Add Bookmark | Recommend this book | Back to the book page | My bookshelf | Mobile Reading

Free Web Novel,Novel online - All in oicq.net -> Historic -> Taiping blood

Volume 1: Fierce Battle in Changsha Chapter 669: Candidates for Returning to China

Previous page        Return to Catalog        Next page

    Weitoma is an obvious neutral. Previously, he did not support Midile's unrestricted move to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, nor did he support Clifford's unrealistic delusions. He still agreed with Elgin's approach.  A Manchu puppet regime was established in the north, and Britain provided weapons and funding. This could delay or prevent the Taiping Rebellion from becoming stronger in the Far East to the greatest extent possible.  ¡ø¡à It is a pity that the political wisdom of the leadership of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom seems to be no worse than theirs. Although the King of the West and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Heaven have been dealing with Britain and France, they have already clearly understood the actions of Britain and France, so there was a scene of fighting under the walls of Beijing.  , which completely disrupted the strategic layout of Britain and France. The sudden declaration of war made Britain and France feel at a loss.  So at this moment, Wetoma is also thinking about other ways out. As a neutral faction, after listening to Midile and Alexander's suggestions, it seems that this suggestion is the best.

    The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom now has a large population under its rule, and its mobilization ability is quite terrifying. Witoma also believes that even if Britain and France send another 100,000 expeditionary troops to the Far East, they will not be able to defeat the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's army, but the navy is different. They can harass the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom for a long time.  Any port on the coastline may be attacked by the coalition navy, and the Taiping Rebellion cannot defend the port for a long time, which will seriously affect their economy.  To create this situation, the coalition forces must destroy the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's navy, so that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's will to resist the coalition forces at sea can be completely eliminated.  Then Britain and France can negotiate decently with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, thereby ending the war and at least ensuring the interests of Britain and France.

    At the same time, Weitoma also agreed with Midile's opinion that the best time for peace talks is after the Taiping navy is eliminated.  If this opportunity is missed, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom will be cruel.  They desperately placed some mines in various ports to block the ports and completely cut off foreign trade.  That is what Britain and France do not want to see, so in the negotiations at that time, Britain and France might as well give up some demands, not to mention that they still have more than 9,000 British and French prisoners of war in their hands.

    Therefore, Weituma expressed his agreement with Midile's opinion. He accepted Midile's lengthy proposal and said that he would submit it truthfully and return to China.  The two then discussed the situation in the concession. Midile believed that the Taiping Army would not capture the concession, they would only besiege the concession, so Midile suggested that in addition to soldiers and necessary diplomats.  All other civilian businessmen should retreat back to Hong Kong.

    After the two agreed, they immediately met with Tao Enpei and told the British and French wishes to evacuate civilians from the concession.  The old man Tao Enpei listened with a smile on his face, but his seemingly dim eyes looked at the two of them and made him feel happy. Finally, the old man said with a smile: "You two want to turn the British and French Concession into a big military camp, but it doesn't matter to us in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.  Once all the civilians in the concession have evacuated, the artillery section of our Jiangwu School has prepared to use the concession as an artillery training ground, and there will be live-fire artillery drills every day. I believe you two will have no objections."

    Weituma and Midile looked at each other, not expecting the old man to make such a blatant threat. If the Taiping Army carried out indiscriminate bombardment on the concession, all the houses and facilities built by the British and French governments in the concession would be wiped out.  Midile gave some advice.  Wei Tuoma furiously counter-threatened, but Old Man Tao was unable to make any progress, and in the end the two had to give up.

    After discussing in a low voice for a few words.  The two finally proposed to Tao Enpei to evacuate the old, weak, women and children in the concession. The list and number of people were provided by Britain and France.  Tao Enpei smiled and nodded slightly.  He expressed basic agreement with the plan to remove only the elderly, weak, women and children, but the list and number of people did not need to be provided by Britain and France.  Tao Enpei showed a somewhat lengthy list, which was actually a list of people in the British and French concessions. Midile was shocked after reading it. He did not expect that this list was more detailed than what he had in his hand. This shows that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has been collecting concessions for a long time.  All the information, and the Chinese in the concession did not know how much of it was their spies.

    In the end, Wetoma and Midile had to check the list one by one and confirm the people who needed to be evacuated. Wetoma hoped to evacuate several important businessmen together to ensure their safety, such as Clifford  , Alexander et al.  Tao Enpei also readily agreed, but he proposed that Clifford cannot stay in Hong Kong. He must return to England and replace him with a clear-minded person. Such a unclear-minded person staying in the Far East will only make Rothschild miserable.  The interests of the German family in the Far East were damaged.

    Midile was also willing to send away the god of plague as soon as possible. His favorable impression of Clifford had long been reduced to the lowest level, and Wytoma did not express any objection. In his opinion, Clifford and Alexander had different opinions, and Alexander did not  I hope this young master stays in the Far East.

    The two sides initialed an exchange agreement, and the Taiping Army began to pick up the evacuated old, weak, women and children from the next day. The two sides met at Wusong. As for the Taiping Army's transportation costs, they were naturally indispensable.

    When Clifford knew he was going back to Hong Kong, he immediately asked Midile to find his wife who was still in Xujiahui Cathedral.  Midile was originally not willing to do it.However, he could not withstand Alexander's request from Jardine Matheson, so he had to shamelessly ask Tao Enpei to send someone to search for him.

    Tao Enpei did the same. He asked a missionary to go to the cathedral to search, but in the end he only brought back a letter to Clifford.  Clifford had also received a letter from Li Xuanji before, asking the British soldiers to bring it back. It only said that she was unwilling to return to the concession. Now this letter was even more shocking. Li Xuanji stated in the letter that she just wanted to stay and be with Nan Ding.  Geer set up a charity organization to call for an end to the atrocities of the war. Unless Britain, France and the Taiping Rebellion ceased war, she would never return to Britain for life.

    After Clifford read the letter, he angrily tore it into pieces. With a livid face, he summoned several armed employees of Jardine Matheson and wanted to break into the rental area to find Li Xuanji. Fortunately, Alexander stopped him, otherwise this would have happened.  A few people were afraid that they would be beaten into pieces by the Taiping Army on the opposite side.

    Alexander finally persuaded Clifford to return to the reception room of the foreign bank, poured him a glass of whiskey and said: "Sir, Madam does not want to come back because her status is rather embarrassing. Her mother country is currently at war with Britain. She is coming back."  Not only will it be difficult for her to live with herself, but it will also affect you. It is better to let your wife do neutral charity work, which will be good for both you and her. When the war is over in the future, she will definitely come back. I know these Chinese  The virtue of women is that they will always stick to it and will not betray them easily."

    After hearing this, Clifford calmed down a little, took the glass and drank it in one gulp. Alexander sat on the sofa and said with a smile: "Don't worry, the war will not last forever. As long as you return to England, persuade him as soon as possible."  If the Parliament makes the right decision, I think it can greatly shorten the process of the war, so that the war can be ended as soon as possible, and my wife can return to the UK to reunite with you one day earlier. To be honest, there is nothing you can do if you stay in the Far East. Now  In this situation, we can only wait for domestic news."

    Alexander spared no effort to persuade Clifford that he just wanted this hot potato to leave as soon as possible. He would only do bad things in the Far East. If he returned to England, there would be people from the Rothschild family to take care of him. The best thing is the Rothschild family.  It would best serve Alexander's personal interests in the Far East to send other clear-minded people to the Far East, or not to send any more people.

    After some persuasion, Clifford reluctantly agreed, and Alexander breathed a sigh of relief. However, Clifford asked Alexander to write to him every month. He wanted to know what Li Xuanji was doing in the Far East.  Although this request was a little difficult, Alexander agreed.

    The next day, Clifford and more than 1,000 old, weak, women and children from the British and French concessions were transported by Taiping Army merchant ships and met with the coalition transport ships at Wusongkou. After the handover between the two parties, Weitoma and Midile  Saying goodbye on the boat.  Midile still has to go back to the concession. He should be able to handle many affairs in the concession. Weituma also gave him Elgin's power of attorney, authorizing him to handle all affairs in the concession during the war, including military operations.  .

    Weituma successfully completed the task and also obtained the opinions of the merchants in the concession. After returning to the Yangtze Estuary Allied Navy berthing area, he immediately met with Elgin and others on the flagship.

    After Weitoma explained in detail the attitude of Midile and the merchants in the concession towards the war, he made it clear that he also believed Midile's suggestion was the most reasonable.  After listening to Wytoma's suggestion, Navy General Massimo Gly and others also agreed that it was not appropriate for the navy to attack the port without landing troops. The British and French forces in the Far East did so during the Crimean War.  Something like this happened. They went to attack the Russian military ports in the north when the army was seriously short of troops. The result was a huge defeat. In addition, the previous fiasco at Wusongkou also proved this. The navy was happy to eliminate Taiping first.  Military power at sea.

    Elgin also agreed to this plan, but he decided to withdraw the entire army to Hong Kong to rest for a period of time, and then the navy would reorganize and resupply before heading north to look for fighters.  At the meeting that day, Elgin decided that Vetomar would lead several officers, consuls, and business representatives back to the United Kingdom to report in detail the situation in the Far East to the domestic parliament, the Prime Minister, and the Queen. The navy sent three warships to accompany him.

    The next day, Wytoma boarded three fast sailing warships and headed south first. Before leaving, Elgin told him: "Expanding the war and making concessions are not in our interests. We need decent peace talks. The Prime Minister may wish to consider a joint  The Russians put pressure on the Taiping Rebellion. Although this sounds a bit absurd, it is still a way. They can even consider supporting Japan, but the shogunate of that country seems to be more decadent than the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and it is difficult to be effective in the short term. As for the Americans  "Don't pay attention to their attitude, their domestic situation is becoming increasingly chaotic, the conflict between the north and the south has intensified, and it is difficult to take care of the Far East."

    Wade said he understood that military and diplomacy were matters that both domestic Prime Minister Palmerston and the Parliament must consider. Finally, Elgin said that no matter what, it is best to make a decision as soon as possible. Once the Taiping Army seizes the opportunity within six months,Time is accelerating the pace of unifying the country. When the Taiping Army completes the unification and frees up its forces to deal with the Manchus, the British and French forces will face greater difficulties.  After the explanation, Weitoma left Shanghai.

    A few days later, when the allied fleet weighed anchor and returned southward, Elgin stood on the deck and looked out over Shanghai, murmuring: "I don't know if I will come back here as a victor or defeated next time."  The identity of the author" (To be continued, please search Piaotian Literature for better novels and faster updates!
Didn't finish reading? Add this book to your favoritesI'm a member and bookmarked this chapterCopy the address of this book and recommend it to your friends for pointsChapter error? Click here to report