Outside Xuewozi, there was a northwest wind of level 7 or 8, and the temperature dropped to more than 30 degrees below zero, but inside Xuewozi, it was warm to about zero degrees.
In such a temperature, as long as you wrap up thickly and wear a few more layers of fur, you don't have to worry about the cold. Samuel Baker's complexion is obviously much better.
After eating a few bites of air-dried beef and drinking some whiskey, Gordon and Samuel's faces turned a little red.
Gordon half leaned on the sheepskin mattress, took out a box of cardboard bullets and began to disassemble them. In the early days of fixed-load ammunition, many military experts from various countries were reluctant to use copper to make bullet casings.
In order to save money, many countries choose paper cases with less stability to wrap the bullet cases!
The shortcomings of this kind of bullet are obvious. If the paper casing is not fully burned, it will clog the barrel and affect the next shot. Therefore, this kind of bullet is not very useful on the battlefield.
However, for a small team like the expedition team that does not need to fight for a long time, it is still necessary to carry a batch of paper-cased bullets due to cost and load considerations.
"Simple signal flares, but what do these Chinese people call them... Erkiji... What a weird name... By the way, Samuel, how do you feel about this trip to China?"
The two lay down in the warm snow nest. The thick snow bricks isolated the northwest wind and the severe cold, giving people a complete sense of security.
Nibbling beef jerky around candles, making flares, and chatting are also great ways to pass the time.
Samuel Baker was a famous British explorer, and his knowledge was not as low as that of an ordinary politician, so Gordon and he were very equal when talking to each other.
"You know, the direction of my exploration and research in the first half of my life was in the Middle East and North Africa... I explored the source of the Nile River in 1863... Because of this merit, the Ottoman Empire gave me the position of pasha..."
"I don't know much about this mysterious East...but this time I entered China from Central Asia, it gave me a great spiritual shock!"
"I have a vague feeling that this country, this civilization... seems to be completely unable to be assimilated by us!"
Gordon's hand paused, and the sharp dagger almost cut his finger. He was stunned for a while, "Why do you come to such a conclusion? You have only been here for a short time, and what you have seen is not everything... Why?" So pessimistic and negative?”
Samuel Baker took a sip of whiskey and felt the warmth in his stomach. "It is true that the entire Western world knows that Chinese civilization has declined. Under the rule of the Manchu alien race, this civilization has lost its past glory..."
"Poverty, ignorance, rejection of the latest science, and serious xenophobia even from the government... They have no idea of reform at all, as if everyone is living in a muddle..."
"I took a lot of photos along the way, and I also met a lot of ordinary people... All I could see in their eyes was insensitivity..."
"Those skinny civilians have empty eyes, just like the bottomless abyss in the Atlantic Ocean... there is nothing..."
"No wealth, no dignity, no ideals, no resistance... nothing but complete emptiness and numbness!"
"They seem to have been completely drained of energy by the suffering, and each of them is like a walking zombie..."
Gordon put down the dagger and said with a smile, "Isn't this great? Their hearts are empty, and our thoughts can naturally replace them... Letting Western civilization completely rule the East, isn't it what our era longs for?"
"No... no no no... things are not that simple..." Samuel Baker shook his head, "But when I really came here, I discovered a very scary phenomenon, that is... big!"
"Yes, this country is surprisingly big, and their civilization is also surprisingly big..."
"Whether it is in Africa, North and South America, or even Europe... there has never been such a huge civilization using a single writing and language!"
"It's so scary...haven't you noticed? From Ili to Tacheng, and even to the Mongolian grasslands...these are places where Han people do not exist, and are already dominated by Chinese characters and Chinese language!"
"You can always see some books written in Chinese characters in the yurt, those called perpetual calendars, those called Chinese medicine prescriptions, even the tea bricks wrapped in Chinese characters..."
"Although the Mongolians have their own writing and language, if they want to live a better life, they must master Chinese..."
"The same is true for Xinjiang. Regardless of southern Xinjiang or northern Xinjiang, if you want to use products from the Central Plains, you need to know certain Chinese characters and Chinese... Isn't this a terrible thing..."
"The edge of civilization. This is the edge of civilization. The penetration of culture has reached this point. Do you think we can defeat the powerful power of their culture after entering the Central Plains?"
Gordon suddenly became speechless and silent. After a long time, he said, "I understand. The example you gave is that the Chinese rely on commodities for cultural penetration?"
"Don't worry. Sooner or later, Europe's powerful industrial power will flood the world with our products... By then, our English will be the mainstream language in the world!"
The sickly explorer nodded, "What you said is correct, but the current difficulty is more than this... I'm shocked by other aspects as well!"
"I just said that this country has too many low-class people who are like walking zombies... But don't forget that the population base of this country is too large. Even if there is one elite among a thousand people, the total base will be unimaginably large!"
"Doro and Guan Lu are actually just guards in the Forbidden City, low-level military attachés... But have you noticed that the conversations they had with each other along the way, including understanding the situation with local officials, were not simple. Look at the problem from the perspective of a military attache..."
"These two people will ask about the local economic situation, whether the trade routes are smooth, whether there is enough food, and what has happened to the prices in Aguba..."
"Is there any conflict between sects? I can't believe it. Two military attaches who have not received systematic training can think about problems from many aspects such as economy, culture, religion, trade routes..."
"Even some veterans stationed in the local area can say that the enemy is...a rabbit's tail cannot grow this sentence...and what makes the veterans make the judgment is not military, but just because of Agub's brutal rule and perverse behavior!"
"God, this is really a strange thing... I have never found such a phenomenon in other civilizations... I feel that the Chinese can always look at problems without being restricted to their own professions!"
"Even an uneducated veteran can tell from the cutoff of trade routes that Agub's end is coming! Why is this? He obviously only knows less than a hundred Chinese characters? This is definitely an illiterate level. Why do you have such a thinking pattern!”
Samuel Baker sat up subconsciously and padded his lower back with a wrap. He seemed to have forgotten that he was a patient!
"Chinese people have a very strange way of thinking... Even uneducated people tend to analyze problems from an overall perspective..."
"What's going on? There are very few ordinary people like this in Europe? In our Europe, unless you are a highly educated person, you will make the same judgment regardless of your profession, class, or circle... ah!"
"They all look at the world and analyze problems from their own narrow corners...How can Chinese people have a cross-border perspective?"
"I'm not talking about the elite class, I'm talking about the people at the bottom, ordinary people who are not very literate. How come they have such an overall concept?"
"It's strange, what a strange civilization!"
