Chapter 64 South China Sea Railway Chronicle (4)

All the Jiangnan celebrities who went deep into Qiongzhou to spy on the "love" of the Jiangnan celebrities, the first-class car they took this time was hung in the penultimate place of the train, and there was only one dining car behind it. As a first-class carriage for traversers and aborigines and naturalized people who are willing to pay a high price, although the chassis of the car is basically the same as the flat car in front, but with the addition of a wooden car, it not only has wide and comfortable rattan seats and exquisite small tables, as well as glass-inlaid windows, but also installed linen curtains, which can not only ventilate but also avoid the suffering of sun exposure on Hainan Island in the scorching sun.

Of course, in the eyes of Fang Yizhi, a famous scholar in Tongcheng who is accustomed to seeing all kinds of carved beams and paintings, the furnishings and decoration in this kind of carriage are too simple and crude.

“…… This is called first-class car? It's too misnamed. However, the meals served on the bus are quite exquisite......"

Fang Yizhi muttered as he prepared for lunch—there was originally a dining car hanging on this train, and it was said to be quite luxuriously and comfortably furnished, so that guests in both the first and second class cars could come over to order food. But now the dining car of this train has been occupied by General Huangshi and Japanese envoys, and it has been hung with a sign of "idlers are not allowed to enter". The "Jiangnan Shizi Amateur Spy Group" sitting in the first-class carriage, if they didn't want to drink cold water and eat dry food, they had to take the menu and order food from their seats, and then let the people in the dining car bring the food over. Or you can buy something to eat from the salesperson's cart and it's cheaper...... But as the distinguished guests of the first-class carriage, they will not have a poor diet like the Xu Xiake brothers in the second-class carriage, a bowl of instant noodles or eight-treasure porridge can deal with the past, and a canned fish or a few fruits can be regarded as a tooth sacrifice.

At this moment, on the table in front of Fang Yizhi, there is a "fried chicken rice railway bento" - the "bento box" for serving vegetables, which is a huge black outside and red lacquer square box inside, and the outer wall of the box lid and box depicts gold and silver flowers, plants, birds and beasts, even in the eyes of Fang Yizhi, who is accustomed to seeing splendid treasures, it can be regarded as exquisite workmanship. The meals in the box are also colorful and varied: the main course is naturally fried chicken nuggets wrapped in a coat of flour and fried to a golden fragrance, the side dishes include mashed potatoes mixed with green beans, diced carrots and salted meat, as well as fried shrimp, fried eggs, a small amount of fried cauliflower and sweet taro cut into small pieces for dessert, in a small cup of blue and white porcelain, there is a seafood soup made of fish balls, dried scallops, dried shrimp, kelp, tofu, etc., and even the ball of white rice is sprinkled with a little black sesame seeds as a garnish...... Although the scholars in the water towns of the south of the Yangtze River have always been willing to spend effort on meals, and have been known for "never getting tired of eating" since ancient times, in Fang Yizhi's view, if this food box is brought to the restaurant in Suzhou and Hangzhou, in addition to the slightly unusual ingredients, whether it is workmanship or collocation, it is already very good on the table.

Fang Yizhi stretched out his chopsticks and picked up a piece of fried chicken, and suddenly there was a rich and wonderful fragrance that could make people's saliva water. After taking a bite, the taste of the coat wrapped around the outside was crispy, and the juice overflowing inside was sweet and delicious, so he couldn't help but secretly admire in his heart:

“…… Alas...... This Australian pleasure method is really good, no matter food, clothing, housing and transportation, there are some good doorways...... It's a pity that you are just selling goods for profit in this small seaside county, why do you have such a desire to be insatiable, and actually collude with the military generals of the country and the dynasty to plot the country? ”

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In fact, as a well-traveled and well-informed celebrity, Master Fang Yizhi from Tongcheng, Anhui Province, originally did not have much ill feeling towards the "Australian people" in Qiongzhou, but over the years have appeared on the market of various "Australian foreign goods" very much, in addition to Hangzhou Ziminglou from opera to bath to sesame oil massage provided by all kinds of "Australian enjoyment" is quite fascinated, even at the expense of this.

However, in the late autumn of last year, on a painting boat in Hangzhou's West Lake, during a gathering held by the literati of the Donglin Party, Qian Qianyi, a model of Donglin gentlemen in the world, announced a heavy news to all Donglin gentlemen with a stern expression.

According to his reliable sources, Huang Shi, a famous general in a hundred battles who was leaned on as a pillar stone by the first emperor in the past and once killed the "old slave chieftain" Nurhachi, and Huangshi, the general soldier of Fujian who is currently sitting on tens of thousands of elite soldiers in the Fujian Sea, actually lived up to the grace of the saint and had close collusion with the "Australian thieves" entrenched in Qiongzhou, and seemed to have a great plot! However, the imperial court is currently trapped in the construction of slaves in Liaodong, and the Jingshi has repeatedly encountered fire and is crumbling, so the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty have no intention of paying attention to this matter. But if this thief is allowed to succeed, the southeast half of the Great Tomorrow will inevitably be in danger, so the gentlemen of Donglin must take precautions as soon as possible......

In this regard, all the Donglin scholars at the party were all shocked - in the eyes of these heavenly pride, the "Australians" who have been selling all kinds of overseas strange goods in recent years are basically the same as the Francophone people who cut off the trenches in Macao (the old name of Macau), and they are just a group of copper-smelling businessmen who do business. Because the name has the word "Ao" in it, some scholars from small places even confuse the two.

If the Australians were entrenched in the port for trade and seek the benefits of the baht, it would be just a matter of unexpectedly their appetite being so amazing, and they even colluded with the military generals of the imperial court in a vain attempt to cut off the territory of the country and the dynasty and do that great rebellion - this is simply another Jiannu who hiberned before the rise of the Liaodong war!

What's more, Jiannu's nest is far beyond the Great Wall, and no matter how fierce he is in the north, he will not be able to reach the comfort of Jiangnan. But Huangshi's Funing Army is in Fujian, next door to Jiangnan, and the big ships of Australian thieves often haunt the waters near Jiangnan!

After the shock, all the Donglin gentlemen came up with suggestions - since the Donglin Party has always advertised "the sound of the wind and rain, the sound of reading, the sound of the ear; Family affairs, state affairs, world affairs, and everything is concerned", so it is natural that we cannot be indifferent to such major events that shake the society of the court and threaten the safety of the country, so they have claimed that they should mobilize relatives and friends in the court to write letters and advise them, so that the court can beware of the rebellion of the Funing Army, and at the same time prohibit trade with the Australians......

But the problem is that everyone is just "hearsay" at the moment, and even Qian Qianyi, who raised the matter, can't come up with any real evidence. It is obviously not enough to impeach the Fujian General Army Huang Shi for rebellion just by relying on a few empty words. Besides, although Qian Qianyi is highly respected in the Donglin Party, just because of his few words, it is still impossible to ask everyone to obey the order and mobilize their own connections and forces to carry out actions.

-- As the political spokesperson group of the Jiangnan landlord and wealthy merchant group, the Donglin Party was originally a very loose and irregular organization. Of course, these "righteous gentlemen" have hated the same enemy in the court many times, and have fought fiercely with eunuchs, military generals, and nobles. But there are also a lot of internal conflicts between various parties, and they are also quite fierce - who knows if Qian Qianyi tore off the skin of the gentle elder this time and set up a trap for everyone to drill?

After all, the "Australian thief" is thousands of miles away, what if it is actually people who are always talking nonsense to fool everyone?

Therefore, after a moment of indignation, the gentlemen came back to their senses and said that this matter was very important and needed to be investigated in detail and considered in the long run...... Then, these scholars, who had been idle all day, noisily put forward two "visiting envoys", one was led by Zhang Dai, a gentleman from Hangzhou, to Fujian to inspect whether there were any signs of rebellion against the Funing army - Zhang Dai's family was quite powerful in Fujian and Zhejiang provinces, and could provide care and convenience along the way.

Another route to travel experienced Tongcheng celebrity Fang Zhi, headed by Zhi, went to Lingnan farther to visit the field, and saw with his own eyes the "thief military situation" - in the Jiangnan Shilin during the Chongzhen period, Tongcheng genius Fang Yizhi is quite famous "well-informed person", from the market to the court have travel, its many friends, wide contacts, second to none in the Donglin Party, can be called "Jianghu Bai Xiaosheng" kind of figures. Although he has never been to Lingnan either, he has the most experience in long-distance travel, and in terms of mileage alone, it is not even much worse than Xu Xiake, the "first donkey passenger in the late Ming Dynasty". It's just that Xu Xiake goes to the deep mountains and old forests, barren suburbs and mountains, while Fang Yizhi mainly only travels between various prosperous cities.

And Fang Yizhi is also happy to obey this - in recent years, he has seen a lot of wonderful Australian goods, and often listened to a few Lingnan scholars in the Shilin gathering to talk about the various "Australian scenes" brought by the "bearded people" in Guangzhou in the past two years, which is quite curious and yearning. Especially the enjoyment in Guangzhou's "Ziming Building" that should only be in heaven made him envious. It's a pity that Guangzhou and Tongcheng are separated by half of China, and the distance is too far away, so they have not been able to make the trip, so they can only go to the "Ziminglou" branch in Hangzhou to have a good time, and enjoy the kind of entertainment that is different from the sound and color of Middle-earth.

Now I finally have the opportunity to go to Guangzhou to see the genuine Ziming Building, admire the peerless elegance of the "Australian famous prostitute" Pei Lixiu, and even find a few "Australian-style" kiln sisters to enjoy the taste of the legendary "Australian secret play", how can he not be flocking to it?

So, Fang Yizhi took a group of Donglin scholars who advertised that they would "die for the country's social welfare", but in fact, they were full of food all day long, and wanted to find some fresh fun, and went south from Hangzhou - although they had no experience at all, and they didn't know how to observe the people's feelings and collect intelligence, but in the minds of these "talented and handsome" people, as long as they shot together, there was nothing in the world that could not be done! It's just a vulgar martial artist and a group of arrogant barbarians trying to join forces to make trouble, can they still fight the "Donglin Gentleman" who has an incomparably noble bloodline and a powerful force all over the government and the opposition?

- Although scientific research in later generations has fully proved that genetics cannot play a decisive role in any aspect of political, economic, military, or other capabilities. However, whether it was in the feudal society of the Ming Dynasty or in the industrial society of later generations, there were still many people who felt that the theory of descent could work within a single qiē range. Naturally, the scholars of the Donglin Party, who are high-ranking officials and senior officials of the N generation, also generally believe that they are the pride of the sky, and they should naturally enjoy various privileges, and everything is destined to go smoothly.

But I have to admit that the Donglin Party and the Jiangnan Restoration Society, the two world-famous signboards, are indeed very useful in the whole south - relying on the escort and service of the big ticket brocade clothes and wealthy servants, under the courteous reception and banquet of the government and large households along the way, the "Donglin Party Tour Group" that feels unprecedentedly good has traveled all the way to Guangzhou, eating, drinking and listening to plays, and has been "shopping" along the way.

After arriving in Guangzhou, they met several children of big families who had fled from Hainan Island, all of whom had been ruined by the "work team" of the Lingao Senate on charges of "banditry," "tax resistance," and "hiding fields," and had no choice but to abandon their homes and run away. Between them and the "Australian thieves", it is really "hatred of two places a day, hatred of three rivers and four seas", and naturally they will never say half a good word about Australians.

So, after listening to the cries of these "counter-revolutionary remnants" about the "thieves" who turned black and white upside down, all the Donglin scholars were filled with righteous indignation, and had a very bad impression of the Australians who "brutalized the good people" - in the mainstream ideology of the Donglin Party in the late Ming Dynasty, not all ordinary people could be called "people", those tenants and craftsmen were just lowly cattle and horses, ordinary merchants were like pigs and sheep to be slaughtered, and even military generals and soldiers were regarded as slaves. That's not in the realm of human beings at all...... Although Fang Yizhi has traveled widely in all walks of life, he does not have such an exaggerated hierarchical concept, and he feels that the words of these fugitives may not be true, but since the thieves are so tyrannical to the gentry and the big families, they don't know how to be cruel to the small people, I am afraid that the entire Qiongzhou has been made into a human purgatory.

On the other hand, the Lingao Senate was completely unaware of their arrival -- although the "Donglin Party tour group" that had come to Guangzhou from Jiangnan to inquire about the "thieves" did not hide much, they did not make a big deal about it saying that they were coming to find trouble with the "Australians." In the Ming Dynasty, it was common for gentlemen and literati to travel far away, and it was really not uncommon. As for the fact that they scolded the "thieves" in the teahouse and restaurant, they were morally degenerate, sexually lewd, and evil...... There are scholars who do such things every day in the city of Guangzhou, and the Guangzhou intelligence station of the Senate has long been surprised.

Next, with pity for the suffering "people" of Qiongzhou (only including the gentry and above) who are struggling under the clutches of thieves, all the romantic talents who are worried about the country and the people, regardless of the hardships and dangers, went deep into the tiger's den, and poured into the Ziming Building opened by the thieves in Guangzhou, and "rested" for several days surrounded by various exotic warblers and Yanyan, and fully exchanged feelings with a group of rabbit girls and cat ear girls in the bed, and experienced how the thieves were "sexually good and lewd", and by the way, they got a lot of first-hand information from their mouths... …

Then, just when they were in the Ziming Building, there was a sudden news that hundreds of barbarian warships from all over the world had gathered in Lingao, and the "Emperor Tai of the Song Dynasty" had come to Qiongzhou to supervise the battle, and it was about to sweep the unprecedented bad news of Lingnan!

As a result, there was a lot of rumors in the city of Guangzhou for a while, and the big landlords from all over the country poured into the city one after another in order to avoid the possible military disaster -- the last time the "thieves" swept across the Pearl River and bombarded Guangzhou, the landlords in the Pearl River Delta had already suffered a disaster. And all the Donglin scholars also retreated, saying that they would not go to the Qiongzhou Thieves' Cave again, and even said goodbye without saying goodbye and turned around and returned home.

Although it didn't take long, because there was no movement in Qiongzhou, and the Guangzhou government and the "Australian people" also tried their best to refute the rumors, the market finally returned to quiet. But the Donglin scholars who came all the way from the south of the Yangtze River have also dispersed, and they have gone to seven or eight stops in ten stops...... But Fang Yizhi, who was bold by nature, finally took the "Wuwei Young Tiger" Yu Guozhen (referring to Wuwei Prefecture, Anhui) and a few other remaining scholars, plus their slaves and attendants, crossed the sea to Lingao, vowing to find out the details of the collusion between the "Australian Beards" and the Fujian General Soldier Huangshi to cause trouble in the world, and Fang was willing to go back to see the gentlemen of Jiangnan Shilin.

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At the beginning, when these romantic talents first arrived in Lingao, they naturally felt strange and frightened about the various tricks and tricks of the "hair thieves", and the psychological pressure was very great, but after a period of time, they saw that the "hair thieves" didn't take them seriously at all (the recent influx of foreign populations is too much, and they have long been unable to control it), and they gradually became accustomed to nature, and even had the heart to judge the various measures of the "hair thieves".

Next, when Fang Yizhi and others temporarily decided to go to Sanya to peek at the reality of "the Emperor of the Ao Song Dynasty", they coincidentally recognized the mission target of this "infiltration operation" at the station - Huangshi, the Fujian general soldier who colluded with thieves and endangered the imperial court! even found that even the Dongying Wokou seemed to be involved, and he was overjoyed, thinking that this trip would definitely be able to establish miraculous achievements, find out the details of the traitors and barbarians, and become famous in the world!

It's a pity that the Huangshi traitor is in a high position after all, and his side is tightly guarded, so he chartered a carriage alone during the journey, and others couldn't get close to it at all...... At this moment, Fang Yizhi sat on the rattan seat, holding the railway bento lacquer box, looking at the two tall "soldiers" standing at the entrance of the dining car like an iron tower, as well as a short and sturdy Japanese swordsman, thinking that just a stone's throw behind the door, the Huangshi traitor was probably planning something with the Japanese envoy to shake the Ming Dynasty's earth-shattering deeds, as if there was a cat scratching it, and even the food in his mouth became like chewing wax.

But despite this, Fang Yizhi did not make any trouble on this steamer at all, and planned to eliminate this great disaster for the imperial court. Although he recruited a lot of good players on this trip, they were all in the second-class carriage in front of him at the moment, and he couldn't summon them for a while. And it is also unknown how many "soldiers" and widows are in the back of the dining car - according to his speculation, it is estimated that his side should not be able to defeat them. What's more, even if he can stab him successfully, there is no way to escape next, and he will definitely die...... It is obviously very unworthy to let these noble Confucian scholars exchange their lives with a few vulgar martial artists and barbarian pirates. Therefore, it is better to think in the long term and leave a useful body to serve the court and society!

Fang Yizhi thought so, and at the same time shifted his gaze to several "real hair" passengers in the first-class carriage, according to the words that his friend Yu Guozhen heard just now, the sturdy old man over there seemed to be a thief's sailor admiral...... Hey, with such fanfare, gathering generals, and even colluding with the Japanese State, it seems that the "Emperor of the Australian Song Dynasty" must have a lot of plans this time. In this way, after the Jiannu and Liukou in the north and the rebel Tusi in the southwest, the dynasty has to add such great enemies, which really worries us scholars and gentlemen......

He speculated with melancholy as he could, but could not do anything about the impending spectre of war, so he let out a long sigh.

However, what Fang Yizhi didn't know was that Huangshi was indeed discussing the strategy of using troops with the Japanese envoys in the dining car at this time, but it was not aimed at the Ming court, but against the Japanese Tokugawa shogunate...... And what he never imagined was that the identity, origin and purpose of their group had already been sold clean by Yu Guozhen, the "Wuwei Young Tiger" who was in the same company, and now every move is actually under the monitoring of the "Australian thief"!

- Because, the "Wuwei Tiger" Yu Guozhen, whom he recently met and was "proficient in miscellaneous studies", is also a traverser......