Chapter 444: The Opium Trade and Sin

Explains how the East India Company used the opium trade as an important commercial means to export a large amount of opium to the East, analyzes the serious harm caused by the opium trade to Eastern society, and the Opium War it triggered.

Seeing this fifth chapter, Ah Situ Jie frowned.

Opium War?

This was described in his middle school history textbook.

Its descriptive paragraph was:

"In the 19th century, the Victorians discovered that many people in the East were smoking opium; this thing is an enemy of the world, and the Victorians are the guardians of the world, therefore, in order to help the Eastern people quit smoking and eliminate this evil opium, they launched the Opium War."

And in this book "Anarchy: The East India Company", it told him that the East India Company deliberately stirred up opium dumping in order to plunder, and finally the Opium War occurred.

In the end, who is right and who is wrong?

Ah Situ Jie already had a guess in his heart.

At this time,

Many young people in Hong Kong also noticed this 'Opium War' and couldn't help but have the same doubts.

Director Guan Zu returned to Causeway Bay.

Mao Xiang Yang called, his tone full of excitement: "Brother Zu, let's have a late-night snack~~~"

Director Guan Zu touched his six-pack abs and replied: "Alright."

Not long after,

He arrived at the pork offal congee late-night snack stall in his black Chevrolet...

Before he even got out of the car,

"Knock knock knock~~~"

A Hong Xing underling knocked on the car door outside and said: "Brother Zu, there are strangers..."

Director Guan Zu nodded and said to Ah Xing who was driving: "Go to another late-night snack stall..."

The black Chevrolet left.

Two people at one of the tables saw this scene and made a phone call.

Not long after, they arrived at a salted bone congee + stir-fried noodles + barbecue stall and found a seat inside.

Very quickly, Mao Xiang Yang arrived.

"Hahaha~~~ Brother Zu, well done!" Mao Xiang Yang happily gave Director Guan Zu a thumbs up.

"It's just a small matter~~~" Director Guan Zu handed a bottle of gout-inducing beer to Mao Xiang Yang.

(In the year of his retirement, Mao Xiang Yang clutched his gout-stricken knee: If I had known, I wouldn't have gone to eat gout-inducing meals with Director Guan Zu every day.)

Mao Xiang Yang chugged it down, feeling refreshed: "Once your news came out, I guess Fat Peng is going to be pissed off."

"I read that 'The East India Company', and it happens to have a description of the Opium War against China. Last time I read their textbook, it distorted the Opium War, and I was very angry at the time, and this 'The East India Company' happens to refute the viewpoint in the textbook."

"Well done!"

"Should drink a big cup!"

Mao Xiang Yang picked up another bottle of San Miguel beer and started drinking.

Director Guan Zu didn't stop his interest.

After drinking,

Mao Xiang Yang continued: "Tomorrow, 'Ta Kung Pao' and 'Wen Wei Po' will conduct a comprehensive analysis and report on this book and why the Viceroy wants to ban it. What do you think?"

Director Guan Zu was amused.

This is beating Fat Peng hard.

"I think it's okay..."

Suddenly, Director Guan Zu had a flash of inspiration.

How is a newspaper enough?

"Brother Mao, what do you think if I let ATV hold an exclusive interview, inviting teachers from the leftist education sector to talk about this period of history, textbooks, and 'The East India Company'?"

"Slap~~~"

After hearing this, Mao Xiang Yang was excited: "Great! This idea is too great... then who should we invite!"

Director Guan Zu thought of Mr. He An, who failed to run for the education sector councilor last time.

He is a respectable gentleman.

"I have a candidate..."

A new day,

Director Guan Zu got up early in the morning, had breakfast with Ruan Mei, and went downstairs.

He went to a newsstand and bought two newspapers:

"Ta Kung Pao"—"Viceroy bans books? It's the truth! Revealing the truth behind the textbook lies!"

"Middle school history textbooks actually claim 'The Victorians are the guardians of the world, therefore, in order to help the Chinese people quit smoking, they launched the Opium War'."

"And the real history is what is told in the book 'The East India Company': The East India Company, with the support of the Victorian government, in order to open up the Chinese market and seek huge profits, frantically dumped opium."

"Now, the Viceroy, because he is dissatisfied with 'The East India Company' truthfully telling history and truthfully expounding on the Opium War, has listed it as a banned book. He is afraid that the public will learn the real history, afraid that the lies fabricated in the textbooks for a long time will be punctured."

"Wen Wei Po"—"The conspiracy of Hong Kong-British education: Tampering with history, banned books are the real history!" "Middle school textbooks beautify a naked war of aggression, plunder, and massacre as a righteous act of 'helping to quit smoking', this is simply the biggest joke in the world."

"Now the Viceroy's act of banning books is undoubtedly a fear of historical truth. A copy of 'The East India Company' makes the false mask they carefully wove in the textbooks have nowhere to hide."

"As descendants of China, we should read the book 'The East India Company' even more, to understand the suffering that happened to our ancestors."

Director Guan Zu took a few looks,

Not sharp enough!

But at least it wrote out the main idea.

With the spread of "Ta Kung Pao" and "Wen Wei Po", it quickly spread to every street and alley in Hong Kong.

Buses, subways, offices... many people were focused on reading the content of the reports, discussing it.

"The truth is actually this..."

"I just said that when I was studying, I always felt the logic of that period of history was a bit strange. It was said that they wanted to help China, but in the end, they still wanted China to cede land and pay reparations..."

"So the real reason is this."

And on campus, many students were also discussing this matter, taking the history in the textbooks and comparing it with the book "The East India Company". As long as someone with a little intelligence realized that what was written in "The East India Company" was the historical truth.

(Content omitted)

Many students felt very angry, and at the same time felt—'faith collapse'!

In the evening,

ATV specially cleared half an hour, moved "Justice Bao" later, and held an exclusive interview, inviting Mr. He An to the stage to talk about history.

Mr. He An highly praised the content in the banned book "The East India Company", saying it was the true face of Victoria.

Then he angrily refuted the distorted content in the textbooks.

"Why did the Viceroy list the book 'The East India Company', written by a British person, as a banned book?"

"Because he is afraid!"

"We must not follow blindly, we must not believe whatever the textbook says, we must learn to think independently..."

Eloquent and passionate, he scolded them well.

By the way, he also interpreted the book "The East India Company", similar to—'20 minutes to finish reading a book'.

After reading, he also praised the book's data as very detailed.

Because all Hong Kong citizens were waiting to watch "Justice Bao", the ratings for this program were particularly high.

It went directly to 70%+ (Chinese channel).

It was also because of this program that most citizens took out the book "The East India Company" and started reading it.

Finally,

Mr. He An on TV was fearless: "If any historian has an opinion on what I said, you are welcome to come to the TV station and debate with me face to face. I am extremely welcome!"

On the Viceroy's Mansion side...

"Bang~~~"

Something was thrown again.

Fat Peng was furious.

Director Guan Zu tricked him last night, and now he's doing it again.

He called Director Guan Zu without a word: "Stop today's TV program immediately!"

Director Guan Zu: "Viceroy, I'm sorry, this was pushed by the leftists, I have no way, my heart is all towards you."

Fat Peng: Go to hell with being towards me!

Your heart is black if you cut it open.

Fat Peng: "I order you, from now on, do not allow them to express such remarks again, and also, ATV is not allowed to broadcast news about 'banned books' in rotation!"

Director Guan Zu: "Alright, alright, I won't broadcast it in the future!"

Fat Peng then hung up the phone angrily.

He was angry for a moment, but it didn't hurt Director Guan Zu at all.

The more he thought about it, the angrier he got!

He called his secretary: "Urge the Chief Secretary Huo De to change the Police Commissioner for me as soon as possible!"

Damn, I can't teach you a lesson, but I can't teach your teammates a lesson?!

A new day,

The police force ushered in a major earthquake.

Following the order from the Chief Secretary, the Commissioner of Police, Johns, was promoted to Deputy Secretary for Security (Branch) for his so-called "capable handling of affairs and for keeping the police force in good order."

The Security Branch is a subordinate department of the Chief Secretary, and the Security Branch also manages the Police Department. After 1997, the Security Branch was changed to the Security Bureau, which is the department managed by Lu Minghua in "Cold War".

At first glance, being promoted from Police Commissioner to Deputy Secretary of the Security Branch seems like a promotion.

But those who know the ways of officialdom understand that Johns held great power in the police force and had great autonomy in managing Hong Kong's public security, able to directly deploy police forces and make decisions on key matters.

But now he has become the Deputy Secretary of the Security Branch; although the title sounds good, he is actually sidelined, and most of the time he can only assist the main position in handling trivial matters, and his voice in important decisions is minimal. This is obviously a promotion in name but a demotion in reality.

And Johns felt the sky was falling!

An unprovoked disaster!

In addition, the Chief Secretary announced another order: Deputy Commissioner Dai Weisi was promoted to Police Commissioner.

Deputy Commissioner Dai Weisi was pleasantly surprised.

A joy from heaven!

He had already imagined a scene:

Johns: "Dai Weisi, you will regret it!"

Dai Weisi: "I am the Commissioner!"

Hahaha~~~~

This scene, just thinking about it makes one happy!

Very quickly, he received a call and went to the Chief Secretary's office to visit Secretary Huo De.

Stepping into Huo De's office, a rich British style came rushing towards him.

A heavy walnut desk was placed in the center of the room, with a retro brass desk lamp.

On the walls of the room hung several huge oil paintings, depicting the pastoral scenery of the British countryside.

The sofa area was matched with a coffee table, and a set of British tea sets was placed on the coffee table.

Seeing Dai Weisi come in, he pointed to the sofa opposite and said with a smile: "Dai Weisi, come, sit down first."

After speaking, he pressed the call button on the table and ordered the secretary to brew two cups of coffee and send them in.

After the coffee was served, Huo De picked up the coffee cup unhurriedly and took a light sip; the heat rose, blurring his glasses.

"Dai Weisi, what is your opinion on that Director Guan Zu?"

A flash of disgust crossed Dai Weisi's face, and he put down the coffee he hadn't drunk yet and said without thinking: "Hmph, that Director Guan Zu, his style of doing things is really unbearable, he is always self-righteous and doesn't take us people seriously at all."

Huo De nodded with satisfaction, also put down the coffee cup, and leaned forward slightly: "Very good, the Viceroy also hates him very much, and is very dissatisfied with the police who are close to Director Guan Zu."

"This time, the reason for transferring Johns, who is close to Director Guan Zu, is to let you take his place..."

"So, you know what to do, right?"

Dai Weisi understood and hurriedly expressed his determination: "Secretary, rest assured, I know what to do!"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 445 =====