Chapter 305: The Unexpected Princess Mao

October 1868, 10, St. Petersburg.

The area around Rabbit Island was filled with warships. At the port at the mouth of the Neva River, large quantities of porcelain, silk and tea were carried ashore. The boxes were tied with red silk, which looked extremely festive.

The St. Petersburg News, which was urgently reprinted that day, proudly and excitedly announced that the Eastern Prince had sent a dowry worth seven million rubles to marry Princess Lucia.

All Lucia people felt very proud. The Qing Dynasty was rich. Who had ever given such a large betrothal gift for a royal marriage in Europe?
Twenty-four kilometers south of St. Petersburg, Pushkin Village, Alexander Palace.

In the guest room, Ping'er took the newspaper brought by her subordinates and listened to the translation. She felt so sour.

I was given to Shao Quanzhong as a concubine, so how could there be any betrothal gifts? Later, I was promoted to concubine and brought into the Shao Mansion openly, which finally gave me some face, but there was no betrothal gift.

Shao Quanzhong married the Spanish princess and gave away a fleet worth 10 million taels of silver. Of course, the fleet was under the joint command of both parties, so that should be 5 million taels, right?
When they married Princess Lucia, the gift they gave was actually supplies from the Spanish colonial government’s port warehouse that had been seized in Luzon.

It is worth one million taels of silver in Manila, and the wholesale price in Europe is two million taels. When sold to end users, it is worth four million taels, which is about seven million rubles. The Russians must have calculated it based on the actual price.

Ping'er gritted her teeth and said, "Hmph, these things are worthless in my Qing Dynasty. They are only worth 500,000 taels. It's just that you are poor and ignorant."

Although the industrial level of the Qing Dynasty was not high, its GDP was quite high. It became a wealthy country thanks to the cleverness of its ancestors.

These things made of soil, insects and leaves can bring nearly ten times the profit when sold to Europe.

Otherwise, where did the Age of Exploration come from? Why did European sailors fight the wind and waves and travel thousands of miles to China?

Alas, who let the two princesses have the country as their backing, so they have too much dowry?
The Spanish princess' dowry was the colony of Luzon, and Princess Lucia's dowry was the Duchy of Almaty in the Seven Rivers region.

I am a skinny girl from Yangzhou, born in a lowly family, and my family background is so low that it cannot be any lower. For me to become the prince's concubine is a great fortune.

Humph, it’s useless even if your betrothal gifts and dowries are high. If you enter the Shao family later, you will have to queue behind me.

The main palace belongs to Huier and Xiuer sisters, the East Palace belongs to Liu Niang, and the West Palace must be mine!
I can't let you surpass me. At most I can make you a noble concubine.

No, it seems that I can't be satisfied with being the prince's secretary. I have to see what else I can do for the prince to keep my position.

I can't learn Sister Xiu'er's business skills. Sister Hui'er has many foreign teachers and the support of the foreign Hanlin Academy. She will definitely be in charge of the Western education of the Shaw Brothers' new dynasty in the future. What other specialties can I use? I have to think about it carefully.

The pressure from the competition among the females in the harem was transformed into motivation. Ping'er gritted her teeth and studied what other skills she could develop besides her beauty and ability to serve men.

The person who went to the port to welcome Shao Quanzhong was his old acquaintance Gorchakov. Because he successfully signed a contract with Shao Quanzhong, he saved Lucia's dignity with diplomatic skills, and successfully sold Alaska for a good price. At the same time, he resisted the British infiltration from the east, and was shot and nearly died in the process.

Due to his contribution to the Romanov family and the painful price of becoming one ear, Gorchakov was awarded the title of count, became the Tsar's senior assistant, and the paperhanger of the prosperous Tsarist Russia.

Originally, Britain was close to Prussia, so after visiting London, the next stop was Hamburg.

But it is already October, and the Baltic Sea freezes in November, so Shao Quanzhong hurriedly sailed directly to the Gulf of Finland and went to St. Petersburg to pick up Maomei's wife.

This is why the Russians fought southward at all costs. A country that is always covered in ice and snow, who among you understands the desire for an ice-free port?
It's really too cold here. The Russian royal family stays in the Winter Palace in the summer and flees to the south of the city to hibernate in the fall.

In fact, Shao Quanzhong's mother-in-law Lucia was in poor health and even went abroad to Eugenheim to escape the severe winter and was not in St. Petersburg.

Gorchakov took Shao Quanzhong and his party to the Alexander Palace and left. Shao Quanzhong had come a long way and was tired, so he should have a good rest. Tomorrow, His Majesty will receive him, confer him an imperial title, and award him a medal.

Ping'er commanded the guard platoon to clean up the guest room that Lucia had arranged for Shao Quanzhong and rearranged the layout according to Shao Quanzhong's habits.

Although Ping'er was wearing an officer's uniform, she had not received any military training, so Shao Quanzhong did not give her a military rank. However, as a concubine, the guards had no problem following orders.

Maria found a piano in the living room of the guest room, and immediately ran over happily, holding the hem of her dress with both hands.

When Shao Quanzhong came to Lucia, the princess he was going to marry was also named Maria. After Shao Quanzhong returned to Hailing, the two foreign princesses he was going to marry coincidentally had the same name.

This is not surprising, as there were many women with the same name in the Qing Dynasty. It is equivalent to Shao Quanzhong marrying two foreign "Cuihua" at the same time.

Ping'er felt the pressure of competition in Shao Quanzhong's harem, and Maria could feel it too. She was versatile and a professional pianist, and she finally had the opportunity to show her talent in front of Shao Quanzhong.

When someone specially played Chopin's music for him, Shao Quanzhong had to support it. Although he didn't understand it at all, he thought the tinkling sound was very nice.

The key point is that Princess Maria sat in front of the piano, with her chest and back straight, revealing her snow-white swan neck, and her focused expression was still very charming. Seeing Shao Quanzhong clapping absent-mindedly, Ping'er pouted and said, "With just this little talent of yours, you still want to compete with me for favor?"

I am a professional in the entertainment industry. Do you know what it means to be proficient in everything? Do you know how to dance the Yu Yi Ni Shang Qu? Do you know how to play the pipa, guqin, and guzheng? Do you know what Jiangnan Sizhu is?
I know all the roles of Huiban Opera, including Sheng, Dan, Jing and Mo. Even the Empress Dowager was impressed. If it weren't for the fact that women couldn't sing Huiban Opera, then why couldn't women sing? With the prince's temper, he wouldn't abide by this old tradition.

In the Hui Opera, all stories are about heroes, and the prince is a real hero. Wait! Let me think, I seem to have some inspiration...

"Clap clap clap!"

Huh? Who's clapping so loudly?

A pretty and handsome Mao girl was standing at the door of the living room, applauding Princess Maria.

Mao Mei looked about sixteen or seventeen years old, wearing a Lucia military uniform, with the rank of second lieutenant on her shoulders, and a military cap on her head - what was that? Neither Shao Quanzhong nor Ping'er had ever seen it before.

The military cap looks quite similar to the bicorne hat of the US military, but the shape of the bicorne hat is made smaller and the brim is made softer. The boat-shaped hat is worn diagonally on the beautiful woman's head, making her look particularly charming - by the way, Lucia's military cap is not like this, right?

Ping Er suddenly became alert, "Who let you in?"

The guards were definitely derelict in their duty by letting the Lucia soldiers enter Shao Quanzhong's room.

The female lieutenant saluted Shao Quanzhong and said, "Maria, the second lieutenant of the Lucia Guards, greets His Excellency the Marshal."

Shao Quanzhong returned the greeting, and was very surprised. He asked with a smile, "Does Lucia have female soldiers? How come you speak Chinese so well? And is your hat Lucia's military uniform? Why haven't I seen it before?"

The girl tilted her head and smiled at Ping'er who asked the question first, "I am the Marshal's fiancée. I came to see the husband I am going to marry. Why would the guards stop me?"

She turned around, put her hands behind her back, and looked at Shao Quanzhong in a circle. "Well, not bad, he's handsome and worthy of me. I'm the only female soldier in Lucia, and my rank of second lieutenant was awarded by my father himself. Humph, the Tashkent Treaty has been signed for a year and a half, so of course my father has to find someone to teach me Chinese. I'm a language genius, I can speak English, French, German, and Latin, so wouldn't it be easy to learn Chinese?"

Seeing Shao Quanzhong looking at her hat, Princess Maomei puffed out her chest proudly, "This is a design I made based on a bicorne. Isn't it handsome? Our Lucia's round-top military cap is not comfortable to wear. In fact, during the Crimean War, few of our soldiers wore standard military caps. They all wore their own caps, of all kinds. I chose this one to wear. Anyway, my father doesn't care about me."

This beautiful princess was spoiled by the Tsar to the point of lawlessness. Alexander II was probably a daughter slave. He promoted her to second lieutenant? Could she fight on the battlefield? It was just that her father made her happy.

Seeing that Princess Maria of Spain stopped playing the piano because of her conversation with Shao Quanzhong, Mao Mei Maria walked over and said, "Sister Isabel, you play the piano really well. We all like piano in Lucia, but I'm not very good at it. Come on, I'll take you to my private secret territory to play."

Although both of them are called Maria, their full names are different. The Spanish Maria's full name is "Maria Isabel Francesca Desis de Bourbon", and the Maomei Maria's full name is "Maria Alexandrovna".

The two have the same name, so Maria is called the Spanish princess's second name.

Maomei Maria was a very outgoing person. Isabel was pulled by her to the door and turned back to ask Shao Quanzhong for instructions.

Mao Mei Maria saw it and waved to Shao Quanzhong, "Come too, my secret garden is on the island in the middle of the lake, men are not allowed to enter, but you can be an exception."

Shao Quanzhong followed with a smile. This girl was more beautiful than he expected, and she looked very heroic. Although she had a top-notch figure, her personality was like a tomboy, innocent and lively, not bad.

Ping'er also followed over, and seeing that Shao Quanzhong admired Mao Mei very much, she decided to follow and attack the newcomer.

This is the inner court of the royal private estate. There is a pond in the middle and a small island in the middle of the lake. It looks very safe.

"Shao, my secret garden was built for me by my father. I have been playing there since I was a child. Unfortunately, I can't stay here in winter. I heard that Hailing is very warm and beautiful. Can you build an island in the middle of the lake for me?"

These are all trivial matters, Shao Quanzhong nodded, there is a lake in the backyard of Shao’s house, and there is an island in the middle of the lake.

Everyone walked along the curved corridor to the island in the middle of the lake. Ping'er said sourly, "The Luzon colony that Isabel brought as a dowry is real, unlike the Seven Rivers region that some people brought as a dowry, which is fake. They have conquered it, so it's just a nominal dowry. The prince just favors his concubine, and the island in the middle of the lake was built for Isabel."

Mao Mei sensed the sour taste in her words, but she didn't care, "Father will not miss out on my real dowry."

"That's not necessarily true. The prince took a betrothal gift of seven million rubles. With Lucia's national strength, can it afford a dowry of the same value? At the Shao Mansion, the legitimate wife, Sister Xiu'er, is a billionaire, Sister Hui'er is a university president, and Isabel got Luzon as a dowry and can play the piano. A tomboy married in poorly and still wants to have status?"

Hearing this, Mao Mei Maria stretched out her hand and suddenly pulled out the revolver from Shao Quanzhong's waist. She did it so fast that even Shao Quanzhong didn't react.

Maomei held the revolver in her hand and pulled the revolver skillfully.

Seeing that there were bullets in the other five positions except one empty one, he loaded the bullets and raised the gun with both hands.

(End of this chapter)

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