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Volume 1: Fierce Battle in Changsha Chapter 398: Confronting the Outside and Containing the Inside

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    In the study room of Xiwang Villa in Shanghai, Xiao Yungui stared solemnly at the map of Jiangnan hanging in the room. This 1:25-kilometer military map densely standardized the troop garrisoning status of all forces.

    The map in front of the King of the West came from the intelligence department and Bai Zetang's combined military deployment information from various places, plus the map specially drawn by the Cartography Department of the Shangwu Academy.  Xiao Yungui kept his eyes fixed on the actual military demarcation line between Sufu Province and Tianjing without saying a word. This demarcation line starts from Zhenjiang and goes south to Danyang, Jintan, Liyang, Guangde, and continues.  It extends to the junction of Fujian and Jiangxi provinces in the south.  The Danyang, Jintan, Liyang, and Guangde lines adjacent to Tianjing are where Tianjing has gathered the largest number of troops this time. In the south, both sides have fewer troops.

    Xiao Yungui's expression was solemn, and the cigarette in his hand was still smoking. He looked at the map in a daze, motionless.

    ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????Xiao Yungui had a lot of worries recently, the first was that diplomacy with the great powers began to become cold.  One of the direct reasons is that the Taiping Army refused to withdraw from Temple Street and Sakhalin Island, which caused the negotiations between Britain, France and Russia to come to a standstill. The negotiations in Paris also seemed to intentionally downplay the negotiations in the Far East. Britain, France and other victorious countries and Russia  There seems to be a tacit agreement in Paris that only European matters will be discussed in Paris, and matters in the Far East and Asia will not be discussed at the Paris Peace Conference.

    Although according to the employment treaty, the employment relationship between Britain and France and the Taiping Army ended immediately after the war, and Britain and France could not find a direct legal excuse to ask the Taiping Army to withdraw their troops, Britain and France were still very dissatisfied with the little brother they deliberately supported. The reason is  Started to be disobedient.

    As a large fleet of the Taiping Army sailed to Nagasaki, Japan, the "Treaty of Shanghai, Saga Domain, and Matsumae Domain" was subsequently exposed, which made Britain and France even more dissatisfied.  Only then did Bao Ling understand why the King of the West was indifferent even when he threatened to use the allied fleet to retreat alone. It turned out that the King of the West had long been prepared to cooperate with Japan to maintain the supply line in the far northeast.

    Britain and France were secretly angry about King Xi's secret trick. They began to feel that the Taiping Army's hand was stretched too far.  The Western King's ambitions were also very great. He had a hand in Temple Street, Sakhalin Island, and Japan.  Although Japan is not the center of British and French commercial interests in the Far East, the United States regards Japan as its own sphere of influence. Therefore, the tactics played by the Taiping Army also greatly dissatisfied the Americans.

    Although the Taiping Army and the great powers could still maintain superficial courtesy and cooperation, both the great powers and the Taiping Army began to be wary of each other. In terms of relations, they only maintained the current status and there was no room for further cooperation. The most direct manifestation was that the British compensated the Taiping Army.  The army paid a liquidated damages and directly stopped the construction of the Taiping Army ships built by Plymouth Shipyard.  The British have always valued goodwill.  They would rather pay liquidated damages than stop building Taiping ships, which shows that the relationship between Britain and the Taiping Army has begun to cool.

    Fortunately, other cooperation with the United Kingdom did not stop. The first batch of naval officers recruited from the Taiping Army and civilians went to the United Kingdom for naval military studies. This group totaled 328 people, led by naval generals Tang Zhengcai and Zhao Er.  People lead the team there.

    King Xi was originally prepared that the British would not continue to train their own naval personnel.  But unexpectedly, the British agreed to continue this cooperation, which made Xiao Yungui feel a little puzzled.  Since the British can stop building ships.  Why continue to help train naval personnel for yourself?

    After much deliberation, I couldn¡¯t figure it out.  Xiao Yungui asked people to investigate, and finally learned that the British Rothschild family had helped.  Xiao Yungui didn't know how the Rothschild family persuaded the British Prime Minister and the Lord of the Admiralty, but he vaguely felt that behind all this, there seemed to be that beautiful and poignant figure secretly helping the Taiping Army. When he thought of this, he  Still couldn't help but feel heartbroken for a while.

    Compared to the UK, France and the US have taken slightly smaller steps.  France obtained the right to build the Suzhou-Hangzhou Railway, while the United States obtained 45% of the investment shares in the Shanghai-Nanjing Railway. However, this time the United Kingdom obtained the right to build the railway from Suzhou to Zhenjiang, which somewhat comforted the great powers.

    Although there are rifts in diplomatic relations.  But Xiao Yungui will not regret it. There must be a limit to cooperation with great powers, and this limit is territorial sovereignty.  Regarding the "Treaty of Jiangning" now recognized by the West Palace, except for the cession of Hong Kong and consular jurisdiction, Xiao Yungui did not feel that the other trade terms were too harmful to the issue of sovereignty, and even Xiao Yungui did not have much resistance to the trafficking of opium.  Opium is first of all a medicinal material, and secondly it is a commodity. At that time, all countries in the world did not have any anti-drug laws. The trafficking of opium was equally legal in all countries, but why did it become so rampant in the country that it even became a  What is the synonym for losing power and humiliating the country?  The key lies not in the commodities themselves, but in the people and domestic institutions themselves.  Therefore, Xiao Yungui does not feel that the opium trade infringes on sovereignty. To eliminate the impact of opium, he can only rely on his own domestic anti-drug system to limit it.

    On the contrary, it was the territorial issue that Xiao Yungui felt was fundamental.There can be no compromise on any issue.  Temple Street and Sakhalin Island were snatched by the Russians from the Manchus. The Taiping Army finally drove away the Russians. In Xiao Yungui's eyes, this was the territory of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, because sooner or later he would overthrow the Manchus, and the Manchus were now  All the territory it occupies should also belong to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.  If the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom abandons Temple Street and Sakhalin now because of British and French interference, then if Britain and France threaten war in the future, will the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom have to give up more territory?

    Territorial sovereignty has nothing to do with interests, but is related to the living space of a country's people, so Xiao Yungui does not regret the decision he made. Besides, how can the diplomacy between countries be close all year round?  Didn¡¯t Britain and France also fight for hundreds of years, and then they restrained, exploited and cooperated with each other?

    So the Taiping Army, Britain, France, the United States and other great powers continued their cooperation and quarrels, as well as using each other and being wary of each other. Anyway, the impact of this incident has not reached the point where both sides need to use war to solve the problem, so everything is as usual.  , but cracks between the two sides have emerged.

    Later, foreign instructors from Britain, France, the United States and other countries who were teaching martial arts schools in Shanghai began to leave one after another for various reasons. However, Xiao Yungui knew that this was a follow-up to the refusal to withdraw troops, so he did not stop them. Instead, he generously dismissed the foreign instructors who were unwilling to stay.  them.  But there were also foreigners who went in the opposite direction. More than a hundred foreign teachers, including American Jack, actually applied to immigrate to China at this time. They and their families were willing to settle in China and they were willing to join the Taiping Army.  among these people.  Americans are the majority. This country of immigrants has a stronger pioneering spirit. At the same time, they do not have much loyalty to their own country. The patriotic enthusiasm of Americans was only integrated after the true reunification of the north and the south. Now the United States is just a country.  Migrate country.

    Naturally, Xiao Yungui would not refuse. With a stroke of his pen, he agreed to allow the foreign brothers to become citizens of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and agreed to their request to serve in the military. So the King of the West once again slapped Britain, France, the United States and other countries in the face.  Moreover, with the opening of Sufu Province, the Huayi community already has a certain foundation, and there will not be much problem for more than a hundred foreigners to join the troops they originally trained.  Most of them serve as staff officers and do not have military command authority.

    In addition to the diplomatic headaches, the King of the East suddenly launched an attack. The King of the West lamented once again that he was not afraid of opponents like gods, but opponents like pigs.  But looking back.  If he were the East King, he would also be very nervous about the expansion of the West Palace.  Most of Fujian was captured by the West Palace.  There is a strong tendency to continue to go south to Guangdong.  If the southeast half of the wall is taken by the King of the West, Tianjing will no longer have the advantage to check the West Palace.

    Yang Xiuqing still had a very strategic vision. He almost launched the second battle against Nanchang after the Battle of Wentai.  Since Tianjing's soldiers and horses were still a mixed army of hot and cold weapons, they had a huge advantage in numbers. After Tianjing went south to conquer Jiangxi, Yang Xiuqing implemented the policy of paying grain as usual in Jiangxi.  Tianjing's troops rapidly swelled to more than half a million, and were known to the outside world as one million.

    During the second attack on Nanchang, Yang Xiuqing led the troops with Hu Yihuang, and at the same time ordered Yi Wang Shi Dakai to go south from Hubei.  Control all soldiers and horses in Jiangxi.  The second attack on Nanchang Shi Dakai gathered 250,000 Taiping troops to besiege Nanchang. Although Jiang Zhongyuan was powerful, the gap in military strength was too big, and he was not much better than Yi Wang Shi Dakai. After holding on for more than two months, Nanchang  The city was destroyed.  However, Jiang Zhongyuan did not sacrifice his life to defend Luzhou like he did in history. Instead, he disguised himself and fled to Hengyang.  After hearing this, Xiao Yungui despised Jiang Zhongyuan greatly, and at the same time felt deeply that this guy was really lucky.

    After the capture of Nanchang, Shi Dakai returned to Hubei to take charge. Yang Xiuqing saw the opportunity and started to attack the Western King while the West Palace was fighting to expand the war in Fujian. Sufu Province was too close to Tianjing, and the Western King with strong troops and horses was always a hidden danger.  In his mind, the prosperous King of the West was always the biggest threat, while the King of Heaven in Tianjing who hid in the palace studying doctrines, writing crooked poems and playing with women was always only the second best.

    Yang Xiuqing moved very quickly. After Hu Yihuang's army wiped out the other Qing armies in Jiangxi, they immediately mobilized troops in the Guangde area of ??Huzhou County. The pressure caused by more than 200,000 troops was not something that the more than 10,000 people in the Third Division of Jiangxi's newly formed First Army could handle.  Yes, so Xiao Yungui immediately asked the newly formed Third Army to rush to Huzhou.

    Both the King of the East and the King of the West knew very well that the so-called calling of the Queen of the West and the Second Son back to Tianjing and the King of the West to return to the capital to report on their duties were just excuses.  Yang Xiuqing knew that Xiao Yungui would not come back, and Xiao Yungui also knew that he could not go, so there was no nonsense between the two sides. A confrontation between Chen Bing or a real battle became the last option now.

    However, Yang Xiuqing still had a trick up his sleeve. He did not declare the West Palace to be a rebel because the King of the West did not obey the imperial edict. Doing so would cause a complete conflagration. At the same time, he was also wary of the reputation of the West Palace soldiers and horses as invincible. Yang Xiuqing  He hoped to use the huge advantage of troops and horses and a partial victory in the war to force the Western King to surrender.  He even thought about it, as long as the King of the West surrenders and is willing to return to heavenBeijing, handing over the military and political power of Sufu Province, he can let the King of the West spend his old age in Tianjing, but all this must be done after fighting.

    The cigarette in Xiao Yungui's hand burned to the end. A burst of heat made Xiao Yungui hastily throw away the cigarette butt. When he looked back, he didn't know when Hong Yun'er was standing beside him, also looking at the map.

    Xiao Yungui suddenly said: "I plan to use our old classmate to contain the East Palace. What do you think?"

    Hong Yun'er squinted her eyes and said, "You mean to incite the Hunan Army to send troops to attack Xiangtan and Changsha?"

    Xiao Yungui nodded and said: "We are now in full conflict with the East Palace and will only benefit the King of Heaven. But if the King of East can retreat temporarily at this time, sooner or later the King of East will go to war with the King of Heaven. The Hunan Army has been entrenched in Hengyang for a year.  They are also eager to capture Changsha, and with the presence of the Hunan Army, I think the East Palace will not march eastwards so unscrupulously."

    Hong Yun'er smiled bitterly and said, "I didn't expect things to turn out like this. What are you going to do?"

    Xiao Yungui held her hand and stood side by side with her, and asked, "What do you think?"

    Hong Yun'er smiled and said: "We don't have to do too much. We only need to bring the news of Yang Xiuqing's army to the east to our old classmate. He must know that this is an opportunity, and the Hunan Army will definitely send troops to Changsha immediately."

    "Does this count as betraying our comrades?" Xiao Yungui said in a deep voice.

    Hong Yun'er shook her head and said: "When Yang Xiuqing went to Huzhou, he was no longer our comrade-in-arms." After a pause, she sighed softly and said: "It's a pity that Fujian and Guangdong are in a good situation."

    Xiao Yungui also nodded and sighed: "It seems that the biggest enemy is not the Manchu Qing Dynasty but ourselves. Before fighting against the outside world, we must first calm down the inside?"

    Hong Yun'er smiled slightly and said, "That's it. I came from Suzhou to accompany you just to help you find peace." The two looked at each other and smiled, holding hands tighter.  (To be continued, please search Piaotian Literature. The novels will be better and updated faster!
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