Zeng Guofan carried all the black pots, and the Empress Dowager of the Two Palaces and Prince Gong Yixin also understood, and they did not disappoint Zeng Guofan, no matter how Qingliu shouted, they still did what they had to do. Emperor Tongzhi personally issued an order to dismiss Zhang Guangzao and Liu Jie immediately and hand them over to the Criminal Department, and Admiral Chen Guorui sent them to Tianjin for review by Zeng Guofan. Basically, it is in accordance with Zeng Guofan's concept, and it is enough to give an explanation to the foreigners.

Unfortunately, the foreigners did not cooperate, and five French gunboats, three British gunboats, and one American gunboat anchored at the mouth of the Haihe River, and the cannons were stripped of their gunners and pointed in the direction of Tianjin. In Yantai, not far from the mouth of Dagu, there were also several warships ready to fire, including two French, one Italian, and two British. The Qing monarchs and ministers, passing back and forth the behavior of twists and turns, made the ministers suspect that the Qing Dynasty was playing procrastination, so they got the most feared warship of the Qing Dynasty to put a little pressure on Zeng Guofan and others.

On the issue of handling the lesson plan, Zeng and Chong both hoped to ensure the peace situation and not provoke lightly. But the two have very different purposes, Zeng Guofan wants to take into account the overall situation, realize the innocence of foreigners and explain to the people. And Chong thinks more about pleasing foreigners, and does not hesitate to pay some heavier costs, but also to achieve the result of calming things down. Although Zeng and Chong are working together in Jinmen to handle cases, they will inevitably have different dreams in the same bed and look like each other. When he met a "pig-like teammate", Zeng Guofan was in a bad mood, and his already bad health deteriorated. When the foreigner warship came, Zeng Guofan was even more bored, he wanted to negotiate with the foreigner in person, but his body couldn't support it, so he could only let Chonghou go out again.

The situation in Tianjin was on the verge of breaking out, Zeng Guofan was getting sicker and sicker, and Chonghou could only hurry up to communicate. Luo Shuya frightened the noble man who had always been a good person, and said that he had not been allowed to believe it for a long time, so he retreated from the legation and declared war on the Qing Dynasty. After Zeng Guofan heard about it, he had a dizziness attack and vomited for more than half a day. Chonghou took Chen Jiqing, the chief soldier of Tianjin Town, and Ma Shenwu, the prefect, to visit, and saw that Zeng Guofan's illness was violent, and immediately reported to the imperial court, and asked for additional important ministers of the imperial court to assist in it. This time, the express delivery was not delayed at all, and the imperial court immediately sent Mao Changxi, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, to Tianjin to do the office, and Li Hongzhang was on standby. At the same time, in order to prevent accidents, Fu Zhenbang, the governor of Zhili stationed in Gubeikou, was ordered to take the training army and the standard battalion to Tianjin, and listened to Zeng Guofan's dispatch, and Ding Richang, the governor of Jiangsu, also went to Tianjin to negotiate.

After knowing the will of the imperial court, Zeng Guofan vomited even more, was Yixin's head kicked by a donkey? How could there be such a bastard's will. It is right to let Mao Changxi and Ding Richang come over, and let Li Hongzhang be on standby, but it is completely confusing to let Fu Zhenbang bring troops. The French are just clamoring, they may not dare to really use force, Fu Zhenbang's sudden increase in troops in Tianjin will scare them, and it is very likely to cause a radical change. And even if there is really going to be a war, what is the use of Fu Zhenbang bringing a group of army forces, everyone and foreigners are floating on the sea! Fu Zhenbang can't swim and find someone to practice! The foreign devils have made it clear that they are going to shell Tianjin City, and they have never thought about landing. Even if the foreigners want to land, their few ships can't transport many soldiers, and the defenders of Tianjin are definitely enough, and it is completely superfluous to let Fu Zhenbang get a group of border troops.

Zeng Guofan hadn't figured out a way to deal with it, and there were people on the sea again, but this time the people who came made Zeng Guofan overjoyed. Seven North Manchurian Seawolf-class destroyers and four North Korean offshore gunboats sailed off the coast of Dagu, and they also removed their cannon suits, but their guns were aimed at the warships of Britain, France and other countries. Chonghou, who had been cowering, did not know what to provoke, and as soon as the fleets of North Manchuria and Korea arrived, he was immediately as excited as if he had been beaten with chicken blood, and sent out the three gunboats under his command. The tense atmosphere around Tianjin can even be felt by the vendors selling pancakes and fruits in Tianjin, but this time the Qing Dynasty has the upper hand, and a few British and French gunboats will definitely not be able to defeat the destroyers of North Manchuria.

The Chinese people, who have always loved peace and feared war, have all become angry youths, and the cries for war in Tianjin have risen one after another. Zeng Guofan even received several petitions, and the squires implored Zeng Guofan to rise up to exterminate the remnants of the bandits, and lead the tripartite alliance of Qing, Manchu, and North Korea to defeat the foreigners in one fell swoop, completely expel these foreigners, and return the Qing Dynasty to a bright future. Zeng Guofan's heart couldn't help but mutter, if North Manchurian can fully intervene, this time is not a good opportunity to expel foreigners. Even if this incident is the fault of the citizens of Tianjin, but the entanglement of major powers, how many of them are really reasonable!

Zeng Guofan was going to meet with Song Changqing, the commercial representative of Manchuria, and then meet with Zheng Qifeng, assistant secretary of state and minister of commerce of North Manchuria, to find out the tone of the North Manchurian side. Everyone has just joined forces to clean up Japan, and if there is another East Asian coalition and the French are also dealt with, it will be perfect. But Zeng Guofan was inevitably disappointed, he didn't go to find Song Changqing, Song Changqing invited consuls and Chonghou from various countries in his business hall, and held a communication meeting first. Northern Manchukuo is indeed towards the Qing Dynasty, but they also have their own bottom line, and they are far from Zeng Guofan's conception.

North Manchurian agreed with the French minister's request to repair the church, severely punish the murderers, and bury the victims, and also believed that the perpetrators of this incident were the people of Tianjin. However, despite Qu in the Qing Dynasty, Northern Manchurian still hoped that a settlement could be negotiated through negotiations, and did not want to see any non-peaceful means. In a word, my eldest brother did something wrong and should apologize, but whoever dares to touch my eldest brother, I will call the younger brothers to get whom! Of course, if my eldest brother had done it first, I wouldn't have done it! ”

The result brought back by Chonghou can be described as a mixed blessing. Northern Manchurian was regarded as a backing for the imperial court, and the Qing Dynasty basically avoided the military threat from France, but Northern Manchurian also thought that the fault was in the Qing Dynasty and supported the French to claim compensation, which was difficult to do. Zeng Guofan still has to compromise and seek perfection, but he still can't come according to the requirements of public opinion, and he still has to carry the black pot of "traitor". Moreover, Chonghou, the initiator, is still leaving, and the imperial court must hurry up to apologize to the French, so let Chonghou hurry back to Beijing to prepare and set off as soon as possible. Cheng Lin, who was originally scheduled to succeed Chonghou, fell ill, and the Minister of Commerce and Trade was replaced by Mao Changxi.

Before Chonghou left, he also got some good news from Song Changqing to Zeng Guofan, France and Prussia fought, and now the fierce battle in Europe is in full swing, and the emperors of France and Prussia are all in charge. The French minister Luo Shuya knew that his government was busy with war with Prussia and had no flaws in caring about the lesson plan, but he thought that the Qing court was closed to information, and still put on a tough posture, claiming that the prefect of Tianjin, the prefect of the county, and Chen Guorui, the governor of Tianjin, must be executed, the compensation of 2 million silver, the punishment of the murderers must be 3 or 400, and the Qing court will pay for the troops stationed in Jingu in the future. The horizontal stick of North Manchuria has given Zeng Guofan confidence, and when he heard that France and France were in a big war, he was even more confident, and the negotiations finally saw the light of day.

Thinking that Northern Manchurian was well-informed, Zeng Guofan made a special appointment to meet with Song Changqing to see if the representative uncle could give some useful advice. It's a pity that after seeing it, Zeng Guofan was quite disappointed, Song Changqing's talent is mediocre and he is not a knowledgeable person. And his focus is not on business at all, and he wonders every day why the French are clinging to Chen Guorui. Zeng Guofan actually wondered, Chen Guorui has been a bystander from beginning to end, and the lesson plan has nothing to do with him, why do you have to bite him! But a small admiral doesn't matter at all, Zeng Guofan won't work hard for him.

After North Manchuria betrayed the information, the French minister Luo Shuya did relent, but another thing completely broke the deadlock, Ma Xinyi, the governor of Liangjiang, asked a little hooligan to do it on the street. This incident triggered a series of adjustments in the officialdom of the Qing Dynasty, and the imperial court ordered Zeng Guofan to serve as the governor of Liangjiang again, his beloved disciple Li Hongzhang took charge of Zhili, and Ding Richang quickly returned to the Soviet Union to temporarily take care of the overall situation. Zeng Guofan, the big black pot of the Tianjin lesson plan, carried it, but the case did not have to end in his hands.

However, before Li Hongzhang arrived, Zeng Guofan encountered another "Infernal Affairs" incident. At the end of the month, the secret document sent by the General Administration was actually obtained by foreign envoys, and they took the document and made a big fuss in the government office, "saying that China does not treat each other with sincerity, ridiculing and ridiculing, which is outrageous." This secret letter was only sent to four high-ranking officials, Zeng Guofan and Mao Changxi were in Tianjin, and they received it as soon as possible, and Li Hongzhang also received it personally, so it should not be leaked. It's just that Chonghou left Tianjin two days before the secret edict was issued, and Chen Daohan, a staff member of the Commercial Bureau, forwarded the line, but it is unknown when Chonghou received it. Zeng Guofan was very suspicious that Chonghou had betrayed him again, but it was not easy to investigate this matter, so he could only hold his breath again.

Speaking of which, Li Hongzhang was originally a disciple of Zeng Guofan, and Li Hongzhang's father and Zeng Guofan still had a relationship with him in the same year. Li Hongzhang naturally has his own talents to make a fortune, but the opportunity for him to get ahead was given to him by Zeng Guofan. Whether it was to set up regimental training, form the Huai Army, or break through to the southeast to relieve the siege of Shanghai, it was Li Hongzhang who was given the opportunity by Zeng Guofan, and it was Zeng Guofan who promoted Li Hongzhang to be the governor of Jiangsu.

Both masters and apprentices are important figures in modern Chinese history, but their ways of thinking and paths are completely different. Zeng Guofan tried to transcend his deeds with his personality, and Li Hongzhang drowned his personality because of his merits, and it was precisely because of this difference that the hard-working apprentice gave his hard-working master a trick.

The imperial court urgently ordered Li Hongzhang to take over the handling of the Tianjin teaching case, and led the elite of the Huai army to assist in the defense of Jinggi, but as soon as he arrived in Baoding, Li Hongzhang ordered to camp and rest under the pretext of summer heat and physical illness, in fact, he was quietly watching the development of the situation in Tianjin. With Li Hongzhang having been in the officialdom for so long, he had already seen the big pit in Tianjin, and he didn't want to become a victim of filling the pit. Li Hongzhang is not Zeng Guofan, so he will not ruin his career for the sake of the so-called bullshit overall situation in the world, and the most important thing at the moment is how to protect himself in this turmoil. After thinking about it, Li Hongzhang had no choice but to resort to a not very kind move, sacrificing his teacher Zeng Guofan.