Chapter 2130 The Flower War (Thirty-eight)

When Nick returned to the hospital, he found many officers and soldiers holding lanterns standing at the door. He walked through the door like an unrelated person.

When he reached a deserted place, he blew out the lantern, then poked his head around to look towards the hospital.

At this time, someone tapped his shoulder from behind, and Nick almost took out the Spanish folding knife.

"It's me." Juren walked to the light and pointed to his nose, "Follow me."

After saying that, he took the lead and walked into another alley.

Nick followed Juren and left. After walking for about two minutes, they arrived at the second floor of a building, from where they could see part of the hospital.

Cao Xi walked around in circles in the yard with his hands behind his back, while the priest stood motionless with a serious expression.

"He's waiting for me." Nick looked at Cao Xi and said.

"Cao Zuoling is searching for all suspicious foreigners." Juren said, "Have you heard of the 'Queen of China'?"

In 1784, in order to break through the British economic blockade, the Americans, who had just completed the War of Independence, took the ocean-going sailing ship "Empress of China" jointly equipped with the New York Company on Washington's birthday by Philadelphia businessmen Robert Morris and Daniel Pike, carrying

More than 40 tons of American ginseng left New York Port and arrived in Guangzhou via the Cape of Good Hope.

After more than half a year of bumps on the sea, the "Queen of China" arrived in Macau first. The extremely excited Americans fired thirteen cannons to pay tribute to the city on behalf of the thirteen states of the United States. A week later, it arrived at its final destination.

The destination was Guangzhou, and the same trick was repeated. This time, the people of Guangzhou who were celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival were startled, thinking that pirates were coming or that a war was about to start. As a result, many people were killed or injured.

In fact, the Americans just wanted to be exempted from paying the "first trade tax". After the incident, they immediately lied that they were British. When they found out that the officials who boarded the ship hated the British, they hurriedly explained that they were from the United States.

An emerging country ruled by the British.

Many Chinese people do not understand the outside world, and although the United States succeeded in independence, its government is not recognized by all countries in the world. In addition, the Americans behaved very law-abiding after landing, and eventually the officials of the "Chinese Empire" became foreigners.

I didn't know the etiquette of reporting this incident.

Could it be that another emerging country came out of nowhere and came to Guangzhou and "fired a salute" like the Americans?

Nick looked at the officers and soldiers standing guard. They didn't look like they were here to ask questions, but rather to arrest him.

The admiral helped him last time, but he may not be so lucky this time.

"I can't go back now." Nick looked at Juren and lowered his voice and said, "I have no merit, Cao Zuo will torture me."

"Hey, that's right, the right path for a 'scholar' is to obtain fame." Juren said plausibly, "Those Shaoxing masters think they can keep accounts and manage documents, so they treat themselves as assistants. What a joke."

It is necessary to explain the difference between the Chinese shogunate and the Japanese shogunate. Japan has had a dualistic politics for a long time in the past, divided into the public family and the samurai family. The public family mainly pays attention to etiquette and ignores government affairs, while the samurai family can be allowed by the emperor to be in his base camp.

The shogunate was established to manage the entire Japan. The samurai regime founded by Ashikaga Takauji was called the Muromachi shogunate, and the samurai regime founded by Tokugawa Ieyasu was called the Edo shogunate.

There is no dual rule in China. At the end of the Han Dynasty, Cao Cao had many counselors such as Guo Jia, Xun Yu, and Sima Yi, as well as Sun Quan and Liu Bei. However, neither Shu Han nor Soochow had as many counselors as Cao Cao, so Cao Cao's shogunate was the most capable of managing the country.

actual experience.

The Shaoxing masters mentioned in Juren not only keep accounts, but also provide advice to their "masters" like the counselors during the Three Kingdoms period. However, these "masters" do not have high official positions like counselors. They are just subordinates in the yamen.

Not even junior staff, because junior staff may be the quota of the official office, and the term of officials is usually three years, and they have to leave with trustworthy people, so the master is more like a hired professional consultant, sometimes

They also do some behind-the-scenes work for their owners.

In the late Ming Dynasty, most of the secretaries were from Shaoxing, Zhejiang, so they were called Shaoxing masters. They relied on their friendship with fellow villagers to exchange information. As for the imperial examination, they almost never took the imperial examination, but relied on the recommendation of their masters, just like

Like Fang Guancheng, the governor of Zhili, or taking advantage of his master's incompetence to make a fortune from his tenure and leave, similar to what Wang Danwang did.

Nick felt that his journey around the world might have to be changed a bit, such as not continuing the next trip to China, but before leaving he had to evade tonight's raid.

He asked Juren to take him in, and Juren easily agreed, saying with a smile that as long as he was not afraid of being hanged.

Finally, they went to Juren's residence together, a place not much better than a ruins. Although Juren said he was not afraid of ghosts, he still placed a "knife coin" on the bedside, which was said to have the effect of exorcising ghosts.

Juren gave up the "bed" to Nick and made a mat and floor himself. This time he did not tell Nick a story like before.

Nick looked at the beam above his head. Even though he knew there was no body hanging there, he still couldn't sleep with his eyes open.

There are two main ways to leave China. The first is to take a merchant ship of the East India Company. The second is to go to Japan first, and then find a way to take a ship from Japan to other countries.

Since the decline of the Central Plains Dynasty established by the Han people, especially after the Manchu Qing Dynasty entered the customs, the surrounding tributary countries, including North Korea, only recognized the culture of the Celestial Dynasty, but did not recognize the Central Plains regime.

They called themselves "Little China". Toyotomi Hideyoshi's request for North Korea to pay tribute to him was equivalent to the end of the "Greater China" system. Fortunately, the Ming Dynasty won that war.

Due to the isolation of the Ming Dynasty, Japanese merchants spread all over Southeast Asia, and because they produced silver and copper mines, the Sea of ​​Japan was basically the main trade artery for the entire Northeast Asia.

Vietnam relies almost entirely on Japanese trade, and their ports fully accept Japanese red seal ships, providing a place for "joint trade".

During this process, Vietnamese white sandalwood and raw silk were also imported to Japan, while Japanese copper coins flowed to Vietnam.

As Japan's copper mines dried up, the Edo shogunate promulgated the "New Masantoku Regulations" to curb the export of copper. As a result, Vietnam's raw silk business, which relied on Japan, began to decline, and businessmen from Britain and other countries stopped going to Vietnam.

At that time, Vietnam was in a state of division. In order to fight against each other, the Zheng family in Hanoi and the Nguyen family in Quangnan had to shift their economic base from the occupied South China Sea trade to the plundering of the countryside.

At that time, the Zheng family in Hanoi was weak and incompetent, but relied on the support of the Qing court to continue to rule. The Ruan family in Guangnan finally plundered the countryside and triggered a peasant uprising. This peasant uprising was named after the birthplace of the three Nguyen brothers, so it was called Xishan Nguyen family.

, the Nguyen clan of Xishan quickly defeated the Nguyen clan of Guangnan, and also defeated the Zheng clan of Hanoi, and finally faced the Qing army. In 1788, the Qing army entered Vietnam and defeated the Qing army on the outskirts of Hanoi the following year, giving the Li Dynasty the final blow.

, then the Tay Son Nguyen clan became the first regime to unify Vietnam.

Their victory was supported by Chinese pirates. The newly established regime not only gave the pirates official positions, but also provided them with venues. In order to further strengthen the navy, it also equipped the pirates with warships, cannons and other weapons.

At this time, the Qing government used a method to grant the edict of King Annan to the third son of the three Ruan brothers. The eldest son of the Ruan family in Xishan was actually left in the cold. The conflict between the brothers intensified, and the Ruan family in Guangnan, who fled abroad, finally

One group regained its independence with the support of Britain and other countries.

There are three main trade lines between Japan and China. The first is the Nagasaki line, which runs from Nagasaki, Japan to Zhapu, Zhejiang. The second is the Korean Busan-Japan Tsushima route. The third is Fuzhou to Ryukyu, and then from Ryukyu to Satsuma.

, but the last time Nick asked Captain Yao to go to Xiamen, it was initially because Captain Yao was worried about pirates, and later because Captain Yao was warned, he failed to make the trip.

Since the East India Company assembled country ship-class ships, pirates have rarely attacked British ships. The "Queen of China" is a 380-ton ocean-going ship. The country ship-class East India Company's special ship is 1,200 tons, which is higher than

There is a lot of water, and you can't climb up even if you get close to it, not to mention there are 20 cannons and American hired sailors on it.

Unless they plan to sink it and then salvage the sunken ship, the country ship can sail almost unimpeded in the South China Sea. This sense of powerlessness makes some pirates feel that it is time to "wash their hands".

But even so, the East India Company did not dare to use real gold and silver when remitting money to the country, unless the British navy was dispatched. Therefore, the East India Company had to pay for the troops and military supplies sent by the country.

Last time, the Macartney mission measured a route from Guangdong to the north. They also met the Ryukyu tribute envoy in Fuzhou. It was precisely because they collected intelligence and discovered how inaccurate the original map was that Harrock hired Nick.

Drawing maps.

If you want to escape, you need to plan your route, not like Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.

However, the conclusion Nick reached was not wonderful. It would be difficult for him to run away unless he went to Southeast Asia, which meant that he had to go back to the hospital to get the map hanging on the wall.

Nick took out his pocket watch. It was already midnight and Juren had fallen into a deep sleep.

He quietly got up from the bed and opened the door. Just before he was about to step out of the room, he put 300 silver dollars on the table. This amount of money was enough for him to go to Beijing again.

Then he left the "house".
Chapter completed!