Xinshun 1730

Chapter 901 The Strange Status Witnessed by the British ([-])
[December 12th.Guangzhou.clear】

The person who vaccinated me was a child of seventeen or eighteen years old.

Like most of the so-called "practical learning" children, he is a person who is out of tune with the scholars around him.

Afterwards, out of gratitude and courtesy, I chatted with him a few words.

He said that he was the worst group of people, so he could not earn a few dollars a month for this kind of work, but it was better than his previous life.

Through chatting, we can know that this is a very standard "practical" family.

His elder brother also studied and served in the artillery of the army. The year before last, he was transferred to the plateau in western Sichuan, where it is said that a counter-insurgency war was going on.

However, the scale of the war was not large, and the court only mobilized a group of elite howitzers.

I asked him what is the reason for studying practical studies?
As I expected, this is a utilitarian nation.

His answer was to have a midday meal at first and the chance to work some decent jobs.Moreover, because his mother can spin yarn, the export trade has been very good in recent years, at least able to support him to study until he is 12 years old-this is a cruel watershed, if he fails the assessment, he will have no future.And the 12-year-old has been counted as most of the labor force, and the family will not support idlers.

He didn't do well in his 12-year-old exams, but he wasn't bad either.At least he was lucky compared to those who returned home.

I tried to ask him if he understood what he was doing, and he explained why inoculation of bean sprouts worked in a strange way that I couldn't understand.I smiled and asked him if he understood?He said that's how it was taught.

Then he gave a very hard-to-refute reason—as an artilleryman, although his elder brother learned trigonometry, he didn't use it in war, and he only needed to memorize the table.

I said, so, why learn it?

He said, that's what Mr. asked.

I said do you like learning mathematics?
He said he didn't like it, but if he didn't study, he could only go back to do hard work, and he didn't even have the opportunity to farm.Because his family has no land at all.

I tried to ask him some chapters of "Mencius", and the poor young man could memorize very few of them.I thought, no wonder people like them are marginal people, even worse than me, a foreigner.At least, I still have my own name and name.

I asked him what his dream was.

He said, work hard, save money, marry a wife.Then, make some money and go to farm that piece of land with four seasons in the southern hemisphere that was pictured in class.

There are no landlords there for the time being, so as long as you have the strength, you can reclaim enough land.

He hoped that before he died, he would have sons and daughters, 100 acres of land, two cows and some horses.

The amazing thing is that this poor man who can't memorize a few chapters of "Mencius" can understand the concept of latitude and longitude, and understand the reversal of winter and summer-they use the capital as the zero-degree meridian, and of course they don't use other places. This is obvious.

This is the content of their general education class. I don't understand the use of these things at all. Even if he hopes to go there, what's the point of understanding the concept of latitude and longitude?

Finally I asked him if he knew where England was?
He memorized a passage mechanically, including our capital, whether there is land access in Europe, and colonies.

And... a very professional vocabulary: black triangle trade.

I said, knowing this doesn't make you rich.

He said yes, but once learned it was hard to forget.Moreover, as soon as I saw me, I thought of triangular trade.

I had to explain to him what the East India Company was doing, which had nothing to do with the slave trade.

I'd rather have him see me.

Or, when you see any British person, you think polite, gentleman, and elegant.But what he thought of was the black triangle trade.

[January 1.Negative.cold.Shanghai. 】

The weather in Songjiang Prefecture is a bit like London, at least in winter.

The company's performance this year will be the same as today's weather.

The company's cargo ship on the pier was still detained, and it seemed impossible to catch up with the monsoon.

On the contrary, the cargo ship of their Western Trading Company is happily assembling the cargo.

Everyone who snatched up the stocks was elated.

With greedy and expectant eyes, they looked at boxes of tea, raw silk, rhubarb, silk, brocade, porcelain, cotton cloth, wood, lacquerware, medicinal materials, and high-end consumer goods.

May a storm make them lose everything.

In addition to those common goods, this time they also assembled some special goods.

For example, a special drug, no one actually knows what this drug is, except that this drug is very expensive and can be very effective in relieving heart pain.

This is a product of the Academy of Sciences, a confidential project led by the Bloody Duke.

Ha, I doubt it, how can a group of people who are dedicated to how to effectively kill people come up with such a thing?

This kind of thing is their monopoly, even if we want to sell it, we can't get it.

In addition, there are some special products, such as clam oil, a high-end cosmetic popular among French aristocratic ladies, which is exclusively for export.

Served in clam shells, it is said to be very effective in moisturizing the skin and preventing chapped skin.

There are also some high-end soaps with various floral scents.Just like the high-end shapes carved by pastry chefs in Suzhou, the main target is the aristocratic market.

In addition, there are dozens of boxes of high-end compressed air pump guns for noble hunting sports.Very stable, more accurate shooting, and there is no danger of bombing or the like.The workmanship is very detailed and the price is very expensive.

It is hard to imagine that 20 years ago, they still needed to import flintlock guns from France. Twenty years later, they have begun to export exquisite noble hunting firearms.

When I first came to Guangzhou, local officials could be bribed with a few pieces of glass.Now, using glass as a bribe will only provoke the fury of the officials, who consider it a lowly humiliation and look down on him.

Obviously, what the Bloody Duke said was correct.Technical exchanges can lead to explosive advances in technology.

This is exactly what is so scary about him: every word he says is true, correct, not a lie.But behind every truth he said, his real purpose was hidden.

What he said was true, and the reality has proved it. The company really needs to consider the unprofitable next step after technological advancement.

But, how do you know if this is also in his calculation?
From the docks, they're trying to maximize the size and variety of their merchandise.

This makes me feel the ridiculousness of the Duke, the view of national wealth he claims, and everything he does, just like the difference between the gray bishop and the white knight.

Even if competition is liberalized, it is impossible for the company to monopolize tea.This is likely to require a huge amount of capital.

Besides, they are the producers. As a senior official, the Bloody Duke can quietly keep us from getting the tea we want.

But it's not hopeless either.

Parliament should seriously discuss the issue of tea tariffs, as long as the tea tariffs are removed, the company can still solve the problem.

The people in the shop didn't know the time of my return, and they didn't send a carriage to pick me up.Fortunately, there is mature rail transportation, and I paid copper coins. In the crowded carriages from the pier to the city, I heard the most discussions about trade from these Chinese people.

Twenty years ago, the word stock didn't exist, but now everyone in the car is talking about it.Not even the hooves of the horses pulling the cart could cover up their discussion.

When I was about to approach the city, I finally heard these people in the car discussing things other than stocks, profits, capital, and rates of return.

They were discussing a translated Chinese novel that was very popular in Jiangnan market recently.

"Moore Flanders"

In fact, Daniel Defoe's best-selling novel is Robinson Crusoe.However, in the Jiangnan market, the book did not become popular.

On the contrary, this "Moore Flanders" is very popular.

I tried to understand why the people in the south of the Yangtze River did not love Robinson Crusoe as much as those on the streets of London who dreamed of going to sea to make a fortune, but I was not able to understand the reason for this difference.

As far as I know, there are two different editions of this Moore Flanders.

It's like they have two kinds of "Romance of the West Chamber" in China.

In one book, there are such things as the embroidered shoes just half removed, the waist hooked, shyly refusing to lift his head, and only putting the mandarin pillow next to each other... and putting a white handkerchief on it beforehand, and taking out the white handkerchief dyed red afterwards to observe, Chun Luoyuan Yingbai, Zaojianhongxiang is a tender version.

One is "Hui Zhen Ji", which can at least be read generously.

The same is true of Moore Flanders.

One is a translation that is basically faithful to the original.

The other is the so-called "additional" edition.I have reason to believe that the translation of the extra version is likely to be a group of people who followed the shameless duke in the Netherlands to engage in tabloids.

In fact, it was the latter version that led to the book's popularity.At least, it seems to me that this is the case, the real original is not read by many people.

Perhaps, this is a novel form for novels in China: it is completely unfolded from the perspective of a woman, and describes her life that disgusts me in the way of a woman's self-report.

And this form of self-reporting from a female perspective provides a good opportunity for those who add fuel to the story.

How did this woman who was born in prison go down step by step, prostitution, gambling, cheating, stealing, marrying, and one of her husbands is her half-brother... Taking advantage of the female perspective, she The psychological depiction of step by step towards depravity is very subtle.

Coupled with the details that many people love to see, the description of the slowly degenerate mentality is undoubtedly an important reason for the success of this book.

For example, for the first description, we will actually use very obscure words—and the translator who was faithful to the original book only used four words, women’s [last privilege]—but the other version does It took four pages and a lot of onomatopoeia to describe.

This is not the content of the original book at all.But because of this "Luoyang paper is expensive".

But the discussion that took place in the carriage today was very interesting.

Some people say that the woman in the story is simply as human as possible.It's not a good book to end up with a plantation and enjoy your later life.The ending should be rotting to death in a brothel.

But some people objected that this is like "Water Margin", according to the rules, this world will be hopeless.Although this woman has stolen, cheated, and married countless times, isn't it because this is the only way for her born in prison to change her destiny?Otherwise, does a woman born in an English prison have the slightest chance to play the piano, speak French, dance, and wear beaver fur?And what brought her mother to prison?Doesn't her mother want to live a good life?

Those who supported the two parties developed insults to each other in the carriage.This makes it hard for me to imagine, because after reading an obvious book that should be strictly banned, with too much ink on the bed and posture, and profane, I will have such political emotions after reading it.

Originally, it was only because of the book, but in the end it developed into many problems caused by the women in Songjiang Mansion because they were self-sufficient in weaving.

But in the end they didn't fight.

Because someone came up to sell newspapers, and some news related to futures prices, everyone began to let go of their differences and discuss speculation in a harmonious manner.

It seems that making money can make up for a lot of differences and animosities.

Yes, the Chinese just took away the colony that the Dutch have been running for more than 100 years. Didn’t the Dutch cooperate with the Chinese after turning around?

Phew, shameless Dutchman.

[January 1.Negative.cold.Shanghai. 】

The envoy did not get permission to meet with His Majesty the Great Emperor.

The court of Dashun gave a very diplomatic reason: the court was busy with the canonization of the general king of Japan.

The shogun of Japan was old and decided to give the seat to his son.It stands to reason that this is only a matter of their own country, or even the shogunate itself.

But with the previous war against Japan, everything changed.

The Dashun Empire does not interfere with its internal affairs, but legally requires the canonization of the Great Emperor.

This is not the same as our political system, but in my understanding, it is more like a monarch recognized in the federal system, and the vassal states are more like governors who are self-selected and the suzerain state cannot interfere.

In the Tianxia system, China is the land of kings, and Japan is a vassal after the war against Japan.

Fortunately, we came out of the five servers.It's Yi Di.

Therefore, in view of the relationship between closeness and distance, the imperial court has no time to deal with us now.

The emperor even thought that it would be like killing a chicken with a bull's knife if such trivial matters were left to be handled by Duke Xingguo.In fact, this is entirely within the purview of the magistrate of Xiangshan County.

The minister stayed in Yangzhou Mansion for a few days, and the accompanying officials of the Li government were also busy with Japanese affairs. Perhaps the emperor had some secret instructions—the minister was even refused to offer bribes.

It seems that the emperor has no intention of dealing with us at all.Or, because of our opium trade, in the eyes of the Great Emperor, we are criminals not worth communicating with.

So the envoy had to go back.

"The Chinese haven't closed down the embassy in Tianjin or the business houses in Songjiang Prefecture. And the French business houses haven't bought firecrackers to celebrate, at least not yet. I think it's worth celebrating."

Mr. Minister laughed at himself after seeing me.Oh, the French.

I can only tell him the process of my meeting with the evil duke.

All.

Including the Evil Duke privately enticing me to steal tech, promising me enough pounds.On the one hand, it's out of my patriotism; on the other hand, I don't think he's looking for me alone.

In good conscience, his promise of sterling will indeed appeal to most people.

But I know that what he wants cannot be obtained by me alone.

The safest way is to go through the normal channels and get permission from the parliament.I only take what I'm supposed to, and that's enough.

After listening to my report, Mr. Minister and I scolded the duke for his shameless and improper means.Swearing until our vocabulary doesn't say a gentleman, even the Irishman would be ashamed of the language so dirty.

But after scolding, we don't know what to do.

For the British Kingdom, such humiliation should not be endured.

But for the interests of the British Kingdom, such humiliation had to be endured.

I firmly believe that they have no evidence that we are directly involved in the sale of opium to China.

But the envoy didn't think so. His Majesty's Imperial Guard, his Children's Guard and Secret Police, completely controlled the merchant ships docked in the port.They could lay out two hundred chests of opium if necessary.

If planted, Congress would just dissolve our company, not start a war because of us - fighting for Jenkins' ear, we're getting Central America, at least it looks like we have a chance.But is there anything we could theoretically gain by fighting over opium?
[January 1.Negative.cold.Shanghai. 】

I had a long discussion with Mr. Minister last night, and I didn't go to sleep until early in the morning.But at seven in the morning, someone woke me up.

The translator conveyed the meaning of a certain official. On February 2th, there will be the last convoy of merchant ships heading to Europe.The Chinese side asked us if we wanted to go back with the ship to some people, and clarified the issue.They said very "kindly" that we can send people to board their merchant ships for free, and even if they go to India, they can change in Ceylon.

The parliament needs the opinions of those of us stationed in China, and the company's board of directors urgently needs our first-hand intelligence.It appears that we have until February 2th to reach a consensus.

I should cooperate with the Minister to write a simple but clear report on China's investigation, in order to let the animals in the House understand the real oriental world.Hopefully their heads, not much bigger than a baboon, will make the right judgment.

(End of this chapter)