Great time travel

Chapter 197, "Bearing Humiliation"

On November [-]st, [-] AD, accompanied by roaring gun salutes and passionate "Ode to the Motherland" (adapted lyrics), envoys from Japan, the Netherlands, North Korea and other countries observed the ceremony and congratulated them. The territory spanned six continents (Except for Europe), the Global Chinese Travelers Alliance, which borders on the three oceans (excluding the Arctic Ocean), ended its two-year preparation phase and officially held its founding ceremony in the newly completed capital Chinatown (Perth, Australia).

After a series of campaigns, lobbying and behind-the-scenes transactions, he successfully became the first supreme chairman of the Chinese League, Comrade Wen Desi. With a wide smile, he delivered his inaugural address on Capitol Hill's South Lawn.

—— Regarding the standard dress of the top leaders of the Chinese League and government officials, some people clamored for the "revival of Hanfu" at the beginning, and many people were fooled into thinking it.However, when the relevant departments actually obtained dozens of sets of Han Dynasty "Eguanbo belts" from a costume movie prop group, everyone was shocked.Then I reluctantly tried it on for a few days, and most of the traversers said with a sore face that wearing such clothes in daily life is simply making trouble for themselves, so they still keep pace with the times and change customs for their own sake. good.

In the modern world, even a country like Japan that is keen to maintain traditional customs does not force the prime minister to wear a kimono to work!

——In fact, compared with the real ancient kimono, the kimono in modern Japanese society has undergone many improvements and changes.

Of course, in a world that is about to be conquered by the Chinese, it would be unreasonable for the civil servants of the China League to wear suits and ties.So I made a compromise and all wore Chinese tunic suits as the standard uniform.

(Personally, I have always felt that ties are really useless and uncomfortable to wear, but they are still quite expensive.)
In the afternoon, the boulevard under the Eiffel Tower was covered with all kinds of colorful flags and decorations, colorful balloons were floating in the sky, and bands in gorgeous uniforms were playing cheerful waltz music. There were people in naive puppet costumes wandering around.

And on the manicured lawn by the roadside, long dining tables covered with snow-white linen were set up, filled with an assortment of sweets, fruits and dishes, all served on huge white porcelain plates or glass vessels. inside.A charcoal stove and a grill were set up at one end of the dining table, and the chef in a white hat was skillfully turning over large steaks, pork chops and fish steaks, turning whole lobsters, suckling pigs and roast ducks, and frying them in oil. French fries and chicken nuggets are fried in the pot, and the mouth-watering "sizzling" sound and bursts of strong spices are constantly making, which almost melts the nasal mucosa.

Although the dishes on the buffet banquet are very rich, in order to prevent people from getting drunk and causing riots, the drinks are only juice, soda, and low-alcohol beer and kvass.However, the traveler citizens present were already used to this, and the foreign visitors also went to the country to do as the Romans did, each holding a large plate full of dishes in one hand and a wine glass in the other, sitting or standing while chatting, While eating with relish.

There are also many young men and women in festive costumes, dancing happily to the cheerful beat played by the band.

However, in this happy and joyful atmosphere of celebration, there seems to be a small piece of unharmonious haze mixed in...

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"...Hmph, this guy is really disgusting! There is no manners in a dignified state banquet, and there is no such thing as the most basic sitting ceremony. He actually let the guests carry their own plates and pour wine to eat! Could it be that we are treated as A beggar in front of a soup kitchen? What a disgrace!"

At a round table hidden under the shade of a tree, Xia Yunyi, the deputy envoy of the envoy sent by the Shanghai Yonghe Emperor, sat upright, muttering angrily.

It’s just that although he was cursing, the plate in front of him was full of delicacies, such as crab cakes, fried shrimp, steak, fried eggs, onion rings, grilled chicken, salad tomatoes, small cakes and French fries, everything Both, holding a full glass of coconut juice in his hand, pouring it into his mouth while cursing.

"... Exactly, this Kun man is so vulgar. Although he claims to be a descendant of the Great Song Dynasty, he must actually be just a pretense of the lowly people from overseas."

Another Jiangnan Confucian sitting next to him drank the beer in his glass, then tapped the tall glass in his hand with his fingers, and said disdainfully, "...the Kun people pretended to be Chinese nobles, but Not paying attention to Confucianism, not learning poetry and etiquette, just indulging in strange skills and ingenuity, is really the way to kill! Even if all the tools are not without exquisiteness, what is the use of the country and the people? , You have to rely on moral articles!"

"...Let's not say that the Kun people have abused the power of the people as soon as they founded the country, building large-scale construction projects, without the simplicity of a new dynasty! Look at how many palaces and palaces have been built in the capital of the Kun people? Even this is useless. The tall towers are all made of steel! It is comparable to the extravagance of King Zhou of the Shang Dynasty who was so extravagant that he wanted to build a deer tower. Daji smiled! What kind of tyranny and oppression does this Kun people’s court have to squeeze the people’s fat and fat to fill their financial plans? hole?"

Xia Yunyi wiped her mouth, raised her finger and pointed to the Eiffel Tower beside her, and said with a sneer, "...so extravagant and lustful, and disrespectful of the power of the people, it can be seen that the people under his rule must be in dire straits! Rising up! But the Kun people's national power is clearly in danger, yet they don't know how to rest and recuperate. Instead, they will continue to use force to conquer all directions! Hmph! Qin Shihuang and Sui Yang's lessons are not far away!"

Regarding these high-level remarks, several Confucian scholars from the Ming Dynasty Mission all nodded their heads repeatedly, and praised Xia Yunyi for "really insightful".Then some people quoted scriptures and reprimanded female thieves for wearing bold clothes, showing arms and thighs, which is really indecent, and even dancing in the street, cuddling with men, really shameless and so on.Some people also talked about all kinds of shameless, cruel and greedy anecdotes about Kun thieves... The final conclusion is that "Kun people are short-sighted, do not understand poetry and book etiquette, and disrespect scholars and scholars, and they will die soon."He completely forgot that he came to ask for help because the country was about to die.

So, just now, he managed to seize the opportunity and managed to have a few words with the Foreign Minister of the Huameng. The Emperor Yonghe, who was coming back to sit down with a glass of wine, asked Fang Yizhi for help. Immediately put on airs and reprimanded, "...Xia Yunyi! Why are you making noise outside again? Could it be that so much delicious food and wine can't stop your stinky mouth? Could it be that you really intend to ruin the court's affairs? "

Seeing that Fang Yizhi was obviously really angry, Xia Yunyi snorted. Although she couldn't bring herself to apologize, she also lowered her head, stopped talking, and just concentrated on eating and drinking.And the others fell silent.Fang Yizhi glanced at them coldly again, then sat back on the table, took a bite of the steak, the rich and thick taste and the spicy black pepper sauce poured into his mouth, but Fang Yizhi felt that it was so bitter...

——This trip to Australia to ask for help, everything is really not going well, I am afraid that I will return without success...

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The Yonghe Empire, which was restored in Shanghai, has been in turmoil almost since its birth.

Earlier in the spring, the Qing army had already launched an attack on Emperor Yonghe's government. The once slaughtered Suzhou Mansion was ravaged for the second time. , relying on the desperate defense of Jiangyin City and Shanghai City, it barely survived.

Before Fang Yizhi's mission set out, Emperor Yonghe suffered another military disaster this summer: the two princes of the Qing army, Abatai and Azige, joined forces to march eastward, mobilizing more than [-] troops. , bypassing the hard nail of Jiangyin, and pouring into Suzhou and Songjiang under the Yonghe Emperor's regime from the west.

Facing the large-scale attack of the Qing army, the dilapidated Suzhou Mansion fell almost instantly.In the territory of Songjiang Prefecture, only Shanghai County, where the Yonghe Emperor’s court was stationed, relied on its strong fortress system and relatively sufficient military strength to withstand the Qing army under Sun Yuanhua’s supervisor, while Kunshan, Jiading and other towns were all It was attacked and slaughtered by the Qing army.Even Songjiang Fucheng in Huating was captured after three days of fierce fighting.Immediately, after Xu Jie, the famous prime minister of the Jiajing Dynasty in the Ming Dynasty, the Xu family in Songjiang, known for their wealth, could not escape, and the whole family was slaughtered by the Qing army.

Next, the Qing army under Azig continued to go south, going deep into Jiaxing Mansion in Zhejiang Province, smashing counties and slaughtering cities all the way, and blood flowed everywhere they passed.It was not until Haining County, the southernmost tip of Jiaxing Prefecture, was bombarded by Australian warships that the Qing army retreated calmly, but they still stationed troops on the front lines of Taicang and Kunshan. The remnants of Donglin's sins were driven into the sea.

What's more terrible is that seeing that the Yonghe Emperor's court in Shanghai was so weak and vulnerable to the Qing army's aggression, the neighbors around them also started to take advantage of the fire.First of all, the rudder master Su who is in charge of the twelve serial docks of the Taihu water bandits, that is, the "Emperor Wu" who had just ascended the throne on the West Dongting Island, led the Taihu bandits ashore, all the way into Jiaxing, and even occupied Tongxiang. , Jiashan and other places.Then, currently entrenched in Huizhou, Wen Tiren, a famous official in the late Ming Dynasty who served as the head of the Chongzhen Emperor's prince Zhu Cihong, also personally led troops back to his hometown of Huzhou, mobilized the power of the Wen family clan, and took Huzhou without bloodshed.Finally, the Zhejiang Occupation Army Headquarters of the Chinese League stationed in Hangzhou, seeing that the Yonghe Emperor's court was so muddy that it could not even serve as a cushion, sent troops to the north again and occupied Haiyan County in Jiaxing Prefecture. As a frontier outpost and outer barrier to defend Hangzhou.

So far, the territory under the name of the Emperor Yonghe has shrunk sharply again in just half a year. As Kunshan, Jiading and other suburban counties have all changed hands, Huating, the capital city of Songjiang, was slaughtered by the Qing army and turned into a piece of white land. Only the two isolated cities of Shanghai and Jiangyin are left in this poor country, plus one Chongming Island.In addition, there was a lack of food and money for soldiers, and Xu Guangqi, the chief assistant of the cabinet, died of grief and anger in early August. In order to avoid the Qing army, Zhu Yihai, the emperor of Yonghe, simply fled to Chongming Island by boat and refused to go ashore. "Son of Heaven".

Faced with such a hopeless situation, anyone with a discerning eye can see that this city in Shanghai is almost unsustainable.Like any employees of a company that is on the verge of bankruptcy, the gentry from the south of the Yangtze River, who were originally trapped in Shanghai, also wanted to change jobs.

However, looking up and looking around, these romantic and suave talents found sadly that they have no place to change jobs!

——Needless to say, the Australian thieves in the south have always had no dignity, despised etiquette and poetry, and trampled them, gentlemen and talents, into the mud. On the opposite side, when Huang Taiji was in power, there were still I used to treat literati and bureaucrats with courtesy, but now slavery has been fully restored. The national policy is to "demote all people in the south of the Yangtze River as slaves."

Among the remaining two forces, the "Great Wu Empire" of the twelve serial wharf water bandits in Taihu Lake is basically a monkey and a puppet thug pushed out by the Australians, and it is more powerful than the water in Liangshan in the drama. It's even better, instead of going to this guy, it's better to be a bandit by yourself!Although the little emperor Zhu Cihong in Huizhou was orthodox, compared with the situation of Emperor Yonghe, he was nothing more than half a catty.

So after turning around, these Jiangnan gentry found that they had nowhere to go—the world of Daming was over, and all the major forces around them were using them as fat pigs to kill them. According to Shi's plan, the only small piece of land left is also at stake.

In order to keep the last two isolated cities, they would have to linger for a while longer, these noble scholars had to kneel down in front of the Australian thieves whom they had always disdained and despised, and beg for aid from those lowly pirates and craftsmen.

Think about these Donglin scholars who are famous all over the south of the Yangtze River. They were originally from powerful and wealthy families. The country is ruined, the family is ruined, and the family is impoverished. It is tantamount to falling into the quagmire from the clouds.

——The Ming Empire, which respected the gentry and treated the gentry favorably, fell apart; the Tartars and thieves who slaughtered the gentry and abused the gentry were like the Japanese. The terrible reality of subsidence.

Under such a sharp gap, many scholars could not accept such a cruel reality, thinking that there must be something wrong with this world, and they all went insane, some hanged themselves, some went crazy, and some became monks... However, Jiangnan today Buddhism is by no means a clean place. Both the thieves and the Qing army have a hobby of cutting down mountains, destroying temples, robbing nuns and killing monks.

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In addition to these frail and weak-minded scumbags, other Jiangnan celebrities with more tenacious spirits are still gritting their teeth and struggling.After Xu Guangqi died of illness, "fortification expert" Sun Yuanhua took over as the chief assistant of the cabinet and continued to lead the Yonghe court in the great cause of the war of resistance.However, Shanghai is running out of food and wages, and Sun Yuanhua is also a clever woman who can hardly cook without rice.Under his persuasion and persecution, Fang Yizhi, Xia Yunyi and other well-known scholars in the south of the Yangtze River finally went to Hangzhou to ask for help from the gangsters, begging for military pay and food and fodder for the sake of the court and society.

Later, because the authorities of the occupying army in Hangzhou reasoned that they had insufficient authority to make decisions, these Jiangnan scholars were like Jing Ke assassinating the King of Qin, with the tragic mood of "the wind is rustling, the water is cold, and the strong men will never return when they are gone". I got on the big iron boat of the Australians and prepared to "go deep into the wilderness" and go to the capital of the Australians to "cry for Qin Ting". In any case, I must try to get some assistance for the struggling Shanghai court.

It has to be said that through the massacre of the Qing army and the earth-shaking changes, those experts and paranoia among the scholars in the south of the Yangtze River have almost been eliminated.The rest of these guys, no matter their character is good or bad, at least they are able to do things, and they are willing to do things.

However, although today’s anti-Qing martyrs are relatively courageous, they still haven’t been able to break out of the historical limitations of their circle, and they are still far behind the three views of modern traversers. Not to mention the ability of a diplomat who can bend and stretch.

——In many cases, those "righteous men" with the most backbone often also mean the most granite-headed conservatives.Just as the Westernization faction in the late Qing Dynasty were mostly cunning villains, the diehards were mostly Qingliu "gentlemen".Although people like Fang Yizhi and Xia Yunyi are full of blood, they can fight to the death on the battlefield to the last moment, using their full names as festivals.But when you need to subdue and ask for help, you appear very reluctant and unwilling
For example, although the Yonghe court has been beaten down to the territory of only two counties, the mission group still regards itself as the kingdom of heaven, and at the same time deceives itself and others to regard the Australians with territories all over the world as a small barbarian country.It should be known that governing the country and managing the people is the ability of scholars. Even if you are an invincible force in the world, you can only win the world immediately, but you cannot rule the world immediately.Seeing so many famous people from the south of the Yangtze River go deep into the wilderness and come here, you "border savages" in Australia should be flattered, feel full of glory, and give all the hospitality you can.

Unexpectedly, when the Australians took a look at the State Guest House in the capital, the "Australian government" treated them to the standards of the "Heavenly Kingdom" envoys, which were actually ranked behind the Japanese envoys and the Western red-haired envoys, and on the same level as the barbarian chiefs in the northern part of the country!
——You modern time travelers don’t think they have anything to “bear the burden of humiliation”, but think that these people are here to beg and eat.But they are clearly already so down and out, and they still look at people with their nostrils with that stinky air... Are there any people in the world who beg for help like you?Anyway, now China is rich in emperors, and there are thousands if not ten thousand emperors. With your little territory, it is really not as big as a hunting ground of a tribe!

As a result, these self-esteemed Jiangnan scholars became furious on the spot, waving their fists and shouting.Who knows that the Australians rolled their eyes and scolded directly: "... a group of shabby settlers who came to beg for food and beat the autumn wind, how dare they yell like this? Live if you like it, and get out if you can't do it!"

All the Confucian scholars and scholars listened to it and added fuel to the flames. As soon as they rolled up their sleeves, they planned to teach this disrespectful guy a lesson.But immediately on the opposite side stood a few bodyguards with big arms and round waists, looking at them with unkind eyes... These gentlemen had to stay away.Afterwards, someone felt deeply humiliated and clamored to jump off the building. However, after jumping back and forth several times, no one came to stop him, and finally he had no choice but to give up in despair.

Next, about Xia Yunyi's confidant Chang Sui molesting the Australian maid, and Xia Yunyi's quarreling over it, the entire mission is also clear.But the problem is, you Jiangnan scholars don't feel that you have done anything wrong at all-in their eyes, a no-grade "Yicheng" and a group of lowly "slaves", can't they shout and drive Does it make sense?As for letting maidservants "accompany guests to sleep", it is more normal in Daming, there is no reason why it would not work here in Australia!It is clear that the Australians are deliberately making things difficult and humiliating themselves!
Even so, they still understand the truth that "people have to bow their heads under the eaves".So in the face of the Australians' despotic power, the mission once again chose to "bear the burden of humiliation" and detain Xia Yunyi in order to prevent him from causing any trouble.It's just that deputy envoy Xia Yunyi was also irritated to the point of rage, and her mentality was seriously unbalanced. She yelled angry words for several days in a row, spouting out all kinds of problems with the Australians, even when the Dutch "red-haired" envoy came to visit. , this guy didn't even put his mouth on the door at all, so much so that "Allies were shocked"...

Compared with Xia Yunyi's deputy envoy, Fang Yizhi, as the envoy, understood that he had a mission, and he had a lot of experience in Western learning, so he was more open-minded, and finally he didn't regard Australians as barbarians.It's a pity that he didn't actually correct his posture. He always felt that people like himself were struggling to support Songjiang and resist the Manchu Tartars.Since Australians still consider themselves descendants of China, food, fodder, ordnance should be provided free of charge.It doesn't make sense for these passionate people to work hard in the front, but the Australians shrink behind the battlefield to watch the fun and make money.

Therefore, although Fang Yizhi finally put on an attitude of begging for help, he always asked for this and that every time he asked for money, armaments, and food, but he refused to pay any price, and insisted that Australia People are obliged to meet all their needs... Obviously, such a routine of begging for nothing is still completely incompatible with the thinking of the traversers. The relevant departments stated that they did not treat the Qing army as a dish at all, let alone being taken advantage of.

In short, after a series of incidents, Emperor Yonghe of Ming Dynasty's envoys for help successfully turned themselves into a pile of stinky shit.He just intends to entertain them until the end of the celebration, so he sends these people away.

In this regard, Fang Yizhi, who was the envoy, had heard a faint rumor just now, and couldn't help but feel anxious. He wanted to find the Australian supreme leader who had just taken office to say a few words, but he couldn't find it.After finally finding a few Australian officials he knew, they were "not speculative and half-sentenced", and a few members of the mission would only complain all day long, which was not helpful, so Fang Yizhi had to drink with worry .

What he didn't know was that at this moment, Chairman Wen Desi was not at the ceremony, but quietly came to a wilderness in the suburbs...