Chapter Fourteen Tony

  Several buckets of rice and dishes were delivered directly to the venue, each young man was given a large bowl, Han Yong shouted for the young men to line up in order, one by one to get their food, a big scoop of white rice, a big spoonful of oily braised pork, and some vegetables, not enough can be added, Qiao Yu could clearly hear the sound of saliva.

  In this era, the vast majority of people can see a little meat at the end of the year, and even ordinary landlords are not able to eat meat every day, let alone ordinary people. Being able to eat dry rice every day is already considered good, and more people have half a year of dry food and half a year of thin porridge. When it comes to the time when crops are withering away, they even have to dig up some wild vegetables to eat.

  As for food, it's even more limited. The cabbage grown in their own home is cooked with a little salt and that's considered good enough. There's almost no oil, and those who are even poorer just use salt water to dip some wild vegetables. Even so, they can't fill their bellies. Sichuan is known as the Heavenly Kingdom, but ordinary people don't live well either. As the saying goes, "half a son eats his father to death." Now these young people are in their prime eating years, but there's no fat or water in their bellies. They've always been in a state of semi-starvation and semi-fullness. Where can they afford to eat their fill?

  As soon as they saw the fragrant rice and large pieces of meat, the young men were left to stuff their stomachs desperately. A big bowl of food was gone in a few minutes, and several large buckets of rice were quickly eaten up. The braised pork was not left at all. Fortunately, they had prepared early, and soon the dishes were sent up again.

  Han Yong looked at these crazy eating young men, his face was also very emotional: "Young master, we didn't even eat such good food in the military camp back then. After eating this meal, I'm afraid these little brats will be willing to die for you! It's just that it costs too much, this one meal alone must have used up two big fat pigs!"

  "I don't need anyone to die for me, they are all people with the power to decide their own destiny, just like us, but unfortunately living in this world, can't help but live a hard life. Only by changing this world can we make everyone enjoy the rights they were born with, and live like a person, no longer worrying about hunger and cold!"

  Qian Tai sighed on the other side, "Young master, from ancient times to the present, it's always been the ordinary people who have suffered. If they can just fill their bellies, that's already good enough. What else can they do? Rebel? The Taiping Rebellion was fierce in its early years, but wasn't it ultimately put down? These young men are lucky to have met you!"

  For thousands of years, China has been like this, with few prosperous times and many chaotic ones. The phenomenon of "easy birth and easy death" is not uncommon in history. When can the great China truly escape the strange cycle of prosperity and chaos? When can the Chinese people stand proudly among the world?! Qiao Yu felt a heavy burden fall on his shoulders, as a traverser, he absolutely cannot waste the opportunity given by heaven.

  "Brother Han, you'll have to put more effort into training from now on. I've already made a training plan, and you must strictly follow it to quickly change the appearance of these young men. I don't expect them to become an elite army, but at least they should be able to deal with ordinary mountain bandits and evil tyrants, as well as the Ge Lao Hui gang!"

  "Don't worry, young master!" Just then a guard ran up to Qiao Yu.

  "Boss, someone from the Magistrate's office has come to invite you over. They seem to be in a hurry and want you to go immediately!"

  Qiao Yu's mind was filled with thoughts, although he didn't know what it was about. However, since the governor had summoned him, he couldn't not go. Qiao Yu hastily rushed to the government office and arrived at the gate of the yamen, where a teacher was anxiously waiting. As soon as he saw Qiao Yu arrive, he quickly walked a few steps forward and said in a low voice: "Qiao sir, the foreign devil has come to cause trouble for the governor. He's from the British consulate, and it seems to be because of your purchase of German machinery. The governor has invited you here, but this foreigner is too aggressive, so please be careful!"

  This master is already in his forties, but as soon as he opens his mouth, it's "you old man", which makes Qiao Yu burst out laughing. However, Qiao Yu couldn't laugh anymore. Nowadays, Chinese people are so afraid of foreigners that the arrival of a British person can throw an entire government office into chaos. It's truly pathetic.

  Qiao Yu followed the teacher to the main hall, where he saw Nuan Chuan Shan accompanying a blonde-haired and blue-eyed British man drinking tea. However, the dignified Magistrate was slightly bowing his head, as if he were a student seeing his teacher, trying to be humble. The British man, on the other hand, had an arrogant expression, occasionally sipping his tea with a raised eyebrow.

  "Governor Niu, your tea is too bitter and too monotonous. It would be better to add some milk and sugar cubes!"

  "The foreign gentleman is right, but our humble abode is simple, please forgive us, and we'll invite you to have tea again next time!"

  "Your Excellency, I'd like to have a cup of coffee with several cloves of garlic!" Qiao Yu said loudly as he walked in. At first, the British man seemed not to react, but soon he caught the sarcastic tone in Qiao Yu's words and realized that adding milk to tea was just like adding garlic to coffee. His face suddenly turned bright red.

  "Sir, you are too rude! This is not the way to speak to a gentleman!"

  "It's not that, but you're not a gentleman either. The most basic thing between people is respect. Your country can have its own way of drinking tea, but don't forget that China is the hometown of tea, with a history of over a thousand years. No one is better than the Chinese at extracting the truth of life from a few leaves. If you ignore even this common sense, then it's just self-aggrandizement!"

  This Englishman heard it clearly, but he didn't know how to refute it, because the fact was indeed so. He wasn't shameless enough to lie with his eyes open, and he had never seen a Chinese person dare to argue with an Englishman, even those high officials were as polite as possible. But this person in front of him seemed to be completely disregarding the British Empire, what a freak!

  Although Niu Chuan Shan couldn't understand English, he guessed what had happened from the expressions of the two people and suddenly sweated, blaming Qiao Yun for being young and impulsive, and hastily mediating.

  "Hey, Mr. Yang, calm down! This is Tony from the consulate, he wants to talk to you about the factory, it's urgent!"

  Although Tony was looking for trouble, he didn't want to argue about such a meaningless little thing, so he reluctantly calmed down.

  "Mr. Qiao, I heard that your factory bought machines from Germany, which is a very bad thing and will ruin our friendship. I hope you can make the right choice!"

  Qiao Yu felt that this British guy was being too much, directly threatening him. Although the Yangtze River basin was within Britain's sphere of influence, it wasn't a direct colony, and this division of influence was mainly aimed at railway power. Buying some German machines was simply an ordinary business transaction; even if the British were jealous, they couldn't openly interfere!

  "Mr. Tony, the factories I built are all civilian factories, and the transactions are just ordinary textile machinery, which obviously has no impact on the relations between the two countries. You're being too overbearing!"

  "Chongqing is of great significance to the British Empire. Introducing German machinery at will is naturally a threat to Britain, there's nothing good about it. You Chinese have a saying 'rein in one's horse on the brink of a precipice', otherwise you'll regret it!"

  "Mr. Tony, do you mean to have me shut down the factory? If that's what you mean, I can certainly do it, but within a day, you'll see all the newspapers with headlines on the front page saying 'Britain violently suppresses Chinese enterprises, wantonly destroying free trade', and I believe not only will this trigger a new wave of boycotting British goods in China, but also other major powers will be ashamed of your country's behavior. Do you want to see such results?"

  Qiao Yu didn't back down, but Tony was internally turbulent. He was just an ordinary secretary at the consulate and wasn't capable of handling such a storm. Moreover, he had been entrusted by others to rely on the British name to make the other side compromise, thinking that even if they didn't close the factory, they would still make some actual concessions. Who would have thought that he ended up in an awkward situation?

  I hope everyone can give me some recommendation votes. I will definitely work hard to bring you good stories. Also, recommend "The Great Qing", which has a unique perspective and is worth reading.

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