Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 561 The unexpected joy of the French
It was already the sixth day since Degine came to Bacheng, except for the meeting with the local chief executive on the third day, Mr. Deng Fei, who can speak fluent French, after that, he could only wait. Accompanied by , he visited inside and outside of Bacheng.

Regarding this transaction, Degugne is actually not optimistic, mainly because all the chips that Governor Leclerc can come up with are only 20 Spanish double-column silver coins.Leclerc told Degugne in the letter that this is already the entire property of the French East India Company.

Beihai Town, the new regime established by a group of weird Chinese, is mysterious in the eyes of all Westerners in East Asia, and has always been shrouded in a veil.Even the British, French, and even Tsarist Russians who had contact with each other were actually spying on leopards.

When Zhao Xin made a big fuss in the thirteen lines and caused Guangzhou to fly, it happened to be winter, and businessmen from all over the world returned to Macau.When the merchants returned to Guangzhou in May of the following year, they found that the White Bear House was empty.Although the foreign merchants asked the merchants of the Thirteenth Bank many times about what happened, everyone, including the servants, kept silent.

It wasn't until a year later that the foreign merchants vaguely learned that the people from Baixiongxing had made a big disturbance in Guangzhou City and had a fierce exchange of fire with the local garrison; the whole process was described as a fairy tale, and everyone who heard it was shocked.

The "Seres' Travel Notes" written by Count La Perouse after visiting Beihai Town only described the wealth and incredible technology of Beihai Town, but he was not clear about Beihai Town's industrial strength and military strength, so It's all guesswork.

It wasn't until Peter, Philippe Vanier, Pimanuel and others reported Deng Fei's actions in Annan back to the local government that the French had a new understanding of the overall strength of Beihai Town.You must know that even Britain, which is the most industrialized at this time, cannot build iron ships and amazingly powerful rapid-fire guns, let alone Beihai Town has powerful infantry weapons.

The purpose of Governor Leclerc's making friends with Beihai Town in such a way that he emptied his family was not only to save the Bourbon Dynasty from crisis, but also to cooperate with Beihai Town to fight against the British East India Company.

Looking at several major European wars in the eighteenth century, such as the War of Spanish Succession, the War of Austrian Succession, the Seven Years War between Britain and France, and the American War of Independence, France has always been against Britain; It has been dealt with by the British repeatedly, which seriously affected the trade with China and suffered heavy losses.

For example, in 1745, during the War of Austrian Succession, the three ships "Jason", "Crown Prince" and "Hercules" that were going to trade in China were all captured by the British in the Banga Strait. In the following four years, No ships went to China.

During the Seven Years War, Britain and France also broke out in India, and the French lost control of Hyderabad and even local governance.After the signing of the "Treaty of Paris" in 1763, although the British returned Pondicherry and other places, according to the requirements of the agreement, the French side could not fortify and stop all military activities; of course this is impossible.

Later, during the American War of Independence, a second war broke out between the Kingdom of Mysore supported by the French and Britain.The "Modeste", "Friends" and "Dugskran" that were going to trade in Guangzhou were captured by the British again.This forced the Guangzhou Consulate to rent out the idle French business house to the Imperial Trieste Company and merchants from Sweden or Denmark.

When the news of the French Revolution came back to local governance, Governor Leclerc immediately realized that with the intensification of tension in Europe, it is very likely that there will be another use of force between Britain and France.

It is said that Pondicherry's fortifications are very strong, designed by Governor Leclerc himself, but the problem is that it is adjacent to the sea and the number of troops stationed is too small; there are less than 2000 soldiers in the city, of which there are only more than 600 French soldiers.Once a siege battle occurs, it is impossible to effectively defend the city wall.Coupled with the British blockade from the sea, local governance will be isolated.

In the history of another time and space, the British did this. It only took one day from launching the siege bombardment to the French surrender.

Degene thought that even if the Serisians had large iron ships that ran fast, it would still take several months including correspondence and discussions on such important matters as whether to agree to send troops.Unexpectedly, when he was bored to observe the situation of the port with a telescope, Deng Fei sent someone to invite him, and then Degigne followed the guards to the former Governor's Mansion in Bacheng.

"Dear Governor, what can I do for you?" Degigne made a French bow to Deng Fei, and the hat in his hand was dazzled by his dancing.

"Mr. Deguigne, you can go back and tell Governor Leclerc tomorrow that Beihai Town has agreed to provide you with support, including but not limited to ships and military armed personnel. Our request is that His Excellency the Governor should come in person, of course we will go Local governance is also fine, you and I need to formally sign an agreement.”

"Your Excellency, this, this," said Degene with an unbelievable expression on his face. He did not expect his first mission as a diplomatic envoy to be so smooth. "Please forgive me! Your news really surprised me!"

Seeing this, Deng Fei asked the attendant to pour half a glass of rum and handed it to him.Degigne drank it in a big gulp, and his excitement calmed down a little.He then said excitedly: "Your Excellency, then I will go back and report to the governor tomorrow. Please rest assured, we will send someone here soon."

soon?Deng Feixin said that according to the current speed of the sailing boat, we will see each other in two months at the earliest.

For Beihai Town, going to Europe is a big event. The composition of the entourage, the dispatch of ships, troops and supplies, etc. all take time to prepare, and the Thunder God has to go back to Beihai Town to conduct an inspection on the hull and internal equipment. Complete overhaul.

But even so, Deng Fei still had no idea.You must know that you can only take the East African route from Asia to Europe in these years, and the most dangerous area along the way is the Cape of Good Hope; the super eleventh gale in the westerly belt is extremely terrifying, and the 20-meter-high swell makes sea navigation extremely difficult. high.

Not to mention the age of sails, even in the modern age of another time and space, it is not uncommon to see [-]-ton ships wrecked in the Cape of Good Hope sea area.There is neither weather forecast nor satellite cloud image for this year, so all Deng Fei can rely on is a regional chart from another time and space.In his opinion, on the way to Europe, at least Zhao Xin must be escorted on the African route.

In addition, if you go to Europe, you can't just go to one Thor, at least you have to send a sail gunboat to accompany it.As a result, Bacheng needs to add new gunboats.The main reason why the Dutch have been so quiet and honest in the past few months is that they are afraid of the artillery on the Thor and Beihai No. [-] outside the port.

In this way, a large-scale preparation of military personnel and materials kicked off, which lasted for five months.According to Zhao Xin's arrangement, considering that the special warfare battalion has already adapted to sea navigation, it is planned to let them all go to Europe with the ship.

In this way, only one company of the Marine Battalion is left in the local garrison, which is definitely not possible!Ever since, following Deng Fei's order, the Fujian immigrants who had just disembarked for a day did not know that their fate would change accordingly.

"I'll say it again! Everyone! No matter how thirsty you are, never drink raw water! It must be boiled to drink"

In a large shed near the port, Jiang Asheng, who is a clerk of the Bacheng Municipal Management Committee, is speaking to the new immigrants at the top of his voice.When he saw the expressions of disapproval on the faces of the people below, he continued emphatically, "I know you didn't take my words seriously! But what I want to say is that miasma is not a joke! You got it yourself Miasma will infect all the brothers and family members around! Once it breaks out, you will die within three days!"

"If we find out who dares to disobey this iron law, we will."

"No food, no wages."

Cai Qian muttered something when he heard this.After listening to the lectures all morning, he felt that other things in Bacheng were fine, but there were too many rules; this is not allowed, and that is not allowed.Why is it forbidden to drink unboiled water, you have to go to the toilet to defecate, you have to take a bath every day, don't go to the woods if you have nothing to do, there are all kinds of things.

At this time, Jiang Asheng on the stage had almost finished speaking, and just as he was about to announce the end, a man in a short-sleeved military uniform hurried in from outside, walked up to him and whispered something in his ear.Jiang Asheng's eyes widened immediately, he nodded again and again, then stepped aside and stood under the table.

"Tell me something!" The man in military uniform also spoke Xiamen dialect. "According to the order from above, a group of security guards will be recruited now. People must be honest and able to endure hardships. As for the treatment, food and housing will be provided every month, and five silver dollars will be issued!"

ah?Everyone was stunned for a moment, then looked at each other in blank dismay, but after a while, buzz!Suddenly, it was as if ten thousand flies flew into the grass shed!

Jin Wuzai, who was sitting on the left side of Cai Qian, asked eagerly: "Brother Qian, what is a security guard, and he can earn so much?!"

Cai Qian grabbed the shiny bald gourd and said to himself that I am illiterate, how could I understand.He simply got up and asked loudly: "This official, what is a security guard?"

"Just like me," the people on the stage pointed their thumbs at themselves, and said with a smile: "If you have nothing to do, run and train, and if you have something to do, help defend Bacheng. Let me tell you, not only take care of food and shelter , and give out two new clothes every year, from hats to shoes, which are not counted in the wages!"

Oh!Cai Qian probably understood now, this is similar to the rich people's nursing home, but the treatment is too good!
But what is suffering?If it weren't for being so poor, who would want to travel across the ocean to come here just to endure hardship and earn money!

No matter, after this village, there will be no such shop!Thinking of this, Cai Qian ignored his wife who kept tugging at his trouser legs, and said loudly, "I'll go!"

"I'll go too!" Jin Wuzai got up immediately.

With these two people taking the lead, more than half of the male hula la in the grass shed stood up.

Cai Qian had a good idea, but when registering for recruitment, the person in charge of the registration looked at Cai Qian's ID card, frowned and said, "Cai Qian, you will be 25 this year, and we only want those under [-]."

"Why?! That official didn't say that before!"

Cai Qian became anxious. He unbuttoned his jacket, first patted his bronzed chest, then pointed to the people in line behind him, and said anxiously, "What's the matter at thirty? I can fight with my bare hands." Five of them! Give me a knife, I dare to kill people!"

Jin Wuzai also came over at this time, bowed to the person who registered, and said: "Guard, brother Qian is not talking nonsense. He fights fiercely, and no one among the fishermen in Shui'ao can beat him."

"What are you arguing about?" As soon as the words finished, a medium-sized man wearing a grass-green short-sleeved camouflage uniform came over, and behind him, there were several people in the same attire, all of them sturdy; His sun-tanned face was full of rebellious expressions.

"Hello, Commander!" The officers and soldiers in the thatched shed saw this coming, and they all stood up and saluted, which startled Cai Qian and the others, and someone knelt down nervously.

After hearing the explanation from the soldier in charge of registration, Wang Yuanfang walked up to Cai Qian, looked him up and down, and said, "Your name is Cai Qian? Are you thirty this year?"

Sensing the non-angry but powerful aura in the other party's words, Cai Qian simply knelt down on one knee, cupped his fists and said, "It's the villain!"

Wang Yuanfang held Cai Qian's identity card, his eyes wandered back and forth between the card and the other party, and he didn't speak for a long time.At this moment, everyone around looked as if they didn't dare to breathe, but none of them knew that Wang Yuanfang was muttering in his heart.

"The name is okay, and the age seems to be about the same. Could this guy be the great pirate in history?"

You must know that Wang Yuanfang has been a soldier in Fujian for so many years, and he knows a little about the famous "One Piece" in history.When he went to Xiamen to play on vacation as a soldier, he even looked at the "Monument of Building and Building a Shanzhai City" in Xiamen University.

Good guy, I didn't take it seriously when I went to sea, I went to Batavia to work as a Chinese laborer!

The atmosphere in the thatched shed became more and more tense and depressing. Just when Cai Qian felt that he should have nothing to do, the man standing in front of him raised his hand to help him up, and then suddenly punched him in the chest.

Cai Qian's body couldn't withstand Wang Yuanfang's fist, even if the latter only used [-]% of his strength, he couldn't hold it.He just felt like he was hit by a cow, and he didn't have time to react. He stepped back four or five steps, and then fell to the ground with his buttocks.

Wang Yuanfang walked over to help Cai Qian, who was in a daze, and said apologetically, "I'm sorry, I just want to see if you can hit five with one."

Cai Qian's face turned red at this time, wishing he could find a crack in the ground and sneak in.Although he knew that he was no match for the man in front of him, he was still dissatisfied and was about to argue a few words, but the other party patted him on the shoulder and said in Hokkien dialect: "I'll keep you! Work hard in the future!"

(End of this chapter)