New Shun 1730

[December 27. Guangzhou. Sunny]

The one who vaccinated me was a boy of 17 or 18 years old.

Like most of the so-called "practical learning" children, he was a person who didn't fit in with the scholars around him.

Afterwards, out of gratitude and courtesy, I chatted with him for a few words.

He said that he was the worst student, so he didn't make much money every month doing this kind of work, but it was better than his previous life.

Through chatting, I knew that this was a very standard "practical learning" family.

His elder brother also studied and served in the artillery of the army. He was transferred to the western Sichuan plateau two years ago. It is said that there was a war to suppress rebellion there.

However, the scale of the war was not large. The court only mobilized a group of elite howitzers.

I asked him why he studied practical learning?

As I expected, this is a utilitarian nation.

His answer was that he had a meal at noon at the beginning and had the opportunity to do some pretty good jobs. Moreover, his mother could spin yarn, and the export trade was very good in recent years, so she could at least support him to study until he was twelve years old. This was a cruel watershed. If he failed the test, he would have no future. At the age of twelve, he was already considered half of the labor force, and the family would not support idle people.

He did not do well in the test at the age of twelve, but not bad either. At least compared with those who went home, he was lucky.

I tried to ask him if he understood what he was doing, and he explained why inoculating bean sprouts was useful with a strange reason that I could not understand at all. I smiled and asked him if he understood it? He said that was how he was taught.

Then he gave a very difficult reason to refute - his brother was an artilleryman, and although he learned trigonometric functions, he would not use them in the war, and only needed to memorize the table.

I said, so why should he learn it?

He said that this is what the teacher asked.

I asked if you like to learn mathematics?

He said he didn't like it, but if he didn't learn it, he would have to go back to do hard labor, and he would not even have the opportunity to farm. Because his family had no land at all.

I tried to ask him some chapters about "Mencius", and this poor young man could only recite a few. I thought, no wonder people like them are marginalized, even worse than a foreigner like me. At least, I still have my own name and pseudonym.

I asked him what his dream was.

He said, work hard, save money, and get married. Then, make some money and go to the land in the southern hemisphere with four distinct seasons described in the classroom to farm in the future.

There are no landlords there for the time being, so as long as you have the strength, you can cultivate enough land.

He hopes that before he dies, he will have some sons and daughters, 100 acres of land, two cows and a few horses.

The amazing thing is that this poor man who can't even recite a few articles of "Mencius" can understand the concept of longitude and latitude, and understand the reversal of winter and summer - they take the capital as the zero degree longitude, of course not other places, this is obvious.

This is the content of their general education course, I don't understand the use of these things at all, even if he wants to go there, but what's the point of understanding the concept of longitude and latitude?

Finally, I asked him if he knew where Britain was?

He mechanically recited a passage, including our capital, whether there is a land route to Europe, and colonies.

And... a very professional term: the black triangle trade.

I said, knowing these things won't make you rich.

He said yes, but once you learn it, it's hard to forget. Moreover, when he saw me, he thought of the triangle trade.

I had to explain to him that the business of the East India Company was not very related to the slave trade.

I would rather he saw me.

Or, when he saw any British person, he would think of politeness, gentlemanliness, and elegance. But he thought of the black triangle trade.

[January 13. Cloudy. Cold. Shanghai. ]

The weather in Songjiang Prefecture feels a bit like London, at least in winter.

The company's performance this year will be like today's weather.

The company's cargo ship at the dock is still detained, and it seems that it is impossible to catch up with the monsoon.

On the contrary, their cargo ship of the Western Trading Company is happily loading goods.

Everyone who bought the stock was excited.

With greedy and expectant eyes, they looked at the boxes of tea, raw silk, rhubarb, silk, brocade, porcelain, cotton cloth, wood, lacquerware, medicinal materials, and high-end consumer goods being packed.

May a storm make them lose all their money.

In addition to the common goods, they also assembled some special goods this time.

For example, a special medicine. In fact, no one knows what this medicine is. They only know that this medicine is very expensive and can effectively relieve heart pain.

This is the product of the Academy of Sciences and a confidential project led by the Bloody Duke.

Ha, I doubt it. How can a group of people who are committed to how to kill people effectively research such a thing?

This thing is monopolized by them. Even if we want to sell it, we can't get it.

In addition, there are some special products, such as clam oil, a high-end cosmetic that is specially for export and very popular among French noble ladies.

It is said that it can effectively moisturize the skin and prevent chapped skin when it is served in clam shells.

There are also some high-end soaps with various floral scents. Just like the high-end shapes carved by Suzhou pastry chefs, the main target is the aristocratic market.

In addition, there are dozens of boxes of high-end compressed air pump guns for noble hunting sports. It is very stable, can shoot more accurately, and there is no danger of the barrel exploding. The workmanship is very detailed and the price is very expensive.

It’s hard to imagine that twenty years ago, they still needed to import flintlock muskets from France. Twenty years later, they have begun to export exquisite hunting firearms for nobles.

When I first came to Guangzhou, local officials could be bribed with just a few pieces of glass. Now, using glass as a bribe will only make the official angry, thinking it is a lowly humiliation and looking down on him.

Obviously, what the Bloody Duke said was right. Technical exchanges will lead to explosive advances in technology.

This is what's scary about him: everything he says is true and correct, not a lie. But behind every truth he said, his real purpose was hidden.

He is telling the truth, and reality has proven this. The company really needs to consider the unprofitable next step after technological advancement.

But how do you know if this is part of his plan?

Judging from the dock, they are expanding the size and variety of their merchandise as much as possible.

This made me feel even more ridiculous about the Duke. His professed view of national wealth and everything he did were as different as the difference between a gray bishop and a white knight.

Even if competition is liberalized, companies cannot monopolize tea. This may require huge amounts of capital.

Besides, they are the producers. As a high-ranking official, the Bloody Duke can quietly prevent us from getting the tea we want.

But this is not a desperate situation.

Parliament should seriously discuss the issue of tea tariffs. As long as tea tariffs are abolished, the company can still solve the dilemma.

The people at the merchant house did not know the time of my return, and they did not send a carriage to pick me up. Fortunately, there is mature rail transportation. I paid copper coins. In the crowded carriage from the dock to the city, what I heard most was the discussion of trade by these Chinese people.

Twenty years ago, the word stock didn't exist, but now everyone in the car is talking about it. Not even the sound of the hooves of the horses pulling the cart could cover up their discussion.

As we were approaching the city, I finally heard these people in the car discussing things other than stocks, profits, capital, and rates of return.

They were discussing a translated Chinese novel that was very popular in the Jiangnan market recently.

"Moore Flanders"

In fact, Daniel Defoe's best-selling novel is Robinson Crusoe. However, this book did not become popular among the people in Jiangnan.

On the contrary, this book "Moore Flanders" is very popular.

I tried to understand why "Robinson Crusoe" was not as popular among the people in Jiangnan as it was among those on the streets of London who fantasized about going to sea to make a fortune, but I was not able to understand the reason for this difference.

As far as I know, there are two different versions of this Moll Flanders.

It's like they have two versions of "The Romance of the West Chamber" in China.

In one book, there are stories such as the embroidered shoes are just half taken off, the waist is hooked, the mandarin duck is shy and refuses to raise his head, and he just puts the mandarin duck pillow next to him... and puts a white handkerchief on it beforehand, and takes out the red-dyed white handkerchief to look at it afterwards, Chunluo Yuan. Crystal white, early red version with a bit of tender color.

One is "Huizhen Ji" which can at least be read generously.

The same goes for this book "Moore Flanders".

One is a translation that is basically faithful to the original work.

The other is the so-called "added" version. I have reason to believe that the people who translated the supplemented version are probably the same group of people who followed the shameless Duke to run tabloids in the Netherlands.

In fact, it was the latter version that led to the book's popularity. At least, that's how it seems to me. Not many people read the true original version.

Perhaps, this is a novel form for novels in China: it is completely unfolded from a female perspective, and in the way of female self-complaints, it depicts her life that made me sick.

And this form of self-reporting from a female perspective provides a good opportunity for those who add fuel to the story.

How did this woman who was born in prison go down step by step into prostitution, gambling, cheating, stealing, and marrying, and how one of her husbands was her half-brother... Taking advantage of the female perspective, she... The psychological progression towards depravity is very delicately depicted.

Coupled with the details that many people like to see, the description of the slowly declining mentality is undoubtedly an important reason for the success of this book.

For example, for the first description, we actually used very obscure words - and the translator who was faithful to the original work only used four words, "woman's last privilege" - but the other version did It took four pages and a lot of onomatopoeia to describe it.

This is not at all the content of the original work. But because of this, "Luoyang paper is expensive".

But the discussion that took place in the carriage today was very interesting.

Some people say that the woman in the story is simply incompetent. But in the end he got a plantation and lived a peaceful life. This is not a good book. The ending should be rotten death in a brothel.

But some people objected that this was like "Water Margin". According to the rules, the world would be hopeless. Although this woman stole, cheated, and married countless times, wasn't it because this was the only way for her, who was born in prison, to change her fate? Otherwise, would a woman born in a British prison have the slightest chance to play the piano, speak French, dance, and wear beaver fur? What caused her mother to be imprisoned? Didn't her mother want to live a good life?

The people who supported both sides insulted each other in the carriage. It was hard for me to imagine that such a political sentiment would arise after reading a book that was obviously, should be strictly investigated and banned, and obviously had too much ink on the bed and postures.

Originally, it was just because of the book, but it eventually developed into the many problems caused by the women in Songjiang Prefecture who made a living by textiles.

But in the end, they didn't fight.

Because someone came up to sell newspapers, which were related to some futures prices, everyone began to put aside their differences and discuss speculation harmoniously.

It seems that making money can make up for many differences and hatreds.

Yes, the Chinese just took away the colonies that the Dutch had run for more than a hundred years, but didn’t the Dutch turn around and cooperate with the Chinese?

Pah, shameless Dutch.

[January 14. Cloudy. Cold. Shanghai. ]

The minister did not get permission to meet His Majesty the Emperor.

The Dashun court gave a very diplomatic reason: the court was busy with the canonization of the Japanese shogun.

The Japanese shogun was old and decided to give the position to his son. It stands to reason that this is just their own business, or even just the shogun’s own business.

But with the previous war against Japan, everything changed.

The Dashun Empire did not interfere in its internal affairs, but legally it needed the canonization of the emperor.

This is different from our political system, but in my understanding, it is more like a monarch recognized by the federal system, and the vassal states are more like self-selected governors that the suzerain state cannot interfere with.

In the Tianxia system, China is the capital of the king, and Japan is a vassal after the war against Japan.

Fortunately, we are outside the five mournings. We are barbarians.

So in view of the closeness of the relationship, the court has no time to deal with us now.

The emperor even thought that it was a big deal to let the Duke of Xingguo handle such a small matter. In fact, this is completely within the jurisdiction of the magistrate of Xiangshan County.

The ambassador stayed in Yangzhou Prefecture for a few days, and the officials accompanying the Li government were also busy with Japanese affairs. Perhaps the emperor secretly instructed that the ambassador was even rejected for bribery.

It seems that the emperor does not intend to deal with us at all. Or, because of our opium trafficking, we are criminals who are not worth communicating with in the eyes of the great emperor.

So the ambassador had to return.

"The Chinese have not yet closed the embassy in Tianjin and the trading house in Songjiang Prefecture. And the French trading house has not bought firecrackers to celebrate, at least not yet. I think this is worth celebrating."

The ambassador laughed at himself after seeing me. Oh, Frenchman.

I could only tell him the process of my meeting with the evil duke.

All of it.

Including the fact that the evil duke privately tempted me to steal technology and promised me enough pounds. On the one hand, it was out of my patriotism; on the other hand, I don’t think he only found me.

To be honest, the pounds he promised would indeed tempt most people.

But I know that what he wants is not something I can get by myself.

The safest way is to go through normal channels and get the approval of Parliament. I only take the part of the benefits I should take, which is enough.

After listening to my retelling, the minister and I cursed the duke’s shameless and improper means. We kept cursing until our vocabulary was so dirty that not only a gentleman, but also an Irishman would be ashamed to hear that the language could be so dirty.

But after cursing, we didn’t know what to do.

For the British Kingdom, such humiliation should not be endured.

But for the interests of the British Kingdom, such humiliation must be endured.

I firmly believe that they will not get any evidence to prove that we were directly involved in the sale of opium to China.

But the minister did not think so. His Majesty the Great Emperor's guards, his children's guards and secret police, completely controlled the merchant ships docked in the port. If necessary, they could easily put out 200 boxes of opium.

If it was really framed, the parliament would only dissolve our company, not go to war because of us - fighting for Jenkins' ears, we are fighting for Central America, at least it seems that there is a chance. But, fighting for opium, is there anything we can theoretically seize?

[January 15. Overcast. Cold. Shanghai. ]

I discussed with the minister for a long time last night and went to bed in the early morning. But I was woken up at seven o'clock in the morning.

The translator conveyed the meaning of a certain official that on February 4, there would be a last fleet of merchant ships heading to Europe. The Chinese side asked us if we wanted to take some people back with the ship to clarify the problem. They said very "kindly" that we could send people to ride their merchant ships for free, even if we go to India, we can change in Ceylon.

The parliament needs the opinions of those of us stationed in China, and the company's board of directors also urgently needs our first-hand intelligence. It seems that we must reach a unanimous opinion before February 4.

I should cooperate with the minister to write a simple but clear report on the China investigation, so that the animals in the House of Representatives can understand the real world of the East. I hope that their brains, which are not much bigger than those of baboons, will make the right judgment.