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Volume 1: Fierce Battle in Changsha Chapter 565: Wordless Secret Message

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    A few days later, Xiao Yungui met Captain Martin in Shanghai, who was introduced by Aliguo of the British Consulate. After receiving the secret letter, Xiao Yungui rewarded Captain Martin with a hundred silver coins and patiently listened to Captain Martin's indignant account of Man Qingshui.  In the end, he comforted Martin with a few words of comfort for the division's barbaric behavior, and at the same time expressed his great indignation at the Qing government's betrayal and betrayal.  The chapters are updated the fastest

    After Captain Martin left, Aliguo could still behave as an extremely gentleman and was not as angry as Captain Martin, "Your Highness the King of the West, I believe you already know about this Bohai Bay incident. We have discussed it with the French. In view of the Qing Dynasty's  For this kind of disregard of treaties and compliance with treaties, Britain and France will take note of the Qing Dynasty and terminate the five-party negotiations. We believe that only war can let the Qing government know how to keep its promises."

    Xiao Yungui fiddled with the secret letter in his hand. It was still well sealed with fire paint. Westerners have always valued promises. Captain Martin has never opened this secret letter, and Aliguo has not read it. This advantage of Westerners is still worthy of appreciation.  Therefore, Captain Martin's extremely angry mood is worthy of forgiveness, but Aliguo's performance seemed to be too calm. Xiao Yungui thought for a while and said: "Mr. Consul, I want to know what else besides not having to participate in the five-party talks anymore."  Is this what you want us to do?¡±

    Ali Guo nodded slightly and said: "His Excellency the King of the West is indeed wise. Of course we hope that the Taiping Army can form a coalition with us again to deal with our enemies, the Qing Army and their ignorant leader!"

    Xiao Yungui touched his nose and smiled slightly before saying: "The Western Prussian military scientist Clausewitz has a saying that war is the continuation of politics. Was the war between Britain and France against the Qing Dynasty intended to destroy this regime? Or was it to adopt a limited approach to this regime?  A blow. And make it surrender? I believe you must have chosen the latter. And our Taiping Army intends to completely destroy the rule of the Qing government. The political purposes of the two are different, and it is destined that we cannot become a coalition. Otherwise, our Taiping Army will  Hands and feet will be restrained by coalition forces.¡±

    Aliguo seemed not surprised that the King of the West would say this. He shrugged and said, "This is the third time you have refused to form a military strike alliance against the Manchu Qing Dynasty. You must know that although the Taiping Army occupied Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangxi,  Guangdong; each part of Jiangsu, Anhui, Hunan, and Hubei. But in terms of China's territory, the Manchu and Qing dynasties still occupy most of the territory. Mongolia, Tibet, Xinjiang, North Korea and other places still support the Manchu and Qing dynasties, and their population and army numbers are still the same.  Times that of the Taiping Army. You need this alliance."

    Xiao Yungui shook his head and said: "Our army has already arrived in Yunnan, and the provincial capital Kunming will be captured soon. Yunnan and Guizhou have always been multi-ethnic areas. Once the main force of the Qing government here is disintegrated, I believe it will be recovered soon.  These two provinces and the entire southern China will be under the rule of our Taiping Army, and then we will launch the Northern Expedition. Just like how the Ming Dynasty expelled the Mongols at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, we will once again regain the world of our Han people. What we want to launch is a comprehensive military  operations, rather than limited to military operations in the Jintang area of ??the coalition forces, and we have no interest in taking further actions against Beijing prematurely."

    Aliguo nodded and said: "Well, my Lord the King of the West, since we have serious differences in military purposes, the joint operation has to be abandoned. But we still want to reach a temporary war agreement with the Taiping Army.  When the Manchus and Qing dynasties are engaged in war, they must remain neutral to each other. At the same time, they must provide each other with humanitarian assistance. For example, if we encounter your injured or lost soldiers, we must provide each other with help. And we must share intelligence on the Manchu and Qing dynasties' military affairs.  Wait." As he said, Ali State submitted a note, which listed the terms of this temporary war agreement one by one. It can be said that this treaty covers everything that can be combined except military joint operations, including battlefield medical rescue,  Intelligence sharing, paid acquisition of war resources, and even leasing the Shanghai Ordnance Bureau as a maintenance and repair site for coalition weapons are all listed.

    Of course, Britain and France were very aware of current affairs and put forward reciprocal conditions. The Taiping Army also enjoyed the military resources of the coalition, including the use of coalition warships to transport soldiers, etc.  This temporary treaty will automatically terminate after the coalition forces withdraw from China. It can be said that although the British-French coalition forces and the Taiping Army do not engage in joint operations, once this treaty is signed, military cooperation and understanding have been reached to the maximum extent.

    Xiao Yungui looked at it without comment and just asked: "Mr. Consul, I am very curious about the occurrence of the Bohai Bay incident. It stands to reason that the speed of Captain Martin's scissor merchant ship Tiehan is several times that of the old Qing army Fu ship. Why?  Will it be intercepted by three Qing warships at sea?"

    A trace of surprise flashed across Aliguo's face, and then he said with a smile: "I don't think Captain Martin expected that the Qing Navy would be so barbaric. You must know that Captain Martin is a good man, he abides by the law, and he will stop the ship when asked by the Qing Navy."  He had no reason to refuse the request for inspection, and no reason to just sail away and escape."

    Xiao Yungui scoffed.?, a good man would travel thousands of miles to use a clipper ship to transport opium for smuggling in northern China?  But he didn't point it out. He smiled playfully and said, "But the other information I got here didn't describe it like this. At that time, Captain Martin was resting in the captain's cabin. Captain Martin suffered from severe fever and could not  The command of the merchant ship was in the hands of the first mate, Mr. Robinson. I don¡¯t know what Mr. Robinson¡¯s considerations were, but he ordered the ship to slow down, and finally even ordered the crew on the ship to put down their weapons for self-defense.¡±

    Ali Guo shrugged and said: "The Qing navy had a large number of troops at that time, and we British would not take our lives for granted. Even if Captain Martin was in command at the time, I think he would have made the same choice as Robinson.  "

    Xiao Yungui said with a faint smile: "This is not Captain Martin's style. This captain and his Tiehan clipper ship have a long record of misdeeds at Shanghai Customs, including using force to fight against Taiping anti-smuggling ships, escaping pursuit, etc.  . Although we were unable to obtain evidence after he escaped, I believe that as long as he is really caught once by the anti-smuggling fleet, I will make him unforgettable for the rest of his life."

    Aliguo said with some embarrassment: "I didn't know Captain Martin had so many bad deeds. Your Excellency, King Xi, you should know that I can't possibly know what every British person in China has done. But I also want to remind King Xi.  Your Excellency, the British have diplomatic immunity in Shanghai. If Captain Martin is caught, please hand him over to us in accordance with the treaty."

    Xiao Yungui said with a smile: "Of course we absolutely abide by the immunity treaty in Shanghai. Unfortunately, you know that Captain Martin likes to run to the open sea. If he is caught by pirates, he will naturally be dealt with in a pirate way!"

    Hearing this, Aliguo couldn't help but feel a headache. It was not once or twice that the King of Xi and his wife took advantage of the loopholes and word games in the Treaty of Nanjing, the Treaty of Wangxia, etc., and they did not follow common sense. The predecessor of the anti-smuggling fleet of the Taiping Army in the outer sea was Ningbo.  Pirates in the sea, God knows what they will do to the captured smuggling ships in the unregulated open sea.

    But in order to protect the face of the British Empire, Aliguo immediately protested loudly: "Your Excellency, King of the West, please pay attention to your identity and credit. You are blackmailing and threatening!"

    Xiao Yungui immediately retorted: "I will spare no effort to crack down on smuggling. All smuggling ships that want to escape tax will be mercilessly attacked. Mr. Consul, please tell all your merchant ships and merchants in China to restrain themselves and not challenge me.  Bottom line!" During this inspection of Shanghai, Xiao Yungui found that the smuggling situation has remained serious in recent years. Although the anti-smuggling fleet is also equipped with some new ships, the new clipper ships of businessmen from the United Kingdom and the United States are very fast, and they are often unable to catch up.  , Xiao Yungui also ordered the shipyard to develop its own clipper ships or increase the speed of the ships. You must know that once smuggling becomes widespread, customs duties will definitely suffer.

    Aliguo was overwhelmed by Xiao Yungui's momentum and had to say: "I will definitely tell our merchants, but please the King of the West must abide by the provisions of the treaty! At the appropriate time, I will strictly order the merchants to abide by the customs agreement."

    Xiao Yungui snorted and then said: "Let's go back to the Bohai Bay incident. Whether it was intentional or unintentional, I just hope that Britain and France did not deliberately provoke a war, especially in order to invade Beijing first!"

    A Liguo¡¯s expression froze and he said, ¡°Your Excellency, King Xi, I don¡¯t understand what you are talking about.¡±

    Xiao Yungui said slowly: "We have a saying in China that brothers cause trouble for Xiao Qiang, so they close the door and solve it themselves. I don't want our war against the Qing Dynasty to change because of the intervention of Britain and France! At the same time, I doubt that the policy of Britain and France towards the Qing Dynasty is  Isn¡¯t there a mistake?¡±

    Aliguo was silent for a moment and then said: "Your Excellency, King of the West, you are worrying too much. We have no territorial claims to the north. Please rest assured. You should pay attention to the Russians who are ambitious and want to expand eastward."

    Xiao Yungui nodded and said: "Of course I know this. Well, I will submit this note to the Ministry of Rites for discussion with the ministers before making a reply. There will be a reply in a few days." Aliguo stood up and bowed slightly respectfully:  "I hope it's good news. I'll take my leave now."

    After sending Ali State away, Xiao Yungui opened the secret letter, only to find that there were several blank sheets of paper inside, without a single word at all.  Xiao Yungui was puzzled and invited professionals from Bai Zetang to study the letter. The people from Bai Zetang were masters at writing secret letters. Zeng Jin had written invisible letters in various ways and was quite knowledgeable about this kind of invisible letters.  Research.

    But the man used various methods, such as roasting with fire, soaking in potions, etc., but could not make the writing appear on the white papers. Finally, he said helplessly: "Your Highness, either these pieces of paper have been made of something special."  It is written in a way that has never been seen before, or there are no words on it at all, and there are no invisible words on it, it is just a few pieces of white paper."

    Xiao Yungui was puzzled for a long time, and finally he was suddenly startled and murmured to himself: "The wordless secret letter andThere must be some connection between the murders of those who believed in it, could it be" (To be continued)
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