When it comes to Western aristocrats, most people will use Chinese families to compare or ancient Chinese dukes and counts. However, the contrast is not equal. Based on the different social and humanistic core values of China and the West, the nobility of the West is different from the Chinese family and the dukes and counts.

When it comes to genealogy, the aristocracy of the West is hundreds or even thousands of years, and then almost all the nobles in Europe can be related to each other, the best example is that even if the current European monarchs are basically related to the former Queen Elizabeth of England, either grandchildren or granddaughters and the like.

Then let's talk about China's powerful ministers, princes and counts, these power families are basically a son of heaven and a courtier, most of them are with the collapse of a dynasty and then the nobles of the previous dynasty died, and even a large number of emperors can die in Yanjing, and there are not many that can be inherited for hundreds of years. And strictly speaking, these families are at most political eruptors, not aristocracy.

Only those old families who can really break away from the change of dynasties and reproduce and inherit can still maintain their glory and wealth, those families in ancient China can be regarded as nobles in the Chinese sense, through the inheritance of family culture to control the dynasty, and even have the ability to change the dynasty, there is a term specifically used to call them, that is, 'gate valve'. Those clan lords almost controlled the long era of China from the Han Dynasty to the Sui and Tang dynasties, and the 'scholars' in China's class refer specifically to them. It was not until later that the emperors of various dynasties vigorously promoted the imperial examination in order to get rid of the influence of the gate valves, and after the Song, Yuan, and Ming dynasties, these gate valves were completely dead, and the rest was the so-called scholar class who went to the upper echelons of society through the imperial examination. This 'scholar' is completely different from the 'scholar' of the year, and the taxi in the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties has become a class of scholars, rather than an aristocratic class.

For example, in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, most of the big families that advertised scholarly families and wealthy families only had a history of three or four generations for more than a hundred years. And if a declining aristocrat is brought out in Europe, the family tree can be traced back to five or six hundred years ago, or even thousands of years.

The most obvious example is Yuan Shikai, who knew about the Yuan family before Yuan Shikai, it was just an ordinary official gentry family, basically no one knew except for friends, and it wasn't until Yuan Shikai came out that he didn't know it, it turned out that someone in the Yuan family had been an official. Another example is Chen Jingyun, his family background can be regarded as a representative of most of China's current official gentry families, his ancestors have been big officials, and there have been occasional officials in the past hundred years, and his family is quite rich, and he is also a famous family in Fuzhou. But before Chen Jingyun, no one knew about the Chen family at all.

After the Tang Dynasty in China, especially the Ming Dynasty, the reform and implementation of the imperial examination system, created a unique class of scholars in China, these social elites are not fixed, but mobile, rotational, a son of a poor people is smart enough and hard enough and lucky, there is no problem to become the prime minister of a country, not only will not be looked down upon, but it is also a typical example of positive propaganda, and those high-ranking officials and ministers once they offend Long Yan, the huge family will immediately collapse, the male head is killed and exiled, and the female is filled into the teaching department as an official. Taking out the wives and daughters of high-ranking officials as official records to satisfy people's perverted thoughts is something that many people in power like to do.

And this kind of mobility of the social elite makes it extremely difficult for the Chinese scholar class to form a relatively fixed aristocratic family.

In addition, the Confucian family in Shandong has to say that although the Confucian family has been inherited for thousands of years, it has always been a Confucian banner erected by those in power, and it is only a banner, and has no actual political influence, so this special case will not be included in the discussion.

At this time, Europe was still stuck in the Middle Ages, but when Europe soon entered the commercial economy and then entered the ranks of modern countries because of the Great Voyage, this leap was just like China directly stepping into capitalism during the Han Dynasty, directly skipping China's gate valve and the imperial examination era into the commercial era. In this way, they also retained the feudal aristocracy of the Middle Ages, so that the traditional aristocracy and the new commercial aristocracy of today's Europe coexisted.

The different development paths of Chinese and Western cultures have also created different social phenomena in China and the West. This is not to say who is superior and who is inferior, but only to say that different social systems have arisen in different environments.

As a standard Chinese, there is no doubt that Chen Jingyun is curious about the so-called aristocracy, and now he is extremely curious to look at the Countess Grantor in front of him, well, and the blonde girl next to her with big eyes blinking and flashing with curiosity.

Countess Grant took the hand of the girl beside her, and then said to Chen Jingyun: "This is my daughter Linna!" ”

Then he introduced his daughter again: "This is General Chen Jingyun!" ”

Linna continued to look at Chen Jingyun with curious eyes, but after looking at it twice, she probably found that it was rude to stare at Chen Jingyun like this, so she withdrew her gaze: "It's a pleasure to meet you!" Checkmate! ”

Chen Jingyun thinks that her gaze at women is still quite spicy, and the previous Countess Grantor is difficult to judge because of her makeup and dress, so that she can only roughly guess that she is about thirty to forty stages, but the blonde girl in front of her is easy to judge, looking at this appearance at most sixteen or seventeen years old, she is a girl who has just appeared in the social world among Western girls.

"I'm glad to meet you, Miss Lena, too!" Chen Jingyun felt that this girl was a little cute, and she didn't have the so-called aristocratic temperament that was very special and difficult for people to approach on her mother's body, so she spoke a little more relaxed and tried to make her smile more natural.

The girl obviously knew that Chen Jingyun spoke English, although Chen Jingyun's not too standard American English made others sound a little awkward, but it was better than not understanding. After all, Chen Jingyun didn't know that he would come to the end of the Qing Dynasty inexplicably, if he knew, he would probably learn French well, the standard language of high society and diplomacy in these years is French, not British English or American English.

Of course, Chen Jingyun can also speak Chinese, but Chen Jingyun can't do this kind of thing with a translator in casual conversation today.

The blonde girl Lina was very interested in Chen Jingyun, let go of her mother's hand, and then walked two steps to Chen Jingyun's side: "I heard a lot about you!" ”

"Oh, the good or the bad!" Chen Jingyun: "I think there should be a lot of bad words!" ”

"No, there are good ones, and there are bad ones. Some people say that you are the biggest warlord in China, and you are fighting against your political axe army! Lina continued: "But some people say that you are raising troops for the freedom of China's Mingzhuo, and that you are the hope of China's Mingzhuo!" ”

Listening to Linna's straightforward words, Chen Jingyun was a little difficult to answer for a while, so he had to answer vaguely: "The biggest warlord doesn't dare to be the one, and at best he can only be regarded as the second." As for the hope of Ming Boil, it is a pure compliment of the Chinese people! ”

Chen Jingyun was not used to talking about any political topics with a young girl, so he changed his words and asked: "You just came to Shanghai, what is your impression of Shanghai!" ”

Lina pondered for a moment and said, "It's very different, it's different from London, but I've just arrived, so I haven't seen much yet!" ”

Chen Jingyun said: "Shanghai is a good place, you should go around more!" ”

"yes, but I don't know how long I'll be in Shanghai, and we'll be leaving Shanghai in a few days to visit my uncle in the United States!" Linna said and then looked at Chen Jingyun: "But I also want to see Shanghai."

At this time, Sir Fareth on the side also spoke: "Yes, the general can take Miss Lina to visit Shanghai at that time!" ”

For this suggestion, Linna obviously agreed and expected, and then stared at Chen Jingyun, waiting for Chen Jingyun to answer, but Chen Jingyun was embarrassed, browsing and visiting Shanghai? He hasn't visited it himself, since he arrived in Shanghai, he has basically stayed in the Chen Mansion, occasionally going out to participate in some activities, most of them are under the protection of a group of guards, where there is no opportunity and time to browse Shanghai.

It's not good to refuse directly, so I can only say that I stubbornly hold my head and say: "Of course, I will definitely take Miss Linna to visit Shanghai when I have time!" ”

"Really! That's it! Lena was visibly pleased.

Then the two talked for a while, and Linna asked again, and then Chen Jingyun replied, and after talking for a while, a few people walked by, all of whom were some influential foreigners in Shanghai, such as Li Deli, the chief writer of the Zilin West Newspaper and the British businessman, and so on.

There are more people, Chen Jingyun and Countess Grant and Miss Linna naturally have fewer words, as there are more and more people around them, and after dealing with it, they find that Countess Grant has taken Miss Lena to the other end of the hall.

The mother and daughter also formed a small conversation circle in the other corner of the banquet hall, including many young gentlemen, and it was clear that the title of countess not only attracted the curiosity of Chen Jingyun, but also the attention of many men.

After a hurried turn, Chen Jingyun talked to Dao Erqing again, and as the US consul in Shanghai, Dao Erqing also knew something about some secret cooperation plans between the United States and Chen Jingyun.

"By the way, General, the batch of artillery you ordered before is about to arrive in China, and I hope that your army will be ready to accept it by then!" The news that Dao Erqing said is not new, the arms order based on the military aid plan has already begun, and Chen Jingyun has been paying close attention to its progress, knowing that this batch of artillery will arrive in China in late November.

"Don't worry, I have already prepared the relevant personnel, just waiting for the arrival of this batch of artillery!" For this batch of artillery, Chen Jingyun had already begun preparations for the formation of the Eighth and Ninth Divisions of the National Army a few months ago, and the corresponding Eighth and Ninth Artillery Regiments had already been established and carried out relevant training.

When Chen Jingyun was about to continue to talk to Dao Erqing about some military aid, Yu Shifeng on the side quietly walked to Chen Jingyun's side, and then leaned over and whispered in Chen Jingyun's ear: "Nanjing Jiedian: Taishan Town has been defeated!" ”

Chen Jingyun was stunned when he heard this, and immediately asked, "Are you sure?" ”

"Sure, as soon as the command received the telegram, someone was sent to inform!" Yu Shifeng's words couldn't hide the joy.

Dao Erqing on the side saw that Chen Jingyun and Yu Shifeng's faces were different, but it was not easy to ask directly, so he could only secretly guess that Chen Jingyun's face was much better, and after the initial stunned, he turned around and continued to talk to Dao Erqing, and his face was calm between his words and did not reveal any news of the Nanjing War.

After going around with Doyle again, Chen Jingyun walked together with Countess Granter's mother and daughter, which made Chen Jingyun feel much better, and even occasionally said a few jokes between words.

Miss Linna on the side obviously also felt Chen Jingyun's joy, and immediately asked, "Did you encounter something funny, tell me about it!" ”

Chen Jingyun chuckled and shook his head: "Oh, no, it's just some annoying things." Speaking of good things, it's a good thing to meet you today! ”

After speaking, he thought together: "I think in a few days, there should be a party over there, and Mrs. and Miss will also be invited to participate in it!" ”

"I'll go to your party!" The joy on Miss Lina's face was not hidden at all, and it just bloomed in the air, making people feel happy when they saw it.