Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 372 The Smelly French Expedition

Zhao Xin did what he said.Since Ivan Jacobi has the guts to covet Heilongjiang, he should be prepared to have his claws cut off.

In fact, after he learned how the Northeast was gradually eroded by Tsarist Russia in another time and space, he hated Tsarist Russia and the Qing Dynasty to the core.This is why he insisted that the Northern Navy must go out of the country and occupy the entire East Siberia.Of course, this is also related to his understanding of Tsarist Russia's trade policy towards China.

After the rise of mercantilism in the [-]th century, Europe experienced two periods of early "moneyism" - that is, the period of using currency as the standard to measure national wealth, and the "trade balance theory" of developing industry and foreign trade.

Although the British Industrial Revolution had already broken out at this time, it began to transition from mercantilism to classical liberalism.But the old empire of Tsarist Russia is still in the era of mercantilism.

Starting from Peter I, Tsarist Russia’s trade policy toward China was based on the theory of trade balance.As of 1784, the year before Qianlong stopped the trade in Kyakhta, the transaction volume between the two parties exceeded 608 million rubles (the silver content of one ruble is 28 grams), and the tariff was as high as 140 million rubles, accounting for the largest share of Russia’s foreign trade. 9% of the total.

In the history of another plane, the Russians were able to sell even Alaska due to the defeat of Crimea. Zhao Xin felt that as long as the trade can be resumed and surpass the previous level, the capitalists of Tsarist Russia will taste the sweetness, and the lack of Eastern Siberia will also nothing.Moreover, he wants to get Alaska directly through this time.

Don't say that there is no spare inch of land, the hands of the emerging bourgeoisie in Tsarist Russia have already been bloody, as long as they have money, who needs the soul?

Besides, the strategic focus of Tsarist Russia during this period was not East Asia, but Central Asia and Poland.From Catherine II to her great-grandson Nicholas I, they dreamed of drinking horses in the Mediterranean Sea and planting the double-headed eagle flag in Constantinople until the Crimean War was defeated.

After the Northern Navy completes the strategic encirclement of the Manchu Qing Dynasty and occupies the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains, will it be possible to have a foothold in the land in Central Asia?Zhao Xin felt that there was a lot to be done about this matter, and it was beautiful when he thought about it.

Regardless of the extreme coldness of East Siberia, Lake Baikal freezes very late, usually not until January every year.After Liu Sheng and his second group of troops arrive, the Northern Navy will divide its troops into two groups, occupying Kyakta all the way to the south and occupying Irkutsk all the way to the east.

During the stay in Shangkhnyudinsk, after Zhao Xin got in touch with Beihai Town, he learned that the first batch of 3000 immigrants from Beihai Town had set off from Xingkai Lake and their destination was Heilongjiang City.

For the past six months, Chen Qingsong has been in charge of agricultural development in Fuldan City, while Wang Yuanfang has been in charge of the army, so Deli is currently in charge of the daily administrative affairs of Beihai Town.

In addition, he also learned another thing, that is, there have been several waves of guests in Beihai Town recently, and it is very lively.Among them were those from the Qing Dynasty, the Li Dynasty, the remnants of the Tiandi Hui Party who were chased by the Qing Dynasty and almost had nowhere to escape, those from the Changzhou Fan, and even a French fleet.

Let's talk about the French fleet first.Their purpose is the simplest, which is to explore.

The expedition consisted of two ships, the Astrolabe and the Compass, both three-masted sailing ships of 114 tons, with a total of [-] crew members.

Count La Perouse, who led the team, led an expedition around the world three years ago under the orders of King Louis XVI and Marquis Castries, Minister of the Navy.The expedition's goals were to complete James Cook's exploration of the Pacific Ocean, correct and improve maps of the region, and establish trade links and open new sea routes.

They set off from the western French port of Brest on August 1785, 8.The accompanying crew included an astronomer-mathematician, a geographer, a botanist-physicist, three natural scientists, and three painters.

The Count of La Perouse's fleet went around Cape Horn and went to Chile, and then he went to the Hawaiian Islands, Alaska, California, Macau, Manila and the Korean Peninsula. , visited Jiang Tenglin, the township stationed here by Beihai Town.From this, it is known that Ezo Island, Kuye Island and the four southern islands of the Thousand Islands are all the territory of Beihai Town.

So they had to stop their expedition plan to Kuba Island, went north to Okhotsk for a circle, and then returned to Odomari.After some pleading and back-and-forth communication, Beihai Town agreed to their visit; after all, Liu Zheng had a good relationship with the French in the first half of the year in the Thirteenth Bank.

As an aside, the Count of La Perouse's full name is Francois de Gallo, who fought against the British in North America during the Seven Years' War and defeated the British frigate in the West Indies , was promoted to brigadier general.He was also the first European to land on Maui, Hawaii.To commemorate him, later generations named the crater on the front of the moon after La Perouse.

In the history of another time and space, according to eyewitnesses, the fleet of Count La Perouse probably ran aground in the Solomon Islands in 1790, and the survivors were massacred by the aborigines on the island.The survivors then built a small boat to leave the island and have not been heard from since.

From the time the French arrived at the sea five kilometers south of Beihai Town, they were stunned one after another.

First of all, the pilot boat sent from Whale Bay aroused great curiosity among the French sailors.There is no special small pilot boat in Beihai Town, so the 4000-horsepower tugboat Zhao Xin bought with Jinglei was used as a pilot boat.

Not to mention the French, few people in the world have seen such a ship in this time and space.Seeing the rumbling tugboats without sails or paddles effortlessly dragging the Astrolabe and the Compass towards Whale Bay, the Frenchmen on the two ships immediately restrained their contempt for the Orientals. .

When they entered Whale Bay, their eyeballs and jaws were even more shocked.The cranes made of thick logs and steel, the reinforced concrete trestle, and the three-story port management office all shocked the French for a long time.

Count La Perouse and the scientists on board were naturally welcomed by Deng Fei and his party, but when the sailors disembarked, something embarrassing happened to the French.

When a French sailor approached the carriage to pick them up, he suddenly felt a tightness in his stomach, so he looked around hastily and found a gray pillar like a log not far away.This guy rushed under the pillar in three steps and two steps, and was about to take out the tool to solve the "three urgent problems", when a very sharp whistle came from behind.

A short stature security policeman wearing a red armband let out a whistle and shouted, "You will be fined ten yuan for defecating anywhere! Pay for it!"

Holding on to the cement pole, the sailor with a happy face thought to himself what is this oriental man talking about?No matter, wait until I finish draining the water.

"Hey! It's against you, how dare you continue to pee!" After that, the security policeman took out the handcuffs, and handcuffed them to the sailor's wrist holding the guy with a "click".

The French sailor was so frightened that he cried out, "What are you doing? What law have I committed?"

The little security guard pointed to a small house painted light blue behind the sailor and said, "The toilet is right there, why don't you go pee under the telephone pole, are you a dog?"

The noise alarmed the Earl, Deng Fei and others who were waiting to set off.Fortunately, Deng Fei's French is not bad, so when the Earl and his party found out what happened, they all showed great curiosity. Several accompanying scientists even went to the public toilet to experience it for themselves. After coming out, they gave a thumbs up and praised, saying Beihai Town is really too civilized and advanced.

As soon as the others heard it, they lined up to experience it.

The reason for this is to talk about the public toilets in France in the eighteenth century.In fact, in Europe in this era, let alone public toilets, not many people can own private toilets.

The famous Versailles Palace had no public toilets at all, and the courtiers had to solve the problem on the stairs or in the corridors. Generally, vases or fireplaces were the best choices for them to hide.It is said that when the female family members of the Palace of Versailles want to be convenient, they will type a code word "I will pick some flowers", and then go to the garden to solve it.Anyway, people have a lot of panniers and skirts to cover them, so they won't be exposed.

There are a lot of people in the palace, so there is naturally a lot of excrement and fart, what should I do if the vase can't fit in the garden?The royal family's approach is very simple!The Palace of Versailles stinks, go to the Louvre, the Louvre stinks, go to Fontainebleau, Fontainebleau stinks, the Palace of Versailles has been cleaned up, and then move back to live.

So don't be envious of Rococo. Behind the gorgeous, slender and brisk court furnishings, there are traps full of feces and farts, and "landmines" are everywhere.

And the "private toilet" of ordinary people is their own toilet bucket, and after that, they just carry the bucket and pour it out of the window.Even when Louis XIV made a private visit in his micro-service, he was poured a little boy's piss on his head.This habit of throwing feces and urine out of the window lasted for several years, and it was not until Louis XVI couldn't bear it when he came to power that he issued a ban.It was a pity that the effect was minimal, so the king also took a step back and said that it was allowed to fall, but you had to shout "Gare à l'eau" (Gare à l'eau) three times to make sure that there was no one downstairs before you could fall.

Gradually, the common people stopped pouring out the windows, because they found that they could pour in the suburbs, and they could also pour in the Seine River.

In this time and space, the streets of Paris are full of feces and water, and even the Seine River stinks to the sky.Papa built a high ground on the outskirts of Paris, and he could climb up the city wall of Paris by stepping on the dung pile. The king had no choice but to raise the city wall of Paris.

It wasn't until the mid-nineteenth century, when poor urban sanitation sparked a massive cholera, that Napoleon III decided to build Paris's sewer system.

So you understand why the French are so surprised. They have never seen a public health facility like Beihai Town all over the world.

Afterwards, Deng Fei paid a fine of 10 yuan for the sailor, and the Frenchman boarded the carriage and was taken to a hotel in Whale Town next to the port.As a result, as soon as the Frenchman entered the hotel room and saw the furnishings in the room, he immediately shouted again.

The Earl of La Perouse was extremely shocked. He didn't expect that the people of Seres were so developed that even showers and toilets were connected to the room.

The reason why Deng Fei didn't take them to Beihai Town to settle down was not because he was afraid of revealing any secrets, but because these people were really stinky!Even the Count La Perouse hadn't taken a bath for more than half a year, and he sprayed a lot of perfume when he disembarked, which almost stumped Deng Fei who was shaking hands with him!

Deng Fei was busy receiving the stinky French in Whale Town, while Yu Deli received Li Chao's envoy in Beihai Town.

Li Chao's envoy group was much larger than last time, with a total of more than 20 people; apart from Li Shangyi, Li Douhuan and Kong Xiaoyuan who came last time, the leader of the group was a civil servant named Cai Jigong.

The 68-year-old Cai Jigong was born in a southern family, and now he is the leader of the Li Chaonan People's Party.

Eight years ago, after Hong Guorong, the power minister of the Li Dynasty, fell from power, because the atmosphere in the court was unfavorable to Cai Jigong, he was afraid that he would be liquidated by the opposition, so he ran to Myeongdeok Mountain near Seoul and hid for eight years. He didn't go to the post either, and was not called back to the court by Li Yu until the beginning of this year. He was originally asked to serve as an envoy for peace, but Cai Jigong was extremely supportive of the alliance between Li Chao and Beihai Town and volunteered to be an envoy to Beihai Town.

They came here this time under the entrustment of the King of Korea, Li Yi, and wanted to rediscuss with Zhao Xin the ownership of the southern foot of Changbai Mountain and the land south of Jiangyuan, as well as resolve the long-term occupation of Jeju Island by Beihai Town.

In fact, ever since the news of the Northern Navy’s occupation of Ninggu Pagoda reached Li Chao, Li Zhen couldn’t sit still anymore; after all, what Zhao Xin said to Kong Xiaoyuan made Li Zhen angry enough back then.

Now that the Northern Navy has occupied Ninggu Tower, Hunchun will soon become its possession, so that the territorial issue cannot be avoided.Back then, Li Chao played a trick with Dai Qing and invaded a large area of ​​territory, but Zhao Xin pointed it out.If you really refuse to admit it, rather than being trampled on the ground by Zhao Xin's troops, it's better to admit it first.

As Zhao Xin's plenipotentiary, Yu Deli and Cai Jigong had a cordial and friendly conversation.

Cai Jigong first expressed King Li Zhen's congratulations to King Zhao for conquering Ninggu Pagoda, and then recalled the history of friendship between Ming Dynasty and Korea in the pre-Ming Dynasty.After expressing some emotions, I went straight to the topic.

"My lord, the attitude of our King is that if Beihai Town goes south to expel the Manchus, our country will fully support it in terms of manpower and material resources. However, regarding the land south of Jiangyuan, can we wait a little longer? ? Our country has invested a lot of manpower and material resources there, and has been developing it for more than 70 years. If we withdraw, where will the settled people go? How can we say that our country is also the suzerain of Ming Dynasty!"

Yu Deli's answer was straightforward: "Mr. Cai, let's put aside the issue of suzerainty and vassal. We don't intend to compromise on the issue of territory. The south of Jiangyuan and the southern foot of Changbai Mountain were cheated by you and must be returned. .”

Cai Jigong talked badly, but seeing that Yu Deli didn't want to enter, he proposed to wait for Zhao Wang to come back in Beihai Town to continue the conversation, Yu Deli was noncommittal, and said to him, are you waiting for him?Hey, there will be a good show to watch then.

However, the reason given by Li Chao is very strong. He is carrying the letter of credence, so he must present himself to the king of Zhao.But the actual situation is that there are too many types of goods in Beihai Town, and Li Chao and his group are all dazzled.Although everyone stayed in Beihai Town and did not leave, the ship carrying the goods had already gone back and forth.

　I've been busy at get off work recently, I got off work late, and the update is not very good.Feel sorry!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)