The Red Chamber: The Rise of the Lin Mansion

Lin Yun looked at the small purse in his hand and said with a disgusted look on his face: "This plum blossom embroidery is really ugly!"

Chapter 273: Mission

The Great Chu Hanlin Academy inherited the Ming system and was called a small cabinet, which has five main functions.

First, compile national history, record the geography, hydrology and other books of Dachu.

Second, assist the six ministries to formulate laws, rituals and music and other systems.

Third, explain traditional classics such as classics and history to the emperor and the prince.

Fourth, help the emperor to draft edicts and imperial edicts.

Fifth, assist in presiding over the national provincial examinations, joint examinations, palace examinations, etc.

After Lin Yun entered the Hanlin Academy, he was sent to do odd jobs in the imperial edict hall by Wei Xuan, the bachelor in charge of the academy.However, his duty was not to help the emperor draft edicts, but to transcribe imperial edicts issued by the inner court.

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Lin Yun also knew about Wei Xuan before he entered the Imperial Academy.This person and Lin Ruhai are Jinshi in the same discipline, and he was ranked second in the palace examination, above Lin Ruhai.

According to Dai Quan, when this person was grading the test papers, he strongly opposed him as a member.If it wasn't for Xiao Jing'an, he might not even be able to make it into the top ten, let alone get Hui Yuan.

...

On the morning of April [-], it rained lightly.There was a fresh, cool smell in the air.

In the waiting room of Dongcheng Hanlin Academy, Lin Yun sat behind the table, drinking tea while flipping through the books in front of him.

He borrowed the book from the library of the Hanlin Academy. The content inside introduced the customs and customs of the friendly allies around Da Chu.

There are five desks placed in the hall, and several older officials are transcribing documents.None of them were born in the Imperial Academy, and their official positions were only in the seventh rank, which was much lower than Lin Yun, a newcomer.

Even Hu Zhongmiao, the head of the waiting room, is only in the seventh rank, but that guy is busy running around for official posts these days.

The Liubu Yamen was undergoing a major personnel change. Hu Zhongmiao was also a Jinshi and was born in the Imperial Academy. Naturally, he was not satisfied with just doing some copying and writing work every day.

Running an official is a characteristic of Chinese officialdom, no matter which dynasty it is, it is indispensable.

Lin Yun was watching intently, when he saw a petty official walk in and shouted at him: "Lin Daizhao, Peng Shisao, please come over."

Peng Shisao's name is Peng Yang, and he was the one who strongly recommended him as Hui Yuan in the meeting, and he can be regarded as half of Lin Yun's mentor.

Although Peng Yang is a minister of the Imperial Academy, his main job is the Minister of the Ministry of Officials.Unless he was speaking for the emperor, he seldom came to the Hanlin Academy to sit in the hall.

Hearing that Peng Yang was looking for him, Lin Yun hurriedly put down the books in his hand, and followed the petty official to the door.

The little official led Lin Yun out and turned to the right, which was the lecture hall.

Lin Yun walked into Peng Yang's office, and saw Emperor Zhide sitting behind the desk, talking to Peng Yang who was standing beside him.Standing beside him were Dai Quan and two servants.

He hurriedly stepped forward to bow to Emperor Zhide and said: "My minister Lin Yun pays homage to His Majesty."

"Exemption."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

Emperor Zhide held a memorial in his hand and said to Lin Yun: "Lu Xiaozhang, the governor of Baoding Prefecture, handed over the memorial, saying that the Kingdom of Great Britain sent a mission to Tianjin Guards. Governor Lu asked the court for instructions whether to let the mission enter Beijing. ? I heard that you have a deep knowledge of Westerners, so tell me why this mission is here?"

Lin Yun's heart was moved when he heard the words, Great Britain is the United Kingdom. As far as he knows, there has never been a mission sent by the British government to visit Dachu before, and this is the first time for this mission.

He hastily said: "Reporting to Your Majesty, there is no profit in the Tao. They came from a long distance, presumably to persuade His Majesty to agree to trade between the two countries."

Emperor Zhide: "According to your opinion, do I see or not?"

Lin Yun thought for a while, and said: "This is a major diplomatic matter, and I shouldn't discuss it rashly. But since His Majesty asked, I boldly said that if Your Majesty doesn't want to expand the navy, then I won't see you. If Your Majesty has the confidence to open up to the outside world, See you then."

Emperor Zhide smiled at Peng Yang and said, "Did you hear that? He's trying to provoke me."

Peng Yang said with a smile: "Lin Shizhao's words are reasonable. If Your Majesty does not agree to trade between the two countries after seeing the British mission, wouldn't it mean that the foreign envoys will underestimate our great country in the Celestial Dynasty?"

Emperor Zhide nodded, and then asked Lin Yun, "Are you still used to being in the Imperial Academy?"

Lin Yun: "Reporting to Your Majesty, the Imperial Academy has a large collection of books, and the minister has borrowed some books and gained a lot of knowledge."

"Oh, let's hear it."

Lin Yun: "I feel that the world is so big that it is beyond my imagination. Although small foreign countries are lagging behind me, they also have science and technology that is ahead of me. There are also many grains and vegetable crops that I have Great Chu is scarce. For the sake of the country and the people, I implore Your Majesty to strengthen the naval construction, lift the sea ban, communicate with foreign countries, and create a peaceful event for our Great Chu.”

When Emperor Zhide heard this, his face darkened immediately, he stood up and said: "The sea ban is a national policy, you are a small Hanlin, don't talk about it lightly."

"I know my mistake."

Emperor Zhide said again: "Dai Quan, please drive back to the palace."

"The old slave respects the order."

...

Outside the gate of Hanlin Academy, after Emperor De was sent away, Peng Yang raised his hand and patted Lin Yun on the shoulder, saying: "The sea ban can affect the whole body. Your Majesty has many concerns. As a minister, you should It’s better to understand His Majesty’s difficulties.”

Lin Yun smiled bitterly and said, "I don't know that there are many obstacles to open the sea ban, but compared to internal reforms, I think it is easier to resolve internal conflicts by expanding the oceans externally."

Peng Yang became interested when he heard the words, he hurriedly asked: "Isn't the use of military force a sign of the country's subjugation? How can internal conflicts be resolved?"

Lin Yun explained: "Our Great Chu's current predicament is that the land has been encroached on a large scale by the rich and powerful, the number of self-cultivated farmers is decreasing day by day, and the court's endowments are shrinking day by day. If things go on like this, our Great Chu's finances will surely collapse. , it will be able to draw the attention of the powerful to overseas, thereby reducing the internal pressure for reform.”

Peng Yang slightly nodded and said: "Your words seem to make sense, let's go back to the room and sit down to discuss in detail."

"The disciple respects his life."

The two were about to go back when they saw Dai Quan riding back again.

Peng Yang hurriedly raised his hands and asked Dai Quan: "Old Prime Minister, does your Majesty have something to give you?"

Dai Quan nodded immediately and said, "Your Majesty ordered Lin Yun to go to Tianjinwei with Honglu Temple Shaoqing Zhou Fang tomorrow to welcome the British delegation to Beijing."

Lin Yun was overjoyed when he heard the words, he hurriedly cupped his hands and said, "I respect the order."

...

At noon, not long after Lin Yun returned to the mansion, everyone in Lin Yuan knew that the third master was going to Tianjin Wei to pick up Westerners to come to Beijing to meet the emperor.

When Daiyu heard the news, she immediately ran over to Lin Yun and asked, do Westerners have red hair and green eyes?Can you speak Chinese?

After hearing the news, Jia Min came to ask Lin Yun, did the emperor intend to lift the sea ban when he received the Westerners?

The old genius doctor also ran over, and asked Lin Yun to help him ask how far the Westerners' medical skills have reached, and whether they are more advanced than our Dachu.

Finally, Mr. Lin also came to ask Lin Yun if he could take this opportunity to sell a batch of their Lin family's perfume to Westerners and earn some money.

Lin Yun was so quarreled by the crowd that he had to hide out under the pretext that he was invited to a drink at noon.

Chapter 274: Etiquette Conflict

In the second year of Jianwen in the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Di led his troops across the south of the Yangtze River via Zhigu to seize power. Three years later, it was changed to Yongle. The name Tianjin appeared in the early years of Yongle.

As a military center, Tianjin was officially established in the second year of Yongle, Tianjin Zuowei was established in the following year, and Tianjin Right Guard was added in the next year.The latter three guards are collectively called Tianjin Guards.

...

On April [-]rd, Lin Yun, Honglu Temple Shaoqing Zhou Fang, several officials and translators took a boat to Tianjin Wei to welcome the British delegation.

It is also embarrassing to say that there is no qualified English translator in Honglu Temple.Perhaps Great Britain was too far away from Dachu to attract the attention of Honglu Temple officials.Zhou Fang searched all the translators in Honglu Temple, but only one Portuguese translator knew a little bit about English.

Zhou Fang is a middle-aged official with handsome appearance and elegant demeanor.He was born as a third-level Jinshi scholar, and spent money to get a job in Honglu Temple.

He has a younger sister named Zhou Hui, who was accepted as the imperial concubine by Zhide Di last year.

With the help of his own sister, Zhou Fang has jumped from a sixth-rank principal in Honghe Temple to a fourth-rank Honglu Temple Shaoqing, which can be regarded as a three-level promotion.

Although his official position was several ranks higher than Lin Yun's, Zhou Fang didn't dare to take it up in front of Lin Yun, and Tong Jinshi was naturally a head shorter in front of Tan Hualang, not to mention that the other party was appointed by the emperor to come to assist him with his errands.

...

At noon on the [-]th, the official ship that Lin Yun and others took arrived at Tianjin Wei West Bank Wharf.

Standing on the deck at the bow, Lin Yun held the side of the ship, looked at the dozen or so warships docked at the pier, and carefully sized them up.

The flag of Great Britain is hoisted on the four-legged warship docked at the pier on the right, and the eight-legged warship on the right looks much dilapidated and not enough in tonnage, so the number of artillery on it is naturally incomparable.

The only thing that made Lin Yun feel fortunate was that the British warships at this time were not steamships.As long as the big Chu navy pursues with all their strength, there is still a chance to get rid of the fate of being beaten.

...

After the ship docked, several officers from Da Chu came up from a warship to greet them.

A military officer with big ears rushed to Zhou Fang, who was in front of him, and saluted: "The last general is Wu Mingyuan, the deputy general of the Yuehai Navy. He was ordered by Mr. Zhou, the commander-in-chief, to escort the British mission to Beijing to face the saint. May I ask your lord's name? ?”

Zhou Fang: "My official is Zhou Fang, the Shaoqing of Honglu Temple. Today, I am entrusted with the emperor's order to welcome the British mission."

After Zhou Fang finished speaking, he signaled his officials to hand over the official documents to the other party for inspection.

After Wu Mingyuan read the official document, he immediately said with a smile: "Master Zhou, I will accompany you to meet the British envoy."

Zhou Fang frowned and asked, "What is the identity of the ambassador of Great Britain? Do you know?"

Wu Mingyuan said embarrassingly: "I heard that the name of the envoy of Great Britain is George, the Earl of Ma. It is really difficult to remember the names of foreigners, and I will not be able to remember them all."

Zhou Fang asked Lin Yun, "Lin Daizhao, is the earl of foreigners the same as our earl?"

Lin Yun: "Absolutely. There are no marquises among the foreigners, and there are also very few kings."

Zhou Fang nodded and said, "Then let's meet on their boat."

Everyone surrounded Zhou Fang and walked towards the biggest gunboat.Lin Yun was looking at the warship when he saw Wu Mingyuan approaching him and asked with a smile, "May I ask your name, sir?"

Lin Yun smiled and said: "My name is Lin Yun, and I do odd jobs in the waiting hall of the Imperial Academy."

Wu Mingyuan smiled and said: "Your Excellency, you are humble. Who doesn't know that the Imperial Academy is a small cabinet, and you are all close ministers of the emperor."

After a pause, Wu Mingyuan lowered his voice and said, "The general will bring some local products from Guangdong, and send them to the boat for you and Mr. Zhou later."

Lin Yun smiled and said, "Thank you, General."

"You are Welcome."

While speaking, everyone came to the front of the largest gunboat, and saw a group of foreigners coming out from the diving board, and there was a Chinese among them, who must have been an interpreter hired by the foreigners.

Zhou Fang stopped and stood there waiting for the foreigner to come to greet him.

Lin Yun laughed secretly when he saw this, he was afraid that he would lose his manners in front of foreigners and be impeached by the imperial envoy after returning.

After thinking about it, Lin Yun walked a few steps quickly, came to those foreigners, and asked in English, "Which one is Earl George?"