"Sovereignty? Do we still have sovereignty?" Qin Guangcheng said angrily: "In the 28th year of Guangxu, the British consul in Chongqing rented an apartment in Longxing Street, Chengdu, stationed personnel, and called himself the 'British Consulate General' in Chengdu; in the 22nd year of Guangxu,
After the French consulate was stationed in Chongqing, it established the "Chongqing Consulate Chengdu Office" on Sansheng Street in Chengdu in the 28th year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu on the grounds that various negotiations had to be reported to the provincial capital Chengdu, resulting in delays in handling cases.
, later it was named "French Consulate General in Chengdu", and the imperial court acquiesced to this. In the 30th year of Guangxu's reign, the imperial court agreed that the German consul in Chongqing could temporarily live in Chengdu for 'business and business'. Germany successively studied in Chengdu for free
We have set up embassies in Lane, Jinma Street, Xizhu Street and Dongzhu Street, calling ourselves the ‘German Consulate’. With all this, how can we still have any sovereignty at all?”
Wang Hengyue also frowned more and more as he listened.
Du Charlie also sighed in a rare way: "Although the Americans and Japanese have not set up one yet, they just have an office in the name, but it will come soon."
"Sovereignty, sovereignty." Wang Hengyue drank up the wine in the glass in one gulp and dropped the empty glass heavily: "With such a court, the word sovereignty is just a joke."
"Don't talk about state affairs, don't talk about state affairs." Du Charlie waved his hands and said, quickly changing the subject: "Tell me what you did when you returned to Chengdu this time."
Wang Hengyue was absent-minded and replied smoothly: "Kleiman asked me to come to that cocktail party."
"K...Kleiman?" Du Charlie's eyes widened: "Kleiman invited you to a cocktail party?"
Wang Hengyue forced a smile: "I made a deal with him, and Peter is his nephew, so he invited us here."
Du Charlie's eyes widened even more. He tried his best and spent a long time before being allowed to attend the reception. The two gentlemen in front of him regarded this as a normal thing?
Looking at Peter's eyes, his eyes were completely different. He was solicitous to drink, and then said in a reproachful tone: "You don't treat me as one of your own. If you have any good business, why don't you come to me? Why should you take advantage of a foreigner?"
Your brother is a serious fake foreign devil. Now that he heard about the business, he turned into a Chinese. Wang Hengyue smiled inwardly: "It's about weapons. The new army has just been established, so we have to do this."
"You must come to me in the future." Du Charlie patted his chest and said, "No matter what you say you want, Du will always find a way to get it."
These words made Wang Hengyue worried: "Manager Du, I don't think it's enough to rely on foreigners to buy weapons. My brother is thinking of setting up a small arsenal sooner or later to manufacture rifles and bullets. I wonder if Manager Du can do anything about it?"
"Arsenal?" Du Charlie frowned: "This is no small matter. Firstly, it requires the approval of the court, and secondly, it costs a lot to run an arsenal..."
Wang Hengyue also knew that he was a little whimsical.
Whether the court approves it or not is another matter. The funding alone is enough. Although I made a fortune from Lu Baoyin and Yu Ruixiang, it is a drop in the bucket compared to the cost of opening an arsenal.
He immediately smiled and said, "Brother, I just said that casually. Manager Du will help me take a look when he has time. Don't take it too seriously."
Although Du Charlie is a fake foreign devil, he is not careless in business matters. Now that Wang Hengyue opened his mouth, he also took it seriously.
After dinner, Wang Hengyue came all the way and was a little tired. He chatted with him, confessed his crime, and returned to the guest room to rest.
The next day, Qin Guangcheng came to invite Wang Hengyue, saying that Wang Hengyue had not had a good stroll in Chengdu, so Qin Guangcheng put down his business and must accompany Wang Hengyue to appreciate the customs of Chengdu.
Chengdu is rich in products and enjoys the reputation of "Land of Abundance". Because Shu brocade was abundant in the Han Dynasty, and the imperial officials specializing in brocade weaving lived in Chengdu, Chengdu was also called "Jincheng". And because Meng Chang, the empress of Shu in the Five Dynasties, once planted hibiscus all over Chengdu, so Chengdu is also known as "Jincheng".
It is called "Rongcheng".
Chengdu has a unique style. There is no road here and the whole city is made of stone. The streets are no more than ten meters wide, and the alleys are only two or three meters narrow. The most popular way to travel is the sedan chair.
The sedan the ladies sit in here is called "Dingziguai".
The so-called "Dingziguai" is a sedan carried by three people. The common people sit on an "eggshell" carried by two people.
At this time, "Eggshell" came over, and the duet tone of the two bearers made Wang Hengyue, Ma Xiao and Peter, who had never heard it before, couldn't help but laugh.
The bearer in the front sings "The sky is bright." The bearer in the back responds "The underground water is dancing." "A knife in the sky." "There is a trough on the ground." "A flower on the left." "She is your mother."
"
Pete laughed so loudly that he clapped his hands and kept giving thumbs up and singing nice songs. Unfortunately, the sedan went far away after a while, which made Pete feel melancholy and reluctant to leave.
"What is that person doing?" Wang Hengyue suddenly pointed ahead.
Looking forward, I saw a man in his forties kneeling on the ground with his head on a bench. Next to him was a food stall. Neither the owner of the food stall nor the diners were indifferent.
Qin Guangcheng smiled: "This stall is called 'shabu-shabu soup', and the person kneeling on the ground with his head on the bench is eating for free."
"Oh? What does 'shabu-shabu soup' mean?" Wang Hengyue was very curious.
The so-called "shabu-shabu soup" is actually the leftovers collected from big restaurants. It is taken back from the rice stall, mixed with a few ladles of water and sprinkled with salt. It still looks "greasy". The poor spend three to five small coins to buy a bowl.
I ate it happily. At the end, I had to laugh at myself, calling the bones mace, the steamed meat skin Guandao Rou, and the fish bones Grate Fish.
Of course, there are also "freeloaders" who are full of food and drink but have no money at all. The stall owner follows the old rules and punishes them by making them kneel on the ground and hold up a bench as punishment.
Although such a punishment is embarrassing, there are many people who are extremely hungry or scoundrels who are willing to do it.
"I feel hungry after seeing the shabu-shabu soup." Qin Guangcheng patted his stomach: "Come on, brothers, I'll invite you to eat at 'Chen Mapo Restaurant'."
"Chen Mapo Rice Shop" was originally called "Chen Xingsheng Rice Shop". It opened in the first year of Tongzhi and was run by his wife Chen Mapo. The tofu cooked by him is spicy, spicy, fresh and hot, and is very popular among customers. Diners say that
"Mapo Tofu" was later changed to "Chen Mapo Rice Shop".
The name "Ma Po Tofu" could be seen all over the country in Wang Hengyue's time, but I didn't expect to see the most authentic one here today.
Upon seeing "Chen Mapo Restaurant", the shopkeeper personally came out to greet me with a smile on his face: "Shopkeeper Qin, you haven't been here for some time."
"Business is really busy." Qin Guangcheng cupped his hands: "I brought a few friends over for dinner today, and it's still the same."
The shopkeeper's face looked troubled: "Shopkeeper Qin, please bear with me, there is already someone in the lounge upstairs!"