary country. Of course, there is also an element of Chinese love of face.

After returning to the British Merchant House on Whampoa Island, Wickham remembered that he still had a batch of rosewood to sell, and this matter still had to be operated by Zhang Mingxia.

Wickham did not delay and went directly to the dock to find Zhang Mingxia. When he first arrived at the port, because the outside situation was unknown, and Zhang Mingxia was still wanted by the Qing court, Zhang Mingxia stayed on the ship and did not enter Guangzhou City.

Soon, Wickham found Zhang Mingxia in the cabin and found that this guy was holding a book and reading it with relish. Wickham glanced at it with some curiosity and realized that the book turned out to be Shakespeare's Hamlet!

Wickham said with some surprise: "Brother Mingxia, I didn't expect your English to be so good, you can read this kind of English book with very complicated expressions." This writer is quite famous in England, and his books will help you quickly understand some of the social situation in the UK. ”

For Zhang Mingxia's diligent study and inclusive thinking, Wickham is very enthusiastic, because there are too few Chinese who can open their eyes to the outside world in this era, and Wickham does not want the Chinese to wake up from their sleep after that humiliating war.

Zhang Mingxia reluctantly put down the book and said with a wry smile: "Brother Zihan, you think too highly of me." I haven't been studying English for a long time, and I can't understand many places in this book at all, so why don't you teach me English later? ”

Without even thinking about it, Wickham agreed, "Okay, no problem." ”

Zhang Mingxia was a little moved, he could feel that Wickham was very sincere to him and had been helping him without asking for anything in return, although this enthusiasm seemed a little inexplicable to a Yiren. After talking to Wickham about the situation in Europe and Southeast Asia that day, Zhang Mingxia had an impulse in his heart to understand the outside world, trying to find a way to restore the rivers and mountains of the Han family.

Although Zhang Mingxia has learned basic English conversation in the more than a year he has lived in Penang, it is not enough. Those books that record the wisdom of their predecessors in words are the key to opening the door to another world, so Zhang Mingxia found the captain of the merchant ship and asked the captain to teach him English.

The captain was unwilling, but after Zhang Mingxia took out four ginis, he agreed to Zhang Mingxia's request. Because life on the sea voyage is boring, teaching Zhang Mingxia written English not only has money to get, but also can pass the time, so why not do it.

Zhang Mingxia is a very smart person, he was admitted to Xiucai when he was a teenager, and he is a famous prodigy in his hometown. So it only took him a little more than a month to be able to read some simple English materials, such as the captain's logbook or something.

However, he was not satisfied, and borrowed some works from the captain to read, which could not only exercise his language skills, but also deeply understand European culture, which can be described as killing two birds with one stone.

"By the way, Brother Zihan, have you found a buyer for your batch of rosewood?" Zhang Mingxia asked a little eagerly, he still hoped that Wickham could make a lot of money, so that he could repay the kindness he owed.

Wickham patted his thigh worriedly: "Eh, I don't have a way in Guangzhou at all, and I don't know who to talk to about this deal now." ”

Zhang Mingxia smiled: "Brother Zihan, I am also an old acquaintance with the fourth child of the Ye family in the Thirteenth Lines of Guangzhou, I will take you over to find him later, I still have this face." ”

ps: If you're not careful, you're going to let the fourth master appear again