At this time, the door of the house was pushed open from the outside, and two women in their twenties came in carrying things. The leading woman was carrying two blue-shelled kettles, and the woman behind her was carrying a bulging kettle in one hand.
bag, and the other hand is holding a blue plastic basin.
Li Shangyi's three entourages followed the woman and walked in with her body bent. They didn't say anything after entering the door. They stood by the door and waited with their heads down, but there was something wrong with their expressions.
Kong Xiaoyuan was furious at this time, and was about to open his mouth to question, when the two women who came in first said: "Masters, these two blue pots are full of boiling water for you to wash up. Please add more water when pouring it."
Be careful, the water inside is very hot." After that, he pointed to the blue plastic basin and the bulging bag and said: "This basin is for you to wash your face. This bag contains a total of six sets of toiletries and towels. Gentlemen, please go ahead.
Please wash up and rest, and we will take you to dinner in half an hour."
"Thank you." Li Shangyi nodded, then asked how to open the hot water bottle, and finally took out a few coins from his sleeve and handed it to the two women.
The two women didn't pick her up at all, bowed and bowed, then turned around and left.
"This" Li Shangyi shook his head with a wry smile. There was something weird about Beihai Town from top to bottom.
"What are you three killing people doing?!" Kong Xiaoyuan and others went out, and then asked in a deep voice.
"Master, the three of us were arrested by the local police and taken to the Yamen. They were interrogated before being released." The person who spoke was Li Douhuan's follower.
"What?!" Li Douhuan was shocked, and he quickly asked: "What did you do? Why did the police interrogate you?"
"The young man was just anxious. He couldn't hold it in anymore, so he ran to the back of a room to relieve himself. Unexpectedly, a passerby saw him, and the man started yelling. After a while, the local police arrived.
.”
Li Douhuan asked: "Did your female relatives see you while you were urinating?"
"Sir, no! We even looked carefully, and there was no one around! The police officer said something about 'destroying public health' when they arrested us. Later, they heard that we were here with three masters, so we made a pledge
, and led us here to find the master."
During dinner, Liu Sheng and Chen Qingsong heard about what happened in the afternoon and came over with their rice bowls to ask Zhao Xin.
"Why do you want to fall out with someone from Li Chaolai?"
So when Zhao Xingang said "Maoshan magnetite with 5 billion tons of reserves", Liu Sheng and Chen Qingsong immediately said "oh" and looked at each other, which clearly meant "I knew this guy was unprofitable and couldn't afford it early."
”.
"I still have something to say, the mouth of the Tumen River and the mouth of the Yalu River. We must get these two places in our hands."
Chen Qingsong asked while eating the braised pork ribs specially made for him by Qing He, "Are you not planning to let Li Chao become a vassal?"
"You are all so naive! These sects and vassals just want to form a cultural superiority gap and improve their status in the East Asian political circle through homogenization with Chinese civilization." Zhao Xin looked at himself.
There was green vegetables made by Shen Xuan in the bowl. After thinking about it, she took a piece of ribs from Chen Qingsong's bowl.
"You mean the island country?" Chen Qingsong asked, lifting his rice bowl off the table.
"Yeah, I'm just competing with the island countries and Ryukyu." Zhao Xin took a big bite of pork ribs and ate another mouthful of rice, feeling comfortable now. "I'm not interested in the so-called vassals, so let them do it on their own.
But there is no need to discuss the territorial issue. Whoever owns it belongs to him. If you can ask for more, you will get it. If you want more, you will never agree to it!"
"These words have touched my heart!" After Liu Sheng finished speaking, he glanced at the few ribs still in Chen Qingsong's rice bowl and continued to ask: "Who will accompany those three Koreans tonight?"
"I asked Pingtai to come forward and let him take care of this matter." After Zhao Xin finished speaking, he emptied the rice in the bowl in a few mouthfuls and began to concentrate on the ribs.
Chen Qingsong noticed Liu Sheng's malicious gaze, so he pretended to be serious, put one hand on the rice bowl and said: "Then when you go south in two days, do you need to go outside Busan Port?"
Zhao Xindao: "This matter is not urgent. Once we completely capture Hunchun, it will be time to resolve the territorial issue with the Li Dynasty."
"Hey, let me ask you, do you want to eat with your hands on it?" Liu Sheng used chopsticks to pull Chen Qingsong's hand several times, and finally gave up.
"I won't cover it? If I don't cover it, it will be easier for both of you!" Chen Qingsong quickly picked up the two pieces of ribs in the bowl and took a bite of each.
"I don't think you're dirty." With lightning speed, Liu Sheng stretched out his chopsticks and the ribs were already in the bowl.
In a single room of the large dining hall, Pingtai was entertaining three visitors from the Li Dynasty. As for their entourage, they were arranged in a single room next door, accompanied by one of Pingtai's men.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. We actually don't have many rules in Beihai Town, but the "Public Health Regulations" must be followed. This, you will really be caught for defecating in the open, whether you are a local or a foreigner, the public security
The police treat everyone equally."
Faced with a dazzling array of meat dishes, and with a few glasses of white wine, a small misunderstanding basically disappeared. However, Kong Xiaoyuan was still not satisfied, why didn't he even have a geisha?
At this time, the two merchants exchanged glances. Li Douhuan stood up with a wine glass in his hand and said, "Mr. Zhao, I wonder what kind of goods your place has besides the kind of fire starters and cigarettes that can catch fire with just a touch?"
Pingtai and Li Douhuan clinked glasses and drank the wine, and then said: "Silk, sugar, lanterns, glass, including the toiletries that the female worker sent to you today, these are all local specialties."
Li Douhuan had traveled all over the country for many years, and his knowledge was quite broad in this era. He cursed in his heart: "You have the nerve to say that silk and sugar are specialties here, shameless!" He guessed that these two commodities were smuggled from the Manchu and Qing Dynasties next door.
Li Shangyi asked curiously: "We have seen a lot of colored glaze today. I wonder what the lantern is?"
Pingtai smiled and said: "You will know in a moment. When I go back later, I will give each of the three of them a cup."
It is said that since Kuye Island can produce diesel, Zhao Xin asked Zhang Bo to build a special earthen kiln for distilling kerosene before leaving. The current earthen kiln can only meet the requirements of atmospheric pressure distillation. In the future, when workers are skilled in the equipment, they can perform vacuum distillation.
It can be achieved; as for plastic, don't think about it for now.
In addition to these, Li Douhuan asked about the price of hot water bottles and some toiletries, and Ping Tai also answered. The reason why he was so enthusiastic was that he had just taken office. Another factor was that Zhao Xin asked him to find opportunities to develop an intelligence network in Li Dynasty.
In the next two days, Zhao Xin never met Li Chao's visitors again. He was busy preparing various supplies needed for the trip south. Meanwhile, Li Shangyi and the other three walked around the town accompanied by clerks from the Trade Department of Pingtai and Beihai Towns.
Because Zhao Xin strictly ordered Li Chaolai's people to be targeted and restricted their visits to sensitive areas, the three of them could not go anywhere except the residential areas and ports in Beihai Town, which made Kong Xiaoyuan very angry.
However, just what they saw and heard in these two places made the three visitors from Li Dynasty feel as if they were looking at a kaleidoscope, extremely shocked but confused.
The first was the Thor in the port. The three of them spent half a day and went to the port to see it again. This time they heard incredible news from Pingtai, that is, the blue and white Thor
It was made of steel. Li Shangyi and Li Douhuan were so shocked that their jaws dropped to the ground, while Kong Xiaoyuan didn't believe it at all.
Steel makes a boat? What about a three-year-old child? Unless you let me touch it with my own hands!
Pingtai readily agreed, and took the three of them up the trestle and onto the ramp. As a result, the three Koreans reached two-thirds of the height and said they dared not go up. It was too high! But after getting off the ramp,
Kong Xiaoyuan never said anything doubtful again, because he had touched the gangway railings and the hull, and they were indeed made of iron.
The second is the loudspeakers that can be seen everywhere on the roadside in residential areas. When Kong Xiaoyuan and the other three heard someone speaking from the loudspeaker for the first time, they were almost scared to death. The three of them and their followers stood under a wooden pole to listen.
For a long time, they tried to figure out how the person was hiding in the loudspeaker. Kong Xiaoyuan's follower vowed that he would keep guard until the person in the loudspeaker came out. This move made Pingtai and his clerks dumbfounded.
They didn't understand the logic behind it, but they had seen too many new things that Zhao Xin had brought out. Now everyone could only say "Wow". After knowing that it had nothing to do with them, they would still do whatever they were supposed to do.
The third is the shops located in residential areas. Li Douhuan originally thought that Pingtai was bragging when he said that Beihai Town had a wide variety of products, but when he went in and took a look, he was blinded by the dazzling variety of products. As a businessman, Li Douhuan liked this and that.
I also wanted to buy something. Unfortunately, I didn’t bring much money for this trip. So I walked around for a long time, and finally the three of us bought a few small mirrors, a few large packs of matches and ten cigarettes.
Kong Xiaoyuan discovered that Beihai Town was selling Hanfu women's clothing in the store. Almost every woman who entered the store came to take a look, and then left with a sigh. As a scholar from a Korean higher education institution, Kong Xiaoyuan because of the strong defense between men and women.
It was not easy to ask because of the relationship. Finally, Li Shangyi figured it out and asked the store owner, only to find out that each set of Hanfu women's clothes actually cost five Beihai Town silver coins.
By buying things and exchanging silver coins, the three of them also saw the silver coins in Beihai Town and exchanged a few coins each. Merchant Erli recognized the silver content and value of 925. As a person who has long been engaged in trade with the Qing Dynasty and island countries,
Businessman Li Douhuan was keenly aware that there seemed to be some kind of correspondence between the silver coins of Beihai Town and the island country's douban silver, and he vaguely felt that there should be something to do in this.
The most shocking thing for the three of them was the hospital in Beihai Town. The day before departure, when the three of them saw the red cross erected in the central square of the town, they thought it was the church of the Western red-haired people.
He said he would go and have a look.
It is not uncommon for people in the Li Dynasty to know about Catholicism. As early as 1603, envoys returning from Beijing in the Ming Dynasty brought back Matteo Ricci's "Records of the God of Heaven" and the Liangyi Xuanlan Pictures. However, at that time, the scholars of the Li Dynasty
They also regard Catholicism as a science, not a religion.
Last year, in the forty-ninth year of Qianlong's reign, Li Chengxun, who was baptized as a Catholic in Beijing, returned to China and founded the first church of the Li Dynasty. Catholicism has since taken root in the peninsula. At this time, because the size of the church was not large, the believers were not
Many, the government and the public are still just curious. But when the church begins to preach in a few years that "everyone is equal before God, regardless of gender, regardless of high or low", it will be time for the "cup" to come on stage.
Equality? What do you want the scholar-bureaucrats to do?
When Kong Xiaoyuan and the others walked to the door of the hospital, they looked at the people coming in and out, pointed to the red cross on the outer wall and asked Pingtai: "Mr. Zhao, is this the Catholic Church?"
Pingtai shook his head and said: "There is no Catholic Church in Beihai Town. This is a hospital."
Kong Xiaoyuan wondered: "Then why do you have to hang the symbol of Western Catholicism?"
Pingtai quickly explained: "Mr. Kong misunderstood. This symbol was created by my family. Its meaning is two blood-stained crossed bandages, which represents saving lives and healing the wounded."
Just as Kong Xiaoyuan was about to ask again, he heard a person behind him shout loudly: "Fart! Your family will be punished by God for misinterpreting Jesus Christ in this way!"
Everyone turned around and saw a red-haired Westerner with a mustache, a smooth chin, and a white coat, glaring at them angrily.
Pingtai said with a smile: "Doctor Ma, why are you angry? My lord is a saint who came down from heaven and has nothing to do with your Jesus. Besides, you don't have a red cross in the West, so why do you have to say it is a cross?
?”
Father Macarius was speechless for a moment and glared at Pingtai angrily with his eyes bulging. Since he came to Beihai Town Hospital at the end of the year before last, he was immediately attracted by the various equipment and medicines of Beihai Town Hospital; the way of diagnosis here
It was completely different from what he had learned before. So Macarius decided to stay and study with Hong Tao, preparing to take these advanced medical technologies back to China after completing his studies.
However, a priest wore a black robe and wandered around the hospital all day long, like a ghost. The female nurses and patients were startled several times. Later, Hong Tao persuaded him to put on a white coat, saying that you want to learn knowledge anyway.
, why should we care about a piece of outer clothing? So a few months later, Father Ma became "Doctor Ma".
Because he was forced to take a shower every day, his body odor became lighter. At the same time, his beard was shaved off. Dr. Ma, who has white skin and big eye sockets, still received many flirtatious looks from refugee women.
Kong Xiaoyuan asked Pingtai: "Mr. Zhao, you actually have a Western student here? He, he can actually speak Mandarin?!"
"Oh, Mr. Kong, this is Dr. Ma, an Orosian. He is now a doctor at our Beihai Town Central Hospital." In front of Father Ma, Pingtai couldn't directly say, "This is our prisoner."
, that’s too disrespectful. If I have to go see a doctor next time, and I catch up with Macarius to see him, the revenge will come in minutes!
When everyone heard that he was actually a doctor, they hurriedly bowed their hands and saluted. Macarius ignored him, raised his head and snorted, then walked to smoke a dozen meters away.
Pingtai shook his head and walked into the hospital gate with the three of them. As soon as they entered, several people from Li Chao noticed many women wearing white masks and white dresses walking back and forth in the aisles.
Looking at the graceful and slender backs of each of them, the three visitors from Li Chao were stunned. Kong Xiaoyuan pointed at the backs of the female nurses and said to the escorts in Beihai Town: "This, this, this is simply shameless. Even men and women are guarding against each other."
Don’t you even talk about it?!”
Pingtai and his clerks looked confused and said hesitantly: "They all treat everyone. What does this have to do with the defense of men and women?"
"A doctor?" Several visitors from Li Chao looked at each other and thought of one word in their minds, doctor woman.
The three of them thought that since Zhao Xin was very aware of the past territorial disputes, could he also follow the example of Lord Yanshan and create a group of medical women?
Li Shangyi swallowed a mouthful of saliva and asked in a low voice to Li Douhuan next to him: "Do you think these people are medical women?"
Li Douhuan shook his head and said: "It's our first time here and we don't know the basics, so it's better not to provoke him."
Kong Xiaoyuan on the side was wondering what kind of hospital it was, this was clearly a theater! He understood this!
In the morning of the next day, the three visitors from Li Dynasty, who felt that they had gained a lot, finally boarded the ship with their followers and returned home.
On the way back to the voyage, Kong Xiaoyuan took advantage of what he saw and heard during the trip and took advantage of his free time to write a "Journey to Donghu" as a written record of his report to Zuo on his return to China. Unexpectedly, this text was published in the court and
It did not cause much reaction among the scholar class, but instead caused discussion among the Beijing merchant group and the Song merchant group. In addition to Er Li's respective merchant houses, other merchant houses also began to prepare goods and ships, preparing to cross the sea to explore.