PFC Chapter 20: Look at one thing before the meeting.
Chapter 20: Look at one thing before the meeting.
The letter from the King of Britain introduced the members of the mission and included a list of gifts, ostensibly sent by him to the Emperor of the Han Dynasty.
The contents can be roughly divided into three categories: rare treasures, documents and utensils, and mechanical equipment.
Further subdividing, there are various instruments, machines, firearms, armor, swords, jewelry, furniture, clothing, musical instruments, maps, books, oil paintings, models, chemicals, and many other categories.
There are over 500 items in total, big and small, but if you count the number of pieces, it should exceed 1,000.
Its overall value is difficult to estimate, but it's estimated to be worth at least tens of millions in modern terms.
However, Liu Yulong also knew that, due to the declining power of the British king, such official gifts were usually not prepared by the royal family, but by the British royal court.
In addition, Britain is not considered "old Europe" in Europe, and has always had a sense of being barbarians, nouveau riche, and marginalized groups.
Even when they give gifts to other monarchs, it usually has a strong commercial aspect.
The gifts that the Kingdom of Britain gave to foreign countries, such as those that Britain sent to Emperor Qianlong in history, were almost never made by the best European craftsmen.
As the wealthiest traditional monarch, Emperor Qianlong was accustomed to seeing all sorts of rare and unusual things throughout his life.
Emperor Qianlong felt that British goods were not high-class, especially items like clocks. Qing emperors had received many from other countries before, and upon comparison, they found the difference to be even more obvious.
Although Liu Yulong hasn't seen the gifts themselves yet, he's already noticed a problem just by looking at the list.
Many gifts are marked with the words "gifted by so-and-so person" or "gifted by so-and-so company".
For an ordinary person in this era, seeing such a label would probably not seem like a problem, but Liu Yulong immediately felt that it might be a sponsor.
British politicians secured sponsors when preparing gifts for the Han emperor...
If it were a traditional monarch, after understanding the level and nature of these things, he would not have a good impression of the British.
Liu Yulong was unsure what the British politicians who organized this event were thinking, nor did he know what the motivations were behind the companies and businessmen on the list who participated.
They may have hoped that by doing so, they could let the Han emperor know what kind of factory existed on the British Isles and what it could produce, thereby generating interest in purchasing their products.
Regardless, Liu Yulong felt that this matter was somewhat abstract.
As for whether or not to allow Palmerston and others to enter the capital, Liu Yulong had no intention of refusing. Liu Yulong's purpose in expelling the British merchants was to force the British court to cooperate with the Han Dynasty's ban on tobacco, rather than to completely cut off trade.
If I were to completely ban Britons from trading with Han, those shameless British merchants would certainly do everything they could to smuggle goods.
Liu Yulong hopes to increase control over this trade, making merchants less free than before...
After reading the letter, Liu Yulong thought about it for a while and then casually wrote a note.
He dispatched a squad of personal guards to Tianjin to inform the Prefect of Fengyi and the local garrison to escort and supervise the British delegation to Beijing.
The Beiyang Fleet patrol team under Tianjin was notified and immediately dispatched a communications patrol boat to meet the Palmerston convoy that was approaching Tianjin.
First, they contacted the South Seas Fleet that had escorted them, exchanged confirmation documents, and then went to Palmerston's ship to deliver the notification.
Palmerston, Staunton, and the others breathed a long sigh of relief after receiving the notification.
"The emperor is still willing to see us after all; the trade crisis shouldn't have gotten to the point of no return..."
Palmerston immediately ordered the fleet to cooperate with the Han navy, guiding the fleet to Tianjin Port to anchor, and then transfer to inland river barges to go to Beijing.
The cargo ships gathered, gifts were loaded and unloaded, and they passed through locks to head north, a journey that took another ten days.
On the 7rd day of the sixth month of the second year of the Tai'an reign of the Great Han Dynasty, which corresponds to July 29, 1834 in the Gregorian calendar, the British mission finally arrived outside the capital city of Jingzhao.
Liu Yulong instructed his company commander, Zhang Lexing, to lead a team of captains to welcome and supervise the delegation.
Zhang Lexing left the city with the emperor's decree and met with Feng Yi's officials who were escorting the delegation to the capital, the accompanying officials of the Beiyang Fleet and the Nanyang Fleet, and Hong Huoxiu's naval squad who had come all the way from the south.
In escort and supervision missions like this one, the main participating agencies must send people to follow the entire route, meaning all agencies share some responsibility, but at the same time, they will share the credit after the mission is completed.
After meeting with the previous groups of leaders, Zhang Lexing first inquired about the activities of the British mission members on their journey, mainly whether there were any obvious acts of defiance, any accidents, etc., to confirm that there were no abnormalities.
Finally, they went to confirm the identities of Palmerston, Staunton, Lawrence, Davis, and Elliot.
After completing the transfer of responsibilities, Zhang Lexing directed everyone to escort the British royal delegation into the city and take them to the guesthouse under the Honglu Temple. At the same time, he sent people to slowly deliver their gifts to the warehouse in the West Garden.
When Palmerston and his party arrived at the lodgings arranged for them by the Court of State Ceremonial, they couldn't help but ask Staunton to inquire about Zhang Lexing, who was preparing to leave:
"General, when will His Majesty the Emperor receive us?"
Zhang Lexing said with a stern face:
"I can't say for sure, it depends on when His Majesty has time."
"The Court of State Ceremonial will contact you later. They will notify you when His Majesty wants to see you."
After finishing his sentence, Zhang Lexing didn't give Staunton a chance to ask further questions and turned to leave the scene.
However, Zhang Lexing left behind a group of Imperial Guard captains to stand guard and monitor the courtyard where Palmer and others lived.
Hong Huoxiu's squad was also assigned to continue their duties here.
Staunton translated Zhang Lexing's words, and Palmerston once again felt the other party's contempt:
"The visit of the British royal mission was not considered a very important matter in their eyes, and they even complained that we had caused trouble."
"The fact that so many of them contacted and met with us was not because they valued our identity."
"They are watching us together to prevent us from causing trouble."
"If something happens that they cannot tolerate, they can quickly find out who caused it..."
After listening, Staunton remained silent for a few seconds, then sighed softly and said:
"That's true. In fact, compared to the officials of the Han Dynasty, the Han emperor actually pays a little more attention to us."
"I wonder what the current emperor of the Han Dynasty's attitude towards us is..."
"His former Crown Prince should be a more benevolent, gentle, and wise person."
Palmerston listened and sighed with a wry smile:
"I hope this kindness can extend to us 'savages'..."
After settling in at the Court of State Ceremonial, Wu Qijun, the Minister of the Court of State Ceremonial, went to the palace with Zhang Lexing to see Liu Yulong.
In the western palace of the imperial city, Liu Yulong first listened to the reports from Zhang Lexing and Wu Qijun.
He then personally instructed Wu Qijun and Zhang Lexing on how to deal with Palmerston and the other Britons.
Three days later, Wu Qijun and Zhang Lexing arrived at the courtyard where Ba Maizun and the others were staying.
After the translators introduced themselves, Palmerston assumed that the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Great Han had arrived, and greeted him very politely.
Palmerston also noticed that the Han Chinese Foreign Minister's disdain for him was even more pronounced.
Wu Qijun looked around at Palmerston and his group, then gave the order:
"Before we begin our formal meeting, I'd like to show you something so that you can understand the attitude of the Emperor of the Han Dynasty."
Palmerston was very pleased after hearing the translation:
"We do wish to understand His Majesty's attitude. Please, Your Excellency, lead the way."
Palmer followed Wu Qijun out in a carriage, and was then taken to the Ministry of Justice's prison. He was stunned as soon as he got out of the carriage.
Although Palmerston didn't know many Chinese characters, he could tell from the surrounding scenery and atmosphere that this was not a good place.
Staunton reacted quickly, immediately moving closer to Palmerston to remind him:
"This is their prison."
Palmerzon felt that if they were going to imprison him, they would have arrested him as soon as he got ashore, and wouldn't have waited three days to bring him here like this.
However, the fact that Palmerston visited the prison before the formal negotiations still made him feel very uneasy, as he felt it might be a threat and intimidation.
Seeing that Palmerston hesitated, Wu Qijun offered an explanation:
"There are several opium dealers locked up inside awaiting execution. You need to go and see what they look like now to understand the Emperor of Han's attitude."
Palmerston finally understood Wu Qijun's purpose: to explain to him the emperor's determination to ban tobacco.
Palmer was no longer willing to argue about the matter, so he sighed helplessly, but he also relaxed mentally and followed Wu Qijun into the prison.
With the Ministry of Justice's approval in hand, Wu Qijun instructed the prison warden to lead everyone through the corridor to the place where special prisoners were held.
Palmer followed Wu Qijun to a private cell.
In the dim light streaming through the high window, a human-shaped object could be seen on the floor of the cell.
It looks like a person, but it keeps rolling and twisting on the ground, doing things that normal people wouldn't do.
This was somewhat bizarre, but Palmerston and the others were more curious, like watching a freak show.
Having people with physical deformities perform on stage is also a form of entertainment in Europe and America.
However, the situation soon changed. The arrival of the group seemed to have finally alerted the thing, and it suddenly roared and stumbled over.
Palmer and the others were startled and instinctively took a step back.
The man was pressed against the cell bars, baring his teeth and claws, while simultaneously baring his teeth and yelling wildly at the outside:
"Give me some! Give me some more! Please, I'll do anything!"
"I've told you everything! I've told you everything I know!"
Elliot was the first to react, and said somewhat uncertainly:
"Is he... having an addiction relapse? But it's usually not this intense, is it?"
Staunton listened to Elliot's speculation and roughly understood what had happened, so he translated Elliot's question into Chinese.
After listening, Zhang Lexing coldly said:
"This is the biggest smuggler we've ever caught; his addiction wasn't actually this strong to begin with."
"Gewuyuan first used the extracted pure effective ingredients, which increased the effect by at least ten times."
"Then we used refined special ingredients on him, and the effect was increased more than tenfold."
"He used it on him continuously for a month, and after we stopped, he ended up like this."
As Wu Qijun listened to Zhang Lexing's explanation, he also turned to look at Palmerston, Staunton, and the other British envoys.
Wu Qijun and Zhang Lexing originally thought they would see fear on the faces of Ba Maizun and the others, making them realize the danger of this thing.
But after Palmerston and the others understood what had happened, they did not feel fear, but rather became interested.
Staunton's first question, delivered with great excitement, was:
"Ten times, then another ten times? Wouldn't that be a hundred times the effect?"
"You actually have such a drug? Can we buy the patent?"