Tongshun Building, in a restaurant with very simple furnishings, French meals were being served one after another by Guangdong servants in white cloth brought by Wu Jianzhang and Wu Chaoyue, and placed on a long table. Luo Yaoguo Use a knife and fork to cut the half-cooked steak on the plate into strips, dip it in the sauce, stuff it into your mouth, chew it a few times, swallow it, and then take another sip of wine. Thanks to eating it often in the 21st century Salia, he is very skillful in cutting steaks with a knife and fork, better than his companions Wu Ruxiao and Cheng Fupei, and almost as good as Wu Jianzhang and Wu Chaoyue who often eat Western food.
I saw how skillfully he used a knife and fork, and listened to him and Major Ma Hui talking about "Republic", "Federation", "Revolution", and "War of Independence"... Wu Jianzhang, Wu Chaoyue The grandfather and grandson were even more convinced that this Luo Xueyan must be from the Lanfang Luo family - a descendant of the Republic of China!
At this time, Major Ma Hui finished a plate of steak, wiped it with a napkin, took a sip of wine, paused again, and then stared at Luo Yaoguofa with a pair of blue eyes and asked: "Mr. Chief Secretary, please forgive me. Frankly speaking, you are different from all the Chinese officials I have met. You seem to be very, very knowledgeable about things in the world! I guess you were not born in this lifeless land, right?"
Luo Yaoguo glanced at the Americans in front of him and smiled: "I am different from them. I was born in Xingzhou, and my ancestors traveled across the ocean more than a hundred years ago together with many other people who had difficulty surviving in Guangdong. He went to the sea, went to Borneo, and established a small Lanfang Republic in 1777, only one year later than the founding of the United States of America."
"Lanfang Republic? No wonder." Ma Hui immediately showed respect, "So some of your ancestors were also great republicans! So how is this republic doing now?" "It still exists," Luo Yaoguo smiled bitterly, "but the situation is not too bad. Well, the Dutch in the East Indies have always wanted to destroy this republic founded by the Chinese."
"So that's it..." Ma Hui showed a hint of indignation, and then asked with doubt, "Since you were born into a sage family of the Lanfang Republic, why did you become an official of the Tatar Dynasty?" Luo Yaoguo explained. Dao: "My ancestors and a group of like-minded people founded the Lanfang Republic, but my family is not a powerful person in the Lanfang Republic. Before I was born, my family moved to Xingzhou under the rule of the British Empire. And The motherland of me and my family has never been the Lanfang Republic...but China!"
"It's China?" Ma Hui was a little surprised.
"Yes!" Luo Yaoguo nodded firmly, "Although I am in a foreign country, my heart is still Chinese!" He said with some emotion: "Although my family has been doing business in Nanyang for many years, the connection with the motherland has never been severed. .
When my family's family friend in China, Mr. Luo, the governor of Hunan, hoped that my family could provide someone who was familiar with Western affairs, especially Western military affairs, to serve as his adviser, I was ordered to return to China."
Ma Hui, a red-necked American, didn't seem to agree with Luo Xueyan's approach. He shrugged and said, "Mr. Luo, please forgive my bluntness. Do you think it is possible for the feudal dynasty that currently rules China to be saved?"
"Oh, it depends on what the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is?" Luo Yaoguo said, "Because what the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is will determine whether you will provide a lot of help to the dying feudal dynasty."
"What is the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom?" Major Ma Hui asked with interest.
Luo Yaoguo took out a copy of "The Great Prophecy Book" - this was a "bilingual version". Luo Yaoguo worked late into the night to translate into English the limericks he had written during the day.
"The Great Book of Prophecy? This is..." Major Ma Hui looked at the English title on the cover of this thread-bound book with a suspicious look on his face.
"We'll talk about this later," Luo Yaoguo said, "Let me talk about the land policy of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom first!
"What is their land policy?" Major Ma Hui asked.
"It is to divide the land equally!" Luo Yaoguo said, "Any land occupied by the Taiping Army will be divided equally. The respected squires will lose their private property, including land, real estate, slaves, livestock, and hoards of silver. Hoarding of grain and debts to farmers! Any squire who resists will be wiped out by them!"
"This..." Major Ma Hui was stunned. It took him a while to react and murmured: "This is too radical! No one in Europe had done this in 1848!
Wu Jianzhang on the side gritted his teeth and said: "This is what these people do! They are all devils!"
Luo Yaoguo said: "If they weren't like this, there wouldn't be thousands of people following them!" He then looked at Major Ma Hui and asked: "Will the United States, the United Kingdom, and France support such a regime?"
"Impossible, absolutely impossible!" Major Ma Hui shook his head, "Although I can understand their atrocities, the government of the United States will never support such rebels who invade private property! As for Britain and France... now Only a few years have passed since the great chaos of 1848!"
Things are not peaceful on the European continent today, there is a ghost wandering around...
"But it is absolutely impossible for the Qing court to prevent the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom from seizing most of the land in the Yangtze River Basin!" Luo Yaoguo said, "At present, it seems that Jiangning will fall soon! Zhenjiang and Yangzhou will follow in Jiangning's footsteps. Can Changzhou and Suzhou It’s hard to say whether we can hold it. Next are Taicang and Songjiang...and Shanghai County belongs to Songjiang Prefecture! Once Shanghai County is occupied by the Taiping Army, the concession will cease to exist!"
Major Ma Hui's face became serious: "If the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom dares to infringe on the interests of Britain, France, and the United States in the Yangtze River Basin, they will be prepared to bear the most severe punishment.
"Really?" Luo Yaoguodao said, "Major, how much more troops do you think Britain and France can send to East Asia when a war with Russia is about to break out? It is impossible to defeat the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom without an expeditionary force of tens of thousands of people. If Britain and France do not send troops, are you, the United States, prepared to send troops to China alone to fight at least 200 million people?"
"What?" Major Ma Hui was taken aback, "What did you say? Britain and France want Russia to go to war? When did it happen, why didn't I know?
"The war between Russia and Türkiye will break out in October!" Luo Yaoguo said, "In October of this year... Britain and France will be involved next year."
"October this year?" Ma Hui was stunned again and again, "But it's only March! How do you know what happened in October?"
Luo Yaoguo gently pushed the bilingual version of the "Great Book of Prophecy" in front of Major Ma Hui and said with a smile: "Mr. Major, as a Christian, I think there is either a devil or a prophet in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom...
.This "Great Book of Prophecy" is a collection of some prophetic poems by the devil or prophet that was circulated from the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The contents are mainly about major events that will happen outside China this year, and some of them happened at the end of last year.
Oh, there is one more thing related to you, the United States!"
"It has something to do with our United States?" Major Ma Hui asked, "What is it?"
Luo Yaoguo said slowly: "A fleet led by Commodore Matthew Perry will cross the Pacific and enter Japan's Uraga Port on July 8 this year, using force to force Japan to found a country! There are still more than four months to go.
You can know whether the prophecy is accurate!"
"This, this..." Major Ma Hui looked at Luo Yaoguo in disbelief, "Mr. Luo, as a well-educated person, how could you believe such ridiculous things?" Luo Yaoguo smiled: "Also,
Four months... There is no harm in waiting. Major, I have sent a copy of the "Great Book of Prophecy" to the consul of Aliguo, and will send another copy to the consul of Aitang tomorrow. I will give this copy to you, even if
If you don’t believe a word of it, you can refer to it. By the way, since you won’t support the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and are not optimistic about the future of the Qing Dynasty, have you ever considered looking for friends outside the Qing Dynasty and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom?
"Outside the Qing Dynasty and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom? What do you mean..." Ma Hui, a red-necked man, immediately brightened up and stared at Luo Yaoguo. "Mr. Luo, do you want to be friends with the United States, the United Kingdom, and France?" Luo Yaoguo said
Pointing at Wu Jianzhang, he said with a smile: "There are also Mr. Wu, Mr. Luo, Mr. Luo, Mr. Zuo, Mr. Zeng, Mr. Jiang... and my six thousand new troops in Shanghai behind me! We have enough
How much?"
Ma Hui asked: "Six thousand new troops? You have so many troops? Where are they?"
Luo Yaoguo smiled: "If you support me, won't I have it? Major, sell me all the weapons and ammunition in Qichang Foreign Company! How many American expatriates in Shanghai have served in the military? Can you recommend them to come to me as military consultants?
?I need their help now!
In addition... I hope you can say a few words for us when the British, French and American missions discuss the China issue!"
After saying that, Luo Yaoguo took out an envelope and handed it to Major Ma Hui: "It's a little careless and disrespectful."
Major Ma Hui immediately took the envelope and found that the seal was not glued on, so he immediately opened the opening and looked inside. There was a thick stack of "paper" - it looked a bit like pound paper, and there was quite a lot of it!
Chapter completed!