New Shun 1730

Values ​​determine attitudes.

The French could neither ship nor buy goods. Count Morpa was officially received in Guangdong, but as a treaty port, the officials saw too many foreigners and did not receive much courtesy.

Before coming here, I heard from the missionaries that Chinese emperors like to show off, and envoys from other countries who come here are called tribute and will be given sumptuous food all the way to the capital.

But in Guangdong, apart from having a meal with local officials, all kinds of supplies have to be bought with money.

And after eating, local officials said that considering the climate and typhoon, they were advised to go north to Songjiang immediately. There would be pilots from Songjiang to go directly to Tianjin.

News of the ban on Christianity in Dashun spread to Europe. Among the people who came this time, there were no missionaries for missionary purposes. There were only a few missionary translators who were familiar with China and knew some Chinese.

In addition to sailors, missionaries, and translators, the rest of the people on the ship were "commercial spies."

More than 20 years ago, before Dashun banned Christianity, some missionaries sent by Louis XIV were able to preach everywhere thanks to Bai Jin's favor. They also helped Dashun draw maps and left. Many places.

Someone quietly sneaked into Jiangxi, in the name of preaching, secretly learned how to make porcelain, and learned about the most important thing in porcelain...kaolin.

But there are specialties in the art, and although these missionaries also have a certain level of education, they are separated by mountains and rivers. Even if they read it, they did not learn the essence.

This time the French mission also brought some craftsmen from porcelain factories, and some even technicians invited from Meissen. Meissen porcelain is much better than France. Meissen porcelain is also a famous European porcelain, but in some details There is still a big gap between porcelain at this time and Jingdezhen.

In addition to porcelain craftsmen, there are also silk craftsmen on board. There is a lot of raw silk in the Middle East and Persia, but France's silk weaving technology is still lagging behind. They also hope to take this opportunity to secretly learn silk technology from China.

The craftsmen had specializations in their craftsmanship, and Count Morpa, as the French Admiralty Minister at this time, also had a specialization in his craftsmanship.

After observing the navy in the Guangdong area along the way, he felt quite disdainful. The navy's ships could neither fight in the ocean nor have the ability to launch battleship salvos. It was obvious that this was a navy that was far behind and could not even Call it a navy.

However, Count Morpa did not underestimate this navy. The experience of the Dutch proves that the Chinese navy is vulnerable to a single blow in the open ocean, but in nearshore ports, with its massive fire attack ships and port forts, it is still capable of fighting.

Although I heard that the Chinese counterpart, who seemed to be the Admiralty Minister of Dashun, was building a navy, Count Morpa doubted whether a usable navy could really be compiled with such a foundation.

The Admiralty of the Navy, nicknamed the "Administrative Navy" in Europe, found for the first time a sense of superiority that he had not had for a long time in front of the navy of a big country.

"Perhaps, the drawings of the new 74-gun battleship can be used as weights in exchange for secrets of porcelain, silk and tea."

After leaving Guangdong, he had this idea.

When the ship arrived in Songjiang, we received the same treatment as before in Guangdong.

After welcoming them off the ship, they gave them a banquet. The dishes were very rich and paired with Zhejiang rice wine, which tasted very good.

But when he asked Dupleix to ask for a tour in the city, the official opposite immediately shook his head.

"The wind and waves here are very strong, and there may be typhoons. It is recommended that you leave as soon as possible. If you can get permission from His Majesty the Emperor, you can visit the city again in the future."

In an obvious rhetoric of expelling guests, these missionary translators who had lived in China for a period of time clearly translated the voice-overs of these words, which was not allowed.

Tian Ping was reminded by Liu Yu, and at this time he used standard diplomatic rhetoric: "Although our country is open and closed, all Westerners are not allowed to purchase real estate on the shore to avoid a recurrence of what happened in Macau. They are also not allowed to cause chaos in the mainland without permission. Yes, missionaries were allowed before, but now the country has banned it.”

"Your country's religion is not adapted to the local environment. Some Buddhists and Catholics attack each other. I am worried that you will be attacked by Buddhists in the mainland. We cannot afford such a responsibility."

"In the Chinese system, officials are responsible to the emperor. The emperor ordered us to entertain you and send you to Weihai as soon as possible. We dare not bear the responsibility of being attacked by Buddhists."

This led to the issue of religious wars. Buddhism was not the state religion of Dashun. It jumped out of the truth about preventing commercial espionage and gave Count Morpa a reason that he could not refute.

Seeing the resolute attitude, Count Morpa thought to himself, indeed, this is a perfect and powerful empire with a high degree of centralization, which is lacking in France and even Europe as a whole.

This was an era when European countries were advocating despotism. Whoever was more despotic would be more powerful. Even Britain, which was blocked by the strait, had accomplished that step thanks to the Lord Protector.

France has been as centralized as possible since the time of Louis XIV. The French aristocrats are also used to the feeling of being centralized. However, compared to places like Dashun, where there are no aristocrats at all and all taxes go to the central government, it is still inferior. far away.

This time, the country's mission only stopped in Guangdong and Songjiang, which are the richest places in Dashun. Coupled with the advocacy of the Enlightenmentists in Europe, the crown of the Chinese emperor became more important in the eyes of Count Morpa. .

Although the navy is much worse, the government and wealth are incomparable to France.

Seeing that the order to expel the guests had been issued, the helpless Count Maurepa had to buy supplies and leave Songjiang under the leadership of several navigators who were already familiar with Weihai.

When approaching Weihai, a fleet of six cruisers appeared on the ocean. Dashun now has no formal battleships. Although the French navy has fallen to the current level, it can still produce seven or eight battleships.

This fleet of cruisers did not shock the French envoys.

The commander of the fleet, Mantou, also knew that this fleet would not shock the French, after all, two of the ships were bought from the French.

And Dashun’s first outdated 64-gun battleship was still on the slipway, and it would take some time before it was launched.

The chief envoy of the opposite delegation was the French Minister of the Navy, so Liu Yu’s order to their captains was to show their advantages as much as possible.

If Dashun's naval hardware has an advantage, at least at this time, the only advantage is the cannon.

When the ship was still some distance away from the French delegation, Mantou asked people to raise the signal flag and fire three cannons in unison as a salute.

In the gun deck, the original nine-pound cannons had been dismantled and replaced with recast twelve-pound naval cannons. All of them were expensive brass and bronze cannons, not iron cannons, and the weight could be lower while ensuring firepower.

At this time, the official currency of Dashun was silver and copper coins, and the copper cannons were not cannons at all, but copper coins stacked together.

Behind the cannon, there was a flintlock structure, which was pulled by a cable, instead of being ignited by a matchlock like the French naval cannons before.

There was no open fire in the entire gun deck.

A gadget like a flintlock can also make the cannon react faster, eliminating the step of inserting a matchlock.

This may be the most advanced part of Dashun's naval hardware, or it may be the only advanced part of the hardware.

Software, the navy in Weihai is still confident about this. A high proportion of officers, professional non-commissioned officers, and excellent gunners who drill once every three days, the quality of money piled up, this is another place where the French navy is far behind at this time.

The French navy, which trained artillery once a month on average, had to wait a few years before it could get enough funds to ensure training once a week under the strong efforts of Count Maurepa.

Zhang Erbiao, who has become a gunner, held the pull rope of the flintlock lazily. It seems that this is his second time to fire a salute.

The last time he fired a cannon, he had just boarded the ship not long ago. It happened that the Duke of E came to Weihai and fired a volley.

It has been a long time since the last time. In recent years, drills have been conducted every three days, and the study of cultural courses has also been increased.

Just like every drill, the gunpowder monkeys quickly carried the gunpowder bags from the back, loaded them, and pulled the trigger.

The rope pulled by the huge recoil creaked, and the cannon retreating along the track was stuck at a suitable position for loading.

Mechanically reloaded, mechanically fired again, and took out the speed of the usual assessment as a welcoming ceremony.

Zhang Erbiao wondered if the French gunners were the same? This was uncertain, but he was sure of one thing, that the French warships were better than the Dashun warships: at least after the French died, they were buried in the sand in the cabin, allowed to rot, and buried on the shore. However, at Liu Yu's request, the Dashun navy put the dead in a cloth bag, stuffed with glutinous rice and red dates, and decorated with cannonballs, and threw them to the bottom of the sea like a big zongzi.

After three mechanical and numb volleys, the gunner came out and praised the gunners, indicating that there would be a snack in the evening and it was not fish, and there was thunderous cheers.

The three volleys of salutes did shock Count Morpa. His previous contempt for the Dashun navy made him feel superior in the navy.

But this time, the welcoming volley made him sigh with a heavy expression.

Thinking about the splendor and wealth he saw in Guangdong and Songjiang, Count Morpa thought, money, money... Chinese people are really rich. As long as there is money, the gunners will fire faster; as long as there is no money, the gunners will not fire faster.

Gunpowder training costs money.

From this fleet, it seems that what he thought before was not correct. The earl and the navy minister on the opposite side only took a few years from scratch to have such a fast fleet, which is really scary.

Dupleix on the side was also a little shocked and spread his hands helplessly.

"My Lord, the last time I came, they didn't know how to fire in salvos. Now, they may have the best naval gunners in the world. At least, their firing rate is faster than that of the British."

"No country's fleet is used for defense. The fleet will bring unprecedented ambitions to the Chinese. The first victims of this ambition may be the Netherlands and Britain, so please consider my opinion."

"A better fleet will give them greater ambitions. Only greater ambitions can allow them to go beyond the coastal waters to further south. Southeast Asia, which we don't need, is large enough to accommodate their ambitions."