Daming 1805

Chapter 144 In Quebec
August 34, Taiping [-], in the northeast of the French colony of Yinzhou, Quebec City.

The Sixth Squadron of the Third Fleet of the Xintianfu Huangzhuang Navy arrived at the city of Quebec along the St. Lawrence Estuary.

Quebec's name, from the language of the local Yin people Algonquian tribe, means "the place where the river narrows".

The St. Lawrence River has indeed narrowed here, and with the Orleans Island in the mouth of the front, the shape of this area is like a throat.

Quebec is also the entire French colony and the Great Lakes region, and even the Mihe River Basin to be connected later, which is the northeast outlet of the entire Beiyinzhou water network.

Therefore, Quebec is known as the Gibraltar of the Yinzhou continent.

Although this is suspected of being exaggerated and boastful, this city at the mouth of the river port is indeed very important.

Quebec will be the first large city Ming accepts in the northeast of Yinzhou.

French troops and officials stationed in Quebec, despite being notified half a month earlier, are urging residents to leave these days.

France, like Portugal, wants to take as many immigrants as possible.

Quebec in France is much more convenient than Rio in Portugal, and across the St. Lawrence River is the French colony.

There is also the existing Quebec Bridge over the St. Lawrence River.

The Quebec Bridge in history is a famous negative teaching material in engineering.

In the 1850s, local residents were eager to build the bridge. In 1887, local businessmen established a bridge construction committee, and the bridge started in 1900.

In 1907, the bridge was about to be completed, but the bridge suddenly collapsed on the eve of the ribbon cutting, killing 75 workers.

Construction on the bridge resumed in 1913, and another major accident occurred in 1916, when a support member ruptured, killing 13 workers.

The bridge wasn't finally built until 1917.

Most of the people who originally hoped to build the bridge are no longer there, and the bridge building committee has been established for 30 years.

The Quebec Bridge in this world started construction more than 100 years earlier than in history.

Both the bridge and the local residents were lucky. The bridge was successfully constructed and put into use quickly.

At the same time, France does not want immigrants to come into contact with Ming people, so as to avoid unnecessary conflicts and unpredictable consequences.

The atmosphere of public opinion in French colonization is not much better than that of British America, and it is also sitting on the string that is about to break.

But neither the officials nor the local residents expected that the Ming troops would come so quickly.

There are still a large number of residents stranded in the city.

Some residents are simply slow to move, but there are also many who are unwilling to leave.

The reasons for not wanting to leave are two extremes.

Some refused to leave the place where they lived for a long time, and opposed France's cession of their land.

Some fantasize about becoming citizens of the Ming Dynasty, and they don't want the French to force them to go to other places to reclaim wasteland.

When the fleet carrying the flag of Ming Dynasty sailed into the port of Quebec, the busy and chaotic port slowly came to a halt.

Whether it was people who were leaving, people who refused to leave, people who didn't want to leave, everyone stopped.

Let's look at the exotic ships that came from afar.

But they also reacted quickly, and the chaotic discussions became one.

"It's Daming's ship!"

"They came to drive us from our home—"

"My house, my field, everything I have is here, no one can drive me away!"

"I'm going to petition the officials of Daming to ask them to allow us to stay!"

"Don't surrender to Mingren, we should fight!"

These discussions did not affect the actions of the Ming people.

Daming's ship slowly stopped on the pier and lowered the gangway.

More than 300 army soldiers from a division quickly walked down the gangway with rifles on their backs, and ran on the pier to spread out.

Check the surrounding situation, drive away the crowd who are too close, and after controlling the situation at the pier, line up on both sides of the road.

When the people of Ming Dynasty were in the agricultural era, their average height was no disadvantage compared with other countries in Thailand and the West.

During World War I, the Beiyang government sent 14 Chinese laborers to Britain and France.

Britain and France have the impression that they are all strong men, which is completely different from the American impression of short Chinese workers.

Because most of the Chinese workers who went to the United States to repair railways were "piglets" who were sold out, and they were extremely poor people who could not survive.

The Chinese laborers requested by Britain and France were "fine and strong" selected from the Shandong area with the cooperation of the Beiyang government.

The British recorded at that time that some of the Chinese laborers could be over six feet tall, which is 183 centimeters.

Many old photos left at that time show that many Chinese laborers were taller than British and French soldiers and officers.

This shows that before industrialization, batches of "strong men" taller than Europeans could already be found in the East.

This shows that there is no difference in the physical basis between the two sides.

After all, the number of 14 is enough to form ten divisions, and it is impossible for British and French soldiers to look for short men.

In other eras, if there is a gap in the general physical fitness of the two sides, it should be mainly due to the nutritional gap caused by the standard of living.

And the Ming Dynasty in this world has been the first to industrialize for more than 100 years.

It also controls the grasslands in the north of the mainland, the Nanyang Islands, the Tiannan Continent, and the grasslands of Nanyinzhou.

Before the war started, the standard of living of the normal working class in Ming Dynasty had far surpassed that of farmers in the agricultural era.

It was the continuous consumption in the middle and late stages of the war that caused the living standards of ordinary people to continue to decline.

But Xintianfu is different.

The new Tianfu Huangzhuang is the "retreat" of the imperial family of the Ming Dynasty, and the welfare benefits received by ordinary people here are leading in the world.

There are basically no extreme poverty groups, and there are very few extremely wealthy groups. Moderately wealthy families account for the vast majority of the entire society.

Even ordinary Yin people, as long as they are not stuck in the old forest and can't come out, as long as they are willing to work for Huangzhuang, they can eat enough and wear warmth.

The education they received made them generally understand that their current good life came from the special care of the emperor.

Only in this way can we ensure that when the emperor runs to Xintianfu, he can be directly accepted by them and continue to be emperor in Xintianfu.

Xintianfu controls the southern Yinzhou prairie and the great plain, and the supply of grain and meat has long been in a state of oversupply.

This kept their standard of living basically unchanged due to the war.

Their motivation to defend the current good life is very strong, and their desire to seize more land for the emperor and Huangzhuang is very strong.

The soldiers of Nanyinzhou Xintianfuhuangzhuang were all born in the middle class.

He grew up eating enough meat since he was a child, and was screened for a round when he joined the army.

So the soldiers who come out now are basically tall and strong young men.

Their minimum height is 1.7 meters two, and most of them are above 1.7 meters five.

When they stood on the pier, they were obviously taller than ordinary locals. Few of the French people around were taller than 1.7 meters.

The key point is that these soldiers were born in Xintianfu Huangzhuang. In theory, they are the personal soldiers of the emperor of the world empire. Before disembarking, they all put on gorgeous military uniforms similar to Jinyiwei Feiyu uniforms.

This made the spirit of their entire team significantly different from that of the local French.

Colonial immigrants on the French side are either poor people who cannot live on their own, or speculative small businessmen,

There was already a gap in image and temperament between them and the soldiers of Huangzhuang, coupled with Daming's strong culture, this further widened the gap in psychological perception.

Many men in the colonies feel ashamed when they look at these Ming soldiers.

Many women looked at these soldiers in a daze.

The previous discussion voices have also obviously disappeared a lot, and many people who shouted to fight are now mostly afraid to speak out.

The soldiers of Ming Dynasty stood in a row on the pier, without any unnecessary movements.

A few more people got off the boat.

The first is the military officer, Chen Shaohong, the governor of the town, and Zhu Guangjun, the governor of the army.

After the Renwu Dynasty, Emperor Shizu reformed the military governor system, changed the position from a special appointment to a fixed position, and greatly adjusted the authority.

The permanent governors of all troops above the sentinel level are mostly appointed by distant clans and relatives, and the emperor directly accepts the order of the commanders above the station level.

The warlord is responsible for the supervision of military discipline, regularly gives ideological and cultural lessons to soldiers, and is responsible for dealing with civilians and officials when performing tasks.

Under normal circumstances, the Overseer is not allowed to interfere with the battle command, but when the officer issues an obviously unreasonable order, the Overseer can stop and take over the army.

However, the military governor must be relieved of his post afterwards, and he must explain to the Military Aircraft Department and the Clan Mansion alone, file it and report it to the emperor.

Then there is the captain of the West Factory, commonly known as the stall head, Lu Liang, and several officers under him, commonly known as Fanzi.

Emperor Shizu reduced the scale of the court and gradually abolished the eunuch system, and the inner court used widowed strong women to do chores.

Foreign servants are not eligible to enter the court, nor are they eligible to be eunuchs.

Everyone in the Dongxi Factory has long been normal people.

The governor is in charge of military occupation, the warlord is in charge of temporary civil affairs, and the stall head is in charge of under-the-table affairs.

They are the smallest team the military can take over a city.

Several people stood on the pier and looked at the surrounding buildings and scenes. Chen Shaohong said with emotion:

"Oh, the scenery in this place is not bad, but it's too cold. It's already August, why is it still so cold? It's only in the early ten degrees. Xintianfu seems to be over twenty degrees..."

Overseer Zhu Guangrui said with a smile:

"Old Chen, you are used to it in Nanyinzhou, and it will be August [-]th soon, so the weather in the northern hemisphere is not cold.

"And here is 46 degrees north latitude, which is as north as Crane City (Qiqihar).

"If you have to compare it, it's actually much warmer here than in Daming. Do you know what Crane City looks like at this time?"

Chen Shaohong immediately reacted:
"That's right, we used to be in the southern hemisphere, but here is the northern hemisphere. It's almost winter in the northern hemisphere, and it should be getting colder and colder."

The two of them were chatting here, and the crowd around them also moved.

A middle-aged man in a priest's robe led a group of people to the pier in a panic.

The acting mayor of Quebec, Bishop Jeffrey of the Archdiocese of Quebec.

When Da Ming's fleet entered the Quebec dock, Jeffrey received the news.

But something got stuck, so he arrived at the scene a little late.

Jeffrey ran to the bottom of the boat, bowed his hands to Chen Shaohong and the others, breathed heavily, and said hello in quite standard Daming dialect:

"Jeffrey, the acting mayor of Lower Quebec, kept the generals waiting for a long time..."

Chen Shaohong directly took a step back, stretched out his hand and waved it in front of his nose, with a very disgusted expression.

Zhu Guangrui didn't back down, but he bent his fingers slightly to cover up his mouth and nose.

The two didn't deliberately humiliate this time, the two of them really smelled.

Some soldiers who have been on the boat for several days without taking a bath don't smell so strong.

Jeffrey was suddenly embarrassed, and quickly took a step back.

I was mainly exercising before I received the news, and I was even more nervous after receiving the news, and then ran all the way again.

I was sweating all over before and after, and the smell came out directly.

Jeffrey didn't think there was anything wrong with the actions of the two Ming military officers, but he quickly tightened his arms and apologized cautiously:

"Reckless, reckless, several Ming generals, please forgive me..."

Chen Shaohong didn't want to talk nonsense with him, so he pointed to the immigrants in the distance and told Jeffrey:
"There is nothing to talk about between us. Tell those who want to leave to leave quickly. This place belongs to us now."

Jeffrey said helplessly:
"Yes... we know, but... some people have lived here for many years, and every family has a lot of things, and they don't want to leave..."

Chen Shaohong kept a straight face and didn't speak, but Zhu Guangjun immediately yelled back, and the yelling was so loud that the surrounding soldiers could hear:
"No matter how long you have lived here, can you live as long as the ancestors of the Yin people? The Yin people were all wiped out by you.

"It is already magnanimous for our Highness to let you leave on your own.

"The other side of the river is your territory, and there is a ready-made bridge on the river, giving you three days to cross the river.

"The handover of Quebec City must be completed before the fifteenth day of the eighth month of the Ming calendar.

"We're now starting to take in city agencies and military installations."

Jeffrey could only nod helplessly and agreed:

"Okay, I will, no matter what method I use, I will let everyone leave as soon as possible..."

In this way, after the two parties met, they took out the documents to confirm each other's identities, and they were ready to officially start the handover of the city.

In the process, there were some disturbances in the crowd not far away.

Zhu Guangjun looked up and found a group of Frenchmen in Ming costumes trying to rush into the circle surrounded by Ming soldiers.

Of course, the soldiers didn't let them in, so they put their rifles sideways and blocked them with force, while yelling in their mouths:

"Back! Back! Or we're going to shoot!"

Zhu Guangjun thought about it for a while, and called a few guards to follow him to have a look.

When the Frenchman over there saw Zhu Guangrui approaching, he immediately stopped struggling, and the soldiers also stopped blocking.

Before Zhu Guangjun opened his mouth to ask, one of them shouted in very non-standard Daming dialect:
"General of Ming Dynasty, we don't want to leave here, we want to continue living here."

Zhu Guangjun's tone was quite gentle, but in fact he said very coldly:

"I'm sorry, you are French citizens, so you are not under our control, Daming, we can't force you to stay."

Immediately someone shouted:
"We are not French citizens, France will not give us citizenship!"

Zhu Guangjun continued to explain his refusal, saying:

"Then you are also residents of the French colony, according to the peace treaty signed between Daming and France, we have no right to decide whether you will stay or not.

"Also, even if the French didn't take you away and allowed you to stay, you can only get the right of residence in the local vassal state."

There was silence on the other side for a while, and then someone shouted:
"The right of abode is also fine!"

"I am willing to stay if I have the right of abode!"

"The right of abode in the Ming Dynasty is also better than that in the French colonies."

Zhu Guangjun still said the same thing:

"We need to abide by the peace treaty signed with France. You are still under the administration of the French colonial government."

The crowd on the opposite side began to beg again, and only the right of abode was willing to stay.

But Zhu Guangjun was completely unmoved.

In fact, Zhu Guangjun himself did not object to leaving a group of Xiyi as low-level workers. At least Xiyi was much more useful than black slaves.

But His Royal Highness the King of Food, who is in charge of these matters, is not interested in this.

On the other side, Chen Shaohong, the governor of the town, and Lu Liang, the chief of the West Factory, also followed.

Chen Shaohong said with a dry smile:
"Overseer, the details of our peace treaty with the French are not important at all.

"We want to leave a batch of Xiyi to work for us, and they dare not gossip at all.

"I remember that Xichang needs this kind of people. The image of our Daming people is too different from that of Xiyi, and we can't do many delicate tasks."

As Chen Shaohong spoke, he glanced at Lu Liang, who shook his head with a smile and said:
"Thank you Chen Zhenfu for your kindness, but they are not the people we need most in the West Factory, and you can find many of them casually.

"But if you want to do fine work for the West Factory, they are not qualified, and their temperament is too easy to be seen."

Chen Shaohong is now interested:

"This kind of heart is not qualified for our Daming, so what kind of person can get into the eyes of your West Factory?"

Lu Liang casually explained:
"First of all, you can't be a 'Minghua element', it's better to be an ordinary person in Xiyi.

"But I may be depressed, I may have suffered a lot of wronged in their society, it is better to have some ability.

"They are still thinking in the way of Xiyi, but they will work for us Ming."

Chen Shaohong frowned and shook his head, saying:

"Your work is too complicated. Even if there are such people, there is no way to simply screen them out."

Lu Liang smiled and said:
"So don't bother the general, let the West Factory do this kind of work by ourselves."

(End of this chapter)