I

  Chapter 721 718 [Milton's visit to China]

   An inland river ship, carrying a British mission to China.

  The British mission is relatively shabby, with only a dozen people in total. And it didn't come by warship, because the British mainland was planning a sea battle with the Netherlands, and there was no warship to **** the envoys.

  They took a merchant ship of the British East India Company and resupplied in Portuguese colonial ports along the way. After arriving in India, they heard that Malacca had been captured by China. The British cheered and immediately went to Malacca for exchanges.

  Then, the British merchant ship docked in Banten to do business, and the British mission was escorted northward by the Datong Navy.

  The representative of the British Mission is called John Milton. His works include: "Paradise Lost", "On the Freedom of the Press", "On Education", "On the Powers of Kings and Officials" and so on.

  Milton was Cromwell's master, who actively promoted revolution and democracy.

  After Cromwell came to power, Milton served as his foreign affairs secretary. Milton was in charge of all the British diplomatic correspondence, and by the way he was writing with the aristocrats who opposed Cromwell.

  Britain's mission to China this time was somewhat personal, and Cromwell directly threw his foreign secretary over.

   "Mr. John, the Chinese came and said that Nanjing is coming soon, let us prepare." Deputy envoy Andrew Marvell knocked on the door and entered.

  Andrew Marvell, a famous British metaphysic poet, Cromwell's tutor in his youth, currently serves as Milton's Latin secretary.

  Milton put down the quill, hung up his glasses and said, "Then get ready to disembark."

Marvell said with a smile: "The mission of this mission is to persuade China to go to war with the Netherlands, weaken the strength of the Netherlands in Asia, and order the Dutch headquarters to send more warships to support Asia. This mission is over before it starts. China and the Netherlands have already After two games, the strength of the Netherlands in the Far East has been weakened to the extreme. The two of us only need to meet the Chinese emperor, and we can concentrate on enjoying exotic customs."

  Milton shook his head: "Our navy is still too weak. It is best to provoke another war between China and the Netherlands."

   "I'm afraid this is unrealistic," Marvell said, "China and the Netherlands have just signed a ten-year truce contract, and neither side will risk tearing up the contract."

   "Try it." Milton is a workaholic. If he is not sent to China, he will be blinded by working day and night next year.

  The Yangtze River Navy sent the British mission to the pier, and some people went to the city to report to Honglu Temple, and the officials of Honglu Temple would receive the foreign envoys into the city.

  Before the officials from Honglu Temple came, Milton and the others were waiting at the pier.

  More than a dozen dock cranes are working. Workers pull pulleys and drag heavy objects onto the ship. There are more dock coolies behind, carrying boxes of goods, and there is a busy scene everywhere.

   "Everyone, please wait in front, don't block at the pier." Said the translator of the navy.

  The crowd continued to move forward, and there were many people carrying sliding poles here. In fact, it is a "taxi", and the "drivers" are gathering together to wait for business, bragging and laughing from time to time.

   There is a sliding pole carrying passengers from the city to the pier.

  Guests get off the sedan chair to pay, and go straight to the river to wait for the boat. The two lifters also got together with other "drivers". Due to the relatively crowded surroundings, they can only wait there to pick up customers, and they will be fined for staying outside the border to entertain guests.

   "The little scholar is here, read the newspaper to us!"

  One of the two people who lifted the slider just now was a teenager in his teens, and he immediately became the center of attention.

  The young man took out a newspaper from his pocket and rented it for a penny a day. After carefully unfolding, the boy began to shake his head and read the newspaper: "The big news in this issue is that Young Master Yang Er, the head of the young troupe of the Chunlan Club, insisted on marrying Xiao Hongtao, a famous actor in the Kun troupe of his own drama club. Even taking concubines is a must. To be married as a regular wife. Master Yang was not happy about it, so Second Young Master Yang eloped with Xiao Hongtao. The two had eloped for almost a month before the news came out, and no one has been found yet."

  This young man obviously belongs to the cattle herding class. He is the kind who doesn't study hard, and even reads newspapers and has to guess. Otherwise, graduates from elementary school would not be able to earn a living carrying a sliding pole.

  When the "taxi drivers" heard the news, they immediately talked about it:

   "Master Yang is also a respectable person. My son elopes with an opera singer. This time I will be ashamed."

   "Hey, then Young Master Yang is still a lover."

"I've heard of Little Hongtao's play. Last year Li Yuanwai had a big birthday, so I invited Little Hongtao to sing. Liu Er and I took Mr. Zhang to Li's Mansion, and I listened to it for a while, and the singing made my heart tremble. If you call on the bed Get up, just listen to that voice, and half the man's life will be killed. Unlike my wife, who screams like a pig."

   "Haha, Brother Zhou, do you dare to tell your sister-in-law?"

   "Why don't you dare? I have the final say at home!"

   "Then who scratched your face two days ago?"

   "The cat scratched it."

"Ha ha ha ha…"

  Milton asked the naval interpreter: "What do they do?"

  The interpreter said: "That kind of bamboo pole is used as a sedan chair, which can carry guests on the road. Depending on the distance, the guest pays the toll."

  Milton was so surprised that he turned his head and looked at Marvell.

  They were not surprised by the sliding pole, but the person carrying the sliding pole, who obviously belonged to the bottom of society, had the ability to read and read newspapers.

  Milton pointed to the boy, and asked again: "Since he can read, why does he still do this kind of work?"

  The translator sneered and said: "At first glance, it seems that they are not good at studying. After finishing elementary school seriously, it is easy to find a job. No matter how bad it is, you can also be an apprentice. Many businesses are willing to recruit elementary school students as apprentices."

  The translator spoke in Latin. He didn't know how to translate "elementary school", so he directly spoke the original Chinese sound.

  Milton could only know that China has primary schools, middle schools, and universities through careful inquiry. As long as they reach the age, no matter boys or girls, they must go to school to study, and there is no tuition fee. If you want to take the county-level civil servant exam, you must graduate from elementary school at least.

   "Let all children study for free, how much should China spend on education every year?" Milton was shocked to the extreme.

   In fact, primary school completion rates are low.

  Many children can't read books, and often drop out of school after one year of study. In this case, they can't even read newspapers. The dropout rate of girls is particularly high. Many parents do not allow them to continue studying, thinking that it is enough for their daughters to be able to write their own names. For this situation, the government is happy to see the results. The more dropouts, the more pressure on education funding can be reduced.

   Otherwise, if all the children in Nanjing are in the school, how many classrooms will be repaired?

  Amid the shock of the British envoy, Honglu Temple finally sent officials to receive them, and led these guys into the city in a carriage. The horse is a bad horse, and all the good horses are sent to war.

   "Dang Dang Dang Dang!"

Milton heard the sound of the gong beating, opened the curtain of the car, and saw an official walking and shouting: "The Golden Building outside the South City was completed yesterday, and it will be open to the public on the 15th of this month. Anyone who likes to read, is willing to read." Yes, you can go to the Golden Building to read books! Your Majesty said that you don’t need money to read books, you can read them as you want!”

  Milton couldn't understand, so he could only ask the interpreter: "What is he shouting?"

  The translator understood, but he didn't understand what the Golden Building was. Immediately jumped off the fast-moving carriage and ran to ask the Honglu Temple officials who led the team.

Soon, the translator came back and explained: "His Majesty the emperor of our country built a library with royal expenses. There are a lot of books in it. It was just completed yesterday, and all ordinary people can read the books in it for free. The daily expenses of the library are also borne by the emperor. His Majesty is in charge."

  Milton suddenly said excitedly: "This is a public library, but unfortunately there is no such library in the UK, nor does it seem to exist in Europe."

   Marvell said: "His Majesty the Emperor of China should be the legendary philosopher king. The country he ruled is full of scholars, and commoners can study and read books for free. I really hope that one day, Britain can do the same."

  Everyone was arranged in the feudal embassy, ​​and a special translator was in charge of contacting them, and they could go out whenever they wanted to go shopping.

   But, if you want to see the emperor, you have to wait slowly.

   Early the next morning, Milton couldn't bear it anymore and asked the translator to take them shopping.

  The general officer of Honglu Temple is not a grade official, but a first-class official, and he must master at least two foreign languages. Although he is only an official, he is also considered a cultural person, so he naturally would not take the envoys to Goulan Washe, and would go straight to the Cultural Goods Street every time.

  Back at night, Milton took out a quill and wrote in his "Visit to China":

"Today, Chinese diplomats took us to Wenyi Street. It is a half-mile-long street. The shops on the street sell all kinds of literature and art supplies. There are exquisite books, magical Chinese calligraphy and paintings, and There are items such as paper, ink..."

"There are many people on the street, and they are all literate. Some people wear silk, but more people wear ordinary cotton clothes. The books here are very cheap, and ordinary people can afford them. There are many popular books, and the lower class people also like to read them. But I heard from Chinese diplomats that ordinary people prefer to rent books. There are bookstores in Nanjing, which set different rents according to the value of the books. If the damage is too serious, the deposit will not be refunded..."

  “We seem to be in the ocean of literature and art, with books and paintings everywhere. For European scholars, this street is paradise, and they must never dream of it…”

"I asked a Chinese official, and he said that the best-selling book in China, in addition to the ancient Four Books and Five Classics, is the "Datong Ji" compiled by the Chinese emperor today. I asked a Chinese friend to translate a few articles for me to read, so I can be sure , the Emperor of China was a democratic revolutionary..."

"The Chinese emperor's legitimacy does not come from the church, but from the 'sky'. The sky is not only the sky above our heads, but also the origin of all things. The Chinese regard it as the master of everything. Heaven and earth, derived from human beings and all things, human beings are The elves in the world form the country of China. The country needs a leader, so there is an emperor. The emperor who is kind to the people will be recognized by the sky and become the son of heaven. The emperor who is cruel to the people will be disgusted by the sky. He will be overthrown..."

   "Everything is people-centered, isn't that what democracy is?"

  Milton has been pursuing natural human rights, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, freedom of education, and freedom of marriage all his life. This guy is completely obsessed with "Da Tong Ji" and thinks that the Chinese emperor is a revolutionary.

   It's just that when he finished reading "The Collection of Datong", he probably won't be so happy.

   Zhao Han's theory of dividing land conflicts with Milton's democracy. Because it was the landowner's field, and Milton believed that personal property was sacrosanct.

  Of course, Milton can also ignore it. He has decided to translate "Datong Collection", and then delete the theory of land division.

  (end of this chapter)