In September 1855, Hue City, the capital of central Annan, was a beautiful city. When the sea breeze blew across this city from the sea more than 10 miles away to the east, there was no longer the roughness of the ocean, leaving only the gentleness of the mother stroking children. The 6-meter-high city wall and a deep moat protect the Annan capital, which is 20 miles in length. The giant cannons standing on the 24 forts on the walls declared a deterrence to any pretender, and the Xiangjiang River meandered through this rich and beautiful city.

Xiangjiang is named after it is said that because the upper reaches are covered with dense acorus gracia, there is always a faint fragrance floating in the clear river. This river originated from the Changshan Mountains, turns west and east from the beautiful Tianmu Temple, which is 300 years old, crosses the outer city of Hue, and turns northeast to Dongbo City, in the southeast corner of the imperial city. The flow rate is gentle and clear as a mirror. A clear and clear stream waters the fertile rice fields, orchards, and flowerbeds on both sides of the shore, washing the prosperous city and towering pavilions and towers elegantly and quiet. Several sandbanks lie in the middle of the river, with bridges on the river everywhere, boats and boats singing.

Outside the towering city walls are large areas of town surrounding this imperial capital. There are endless crowds of people and extremely lively. Businesses and travelers on the shore are radiating, and boats on the river are shuttled, presenting a prosperous picture.

In a small shop in a small town outside the city, the father and daughter were busy. Under the low wooden eaves, you could see the magnificent and solid city walls with your eyes squinted. My father sat on the lounge chair outside the store and weaving bamboo baskets. In the store, his beautiful daughter, who was wearing a bit like a cheongsam, was listing the small porcelain bottles on the counter one by one.

At this time, a person came out of a shop opposite the house and walked straight towards the shop, "Boss Qin, do you still want fish sauce?" The old man immediately put down the bamboo basket in his hand and stood up.

"Uncle Li, hello. It's... Tianyusau..." The man said in stuttering Annan dialect. This man was not old, wearing a wrinkled silk robe, not tall, with a few pockmarks on his face, and had braids on his head that only had ground in neighboring countries, and a smell of Chinese medicine all over his body.

This mazi is a new face on this street. A Chinese man came here two months ago and bought a cloth shop, but turned into a Chinese medicine shop. He understood the local language, but when he spoke it, he was inevitably strange. The identity of the "Celestial Dynasty" visitors from neighboring countries and their accent made the neighbors around him have a lot of topics to talk about after dinner.

"Daughter, go to Boss Qin's house to get a bottle of good fish sauce." The old man turned around and greeted.

Fish sauce is a specialty of Annan. It can be used as seasonings or directly consumed. It is extremely delicious. The processing and production of fish sauce is very complicated. During the peak season of fish production, fresh fish are put into a fish basket, trampled with your feet to remove the scales, then removed the internal organs, washed, put into a large wooden barrel specially used to make fish sauce, put an appropriate amount of salt, and place a small tube on the lower part of the wooden barrel to guide the other empty barrel. After three or five days, pour the fish sauce from the original empty barrel into the fish bucket, wait until it is full before pouring it back. This is repeated many times, and the fish sauce that flows out is the fish sauce original juice. The original juice of the fish sauce is transported home, put it in a large barrel or a large jar, and put it in a hot sunlight for about 20 days. It becomes fish sauce. The entire manufacturing process of fish sauce takes five or six months. The fish sauce is placed in a cool and dry place, stored properly, and will not be damaged all year round. Among them, the "field fish sauce" of the Dai people is quite famous.

As he said that, Uncle Li invited Boss Qin to wait. This is a distinguished guest. He is worthy of being from the Heavenly Kingdom. He has money. This fish sauce is very expensive, delicious and difficult to make. It is naturally expensive. It is all bought in small porcelain bottles and is not affordable for ordinary people. Lao Li’s store does not buy much, but after this pomacera boss becomes addicted to eating, he buys a bottle almost every day. How can such a big rich man not treat it well?

But Uncle Li was a little curious. This Chinese medicine may be more effective than Annan herbs, but the boss said that Annan dialect is not good, and he has never seen anyone treat or sell herbs. The store often has strange Chinese and Annan people secretly patronized them at night. How can he make money by making money?

After getting the fish sauce, Boss Qin took out a silver slot to pay the bill. At this moment, three people from the street looked like officials came over and walked over swaggeringly. The leader was wearing Annan official uniforms in the style of Ming Dynasty in China. They were not straw sandals or barefoot on their feet. Instead, they were holding their toes with their toes. There was a big knife hanging around their waists. They stopped in front of Boss Qin's pharmacy and shouted, "Is anyone? Come out!"

Boss Qin held the bottle of fish sauce and immediately rushed over as if his butt was on fire. He bowed and bowed in front of the three of them. He smiled in strange Annan dialect and said, "I am the owner of this store. How dare you ask me, what's the price?"

"Someone reported that you were evading taxes and evading taxes by buying and selling opium!" The leader's servants were shocked by the eavesdropping of a few steps away. You should know that Annan can buy and sell opium at this time, but it is limited to northern Vietnam. It is close to China. Opium is flooded. Annan cannot survive alone. But Emperor Annan Side was even short of money. He simply allowed him to buy and sell opium near China. As long as you pay heavy taxes, it is fine. This naturally caused tax evasion.

"The store said. The store said." Boss Qin did not look panicked. He just took several Annan officials into the store diligently and sent out his young men. Then he not only closed the door immediately, but also bolted the door from the inside.

"Please sit down. What do you guys call me?" Boss Qin asked three people to come to the table and asked with a smile on his face.

"What are you doing with so much fucking land? Do you sell opium privately?" A man slapped the table.

"Uncle, please ask me, which yamen master are you under?" Boss Qin said carefully.

Maybe it was because this was a foreigner, or the guy's attitude showed some indescribable truth. The leader looked at his two subordinates and was not angry, but he still answered this question.

"So it's Mr. Chen." Boss Qin nodded and bowed, and then asked, "Do you know each other, Lord Wu, the capital? I am his nephew's good friend, and this store is thanks to his help."

"Mr. Wu? Master Wu who is in charge of public security outside the city?" The three Annan officials suddenly disappeared. They were colleagues of the immediate superiors.

"Do you really know Lord Wu?" asked an official, breathing a very careful tone.

"Don't lie to us! I'll let you lose your body! This is Hue! Not Beijing!" Another official roared with a stern look. But his eyes were already weak. He pointed to the leader Chen and said, "We know that Mr. Wu, but he doesn't care about this matter, and we, Mr. Chen, are in charge of this matter. It's our business to investigate your business and sell opium. We will never be in favor of personal gain."

"Wait." Boss Qin went under the counter by himself, brought out a cloth-covered plate in front of the three of them.

"What is this?" the official asked, pointing at the thing.

Boss Qin pulled the cloth away, and the three officials were stunned: there was a plate of silver dollars inside, plus a piece of tobacco paste.

"This is a filial piety to everyone." Boss Qin smiled and said, "Everyone is good friends. I am a Chinese who is not familiar with the place. I used to know only Lord Wu, but I don't know many friends in the public. This is a meeting gift. Can you help more in the future?"

"This?" Several officials looked at each other, then smiled, and said with a smile: "You are really worthy of being a member of the Supreme Kingdom of the Celestial Empire. You are so generous. But this is not good, is it too expensive, right?"

"What's wrong with it? I'll ask you guys to help you in the future." Boss Qin said flatteringly.

"Sit down, come on. Brother." Chen Guancha stared at the thing and licked his lips. It seemed that he suddenly saw Boss Qin still standing. He quickly stood up and let Boss Qin sit beside them.

"Have you asked for your name?" Chen Guanchai asked with a smile and pulled Boss Qin's hand.

"My surname is Qin, and I call me Qin... Qin..." Boss Qin held it in for a long time, then pointed to the pockmark on his face and asked, "What do you mean in Annan dialect? I'm just calling it this."

Several officials laughed and rushed to tell him the Annan pronunciation of "Mazi".

After putting away the pile of money and opium, the officials seemed embarrassed and explained to this good friend in panic: "Actually, Boss Qin. This time it was not targeted. It's just that our Emperor Side of Annan was afraid of the long-haired thief of the Qing Dynasty, so he asked our subordinates to strictly investigate the Chinese and the public servants. You are not from Guangdong, right? You don't believe in the long-haired public servants (Catholicism-Annan's statement)?"

Qin Mazi smiled and pulled out his braid from behind and said with a smile: "Of course I support our Qing emperor. I am from Guangdong, but isn't Changma coming? I killed people everywhere. I hid in Guangxi, and Guangxi fell. I had to eat, so I ran to your country to do some medicinal products business."

"Ah, then you are so unfortunate." Several officials said tone completely like good friends.

"I don't know what you said just now. Why are you afraid that the Qing Dynasty will grow hair? As far as I know, they are just going to destroy the Qing Dynasty." Qin Mazi asked with confusion on his face.

"Hi! You don't know! The French are back not long ago." The leader Chen Guanchao looked angry: "A Rear General Lu Yeoli went to Hue to submit a letter of state, demanding that Vietnam fulfill the treaty signed with King Ruan Phoeing of Jialong in 17. The Qing Dynasty called the Changmao of Song and sent ministers to come with them, saying that we should ask our emperor to recognize the Song Dynasty and send envoys to each other and give the same commercial and religious power as France. Isn't this a strange thing? We Annan has always been vain to the Qing Dynasty. We pay tribute every five years. How could we have any contact with the rebels of the Qing Dynasty and the guys who came with the French?"

"The long-haired thief envoy is here to see you? There is nothing to do with you." Qin Mazi looked confused.

"Yes! They are sick!" Several officials were also very angry and were also confused at the same time.

"Why did your Qing emperor not destroy the Song thief?" asked an official.

"Destroy, aren't we fighting every day?" Qin Mazi said helplessly.

"What does that long hair have to do with the French? How did the foreigners and Chinese come from? They are all dressed up in foreigners?" asked the official.

"It's similar to you. I heard that I have defected to foreigners." Qin Mazi said.

"What does it mean? Our Ruan Dynasty has already defeated the French. Our Emperor Side wants to promote ethics (Confucianism) and drive public religion (Catholicism). If there is anything, it actually depends on your Qing Dynasty, brothers." Chen Guanchao smiled sincerely.

"If you have something to do, Emperor Xianfeng will definitely help you. We are a brotherly country. Besides, Changmao and foreigners deserve to die. Why do you come to us for? Do you think so?" Qin Mazi smiled. Then several officials laughed.

At this moment, the door was slammed. Qin Mazi opened the door and saw that the young man sent out to the ground was back in sweat. There was a sedan chair following behind him. Four sedan chairmen were slidding the sedan chair with round hats. A middle-aged man walked out from inside, wearing a gorgeous silk robe, but with a Qing robe. This was the Annan style ground robe, wearing a Ming Dynasty high-crowned hat, and two silk satin strips were dragged behind him, looking very elegant.

"Butler Wu. Why are you here in person?" Qin Mazi rushed to the middle-aged man with a braid, and was so flattering that he held one of his arms and gently helped him out of the sedan chair.

"You are a subject in a friendly country. If you have something to do, Lord Wu is of course worried." Butler Wu smiled and pointed at Qin Mazi with a fan. As he raised his head, he happened to see three officials carrying packages. He was stunned and said, "Xiao Chen?"

"Butler Wu? We met Mr. Fan's birthday last time. They were all from Hanoi." Chen Guancha was a little scared at first, but when he saw who the person was, he was very happy. He immediately stepped forward to hold the butler's other arm and explained with a smile: "Actually it's a misunderstanding. We are just a routine check. Mr. Qin is a good friend. I was very happy when I saw his braids."

"That's right. Don't offend others. They are subjects of the Qing Dynasty. We must have the courtesy of hospitality." Butler Wu said in a full voice.

"That's it, that's it." The officials agreed one after another.

"Ah, it's really a family. This time I'm the one who is in charge of my parents. The butler who is the one who is supporting me, has arrived. My shop is very simple, so don't go in, and it's dirty. Just let's treat you today, and let's go to Xiangjiang Pavilion in the outer city of the capital to celebrate. Brothers are honored." Qin Mazi said.

"You're so polite... I really don't need it..." Chen Guanchao quickly refused, but a little brother from behind pulled him and leaned into his ear and whispered: "The Qing Dynasty sells opium. Some people are afraid of money. What are you afraid of?"

Qin Mazi stood in the middle of the street and shouted. In a moment, he found several servants. He picked up three officials and himself, and together with the sedan chair of Butler Wu, officials and merchants walked towards the city gate in a mighty manner.

These masters have been struggling in front of the Chinese pharmacy for so long, and the residents around them have already looked lively from afar. Seeing Qin Mazi locked the pharmacy and the official and the adult brothers ran to the city to eat the food, but the rest were all disdainful. "Damn, the official and the official and the officials looked like tigers when they saw us, and they donated taxes to drive people crazy. They smashed the shops and beat people at any time. When they met the Qing Dynasty, they looked like kittens. What's the thing!" The owner of the Yusi next to him said to Uncle Li angrily.

"That's right, these dog officials! If we don't catch opium, we ordinary people will treat them like enemies." Uncle Li echoed.

"Thut, fuck, it turns out that there is an opium seller on the opposite side. The Qing Dynasty people have no good things, it's so bad!" Uncle Li walked back to the store and saw his daughter whispering: "Daughter, the young man on the opposite side is a opium seller. He must be rich, and he also knows people from the government. I have seen him look at you a few times and you are going to get married. What do you think of proposing marriage?"

In the Xiangjiang Pavilion in Huehua, a group of adults and an opium merchant cup were interspersed. Qin Mazi, who had a braid, was so happy that she was so happy that she could order good wine and dishes. She ordered several beautiful women from Annan to accompany her. Naturally, the adults talked more and more. Even Side succeeded to the throne and killed his brother and told the story of Annan as a joke to the foreigner.

Because they are from both countries, they naturally cannot avoid talking about the characteristics of people from all countries. The Annan people do not understand the truth and admire the Chinese etiquette and say a lot of good things. Of course, they also complained about the rampant Chinese pirates along the coast of Annan. The emperor was angry and said that some time ago, they arrested several pirates who had smuggled into the inland waiting to be executed.

When Qin Mazi heard Chen Guanchai talk about this, his eyes lit up and said, "Brother Chen, I'm going to hide it from you. I actually have a younger brother who went to Annan to do business a few years ago and disappeared at sea. Now I don't know whether it's life or death. Some people say that I've seen him in pirates. My family thought that it was because they were tied up by pirates and had no choice but to be a pirate, right? Now the pirates in Guangdong cannot stay on the coast of Guangdong. I heard that they all ran to Annan and Lanfang. Maybe there were guys who knew my younger brother back then. I was doing business in Hue and I also had a purpose of finding people. Can I find an opportunity to ask me to go to prison to ask these pirates if they recognize my younger brother?"

This is reasonable. Starting from Zhao Kuo's stealing and colluding with foreigners in Guangzhou, the good days of pirates ended. The pirate village on the shore was destroyed by villages and was hit by the navy at the sea. Zhao Kuo's old nest could not stay at all, and they fled to the Annan coast.

Annan became another flood of pirates. Of course, the Annan court did not want to accept pirates, but it required strong determination and force to rule the group cleanly and efficiently. These two points happened to be exactly the same place as Annan and the Qing Dynasty.

The two Confucian etiquette states are the ruling darkness and the government is extremely corrupt, with officials and criminals, snakes and rats in a nest. They have no ability and interest in dealing with pirates that are indistinguishable from fishermen, so that they can take root in Annan.

"Okay, no problem. You come to the yamen to find your brother Chen tomorrow. Brother Chen, I will personally send you the prison to ask about those pirates." Chen Guanchao slapped his chest and shouted.

The next day, Qin Mazi went to the prison to ask people, and there were 7 death row prisoners inside. These pirates were sailors on a merchant ship called the "Yaro". This ship has dual nationality: one is a British nationality registered in Hong Kong, the other is a Song nationality registered in Haijing, and in fact there is a third nationality - the Qing Dynasty. However, there is no place to register this third nationality. As long as you say you are, you will be able to check it out and give some money when you meet the Qing Dynasty's master. You are a lunar member and will admit it.

The ship owner was British, but the sailors and the captain were both Guangdong and Chinese. After robbing the sea in South China, they secretly docked along the coast of Hue. When the sailors entered the towns near Hue, Annan, they were unlucky and were recognized by the victims. They were immediately caught and the ship was seized.

After asking about the situation of the people, Qin Mazi shook his head and said to Chen Guan, who was full of disappointment, with a warm face, "No one knows my brother, thank you, brother."

"Don't be polite, brother. I immediately ask my brother to go to the surrounding yamen to ask if there are any pirates who know your brother! Your business is my business!" After taking the paper bag handed over by Qin Mazi, he found the temperature of the opium ointment inside. Chen Guanchao's voice was so enthusiastic that it seemed that it was about to melt.

A month later, a large Song armed warship named Da Songhai stopped on the sea of ​​Danang, Annan. Facing the fortress and port, a one-eyed dragon general wearing a Western military uniform, holding the Bible in one hand and holding the sabre in the other, jumped onto the boat and sailing into the port. He brought an incredible diplomatic letter to Zhao Kuo, a rebel in the Qing Dynasty. It asked the Annan court to immediately release the "Yaro" and the seven detained Song subjects. Aren't they pirates?" Di Side, dressed in the costume of the Ming Dynasty emperor, sat on the throne and looked at the ministers on the platform below.

"They are pirates." A minister came out and replied, "And they are Chinese and they claim to be the people of the Qing Dynasty in prison. What does it have to do with the rebels of the Song Dynasty?"

"If it was the Qing Dynasty who came to envoy, it would be better to agree, but this is a rebel of the Qing Dynasty, so we must not agree." Another minister stepped out and added: "This is a rebel of the Qing Dynasty."

"Can Your Majesty detain that one-eyed rebel? Dedicate it to the Qing court?" someone asked.

"This is inappropriate. The thief came with the French before, and both were allies. We should not offend the thief and the French. We suggest that Your Majesty do not have to reply and directly escort the enemy general out of the country, and immediately send someone to report the matter to the Qing Dynasty." Another minister quickly stepped out and said.

"Li Aiqing is very serious and obedient, and he is approved." Emperor Side nodded.

If the Annan Ruan Dynasty had spies in Haijing, they might not have thought that this was just a ridiculous and ridiculous madman approach.

In the past few months, the official newspapers of the Song Dynasty have attacked Annan in succession and have become a comfort nest for pirates. The incompetence and stupidity of the Ruan tribe directly became a nightmare for merchants. Moreover, when the emperor was worshiping, he suddenly fainted in the church. After waking up, he claimed that there was a warm light in his coma in front of him. A kind voice told him that he was given a sword to protect God's lamb - this was a direct copy of Hong Xiu's dream. But this was the first time that the Emperor of the Song Dynasty. The French and British gritted their teeth and thought he was a bit blasphemous, but it was the strongest propaganda slogan for his army and the people. The Chinese recognized this!

So what exactly does this murderous dream mean?
Chapter completed!