In Guo Kang's time, such plundering incidents could be said to be common.
Elgin's name is actually no stranger to the Seris people. Because the Elgin who robbed the Parthenon was the father of the Elgin who burned the Old Summer Palace.
——Of course, the old Elgin once became furious because his wife was "taken care of" by an old friend. He was so angry that he publicly filed a lawsuit, sued the two of them for adultery, and demanded 10,000 pounds in compensation. In that era, serious nobles generally tolerated whatever they could tolerate; if they couldn't tolerate it, they would fight each other for honor. As a result, old Elgin, a seventh-generation earl, came up to ask for money, so he became famous and became the top figure in the country for a while. Therefore, it may be difficult to say whether this father is his biological father...
Although little Elgin did not know where he came from, his ancestral craftsmanship was not lost. However, he is probably not as famous as his father in the UK.
Old Elgin made a fortune from the plundered sculptures, and even had the proper name "Elgin Marbles" - the money was as high as 35,000 pounds, enough to support three and a half wives. Little Elgin was unlucky and did not have time to enjoy his "results."
In 1861, after the war and negotiations were over, Elgin the Younger left China and went to India to serve as governor-general, but he died in 1863. The reason was that the house where he was staying during a trip to the local area was accidentally struck by lightning and caught fire.
It may have been a sudden fright that caused him to have a heart attack and be temporarily unable to move. The servants, relatives and friends around him did not come to help for some unknown reason. In the end, Elgin, who was unable to escape the fire, was burned alive.
Therefore, history is actually a very interesting treasure house of knowledge.
As for the poor Greeks, in fact, until Guo Kang's time, they often played the role of scapegoat.
In his time, some people thought that "Europeans regard Greek civilization as their ancestor and brag about it all day long, so if we deny the existence of ancient civilization among the Greeks, we can attack the legal system of Europeans." But in fact, look at the old Elgin and other British You can tell by people’s performance that Western Europeans don’t take Greece seriously at all.
In fact, this was true not only of Greece but also of Rome. In the past, European monarchs did like to have relationships with Rome, but this relationship may still be of some use in the early Middle Ages. As Roman heritage gradually disappeared, it effectively became nothing more than a show. Even the princes within the HRE could not control the name of the Roman Emperor, let alone the outside.
As for the people... civilians and grassroots illiterate lords, it would be good if they knew what the Roman Empire was like.
When history continued to develop and the people gained some culture, Rome was simply abandoned completely. In modern times, most European countries have invariably avoided Rome when establishing their culture.
The French regarded Vercingetorius as a hero, and the Germans began to praise Arminius. The English didn't know why, but they recognized the Anglo-Saxons from back then. In the process of nation-state construction, Rome had long been completely abandoned. The people they chose to establish the myth were all local barbarians back then. Perhaps only Italy before and after World War II still insisted on cosplay.
And even these are actually very niche. Not to mention Rome, which may only be of interest to relevant enthusiasts. Therefore, for these countries, the most is that "we barbarians have learned some legacy ideas from Rome".
But it would be too convenient if you just learn some Roman elements. The largest Roman French state in the world was Seris. So who is Rome?
Therefore, the most embarrassing part of this matter is that when you attack other people's ancestors, you find that the barbarian doesn't care about his ancestors at all. People don’t have this weakness...
"We must know more about history and know ourselves and our enemies." Guo Kang said with emotion to the brother and sister:
"I say all this, actually, I want to tell you how big the gap is between the Seris civilization and other civilizations. The gap between it and India is much greater than the gap between India and Western Europe. Because these are not two 'civilizations' in essence, but It's the gap between the two 'civilized groups'. It's just that the civilized group to the east seems to have only one member."
"So, using the Central Plains way of thinking to apply to other civilizations is not only ineffective, but sometimes even dangerous."
Zhu Wenkui nodded, taking it for granted. Guo Kang's words were probably in line with his understanding. Little Jeanne lowered her head and began to think.
Guo Kang is not in a hurry about this. She is very young and will see a lot of examples in the future. As long as you have enough experience, it is not difficult to understand this conclusion.
Of course, he still hopes to use his knowledge and experience to save little Jeanne from taking some detours. Especially since she will definitely be involved in various affairs in the future, and dealing with the Ming Dynasty will probably be indispensable. These are important things, and the lessons may be too painful.
Guo Kang himself understood this through painful experiences in history.
There is a very black humor example in the late Qing Dynasty. After Lin Zexu took office in Guangdong, there were already rumors that the British were preparing to launch a war. In this regard, Lin Zexu did not close his eyes and listen, but conducted special investigation and research.
Among Lin Zexu's staff and local officials in Guangdong, there were already people who took the initiative to inquire about the situation in the West. Xiao Lingyu, the former aide of Ruan Yuan, Yu Zhengxie, Lin Zexu's own aide, and others all discovered the law of Western expansion through sea, and advocated vigilance, referring to the methods of foreigners to enhance force, and achieving the goal of using foreigners to control foreigners.
After Lin Zexu took office, he convened a group of people who were proficient in English to translate relevant information regardless of avoiding suspicion. Not only did it directly contact foreigners and take advantage of the conflicts between Americans, Portuguese and British to obtain information from them, it also specially bribed a group of translators, middlemen, sailors and other people from the lower social classes to "spy on foreign affairs all day long." He even ignored his advanced age and personally learned English from scratch without any teaching materials.
Lin Zexu was originally a language genius. When he first went to the capital, he learned Mandarin, which shocked many people (official circles in the Ming and Qing Dynasties recognized that Fujian people's speech was difficult to understand, and it was difficult to change it...); later he took the Manchu exam and got The first place in the exam (in those days, few Banner people could speak Manchu, so getting first place in the exam would mean you were the best in the world). Even though he was later demoted to the Western Regions, he quickly learned Uyghur and Persian, and was even able to incorporate these two languages into his poetry. This shows his talent.
As an old bureaucrat who has been in the imperial court for decades, his understanding of power and his ability to analyze politics are of course very solid. With his sophisticated vision and precise skills, by the time of the war, he not only had a preliminary understanding of the situation in Britain, but also had some knowledge of colonial matters. In addition to national events, he even collected the list and salary of female officials in the Queen's Palace for analysis.
Through a series of analyses, Lin Zexu concluded that the war would not be fought in the short term.
According to intelligence, in 1837, the old King William IV had just passed away, and the British could not find a man, so they married Queen Victoria, who was only 18 years old. At this time, the Queen's uncles were still there.
In particular, Victoria's fourth uncle Ernst once served as an army general. Unlike the members who gradually became a vase, Ernst really received training in Prussia, went to the battlefield, fought with Napoleon, and was seriously injured for this. He is someone who really has military experience and has commanded large armies in combat.
At this time, Ernst inherited the separated Kingdom of Hanover and had his own country and soldiers. Even the British themselves at the time were rumored that he wanted to murder Victoria and usurp the throne.
So this is actually very obvious: this orphan and widower will not stay long at all. I'm afraid it won't take long before Victoria will face a rebellion and be killed by her fourth uncle.
The people who came to Guangzhou to look for trouble were people from the East India Company. These merchants actually wanted to start a war on the border without authorization when the monarch changed. Since ancient times, border merchants have done their own thing, and the country has always had problems - the Qing Dynasty itself clearly knew better. Obviously, the crisis within the UK has become extremely serious.
Under such circumstances, how can we launch a war abroad?
On the other hand, Lin Zexu also found out that there were also people in the UK who were opposed to the tobacco trade. Relying on his understanding and judgment of national interests, Lin Zexu believed that the British court could be fought for. Because the tobacco and soil trade is not a good thing for them in terms of morality and profitability, they can be persuaded to temporarily control the merchants and gain time.
He also wrote a special letter to Victoria, warning the other party in the tone of an experienced elder that the goods sold in China are beneficial to people. It has made a lot of profits for Westerners, but it has never harmed anyone. Now the British are selling tobacco that is not produced locally to China to harm people. Not only is it morally unacceptable, it is also not good for themselves. It is better to eradicate the smoke from India, plant grains instead, and implement benevolent government, so that we can rule for a long time. Those who commit crimes should be dealt with severely. Otherwise, what should we do if someone sells tobacco to the UK in the future?
In addition to still insisting on calling Britain a barbarian, the tone of this letter is already very mild. Before sending it out, Lin Zexu specially found a group of British people who had been rescued after drowning and asked them to take a look and polish it. He also left a step aside, saying that he believed that Britain simply could not control it because there were too many merchant ships. It would be better for everyone to take care of it quickly.
As a result, the letter was sent to London and became a famous joke at the time after it was made public. "The Times" publishes them in full for readers' pleasure. The results Lin Zexu expected also failed to materialize.
In the end, Lin Zexu obtained a large amount of valid information and conducted inferences that could not be wrong, but he came to the completely opposite conclusion.
Because Lin Zexu insisted that there would be no fight in the short term, he did not choose to strengthen defenses as soon as possible. Instead, he purchased Western-style ships and steamships and began to study, preparing to take a long-term route, learn from foreign experience, and operate a Western-style navy. Finally, I was caught off guard. Although the city was defended, the losses were considerable. Even the newly purchased American ship was bombed...
This incident is a very typical case: the way of thinking between different civilizations is so different that it is very difficult to understand each other. Not to mention old-school officials like Lin Zexu, even the Seris people of Guo Kang's time had learned foreigners' languages, and to be honest, they might not be able to fully understand what they were thinking.
Therefore, this is a very troublesome phenomenon, but it really cannot be ignored.
(End of chapter)
