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Volume 1: Fierce Battle in Changsha Chapter 241: Unreasonable Demands

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    After appeasing everyone from Guandao Gang and Ningbo Gang, Xiao Yungui ordered Zhou Lichun and Tang Erniu to take everyone down to have a meal first, and said that he would then order people to purchase a batch of pigs and cows and bring them into the city to reward the gang members in the city.  .  Since he couldn't think of a way to relocate them for the time being, Xiao Yungui planned to stabilize these people first.

    As expected, seeing that King Xi was very polite, Mu Guandao, Xie Yinglong and others stopped making trouble and went down to eat with Zhou Lichun, Tang Erniu and others.  After sending a group of people, Xiao Yungui cheered up and ordered people to welcome the foreigners into the tent.

    Among the foreigners who arrived, Wenhan and Midile were old acquaintances. French Minister Blomble and American Minister Marsali were seeing each other for the first time. They each brought their deputies and interpreters, as well as their old acquaintances, the British military officer Li Si.  Te brought a few guards among them.  Seeing such a large lineup of foreigners, Xiao Yungui knew that those who came were evil.

    Sure enough, after just a few words of greeting and everyone sitting down, Wen Han cleared his throat and said: "Your Majesty the King of the West, your army has captured Shanghai. This time our ministers are here to talk about the treaty."

    Xiao Yungui felt a headache as soon as he heard about foreign treaties. As long as foreigners in these days mentioned treaties, there must be something unacceptable in the terms. If you don't agree, you will make enemies for yourself. If you agree, you will betray your country. It's really  What a dilemma.  Xiao Yungui forced a smile and said: "Oh, the treaty can be discussed. Lord Wenhan should talk about it first."

    Midile presented several texts, both in English and Chinese. Xiao Yungui took them and smiled slightly: "I don't know much about reading, so you should talk about it."

    Wen Han cursed Xiao Yungui as a scoundrel in his heart, but said calmly on his face: "This treaty has ten articles in total, which were determined after joint consultation by our ministers and consuls from Britain, France and the United States. The first article is that we require your army to open Suzhou  , Hangzhou, Nanjing, and Zhenjiang as treaty ports. The second paragraph is that our three countries request the establishment of consulates in Nanjing and Suzhou. The third paragraph is to ask your army to compensate for the losses caused to the trade of various countries due to the recent war in Shanghai, a total of 700,000 silver oceans.  The fourth paragraph allows missionaries from various countries to preach freely within the areas controlled by your army" Wen Han spoke quickly, but Xiao Yungui's English was not very good and he didn't understand.  Midile is very slow to translate.

    With a click, Xiao Yungui couldn't help but crush the tea cup in his hand when he heard the fourth paragraph. Then, before Midile could finish the translation, he slapped the table and shouted angrily: "You can't do it! You guys can't do it!  What kind of treaty is this? Do you think our Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is the corrupt Manchu Qing Dynasty?!"

    Xiao Yungui's broken gong voice almost lifted the top of the tent, and everyone in the tent was startled. Li Xuanji, who was sitting on the side and was taking notes, stopped writing and looked at King Xi with admiration. Although she didn't understand diplomacy,  , but the terms Midile mentioned were clearly bullying, and she was also very angry.  But seeing the King of the West slap the case in a majestic manner and angrily denounce the foreigners, I felt indescribably happy.

    Midile was startled and said hurriedly: "Your Excellency, King Xi, please don't be anxious and speak slowly if you have anything to say."

    Wenhan, Ma Shali and others saw that the King of the West was angry, but they could not understand what he said.  After listening to the whisper of the interpreter, Wenhan snorted coldly and said: "Your Majesty the King of the West. I thought you were an enlightened person before. You are not as idiotic as the Manchu government when it comes to diplomacy. Now it seems that you are about the same. The terms we proposed  It's all reasonable, but you refused without listening. You are worse than a Manchu official."

    Xiao Yungui also snorted and said: "Lord Wenhan, you have to say it. Why do you ask us to comply with these terms? Why is it reasonable and reasonable to explain it one by one?!"

    Wenhan said slowly: "Suzhou, Hangzhou, Nanjing, and Zhenjiang are all places with prosperous commerce, and your army has trade relations with our countries in Shanghai before. If these places can be opened as direct trading ports,  , which will be of great help to your army¡¯s trade.¡±

    Xiao Yungui immediately retorted: "I'm sorry. It is impossible for these places to become treaty ports for the time being. I had an agreement with Lord Wenhan before. Both parties abide by the "Jiangning Treaty". This is our biggest concession. It is enough for Shanghai to continue to be a treaty port.  , Lord Wenhan, have you forgotten our agreement?"

    Lord Wenhan said without blushing: "Of course I have not forgotten it, but Your Excellency the King of the West, please note that once we give up our neutral attitude, it will break your army's advantage over the Manchu Army. But if your army can show sincerity and be more open,  With many treaty ports, I believe that our ministers have reason to propose a bill to help your army to the parliaments and parliaments of various countries. Once the bill is passed, your army will get more support to defeat the Manchu army."

    Xiao Yungui had a sullen face and cursed Wen Han and others angrily in his heart. This was clearly a naked threat, but since he chose to attack Shanghai, he had discussed with Hong Yun'er earlier what the limits of the foreigners were.  The two most powerful countries, Britain and France, are busy preparing for a fight with Russia in Crimea. The United States is still just a pseudo-power. Before the civil war between the North and the South is completed, the United States can only be regarded asAs a semi-slavery and semi-capitalist country, the west coast of the United States has not yet been well developed. The United States just won the war with Mexico four years ago and is far from capable of more expeditions.  Therefore, no matter what terms and threats are proposed by these countries, they are mostly intimidating.

    Moreover, when Xiao Yungui attacked Shanghai, the great powers sent mercenaries to participate in the war, but Xiao Yungui's tough attitude caused those mercenaries to withdraw from the battlefield. At that time, Xiao Yungui and Hong Yun'er saw clearly the paper tiger faces of the great powers, at least in  Before the end of the Crimean War, it was impossible for Britain and France to abandon their neutral stance and start a fire in the Far East.

    At that moment, Xiao Yungui snorted again and said: "I hate people who threaten me very much. Even before marching to Shanghai, mercenaries from several of your countries helped the Manchu and Qing armies. At that time, I said that I would be the king.  My friends, I welcome you very much, but if you want to help my enemies, you are the enemies of my king and the kingdom of heaven. I don¡¯t mind destroying my enemies to increase my military honor! Lord Wenhan, please consider it, Shanghai has already  After capture, I originally wanted to immediately resume trade and carry out some local construction. If your country is still thinking about forcing us to sign some treaty, regardless of immediate interests, I don't mind tearing up the previous treaty. After all, the concession is owned by Manchu officials.  It was leased to you. Now that the Manchu Qing Dynasty has been expelled from Shanghai by us, I can immediately send troops to take back the concession! Lord Wenhan, please consider it carefully. Once you renounce the previous treaty, I don¡¯t have to abide by that treaty, and then we will be happy  Let¡¯s have a quick battle and then discuss the treaty!¡±

    Wenhan's face became very ugly. Today, the British have less than a thousand British soldiers in the Shanghai Concession and only four warships. He is really not sure that he can withstand the attack of tens of thousands of Taiping troops.  Moreover, the British Foreign Minister has always asked himself to remain neutral. As long as the rebels can maintain Britain's existing interests and abide by the "Jiangning Treaty", Britain cannot take the initiative to provoke trouble.

    Wenhan's original intention was to strive for more benefits for Britain and create more brilliant achievements than his predecessor, Sir Pottinger. However, the Western King in front of him did not seem to be so easy to threaten. If he violated the decisions of the Foreign Minister and the Parliament without authorization, it would cause trouble in Shanghai.  If there is a loss of British interests in the region, what awaits you will be a sad return home.  Because Britain is now busy dealing with the increasingly tense situation in Crimea.  In early July this year, Russia sent 80,000 troops to occupy the two Danubian principalities of Moldova and Wallachia, which were part of the Ottoman Empire, and rejected the Sudan's request to withdraw its troops.  Britain has begun war preparations. It is already the end of September, and the war will definitely break out in October at the latest. The British Parliament will not agree to send troops to the Far East for an expedition at this time, so Wenhan does not have much confidence to compete with Xiao Yungui.

    On the side, Marsali looked at Wenhan very dissatisfied. In fact, Marsali wanted to meet this legendary figure of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom alone early in the morning. Unfortunately, Xiao Yungui later returned to Suzhou. Today, Marsali arrived with the envoys from Britain and France, but he had no choice but to do so.  , the United States' influence in the Far East is too small, and it may lose a lot of interests if it does not follow the two countries. But now Wenhan is threatened by Xiao Yungui, and Marsali is both happy and worried that the arrogant British will mess things up.

    Marsali immediately changed the subject and said: "I wonder how big the scale of the restoration of commerce and local construction mentioned by His Excellency the King of the West is? We in the United States are very interested in investment and construction."

    Wenhan glanced at Marsali with dissatisfaction and secretly cursed these Americans who were obsessed with money. However, he also heard about Xiwang's investment in the Atlantic submarine telegraph cable. He was surprised by Xiwang's strong capital and felt that  Unfortunately, investing in submarine cables?  It would be more appropriate to just throw the money into the Atlantic Ocean. When Marsali asked about the construction investment behind the West King, Wenhan still pricked up his ears and listened.

    Xiao Yungui smiled slightly and said: "Shanghai is an important trading port. Of course we must restore trade here first. Tea, raw silk and various commodities from Suzhou, Hangzhou, Wuxi and other places will continue to be shipped. We will restore Shanghai as soon as possible.  commerce. As for local construction, we already have several proposals. We plan to open some factories in Shanghai first, and even build railways and telegraph lines, etc. Later we will set up special trade and industry pavilions to contact various countries on these issues.  invest."

    After hearing this, the ministers from several countries lowered their heads to discuss with their deputies. Just hearing about building railways made people excited. Now the United States, France and other countries are vigorously building their own railways, which will bring investment and solve problems.  The employment and future benefits are very considerable, not to mention other construction projects.

    Xiao Yungui said calmly: "There is no need to discuss the terms proposed by Lord Wenhan. The Shanghai War did bring certain losses to the trade of various countries, but then I resumed trade. I believe it brought good trade and peace to the merchants of various countries.  Investment profits will quickly make up for these losses. I believe you can calculate this for yourself."

      Just when Xiao Yungui was complacent and thought he had taken care of all the ministers from several countries, the French Minister Blomble, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly said: "Your Excellency, the King of the West, other terms can be negotiated, but our Majesty the French Emperor  I feel that since many people in your army believe in Christian doctrines that are similar to ours, you should accept the declaration of the Holy See and allow missionaries to preach freely within the control of your army!" To be continued)
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