Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 379
Time is just like what the ancients said in the poem, the wind blows the horse's mane in the morning, and the evening wind blows the horse's tail, blowing away the days day by day.

After sending Zhang Jingxuan away, Zhao Xin returned to Beihai Town.Poor guards like Chen Jishan, they can't keep up with Zhao Xin's rhythm no matter what, so they can only stay in Irkutsk this winter.

After mid-October, the weather in the outer northeast became colder and colder, and the howling north wind accompanied by heavy snow fell for several days before stopping.

It was just dark, and hundreds of people walked out of their houses and stood on the cold street, waiting eagerly, as if there was some important event.Among the crowd were newcomers from Beihai Town and those who came from Whale Town to watch the excitement.The French who came after hearing the news, the envoys of the Li Dynasty, and the envoys of the Changzhou Domain who wanted to see Zhao Xin but could not, were also mixed in the crowd.

"Have you heard? The people of Seris want to turn on the lights in the whole city today!"

"What's an electric light? I know whale oil lamps."

"I can't say it well. I heard Captain Deng explain it two days ago, but it was difficult to understand. In fact, many things that the Siris people do here are really dazzling."

Of course the French can’t understand it. The great British physicist Faraday will not be born until three years later. At present, Europeans’ understanding of electricity is only the lightning and thunder in the natural phenomenon. People who like science are still stuck on the Leiden bottle. .

The businessman from the Li Dynasty pointed to the tall lamppost not far away, bowed to Cai Jigong and said, "My lord, I heard that those lamps can be lit without fire!
Cai Jigong said with a look of disdain: "Absurd! Don't use fire, is it waiting to be struck by lightning?"

This Confucian scholar from the Li Dynasty has been in Beihai Town for more than a month. He feels that there are incomprehensible things everywhere in the huge town. Communication, other people are really not enough to talk about it.The most unacceptable thing about Beihai Town is that there is actually a woman as a teacher in the school!

Don't you even care about the defense of men and women?What a deviant!
A few island warriors with Tsukiyo hair and fur coats were inconspicuous in the crowd. One of them, who looked like a leader, asked the people around him, "Matajiro, have you counted them? They set up such a tall pole together." How many roots?"

The entourage beside the leader quickly replied: "234. Mr. Murata and I counted one by one. Originally, I heard that the order would be ordered two days ago, but it was changed to today because the snow has been falling."

At 7:[-] p.m., when the cross-travelers of the power port took a group of apprentices from the technical school to check the transmission lines one by one, and after confirming that everything was correct, as Wu Anan gave the order to "start" on the phone, a person in charge The power plant crowd operating the low-voltage substation then flipped the switch.

In an instant, from the Xila River to the westernmost end of Beihai, all 234 street lamps in Beihai Town were lit up, making the whole town dazzling like daylight.The strangers and the newly arrived refugees were attracted by the light from the street lamp above their heads, and they couldn't help whispering to each other again:
"Damn it! It's so bright!"

"God! It's like the moon, no, it's brighter than the moon!"

"Wow! すばらしい!"

In fact, Beihai Town has been using electricity since its establishment. Whether it is a school, a hospital, a military camp, or even a workshop on the east bank of the Xila River, electricity has long been an indispensable source of energy for the development of Beihai Town.But until today, electric lighting has finally entered the residential community.

Cai Jigong and other members of the Li Dynasty mission looked at the surroundings as if in daylight in astonishment, and couldn't help feeling dizzy and dazzled for a while.After a while, Master Cai let his subordinates help him back to the hotel.

Count La Perouse looked up at the bright white street lamps in the night sky, admiring and excited in his heart, thinking that this trip to Beihai Town was really worthwhile!
Presumably with the records of his own expeditions back to the European continent, people will be fascinated by China in the future not only by silk weaving, porcelain, decorations and tea, but also by the novels, dramas and rituals spoken by the Jesuit priests. I am afraid that the "Chinese Moon" is the most talked about, right?

Based on what he has heard and seen in this month, if anyone says that science is still in the foundation stage in China, the Count of La Perouse will definitely use the big iron ship on the wharf of Whale Bay and the chimney on the east bank of the Sila River Lin Li's workshops refuted.

Perhaps the ancient China, which was still ruled by the Tatars in the south, was indeed in the ignorant era of autocratic dynasty rule, but the northern regime composed of Han people and other ethnic groups was an extremely rich and advanced area.

The abundance of food here is unimaginable, and every newcomer can eat and wear warmly; perhaps it is because of this that the ruler here prohibits the people from abandoning babies.The state apparatus here is powerful, but no one will be arrested for disrespecting the "king".

However, according to Count Laperouse's observation, few people would be disrespectful to Zhao Xin. Those who complained would almost always be despised and reprimanded by their neighbors, and would soon be isolated.

What many old residents like to talk about most is how Zhao Xin took them across the sea to come here, how they went from having nothing to today's tens of thousands of hectares of fertile land.

What surprised Count Laperouse the most so far was that there was no agricultural tax and poll tax in Beihai Town, which seemed unbelievable to him!How does a regime that never taxes peasants maintain its vast military and police system and functioning bureaucracy?Count La Perouse really wanted to ask Zhao Xin for advice.

Two days later, under the leadership of Deng Fei, the French expedition team finally met the ruler who "only listened to his name but not his person". And several scientists were taken aback.

"Your Highness, I am the Commodore of the Kingdom of France - Conte de La Perouse. It is an honor to meet you! On behalf of the entire expedition team and myself, I would like to express my gratitude to you for your glorious achievements in the war against the Russians." Congratulations on the victory."

The three-cornered hat with feathers changed into flowers and turned around with Count La Perouse's wrist, and finally raised high to the right rear. At the same time, La Perouse's right foot stepped back half a step, towards Zhao Xin leaned forward and bowed to pay tribute.

"(⊙o⊙)" Zhao Xinxin said that this posture is too fancy, if you change it, you will definitely not be able to play it.After listening to Deng Fei's translation, he smiled and said, "Nice to meet you, Brigadier General. Gentlemen, there is no need to be polite, please sit down."

In fact, Zhao Xin knows a lot of foreign languages, including English, Japanese, Russian, and a little bit of German, but he doesn't know French.

We must know that in Europe today, French is the common language of the nobility.As an upper-class person, if you don't speak a few words of French in social life, you will definitely be looked down upon.As for speaking German, it is vulgar, and speaking Russian is nothing short of vulgar.Even when chatting with Suvorov, he often popped out a sentence or two in French, which made Zhao Xinzhi roll his eyes.

问题是法语实在太特么难学了！别的不说，光是数字就能把初学者绕晕。1~16都有固定用词还好说，从17开始，法国人就开始自我放飞。17是10+7，18是10+8要是这样也就罢了，等尼玛到了70，又变成了60+10，80是4乘20！这还能不能好好说话了？！

As for the point of English crossing the congregation, whether people in the 18th century could understand English or not, Zhao Xin decided to use only Chinese.

During the conversation, when Zhao Xin learned that these French people had been to Hawaii, he casually said "Hello Ha", which made more than a dozen French people look surprised and said that we didn't go to Maui when we were in Maui. I heard that Chinese people have been here!
The two sides greeted for a while and exchanged gifts.La Perouse and the others prepared a gold-plated clock from the captain's cabin of the Astrolabe, and some sea otter skins they bought in Okhotsk; Zhao Xin gave each other a pack of matches on behalf of Beihai Town , an electronic calculator, a pair of binoculars, a pair of nautical sextant made of brass, and a Han Dynasty-style sword produced by Beihai Town Arsenal.

The nautical sextant and matches are nothing more than the French. The calculator, high-power binoculars and the imitation Han sword made the French full of praise.

How understandable! The 32000-layer hand-folded and forged, sandwiched steel compound, and the eight-sided sword shape of the Han Dynasty covered with soil and burned blades are good for anyone who has seen it.This time and space can only be made by Beihai Town at present.

"Your Excellency, Brigadier General, what do you think of the third level in your country?"

"Huh? Your Highness, you actually know the third level?"

"Oh, I learned something while chatting with Admiral Suvorov."

In front of several civilians or scientists from the bourgeoisie in the expedition team, La Perouse, who was from the hereditary aristocrat, could not use harsh words. He thought for a while before saying: "Your Highness, I personally think that appropriate changes should be made." Yes. You know, I also agree that royal power must be limited, not unbridled. However, in my personal opinion, privileges can never be eliminated. Regardless of the nobles or the third class, what everyone pursues is permanent wealth. "

Zhao Xin nodded, thinking that your brother is both unfortunate and lucky.Had it not been for this expedition, he might have been beheaded by the Girondins.

After all, this time the two parties met for courtesy, and many topics were difficult to discuss in depth.Speaking of the end, Count La Perouse sincerely invited the big iron ship from Beihai Town to visit Paris, and he himself is willing to be the guide on board.Zhao Xin said that he would consider it and invite the other party to his wedding next month.

In other words, whether it is the French, Li Chao, or Changzhou Fan, Zhao Xin has to meet each of these people one by one.Can't see it, especially Li Chao and Changzhou Fan, who just hang on and wait for the rhythm of eating dumplings during the Chinese New Year.

Zhao Xin really had nothing to talk about with Li Chao and his gang. He didn't know anything about Cai Jigong, and he just wanted to show his attitude and finish the job.With this in mind, when he saw Li Chao and his party of five, the other party's unexpected behavior made Zhao Xin dumbfounded.

"My lord, the envoy of the Joseon Dynasty, Pingkang Cai's Cai Bogui, see His Royal Highness Zhao Wang." Cai Jigong led his men to kneel down three times and kowtow nine times to Zhao Xin.

"Please, Mr. Cai. I'm not the emperor, you don't need to do this."

"Your Highness, since you are the empress of Emperor Ming Zhao, you should receive this great gift." Cai Jigong raised his sleeves and stood up, cupping his hands and said, "Huang Ming, China is also the upper kingdom! Although the thing of meaning) is as small as the slightest, if it falls from the sky, it will move a domain and celebrate forever. In the 17th year of Chongzhen, Emperor Yizonglie died for the country, and the Ming Dynasty died in 44 years. Although our country is not strong enough to fight Get rid of the Rong and Di, clean up the Central Plains, and restore the old kings, but all of them can respect the Ming and preserve China."

Zhao Xin smiled lightly and said, "As far as I know, the Manchu Emperor treated you well."

"No!" Cai Jigong said solemnly: "The kindness of the Ming Dynasty cannot be forgotten. In the past, the Japanese invaded our territory, and my Emperor Shenzong asked the world's teachers to help them, and used all the money to provide for the teachers. I restored my three capitals and returned me. Eight roads, my ancestors had no country but a country, my people can avoid the custom of carving inscriptions and flower clothes, the grace is in the marrow, and the eternal life will always depend on the grace of the country.

According to the old ministers of the Ming Dynasty in the present Qing Dynasty, those who benefit our country from the four seas are also exhausted.When my envoys visit the capital, even though they send ministers to welcome them, they are among the ministers, and they are more pleased than the courtiers to feast, and to pay tribute forever. The Ming Dynasty also.However, I take trouble instead of grace, and worry instead of glory.Without him, it is not Chinese!If our national strength is subdued, it is a big country. If a big country can subdue it with its strength, it is not the Son of Heaven whom I first ordered.

The favor bestowed by the Tartars and the edict of exempting them are nothing more than sympathy for the small and distant government in a big country. They are benefits, not what I call grace! "

Good guy!When Cai Jigong said this, Zhao Xin rolled his eyes, but he still understood.What he meant was that the Ming Dynasty had the grace of rebirth to the Li Dynasty back then, so they had to rely on Shangguo forever.Although the Manchu Qing was kind to Li Chao, it was nothing more than a benefit, and it was not the same as the "en" of the Ming Dynasty, so it was "worry but not honorable".

As the leader of the Nanren Party, it is not surprising that Cai Jigong has such an argument.Let alone him, even those ministers of the Li Dynasty who supported the cooperation with the Manchu Qing had the same feeling in their hearts.

In their view, the Man Qing's moralization and favor towards Li Chao were just for the "needs of a dog, horse, pearl and jade" in the future.Sooner or later the Yi Di Tartars would be overthrown by the Han people. The reason why the Manchus were kind to Li Chao was just to prepare in advance for their return to the Northeast in the future.Therefore, the scholar-bureaucrats of the Li Dynasty were always wary of the Manchus. The so-called "respect Zhou Siming" was to remind the government and the public not to be fascinated by the Manchus' "benevolence".

Until now, the scholar-bureaucrats of the North Korean Northern Expedition still believe in the creed of "getting a hundred thousand people with sincerity, driving into the pass, clearing Hanxia, ​​and then it will be spectacular".There are still people among scholars who suggest selecting the children of the middle school, shaving their hair and bearded clothes, making friends with scholars in the south of the Yangtze River as scholars, and doing business in the south of the Yangtze River with commoners, exploring the truth of the Qing Dynasty and making friends with the heroes of the world, so as to avenge the shame of the country.

This can also be seen from the names of the records of Li Chao's missions to China.Those who went to worship in the Ming Dynasty are called "Chaotianlu", and those who went to worship in the Qing Dynasty are called "Yan Xingji". The difference in mentality can be seen.

From Shunzhi to Qianlong, they never imagined that what the Qing court did to North Korea was completely winking for the blind!Perhaps the happiest are the families of North Korean businessmen and officials involved in the "Eight Guarantees Trade".

However, Cai Jigong also has something in his words, what big country is subdued by force, and the gun with the stick means that Beihai Town is now tyrannical by force. If you, King Zhao, really use force to make us submit, we will give in even though we can't fight like before, but we I won't take you, the "King Zhao", as the right one.

These words are meant to scare other time-traversing people, so maybe it will be done, but when Zhao Xin thinks that everything in the "Bangzi Kingdom" in the later generations was invented by them, he can't be enthusiastic about Cai Jigong!

Don't look at Li Chao's favourites, but Ming Dynasty was not enthusiastic about Li Chao's envoys.When the North Korean envoys came to pay tribute, they were initially placed under the monastery, which shows how much they are looked down upon!After the North Korean envoys protested, the Ming court placed him in the seventh class in the east of the court, which is the last seat of the hundred officials.

During the Jiajing period, the Ministry of Rites discovered that the North Korean envoys had purchased books such as "The Unification of the Ming Dynasty", thinking that foreigners could not buy these books, so they closed the door of the North Korean Pavilion and prohibited all North Koreans from entering or leaving.

After King Zhongzong sent someone to ask the Ministry of Rites to open the door, the Ming Dynasty promised to open the door once every five days. Only the envoys and the scribes could go out for a stroll, and the others were still not allowed to go out.Even in the future, there will be no major changes. Without a ticket sticker from the Ministry of Rites, no one can go out.

At this moment, Cai Jigong felt complacent, and felt that what he said was not insincere, what I said almost burst into tears, why are you still not moved?
"Mr. Cai, let me tell you my opinion."

Zhao Xin finally spoke, and Cai Jigong hurriedly said, "Your Highness, please speak clearly."

"Since you think you are a small China, you have said that 300 years of blood sincerity has done a lot, and you have received a lot of kindness. On behalf of all Han people, I would like to express my gratitude. However, you should first return the land you have seized, and everything else is easy to talk about."

Cai Jigong almost spat out a mouthful of old blood, he dared to waste half a day spitting, this one didn't get in at all!

　Completed.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)