Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 246 Li Chao's Visitor ([-])

At this time, the door of the house was pushed open, and two women in their 20s walked in with things.The leading woman was carrying two thermos pots with blue shells, and the woman behind her was holding a bulging bag in one hand and a blue plastic basin in the other.

Li Shangyi's three followers followed behind the woman, and walked in with a bent body.He didn't speak after entering the door, but stood by the door and waited with his head down, but there was something wrong with his expression.

Kong Xiaoyuan was in a fit of anger at this moment, and was about to open his mouth to ask questions, when he heard the two women who came in first say: "Masters, these two blue pots are full of boiling water for you to wash. Please add more water when you pour the water." Be careful, the water inside is very hot." Then he pointed to the blue plastic basin and the bulging bag and said, "This basin is for you to wash your face, and this bag contains six sets of washing utensils and towels. Please wash up and rest, after half an hour, we will take the gentlemen to dinner again."

"Thank you." Li Shangyi nodded, asked how to open the hot water bottle, and finally took out some coins from his sleeve and handed them to the two women.

The two women didn't go to pick it up at all, they bowed and saluted, then turned and went out.

"This..." Li Shangyi shook his head with a wry smile.From top to bottom, this Beihai town is filled with weirdness.

"What are you three killers doing?!" Kong Xiaoyuan and others went out, and then asked in a deep voice.

"Master, I waited for the three of us to be arrested by the local police and brought into the yamen, and they were interrogated before they were released." It was Li Douhuan's attendant who spoke.

"What?!" Li Douhuan was startled, and he quickly asked, "What did you do? Why did the police question you?"

"The little one was just anxious, and couldn't hold it any longer, so he ran to a room to urinate. Unexpectedly, a passerby saw him, and the man started yelling. After a while, the local police came. .”

Li Douhuan asked: "Did the female relatives see you when you were urinating?"

"My lord, no! We even checked on purpose, and there was no one around! Then when the police arrested us, they said 'damage to public health'. Later, we heard that we came with three lords, so we asked to draw a charge." , and led us here to find the master."

During dinner, Liu Sheng and Chen Qingsong heard about what happened in the afternoon, so they came to ask Zhao Xin with their rice bowls.

"Why did you turn against Li Chaolai's people?"

So when Zhao Xingang said "Maushan magnetite with 50 billion tons of reserves", Liu Sheng and Chen Qingsong immediately said "Oh" and looked at each other, which clearly meant "I knew this guy was worthless. ".

"I still haven't said anything, the Tumen River estuary and the Yalu River estuary. We must take these two places."

Chen Qingsong asked while eating the braised pork ribs that Qing He specially made for him, "You don't intend to make Li Chao a vassal?"

"You guys are so naive! These vassals are nothing more than trying to create a cultural gap and improve their status in the East Asian political circle by homogenizing with Chinese civilization." Zhao Xin looked at himself. The green vegetables made by Shen Xuan in the bowl, after thinking about it, took a piece of pork ribs from Chen Qingsong's bowl.

"You mean the island country?" Chen Qingsong asked, taking his bowl off the table.

"That's right, it's just to compete with the island countries and Ryukyu." Zhao Xin took a big bite of ribs and another bite of rice, feeling better now. "I'm not interested in the so-called vassals. I'll let them go on their own. But there's no need to discuss the territorial issue. Whoever owns it belongs to them. If you want more points, you will get one point. If you want less points, you will never agree. !"

"This is right in my heart!" After Liu Sheng finished speaking, he squinted at the few ribs in Chen Qingsong's rice bowl, and continued to ask, "Who will accompany those three North Koreans at night?"

"I asked Pingtai to come forward, and he will take care of this matter." After Zhao Xin finished speaking, he emptied the rice in the bowl in a few mouthfuls, and began to concentrate on dealing with the ribs.

Chen Qingsong noticed Liu Sheng's malicious gaze, so he pretended to be deep, put one hand on the rice bowl and said, "Then when you go south in two days, do you need to go outside Busan Port?"

Zhao Xindao: "It's not urgent. When we take Hunchun completely, it's time to resolve the territorial issue with the Li Dynasty."

"Hey, let me tell you, do you want to eat with your hand on it?" Liu Sheng used chopsticks to pull Chen Qingsong's hand several times, and finally gave up.

"I won't cover it? If I don't cover it, it will be cheaper for both of you!" Chen Qingsong quickly picked up the two ribs in the bowl and took a bite of each.

"I don't think you're dirty." Liu Sheng stretched out his chopsticks with lightning speed, and the pork ribs were already in the bowl.

In a single room in the big dining hall, Pingtai was entertaining three guests from Li Chao. As for their entourage, they were arranged in a single room next door, accompanied by one of Pingtai's men.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. In fact, our Beihai Town doesn't have many rules, but the "Public Health Regulations" must be followed. This, this, defecating anywhere will really be caught, whether it is a local or a foreigner, the law and order The police treat everyone equally."

Faced with a wide variety of meat dishes, a small misunderstanding basically disappeared with a few glasses of white wine.But Kong Xiaoyuan was still not satisfied, why didn't he even have a kabuki?

At this moment, the two businessmen Li exchanged glances, and Li Douhuan got up holding his wine glass and said, "Mr. Zhao, besides the fire starters and cigarettes that can catch fire with just a rub, what other goods are there in your place?"

Pingtai and Li Douhuan clinked glasses and drank the wine in the glasses, and then said: "Silk, sugar, lanterns, glass, including the toilet utensils sent to you by the female worker today, these are all local specialties."

Li Douhuan has traveled all over the world for many years, and his knowledge is quite extensive in this era. He cursed inwardly, "I'm ashamed to say that silk and sugar are special products of this place!" He guessed that these two products were probably smuggled from the Qing Dynasty next door.

Li Shangyi asked curiously: "We have seen a lot of glass today. I don't know what is the lantern?"

Pingtai smiled and said: "You will know in a while, when I go back later, I will give each of the three a lamp."

It is said that since Bitter Leaf Island was able to produce diesel, Zhao Xin asked Zhang Bo to build a special earthen kiln to distill kerosene before leaving.The current earthen kiln can only be used for atmospheric distillation. After the workers are skilled in the equipment, vacuum distillation can be realized; as for plastics, don’t think about it for the time being.

In addition to these, Lee Doo-hwan asked the prices of hot water bottles and some toiletries, and Ping Tai also answered.The reason why he is so enthusiastic is that he just took office is one factor, and the other is that Zhao Xin asked him to find an opportunity to develop an intelligence network in the Li Dynasty.

For the next two days, Zhao Xin never saw Li Chao's visitors again, and he was busy preparing all kinds of supplies needed for going south.Accompanied by the clerks of the trade department of Pingtai and Beihai Town, Li Shangyi and the other three walked around the town.

Because Zhao Xin strictly ordered Li Chaolai's people to be stared at and restricted them from visiting sensitive areas, the three of them could not go anywhere except the residential areas and ports in Beihai Town, which made Kong Xiaoyuan very annoyed.

But just what they saw and heard in these two places already made the three Li Chao visitors extremely shocked but puzzled like they were watching a kaleidoscope.

The first is the Thor in the port. The three of them spent half a day and went to the port to see it again.This time they heard an unbelievable news from Pingtai, that is, the blue and white Thor is made of steel.Li Shangyi and Li Douhuan were so shocked that their jaws dropped to the ground, but Kong Xiaoyuan didn't believe it at all.

Steel to make ships?What about a three-year-old child!Unless let me touch it with my own hands!
Pingtai readily agreed, and led the three of them onto the trestle bridge and up the gangway.As a result, the three North Koreans walked up to two-thirds of the height, and dared not go up without saying anything, it was too high!But after getting off the gangway, Kong Xiaoyuan didn't say anything suspicious anymore, because he had touched the railing of the gangway and the hull, and they were indeed made of iron.

The second is the loudspeakers that can be seen everywhere on the roadside in residential areas.The three of Kong Xiaoyuan were almost terrified to death when they heard someone talking through the loudspeaker for the first time.The three of them and their attendants stood under the wooden pole and listened for a long time, trying to figure out how the person hid in the speaker.Kong Xiaoyuan's follower vowed that he would keep guard until the person in the horn came out.Pingtai and his clerks couldn't laugh or cry because of this move, although they didn't understand the reason behind it, but Zhao Xin had seen too many new gadgets, and now everyone could at most say "wow".After knowing that it has nothing to do with me, what should I do?

The third is the shops located in residential areas.Li Douhuan originally thought that Pingtai was bragging when he said that there were many kinds of goods in Beihai Town, but when he went in and took a look, he was blinded by the dazzling array of goods.As a businessman, Er Li likes this one and wants to buy that one too.It's a pity that this trip was underestimated, and I didn't bring much money.So they went around for a long time, and finally the three of them bought a few small mirrors, a few large packs of matches and ten packs of cigarettes.

Kong Xiaoyuan discovered that Beihai Town was selling Hanfu women's clothing in the store, and almost every woman who entered the store would come to have a look, and then leave with a sigh and reluctantly.As a scholar of an institution of higher learning in North Korea, Kong Xiaoyuan couldn't go to ask because of the relationship between men and women.Finally, Li Shangyi saw it, and asked the shop owner, only to find out that each set of Hanfu women's clothes cost five silver dollars from Beihai Town.

By exchanging things for silver coins, the three of them also saw the silver coins in Beihai Town, and each exchanged a few coins.Erli merchants expressed their approval of the silver content and value of its 925.As a businessman who has been engaged in trade with the Qing Dynasty and the island country for a long time, Li Douhuan is keenly aware that there seems to be a certain correspondence between the silver dollars in Beihai Town and the Douban silver in the island country, and has a vague feeling that there should be something to do in it.

To say that the most shocking thing for the three of them was the hospital in Beihai Town.The day before departure, when the three of them saw the red cross standing on the central square of the town, they thought it was the church of the western red-haired man, so they said to go and have a look.

It is not unusual for Li Chaoren to know Catholicism.As early as 1603, the envoys who returned from Beijing in the Ming Dynasty brought back Matteo Ricci's "Records of the God of God" and the map of Liangyi Xuanlan.But at that time, the scholars of the Li Dynasty still regarded Catholicism as a kind of learning, not a religion.

Last year, in the 49th year of Qianlong, Li Chengxun, who was baptized by Catholicism in Beijing, returned to China and founded the first church of the Li Dynasty. Catholicism has since taken root in the peninsula.At this time, because the scale of the church is not large and there are not many believers, the ruling and opposition parties are just curious.However, when the church starts a few years later to preach that "before God, no distinction is made between men and women, no distinction between high and low, and everyone is equal," the "tragedies" should come into play.

equality?What do you want the scholar-official class to do?
When the three of Kong Xiaoyuan walked to the door of the hospital, they looked at the people coming in and out, pointed to the red cross on the outer wall and asked Pingtai: "Mr. Zhao, is this the Catholic Church?"

Pingtai shook his head and said, "There is no Catholic Church in Beihai Town, this is a hospital."

Kong Xiaoyuan wondered: "Then why do you hang the symbol of Westerners' Catholicism?"

Pingtai quickly explained: "Mr. Kong has misunderstood. This symbol was created by my adults, and it means two blood-stained cross bandages, which represent saving lives and healing wounds."

Just as Kong Xiaoyuan was about to ask again, he heard someone behind him shout loudly: "Fart! Your adults misinterpret Jesus Christ so much, you will be punished by God!"

Everyone turned around and saw a red-haired Westerner with a mustache and a smooth chin, wearing a white coat, glaring at his group.

Pingtai smiled and said: "Doctor Ma, why are you angry? My lord is a saint who descended from heaven, and it has nothing to do with your Jesus God. Besides, you don't have a red cross in Western countries, why bother to call it some kind of cross?" ?”

Father Macarius was at a loss for words for a moment, and stared at Pingta fiercely with his eyes puffed up angrily.Since he came to Beihai Town Hospital at the end of the previous year, he was immediately attracted by the various equipment and medicines of Beihai Town Hospital; the diagnosis method here is completely different from what he had learned before.So Makarius decided to stay and study with Hong Tao, preparing to bring these advanced medical technologies back to China after completing his studies.

However, a priest wandered around the hospital in a black robe all day long, like a ghost, and the female nurses and patients were frightened several times.Later, Hong Tao persuaded him to change into a white coat, saying that you want to learn knowledge anyway, so why should you care about a piece of clothing that is worn outside?So a few months later, Father Ma became "Doctor Ma".

Because he was forced to take a bath every day, his body odor became lighter. At the same time, his beard was shaved off. Dr. Ma, who has white skin and big eye sockets, still received a lot of winks from homeless women.

Kong Xiaoyuan asked Pingtai: "Mr. Zhao, there are still some Western students here? He, he can still speak official language?!"

"Oh, Mr. Kong, this is Dr. Ma, who is from Oros. He is now a doctor in our Beihai Town Central Hospital." In front of Father Ma, Pingtai couldn't say directly, "This is our prisoner." , that would be too embarrassing.In case I have something to go to see a doctor next time, and I catch up with Makarius and show it to me, the revenge will come in minutes!
When everyone heard that he was still a doctor, they hurriedly bowed their hands and saluted.Makarius ignored him, raised his head and snorted, and went to smoke a cigarette more than ten meters away.

Pingtai shook his head, and led the three of them into the hospital gate.As soon as they entered the door, several people from Li Chao found many women wearing white masks and long white dresses shuttling back and forth in the aisle.

Looking at the graceful and graceful backs of each of them, the three visitors from Li Chao were stunned.Kong Xiaoyuan pointed at the backs of those female nurses, and said to the accompanying staff in Beihai Town: "This, this, this is simply shameless, don't you even talk about the defense of men and women?!"

Ping Taihe's clerk looked confused, and said hesitantly: "They all treat everyone. What does this have to do with the defense of men and women?"

"Doctor?" Several Li Chao visitors looked at each other, and thought of a word in their hearts, doctor girl.

The three of them thought that since that Zhao Xin was very clear about the past matters of the territorial dispute, could it be that this person also followed the example of Lord Yanshan back then and brought out a group of medical girls?
Li Shangyi swallowed a mouthful of saliva, and asked in a low voice to Li Douhuan beside him: "Do you think these people are medical girls?"

Li Douhuan shook his head and said: "It's our first time here, we don't know the basics, so it's better not to provoke you."

On the other hand, Kong Xiaoyuan wondered what kind of hospital it was, it was clearly a trick shop!He understands this!

In the morning of the next day, the three guests from Li Chao, who felt that they had gained a lot, finally boarded the ship and returned home with their attendants.

On the way back to the voyage, Kong Xiaoyuan took advantage of what he had seen and heard during the trip and took advantage of his free time to write an article "Journey of Donghu", which was used as a written record of his report to Zuo on his return home.As a result, I didn't expect that this text did not cause much repercussions among the court and the scholar class, but it aroused discussions among the Jingshang Group and Songshang Group.In addition to Er Li's respective companies, other companies also began to prepare goods and ships, ready to cross the sea.

But this is all for later.

(End of this chapter)