Chapter 379 The Baby That Can Change the World

Chapter 379 The Baby That Can Change the World

Chapter 379 The Baby That Can Change the World
Shao Quanzhong laughed out loud. He had just planned a war conspiracy to stir up chaos in Europe and was in a very good mood. It was rare for him to make a joke.

"I have so many wives that I can't take care of them all, why would I bother studying foreign women? I'm not the only one who can marry the Holy Mother Empress Dowager."

Ping'er didn't dare to disturb Shao Quanzhong's interest, but she muttered in her heart, "I think you are."

Franz I only looked a little old because of the heavy responsibilities and pressure of the empire. In fact, he was only in his forties and was in good health. It seemed that Princess Sissi had no potential to become the Virgin Queen Mother before she got old.

His Majesty Franz was in a very good mood as he had just finalized the matter of Shao Quanzhong's help in defrauding Turkey with the help of the "civilian forces" of the French and the Russians.

It was a stroke of genius that Shaw used his relationship with King Alfonso I to enlist the help of the Irish.

The Irish Young Volunteers were from the American barbarians and were sent from France to the Crimea to train the Russian guerrillas. France, the United States and Russia were not the countries that Britain was willing to spend the effort to attack at this time.

Whether it is France or Russia, they are both the executors of the strategy that Britain is eager to win over and habitually lets the second and third largest countries on the European continent join forces to fight the largest country.

The Bulgarians are a mixture of the Bulgars, Slavs and local Thracians from the ancient Western Regions of China. They are also a member of the fighting nation and a branch of the Southern "Slavs". It is reasonable for the Russians to support them.

As for France sending people to mess with the Turks, Britain's little brother, and to disgust the British, this is something France has been doing for generations and is absolutely a European tradition.

In history, during the Second World War, the British landed in Normandy and had difficulty in getting supplies across the sea. The troops went to the logistics department to ask for supplies. If there was none, they threatened the logistics officer to ask the French, their ally, for supplies, and the logistics officer had to squeeze out.

The British were unwilling to bow to the French no matter what.

Alliance is alliance, hatred is hatred, this is how Britain and France have been doing for many years.

Britain and France are two powerful countries that are close neighbors. It is inevitable that they will become enemies because they are so close. This is the same in the East and the West.

Franz and his wife have come from afar, so it is impossible for them to leave in just two days.

Shao Quanzhong brought Ping'er and Maria to accompany Franz and his wife to tour the beautiful land of China.

He went to Badaling to see the Great Wall, to Taiyuan to see the Jin Temple, and to Xi'an to see the Forest of Steles. Along the way, Franz marveled at the long history of Chinese civilization. Like Bismarck, he felt that the Qing Dynasty's industry was still far behind.

When I went to Wuhan to see the Yellow Crane Tower, I found that the business here was developed. However, the ships on the river were all merchant ships flying the Union Jack, which looked like a semi-colonial city.

For Qing to have such a long railway, it seems that Shao had worked very hard. For an agricultural country with a poor foundation, it would not rise overnight. Franz comforted Shao Quanzhong with a few words.

Shao Quanzhong didn't give the Qing Dynasty any face at all, and acted like a patriot. As the reporter traveled inland, the primitive and backwardness of the Qing Dynasty was fully displayed in front of the camera.

Ahem, Shao Quanzhong led his guests to explore the ancient and secluded places, and deliberately skipped the ancient city of Luoyang. Because Henan was governed by Zhang Zhidong for a period of time, it did not fit the label of "poor and backward" of the Qing Dynasty.

As for Xi'an, although Shao Quanzhong and Zhang Zhidong had both been in charge, Shaanxi and Gansu were too severely ravaged by banditry to recover in the short term.

Then Shao Quanzhong deliberately went to Wuchang, crossed the river and took a train along the south bank, bypassing the northern part of Anhui, and did not look south to the Pearl River Delta...

The area in northern Anhui that Shao Quanzhong once managed is now full of smoking enterprises that moved out of Hailing, and the pollution is worse than in London.

The fertilizer factories of the Song family are all in Anhui, and they have not harmed Jiangyan. There is nothing to see with chimneys and dust everywhere, right? Let's take a look at the beautiful original ecological scenery...

It can be imagined that when the photos of the accompanying reporters were published in the newspapers, the impression that "Qing Dynasty was still a backward agricultural country and it was difficult to catch up with the advanced level of the world" would make the European powers very happy and feel at ease.

This is indeed the truth. Our Qing Dynasty is very large and its development is very unbalanced. It depends on which part you emphasize in your publicity.

Princess Sissi had a lot of fun. After all, people who have enough food and clothing prefer to see the original and beautiful rural scenery and cultural relics. Working in the countryside is another matter.

Shao Quanzhong also took them to Jiangning on purpose, where the grand scale of the ancient city was in stark contrast to its decay and dilapidated state.

Seeing ragged beggars looking at the nobles, Shao Quanzhong explained, "These are war orphans left behind by the large-scale civil war seven years ago. No one takes care of them, and they have no chance to go to school. The court can't take care of them either..." Princess Sissi was moved by kindness and signed a check, "I will give 10,000 crowns to help these orphans."

Ping Er was unwilling to be left behind, "I'll also offer 10,000 British pound."

Maria: "I'll give you 10,000, too."

The court gave the two concubines, Ping'er and Maria, an annual salary of three thousand taels, but neither of them lived solely on their annual salary.

Ping'er was a major general of the Huai Army, with a monthly salary of 1,500 taels. As for Maria, no matter how poor Lucia was, she would never be as poor as the Archduchess.

All the food and clothing expenses at home were reimbursed by the wife Wenxiu, and there was a big red envelope worth tens of thousands of yuan at the end of the year. Do they need to spend money on their own when they go on business trips with Shao Quanzhong? They have no chance to spend money.

Franz and Shao Quanzhong smiled at each other and took 10,000 kronor and 10,000 eagle dollars respectively.

Both the crown silver coin and the eagle dollar weighed about 27 grams of silver, which was basically close to the 31.25 grams of one tael of silver at that time.

The five of them pooled together roughly the equivalent of six or seven million in modern times.

Franz smiled and said, "I suggest that you don't use this money directly, Shao. Instead, you should manage it as a fund trustee and use the profits for charity, which will last a long time."

In the end, this fund was registered under the name of Hu Liuniang, who was relatively less involved, and was named "Princess Sissi Charity Fund."

To everyone's surprise, it was the wealthy businessmen from Hailing who followed suit at first, and later more and more people donated, including many foreign bosses, who made a donation based on Princess Mu Sissi's fame.

This fund continued to invest and make profits, and later expanded to a size that the five original donors could not even imagine now, and the scope of beneficiaries included all the children in my country who could not afford to go to school...

The end point of the half-month trip was Hailing. After traveling around the mainland, the visiting group was suddenly brought back to modern society.

Hailing was even more beautiful. Princess Sissi would occasionally lift the curtain from her sedan chair and look around. Suddenly, the team heading to Qiao Garden stopped, and an old foreign beggar in tattered clothes suddenly rushed out from the side of the road and stopped Shao Quanzhong's horse.

Before being pushed away by the guards, the old beggar shouted loudly, "I have an important treasure to present to His Royal Highness! A treasure that can change the world!"

The old beggar spoke English, but his voice was halting, and it was obvious that English was not his native language. Hearing Maria, who was also riding a horse, coming over to translate, Shao Quanzhong smiled and decided to give the old beggar a chance.

Speaking of foreigners who were doing so badly in the Qing Dynasty, Shao Quanzhong had only seen one in all his years. He was even asked by Shao to teach German to overseas students, and the foreigner later became rich.

Now that the Qing Dynasty is open to the outside world, many people are learning foreign languages. Even if you are a foreign language teacher, you won't become a beggar. It's a wonder that you can end up like this.

Shao Quanzhong didn't think the old beggar could come up with any "treasure that could change the world", so he planned to see if he was a hooligan or a rogue, and then have someone introduce him to a job teaching foreign languages ​​so that he wouldn't affect the appearance of Hailing city.

When the old beggar tremblingly took out the so-called "treasure" from the tattered bag he was holding tightly, Shao Quanzhong's eyes suddenly widened.

"Someone, call the Chief of Staff of the Guards, Fan He."

Fan He followed behind the team and saluted.

"You will temporarily serve as the German interpreter for His Majesty Franz and his wife."

He turned around and bowed to Franz, "Old Franz, I will go back after I deal with this emergency. You and Ping'er go back to Qiao Garden first. I will go back to accompany you soon."

When Franz shook his head in surprise and followed the team, Shao Quanzhong said seriously, "Maria, ask him where this thing came from."

(End of this chapter)