I am rich in martial arts, but choose culture to win

Shanghai port.

Fulongsheng dental shop.

This is one of the 18 foreign dental firms controlled by the Sheng family in Gusu, and it is also the most important white glove of Jiangsu Governor Li Hongzhang.

The imperial court has cut off their salaries for more than a year, but the Huai army has never been short of money. It relies on the business of trafficking people to Citigroup and then reselling foreign goods.

In fact, as people continued to inquire about Citigroup's information, especially the Chinese newspapers from the Orientals gradually flowed into Shanghai and other places, Li Hongzhang gradually came to his senses.

The Citigroup that I visited last year seemed... not quite right!

He made people use telescopes to secretly observe the large ships responsible for receiving Chinese coolies.

It turns out that there are more Chinese faces on it, but there are very few foreigners.

Most of the foreigners with high noses and deep eyes are supporting their foreign companies on the beach in Shanghai!

Such a discovery shocked Li Hongzhang.

You must know that last year he got a group of Xianghuai children to study in "Citigroup"!

And he also claimed the stocks of "Citigroup"... the boss has a lot of money!

After much deliberation, several hairs became gray with worry, and finally Lao Li realized it.

That Citigroup may be a fake, but the food, foreign cloth, American ginseng, cigarettes and other foreign goods that can be exchanged for mud legs are real!

There is also the stock dividend every ten days, which is also real money, and one or two has never been deducted!

From time to time, the "Citigroup" will also eliminate some old foreign guns for itself, and the price is far cheaper than the foreign goods of the British and French...

Who dares to say that this is fake, Lao Li dares to be anxious with anyone!

As a result, the Huai army continued to sell piglets, sell foreign goods, and distribute foreign wealth.

Since Li Hongzhang went down, the Huai army and the governor's office all acted as if nothing had happened.

……

Bai Xia'er grew up in Jingci Temple by the West Lake. Her father was a well-known eminent monk who was famous for killing pigs.

That Master Zhixin was born tall and fat, with the strength of a hundred catties in one arm.

Coupled with the needle-like stubble and eyes like copper bells, Lu Zhishen played the role without makeup at all.

But for some reason, the appearance of this little white lady does not appear to be big or three rough. It is just that in the beauty of Jiangnan women, there is a little more heroic spirit of the sons and daughters of the Jianghu.

Of course, that's what he said, but Bai Xia'er is not a fool.

Mere boxing skills are useless in this Shanghai Bund where fish and dragons are mixed together.

In this male-dominated place, she had wisely wiped her face with yellow mud, stained her taupe-white arms with charcoal black, huddled in a corner, and stuffed a tattered jacket with a lot of torn cotton wool. In it, she covered up her exquisite figure tightly.

With her head down, Bai Xia'er hugged her knees with her hands, huddled together with those desperate women who were desperate and wanted to go to "Citigroup" to try their luck.

Jingle bell, a short bell rang.

Then walked in more than a dozen guys in long robes and mandarin jackets.

The leader was an old foreigner who looked drowsy, and a young master in his early twenties.

"Mr. Qiao, according to your opinion, this time, Li Shuai recruited 8 Wu girls at once, which took a lot of effort!"

The young master was Sheng Xuanhuai who had just entered Li Hongzhang's shogunate, and the sleepy old foreigner was naturally Tang Sangui's confidant Joseph.

He has been in charge of affairs in China for a long time, and the Huai army generally calls him "Mr. Qiao".

To this day, the Citigroup minister has long been fed and emptied, and the White House is completely incapable of managing the Far East.

Therefore, in Citigroup's one-acre and three-point land in Shanghai, the envoy of Citigroup is a puppet, and Old Joseph is the puppet behind the puppet, carrying out Fengdu's orders step by step.

In order to further optimize the population structure of Fengdu, among the 2 Chinese workers recruited in this period, the number of female workers reached almost half.

Recruiting female workers to go to sea is much more difficult than recruiting men.

This is not just a question of money, but also a question of feudal ethics.

But thanks to Zhu Fugui's good son smashing Hong Dashen's stick.

Although he himself is licentious, he can be called a model worker in breaking feudal ethics.

The Yangtze River Basin was plowed by him, not only there were countless widows, but also the power of money overwhelmed the shackles of ethics.

The 8000 Wu girls that Sheng Xuanhuai talked about were actually all hard-working people.

But old Joseph had no time to sympathize with them.

Now Daming already has 3 shipping formations.

Each formation can transport 2 people per month.

In other words, on average, every ten days, old Joseph would come to hand over the handover, which was indeed a bit tiring for an old comrade (dementia) like him.

After talking for a long time without seeing any response, Sheng Xuanhuai stroked his newly grown beard and said, "Mr. Qiao, I see that you have a lot of Han Chinese under your command, and you are also very diligent in your work. Why don't you let them act as compradors and come directly to us to deliver the deal? What do you think?"

After the interpreter translated this sentence, Old Joseph's eyelids that were drooping closed suddenly lit up, and he said, "Very good, very good!"

Daming let him be this puppet just to show Li Hongzhang. Since they don't care anymore, it's time for old Joseph to retire at last.

After all, I am almost 80 years old, and I don't know how many more years to live.

……

"Slackers, you're ready to board the boat, why don't you just wait for the uncle to let you stay early?"

A few soldiers of the Huai army in jackets with the word "courage" drove all the squatting Chinese workers up with sticks.

"Women keep to the left, men to the right!"

"Which one do you say is left? Grandpa Zhang Long, my side is left, and the other side is right. I'll go to the pier for you!"

……

Amidst Huaiyong's sticks and shouts, Bai Xia'er, together with other women and children, walked quickly through the door and alley with their heads down, and arrived at a wharf by the Huangpu River.

As soon as he arrived here, a short-haired soldier in a blue and white sailor uniform blew a sharp whistle and raised his hand to Huaiyong to signal him not to move forward.

Facing the ferocity of the Chinese laborers, the Huaiyongs quickly stopped and stepped back obediently.

Obviously, all Huai Yong who did not abide by these sailor rules had already received an unforgettable lesson.

The flag captain of the sailor was a tall and thin young man. He took out a small handful of candy from his pocket and threw it to the Huaiyongs: "Here—the three-year navy chocolate, it's cheap for you!"

The Huaiyongs quickly reached out to pick it up, and those who received it were beaming, and those who didn't, didn't dare to fight for it.

Although these short-haired sailors are harmless to humans and animals, they will throw some delicious food for everyone to try from time to time, but if they are annoyed, they will really shoot!

"Thank you Bing Ye, thank you Bing Ye—呵念—it's so sweet!"

These Huaiyong's wives, mothers and children are all in their hometown in Anhui, so there was nothing reluctant to part with them, so they opened the candy wrappers and ate them on the spot.

After eating, they carefully folded the candy wrappers, saying that they could lick them when they were hungry.

Seeing Huai Yong's hopeless appearance, all the sailors couldn't help laughing.

It's not a joke, it's just the simple feeling of returning home.

The sailors wanted to tell those Huaiyong that in fact, he was treated as a piggy and rushed to the pier more than a year ago.

But it was this seemingly desperate journey that turned them from ghosts into humans.

However, due to the army's secrecy discipline, they can't say it, and it's very hard to hold back.

Three-year Navy Chocolate is an energy food developed by the Navy Headquarters according to the occupational characteristics of sailors. It can quickly replenish energy and improve soldiers' concentration in a short time.

Its widespread promotion also benefited from the Army's laying down of the southern California area last year.

At the southernmost tip of the empire - Xinyue Province, there used to be many plantations left by the colonists, but now they have been taken over by Daming.

Cocoa, which is used to make chocolate, is one such product.

In general, even near the new ear at 32.45 degrees north latitude, it is still too cold for cocoa planting, and the yield is not high.

It is enough for Zhu Fugui to taste it as a royal tribute, but it is far from enough to use it as a military supply.

However, Mexico, which is close to Xinsui, is one of the top ten cocoa producing areas in the world.

Many high-quality products of Hershey and Ferrero are obtained from Mexican cocoa.

Through some means, Ming imported cocoa from Mexico at a very affordable price, while dumping excess industrial products to them, and signed a trade agreement under the eyes of the Texans.

Mexicans are now belatedly applauding the opening up of markets for their produce.

After a few years, they will understand what it means to be too far from heaven and too close to Daming.

In short, the quota for each sailor of the three-year-style navy chocolate is quite sufficient, so the sailor flag commander chose to take part of it to satisfy his vanity.

Of course, this is just a short episode.

Soon, under the command of the sailors, more than a dozen large ships docked in batches to accept Chinese workers on board.

Bai Xia'er was assigned to the "Equality C" transport ship together with more than a thousand other female workers.

Under the side of the tall ship, Bai Xia'er glanced back at the land behind her, and her mind was filled with the image of that dull boy by the West Lake in Zhong Xia eight years ago.

Because she couldn't forget the midsummer of that year and the sugar pill shared with each other, so she named herself Bai Xia'er.

Now there is finally news about him again, although he is far away in an unknown place...

Firmly grasping the old newspaper in her bosom, Bai Xia'er tapped her toes lightly, and boarded the soft ladder to the boat.

Chapter 273 Bai Xiaer's Experience (1)

When the transport ship "Equality C" slowly docked at Xinjin Port, Bai Xiaer didn't feel that the journey was too long, but that it was far shorter than expected.

Bai Xia'er once asked the most respected monk in Jingci Temple how far the end of the world is.

The monk said, where a thousand suns and moons shine, bhikkhus, a thousand worlds... a thousand maras... a thousand Brahma worlds...

Bai Xia'er didn't understand, but felt that it was far away.

Ask Dad again.

Daddy tore apart the dog meat and said drunkenly, seal the wolf to live in the Xu, where Yanzhi Mountain is the end of the world.

In short, no one can answer her doubts.

From Hangzhou Mansion to Shanghai Road, Bai Xia'er walked for five or six days.

According to merchants traveling from south to north, this is just a very short journey in the Qing Dynasty.

Therefore, Bai Xia'er thought, going from the Qing Dynasty to Citigroup, wouldn't it take more than ten years to go to Tianzhu like Tang Monk and his disciples?

But obviously he has only been away for eight years...

In short, no matter how much she imagined, Bai Xia'er never imagined that she would ride a hundred-foot-long boat, split the waves, and arrive at Citi Country in less than 20 days.

Or……

Ming dynasty?

"Miss Bai, we should get off the boat!"

A young woman's voice sounded next to my ears, "Thanks to your help along the way!"

Bai Xia'er got up quickly, shook her head with a smile, and helped her lift the complicated luggage.

This aunt's husband's family name is Lu, and everyone calls her Aunt Lu.

Aunt Lu's hair is dry and her face is yellow. She looks about 40 to 26 years old, but she is only [-] to [-] years old.

She was alone with a four or five-year-old boy, and Bai Xia'er was sitting next to her all the way.

Daming ocean transport ships provided much better conditions to Chinese workers, whether they were male workers or female workers, than piggy ships.

But above the ocean, every inch of space and every material is precious, and must be fully utilized for the rise of Ming Dynasty.

In order to utilize the space, the passenger cabin is divided into several compartments with a floor height of less than two meters.

The degree of congestion on each floor is similar to that of a green leather train in the 90s, and it is a luxury to sleep with your legs stretched out.

And these Chinese workers can only get barely enough fresh water every day, and sea lion bacon porridge with no cooking skills at all.

Of course, in order to prevent sepsis, half an orange a day is also indispensable.

But even this kind of treatment, in the eyes of Huagong, is also a great kindness.