In the city of Guangzhou, the British army fell into a gloomy cloud. The heroic British Empire's army actually took the initiative to retreat in front of the squadron, and after handing over the control of the battlefield to the Guangfu Army, which had a huge advantage in troops, the troops got on the ship and retreated all the way back to the city of Guangzhou, and the self-confidence of the British army caused a heavy blow.

This was not only a mental blow, the British army really lost about 12oo soldiers, and when they retreated, they were very orderly, and they also brought back about 4oo lightly wounded. With the wounded soldiers' injuries, most of them survived.

The British army had a very high level of command in the battle, and in the post-war summary, the number of artillery used by the British Liberation Army in the 6 battles was as much as twice that of the British infantry accompanying artillery, and the British army not only almost destroyed the second regiment of the Liberation Army in frontal combat, but also killed and wounded a large number of troops in the face of a flank attack. Especially when the British army retreated, they also skillfully lured a part of the troops of the Liberation Army into the scope of the fleet's artillery, and used the fierce artillery fire to deal a great blow to the Liberation Army. In terms of the number of losses, the Liberation Army was much larger than the British Army. The Liberation Army's original tactical purpose of trying to encircle and annihilate the British army also failed. The British calmly retreated. But such a "victory" alone could not make the British army feel that they were the victorious side.

The army of 6,000 men had lost more than one-fifth, and if the British commander had not chosen to retreat immediately, the final loss would have more than doubled. With the tenacious combat effectiveness shown by the second regiment of the Liberation Army, as well as the strength advantage of the Liberation Army. This squadron has the strength and strength to encircle and annihilate 4ooo British troops in a field battle, and the bloody facts prove one thing, the strategic purpose of the British army is also completely bankrupt.

Before the real fight, the British can blow as much as they want. Now the British civilian and military generals no longer have any excuse to deceive themselves, and the Guangfu Army now has an army of about 100,000 people, and they firmly control the place in Guangdong. The British army, with its current strength, wanted to enter Guangdong.6 As long as they were completely out of the protection of the naval guns, the Liberation Army would have the ability to encircle and annihilate the British army. What the British army needs to consider now is not how to deal a heavy blow to the Liberation Army, so that the Restoration Governor's Office willingly kneel in front of the British and submit. What they need to consider now is whether the British can still hold Hong Kong if the 100,000 Liberation Army launches a full-scale attack on the British army.

Hong Kong's food and other supplies depend heavily on Guangdong, and it is impossible for a single Hong Kong island to produce supplies to feed thousands of British troops. If supplies were transported by sea from elsewhere, the cost was far beyond what the British could afford. Even if the Liberation Army only hit the concession and blocked the supply of materials, the British army in Hong Kong would have to go around without food. The situation has changed so dramatically that the British are completely confused.

Military generals think about war, while civil officials think about politics and the economy. At the small meeting of the civil officials, everyone pessimistically admitted that unless Weser himself made huge concessions, the British tobacco business in Guangdong would be completely ruined. The reason why Britain agreed to the war was because Hong Kong thought that the war could be used to revive the tobacco business. The war has become like this, and the big tobacco business will not be able to recover no matter what. If the tobacco business cannot be restored, the merchants in the country will not be able to eat the people who started the war alive? Even in China, the big tobacco merchants in Hong Kong now contributed a large amount of money as military expenses for this war operation. By now, the money they provided had been completely lost.

As for the government of the British Empire, they had another challenge to face. The face of the British Empire government was damaged in this war, and a local rebel force in Guangdong in China beat the British Empire to the extent that it did not dare to enter Guangdong.6 When this news reached Europe, wouldn't the European countries have to laugh off their big teeth? How could the governors of the government believe such a ridiculous thing.

The civil servants of the British Empire are worthy of being trained by the civil service system, and since the generals are unreliable, the first thing the civil officials think of is to negotiate peace with Weese. They once laughed at Wei Ze, a Chinese who actually learned from Europe to do something European, and now they only expect Wei Ze to really be as "sensible" as Europeans. If they can negotiate peace with Weeser and restore the situation to at least the situation before the war, then they can deal with the country by "continuing the negotiations with Weeser on the tobacco trade".

Soon, the negotiators traveled to the Foshan area. The British civilians were not stupid, and their ostensible reason was not to negotiate peace with Wescher, but to first demand "the exchange of the remains of prisoners and those killed on both sides." Although the British did not have any prisoners in their hands, the Liberation Army had in their hands the remains of British prisoners and those killed in battle. This has to be taken back.

The British delegates did not resist the rough treatment of the Liberation Army, and did not even formally protest. When Hong Inji appeared in front of the British delegates, the eyes of the British delegates lit up. The parties quickly reached an agreement and the talks could take place. But first, the British had to withdraw from Canton and return to Hong Kong. The two sides will be able to negotiate only in a truce situation.

If it was a soldier, it would inevitably be thought that after the British withdrew from the city of Guangzhou, the Liberation Army would be able to take the opportunity to attack Hong Kong with heavy troops. But in the diplomatic realm, Hong Renji's words contain quite profound meanings. The "armistice situation" meant that the Liberation Army had the will to armistice, and this was indeed the situation that the British civilian officials longed for.

The British generals were also unwilling to continue to stay in the city of Guangzhou, in addition to facing supply problems, the British side could not get oil and water in the city of Guangzhou, let alone far away from the city of Guangzhou. Guangzhou City is no longer a trophy of the British ** team, but a burden of the British ** team.

On December 3o, the British army withdrew from Canton. The figure of the Liberation Army had already appeared outside the city of Guangzhou, and the retreat and takeover were carried out almost simultaneously. On January 2, 1857, in the city of Guangzhou, which had been recaptured by the Guangfu Army, the Governor's Office of the Liberation and the representatives of the British Governor of Hong Kong held negotiations.

From the very beginning, Hong Renji said frankly: "I tell you one thing on the orders of Governor Wei Zedu, if you want to fight with us and win. It's not impossible. ”

The British delegates listened with gloomy faces, they did not want to enter into any discussion on this issue at this time. And Hong Renji continued to say in a frank tone: "As long as Britain sends 200,000 British nationals to the 6th Army to Guangdong, it may be able to defeat us." ”

After hearing this, the face of the British representative could not help but twitch. The 6th Army, which was born from 200,000 British nationals, is a real lobster soldier. Of course, dispatching such an army can defeat the Liberation Army, let alone the Liberation Army, and it is not a strange thing if Britain can maintain such a force and defeat the independent British colony of the United States.

In a sense, the statement of the Governor's Office is a statement of recognition of Britain's capabilities, and it is also a very tough statement. It was impossible for the British to send 200,000 of their own lobster soldiers to Guangdong, and since the British could not do so, the Governor's Office would not give in to the threat of war from the British.

Soon, the British representative and Hong Renji "assumed" the cornerstone of the negotiations that the British would not be able to transport 200,000 6 troops to Guangdong, and the two sides conducted "sincere" and "frank" negotiations on this basis.

The British's attempt to restore the tobacco trade was of course rejected mercilessly, but Hong Renji took out a list, which the British probably had seen before, and this is the list that Hong Renji had come up with before the war between the two sides. At that time, the British did not take this seriously at all. As long as the big tobacco trade is resumed, the British side will naturally be able to earn more than ten times more profits than the quota on this list, and at that time this idea trade quota is a ball. It was only at this time that the British delegates were now full of interest in the numbers on the trade list. In particular, some of the products that the Governor's Office did not produce at present, including steam engines, gauze, cotton cloth, and other products, which Hong Renji specifically pointed out.

"For these products, we can now reduce the tariff to 5%. For a period of two years, we will set tariffs on these products again after two years. Hong Renji said sternly.

The Englishman looked at Hong Renji with a look of surprise, trying to see something from this expressionless face peculiar to Orientals. But the British were disappointed, and Hong Renji had a stern face and no expression at all.

In this negotiation, Weeser is under great pressure. If it weren't for the high combat effectiveness of the British, the Liberation Army would have seen the power of the British's naval guns, and they would have been a little jealous. The vengeful officers would have strongly demanded that Weser agree to send troops to attack Hong Kong.

So during this negotiation, Wei Ze made it clear to Hong Renji, "We can't produce products now, and we can adopt low tariffs." Introduce as much as possible kuài. For what we can produce ourselves, we have to protect our national industry with high tariffs. Of course, this is all based on our ability to make Britain dare not take war against us lightly. So don't worry about it, don't think about it so much. ”

Hong Renji felt that he had figured out Wei Ze's thoughts, and the so-called peace of mind to negotiate was actually to hurry up with the results of the negotiations. As long as the commercial relations between the two sides are restored, the Governor's Office can benefit from it, and the belligerent voices will naturally be calmed down.

The British representative finally couldn't help but ask: "How are you going to pay for these goods?" ”

Hong replied: "We don't have that much silver in our hands, so we still advocate the establishment of a bank to serve the customs to solve this problem." We've all talked about it before, and we can move on now. ”

At this time, the British representatives were stunned, although they had hoped that Wei Ze would be a Westernized political figure, but they did not expect that Wei Ze would be able to be Westernized to such a degree. In terms of establishing a completely new system, Weese's attitude towards taking the Western path has not changed in the slightest.

Just when the expression of the British representative was cloudy, Hong Renji suddenly asked a question, "By the way, I don't know if you have a demand for medical morphine in such a vast area?" ”

"Medical morphine?" The British representative was even more surprised. This is a material that was brought out of the smoke, and since its birth, it has been used in a wide range of applications as a labor pain and anesthetic medicine. The British delegate asked, "What do you mean, Minister Hong?" ”

"The medical morphine we produce is of high quality and at a good price. If you buy it, we can multiply it by 1.5 on the price you buy to buy the big cigarettes. Hong Renxuan threw out Wei Ze's bottom line in the big tobacco trade.

Weeser is a staunch anti-smoker, but that doesn't mean he has any prejudice against the pharmaceutical industry. Big smoke and morphine are both very effective drugs. Smoke for acute diarrhea, morphine hydrochloride for surgical anesthetics, both have excellent appearances. Although the Liberation Army waged a war with the British to ban the tobacco trade, these two drugs treated a large number of Liberation Army soldiers and even saved the lives of many Liberation Army soldiers. In fact, including white noodles, when prescribed, it is not a good medicine.

Of course, more importantly, Weeser himself wanted to save face for the British. If they had tore their faces completely, the British might have imposed a total trade embargo on the Governor's Office. This is a situation that Weeser does not want to see.

Besides, Weeser also has a bit of an illusion, based on the deep contradictions between the North and the South of the United States, the Civil War is basically inevitable. Once the war begins, the demand for products such as medicinal morphine may skyrocket. If the guò medicinal morphine trade can create some small names at this time, it may be possible to open up a commercial route in the future. Weeser knew very well that powerful drugs such as morphine were indispensable and standing medicines on board.

Sailors are often seriously injured in the wind and rain. In the absence of a place at sea where comprehensive medical treatment and recuperation can take place, morphine may have a terrible impact on the future of the injured, but it can relieve the pain in a short period of time and prevent the injured from dying in severe pain. This commodity is no stranger to the sea-based United Kingdom.

The British delegates never expected Weeser to make such a strange request, but they also keenly felt that Weeser did not want to fight the British to the end. At least when the conflict between the two sides has not reached the point of non-end, Weeser is still willing to maintain the relationship between the two sides.

The British civilian officials did not really intend to completely expose the beams accumulated in this war. If they had the chance, they would have tried to retaliate. But the most important thing now is to be able to keep their own official positions first, so the two sides quickly reached an agreement on cooperation.

On the issue of diplomatic stance, Hong proposed that the Governorate would not recognize any treaties between Britain and the Manchus, especially any treaties concluded after January 1, 1857. In addition, in the future conflict between the Governor and the Manchus, the British side should remain neutral. The British also largely agreed to these demands.

Most importantly, the parties reached an agreement to stop the military conflict between the two sides. If peace does not come, there can be no talk of all togetherness.

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