Xinshun 1730

Chapter 116

After the Russian mission passed through Zhangjiakou, the Earl of Savoy was already full of admiration for this ancient empire before entering Beijing.

At this time, Europe was at the beginning of the rise of the Enlightenment Movement. The Earl of Savoy had been to Western Europe and had exchanges with those early Enlightenment scholars.

The purpose of praising foreign countries is often to criticize one's own country.This point was most vividly displayed at the beginning of the rise of the Enlightenment.

As Voltaire said: When the Chaldeans were only carving characters on rough bricks, the Chinese had already carved characters on light bamboo slips...

Voltaire also wrote a poem for Confucius:
Only rationality can benefit wisdom, but honesty can follow people's hearts.

The sage's speech is not forethought, and the other land enters the past to serve the great achievements.

Whenever people hope for change, they always first describe an utopia.China's utopia is ruled by three generations, while Europe's utopia at this time is Confucian China.

It doesn't matter whether the fact is that way. In advocacy for a certain purpose, the truth never matters.

The important thing is to convince people that there are better options.And this time, this moment, this place, sucks.

Compared with France, which is farther away, the Russians have an indescribable awkwardness towards this legendary Utopia.

Russia is the most foreign.none of them.

This awkward mentality is very strange, and it is easy to understand:
On the one hand, like Jingchu, I am also a barbarian, what can you do to me?

On the other hand, I desperately want to get the approval of the West and get rid of my identity as a barbarian. From France to the Netherlands and from the Netherlands to Lithuania, as long as it is Western, it is worth licking, and I have never changed my heart to integrate into the West.

Ashamed of Russian, proud of Latin and French, but propping up half the sky of realist literature with the purest Russian; ashamed of Russian traditional clothing, proud of Western clothing, but not able to wear Bragi The girl with the most authentic Russian dance is full of praise and appreciation; she is ashamed of Russia's barbaric dictatorship, proud of the Western enlightenment trend of thought, but wishes that every monarch is Peter and Ye Er; ashamed of Russia's serf village community, Proud of the development of capital in the West, but one after another, Russian consciences sing the elegy of the village community, fearing the pain of industrialization...

This kind of awkwardness and weirdness is manifested at this time. When Western enlightenment scholars lick the East, they think that the more they go east, the more barbaric they are, and they are somewhat proud of themselves that they are not so "barbarian".

"Semi-barbarians" always try to find confidence in real "barbarians".

With this kind of awkward and strange prejudice, when the Earl of Savoy arrived in Zhangjiakou, he thought that Zhangjiakou must be one of the best big cities in China.

The towering Dajingmen is still there, the Great Wall is in disrepair due to the decline of Mongolia and the garrison moving north, and the trading city developed from Gongshi and the tea-horse market is full of people.

Porcelain, tea, brown sugar, medicinal materials, cattle and horses, fur, woolen weaving, etc. meet here.The pungent soot smell that is hard to smell in Russia at this time also occasionally wafts out during lunch.

Crowded crowd, standing on both sides of the road to watch the excitement, probably because of Catholic missionaries, this is not the first time people here have seen people like Rakshasa, so they are not too surprised.

Monks, Taoists, lamas, Confucian scholars, Catholics who occasionally pass by, people of different religions live in harmony here.

Such a prosperous scene may only be in Petersburg and Moscow at this time in the whole of Russia.The Earl of Savoy took it for granted that this is one of the best big cities in China.

Qi Guogong, who was traveling with him, couldn't help laughing when he heard the words, thinking that this might be the most highly rated day in Zhangjiakou's history, and it should be recorded in Zhangjiakou's history.These Rakshasa people are really ignorant.

"If you have a chance, you should go to Suzhou, Jinling, Guangdong, and Zhangzhou. Zhangjiakou is like China, or Astrakhan in your country, and Kiev is not even considered."

Earl Savoy was dumbfounded by this answer, and asked Duke Qi some other things.

The translator was very obedient, and turned over: "Excuse me, count, where is the duke's fief? How big is Qi's fief?"

"Uh... in the whole world, is it the king's land? I have no fiefdoms, and I don't have food towns. Qi is very large and has a population of tens of millions, but it is not my fiefdom, it is the land of the emperor and the people of the emperor." The Duke of Qi thought He asked me what age it was, and asked me the feudal city. In today's world, apart from Emperor Sejong's lineage, how can there be any princes who have really come out of the town?

After getting an explanation from the interpreter, the Earl of Savoy recalled what he had seen and heard on the way to Zhangjiakou, and thought that the Chinese bureaucratic system might be the best system, at least neither France nor the United Kingdom had such an efficient and unified system.

At least for now, bureaucrats everywhere are implementing the will of the above.Qi Guogong does not need to discuss with any local people, but only needs to order, even if Qi Guogong's fief is not here, or there is no fief at all.

This is the dream that Peter Reform has always wanted to achieve, but he still failed to achieve before his death.

When resting at night, Count Savoy recorded everything he saw in his diary.

"Chinese people have no orthodox faith, they are polytheistic idol worship..."

"The town near the capital is very prosperous, and there are strange carps in the pond. Gold, red, white, and even green, they don't eat these strange carps, but use them for viewing. Anyway, these strange carps The carps here are very beautiful, I asked the local officials, they said that this kind of fish is easy to raise, maybe they can be brought back to Moscow..."

"The terrible Chinese eat everything, without any taboos. Frogs, turtles, dogs... But the dishes at the banquet are very good, and their wine is very mellow, perhaps only the wine of Romagna can compare..."

"Chinese clothes are very beautiful, silk worn by rich people. The sleeves are wide, like the sleeves of women's blouses with fat sleeves. Many women's feet are small, like children. It is said that the biggest shame of women is being They saw the feet, so they hid them with a cloth..."

"In some towns, there will be some horses or donkeys at the entrance of the street. If you want, you can pay some copper coins and you can ride. If it is a donkey, someone will lead it in front..."

"After asking, we can know that onions, garlic, radishes, turnips, etc. ripen before Lent; cherries and cucumbers ripen around George's Day; grapes and pears ripen around Semyon. Chinese are good gardeners, Their vegetable production is very high, and the farmland's production is also very high, even unimaginable to me..."

"The meat here is very expensive, much more expensive than in Russia. A hen is about two renminbi, a duck is twice as expensive as a hen, and a bull is about ten taels of silver. Only here did I know a shocking truth." The news is that tea grows on trees, and those tea balls that are popular among the upper class in Petersburg are not even high-class. At least the officials here will never take out tea balls and think that That's what Tatars drink, and what he said made me ashamed..."

"Gems are not everywhere here. On the contrary, the same pearls are three times more expensive here than in Russia. In places like Zhangjiakou, you can easily buy spices such as pepper, silk, cotton cloth, tea, medicinal materials and even gunpowder in the market. , much cheaper than in Petersburg. I don't know what Russian goods can be sold here, perhaps, gems and pearls?"

"The ordnance of the 'citizen shooters' everywhere is not good. Obviously 30 years war level style. You can see bows, armor, matchlock guns... at least here, I don't see flintlocks. Their cannons Many, various calibers, perhaps they compensated for the lack of firepower of the mixed arquebus with the number of cannons..."

"We're going to the capital soon. The weather is fine at night. After measuring, we can know that the latitude of the capital is about [-] degrees north latitude. It's hard to imagine that the latitude here is about the same as that of Rome. It's farther south than Paris and London, but the weather But it is much colder than there. The boys from the Academy of Sciences think that there may be a cold ocean current in the sea to the east. The wind here is very strong, there is a lot of sand, and it is not close to the sea. It is difficult to understand why the Chinese choose their capital here kind of place..."

"Of course, no matter how frequent the sandstorm here is, it is not as frequent as the fires in Moscow..."

"Different animals are embroidered on the clothes of different officials. Cranes, quails, lions, and bears in a strange black and white color. It is said that snakes are sacred animals here. On the clothes of the emperor and in the Forbidden City, there are paintings everywhere. Snakes with legs, and this kind of snake is like a tsar's crown, not for subjects to have..."

"Jesuit Catholics told me that the emperor of China was actually a good Christian at heart, even though he had dozens of concubines, even though he worshiped idols, even though he didn't read the Bible. Perhaps, as long as they are allowed to Continue to open the church, even if the emperor beats the Pope, they will think that the emperor is a kind believer... But the Catholic priests are full of worries about the future, and their beliefs have caused fierce resistance in the local area. A request for negotiation, after all, one of their officials is a young man who is very clear about religion and the European situation..."

"Ask the local judiciary. They think their trial is fair, but in fact it is uncivilized and barbaric. Of course, compared with the Russian serfs, this kind of trial is progressive, but the serfs are not Count people, and they think there are no slaves in their country..."

Before reaching the capital, the Earl of Savoy made a judgment on Dashun with a sneaky attitude: this ancient Eastern Empire is temporarily invincible.Wealthy, large population, no religious conflicts, bureaucrats implement the will of the superiors, any bureaucrats can do what they want anywhere in the vast land.

At least that's how it looks.If the tax law formulated by Peter is followed and fully implemented, including tax payment for wearing long gowns, tax payment for savings, etc., I am afraid that such a huge empire can receive at least 8000 million or even [-] million in revenue. Russia in any case dare not imagine the number.

Of course, the Earl of Savoy also saw something not so glamorous.

For example, unpaid corvée, the mission needed manpower to help feed horses, transport fodder, etc., local officials would conscript some poor farmers on the spot and let them do unpaid labor.

Of course there are many poor people. This time, Dashun did not follow Sui Yang Emperor's "silk wrapping around trees", and beggars would often appear in sight.It's just that these beggars are also very honest, and they will avoid the missions and officials when they see them, at least they will not rush to the missions to ask for alms... Maybe they are afraid of being beaten by officials and soldiers.

Poor children carried wicker baskets on their backs and followed the mission, vying for the horse dung dropped by the mission's horses, and then sent the horse dung to their own vegetable gardens. Some children even got into fights over the horse dung.

Nobles of different cultures have different "elegance", but the suffering at the bottom is always similar.

In another time and space, when Macartney, a true aristocrat who was born in the birthplace of the industrial revolution but never saw coal, visited China, he would naturally not take those beggars, and the London factory area for more money. Contrast that with working a little more and earning a little more money, compared to the pauper who feeds booze and opioids to their noisy own babies in order to be quiet.

The British people will record in their notes the beer bellies of London farmers and the crystal palace that dominates the world to show "the prosperity of the upper country" and "civilization and dignity", but they will not mention a word about the life in the London textile district that can only live for three years. Workers, people who really care, are digging holes with their feet in London libraries.

It's just that at that time, he could still play Tian Ji's horse racing, but at this time, Sava didn't even have the qualifications for Tian Ji's horse racing.

It's not that he doesn't know what Russian serfs are like, and he has no sympathy for these poor people.All he cared about was Dashun's strength, in order to make a bottom-line judgment for future negotiations.

After leaving Mongolia, the bottom line in his heart became higher and higher.Just like what Liu Yu said during the negotiations that day, Dashun is trying to change, and if there is no shortage of money, there will be no shortage of guns and instructors.

In the Battle of Northern Xinjiang, the flying hot air balloons, French-style siege skills, powerful logistics capabilities, and not-so-bad artillery all convinced the Russians that Dashun's military lag was only temporary, and they had already begun to catch up.

This time the mission went south, and Earl Savoy was convinced that what Liu Yu said at the time was not a threat. Regardless of the population or the wealth of the town, Russia should not provoke such a big country, especially this big country has opened its eyes to see the world and knows how to use it. All the more so when they were threatened by the Polish throne, the Crimea, and the Turghut tribes.

After passing Zhangjiakou, it is the official farming area. This year's rain is very good, and the suppression of mergers in the north since the war has also been done well. This is a year when you can't starve to death.

When they arrived in Changping, the accompanying guards were disarmed, and the guns and cannons as "gifts" were temporarily sealed up in the Changping barracks.

This was a rule that had already been established during the border negotiations. Liu Yu changed Nahuang's words a bit, as a rule of equal diplomacy between Dashun and foreign countries under the "world law of etiquette" that has not yet been formed.

"A diplomat who refuses to kowtow three times five times is disrespectful to the emperor. A Chinese envoy to Petersburg should give the tsar the same salute as a Russian title or a high civil official. No monarch will ever treat an envoy as his equal. Can an envoy sent to Turkey not wear the required leather robe when summoned by the sultan? It makes no sense to have an audience with the emperor of China but follow the Russian custom. If the Russian custom is to kiss the tsar's ass , do you want the Son of Heaven to take off his pants and wait to be licked?"

There is no "Son of Heaven" in the world, and naturally there is no "Zhou Ritual" in the world, so we should abide by the rules wherever we go.

In contrast to their strength, the Russians obediently accepted this condition.

Earl Savoy originally wanted to demonstrate his force, saying that the battle in Heilongjiang was not the strength of the Russian regular army. He hoped that Dashun would know that Russia was still very powerful, and would not talk too loudly in the follow-up negotiations.

But the emperor also gave his will: refuse to perform martial arts, and don't even watch it.

All accompanying soldiers handed over weapons in Changping and were not allowed to bring weapons into Beijing.

The soldiers of the Dashun Beijing Camp also selected the most elite group and escorted them along the way.

Those who greeted them outside the capital were Li Jiusi, the Duke of E, who was in charge of the drills of the Beijing camp, and the minister of the Li government, and the young minister of Honglu Temple.

Of course, the emperor would not show up, but sat in the Forbidden City and waited for the mission to go to see him.

When approaching the towering gate of the capital, the children who followed the mission and picked up horse manure along the way with baskets on their backs dispersed in a rush.

Several cannons rang out from the towering urn city, and the embassy walked through the Anding Gate. The Temple of Zhenwu Emperor in the urn city was also filled with incense, overwhelming the priests accompanying the army in the Rakshasa mission.

When passing by the Urn, Earl Savoy felt a little depressed.

After 80 years of war and reconstruction, the city wall of the capital city has added a lot of horse faces. Although it has not formed a multi-layer structure of a bastion, the thick wall foundation still gives people a kind of despair that cannot be destroyed.

Sava was sure that this was not something that cannonballs could blast away, and for a moment he felt sad.

It's hard to imagine that 80 years ago, today's ancestors captured such a city without cannons, and it's even harder to imagine that the city fell into the hands of the Tatars 80 years ago.Being under the city reminded him of Constantinople 300 years ago.

How could such a city fall?
(End of this chapter)