[Qing Chuan] Mu Emperor's Grace

He Shen replied: "Your Majesty, Macartney is just an envoy of a country. Above him, there are ministers and kings of England. In short, a small envoy has no right to speak at all. Even if he really Is it possible that he can let the capital fall with just a few cannons? Could it be that my artillery and soldiers in the Qing Dynasty are just decorations?"

As he said that, he looked at Hai Lancha again: "Master Hai, it's not that he doesn't give you face. You are also a leader of the army. Naturally, you understand the truth that the food and grass go first before the soldiers and horses are moved. Let me ask you, even if this Helping foreigners is really plotting evil, what about their rear supplies? It’s not easy to say, the people in the capital can drown them with a mouthful of saliva.”

He Shen's words made some of the lower officials laugh out loud, Hai Lancha lowered his head, and he also admitted that his conclusion was a bit arbitrary.

Only then did He Shen turn his attention to Hongli again: "As for the demonstration of this artillery technique, it depends on the emperor's intention. However, I have heard that this kind of foreign artillery is a sharp weapon for infantry because it is small in size and has a short range. It’s easy to operate, so it’s extremely practical.”

Apart from Hongli, He Shen did not notice that there was another person in the hall who listened very carefully, and he was Agui.

Every time He Shen said a word, his expression became more dignified.From the opening of Macartney's gift until now, Ah Gui has not said a word. After all, he is a real marcher. Yes, there is a real gap.

In addition, what surprised him even more was that He Shen knew a little bit about the structure of the foreign gun, but He Shen, as a civil servant, talked about the characteristics of the foreign gun. He is also logical.

If the king allows it, Agui himself still very much hopes to see the power of the foreign cannon with his own eyes.So he came out and said: "This old slave agrees with Mr. He's statement."

No one expected that Ah Gui would suddenly come out to swim in this muddy water. Unlike He Shen, Ah Gui was so old that even the emperor had to give him three points, let alone ordinary courtiers.

For a while, the whispering sound weakened.

Hongli finally nodded and said, "Heshen, you are in charge of the Western Artillery Artillery drill. Let's choose another day to do it."

The corners of He Shen's lips curled up slightly, and he replied with a smile: "The servant obeys the order." After finishing speaking, he turned to look at Macartney: "His Majesty the emperor of our country has agreed to the artillery drill. If you need anything, you can Communicate with me anytime."

Macartney found that although his goal was progressing slowly, he was indeed developing in a good direction, so he stopped being impatient and learned to wait patiently amidst a bunch of Chinese discussions.

He even found that because of meeting He Shen, all matters of his trip became clear, so he had a particularly good impression of He Shen, and almost regarded him as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Qing Dynasty.

On this day, He Shen was playing chess with Ce Ling at the mansion.It took a lot of hard work from Cering saw Go for the first time to being able to play against Heshen now.

The two were going down to the crucial point, when Liu Quan suddenly reported: "Master, the tenth princess has arrived."

He Shen hurriedly stood up and saluted. He knew that once the tenth princess came, it would be impossible to play this game. Cering definitely put all his heart and soul into the tenth princess.

Sure enough, as He Shen expected, when the ten princesses showed up, Celing's eyes lit up.He Shen smiled and said, "Now the princess goes to the servant's mansion three times a day. Those who don't know think that the princess is interesting to the servant."

After hearing what He Shen said, Celing lowered his face. Although he heard that it was just a joke, Celing still felt very uncomfortable in his heart. If He Shen didn't mention it, he would almost forget it. Shan Ding, but he is not the only one.

The tenth princess heard He Shen's joke, but she was not annoyed, she just smiled and sighed: "Oh, I don't have the guts to snatch someone from Huang Ama." I don't know when this little girl was discovered.

He Shen coughed twice, suppressing the tremor in his heart, and just about to open his mouth to smooth things over, the tenth princess laughed and said: "He Shen, I'm here this time to see the baby in your house."

He Shen wondered: "Princess, who did you hear this from? I have a treasure in my house?"

The tenth princess sat down on the stone bench beside her, and said with a smile, "Of course it was Huang Ama who said it. Huang Ama said that you have something sent by the Western envoy, so we all came here."

"Us?" He Shen keenly grasped the key words in Shi Gongzhu's words.

The tenth princess beckoned behind her: "Come in." She ran out of the garden and pulled a person in. Before He Shen could see clearly, Liu Quan ran to He Shen in a panic, gasping for breath. He said: "Master, not only the ten princesses, but also the elder brothers have arrived."

He Shen was startled, and saw Yong Xin striding in. Seeing the person by the garden gate, he asked in confusion, "Fifth brother, what are you doing here? Why don't you go in?"

After being told by Yongzhen, Yongyan had no choice but to show his face. Only then did He Shen know that the person whom the tenth princess went to pull was the fifteenth elder brother Yongyan.

He Shen was about to salute when another one came outside.Before I saw him, I heard his voice first: "I want to see what treasures are there in this Heshen mansion."

The tenth princess smiled and said, "Mynah is here too."

He Shen saluted one by one, looked up, but found that there was one elder brother missing, and he couldn't help asking: "Why don't you see elder brother Eleven?"

The eighth elder brother heard him ask, and immediately complained like pouring beans: "What's more, the old eleven has been obsessed with discussing painting skills with an old man recently. I think he is going crazy?"

He Shen was puzzled and said, "Old man?"

The tenth princess smiled and spat: "He Shen, don't listen to myna's nonsense, what kind of old man is he, he is talking about Lang Shining who works in Ruyi Pavilion."

He Shen was taken aback, of course he had heard of Castiglione's name, a well-known Western painter who had gone through the Kang, Yong, and Qian dynasties, and He Shen had seen a copy of Castiglione's masterpiece "Hundred Horses" in modern times.

He Shen said with a smile: "I have really heard of this painter Lang. It is rumored that all the scenery in his brush is lifelike, which is different from our traditional painting method." He Shen doesn't know much about painting, but he has seen Western paintings The sophistication of the sketch, so I made up a half-truth and half-fiction based on my memory.

Seeing that Heshen could really say something, the tenth princess became interested, and she replied: "That's right, this western painting method is indeed different from the traditional ones. I often hear Eleventh brother say, what is the focus? I don’t know the specific method of perspective, but this western painting doesn’t pay attention to imagery, but to realism. Whatever the thing looks like, it looks like that when it is drawn, it’s really amazing.”

He Shen smiled and said, "I think Brother Eleven has a lot of experience in painting, so he must have introduced Mr. Lang as a bosom friend."

Princess Shi nodded, and pestered Heshen to look at those Western objects.He Shen took out a barometer and explained how to use it carefully with elder brothers and princesses: "This barometer can be used to predict changes in the weather. If the sky is clear like today, the air pressure will be higher. On cloudy and rainy days, the mercury column will drop a little, which means that the air pressure will also drop."

For a moment, everyone's attention was focused on the barometer, and after a while, Brother Eight finally said, "Those foreigners, how did they come up with so many crazy ideas?"

Seeing that the tenth princess liked it, He Shen simply gave her the barometer and asked her to ponder it with Celing.

Without the active little girl Shigege, Yongzheng and Yongyan stayed where they were, a little embarrassed for a moment, and when He Shen saw this, he took out a model and put it on the stone table.

The moment Yongyan saw the model clearly, he exclaimed: "This, what is this?"

He Shen looked at Yong Yan with some surprise, he didn't expect that Brother Fifteen would be so excited when he saw the battleship model.

Yongyan's voice brought the crowd together again, and He Shen's heart trembled inexplicably as he looked at the five pairs of eyes full of thirst for knowledge in front of him.

He remembered what the teacher used to say when he was in school: "The world is yours and ours, but it will be yours in the end." What the future will look like may be in the hands of the few young people in front of him.

He Shen calmed down a little, held up the model and explained: "This is a battleship." He gestured two words on the stone table with his fingers.

Yong Yan asked curiously: "Battleship? What is that? Is it a battleship?"

He Shen smiled and said: "This is more powerful than ordinary warships. If I read correctly, this should be the model of the British Royal Navy's first-class sailing battleship "Victory". It is not an ordinary ship, but a special ship. Those who come to fight against the enemy, this warship can accommodate more than 800 crew members. In terms of weapons and equipment, several fort decks are designed, which can carry more than a hundred cannons and the gunpowder they need. It is currently the most advanced military in England. equipment."

After He Shen finished speaking, the scene was as silent as death, and finally Yong Yan spoke first: "With so many people and cannons, how heavy is this battleship?"

He Shen didn't remember the specific value, and Yong Yan didn't mean to ask him to answer. He just stared at the model closely, hesitated for a while, and said, "Master He, can you give this model to me as a gift?" Is it?"

He Shen was taken aback. Yongyan was always peaceful and even silent. In front of He Shen, he rarely used the coercive and oppressive self-proclaimed "my lord". There is absolutely no reason to give something that the emperor bestowed to others, but even so, Yong Yan still asked for it.

He Shen can only think of one explanation: Yong Yan really likes this model.

If it was a minister next to him, he might regard the emperor's gift as more important than his life, but He Shen didn't, he didn't want this model to become a decoration and be shelved, so when Yong Yan asked him what he wanted , he hesitated.

Yong Yan also saw the hesitation in his expression, and the introverted boy immediately retracted the tentacles that had been stretched out with great difficulty: "A gentleman doesn't take what others like, I was the one who was abrupt."

He Shen was taken aback, and in a flash, he smiled and said, "Brother Fifteen, let me boldly ask you, if I donate this warship to you, what will you do with it?"

The eighth brother on the side heard He Shen's questioning, and complained: "He Shen, I said you are too courageous as a slave, did you ask the prince like that, fifteenth brother, if you want me to talk about this model, you directly Take it back, and put it wherever you like, a dignified prince, why does he need to look at the face of a servant?"

Yong Yan was also taken aback when he heard He Shen's question, he ignored Ba Prince's gag, and said seriously: "I want to take this model back and study its structure carefully."

In one sentence, the chattering Yongxuan shut up, and He Shen's eyes widened in surprise.The eighth elder brother sighed bitterly, "What an idiot."

But He Shen asked: "My lord, are you serious?"

Yong Yan nodded and said: "Of course, I have never heard of what you just said, but I think it is very interesting, much more interesting than the Four Books and Five Classics."

The eighth elder brother smacked his lips boredly, and said angrily: "Fifth brother, if Huang Ama hears what you said, I will definitely take off a layer of your skin."

He Shen laughed, and he handed the model to Yongyan: "This model is the prince's property from now on, I hope the prince can do what he says, and one day the Qing Dynasty can make its own Victory."

Yongyan stared blankly at He Shen's eyes. In his later life, he walked through so many mountains and rivers, but he never forgot He Shen's eyes full of hope and longing.

Yong Yan took the battleship and went to the side to study it, but Yong Yan still stayed in front of the stone table, watching the unfinished chess game.

"What's your order, Elder Brother Twelve?" He Shen asked while tidying up the chessboard.

"Heshen, are you from Shuntian Mansion?" Yongzhen asked suddenly.

He Shen paused, raised his eyes to look at Yong Xin, and calmly replied: "Yes."

"Did you learn your foreign language in a government school?"

Yongzhen was pressing every step of the way, and He Shen knew that he had discovered the clue. It was He Shen who was too careless. He only cared about the convenience of communicating with Macartney, but forgot that a person who had never studied foreign languages ​​in an orthodox way was absolutely impossible. to this extent.

"There are also English warships and the principle of the barometer. How do you know these things?" Yong Xin was too sensitive. Although some recent events had affected his judgment, he quickly grasped the key.

"Heshen, is your hometown really Shuntian Mansion?" Yongzhen frowned and asked.

He Shen knew that with the limited imagination of the ancients, such things as reviving a dead body and traveling through souls were too weird, and all Yong Xin could imagine was that He Shen had concealed his own life experience.

Heshen looked at Yongzhen with heavy eyes, and smiled after a while: "Brother Twelve, there have been many missionaries in the capital in recent years. Their knowledge is very profound, and they are often connected with their hometowns. Naturally, I know such a friend, if Elder Brother Twelve is interested, I can introduce you for you."

Yong Xin didn't seem to expect the truth of the matter to be so simple, and was a little embarrassed for a while, so he didn't ask any further.

The stone table covered Yong Xin's sight. What he didn't know was that He Shen clenched his fists and breathed a sigh of relief.