On the streets of Nanjing, the vast areas of pitch black, or the sparkling fires, and the shining lanterns are naturally in the construction site of the construction project.

Accustomed to the bright lights of Guangzhou, walking on the streets of Nanjing, inexplicably a little lonely.

Thousands of Yulin guards had already put this neighborhood under martial law, and the guards who followed Ye Zhao's side, no less than a hundred, were pressed by the black, and moved with the footsteps of the regent.

"Your Royal Highness, I believe that it won't take long for the city of Nanjing to become as beautiful as Guangzhou." Traveling side by side with Ye Zhao was the American Minister Macchason, an old friend who had established a fairly close relationship with Ye Zhao.

The United States was the first country to set up a legation in Nanjing, and MacChason also came to Nanjing from Guangzhou, and now the address of the U.S. legation has been chosen, and a western-style building is being built on the ruins of the southern city.

Listening to McChason's words, Ye Zhao's heart was flushed, but this is very difficult, but this Nanjing, it is not ready to make it the economic center of the Southern Dynasties, right?

Now Su Song is equal to holding it in the palm of his hand, and Shanghai has naturally become the next target.

After taking Su Song, it will naturally be easy to expel the northern officials in Shanghai, but if Shanghai is controlled in their hands, there will be a Yangtze River moat in the north and south, and if the southern goods want to enter the north, they will have to find another port. If Shanghai retains officials from the north, then after the goods from the south enter Shanghai, it will be equivalent to entering the customs, and as for the tax rate or something, it can be negotiated at the negotiation table, and the north country cannot make its own claims. Of course, Shanghai's international tariff power should be held in his hands, and at most a little rain and dew will be given to the northern country, which can be regarded as an equal benefit.

Ye Zhao thought about it and smiled, if the six kings could agree to this condition, it would be strange, I am afraid that I would rather not want Shanghai than be taken advantage of by myself, let's talk slowly, now the initiative is in the hands of the Southern Dynasty, isn't it?

"Hey, there's still a fire." Ye Zhao pointed to the light oozing from the wooden planks of the shop next to him, now that most of the neighborhoods in Nanjing have a curfew, otherwise Ye Zhao would not have come out to disturb the people with such a big show, and he and McChason walked around the city of Nanjing, and they couldn't dress up in disguise.

Looking at the signboard of the shop through the red gauze lantern in the hands of the guards, it was a "barbecue shop", which seemed to be a business of southern merchants.

Listening to someone talking inside, and then the planks of the shop were moved down from the inside, and as soon as the young man looked out, he saw a dozen cold bayonets in the firelight, and the young man was so frightened that he was stunned.

"What are you doing? Is there a patrol outside? "It's like the boss's voice.

Several guards have already walked over, snapping and neatly lifting the wooden planks, in the shop, several full of food and drink diners are so frightened that they raised their hands, the chubby boss fell to his knees, kowtowed: "Master Jun, Master Jun, these are all my neighbors, not guests, not guests!" ”

Seeing this situation, Ye Zhao knew that he must have violated the curfew and secretly did business, thinking that he had committed official wrongdoing.

Ye Zhao smiled when he saw it, waved his hand and said, "Forget it, let them go." Then he said to McChason, "Just right, grill a few skewers of meat to eat." ”

Several diners hugged their heads and scurried, Ye Zhao and McChason entered the store, found a table and sat down, the deputy head of the palace guard, Urden, ordered the boss to go to the barbecue quickly, the boss was dumbfounded, how dare he say half a word?

Ye Zhao lit a cigarette, threw it to McChason, and said with a smile: "It seems that this curfew should also be lifted." ”

McChason smiled, and it was not good for him to express his opinion on Nanjing's government affairs.

Smoking a cigarette, Ye Zhao looked at McChason and said with a smile: "In a few days, I am going to send Zhang Youcun to take a trip." "Zhang Youcun was originally the Minister of Oriental International Trade and the current Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs.

McChason was stunned and looked at Ye Zhao.

Six years ago, the United States opened the door to Japan and concluded the US-China Treaty of Amity, which stipulated that American ships could sail into the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate, and that they could load coal, grain, and fresh water there.

At the beginning of this year, the two countries signed the "Treaty of Amity and Commerce between the United States and the United States," which stipulates that Hakodate, Kanagawa, Nagasaki, and Hyogo will be opened to trade between the five ports of Hakodate, Kanagawa, Nagasaki, and Hyogo, and that the goods imported into the country and products exported from the country will be subject to the agreed tax rates, that the United States will send diplomatic representatives in Edo, and that the United States will establish concession-like places of residence and consular jurisdiction in the country.

At this point, the door was officially opened, Ye Zhao was busy with the Civil War and the extermination of the Taiping Army, and he had no time to take care of it for a while. Although the silver mines are gradually depleted, there are still a few silver mountains, not to mention that the domestic gold exchange rate is far lower than the international market, and speculators from various countries have not yet discovered and are beyond the reach of the whip, so of course they have to go and loot some gold back.

At present, it is said that Ben only has a trade treaty with the United States, but in fact, by sending a few gunboats over and invoking the treaty signed between the United States and Ben, it is possible to sign a similar treaty with the foreign policy of giant ships and artillery, but politely, the Americans should be informed.

McChason smiled bitterly: "I have known for a long time that His Royal Highness will say this to me sooner or later. ”

Saying that the country is so close to China, how can China's ambitious regent and capitalists not regard it as a backyard to plunder raw materials and dump industrial goods?

Ye Zhao raised the teacup with a smile and said, "In short, I will do my best to protect the interests of the United States in the Far East and toast to our friendship." ”

After exterminating the Taiping Army and occupying the ten provinces south of the Yangtze River, Ye Zhao's mood was different, and the Far East, a place where the forces of various countries were intricate, gradually placed in front of Ye Zhao.

McChason and Ye Zhao clinked glasses and said sincerely: "Your Royal Highness, I can't promise anything, but personally, I will definitely do my best to promote the relationship between my country and China led by the regent." ”

After taking a sip of tea, McCharson smiled and said, "Your Royal Highness, if you have any questions about the World Exposition, I am willing to answer them for you." ”

Ye Zhao smiled: "You are also well-informed. ”

Yesterday I received a letter from the British Minister Jackson, saying that he had received a telegram from London, China, that the Universal Exposition would be held in London of the British Empire in 1861, and that he was honored to invite the Regent's China to participate. He also said that the official letter and the invitation letter would arrive later.

Although there is no telegraph communication between China and Taixi, the sea line has been set up to Calcutta, India, and the time for transmitting information from east to west has been greatly shortened, and when the letterhead travels from London to India, the news will soon reach Guangzhou.

The World Exposition will be held the year after that, but if China participates in the exhibition, I am afraid that the two years will be in a hurry, after all, the exhibits will have to drift on the ocean for half a year, and it is necessary to do a good job in advance, so as not to ship due to weather problems The ship can not arrive as scheduled, because today's ships, many times on the ocean, still rely on sails, steam power coal burning efficiency is not high, pure coal burning is inevitably costly, especially for merchant ships.

The London World Exposition sent a special letter inviting the "Regent China," which is thousands of miles away from the ocean, to participate, and it cannot be said that it does not attach importance to southern China.

Ye Zhao was also in good spirits, this is the best stage for Chinese to show the oriental style, the World Exposition is only the third time now, the first time in London, the second time in Paris, the third time in London, except for the European powers and the United States, there is no other country to participate, now the invitation to the eastern powers to participate, it really has global significance.

To participate in this expo, the exhibits must be well prepared, not just like the old China, just rely on wine to win awards, but to truly display the achievements of southern China's industry. However, because of the weak start, the industrial base of the Southern Dynasties is not as good as that of the third-rate countries in Europe, but it is full of vitality, and some fields are at the forefront of the world.

Of course, the Chinese are accustomed to hiding their strength, and Ye Zhao is no exception, and he will not take out some things to display, so the choice of this exhibit is a university question.

Two years later, if he can go away, Ye Zhao really wants to go to Europe to take a look, and the current Europe has only seen some historical materials, and seeing this modern Western society where black slaves still exist, it will be a lot more inspiration for himself.

Hearing McChason's question, Ye Zhao smiled and said: "I know a little bit about the World Exposition, and I will ask you for advice if I don't understand it in the future." ”

Macchason thought that although the regent was far-sighted and insightful, this Universal Exposition was a small exhibition in Europe after all, and it was only held twice in London and Paris.

The guard brought the barbecue meat to him, and held the pieces in a porcelain plate, and Macchason was already very skilled with chopsticks, and put a slice into his mouth, and immediately praised it, and said: "It's a pity that there is more oil and water." ”

Ye Zhao smiled: "I heard that the food in this book is light, John, you must not have tasted it?" ”

McChason said, "I've never been to Edo or Kyoto. ”

Ye Zhao said: "Your consul in Edo is Mr. Jones?" ”

Macchason nodded.

Ye Zhao smiled and said, "Later, when I have time, I will go with you to Edo and eat sashimi with Mr. Jones." ”

McChason smiled and said yes.

Ye Zhao thought in his heart, thinking that in a few years, Mitsubishi Shipping Company had successively defeated the United States, Britain and other shipping companies to and from Shanghai, monopolizing the shipping from Shanghai to Shanghai, and now he had sent a telegram to Jin Feng and Huang Wenxiu, asking them to start planning the establishment of a shipping firm.

For example, at the beginning of the establishment of Mitsubishi, Meiji Masahawk entrusted it with the operation of thirteen steamships and maritime military transportation business, and a year later, Masatake simply gave these 13 ships to Mitsubishi, and allocated operating compensation every year; After that, the political axe purchased 18 more steamers of the United States Postal Steamship Company and handed them over to Mitsubishi for free operation.

This is the case with the political axe, which is to hand over these businesses to private companies for development, that is, they are initially implemented by the political axe, and then sold to private enterprises that are gradually cultivating and maturing to continue their development. In this process, not only Mitsubishi, but also Mitsui and Sumitomo have successively bought government-owned enterprises from the political axe to develop.

Naturally, China cannot adopt this model, because almost all of the large enterprises at the forefront are inextricably linked with it, and if it does so, does it not mean that it is tantamount to using the money from the state treasury for its own personal gain? Although under the current system, the money in the treasury is actually the same as its own, but isn't it these things that I want to change?

However, now that his capital development is on the right track, he doesn't even need to borrow from the treasury, and he can already make a big business.

Ye Zhao pondered, but he helped Macchason clip a chopstick of meat, of course, the chopsticks were clean and he had never used them.

McCharson said thank you repeatedly.

Ye Zhao would not have known that a few years later, his small talk with Macchason was called the Nanjing Secret Treaty, and the radical nationalists believed that it was in this day that the Chinese and Americans secretly negotiated in Nanjing, and had a criminal discussion on how to divide up the spoils, and from then on, the Chinese began to show their ugly faces and launched economic and even armed aggression against their own country again and again.

Ye Zhao also didn't know that after today, the island country in the east would no longer be calm, and he would have no choice but to intervene in the great changes in his society.

The regent of China is destined to sing a great drama of cherry blossoms falling through the ages in his country.

(To be continued)