Mai Ke gave Mr. Lin a new job and arranged for him two new titles.

One title was the Minister of State, who reported directly to Mai Ke and was responsible for adjusting and dealing with these treaty concession issues.

The other title is the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Heaven, and at present he is mainly responsible for dealing with foreigners, especially the issue of treaty ports.

Mai Ke arranged for him two translators, one for English and one for Portuguese.

That is, just now, Mai Ke and the old man had a few words in a foreign language, and found that this former high-ranking official of the Manchu Qing Dynasty was proficient in two foreign languages!

One is English and the other is Portuguese, which was the popular Esperanto of that era!

Mai Ke estimated that even if the old man didn't eat the bowl of rice as an official and went to work as a translator for others, there would be no problem in mixing up food and clothing.

To work for the kingdom of heaven, the old man needs to concentrate on thinking about big problems, and these specific transactional tasks are done by others.

"Okay, old man, I will entrust you with all the things that Shanghai has to deal with foreigners, I will leave immediately, and you can come to me directly if you have anything in the future." Mai Ke said goodbye to the old man.

"You are busy with your going! I guess I'll see you in Gwangju next time, I'll be settled here, and I'll go to the Thirteen Lines immediately!" The old man was already staring at Gwangju.

The thirteen lines of Gwangju have a longer history than the French Concession and the Public Concession in Shanghai, a typical symbol of loss of power and humiliation of the country, an unforgettable place where Lin Zexu gritted his teeth when he thought of it, and the old man must kill it!

"Report! There's a foreigner who wants to see you!"

At this time, a knife would be a soldier of the Righteous Army who ran over and said to Mai Ke.

"Foreigner, want to see me? Okay. Old man, you are busy, I'll go see him, let's say goodbye!" Mai Ke felt that the matter here had come to an end, and in order not to affect the old man's work, he decided to go out to meet people.

"I'm not busy here! since I'm a foreigner, maybe it's related to my scope of work, and I want to know why he's looking for you. You're not against it, Mai Ke? The old man volunteered.

Mai Ke was right when he thought about it, since it was a foreigner looking for it, it must be a foreign-related matter. It was not his turn to worry about the affairs of the kingdom of heaven.

Thereupon. walked out with Lin Zexu.

When I looked outside, this foreigner was an acquaintance.

Tall, crooked nose, who is not Clinton?

Chat with him for a while. Mai Ke asked him directly if there was anything important to tell him.

Clinton was cautious. looked at Old Man Lin. His lips were closed and he didn't speak.

Mai Ke said: "Say it! This old man is the famous Lin Dashuai, and all your things will happen in the future." It's all under his management, and the next time you have anything, you can just go to him directly, he is my plenipotentiary!"

Only then did Clinton relax and say: "It's not that I'm cautious, it's that the matter is too urgent! Not only is it important, but it's also very sensitive, and it concerns the Manchu court of your country!"

"No matter who is involved, you can say it boldly! The Manchu court can't help us, so you must not be angry, right? Say, what is the matter? I am short on time, there is nothing important, and I will leave immediately. ”

"Okay, I'll say it!"

Then, he came one by one, in English, of course, in American.

When Mai Ke and the others heard it, it was really an imminent matter.

It turned out that near the periphery of the concession, there were two large battalions of the Qing army, of which the Beida Battalion had three battalions of Qing soldiers, with a total number of almost 2,000 people, which could be regarded as a deterrent to foreigners in the concession.

The commander of the Qing army here was Gilhanga, who had always been in contact with the three powers, but this connection was only superficial, not the kind of close relationship that could be shared secrets.

For example, now that the Little Knife Society is revolting, although they know that these powers have clashed with the rebels, they don't know what the conflict has been and what the result is.

Of course, the Little Knife Society would not inform them, because in fact the main targets of the Little Knife Society uprising were the Manchu authorities. Both sides are mortal enemies.

Of course, these powers will not inform them, and the conflict of interests between the two sides is also mutually exclusive.

Since Gilhanga has been stationed here, he is more resourceful and cunning, and he will never attack where he can outwit.

When he learned that the government and garrison in Shanghai City had been killed by the rebels, he did not have the impulse to avenge them, nor did he send troops to recover the lost territory.

He has always stood still, waiting for his moment.

There was a strict conflict between the rebels and the two concessions, and although Gilhanga did not know the details, he still saw the situation on the surface, so he took it for granted that he could fight with the snipe and the clam and the fisherman would benefit.

Of course, he also knew that these powers were all very smart, and they were even more unprofitable guys, and the white wolf with empty gloves was basically useless.

In other words, if he wants to make a profit, he must contribute!

So, he came up with a plan called "Ming Xiu Plank Road, Secretly Crossing Chen Cang".

On the surface, he sent eight battalions to attack Shanghai City.

These eight battalions were not from his original three battalions, but were urgently transferred from the nearby youth army battalion.

Among them, five battalions were transferred from the neighboring Jiang Su, and three battalions were transferred from Zhejiang, which was a little farther away.

Of course, the Southern Battalion was also involved, and in fact they had been confronting the rebels.

These people, plus the Qing soldiers who were originally stationed around Shanghai, concentrated almost 2,000 troops at each city gate.

It was there that they blocked the road out of the city, and then fired a series of arrows at the gates, occasionally launching small sieges.

In fact, Gilhanga had already arranged it, these people were just used to contain Zuò, and the real attack force was all the way in the shadows.

This way in the shadows is the main force of the three battalions of Gilhanga.

Their plan was to sneak into the concession while the four gates were all pinned, and take advantage of the road to approach the northwest corner of Shanghai City, and climb in from there.

Gilhanga didn't know where to get the news, not only was the wall much lower than the other places, but it was also possible to dig holes in the base of the wall. Drill into it from the ground.

All the way in the shadows, if successful, can guarantee victory in the siege over a large distance, but there is a key here, which is to take advantage of the road to succeed.

Therefore, Gilhanga personally went out and quietly went to the US concession territory to meet with US representative Clinton.

Clinton definitely belonged to that kind of wilting type, and as soon as he heard the request of this Manchu military attaché, he knew that he had no idea that these Yankees had surrendered long ago.

So, he will do what he does. Understand the thoughts of the Qing army very clearly. Then he told Sù Gilhanga that he would have two days to think about it and then give him an answer.

Gilhanga went back to wait for news, and Clinton immediately came to look for Mai Ke.

On taking sides. In the end, it is the heavenly army that follows Mai Ke. Or with the Qing army of Gilhanga. Clinton had already made up his mind that he would never choose the Manchus.

To be honest, he still really doesn't look down on these Manchu generals.

"Thank you. Lao Ke! This information is very important! If you smash the Manchu conspiracy, I will give you a great credit!" Mai Ke did not hesitate to praise this old beauty, and gave him a hope.

"Haha! Thank you for recognizing my credit! My old ke also wants to make a big difference!" he happily accepted the old gram that Mai Ke called him.

With this new situation, Mai Ke called the immediate leader over, mainly Liu Lichuan, Yang Xiuqing, Yang Xiutian, and Lin Zexu, who was already here, to discuss how to eat these Qing soldiers who were still in the dark.

The goal is to eat cleanly and thoroughly, while avoiding casualties among one's own people.

Mai Ke did not participate in the formulation of these specific steps, with Old Man Lin and Yang Xiutian, there was no problem with language communication.

Mai Ke looked at Clinton and felt in a trance.

Once upon a time, this Yankee was still sitting there watching the tiger fight, one moment saying that he was on the side of the Manchus, and the other saying that he was on the side of the rebels.

He gave hope to both sides, believing that he would help them, but in reality, he did not help anyone, and from time to time fanned the flames on both sides, prompting the rebels and the Qing soldiers to continue fighting.

After the uprising of the Little Knife Society, Liu Lichuan repeatedly told the consuls of the great powers in Shanghai that the purpose of the Little Knife Society was to bring down the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and outsiders did not need to be disturbed.

In fact, the foreign missionaries and merchants in Shanghai City were all protected by the Little Knife Society, and Qiu did not commit any crimes.

At the beginning, Britain, the United States and France declared "neutrality" one after another, waited and saw what happened, and also publicly stated that they "do not help each other".

Since the area of the French Concession in the south of Pidgin borders the north of the county seat, after the establishment of the concession, it has always been a market business area in Shanghai, where Chinese and foreigners are mixed and business is quite prosperous.

The Little Knife Society occupied the county seat of Shanghai, and some foreign firms and traders still used guò as a channel to continuously import food and materials to the county seat, smuggling foreign guns and cannons, and even foreigners volunteered to help the Little Knife Society fight.

The knife will capture a large amount of silver taels from the Daoku, which will be enough to pay for the purchase for a considerable period of time.

The rebels were not only imported from abroad, but in the Pidgin area, the Knife Society rebels often came here with weapons to purchase, and the French Concession did not prohibit it.

A foreigner named Lan Ling observed and concluded that if the concession had not left a way to transport all kinds of supplies to the county seat of Shanghai at that time, the officers and soldiers would have been able to suppress the rebels more quickly.

For this reason, the Qing army was extremely dissatisfied with the practice of the French Concession, and often used excuses to provoke incidents, which broke out the "Battle of Mud City" in history.

After the Xiaodaohui rebels occupied the county town of Shanghai, they dealt a heavy blow to the foreign invaders and the reactionary rule of the Qing Dynasty. The consuls of Shanghai, Britain, France, the United States and other countries, in order to seize the sovereignty of Shanghai Customs, decided to use force to force the Qing government to comply, so they provoked and triggered a battle of mud city.

At that time, the British opened a new park and racecourse in the east of the mud city. In the area of the new gate on the north side, there is the Qing army of Beiying led by the Qing Dynasty according to the inspection envoy Gil to resist Atong. On the west bank of Mud City, from north to south, the Qing army had three barracks and other military facilities.

One afternoon, Jolly and his wife of the British Xiangtai Bank were walking near the racecourse and clashed with the Qing army.

Seven or eight U.S. Marines and several members of the Shanghai "Volunteer Corps," that is, the International Merchant Group, rushed to the scene of the accident, opened fire on the Qing troops, and advanced to the Qing army's position.

The Qing army reinforced and fought back. Both sides fought for about half an hour, with casualties on each side.

Subsequently, the British Consul Ali Guo and the Vice Consul Wei Tuma led a large number of British and American Marines and Shanghai "volunteers" to reinforce and attack the Qing army. A group of Americans also carried a small cannon from Qichang Foreign Company to help in the war.

The Qing army fought and retreated, and the Americans launched artillery bombardment to the northern camp, burning down the Qing army's "Guanyintang Card Room", and the cannon roared until dusk.

After the incident, Wu Jianzhang of Shanghai Province sent a letter to Ali Guo on the instructions of Gil Hang'a, acknowledging that the dispute was caused by the misconduct of the Qing soldiers, saying that once the culprit was identified, he would be severely punished, and hoped that the British consul could help to find out the details of the time.

Ali Guo refused to accept the Qing government's apology. Continue to escalate the situation. He also invited the acting consul of France, Ai Tang, to hold a meeting. Prepare for an escalation of the conflict the next day.

At dawn the next day, the British ship "Enkangtu" shelled the Qing military ships anchored at the mouth of the Suzhou Creek and the Huangpu River. Except for one or two Qing warships that escaped, the rest were seized by the British.

He then held a joint meeting with the consuls and naval commanders of various countries. The decision was made to the Qing army. All barracks close to the racecourse must be removed.

After the meeting. Ali Guo sent a circular to Gilhanga that the military camp near the racecourse must be withdrawn two or three miles before 3 p.m., otherwise force will be used. Burn it down.

At the same time, Aleguo led more than 380 people from LinkedIn, the U.S. Marine Corps, and the Shanghai "Volunteers" to the west of the Garden Lane to the eastern boundary of the racecourse, preparing for a big fight.

At about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, Gilhang'a sent a reply to refuse the Qing army's barracks to move, and the foreign invaders immediately divided their troops into two routes and launched an attack on the Qing army's general Hu Songlin Department and Liu Cunhou's department, the head of the Criminal Department, near the racecourse.

More than 100 US troops, commanded by Captain Carrier of the "Plymouth," went to the left along the racecourse to attack the front of the Qing troops, while more than 270 British troops, led by Captain Ogarahan of the "Enkanto," attacked the flank of the Qing troops.

The U.S. troops crossed the racecourse and bombarded the Qing army under the cover of the graves near the pidgin and the mud city, and because they could not cross the mud city, they turned back and converged with the British army, who crossed the mud city and attacked the Qing army from the flank.

The Qing army was forced to return fire, but after nearly two hours of fighting under the flanking of the British and American troops, the Qing army was defeated and retreated to the vicinity of Jing'an Temple.

The foreign invaders expelled the Qing troops near the racecourse and burned down the barracks.

In this battle, the Qing army suffered more than 300 casualties, and the British and American troops killed four and wounded more than 10.

After the Battle of Mud City, the Manchus were forced to sign 14 articles with the British, American, and French consuls on the "Shanghai Customs Taxation Rules" and the "Regulations on the Anglo-American and French Concessions in Shanghai", which further expanded the power of the concession and further undermined China's sovereignty.

The "Battle of Mud City" is important because this conflict became a turning point in the relations between all parties, including the relationship between the Knife and the Concession.

The concession side found that it could protect the concession with a small amount of force, whether it was against the Qing army or the Little Knife Society, so its attitude became increasingly tough.

In this battle, the Qing army knew that its skills were inferior to others and that it was not an opponent of the great powers, so its attitude towards the concession became more and more softened, and it focused more on collusion in order to jointly deal with the Xiaodaohui.

On the second day of the Battle of Mud City, Wu Jianzhang visited the British Consulate and said in a low voice that the two sides should be reconciled rather than confrontational, and that their enemy should be the Little Knife Society, and that the Qing government was willing to sell the rights and interests of the Shanghai Customs and Concession in exchange for the support of the foreign powers for their suppression of the Little Knife Society, which was approved by Anglo-American law.

Since then, the relationship between them has become closer and closer, and most of the negotiations between the two sides in the future have been about how to attack the county seat.

Unable to attack for a long time, the Qing army turned to the strategy of siege and blockade in order to achieve the goal of victory without a fight.

But to do this, the most important thing is to get the support of the French Concession, which is close to the county seat, and the French Concession is indeed actively cooperating.

After the Qing army discussed with the concession, the Anglo-American and French agreed to build a boundary wall between the French concession and the county seat, called self-protection, which was actually to besiege the Xiaodaohui, cut off the connection between the Xiaodaohui and the outside world, and block the material transportation channel.

Because the Qing government agreed to the French Concession to "lease the foundation of the land in perpetuity" in the south of Yangjing Bridge, and hired people to demolish the houses here to clear the way for the construction of the wall, the attitude of the French Concession changed greatly, and it first started to build the boundary wall near the north of the county.

The county seat is close to the river, and some supplies are unloaded directly from the boats docked and transported into the city. In order to plug the gap, the Qing army ordered all ships not to dock.

Although this made it impossible to import supplies from the river, it also made it inconvenient for outsiders in the French Concession to travel, and some foreigners who worked in Hongkou and Pudong originally came in and out by boat. In this way, the "way out" is cut off.

So he found Aitang and asked him to protest against this move of the Qing army, but the public board of directors would rather subsidize the money, hoping that they would follow the instructions of the Qing army.

There was no help from the outside world in the city, and the situation suddenly became serious.

After consultation with the British and American consuls, Aitang promulgated three regulations.

One of them is that the Little Knife Society is not allowed to carry weapons in and out of the pidgin area, betraying the previous "neutrality" of the French Concession.

Soon, the French Concession sacrificed the magic weapon of force and met with the Little Knife Society.

The first was that the commander of the French fleet, Rawell, officially declared war on the Knives Society.

Not long after, the French bombarded the city walls. Occupy the gap. The Qing army invaded the county seat and engaged in a fierce battle with the holding Little Knife Society.

Due to the careful deployment of the Knife Society, the Qing army suffered heavy casualties, and the French army also suffered dozens of casualties in the battle. It is known as the "Battle of the North Gate" in history.

Faced with a joint attack by the Qing and French armies. and the ever-tightening lockdown. The knife will run out of ammunition.

The battle between the knife and the Qing army will enter a white-hot state of hand-to-hand combat.

Later, according to the intelligence, Aitang found out that the Little Knife Society would organize a breakthrough operation that night, and even sent two express letters in succession to inform the Qing army to "strictly guard" at the West Gate. The Daozhì knife will suffer heavy losses in the breakout operation, and Liu Lichuan and others died heroically in the battle.

After the Xiaodaohui uprising was suppressed, the Qing army and the French Concession celebrated. The commander of the Qing army, Gilhang Azuo, asked the Qing government to praise the soldiers who helped suppress the Xiaodao Society.

Emperor Xianfeng issued an order to reward four rolls of silk and satin for Laer and Aitang, and another 10,000 taels of silver for the officers and soldiers of the Lishui Division.

After obtaining the consent of the French government, the two took all the orders, thus drawing a final end to the French Concession's participation in the suppression of the Little Knife Society.

In the long run, the policy of armed "neutrality" adopted by the concession during the Shanghai Xiaodaohui uprising set a precedent for the concession to be protected from foreign force, and its influence was extremely far-reaching.

Until the outbreak of the Pacific War, the British and French concessions maintained their "neutrality" for nearly 100 years, thus laying the foundation for their status as a "state within a state".

While watching the movie, Mai Ke watched Clinton take the trouble to explain the situation and provide opinions to Lin Zexu, Liu Lichuan and others, and discuss the details of the negotiation action together.

The crossing of himself and his brothers is not only his own unique experience, but also changes the fate of many parties involved, not to mention those heavenly kings and kings, even Manchu masters like Lin Zexu, have left the original life track.

Even if Clinton had to go, who knew that his surrender to the Celestial Army would not be of his greatest benefit?

If nothing else, he is at least humbled now, without the arrogance of history.

When Mai Ke's thinking came to an end, several people also ended their campaign planning and formulation, and the result was a piece of paper.

Yang Xiutian showed it to Mai Ke, and saw that the time, place, steps, and purpose were clearly listed on it, which was very concise and to the point.

This is not surprising, for these few people, this is just a small battle.

Mai Ke didn't talk nonsense, and immediately agreed, so that everyone could do the same.

Then everyone dispersed and split up.

Inform Gilhanga of the nature of the old gram.

Lao Ke was also anxious, and immediately went to see Gilhanga, who was waiting anxiously.

When Gil Hanga heard that he had received the consent of the US military, he was overjoyed, and took out a silver ticket from his bosom and stuffed it into Clinton's hand.

At that time, there was probably no strict anti-corruption law, Lao Ke peeked at the numbers on it, well, one one, five zeros, 100,000 taels of silver?

It's worth the risk!

Clinton didn't say a word, and put the silver ticket in his pocket.

Then the two looked at each other and smiled, tacitly.

The two of them each crackled their little abacus, one smiled on their faces, the other smiled in their hearts, and agreed to act tonight and take Shanghai County in one fell swoop.

As soon as it was dark in the evening, the three battalions of heavily armed Qing soldiers, about 2,000 people, came to the west gate of the concession.

This time, the Qing soldiers can be regarded as a full dispatch, leaving only a few old, weak, sick, disabled, and poor people to watch their homes.

Conquer the county town occupied by the thieves, you can obtain military merits, and you can plunder property, of course, you must be brave to take the lead, lest you fall behind.

In particular, I knew that this operation, with the help of the great powers in the concession, it was difficult to miss, which was equivalent to going there to get the fruits of victory in the county seat, so I was even more enthusiastic.

At the western end of the concession, the closed gate opened silently.

The American soldiers guarding the gate stood solemnly on both sides of the gate, saluted with one hand, and waved the other to the east, so that these Qing soldiers could pass through the guò.

After these Qing troops were cleared, the gate was closed again.

However, just before closing, a group of black-clad men crept out of the gate and disappeared into the darkness.

Although the area of the concession is not small, it only takes a quarter of an hour for the Qing soldiers who are marching quickly to pass through.

They've now reached Mud City, as long as they pass through here and touch into the city, they're done!.

(To be continued......)

PS: Last year, like a white horse passing through the gap Pegasus passed away, this year has been jubilant and feint, although the road is stormy, but also occasionally see a rainbow; When the rainbow is in full swing with all of you, you will spend it with a few friends on stormy days. People lose weight every day, books gain weight day by day, their thinking is still clear, and their writing is sharper. If the code word is like this, it is very happy!