In fact, there are many interesting things in 1843, such as the fact that a farmer named William Miller in the United States claimed to be a scholar who had "spent his life studying the Bible" and came to a terrible conclusion.

"God will choose a certain time to destroy the world."

He declared that the world would "disappear" at some point between March 21, 1843 and March 21, 1844. This nonsense was almost unbelievable at first, but with the arrival of potato late blight and the flooding, many people believed his claims.

Even the infamous "Ark of Doom" has found him and tried to join forces with him to "save" the world.

William Miller, with the support of a number of booksellers and insurance companies, published his statements into books and distributed them everywhere, and in just a few months he developed tens of thousands of followers.

Believing that the end of the world was at hand, these people began to squander their possessions.

Franz did not miss this opportunity, and he sent someone to "take over" the property, promising them that if they wanted to get it back one day, they would only have to pay an additional 20% fee.

The other merchants, who were ready to take over the property of the believers, held a grudge against the people sent by Franz, and even planned to hire gangsters to take back the "property that belonged to them".

However, these unscrupulous merchants clearly underestimated their opponents, and the dozens of gunmen they found were easily routed, and even they themselves were quickly found.

After a "friendly" exchange, the businessmen admitted that the so-called "end of the world" was nothing more than a hoax. William Miller was just a scapegoat, he did believe in his theory, but he didn't have much influence, and the reason why he was in this situation was of course the result of the businessmen's efforts.

Franz did not continue to embarrass the merchants, and after asking for a hush money, he watched the farce continue.

Without the help of the merchants, William Miller would not have been able to deal with the believers, and the people sent by Franz were constantly provoking him with words like "liar".

Eventually, the prophet prophesied the end of the world on April 23, 1843, but on that day the world was still running as usual, and the sober believers found themselves destitute with nothing, and the angry crowd cried after dismantling the false prophet.

At this point, the man sent by Franz reappeared, indicating that the contract was still valid. But these people believed in the prophecy of the end of the world before, and they didn't think about it at all, and naturally they couldn't get the money now.

Franz didn't want to embarrass these poor people, but they had to pay for their mistakes. Franz would lease their property to them and then demand that they pay a certain amount of money on a regular basis, eventually redeeming those properties.

Of course, Franz would not have allowed these properties to be buried in the United States, and at the same time leased them to them, he also mortgaged them to banks in exchange for loans.

Those who have made mistakes are atoning for their sins, the bank clerks are getting their own results, Wilhelm Miller has achieved his "doom", the Austrian Empire has made money, and only Franz has hidden his credit and fame

Canton, 1836.

A child who tried and failed inadvertently accidentally got a copy of "The Palm of the Gods", ah no, it was "Advice to the World", which seemed to be nothing at the time.

After all, it is just a popular book written by Catholics in order to open up the "market".

In 1843, Hong Renkun, who had reached the age of establishment, failed in the imperial examination again, and he decided to say goodbye to the scientific field and take a road of combining Chinese and Western.

At that time, Shenzhou was turbulent, with foreign powers and thieves inside.

Since the Jiaqing Jiaxu year, the peasant uprising has not stopped. If the year is abundant, there will be less appeasement, and if the year is apologetic, it will be rampant.

However, Hong Renkun felt that his blood was surging, he knew that the times made heroes. At this time when the world was in turmoil, Hong Renkun read this "Advice to the World", and he wondered if this was the will of heaven, just like when the great teacher Zhang Jiaoshan accidentally picked up "Taiping Technique" when he was collecting medicine?

Then Hong Renkun began his "missionary" journey.

Sect Master Hong first invented the three major precepts, that is, not to worship evil gods, not to do evil things, and to abide by the rules of heaven. He also invented a prayer "wash away the sin, remove the old and start with the new", and later evolved a simpler and more direct version of "kill the demon and go to heaven".

With Hong Renkun's unremitting efforts, everyone in the village finally thought he was crazy.

However, Sect Master Hong finally developed two of his followers, one named Hong Renji and the other named Feng Yunshan, both of whom later became the "mainstay" of the Daping Heavenly Kingdom.

In 1842, the first 50 volumes of the "Atlas of the Sea Kingdom" were published, and the author Wei Yuan exclaimed, "Those who want to control foreign countries must first understand the situation." Those who want to know the situation must first set up a translator and translate the book. ", and proposed that "the master of Yi long skills to control the raze".

It's just that this book didn't have much impact in the Qing Dynasty, but after crossing the ocean to Japan, it was immediately regarded as a model by local sinologists.

Even one of the main purposes of Takasugi Shinsuke's journey to the east was to find "one piece", ah no, it was the complete book of "Atlas of the Sea Country", which, in his own words, was "used to rejuvenate the country with capital".

"There are three long skills of Yi, one is warships, the second is firearms, and the third is the method of raising and training soldiers." , whose ideas influenced Japan for nearly a hundred years.

However, it will be eight years before the "Atlas of the Sea Kingdom" arrives, and history has already changed.

Nagasaki, Japan.

The Japanese are really good at learning and imitating, but this time they picked the wrong target. The politicians who advocated "harmony with the soul of the man" chose the Qing Dynasty, so Japan also began the road of self-isolation.

After more than 200 years of seclusion, Nagasaki was Japan's only window to the outside world, and the only people to deal with were the Netherlands and the Qing Dynasty.

Of course, like the Aisin Kakura family, the Tokugawa shogunate was not completely closed, at least the high-level knew a lot about the world.

In fact, the seclusion of the country is only part of a policy of ignoring the people, with the aim of eliminating the will of the people at home to resist.

The shogunate required merchants entering the port from Nagasaki to report overseas information to the Nagasaki Commission, which was in charge of foreign trade affairs.

(It was an official position in Japan at the time, such as the Insect Commission. The temple shrine is carried out, the survey is carried out, the town is enshrined, and the distant country is enacted, and this official position can be large or small, and it belongs to temporary service. ）

According to different sources, there are Tang style storytellers and Lan Feng storytellers, in addition to the translator's "farewell storytelling" edited by translators based on the dictation of foreign businessmen or excerpts from news from foreign newspapers.

Two wars broke out in Asia and Europe, and the rumors about these two wars rained down, and the shock to the shogunate authorities was incomparable.

The Tokugawa shogunate, Nakano Tadakuni, immediately convened an intermittent meeting to discuss Japan's survival.

(Lao Zhong was the highest official position of the shogunate at this time, and he was an official directly under the shogun of Seiyi, responsible for overseeing the affairs of the whole country)

At the same time, Japan also received two letters of state, one from Russia and one from England, with the sole purpose of asking the shogunate to open up trade.

(End of chapter)