"Go away! Go away... Damn it, when will you damn Chinese learn to obey the rules?"
Winston White, the supervisor of Shanghai Jardine Matheson Terminal, became angry. He waved his cane and shouted in a London slum accent at several Chinese sand boats on the river.
This is an old white man with red hair, a round rosacea nose, and always drowsy eyes. He is also flabby due to obesity, alcoholism and smoking foreign cigarettes.
The reason that made him so angry was that several Chinese-style sand boats wanted to seize a deep-water berth connected to a long trestle.
This kind of flat-bottomed boat can usually only sail in shallow waters with less wind and waves, and cannot carry much cargo. It is not worthy of occupying the precious deep-water berth of Jardine Matheson.
According to the plan, a British merchant ship from India will dock at that spot later, and the ship will be filled with expensive opium! And after the ship unloads the opium, it will also load a ship full of silk and return to Europe. .
This old white man from the slums of London, who has been a member of the British lower class for more than thirty years, is now very angry: such a big business has been delayed by these small Chinese boats, and he will turn back to Matheson, the head of the foreign company. Mr. White will definitely be angry! And he, the unlucky Mr. White, will inevitably be scolded and may even be fired.
He hasn’t had enough of the good life in Shanghai yet!
Thinking of this, he yelled in broken Chinese to a strong Chinese man next to him, who was big and round, with a sinewy face and shiny braids wrapped around his neck: "Chen... hurry up and take your people to get the people on that boat." Catch the captain and first mate for me!"
"Yes! Sir!"
This strong man is a disciple of the Cao Gang. His surname is Chen and his given name is San. He is the foreman of the Shanghai dock of Yihe Bank. He is in charge of more than a hundred coolies and is the right-hand man of the old white man Winster White.
If Mr. White asked him to fuck the foreigners on the big sailing ship, he would never dare to do it. If Mr. White asked him to fuck the owner and the bow of the Chinese sailing ship that was parked randomly, he would not only dare to do it, but he would also be very courageous.
If you beat someone up, even if you are caught, you will be robbed of a sum of money! Of course, the benefit from Mr. White and the fine from Jardine Matheson are not less than a penny. "Brothers, take the poles, Follow me to catch someone!" Chen San shouted.
"Hello!"
His disciples immediately cheered, and dozens of strong men who had no work to do immediately picked up the poles and followed Mr. Chen onto the long trestle. That was so impressive!
Soon, this group of people swarmed to the floating dock in the Huangpu River, blocked a large sand boat that had docked on the dock, lowered its anchor, and dropped its cable, and began to yell and curse.
"Where did you come from? Are you blind? Is this the place where your old boat can stop?"
"This is a dock for foreign ships. It has delayed the foreign master's big business. You can't afford to sell your broken ship." "Mother Xipi, tell your boss to get out of here quickly. The foreign master has lost his temper. !」
"mother..
Halfway through the curse, this group of people suddenly stopped talking, as if the pause button had been pressed. And the person who made them stop talking was one person!
A man walked out of the cabin and stood on the deck, looking at the scenery of the Bund with his hands behind his hands.
This man was tall, with thick eyebrows and big eyes. He had a neatly trimmed sideburns and a straight posture. He just stood there and the dozens of Cao Gang disciples on the pier were restrained. He With a glance, Chen San, who had been showing off his power just now, was like pushing a jade pillar down a mountain of gold, bowing his head and shouting: "The little man kowtows to the great master!"
Then all the Cao Gang disciples on the pier knelt down, leaving only Mr. White, who had arrived late with a cane, still standing there, stunned. A gust of river wind blew by, blowing away the tall man's official coat. The robe fluttered...
It’s still prestigious to be an official!
Luo Yaoguo, who was standing on the deck, looked at the Caobang disciples kneeling below and couldn't help but sigh.
"Are you the owner of this boat? This is the dock of Jardine Matheson. You are not allowed to park here. Leave immediately!"
Winston White also knew the official uniforms of the Qing Dynasty, but he was a foreigner and was not afraid of the officials of the Qing Dynasty. He immediately greeted them in blunt Chinese. Luo Yaoguo just waved gently.
The password sounded.
"Everyone has it... Let's start!"
Then I saw soldiers with clear cloth on their heads, wearing uniforms with the word "Yong" on their shoulders, carrying shotguns and foreign guns on their shoulders, and swords on their waists and hips, lining up from the cabin, and walked from the ship to the floating dock along the newly placed gangplank. On top, there were three horizontal lines, about a hundred people in total.
A young officer holding a sword in his hand, wearing a linen coat and an official hat with a glass top also got off the boat. He stood in front of three rows and shouted loudly: "Stand at attention. Look to the right... and move forward." look..."
Following his series of commands, the more than a hundred soldiers had neatly arranged their formation. Three rows of soldiers stood in three straight lines, as neatly cut as if cut by a knife. And each of these soldiers had dark faces and full of energy. , have a strong physique, and you can tell at a glance that they are not contaminated with opium habits, and they have all undergone the most rigorous training!
"This is... the Chinese army?" Winston White was stunned. "Am I drunk?"
In his early years, he worked as a mercenary for the East India Company and participated in the Opium War. He saw how rubbish the Qing army was on the battlefield. Later, he worked as a supervisor at the Jardine Matheson Terminal in Shanghai and saw people coming from the Huangpu River almost every day. The soldiers who went to Jianghaiguan Yamen.
Before today, all the Qing soldiers he had seen were staggering around. When had he seen such an elite? So much so that he had doubts about his mental state. Just when the old white man was in a trance, Luo Yaoguo had already met with Wang Kui Yi, Zhang Sanxiang, Wu Ruxiao and Xu Yuegui walked off the boat together.
"Who is in charge here?"
Winston White suddenly heard the awe-inspiring "Oxford accent" English. He habitually used his "ghetto" English and a flattering tone to reply: "It's me, sir."
As soon as he said this, he felt something was wrong.
He is now a "foreign man", and the person who speaks "Oxford accent" to him seems to be an official of the Qing Dynasty? Do the officials of the Qing Dynasty also learn "Oxford English"? Did he graduate from Oxford or Cambridge?
At this time, Luo Yaoguo continued to speak to the old white man in "Oxford English": "I am the chief secretary of Mr. Luo, the governor of Hunan in the Qing Empire. I was ordered to lead a battalion of infantry to Shanghai to discuss military matters with the consul of Rutherford Aliguo. Cooperation and other matters. In addition, I also brought a lot of silver and need to unload it here. Can you help? Of course, we will pay the corresponding fees."
"Of course... I am very happy to serve you, sir." White, the old white man, is completely honest now. He is the chief secretary to the Governor!
That's a high official!
And he still brought silver to discuss military cooperation with the consul... He can't ruin the affairs of Lord Aliguo!"...
As waves of loud commands sounded, the foreigners and Chinese people coming and going on the Bund were all stunned by a uniform army they had never seen before.
This army is still dressed in Chinese style, and its weapons and equipment are relatively backward. There are only a few flintlock guns, and many people carry old-fashioned spears. But their queue, pace and mental outlook are similar to those stationed in Shanghai. The British and French soldiers in the concession were almost identical.
Along with these hundreds of Qing soldiers, who were like British and French soldiers, there were two to three hundred porters, carrying heavy boxes.
Soon this army of 500 people stopped in front of the newly built British Consulate on the Bund, and the porters piled a suitcase together, and then came under the command of a middle-aged white man. Leave on your own.
With a loud "stand...set", more than 500 people stopped almost at the same time and made a "wow" sound.
Then there was a series of commands for the whole team, and a battalion-level hollow square appeared outside the British Consulate in a blink of an eye, including several officials, a voluptuous Chinese woman, and a bunch of unknown leather goods. Boxes surrounded the middle. Military flags with the word "Xiang Yong" embroidered on all sides and a large flag with the word "Snow" appeared in the ranks.
And the middle-aged white man walked into the door of the consulate.
This scene soon attracted a group of onlookers, who all pointed at this "Western-style" Chinese army and talked about it.
However, Luo Yaoguo, who was leading this army, did not immediately walk into the gate of the British Consulate. Instead, he stood on the pile of leather boxes and looked around with interest at the somewhat empty Shanghai Bund.
In the consulate, British Consul Aliguo had already sent away the French and American consuls, but he was talking with another visitor - a Chinese official in his sixties, who was elegant and easy-going and could speak fluent English. chat.
The visiting Chinese official's name was Wu Jianzhang. He was worshiped as Taoist Su Song and a supervisor of Jiang Customs. He was a rare "foreignization talent" in the Qing Dynasty. He was also a Guangdong man who could pay the astronomical price of 500,000 taels of silver to buy a Taoist platform. Rich businessman.
Generally speaking, it is impossible to sell a Daotai that is really lacking, especially Su Songtai and Jiang Jiang Customs Supervisor, but he can't resist giving too much! So Daoguang, who suffered a huge loss due to the Opium War, decided to Sold him this "not for sale" official.
The purpose of Wu Jianzhang's visit to the British Consulate today is actually the same as that of the French consul and the American consul who just left, both because of "the devil."
Yesterday afternoon, Wu Jianzhang received a letter from Jiangsu Governor Yiliang and a "Secret Report on the Discovery of Devils in China". The content of the letter was that Yiliang ordered Wu Jianzhang to take the "secret report" to Shanghai. The British, American and French consuls watched and tested their positions.
In addition, since the Taiping Army was marching towards the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, Wu Jianzhang also proposed hiring foreign soldiers to defend Shanghai... At this time, Aliguo was wearing reading glasses and pretending to watch.
Just when Aliguo was thinking about how to blackmail Wu Jianzhang, there was a knock on the door of his office, and then he was pushed open. "Sir... please look out the window!"
A secretary from Aliguo came in
"Outside the window? What happened?" Aliguo took off his reading glasses, stood up and walked to the window of his office facing the Huangpu River. He looked down and immediately saw a scene that shocked him.
Chapter completed!