Zai Chun had no time to wonder why Gordon, a military general, knew so much about the Chinese people, and even had a professional knowledge of finance!
He had no idea how much work the UK had done in Asia. In fact, from the moment the Chinese forces were born, the British intelligence agencies had never stopped spying.
Every step of the development of the Chinese ethnic group has been clearly fed back to London, and many Asian experts and professional figures in military, political, and economic fields have joined together to analyze and judge.
They must provide various suggestions to high-level government officials, and they must carefully consider whether every step taken by the Chinese will have an impact on British interests.
As a general who suppressed the Taiping Rebellion in the Qing Dynasty, Gordon naturally became a military expert familiar with East Asia and was absorbed into this group.
Therefore, Gordon was able to appear at the welcome ceremony and establish a close relationship with Emperor Tongzhi. All of this was inseparable from the driving force behind the British government.
The fact that Britain is doing all this does not mean that it will go to war with the Chinese soon or that it will be disadvantageous. This is purely due to the natural vigilance of the world's largest power.
If the Chinese can always be careful not to offend Britain's core interests and are willing to cooperate with Britain, then the empire on which the sun never sets will not be destroyed.
All the UK has done is to take precautions before they happen!
Fortunately, Xiao Letian is very smart. He is a calm time traveler, completely different from his colleagues who are full of violent thoughts.
This guy is good at hiding himself, taking advantage of opportunities, taking advantage of class contradictions, and finding allies to balance the situation... It is these careful actions that allow him to develop under the eyes of the British without touching the British bottom line.
Look at the development of the Chinese in Southeast Asia. Basically, the Chinese have avoided the most profitable industries for the British, and even avoided the big cities controlled by European colonists, and chose to rebuild new cities in the wilderness.
It is this kind of low-key and introverted invisible penetration that does not pursue huge profits that allows the Chinese to extend their hands to Southeast Asia without offending the British.
The final result was very good. The Chinese were finally recognized by the United Kingdom and became an independent country in the world!
Gordon was familiar with all the inside stories here. He even knew that Xiao Letian had almost touched the British on several occasions. Fortunately, he was cunning and adjusted his policy in time, which lowered the alarm level.
In repeated discussions and analyses, Gordon gradually became familiar with the Chinese finance, politics, economy, and culture... It is precisely because he has followed the entire process that he is able to speak out about the most critical lifeline issue of food today.
food! When these two words jumped into Zai Chun's ears, the little emperor suddenly became nervous. The Confucian education he had received for many years suddenly raised a red alert for him.
It can be said that Zai Chun doesn't understand much about financial matters, but food is a mountain that China has been unable to bypass for thousands of years of governance!
Someone once said that China's feudal history is, to put it bluntly, a history of dealing with food, or a history of disaster relief.
China is so big, with different styles and customs! Mountains, hills, plateaus, basins, plains, swamps...the climate and landforms are completely different from north to south, from east to west.
In such a big country, there is simply no way to guarantee that all places will have abundant harvests every year and the people will have enough food and clothing!
Drought usually occurs in Zhili, but floods occur in Hunan. As a result, Sichuan has another great harvest... At the same time, there is even a huge locust plague in the Heluo Plain!
Even if there are no disasters in the Central Plains this year, there will be a white disaster on the Baoqi grassland!
When there is a disaster, relief must be provided. The ancient Chinese dynasties spent most of their energy on disaster relief every year. In the final analysis, they still compete with food.
In an agricultural society, people don't have to eat meat, have no money to spend, or even have a wife...but you have to ensure that the people don't starve to death!
This is the last red line to maintain the rule of the dynasty. If you can't do this, just wait for rebellion and wait for war to spread all over the place!
Productivity is backward, technological level is low, and the key is that logistics and transportation are not smooth. This makes ancient relief and disaster relief a headache for all politicians.
But you have to do it even if you have a headache, because if you do it well, the life of the dynasty can continue. If you don't do it well, what awaits you is an earth-shaking revolution!
Didn’t the Ming Dynasty die in disaster relief in the end? During the Little Ice Age, northern China suffered from successive famines. The land was bare for thousands of miles, and the people were in dire straits. In the end, the people who had no food to eat had no choice but to revolt.
Disaster relief turned into suppression! The last bit of vitality of the Ming Dynasty has been consumed!
Zai Chun's fathers had carefully studied the rise and fall of the Ming Dynasty, so they attached great importance to food security in the middle and early Qing Dynasty. Zai Chun received the purest imperial education. Of course, he knew what food meant to China.
Once the great revolution comes, the victory will not be based on principles, but on food!
Whoever has food in his hand will have population in his hand. Only with population can everything be possible!
Gordon really woke up from his dream today. It turns out that the master has been reclamation in Nanyang, using administrative power to force the main source of income of the reclamation area to be agriculture. There is a conspiracy in this!
It is clear that growing rubber and spices is more profitable than growing rice, but Xiao Letian would rather subsidize the finances and hoard food than make money. What kind of wolfish ambition is this!
Is he just waiting for a natural disaster? When will the time come to seduce my people with food?
His heart can be killed! It’s really heartbreaking!
No wonder the master has always asked Chinese universities to research new food storage technologies. No wonder he desperately introduced the most advanced canning production equipment from the United States.
After all, he not only wants production, he also wants inventory!
Xiao Letian wants to build the largest food empire in Asia in his own hands, and these grains will be the bullets that will compete for people's hearts in the future!
What does a pariah know about being loyal to the emperor? Whoever gives them food is the emperor!
Scenes of horrifying scenes flashed through Emperor Tongzhi's mind. He suddenly remembered the military grain factory in Ryukyu with thousands of people. Countless rice, wheat, oil, spices, grains... were ground into powder. It is then cooked in a huge mechanical oven.
These oily special flours with heavy oil, heavy sugar, and heavy salt are turned into pieces of compressed biscuits under the pressure of high-pressure machinery.
These compressed biscuits finally go through three or four drying processes, and are finally packaged in oil paper or even directly sealed in cans.
At that time, Zai Chun only knew that these pieces of compressed biscuits were rations for soldiers during expeditions, but now he suddenly realized that this kind of thing is not only used in the military!
"Damn! Ordinary packaged compressed biscuits can be stored for more than two years! Canned ones can even be stored for more than five years!"
"It's so scary. Adults only need a small piece, crush it and make porridge to eat. What if this is used for disaster relief?"
"Rebellion! This is what really kills us!"
