PeachBlossomGoddess

Mr. Hart in his capacity as Qing customs official approved of GPY's private transaction to sell tea to Wu Caisen who is then transporting the tea outside of China. This does not technically violate any customs regulations, specifically Li Wantang's exclusive right to export tea from China. But the sheer quantity of it definitely exceeds any reasonable amount for private use, which is the substance of LWT's protest. The Shanghai administrator Liu is new in his post and did not want to be forced make a decision that would be lose lose - ie., either way he offends someone with connections - GPY is also an official appointed by Cixi herself vs LWT and his association with Prince Gong. So he urged GPY and LWT to compromise with each other. But GPY engaged in gunboat diplomacy by hiring the British Royal Navy captain to take his tea back to India with him. If the customs boat dared to fire on the British Royal Navy there would be war, one that the Qing was in no position to win (look at the British warship vs the little boat). That terrified Administrator Liu so much he was practically peeing in his pants. Of course he didn't know the British captain was prepared to dump the tea into the ocean rather than start a war with Qing.

In summary:
1. Li Wantang had an export monopoly on tea and an exclusive right to sell tea to foreigners. GPY went around that by making a private sale to Wu Caisen/Eight Families (not a foreigner).
2. Wu Caisen is bringing the tea he bought privately to India. Whatever he does with it there is his business. By then, the British India Company's tea monopoly was over even though they still were the most dominant player. GPY somehow knew this and was sending Anhui tea to India, which was a major tea trading hub to compete with their tea. Hence his boast that he would make Richards (British India rep) sorry he didn't buy his Anhui tea.

Well let's see - GPY has so far destroyed his Shanxi bank venture, his attempted takeover of the Eight Families and his Anhui tea monopoly. At this rate, he will soon be forced to change his moniker from Li Baiwan (百万/million) to Li Shiwan (十万/hundred thousand). Seems to me that is reason enough to want to crush him.

Sounds like a plan! 👍👍👍

Well if you have Netflix and a smart TV it will be in 4k, On Youku it will most likely only be 1080p.

Yes it is inexcusable and there is no reason for it. I never quite liked the ML after that. But it doesn’t go on for very long and the rest of it is quite entertaining.

Not shabby!👍

Yups GPY acquired the guns that got Li Cheng's men killed dead.

I was terribly sad for her but as she admitted herself - she always knew this was the end game. She just didn't know it would happen so soon.

I am going to guess that if we think of the most obvious connection, that will be it. Fantastic actor, I loved to hate him in Royal Nirvana.

Those poor wolves - Little Red Riding Hood is forever their nemesis to the four corners of the earth!!!😈⚡😆🔪

LoL - yes he is everywhere and all things to all people - its not even plausible for him to pop up in so many places all at once. He is probably an amalgamation of many different business tycoons from that time. They had their hand in many pies and had no true loyalty to any regime as long as their business interests were preserved. That's why Ms Su has the goods on Li Wantang - he had dealings with both the Qings and the Taiping rebels.

Yups he must have helped the Qing buy those crappy British vessels that were eventually easily sank by the Japanese navy. And thus began China's 100 years of humiliation.

Yeah and they still think we want them back here. Delusional.

Exactly. They just wanted to serve up some light moments and fan service before getting into the heavier stuff.

What do you mean by ships? Sorry I haven’t watched the trailer but China had some kind of a navy going back to Tang dynasty. Ming and Qing dynasties had frequent naval encounters with Japanese pirates. And the first foreign ships arrived in China in the 1500s. During the time of this drama armed British and foreign ships were happily shipping opium and arms to China and sailing away with tea, silk, porcelain etc.

He wasn’t even planning to go to Hefei when he left them. But regardless at the time with war everywhere was dangerous, that’s how they made a living - delivering supplies to frontlines.
As for my friend she went with an elite extreme adventure travel guide so they were safe and it was very beautiful etc but also extremely cold. She’s a very good horse rider but she was skeptical they even managed to ride horses there. The dogs are much faster and probably the most efficient way to do it.

They are itinerant merchants - they wander everywhere in troubled times. And both Anhui and Beijing are firmly in Qing control at this point. But I get it they wanted some romance angst it’s best to just go
with it. Was watching tonight’s episodes with some friends who spent last Xmas dog sledding there. She laughed so hard at the rescue scene she was in tears and gasping for breath at how ridiculous it was that they managed to find him.

That hairstyle is one of the most abominable fashion mistakes in the history of the world. The entire course of Qing history could have been so different without it.

Latest arc is not as good - she/they could have easily gone with him. It’s just drama for the sake of weepy weepy drama but I don’t care I am not here for the romance.

Sure. When all roads lead to hell, a bat shit crazy and debouched cult leader is surely better than a corrupt Qing official. Truth be told he just didn’t want to shave his head.