The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 599 The Late Englishman

James Watt is 48 years old this year. This scientific giant who made great contributions to the improvement of the steam engine and can even be said to have single-handedly ignited the productivity revolution of the entire human race is strictly speaking a British, not an Englishman.

Because he was born in Glasgow, Scotland, he is a typical Scotsman.

Watt's family background basically matched that of mainstream scientists at that time.

His father owned a small shipbuilding workshop in the local area and was barely considered upper class in the town. He received a few pounds from the king to help collect taxes and maintain law and order.

His mother was the daughter of a declining noble family. She was so poor that she married Watt's father, a small upstart, for a few bucks.

Such a family is a very typical scientist family.

They have some money and some status, but not much, just enough to get a good education, but not enough to separate them from the masses and the front line of production.

"Sir, have we reached the legendary Seris? What a magnificent building!"

A long bell rang at the Newport Pier, seagulls were wandering in the sky, and Watt pointed to the Chinese-style port castle in the distance and spoke to the ambassador of the mission, William Pitt the Younger.

An expression of excitement appeared on Watt's face, which looked extremely tired and obviously malnourished due to the long sea voyage.

Xingang is what later became Singapore.

After basically controlling the entire Nanyang, under the instructions of the then Prime Minister of Nanyang, Emperor Mo Tianci.

The Andai Provincial Government, whose jurisdiction included the entire Malay Peninsula, abandoned the Dutch-run city of Malacca and moved its political, military and shipping centers to the historical location of Singapore.

Because the provinces north of the Strait of Malacca have very rich tin mining industries, there is a huge flow of people coming and going.

As a result, Malacca became a mixed crowd, especially Europeans, which was not conducive to controlling the Strait of Malacca, and it also faced the threat of direct attacks from enemies in the Indian Ocean.

Therefore, Singapore, which has a natural harbor, is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and is located at the tip of Malacca, became the best choice.

Since there is a long low mountain range behind the port, which is called Xinshan by the Chinese, this newly built port city was naturally called Xingang.

"Yes, once you get here, you're basically in Seris."

This was the second time that William Pitt the Younger came, and this time he was not a secret envoy. He was accompanied by a large delegation.

The Kingdom of England was prepared to encourage the Kingdom of Russia to act as the shield of Europe along the line from the Ural Mountains to the Ural River, while also maintaining a certain alliance, or at least friendly relations, with China.

Because compared to the future when China will become strong enough to compete with them for world hegemony, what England needs to do most now is to prevent France's finances from improving.

Only the bankruptcy of the French government could prevent them from recovering before England, and even taking control of most of Europe through this apparent victory.

The enemy in front of us will always be much more terrifying than the big enemy in the future.

Watt was originally reluctant to come to the East because his steam engine company was in a period of rapid expansion, and risking his health to travel thousands of miles away would be a huge delay.

It was precisely because of his unwillingness and procrastination that the delegation was delayed until now to reach the East.

However, looking at the majestic New Harbor at this time, Watt suddenly became very interested in this Eastern Seris.

. . . .

The early morning hawkers' hawking woke Watt from his sleep. The moment he opened his eyes, he could still feel the house shaking up and down and left and right.

It took several minutes for his brain to react and adapt to life on land without moving around.

Watt slept for a long time, which lasted almost a whole day and night, and finally relieved the pain and fatigue of the sea voyage.

He rang the bell in the house, and immediately several people with slightly darker skin came over, holding toiletries in their hands.

Although they didn't speak the same language, Watt used gestures to let these people know that he wanted to have breakfast.

Although he had only been in Newport for two days, Watt had already realized that these slightly dark and short guys were not Seres, but various conquered barbarians.

Their status in Seris is somewhat similar to that of the Gypsies in Europe.

The real Seres generally have very fair skin and are tall. They call themselves the Chinese people, and are also considered by Europeans to be civilized white people.

"In fact, some Seres also have darker skin. I made a mistake just now and almost got slapped a few times." A low-level attaché of the delegation who had a good relationship with Watt came over and said with lingering fear.

Well, this guy just mistook a dark-skinned Guangnan horseman for a slave, which just touched the reverse scale that the Guangnan Han people can't touch. He didn't almost get slapped, but he had already been slapped.

Fortunately, he ran fast, otherwise he might have been stabbed to death by the Guangnan man whose Han identity he had deprived with words.

After discussing how to identify a Seresian based on language, clothing, and appearance, the two men went out together again. Xingang was a typical Chinese port city, its layout arranged entirely around the An Dai Governor's Office.

And this city is basically open to Europeans.

According to the policy of the Great Yu of China at that time, Europeans who served China, including joining the army, developing colonies, inventing technologies, and paying more than 300 silver dollars in taxes annually would be treated almost like citizens.

These people were allowed to move around anywhere in China except certain provinces within the mainland.

As for other Europeans, they could only move around in the designated cities. If they left the city, they would be beaten and fined if caught.

Fortunately, Newport was one of the chartered cities, so Watt was able to wander around without the permission of local officials.

"The tin mining industry in Andai Province is very developed, but the steam pumps they use are somewhat outdated. If my improved steam engine can be sold here, it will definitely be very popular."

Watt said this to his close partner Matthew Bolton, who nodded with shining eyes.

"Yes, there will definitely be huge sales, but..." Bolton's voice hesitated.

"But if we want to produce it in Seris, we will definitely have to disclose our patents. Even if we don't disclose them, we won't be able to stop Seris factories from copying them."

Watt and Bolton are a perfect match, full of capitalist materialism and a desire to pay more for money than for life.

In a few years, Watt would go from being a pioneer in improving the steam engine and igniting human productivity to the biggest obstacle to the further development of the steam engine.

For the sake of money, he stubbornly refused to disclose any of his steam engine patents, even the smallest ones, and was unwilling to authorize them to others. He strangled the path to improving the steam engine and made a fortune for himself.

Hearing what Bolt said, Watt also showed a solemn expression on his face.

When he was in Europe, he was worried about this situation, so he always refused any Serbian students to enter his factory, and also did not allow any factory authorized by him to recruit Serbian apprentices.

He even submitted a request to the English government, requesting that no new steam engine, blueprints or other key products and technologies be allowed to leave England and go to Seres.

The only exception was a very beautiful daughter of an oriental earl, who came to visit him accompanied by several London ladies.

Watt didn't think a woman could understand the steam engine. More importantly, these ladies were all very beautiful. Watt was inspired by the spirit and reluctantly agreed to meet the noble lady from Seris and show her his achievements.

“I think that since His Majesty the Great Emperor Seris specifically asked us to come, he must have made preparations in this regard.

The ultimate goal of our invention of the steam engine is to make money. As long as His Majesty the Emperor is generous, it is not impossible to produce our steam engines in the East."

Watt knew that there were some things he couldn't stop, so he might as well cash in on them.

"Will Emperor Seris abide by the patent laws in force in faraway England?" Bolton expressed great concern.

"Maybe, should, will." Watt was not very sure, because the benefits of not complying with patent law were obviously too great.

"Unless Sesri doesn't want their technology to develop further, he must respect the inventor's work."

Watt and Bolton were worried about their patents, but William Pitt the Younger had a look of helplessness on his face.

When he saw a boat full of men and women who looked similar to Chinese people but were sold as slaves at the port, he realized that the Seris Dayu Empire had solved the biggest loophole around them in a very short time.

The island nation with tens of millions of people, complex terrain, and which has always been on the edge of Seris civilization has been controlled by Seris.

“Sir, these slaves did come from the land that calls itself the Land of the Rising Sun.

They say that the King of the Land of the Rising Sun has become a vassal of the Chinese Emperor, and that all the nobles of the Land of the Rising Sun have become members of the Sereshua tribe.

"That's right." Little William Pitt nodded. "Then I'd like to buy a few slaves from the Land of the Rising Sun. Have the officials in charge of the auction agreed?"

"They decisively refused. These officials claimed that the Seres Dynasty had no slaves. These were indentured laborers who would become Chinese in the future, so non-Seresians were not allowed to employ them."

"They're talking nonsense!" William Pitt Jr. said coldly, "But it's very effective.

The emperor used contract laborers to conceal the identity of slaves, making these people, who looked no different from the Chinese, higher in status than the Taiping, Mon, and Burmese who were directly defined as slaves.

At the same time, after turning their upper class into the Chinese, it gave these lower-class people hope for the future.

It will probably only take a few years for these people to forget their original identity and desperately try to become Chinese.”

"We are late, Your Majesty!" William Pitt the Younger said lightly, facing the direction of Europe.

(End of this chapter)