Chapter 320: The Reward without Respect

Chapter 320: The Reward without Respect

Chapter 320: The Reward without Respect

On the third day of April in the eighth year of the Tongzhi reign, Shao Quanzhong's visiting fleet arrived at Dagukou, and the visit officially ended.

That night, Shao Quanzhong arrived in the capital with a battalion of guards.

Why was it so fast? The railway from Dagukou to Beijing had already been built.

Kamehameha V, who came with him on the pilgrimage, witnessed Shao Quanzhong's power in the Qing Dynasty.

You brought a battalion of guards with you on your visit. Shouldn't the army be stationed outside the city when entering Beijing to meet the emperor?

No. Zhengyang Gate was opened wide, and a battalion of imperial guards rode in formation to clear the way, and Shao Quanzhong rode a Ferghana horse into the city.

The soldiers guarding the city turned a blind eye, and the Nine Gates Admiral Jin Shun even went to Zhengyang Gate to greet them in person.

Our Qing Dynasty is now building a new army, and the new military uniforms are no longer exclusive to the Huai Army.

Even the soldiers of the Bordered Blue Banner who were guarding the capital had already put on the uniforms of the new army.

The Wen Logistics Company was extremely busy providing uniforms for the Thirty-Six Regiments of the New Army and the Eight Banners Army. Hailing's clothing manufacturing industry was the best in China.

The new army was all equipped with Schneider breech-loading rifles, and Ren's Arms Company made a fortune.

What Kamehameha V saw in Honolulu were modern warships and troops, what he rode at Dagukou was a steam train, and what he saw at the city gate were soldiers of the Blue Banner who were wearing the uniforms of the New Army and had experienced the test of the Western Expedition, and whose morale and combat effectiveness were comparable to those of the regular armies of the great powers.

In his eyes, the Qing Dynasty was a standard top-level power.

When he saw the majestic Forbidden City, this prince who claimed to be knowledgeable was even more stunned.

This is the orthodox dynasty of thousands of years of civilization, the true emperor that the Kingdom of Hawaii should rely on.

The Royal Guards stood guard in front of the Forbidden City. Shao Quanzhong finally dismounted and walked across the Jinshui Bridge into the palace with Kamehameha V.

Unlike the Ming Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty had the Huitong Hall to entertain envoys from vassal states. When vassal states came to pay homage, they would directly stay in the Forbidden City, making it convenient for the emperor to receive them.

Now that our Qing Dynasty is powerful, there is an endless stream of countries coming to pay tribute and send envoys, and the process of receiving vassal states is becoming more and more sophisticated.

In fact, Prince Qing Yihuan, who was in charge of the Zongli Yamen, personally welcomed Shao Quanzhong and Kamehameha V into the Forbidden City.

Um - you just came back, why don’t you stay here and wait to be summoned?
Shao Quanzhong said, "I have no place to live in the capital. I am also a vassal king, so it's okay for me to live in the Forbidden City with them."

That’s right, Shao Quanzhong is now the Grand Duke of the Grand Duchy of Crimea and also serves as a foreign monarch.

When we arrived at the guest room for receiving the vassal states, we actually found our neighbor there. He was Alan Khan, the chief of Kanjuti who was here for pilgrimage.

Kamehameha V was still thinking about talking to Shao Quanzhong about what he should pay attention to during the formal pilgrimage tomorrow. Shao Quanzhong asked him to talk to Chief Kanjuti, and he took his guard platoon and walked away.

Can His Royal Highness the Prince stroll around the Forbidden City at will?
According to the news that Kamehameha V learned, the surname Jueluo was given to him, and he was a royal family member, so it seemed that it was okay, right? By the way, didn't the Hawaiian royal family also have access to Iolani Palace? Did the Qing Dynasty also have this rule?
Ahem, the rank of a prince is actually not very important in the capital. My Qing Dynasty has conferred 140 princes, with a total of 36 prince titles, of which 10 are hereditary iron-hat princes.

Prince Qing, who was in charge of welcoming the envoy, was of a higher rank than Shao Quanzhong, and he did not dare to walk around the Forbidden City with his guards. By the way, Prince Qing was from the Bordered Blue Banner, so the Empress Dowager trusted him very much.

Inside the palace, the guards were still wearing traditional clothes, but they ignored the guard platoon. Their leader even stood at attention and saluted when he saw Shao Quanzhong.

Now Tong Lin has become the chief instructor of the imperial guards. Hai Qing and Master Tong supervise the study of the royal brother. As for the leaders of the imperial guards, they are the ten skilled and brave eunuchs of the first detective team of the Huai Army Detective Department. Now they have all been granted blue feathers...

Since Shao Quanzhong had no residence in the capital, he just stayed in the Forbidden City. That night, he stayed in the West Warm Pavilion, and the guards were standing guard outside the Hall of Mental Cultivation.

Ping'er returned to her old home, met her old master, and then served Shao Quanzhong together...

Isabel, who was arranged in the guest room, told Maria not to slander me and my mother, Isabel II. Look, isn't the situation in Qing Dynasty similar to when I and my mother were in Barcelona?

The next day, an emergency court meeting was held in the Qianqing Palace. The emperor received Hawaii and Kanjuti to meet with the vassal kings and comforted Shao Quanzhong who had returned from his diplomatic mission.

The Hawaiian prince presented top-grade sandalwood, which was very prestigious and was also of great use to the palace. The Kanjuti prince was in a bad situation, as his tribute was only one ounce and two cents of gold.

However, the Qing dynasty treated everyone equally in return. This time, no gifts were given, but the first-class Double Dragon Star Medal was awarded to the Hawaiian prince Kamehameha V, the Kanjuti prince Alan Khan, and the Crimean prince Shao Quanzhong.

Our Qing Dynasty has finally developed a medal, and it continues the style of a great Celestial Empire. The Double Dragon and Star Medal is much more expensive than the Victoria Cross.

The first-class Double Dragon Treasure Star Medal has a red gold background, a green dragon with golden scales, a large pearl embedded on the top, a small pearl embedded inside the dragon, and small pearls inlaid along the edge, with red gold star rays. The cost of making it is 20,000 taels of silver.

Kamehameha V and Alan Khan were actually taking advantage of the situation; the Order of the Double Dragon Star was mainly prepared to reward Shao Quanzhong.

The first-class Order of the Double Dragon and the Treasure Star is only awarded to foreign monarchs. Originally, Shao Quanzhong did not meet the standards, but how could awarding him a second-class medal show how great Shao Quanzhong was?
Coincidentally, Shao Quanzhong returned from his visit and became the Grand Duke of Crimea, and that was all that mattered.

The medal worth 20,000 silver coins made Kamehameha V feel very honored. Isn't it true that the Qing Dynasty treated its vassal states much better than the British? The Victoria Cross is too cheap compared to this, right?
After all, Hawaii was relatively powerful and paid a lot of tribute, so it was worth it to be awarded a medal. Alan Khan paid a tribute of one tael and two qian of gold sand and was also awarded a medal, which made him very excited.

It's not that the Kanjuti tribe is stingy, it's that they really have no money. The Kanjuti tribe has a total of more than 5,000 people, and they live in a remote plateau. The one or two ounces of gold sand is almost the tribe's annual output, and they have done their best.

However, Shao Quanzhong did not blame the court leaders this time, and Kanjuti deserved a reward.

Kanjuti was the most loyal of all the vassal states of China, and had been paying tribute to China for more than a thousand years. It was called a vassal state during the Tang Dynasty, when it was called Xiaoboluo.

Tribute payments began during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. Because the tribute was small and not enough to cover the travel expenses of the delegation, it was entrusted to the government in Kashgar for delivery.

Historically, Kanjuti withstood the dual pressure from Britain and Russia and continued to pay tribute to China until 1947. It was the last vassal state of China to persist, and the words "loyalty is commendable" are absolutely worthy of it.

Accepting the medal as a vassal king, An Dehai announced the reward to Shao Quanzhong on behalf of the emperor.

"Jingyuan Duolo County Prince Shao Quanzhong was promoted to the rank of One-Character Prince, and renamed Duolo Rui County Prince, the third generation of county princes. He was appointed Minister of the Imperial Guards, allowed to lead guards in the palace, allowed to ride a horse in the Forbidden City, and given the title 'Morgan Daiqing'."

(End of this chapter)