After leaving Mo Jiana with an itchy temptation, Hong Yuner turned her head to find Clifford. This Clifford also had his weaknesses, and during the tour, he couldn't help but take out his sketchboard and paint again. Hong Yuner only stepped forward to chat for a few words, and found out that this Clifford was an outlier in the Rothschild family, he came from a merchant family, but he was quite obsessed with humanities and arts, especially painting and porcelain products.

Clifford took out a delicate snuff box from his side and said: "Madam, Chinese porcelain culture has a long history, as early as the Tang and Song dynasties, Chinese porcelain has been famous all over the world, I admire Chinese porcelain culture, especially Chinese artists can put vivid figures and landscapes on porcelain, it makes me breathtaking, so I came to China to seek the roots of porcelain culture." ”

Hong Yun'er looked at the snuff box in his hand, smiled and said: "This is a blue and white porcelain snuff bottle, blue and white is underglaze painted porcelain, it is first painted on the tire with cobalt earth mineral to depict the ornamentation, and then white glaze, after high temperature firing, it becomes a blue flower on a white ground, with a fresh and bright tone." Snuff bottles were originally Western, became popular in Europe in the 17th century, and were later introduced to China. Originally, there were no special containers for snuff, but it was only after it was introduced to China that it was specially made into this kind of art. The earliest in the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty to make glass, copper enamel and other snuff bottles, opened up a new variety of arts and crafts, blue and white snuff bottles in the porcelain accounted for a large proportion. During the Daoguang period, there was a special snuff bottle made by the Yangxin Hall Office in the Imperial Palace, and a small spoon was attached to the lid of the pot to scoop tobacco powder. The earliest blue and white snuff bottle was made in Kangxi, and this should be the blue and white porcelain snuff bottle in your hand during the Yongzheng period, its color is not as rich as the Kangxi blue and white porcelain snuff bottle, and the color is not bright enough. But it also has its own strengths, you see this snuff box is round and long, there are blue and white, glaze red, blue and purple and purple. There is an opening film, and the characters and dramas are all full of energy, which is the strength of the blue and white snuff bottle in the Yongzheng period. ”

After saying a lot, Hong Yuner secretly said that she was lucky, but fortunately, she had taken the history of Chinese porcelain and knew some of the history of porcelain. She also has an ancestral porcelain snuff bottle at home, so she studied this, but later found out that although the porcelain snuff bottle in her house was a blue and white snuff bottle in the Yongzheng period, it was an imitation, and it also made Hong Yuner depressed for a long time. I can't imagine a whim at that time. In order to be able to talk to Clifford about porcelain today, Hong Yun'er secretly said that it was dangerous, she had not studied other types of porcelain, and it would definitely be revealing if she talked about anything else, so she decided to go back and collect some porcelain books to read at night. In order to be able to bluff the authentic rich second generation in front of him.

After listening to Hong Yun'er's words, Clifford was very surprised: "God. Madam. You're one of the most knowledgeable women I've ever met, and I'm also interested in the paintings on porcelain, and I'm curious to see how Chinese artists manage to get these brilliant colors and keep them for a long time. ”

When it comes to painting, Hong Yun'er is blind. There is also the real production method of porcelain, she doesn't know, but Hong Yuner is worthy of being the first debater in the school, with strong psychological quality and quick response. She smiled calmly and said: "The production method of Chinese porcelain is broad and profound, with a long history, and the most famous place for Chinese porcelain is Jingdezhen, Jiangxi, and I can let you go there later." In fact, Hong Yun'er's answer was ambiguous and had no substance, but she immediately threw out a topic that interested Clifford, and sure enough, Clifford forgot about the question she asked.

"That's great." Clifford was very happy: "I heard that the porcelain in Jingdezhen is the most haode in China, and I really hope to be able to go there and see it, I wonder when we can leave?" ”

Hong Yun'er sighed, Jingdezhen is still within the scope of the Qing army, and the West Hall has no plans to go west for the time being, she wants to learn from Xiao Yungui's promise in advance, but she didn't expect this Clifford to be so anxious, and said with a shallow smile at the moment: "There will be a chance, but now the epidemic situation in Suzhou has stabilized, and we still have a lot to do." ”

Clifford hurriedly said: "This is no problem, I also sympathize with the citizens here, I will donate another batch of food and medicinal herbs, I hope it can help you." I very much want to know about the production of porcelain, since I arrived in Shanghai, the Qing government there not only prevented foreigners from going deep into the interior, but also prevented the exchange of porcelain making methods, I don't want you to be so enlightened as Mrs. Xiwang, you must know that art is the crystallization of the wisdom of all mankind, and we have the obligation to spread it, so that it can be passed on to the world. ”

Hong Yun'er was overjoyed, worthy of being born in the second generation of rich, in order to pursue the art he likes, he can spend money at will, compared to Xiao Yungui, who only knows how to spend money to pick up girls, I don't know how noble his sentiments are. Hong Yun'er smiled and agreed, and after a few words of chatting, she got a batch of material aid, which was really good, but Hong Yun'er also felt a little guilty, and always felt that she had deceived others, so she made up her mind to go back and find more porcelain craftsmen to communicate with Clifford. After Clifford's reminder, Hong Yuner also came up with an idea to apply for a patent for various secret methods of porcelain, there are many inventions and artistic products in China, but it seems that it does not pay attention to the protection of intellectual property rights, Hong Yuner plans to start with the production method of porcelain, but I don't know if the production method of porcelain has spread.

In this way, Hong Yuner chatted happily with Mo Jiana, Clifford and others, and soon got closer to each other, and even Luo Weilin and Hong Yuner found a lot of common ground between Christianity and Taiping Christianity. In this way, Hong Yuner and these foreigners are circling around, showing her rich knowledge to the fullest, after all, the era she lived in was the era of knowledge explosion, and there is everything you want to know on the Internet, so Hong Yuner can stand on the shoulders of historical giants and guide the country with high spirits.

……

However, it was said that Xiao Yungui came to the camp of the Taiping army outside the city and immediately summoned the generals to prepare to send troops. After the generals arrived, Xiao Yungui ordered Ji Wenyuan to lead 10,000 soldiers and horses, and rushed to Hangzhou with most of the artillery in Suzhou to support, and ordered Chen Yucheng, Tang Zhengcai and other generals to follow him to Shanghai with 8,000 soldiers and horses.

The battle of Suzhou was originally more than 30,000 Taiping troops in the West Temple, and then Ji Wenyuan, Chen Yucheng and other generals led 10,000 people to rush to help, after the war, the number of dead in the West Hall was more than 6,000 people, and more than 4,000 people were injured and sick, which can be described as an unprecedented loss. However, in this battle, the West Hall took Suzhou, an important town in southern Jiangsu, and completely reversed the passivity of the war, and annihilated tens of thousands of Qing troops under Zhang Guoliang, captured more than 3,000 people, and eliminated a long-standing stubborn enemy, which was also a great victory.

Among the captured Qing army generals, Xu Naizhao and other Qing court civil officials surrendered, Xu Naizhao was a native of Hangzhou, and he had a good official reputation in the past, and most of the evil deeds he did in Suzhou were committed by Zhang Guoliang, so Xiao Yungui allowed him to surrender, but did not give him an official title, but just followed Zuo Zongtang to do things and govern Suzhou. As for Zhang Guoliang and other generals, Xiao Yungui didn't kill them for the time being, they were all imprisoned in the prison, if he killed Zhang Guoliang like this, it would be too cheap for him, he would still be useful, Xiao Yungui planned to wait for him to return to Tianjing to report on his work, take Zhang Guoliang and other captured Qing soldiers to go together, and come to the West Hall to dedicate the prisoner of Tianjing, there are more people who hate Zhang Guoliang in Tianjing, and everyone wants to be angry together, and it can be regarded as the West Hall has an explanation for the center of Tianjing.

After arranging the troops, the generals left one after another to prepare, but one of them did not leave, Xiao Yungui looked up, but it was Hou Yutian, the commander of the second army on the right of Ji Wenyuan's subordinates in the West Palace. This Hou Yutian is also known as Guan Sheng, a native of Jiaying Prefecture, Guangdong, at the beginning of the Qing Army Zhang Guoliang as a soldier, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Renzi in the summer of the second year, in Hunan Daozhou, defeated by the Taiping Army of the West Temple, who served as the vanguard, was captured by the Taiping Army. When he was in the camp, the Qing army generals regarded the soldiers as slaves, and even regarded them as private property, and arbitrarily beaten, scolded, bullied, and even killed. But after Hou Yutian arrived at the Taiping Army, he saw that the officers and soldiers were like brothers, as if he had arrived in another Shijie. In the Taiping Army, every meal did not forget to kill demons, and there was a reasonable education from time to time. Soon after he arrived in the Taiping Army, he understood the crimes of the Manchu Qing Dynasty in cruelty and cruelty to the people, and understood the purpose of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom uprising, destroying the violence, saving the people, and restoring the Han Dynasty. He had a sincere heart and wanted to dedicate himself to the cause of restoring the Han Dynasty in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, so he joined the Taiping Army in the West Temple. Subsequently, Hou Yutian participated in many battles such as the West Palace's attack on Changsha, and followed the West Temple from Hunan to Suzhou, he was vigorous and majestic, draped in sharp and strong, fought hard and did not care about himself, when attacking Nanjing, he made meritorious contributions, and was promoted to military commander.

Xiao Yungui also recognized him, Hou Yutian was still one of the two thousand subordinates when he conquered Changsha, at that time he was just a small soldier, and at this moment he was already a fierce general, at the moment Xiao Yungui asked: "Brother Yutian is still in trouble?" ”

Hou Yutian bent his knees, knelt on the ground and bowed to the ground: "His Royal Highness the King of the West, my subordinates have a reluctant request." ”

Xiao Yungui was a little surprised, this Hou Yutian is a quiet person, why did he suddenly ask for an invitation today? got up and left the case at the moment, stepped forward to help him up, and said: "If there is anything to stand up and say, as long as it is reasonable, this king will make the decision for you." ”

Hou Yutian lowered his head and said: "My subordinates used to be the soldiers under Zhang Guoliang, a dog thief, when he was under his command, he was bullied by the veterans and ruffians in the camp, and he was almost killed a few times, but thanks to the rescue of the two brothers in the camp, his life was saved." ”

Speaking of this, Xiao Yungui understood: "Oh, are you saying that the two Qing soldiers who rescued you are still in our prisoner camp, do you want to ask this king to release them?" The captured 3,000 Qing soldiers are all in the prisoner camp, doing some of the hardest and most tiring work every day, and the food is also very bad, Xiao Yungui only said that Yu Tian wanted to release the two Qing soldiers who had saved him, and said with a smile: "This matter is okay, this king will write a note later, you can take it to the prisoner camp to lead the people, they want to follow us to do the welcome, just make it up under your subordinates, if you don't want to, you can also send the travel fee, let them go back to their hometown." ”

Hou Yutian knelt down again, hugged his fists and said: "King Xi, they are no longer ordinary soldiers, they are both powerful generals under Zhang Guoliang. ”

Xiao Yungui's face sank, Zhang Guoliang's Qing generals all had the blood of the Taiping soldiers on their hands, and they were all going to be escorted back to Tianjing to offer prisoners, the punishment of the heavenly kingdom was harsh, these Qing generals could not escape death, but Hou Yutian wanted to release people for personal gain? Xiao Yungui felt a little difficult to handle, but then he smiled, and helped Hou Yutian up and said, "Get up and talk, what are the names of those two people?" ”

Hou Yutian snorted: "One is called Hu Kunyuan, and the other is called Feng Zicai......" (to be continued......)