August 6, 1793, Dagukou, Tianjin.

"When the land is nine rivers, the road leads to seven provinces of boats and cars", Tianjin has been the gateway to the center of the Chinese empire since the Ming Dynasty. In the second year of Yongle of the Ming Dynasty, after Zhu Di moved the capital to Beijing, he set up a guard post in Tianjin, and built a fort at Dagukou, which became the coastal defense fortress of Bohai Bay.

It's just that since the Qing army entered the customs, the Manchu Qing Dynasty, which still had a nomadic mentality, did not attach importance to the coastal defense of the north, and in addition, China's northern neighbors did not have a strong maritime power during the Chengping era, so the coastal defense priorities of Dagukou were gradually relaxed. By the time of the Qianlong period, the artillery of the Dagu Fort was completely unusable, and the defense of the Beijing-Tianjin gateway was basically useless.

Wickham stood quietly on the deck of the Lion, looking at the majestic Dagu Fort in the distance, with mixed feelings. The former military fortress of the Ming Dynasty is now overgrown with grass and a desolate scene. A few green battalion soldiers stationed on the fort were drying their clothes on the ropes pulled up between the branches, pointing at the uninvited guests who appeared at the mouth of the Haihe River, looking very excited.

In them, Wickham can't find the shadow of a soldier, but is like an uncle and aunt who loves to watch the excitement in later generations, ready to watch on the street at any time, so as to find some fun for the boring life. If the current British fleet had bad intentions, according to the virtues of the group of green battalions on the battery, the "Lion" would not even have a salvo to take this important military position.

Wickham shook his head helplessly, if history had not changed, in more than fifty years, the British and French forces would easily capture Dagukou and the important town of Jinmen, and then drive straight on the North China Plain until the city of Beijing was taken.

That painful history has always been an eternal pain in the hearts of the sons and daughters of China, but he can't do anything now, now he is covered with a layer of white skin, what position does he have to change all this, all Chinese treat him as a foreign race, an outsider, even Zhang Mingxia, who has a good relationship with him, probably has the same idea.

"Alas," Wickham felt like a boulder had been crushed on his chest, so heavy that he couldn't breathe. For the first time, he was full of deep resentment towards the historical travel novel at a certain point, didn't he say that the protagonists of the time travel are all omnipotent existences, but why he can't do anything, he really can't change anything, it's really depressing.

"Captain Wickham, we will meet with His Excellency Liang Kentang, the Governor of the Qing Kingdom, and you are ready to disembark with me!" It was when Wickham was deep in thought when a voice interrupted his meditation.

It turned out that Margarny, who had unknowingly seen that the fleet had already docked at the Dagu pier and was talking to the fleet commander Colonel Aldrich about the weather in China, saw that Wickham was standing on the deck in a sluggish state, so he came over and reminded him. Wickham put away the haphazard thoughts for a moment, turned to Margarny and saluted: "Right away, Your Excellency. ”

As soon as Wickham disembarked with Magalny and Stendon, he found that the dock was already full of flags and people, a grand and lively scene. It turned out that Liang Kentang, the governor of Zhili, had already received Qianlong's holy edict that before the arrival of the minister in charge of the plenipotentiary reception, he, the supreme governor of the Zhili region, needed to receive the English envoys who came to pay tribute.

Liang Kentang, a small clothed servant of the Eight Banners, can achieve the position of a feudal official, and his brain naturally turns faster than others. He knew that Qianlong had a good face and attached great importance to the fact that the Westerners came to pay tribute, so after handling official business, he personally went to the dock to greet him, and the old emperor was naturally happy when the matter was done.

When the officials of the Qing court saw that Magalni and the others had disembarked, they all came up to meet them. Magalni didn't know much about the official uniform grade of the Qing Dynasty, and was dumbfounded when he saw more than a dozen Qing court officials wearing blue robes walking towards him. He hadn't seen what Liang Kentang, the governor of Zhili, looked like, and it would be embarrassing if he made a mistake.

When Wickham saw the embarrassed look on Margarny's face, he knew what was going on, so he explained to Lord Magalny: "Your Excellency, the official hat with coral decoration in front represents a first-class official in the Qing court, and the old man with a red crown in front should be His Excellency Liang Kentang, the Governor of Zhili. ”

Magalny glanced at Wickham in surprise, he didn't expect that the young officer opposite knew so much about the rank of Qing court officials, which was really amazing.

Wickham was so clear about the hierarchy of Qing court officials because he had visited the Shu Brocade Museum in Chengdu in his previous life. Because a large part of the official uniforms of the Qing Dynasty were made of Shu brocade, the museum has a complete set of crown uniforms of officials at all levels of the Qing court, so it is not surprising that Wickham can judge the grade of the other party based on the official robes.

"Your Excellency Liang Kentang, Governor of Zhili, I am the envoy of the English Mission, George Magalny, and it is a pleasure to meet you, and allow me to express my high respect to you." After speaking, Magalny also took off his hat and bowed slightly to the other party to express his respect for Liang Kentang. But respect is not enough, it is just a more formal etiquette.

Wickham's mouth opened into an O-shape, and he couldn't believe his ears, but he didn't expect that the Englishman, who has always been known for his stereotypes, would say such a straightforward compliment, and that person was still Lord Magalny, who was not smiling! However, Wickham did not forget his duty, and honestly translated Margarny's words into Chinese and spoke them to Liang Kentang, a member of the first product on the other side.

Liang Kentang, the governor of Zhili, was an old man of nearly sixty years old, with a very amiable face, which was easy to make people feel close, of course, most of this intimacy was a disguise of officials, and there was no need to do it.

Liang Kentang smiled and arched his hand towards Ma Garni, and said, "It turned out to be the English Ma Zheng envoy, and I am fortunate to meet him." I have already sent someone to prepare wine at the post station, and I have asked all the envoys to move to the city to rest for a while. ”

The dockside was indeed not a good place to talk, and several high-ranking members of the mission and the little follower Wickham went in the direction of the city with the reception procession of the Qing court. As for the rest of the mission, they remained on board because they were not qualified.

After arriving at the post station, Liang Kentang and several Taoist officials accompanied Ma Garni and his party to the largest room and sat down, at this time the dining table was already full of delicacies from the mountains and seas, not to mention more than 20 dishes. Westerners like to talk about things at balls and banquets, while Chinese prefer to solve things at the dinner table, which can only be said to be cultural differences, but the essence is the same.

Liang Kentang, the governor of Zhili, had the highest position among all and sat at the top, while Magalni sat on the left hand side of the governor of Liang. Wickham, on the other hand, sat next to Magalny because he had to carry out the task of "simultaneous interpretation".

"Ma Zheng made the servants of the wind and dust come from thousands of miles away to pay tribute to my court, and the emperor was very happy when he learned about it, and specially ordered me to receive you well. But in a hurry, if there is anything inconsiderate, please forgive me. After Liang Kentang finished speaking, he took the lead in draining the wine in his hand. Seeing this, the Qing court officials present cheered and drained the wine in their glasses.

Lord Margarny was not a courtier on behalf of the British, and after listening to Wickham's translation, his face was a little wrong, but he couldn't help but speak when Wickham kept looking at him.

Lord Magalny and Baron Stanton, who were not accustomed to drinking Chinese liquor, simply took a sip and put their glasses down. Because it is very rare for Europeans to drink alcohol at once, except for those who are mud-legged and do it when they drink beer or gin. Lord Magalny paid himself as a man of status, and naturally he would not drink it all at once, like a farmer or a sailor.

Seeing this, Wickham secretly screamed "broken" in his heart.

Sure enough, the faces of Liang Kentang and other Qing court officials were not very good, and Ma Garni was a little confused, not knowing where he had offended the other party.

Wickham tilted his head slightly and whispered to Margarny in English: "Your Excellency, when the Chinese are eating, after the person with high status takes the initiative to toast, in order to show respect, the party with low status must drink all the wine in the wine glass. The Doge is the highest ranking person here, and Your Excellency and Baron Standon should finish their glasses. ”

Ma Garni broke out in a cold sweat, according to the information from the East India Company, this Liang governor was the leading figure in the Qing Dynasty's Hanchen. If he offended such a powerful person because of his improper etiquette, then his mission to negotiate trade with the Qing government and establish embassies with each other might be aborted.

Margarny could be regarded as the first diplomat of Great Britain, and his thinking and reaction were naturally very quick, and he picked up his glass and said apologetically: "Your Excellency the Governor is the most courteous official I have ever met in China, and allow me to express my respect to Your Excellency once again." After speaking, he raised his head and drained the liquor in the cup! Seeing this, the Qing court officials who were doing it applauded one after another, and the embarrassing atmosphere just now disappeared without a trace.

Depend on! O man of God! If it weren't for the inappropriate occasion, Wickham would have wanted to applaud Garni's quickness and adaptability. The sentence "the most polite official" immediately seized the commanding heights of morality, if Liang Kentang still grasped what he had just done, then how could he be worthy of the evaluation of "Shanshan courteous"? Sure enough, Liang Kentang smiled and began to kindly ask the British mission what help it needed.

The Europeans did not know what politeness and modesty were, and when Margarny saw Liang Kentang's promise, he said: "Your Excellency, you are a generous gentleman, and we really need your help. After our fleet sailed out of the port of Kolkata, it was never maintained again. Now the bottom of our ship is overgrown with all kinds of marine life, which seriously affects our speed, so I hope that your country will provide us with several dry docks and carry out a complete refurbishment of the bottom of the ship, so that when we return to the sea, it will not affect the speed of sailing. ”

After listening to Magalni's request, Liang Kentang's face was a little embarrassed, he was a traditional Chinese scholar, he studied the Four Books and Five Classics and the Eight Strands, although he was the highest military governor in the entire Zhili Province, but he didn't know anything about this kind of construction.

Therefore, Liang Kentang had no choice but to tilt his head and ask an official next to him, "Is there a dry dock that Ma Zheng's envoy needs in Jinmen?" ”

The official in charge of ordnance repair was dumbfounded, and it took him half a day to speak in Manchu: "My lord, since the imperial court issued a ban on the sea, Zhili has never built a ship again, and the repair factory has long been abolished. Besides, the ships of the English mission are at least more than 2,000 materials, and even if our repair factory is still there, I am afraid that we will not be able to do anything. ”

This official is also very lively, knowing that Wickham is very proficient in Chinese, so he reported the situation to Liang Kentang in Manchu. The current imperial court is also struggling to maintain a few small shipyards in the Zhenjiang area, and it is only building a few small warships for sailors, and this thing has long been absent in the north.

Liang Kentang looked calm and did not panic at all. He first glanced approvingly at the four-grade official, thinking that this official was a person with good eyes, and he could consider promoting him in the future.

Then Liang Kentang explained to Ma Garni: "Ma Zheng, the imperial court's shipyard is not located in Beizhili, but in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu in the south. Therefore, your ships will have to wait for the return voyage to the Zhenjiang area for repairs. "The meaning of Liang Kentang's words is that our Qing Dynasty does not have a large dock, but it happens to be located in the south.

Hearing this, Wickham pouted, a group of Manchu bureaucrats who want to save face!

After Wikeham translated Liang Kentang's original words to Margarny, he added: "Your Excellency, this Qing country does not attach importance to trade and navy, so they do not have large and medium-sized docks, so the maintenance of the fleet cannot be counted on the Qing government, so it is better to wait until we return to Macao." ”

I think that when Zheng He went to the West, Zheng He's treasure ship also had a displacement of more than 3,000 tons, which was about the same as the current British largest battleship "Royal". The "Lion" was only a third-class battleship, with a displacement of at most about 1,000 tons, but in this way, the Manchu Dynasty, which was a very ordinary warship in Britain, could not be built, which shows how far China's scientific and technological level has declined under the rule of the Manchus.

This made Wickham even more hopeful of Hongmen's actions in Southeast Asia, and if Hongmen could really establish a Chinese state in Southeast Asia, perhaps Chinese civilization would be passed on in another way. Magalny nodded thoughtfully at Wickham, and began to think that perhaps the largest country in the East might not be as glamorous as it seemed.

The dinner ended quickly, because of cultural differences, the two sides did not have a lot of common topics, and even had the feeling of talking about chickens and ducks, if it weren't for Wickham's mediation, maybe the scene would have been even more embarrassing. But Wickham was so happy with the meal that he couldn't help but laugh when he thought of the way Margarny and Stendon didn't know how to do it with their chopsticks.

The big man has always been unsmiling, and this time he can finally see him deflated, how can Wickham be unhappy. Of course, Wickham didn't dare to show this happy mood, and if he offended his boss, he would have a hard time in the future.

PS: It has always been uncertain about the tonnage of the largest treasure ship in Zheng He's fleet. According to the exaggerated records in the history books, Zheng He's flagship was converted to a displacement of more than 10,000 tons. But what the author wants to say is that according to China's habit of bragging in history books (when the Ming army and the Vietnamese army were at war, the army participating in the war was only 50,000 or 60,000, and the Ming Dynasty history books dared to claim to be 500,000 troops), it was impossible. Because in the era of wooden boats, the keel made of wood could not withstand such high strength at all.

Therefore, this paper adopts a more reliable speculation of a scholar and sets the displacement of Zheng He's ship at more than 3,000 tons.