Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 208 Negotiation

Seeing the Frenchman being so surprised, He Ying thought to himself that I still knew that the fortress of La Rochelle would be captured this year, but I didn't know that Mr. d'Artagnan and his friends fought against the Protestants in the bastion. Is it staged.

Because she knew French and was sent to the Frenchman's side, He Ying was full of confidence in her rising rank in the time-traveling group in the future.I didn't expect that the French I learned to pick up girls when I was studying would come in handy-this is probably diplomacy, right?Or is it the work of the United Front Work Department?He used to be an advertising planner, but now he can't find any good positions in the Time Travel Group. He is assigned to write leaflets and print slogans in the Propaganda Department of the Cultural and Propaganda Department. His life is very fulfilling, but he has no passion.The occasional fix to someone's TV, radio, etc. is a small fix.Because of his good marksmanship, although he tried every means to avoid becoming a basic militia, he was still included in the "teaching corps" after this organizational adjustment, and he had to stand guard at night every week. Now that he changed his position, he probably didn't have to do this job. .

"Will the heresy in France be completely eradicated?" Lu Ruohua was very interested in this topic.

"The surrender of the fortress of La Rochelle is just around the corner, but the religious dispute is not over yet—"

Lu Ruohua stared at this "Australian" - yes, no matter how you look at them, they are all authentic Chinese.Lu Ruohua knew that the Chinese they spoke was different from other Chinese in Ming Dynasty. It was not Cantonese, Hokkien, or Mandarin, but another kind of Chinese.Who are they?The origins of these men interested him more than missionary affairs.

"Heretics are still going to make waves in France, don't you?"

"That's right, the religious dispute in France is still just the beginning." He Ying said modestly.

"God bless, save those lambs who have gone astray." Lu Ruohua silently read a scripture.

For a week, he has been spreading the gospel of Christ to this shadow in front of him, but he knows that this young man who speaks French with a strange accent keeps a polite smile, but doesn't care what he said, which makes him a little frustrated—— This man is proficient in French and is a learned man. If he can be baptized, he will become a good assistant in his mission.

He Ying felt a little bored. He is an atheist, and he really can't stand the religious bombardment he has to face every moment.But the organizational task still needs to be completed - chatting with Lu Ruohua, inquiring about all kinds of information and news as much as possible.In particular, it is necessary to grasp the personality of this person so that it can be used when negotiating.

After talking for so many days, He Ying found out about the number of people in his family, the number of acres of land, and the number of cows in the field, but the character of this person is still unclear, and the missionary has always maintained his A gentle and peaceful smile.Today he provoked the topic of religious wars in France just to make him angry and show his character.But it still seems to get nothing.

"Okay, you trash. What an old fox!" He Ying knew that he couldn't do anything more.Fortunately, Boss Wen's backup is ready.

"Where there are humans, there will be disputes. Father, let's go. President Wen wants to see you today." In order to reflect the nature of the traverser's regime, he called Wen Desi the president, not the shopkeeper.

"Okay, please allow me to change my clothes." Lu Ruohua said solemnly.

Lu Ruohua was not wearing a black teaching gown, but a long gown that imitated the clothes of the people of the Ming Dynasty—it was quite strange to wear on such a bearded foreigner, and a square scarf was buttoned on his head.The missionaries of the Jesuits understood the principle of doing as the Romans do when they go to the country many years ago. They not only learned Chinese, but also learned the local dialect, and tried to be as close as possible to the local people in terms of clothing.

What came to greet them was a new four-wheeled carriage. This was the first large-scale modern product produced by the mechanical department. The entire mechanical department worked together to make it in about 20 days. Its core component, the shock-absorbing spring, was made of 0.6% Carbon steel is self-rolled on steel columns with heat treatment technology.It took almost 10 days just for the overheating treatment. The performance of this kind of spring is average, and it cannot be used on the key parts of the artillery.Acting as a shock absorber for dismounting the carriage is not satisfactory.

However, it is difficult to make wheels. Ancient wooden wheels have specialized craftsmanship both at home and abroad. Travelers couldn’t make wheels for a while, so they simply used the wheels of the two-wheeled trolley in the inventory, and the ball bearings in the axles were self-made. ——By building this carriage, the mechanical department trial-produced the most basic industrial parts such as hardware standard parts, bearings, and chains.

The carriage is made of local wood, the seat is a spring sofa wrapped in leather, filled with dried seaweed, the windows are inlaid with glass, and the front of the carriage is marked with a red flag fluttering in the wind.

This Hongqi-type carriage was built to reduce car usage.Right now, there are more and more dignified people here. Using a jeep to pick them up can shock them, but the consumption of gasoline and the wear and tear of parts are real.

Lu Ruohua was invited into the carriage. There was nothing rare about the carriage itself, but it was very comfortable after sitting on the buttocks: it was not simply the softness after being filled with a lot of wool, but the feeling of softness and hardness, a feeling of being willing to refuse.

Looking at the interior of the car, it can be described as unpretentious, just a layer of Chinese paint, but the interior space of the car body is large and the ride is comfortable.The road is not bumpy.

Looking out from the car window, the road that the carriage walked on was flat and straight, and it was paved with a kind of condensed black substance mixed with stones. The road surface looked very solid, without ruts and indentations, and the middle of the road surface was slightly raised. On both sides are gutters.It can be seen that the design is perfect and the construction is excellent.He secretly admired it in his heart - he had never seen such a good road in half the world.

The thoughtful and complete facilities along the road are even more unheard of by him.There were stone milestones every quarter of a league or so, and stone signposts at every fork in the road, and small forts along the way, protected by ditches, parapets, and wire horses.Cannons are installed on the fortress, and heavily armed soldiers are on duty.Obviously walking on this road does not need to worry about the looting of bandits.Small open-air markets spontaneously formed in the open space outside the fortress. Each market has an identical wind and rain pavilion. There are wells and stone troughs in the pavilions to supply drinking water for livestock.The carriage will always rest for a while at this kind of market to drink water for the horses pulling the cart.In the pavilion, there is a huge wooden barrel storing boiled cold water, which seems to contain some kind of herbal medicine. Lu Ruohua feels bitter when drinking it, but it is refreshing and quenches his thirst.

New trees were planted on the side of the road along the way, presumably for the purpose of shading the road in the future.It's just that there are thick wooden poles erected along the road, and they are buried firmly underneath, and some are pulled diagonally with ropes. It seems that these wooden poles are very important, but if you look closely, there is nothing on the wooden poles. of.And thought it might be the idol worship of Australians?It's like the natives in the Southeast Asian archipelago worshiping wooden poles, but there is no decoration on the surface of these wooden poles—it is just a pole, covered with black wood tar.

"You guys arranged all of this?" Father Lu asked after getting back on the road

"Yes."

"God, this is the best road system I've ever seen. It's all over Lingao?"

"No, it's not." He Ying knew that the traverser's powerful engineering skills and humanized design would leave a deep impression on everyone who walked this road, "You know, this kind of road is very expensive. "

"Indeed." Lu Ruohua nodded, "Not only the roads, but also those facilities, they are too thoughtful."

"It's called putting people first."

"People-oriented." Lu Ruohua pondered for a while, "Is it based on people's needs?"

"Highways serve the public, and naturally they must be based on the needs of the public."

"It seems that pedestrians on this road do not pay tolls. The road needs to be repaired constantly. How do you maintain it? Are you only using your business for profit? Is this considered a charity in Australia?"

"Although we don't receive tolls from this road, we still benefit from it."

"How to benefit?"

"Father, you should know: the road brings merchants, right?"

Lu Ruohua understood: "You are using roads to attract businessmen."

"Yes, Father. With merchants, comes wealth. The better and safer the roads, the more merchants come, the greater our profits."

"Your leader is indeed far-sighted." Lu Ruohua's appreciation was sincere.

"Hehe, I believe there are many people in this world who know this truth."

The venue for the negotiations was in the commercial building in Dongmen City, and one of the conference rooms had been cleaned and a conference table was set up.Father Lu was a little uneasy when he took his seat.Then he actually smelled the Arabian drink - the aroma of coffee.A girl in a strange dress uniform brought coffee out of shiny china.

At this time, coffee had been introduced to Europe. At the end of the sixteenth century, the Venetians first introduced coffee to Europe, but it was only enjoyed by a few people, and more people regarded it as a medicine.But the Europeans far in the east are very familiar with this drink, because the Christian kings and land lords on the Indian subcontinent all have the habit of drinking coffee.

Although it was only inferior instant coffee, for this missionary: Traveling through the crowd to entertain him with coffee still made him feel extremely valued.

"Please wait a moment." He Ying greeted politely and disappeared behind the door.

There was no one in the room, only people coming and going in the corridor could be heard, Lu Ruohua was bored, and admired the furnishings in the room, all the furniture in the room was the most exquisite Chinese style furniture, but they were arranged in a disorderly manner, not like The residences of the wealthy Chinese businessmen he once visited were as exquisite and orderly as they were.There are no Chinese-style long ground paintings on the walls.Reminiscent of the simple and rough clothes they wear, it seems that these Australians have no artistic aesthetic level. Lu Ruohua plans to choose a brother who is good at art to help when expanding the missionary team in the future, so that it is easy to break into their hearts. Ruler High - Everyone loves beautiful things.

While thinking about ways to impress these Australians, there was a noise outside the door, and the voice of English dialogue came, and some of the voices were particularly high-pitched.Lu Ruohua trembled violently, is there an Englishman here? !He quickly got up and walked to the door to peek out.I saw a charming blond woman with a long skirt sweeping the floor in the corridor, accompanied by a gentleman wearing a mask and a wig, coming out of another room.The shopkeeper Wen De Si Wen was the shopkeeper who saw them off with a smile on his face. The two exchanged a few more words. Shopkeeper Wen laughed, and then said something in English, and the other party nodded repeatedly.

It appears that the British are also reaching out to them.His appearance and demeanor do not look like ordinary British people doing business in East Asia—the man wears a long sword, which is not a businessman's attire. Although the gentleman wears a mask and can't tell his face, his gestures are majestic, and he looks decent Tangtang, he should be a battle-hardened gentleman.

Such a gentleman is at least a representative of the East India Company.It's okay if he's only here for trade.But with such a female relative, one cannot but worry about the British having any long-term plans here.It was with the support of the English that the heretics of France were able to persevere for a long time against the king and the church.Do they have any intentions here?

A few minutes later, the door opened, and Wen Desi walked in slowly from the door.There are several "Australians" following behind him, among whom He Ying and Bai Duolu are acquainted.Wen Desi politely welcomed the arrival of Missionary Lu.The two sides immediately entered the topic.

Negotiations were conducted in French through He Ying.Lu Ruohua first expounded on the Jesuits' request, which consists of four points:

[-]. Allow Jesuit missionaries to preach freely in Lingao, and ensure that missionaries are allowed to move freely within the scope of their rule.

[-]. Jesuit missionaries are free to buy and rent houses in the local area for religious and residential purposes

[-]. Guarantee the personal and property safety of the church, priests, and believers.

[-]. Except for the Society of Jesus, no other church personnel are allowed to come here to preach.

These four items are all within the estimated range of the executive committee except that members of other religious orders are not allowed to come here to preach.Wen Desi did not directly answer whether it was feasible for him, but first made a solemn explanation to him:

There is a Catholic Church in Australia. Although no bishop or priest was sent to the Central Plains this time, a priest accompanied him to take charge of the work of the church.

"This is Priest Baidolu. Although he is a lay monk, he is very loyal to your religion and church."

Bai Duolu bowed awkwardly.

"There is also this one, He Ying." Wen Desi continued to introduce, "He is your translator and the religious affairs officer of the executive committee. You can negotiate with the executive committee through him for all affairs of the Lingao Church. .”

He Ying bowed slightly: "I am willing to serve you!"

"We agree to the missionary request, but—" Wen Desi emphasized the latter word.

"but".Of course Lu Ruohua knew this, but the latter part was the key part. He held his breath and focused on He Ying's translation.

(End of this chapter)