Bury the Qing Dynasty

Chapter 175 Macartney's Diary of Visiting Ming Dynasty

The reason why Zhu Jinsong unceremoniously asked the barbarians of England to go back to India was not because Zhu Jinsong was so arrogant that he looked down on the British Empire completely, but because the British Empire at this time still wanted Ming Dynasty.

I have to admit that George III, the speaker of the British Empire at this time, was indeed a rare good man. According to literature records, he was taciturn and modest since he was a child, and had a gentle temperament. He never bullied his playmates and subjects by virtue of his prominent status. He is admired by everyone and loved by everyone, and he even brought this precious quality into his relationship with Daming.

Of course, all of this is mainly due to Sir Howard.

After all, Sir Howard is a lord, and it is impossible for such a thing to be blackmailed openly. Therefore, after returning to the British Empire, Sir Howard said that the value of a flintlock gun in the Ming Dynasty is 50 taels of silver. I worked hard to negotiate and got 30 taels of silver a branch.

As for the price of an ordinary flintlock gun as long as ten taels of silver or even lower?

God, what kind of rubbish that needs to pour gunpowder into the medicine pool, will be greatly affected in rainy weather, has a loud sound but not much power, and has unbearably low range and accuracy, what qualifications does it have to compete with Daming? Imperial flintlock on a par?

As we all know, a horseshoe may affect the outcome of a war.

Therefore, there is no such thing as blackmail at all. On the contrary, Mr. Ke of the Ming Dynasty is a good man and an eternal friend of England.

From this point of view, the gentlemen of the British Empire are no better than the officials and lords of the Qing Dynasty. Based on the news reported by Sir Howard, George III decided to send an official mission headed by Macartney to communicate with Ming Dynasty. Establish formal diplomatic relations.

In fact, without Zhu Jinsong's sudden rise, George III originally planned to send Macartney as an envoy to establish formal diplomatic and commercial relations with the Qing Dynasty.

In 1790, it was the [-]th birthday of Qian Deaf Old Dog. George III carefully selected a batch of gifts, including the most advanced steam engine, warship model, astronomical telescope, pistol cannon, pocket watch and world map, etc., which is absolutely full of sincerity. Full.

The purpose of George III was very simple, because the British Empire at that time did not dare to provoke the Qing Dynasty, a legendary oriental power, and only hoped to exchange what was needed and exchange and cooperate on an equal footing.

Of course, there is no need to say more about what happened later, after all, it was Qian Deaf and Da Qing.

However, it is worth mentioning that George III and the British Empire respected the Qing Dynasty so much, not because of the superficial strength of the Qing Dynasty, but because of the Ming Dynasty that had long since perished——

Before Ming Dynasty sang cool songs, the Portuguese, Spaniards, and Dutchmen in Europa had already taken the lead and started in Asia first, making a lot of money through maritime trade and armed plunder, which made the British king at that time Charles I was extremely jealous, and he couldn't wait to carve up a share of Asia.

The problem is that Charles I didn't understand how Portugal, Spain and the Dutch played in the Far East. He didn't know that the Dutch had been rubbed on the ground by Daming several times, and he didn't know that the Portuguese would be beaten by Daming's county in Macau. Ling Zhuo went to hit the board-of course, the Dutch and the Portuguese would not tell Charles I about their beatings.

Therefore, Charles I, who was fascinated by the vast wealth of the Far East, ordered the formation of a small ocean-going fleet, with the naval officer Wedel as the commander, and set sail to China.

The fleet included four large warships: "Dragon", "Sun", "Katrine", and "Colonist", and two smaller warships: "Anna" and "Discovery" .

The warships were loaded with live ammunition and filled with cannons. Before setting off, Charles I specially granted Weddell military autonomy and the right to fire. The purpose of this expedition is also very clear, that is, to gain trade priority with the Ming Dynasty with the backing of the threat of force. It is best to "seize" one or two treaty ports like the Portuguese.

In 1637, that is, on June 6, the tenth year of Chongzhen, the Weddell fleet came to the waters near Macau. On July 25, the fleet came to the waters near Guangzhou, and blatantly dispatched the warship "Anna" to enter the Pearl River Estuary to explore the waterway. The arrival of the Wedell fleet aroused the attention of the local officials in Guangzhou. They immediately sent people to board the ship to meet Wedell, inquire about his purpose, and ordered him to withdraw from the Pearl River Estuary immediately.

But, Weddell added up that the Portuguese could "seize" Macau a hundred years ago. Where is my British Empire?Ever since, Wedell, who relied on his strong ships and guns, turned a deaf ear to the demands of the Ming government, and approached the important town of Humen in early August.

The defenders of the Yaniangxie Fort near Humen ordered the British fleet to return to the open sea immediately, but Wedell brazenly ordered the bombardment. There was a fierce exchange of fire between the two sides at the Yaniangxie Fort. The fort was blown up by the British.

The first exchange of fire resulted in a victory. Wedell triumphantly sent someone to notify the local officials in Guangzhou, requesting that the Ming Dynasty open up trade with Britain and cede one or two treaty ports.

If this matter were placed in the Qing Dynasty, Wedell's request would probably be satisfied. Unfortunately, Wedell met Daming—the one who insisted on "Quan Liao Ke Fu" even when he was about to die Iron head baby.

As a result, Weddell's request was not satisfied, but was repeatedly warned by Guangzhou officials and arrested several British merchants in Weddell's fleet who were trading ashore.

Later, in early September, the Guangzhou defenders decided to use force to deal with Wedell. On the night of September 9, the Guangzhou Navy adopted a fire attack strategy, mobilized more than 9 sailors, and drove five ships full of kerosene and sulfur to approach the United Kingdom under the cover of night. After the fleet was ignited, the fireboat rammed into the British warship. The British crew hurriedly sailed to the open sea and escaped unharmed.

Since then, there have been many small-scale battles between the navies of the two sides, causing mutual damage.

Wedell's attempt to force the Ming Dynasty to submit by force was completely in vain, and he himself was beaten by the Daming Navy. In order not to return empty-handed, Wedell started negotiations with the Ming Dynasty, claiming that he only wanted to buy a batch of Ming Dynasty. As for the goods, the goods leave immediately on board.

During the negotiations between the two parties, Ming officials finally agreed to Wedell's request, released the captured British, and allowed them to go ashore to buy a batch of goods, but only if they apologized and compensated the war losses they caused to Ming, totaling 2800 taels silver.

Facing the tough Ming court, Wedell could only hand over the compensation in desperation, bought another batch of goods and returned home sadly.

Of course, it is impossible for the Qing Dynasty to promote such a thing. After all, the Ming Dynasty could force the British Empire to pay reparations and admit defeat before its demise. There are really not many people in a naval battle.

For example, the Yuanqing bar is full of such things as: Britain is the Stuart dynasty, the king is the headless Charles I, the caravan was attacked by others, the forts were taken away by others, and the loss is far greater than that of the United Kingdom. The merchants and British merchants only withdrew because they were afraid of causing trouble, and they were originally here to do business, and so on.

The problem is that those brainless little hot chickens can spout shit and talk nonsense, but the British Empire, which has been beaten for real, knows what it is.

Even in the age of the deaf and old dog, the psychological shadow of being beaten by Da Ming still exists in the hearts of the British - even a Da Ming who is struggling on the verge of extinction can rub the fleet of the British Empire against the ground. Shouldn't Qing push the whole world to the ground?

It was not until after 1840 that the British Empire fully recognized the true face and strength of this so-called Eastern super empire.

And now it is 1790.

At this time, George III did not realize the true face and strength of the Qing Dynasty, but was led into the ditch by the news brought back by Sir Howard - the Qing Dynasty replaced the Ming Dynasty, so the Qing Dynasty was even more powerful, and Zhu Jinsong The imperial court of the Ming Dynasty killed the Qing Dynasty again, so the new Ming Dynasty is even more powerful.

Especially as evidenced by the flintlocks and artillery that Sir Howard brought back to the British Empire.

Therefore, George Sandwich sent Macartney who was good at writing a diary.

It's just that George III didn't have the nerve to prepare flintlock guns and artillery this time. After all, the British Empire now has to reverse-engineer the flintlock guns and artillery exported by Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, the gifts Macartney brought included the most advanced steam engine and battleship models of the British Empire at that time, astronomical telescopes, pocket watches and world maps.

Naturally, Zhu Jinsong couldn't be like Qian Deaf old dog, let these things stay in the warehouse and eat ashes——

In 1860, when the British and French allied forces invaded the capital, they found some large boxes from the capital. The British and French allied forces originally thought that there were great treasures in them. The batch of congratulatory gifts that Garni UK brought to Qian Deaf Old Dog, but Qian Deaf Old Dog didn't take a serious look at them at all.

For these good things that Macartney brought, Zhu Jinsong waved his hand at that time and sent them directly to the Daming Royal Academy, which was just established not long ago.

By the way, Zhu Jinsong arranged for Macartney to visit the artillery salvo and queuing shooting tactics drills of the Ming army, and tried firing the newly developed Type 4487 artillery and Type 4487 flintlock guns.

Then Macartney officially represented the British King George III and requested to establish a commercial relationship with Ming Dynasty. As for Zhu Jinsong's request that the British Empire stop messing with Burma, Macartney naturally did not agree. He hesitated and agreed.

For Macartney or the entire British Empire, it would be best if a broken place like Myanmar can take advantage of it, and it’s no big deal if it can’t. After all, compared with the entire Ming market, the mere Myanmar is really not enough. Look.

As for the military intervention in the war between Myanmar and the Arakan dynasty, or even directly sending troops to occupy Myanmar...

If Macartney met the old dog Qian Deaf of the Qing Dynasty, it is estimated that after Macartney returned, the British Empire, which had initially seen the waste of the Qing Dynasty, would be very moved.

However, after Macartney had an audience with Zhu Jinsong, the Ming emperor, he never had similar thoughts.

"He is a very young but majestic emperor. When he formally met with him, he wore clothes with extremely complicated patterns and a crown made of pearls. The bead curtain named "Yu" is to prevent anyone from seeing the change of joy and anger on the emperor's face."

"His will can spread to any place in the entire Ming Empire within three days. No one dares to block the emperor's orders, not even those generals who hold military power."

"In fact, the Ming Empire has nearly a million troops defending His Majesty the Emperor. They will only obey His Majesty's orders. No general can mobilize them privately."

"In addition, the etiquette of the Ming Dynasty is very complicated. It is difficult to learn without the guidance of a special person. The etiquette of prostration, prostration, kneeling, worship, xing, bowing, etc. needs to be used in different occasions."

"Compared with the Ming Dynasty, the so-called etiquette of the British nobles is like a group of peasants in the countryside entertaining themselves."

"The people of the Ming Kingdom are also very friendly. They look at us with a trace of curiosity. This is completely different from what I heard from Sir Howard before, the people of the Qing Empire, although they may be the same group. people?"

(End of this chapter)