Chapter 308 Ransom

Compared with those rotten Qing Dynasty officials, these two diplomats were more willing to deal with Zhang Sigui, who had drunk milk and was familiar with English, and they replied to Zhang Sigui with a smile: "It's just some small progress, but after waiting for more than ten years, the place where we live can finally enter the city!" ”

In the past, their consulate was not in the city of Fuzhou, but in the ugly temple outside the city, which was the result of the extrajudicial grace of the local officials in Fujian, and by taking advantage of the attack of the Baoshun wheel, the British got almost everything they wanted

The unsolved cases that have been pending for more than ten years have all come to an end because of Zhang Sigui's cannonballs, and these Britons naturally have to make some efforts: "In view of the special rights and interests of the English Kingdom in Fuzhou, please withdraw from the Minjiang River estuary immediately, of course, in return, you can have freedom of movement along the coast of Fujian, provided that the rights and interests of the English Kingdom are not infringed!" ”

Zhang Sigui answered them directly in English: "No, no, no!" ”

He told the two British diplomats: "I have already expended thousands of pounds of boiler coal, gunpowder, shells, and military pay for the capture of Fuzhou, and I need to repay it for my great effort!" ”

The two British diplomats were a little upset by Zhang Sigui's refusal, but soon they turned cloudy, and Zhang Sigui told them: "I need a ransom of 150,000 Mexican silver dollars, but in return, the two of you can take five percent of it!" ”

Five percent of 150,000 silver yuan is 7,500 silver yuan, which is by no means a small number for the two British diplomats, who immediately grabbed Zhang Sigui's sleeve and shouted: "Twenty percent, ten percent for each of us!" ”

But Zhang Sigui rejected their suggestion: "This ransom will also give kickbacks to the handling officials, I can only have the maximum authority of 20%, if you want 20%, it is to take all the kickbacks!" ”

These diplomats were all extremely adventurous, and they immediately replied to Zhang Sigui: "Then ask the Fujian officials for a ransom of 300,000 silver yuan, and we will each ask for 15,000 silver yuan!" ”

With 15,000 silver yuan, both diplomats could retire early and buy a manor house in Scotland to live comfortably for the rest of their lives, so Zhang Sigui agreed: "If you two can get this ransom, I can give an extra five percent reward!" ”

“ok！”

“ok!”

These two foreigners were menacing when they came, and they were also menacing when they returned to Fuzhou City, but their attitudes had changed fundamentally. update

At first, they demanded that the Hongjun naval division immediately withdraw from the waters near Fuzhou to ensure the special rights and interests of the British Empire in Fujian, but as soon as they returned to Fuzhou, they began to intimidate those Qing officials.

"If you refuse to pay this ransom, then Liu Jiehu's sailors will sail into the Min River and directly bombard the city of Fuzhou, you should know how we British easily took Xiamen more than ten years ago, and today they will repeat such a miracle!"

"That's right! You must raise the ransom of 600,000 silver yuan in the shortest possible time, and for a provincial city, 600,000 silver yuan is only a small number. ”

In fact, even in a city like Fuzhou, where money is common, it is still extremely difficult to raise 600,000 silver yuan, and in the end, two foreigners were invited to agree again, and the ransom was finally cut to 300,000 silver yuan.

In return, the local government of Fujian will give the two British diplomats a thank you gift of 1,000 silver yuan each, although not all of the 300,000 silver yuan fell into the hands of Zhang Sigui's sailors. …,

The two British magistrates took 15 percent, and the remaining 10 percent was given as kickbacks to various handlers of the Fujian local government, so that they could raise the ransom as soon as possible.

However, in order to urge the local officials in Fujian to speed up the collection of these ransoms, the Baoshun ship braved the danger of battery bombardment, went all the way deep into the Minjiang River, and fired a shot directly at the port of Fuzhou.

This cannon can be regarded as the last luck of Wang Xinde, and he said to the political envoy Qingduan: "If the treasury is insufficient, go to our Fuzhou silver number to borrow a batch, anyway, the autumn grain is about to be collected, and it can be turned over in a short time!" ”

"Hmm!" Although Qing Duan, the political envoy, opposed such a compromise with the Red Thief Sailor, when the Baoshun Wheel fired a shot at Fuzhou, he could only put forward his own suggestion: "We should borrow more, and we should also buy foreign steamers!" ”

"It's hard to explain over there!" Wang Xinde was a little difficult to do: "The center has repeated orders, and it is not allowed to purchase military steamers!" ”

"No Xuanchi!" Qingduan is full of people, and there is no taboo when he speaks: "Now that the red thief has a foreign fire wheel, we should also have a fire wheel, otherwise how to deal with it, this matter can only be done as a fait accompli, but unfortunately the red thief got this batch of silver yuan, I am afraid that the wings have been completed, and it can be controlled more!" ”

Speaking of which, this matter is a taboo, as a provincial official, how can he pay the ransom to the red thief, but under the step-by-step offensive of the British diplomats, they have no choice but to pay the ransom first according to the example of Guangzhou back then.

Three days away, Zhang Sigui proudly led the entire fleet to retreat to Wenzhou, and now the ammunition and water of the entire fleet have been consumed, and it is in urgent need of replenishment.

The number one capital ship of the Baoshun Ship was even more so that there was only a little coal left to return to Wenzhou, and only a dozen shells of the 60-pound main gun remained, and the gunpowder for the cannon was exhausted.

And the lack of Baoshun ship, although the rest of the warships have a little advantage over the Fujian sailors, but Zhang Sigui did not dare to take risks, plus he had just collected 300,000 silver yuan in ransom fees, he had to give the Fujian side a little face, so he decided to collect troops and return to Zhejiang first.

And waiting for Zhang Sigui's retreat, Wang Xinde, Lu Yansun, and Qingduan immediately played a joint performance: "There are more than 300 red thief warships, including six or seven foreign steamers such as the former Ningbo betrayed Baoshun ship, and mixed with more than 100 foreigners......

"On the occasion of this crisis, the ministers from the governor, the governor, and the political envoy to the coast all came to the coast in person to motivate the soldiers, and fortunately, the soldiers used their lives, and the fort fired three cannons in a row, smashing the three red thief millet boats......"

"The red thieves were furious, that is, they led the warships to flock to them, and the thieves and I immediately carried out artillery battles, fighting for three hours, although more than 70 thief ships were smashed, and finally because the red thief ships had many artillery, our army did not support, and retreated into the river, and the red thieves immediately ordered two thousand land thieves to go to land, and our soldiers engaged in battle, and fought for an hour, taking three forts, but our army did not retreat, and the red thieves were also terrified......"

"The officers and soldiers of the land and water used their lives, slammed the red thieves, fought hard for five days, and finally drove the red thieves back to the sea, this battle killed a total of 4,000 land and water thieves, about 100 large and small warships, only hated the red thieves among the six or seven foreign steamers, the artillery bombardment did not move, but the shells were bombarded back, our soldiers still had nothing to do, but they could hit the red thieves to the extreme, since the rise of the army, except for the battle of Jinyun, there is really no second battle!"

"My loyal and brave soldiers were also wounded, 564 people died in the water and did not return, and 341 people died in the land bravery......"

"Hey......" Seeing this twist, Xianfeng couldn't sigh bitterly: "It's a pity, Zhejiang Province is not peaceful, and the province is also in trouble, I am really a hard-working son!" ”

Speaking of which, Xianfeng is indeed a hard-working Son of Heaven, as soon as he ascended the throne, it was the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in Guangxi, and then the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the Twisting Army, the Hui Mutiny and all kinds of popular rebellion forces stirred him up, he could only ask the Waren opposite: "Wa Waiter, do you have any way?" ”…,

The name is very much like a Japanese, but he is an out-and-out traditional Chinese minister, he is an old minister of the two dynasties, and he has a lot of seniority, and Zeng Guofan also needs to call him a teacher.

"Shengshang, now that Zhejiang and Fujian are in an emergency, I am afraid that the only way to use the troops of the Jiangnan battalion is to aid Zhejiang!"

As soon as he heard that the soldiers of the Jiangnan battalion were to be used, Xianfeng was a little anxious: "If the elite soldiers of the battalion are mobilized, can I see the day of the recovery of Jinling in my lifetime?" ”

Wu Wenduan immediately replied: "I don't need a large battalion of soldiers, I'm afraid I can only use the soldiers of Jiangxi Zeng Shilang, he just drove away a governor this year, and now he will send Zhejiang to his hands, in that case, the old man will not dare to face this little gentleman." ”

As soon as he said this, Xianfeng wanted to retreat, he said, "Hey...... Zeng Disheng, Zeng Disheng, this is called how I deal with myself! Speaking of which, the Wa Shiyu and Zeng Shilang pay attention to Song Xue together! ”

"Hmm!" Wu Wenduan replied to Emperor Xianfeng: "At this time, at that time, how to worry, the Hunan army rises on the Yangtze River, the soldiers are generals, and the soldiers who are not in the state system are also, even if they can be proud of a while, they will eventually have a great tendency to fall, Your Majesty is knowledgeable, and you should know the troubles of the five dynasties of the late Tang Dynasty!" ”

"Hey!" Xianfeng sighed again, since he ascended the throne, he has not lived a few days of comfortable life: "Waiter, the battalion is the general of the economic system, and the elite soldiers of the Eight Banners live in it, and it is indeed my feudal, but if you transfer Zhang Yuliang first, compound Deng Shaoliang, and then transfer the elite soldiers and strong generals, I am afraid that there will inevitably be changes." ”

The Jiangnan battalion is different from the Hunan army, although there are such anomalies as Zhang Guoliang, but before Xianfeng broke through the Taiping army for the second time in ten years, it was always the long sword of the Qing Dynasty that the center of the Qing Dynasty relied on to fight against the Taiping army, and although the Jiangnan battalion had many Sichuan, Chu and Guangyong, the generals of the army were all officers of the green battalion, and there were many green battalion soldiers, and the children of the Eight Banners were in important positions during it, which was completely different from the Hunan army, an independent group composed entirely of Hunan people.

"You can do it as you like!" Wu Ren couldn't think of a better way, he immediately said: "I see that Wang Butang's twist and turn, it seems that there is a theory of buying foreign steamers and even borrowing foreign soldiers and generals, absolutely not!" The way to build a country is to be courteous and righteous rather than powerful; The fundamental picture is not in the human heart. ”

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