Businessmen from all over Hong Kong have long had expectations for Zhu Jinglun, and unlike Chinese businessmen, they are extremely eager for Chinese officials to be the kind of people Zhu Jinglun can cooperate with, but after searching all over China, he found that only Zhu Jinglun is an official who knows more about foreigners and can accept and understand Western rules. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

So if Zhu Jinglun can control the country, at least on the ruling side, it will also be a huge promotion for their interests.

In December, the British sent representatives to Nanking to inspect the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and the Minister to China, Wei Tuma, and the naval commander He Bu went together, and they were tasked with three missions: the first was to defuse the threat of this force to Shanghai, the second was to test the attitude of this force, and the third was to make an investigation report on the three major forces in China at present, so that the British government could judge that it was in the best interests of Britain to support which power.

Historically, it should have been Pashali, but Pashali went crazy, so this matter fell on Weituma, Weituma and Hurd are both Chinese experts, in terms of professional ability, he is much stronger than Hurd, for example, he has a very good study of Chinese and Chinese dialects, he invented a set of alphabet system for writing Chinese, called Weituma Pinyin, is the originator of some later columns of pinyin, he is different from Hurd, he studies the Chinese language and writing, and Hurd reads the Chinese Four Books and Five Classics, One is from the aspect of Chinese speaking, and the other directly explores the thinking of Chinese, obviously in this regard, Hurd understands the thinking of Chinese better than Weituma, which is why others later felt that Chinese officials were difficult to deal with, and only Hurd could get along with Yixin, Li Hongzhang and others like a fish in water.

But the professional quality of Weituma is not bad, and it can only be said that Hurd's efforts are deeper.

Before in July, Li Xiucheng, who captured the area of Suzhou and Hangzhou, sent troops to attack Shanghai, and was finally blocked by Wall's foreign gun team, but the foreign gun team suffered heavy losses, almost a third of the loss, Wall himself was injured and fled, and finally the British Navy was forced to open fire, only to keep Shanghai, Li Xiucheng, a new force led by the famous general, made the British feel that they were much stronger than the Qing army, so they decided to test it, the first to trade, the second to peace, He received a promise from Hong Xiuquan, the great Hong stick of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, that they would be allowed to trade, but that they would not sell opium, and that the Taiping army would not attack Shanghai.

The whole of China also banned opium at the official level of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and the Qing government and Zhu Jinglun did not dare to touch this sensitive thing, but this does not mean that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom really banned opium, they only officially and verbally forbade it, Wei Tuoma saw countless smoke houses in Nanjing City, no less than Guangzhou, and also saw the brothels that were also banned by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and many of the people who opened these industries were "kings" with various titles in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, how could this be banned?

The Qing government really can't help but dare not ban it, although Zhu Jinglun does not dare to ban it for the time being, but he is the only person who can completely control this trade, and the anti-smuggling team formed by Hurd has successfully blocked all kinds of smuggling, and if he wants to ban the opium trade, it is completely feasible in terms of technology.

If the British can send a navy to help them control the Yangtze River, they should be able to capture Wuhan and other big cities along the Yangtze River, and then divide and rule with the Qing court, and talk to a corrupt government, it is better to let them have a competitor, just like the princely states of India, and they can divide and rule.

As a result, Hong Xiuquan said that foreign countries should pay tribute to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and that the king of heaven was the lord of all countries, not to divide the land equally with the British. , things are divided, and the world is laughing; If it doesn't work, it will lead the ghost into the state."

Hong Tianwang's attitude obviously did not satisfy the British, in history, after that, they began to thoroughly support the Qing government, sent the active officer Gordon to help Li Hongzhang train the foreign gun team, and even operated the Aspen fleet, also hoping to make the Qing government's power stronger, so that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom could be cleaned up as soon as possible, so that the British could go deep into the Yangtze River trade.

But in this era, there is still a Zhu Jinglun to choose from, Wei Tuma does not need to contact Zhu Jinglun again, and directly wrote a report after going back, telling the government that in China, there is only one person who can communicate with Western countries in a friendly and reasonable manner, and that is Zhu Jinglun in Guangdong, at present, Zhu Jinglun has formed his own army, and controls most of Guangdong, although this control is not stable enough, but it is worth looking forward to, it is recommended that the government once a war breaks out between the Qing Dynasty government and Zhu Jinglun's local government, Britain should be strictly neutral.

When Wei Tuma inspected the current three major separatist forces in China, Yixin was also pondering the situation in Guangdong.

He has completely controlled the government and the alliance with Cixi, so that he has the support of the three major forces of the domineering magnates, the minister in charge of the army, and the empress dowager of the two palaces, while Su Shun and others only have an edict in their hands except for themselves.

When escorting Su Shun into the court, the banner man in Beijing shouted, "Su Lao Liu, you also have today", and the attitude of the flag man was actually doomed to the end of this struggle.

It didn't take much to clean up Sushun, but he didn't have time to take care of it, so that there was a sudden earth-shattering change in Guangdong.

So far, in fact, Yi Xin didn't understand what happened in Guangdong, if you just look at the pieces of music sent by Guangdong to Beijing, you will only be more confused, because those pieces have accumulated a lot, there are the elders who reported Xin'an County bravely to make a salary, there are Zhu Jinglun and Mu Kedenne, and the Green Camp and Eight Banners also joined the music of the salary, and later it was the elderly who reported that Zhu Jinglun rebelled, and Zhu Jinglun and Mu Kedenne insisted that it was the elderly who had the intention to force the soldiers in the city to rebel, and later the two sides fought a lot of war of words.

Yi Xin felt at first that the two of them, Qi Ling and Zhu Jinglun, just looking at the recital, must have had a misunderstanding, and the elderly acted improperly, which led to the soldiers being paid, and they were responsible, but then suddenly the elderly said that Zhu Jinglun rebelled and wanted to send troops to attack Guangzhou, and Zhu Jinglun sued the elderly for this move to escape responsibility and completely force the soldiers in the city to rebel.

Yi Xin is a smart person, he can see it just from the report, and then Mukdenne fell to Zhu Jinglun, why this happened, he couldn't understand, did Zhu Jinglun rebel? If there was a rebellion, could it be that Mukdenne also rebelled, even if Mukdenne was forced to rebel, the Eight Banners of the whole city also rebelled?

According to the news that came back later, there were also those who said the opposite, and some people said that they did not oppose it, and some people saw Mukdenne alone appearing in Xinhui to suppress the Xinhui County Order, saying that it was the elderly Yu Dangyun, which did not seem to be coerced at all, and more people sent back the exact news that the Eight Banners soldiers in the city, except for a few officers, all participated in Zhu Jinglun's army.

10,000 Eight Banner Soldiers, all surrendered?

The Qing Dynasty has never had such a miracle in two hundred years.

Yi Xin couldn't figure it out, so he asked Bai Gui, who knew Zhu Jinglun best.

A letter of newspaper, Bai Gui has already read it.

sighed and said, "I said earlier that he had an accident when he left Xin'an. ”

At that time, when there was just chaos, even foreigners landed on the shore, and Bai Gui said this sentence at that time.

However, the foreigner was later persuaded by Zhu Jinglun to go back, and Yixin didn't care about it, he only cared about whether he was against it or not.

Yi Xin asked, "Is he the opposite?" ”

Bai Gui sighed: "I'm afraid it's between anti and non-anti." ”

Yi Xin asked, "What do you mean?" ”

Bai Gui said: "This is forced by the elderly, not to force him, but those who are soldiers, the elderly deduct military salaries, and even the soldiers make trouble, when they are using military authority, the soldiers are afraid of the law, and they want to rebel, I am afraid that Zhu Jinglun will be forced to take them to rebel." So, not only is Xin'an County brave to rebel, but even our banner people are rebelling, and the elderly are damned. ”

Yi Xin said: "What does it mean to not react? ”

Bai Gui said: "Zhu Jinglun is a person with great ambitions, but he is too frivolous, lacks experience, does not know how to take matters seriously, and does not follow the convention, he himself is afraid that he does not want to rebel, and he is forced by the soldiers, so he has to be humble and wronged, I am afraid that he wants to take the opportunity to appease the soldiers." Otherwise, why would Mukdenne be in step with him, I am afraid that these two people will not be able to help themselves at this time, and they have been held hostage by the fierce generals of the soldiers. ”

Bai Gui has a preconceived idea in his heart, that is, Zhu Jinglun will not rebel, and he doesn't dare to imagine that Zhu Jinglun has grown step by step under his wing to the extent that he can rebel, so he can't get out of it, and subconsciously he can't believe that Zhu Jinglun rebelled, Yixin asked him, but he really asked the wrong person.

But Yixin felt that what Bai Gui said was reasonable.

"What you mean is that the soldiers are afraid of the law, so they want to rebel, Zhu Jinglun and Mukdena are being held hostage but don't want to rebel. So as long as the soldiers are not held accountable and Zhu Mu and the two are appeased, the matter in Guangdong Province will not be ruined? ”

Yi Xin also has preconceived concerns, he hopes that he can still caress him, to be honest, and then send troops to fight in Guangdong, the imperial court really can't bear it, every year the Eight Banners Green Battalion spends tens of millions, the Hunan army is seven or eight million, and more than 10 million indemnities are given to foreigners, where to find money.

"Lord Wang!"

Bai Gui flattered.

Yi Xin said: "Then according to you, who should be sent to this matter of raising the army?" ”

His mouth was asking, but his eyes were staring at Bai Gui.

Bai Gui could only sigh: "If the prince can be trusted, the slave will go for a trip." ”

Yi Xin nodded: "It's best for you to go." The day before yesterday, you said that Zhu Jinglun is quite talented in foreign affairs, and if he is interested, he can use the assistant office of the prime minister's yamen to invite him, and if he is not willing, his official position can also be moved. He was afraid that Zhu Jinglun would be resentful and afraid, if he didn't dare to come to Beijing, he would be allowed to be a Taoist in Guangdong. The new emperor ascended the throne, it was the time to show his favor to his courtiers, and he was still a good courtier of the court after all the past was not to blame. ”

"Daoist!"

After hearing this, Bai Gui was amazed in his heart, it was not that this official position was too high, and it was rare in the world to promote Zhu Jinglun from a small county order to a Taoist priest and promote him to three levels with his actual position, which shows that Yixin did not believe that Zhu Jinglun had no objection at all, otherwise he would not have used this method to win over.

If Zhu Jinglun is reversed, he Baigui will also be implicated, Baigui understands in his heart, but he doesn't dare to say it, so he hurriedly retires.

Seeing Bai Gui walk out, Yi Xin sighed, what an eventful time. (To be continued.) )