The Travelers of the Heavens

At the banquet, several Western women were very interested in the fabric of Li Xiaoman's clothes.

However, this kind of fabric is not an ordinary brocade, but a special supply for the royal family of the Great Zhou Empire. The palace embroiderers woven this kind of fabric and supplied it only to the royal members of the Great Zhou Empire.

Not to mention external sales, even high-ranking nobles such as Dukes and Marquises of the Great Zhou Empire, as long as you are not a member of the royal family, it is impossible to own clothes made of this kind of fabric. Of course, additional rewards will be discussed separately.

After listening to Li Xiaoman's explanation, several Western women felt very sorry.

The banquet ended at midnight. Li Xiaoman drank a lot of foreign wine and was so sleepy that he could hardly open his eyes.

The maids helped me back to Luan Pavilion, where I took a shower and went to sleep.

Wang Qi also drank a lot, but he didn't feel any discomfort. After all, he was the son of the"Immortal Emperor", so his health was still good.

Early the next morning, Wang Qi got up and went to work in De'an Hall, and he also wanted to treat guests tonight. This time he invited officials from the Liangjiang area of ​​the Qing Dynasty, including Tie Bao, the governor of Liangjiang who took office around the same time as Wang Qi.

This Tiebao is from the Zhenghuang Banner of Manchuria. He just took office as the governor of Liangjiang yesterday. Only one day later than Wang Qi.

Li Xiaoman slept until noon. She thought she could calm down for a few days after inviting two groups of guests. However, during lunch, she was told that she would attend a banquet for Qing court officials tonight. This made Li Xiaoman collapse. This kind of socializing is really tiring.

But she still had to bite the bullet and accompany her husband to the banquet with a smile.

"Okay, okay, this is the last time." Wang Qi comforted Li Xiaoman

"I hope so, I really can't stand this kind of entertainment," Li Xiaoman complained.

This time, all the officials from the Qing court came from Liangjiang, including the governor of Liangjiang, the governor of Jiangsu, the prefect of Jiangning, etc.

Because this time the Qing government The officials there did not bring their women to attend, so Li Xiaoman felt a little more relaxed. After she and Wang Qi came out, they said hello to the Qing court officials, then sat alone in an inconspicuous place to drink and eat, while observing these former officials. Qing court officials who can only be seen on TV or in paintings.

Wang Qi and Liangjiang Governor Tie Bao discussed Jiangning's defense issues. According to the provisions of the Miyun Treaty, the entire Qing court's army south of the Yangtze River should not exceed 20,000 However, Tiebao planned to be cunning. After receiving the appointment from the Governor of Liangjiang, he planned to form an armed force called a"militia" or"tuanlian". This force was not an official army on paper, but It is a security force organized by the local townships themselves, but secretly"tuanlian" can get part of the food, wages and weapons from the government.

Tiebao tentatively said that the military power in the south of the Qing Dynasty was too stretched to assist in the defense of Jiangning. I hope Wang Qi could allow the Governor-General of Liangjiang to expand some troops, which could better protect the interests of"foreigners".

Wang Qi thought for a moment and agreed. He allowed Tiebao to form a force of 100,000 recruits, but these people We can only raise our own food, wages and weapons, and we will have to disperse the garrison in the future.

When Tiebao heard this, he was very excited. He thought that Wang Qi was just like that. After all, he was just a newcomer, so he was deceived by him. He originally planned to do it secretly. The"group training" plan also turned into an overt army expansion because Wang Qi was easily"deceived".

Then Wang Qi also entrusted Tiebao to submit an application to Emperor Jiaqing, which meant that he was new to the country and hoped to go to Beijing to see the emperor to express his gratitude. His own respect.

Tiebao's goal was achieved, so he naturally agreed to Wang Qi's commission. After returning to the Governor's Mansion, Tiebao sent Wang Qi's letter together with his own excerpt overnight and sent a courier eight hundred miles to the capital to invite the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty. After seeing off the Qing officials, the banquet is over. Wang Qi and Li Xiaoman will spend the night in Luan Pavilion tonight.

"I wrote a letter to Emperor Jiaqing and asked for a meeting in Beijing." After going to bed, Wang Qi said to Li Xiaoman

"oh.. What? I have to go to the capital! You can go by yourself." After hearing this, Li Xiaoman was reluctant.

"How is this possible? We are new here and we have to establish good relations with all parties," Wang Qi said.

"This place is more than two thousand miles away from the capital. It takes a long time to come and go. I won't go." Li Xiaoman still doesn't want to go.

"The Governor of Tiebao said that he will give their emperor a letter tonight and send my letter to the capital together. It will take several days to go back and forth over 800 miles," Wang Qi said.

"That's pretty much it, as long as we don't leave tomorrow." Li Xiaoman, take a moment.

"If Emperor Jiaqing allows us to go to Beijing, I will temporarily leave the affairs here to the teacher," Wang Qi said

"I seem to have heard the teacher say that I will go back and report to my father what happened here in a few days," Li Xiaoman said.

"That will have to wait until we come back from the capital." After Wang Qi said that, he turned over and stood on top of Li Xiaoman.

"What are you doing!"Li Xiaoman asked

"Ah, you let me go.. Help!"Then Li Xiaoman shouted.

The couple started to compete.

After dawn, Wang Qi returned to De'an Palace to work. A meeting will be held today to discuss the establishment of a maritime transport fleet.

This matter was proposed by Chu Bufan , his purpose was to use the Qing court's ports to form a maritime transport force for transporting troops. It was based on this consideration that he proposed to Palmerston to purchase a sailing battleship to prepare for the upcoming formation. Maritime transport troop escort.

This is very intriguing. The southern and eastern naval divisions of the Great Zhou Empire have more than 10,000 large and small warships, including as many as 700 large 108-meter-long building ships. Can't they be used to transport troops?

Chu Bufan felt that although these ships were technologically advanced (iron-framed wooden hulls), their appearance was too backward. Since we were dealing with Westerners, it would be better to buy some Western ships. The result of the discussion was that this transport fleet should have at least 300 large ships. Only medium-sized transport ships can ensure that all five divisions stationed in Chaoxian and other places can be transported away at once. Seven sailing battleships and 20 other cruise ships are also needed. In addition, large shipyards must be built, ports dredged, and port facilities optimized. This is not a small expense.

After the procurement plan was finalized, the commercial director Zhao Yuankai calculated the total cost, and then prepared to discuss the matter with the foreign chamber of commerce.

Since Chu Bufan had already contacted Palmerston before, Zhao Yuankai took the With Wang Qi's approval, he approached Palmerston, hoping to submit a purchase order to the relevant British departments through him.

When Palmerston saw the purchase project for seven 100-gun sailing battleships on the order, he was shocked.

Britain As the strongest navy in the world at this time, there were only ten 100-gun sailing battleships. The minimum unit price of such warships was 100,000 pounds. The British Navy could not afford its expensive construction and maintenance costs. Once such warships were launched, they often The famous 102-gun sailing battleship"Victory" was decommissioned and stored for thirteen years before entering service. At this time, the British Empire had one A battleship that has been launched and meets the standards is the 110-gun first-class sailing battleship"Hibernia" that was just launched this year

"The first-class sailing battleship"Hibernia" has a hull length of 61.31 meters and a standard displacement of 2,530 tons. The keel was laid in Britain in November 1797. The whole ship can install up to 116 guns. The ship was launched on November 17, 1804. At this time, it is still undergoing finishing work and is expected to be completed in 1805.

If the British side accepts Zhao Yuankai's purchase order, then there is a high probability that the brand-new"Hibernia" will be sold.

Because whether it is Chu Bufan When negotiating with Palmerston, Zhao Yuankai repeatedly requested that he would never accept second-hand warships that had served in the British Navy. In other words, the first-class battleships that had served before the"Hibernia" could not be sold.

If If this order is really completed, I am afraid that six of the"Caledonia"-class 120-gun sailing battleships that have been completed but have not yet started construction will be sold (nine ships of this class were originally planned to be built).

This is too much This order was large enough to disrupt the future construction plans of the British Navy. Palmerston hurriedly copied the order and attached a letter from himself. Then he sent someone to return to Britain by boat immediately and submitted it to the Parliament for discussion, striving for an early reply..