Under normal circumstances, you can arrive in Beijing the same day after landing in Tianjin in the morning. After all, there is a railway between the two places now. Although the arrival time of the noisy train is not very reliable, the departure time of the two trains every day is still quite accurate. . And most of the people who take the bus are not really in a hurry to go to the capital. Ordinary people bring their whole family, young and old, and spend two Tianqi Tongbao per person to chat and go to the capital. They just want to experience the process. A slightly more generous scholar is invited. A few friends spend ten cents to buy a sleeper ticket. What they want is an artistic conception. If the train arrives before the poem is finished, they will really curse.
There are many people and few cars. This is the current situation of the Beijing-Tianjin Railway in the Ming Dynasty. The ticket sales that start at chen o'clock every day will be sold out within a quarter of an hour. He was transferred to the Ministry of Industry by Wang Zheng. In another time and space, he, Shi Kefa and Gao Hongtu were both known as the "Nan Zhong San" "Xianxiang", Jiang Yueguang, who is now in charge of domestic transportation construction, was scolded behind his back for this. But what can be done? This section of the railway was originally experimental in nature and was intended to be operated commercially while ensuring safety. Come to find out the problem and solve it. There are only a few locomotives, and they haven't been officially finalized yet. No matter how powerful he is, Mr. Jiang, he can't push the train.
In order to satisfy the curiosity of the people and gain a good reputation for himself, Jiang Yueguang even made a bold decision in violation of the safety regulations established by the institute, allowing people who had not made it in time to buy tickets to enter the station after the train departed. Visit, lie down on the railway and feel it or take a ride in the spare carriage.
"Desargue, you are the best mathematician and engineer in France. Have you never thought about returning to China to build such a road?" Of course Richelieu wandered around Tianjin Station not because he couldn't buy a ticket, but because he didn't leave. Because there were so many things that shocked him here in Tianjin, he was reluctant to leave just like that. Otherwise, whether he was Zou Weilian, a first-rank official, or Zhou Fengxiang, who officially joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after returning to China and was detained as a minister, he would have the privilege to join the envoy group. Hang a special carriage.
Others in Tianjin Port were looking at the finished products that had already been produced, but neither the powerful weapons specially supplied for export nor the exquisite equipment specially used for export could attract Richelieu's attention. What he paid attention to was the mountains of goods. Coal, neatly stacked steel, and dozens of large warehouses filled with grain.
As a country's decision-maker, Richelieu knew very well that what he could see would not be all of the empire, but such a huge material reserve in the West was enough to support a huge campaign. According to the observations of his colleagues, Fengxiang introduced that they were just civilian supplies prepared by the empire to meet the production needs of the south, and they were only a two-month reserve.
While others were not paying attention, Richelieu secretly opened several bags filled with grain. He was no stranger to corn and sweet potatoes, and he was well aware of their huge yields. Coal is also a common item in the West, but Wouldn't Richelieu be stupid enough to think that the Ming Dynasty had stored so much steel just for heating? There was no need for him to consider this. Those things could turn into deadly weapons at any time.
Two months of civilian goods reserves can defeat a Western power. You can imagine the real strategic reserves. Richelieu is not afraid of the Ming Dynasty's advanced technology, nor is he afraid of this Eastern ally's large population and aggressiveness, but what he is afraid of is this empire. The attitude shown now. If Richelieu had so much supplies, he would dare to immediately launch a decisive battle against the Roman Empire. However, the Ming Dynasty was not satisfied and continued to develop its line equipment.
Richelieu couldn't imagine how terrifying the war would be if it angered the Eastern Empire and caused the Ming Dynasty to devote all its efforts to launching a war. Of course, he knew very well what the reaction would be if his allies found out about such private poaching, but he just couldn't bear it.
Look, everything this ally has is what the Kingdom of France urgently needs to become a Western hegemon. Fortunately, Sir Roy did not stop him when he deceived Western talents. Now that he has met a scholar from his own country, he may be able to convince him to join him.
go back.
"Dear Prime Minister, even if I go back now, it won't make any difference." Desargues remained humble towards the leader of his country, let alone a Prime Minister, even if Louis XIII came to invite him in person.
I won't go back with you.
For the outstanding talents abducted from the West, the Ming Empire adopted a completely different way of dealing with them. Like Galileo, who was abandoned by his own people and would be tortured to face trial every three days, the Ming Empire only gave two words
.It’s called respect. As long as you don’t try to subvert the rule of the empire and threaten the peaceful life of the people, you don’t have to consider the secular impact when doing research. In addition to starting to calculate planetary orbits with the students at the institute, Galileo has even made an application request
Build a larger astronomical telescope and explore places outside the solar system.
The advanced technology and huge talent pool that Ming Dynasty now possesses are simply the most fatal temptation for those fanatical scientific researchers. Although Descartes still thinks of his hometown from time to time, he is not only busy with the Italian
Cavalieri founded calculus and wanted to prove the law of universal gravitation before Newton was born. People had already announced that except for regular lectures every day, no one was allowed to enter the laboratory to disturb him.
The most disgusting thing is that the treacherous Kong Yanzhi used some means to trick Zhu Youcong into getting a pamphlet from Zhu Youcong, and from time to time he dropped some research topics he called general conjectures. At first glance, these conjectures seemed to be pure lies, but if you look carefully,
After some research, it turns out that this seems to be the case. So now, if you want these two types of people to return to China, people will just say, "I'm busy, I don't have time!"
At the other extreme, Venier Pi and others have a much simpler method. They can throw them directly into Zhao Prison. If Chen Xinjia and Wang Dain can't drain away their little knowledge, they might as well stop hanging out. They will be gone.
Want to explain? The ability of scholars to make mistakes cannot be underestimated. There are really not many people who don't believe what they say.
In contrast, scholars like Desargues who engaged in scientific research without forgetting material comforts gained more benefits after coming to the Ming Dynasty. Projective geometry was Desargues' research topic, but in the West this research brought him
It can only cause displeasure among mathematicians and religious people. No one will take such research seriously, let alone invest a lot of money in him. But in the East, the treatment is completely different. Not only did he receive tens of thousands of taels of silver for the special project
He also made a lot of money for himself through occasional flashes of inspiration. If it weren't for the urgent need for a translator to accompany him this time, he would not have bothered to come over from Imperial College after finishing his studies on railway engineering.
"Why not?" There was a hint of anger in Richelieu's voice. The hope of making his country strong was right in front of him. With these high-level talents who studied in the Ming Dynasty, even if they couldn't do better than the Ming Dynasty, they could still imitate what they said.
"Dear Prime Minister..." Desargues sorted out his thoughts for a moment before replying: "Everything you can see now is supported by a complete industrial system, and this is not our motherland.
I can be satisfied now.”
Pointing to the railway on the ground, Desargue continued: "Take this section of railway track as an example. In order to produce finished products with exactly the same specifications, the Ming Empire established an extremely strict process from exploration to mining to smelting and casting.
If there is a problem with any link in the middle, it will be impossible to complete the construction of these hundreds of miles of railway."
Industrialized production, damned industrialized production again. Richelieu got a headache when he thought of this word. When he wanted to imitate Ming Dynasty's weapons, he encountered this obstacle. As a result, he was forced to steal hundreds of thousands of slaves and hundreds of millions by that shameless fat man.
Wan saved up a lot of money with great difficulty.
But now that we want to revitalize our country, we are encountering this trouble. It may not be difficult to steal some technology from Ming Dynasty. What is difficult is to steal their entire production process. Even if we want to import it, it will not work. People only need to go through the cumbersome process.
If they use their hands and feet a little bit, Westerners will have to spend countless energy to solve it.
"That's it..." Richelieu was silent for a while and nodded slowly. Desargues' father was a royal notary serving the royal family, so he knew how capable this guy was. He shouldn't have deceived himself.
It’s necessary. Since he said it can’t be done, it definitely can’t be done.
A gold medal was placed in front of him with no one supervising him, but he suddenly found that he did not have the strength to move it. This feeling was the most uncomfortable. Richelieu was not willing to be teased like this, and held on to the last glimmer of hope.
Asked: "You mean, if we want to achieve everything that the Ming Dynasty did, we must fully introduce their production system?"
"Bang, bang, bang..." An annoying sound of gongs stopped Deshager from answering. Seeing the crowds around him leaving quickly, the experienced members of the mission knew that this was a late train from the capital. If he didn't leave,
But it will be pressed into meat patties.
"Dear Prime Minister, maybe we can continue the topic in the car later." Half of the task was completed. Desargues successfully used Richelieu's eagerness to expand his country's strength to whet his appetite.
, there is no need to let so many people in the entourage know what happens next. At least the real priests in the team do not need to participate in the discussion.
"Oh, my hat!" It was indeed the magical Eastern Empire. When watching from a distance, I thought this kind of train was very easy to install. But I really didn't think it would run so fast. The businessman coming from Lyon looked at the casual train.
Feng Yuanqi's hat was extremely angry. He didn't bother to adjust his hair and turned to his companion next to him: "Calais, can you tell me when we will have such an advanced means of transportation?"
"I don't know!" He had been in the Ming Empire for so many days and had eaten a lot of delicious food. While admiring his admiration, Calais had thought of sending people to learn Eastern cooking techniques more than once. But this meal in front of him made his eyes dazzle.
Liang, found another way to make money. "But the Prime Minister is personally responsible for the negotiation content, so he should be able to introduce a lot of advanced things? If possible, I would like to remind him not to forget to obtain the technology transfer for this!"
What attracts Calais is not the fresh fruit on the table, but the tin can that used to hold the fruit. Canned fruit is not an invention of Zhu Youcong, but one made by Zou Weilian. Whether it is from the East or the West, during ocean voyages
The most feared thing is scurvy. In the past, there was a very simple and effective way to deal with it, which was to plant bean sprouts in the cabin to provide sufficient vitamins. But eating bean sprouts all the time is not a problem. Years of sailing at sea can even make it difficult for people to suffer from scurvy.
Young navy officers and soldiers have developed a bad habit, that is, whatever delicacies they eat taste like bean sprouts.
In order to keep the naval officers and soldiers strong in combat effectiveness, Zou Weilian had to think of many ways. Ever since he accidentally discovered that putting high-temperature steamed fruits in glass jars could keep them fresh when he was in Tianzhu, he immediately ordered domestic production to be rapid, but at that time
The transportation is too inconvenient. 80% of the goods shipped from China will be lost through smuggling channels. There is no way. Glass bottles are too easy to break.
It wasn't until the invention of the generator that Zhu Youcong remembered that tinplate could be produced through electroplating, which completely solved the dietary problem of naval officers and soldiers. And this novel canned food has an additional use.
Navy officers and soldiers sometimes secretly fill empty cans with black powder, fill them with random things, light them and throw them into the sea.
Of course, he didn't know about this additional use of Calais. But at least he wouldn't be so stupid as to think that it was just an ordinary tin can. Things produced in Ming Dynasty cannot be judged just by their appearance. This has long been the consensus of Western businessmen.
And Calais knows better how big the market is for this thing. As long as he can learn this craft from the Ming Dynasty, is he afraid that he will not be able to become the largest food supplier in the future?
"Your Excellency Prime Minister? By the way, how about we go and talk to him now?" The night wind was blowing on my body and it was a bit cold. There was no scenery to see along the way. The Lyon businessman who had woken up from the excitement did not
Forgetting his duties, he remembered Richelieu's instructions to them, that if they found any goods worth buying, they could report them at any time.
"Lord Ansel, where is the Prime Minister?" As soon as they reached the special carriage provided for Richelieu, the two dedicated businessmen found that the wise Prime Minister was shaking his head and walking around, mumbling something as if why
Everything is confusing.
"Shh! Quiet!" he responded reluctantly, Ansel was also having trouble with the same thing.
Through detailed discussions with Desargues, Richelieu already knew that his negotiations this time would be very difficult. There was no problem if he wanted to buy weapons produced by Ming Dynasty. As long as the contract was signed, he would dare to sell Zhu Youcong as much as he wanted.
.But if they want the Ming Empire to help them establish their own industrial system, there is little hope, and even the civilian technologies they are interested in along the way will be difficult to introduce.
"How could this happen?" Calais was disappointed, no, it should be called despair. If the production line cannot be directly introduced from Ming Dynasty, it is impossible for him to sell fruit from Paris to Lyon, then why should he become the largest in the West?
Food supplier?
"It's difficult, it's really too difficult..." After thinking for a long time, Richelieu finally stopped and said, "Desargue, are you saying that this is the reason that affects our relationship with the Ming Dynasty?"
"Yes, Your Excellency, Prime Minister!" He answered with certainty. If he succeeds in deceiving him, he will not only get more scientific research funds, but also successfully receive the Ming Dynasty Red Book. Desargues does not think that this is betraying his motherland.
To put it bluntly, the etiquette dispute is the collision of two civilizations. The West wants to engage in cultural invasion. Coincidentally, Zhu Youcong has made a solemn promise to the intellectuals in the Ming Dynasty that he will make Confucian culture the mainstream of the world. Let those who
The Western allies who were calling God all day long began to recite the poems of the Confucius. The reason why Han Xu, Kong Yanzhi and others strongly supported the empire's reform and did not hesitate to sell the vested interests of the scholars was for this purpose.
Like Westerners in history, they use strong ships and cannons to knock on other people's doors and forcefully instill ideas from the East. This is not impossible, but Han Xu and other gentlemen do not intend to play this way. There is no such thing as using force to promote the learning of saints.
Taste can easily arouse hostility in others, so why not take advantage of the characteristics of ancestor worship that were deeply rooted among the Greeks and Romans and do some infiltration work to poke a hole in the iron plate first.
Now that Richelieu is here, the cultural invasion plan thought up by the traitors of the Manchu Dynasty can be pushed forward a step further. Not only must the businessmen who come to the East master the Ming Dynasty Mandarin, but they must also use this opportunity to make Westerners begin to accept Eastern civilization. And this
The basis of everything is to let the Holy See recognize Eastern etiquette and break their rejection of the rites of worshiping ancestors, worshiping Confucius, and worshiping heaven.
Zhu Youcong could have made this request directly to the envoy of the Holy See, but he was stopped by Han Xu. The reason is very simple. The Holy See would not let go so easily. If it was rejected, what would happen to the alliance? No
How can they secretly provide them with military support by signing an alliance with Rome and allow the ongoing war in the West to continue? Even if they are forced to agree due to the current unfavorable situation, it is very likely that they are doing small things behind the scenes. Only
Only after they discover the different treatments of the two allies will they know what to do. That kind of cultural promotion is the most effective.
Richelieu was chosen as the breakthrough point because although they also share the same beliefs as the Holy See, it can be seen from their support for the Protestants that they are not die-hards and will do so if they can gain huge benefits.
He is willing to let this go. He uses the bait of helping his country become a Western hegemon and asks him to help with some propaganda work. There will be resistance, but it will definitely not be greater than if it is done through the Holy See.
"Your Excellency Prime Minister, I also know that this matter is difficult..." Although he does not think that what he believes in is the heresy of no king and no father, Desargues also feels that if he abandons Daming as an ally because of this kind of thing, then
It's not worth the loss. "But this is the only way for us to get the full support of this empire. The General once said that he would never do something thankless. If we can't respect their traditions, then he has no reason to convince us.
His own emperor regards us as his most reliable allies!"
"By the way, how long does it take for this train to reach their capital?" With a very abrupt sentence, Richelieu seemed not to continue thinking about how to solve the problem Zhu Youcong had posed for him.
"There should be four hours left. Your Excellency, Prime Minister..."
"Ansel, go and tell the two officials of the Ming Dynasty that I caught a cold on the road and feel unwell. To show our respect for the emperor, please arrange the interview in three days!" Richelieu
He never thought that his trip to the East would cost so much. With his wisdom, it was not difficult to see through Zhu Youcong's plan for cultural invasion at the beginning. What was difficult was to balance between making his own country strong and exposing the other party's conspiracy.
make a choice.
The former will bring endless troubles, and may even threaten the existence of the entire Western civilization; while the threat of the latter is very real, even if he stands up to become a defender of Western beliefs, others may also agree to the conditions of the Ming Empire, and ultimately
The result may be that he and his country are stepped on. (To be continued...)