Chapter 716 How can foreigners pull carts? (Fourth update, please subscribe)

Just as Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang picked up his pen to write his "The Birth of a Nation" and transformed himself into a screenwriter, an ocean liner sailed into the Xin'an River against the setting sun. The water of the Xin'an River turned golden red under the setting sun and flowed gently and quietly eastward into the sea.

When Yingtian Prefecture came into view, Guo Chongtao's eyes looked somewhat complicated.

A month ago, after handing over the post to his successor as Chinese ambassador to the UK, Guo Chongtao had planned to return to Hong Kong by boat, and then return to Tianjin from Hong Kong to report to the court. However, after sending a telegram stating that he was ill and was returning home, he came to the Ming Dynasty with his wife.

"Master, this is the Ming Dynasty!"

Madam Liang, who was standing beside him, looked curiously at Yingtian Prefecture on the river bank and said with some doubt.

"These houses look somewhat Chinese, but why are the buildings so tall?"

The port area before them was once the largest slum in Putrajaya. During the airship bombing, this area, like other areas, was destroyed by incendiary bombs. During the official reconstruction process after the war, a large number of modern Ming Dynasty buildings were naturally built - using reinforced concrete to interpret the Chinese architectural tradition.

In fact, as early as the beginning of Nanhua construction, Emperor Zhu Da deliberately did not completely copy Europe. As an engineering student, he tried to persuade those architects to integrate Western-style architecture with Chinese architectural traditions. That is, while integrating the ancient Chinese architectural design style, he tried to change the materials and structures, etc., to create a new architectural style.

This style is very common in later generations. After years of development, the architects of the Ming Dynasty have created a modern architectural style that belongs to China. The classical and modern, the modern and the future are fully displayed in the architecture of the Ming Dynasty.

The architecture of the Ming Dynasty is now also known as "Empire-style architecture" in the West. The port area in front of them is a place where the empire-style architecture is the culmination of all. For the Guo couple, who are used to Western-style architecture and traditional Chinese architecture, these buildings are both familiar and unfamiliar.

"When I was in England, I only heard that the buildings here were tall. But I never thought they were so tall. This Ming Dynasty is really different..."

Gazing at Yingtian Prefecture under the setting sun, Guo Chongtao sighed and glanced at his wife beside him. They were both wearing Western clothes. Why? Because the Ming Dynasty's ambassador to the UK had reminded him that he could not wear Qing Dynasty clothes when entering the Ming Dynasty, and if he could cut his braids, he should cut them, but if not, he could hide them under his hat.

Why is this so? The Ming Dynasty naturally has its own rules. Not having a flowing braid or leaving your hair uncut is already very civilized.

Finally, the ship docked, and Guo Chongtao and his wife got off the ship with the passengers from Europe. At the customs, he, like many Chinese who had just arrived in Ming Dynasty, had to face the question of whether to go through the channel for locals or for foreigners.

After thinking for a while, he chose the channel for foreigners. He did come here with a visa, and it was a diplomatic visa. He was also friends with the Ming Dynasty's ambassador to the UK.

Finally, after walking out of the customs building, the sun had already set below the horizon, and before Guo Chongtao and his wife's eyes was a night sky lit up. In the middle of the street there was a tall steel frame, which was the steel frame for the tram's wires.

Trams are mentioned in almost all foreigners' travel notes. Now London, Paris and other countries also have trams, of course they are imported from the Ming Dynasty. When the tram passes by, the tram wires hanging under the steel frame will burst into a few green sparks from time to time.

Standing in front of the Customs Building and looking towards the street, millions of bright lights are flashing in the dark, turning the entire Yingtian into a city that never sleeps.

"This is the Ming Dynasty..."

Just as Guo Chongtao was sighing in his heart, a tricycle came in front of him with a "squeaking" sound of brakes, and a driver wearing a straw hat and a vest grinned at him.

"Master, do you need a car?"

He’s actually a foreigner!

He actually spoke Mandarin!

While Guo Chongtao and his wife Guo were so surprised that they couldn't close their mouths, the foreign driver laughed.

"Master, you must have just got off the boat. Although my car is not as fast as the tram, it is comfortable to ride in and the fare is not expensive, only five cents per kilometer."

"Master, the bike this foreigner rides looks very rare. Why don't we take this bike?"

Liang spoke in the dialect of her hometown in Hunan. Although the foreign driver could speak fluent Mandarin, he could not understand what she was saying and could only smile along.

"Okay, let's take this car!"

Foreigners pulling carts...how rare!

This scene was certainly rare. After all, for the people of the Qing Dynasty, they had long been accustomed to the days of kneeling when sewing foreign goods. Now, seeing foreigners riding bicycles to solicit business in the Ming Dynasty, how could they not be surprised?

"Master, please get in the car!"

When the foreign driver asked the two of them to get on the car, he pointed to the odometer next to the wheel and reminded them.

"Master, look, the distance here is 3412, and one number higher is one kilometer."

As early as the days of rickshaws, rickshaw dealers began to install mechanical odometers on rickshaws, charging by kilometers. Today, human-powered tricycles have naturally followed the old rules, and of course, the use of odometers also makes pricing more open and transparent.

Guo Chongtao nodded slightly. He was not unfamiliar with the odometer. When he rented a horse-drawn carriage in the UK, he also charged according to the mileage.

"Where are you going, Master?"

"To the Peace Hotel."

When the rickshaw driver heard that they were going to the Peace Hotel, he immediately spoke.

"Oh, it seems that you are respectable people, sir. Peace Hotel is the most high-end hotel in our Daming. There are only three five-star hotels in Daming, Yingtian, Nanhua and Linhai, one in each place. The people who live in them are all respectable people who are either rich or noble..."

The hotel was arranged for him by the Ming Dynasty's ambassador to the UK. After hearing that it was the best hotel in the Ming Dynasty, Guo Chongtao was a little hesitant. Would that hotel be too expensive?

Listening to the rickshaw driver speaking fluent Mandarin and seeing him wearing a green vest with the number "1204" written on it, Guo Chongtao felt that all this was a little unbelievable, even when he was in England, he often drove a rickshaw driven by foreign drivers.

But here... in Ming Dynasty.

The foreigners here not only speak Chinese, but also work as hard as ordinary people.

Even though he was used to living in the UK, Guo Chongtao suddenly found this very rare.

"Master, you see, this foreigner speaks Mandarin more authentically than I do."

Liang even felt a little embarrassed.

"Haha, Madam, I understand some of what you said. Don't be offended. I'm not a foreigner!"

The driver said as he rode on the pedals.

"I am from the Ming Dynasty. My surname is Fei, and my name is Fei Sihua. Si means missing, and Hua means China. Although the Ming Dynasty is a foreign land, it is also China..."

What is the most surprising thing in this world?

There was a foreigner there, talking about China in front of a Chinese person.

Guo Chongtao was stunned when he heard the rickshaw driver explain that he was from the Ming Dynasty. This was really too rare.

Foreigners...Ming people?

And what about him?

The Chinese... the Qing dynasty...

The foreign driver seemed to be reminding Guo Chongtao that he was a foreigner here.

Guo Chongtao was in a complicated mood and didn't even have the mood to appreciate the prosperous city that never sleeps.

(End of this chapter)