The Duke of Newcastle had a very bad impression of the Manchus, not only because of their isolation, backwardness and the two wars, but more importantly because of the barbarism of the Manchus. At that time, the upper class circles in Britain believed that the Manchus were a group of barbarians.
The British people's good impression of China, which was inherited from Marco Polo's travels, disappeared in the barbaric atrocities they witnessed time and time again.
In fact, the Duke of Newcastle did not want to take on this task. In his mind, those barbarians did not deserve such a high-level welcome ceremony.
But he also knew that this diplomatic event was destined to go down in history. Just to give the Queen such an honor, he had to work hard to complete the task.
Therefore, the Duke came with a perfunctory mood from the beginning, and even he opposed the Queen's use of the national treasure Victory. However, when the two ships crossed with the Zhiyuan, the Chinese saluted with a 21-gun salute, which made the Duke of Newcastle very pleased, and he suddenly gained a lot of points.
Originally, the Duke did not want to board the Zhiyuan. He only wanted to accompany the guests on the Victory into the Thames River and just go through the scene. In fact, according to the earliest exercise arrangements, he should have been on the Zhiyuan to accompany them throughout the journey.
If the guests are polite, the host's face will certainly be brightened. The old impression of the past has faded a lot. The Duke, with great curiosity, felt that he should come and meet the little emperor of the East and the head of the Chinese nation.
This meeting was indeed extraordinary. The little emperor did not have the arrogance of the legendary Eastern emperor. On the contrary, he was extremely approachable and without any pretensions.
Xiao Letian exudes a scholarly atmosphere and has a bright smile.
"God! Isn't it true that the information brought back by the expeditionary force is wrong? Didn't they say that the politicians in the East are all fat pigs, greedy and stupid fools, and they are also barbaric and arrogant..."
"But the emperor and head of state in front of me have no such characteristics at all. Could it be that I have welcomed a fake emperor? And a fake prime minister?"
It's no wonder that the Duke of Newcastle became suspicious, because the information fed back by the previous expeditionary force was really bad, especially the details of the Manchu Qing's massacre of envoys, which shocked the entire upper class of Europe.
At that time, the British and French allied forces had captured Dagukou, but the allied forces at that time still had no plan to attack Beijing. One reason was that Beijing was the capital of the Qing Dynasty, so it must be heavily guarded and might not be able to defeat it. The risk of failure was too great.
Another reason is that it is not necessary. What Britain and France want is not the military occupation of China. They do not have that big appetite. They only want the three conditions of missionary rights and diplomatic rights plus the expansion of business circles.
Just these three conditions.
Therefore, the coalition forces at that time sent Parkesli and a 39-member envoy to Beijing to negotiate with the Manchus. Unfortunately, there was still a huge quarrel over the issue of kneeling.
Not only did Parkes not meet Emperor Xianfeng, but the dispute over the kneeling ceremony made the Manchus furious and directly detained the envoys.
During the detention process, Parkes and others were treated inhumanely. Senggelinqin sent soldiers to hold Parkes down and kowtow to him on the ground until his forehead was dripping with blood.
While making Parkey kowtow, Senggelinqin also forced him to order the withdrawal of the troops. As a result, Parkey could only reply helplessly that he was a special envoy and did not receive full authorization. He could not order the army.
The furious Seng Gelinqin then asked him to kowtow. Finally, the special envoy, whose forehead was smashed, was thrown into the prison of the Ministry of Punishment and continued to be tortured with various tortures.
The remaining thirty or so members of the mission suffered even worse. They were imprisoned in cells in the Old Summer Palace. What kind of treatment were they received in the Old Summer Palace? Survivors have memoirs documenting it all.
"When these people were escorted, their hands were bound with leather ropes soaked in water, and they were never untied afterwards. Such leather ropes become more and more restrictive, and within a few days the binding areas will begin to rot and grow. maggot……"
"When these people first arrived, Emperor Xianfeng came to interrogate them. Later, the Chinese failed in the Battle of Baliqiao, and Emperor Xianfeng fled in a hurry, leaving these people unattended. So these foreign envoys were tied up with their hands behind their backs and knelt down. On the ground, there was no water or rice for three days..."
"The Times reporter Bowlby died on the fourth day. The body was left in the cell for three days, and then was thrown into the wild and eaten by wild dogs..."
"Lieutenant Anderson, his hands and feet were strangled so that they gave birth to maggots. He looked at the maggots on his hands and spread all over his body. He became insane, screamed for three days, and died..."
"A French prisoner went crazy after maggots entered his mouth, ears, and nose... One survivor actually counted maggots in prison and said that he could breed 1,000 maggots in a day!"
Of the 39-member envoy, only 19 came back alive. This was the very famous Parkes incident in the history of human diplomacy.
At that time, the plenipotentiary envoy Erjin was already furious. At that time, he ordered that the Old Summer Palace must be burned on the day the city was breached, as punishment for the barbaric behavior of the Manchus.
Since the Parkes Incident, Europe's impression of China has plummeted like an avalanche. All elites who have access to this information have completely eliminated the Manchus from the ranks of civilized countries, and China has completely reduced to a representative of barbarians.
At this moment, only ordinary people in Europe still have the good impression of China in the past, while high-level governments in various countries have long despaired of the Manchus.
Especially in the eyes of the British, the Manchus were a large slave owner who could be cooperated and exploited. With his assistance, they could better seize China's wealth, nothing more.
Therefore, the Duke of Newcastle's contempt was justified, but what he never expected was that the young emperor and the gentle head of state would suddenly make him doubt himself.
Such a polite emperor is rare even in Europe. Is this really the king of the barbarians?
The Duke of Newcastle's waist lowered, and he said respectfully, "Your Majesty's demeanor made foreign ministers sigh. This time, I would like to express my sincere welcome to Your Majesty on my own behalf. If there is an opportunity, I will invite Your Majesty to come to my fief... I have a The football team is still worth watching..."
"Newcastle United?" Xiao Letian couldn't help but exclaimed.
The Duke was stunned. "Ah... are you going to give my team a name, head of state? Why is it called the United Team? However, since I formed the team, it should be okay to give it my title!"
"Hahaha...Thank you, the head of state, for the name. From now on, my team will be called Newcastle United!"
Xiao Letian almost choked to death on his own saliva. This was really a fun that only time travelers could experience. Who would have thought that this famous team was named by himself.
But I can't talk about this fun yet, I can only hold it in my heart, and it's almost causing internal injuries.
Note: Recently, many book friends have privately messaged me and asked about my health. I would like to thank everyone for their concern. In fact, physical problems have already been discussed in the book club.
Three highs, very serious three highs, fasting blood sugar reached 15, blood pressure soared, not to mention blood lipids.
Take medicine, take care of yourself, exercise... There is no good treatment for this disease. Just correct your unhealthy living habits and prepare to fight a protracted battle!
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