I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 234 Gurkha

Backed by a powerful empire on which the sun never sets, the British are scurrying around the world, doing everything from immigration, tourism, inspections, missionary work, and so on.

Just a few British people disappeared in Amur, which actually attracted the attention of the British government. Those who didn't know it thought it was the British Crown Prince who was missing.

Siberia is not used to the British people's bad habit of disappearing when they say they are missing. The power of nature is extremely powerful and must be respected.

George didn't care about the housekeepers' life in the guest house, and Catherine had spoken. George could only reduce the number of outings, and spent most of his time studying music and books with Anne at Guangmingding.

George also likes reading books.

When George left the Winter Palace, his only request was to move the study room in the Winter Palace.

Although this wish did not come true, over the years, George basically copied the books in the Hermitage study and moved them to the Yekaterin Palace.

These collections are now in the Vladivostok Library, and staff are sorting them out, revising the valuable parts and publishing them.

To be honest, not much is valuable.

The Russian language was not even standardized before Pushkin, so how many books can there be in Russia?

The situation in Germany is similar.

Martin Luther promoted the unification of the German language by translating the Bible and became the basis for standard German.

In other words, before Martin Luther translated the Bible, the German language was also confusing, and there was no such thing as standard German.

The first German dictionary was published in 1781, and its contents have been tinkered with and are still being revised into the 21st century.

Therefore, there are not many ancient books handed down from Germany.

The most common are various versions of the Bible.

This can explain why Anne reads "I Ching".

Because the history of European culture is really lackluster.

"Do you also like Eastern culture?"

Anne noticed that there were many thread-bound ancient books in George's study, and her eyes when she looked at George were full of surprise.

The Qing Empire before the Opium War was one of the most powerful countries in the world.

After the Opium War, the Qing Empire became synonymous with backwardness and ignorance in Europe.

Therefore, those who like traditional Eastern culture will be ridiculed in Europe.

"I don't want to like it either, but in St. Petersburg there is nothing to read except the Bible."

George did not deny that the study in the Yuriev Palace was larger than the study in the Yekaterin Palace and had a richer collection of books.

"No, Pushkin's poetry is still very good."

Anne's flowers were trembling, and her smiling eyes were crooked. George had to admit that Ekaterina's vision was indeed unique.

"I have many works here from the era of hundreds of schools of thought. It's hard to imagine that most of these works were written before 2000 years ago. Let me think about what Germany was like 2000 years ago -"

George teased Anne on purpose.

Germany before 2000——

Let's put it this way, tribes gradually formed in Germany in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD.

After the disintegration of the Holy Roman Empire, independent voices emerged in Germany.

So before 2000, there was no concept of Germany at all.

"Hate! What was Russia like 2000 years ago?"

Anne was very dissatisfied. Our ancestors were all savages and no one should laugh at anyone.

Russia was still a clan society 2000 years ago, and it was not until 862 AD that the first Rus' Kingdom was established.

"Have you ever played oriental instruments?"

George did what he wanted.

"I have been exposed to it, but I have not studied it. Many ancient musical scores have been lost."

Anne was very sorry. She had begun to study the "Book of Changes" and naturally heard the story of high mountains and flowing water.

"I know something."

Although George did not major in music in his previous life and read the weather forecast frequently, he still remembered "Fishing Boats Sing Late" and some of the melody of "Butterfly Lovers".

Although "Fishing Boats Sing Evening" and "Butterfly Lovers" were both created later, they both drew on the melodies of traditional repertoire to a certain extent and can be regarded as re-creations based on ancient songs, so it is not too much to say that they are ancient songs.

Here with George, of course, whatever George says is what he says.

So George played the melody of the "Butterfly Lovers" violin concerto on the piano.

""Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai", I know their story."

Anne does know Eastern traditional culture very well. The plot of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" is similar to that of "Butterfly Lovers".

George's piano skills are far inferior to his guitar skills.

So Anne took over the piano and George provided the music.

"Wow, it's very warm——"

Catherine probably lost money and was not in a happy mood.

In order to create opportunities for George and Anne, Ekaterina took Catherine, Mary, and Alexandra to play mahjong every day. The winning or losing was not big, and the main thing was to kill time.

"Annie, you missed 100 million."

Mary won money today and was in a good mood.

"I want to get a pair of mahjong and take it back!"

Alexandra has become a senior Mahjong player and vowed to bring Mahjong back to Europe and promote it.

"You guys are playing with you, why do you want to disturb us?"

Anne was unhappy, she was enjoying her time with George.

In Germany, Anne, who likes traditional Eastern culture, is an outlier and is often ridiculed by her peers.

This actually has little to do with Annie's preferences.

Ekaterina was right, George thought Anne was too young, but some people didn't.

Anne's own conditions are also excellent. Think about it, Wei Ka is 1.7 meters tall.

Apart from not meeting the definition of petite, is there anything else to fault?

Therefore, in the German aristocratic circle, at least in the male aristocratic circle, Anne is very popular. There are countless German aristocratic young people who want to marry Anne home.

Anne is not only beautiful and good-looking, her character, knowledge, and even family background are top-notch choices. Other noble ladies cannot compare with her, so they can only start with Anne's hobbies to make Anne a different kind.

There is a rumor in St. Petersburg that George is a money addict, a prodigal son, a naughty child, and a lover of men, all for the same reasons.

George never defended himself against outside rumors.

So does Anne.

"My little Annie, it's time for us to eat."

Anne was dazzled by Catherine's traditional Chinese winter dress.

Many people refer to traditional clothing as cheongsam.

Sorry, the cheongsam is not a traditional dress at all.

If a real lady wears a cheongsam, she will be beaten to death by her elders.

Ekaterina is wearing an improved square-collared short jacket with a stand-up collar and a double-breasted shirt. The skirt is a horse-face skirt. When wearing this outfit on Ekaterina, she really feels like a fairy. .

So Annie looked straight at it in an instant.

"Like it?"

Ekaterina turned in a circle. The ballerina's movement was so beautiful.

Annie's head nodded like a chicken pecking at rice.

"I knew you would like it."

Ekaterina waved to Anne.

Anne ran over and hugged Ekaterina's arm. From behind, the two looked like sisters.

"It's over, my sister is finished -"

Catherine's tone could not be said to be one of regret or envy.

Catherine also wore a double-breasted short coat, with the cuffs and collar decorated with sable fur. Of course, it is possible that the entire short coat was made of sable fur.

Relatively speaking, Mary and Alexandra’s minks are relatively cheap.

When George saw Anne again, Anne had put on an improved winter coat that was exactly the same as Catherine's.

The difference is that Catherine's dress is red, while Anne's dress is light blue.

"Does it look good?"

Anne's eyes were filled with anticipation.

"nice!"

George couldn't hide the appreciation in his tone, and he didn't want to hide it.

"As long as you like it, I'll have someone make a few more sets for you so you can have some replacements."

Catherine was generous, and the mink furs that George gave her were probably used to make clothes for Anne.

Artificial breeding of sables has not yet begun, so the price is extremely expensive.

It is generally believed that the center of origin of sables is in Siberia.

George is not sure whether this is true or not. Anyway, there are indeed many wild sables in Amur, and these furs are purchased from Cossack hunters.

"Thank you Aunt Katya——"

George didn't know what Anne and Ekaterina were talking about. Anyway, Ekaterina was Anne's aunt now.

This is normal. European royal families are all members of the same family.

Lunch was as sumptuous as ever. Today we had Huaiyang cuisine, and the chef was hired with a high salary from the Qing Empire.

Mary, the little gourmet, was delighted with the food.

Alexandra also gained something. Ekaterina asked someone to prepare a pair of agate mahjong for Alexandra. Although the price was not expensive, it was beautiful and practical.

Katherine could find no reason to object.

Catherine also had a share of the clothes Catherine prepared for Anne.

The difference is that one is a sable and the other is a mink.

George was not responsible for bribing several little princesses. After the icebreaker broke down, although Vladivostok's external traffic was cut off, communication was still smooth.

Some of the Dutch prisoners released by the Lansha Sultanate were instigated by the Lansha Sultanate to rebel. After returning to Batavia, they continued to provide intelligence to Aceh.

The Dutch are indeed unwilling to fail and are working hard to prepare for a new attack on Aceh after the year.

The latest situation is that the Dutch hired a group of Gurkha mercenaries from India to prepare for use in the war against Aceh.

As one of the world's most famous foreign mercenary regiments, the Gurkhas are known for their strict discipline and bravery, and are extremely loyal to their employers.

Coincidentally, Cossacks are also world-famous mercenaries.

Gurkha mercenaries were mostly used by the British to deal with Indian kings.

The Cossacks participated in the war with France. Napoleon's defeat in Moscow must be attributed to the Cossacks' contribution.

So George didn't take this situation to heart.

Gurkha's illustrious reputation has some elements of British bragging in it.

Cossacks really played a key role in the Russian-Turkish wars and Napoleon's invasion of the Russian Empire.

Aceh is home for the Cossacks.

Gurkha is away from home.

So George really doesn't worry about the Cossacks' combat effectiveness.

(End of this chapter)