Chapter 42: Seeking Collection at Windsor Castle

  New book uploaded, seeking collection, seeking recommendation

  March 15, 1843.

  Two black carriages, drawn by high-stepping horses, were making their way to Windsor Castle in Berkshire, south-east England. As they left the London area and continued on their journey, the scenery along the way was filled with European-style gardens. The smooth, hard road surface was lined with lush green lawns, where groups of cattle and sheep grazed leisurely. In the distance, there were also scattered beautiful houses, churches, quiet towns, or mansions belonging to wealthy nobles.

  In short, it was all a picturesque scene, the same as the European landscape in Zhu's memory 170 years ago. The working-class districts of London and Manchester were like two different worlds, with the latter seeming more like an Indian slum to Zhu.

  Zhu Jishi was now sitting in one of the horse-drawn carriages, lost in thought.

  His carriage was borrowed from Lady Isabel, and his own had been left in Manchester; the one ahead of him contained Sir Reed. The baronet seemed not to be on good terms with Zuo Zisheng, for when they met in Manchester that day, he only spoke a few cold words, and if it weren't for Lady Isabel's mediation, they might have quarreled.

  However, Sir Ridley brought the good wishes of the Royal Society of Medicine; their charges had been dropped and they extended an invitation to Dr. Chu to address their May meeting - which was no longer an honor for him. For in the third week of March, the Royal Society would hold its annual election meeting, and unless something unexpected happened, Dr. Chu would be elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. Later, in June, the French Academy would also meet to elect members, and it was almost certain that Dr. Chu would be elected as one of them.

  So the British Medical Association should be proud to have invited Dr. Zhu to give a speech. However, Lord Reid's simultaneous invitation to Prince Albert made it impossible for Dr. Zhu to ignore.

  He's the husband of Queen Victoria, who got her pregnant, and if he wants to continue living in England, it's best for him to get along with this person, otherwise he can only pack up his bags and leave for France.

  As for the relationship between this and the First Opium War, as well as the subsequent Second Opium War, it can only be ignored with eyes closed. Anyway, Zeng Jize now does not acknowledge that the Qing Dynasty represents China...

  But as soon as he thought of the Qing Empire, which was still in a state of semi-dream and semi-wakefulness, his heart couldn't help but sigh. Engels' analysis that day may have been proven wrong by history, but it wasn't entirely unreasonable either. The Qing Empire actually had a good hand, its temporary backwardness didn't count for much, and the actual extent of its backwardness wasn't that great. The Second Industrial Revolution was still 20 or 30 years away, so what did the British Empire have at present? They could build large sailing ships, steam engines, a few hundred miles of railways, and a large number of blood-sweat factories - that's all. The firearms they used in the First Opium War were, according to Willem Huygens' words, just old guns from over a century ago, which any ironwork shop in Europe could produce!

  As for the cannons, they were not much different from those of the 18th century, just a metal cylinder that fired iron balls and grapeshot. They were basically handmade products, with no secret technology, and very easy to learn.

  And now Europe is sitting on the mouth of a revolutionary volcano, and the laboring people here have been deluded by that set of democratic constitutional theories, not finding fault in themselves but laying their sufferings at the door of the capitalist class. So disorder is certain, the question is only whether it will be small or great. Even if Zhu Zhiyuan does not remember what happened in Europe during this period of history, just looking at British workers taking to the streets every now and then, and the inflammatory articles in radical newspapers, one can know that the situation in the next few years will definitely not be peaceful.

  In his memory, the Second Opium War seemed to have broken out in 1856 or 1857, probably related to the tense situation in Europe. If the Qing Empire could seize this rare "historical opportunity", even if it was just a superficial reform like the Ottoman Empire or some Indian princely states, first limiting the reform to the military field, educating a batch of new-style officers, training 100,000 European-style land forces, it would be enough to resist the invasion of Britain and France. Even Russia, before the completion of the Trans-Siberian Railway, was powerless to defeat 100,000 European-style land forces in the Far East...

  Alright, after this busy period is over, I'll seize the time to get a few more books introducing Western politics, geography, military affairs, economy, law and human history, then think of ways to get these books issued in the East.

  The carriage ran for who knows how long, the speed suddenly slowed down, and finally came to a complete stop. Then it was Countess Isabelle's sweet and greasy voice, "Jason, we're here."

  He pushed open the carriage door and got out first, then stood at the door to help the countess down, holding her jade hand. The countess was not on Prince Albert's guest list, but she could accompany Zhu Jishi into Windsor Castle and teach him some British court etiquette, which was quite complicated.

  Sir Read had also alighted from the carriage, and turned to cast a white eye on Zha Ji Shi and Isabelle, clearing his throat lightly before heading towards the Norman door.

  However, Zhu Jishi didn't mind, he just looked up and measured this luxurious giant castle. In terms of luxury, the British royal palace was more than the Qing emperor's garden, only the area was not so large, and the cost was much less. This Windsor Castle had undergone a large-scale expansion renovation from 1824 to 1830, with a total cost of ￡300,000, while another British royal palace, Buckingham Palace, cost around ￡453,000, which is equivalent to more than one million taels of silver. I really don't know how the Qing dynasty's gardens spent hundreds of millions or even billions of taels on construction costs?

  As the three men stepped through Norman Gate, they saw a kilted Scottish giant emerge at a rapid pace from the open castle gate and hail Sir Reed: "Baron, you've finally arrived! The Prince is getting a bit impatient!"

  Sir Read introduced him at once to the Scotchman: "This is Mr. Chu; this lady is Mrs. Durnov, (her title of Baroness not being recognized) ... and this is Mr. Brown, steward of Windsor Castle."

  Brown glanced at Zha Ji Shi and Isabelle, saying lightly: "The summons will be held in the audience hall, please follow me with Sir Reed and Mr. Zhu. Lady Deneuve, please wait a moment, someone will take you to the resting room."