New Shun 1730

The British don’t care too much about another war between China and Russia, because it doesn’t involve Britain, and the relationship between Britain and Russia is not very good.

However, Britain doesn’t like the Swedish top hat party.

Sweden is actually a second- or third-rate country at this time, or even a fourth-rate country, but Gustav has been dead for so long, and its glory is still there.

Countries are still cautious about Sweden’s ambition to “kick Russia to retake St. Petersburg, beat Prussia to recover Pomerania, and beat Denmark to monopolize the Baltic trade.”

Sweden did it back then, who dares to say that it can’t be done now?

Britain doesn’t care about St. Petersburg or Pomerania, but the problem is that the top hat party is extremely pro-French in diplomacy.

And they support mercantilist policies.

But what industry and commerce does Sweden have?

It’s called mercantilism, but it’s obviously “pro-smugglingism”. Didn’t Sweden sell all the goods it got from China to British smugglers and colonies? Sweden wants to engage in textile industry and silkworm breeding, but can it do it in latitude? Digging your own copper and iron mines, is that also called mercantilism?

Nothing can be accomplished. Mercantilism is just smuggling. If your own country does not buy, try to sell it to foreigners.

The East India Company is already quite dissatisfied, and now the Dashun side wants to get involved, so it is naturally depressed.

But in addition to the issue of Swedish smuggling, Britain has to consider the general direction.

First of all, the Sino-Japanese War, the relationship between Dashun and the Netherlands took a sharp turn for the worse. Cutting off someone's wealth is like killing their parents. The British know this truth very well, otherwise they would not go to war with Spain now.

Fazakle was very dissatisfied with the competition between the Netherlands and the East India Company in Guangzhou before. Now he is advocating to reach some deals and take advantage of the opportunity of the cooling of Sino-Dutch relations to drive the Dutch away directly.

A hundred years ago, the Dutch drove the British out of Southeast Asia and East Asia, and now they have to fight back.

Didn't the Dutch "spread rumors" that the British king married a Catholic wife, which made it impossible for Britain to restart trade with Japan? You Dutch can "spread rumors", why can't I, Britain?

Secondly, Britain has already declared war on Spain, and the war is not only in Europe, but has spread to the whole world.

The secret letter from the Prime Minister brought by the British merchant ship told the royal envoy that Britain had sent a fleet to South America. If it could not achieve its goal in South America, it would go to Asia and capture Manila.

Manila may not be needed. Manila is a chicken rib for Britain at this time, but it is very important to Spain. Manila can be taken as a bargaining chip for negotiations and conditions favorable to Britain can be reached in the future.

Earl Walpole, who is the Prime Minister in name but in reality, wrote a letter to the envoy to complain that the British Parliament has been incited and war with Spain is inevitable. Even within the Whig Party, some people doubted whether the elderly Earl Walpole could still lead this war, thinking that he was too weak.

Therefore, Earl Walpole hoped that the envoy would observe the situation in China and reach some agreements as much as possible so that China could allow British warships to obtain supplies and repairs in its southern ports; at the same time, obtain more favorable conditions for trade.

If you want to reach an agreement with China, you have to make concessions in other areas.

It's just that China wants something, and it seems that its appetite is not small.

The British envoy knows the attitude of the Dashun court. They will not allow these Western envoys to attend the court banquet for no reason. Since they have won a great victory over Japan this time, the conditions they want to propose will not be so simple.

The British royal envoy secretly observed the envoys of various countries who passed by him. As envoys, they were not happy or angry, and they could not see anything.

But it can be guessed that the news sent by Europe with the monsoon this time must be happy and sad.

Since the Sino-Japanese War, Dashun has stopped holding high-level talks with Western countries at the official level. It just warned that the things in Japan have nothing to do with Western countries and should not participate.

This time, they returned with the power of victory, but reopened high-level contacts.

Even allowing these Western envoys to attend today's banquet, I think Dashun wants to use this matter to declare its sphere of influence like a dog using urine to enclose territory.

But it's good, after so long, the formal negotiations are finally about to begin.

The British royal envoy thought that although Britain is not as happy as the French, nor as happy as the Swedes. But in fact, it is better than the panicked Russians and the depressed Dutch.

Not the worst, nor the best.

…………

In the Forbidden City Hall, the ministers have lined up on both sides of the hall.

Dashun abolished the slave class, so there was no Jiaofangsi, and the ancient name was changed to Yuefu. In fact, in terms of work, it's the same thing.

As soon as the emperor arrived, the harmony of Yuefu directed the Yuefu musicians to play music, and the chimes were struck, and the "Xuanshui Yingtianzhiqu" was played first.

Because of the fire virtue of the previous Ming Dynasty, Dashun called himself water virtue. Although Dashun had little culture when it was founded, and the water virtue was obviously black, but they insisted on advocating blue, if they played the "Yanjing Kaiyun Song" according to the rules of the Ming Dynasty without any changes, then they were not uncultured, but brainless.

Although Dashun only carried out literary inquisitions at the level of "Red Mane Fiery Horse" and Xue Pinggui borrowed troops to enter the pass, if someone really monopolized knowledge and secretly continued the song of "Yanjing Kaiyun" and did the Tianming Buchu Yanming set, I'm afraid it wouldn't work.

When the "Xuanshui Yingtian Qu" was played here, the three waves of dancers of the Yuefu were already in place.

The martial arts master holds a flag with five-colored feathers on a stick and directs the warrior dance. After a while, he will follow the procedure and dance a section of "Martial Arts Determines the World".

The literati and dancers hold the feathers with red and white feathers on the sticks and direct the scribes and martial arts. When the music that requires them to dance is played later, they dance a section of "Cha Shu Hui Unified the World".

There is also a group of Siyi dancers. The leader is holding an umbrella like an umbrella, directing the dancers from the tributary countries... As for the real and fake Yidi, I don’t know. Anyway, they are dressed in a way that looks like a Yidi at first glance. After a while, we will go through the process and dance a section of "Fu An Si Yi Jing Tian Xia".

After the dancers were in place, the music stopped, and the ministers on both sides knelt down to worship the emperor. Among the ministers, Liu Yu and others were the only ones who wore military uniforms instead of formal attire for the banquet, deliberately standing out from the crowd and ranking ahead of the other ministers.

After kneeling down and worshiping, the ceremonial officer called out, and then the music started again, changing from "Xuan Shui Ying Tian" to "Respect Heaven, Love the People, and Peace the World".

The preface team led the ministers who had just bowed before entering the main hall and led everyone to stand in their seats.

The minister of Guanglu Temple poured wine for the emperor, and the preface also poured wine for the officials who were qualified to participate in the banquet. Those Western envoys who had knelt down just now also had their place.

Perhaps in order to avoid irritating them, there were no captured Rakshasa people among the Yi dancers who were wearing strange costumes and preparing to dance "Soothing the Four Yi Jingtian".

The music was so loud that the emperor raised his wine bottle without speaking. All the officials followed suit. When they saw the emperor raising it, they raised it themselves. After drinking the first cup, they each sat down. At this time, the music also stopped.

Liu Yu is also someone who has experienced similar banquets, and knows that it will take some time before taking the first bite of food. Sure enough, after sitting down, the music started again.

The song played this time was called "Unleashing the Falling Hanging and Rising from Yan'an". Liu Yu seriously suspected that this piece was directly copied from the Ming Dynasty's "Rising Linhao".

Anyway, they are all elegant music, and it is hard to tell whether it is Shaanxi or Anhui dialect, and it is also difficult to distinguish whether it is the Yanjing of God's Will or the Xuanshui of God's Destiny.

The martial arts masters who were already in place shook their flags, and the dancers dressed as warriors began to dance the first verse of the dance "Martial Arts Can Bring Disaster to the World."

The minister of Guanglu Temple poured wine again, and the preface team replenished the wine for the officials one by one. This time the emperor did not raise his glass or move his chopsticks, so everyone could only sit there and watch the warriors dance.

The martial arts dancers are all male, and the martial arts dances are also masculine. There are no white arms or tender ankles, but the choreography is still somewhat good. Although Liu Yu's cultural level is not very high, he can still see the meaning from these dances.

There are a lot of dances behind it, and just this "Martial Arts Determining the World" is divided into several sections, and each section has a different choreography.

Start dancing from "Remove the Hanging, Rise from Yan'an", then jump to "Xi'an Establishment and Open Taiping", and then switch to literary dance. Then from the literary dance to "The Scenery of Winning Grain from Kejing City", then to the martial arts dance... Then from a piece of stone to Jingxiang Nirvana, and then to "Shizong Zen World", "Restore the Capital City", "Liting" "Sweep the Acupuncture Points", "Return to the Heart of the Four Barbarians", "Defined Reward", "Great Unification", and "Keep Peace".

This was originally the case, but now it is different.

Li Gan compares himself to the Han and Tang Dynasties all day long. He wants the world to know about something he does. Now he has to cut off two places, plus add "Battle of Beidi" and "Anxi Region". It is estimated that he will also add "Yao" after a while. "Island Becomes a Subject".

Although Liu Yu had participated in similar banquets, the scale was never this large before. And even if there are similar specifications, that is, the emperor's birthday, the music played and the dances are not the same.

Doing happy events, doing business, and doing celebrations are all customized. After the founding of Dashun and the unification of the country, there were actually not many banquets of this size.

The founding of Dashun was a bit troublesome, and there were also some problems with Dashun's lineage. Liu Yu had learned this when he took the Wude Palace exam.

In the palace examination questions of other dynasties, it is enough to briefly talk about the founding of the country, and just talk about Taizu. At most, it's like the Ming Dynasty, and that's it if Zhu Di, the founder, is brought along. Then it leads to the introduction of the palace examination to select talents and bring peace to the world, explaining its importance.

Dashun is lucky, there is a whole page in front of the title.

From Li Zicheng to Li Guo to Gao Yigong to Li Guo's adopted son Li Laiheng... no one can be left behind. Those who founded the country were almost not related by blood, and the closest ones were only uncles, nephews, and brothers-in-law. They couldn't be like the Ming Dynasty. After talking about Taizu and Zhu Di, the ones behind them were all descendants, needless to say.

It's the same at a more formal banquet like this. He even got rid of the number "nine" directly, and the music and dance from beginning to end were added together, just like eighteen.

The Eighteenth Son is the main artifact.

It's also a good thing that he has a surname of Li. If he didn't have a surname of Li and couldn't use the number "nine", he would probably make another "Shui De Lan" joke.

Fortunately, this time the emperor was not so rigid. When the music and dancing reached the third section of "The Scene of Winning Food from the Capital City", the emperor raised his chopsticks and took a bite of food. The ministers, who had drank several glasses of wine on an empty stomach, finally had a chance to take a few sips. Although the wine was not strong and the soup was hot, it was not very comfortable.

The musicians stopped the music and played the story about the attack on the capital in the founding of the People's Republic of China. Li Gan said: "In the past, when Emperor Taizu was revolting, Emperor Chongzhen of the former Ming Dynasty was fond of talking about Yao and Shun. He said that the Chinese language was not as good as the master of moderation and the morality of the Tang Dynasty. It’s really unbearable and shameful to compare with it.”

“However, when it comes to the strength of China and the prosperity of the Han and Tang dynasties, I still admire them. The Han Dynasty had the title of the King of Wa, and the Tang Dynasty had the teachings of the Tang Dynasty. Now that I have been punished by Japan, I have made them know the martial virtues and culture of the Celestial Empire. Only then can I dare to compare myself with Han Wen and Tang Zong without feeling ashamed.”

“Since the Western missionaries came to the East in the late Ming Dynasty, I have realized that the world is big and the earth is round. Does the Celestial Empire have boundaries? Where are the boundaries? This is a great principle that must be observed.”