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Volume 4 Leviathan Chapter 12 Letter

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    London, Palace of Westminster, House of Commons Lounge, 4 p.m.  For a British person, afternoon tea is a sacred moment.  Exquisite Chinese porcelain, fine Indian black tea, plus milk and brown sugar, and a few well-baked cheese biscuits are irresistible temptations for these British people living in the humid and rainy British Isles.  The gentlemen members of the House of Commons are no exception. At this time, these members who were arguing fiercely in the House of Commons not long ago also gathered in groups, tasting exquisite refreshments, and chatting in low voices.  The appearance of a life and death enemy.  Belfort curled up comfortably in an armchair and read a letter intently. The black tea on the round coffee table in front of him was no longer hot, and the snacks did not appear to have been touched. Obviously, the content of the letter was very important.  Leaving him no time to pay attention to the refreshments in front of him.  "Dear Mr. Belfort, I have arrived in Xuzhou today. The railway from Jiangning Prefecture to Tianjin that is under construction ends here. The next one is still under construction. I must change to a carriage or other means of transportation to continue.  Journey. Xuzhou is a very ancient city. According to the locals, it has a history of 6,000 years. This is unbelievable. Civilization existed here as early as 4,000 years before the birth of Jesus. I believe this is more.  It is a myth and legend rather than a real history. This city is located in a huge plain, and the surrounding land is well cultivated, producing a large amount of wheat and corn. The Chinese are natural farmers, and they are very good at using these simple things.  Farm tools are used to cultivate their small plots of land. From what I observed on the train, the upcoming harvest will be very good. However, the life of the farmers is not very good. Judging from the small stops along the way, it can be seen everywhere.  Beggars, the clothes on the people's bodies are shabby, and it is rare to see well-nourished people with rosy faces. On the roof of the train, you can see groups of farmers carrying packages on their way to nearby cities. Many of them want to work in the city.  People who go to the city to earn some money during the off-farm season are mostly bankrupted by usury and taxes. According to the results of my conversations with them through servants, the reason for their bankruptcy is simple: in the past, they obtained almost all the necessities of life through labor.  They could grow their own food, vegetables, and weave cloth. They did not need to buy anything from outside except salt and ironware. The emperor only wanted them to collect food and cloth as taxes, so they could live a free and prosperous life.  Dignity. But things have changed in recent decades. The large amounts of cheap cotton and grain coming from the northwest have made their output worthless, and the southern factories have produced cheap and good cloth, which has completely defeated the industry that has existed for thousands of years.  of the homespun textile industry, and the emperor changed the form of taxes to require money instead of food and cloth. However, gold and silver could not be grown in the fields, and the poor farmers had to accept the conditions of the black-hearted merchants at low prices.  They sold their own grain to pay taxes, and one farmer after another went bankrupt Mr. Balfour, does the above sound familiar to you? This has happened in Great Britain and Europe in the past hundreds of years, in rural areas.  The nobles and peasants went bankrupt, while the merchants and citizens of the city became rich. Under the impact of wheat imported from Eastern Europe, the poor peasants lost everything and had to go to the city to be beggars and workers. All this again in this distant place.  The country has repeated itself, but the difference is that the scale is larger, the time is shorter, and the intensity is more intense. So what will happen next? The above is my judgment.  The development since 1860 has been so rapid that the ancient body has been fractured internally, the old order is being shattered, and the new order is far from being formed, so I think that in the near future, this ancient empire will undergo a transformation.  A violent civil war in which millions of people would die and the earth would open up, swallowing everything in its abyss, would make all of Europe's past wars nothing more than this.  It's just some jokes.  But if this civil war ends and this ancient empire can still remain unified, it will be very scary for European civilization.  Because civil war is like a big steel furnace, which will eliminate old contradictions and cracks and turn them into a solid piece of steel again.  May God have mercy on us.  Okay, that¡¯s it for this time¡¯s letter.  Do you remember the Chinese servant I mentioned to you in my last letter?  Thank God for sending him to me. In these few days, he helped me deal with at least twelve thieves. Without him, I simply don¡¯t know how to continue this journey.  "Loyal Gillings" "Mr. Balfour!"  " A voice interrupted Belfort's thoughts. He raised his head and saw a burly middle-aged man standing in front of him, pointing to the seat in front of him: "Can I sit here, please?  " "Of course, Mr. Chamberlain!  "Belfort stood up and said, "I'm sorry, I didn't see you coming over just now."??!  " "As an uninvited guest, I should be the one to say sorry!  "Chamberlain moved his body comfortably. Under the weight of his nearly two hundred kilograms, the armchair made a creaking sound. Belfort couldn't help but worry that the mahogany armchair would fall apart under his weight.  "Excuse me, I'm a little curious.  "Chamberlain didn't notice the other party's eyes: "If I remember correctly, there will be a routine vote on the Irish issue tomorrow, but you are leisurely reading the letter here. I don't know if you already have a plan in mind or this letter.  It's so important - " Belfort smiled and looked at Chamberlain's eyes staring at the letter in his hand. Obviously the other party was curious about the content, but there were unspoken rules in the interactions of British gentlemen, and he could not directly ask to know the letter.  Content. In fact, Balfour did not mind letting the other party know about this letter, because it would not harm his plan, but would greatly help him. "Mr. Chamberlain, my view on the Irish issue has never changed: the Irish issue is actually a matter of fact.  It¡¯s not a problem. The only problem is that we British are too soft-hearted. If we can be like General Sherman (the northern general during the American Civil War, known for his brutality, who once set fire to Atlanta), that beautiful  The island has long since returned to its former peace.  There is no doubt that after this, we should show mercy and justice, but all this only after showing great strength and the determination to use force will not be mistaken for weakness and fear.  As for this letter.  "Belfort handed over the letter in his hand: "It was written to me by a friend of mine who traveled in China. I am very interested in this ancient empire!  " "Oh, thank you!  Chamberlain accepted the letter with some embarrassment. He did not expect that the other party would directly hand it to him to read: "Mr. Balfour, although I cannot completely agree with your views on the Irish issue, one thing is certain. I support it."  All actions to keep this island within the Empire, I and my people will support you in Parliament on this issue!  " "Thank you very much!  " Chamberlain originally thought that this letter was about the Irish issue that he was concerned about, but when he heard that Balfour said that it was only about travel to China, he was ready to read just two lines and return it to the other party, so as not to infringe on the other party's rights too much*  *. But when Chamberlain glanced at the first two lines of the letter, his attention was attracted by the content of the letter. As a successful businessman who struggled from the middle and lower classes of society, what happened in China was described in his heart.  The look in his eyes was so familiar, almost the same as what he saw with his own eyes and heard from his parents when he was young. This made him reluctant to let go. He read the letter from beginning to end in one breath, and then raised his head reluctantly.  Come and return the letter to Balfour: "Mr. Balfour, this friend of yours observes very carefully. I think you may not know more even if you go there in person!  " "I think Mr. Gillings will be very happy to hear your praise!  "Belfort took the letter and put it aside, and whispered to the footman walking by: "Bring me two cod fish sandwiches, Mr. Chamberlain, can you have black tea?  " "Thank you!  Chamberlain nodded: "I think this is just one of many letters from Mr. Gillings?"  " "Yes, he usually writes a letter every other week or less, then sends it to the consulate in Shanghai, and then sends it to London by mail.  " Chamberlain asked uneasily: "If possible, could you also show me these letters?  Of course, that's before deleting the personal information about you first!  "Of course, you can wait for a while. When the Irish problem comes to an end, I will compile these letters into a report and read it out in the House of Commons. This is the basis of my hope for the empire's next policy towards East Asia."  " "I'm looking forward to your report!  Chamberlain rubbed his hands excitedly: "However, I don't agree with Mr. Gillings's assertion that China will have a civil war just because of those contradictions. He is making too much of a fuss. What he just said is not true."  It has also happened in the UK, and the situation is much more serious. At least China has not issued a decree. All beggars have to choose between becoming slaves or being hanged. Their small peasant land has not been taken over by noble lords.  Come back to the lucrative sheep farming business!  (Chamberlain is talking about the famous "sheep cannibalism" movement in British history. In the 15th and 16th centuries, due to the rapid development of the wool textile industry in Britain and the Netherlands, the demand for wool surged, and the British aristocrats forcibly occupied farmers.  The land was used as pasture, and farmers had no choice but to wander into the city, and the British king at that time issued a decree that anyone who wandered without work for a month would become a slave for life if reported, and if he escaped, he would be hanged.) "
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