September 14, 1793, the small plain of Chengde Villa.

On this day, Manchu nobles, members of the royal family and foreign envoys gathered here to celebrate the 92nd birthday of Emperor Qianlong, the supreme ruler of the Qing Empire.

As the person in charge of this celebration, He Shen was ingenious that instead of holding the ceremony in the majestic and towering royal palace of the main palace or Songhezhai, he built a large and luxurious tent in the plain area with the scenery of the Mongolian steppe, to show that the descendants of Nurhachi have not forgotten their national traditions.

This large tent is about ten meters high, and at the top of the tent is a golden Buddha statue that glows golden in the sunlight. The outer layer of the tent roof is made of lamb's sheepskin, the inner layer is made of silky and breathable Suzhou-Hangzhou silk, and the side is hung with Shu brocade paintings reflecting the martial arts of the Qing emperors.

The whole tent looks solemn and luxurious. In front of the entrance of the tent, there are three red carpets more than 50 meters long, and the royal road with golden silk threads for the emperor to enter and exit is flanked by ministers, concubines and foreign envoys.

Because of the particularity of the British mission, the official of the Imperial Court of Ceremonies deliberately ranked the English envoy at the front of the procession. Margarni looked solemn, dressed in a gold-rimmed black gown adorned with medallion ribbons, a high gentleman's top hat, a silver civilization stick in his hand, and a cloak made of English woolen on his shoulders.

As a small squire, little Stanton followed behind with the hem of the Margarny cloak in his left hand. This scene reminded Wickham of Xiao Zhengtai, who was holding the hem of the bride behind the bride in a Western-style wedding, and he couldn't help but laugh out loud.

When the officials in front of him heard the laughter, they turned around and cast a fierce look at Wickham, full of warning. Only then did Wickham react that it seemed a little inappropriate to laugh on such a formal occasion, so he restrained his smile and put on a serious expression.

Little Stanceon, who knew that Wickham was really laughing at him, quietly turned his head, grimaced at him, and then turned his head away as if nothing had happened. This ghost appearance makes Wickham cry and laugh, this bear child!

In addition to Lord Margarny who led the way, the next was Baron Stanton, the deputy envoy of the mission, and Wickham, who served as the translator. Wickham wore an officer's dress today, which was more gorgeous than the regular uniform, with milky white breeches and Cheng Liang's jet-black riding boots under the big red coat, and a golden belt about 15 centimeters wide in the middle of the waist, and the embellishment on the belt hung down to the knees.

As for the saber on his right waist, it was confiscated by several imperial guards, stating that he would return it before he left. It has to be said that from the end of the eighteenth century to the Napoleonic Wars, the military uniforms of European countries are very gorgeous, which can effectively stimulate the sense of honor of soldiers, but in the process of fighting, these gorgeous pendants are a little cumbersome and inconvenient to make fighting moves. Compared with the ragged coats of the Manchu military attachés, Wickham was still very satisfied with his outfit.

"Xuan Ying's envoy Magalni to the temple! …… Xuan Yingji's envoy Magalny to the temple! ......" The well-trained eunuchs passed the orders of Emperor Qianlong one after another from the huge and luxurious tent, and the sound of the decree made the whole ceremony look very solemn, even Wickham, who had the attitude of watching the play, couldn't help but straighten his back.

Led by the guards in yellow vests, the four of them, including Magalny and Wickham, slowly stepped across the red carpet on both sides of the imperial road until they came to stand in front of the throne of Emperor Qianlong. Because it was in the tent, the emperor's throne was not as high as the Taihe Palace, but on a relatively low wooden platform, on which a white tiger skin was paved, and Qianlong, who was dressed in court clothes, sat on it.

Wickham quietly squinted his eyes and glanced at the supreme ruler of the Qing Empire, this Qianlong who was known as a generation of Ming monarchs in later generations!

Emperor Qianlong seemed to notice a large number of Wickham's gazes, and his gaze as sharp as an eagle swept over directly. After meeting this sharp gaze, Wickham's heart trembled and cold sweat broke out on his back, the power of this Tartar chief was very remarkable.

Although Qianlong is already an old man in his eighties, can he be a simple character who can defeat his brothers and stay on the throne for more than 60 years? In his previous life, Wickham was a college student who had not graduated long ago, how could he withstand such momentum?

Magalny stepped forward, knelt down on one knee and said respectfully: "The English ambassador George Magalny paid a visit to the Emperor of the Great Qing Dynasty, and wished His Majesty the Emperor a blessing like the East China Sea and a longevity better than Nanshan. ”

The last sentence was spoken in Chinese, which was taught by Wickham, but Magarni's tone was very weird and funny. After listening to Wickham's translation, Emperor Qianlong laughed, and said, "You have come from thousands of miles away to pay tribute to me, and I have worked hard for you." With your loyalty alone, I will not treat you badly. ”

He Shen, who was standing at the bottom, quickly knelt in front of Qianlong: "Congratulations to the emperor, congratulations to the emperor, this British envoy has come to my Qing Dynasty thousands of miles away, and has learned the culture of our Celestial Empire, which shows that the emperor's grace and prestige are spread far and wide, and benevolence and etiquette educate all people." ”

As soon as these words came out, the Manchu ministers in the tent all knelt on the ground and shouted together: "The emperor's grace and authority spread far and wide, and benevolence and etiquette educate all the people." ”

It could be seen that Emperor Qianlong was very useful for such sycophants, and said with a smile: "You Aiqing is flat. The joy in his tone really can't be hidden.

Wickham was immediately shocked by the Manchu Qing's brain replenishment ability, it was just a diplomatic mission, but it was unbelievable that it could be linked to the emperor's exploits. What surprised Wickham even more was He Shen's ability to see the needle and pat the ass, no wonder Emperor Qianlong had been friends all his life, and this vision was really NB.

Magarny took out a white wooden box inlaid with golden threads from his bosom, raised his hands above his head, and presented it to Qianlong: "This is the letter of His Majesty George III, King of the United Kingdom of Britain, of France, Elector of Hanover and Guardian of the State Religion, I would like to ask your Majesty the Emperor to consult it." ”

The succession of titles of King of England may sound very scary, but in fact there are many titles that cannot be honored, such as the King of France, which are actually just two lands, Hanover and Britain.

Emperor Qianlong stood up from the throne, took the box from Magalni with a solemn face, opened it, and took out the state letter inside. This letter was written in two languages, Chinese and Latin, so Emperor Qianlong could browse the letter without the help of a translator.

George III wrote the letter of Emperor Qianlong in later generations is very famous, but also an important historical material for the study of the history of diplomatic relations between China and Britain, as a master of the forum, this letter Wickham has read more than once or twice, I dare not say that the content of it is like a stream, but it can definitely be said to be familiar.

George III not only praised Emperor Qianlong, but then asked the Qing court to restore the treaty ports before the Kangxi ban on the sea, and asked the Qing court to allocate a small island in the South China Sea to British merchants as a place to rest and recuperate.

After Emperor Qianlong hastily read the contents of the letter, his face sank: "Pu'er Xiaobang dares to go hand in hand with me, it is really unbelievable!" ”

George III stated in his letter that he was the overlord of the sea and Qianlong was the overlord of the land, a claim that the Qing rulers could not have accepted by the Qing rulers.

"Your Majesty the Emperor, the Royal Navy of Great Britain has warships all over the world, controls most of the strategic points at sea, and is the conqueror of the seas. And the territory under your control stretches for nearly a thousand miles, and there are 400 million people under it, and you are the supreme ruler of Asia, the overlord of the land. That's why my king said that, and there is nothing offensive about it. Ma Garni had some reaction to the reaction of the Qianlong Emperor, and he had read the letter written by George III beforehand, and did not find anything wrong.

According to the diplomatic principles established by Westerners from the Thirty Years' War, there is nothing to say about the equal status of all countries. In the ancient Chinese tributary system, this statement was very fatal, because the Qing court regarded the British mission as a tributary state, and the British considered it an ordinary diplomatic action, so contradictions and conflicts between the two sides were almost inevitable.

Emperor Qianlong snorted coldly and casually handed the British credentials to a little eunuch beside him to express his dissatisfaction. The newly appointed Ministry of Rites Shangshu Deming was taken aback, the affairs of the vassal country to pay tribute were basically taken care of by the Ministry of Rites, and now the letter of state presented by the English envoy made the emperor unhappy, and he was a Manchu Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites to bear a lot of responsibility!

"Your Majesty, this England comes from a barbarian land thousands of miles away, and it is reasonable not to understand my Qing Dynasty accident, as long as it is educated in the future." Deming's sentence has been clean and clever for a long time.

At this time, the tent gathered the princes and ministers of Manchuria, Tibet, and Xinjiang, as well as a number of envoys from the vassal states.

But Magalny didn't think so, these days he knew how difficult it was to see the emperor of the Qing Dynasty, and it was rare to have such a face-to-face opportunity with Qianlong, so he stubbornly said: "Your Majesty the Emperor, the purpose of my trip has been stated in the national letter, that is, the opening of the treaty port. Your country can produce fine silk, porcelain, and tea, while China can produce fine and gorgeous woolen wool and cheap cotton cloth, and there is a great possibility that the products of our two countries will complement each other. At present, trade between our two countries can only be confined to Guangzhou, so that this complementarity can only be carried out on a small scale. We hope that your country will reopen the treaty ports that were closed a hundred years ago, so that we can expand the volume of trade above it, increase wealth and benefit each other. ”

David Ricardo's theory of complementary economics and Adam Smith's theory of free trade had become popular in Britain, so the trade deficit between China and Britain was attributed to the lack of more treaty ports by the East India Company executives, rather than the question of whether a small peasant economy like China needed British manufactured goods.

Magalny's task was to persuade the Qing to open more treaty ports in order to reverse the current disadvantage of Britain in Sino-British trade. 、

As soon as Magalni's words came out, the faces of those Manchu ministers couldn't hold back. The gentleman does not speak for profit, but Magalny talked about the way of business in such a grand occasion in a grand manner, and rose to the level of state affairs, and a group of sour rotten fried the pot at once. Moreover, the policy of only allowing Guangzhou to be used as a treaty port was set by Emperor Qianlong back then, and if he agreed to the British conditions, wouldn't he be slapping himself in the face? However, Qianlong was like an old monk who had settled down, half-squinting his eyes and letting the ministers quarrel.

Several old ministers came out of the queue and knelt on the ground in pain: "Your Majesty, this matter must not be allowed!" Fanbang barbarians value profit over righteousness, and Shinong industry and commerce have long been determined, how can they talk about businessmen in the court? Moreover, the policy of banning the sea was a national policy set by the Holy Ancestor back then, so how could it be changed at will. ”

This old minister simply burst into tears, which made Wickham fall goosebumps, and the originally serious state affairs reception has now become a theater for singing.

After a while, Qianlong opened his eyes and said conclusively: "English envoy, the political affairs of the country and the dynasty are not something that can be discussed by other states, and it is absolutely impossible to open a treaty port. As for the allocation of islands to the merchants of the country as a resting place, there is no precedent to follow, and it is also contrary to the national policy of the Qing Dynasty. That's the end of the matter, so let's step aside. ”

Ma Garni wanted to say something, but was grabbed by Wickham and said in a low voice: "Your Excellency, this matter is no longer possible, don't annoy the emperor of the Qing Kingdom, otherwise I'm afraid you won't even be able to keep your qualifications to trade in Guangzhou!" Hearing this, Magalni reluctantly stepped aside, and the task of convincing the Qing court to increase the number of treaty ports could basically be declared a failure.

Next, Qianlong met with envoys from Siam and Burma, as well as the religious leader of Tibet, the Dalai Lama, and the princes and nobles of Mongolia. After the whole reception was over, Qianlong began to feast the ministers and foreign envoys, and there were singing and dancing throughout the banquet, and the atmosphere was very lively, but the British mission was rejected because of the request, and the atmosphere was a little dull.

However, Wickham has always been a cold bystander to the gloom of the British with the mentality of watching the drama all the time, to be honest, some of the conditions of the British, such as leasing a small island as a place for merchant ships to dock and rest, are completely with the attitude of the Portuguese, wanting to reach China to rub oil.

But the current Qing State, at least on the surface, is still a powerful empire, how can it agree to such a condition that is equivalent to cutting off land and losing land, so the British can only return disappointed. So at the dinner, Wickham should eat and drink, and it didn't affect at all.

After the banquet, it was completely late, and the brilliant and colorful fireworks show kicked off the brilliant and colorful fireworks that lasted for half an hour, and the silver taels consumed were 200,000 yuan! In order to be happy with Qianlong, He Shen can be said to have made a bloody investment.

Wickham was an eye-opener, and the fireworks show in Beijing in 2008 was simply weak compared to this time.

ps: Today's dissertation defense, the author just wants to say that the professors of the defense team, what kind of grudge do I have with you? The other students asked three questions and it was over, why did it take my turn to attack them in groups, asking more than a dozen questions in a row, and batching my paper into a lump, until finally the author Jun lifted out the author's tutor, and I was able to let me go, crying and fainting