"What is the reaction of the Liberation Army to our attack on the Qing Dynasty?" Elgin, the current British plenipotentiary to the Qing Dynasty, asked questions about his military generals. The former Canadian governor was tasked with China to coordinate the upcoming war effort. There was no need to even investigate the Liberation Army, just looking at the observation posts set up by the Liberation Army in Hong Kong, the governor felt quite a lot of pressure.

The British military generals did not immediately reinstate their new superiors, and the Liberation Army and the Manchus were naturally mortal enemies, but the slogan of the Liberation Army has changed subtly in recent times. From "expelling the Tatars and recovering China" to "overthrowing the Manchus and recovering China". Politically speaking, this already represents a comprehensive change in position. The Governorate has established itself as the legitimate power of China, not a simple rebel group.

Seeing that his subordinates were silent, Ergin repeated the question in more straightforward words, "Will the Liberation Army accept the treaty signed between the Manchus and us?" ”

By this time it was September 2o, 1857, and the British East India Company had now deposed the last emperor of the Mughal dynasty of India and dedicated the crown of the Emperor of India to the Queen of England. India itself as a geographical term, and the various princely states reacted very differently to the British. In particular, the British decided that the British Empress should be responsible for the appointment and dismissal of the princely kings, depriving these native emperors of the right to decide the succession to the throne on their own, which directly led to the extreme dissatisfaction and rebellion of a large number of princely states. The Great Indian National Revolt broke out.

While suppressing the whole of India by means of war, the British also decided to open up the Chinese battlefield. The Manchus were forced to accept the new British terms by military means. At the end of the 20th century, the United States put forward the slogan of "winning two wars at the same time". And the British are now not shouting at all, but actually carrying out the operation of fighting two wars at once.

The instructions from London, England to Ergin included: opening up the whole territory of China to trade, legalizing the trade in large tobacco, exempting imported and exported goods from paying sub-export taxes, and the permanent presence of foreign ministers in Beijing. In terms of the selection of targets, London also put forward the directive that if possible, it should first settle the Guangfu Governorate in Guangdong.

So Elkin, the former governor of Canada, wondered if he would accept the treaty signed between Britain and the Manchus if the Liberation Army seized power in China. If the Liberation Army can accept it, it will naturally be the best. Britain could let go and beat the Manchus.

"I'm afraid that I can only know this after negotiating with the Liberation Army. However, I don't think it's possible for the Liberation Army to accept this condition. The Governor of Hong Kong finally answered the question head-on.

After thinking for a moment, Ergin asked, "Then if Wei Ze is invited to come to Hong Kong for negotiations, will he agree?" ”

"Your Excellency, do you have any plans?" Several British ** officials asked this question in a surprised tone.

When dealing with the enemy, the British have no sense of morality. Inviting enemy leaders to participate in negotiations and openly assassinating at the negotiating table was also a common tactic of the British. Inviting Wei Ze to come to Hong Kong to negotiate, this construction alone made the British civil and military generals smell a murderous aura.

"If you solve Wei Ze, can you solve the forces of the Liberation Army?" Ergin clearly informed these British civil and military officials of his thoughts, "London has decided not to give any military support to the Liberation Army, and will not give any support to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The purpose of waging war against the Qing State now is to ask the Qing State to accept the conditions we have put forward. Once they accept it, we will give the Qing full support in terms of military affairs......"

Listening to Ergin's account, the expressions on the faces of the British civil and military officials were cloudy. If you want to completely eliminate the forces of the Liberation Army, it is indeed a good way to deal with Wei Ze, the leader of the Liberation Army. The only question is, once Wei Ze is finished, will the Guangfu Army avenge Wei Ze regardless of a single thing, or will it be divided internally and fight on its own first?

After the Battle of Foshan, the British forces in Hong Kong began to be replenished. Now the Navy and the 6th Army together have a total strength of 12,000 troops. Thanks to the Battle of Foshan, the British mainland has provided Hong Kong with the maximum number of troops. How to use such troops is the job of Hong Kong. However, no matter how it is used, if the battle is lost again, the future of Hong Kong's cultural relics will come to an end.

The Battle of Tongguò Foshan proved its combat effectiveness, and the British knew that they could not rely on these more than 10,000 people to go deep into Guangdong to fight against the Liberation Army. If the purpose was to trap or assassinate Wees, the British army would not need to consider attacking Guangdong. As long as the British were sure that they could hold Hong Kong, it would not be a bad choice to capture Weesel. When an organization's brain is caught, it is destined to explode internal contradictions. To be a-stirring stick that can make the most of the opponent's chaos, the British have plenty of experience and 100% confidence.

"We're not sure if we can hold Hong Kong." After some thought, the British generals put forward a very pragmatic view.

"How many troops will be able to solve the Liberation Army?" The issue was raised by the Plenipotentiary of Ergin.

"Forty thousand?" Some military attachés were not very confident in putting forward their own opinions.

"Fifty thousand!" Some have come up with more conservative figures.

After some discussion, it became a consensus that 50,000 troops were needed to solve the Liberation Army. With at least 50,000 troops, the British believed they could take control of the city of Guangzhou for a long time and destroy Foshan, the steel center of the Liberation Army.

When the discussion was over, Ergin pointed to the map and said, "Gentlemen, if we really need 50,000 troops, we will not be unable to come up with them. ”

The direction of Erkin's finger is India, "the Gurkhas, as well as the Sikhs in India, are joining our army. These units are very combat-ready and numerous. After the end of the war, a part of the troops could be transported from India to Thailand, and from there they could board ships to Hong Kong. If we can really complete the task of defeating Weser, we can not only demand the expansion of the Hong Kong concession, but also demand that the Qing accept our power over the whole of Guangdong. ”

After describing the bright future situation, Erjin retracted, "However, this qiē needs to be built on the basis of our renewed treaty with the Qing state. Now let's first determine the attitude of the Guangfu Army towards the Qing State, and at least make sure that the Guangfu Army will not reach an agreement with the Qing State on dealing with us. ”

Ergin no longer talked about the question of entrapping or assassinating Weeser, the British upheld very realistic means in the process of foreign expansion, and where they could win, they would naturally intervene with a very high profile. But when there is no chance of winning, Britain will immediately lower its bottom line and choose to implement the goal of maximizing its own interests. Since the military attachés in Hong Kong did not think that they were certain of victory when facing the Liberation Army, he was naturally unwilling to take risks.

On September 23, Foreign Minister Hong Renji went to the open-hearth center again to call Wei Ze out. When relaying the questions raised by the British to Weese, Hong Renji showed that Weser was a little absent-minded. Even after talking about the British, Hong Renji saw that Wei Ze still looked like he was not giving up. He couldn't help but ask, "Dudu, hasn't the iron-making matter been completed yet?" ”

"One million yuan has been spent, no matter how you have to smash the result!" Wei Ze looked very tired when he spoke, but the tired voice could not hide Wei Ze's firm determination.

"One hundred thousand dollars?" Hong Renji was stunned. He had gradually become accustomed to the new currency unit of the Governor's Palace. One hundred thousand yuan is equivalent to more than one hundred thousand taels of silver, which in itself is already a very large sum of money. More important than this money is that Wei Ze, the governor of the Governor's Mansion, personally went to the factory to participate in this matter, which is more important than hundreds of thousands of taels of silver.

At this time, Wei Ze finally understood the meaning of heavy industry, which not only means the most basic national strength of a country, but also the strength of a country's operation. Without firm determination, long-term planning, and sufficient execution, it is almost impossible to engage in a lifting industry, especially a self-made heavy industry.

Because of the more reasonable technology, the difficulty of open-hearth steelmaking is much lower than that of reverberatory furnaces, and even so, if you want to master the parameters of open-hearth steelmaking, you need a lot of real energy. Now the average four-furnace steel furnace will fail one furnace, and I don't know whether it should be regarded as progress or a big problem. The immediate problem is the need for better dephosphorization and desulfurization to improve the quality of steel. And the use of smelted steel to make better equipment is also a new problem.

The devil is in the details. One after another, the problems came out of ten or twenty, and Wei Ze couldn't stand it anymore. His knowledge alone simply can't sustain a full-fledged steel mill. How long will it take to produce reliable steel, and Weeser feels that his patience is almost exhausted.

Looking at Wei Ze's expression, Hong Renji persuaded: "Dudu, you have to take care!" ”

Wei Ze shook his head slightly, and he said, "The British are going to war with the Manchus. ”

"Huh?" Hong Renji didn't expect Wei Ze to turn the topic back to this. After a pause, Hong Renji replied, "Really? ”

Wei Ze said slowly: "Many of us will have a misunderstanding, that is, the enemy of the enemy is the friend. Especially in this matter, if the British want to fight the Manchus, some people will definitely think that we have common interests with the British. If someone asks you that, tell them that it is entirely in our own interests that we judge whether the other person is an enemy or a friend. The Governor's Office represents the interests of China as a whole, and our criterion is whether it is harmful to China's interests. And he didn't care if the other party was fighting with the Manchus. ”

"Does the governor mean that the purpose of the British attack on the Manchus was to infringe on China's interests?" Hong Renji had already vaguely understood Wei Ze's attitude.

Wei Ze replied: "We can't stop the British from fighting the Manchus, but we can expose the true colors of the British in the Governor's Mansion and in the Liberation Army." ”

After Hong Renji heard this, Wei Ze's mind was very clear. When it came to judging friend and foe, and being cold to the enemy, Weser was not confused by the heat of the steel plant.

"And how do I reply to the British?" Hong asked.

"Sue them, we will definitely be able to seize power in the whole of China. We will also not accept any agreement that we are not a party to and agree with. This kind of question will be answered like this in the future! Weeser gave a clear answer.

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