I want to be emperor

Chapter 1098 London Concession

Chengshun fifty-one year, spring March, London, Europe.

This capital city of the Kingdom of England has changed a lot from what it was ten years ago. Although the old town in England is still the same as before, there hasn't been much change.

However, the Chu concession area outside the old city presents a modern and even prosperous scene that has never appeared in England.

The Chu concession area in London is one of the many concession areas of Chu in the British Islands... When the Chu Empire invaded the British Islands and dismembered the original Kingdom of England through war, they and The five new countries signed similar agreements.

These agreements include military rights of passage, extra-legal rights, etc., as well as agreements on concessions in various places. Chu people have rented places in some suitable places, mainly for building consulates, military camps, doing business, and living. Used!

To a certain extent, in fact, these leased areas are not very special to the Chu Empire... Because with the strength of the Chu Empire, even if the entire London is taken away, and then used as a directly governed territory or administrative territory All are possible.

It's just that some officials in charge of European affairs in the empire think it's not necessary... It's a waste of time and experience. Anyway, as long as the empire is strong enough, the fate of England will be decided by the empire. There is no need to do so many messy things!

You must know that the Chu Empire has military stationing and passage rights in the Kingdom of England and even the entire European region... In other words, the Chu army can go wherever they want and fight wherever they want as long as they are willing.

Under absolute military deterrence, many things are actually unnecessary.

The reason why these leased areas were still established at that time was actually to provide a good living, business and living environment for the Chu diplomats, businessmen and some adventurers who came to go to Europe to facilitate their travels to Europe... After all, no one wanted to live in London. Not this kind of shit-filled old town.

Therefore, it is necessary to build a place to provide living accommodation for the people of Chu.

This is the reason why the Chu people established concessions extensively in Europe... They really did not want the sovereignty of this place, because if the empire really wanted it, the whole of Europe would belong to the empire... There is no need to use concessions to do so. Make a fuss.

The Chu people were too disdainful to do so... They came to Europe for human resources and markets, not to occupy land.

Against such a background, the Chu Empire's territorial occupation in Europe was actually relatively restrained. It only occupied some good places with convenient transportation and important strategic positions as directly administered territories, such as the Port of Cadiz in Spain, On both sides of the Strait of Gibraltar, Dover in England, Le Havre in France, Lolland in the Danish Islands, Sicily in Italy and other areas and islands.

Then there are some administrative territories, but not many.

Next are the concessions located in the urban areas of various European vassal states... Well, in fact, in the administrative governance model of the Chu Empire, although these concessions did not have sovereignty, they also adopted the administrative territory model in terms of governance and management.

This is how the Chu Concession in the eastern suburbs of London came about... because the London area is still relatively important. On the one hand, Chu people stationed many troops here, and in addition, this place is also an important distribution center for Chu goods entering England.

It was relatively important both militarily and commercially, so the area needed was relatively large... So the area of ​​the Chu Concession in the eastern suburbs of London was relatively large at the beginning.

Later, in order to prevent the local indigenous people from intruding at will, the Chu people also built a separation wall around the concession boundary... and a barbed wire isolation belt. There would be watchtowers stationed at a certain distance to monitor the nearby area and prevent the illegal intrusion of the indigenous people.

Of course, this kind of place will not directly prevent the indigenous population from entering like a directly-administered territory... Instead, like an ordinary administrative territory, the indigenous population is allowed to enter and live, but the restrictions are relatively strict. Under normal circumstances, Only indigenous staff who serve the Chu people are allowed to have business dealings with the Chinese, staff of indigenous commercial institutions who are guaranteed by cooperative Chu enterprises, diplomats of indigenous official institutions, and some people who simply spend money to buy Rich indigenous people with residence permit.

It is still difficult for the idle people to enter the concession of the Chu people!

But even so, there are many indigenous people who want to break into it every moment... Some people enter through some formal legal channels, but if some people do not have legal channels to enter, they will find ways to use some illegal means, such as forgery identity, or simply smuggled in... The patrol police in the concession and the foreign legion stationed there would catch some indigenous people who sneaked in from time to time, and then they would not repatriate them and send them directly to Africa for farming and mining...

Why these natives went to great lengths to enter the Chu Concession in the eastern suburbs of London... There is no very special reason.

The Chu Concession does not fall under the jurisdiction of the Kingdom of England. Many people who break the law in the Kingdom of England will find ways to escape into it to avoid the sanctions of the laws of the Kingdom of England or the revenge of the powerful. In short, no matter who you were before, As long as you can legally enter the Chu concession, people outside can only stare...

Of course, there are still relatively few such people.

Most of them actually come here to make money and yearn for a better life...

Because in the Chu Concession, there are more job opportunities and higher wages. Even if you work as the lowest servant for the Chu people and work in some ordinary low-end factories run by the Chu people, your income will be compared to those of them. For indigenous people, that's quite a lot.

If you still have money, then even better... Chu people are also very greedy for money... As long as you give enough money, a legal residence permit will be issued in minutes, and then you will be allowed to buy local real estate. .

After you settle down here, as long as you abide by the local laws of Chu, no one will do anything to you...

And here, you can enjoy a truly modern life... As long as you have money, you can get a car... Well, although cars are currently in the high-tech category, they are not allowed to be sold to indigenous people for the time being. ...Well, actually, it’s not about cars, but internal combustion engines are still technically controlled products for the time being.

But there is no legal restriction that prohibits using a car as a taxi and taking indigenous customers... So as long as you have money, you can find a car rental company run by Chu people and contract a car for a long time... Same thing You can take a ride in a car and experience the most advanced technological consumer products of our time.

In terms of life, in fact, as long as you have money, you can enjoy a living standard similar to that of the people in Chu... you just have to spend a lot of money.

The same is true in medical treatment. The technological development of the Da Chu Empire is not only reflected in various industrial products, but also in the level of medical technology. Although the current medical technology level of the Da Chu Empire is viewed from the perspective of future generations, it is still It is at a very primitive level, but to the natives, it is almost the same as divine magic.

The rich and powerful people among the indigenous people also want to live longer, and also want to get sufficient medical resources when their family members are sick... and these medical resources are only available in the concession... Although the medical level in the concession is relatively high The medical level in the directly-administered territories is not that good, but it is still a modern medical system.

It also has great advantages in children's education... Although indigenous children cannot go to Chu people's exclusive schools, they can go to some schools specifically for local legal indigenous residents.

These schools for local legal indigenous children, even though the tuition is very expensive, the courses they study are also mandated by the official educational institutions of the empire. In terms of learning, they mainly focus on culture, art, etiquette, etc., while in science, they are some popular science subjects, and some are relatively simple. knowledge……

All the schools for indigenous people allowed to be opened in the Dachu Empire did not offer various science courses above junior high school...

How should I put it? The people of Chu can teach you the Four Books and Five Classics, simple arithmetic, and popularize some basic knowledge of astronomy and geography... but they will never teach you the principles of natural science, let alone how to make iron. Steelmaking and the like.

But even so, the teaching quality of these schools for indigenous children allowed by the Chu Empire to be run by the indigenous people can be compared with the schools run by their own vassal countries... Even some popular science content is extremely valuable.

Also, some of the Four Books and Five Classics, music, chess, calligraphy and painting are also very advanced... If you learn these, you can at least deal with the people of the Chu State, and even find a very respectable job in an enterprise run by the people of the Chu State in the administrative territory. language homework.

Even if you don't work for the Chu people in the future, but you have learned the language and writing of the Chu people, and even read the Four Books and Five Classics of the Chu people... After that, you will be able to understand some of the thinking patterns of the Chu people, and then return to Your own country is a Chu State.

The officials in each vassal country are very eager for these talents from Chu State... Not to mention the government, even the indigenous dignitaries and even ordinary businessmen in the vassal countries are also eager for this type of human beings. Among contemporary indigenous countries, Chu Guotong is still very popular!

After all, whether you like it or not, you have to deal with the Chu people... This is going to be a lot of trouble when you are dealing with the Chu people and you don't even understand what they say or what they think.

No matter how bad it is, you are still quite decent as a translator!

Today's Chu people tend to be arrogant and high-spirited when dealing with the indigenous people. Unless there are extremely special circumstances, they will not communicate with the indigenous people's language and the indigenous people... Even if he can...

In fact, the people of Chu did not despise the cultivation of talents with small languages ​​​​of these indigenous people. In fact, many diplomats sent to Europe basically understand Latin, and a few understand some English, French or German, Italian dialect and other regional languages, or you can learn them after you take office.

Many diplomats serving in Europe often know several European languages.

However, it is one thing for people to understand, but it is another thing entirely for them to tell you or not.

So if those indigenous officials or businessmen want to communicate with the Chu people, you must either understand the Chu people's language, or you have to find a translator...

Therefore, the enthusiasm of the indigenous people to learn the Chu language is also very great... This is not talking about ordinary indigenous people, but some upper-class people, especially the nobles.

To be honest, in today's world where people from the Chu country have so many contacts, you, a noble child, don't even understand the Chu language, so you are just trying to fool around.

The Chu language of the contemporary Chu Empire, or Chinese, Chinese... Anyway, it means the same thing. On the contemporary earth, its status is far stronger than French before World War II and English after World War II.

The Chu people signed various agreements with these indigenous countries, but they never produced versions in other languages. There was only one version, and that was Chinese.

When the Chu people signed a business cooperation agreement with the indigenous businessmen, they only used the Chinese version, not the indigenous language version.

In other words, if you don’t understand Chinese, you won’t even be able to understand the contents of the contract signed with the Chu people!

Not only that, as time goes by, the importance of Chinese in indigenous countries is getting stronger and stronger. When many indigenous countries sign various treaties, they will add a Chinese version and use the Chinese version as a basis to write their respective countries’ treaties. language version.

This is not because Chinese is better or the expression is clearer or something like that... it actually has little to do with the writing itself.

The real reason is that there is a powerful empire behind the Chinese language, and this empire has hundreds of thousands of foreign legions stationed in every key area in Europe.

Guns and cannons are the cornerstone of the Chinese language’s credibility in indigenous countries!

If the Chinese version of the treaty is not used, in the future you two indigenous countries will quarrel because of problems with the treaty, and then when you go to the Chu people to mediate, you will come up with a Birdsong Agreement... and the Chu people will not even know what is written on it. What happened?

When you talk about translation, there will be deviations in meaning after the translation... No one knows whether the translation is accurate or not.

In order to avoid trouble and ensure the accuracy and even consistency of the treaty between the two countries, it is best to sign the treaty in Chinese. No one has any objections. It will also be convenient to find people from Chu for mediation in the future. Once the Chinese agreement is thrown out, the people of Chu will Just look at it and you'll know what's written on it.

Various factors make Chinese appear so special in contemporary Europe!

Similarly, this has also made the indigenous schools in many licensed territories, including sovereign colonies and concessions without sovereignty, very popular among the indigenous people!

The parents of the indigenous people know how to make babies!

For this reason, many wealthy and powerful parents in indigenous countries will pay a considerable price to buy a residence permit and property in the concession, and also spend a high price to send their children to such schools.

In fact, they also want to send their children to a school for Chu children... Unfortunately, they can't get in, even if they spend a lot of money... because the law doesn't allow it.

In all administrative territories, there are two parallel education systems... One is the education system for indigenous children, which teaches some flashy things, including the Four Books and Five Classics, basic mathematics and other relatively basic education, and then adds The main content is advanced chess, calligraphy and painting, etiquette, science and popular science... The original intention was to train some service industry personnel and some low-level industrial workers to serve the Chu people... But now, it has become to train indigenous people. It’s a place for noble talents... That’s why there are such things as music, chess, calligraphy, painting, and etiquette courses, and they are the main courses!

You know, in the Chu people’s own education system, qin, chess, calligraphy and painting are not regarded as compulsory courses, but as elective courses. Whether you like to learn or not, most people in Chu will take qin, chess, calligraphy and painting concurrently since childhood... …But there will be no points added if you learn this thing well, and no points will be deducted if you don’t learn it well, and it will not be included in the entrance examination content...

As for etiquette courses... that's even more nonsense, in the Chu Empire. All formal official educational institutions and normal private schools will not teach so-called etiquette courses!

Only some private girls' schools that raise dogs and sell dog meat, and are nominally training ladies, will set up these special so-called etiquette courses to teach you how to walk, how to sit, how to eat, and how to show your beauty...

No one from a wealthy family will send their daughter to these private girls' schools... Only a few middle- and high-income families will send their daughters to these private girls' schools. However, after graduation, the best job for many people is probably to become A waiter in a high-end service place...

As for marrying into a wealthy family and entering the upper class... it's not such a good thing in my dreams!

The contemporary Chu people's marriage pays more attention to being well-matched... even more than that in the Ming Dynasty.

Even if she becomes the mistress of a powerful person, she is a very lucky few...it is not the turn of ordinary women.

In Europe, some Chu people who wanted to harvest the leeks of the rich indigenous people wanted to apply the model of a handful of informal private girls' schools in the country and toss out so-called etiquette teaching materials for the upper class, but the people who did this also Few people are truly from the upper class and understand the so-called etiquette of the upper class.

So the specific course content actually plagiarized the process of training waiters in some high-end restaurants...and then changed it.

This is nonsense...

In addition to the relatively nonsense education system for indigenous children, there will also be a real educational system in the administrative territory for the children of the Chu people. This is the real education system, no different from the education courses in the directly governed territory... …It’s just that there are only elementary schools and junior high schools in the administrative territory.

Because educational institutions above high school and above are not allowed to be established in the administrative territory... After attending junior high school in the administrative territory, you can only apply for high school or technical secondary school in the corresponding directly-governed territory.

In the administrative territories, let alone high schools, there are actually relatively few junior high schools... Most parents in the administrative territories will let their children finish elementary school with them, but after they reach junior high school, they will often be sent to nearby directly-governed territories. Enrolled in middle school.

For example, parents of Chu people who live and work in Europe usually send their children to Cadiz, the European governor's residence and directly governed territory, to study after they graduate from elementary school.

In addition to the lack of universities and junior colleges in Cadiz, high schools, transit and junior high schools are relatively complete. The degree can also meet the educational needs of the children of Chu people in Europe. After finishing high school in Cadiz, you can directly attend university. Take the joint entrance examination, and then go back to East Asia to go to university.

In this kind of administrative territory, there are two parallel special education systems. It is difficult to say whether they are good or bad...

(End of this chapter)