C1858 False Painting

What Ai Liguo said was right, the most important trick of Qing Dynasty ruling over China was the face issue.

During this period in Second Opium War, the American Minister Hua Ruohan was preparing to go to the Forbidden City to see Xian Feng and have him settle the war, but because of this question, they were unable to come to an agreement. In the end, even Hua Ruohan did not see the Emperor.

In fact, during the war where the entire British and French combined forces attacked Qing Dynasty, the Xian Feng Emperor did not personally meet any foreign envoys.

The later generations found it hard to understand the Qing Dynasty's paranoid request to kneel, as if abolishing the kneeling ceremony would cause the heaven and earth to crumble. Actually, this was not a joke, but for the Qing Dynasty, crippling the kneeling ceremony was akin to crumbling heaven and earth.

This was a very deep psychological problem! It was already a miracle that the foreign races, especially the sparsely populated foreign races like the Qing Dynasty, were able to rule the Central Plains for more than two hundred years.

To be honest, even the Manchu himself thought that his rule was a miracle.

The majority rule of the minority depended not only on powerful force, but also on cultural orthodoxy and continued brainwashing of the citizens about the legitimacy of his regime.

In the depths of Manchu's heart, and even in his subconscious, he felt a deep sense of insecurity. The Chinese people's culture was too deep, their population was too large, and as long as there were a few heroes, they could overthrow the Manchu's rule within minutes.

It was because of this extreme self-doubt in his heart that led to his strong vanity on the outside!

Whether or not you kneel down to pay your respects is a very important indicator to verify your loyalty to Manchu. They need you to kneel in front of them and kowtow nine times to the sky, just how long does Big Plaits drag around for in order for them to know that you are loyal to them.

What about to Westerners? Kowtow was an important basis to prove that Qing Dynasty was the king of the world.

After a long period of brainwashing, the Qing Dynasty had always claimed that she was the ruler of the world, and all the foreign countries in the world were the Subordinate States. They used this kind of scam to numb all the Chinese in the world, making them believe that accepting the rule of the Manchu was natural.

And now the Europeans are here! Now that the ship is here, not only will it be able to blow up your customs, it will also be hard for Manchu to not kneel and kowtow to me.

English, French, Americans... Are these pagan races the Subordinate States you are promoting? Aren't you the master of the world? Can you command these countries?

The answer is no, don't even mention an order, even if you begged them, they wouldn't kowtow nine times to you.

What else could it be if it wasn't the Great Perception? The Europeans refused to kneel and kowtow to you and even used their cannons to fight you, and just like that, they had already tore apart the lies woven by the Qing Dynasty and the Cynics, how could the Qing Dynasty not be afraid?

Fortunately, the news from that era was rather leaked and the commoners did not know what happened in the imperial court.

Thus, the first time he negotiated with the Second Opium War, it was always the Emperor's messengers and foreigners. There was no problem to compensate them with the lost territory, since it was difficult for the citizens to know about it.

However, if the foreigners wanted to meet the emperor on equal terms and negotiate with him, then that was definitely not possible! Because a lot of paints, as long as you see it, it will be really punctured.

This was the main reason why Xian Feng would rather die than see the Western Ambassador, in the end, it was because of the fear in his heart.

This time, Xiao Letian forced the emperor to bring him out of the Beijing, and had him promote the civilization and affluence of Europe. Whatever a teenage child knew, he would naturally go wherever it was fun to him.

But Zai Chun didn't know that his master had given him an arsenic pill that was covered in honey. As long as he visited the European Qing Dynasty, the painting would be torn into shreds.

Tongzhi was widely acknowledged as the Emperor of the Great Qing. Being able to humbly pay a visit to Europe was actually a huge breakthrough in the diplomatic field of the entire European civilization.

Tongzhi had visited Europe before, which proved that the Qing Empire and the other countries in Europe were on equal footing. There was no one who belonged to them, there was no question of who was bigger and who was smaller.

Europe was naturally proud of itself. Once this kind of equal relationship was established, they would be able to tear their way through the rotten and numb bureaucracy. Whether it was business negotiations or diplomatic disputes, they would be able to gain a lot of initiative.

Benjamin had heard the reports of the Eastern Governor and the ministers more than once, saying that when he came into contact with the Qing Empire's bureaucrats, he felt all sorts of helplessness. They would invite you to all kinds of banquets, including banquets involving prostitutes.

Whether you want to buy land, expand the docks, build churches, build schools... You'll encounter endless resistance when it comes to business.

In their eyes, the Westerners was merely a barbarian country that coveted for some silver taels. It was one thing for them to earn a bit of compensation, but for them, was it for them to negotiate and do business on an equal footing? F * ck, they wouldn't accept this.

Benjamin believed that this time, the reason why the Tongzhi Emperor was able to visit Europe was to tear apart the false lie of the Qing Dynasty. From today onwards, the king of the Qing Empire would not be able to deceive his officials and subjects.

With regards to this trip, Benjamin was extremely happy in his heart. He knew that the visit of Emperor Tongzhi would definitely bring endless practical benefits to Europe, but why was he feeling so sour?

"Damn it!" Such a huge diplomatic breakthrough, such a historic opportunity, why wasn't I the one who facilitated it? Damnit, why is it still that Xiao Letian? "

"Prime Minister? Prime Minister... What are you talking about? " He realized that the Prime Minister had already been in a daze for five minutes, and had even gnashed his teeth as though he did not know what to say.

"Oh!" Oh? "Oh, oh..." I'm sorry, I'm analyzing the pros and cons of this matter for the Empire... Actually, I was mainly pondering about Xiao Letian's problem … "

"Because... Because this breakthrough in the history of diplomacy, it is very likely that the biggest beneficiary will be Xiao Letian.

"Your Majesty … We have to face Xiao Letian face him face to face, everything he does is to take ten steps at a time, at the back of his smile is always a blade, inside the honey there will always be poison, we British Empire cannot be fooled! "

"Let's see how he deals with the Qing Empire! On the surface, bringing the Tongzhi Emperor to Europe might seem like it is for the little emperor's own good, but in reality, he is scheming to shatter the Qing Empire's rule … "

"He is bullying the young emperor, forcing him to drink the honey that was mixed with poison. The visit this time will be detrimental to Manchu's rule!"

"Powerful character, I dare to say that in the next twenty years, this person will become a huge threat to our British Empire … I think this person should... "Kill them all!"