Section 578 Major Events: The Taiwan Question (1)

The Japanese minister said that they sent troops to Taiwan to protect the people. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info Their minimum requirement is to compensate them for the cost of sending troops. Your Majesty, you see? ”

Wu Chongyao reported to Zhu Jinglun again on the Taiwan issue, the Ming fleet had been blockading the southern region of Taiwan for more than a month, and the intervention of the Ming Dynasty made the Japanese understand that they could not take advantage of anything in Taiwan, so they planned to withdraw, but asked them to report the tickets before coming.

Listening to Wu Chongyao's tone, it seems that he also intends to break the fortune and avoid disasters, isn't it just 500,000 taels of silver, the Japanese are not very angry, they should be called Huazi, the Wu family has money, and they don't take this money in their eyes at all, let alone for a country.

Maybe Li Hongzhang in history also has this mentality and doesn't care at all.

As for what is said in the history books, what kind of connivance aggression and the like are utterly nonsense, if the Westernization Movement succeeds later, the Japanese will not dare to call out Li Hongzhang for a hundred courages, because the Westernization Movement is a joke at all, so Japan will fight the First Sino-Japanese War, which has nothing to do with Li Hongzhang's failure to give the Japanese money in Taiwan, and the only relationship is that it is a bit embarrassing.

Of course, Zhu Jinglun couldn't give this money, he would rather use this money to buy guns and cannons to beat up little Japan, let them understand some rules, and let them know whose wharf is this acre and three points of land in East Asia.

"That's the problem, a small capital, but they always want to make a big deal."

Zhu Jinglun sighed.

Wu Chongyao nodded: "Wokou, it's a little petty." ”

Zhu Jinglun asked, "Do you think this is just a little family?" Small capital but want to make big profits, what do you think this looks like? ”

Wu Chongyao thought for a moment and replied tentatively: "Gambler? ”

Zhu Jinglun said with a smile: "It's good to remember this, this nation is a gambler." But I won't pay for this money! ”

Wu Chongyao said: "Your Majesty misunderstood, we don't need to pay for this money, the Qing Prime Minister Yamen is willing to pay for this money." ”

Zhu Jinglun was stunned: "They? ”

From beginning to end, Zhu Jinglun did not greet the Manchus, the Ming fleet blocked the relevant areas in the strait, not only did not allow Japanese ships to enter and exit, but also the Manchu ships were not allowed to enter and exit, so it was equivalent to a complete blockade, and it was always the Ming Dynasty that was negotiating with Japan, but I didn't expect the Prime Minister Yamen presided over by Li Hongzhang to also get involved.

Zhu Jinglun couldn't help but nodded, if it was a bit embarrassing for Li Hongzhang to pay for the Japanese to buy peace in history, it would be very cost-effective to spend this money at this time. Because their money not only sent the Japanese away, but also gave the Ming no reason to continue to interfere.

"Do you agree?"

Wu Chongyao asked, he saw Zhu Jinglun nodding, obviously misunderstood.

Zhu Jinglun said: "No one's money can be given, continue the blockade until the Japanese are willing to go." If they don't leave for a year, they will be blocked for a year, and if they don't leave for two years, they will be blocked for two years. I don't believe that a group of pirates can toss flowers. ”

The main reason why the Japanese were willing to take money to eliminate the disaster was that the more than 3,000 samurai were not accustomed to Taiwan's tropical climate, and they soon contracted various tropical diseases after landing. Moreover, under the blockade, their logistical supplies need to be raised locally, and they occupy the feudal realm, and they dare not set foot in the Han realm, so they have to deal with a group of culturally uncivilized natives of the tribal era, and the Japanese plundered these natives, and in the end, it is impossible to do without causing conflict. In the jungle-ridden domain, once a full-scale conflict breaks out with the natives, I am afraid that those thousands of Japanese samurai will end up being skinned.

Wu Chongyao sighed: "But the Prime Minister's yamen also wants us to withdraw our troops. ”

Zhu Jinglun smiled: "Do you think that in this matter, what the Manchu Prime Minister Yamen said is a word?" Don't you notice the attitude of the British? ”

Wu Chongyao nodded: "The British are very silent during this time, in addition to saying a few words about maintaining the channel of the strait, they even withdrew the fleet that cruised some time ago, which is really confusing to understand the situation." ”

Zhu Jinglun sighed: "Do you think that on the Vietnam issue, our concessions were made in vain? ”

On the Vietnam issue, the Ming Dynasty gave Britain a huge face, so that Britain could smoothly solve the problem of European balance, which is not just a face problem, at this time, once Britain made the Ming dissatisfied, it could provoke trouble at any time in North Vietnam, and once again intensify the contradiction with France, so it was impossible for Britain to make the Ming unhappy at this time.

In the past, they sent warships in the Taiwan Strait, not to do anything to anyone, but just a gesture to show their attitude towards maintaining freedom of shipping lanes, and at the same time, they could also take the opportunity to intervene in this incident.

But now that they have withdrawn their warships, they obviously do not intend to get involved, so as not to conflict with the Ming Dynasty, causing the Ming to find trouble, the Ming Dynasty cannot defeat the British Navy, but it can make France unhappy by land, and France is not happy, so it will not be able to pay reparations to Germany with peace of mind, and the German army will not withdraw from France smoothly.

Obviously, Wu Chongyao has not been able to fully understand this chain of international relations, and he is still thinking one-line now, unable to straighten out these complex relationships.

But as soon as he clicked, he immediately understood.

"You mean that Britain won't care about Taiwan's affairs?"

Zhu Jinglun nodded: "That's right, on the Taiwan issue, only we have the final say." Do you understand what we have to do? ”

Wu Chongyao bowed: "If Weichen understands well, my country should take the land of Taiwan." ”

Zhu Jinglun said: "That's right. This place is not worth much money now, the population is only about two million, and there are hundreds of thousands of Tibetans, and the miasma is everywhere, but the geographical location is very important, and if you occupy this island, you control the strait. Now all the big steamers going to Shanghai have to pass through this strait. If we are strong enough, we can follow the example of the British, and let all the merchant ships passing through the strait greet the Ming and even pay us taxes. Ten years ago, during our Northern Expedition, the British and French fleets confronted us at Ningbo, making it impossible for them to go across the strait with peace of mind. Now that the Ming fleet is strong enough, the point is that France has declined, Britain cannot interfere, and if we miss this opportunity, we may have to wait another ten years. ”

Wu Chongyao nodded, but said worriedly: "But if the Qing side doesn't agree, is it possible that we still have to fight a battle and really unite the Taiping Army?" ”

Zhu Jinglun smiled: "Zeng Guofan still hasn't moved? ”

During the Northern Expedition of the Taiping Army, Yang Fuqing surrounded Chao County, and Bao Chao continued to reinforce this county through Chaohu, resulting in the Taiping Army never being able to completely encircle here, and had to go back and forth with Bao Chao. Wang Haiyang surrounded Yangzhou, and it was the same situation, he really encountered Zuo Zongtang's elite Chu army defending the city, and although Wang Haixiang's rabble was numerous, they were never able to block Yangzhou City.

In this case, Zeng Guofan never moved, and the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty were scolding Zeng Guofan, but the imperial court never mobilized Zeng Guofan, and they could not move, and they never cut off the source of military salaries for Zeng Guofan.

Zhu Jinglun never believed that Zeng Guofan wanted to cut the land and be self-righteous as the Manchu Qingliu said, and he had no intention of being subservient, Zhu Jinglun believed that Zeng Guofan was just waiting for an opportunity, he was waiting for the Taiping army to minimize morale in the long-term attrition, and then give them the final blow.

Zeng Guofan has this determination and patience, it has been more than a year, obviously Zeng Guofan's opportunity is almost over, he definitely doesn't want to provoke Daming at this time, as long as Daming asks, Zeng Guofan will speak, and Li Hongzhang will give up.

It's not that Li Hongzhang is willing to listen to Zeng Guofan's words, he just doesn't want to take responsibility, as long as Zeng Guofan feels that Taiwan is insignificant and folds his hands on the Qing court, Li Hongzhang is willing to push the boat with the water.

Wu Chongyao really couldn't understand what Taiwan had to do with Zeng Guofan.

Zhu Jinglun didn't explain to him anymore, it was better for the courtiers to understand less about this kind of scheming.

"You don't have to contact the Manchus first. Wait until the Japanese are willing to go. It could be a few months, or a year, and I think those would-be robbers should find a way to leave on their own, even if they don't give them a penny, they have to go. ”

Wu Chongyao nodded, and then reported some other work to Zhu Jinglun, which made Zhu Jinglun more interested in the fact that there were nearly 100,000 immigrants in California, and the total number of people in California during this period was only 700,000, which means that one out of every seven people is Chinese. Also in the north, Oregon and Washington have immigrated more than 10,000 people, and all of them are family immigrants, buying wasteland through labor companies, and then recruiting people to develop it, and a family is given 100 acres of land, and only one or two rents a year, which is not symbolic, but a real estate tax to be paid to the state government in the United States.

It can be said that the labor service company has no return on net investment for this, and has lost tens of millions of dollars so far, but Zhu Jinglun doesn't care, first, even if the last $100 million is all lost, it is cost-effective to be able to immigrate hundreds of thousands or millions, and second, he knows that it is impossible to lose money in the end. The reason why wasteland in the United States is cheap is because there is no labor to develop it, and the land is only valuable if it is developed. The Chinese are obviously one of the most knowledgeable people who know how to exploit the land, and wherever they go, not only will the wasteland become fertile land, but it will also become a prosperous commercial port.

At that time, as long as the commercial land reserved by the labor company can be turned into a small town and a prosperous commercial port, all the funds invested in it will be enough to recover it, and it will even increase in value a lot.

In addition to the United States, there are also some agricultural immigrants who get them at home, but there are only about 10,000 people, because it is more difficult to develop here.

The progress in South America is not small, a few years ago, the relationship between the Ming and Peru and other countries in South America was very rigid, mainly because Peru illegally recruited a large number of coolies to dig guano, after the Ming set up a legation in Peru, he soon pulled up a labor company, and the labor company began to liberate these coolies, the plantation owners in Peru were very dissatisfied, these people almost controlled the Peruvian government, resulting in a period of time, the Ming even closed the trade with Peru.

Peru compromised in 1868, that year, the Ming ironclad cruised around Europe, if Peru really continued to insist, the Ming ironclad would undoubtedly go back to Peru for a walk.