Chapter 463: The court is afraid of nothing but foreigners (Second update, please subscribe)
Overnight, he went from being a guest of honor to a prisoner.
Liu Kunpeng really couldn't adapt to this kind of change. When he was pulled out of the America Trading Company, he had only one thought in his mind - it's over!
The reason why the government troops came to our door was simply because their identities were exposed.
In fact, Liu Kunpeng had already been mentally prepared for his identity to be exposed. After all, Nanhua's reputation was growing, and it was only a matter of time before his identity was exposed.
Before being arrested by the Huai Army, Liu Kunpeng was not nervous and just said to the leading official.
"I want to see Lord Li!"
Liu Kunpeng didn't need to make any request. When he was thrown into prison, Li Hefei was already waiting for him in the prison. The so-called prison... was a room in the backyard of the governor's office.
There was no one else in the room except Li Hefei, and there was a table of food. When he saw Liu Kunpeng coming, he said.
"Yes, Brother Liu,"
Pointing to the table in front of him, Li Hefei said.
"I don't know why, Master Zhongtang?"
"The court ordered me to take it, so I had to take it!"
Li Hefei said as he poured wine for Liu Kunpeng personally.
"I see."
Liu Kunpeng was quite direct. He sat down at the table, looked at the sumptuous dishes on the table, and then asked.
"Is this the beheading wine?"
"not necessarily!"
Li Hefei shook his head and said.
"To kill or not to kill is not up to me. I captured you today because of the imperial court's order. If I kill you someday, it will also be the imperial court's order. You and I... we each serve our own master!"
"Everyone serves his master."
Liu Kunpeng nodded, picked up the wine glass, looked at Li Hefei and chuckled.
"Since Zhongtang is holding a banquet here, I think he must have some questions for me!"
After drinking it in one gulp, Liu Kunpeng smiled.
"Over the years, I have been trusted by Your Majesty, and I have never failed you. Today, as long as Your Majesty has any questions that do not involve confidential matters, I will tell you one by one!"
"Thank you for helping me solve my doubts!"
Li Hefei raised his cup and drank it all, then asked.
"Zuo Jigao is in Nanhua?"
"That's right."
"Wang Youling is here too?"
"Yes! After they were defeated, they all went to Nanhua through me."
After briefly understanding the whereabouts and current situations of the other few people, Li Hefei finally understood in his heart why those Changmao had suddenly become stronger. It was not because the Changmao had become stronger, but because Nanhua had half bought and half given a large number of weapons to the Changmao.
"So, the reason they came to Nanhua was because you exchanged them for foreign guns and cannons? Exchanging guns and cannons for people, I don't know how many people were killed, how many families were separated from their families, Brother Liu, have you never thought about it?"
When Li Hefei spoke, his words were full of sincerity and even a bit compassionate.
Looking at his appearance, Liu Kunpeng sneered.
"When bandits come, they kill all those who shave their heads. When soldiers come, they kill all those who grow their hair. Sir, in this chaotic world, the common people are just ants. Whether they are officials or bandits, who cares about the lives of the common people? Why don't they go to Nanhua and wait here... to die?"
Faced with Liu Kunpeng's accusations, Li Hefei was silent for a while, and then sighed heavily.
"After all..."
Shaking his head, Li Hefei stood up and said before leaving.
"For the time being, just stay here and relax. As for the future...it all depends on how Nanhua, as you mentioned, handles it!"
"What?"
Liu Kunpeng looked at Li Hefei in surprise and asked.
"What does this mean?"
Li Hefei, who had already stepped out of the threshold, paused and answered with his head tilted.
"The imperial court is always afraid of foreigners..."
Ultimately, what does the court fear most?
The reason why he arrested all these people in Hefei was simply gambling.
The imperial court did not dare to do anything to these "foreigners"? "Foreigners" did not necessarily have to be blond and blue-eyed Europeans. Even if they were them, those who grew up in the Qing Dynasty could become foreigners after going abroad.
Nanhua...If they could behave like foreigners, the court would naturally release all these people.
…
"beep……"
The sound of the train whistle broke the tranquility of the Andes Mountains. The white steam mixed with the gray-black smoke, and as the train galloped, the train was shrouded in smoke. The smoke mixed with the clouds made the train seem like it was in a fairyland.
After a night passed, the sky gradually brightened outside the car window. Looking at the towering mountains outside the car window, Togo Heihachiro's eyes were full of awe.
"They can actually build a railway on such a cliff. They are truly Chinese!"
"The Devil's Nose will be here soon!"
The naval captain sitting opposite him, Li Shiqing told him mysteriously.
His mysterious tone seemed to be asking him, do you believe in building a winding mountain railway on the "Devil's Nose"?
"'Devil's Nose', I heard that many people died in the construction of this railway!"
The others whispered that they and Togo were all captured Satsuma sailors, and now they were all mercenaries of Nanhua. Originally, they drove the "Shoho Maru" along with the "Shikai" training ship to Linhai. Because the "Shoho Maru" would be handed over to the Second Fleet for use after maintenance, Togo and others took the train directly to Nanhua.
Holding his breath, Dongxiang stared out the window intently. He saw a steep wall on one side and an abyss on the other. The railway seemed to be hanging on the mountainside, with one side of the train leaning against the mountain and the other side almost sticking out of the cliff.
"This, this is no wonder it is called the 'Devil's Nose'..."
The train was running very slowly and with great effort. Dense bushes grew in the cracks of the cliffs, almost brushing against the windows. There was fog in the mountains, as misty as white gauze. When driving on such a cliff, what you feel is infinite shock!
"After passing the Devil's Nose, in another ten hours, we will reach the Pampas. Well, we prefer to call it the South China Plain..."
Li Shiqing put his military cap on his face and talked to himself.
“There’s nothing to see here…”
Ten hours later, when the train was pulling out of the valley, someone shouted.
"Look, there's the Great Plain ahead!"
Dongxiang and others stood up. What appeared before them was an endless plain. The fertile grassland stretched to the end of the sky and the earth like a green carpet. On the grassland, they could see some cowboys grazing large herds of cattle and sheep. This grassland was the best pasture in the world. Nanhua did not plan to reclaim all the grassland into arable land, but only reclaimed large farms along the river.
“This land is so vast!”
Looking at the setting sun at the end of the sky, Togo Heihachiro talked to himself.
"God really loves China. He not only gave them China, but also gave them such a vast land in the New World."
"What is "giving"? Who gives?"
Li Shiqing, who seemed to be sleeping, immediately sat up and scolded.
"Your Majesty, you have colonized this place with more than a thousand people, conquered the east and the west, and spent ten years to create this foundation. Our Chinese ancestors blazed a trail through the mountains and forests, and only then did they create the eternal foundation of China. Today, we Chinese have blazed a trail through the wilderness on the American continent, trekked through the mountains and forests to build our foundation, and pacified the barbarians and made them belong to China! What we have created is the eternal foundation of our Chinese here!"
After being scolded, Dongxiang quickly stood up, bowed and nodded repeatedly.
"Yes, I am stupid, please forgive me, sir!"
When admitting his mistake, Dongxiang was extremely nervous. To put it mildly, these words were just casual remarks, but if taken seriously, they would be words of rebellion.
Seeing that Dongxiang was a little nervous, Li Shiqing said to him.
"You just came here and don't know how difficult it is to start a business. How can you say that you want to create a long-lasting foundation for the Chinese nation in South America? The descendants of European immigrants and Indians who originally lived on this land, how could they give it up? Why can we survive on this land? What do we rely on?"
Li Shiqing clenched his fists and said.
“That’s what I rely on!”
(End of this chapter)
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