A hundred years of national fortune, Yi Zhishu said it politely, in fact, it is more than a hundred years! The arrival of Qi Shan made him realize that Lin Zexu's days in Guangzhou were numbered, and he naturally wanted to seize the opportunity to guide the other party and instill his own concepts.

After a slight sigh, he said slowly: "We are in an era of great change, it is no exaggeration to say that it is a great change unseen in three thousand years, and no one in our Qing Dynasty is aware of it, and it is estimated that few people in Europe, such as England, France, and the United States, can realize this."

Fortunately, this war launched by England will prompt more and more people of insight to realize this, everything has advantages and disadvantages, this war, for the Qing Dynasty, the biggest benefit, is to break our dream of **** Shangguo, so that the Qing Dynasty officials and gentlemen are soberly aware that our Qing Dynasty is just one of the many countries in the world, not a **** country, but an old and weak empire that can be bullied by other countries at will.

Why is this war related to the Qing Dynasty's centennial national fortune? The reason is very simple, in this war, the Qing Dynasty has no possibility of winning, the difference in strength between the two countries is too great, and it is not equal at all, and the outcome of this war is nothing more than three kinds.

First, the Qing Dynasty was defeated, and England easily won the war at a small price without much effort. Second, the Qing Dynasty actively resisted, making the British army pay a heavy price, although it was still glorious in defeat. Third, the Qing Dynasty fought with all its might, and was prepared for a protracted war, perhaps it could drag the British army across, maintain an undefeated situation, and then make a slight concession in the negotiations to end the war with dignity.

Of the three endings, it is naturally best to be invincible and undefeated, but the imperial court is afraid that it does not have this determination, and no one can realize that this battle will have far-reaching effects and disastrous consequences on the Qing Dynasty.

The second ending is to actively resist the British invasion, although the defeat is still glorious; To do this, the emperor must sit in Jiangnan to supervise the war, otherwise, in the face of the powerful offensive of the British army, active resistance can only be an extravagant hope.

If the first outcome is that the British army easily wins the war at a small cost, it will be a disastrous consequence for the Qing Dynasty, not only will England gain an inch in the future, and it will become more and more aggressive, but other European powers will also come one after another, seize various benefits from the Qing Dynasty by force, and turn the Qing Dynasty into their overseas colonies, and then the Qing Dynasty will be in a worse situation than India. ”

This is inevitably a bit alarmist, Lin Zexu stretched out his hand to interrupt his words, and said: "What Yingyi wants is to lease ports for trade, free trade, and equal exchanges, which does not seem to threaten the Qing Dynasty. ”

"Free trade also includes crows. Piece trade included. Yi Zhicontent unceremoniously snatched him away.

Crow. The piece trade is a real danger to the Qing Dynasty, otherwise the imperial court would not have made a great determination to ban crows. Lin Zexu was choked by his words, but he was not annoyed, stroked his long beard, and said: "The great changes that have not been seen in three thousand years, can you tell me in detail about the contentment." ”

"Since the beginning of the industrial revolution in England, the machine industry has replaced the handicraft industry, the machine factory has replaced the manual workshop, and the machine manufacturing industry has been mechanized, in less than a hundred years, the human productivity has undergone a qualitative leap, surpassing the sum of the development of mankind in the past three thousand years." Yi Zhifen said slowly: "The English people have created an era of minerals. ”

"Mineral age?" Lin Zexu said curiously: "What is the Mineral Age?" What era are we in now? ”

"The Age of Plants." Yi Zhizhi said: "For thousands of years, we have been in the age of plants, food, clothing, housing and other necessities without exception from plants, food, clothing, houses, cars, lighting, heating, etc. are all from plants, everything we need must rely on the plants growing on the land." ”

Lin Zexu wanted to refute that poultry and livestock are not plants, but when the words came to his mouth, he reacted that these poultry and livestock also depend on plants to survive, it seems that what the other party said is not unreasonable, he asked curiously: "Doesn't Yingyi need to rely on plants?" ”

"Yingyi has largely moved away from its dependence on plants." Yi Zhizu said slowly: "When Yingyi travels, the means of transportation are trains and railways, the houses are built of reinforced concrete, the fuel is coal, and the machine power represented by the steam engine replaces manpower, animal power and even water power.

With the development of Western science and technology, food, meat, clothing, lighting, transportation, etc. will be replaced by minerals, and necessities such as clothing, food, shelter and transportation will be completely dependent on minerals, rather than plants, so Yingyi created the mineral age. ”

Lin Zexu seemed to be listening to the Arabian Nights, and said in disbelief: "How can food, meat, clothing, and lighting be replaced by minerals?" Can minerals still produce food? ”

"Of course, minerals don't produce food." Yi Zhizhi said with a smile: "But minerals can increase grain production several times, how much grain per mu is now?" Taking rice as an example, the average is only two stones, but minerals can make the yield of rice per mu reach five stones and six stones, and the feeding of poultry and livestock, as well as clothing and bedding can be replaced by minerals. "It's incredible." Lin Zexu said with a look of surprise: "Contentment isn't talking about a dream, right?" ”

Nature is not a dream, more than a hundred years later, human beings are living in the mineral age, steel and cement, coal and electricity, chemical fiber, chemical fertilizers and hormones, glass and plastic everywhere.

Yi Zhizhi glanced at him, and pulled the topic back without hurrying, "The mining era is industry-oriented, machine-powered, machine-based, and machine-based, and the great changes that have not been seen in three thousand years refer to the period of transition from the plant age to the mineral age, and the industrial revolution."

Nowadays, all the European powers are trying their best to promote the industrial revolution, and Yuanqi is also trying to implement the industrial revolution in Guangzhou, but we started late, the foundation is weak, the foundation is poor, and there is a lack of basic education and talents, all of which need time to accumulate.

At this juncture, if the Qing Dynasty is frequently invaded by foreign powers, the industrial revolution of the Qing Dynasty will be strangled in its infancy, and if this critical decade or twenty years are missed, the Qing Dynasty will be unable to catch up, will be divided and plundered by the European powers, and will face a hundred years of humiliation, which is why I said that this war is related to the Qing Dynasty's centennial national fortunes. ”

After listening to him, Lin Zexu didn't say anything for a long time, he knew in his heart that Yi Zhixiang would not joke with him, although what he said was incredible, but Yingyi had many incredible things, he hadn't seen the train with his own eyes, the railway had not been completed, but he had seen the steamship with his own eyes.

After a long time, he spoke: 'Be content with what you say today, and write down a detailed excerpt.' ”

When he was about to write an excerpt again, Yi Zhishu frowned and said, "Can you write it in the vernacular?" It is difficult to express it accurately in classical Chinese. ”

"Whatever you want." Lin Zexu said: "This time I met with Yingyi, and carefully inquired about Yingyi's increase in troops, if it is true, it is better to report to the court earlier." ”

It seems that the other party is still lucky, and he doesn't believe that Yingyi will increase his troops, and Yi Zhizhi doesn't say much, and he is full of promises.

In the inner harbor of Macao, Jiang Liang, the governor of Macao's coastal defense, was waiting at the wharf with officials of all sizes in Macao, and not far away, Feng Renxuan, the commander of the Yuanqi regiment training battalion stationed in Macao, was also waiting quietly with a group of subordinates.

After all, the British army had a precedent of attacking the border gates, and the British fleet in the Guangdong Sea was encircled and annihilated, and it was precisely because of the attack on the gates that God knows whether the main fleet of the British army would spread fire on Macao, especially now that the people stationed in Macao are still participating in the Yuanqi regimental training of the two battles of Modaoyang and Dinghai, and some well-informed wealthy businessmen have begun to evacuate Macao, which has further aggravated the tense atmosphere in Macao.

Yi Zhixiang came to Macao to inspect defense affairs at this time, so how could the officials of Macao not come to greet him? After all, the safety of Macau now depends on Yuanqi Tuanlian.

Jiang Ion glanced at Feng Renxuan, who was standing straight, not far away, and had the heart to step forward to talk, but he couldn't wipe his face, although the little guy was a scholar, he had a stinky problem, he didn't say anything about his actions, and he didn't socialize with the Macau officialdom, and he didn't know if the other battalion officers in the Yuanqi regiment were like this.

"It's coming, it's coming." A small official trotted over, and said with excitement on his face: "There are four sail warships of the sail division, led by the ship of the Guanjunmen. ”

Guan Tianpei is also here? Jiang Liang was not happy but worried, could it be that the British army was really likely to attack Macao again? Otherwise, why would Guan Tianpei also attach so much importance to Macao's defense?

Just when he was suffering from gains and losses, the four sail warships slowly entered the inner harbor, the ship docked, Guan Tianpei and Yi Zhishu got off the boat side by side, and everyone hurriedly stepped forward to salute, the horse's hooves and sleeves sounded, and he knelt on the ground, and Feng Renxuan, who was trained by Yuanqi, led his subordinates to perform a new-style military salute, which was particularly conspicuous.

Yi Zhizhi returned a military salute before ordering: "The three ships behind are the people of the three regiments, and you are responsible for arranging." ”

The Yuanqi regiment trained a regiment of three battalions, a full 1,500 people, this Jiang Gang is still very clear, as soon as he heard that the strength of the regiment was added to Macao, this undoubtedly confirmed his previous suspicions, and he couldn't help but be full of worry.

"Yes, mark and obey." Feng Renxuan replied loudly, but he was secretly happy in his heart, Macao has increased troops, which means that there is a battle to fight, and now there is finally a chance to fight a battle with real guns.

Because of the tight time, Guan Tianpei and Yi Zhizhi declined Jiang Liang's reception banquet, and after a little greeting, they inspected the inner harbor, Qianshanzhai, Guanzha, Xinmiao, Lotus Stem and other camp forts non-stop, accompanied by Feng Renxuan.

As for Macao's defense, Feng Renxuan really did his best, not only building forts and digging trenches according to Yi Zhi's plan, but also conducting many live-fire drills to make up for the lack of planning.

After inspecting the defense, Guan Tianpei pulled Yi Zhifen aside and asked, "Contentment can go back to Guangzhou tomorrow to meet Qincha?" ”

Yi Zhizu said with a smile: "I want to see Yilu and his party tomorrow, how can I go back to Guangzhou, and the military gate will mediate and mediate for me in front of Qincha." ”

"It's also a matter for the ministers to mediate." Guan Tianpei said: "It doesn't matter how Yingyi can be sent by Yingqin to receive the holy decree and postpone it for a day or two. ”

Yi Zhishu said with a smile: "Can the court reward still run away?" At the moment, it is urgent to find out what Yingyi thinks. ”

"You kid." Guan Tianpei shook his head slightly, and said: "It's really an anomaly, to welcome the Qincha, to accept the reward, such a glorious thing, you do everything possible to avoid it." "Don't talk nonsense, if it spreads out, it will cause criticism, and the military gate should not think that Yuanqi's group training is not eye-catching enough."

"How can the old man weigh this idea clearly." Guan Tianpei said with a smile, "Then the old man won't stay in Macau, you can also send it off, and deal with the matter of changing guards." ”

Yi Zhizhi was not pretentious, and immediately gave up his hand, led a group of subordinates back to the former cottage camp, entered the meeting hall, and after sitting down, he slowly glanced at the officer, and then said: "Macao's fortifications are well repaired, which can be exemplary." ”

"The big shopkeeper praises falsely, but it is just a subordinate duty." Feng Renxuan said, hesitated slightly, and continued: "Great treasurer, although Macao's defense is thorough, I think that there are too few artillery to prevent the landing of Yingyi. ”

Xiao Mingming, the commander of the third regiment, said with a smile: "If Yingyi dares to land, I guarantee that they will not return." ”

Feng Renxuan didn't know that the elite equipment of the three regiments of the Henan battalion had a long range and was accurate, and when he heard this, Xiao Mingliang felt a little arrogant, glanced at Yi Zhicontentment, and said thoughtfully: "If the British army lands, I'm afraid that Macao will be destroyed in the war." ”

Yi Zhizu coughed lightly and said: "Macao is a leased territory of Portugal, let's be ready for battle, the British army is unlikely to attack, if you dare to attack, there is no need to have the slightest scruples, Macau was destroyed in the war, and it is the Portuguese who are in a hurry, not us."

As for artillery, our artillery is seriously insufficient, and the focus of defense is in Humen, and Macao really can't take care of it, but Xiao Mingliang is right, if the British army really dares to land in Macao like last time, there will definitely be no return. ”

After a pause, he continued: "From today onwards, Macao's defense will be taken over by the Third Regiment, and Feng Renxuan's Hua 1st Battalion will be temporarily merged into the Third Regiment. ”

Hearing that it was only temporarily merged into the three regiments, Feng Renxuan secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and hurriedly said, "Obey the order." ”

At dusk, Huang Dianyuan rushed to Macao, as soon as he got on the dock, he heard the news that Yuan Qi's regiment was training to increase troops in Macao, and he didn't pay much attention to this, Yi Zhi's content If he really planned to take the opportunity of meeting and talking in Macao, he would not have increased his troops in Macao so openly.

He didn't stay much at the wharf, and rushed straight to Bingtou Garden to meet with the Governor of Macao, Bian Du, and come to Macao for talks, Yilu had no objection, but out of caution, he still hoped to get Bian Du's assurance. (To be continued.) )