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Volume 1: Fierce Battle in Changsha Chapter 257: Firewood

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    In the nineteenth century, Britain became the leader of Western capitalism. After experiencing the industrial revolution in the mid-eighteenth century, Britain rapidly developed into a powerful capitalist industrial country.  The British big bourgeoisie fanatically demanded the expansion of its colonies. In the competition to open up colonies, Britain's power gradually surpassed the aging Spain and Portugal, the Netherlands, and France, which was rapidly developing capitalism at the same time.  In the trade of various countries with China, the United Kingdom began to occupy the first place.  In the 29th year of Qianlong's reign, Britain accounted for 63% of the total value of goods imported from Western European countries to China, amounting to 1.2 million taels; of the total value of goods exported from Western Europe to China, Britain accounted for 40%  Seven, for 1.7 million taels.  The East India Company had a monopoly on British trade with China until 1833.  France began to send merchant ships to China in the 28th year of Kangxi's reign. In addition, in the early eighteenth century, Austria, Belgium, Prussia, Denmark, and Sweden also began to send ships to trade with China.  The year after the United States recognized its independence from Britain, merchant ships came to China in the 49th year of Qianlong's reign.  In the early 19th century, its trade volume with China ranked second after Britain, but its absolute figure was much smaller than that of Britain.

    Under the dominance of the British, countries such as Austria, Belgium, Prussia, Denmark, and Sweden did not have any foreign firms in Shanghai. These countries only had some individual merchants trading in Guangzhou. Since these countries did not sign treaties with the Manchu Qing Dynasty, Shanghai, etc.  The four trading ports were not open to these countries. Although the Taiping Army occupied Shanghai, they had basically no contact with these countries.  These countries only have a small number of sailors, mercenaries or employees in major foreign companies in Shanghai.  Before the Battle of Shanghai, these countries who wanted to trade in Shanghai could only go through the relationships with foreign companies in various countries and fly the British flag.  After the war in Shanghai, except for Britain, France and the United States, merchant ships from other countries returned to Guangzhou to take refuge.  Therefore, Xiao Yungui hopes to contact these countries through Midile's relationship.

    Xiao Yungui smiled slightly and said: "It's always good to make more friends. Don't worry. King Ben will definitely let Jardine Matheson build the railway."

    Although Midile didn't know why the King of the West was interested in other countries, he thought that the King of the West was more open-minded. He was not as fearful of foreigners as the Manchu officials. He must have been a foreigner who could hide whenever possible. How could he be like the King of the West?  Which other country did you proactively request to contact?  After receiving the King of the West's commitment to the right to build the railway, Midile nodded happily and said, "Well, my Lord, the King of the West, I hope that this railway can connect our friendship even more firmly."

    Midile then continued: "The arms transactions of your army are very huge. No one trading company can complete it independently, and large-scale arms exports in Britain, France and the United States must obtain approval from the Parliament, Congress or the Emperor.  We in the UK cannot provide so many weapons at this stage. Lord Wenhan needs to ask the domestic Prime Minister for instructions. Your Excellency, the King of the West, the Manchu Qing government has notified the Guangzhou Consulate many times. You also know that we are required to cut off arms transactions with you.  We are about to go to war with the Russians. We have to give priority to satisfying ourselves with arms, so I am worried that Congress will not approve this arms deal."

    Xiao Yungui felt a thump in his heart. During the war in Shanghai, the Taiping Army and many foreign banks had traded arms, but the quantity was not huge. The Taiping Army basically purchased all the arms stocks and stocks of each foreign bank.  Many merchants even contacted their country's navy and resold some naval arms to the Taiping Army, but this was already the limit.

    This time Xiao Yungui listed an arms purchase list worth 1.6 million taels, including 50,000 muzzleloader smoothbore muskets.  There are also 20,000 front-loaded rifled guns, as well as various types of artillery, artillery shells, bullets, gunpowder and various accessories. The number is indeed too much. To put it bluntly, only the British army in India has such a large number of firearms in the Far East.  , Wenhan's energy is indeed not enough to obtain so many arms.

    U.S. Minister Marsali had previously stated that they could barely scrape together 10,000 muzzle-loading muskets, 30 six-pounder cannons, 60 eight-pounder cannons, 500 barrels of gunpowder, and 20,000 kilograms of lead bullets, but it was still far away.  It is far from meeting Xiao Yungui's list requirements.  The French side is even worse. The number of arms that can be traded is less than half that of the Americans, and artillery is even scarcer.  It¡¯s no wonder that both Britain and France are preparing for war. Maybe all the weapons in their inventory have been dug out to arm their soldiers. There are not many surplus weapons to trade with the Taiping Army. Moreover, it is not known how the British view the Taiping Rebellion. Once the British Parliament  It would be very bad to order an end to the arms trade.

    Xiao Yungui was worried that if Wen Han and other British people discussed it, it would not be fun if the arms deal was really cut off. Thinking of the tragic experience of the Taiping Army in history, the great powers did not sell weapons to the Taiping Army, so the Taiping Army could only smuggle them from the black market.  Expensive arms are used, and the quality cannot be guaranteed, the models cannot be unified, and the status is very embarrassing.

    "At present, after Xiao Yungui's arrival, there has been no incident of the King of Heaven and the King of East issuing an edict to the British in the name of the Lord of the Heavenly Dynasty, and Xiao YunguiHe was open-minded and pragmatic and cooperated quite well with foreigners from various countries. The most important thing was that Xiao Yungui promised to protect the vested interests of all countries, which basically straightened out the diplomatic relations of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. However, Xiao Yungui was still worried that those arrogant British guys would fall out.  .

    Xiao Yungui touched his thick beard on his chin and asked, "Mr. Midile, do you have any good suggestions?"

    Midile smiled and said: "The Rothschild family has huge influence in the UK. Mr. Clifford is in Suzhou. The King of the West can have a good relationship with him and influence through him and the Rothschild family behind him."  I think the decision of the parliament is more effective than Minister Wenhan and I writing a hundred reporting letters back home."

    Xiao Yungui was overjoyed, patted Midile's arm and said: "Midele, you are really my good friend. I would like to hire you as the general consultant of the General Administration of Investment, responsible for consulting and planning for various investment projects of the General Administration of Investment.  , how about it? Don¡¯t worry, I will give you a monthly salary of three hundred taels of silver."

    Midile is also happy to take this position. The position given by Xiao Yungui is a fat one. The words of a general consultant have a huge influence on the winning bid of an investment project, and the salary is also very generous, which is better than what he did in the consulate.  The salary was much higher. Midile immediately bowed and said: "I am happy to serve His Excellency King Xi, and I also hope to further promote cooperation and exchanges between China and the West. However, Your Excellency Xi King, my ability alone is limited, and I hope to recruit more people."  It is more appropriate for me to set up an advisory group on my own. After all, the scope of investment promotion under the General Administration of Investment involves many aspects, and I need professional talents to help me."

    Xiao Yungui said immediately: "No problem, you can recruit as many people as you want. I will give each person a monthly salary of two hundred taels. I believe in your vision. Midile, if you are willing, I can also give you an official position in the Kingdom of Heaven."

    Midile smiled slightly and said: "I am very happy, but it is not the time for Your Excellency the King of the West now. It will be a more appropriate time to wait until the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the United Kingdom formally establish diplomatic relations." Xiao Yungui was in a good mood.  Haha laughed.

    Hong Yun'er was still a little uneasy at first, and she kept translating for the two of them. Gradually, the conversation between the two made her forget what happened just now, and suddenly said: "Mr. Midile, and the ones we are sending international students to  How's it going?"

    British and American commercial banks have submitted bids for railway and telegraph projects.  The matter of arms has also begun to take shape, and shipyards and other factory equipment have also been taken over by trading firms.  The recruitment of shipyard workers was also shared by Jardine Matheson and Arune Matheson.  The only thing about the international students is that we haven¡¯t heard anything yet.

    Midi said with a smile: "This matter is very simple. In fact, it only needs to be an additional condition for winning the railway and telegraph projects. The United Kingdom and the United States each bear a share of 60 students. Xiwang can promise to pay for the tuition and living expenses.  That¡¯s it.¡±

    Xiao Yungui laughed: "Mr. Midile is indeed a competent consultant, Xuanjiao, let's do it like this. Let Wang Kaiyun add the additional conditions later. The foreign company that won the bid will handle the matter of studying abroad. We will carefully select these hundred  Twenty international students.¡±

    Hong Yun'er nodded and said: "I'll go get it later. The international students have already been selected. They are all eleven or twelve-year-old orphans, all literate. There are ninety-eight boys and twenty-two girls.  They were selected from more than 5,000 orphans we took in along the way. They are only grateful and loyal to the Kingdom of Heaven and are absolutely reliable."

    Xiao Yungui nodded with satisfaction, and then invited Midile to have dinner, but Midile declined, saying that he would go back to the consulate to report the news about Clifford to Wenhan.

    After seeing off Midile, Xiao Yungui and Hong Yun'er returned to the backyard room of the Customs Yamen to have dinner.

    It was already dark when we were eating. Xiao Yungui ate his meal absentmindedly under the candlelight, his eyes always wandering on Hong Yun'er's pretty face, which made Hong Yun'er feel embarrassed and turned away from him.

    After finishing the meal, Hong Yun'er ran to the next room to take a bath, and sent a female soldier to guard the door so that Xiao Yungui could not peek.  In the end, Xiao Yungui was bored and went back to his room to take a shower. After washing, he took out a set of swallowtail gifts that he bought privately and put them on. When he looked in the mirror, he saw that the rough man in the mirror seemed to have become a bit different.  Come with the taste of civilized people.  Following Xiao Yungui, he hummed a flirtatious ditty, stroking the thick beard under his chin and said to himself: "We're going to eat meat today. I'm afraid this beard will get in the way. It won't be good if it stings Yun'er when we kiss later.  No, let¡¯s just scrape it off.¡±

    After saying that, Xiao Yungui found a razor and shaved his beard cleanly in three strokes. Looking at the mirror for the last time, he realized that this rude man was still somewhat handsome.

    Just when he was secretly feeling proud, he heard Hong Yun'er shouting from outside the house: "You guys go down." The female soldiers and guards responded and left the backyard as ordered. Xiao Yungui's male soldiers had also been sent away by him long ago.  .

    After a while, the door creaked open. When Xiao Yungui looked back, he saw Hong Yun'er wearing a pair ofWearing a white Western wedding dress, a pair of jade hands held the hem of the skirt and walked in quickly, then whispered: "Close the door quickly, don't let anyone see it."

    Xiao Yungui hurriedly closed the door. Yes, Xi Wang and his wife were wearing dresses. If someone saw this, there might be some trouble.

    After closing the door, Xiao Yungui turned around and took a closer look, only to see Hong Yun'er's face was flushed, the snow-white skin in front of her chest was exposed, her charming career line was fully exposed, she was gasping with excitement, and her chest was rising and falling, which was dizzying.  Head.

    Xiao Yungui couldn't bear it any longer, and quickly walked forward and hugged Hong Yun'er into his arms, and the two kissed passionately.  After a moment, the lips parted, Xiao Yungui picked up Hong Yun'er and walked towards the gums. As he walked, he heard Hong Yun'er's shy voice whispering: "Agui, I will never see you again."  When it comes to my parents, you are my dearest person in the world, and I will definitely treat you well, but you can¡¯t bully me. If you treat me badly in the future, I will definitely not forgive you.¡±

    At this time, Xiao Yungui's spirit came to his mind and he agreed to everything. The two of them were entangled in each other like sex in the room, and their soul and body finally merged together and could no longer be separated.  (To be continued, please search Piaotian Literature. The novels will be better and updated faster!
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