The sun never sets in America

Chapter 194 Sending Han Envoys

Xijing City...

The temperature in Xijing City in February is the best of the year. Because Xijing is located on the west coast, and Hanzhou Province is known for its sunshine, it actually does not feel cold throughout the year. Instead, it is cooler than other places in America. Xijing can still maintain a normal temperature during the day, which is what Xijing people like the most.

Most of the charcoal in Xijing City is bought for cooking and boiling water, rather than for heating.

In Xijing City, February is also the time when the polo team plays its first game after the new year. So recently, the whole city has been discussing which team is stronger and which team is likely to win this year. champion.

"If you ask me, the Galaxy team will definitely win this year. In Xijing, the strongest team will definitely be the Galaxy team..."

"You are farting on horseback, Team Galaxy, what is that? How can you compare with our Suns? What happened? You were beaten [-]-[-] by our Suns. What happened? Did you forget??"

"What's four to zero? That's because you bribed the black whistle. Otherwise, we would have made a comeback!!"

"Hey, if you can't afford it, don't play. Don't make excuses like a bitch all day long."

"Damn it, who are you calling a pussy??"

"What are you talking about? Why are you looking for it?!"

"I can't kill you..."

In a teahouse, two young people who had just been discussing polo got into a fight after a disagreement.

If the people around him hadn't pulled away later, the fight might not have been what it was! !

And this scene was also seen by the young Japanese student, Toshimichi Okubo, and kept it in his heart.

Next to him, Kido Takayun, who is three years younger than him and under fifteen years old, is watching the excitement while eating the pastry in his hand. For his age, eating and playing may be more important.

It wasn't until he realized that Okubo Toshimichi was a little absent-minded that he asked aloud: "Okubo-kun, what's wrong with you? Why don't you eat it? This snack is really delicious. It is said to be made with cream and crispy red dates..." Mu To Xiaoyun held half of the milk jujube cake in his hand and looked at Okubo Toshimichi with some unfinished thoughts.

"Kido, do you think there is any difference between those people just now and us Japanese?" Okubo Toshimichi asked Kido Takayun.

"What's the difference??" Kido Takayun heard Okubo Toshimichi's words and was a little confused for a moment. He didn't know how to answer.

"I think it may be because they like polo, and we Japanese like kendo." Kido Takayun couldn't think of anything, and finally found a far-fetched reason to reply to Okubo Toshimichi.

"Sword and horse..." Okubo Toshimichi read these words, "But have you noticed that the Han people are more leisurely than us Japanese." Okubo Toshimichi looked around at the Han people who were enjoying tea in the teahouse. Chinese, murmured to himself.

"Xianxin, what are the advantages of this??" Kido Takayun didn't understand what Okubo Toshimichi meant. He didn't understand why Xianxin was worth mentioning.

"Kido, let me ask you, a poor man or a rich man, who has the hardest time?" Okubo Toshimichi suddenly asked Kido Takayun.

"Ojiu-kun, you must be poor. Poor people are running around all day long for food and clothing, while rich people are well-dressed and well-fed. The rich must be more comfortable."

Kido Takayun replied to Okubo Toshimichi.

"Okay, let me ask you, who is the rich and who is the poor in Han and Japan??" Okubo Toshimichi continued to ask Kido Takayun, looking directly at Kido Takayun.

"Okubo-kun, you mean that the reason why the Han people are so leisurely is because they are richer than us..." Kido Takayun seemed to understand what Okubo Toshimichi just meant by leisurely.

"Yes, that's the truth." Okubo Toshimichi nodded to Kido Takayun and replied.

"But how can we in Japan be like the Han people??" Okubo Toshimichi looked at the high-rise buildings outside the teahouse. Compared with Edo Castle, which he once thought was the best city in the world, the prosperity of Xijing City seemed like another world, with a look in his eyes. A hint of envy, even ambition.

"We should develop industry and produce more goods, so that we can make more money." Kido Takayun thought of studying abroad with him. His family was very rich, and his son, Osaka businessman, was Yamamoto Shao.

In his opinion, Japan's future will probably be to make money by making the best products in the world.

With money, Japan can be like Han, right? ?

Kido Takayun, who was only fifteen years old, thought so.

When Okubo Toshimichi, who was next to him, heard this, he was relieved at first, then became a little serious, and turned around to ask him a question:
  “Can Japan produce the best goods in the world, and even if it does, who can Japan sell to??”

"Han..." As soon as Kido Takayun said the word Han, he swallowed it back, leaving only one Chinese character.

He understood what Okubo Toshimichi meant. Under the control of the Han, Japan could not produce the best products in the world. Even if it did, it would belong to the Han people. And even if it did not have the other two, Japan would still face a huge problem. To whom? ?
  You have to know what the world lacks most during this period. Is it commodities? It was indeed true in the early days of the Industrial Revolution. But decades after the Industrial Revolution, Europe gradually industrialized, and the Americas gradually industrialized. Today, the competition for the market in this time and space is much greater than before. Time and space are even more intense.

The cooperation between Han and the United States to crowd out Britain and France in South America is clear evidence of this.

As overseas students from the Han Kingdom, they deal with everything in the Han Kingdom every day, so it is impossible for them not to know the ins and outs of it.

But sometimes people like to deceive themselves and others, just like some elite people who claim that as long as they follow the great country of Han, Japan will one day become a great country.

There is even the so-called civilization following theory, that is, Japan, North Korea, Vietnam and other countries are Eastern countries, Han is the head of the Eastern countries, the boss, and other Eastern countries must follow Han, and then under the leadership of the Han Next, move towards a glorious tomorrow.

In theory, there is nothing wrong with this theory of civilization following, because the Han State itself promotes it this way, but the biggest problem is, will the Han State really lead them to success? ?
  Except for elites, anyone with a normal IQ will doubt this theory, let alone Okubo Toshimichi and Kido Takayoshi, the two geniuses of the Meiji Restoration in the original time and space.

So as soon as Okubo Toshimichi said it, Kido Takayun understood what it meant.

"Okubo-kun, do we really have no future in Japan??" Kido Takayun asked Okubo Toshimichi before leaving the teahouse.

"Kido-kun, you and I will go to the countryside tomorrow." Okubo Toshimichi didn't say anything. After getting on the rail carriage, he turned his head and said to Kido Takayun, and then kept silent and said nothing.

Kido Takayun opened his mouth, but in the end he didn't say anything. He just looked at everything outside the car window silently.

Outside the car window, there were shops he had never seen in Japan, food he had never eaten before, and buildings he had never seen before.

For example, the clock building, in his opinion, was the tallest thing he had ever seen in his life.

However, even such a tall building may not be the tallest anymore.

Because according to recent news, Xijing City plans to demolish the original grain station on Central Street and build a block building with a height of [-] meters, the tallest in Han Dynasty.

This building was personally named the Empire State Building by Liu Peng, the King of Han Dynasty! !
  Every time he discusses the Empire State Building with his Han classmates, Kido Takayun feels envious, and even wonders why he is not a Han Chinese and has lived in Han since childhood, so that he would not have these thoughts.

But Kido Takayoshi understood that he could not become a Han nationality. As the Choshu clan, he was selected from so many children and sent to Han Dynasty to study and learn Chinese knowledge. He was destined to go back and serve Japan. This was his fate and also His fate was already doomed from the moment he stepped on the ship to the Han Kingdom.

So no matter how good or powerful Han is, he still has to go back, just like what he just said to Okubo Toshimichi, to build Japan into a country like Han.

"But, how can we make Japan like Han?"

Fifteen-year-old Kido Takayun looked out the car window at the passengers getting on and off the bus. They were well-dressed, some were wearing cashmere Han-made Western-style coats, some were wearing Western-style long skirts, and there were young women wearing Song-style Hanfu.

All this is difficult to see even in Edo and Osaka, the most prosperous cities in Japan.

Although there were also Han-style Western-style clothes and Japanese people wearing Han-style clothes, Kido Takayun knew very well the identities of those people.

Although most Japanese people are living a relatively better life due to the development of industry, they are still not as wealthy as the Han people.

Japan is so difficult! !
  This was Kido Takayun's last thought before getting off the car. Next to him, Toshimichi Okubo kept looking at the newspaper he just bought in his hand and never talked to Kido Takayun.

What he was reading was Xijing Daily, which was the largest newspaper in Han Dynasty after Hanguo Daily.

And there was a line of big characters written on it.

(U.S. President James Knox Polk will arrive in Han in three days, and the British Governor in Canada will also arrive in Xijing in four days)

Okubo Toshimichi read it again and again, but he didn't see anything interesting, but he enjoyed reading newspapers, especially when it came to current political news, which gave him a feeling of being in control of all major world affairs.

Although Okubo Toshimichi couldn't understand it, he also knew that it should be a big deal, otherwise the Han people would not be on the front page, and with the high-level officials of the two countries looking at it, it might be a matter of three countries.

As for what happened, it was not mentioned above, but Okubo Toshimichi was still very envious. He envied Han's international status. Even his mortal enemy the United States was willing to be friendly with Han, let alone Britain, the maritime hegemon.

Japan dreams of being like Han, entering the world and becoming a great and upright country.

Although Okubo Toshimichi and Kido Takayun thought about different things, the result was the same, both for Japan.

.............................................

On the outskirts of Xijing, there is a place called Muyun Town.

This is the fiefdom of Muyun Hou Lanyun. In the early days, there were only Lanyun's family and the tenants who were recruited by him.

As time went by, Xijing City allocated immigrants to the surrounding area, and a small town was formed.

The town is named after Lan Yun's title. It has a population of [-] and is the largest town among the upper towns in Han Dynasty.

(In the Han Dynasty, Hanshang was called a big town if it had ten thousand people. It was called a middle town if it had less than ten thousand people. It was called a middle town if it had more than five thousand people. It was called a lower town if it had less than five thousand people. It was called a lower town if it had more than one thousand people. It was called a village if it had less than a thousand people.)
  In Muyun Town, except for dozens of Lanyun people and their families named Lan, everyone else is an immigrant. In addition to their own land, they also rent and farm the land of the Lanyun family.

Because Lan Yun was a Marquis, he could be divided into [-] acres of land, so except for [-] acres that were converted into vineyards for winemaking, the rest were leased to local townspeople. (Fifty thousand acres for a marquis, thirty thousand acres for an earl, twenty thousand acres for a viscount, ten thousand acres for a baron, and one thousand acres for a nobleman)

Now is the season of spring plowing, and the endless fields are filled with farmers driving horses and pulling plows, plowing the fields.

These farmers are wearing canvas clothes and straw hats, and some of them have cigarettes in their mouths, giving people the feeling of picking chrysanthemums under the eastern fence and leisurely seeing the southern mountains.

Although this statement is a bit exaggerated, this is what Okubo Toshimichi and Kido Takayoshi thought in the opposite field.

At least the Japanese farmers they had seen were never so comfortable.

"Oku-kun, why do they use horses to plow the land? Isn't this wasteful? Shouldn't they use oxen to plow the land?" In Kido Takayun's view, these Han farmers are so wasteful. How can they use such good land? Using horses to plow will only be wasteful. Oxen should be used to plow, so that more food can be produced.

"Kido-kun, let me ask you, how big is Han?" Okubo Toshimichi turned around and asked Kido Takayun.

"According to the book, it should be as big as ten Japans, maybe more..." Okubo Toshimichi thought of the world map he had seen. He had been shocked by such a vast world.

"In that case, how many people are there in Han?" Okubo Toshimichi continued to ask Kido Takayoshi.

"Less than eight million, maybe more than seven million." Kido Takayun answered this question easily, because the population data of Han State are released to the public every year. This can be seen from the ever-changing textbooks. out.

"Then let me ask you again, how can such a small population and such a vast land be used for farming?" Okubo Toshimichi looked at Kido Takayun again and asked.

"I understand, Okubo-kun." Kido Takayun already understood what Okubo Toshimichi meant.

But the more I understand, the sadder I feel. Han had no choice but to use horses for farming because of its large land and small population, while Japan had to adapt to cattle farming because of its small land and large population.

Two last resorts illustrate the gap between the two countries.

This gap is intrinsic and difficult to change unless Japan one day becomes as big as Han.

"Are you two from the city??"

Just as the two of them were looking at the fields across from each other in silence, a voice from behind broke the peace.

Looking back, I saw a middle-aged man wearing a straw hat and driving a carriage looking at them.

"We're from the city."

In the end, it was Okubo Toshimichi who answered first.

"What's your surname?" Okubo Toshimichi chatted enthusiastically, speaking extremely fluent Mandarin.

"I am a farmer from a nearby town, my surname is Huang, and my name is Huang Desheng." The middle-aged man replied to Okubo Toshimichi, "Isn't it spring plowing now? I made some cold drinks for the brothers in the fields..." Huang Desheng opened the A carriage with mung bean soup in a wooden barrel.

"Would you two like a bowl? It's free..." Huang Desheng didn't wait for the two to answer, took out two trumpet bowls, filled two bowls of mung bean soup for them, and handed it to them.

"This..." Kido Takayun looked at the mung bean soup handed over with some hesitation, and looked at Okubo Toshimichi beside him with some hesitation.

"Thank you, brother." Okubo Toshimichi happily took the two bowls of mung bean soup, and then gave one of the bowls to Kido Takayun's hand.

"Brother, how many people are there in your family??" Okubo Toshimichi was drinking sweet and cold mung bean soup while talking to Huang Desheng about his family life.

"Five people, just me, my wife, and three children." Huang Desheng stretched out five fingers and replied to Okubo Toshimichi, with a look of pride on his face.

After all, his current life is much better than that in his hometown in Huguang. He has a house and land, and can see meat and fish every two or three days. This was something that he would have never dared to think about! !

Sometimes he would lie in bed and lament to his wife that he was lucky to have come to Han, otherwise he would have to work to death in the one-third of an acre of land in his hometown, and in the end he would not have enough to eat.

Life is so good now. The family has one hundred acres of land allocated by the court, and rents two hundred acres from the Marquis, for a total of three hundred acres. They sell grain a year, pay taxes and rent, and buy new clothes for the family. He could eat meat and his children could go to school. He always felt that coming to Han was the wisest decision he made in his life.

"The tax is not high, right?" Okubo Toshimichi looked at Huang Desheng, who was rosy and neatly dressed, and asked a question he knew well.

"Of course it's not high. It used to be [-]%, but now it's down to [-]%. It's much better than in China." Huang Desheng is even happier when talking about this. After all, in good land, if there are heavy taxes and excessive taxes, the landlords will have to become tenant farmers. .

Then Okubo Toshimichi continued to chat with Huang Desheng for a while, and then watched the other person drive away in the car.

On the side, Kido Takayun looked at the leaving carriage and then at Okubo Toshimichi, but he hesitated to speak.

"Would you like to say why a farmer is so polite and generous??" Okubo Toshimichi seemed to see the doubt in Kido Takayun's heart.

Kido Takayun nodded after hearing this.

"Because Han is so big, big enough to accommodate ten Japans, and there are not as many people here as Japan, so they have the capital to squander. They can be generous, heroic, ride horses, and do whatever they want... ..." Okuboli said to Kido Takayun with a complicated expression.

"How can we make Japan the same as Han??" Kido Takayun asked the question he had been wanting to ask these days.

"Industry rejuvenates the country, colonization and development..."

Okubo Toshimichi said eight big words to Kido Takayun.

　Ask for a reward, ask for a monthly ticket
  　　
  　
  (End of this chapter)