"Sir Sir, do you see those who are more well-dressed and have folding fans in their hands? The Chinese call them 'scholars', some of the readers, who are the equivalent of our European scholars, the mainstay of this huge country. In China, this is the most stubborn and conservative group of people. I have to warn you not to offend them in word or deed. If you resent these people in one way, I can say for sure that your journey will be greatly hindered. Because, the vast majority of officials in China are from the community of scholars! There is an extremely wide connection between the two, and even His Majesty the Emperor of China does not dare to offend this group too much. ”

Wiggins sat in the carriage, pointed out through the window, and said to Richard beside him. Sir Richard was not old, only in his forties, in the prime of life, and had thick brown hair, unlike the chestnut hair of his daughter Elizabeth. It was not easy for him to achieve diplomatic feats at his age that would have amazed the whole of Europe, and that was a testament to his talent, but he had a striking share of the views of the trip to China with that of the Spanish captain, Wiggins...... It's going to be a tough trip!

"Thank you very much for the reminder. Mr. Wiggins! In fact, since receiving this task from the Prime Minister, I have been studying Chinese culture for the past few months, but I have to admit that I am too late to start. I've only come to the conclusion of the last few months, and that's that I'm not going to be able to read Chinese books at all, at least for a few years...... Their thinking is fundamentally different from that of the West. Richard shook his head with a wry smile, secretly regretting that he had taken such an errand.

"Fundamentally different? Oh, Your Excellency, you are one of the few people I know! I'll wish you the best of luck! Wiggins laughed.

"Thank you very much!" Richard smiled gentlemanly at Wiggins and said.

"Mr. Wiggins, where are we going?" Elizabeth had been looking through the car window at the street, overheard the conversation between the two, and suddenly asked Wiggins again.

"According to the rules, I will take you to the county government in Shanghai! Then let the Shanghai county magistrate pass on the news of Sir Richard's arrival layer by layer! Wiggins replied.

"Why are we here? Why not just go to their capital? Frost asked.

"Huh...... Dear sir, when have you ever seen a merchant from Europe reach the North? No! To the north of Shanghai, there was a forbidden place for all foreign ships. Especially the Bohai Sea to the north, which is called the 'Sea of Guards'! There was a navy under the direct jurisdiction of the emperor of China cruising. Ships of unknown origin are most likely to be sunk by them one by one! Wiggins said.

"Occupy an entire sea? Oh, my God! Are their territorial waters so vast? How many nautical miles does that have to go beyond the coastline? This is simply not in line with international rules! Elizabeth said dissatisfied.

"Dear Miss, Japan and the Ryukyus are both subject countries of China, Taiwan is China's territory, and these three places form a huge encirclement, and everything in the encirclement, including the sky, belongs to China! …… This is what I heard from the admiral of their navy when I came across them once in a while! I don't think that's a big deal! Especially after the Chinese took Temasek! Wiggins shrugged and smiled.

"Mr. Wiggins is right, the world has never only relied on strength to speak. Since the Qing people have enough strength, then they are qualified to say this and do so...... Elizabeth, you have to listen more to Mr. Wiggins, who is a wonderful guide. Richard said.

"Humph!" Elizabeth gave Wiggins a blank look and twisted her head to the side.

"I beg your pardon, this kid spoiled me!" Richard said to Wiggins with some embarrassment when he saw Elizabeth's behavior.

"It doesn't matter. Ladies have the right to be proud! Wiggins smiled nonchalantly and said.

"Pride?" Richard smiled slightly wryly. This Wiggins is really bad, Elizabeth is obviously "willful", but he said this and changed the taste.

"Hey!"

Frost suddenly stuck his head out of the window and screamed.

"Frost, what are you doing?" Elizabeth asked dissatisfied.

"Look, sir, a European!" Frost retracted his head and pointed out the window and said loudly to Richard.

"Mr. Frost, this is an open port of the Qing Kingdom, and there are many Europeans!" Wiggins looked at Frost amusedly, cowering in his seat, and in his opinion, Frost was nothing more than a rarity.

"Mr. Wiggins, please stop the carriage!" Although Wiggins didn't move, Richard followed Frost's hand and looked out, and then he immediately pleaded with Wiggins.

"There are no good hotels here!" Seeing that Richard was as unstable as Frost, Wiggins muttered, but Richard was his employer, and he didn't have to listen to what he said, so he stuck his head out of the other window and told the coachman to stop the carriage. As soon as the carriage stopped, Richard pushed the door open and ran down.

"I've never seen the world!" Seeing Richard's appearance, Wiggins muttered another sentence of Chinese before slowly getting out of the car after Elizabeth.

……

It's been almost a decade since Drake arrived in China.

His luck can be said to be quite good. Although he was captured by Ma De before, he did not become a coolie, and later he was fortunate to become the first mate of Yu Zhong's army, and followed Yu Zhong to slowly make a name for himself in the Manchurian Naval Division, and even commanded the entire servant army for a time. However, later Yu Zhong was transferred away, and the Manchurian sailor changed to a family member. Isan's attitude towards the Japanese servants was not bad, but he was not used to their colorful Europeans. So he and some of his European men were removed from the servant army.

Fortunately, because he has been performing well for a long time, he still has some friendship with Yu Zhong and Ma De. Shortly after writing a letter asking for help, his companions, who had been dismissed from the servant army, were redeployed. Some were transferred to the army as firearms instructors, some to Mukden, and as for himself, he was transferred to Jiangsu with a few companions, and resumed his experience of working under Mader. Moreover, Mader also gave him an official position...... Jiangsu Customs Yamen Book Office! That's right, it's the Yamen of Jiangsu Customs! Wei Dongting, the governor who was in charge of the customs of the four provinces, resigned from the position to Emperor Kangxi because he felt unwell, and at the same time forbade his sons to inherit the throne.

When he first took over the official position of this clerk, he thought that Ma De wanted him to work as a clerk or something, but later learned that the clerk could also collect taxes. And what he is responsible for is to collect the annual customs export fee! This is a fee charged by the porter when the goods in the shed are weighed and inspected. However, this fee was soon abolished by Mader. His responsibilities have changed as well. Now, he is already in charge of the "reason" of Shanghai Customs' exports. (An official position, belonging to the political envoy's yamen, I couldn't find the name of the customs official, so I had to replace it)

The work of the customs has always been relatively busy, especially in Shanghai, which connects China's east, west, north and south, and there is a boss who is not easy to deal with, so the level of hardship is even more difficult.

However, today is a rare day of leisure, so Drake took a few of his subordinates to go shopping together, planning to find a place to have a meal and connect with a few subordinates at the dinner table, after all, as a European, he did not get along with these subordinates very closely.

However, what Drake didn't expect was that he had just left the yamen when he was blocked by three Europeans. In particular, one of the Caucasian women, who was quite good-looking, said something that made him very unhappy in a hurry:

"My friend, how did you get caught?"

Oh, God! He just changed into a set of civilian clothes, and at the same time brought a few subordinates wearing official uniforms!

However, Drake also noticed one thing: the woman spoke English, which meant ...... He's met a fellow countryman!

*********

Beijing!

Old man Fei sat on his warm sedan chair and let the sedan chair man carry him forward step by step.

Since Yu Zhong and Ma De were transferred to the south by Kangxi successively, he rarely came here again. However, although he was already a little unfamiliar, he still had no interest in lifting the sedan curtain and looking outside. In recent years, Beijing has become a tiger's den in the eyes of many people. Due to Kangxi's strong suppression, although the party struggle in the court did not show how fierce it was, it was secretly surging. No one can grasp the pulse of things. Even if it is him and Ma De, they can only be cautious in the face of this situation! The fourth elder brother Yinzhen was snubbed by Kangxi for a period of time because of his poor performance in the past few years, and he rarely came out to do anything, so naturally he had nothing to show off. However, it is precisely because of this that they dare not put their hands into this huge whirlpool. Because, they can't guess who will be the last winner, not to mention, none of these princes can satisfy them.

And the reason why he came to Beijing this time was because someone took a fancy to his position as the Yin of Fengtianfu. In recent years, the three northeastern provinces have developed rapidly with Fengtian as the leader. Industries such as grain, salt, edible oil, glass products, textiles, shipbuilding, animal husbandry, sugar and wine, fishing, and marine aquaculture have created huge profits. In particular, after he successfully tried the new open-hearth steelmaking method last year and obtained permission from Kangxi to open the mining ban, the iron-making and steel-making industry in Northeast China has also developed rapidly. In addition, the Jingqi Huihoard has now evolved into a system of training a group of children of the Eight Banners of the Beijing Camp in the Northeast every year, and his power as the Yin of Fengtian Mansion has aroused the envy of countless Eight Banner nobles and magnates in the court. It can be said that whoever now masters the position of Fengtianfu Yin will master the promotion path of the children of the Eight Banners, especially the children of the Lower Five Banners.

Faced with this situation, Old Man Fei knew that his position was already a little unstable. Of course, this is not to say that Kangxi no longer trusts him, but he has been sitting in the seat of Fengtian Mansion Yin for more than ten years, and with Kangxi's control of power, it is already a very tolerant performance to be able to allow him to stay in the place where his ancestors started for so long, and to do so many things. Therefore, he may not be able to keep this position this time.

"Hmph, is my old man's territory so easy to grab? Destroy your dog's teeth! ”

Old man Fei couldn't help but think a little angrily. He is not a virtuous elder, and of course he will be very unhappy to see that the fruits of more than ten years of hard work are about to be taken away by others. Therefore, he does not intend to "point" at his successor at all...... The various forces in the Northeast are mixed, and except for a few direct initiators such as him and Ma De, no one can convince the public at all! How can it be so easy for others to settle in so easily. Those people weren't soldiers, they didn't follow the rules that much.

……

"Master, it's here!" Agudam's voice came in from outside the sedan chair, interrupting Old Man Fei's thoughts.

"Hmmm! Stop! Old man Fei answered, and then, the sedan chair was gently put down, and then, the sedan curtain was lifted, and Old Man Fei bowed his head and walked out.

In front of you is the Noon Gate, the main gate of the Forbidden City. Now is not the time to go to court, so there are only a few soldiers standing sparsely in front of the noon gate. Of course, this is only the surface, if anyone wants to rush in from here, at most it will be a yawn, and a large number of Imperial Guards can be gathered inside and outside the noon gate.

Agudam didn't wait for Old Man Fei's orders, and took the initiative to walk to the soldiers standing guard in front of the noon gate.

"The master of my family is Fengtianfu Yin, and I came to see the driver by order!"

"Fengtianfu Yin is here?" Out of the group of soldiers came a person dressed as a leader, this person squinted his eyes and looked at Agudamu, and then looked at the old man Fei who was standing in the distance, and the skin that was still drooping rose again, and said to Agudamu with a smile: "Fengtian is a good place, this brother has a big name?" ”

"My name is Agudam! Please also ask this general to give a word! Agudamu clenched his fists at the leader and said.

"Haha, pass on a word! That's easy to say......" The leader laughed twice, nodded his head a few times, and held out a hand towards Agudam.

"......" Agudammu looked down at the outstretched palm, then looked up at the leader's face, and winked inquiringly.

"Huh?" When the leader saw Agudamu's eyes, his face, which was still smiling, suddenly turned a little cloudy!

"What do you mean by that?" Agudammu finally asked.

"Brother, are you from Mukden? That's a big place! Why don't you even understand 'Menjing'? The leader said dissatisfiedly.

"Menjing? The palace also wants this? Agudamu asked in surprise, but although he was honest, he also knew that this was not Mukden, and the emperor lived in the gate opposite, and he was the most powerful person in the world. So, he touched his body, took out a handful of silver dollars, and handed it over.

"Are you really from heaven? …… I said, man, what do you think of this place? The leader shook the silver dollar in his hand, sneered disdainfully, and said to Agudam: "This is the palace, not a teahouse where you can spend a few big bucks for a day!" Just like that, you want to go in? ”

"That's all there is to me!" Agudammu felt a little depressed, but his awe of the palace made him dare not be presumptuous, so he could only whisper a few words.

"Who asked you how much you have? Brother, go and ask your lords! One side of the wait, he has money! The leader secretly pointed to the old man Fei in the distance and said.

"My master doesn't have any money on him!" Aguda said with a wooden urn.

"Your master has no money? Oh hey...... Boy, it looks like you're not going to honor us Guards, are you? What do you eat when we are eating? Who doesn't know that you can earn tens of millions of taels of silver in a year? Fengtianfu Yin will only have such a little money on him? …… Yes! Since you don't want to go in, just wait outside! The leader snorted coldly, turned around and walked towards the inside of the noon gate, and the silver dollar that Agudamu gave him was carried into his arms.

"You ......" Agudam's anger swelled up when he saw that the leader was doing this. Since he became Old Man Fei's personal guard, no one has dared to be so rude to him. Even the three princes of Fengtian are gentle and soft-spoken every time they see him, how can they ever be treated like this? So, he suddenly took two steps forward, trying to get the leader back, but as soon as he took a step, the soldiers who were still standing on either side of the doorway immediately pointed their swords and guns at him. Seeing this formation, he also remembered that this was not a place for him to go wild, so he could only snort hatefully and turn back to report to Old Man Fei.

……

"Interesting! It seems that we did not come to Beijing in vain. At least you can see the tricks of the imps...... Agudam, go and ask who that kid is. How dare you stand in my way and ask him to report his name! Tell him again that the Shangshu of the Li Fan Yuan, the leader of the Tianfu Yin, the deputy head of the Internal Affairs Office, and the Zhenghuang Banner Counselor Ferdinand want to see the holy driver and ask him to make way for Lao Tzu! After hearing Agudam's report, Old Man Fei smiled coldly.