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Volume 1: Fierce Battle in Changsha Chapter 688: Self-evident

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    The result of the Zhoushan Naval Battle was that both sides suffered losses. Although both sides failed to achieve the purpose of the campaign, relatively speaking, although the Taiping Navy suffered far more losses in personnel and ships than the British, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was still able to accept the result because the British and French  The Chinese Navy is much more powerful than the Taiping Navy.

    After the Zhoushan naval battle, the two fleets in the East China Sea and South China Sea were severely damaged and unable to fight anymore. They could only continue to send a small number of ships to carry out guerrilla warfare at sea. Fortunately, there were also pirates from all walks of life involved, so their momentum did not weaken.  These pirates were fed up with the encirclement and suppression by the British on weekdays, and many of China's pirates were still able to deal with foreign affairs unanimously. Therefore, the Taiping Army used various means to win over many pirates to fight together.

    As a result, the two sides launched a long-term maritime guerrilla war in the South China Sea and nearby waters. However, the British and French navies did not conduct a large-scale expedition northward, nor did they launch another attack on the southern coastal ports heavily defended by the Taiping Army.  The attack only sent ships to blockade the ports of Guangzhou and Xiamen.  The British and French navies were waiting for the arrival of reinforcements. Without strong land forces, even if they could capture one or two ports, they would not be able to hold on. Therefore, the British and French navies only blockaded a few ports closer to Hong Kong.

    In addition, the British and French navies sadly discovered that the situation of more than 20 years ago when they were at war with the Qing army while being able to trade various supplies from the Qing people was gone forever.  When the British and French navies went out to sea, it was basically impossible to supply water, fresh vegetables and fruits along the coast.  None of the people along the coast would take the initiative to trade with Britain and France. Some Chinese who were still working as compradors in foreign banks would go ashore to conduct transactions for the British and French navies. Once they were discovered.  He must have been beaten to death.  The British fleet that blocked the port of Xiamen even had to fight in order to obtain fresh water.  Xiamen gathered a large number of nearby rural soldiers, and small-scale battles often broke out on the coast near Xiamen.

    at the same time.  The Taiping Army on the mainland also launched a blockade strategy. Since the war began, the British troops in Hong Kong have never received supplies of food, vegetables, fruits and other supplies from Guangzhou and other places.  The agricultural products produced in Hong Kong are not enough for local use, because there are tens of thousands of Hong Kong residents, businessmen, naval officers and soldiers from Britain and France, etc.  Many times, the British troops in Hong Kong had to go to places such as the Beibu Gulf to import agricultural products from Vietnam or even further south to ensure Hong Kong's supply of supplies.

    Although the fighting at sea continues, the trade at sea has never been completely cut off.  After the Americans came forward to mediate, Britain, France, the United States and other countries signed the Far East Wartime Trade Agreement.  The British and French fleets did not target merchant ships from the United States, the Netherlands, Prussia, Sweden and other countries. Anyway, they could not completely blockade all ports in China. Therefore, the trade between the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the outside world was not cut off. On the contrary, it was relatively concentrated in Shanghai and Ningbo.  and other places further stimulated the formation of these two major trading ports.

    In addition to Elgin and other British and French leaders having to deal with issues such as material replenishment, pirate harassment and fleet operations, the increasingly rampant Taiping espionage activities on Hong Kong Island also gave them a headache.  Due to the actions of enemy spies, more and more British officers and soldiers were bribed, not to mention those Chinese compradors from foreign companies. Elgin even suspected that there were people around him who had been bribed by the Taiping Army.

    ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????.  Elgin implemented a pass supervision system in Hong Kong. Anyone going out must have a pass issued by the Hong Kong Governor's Office, otherwise they will be treated as spies.  But unfortunately, Elgin soon discovered that there were many fake passes.  Moreover, this approach also caused great dissatisfaction among the local residents of Hong Kong. Although the British army could use force to suppress this dissatisfaction, growing public anger was brewing.

    Since the naval battle of Zhoushan.  Elgin is always looking forward to good news coming from the country, but as a politician, he knows.  It's not that fast. The UK is a constitutional monarchy.  The British Parliament is famous for its dillydallying. The reason is very simple. If Prime Minister Palmerston, as the representative of the ruling party, wants to pass any resolution, the opposition party will definitely come forward to disrupt the situation. Various debates, voting, and arguments are complicated.  The sex can be imagined, but the complexity of the parliamentary debates and quarrels this time exceeded the phenomenon of Elgin.

    As a special envoy from the Far East returning to China to report on his duties, Witoma did not dare to delay along the way. Near the end of the year, Witoma finally returned to the Thames River after a long absence.  At that time, the Suez Canal was not yet open to navigation. After arriving in Egypt, Wytoma took a train on land through North Africa and waited for the ships of the British Mediterranean Fleet before returning to the UK.

    ??Waitoma followed the common route used by foreign companies in the Far East to transmit messages to London at that time. It was first sent to Suez by sailing ship, then sent to Alexandria by land, and then sent to London by sailing ship.  This would take a month or two at the earliest.

    At the Prime Minister¡¯s Residence, Waituma, regardless of his tiredness, first met with British Prime Minister Palmerston.  Palmerston and a group of British insiders?? Members first listened to Wade's detailed report. Although Palmerston had received a telegram from Egypt before, he still needed to wait for Wade's detailed report.

    Palmerston still remembered the shock when he received the telegram news. He could not have imagined that the Taiping Rebellion would declare war with Britain and France at this time, and that the land forces of the expeditionary forces organized by Britain and France would be completely wiped out. This news  Undoubtedly scary and quite shocking.

    Before Palmerston ordered the news to be blocked, the British newspapers and media had already published the news of the outbreak of war between the Far East and the Taiping Rebellion, and it was only a short night before Palmerston knew the news.  In fact, in the context of the turbulent development of the European news industry in the 19th century, news agencies from various countries used telegraph technology to dominate the formation of the entire news industry chain. In 1855, the two largest telegraph companies in the UK, electric telegraph pany limited and english and irish magic telegraph  Pany already co-managed about 6,700 miles of telegraph lines in the UK. Their speed in obtaining telegraph information was no slower than that of the government, and telegraph companies and news agencies had insider trading.  Thus forming a complete news industry chain.

    Affected by the newspaper news, the London stock market suffered a heavy setback that day.  The families of British officers and soldiers who participated in the expeditionary force even crowded through the door of the Prime Minister's residence in Downing Street. They demanded a detailed explanation from the government.  They are anxious to know the whereabouts of their husbands and sons.  For this reason, Prime Minister Palmerston had to personally come out to appease many times, and then everyone was waiting for the arrival of the returning special envoy Waitoma, who could bring more information.  At the same time, after receiving the news, the opposition parties and opposition parties also began to initiate impeachment motions against the current cabinet and prime minister. Palmerston faced parliamentary inquiries.  However, the information transmitted by telegram was not exhaustive, and Palmerston had to wait for Waitomar's arrival to understand the whole matter. The same was true for Parliament and the opposition parties.  The same was true for the families of the soldiers, so the whole of Britain spent the most difficult and painful more than 20 days in anxious waiting.

    After Waitomar returned to London, he was quickly picked up by a special carriage from the Prime Minister's residence. In the Prime Minister's official residence in Downing Street, Waitomar, surrounded by cabinet ministers, first introduced in detail the causes of the outbreak of the war,  The process and results are finally displayed. Letters from British and French businessmen, soldiers and civilians from all walks of life in the Far East are shown. These are the British views of the war and some suggestions from all walks of life in the Far East.

    Throughout the day, Palmerston and the cabinet members watched and listened to Waitomar's report.  Then he carefully circulated every letter from the Far East. Finally, after Palmerston put down the letters from Midile and Elgin that he had read three times, he said in his rich voice: "Gentlemen, it seems  We made a fatal mistake. From the beginning, the Taiping Rebellion could not be the key we used to further open the door to China. On the contrary. The rise of this emerging country in the Far East has become the biggest obstacle to the expansion of our interests in the Far East!"

    Waitomar glanced at Palmerston, knowing in his heart that they were always pursuing a high-pressure policy.  When the Second Opium War was launched, it was Prime Minister Palmerston who defied public opinion and even dissolved Parliament to ensure the expeditionary force's actions.  But now that the expeditionary force failed, it provoked another rising country to declare war with Britain. Under this situation, Palmerston's first consideration was not whether he and his cabinet would fall, but the British.  A high-pressure policy of expansion, because Palmerston always believed that Britain must dominate the affairs of all people of color, and there was no difference between China and India.

    ¡°It¡¯s a pity that Britain¡¯s political characteristics are also very distinct. No matter what the ruling party does, the opposition party will always get in your way. As for people in the same party, they may not always be highly consistent with the Party Central Committee.

    In February 1857, during the debate on launching an expedition to the Far East, the Tory leader Earl of Derby proposed a motion in the House of Lords, condemning government officials in China for using force to bully the confused and helpless barbarian culture. He was known for his eloquence.  He pointed the finger at Bao Ling, who was the Minister Plenipotentiary to the Far East at the time. He said: "I am not willing to say anything disrespectful to Dr. Bao Ling. He may be a very knowledgeable man; but in my opinion, in  On the issue of negotiating with the Manchus and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, he really suffered from unrequited love (laughter). I believe that he was dreaming about benefiting both sides; I believe that he missed the lovesickness morning and night, and woke up late at night.  Acacia (laughter). I believe that he must think that as long as Sir Bao Ling is officially received in both Beijing and Nanjing, then any sacrifice is not too big compared with the huge benefits generated by this fact, and any business  Interruption is nothing to worry about, and almost any bloodshed is nothing to regret (laughing).¡±

    But in that parliamentary vote, due to the strong support of Palmerston and others, the voting result was 110:146, and the Palmerston government won with a majority of 36 votes.  While the House of Lords was quarreling, the House of Commons was also quarreling.  John Russell, a veteran figure of the Whig Party, expressed his position in the House of Commons: sending troops to the Far East is a major event and will seriously affect the??Our neutral situation, once the British Empire's troops appear in the Far East, no matter what they do, they will break the neutral situation, so we must carefully consider it.  We do not fall into the civil war in China. On the contrary, we should hope that the civil war will end as soon as possible. Only a stable situation in the Far East will be conducive to British trade interests.

    Palmerston's statement was (according to British rules, the prime minister must be a member of the House of Commons): The Manchu Qing Dynasty was a barbaric and backward government, the chief culprit of all crimes that trampled on human dignity; and the Taiping Rebellion was no better than him.  Wherever we go, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom caused us even more embarrassment than the Manchu Qing in the tariff negotiation!  We can control and influence the civil war in the Far East. The arms trade in the Far East is surpassing the opium trade. We do not hope that the civil war will end early. A Far East that maintains a certain balance of power is in Britain's interest.  Be careful with your voting. The decision on whether arms and opium trade can be carried out smoothly in the Far East in the future lies in your hands.

    The final vote result of the House of Commons was 263:247, Palmerston lost.  Queen Victoria commented on the victory of the Tories: "I am very saddened by the success of those vicious party conspiracies that have no patriotism at all." According to the British constitution, if the cabinet loses the support of the House of Commons, it must either resign or the prime minister will ask the king to dissolve the parliament and re-open.  The general election will ultimately decide whether to retain the cabinet.  However, in 1784, British Prime Minister Peter Jr. created a constitutional convention, which is that the cabinet can ask the king to dissolve Parliament and hold a new general election without resigning, directly seeking the approval and support of voters.  In the new general election, Palmerston's Whig Party won. Perhaps at that time, sending troops to the Far East could finally be passed based on Palmerston's high-pressure policy. The Queen's influence in this is self-evident.

    But now that the expedition to the Far East has failed, how will the Queen react?  Weituma fell into deep thought amidst the quarrels of the cabinet ministers (To be continued, please search Piaotian Literature, the novel is better and updated faster!
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