Chapter 27: Gong Banlun

  Li Mingfeng dismounted and walked closer to take a look. In front of him were over a dozen British soldiers blocking the way. Fortunately, these dozen or so people happened to be Andrew's subordinates. These soldiers also recognized Li Mingfeng. When they were in Guangdong, they had heard that he was kidnapped by bandits and had been saddened for a while. They did not expect to see him again after several months, and they were very happy.

  Li Mingfeng was allowed to enter after being announced, and soon a soldier came out with Elgin's orders. It seems that Li Mingfeng still has no status in the eyes of these foreigners, as Elgin didn't even bother to see him himself, instead directly instructing arrangements for his rest on the ship.

  Li Mingfeng couldn't help it now, after all he still had to rely on foreigners, whatever they arranged was what it would be. He asked someone to lead the way and first went to rest in the cabin for a night before saying anything else.

  In the mid-19th century, British and French warships were already equipped with steam engines, so their hulls were huge, but their speed was not slow at all. Li Mingfeng was led to the cabin door by someone, and the leading soldier saluted and went back to continue his patrol.

  As he opened the cabin door, Li Mingfeng almost fainted. There was already someone inside. Erjin had actually arranged for him to share a room with someone else, which was too humiliating. Suppressing his anger, Li Mingfeng examined the situation inside.

  The cabin is quite large, with two beds and a table inside. The man sits upright in a chair, reading under the oil lamp, next to which stands a wooden board, but it's unclear what it's used for.

  Li Mingfeng was standing behind him, unable to see his face, but from the long braid, it could be known that this person was also Chinese. He never thought that there would still be Chinese people who could mix into the foreigners' team, Li Mingfeng secretly sighed, it seemed that his own rice bowl had begun to have competitors.

  Just as he was thinking of greeting him, the man sitting upright suddenly picked up a bamboo whip from the table and hit it against the wooden board beside him, saying: "This sentence doesn't make sense, I'll change it for you, so that you won't cheat later generations, after all, I am your son. If it were someone else, I wouldn't bother to change it." After finishing speaking, he saw this man pick up a brush and start revising the text.

  Li Mingfeng was shocked by the scene and took a closer look, only to find that the wooden board was a wooden plaque with the inscription "The revered position of Gongzi Zhen".

  Li Mingfeng's approach, however, caught the man's attention.

  "Who are you and why are you here?" he asked coldly as he stood up.

  Li Mingfeng sneaked up behind the person, which was somewhat impolite. Seeing him like this, he quickly explained: "I am the translator of General Elgin, the commander-in-chief of the Anglo-French coalition forces. Due to some matters that delayed my journey a few days ago, I couldn't follow the army northward and only arrived today. I've just been assigned to this cabin by the general."

  That person heard Li Mingfeng's explanation, visibly relieved, cupped his hands and smiled: "So it was Mr. Li Mingfeng, I had heard the foreigner mention you some days ago, didn't expect to meet you today, what a fortunate encounter."

  Li Mingfeng didn't expect him to know himself, and hurriedly returned the courtesy by saying: "Where, where, we are all serving the foreign masters, this entire Anglo-French coalition has only us two Chinese people, from now on we will inevitably need each other's help, so let's just call each other brothers."

  "This is indeed reasonable. My surname is Gong, my name is Cheng, and I am 36 years old this year. Judging from your appearance, brother, you are probably younger than me." Gong Cheng said with a smile.

  Gong Cheng Li Mingfeng almost vomited blood when he heard this name. Just now, when he saw the tombstone, Li Mingfeng felt that the name was familiar.

  Some faces looked familiar, but with names and various honorific titles mixed together, it was hard to tell them apart, and for a moment, I couldn't recognize whose memorial tablet this was. This time

  Only when he reported his name did I realize that this person was actually Gong Zizhen's son, Gong Cheng. That plaque naturally belonged to the great poet Gong Zizhen.

  It's possible that ordinary people may not know this, but how could Li Mingfeng, as a staff member of the National Museum, not know?

  If we were to identify a few of the most serious culprits responsible for the destruction of China's cultural relics over the past few hundred years, no matter how you rank them, Gong Xiang would definitely be one of them.

  All count as one.

  During the Second Opium War, the Anglo-French coalition had no intention of looting, but Gongzheng told foreigners that Yuanmingyuan was

  A treasure trove. To give the Qing court a lesson, to make a fortune, one must go and loot Yuanmingyuan. The foreigners ultimately took this advice.

  It is said that after looting, Gong Yang also set fire to the Yuanmingyuan. He made a big fortune and was the first one to rush in, it is said that he...

  One percent of Mingyuan's wealth was taken away by him.

  Li Mingfeng never thought that at this time he would actually meet with this great traitor.

  Gong Cheng was unclear what Li Mingfeng was thinking, looking at him staring blankly at himself, Gong Cheng misinterpreted: "Could it be that Old Li..."

  "Has my younger brother heard of my name?" This old man with a big beard actually blushed and continued to say: "Some uninteresting people also gave..."

  I have a nickname, called me Gong Banlun, saying that I am the way of no monarch-subject, father-son, husband-wife, brother-friend, only love a little concubine.

  "Only half of the Five Virtues remain."

  Li Mingfeng murmured: "Not bad, your name Gong Banlun is even more famous than Gong Cheng, and it has been called for over a hundred years."

  Gong Cheng thought Li Mingfeng was joking and didn't pay attention to the meaning of his words: "Younger brother, sit down and rest first, I'll go take care of my old dad..."

  "Let's revise the text again, lest it misleads later students."

  Gong Cheng surprisingly picked up his father Gong Zizhen's collection of writings and started revising it, and now he has come across a place where he personally thinks is inaccurate.

  He picked up the bamboo whip to teach his old man a lesson, and then continued to modify it. Li Mingfeng looked at this scene and was speechless, wondering if Gong Zizhen under the nine springs was also furious enough to vomit blood.

  Li Mingfeng looked at his serious expression and couldn't bear to disturb him, so he went straight to bed and slept soundly.

  The next morning, Li Mingfeng, who was extremely tired, slept until noon before being woken up by Gong Cheng. It turned out that Earl King had summoned the two to negotiate a peace treaty.

  Li Mingfeng hastily tidied up, while on the other side, Gong Cheng was so anxious that he almost jumped up. Seeing Li Mingfeng finish washing up, he grabbed Li Mingfeng's hand and rushed to the command cabin.

  It wasn't until they arrived at the command cabin that it became apparent, Erlang and others had not yet arrived, there were only a few foreigners who didn't seem to be British officers inside. Gong Cheng however started chatting with one of the British people among them. Li Mingfeng was also shocked, he hadn't expected Gong Cheng to have such skills.

  After a while, Gong Cheng introduced the two again. It turned out that this person was British Envoy Weetman Pearson, and the other foreigners were also diplomatic personnel. Gong Cheng was actually an aide to Weetman Pearson. Li Mingfeng thought to himself, it seemed that Gong Cheng was more capable of currying favor than he was, having thoroughly ingratiated himself with the foreigners.

  Weidman was also interested in Li Mingfeng. He originally thought that Gong Cheng was just an exception, but he didn't expect that people from the Qing Dynasty would also speak English.

  With great legs, hug; with great trees, rely. This is Li Mingfeng's principle of doing things. The British consul was also a character, and Li Mingfeng would not slow down to entertain him. Fluent English and extensive knowledge of the West immediately gave Wyndham a strong liking for him.