Hearing Ye Mingchen say this, Bai Gui, the governor of Guangdong on the side, immediately replied: "The arms ship sent by Russia has not arrived, but two ships of arms have been transported from Greater Luzon, but they all say that they bought arms with a loan from the West Philippines Bank, and they will never get off the ship if they don't see the silver arms!"

"As long as they are willing to agree to sell us the arms, everything will be easy to talk about!" Ye Mingchen, the governor of Guangdong, could not wait to equip the Qing army in Guangdong Province with more Western arms, and at the same time also needed some backward equipment to be donated to the remnants of the Hunan army in southern Hunan.

In the past year, the changes that have taken place in the Qing army in Guangdong have even exceeded all the changes in the past two hundred years, and almost all the shotguns and guns that have been used for hundreds of years have been replaced, and even the regimental training in the countryside has been replaced with second-hand flintlock pistols purchased from abroad, and Ye Mingchen has also trained a new army of more than 3,000 people by himself.

The reason for such a huge change is entirely the huge military pressure exerted by the Hongjun in the direction of Fujian, for the backward countries under the Manchu system, unless the greatest pressure is exerted, there is absolutely no impetus for change, the military revolution during the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom can be called a reform movement led by scholars, and the progress of the entire Manchu military system is far greater than that of the Westernization movement in the following decades.

Even if it was a war of aggression by Britain, France, and Japan, it was not like the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom directly wanted to seize the rivers and mountains of the Aixin Jueluo family, so they were all beaten once and made a little progress, and sometimes even took three steps backwards from time to time.

And now in the case of the defeat of the Hunan army in Changsha, the military situation in the whole of Guangdong is even more serious, although Ye Mingchen is a figure in history who does not fight, surrender and does not negotiate peace, but in the political system of the Manchu Qing Dynasty. He was a very capable official, as soon as he took office, he extinguished the Ling 18 rebel army, and then successfully repelled the once invincible Hongbing uprising in Guangdong, but for the attack of the British and French troops, no matter how capable he was. In the end, it was inevitable to be defeated.

In this time and space, due to the rapid rise of the Rainbow Army, Ye Mingchen had to make many concessions to the British and French, and now the British and the French have set up their consulates in the city of Guangzhou, and the center is afraid of the Rainbow Army's military might. Ye Mingchen has been repeatedly informed that he wants to "rather be with a foreigner than a red thief", and no matter how unreasonable the conditions of Britain and France are, he must agree as soon as possible.

Ye Mingchen In this case, although he felt that he was too strong to support, the feeling of really holding the power of the two Guangxi provinces also made him unable to step down and power. And it is true that absolute power is in his hands.

Now he is the de facto king of Guangdong, although since ancient times, the governor of the same city has been the situation where the governor is often bullied, but he lacks the support of the center, and the governor of Baigui around him has the heart to fight for power, but he has no way to take Ye Mingchen.

Bai Gui's biggest strength is that he is a Mongol. However, now the communication on the sea route is not accessible from time to time, and the land connection is after most of Hunan is lost, and it is necessary to transfer to Sichuan to reach Guangdong, in this case, Emperor Xianfeng can only promise Ye Mingchen that he can act cheaply.

As soon as he thought of this, Ye Mingchen felt a secret refreshment in his heart. Even the Hongjun refused to agree to surrender several times, others could surrender to the Hongjun, and he, the king of Guangdong, went over. It must be Sun Kewang's fate, he is familiar with the story of the beginning of the country, and he must not do such an unwise thing.

However, Bai Gui's idea was different: "Xiantai, although it is said that Greater Luzon is quite supportive of our Guangdong, but the quality of the arms they provide is much inferior to that of the red thieves!"

Ye Mingchen naturally knew. You must know that the current operation to provide arms support to Guangdong is supported by the West Weather Bank, which was established in 1851, since Lin Feng's conquest of the Philippines in the Ming Dynasty. The Spaniards in the Philippines had a Sinophobic nightmare, and even massacred the Chinese several times, so they did not want to see a powerful China rise in the East and help the Qing army in Canton as much as they could.

It's just that Spain's rule in the entire Philippines is no different from crime, and the West Fe Bank can be said to be the first real local bank in the history of the Philippines, but this bank was founded in 1851, and the entire history of the Philippines can be said to be a history of accusation of colonial history.

First ruled by the Spaniards for hundreds of years, then by the Americans for decades, and finally by the American garrison for decades, the country, with its incredible resources, is declining and sliding off the precipice, leaving little of the foreigners left but a Catholic tradition, and by the twenty-first century there is still a considerable amount of guerrilla activity in the country.

In this case, the help provided by the Spaniards is not only very limited, but they also have to occupy excess profits in this kind of help, Ye Mingchen can only put his hope on free Russian arms as much as possible, but the resources of the Russians are limited after all, and now he has to seek the support of the Spaniards: "Futai, tell them that we still need more arms, as long as they can bring over the arms, no matter how many tons, no matter how many ships, we will make an offer!"

Bai Gui was taken aback, what happened to this governor today, and the Guangzhou general Mu Teen, who was standing on the side, spoke: "In this way, congratulations to Kunchen!"

Kunchen is Ye Mingchen's cousin, and Ye Mingchen smiled indifferently: "I didn't expect the general to hear the news too!"

"What's the news?" Bai Gui has always been at odds with Ye Mingchen, and everything was demolished, and he became anxious when he heard this: "Xiantai, tell the truth!"

"I'm king!" Ye Mingchen exhaled a long breath: "I didn't expect that I would have this day too!"

Crowned king? Bai Gui almost jumped up, this is too exaggerated, what did he Ye Mingchen do, he actually had a day to be crowned king, and Mu Teen on the side said: "I also got the news from the red thief, three Han kings!"

Which three? Bai Gui, a Mongol who was neither Han like Ye Mingchen nor a Manchu nobleman like Mu Teen, was now hung in the middle, and he asked, "What the hell is going on?" Tell me about it!"

"What is there to say!" Ye Mingchen smiled faintly, but the smile on the corner of his mouth revealed his pride: "Your Majesty, in view of the danger of the state, specially named me the king of Yue!"

King Yue? Who else, and Mu Teen on the side continued to add: "Zhang Guoliang is the king of Wu, Zeng Guofan is the king of Chu, so that the three kings will fight sincerely and bloodily, and strive for a complete victory!"

It's all messy, it's all messy, in the hundreds of years of the Qing Dynasty, the Han marquis has not been sealed a few, and now three Han kings have been sealed in one go, this is a sign of the death of the country!

It's just that Bai Gui quickly thought about it again, if you want to worry about state affairs, you have to be a Manchurian, Mu Teun, he is a Mongol, no matter how close he is to Manchuria, he is just an outsider, and what to worry about, so when he thought of this, Bai Gui breathed a sigh of relief: "Congratulations to King Yue!"

He is not conceding defeat to his political opponent, even if Ye Mingchen becomes the king of Yue, he can still find a way to defeat Ye Mingchen, not to mention that he still has many British and French friends, but Mu Teen's next sentence made him not calm: "Your Majesty has issued an edict, south of Zhejiang, thousands of miles of rivers and mountains are dispatched by King Yue alone, and act cheaply!"

How is this possible? It's not a matter of acting cheaply, but it's even more powerful than the previous three feudatories, no, the three feudatories together are not as powerful as this Yue King.

You must know that south of Wuling, there are as many as four provinces that have not yet fallen into the hands of the Hong Army, Guangdong, Guangxi, plus Guizhou and Yunnan, these four provinces are all dispatched by Ye Mingchen alone, not to mention that the three provinces of Zhejiang, Fujian, and Jiangxi that have fallen into the hands of the red thieves must also nominally obey Ye Mingchen's command.

This is not the king, this is to force Ye Mingchen to rebel, anyone who has such a name, this territory, how can he not be a little rebellious, Bai Gui unconsciously wiped his nostrils with the back of his hand, and then said: "This is all true?" ”

"It's true!" Ye Mingchen immediately replied: "Lord Baigui, are you convinced?" ”

"Convincing or not?"

Bai Gui immediately broke out in a cold sweat, since he took office, he has not been in the same city as Ye Mingchen and the governor, either the governor is a small victim, or the governor is bullied, this is a matter of life and death, he has offended Ye Mingchen deeply, and now Ye Mingchen has obtained such a Shangfang sword, I am afraid that the first one will kill the chicken by himself to show the monkey.

He gritted his teeth, but said: "Although His Royal Highness King Yue can act cheaply, the holy decree has not yet arrived, not to mention that I am the governor of Guangdong......"

"The governor of Guangdong is a bird!" Ye Mingchen smiled: "The holy decree is a bird, Xianfengye's intentions, you haven't understood it yet?" ”

Xianfengye's intentions, Bai Gui thought about it for a while before he understood.

Now the four provinces of southeast and southwest have almost severed relations with the center, and all communication can almost only be through the sea or through Sichuan, before there is no telegraph or radio, such remote command is of no practical significance, to a certain extent, now Ye Mingchen, the governor of Liangguang, is already the king of Guangdong in the real sense, and even the emperor of Liangguang.

Instead of being passive, it is better to take the initiative to crown the king and roast Ye Mingchen on the fire, everyone knows that after the Hong Army completely defeats the Hunan Army and collects the Lianghuai, the first strategic goal must be to march to Liangguang, Liangguang is the back of the Rainbow Army, and the Hong Army will never dare to fight for the Northern Expedition if it does not recover Liangguang, thinking of this, Bai Gui thought about all the problems clearly.

Although the king of Fengyue caused Ye Mingchen's dictatorship, it also forced him to fight to the death with the red thief, Ye Mingchen and Liu Jiehu now seem to be the governors of the same city, water and fire are incompatible, so Ye Mingchen can't wait to buy arms to arm the Qing army in Guangdong, thinking of this, Bai Gui suddenly laughed sarcastically: "I think that this time the king of the king is very negotiable, you should be crowned King Liang!"