Shanghai.

The city has become thoroughly internationalized, more cosmopolitan than it has historically been, and in modern history there were no more than 10,000 expatriates along the entire coast of China, who controlled everything in the empire through compradors.

Now, Shanghai had become a complete adventurer's paradise, with nearly 10,000 expatriates living in Shanghai alone, and it was still expanding, so the British had to ask the new conquerors of Shanghai to expand the concession through the consul.

Liu Chang did not directly refuse the request to expand the concession, but the demand was carried out simultaneously with the diplomatic negotiations, and the Chinese side could make some concessions, but the British also had to make more concessions, and a China that could buy tens of millions of pounds of industrial goods a year was more valuable than a China that could only buy tens of thousands of boxes of opium.

The latter was only convenient for the opium merchants and a small number of people in Bombay, India, while the former allowed the entire British Empire, and even many of the British Empire's old foreign firms, to be stationed in this new port city.

It is only because the concession has not been expanded, that the current British and French concessions have become very supportive, even to the point of a piece of land and gold, and even the price of some land near the concession is skyrocketing, and some smart foreigners have bought their own small villas and apartments there.

In addition to Europeans, there are also many Asians, such as a large number of Indians who serve the British, and many Filipinos, who have taken advantage of the Rainbow Army's control of the Philippines to whitewash themselves as citizens of the Xia Kingdom, and even demand their own seats in the possible Xia State Parliament.

Of course, the whole Philippines cannot simply be set up as a province of China, they feel that they should have a higher status, but according to the Spanish provincial system, the whole Philippines has a population of only 6 million, but there are 36 provinces, and the average population of a province is only about 100,000 or even less, in this case. They suggested that the Philippines should be a major province of China.

And Kuroshima Ren also has the same intention, this Japanese samurai claims to have the royal blood of the Southern Dynasty of Japan, and even declares himself to be the state of Japan, no. It was supposed to be the emperor of the Japanese provinces, no, the overseers of the Japanese provinces, who often claimed his position to the Westerners and the Hongjun garrison in Shanghai, and tried to organize a mercenary army from Shanghai to enter the semi-closed Japan.

It's just that neither the Westerners in Shanghai, nor the administrative cadres of the Hongjun or anyone else have much interest in him. Therefore, he could only force his small business, on the one hand, he recruited five or six cheap mercenaries, and agreed with them that as long as Kuroshima Ren got a lot of money, they would go back to Japan with Kuroshima Ren, and then declare himself a vassal to Liu Jihu.

To this end, Hitoshi Kuroshima also took out a small amount of money from his small business and organized these Japanese, Filipino, and Indian mercenaries to conduct a training camp every ten days and a half months. Each training camp also attracted the attention of the concession, but after several dispersals, the concession authorities no longer regarded Kuroshima's mercenary squad as a thing.

They don't even have weapons. There are only a few bamboo guns and Japanese knives, which are not a threat at all, and Kuroshima Ren is usually very active in paying taxes, and has never defaulted on the taxes that his Japanese ryotei should pay.

And today, Kuroshima Ren is sitting in his own restaurant drinking sake, while shouting that Shanghai is too barbaric, and there are people who eat meat everywhere, but no one in Japan eats meat, except for the finest venison, and Chinese people like him are absolute vegetarians.

It's just that when he first talked about his experience with vegetarianism. The curtain of the door of the pavilion was lifted, and someone rushed in: "Where is Ren Kuroshima?" ”

"Here, here!" Kuroshima replied in the familiar Shanghai dialect: "What do you two do?" ”…,

He could see clearly that these were two Europeans, though he couldn't tell whether they were Swedes or French, or if they were of any other nationality. But Hitoshi Kuroshima quickly talked about his origins: "I am a pure-blooded Chinese ...... for 3,000 years."

"You're Ren Kuroshima?"

The other party is tall and big, and he is full of distrust of Kuroshima Ren: "Won't it? You also have a team of mercenaries on your hands? ”

"I have a team of mercenaries, and even a lot of cold weapons to arm them, and with enough money, we can also have enough rifles and artillery to arm ourselves."

Although the Hongjun strengthened its control over Shanghai after taking control of Shanghai, a large number of firearms could still be purchased in the concession, some of which were even the latest rifles and artillery in Europe, as long as they were not used to deal with the Hongjun or to rebel, the local officials of the Hongjun could only turn a blind eye.

And now a European has spoken of his origins: "I need a team of volunteers!" ”

"What volunteers?" Kuroshima Ren immediately said: "I am a loyal subject of His Majesty Emperor Zhenyuan, and I am willing to ......"

The other party directly interrupted him: "We, the Swedish citizens in Shanghai, in order to support the cause of Emperor Zhenyuan, decided to organize a volunteer ......"

Swede? Volunteers? Kuroshima Ren cautiously probed: "The emperor's volunteers? ”

He didn't believe that these European businessmen would support Emperor Zhenyuan for free, and even raise a volunteer army, but he quickly figured out what was going on: "Why? The Honourable Rusya has created a British Volunteer Army on behalf of the British residents. ”

In the name of volunteering to serve Liu Chang and the Great Xia Kingdom, the wealthy Mr. Rusya and Mr. Ryan, as well as some British businessmen in Shanghai, quickly raised a large amount of money and a large amount of ammunition, and this volunteer army was composed of more than 20 British volunteers as officers, and at the same time recruited more than 200 Chinese volunteers, organized into an infantry battalion and two infantry companies.

The senior officials of the Hongjun in Shanghai were unprepared for the formation of this volunteer army, and they were only making it clear that this volunteer army was formed by some pro-Xia businessmen who were worried that their business would be damaged by the Russians going south, and that this volunteer army would immediately go to the North China battlefield to undertake some auxiliary combat missions.

And when the British settlers had done this, the French decided to do the same, and they formed a battalion of Changjie, but the strength was only the size of a company, and the European merchants of all the countries in Shanghai also knew the truth of the snow, and they formed volunteer troops one after another, and the Swedes were a step late, but they knew very well that they had to take part in such speculation.

Although they did not have any obligations to Emperor Zhenyuan, Emperor Zhenyuan and their ministers may not remember which country's volunteers participated in what battles, but they will definitely remember who did not participate in the volunteers, not to mention that Sweden and Russia can be said to be feuding, they like the feeling of falling into the ground for the Russians, but the real history is that Sweden is constantly attacked by Russia, so dozens of Swedish residents decided to form a small volunteer army to assist the emperor in the war after a short plenary meeting.

It's just that Shanghai's famous mercenaries and officers, such as the famous Wall, have been robbed by other countries, and the Swedes are too few to find at most one volunteer, so someone soon talked about Kuroshima's mercenary team: "If you agree, we can sign the contract now!" ”

"No problem, no problem!" After Kuroshima Ren figured out what was going on, he immediately said overjoyed: "I'll sign it right away, I can find dozens of excellent mercenaries." ”

"Then I'm the commander!" Ferguson on the other side was originally a timber merchant with half a year of military service, and his business was in trouble, so he acted as a volunteer to get out: "Your Excellency Hitoshi Kuroshima, you are my deputy, we will go to North China to participate in the war ......"...,

"Russians ......" Hitoshi Kuroshima couldn't help but feel a little timid when he saw tall Russians, and he quickly thought of an excuse: "Are you fighting the Russians head-on?" I think going around the back of the Russians is the right thing to do. ”

"Good way!" Ferguson thought it was a good idea, and it was a brilliant idea to go around the Russians: "Then we need a sailboat, which is probably more than the expected budget...... Perhaps we can get some help from the Chinese. ”

"Sailboat?" Kuroshima didn't understand what it was like to go around the back of Russia: "As long as you give enough money, not to mention sailboats, even steamships can be bought, do we need to hire sailors?" ”

"Of course it is needed!" Ferguson felt that this should be a very good opportunity, knowing that the Russians are now in the nest, and it is said that the whole Far East, they are mobilized even children and the elderly, so that they will not meet the Russians' combat units at all, but they can carry out open robbery there, which is a great opportunity.

You must know that Ferguson's grandfather died in the war of 1812, and he has always been bitter about ceding Finland to the Russians, and now they are not willing to miss the opportunity to clean up the Russians and make themselves rich.

As long as he grabbed a large quantity of precious furs and pearls, then Ferguson could not only get rid of the predicament of business, but also become the top nobleman in Shanghai like Count Demmons, and when he thought of this, Ferguson smiled very happily: "We need to hire a few more warriors, and we need to make a budget, according to what I know, the Chinese have always provided various conveniences to the volunteers who assist them in the war, and perhaps we can make a fortune." ”

It's good to be rich, Kuroshima thought beautifully, the weather in Shanghai is really warm! RQ

The fastest update, please bookmark ().