Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

If it could be accomplished through diplomatic means, then this matter would be far too easy for the British.

In fact, it is always Britain's arrogance that ultimately causes problems, and the British themselves are bound to cause trouble.

For example, if a business director is sent to China and the East India Company's monopoly is lifted, British merchants will definitely flock to Guangzhou.

Even the Qing Dynasty had some understanding of the potential changes in the authority of British merchants' "taipan" (chief executives), so official documents from the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, once they reached the East India Company, quickly reached the British mainland.

Compared to around 1800, by 1830 even wooden boats were much faster.

After receiving the news in the UK, Foreign Secretary Palmerston also began making arrangements.

The British were quite confident about their operations in the Far East, because the Royal Navy was the largest in the world. Even though the Qing Dynasty already had a naval force the size of a squadron, there was nothing to worry about.

Given Palmerston's overwhelming advantage, the people he chose to appoint were naturally those he was familiar with on his side, rather than those familiar with relations with China.

When selecting personnel, it is essential to ensure their reliability.

Even Queen Charlotte couldn't offer any opinion on this matter when she saw the candidate.

Because the arrogant British couldn't find any suitable candidates on their own turf.

And so Napier made his grand entrance. After all, he was a lord, and this time he was a duke.

In fact, they all set off earlier than planned. Palmerston was not entirely at ease with his friend, and before Nahlobyn departed, he raised some questions.

"How should we maintain our relationship with the Chinese emperor? At least with their local governors, William, I'd like to hear your opinion."

"What else is there to say? We need to maintain stable trade relations with the Chinese. It would be best to sign a trade agreement, taking into account the business environment of Russia and France."

"But after Lord Amherst's incident, the Chinese emperor has only been lenient towards our country in trade matters; now he is on full alert. You should know that the current Chinese emperor has established diplomatic relations with Russia and I've heard that he will send an ambassador to be stationed in Paris. They have strengthened their coastal defenses, have a European-style naval fleet, and are also expanding their new army."

"Expand the army?"

"They hired General Drouot as an advisor from Napoleon to train all the troops using the new weapons, which is undoubtedly a huge threat to us. China's annual fiscal revenue, with its lower tax rates, is said to be comparable to that of France."

Because Solovyov was so troublesome, the British have now begun to pay attention to the strength of the Qing Dynasty army and the country's financial resources. Since it has the financial level of France, and under the premise of low taxes, if this country were a European country, its potential would be terrifying.

Palmerston's concerns, however, did not mean that his friend Lawrence was also worried.

“Henry, don’t say that. No matter what, they are just a traditional absolute monarchy, only vast in territory. If they were on the edge of Europe, in the location of the Ottoman Empire, they might be a formidable opponent, at least they would have a greater need for new weapons than the Turks. But they are in the Far East, which is too far away. No matter how much the Russians and French strengthen their armaments, it won’t be enough.”

While what he said was true, Napier clearly underestimated the Qing Dynasty.

Palmerston was quite cautious: "Maintain friendly relations with the Chinese as much as possible. None of us are leaders like Solovyov, who is well-versed in Chinese culture and understands the preferences of the emperor and his ministers. He was able to train his two younger brothers to be China experts, while we only have Mr. Staunton, who is banned from entering China by the Chinese emperor. To try to understand their culture, as our ambassador to Russia has met with their civil servants at cultural salons, gifts are sometimes necessary. There will be special funds for this from the East India Company and the Cabinet."

"Why do this?"

“This kind of ‘gift’ is necessary. The fees they collected from customs in the past did not actually reach the level of European tariffs. We should act according to the circumstances and try to make friends with some important figures like Song Jun.”

At this time, Songjun was still alive, but he was very old and could not provide much assistance to the British. In fact, he had a good relationship with almost every foreigner.

Palmerston had more concerns than if the historical events were reconstructed.

"I'll find a way to befriend them, Henry. Is there anything else you need to tell me?"

"When communicating with officials of the Chinese emperor, avoid using threatening language and intimidating tone, and avoid offending them under any circumstances."

Although it can be avoided, it is sometimes unavoidable.

Palmerston's concern stemmed from the fact that even Staunton Jr. had made a basic mistake when he met the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, but the Governor-General hadn't taken it too seriously.

He could only remind Napier to prepare as much as possible before he set off.

These measures should be avoided as much as possible, but sometimes British officials interpret this as meaning that they can be used appropriately.

After all, everyone knows that their naval guns are very powerful.

"anything else?"

"Try to avoid involving the Royal Navy in your operations unless absolutely necessary. Moreover, if the Chinese Emperor's main fleet is in Guangzhou, it would be a huge problem. They have at least one known first-class warship, as well as heavy frigates and fast sailing ships. Fortunately, they are a defensive navy, otherwise these warships would be a great danger."

Napier, on the other hand, was an expert in this area. He had participated in the Battle of Trafalgar when he was young and knew that the enemy's fighting strength should not be underestimated.

However, some arrogance is inevitable, given the Royal Navy's formidable fighting power.

"The most important point is that we must maintain the smooth progress of normal trade and not interfere with the opium trade; we must remain uninvolved in it."

This is actually very important, because in that year, Emperor Daoguang received a memorial from Lin Zexu, the then Governor of Jiangsu, who offered some opinions on the opium trade and the issues of silver being expensive and copper coins being cheap.

The large-scale circulation of silver and copper coins was also crucial at this time.

The Qing Dynasty managed to control the outflow of silver, but in order to issue new currency, it still needed to store a large amount of precious metals as reserves, which can be considered as picking up the method used by the Song Dynasty to issue "Jiaozi".

The Ming Dynasty's paper money once depreciated drastically due to a lack of reserves, causing its value to plummet.

"Jiaozi" was devalued and went bankrupt by Cai Taishi's reformation into "Qianyin". However, it was revived as "Huizi" in the Southern Song Dynasty. The waste paper was mainly the banknotes of the Yuan and Ming Dynasties. The silver notes of our Great Qing Dynasty were the payment tool. This is due to the national conditions.

When the Qing Dynasty was about to implement currency reforms, this was actually the most opportune time for the British to intervene. Both Britain and France were seasoned imperialist powers with highly developed financial sectors; one favored securities trading, while the other was poised to develop into a usurious imperialism.

However, both countries had their own difficulties. Britain had colonies here, but they had never been able to intervene in China's internal affairs.

Although France had a well-developed financial system and had already opened consulates in Guangzhou and Tianjin, it lacked colonies to support it, leaving both countries helpless.

If William John Napier (Nerobel) had understood what his personal friend, Foreign Secretary Palmerston, meant, the talks with the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi would probably have gone more smoothly.

After all, in business, although the Qing Dynasty retained its arrogance in official documents and regulations, it would always avoid being too rigid because of its French and Russian friends.

According to the latest version of the European relations report, Britain, France, and Russia are working together to maintain order in Europe. Although there is internal strife, they are still considered allies.

Therefore, Li Hongbin, the current governor of the Guangdong and Guangxi Governor's Office, paid special attention to this matter and reminded the British to send someone specifically to the area.

The problem was that if Napier arrived late, the local governor would be replaced.

If I had met Lin Zexu later, things might have been better; Lord Lin was truly a reasonable person.

If it were someone else, the outcome would be uncertain.

Another important issue is that British opium smuggling is still rampant off the coast of Guangzhou. British merchants who come to do business are often not doing legitimate business; they are always opium traffickers.

On the contrary, it was the Americans who came, and more of them were there to do business.

Another important factor was that Solovyov's series of powerful moves in the Middle East led to the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the annexation of the Persian Empire. Outside of British-controlled India, the environment for large-scale poppy cultivation to produce opium no longer existed.

Americans were also prohibited from selling people in China, so they started doing legitimate business, especially transporting medicinal herbs that were in short supply in mainland China from all over the world.

They were overly active in East Africa, even making contact with the Sultan of Oman.

In Guangzhou, all parties are experiencing a scene of booming business.

The translator that Napier was able to take with him on the ship was Morrison from the Amherst mission. Although his Chinese had improved, it was still not as good as that of the Solovyov brothers.

If Anton hadn't always held the position of ambassador to China, he probably wouldn't have had any problems holding an official post in the Qing Dynasty.

He was summoned by the Daoguang Emperor in Beijing several times, mainly to inquire about the situation in Europe.

In fact, the news of the British decision to abolish the East India Company's monopoly had already been leaked to the Far East within the Duke of Wellington's cabinet. The Daoguang Emperor was not completely unaware of this; it was even mentioned in the memorials submitted by the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi.

Emperor Daoguang was still somewhat wary of the British approach.

The main reason was that Solovyov's "British threat theory" was so successful that even if Emperor Daoguang couldn't get any eggs, he still had to tighten his belt and strengthen the army.

Even in the early years of the Daoguang Emperor's reign, when the Khanate of Kokand was quelled, the Qing Dynasty actually benefited. Daoguang was even able to boast at the Imperial Ancestral Temple that the descendants of the Hui chieftain, whom they had been worried about during their reign, had all been brought to justice.

The Qing Dynasty also benefited from trade with Central Asia, mainly from the traditional porcelain and tea trade in the region. Through the newly established officials in Fergana, the Qing Dynasty was able to pay substantial taxes to the national treasury and the Ili General's Office.

Having benefited from border trade, Daoguang also realized the importance of establishing customs and a silver standard.

Although the Qing government's credibility was not high at this time, it was still much better than the waste paper issued by the Ming Dynasty. It was also widely criticized because this kind of paper could not be used as toilet paper in the east of the village.

The silver used previously was indeed easily stolen by the armory guards.

The shape of the silver coins currently in use is problematic, and with the introduction of copper coins, the Qing Dynasty's currency finally came into line with the world.

Even now, according to the casting specifications, one silver ruble is still half a tael of silver. The coins minted by the Qing Dynasty itself were also of this specification, only they were marked with "half a tael".

If you didn't know better, you'd think Old Qin was making a limited-time comeback.

Besides assigning tasks to Nahlobyn, Palmerston also kept a close eye on these monetary reforms, even though he was the Foreign Secretary.

Earl Grey's policy toward the Far East was primarily one of pursuing stability, and he did not want any trouble to arise.

But Palmerston was different; his habit of sending gunboats was largely a product of his own actions.

Even the Queen and the Prime Minister were unwilling to cause trouble, and the Foreign Secretary was also disliked by everyone. However, for the sake of British face, the British would still make a move.

Palmerston's reminders to Nahloboy were all suggestions at the diplomatic level.

However, if his views on the Qing Dynasty were made public, they would likely be viewed unfavorably.

If the Qing Dynasty was unwilling to open its doors, he did not mind using force, even though the Qing Dynasty had greatly strengthened its army with the help of France and Russia.

Some of the new troops were highly rated, even reaching the level of second-rate European armies.

In addition, there were Irish soldiers and Russian Cossacks from the Eight Banners, as well as foreign legions recruited from all over the world.

Although the Qing Dynasty was wary of Britain, it could not have imagined what kind of trouble would follow.

For more than a decade, when merchants from various countries traveled to Guangzhou, even legitimate British merchants, they all followed the rules. Before arriving in Guangzhou, officials would usually stay in Macau and wait for the official documents from the Governor-General's Office of Guangdong and Guangxi before entering Guangzhou.

If some officials are unaware of the rules and enter Guangzhou directly, they can board the ship first and buy tickets later. If they behave well, some problems can be avoided.

However, some people like to be unconventional and seek special treatment, which causes them enormous trouble. (End of Chapter)