Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 665

Well, the man wearing the straw hat is naturally Zhao Xin, and the strong man behind him is the captain of the guard, Chai Rugui. As for the woman and the big yellow cat, needless to say?
Zhao Xin happened to have nothing to do this afternoon. He has been busy in Bacheng for so long, and it was rare to relax, so he sent Chai Rugui to the port to buy some seafood from the fishermen, and took A Miao and Duofu to the beach for barbecue.Because this place is located in a military restricted area, no one usually comes here, so A Miao let go of her restraint.Unexpectedly, not long after the beginning, they met Luo Fangbai and the other four.

Although Luo Fangbai is a hero, he was born as a scholar after all, and he still cares about things like "see no evil".If the other party was a Javanese native, it would be normal for him to not wear shoes or even show his arms and legs; but the woman had a fair face and a pretty face, and she was wearing a Hanfu. leave.

At this moment, Zhao Xin turned around and whispered something to Chai Rugui who was behind him, Chai Rugui immediately got up and walked over, stopped Luo Fangbai and the other four, cupped his hands and said in a low voice: "Look at the clothes of the gentlemen, they must have just come to Bacheng ? Our officer has nothing to do today, so we found this place to rest. If you appreciate the honor, the officer will be very happy!"

As soon as he spoke, the four of Luo Fangbai were taken aback, especially Wu Yuansheng and the other two subordinates were in a daze.Only Luo Fangbai was stunned and comprehended, and then he cupped his hands and said slowly in jerky Mandarin, "Thank you for your kindness, but I'm just here for the first time, and this place is a forbidden area, so I'm afraid it's inappropriate."

Here is an explanation.Wu Yuansheng and the other two are Hakka people from Guangdong, and they also speak Hakka on a daily basis, so it is like listening to heaven for Chai Rugui's northern dialect with a Henan accent.Luo Fangbai is different. As I said before, he has a reputation as a scholar and has participated in many provincial examinations.

Since ancient times in China, due to dialects with different accents, language communication between provinces has been extremely difficult, especially for those who work as officials across provinces.According to the Qing palace archives of later generations, from Shunzhi to the early days of Yongzheng, most of the officials who came to the capital to meet the emperor could basically understand their communication. Only officials from Guangdong and Fujian made the emperor very confused. With translation.

The problem is that the imperial power in the Qing Dynasty was highly centralized, and all major military and political affairs were never left to others.When the monarch and ministers talk about things, they are accompanied by an interpreter at the same time, which not only wastes time, but also is not conducive to keeping secrets.So in the sixth year of Yongzheng, a decree was issued, saying that most people in Fujian and Guangdong did not know the official language, so that local officials must discipline them, but those who did not know the official language were not allowed to be sent for examination.

Therefore, if Luo Fangbai wants to participate in the provincial examination, he must work hard on the northern Mandarin to express himself fluently, otherwise he will not even be able to enter the Guangzhou Gongyuan.However, Luo Fangbai has been away from the mainland for 20 years, and his daily communication is entirely in Hakka, so his speech is extremely jerky and his speech speed is very slow.

Chai Rugui smiled slightly, pointed to the castle not far away and explained: "There are soldiers on duty there, as long as you don't go to the fort, it doesn't matter."

Only then did Luo Fangbai realize that the other party was an official from Beihai Town, no wonder he dared to play in the forbidden area.But even though the other party didn't know him, he kindly invited him.Moreover, the person who came over had a calm and measured manner, a heroic face, and a graceful speech.Luo Fangbai is also a person with a bold temperament, and to evade it is just pretending to be coy.

Furthermore, Luo Fangbai's hometown, Shishanbao, was an army station in the Ming Dynasty, and the folk customs favored martial arts. Although he was born as a scholar, he also practiced martial arts since childhood.Seeing Chai Rugui's walking posture and demeanor, he concluded that this person is a master of martial arts, and he became acquainted with him.Thinking that he was going to cling to that King Zhao, he just took this opportunity to inquire about it, so he said: "Old Luo Fangbai, whose name is Xiaochuan. He has been operating maritime trade in Pontianak. This time he listened to someone's advice and came to Ba The city wants to import some goods. Thank you for your kindness, may I ask your surname and name?"

Chai Rugui cupped his hands again, and said in a clear voice: "My family's official surname is Liu, taboo is Sheng, and the character is Tui. Now the Bacheng Military Management Committee is working." After saying that, he gave up his hand and led the way.

When the four people walked over, Zhao Xin had already stood up to meet him, and they realized that this man was very tall, not to mention Luo Fangbai, even Wu Yuansheng, who had a strong figure, was a head short.Such a height is basically unique in Fujian and Guangdong, Luo Fangbai immediately concluded that this person must also be a northerner.

Luo Fangbai bowed deeply to Zhao Xin, and said in a deep voice: "Luo Fangbai, a businessman from Kundian, pay homage to Mr. Liu! This is my sworn brother Wu Sheng, and the other two are the guardians of the villain's family." He then used After explaining the Hakka dialect to Wu Yuansheng and his subordinates, the three of them bowed together to salute.

After listening to the other party's obscure northern mandarin, Zhao Xin regretted asking Chai Rugui to call them over.But things have come to this, he can't say anything more.So he took off his straw hat, cupped his hands, and said slowly, "You don't need to be too polite, I don't have those stinky rules under the Qing rule in Beihai Town. It's rare to sneak in today, and this place is not the office, let's meet as friends, casually it is good."

Although Zhao Xin didn't understand it very well, he got the general idea. Knowing that the old man's surname was Luo, his brows twitched.However, when he saw that the other party's hair and beard were all gray, he thought that the old man must be at least sixty or seventy years old, so he didn't think much about it.

In his understanding, although Luo Fangbai is 55 years old this year, but this person is in a high position, rich as a country, and he doesn't take supplements casually, so why is he not so old?
However, Zhao Xin still overlooked one point. The ancients said that worry makes one grow old.Since starting up with Lan Fanghui and becoming the current "Lan Fang Company", Luo Fangbai has been dealing with various forces for more than 20 years. Calculations, conspiracies, and wars are non-stop, and the fate of millions of people depends on him alone. It is precisely because of this that various mental illnesses after self-importance also follow.

Later generations always refer to Lanfang Company as the "Lanfang Republic", but it is not a country.Although Lanfang Company has exercised the functions of public affairs management, and assigned special personnel to take charge of military, taxation, judicial, education and other matters, initially taking the form of a country, but Luo Fangbai's education has determined the upper limit of his ambition.His highest ideal in life is to be a vassal attached to the Central Plains Dynasty, even if he is a feudal official, as long as he can honor his ancestors.

So so far, Lanfang Company is just a Chinese club that uses force to separate one side.From this point of view, no matter what worries the underworld bosses have, Luo Fangbai will not let them go, and only a little more.

On the other hand, Zhao Xin, although he can't avoid all kinds of calculations, but after all, there are helpers from another time and space to share the various affairs of Beihai Town for him.For example, Chen Qingsong is fully in charge of civil affairs; Yu Deli is in charge of ideology; Hong Tao and his wife are in charge of medical care; Zhao Liang is in charge of industry, Zhang Bo is in charge of oil; With his perverted ability, there are really not many things that can trouble him every day.

In addition, Zhao Wangye eats all kinds of expensive supplements produced in Beihai Town every now and then, and uses the top men's skin care products in another time and space, and does regular maintenance every year; so don't look at this product. From the outside, it looks the same as when I first came to this time and space.

Luo Fangbai couldn't help but secretly marveled at Zhao Xin's young age, polite speech and no official airs.To be honest, he had never seen such an official before, and he couldn't help feeling a little more fond of Beihai Town in his heart.

A Miao, who had already put on her shoes on the side, had already opened up a few mats placed under the parasol.Unexpectedly, as soon as the first one was set up, Duofu occupied one without hesitation, squatting on it and looking up at the fragrant food on the grill, ignoring the few visitors.When Luo Fangbai saw it, he couldn't help but stroked his beard and laughed.

Zhao Xin doesn't drink alcohol, so he only has good green tea here.After everyone was seated, they drank tea and chatted first; gradually, Luo Fangbai's Mandarin became more fluent, and the content of his conversation with Zhao Xin also changed from the customs and customs of West Borneo to the war between Beihai Town and the Dutch.

"I wonder how your department will deal with the situation in West Java after your victory over the Dutch this time?"

After chatting with Luo Fangbai for a while, Zhao Xin already saw that this person was knowledgeable and knowledgeable, so he said casually, "If it were an old gentleman, how do you think we should deal with it?"

"Your Excellency, are you testing me?" Luo Fangbai put down his teacup, twitched his beard and meditated for a moment and said, "In my opinion, I should knock a mountain to shake a tiger, and use the opportunity of a big victory to intimidate the barbarians in the West. I dare not do anything wrong. This time when the Dutch retreated, Beihai Town ordered the Javanese vassals to pay tribute. Since then, I, the Chinese, have a long-term ambition, which can be described as very satisfying."

Zhao Xin smiled slightly and said: "But I have heard Zhao Wang mention before that he intends to suppress the Sudanese states, and take Java and even the thousand islands in Southeast Asia into the land of China. Isn't it better to change the summer with barbarians? The vassal came more thoroughly. What does the old man think?"

Luo Fangbai's heart trembled suddenly, and the hand stroking his beard couldn't help but stop. The other party actually told such an important military event to an outsider, what did he mean?
He turned his face and looked at Zhao Xin with eyes as deep as Gujing.This young man has just realized that now, although he speaks politely, there is an indescribable bearing in his words, which makes people feel majestic and difficult to offend.Luo Fangbai is very familiar with this breath, because he is such a character himself, but the confidence in the other party's words is beyond his own reach.Reminiscent of some rumors about that King Zhao, an unbelievable thought suddenly rose in his heart.

Thinking of this, he shook his head in self-deprecating way: "My lord, I am laughing at you. How can this old man understand these important military affairs. King Zhao's grand plan, with his ambitions for the world, is a figure like Zhu Hongwu of the former Ming Dynasty. The old man went to Nanyang back then. In order to earn millions of dollars like Tao Zhugong, one day he will return to his hometown and glorify the lintel. Now that the old man is half buried in the loess, he is old and has no interest in these things of fighting for world domination."

"Haha. Mr. Luo, Mr. Liu disagrees with Mr. Luo. Cao Cao has a saying, the old man has a strong ambition, and the martyr is in his old age, and his ambition is endless. What's more, in your Pontianak, an old man said similar things. I I was very happy when I heard it.”

While talking, A Miao brought over grilled shellfish, fish and shrimp, etc. on a plate.She smiled at Zhao Xin, then carried Duofu to the side, picked the grilled fish with chopsticks, and fed it little by little.Duofu was extremely satisfied with his meal, and he couldn't stop wagging his tail.

Since Wu Yuansheng couldn't speak official Chinese and couldn't understand it well, he drank several cups of tea and felt very boring.At this time, the seafood on the plate smelled strange, and he couldn't help but move his index finger.At this time, it was already dusk, and he was already hungry, so he picked up his chopsticks and started to eat heartily.

Luo Fangbai also ate a few mouthfuls with his chopsticks at Zhao Xin's grand invitation. He is old and pays attention to cherishing blessings and nourishing his health. Although the seafood tastes delicious, it is right for who. You must know that the most indispensable thing in Pontianak is this stuff.

Seeing that Wu Yuansheng wiped all the food on the plate in a blink of an eye, Zhao Xin asked with a smile, "I still have crocodile meat here. I wonder if this brother is interested?"

Luo Fangbai said don't ask, maybe you got this thing from hunting in Kajiang.It's just that he couldn't think of how Beihai Town preserved the meat so that it wouldn't spoil.He immediately told Wu Yuansheng in Hakka dialect, but the other party immediately applauded, saying that he hadn't eaten it yet, only the Dayaks said it was good to eat.

Seeing this, Zhao Xin asked A Miao to take out the marinated crocodile meat from the portable refrigerator on the ground and put it on the grill.It was only then that Luo Fangbai and the others were surprised to find that after opening the small white box, gusts of white cold air came out.Moreover, the crocodile meat taken out by the other party was cut into pieces, and various sauces had been spread on it, and they were sealed in unknown transparent bags.The woman first cut open the transparent bag with scissors, took out the crocodile meat inside, and put it on the grill with a black clip.

This is too luxurious!
Although Luo Fangbai and Wu Yuansheng are wealthy, their knowledge is incomparable to those of the Lianghuai salt merchants or those in Guangzhou Shisanhang. They never thought that someone would make ice to store meat in the hot Southeast Asia .

It is said that the ice used in the Qing Dynasty was all natural ice. Because of the hot weather in Lingnan, well water has always been used to store meat, but it only lasted for two or three days at most.This is especially true for Southeast Asia, which is close to the equator.

Luo Fangbai took a sip of hot tea, collected his thoughts, and continued the topic just now. He asked Zhao Xin, "I have lived in Xinbutou for a long time, and I don't know there is such a person? What did he say?"

At this time, Zhao Xin had learned from the previous conversation that the old man surnamed Luo in front of him was not yet 60 years old, and he already had some concerns in his mind. He put down his chopsticks, took the handkerchief from A Miao, wiped the corners of his mouth, and smiled slightly. Said: "Old man Mo Dao is no good, his lips are like thunder!"

"Oh? Hahahaha~~" Luo Fangbai laughed loudly. He didn't expect that the other party had read his early poems, and he couldn't help but feel the light on his face.

"Your Excellency was talking about that elder brother Luo from the same clan." Luo Fangbai cupped his hands at Zhao Xin, with a somewhat proud and proud expression on his face.

Zhao Xin squinted his eyes and said with a smile: "Mr. Luo knows that Brother Luo?"

"I've only met a few times. Speaking of which, the old man recognizes him, but he doesn't recognize me!" Luo Fangbai laughed a few times, and then said to Zhao Xin: "I wonder what my lord thinks of that Brother Luo?"

Zhao Xin said calmly: "This person was able to quell the barbarians in six years, open up thousands of miles, and achieve such a great career in the land of Xipo. Whether it is courage and scheming, he is really rare among my Chinese characters. Human beings deserve the words 'name lasts through the ages'. It's just ha ha."

Luo Fangbai was very surprised to hear that the other party thought of him so highly, and felt like meeting a confidant.But then he heard the other party change the subject, so he blurted out and asked, "But how?"

"In my opinion, our big brother Luo's knowledge and vision are still a bit poor. He only respects fellow villagers in Jiayingzhou and Tai Po, but excludes Chinese from other places. Affection."

"This!"

Luo Fangbai thought that the other party would say that he did not establish himself as a king, and even sent someone to vassalize the Qing Dynasty, and was planning to tell his difficulties.Who knew that the other party actually said these things.He was about to defend himself when Zhao Xin continued:

"West Borneo is big, but the Chinese companies only know that the party is the same, and they are hostile to foreigners. Today the Cantonese beat the Hakkas, and tomorrow the Zhangzhou people beat the Cantonese. Blood flowed into rivers for several gold mines, and even cut grass and roots. It just made the Dutch and the native sultans laugh. The old Zhang Hengqu had a saying that people are my compatriots, and things are my own. Living in the wild overseas, don’t those compatriots who speak different accents have to be hated by bandits? Excuse me. Mr. Luo, what should we do if the gold mine is exhausted? Should we kill the other party's territory and then rob it?
Although that big brother Luo is the rooster Xi Po, how does he treat those Chinese laborers who have the same idea as him at the beginning?The reason why everyone went to Nanyang and endured various diseases is to let the family live a good life.However, let them bear the usury that they can't pay back for several years or even their entire lives; then use opium to confuse their minds and paralyze their spirits; use tin coins and lead coins to exploit their labor income, just to make a few people wealthy ?Such a hero, let alone worth mentioning. "

With a "stab", a few drops of fat oozed from the fatty crocodile meat and fell into the charcoal fire.Drooling Wu Yuansheng suddenly felt that needles could be heard all around him. He looked back at Luo Fangbai in surprise, and said in surprise, "Brother, why are you sweating all over your head?"

(End of this chapter)