Chapter 221 I want to be an agent of imperialism! (Please subscribe and vote)
In Tongshun Building, in a restaurant with very simple furnishings, French meals were being served on a long table by Cantonese servants in white cloth brought by Wu Jianzhang and Wu Chaoyue.

Luo Yaoguo used a knife and fork to cut the half-cooked steak on the plate into strips, dipped it in sauce, stuffed it into his mouth, chewed it a few times, swallowed it, and then took a sip of wine. Thanks to his frequent visits to Saria in the 21st Century, he was very skilled in using a knife and fork to cut steaks, better than Wu Ruxiao and Cheng Fupei who were accompanying him, and almost as good as Wu Jianzhang and Wu Chaoyue who often ate Western food.

Seeing how skillfully he used the knife and fork, and listening to him and Major Ma Hui talking about “Republic”, “Federation”, “Revolution” and “War of Independence”, the grandfather and grandson Wu Jianzhang and Wu Chaoyue became even more convinced that this Luo Xueyan must be from the Lanfang Luo family – a family that had been devoted to the republic for generations!
At this time, Major Ma Hui finished a plate of steak, wiped it with a napkin, and then took a sip of wine. After a pause, he stared at Luo Yaoguo with a pair of blue eyes and asked: “Mr. Chief Secretary, please forgive me for being frank, but you are different from all the Chinese officials I have ever met. You seem to know a lot about the world! I guess you were not born in this lifeless land, right?”

Luo Yaoguo glanced at the American in front of him and smiled, “I am different from them. I was born in Singapore. More than a hundred years ago, my ancestors crossed the ocean with many other people who had difficulty surviving in Guangdong to go to Borneo and established a small Lan Fang Republic in 1777, just one year after the founding of the United States of America.”

“Lan Fang Republic? No wonder.” Ma Hui immediately showed respect, “So one of your ancestors was also a great republican! So how is this republic doing now?”

“It still exists,” Luo Yaoguo smiled bitterly, “but the situation is not very good. The Dutch in the East Indies have always wanted to destroy this republic founded by the Chinese.”

“So that’s how it is.” Ma Hui showed a trace of indignation, and then asked with a questioning look, “Since you were born into a wise family of the Lan Fang Republic, why did you become an official of the Tatar Dynasty?”

Luo Yaoguo explained: “My ancestors and a group of like-minded people founded the Lan Fang Republic, but my family was not a noble in the Lan Fang Republic. Before I was born, my family moved to Singapore under the rule of the British Empire. And the motherland of me and my family has never been the Lan Fang Republic, but China!”

“Is it China?” Ma Hui was a little surprised.

“Yes!” Luo Yaoguo nodded firmly, “Although I am in a foreign country, my heart is still Chinese!” He said with some emotion: “Although my family has been doing business in Southeast Asia for many years, the connection with the motherland has never been cut off.

When my family’s old friend in China, the Governor-General of Hunan, Mr. Luo, hoped that my family could provide someone who was familiar with Western affairs, especially Western military affairs, to serve as his advisor, I was ordered to return to China. “

Ma Hui, the red-neck American, did not seem to agree with Luo Xueyan’s approach. He shrugged and said, “Mr. Luo, please forgive my frankness. Do you think there is still a possibility that the feudal dynasty currently ruling China can be saved?”

“Oh, that depends on what the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is?” Luo Yaoguo said, “Because what the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is will determine whether you will provide a lot of help to the dying feudal dynasty.”

“What is the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom?” Major Ma Hui asked with interest.

Luo Yaoguo took out a copy of “The Great Book of Prophecies” – this was a “bilingual edition”. Luo Yaoguo had worked late last night to translate the limericks he had written during the day into English.

“The Great Book of Prophecy? This is…” Major Ma Hui looked at the English title on the cover of the thread-bound book with a look of doubt on his face.

“We’ll talk about this later,” Luo Yaoguo said, “Let me first talk about the land policy of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom!”

“What is their land policy?” asked Major Ma Hui.

“It’s about dividing the land!” Luo Yaoguo said, “All the land occupied by the Taiping Army will be divided up, and the respected gentry will lose their personal property, including land, houses, slaves, livestock, stored silver, stored grain, and debts lent to farmers! Any gentry who resist will be eliminated by them!”

“This…” Major Ma Hui was stunned. It took him a while to react and he muttered, “This is too radical! No one did this in Europe in 1848!”

Wu Jianzhang on the side gnashed his teeth and said: “This is what these people do! They are all devils!”

Luo Yaoguo said: “If they were not like this, there wouldn’t be so many people following them!” He looked at Major Ma Hui and asked: “Will you in the United States, Britain, and France support such a regime?”

“Impossible, absolutely impossible!” Major Ma Hui shook his head. “Although I can understand their atrocities, the United States government will never support such rebels who violate private property! As for Britain and France, it has only been a few years since the chaos in 1848!” The European continent is not peaceful now, and a ghost is wandering around.
“But the Qing court will never be able to stop the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom from seizing most of the land in the Yangtze River Basin!” Luo Yaoguo said, “At present, it seems that Jiangning will fall soon! Zhenjiang and Yangzhou will follow in Jiangning’s footsteps, and it is hard to say whether Changzhou and Suzhou can be defended. The next ones are Taicang and Songjiang. And Shanghai County belongs to Songjiang Prefecture! Once Shanghai County is occupied by the Taiping Army, the concession will no longer exist!”

Major Ma Hui’s face darkened: “If the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom dares to infringe on the interests of Britain, France, and the United States in the Yangtze River Basin, they must be prepared to bear the most severe punishment!”

“Really?” Luo Yaoguo said, “Major, how many troops do you think Britain and France can still send to East Asia when a war with Russia is about to break out? If you want to defeat the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, it is impossible without an expeditionary force of tens of thousands of people. If Britain and France do not send troops, are you prepared to send troops alone to China to fight at least 200 million people?”

“What?” Major Ma Hui was surprised. “What did you say? Britain and France want Russia to go to war? When did this happen? How come I don’t know about it?”

“The war between Russia and Türkiye will break out in October!” Luo Yaoguo said, “This October. Britain and France will be involved next year.”

“October of this year?” Ma Hui was stunned. “But it’s only March now! How do you know what happened in October?”

Luo Yaoguo gently pushed the bilingual version of the “Great Prophecy Book” to Major Ma Hui and said with a smile: “Major, as a Christian, I believe that there is either a devil or a prophet in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. This “Great Prophecy Book” is a collection of some prophetic poems of the devil or prophet that circulated in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The content is mainly about major events that will happen outside China this year, and some happened at the end of last year.

Oh, there is one more thing about you Americans!”

“It’s related to the United States?” Major Ma Hui asked, “What is it?”

Luo Yaoguo said slowly: “A fleet led by Commodore Matthew Perry will cross the Pacific Ocean and enter Japan’s Uraga Port on July 7 this year, forcing Japan to open up its country by force! We will know whether the prediction is accurate in more than four months!”

“This, this…” Major Ma Hui looked at Luo Yaoguo in disbelief. “Mr. Luo, as a well-educated person, how could you believe such a ridiculous thing?”

Luo Yaoguo smiled and said, “There are still four months to wait. Major, I have sent a copy of the Great Prophecy to Consul Aliguo, and I will send a copy to Consul Aitong tomorrow. This is for you, even if you don’t believe a word of it, you can refer to it.

By the way, since you will not support the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and are not optimistic about the future of the Qing Dynasty, have you ever considered looking for friends outside of the Qing Dynasty and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom? “

“Besides the Qing Dynasty and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom? You mean…” Ma Hui, the redneck, immediately brightened up and stared at Luo Yaoguo, “Mr. Luo, do you want to be friends with the United States, Britain, and France?”

Luo Yaoguo pointed at Wu Jianzhang and said with a smile: “There is also Lord Wu, and Lord Luo, Lord Luo, Lord Zuo, Lord Zeng, Lord Jiang and my 6,000 new troops in Shanghai! Are we enough?”

Ma Hui asked: “Six thousand new troops? You have so many troops? Where are they?”

Luo Yaoguo smiled and said, “If you support me, I will have it. Major, please sell me all the weapons and ammunition in Qichang Foreign Company! How many American expatriates in Shanghai have served in the military? Can you recommend them to serve as military advisors? I really need their help now!”

In addition, I hope you can say a few words for us when the British, French and American delegations discuss the China issue! “

After that, Luo Yaoguo took out an envelope and handed it to Major Ma Hui: “It’s just a small token of my respect.”

Major Ma Hui immediately took the envelope and found that the seal was not glued, so he immediately pried it open and looked inside. There was a thick stack of “paper” – it looked a bit like British pound notes, and there was quite a lot of it!
“Mr. Luo,” Major Ma Hui said with a smile, “I’m determined to make you my friend!”

(End of this chapter)