Lu Ming

Chapter 602 Crowley's Fantasy Journey ([-])

Long before Batavia sailed, William Sr. had prepared two suits for Crowley.Old William knew that if he wanted to cultivate this old friend's nephew, he had to establish a relationship with a certain force.

Old William was convinced of this.Relying on this, he himself has changed from an old mercenary who chewed tobacco and worked for others to become Mr. William today, a respected wealthy businessman.

So William Sr. paid great attention to detail.

Ever since, Crowley dug out the two sets of simple clothes that he had never worn from the suitcase.

"Very well, now we go into town, with clothes and parchment."

"Is that the parchment I thought?"

"Yes, there were people at the banquet who cared about it, I saw it yesterday."

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It is very convenient to go to Fort Hongji from the pier.After disembarking, there was a thin, brown and black Annan slider driver in a neat orange vest, waiting for passengers.

Since Crowley came to the East, he has sat on sliders in many countries and city-states, and their shapes are similar.So he and the old William hired two pairs of sliders naturally, and entered the city one after the other.

The wharf is very close to the west gate of Hongji Fort, only 300 meters away, just within the best coverage of the artillery fire at the head of the city.

But what caught Crowley's attention was not the cannon at the top of the city, but the cinder road under his feet.

The cinder road mixed with gravel is black and smooth, leading from the pier all the way into the city.Sitting on the slider and looking around, there are several similar cinder roads leading inland to the east of the pier.On the road, there are endless streams of Annan people pushing small carts, pushing black coal into the cabin along the ramp.

"Uncle William, is it cold in Ming Dynasty? Why is the port exporting coal in large quantities?"

"It's not cold, at least it's not cold in Macau and Dayuan."

Crowley's question is a bit esoteric. How could the old William of the seventeenth century have a cognition of the relationship between industrialization and coal.After thinking about it, Old William finally gave an ambiguous answer: "Maybe it's because of the munitions factory and the mint. The earl needs a lot of muskets and cannons to maintain the security of the territory."

Crowley turned his head again, glanced at the huge coal transport team, temporarily suppressed his doubts, and accepted what Old William said.It's just that he made a small modification in private: "It's not about maintenance, it's about expanding the territory."

Soon, the slider team came to the brand new west gate of Fort Honji.

Today's Hongji Fort, at least on the periphery, is already a formal Ming-style city.The city wall made of red bricks is majestic and heavy. Even if the artillery on the top of the city is not counted, it gives people a sense of solidity and security.

As usual, there are troops guarding the city gate, and there are quite a few of them. Sandbags and wire fences are all available, and the combat readiness is obvious.

The reason is still caused by the slow transmission of information in this era.

Although the contract was signed in the capital Thang Long Mansion not long ago, there was a process between the signing and the entry into force of the treaty, which resulted in the Annan people still not withdrawing their troops. After the defeat in the last brief fight, the Annan people were immediately transferred from the front line of Zhengjiang No less than three armies with a total of about [-] troops were deployed on the outskirts of Hongji.

There are many people entering and leaving the city gate, and the interrogation at the gate of the city is also very strict.

Generally speaking, it would be very difficult for the local aborigines to enter the city.It is very convenient for Ming people to enter the city, because everyone has a certificate.

Regarding documents, ordinary people have stamped and coded hard paper cards, while old Williams have A-level passports with cowhide covers produced by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Class A passports are rare and are issued to certified Dutch, Portuguese and Spanish prostitutes.The content on the passport is not much different from that of later generations, especially the color headshot photo, which is quite vivid.

Old William, who holds an A license, easily took Crowley into the city.

Considering military reasons, the total area of ​​Hongji Fort is not large, which is convenient for construction and defense.In fact, Hongjibao is not even comparable to many small counties in Daming.To be precise, this is a large barracks.

After Crowley entered the city, he saw the inside of the castle at a glance.

The entire Hongji Fort is divided into 4 functional areas: barracks, ordnance, storage, and administrative area.The interior of the city, which is neatly divided, is all separated by straight cinder roads, which looks simple and clear.

"Brand new castle."

When he said these words, Crowley suddenly realized one thing: since he came to Hongji Port, the roads he saw were all neat and clean, and there was not a single piece of rubbish on the ground ,
Not to mention the feces and urine that fill the streets like London.

You know, this is a busy port.He came to East Asia from the UK and saw too many port cities along the way, but none of them could be as clean and tidy as the living room of his own home.

Realizing the problem, Crowley said with emotion: "Uncle William, the owner here likes to clean the courtyard, a respectable oriental way of thinking."

Old William laughed loudly: "This is just a crude colonial site that we just got. When we get to Dayuan, you can see the real paradise on earth! Oh, my God, forgive me, the kingdom of heaven is actually inhabited by yellow-skinned people East Asia!"

While speaking, Old William poked the bearers on the back with his cane, pointing them to the administrative district.

Old William, who is very familiar with the time-traveling forces, even if he came to Fort Hongji for the first time, he also easily found the standard supporting facilities of a city under a certain force: a bathhouse.

Naturally, Crowley would not refuse the service of taking a bath.

Now it is the 30s, the trend of thought of the Renaissance is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, the mainstream thought in Europe is already transitioning to pragmatic capitalism, and the set of dirty life concepts in the Middle Ages are being questioned and discarded by people.

Not to mention in Hongji, since Crowley came to the scorching South Asia, he has taken a bath frequently.

The Dutch in Batavia have long been on par with the officials in terms of urban sanitation, and several new bathhouses have been built in the city.

Some things cannot be blocked, even if the traversers strictly control the way of knowledge transmission.

The Dutch were one of the smartest populations in the [-]th century. They lived in Dazuo for a long time, and watched Dazuo Castle turn into a bustling city step by step in the hands of traversers. They saw with their own eyes that there had never been any epidemic diseases in this city. .

During this process, the red-haired people have already guessed about how to prevent the black death and dysentery among the people living together, and about the connection between public health and large-scale infectious diseases.

Even if Dongshi imitates it, it can have a very powerful effect.This is a bad time, a little attention to public health, the city can get a good return.

The boiler room emitting black smoke provided clean drinking water and bathing water to the administrative area around the clock.After Crowley and the others dismissed the bearers, they entered the bathroom door and took a big iron lotus shower for a small fee.

Afterwards, Crowley put on a brown muslin suit and, with the expert help of William Sr., fastened a blue tie.

Although he was a bit unaccustomed to it, Crowley was educated by the aristocracy after all. He possessed all the basic physical etiquettes such as holding his chest up and keeping his temperament.The upper body of the suit, combined with his mustache and slightly fat body, gave off a strong old-fashioned gentleman's taste.

After the two came out of the bathhouse, it was three or four o'clock in the afternoon.Old William, walking on crutches, walked straight to the center of the administrative district.

In the center of the administrative district, there is now a square compound.In the compound is a two-story building made of red bricks, with figure-eight-shaped podiums on both sides, very similar to early Soviet buildings.

After checking and registering and showing the invitation card, after passing through two guard posts, Old William entered the compound with his nephew.

The legendary banquet hadn't started yet, but Old William and the others came at just the right time: the handover ceremony before the banquet was about to be held.

The first thing that caught Crowley's eyes was the venue.

About a hundred wooden chairs were placed on the cinder block in the middle of the compound, with a passage in the middle.

Opposite the chair is a rough rostrum formed by a row of long tables.

The phalanx of chairs already has [-]% attendance.Among them were not only Orientals in long robes and soft hats, but also many white-skinned and blue-eyed Europeans sitting behind them.In addition, some people at the forefront of the phalanx immediately let Crowley understand the origin of this suit: everyone has the same style.

The next moment, old William lightly touched his nephew with his elbow, and said in a low voice, "Crowley, keep your eyes open. I'll point you out to those big men, they are the most powerful people in the East, and they are ours." source of wealth!"

"Understood, Uncle William."

Next, the old William first went to the back row of the phalanx, greeted a group of foreign businessmen, mainly Dutch, and introduced his distant nephew to everyone.

After that, Old William sat with his nephew in an inconspicuous corner, and began to point out the identities of the various people in the phalanx one by one: which ones were the traditional nobles of the Ming Dynasty, which ones were the local Annan aristocrats, which ones There is no need to identify the time-traveling people. Most of the time-traveling people are wearing thin suits or jackets in this season in Annan. They are tall and powerful, and they are easy to identify.

Soon after, as the guests arrived, a simple handover ceremony began.

First, Shao Qiang, who traveled through the crowd, came to the stage and said a few words with a smile.Next, he, who was a guest master of ceremonies, led the two Annan people to the front of the stage.

These two Annan people, one civil and one military, one old and one young, were wearing official robes and armor respectively.

Afterwards, another cross-member came to the stage, and amidst the friendly applause of the audience, they exchanged something in the form of a document with the old Annan official.

Later, another cross-traveler wearing an army general uniform came to the stage, and symbolically handed a matchlock gun to General Annan, who was full of smiles. Here, there is a fixed frame between the two sides, facing the audience, probably for the convenience of taking pictures.

Next, the most solemn scene of today appeared: the guests stood up collectively and came to the side of the venue together with the host.

A large object covered with a tarpaulin has already been placed here.Crowley privately estimated that the things under the tarpaulin should be about the size of a four-wheeled carriage in his hometown.

There is also a piece of red cloth hanging on the mysterious object, which seems to be waiting for the leader to cut the ribbon.

Of course, leaders will not miss the opportunity to cut the ribbon.

Soon, amidst the exclamation, a large mortar with a hideous body, a short and thick barrel, and a caliber of 170 mm appeared in front of everyone.

Such a violent weapon is naturally not an unknown person.In addition to the awesome six-wheeled frame, there are three evil characters engraved on the body of the cannon in Chinese characters: Ge Longde.

(End of this chapter)