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Volume One: Fierce Battle in Changsha Chapter 654: Intimidating Each Other

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    Elgin's trick was not hidden from Xiao Yungui. Elgin had the power to declare war on behalf of Britain because he was Britain's plenipotentiary minister in the Far East. However, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was not the Manchu Qing Dynasty. Britain and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had many cooperation projects in Jiangnan.  At the same time, the military strength of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in the Far East has been fully demonstrated, so so far, Britain has not declared war on the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and perhaps Sir Elgin has not had time to issue a note declaring war.

    One of the purposes of Elgin's coming to negotiate was to know how determined the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was to declare war on Britain and France. After all, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and Britain did not seem to have reached the point of irreconcilable conflict. However, there was a premise for this, that is, Britain and France could not intervene in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and Britain.  During the civil war in the Qing Dynasty.

    After hearing King Xi's answer, Elgin frowned and said: "Your Majesty King Xi, I hope you can clearly judge the current situation. You have now declared war with the two most powerful countries in the world, and you have also  It is very unwise to be in a state of war with Russia. If we and France really declare war on the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and join forces with Russia, then the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom will definitely be defeated in the future."

    Xiao Yungui smiled slightly. He knew that the secret of negotiation was to prevent the opponent from knowing his trump card. He said slowly: "Your Excellency, Minister, I also hope that Britain and France will understand that the expansion of British and French interests in the Far East has affected the interests of our Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.  In particular, you directly sent troops to try to join or influence the civil war between us and the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and to obtain more benefits from it, which is absolutely unacceptable to our Taiping Heavenly Kingdom."

    Sir Elgin also knew the reason why the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom declared war this time.  He and Qian Jiang had been negotiating in Tongzhou for a long time, and he also knew that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was worried about the military and political purposes of the British and French coalition forces. In fact, the purpose of the British and French expedition to the Manchu Qing was actually very simple.  They just want to use military means to first force the Manchus to surrender, and then unite the Manchus to restrict the Taiping Rebellion's northward development and maintain China's current divided situation, from which Britain and France can gain the greatest benefits.  But Elgin did not expect that the top decision-makers of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom could clearly judge the purpose of Britain and France, instead of thinking that the British and French brothers went north to help the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom conquer the Manchus, as Hong Xiuquan did in history. The result was historically bad.  After Britain and France defeated the Manchu Qing, the Manchu Qing government quickly surrendered.  They signed a series of unequal treaties with Britain and France, which not only lost power and humiliated the country, but in the end the Manchus colluded with Britain, France, the United States and other countries to jointly deal with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom until the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was completely wiped out.

    But in this time and space.  Naturally, Xiao Yungui would not let this happen. He attacked the British and French expeditionary force first, catching the opponent off guard and forcing Elgin to return to the negotiating table now.

    Sir Elgin pondered for a moment and then said: "Your Majesty the King of the West, I understand what you are saying. If Britain, France and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom can reach an agreement, and we give up using force to interfere in the internal affairs of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, can the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom give up its hostility to Britain and France, and the two sides return to the  Previous relationship.¡±

    Xiao Yungui started to laugh a little.  Sir Elgin really wanted to save face at this time. In fact, Xiao Yungui had already guessed the purpose of his trip. The remaining coalition forces were surrounded.  The entire army might be wiped out in a few days. In order to save the coalition forces, he thought that he could rescue the besieged coalition forces through negotiations.  There is no sincerity in the promise to give up armed intervention. If Britain and France really gave up intervention, they should directly promise to remain completely neutral in the Chinese civil war in the future.  So Xiao Yungui said unceremoniously: "Your Excellency, Minister. In fact, you don't need to say anything more. You want to negotiate. I want to wait until I annihilate the coalition forces in Huogezhuang before starting. By that time, I think the two sides can achieve the goal."  Consistent.¡±

    Elgin said angrily: "Your Majesty the King of the West, this is the last chance for the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. If you give up this opportunity, Britain and France will definitely declare war on the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Even if the current army is annihilated, Britain and France will still send more powerful troops.  When the expeditionary force comes, Britain and France will never withdraw their troops unless they completely defeat the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom."

    Xiao Yungui nodded slightly and said with a smile: "I believe this. When he was in the United States, the Emperor also vowed to arrest all those rebels and bring them to London for trial."

    Elgin blushed upon hearing this and said: "Your Majesty the King of the West, the United States is because of France's shameless intervention. Now you have declared war with Britain, France, and Russia. You must pay attention to this. Speaking of the United States, Americans may also  He will join the war, but he is here to help us!" After hearing Elgin's words, the French Minister Sir Gros was slightly embarrassed. In fact, Britain and France looked good enough to wear a pair of trousers, but behind their backs they were doing a lot of dirty work.  Not monolithic.

    Xiao Yungui touched his nose and smiled and said: "Americans? They are about to elect the president. I heard that there are some discords between states in the United States because of the abolition of slavery. Moreover, the economic crisis in the United States has just passed. They must consider the losses before joining the war.  Yes. As for Russia, Emperor Alexander II heard that he was planning to regroup. He needed time to reform the country.In this situation, he also wants to liberate some serfs in the country, so he needs strong military power to ensure domestic stability. He may not be able to do so in the Far East.  As for the French Empire, they have a good neighbor. I heard that Emperor Frederick William IV of Prussia has been suffering from severe mental illness since the year before last. Currently, his brother William has been acting as regent. This regent is not a good person.  The fatuous prince's ambition is to unify Germany. Perhaps Prussia will begin its unification in the near future. At that time, will France's precious troops be used to support Austria and Denmark, or will they be sent to the Far East?  As for your British Empire?  Although the great uprising in India failed, you have deployed too many troops in India. Aren't you afraid of another uprising in India?  And if Prussia rises, will it affect British interests in Europe?  "

    Elgin and Geluo looked at each other, both secretly surprised. Although they were far away from each other, the Western King still knew the situation of the European countries very well. Indeed, as he said, the European countries all had their own internal problems.  Alexander II of Russia had just succeeded to the throne. The country was full of waste and needed to digest the bitter consequences of the defeat in Crimea. It was indeed unable to deal with the Taiping Army in the Far East.  Although the rise of Prussia will still take a few years, some of the actions of Prince Regent William have aroused the vigilance of Britain, France and other countries, especially France, who is very worried about the unification of Prussia.  As for the British, they deployed a lot of troops from India for this expedition. Although the Indian uprising has been suppressed, the hatred has not been resolved. If the British and French expeditions in the Far East fail, it may trigger a chain reaction. In comparison,  , Britain is more concerned about India, the jewel in the Queen's crown.

    Xiao Yungui then said slowly: "If the two of you who came to negotiate today want to find a way out for the besieged coalition soldiers, I have a way to go, and that is to ask General Grant and Montauban to order the soldiers not to  Stop any unnecessary resistance, lay down your weapons, and surrender unconditionally."

    Both Elgin and Groud blushed. Sir Elgin waved his arms angrily and said: "The troops of the British Empire will never surrender!" Groud also said: "Nor will the soldiers of the French Empire!"

    Xiao Yungui waved his hand to signal the two of them to calm down. At this moment, a personal guard came in hurriedly and handed Xiao Yungui a piece of paper. After Xiao Yungui took a look at it, he immediately put it in his arms without any trace of emotion on his face.  Fluctuating, he just smiled and continued: "There are now less than 6,000 coalition soldiers left. They are surrounded by tens of thousands of our Taiping Legions. They lack medical treatment and medicine, and there is not much food and ammunition. There is no foreign aid, and their destruction is just around the corner."  In the meantime, are you watching those British and French soldiers buried in this foreign country? Also, you have lost all your heavy weapons. The British Armstrong artillery is indeed very advanced, and I am also interested in letting the artillery fire artillery shells every day.  Bomb Huogezhuang, you have a lot of ammunition hoarded in Tianjin, I can squander it with confidence."

    Sir Elgin became angry and said loudly: "Your Majesty the King of the West, don't forget that there are still hundreds of thousands of Manchu troops in the capital. They will definitely take the opportunity to attack you!"

    Xiao Yungui was not angry, and continued: "It is true that they will attack us, but that will be after I have annihilated you. I forgot to tell you that in Beijing, the representative of the Westernization faction, Prince Gong, has been captured by the West.  The Queen Mother is confined at home, and the man in charge of the army now is Prince Senggelinqin, who hates foreigners extremely. You may wish yourselves good luck. By the way, don't go back either. Stay here and think carefully. It is very dangerous to go back. I have already  The artillery is ordered to launch several artillery volleys at Huogezhuang every hour starting today. I am afraid that you will be accidentally injured if you go back. As diplomats, it is better for you to stay."

    After finishing speaking, Xiao Yungui ordered his personal guards to take the distraught Elgin and Ge Luo down to rest. Then he urgently ordered Qian Jiang and others to enter the tent to discuss matters. It turned out that the note handed to Xiao Yungui by the personal guards just came in was from Qian Jiang.  The handwritten note read: "This morning Qing Yao dispatched more than 30,000 people from the capital to tentatively attack Nanyuan Camp!"

    When Qian Jiang and other talents came into the tent, Xiao Yungui asked: "How is the battle situation at Nanyuan Camp?" Just now when he was negotiating with Elgin and Ge Luo, he learned that the Manchus had sent troops, but he remained calm.  , continued to intimidate the two of them, but they had already left at this time, so they couldn't wait to ask about the situation of the battle.  You must know that what Xiao Yungui is most worried about now is that the Qing Dynasty will send troops to attack his rear camp, which may cause the operation to annihilate the coalition forces to fail.

    Qian Jiang hurriedly said: "The more than a thousand people left behind are still fighting hard. The news they received said that they have repelled three attacks by Qingyao, but there are too many enemies and ammunition is starting to run out. At this time, I don't know what the latest battle situation is."

    Xiao Yungui kept pacing in the tent with a gloomy face, and said bitterly in his heart: "Song Qingyun, Song Qingyun, you said you supported me, but in the end you stabbed me in the back. You really want to fall out with me completely.  ?" (To be continued)
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