I was a god in the 18th century

Chapter 493 The Qing Government is Keeping a Close Eye on the Problem
At this moment, Xia Qingdai was lying in the sky and looking down at the ground, and she found that her field of vision on the wild map had actually increased, at least ten times.

She had been drifting on the sea before, and she had no idea of ​​size. She saw endless sea everywhere. But now that she was on land, it was different. The map was expanding and she could see it with her naked eyes. When she looked down from above, she could feel it very intuitively.

When did it quietly upgrade? Xia Qingdai couldn't tell.

She couldn't even go back to her old base, Fucui Villa. Sixty percent of her daily faith power came from the sculptures she had used before, and forty percent came from the newly recruited believers of the mission. Her dantian was empty every day, so how could she think about upgrading? She was thankful that she hadn't regressed.

At this moment, looking at the three-dimensional map of the town with Owen as the center, Xia Qingdai felt quite emotional.

Although her vision was upgraded, Xia Qingdai's happiness did not last long because she saw the bungalow area behind the bustling commercial street.

Xia Qingdai could only describe those places in one word: dilapidated. The three-inch-sized natives of the Qing Dynasty looked like members of the Beggars' Gang, completely different from the "common people" who were selected and allowed in on the commercial street.

Looking at this scene, Xia Qingdai really couldn't be happy. This was different from the feeling of seeing the slums in Europe. After all, it was her own country.

Owen and his group below had already crossed a street. Perhaps because the weather was too hot, everyone went into the land temple to rest.

"Huh, they actually entered the temple. Aren't they afraid of conflicts in beliefs?" Xia Qingdai murmured, thinking that these people were quite able to adapt to local customs.

Dinghai City is really full of traces of Buddhism. The temple is not only used for burning incense, it also feels like a tourist attraction for resting.

Xia Qingdai looked at the sky above the temple for a while, then reached out and gently knocked on the ground in front of the land temple. When she saw Owen and his group approaching the gate of the land temple, she hurriedly said, "Owen, Owen, ask the officials accompanying them if they can go to the countryside to take a look. Go east, I want to go and take a look."

She really wanted to see the area where her modern grandmother lived, and she wondered what it looked like in the eighteenth century, and whether the ditches and canals were still in the same position.
After hearing what Xia Qingdai said, Owen turned around and asked the accompanying official: "Can I visit the countryside of your precious land? I also have a country estate in the UK, so I am particularly interested in the countryside of other countries. I hope you can help me."

"Well, this is not easy to handle." The official he asked straightened his back, stood with his hands behind his back, narrowed his eyes, and spoke slowly and politely, but he was unwilling to agree readily.

What a joke! The Qing Dynasty still has a policy of seclusion. How can we let those red-haired people from outside go wherever they want?

I told you to stroll around, do you really think you can just stroll around? This red-haired guy is a red-haired guy, he doesn't understand the principle of guests following the host's wishes.

Everyone present had smiles on their faces, but they were secretly criticizing Owen and others in their hearts.

It was such a hot day at the beginning, but these red-haired monsters insisted on choosing to walk around the streets, which had already made the adults, who were used to sitting in sedan chairs and having a relaxed time, unhappy. Now they wanted to cause trouble for no reason, which was really incomprehensible.

Historically, this British delegation was indeed closely watched by the Qing Dynasty. They were not allowed to wander around the city, let alone the countryside.

In the memoirs they wrote after returning to China, there was even a sentence like this: "We came like beggars, stayed like prisoners, and left like thieves."

Although the powerful figures in Dinghai Town, General Ma Yu and County Magistrate Zhang Yutian, set a high standard for receiving the British envoys, in fact, the high standard was only to show the national prestige of the Celestial Empire, not to treat the British delegation differently. On the contrary, they were always on guard against these English red-haired people, which can be seen from the fact that only three people from the delegation were allowed to disembark.

The group of professionals who came with them, such as cartographers and painters who came with the purpose of exploring the geographical environment of the Qing Dynasty; the mechanical masters who came to explore China's sericulture, silk nesting and reeling techniques, and porcelain manufacturing technology; and the botanist who came mainly for tea trees, of which there is only one left, etc., none of these people were allowed to disembark.

In terms of scientific knowledge and insight, the Qing Dynasty is no match for the British. But in terms of Tai Chi and cunning, all the British put together are no match for a small Chinese official.

For the Chinese, what is important is not who the visitor is, but not losing the host's face.

At this moment, Owen suddenly made an additional request. Even if it was a very small request, it would not be easily met.

What do you want to see when you go to the countryside? What is your purpose? Do you have any bad intentions?

Anyway, no one wants to go to such trouble, so they should just give him a little hospitality and send him off. In the Qing Dynasty officialdom, the principle of "less trouble is worse than more trouble" and "less mistakes are less done" was popular.

In order to achieve his goal, Owen, who has always been a man of few words, basically used all the beautiful Chinese vocabulary he had learned to the fullest, but unfortunately he did not get a satisfactory answer.

No matter how much nonsense the accompanying officials talked over and over again, the main idea remained the same: No!
Finally, Owen had no choice but to walk out of the temple, looking up at Xia Qingdai in the clouds and shaking his head. To others, it seemed that he was unhappy after his request was rejected, and he didn't want to be in the same room with the person who rejected him, so he went out of the temple to get some fresh air, and no one thought that he was communicating with the sky.

"What's wrong? They don't agree?"

"Yeah." Owen nodded imperceptibly.

If Owen didn't go, even if the map became larger and Xia Qingdai had the skill of invisibility, it would be useless. In the 18th century, if she wanted to go further, she needed Owen to keep opening the map for her, otherwise she couldn't go anywhere.

Xia Qingdai frowned and thought for a while, then rolled her eyes and said, "I have a solution, Owen, you go shopping first, I'll find you later."

As soon as she finished speaking, her face disappeared in the sea of ​​clouds, and it was obvious that she had left.

Owen retracted his gaze and walked into the land temple again. After resting for a while inside with the large group, he continued to wander around the streets of the city.

Although the weather was hot, the streets were narrow, and there were too many impolite onlookers, this did not make the British delegation retreat. After finally landing and arriving in a Chinese town, how could they not walk around and take a look?

A big part of the reason why the British chose to settle here this time was to investigate the environment.

The port of this island was in the British plan. The British government had always wanted to knock on the door of the Qing Dynasty, and Dinghai was their first choice for trade with China. It was no exaggeration to say that they were salivating over it.

Although Owen has no political purpose, he is indeed very interested in China and is willing to see more and learn more about it, because this is the goddess' hometown.