Chapter 148: Arms Trading (2)

Although China proposed to purchase artillery is a business that can greatly increase trade volume, it is a pity that Birmingham is not a person with specialized skills. He also knows this kind of artillery-like military equipment, but there is a definition in his mind that he must not let go of such a business. At that moment, Wenhan exchanged glances with Alitu and then said: "Your country has such a requirement. I can agree on behalf of our government. But I don't know what requirements your country has for the artillery they need to purchase?"

Birmingham's question made Yiwen stunned. The emperor only mentioned to him that he wanted to buy artillery with the British, but the details were not explained at all. When he thought of the flash, he remembered what he saw and heard in Dagukou, and thought about the emperor's decision on the matter. Now he had to deal with it vaguely. He said, "The longer the range, the better."

Both sides were confused, so they naturally could not have expected results in negotiations. Fortunately, they had plans in their hearts and could report this matter. So Yi sent someone to send Birmingham and his group to leave. He joined Bao and Li and the others handed over the sign to get up.

The emperor was reading a note in the East Warehouse, commonly known as Sanxi Hall in the Ganqing Palace, when he heard the newspaper handing in the sign, and said a message, several people entered the Warehouse and bowed and bowed: "I, please respectfully ask the Holy One."

"Get up." The emperor put down the memorial and looked at them with a smile: "Is it for the British?"

"Yes! The emperor has no fault of the wise and the emperor. My brother came this time to discuss matters with the British."

"Tell me. How was it done?"

"Yes!" Yi nodded, first told the story of discussing the church with the British, and finally said: "It is difficult for the British to decide on the church. I don't think he is dealing with it perfunctorily. This matter is indeed difficult."

"Just! If he said this, the church was left on the land of our Celestial Empire, and our Celestial Empire would not have the right to deal with it? There is no need to seek any foreigners' opinions on this matter. The Military Affairs Office issued an order to the Ministry of Works to directly demolish the matter. I don't believe it, and it will not be possible to solve the problem in this way?"

Yi was ashamed and knelt down: "I always have the incompetence of my brother in doing things, which makes the emperor worried. Please give me the emperor the order to punish me."

"This is not your responsibility." The emperor said again: "What about artillery?"

"Yes. Purchase of artillery-"

After hearing him, the emperor was silent for a while. Yi and others stood there and felt an invisible sense of oppression. The emperor was very dissatisfied with the ability of several people to do things, and even breathed softer. After a long time, the emperor spoke in a tired tone and said, "Let this go first. You can't be anxious."

"The emperor understands me, but I can't say anything about it."

"Liu Fu?"

"The slave is here."

"Look at who is there in the Military Affairs Office? Call them over."

"Zhe." Liu Fu agreed, flew out of the hall, arrived at the military office, summoned, and everyone followed behind and entered one after another. After the ceremony, the emperor said, "I will issue an order to Liangjiang, Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian and Zhejiang to discuss this time with the British, and the intention of our Celestial Empire to purchase artillery in the order. In addition, tell them that the barbarians who will communicate with the trade ports in various provinces should be spread to a great extent, so that the more people they know, the better."

Everyone did not expect to call them over for this matter, and Saishan was stunned: "The slave obeys the order. But, should the reason be stated in the will?"

"I'm afraid you want to ask yourself?" The emperor laughed and said, "It's actually very simple, it's just a comparison of all the companies."

"Ah! I understand." A sentence outlined the main points and grasped the key to the situation, Sai Shanga became very smart: "The emperor is wise, so you can't let the British say anything. If I go down, I will ask them to draw an order immediately."

"There is another thing. Zeng Guofan returned to his hometown to visit his mother, afraid that it would take some time to return to the Ministry to investigate the matter. Yan Jingming went to Shandong, Henan and inspected the construction of river engineering. The Ministry of Revenue finally had some clues and could not just be abandoned like this. I think, should you put together the errands of the Ministry of Revenue for the time being?"

Everyone looked at each other. This was another precedent that had never been seen before. As usual, there were Grand Secretary and Military Minister in the court. If he was said to be a prince, it would be possible to say that the emperor's appointment was just the emperor's appointment. It was just that the emperor's appointment was clearly saying that the Grand Secretary Zhuo Bingtian and Sai Shanga, who were in charge of the Ministry of Revenue, could not trust them, or that the emperor was not very satisfied with them, so he had such an arrangement.

Sai Shang'er was unable to defend himself, but Yi was very happy. However, he could not speak out casually. He was quiet in the warm cabinet for a while, and Yi looked around and felt that it was better to refuse: "The emperor has an appointment, and my brother should obey it. However, the ministers and the ministers of the Ministry of Revenue knew nothing about it. The court also had a Grand Secretary and Master Sai of the Military Affairs Office..."

"I know what you want to say. They are in charge of them, and I have another intention to ask you to manage them." The emperor shook his head and said, "Purchasing artillery with the British is only the first step. There are many places to use money in the future. The Ministry of Revenue is in charge of the world and the foundation of the country. The last time the Ministry of Revenue burglary occurred, the assets collected from those unscrupulous Kuding's houses were no less than one million taels. How can this continue?"

After hearing the emperor mention the old things again, Sai Shanga hurriedly refused to kneel down: "The slave office management department has made such a mistake, and I can't help but ask the emperor to issue an order to punish him."

"Hey! Why do you say this now?" The emperor waved his hand impatiently: "I am talking about the future! I must never have such a thing anymore. However, if you say that you rely solely on people's kindness, it is probably difficult to eradicate such disadvantages. If you stare at the silver, is there anyone who will not be moved?" He said: "So, I want you to join the ministry to observe things, don't have any scruples, and let go. I will make the decision for you. If there is any hindrance, I will repay me."

"Yes. I understand. I must investigate carefully and never have anything like that happen again."

"This job," the emperor's eyes swept across Bao and Li, and he smiled with satisfaction: "Bao Jing and Li Hongzhang are responsible for the British going to Beijing and discussing the matters. They handle it very well. Let them join the ministry with you. Bao Jing, Li Hongzhang?"

"I'm here."

"You two are very sensible in doing things this time. They not only satisfy the world, but also comfort me. I hope you can make more achievements in the Ministry of Revenue as always."

"I will definitely serve you carefully and live up to the emperor's entrustedness."

After a few words, the emperor moved: Some things should be done beforehand and listened to the opinions of the court officials. He immediately said the matter of establishing a new yamen that had been thinking about for a long time. He said: "A few days ago, I summoned the British envoy in the garden. Sun from the Lifan Court was a tattooed translator. I heard that he was full of southern voice. It was really inconvenient. I wonder if there are any northerners in the Four Conference Halls who can speak English?"

In the Qing Dynasty, the Lifan Academy was responsible for the affairs of the vassal and foreign countries. The first establishment of Huitong was established, and the four translations and two halls were the host and guest office of the Ministry of Rites, which was in charge of the food, accommodation and entertainment of foreign envoys; the Four Translation Hall was affiliated to the Hanlin Academy and the Chinese translation. During the Qianlong period, it was merged into the Huitong Siyi Pavilion, which was the doctor of the Ministry of Rites, and was also the title of Shaoqing of the Honglu Temple, and was in charge of the supervisor.

Jia Zhen replied: "As far as I know, the translations are not complicated and different. Although there are designations for translations in the Four Translation Museum, there are very few people. So they all choose some people who grew up in the south, but there are no people from the north."

"It's not possible to continue like this. It's not because the language is difficult to understand, but because there are too many times to deal with British people in the future. How can these people be enough? The court always wants to be ahead of the matter and don't wait until something happens before catching it blindly." The emperor landed his feet on the ground and walked around the room for a few steps: "Take this opportunity to handle this matter."

Jia Zhen was very dissatisfied when he heard this. He said: "Your Majesty, the British are not the chief executives, and the number of translators in the museum is enough."

"What about the future? I have promised the British to set up a consulate in Beijing. If there is any matter to negotiate with us, who will rely on to negotiate?" The emperor rushed to say, "Not to mention that if you really buy weapons and equipment from the British, there will inevitably be British people coming with you, and you will be able to convey the opportunity of loading, unloading, using, maintaining, and maintaining. Don't you also need to interpret the translation from the side?"

Jia Zhen swallowed dryly and nodded helplessly: "The emperor is very careful and meticulous."

"You also know that I have issued an order to allow the British to set up a consulate in Beijing. I am afraid that more and more barbarians from all over the world will come to ask for the establishment of a consulate as British rules. I cannot and do not want to favor one and the other, and make a statement for the four sides."

He stood in front of the imperial case, picked up the green jade paperweight and played with it for a moment, and then put it down: "I wonder if this place is set up in Beijing to give young people an opportunity to make progress and specially hire foreign teachers to teach some astronomical algorithms and language learning. First, it can enhance the interaction between the Celestial Empire and the Four Barbarians. Second, there will be more and more such Western affairs in the future. Just this newly established yamen is responsible for managing and receiving things. The name is called Tongwenguan. What do you think?"

Jia Zhen refuted the emperor a few words, but he couldn't find any way to shirk the matter for a while. He looked back at Ji Zhichang and signaled to him to answer: "Your Majesty, I think that the learning of astronomy calculations has already existed in my heavenly dynasty, and there are even more skilled in the hills and valleys." Ji Zhichang said: "Why do you have to invite the barbarians to come to my heavenly dynasty to teach? And..."

"Okay, even if you say something," the emperor said in anger, and he rushed to his words: "Then, if I don't practice military equipment in the dynasty, now I can only buy military equipment from the British or other Gentiles. What do you say? Will it always be like this in the future? I have to buy other people's things everywhere? Don't mention how much money you spend, once one day the two countries will cause disputes like the things that happened in the past, and they will not sell them to us, or use some defective products to support us, what if?"

When Ji Zhichang heard the emperor's tone was not kind, he was so scared that he knelt down: "I am confused, I am confused." Then, even his words were scared and swallowed back.

"I am not angry with you, but the establishment of the Tongwenguan is not on my whim, but to learn from the skills of the barbarians to control the barbarians!" The emperor's voice gradually increased, and he said loudly: "The most important thing now is that we are not as good as others, but that we are not willing to rely on learning from others' strengths and chase them up! If we still hold on to the idea that "there are abundant in the heavenly dynasty and everything, and we did not borrow foreign goods to communicate whether there is any existence or not" during the reign of Emperor Gaozong, we would suffer a loss."
Chapter completed!