[Qing wear] Harem promotion expert

When Master Jiu saw Hongshi, he was quite friendly and even greeted him first.

What a great nephew, when the emperor was embarrassing myna, this nephew stood up to help.From Master Jiu's point of view, Hongshi is definitely the candidate for the future prince they are most happy to see.

Not to mention, there are quite a few people who hold the same views as Master Jiu at this time, because the two princes, Hongli and Hongzhou, haven't gotten into the eyes of the courtiers at all-the emperor is a person who has a psychological shadow after Jiulong wins the throne Even a prince like Hongshi who is old enough to get married, the emperor still refuses to let him enter the court, let alone the two younger ones, let alone let the courtiers get in touch with him in advance.

Therefore, except for those close to the emperor in the Forbidden City who knew that the emperor was dissatisfied with the third elder brother, the foreign ministers valued his status as the emperor's eldest son.

Seeing that he was downcast, Master Jiu couldn't help but be concerned: "Hongshi, Tian'er is so good, why don't you feel happy?"

Hong Shi raised his head to see who was coming, and quickly cupped his hands: "Uncle Nine."

He didn't want to bring up the quarrel with Er Niang, so he avoided talking about it: "It turned out that I encountered some troubles in homework, and Uncle Jiu laughed at me."

Master Jiu waved his hand to persuade him: "What's the important thing about homework? Money is... Forget it, you are different from uncle and me, you should listen to your emperor Ama, and you should study and improve." Master Jiu shut up in time: now He was trying his best to embrace the Westerner's money, but he couldn't say something wrong to annoy the emperor and cut him off from his position.

So I only comforted Hong Shi with gossip and said: "You have reached the age of marrying Fujin. It will be fine when you get married next year or next year. It's a bit boring to stay in the palace all the time. It's what a man should do when he has a family and a career. thing."

Hong Shi was moved when he heard the words: "Uncle Jiu taught that. I heard that the Western business house that Uncle Jiu built last year was very prosperous, and Huang Ama even specially set up a foreign affairs office for Uncle Jiu. Can I go and have a look? "

This is really what Master Jiu is most proud of.

Originally, diplomatic work was under the management of the Li Fan Yuan, and the emperor put Lao Jiu in the Li Fan Yuan at first.

Most of the work of the Lifan Academy has always been dealing with various Mongolian ethnic groups, and there are also many Mongolian princes who are seconded posts. It is always a bit nondescript that Jiuye brought a few western teams formed by his subordinates.

Last year, in the first year of the establishment of the Western Commercial Hall, it finally overwhelmed the crowd. The first country to obtain the qualification to settle in the Capital Commercial Hall was France, and Master Jiu made a lot of money from it.And the emperor also signed a contract with France to purchase a batch of machinery and dozens of foreign artillery through this shop, which can be regarded as a harvest.

So the emperor separated Jiu Ye from the Lifan Court after begging him a few times, and set up a separate foreign affairs yamen for Western countries, stuffed Lao Jiu in, and assigned him a dozen or so people.

It's not just Baiding's staff, they are all serious and have official positions in the court.

This is exactly what Master Jiu has been most proud of lately, wishing he could meet an official on the street and drag him into his new yamen for a sit-down.He also specially wrote a letter from the elder to Baye to describe in detail how novel and magnificent his foreign affairs office is, and how busy he is now.

At this time, hearing Hong Shi take the initiative to bring up this proud matter, Master Jiu was overjoyed immediately and said: "Of course! Why don't you go sit down today? My yamen is very big."

"Although the location is on the edge of the outer city, it's not that the foreign affairs yamen is not important, but that it is too important. It needs a large area of ​​land to build it in a remote place - behind the yamen is a guild hall for Westerners. , there are foreigners with brown hair, red hair and even black face and green eyes! There are also all kinds of fresh Western gadgets, you can go there, it’s interesting to keep, and let the servants take you around!"

Hongshi always felt disgusted, and he was warmed up by Master Jiu: Oh my god, Uncle Jiu is so kind to me, just like Uncle Eight used to treat me so dearly.

Although I am not Huang Ama's favorite son, I am the uncle's favorite nephew!

Now I see that Huang Ama uses eight uncles and nine uncles heavily, and they each have relations with foreign countries. If these two uncles are willing to speak for me in the future, they must be very loud, and Huang Ama must also consider it.What's more, when I become the prince in the future, these foreign countries will come to court from all directions...

Hongshi went out of the garden in a dream.

Besides, the emperor just arrived at the Old Summer Palace and was troubled by all sorts of things. All new ministries had to ask him for instructions, and the government couldn’t be left behind. He was busy going around. He really didn’t expect to order the palace people to watch out for the princes not to leave the garden. He subconsciously felt that he should not dare if the princes didn’t report go out.

However, Hiroshi can always bring him new surprises.

He was an elderly prince, he ordered his horses and took the haha ​​beads and eunuchs out of the garden with great momentum, no one dared to stop him without a clear order from the emperor, so they let him go out directly.

The foreign affairs yamen was built at the very edge of the outer city of the capital - the emperor still didn't want foreigners to run back and forth in the inner city of the capital.

The direction was towards the Old Summer Palace again, so Hongshi rode over there, and arrived in more than half an hour.Hongshi rode his horse and galloped for a while, but his heart felt better.

The eunuch who followed him had already gone to take a pass at the gate of the foreign affairs yamen, saying that the third elder brother had arrived.

The foreign affairs yamen has just been established, and they are all officials of the sixth and seventh ranks.

Officials of the sixth and seventh ranks are good enough in the local area, but they are really sesame officials in the capital. At this time, when they heard that the prince has arrived, they really came out to greet him like a living dragon.

Seeing people lined the road and kowtowing in welcome, Hongshi felt more at ease in his heart.

Thinking that this is Jiushu's territory, he also wanted to act like a virtuous prince who is a corporal, and just smiled and asked everyone to stand up.

Such a big ostentation has already attracted the attention of two big merchants in England.

Last year, because Yingjili offended the Ninth Princes of the Qing Dynasty (they couldn’t distinguish so many titles in the Qing Dynasty, they were collectively referred to as princes), they lost the right to enter the Western Merchant House in the first year, and they had to watch with their eyes. The feuding France sold utensils and artillery to the Qing Dynasty, and it was so hateful that it vomited blood.

It’s not that this year, after knowing the shame and being brave, several cronies of high-level merchants of the East India Company came to the capital of the Qing Dynasty after the year, and spent a lot of money to stay in the guild hall behind the foreign affairs office (Jiuye’s love of money, is Thinking about recovering the cost of building the Yamen Guild Hall in a year), I have been paying close attention to the movement in Beijing, thinking that I must win the Western Commercial Hall this year.

Now when they heard that the prince had arrived, they immediately cheered up: Prince?In other words, this is the son of the Great Qing Emperor?I heard that the Qing emperor had very few sons, and only one adult son, so this must be it?

Seeing how respectful these officials are to him, it is extremely important to think about it.

Wouldn't it be of great benefit to them, England, if he would speak to his father.

Those who can be sent by the top management of the East India Company to establish diplomatic relations with the Qing Dynasty are at least flexible and gifted with language. After working here for more than half a year, they have long been able to speak the daily official language of the Qing Dynasty.

They rushed up to say hello to Hongshi.

Hongshi had been confined in the palace all along, and he had only seen two or three Westerners in the Ruyi Pavilion, all of whom had changed into Qing costumes. I was very interested, so I stopped and waited for them to chat.

Let's talk about Hongshi riding his horse all the way, his complexion turned pale from exhaustion, and he coughed occasionally.

The two English businessmen looked at each other, and said fawningly, "My lord, would you like to try our English specialty sugar pills, which can relieve fatigue and relieve coughs?"

Hongshi was instantly taken aback by the call of the prince.

He nodded: Anyway, I came here to see new things, so let's see what good things this Westerner has.

Besides, Master Jiu is not a person who likes to ride horses around, or that apart from money, there is very little that is his true love. Now Master Jiu deliberately came out of his foreign affairs office and rushed all the way to Yuanmingyuan to report to the emperor if something happened. .

There are still more than three months before the Western merchants will enter the country next year in October, and more and more Western merchants from various countries have moved in in the guild hall behind the foreign affairs office, and they have given all kinds of wonderful things as the capital to compete for qualifications.

From ancient times to the present, the land of China has always been a huge consumer market, and it is a market that no country can give up if it wants to develop trade.Even after many years, Eagle Country, which claims to be the "Blue Star Overlord", will not let go of this huge market while trying to suppress it.

It's because everyone wants money, there's no way.

The samples submitted by wealthy businessmen from various countries were sent to Yuanmingyuan by the people in charge of running errands in the foreign affairs office, but there were still some important decisions that had to be made by Master Jiu to discuss with the emperor himself.

For example, a French businessman who is currently stationed in a Western firm asked if he could allocate one of the dozen or so houses in the firm so that other countries could join him.

Of course, France hates England very much. The two countries have fought a war for hundreds of years.

But France also has some friendly countries with good relations. At the same time, it feels that the rare goods that a country can produce are limited. If it can win over allies to compete together, the chances of winning will be higher.For this reason, France is willing to allocate a room to a friendly country that has given great help.

The rest of the Western countries are also willing: otherwise, in terms of current national strength, it is really difficult for them to compete with England and France.

Master Jiu came here this time to ask the emperor to take this idea, and by the way personally deliver the fresh 'goods' from the Prussian businessman.

Master Jiu firmly believed that the emperor would like this 'goods'.

When Jiang Heng was announced to Qingyan in Kyushu, he was still a little strange: Ever since he had a daughter, the emperor would usually go to her palace to see her together, why did he let her go alone this time, and specially sent a message not to take Minmin with him? .

When Jiang Heng arrived, he saw the emperor standing in the courtyard with a black thing squatting under his feet.As soon as she approached, all her attention was attracted, and she almost blurted out: "Demu!"

There is a muzzled German Shepherd lying under the emperor's feet!

Seeing the astonishment on her face, the emperor greeted her with a smile: "Come here, this black dog sent by Prussia has been trained and trained. It is very intelligent and obedient, and will not scratch people."

Jiang Heng walked up to him, squatted down, first gave the German Shepherd a sniff of his hand, and then tentatively touched its head.

Although it is slightly different from the modern German Shepherd, Jiang Heng still recognized its iconic appearance and physique at a glance, its black and straight posture and its pair of big erect ears.

This is a juvenile German Shepherd, and the ears are getting bigger and softer.Like two cotton slippers stuck on the head, people can't help but reach out and pinch.

"Although the kennel has been washed, all its fur has been finely grated. However, it is a foreign dog breed. Minmin is still young. I was afraid that she would get sick if she touched it, so I just called you here. "

The emperor looked at the dog with pure joy, and while following the German Shepherd's back, he pointed out to Jiang Heng the difference between the Prussian dog and the small dog kept in the kennel.

Compared with the dexterity of the fine dog, the German Shepherd looks more powerful.

The Prussians should not know that the emperor silently likes all kinds of dogs, which are standard dog control, but they just sent the most beautiful and loyal animals in their country by mistake.

After all, Prussia at this moment is not Germany, which later developed sophisticated machinery. At this time, Prussia is still incomparable with England and France in terms of various artifacts and artillery.I had to find another way to send the living things.

But it was indeed sent to the heart of the emperor. The emperor obviously liked this half-grown German shepherd—in fact, this was originally a cub German shepherd, but it was only a delay in the hands of the ninth master, and it became a half-grown German shepherd. dog.

A half-grown dog is not the most beautiful period, neither as cute as a puppy nor as majestic as a big dog.But the emperor still liked it very much, and even took the meat to feed it himself.

Jiang Heng took the opportunity to rub the German Shepherd's big ears a lot, which was really nice.

Seeing that she also liked it, the emperor couldn't help saying to her: "I still have this kind of Prussian dog here, but Minmin is still young, so it is impossible for the emperor to let you raise it."

Jiang Heng was not without regret: "Yes."

The emperor believed that dogs were spiritual, and Jiang Heng also felt that pets such as cats and dogs were part of the family, but the Queen Mother was obviously a parent, thinking that dogs were dogs, and they should be kept in the kennel, away from children.

Even the emperor likes dogs, the queen mother has to say a few words.If the Yonghe Palace had a dog, the Queen Mother would definitely call her over and punish all the nurses and nurses who followed the princess but did not persuade her concubines.

The queen mother has a special kind of distress and protection for Minmin.

It is not difficult for Jiang Heng to guess that the empress dowager is so kind to Minmin, and there is also the empathy effect of regret that the three daughters failed to stay with her or even in the world.

The empress dowager's love for Minmin made Jiang Heng see what is meant by intergenerational doting.

So when she trained Minmin not to be hugged all the time in the palace, she never dared to let the Queen Mother know.

The emperor comforted: "You can come here often to touch it." Then he remembered: "There is another thing, which is also bought by a Prussian businessman, and it is specially for Minmin."

The appearance of foreigners is too special, and they cannot enter the inner city without a guide. Even if they have money, it is not easy to inquire about the royal family.

But some news that is well known in the world, they are still easy to get.

For example, the emperor of the Qing Dynasty just had a daughter during Chinese New Year.

This Qing emperor has few children, which has become the consensus of Westerners (regardless of whether it is compared with the number of heirs of the previous Qing emperors or the number of heirs of the emperors in their country, the emperor has lost).

Therefore, in the eyes of foreigners, this newly born princess must be a child that the Qing emperor valued very much.

For this reason, in this year's products, many countries have added a lot of children's products.

When Jiang Heng saw the stroller, he was actually a little regretful.

She is already asking the manufacturing office to make a small car that can push children around. After imitating swivel chairs and making simple wheelchairs for Mammy Yu before, the manufacturing office is quite familiar with items such as rollers.

It is estimated that it will be successful soon...

"I heard that you asked the manufacturing office to make a sturdy cart that can push children around."

Concubines in the palace generally don't have this kind of demand. Wherever the child wants to go, too many palace people are waiting to carry it on their backs. As long as the prince and princess are willing, they can even build a sedan chair with flower hands with their hands and invite the emperor's heir to sit on it.

However, folks have long had bamboo carts.

Before Jiang Heng went to see the Dunhuang frescoes, he had seen portraits of women in the Tang Dynasty on them, pushing a small stroller like a baby stroller now.

It's just that the existing carts are very simple, without awnings and wheel holders.Jiang Heng just wanted the Manufacturing Office to make a firm move, and then push Minmin out to play.

After receiving this western baby car, the emperor had people from the manufacturing office come to see it. They checked that the car was beautifully built and sturdy. The situation where the child runs away.

"The manufacturing office is very careful. Even a piece of lacquerware has to be inspected repeatedly. When they make a cart, Minmin will run away. Let's use this first."

The emperor rested his hand on the handle of the stroller, and confirmed once again that once the wheels were stuck, the car would stop firmly in place. Then he nodded, and then picked on the pattern again: "It's just that the pictures above are not good. It’s better to push it to a place where there are many outsiders.”

On Xiyang's stroller, there are several fat babies with wings who don't wear clothes, and there are also plump women who are wearing clothes, but they really don't have enough clothes.

The emperor didn't appreciate it a bit.

After the two of them entered the room, the emperor talked about serious matters with her again.

"Today Lao Jiu is not only sending a dog here, but also has several things to discuss with me." The emperor looked at her: "One of them has something to do with you."

Jiang Heng looked at the emperor.

"Lao Jiu has never been to the seaside, and he has never even been on a sea boat in his life, so he has a difficult place to get this shipping-related business. He is also afraid that he will be deceived by these Westerners in the capital, which is ridiculous. , I just want to invite you, Mafa, to come out of the mountain and sit in his foreign affairs office."

Guan Bao's father, Jiang Heng's grandfather's Chinese name is Li Mu. The old man has been the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi for seven or eight years. Not only has he met all kinds of Westerners, he has also managed the trade of the Thirteen Banks in Guangzhou, and he is doing business with Westerners. In terms of business, it can be said to be an expert.

Master Jiu didn't ask him to move.

Although the old man is a little bored at home and is also very interested in foreign affairs, he still thinks that his own safety is more important.The emperor didn't open his mouth to arrange errands, he went with Jiubeile himself, what's the matter?

Afterwards, Lord Jiu also felt that it was really presumptuous of him to bring this matter up directly to Uncle Su Yi's mansion. This time he entered the palace and pleaded guilty to the emperor, and then begged the emperor to come forward and speak: "If I ask the Westerners to coax you away, you will lose it." Isn’t he still from the Qing Dynasty? The old uncle is very experienced, and he asked the emperor to give an order to put him in charge of the court.”

Now the emperor mentioned it to Jiang Heng, and said: "Your Mafa is not very old. I thought it would be okay to let him sit in the foreign affairs yamen, and then transfer your second brother from the guard to help the old nine. "

The emperor had made up his mind a long time ago, and he just wanted to tell her in advance: "However, going to the foreign affairs office is not as glamorous as being an imperial guard."

The sons of relatives and nobles in Manchuria basically started their official careers as inner court guards.

Since becoming an official, he has been under the eyes of the emperor. It is the best way to be promoted, the golden road.

To outsiders, it is not a good thing to be transferred from the guard post of the inner court to a newly established foreign affairs yamen.

The emperor gave Jiang Heng a letter in advance, and he really thought of her from the bottom of his heart, lest she know that her brother would not be able to be a royal bodyguard, thinking wildly and worrying about her family.

Jiang Heng immediately understood the emperor's thoughtfulness, and took this opportunity to collect experience points for his father and brother, and said to the emperor: "When I was young, Ama taught me and my brothers that the most important thing for a courtier is to be loyal to the king. It doesn't matter whether your position is bright or not, as long as you can share the worries and run errands for the emperor."

What is a good job?A good job is one that is remembered and seen by the leader.

At this time, the foreign affairs yamen was first established, and the officials inside were all cats and cats. Except for the rich man like Master Jiu, no serious Manchu relatives were willing to do this errand.

At this time, her grandfather and elder brother used to go to the foreign affairs yamen, and they happened to be the pillars.

After the foreign affairs yamen is completed, more real benefits can be seen in the exchanges with the West, and the official position is not necessarily worse than the seniority in the guard group.

After clearing the experience points for his father and brother, Jiang Heng smiled at the emperor again: "Thank you, my concubine. In fact, the emperor doesn't say anything, and my concubines don't think too much about it. How the emperor arranges his courtiers and officials has his own deep meaning. .”

Seeing that she is open and upright, the emperor felt happy and at peace: she can always understand everything, understands and understands my thoughts and actions.

In the past few years, she has never seen her begging for anything for her family.

Guanbao's title was given by him himself, Jiang Hengwen never asked about it before, and he never mentioned his mother's family to the emperor through pregnancy to ask for any benefits.

She never asks for it, but the emperor is willing to give it.

And Jiang Heng saw that the emperor seemed to want to manage the foreign affairs office well, so he also beat the side drum appropriately: "The emperor thinks that the various machines and firearms of the Westerners are good? They even set up a separate foreign affairs office."

The emperor nodded: "It has its own advantages. And Western medicine is also worth using. You don't know, Lao Jiu is so enthusiastic about foreign affairs, not just because of greed for money - he had a serious illness when he was a child, and the imperial doctor said he would not survive Yes, it was the Western missionaries who saved him with medicine."

Jiang Heng listened quietly.

Just like Kinney Cream once cured Lord Kangxi's malaria, in fact, with the development of science and technology, the world is destined to start turmoil and blending.

It’s just that at this time, the Qing Dynasty was still deeply rooted, and when it was strong and prosperous, the size of the country was really a giant occupying one side. It didn’t care about the initial great changes and turmoil in the world, and it didn’t even have a deep understanding.

However, Jiang Heng knew that the great changes in the world had already begun.

Just like in the 40 years of Kangxi, everyone in the Qing Dynasty was speculating whether the emperor hated the prince or whether he wanted to abolish the prince. When the court was intriguing, the first high-efficiency seeder had already appeared in England. .

Since this timeline is no longer the Qing Dynasty with serious history.

Now that it's already messed up, why can't it go a little further.

Since there is a country in this world that will be the leader after all, why can't it be the land of China.

Jiang Heng's thinking about the world soon fell into a huge shock.

Because she had the key to the Thirteen Treasurys, the emperor sent Su Peisheng a copy of the list of goods from various countries sent to the emperor by Master Jiu.

Let her see if there is anything she wants to store in Thirteen.

Exquisite instruments such as star motion instruments are not very practical, but they are very valuable for collection.

In this way, Jiang Heng was caught off guard and saw the main product of the English East India Company this year: opium (note: it is a hibiscus, also known as Fu, Shou, and Gao since the Ming Dynasty), Western ahibiscus tablets are boiled into juice, which has a better pain relief effect. Good, it can be used for bone setting, gouge and other operations.Daily use can relieve cough and asthma and has a miraculous effect on asthma.

"Niangniang?" Qiuxue came up to deliver tea, just in time to see Niangniang's eyes, as if she wanted to stare at the words on this album page.

Jiang Heng quickly closed the product list.

On this day, Hongshi returned to Yuanmingyuan with a small silver box.

Today, two English businessmen invited him to their house, drank Indian black tea, and asked him to put a little "Wangyou Tang" in the tea, which is a sugar pill made of laudanum extracted from alcohol and honey. This is a very popular commodity in England.

The English businessman drank it as a respect first, and then recommended it wholeheartedly: "Do you want to try it, my lord?"

Coincidentally, Hiroshi still knows A Furong.

Last year he followed the emperor to the Mulan paddock, fell off his horse once, and the worst thing was, a sharp wooden thorn pierced deep into his flesh.

He cried and howled in pain, the imperial doctor didn't dare to pull it out for him directly, so he boiled some medicine for him to drink.

Hongshi still remembers the taste of it.

As soon as the Westerner took out the sugar pill, it brought back painful memories for him.

Hongshi wondered: "You guys eat this even if you are not sick?"

The two laughed and said, "My lord knows each other? That's right. I've heard that your country also grows opium poppies. You call them opium poppies, right? But the quality is probably not as good as that produced by our East India Company. This is the best The waiting medicine is extracted with wine and extra honey is added to make it, and the pungent smell is almost gone, and it is not toxic."

"Just now I heard that the prince has a cough and lack of energy. This sugar pill is very refreshing and can relieve cough. Many people in our country have asthma, and they all use this to calm their breath!"

Hongshi waved his hand: "I'm just tired from riding a horse. It's not asthma." Hongshi was very jealous of this. It's better for the princes not to get sick at all, and use their strong bodies to add a layer of leverage to being a prince.

However, the words of the two Westerners opened the door to a new world for Hiroshi.

It turns out that Afulan can still be used in this way!

"Western drugs, very refreshing..." That Huang Ama should like it.

Hongshi thought of Huang Ama's seemingly never-ending pile of papers on the case, as well as the always frowning——Huang Ama was so cruel to him, presumably because these endless chores annoyed him .

If it wasn't for the deep fear of the emperor, Hongshi would really like to persuade Huang Ama, so what about the ministers, why is Huang Ama so tired, tell them to do things, you just need to rest.

It would be great if this sugar pill could refresh me.

Hongshi thought that if he wanted to give this kind of worry-free candy to Huang Ama, he had to do it as soon as possible. Before the English businessman had settled in the firm, he still asked himself to ask them to come up with the best products. , Let yourself be filial to Huang Ama.

It just so happens that the sugar pills are packed one by one in a small silver box, and they can be used just by pouring them into the tea, so convenient.

Huang Ama must like it.