Bai Gui reported the Ming Dynasty's request to exchange Yunnan for Jiangsu to the Prime Minister Yamen, Li Hongzhang, Yixin and even Cixi agreed without any hesitation, this is a good deal no matter how you look at it, if it is a plain and unprovoked cession of a province, it will cause the indignation of the Manchu civil and military, but now that the Ming army actually controls Jiangsu, Anhui Jiangnan part, this exchange is not so conspicuous. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

Of course, there are still those who should be opposed, the most diehard group of old stubborn people think that this is to discuss with the enemy to share their own flesh, it is a great shame, they demand to start a war with the Ming and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom at the same time, and take this opportunity to destroy the Ming Dynasty in one go, but this arrogant voice, even the stubborn faction who has always been anti-Ming can not support it.

However, when Bai Gui told Chen Zhiting that the imperial court should use Yunnan to exchange Jiangnan, the situation had changed, Chen Zhiting said that the Ming Dynasty was willing to return to the entire Jiangnan region, including Songjiang Prefecture, except for Shanghai County, and stated the reason, telling Bai Gui that where there are Chinese and foreign mixed places, the situation is complicated, and the Ming can better manage here.

The real reason is actually that the Ming Detective heard a news that has not yet been confirmed, the Qing court promised the British to entrust Shanghai to the British management, that is to say, the entire Shanghai County may become a British concession, and the British promised to continue to transfer the customs revenue of Shanhai to the Qing Dynasty, and also said that the British management of Shanghai will greatly increase the commercial income here, will create greater benefits for the Qing government, and most importantly, the British expressed their willingness to give the Qing government an extremely large loan.

Worried that Britain will control such an important strategic place, there is no need for Zhu Jinglun to remind, Chen Zhiting's group of officials can no longer sit still, the interests of the Ming Dynasty in Shanghai are huge, this has become a fact, through the Shanghai Ming Dynasty can transport the goods of the Yangtze River basin out, in order to sell the goods of the Ming Dynasty to the inland, if this place is controlled by the British, it is conceivable that the entire Yangtze River will be returned to the British.

Historically, in order to prevent Russia from going south to compete for the interests of the Yangtze River, the British did not hesitate to form an alliance with Japan, and finally defeated Russia.

In addition, although there is no conclusive evidence of the strength of British assets in the war against the Hunan army, everyone is convinced that the foreigners who helped the Manchus on the Yangtze River are all British regular navy, and those warships flying the Manchu Yellow Dragon flag are all British warships.

So everyone thought that the Manchus had reached some kind of secret agreement with the British, but they didn't know what the agreement was, but now it seems obvious, obviously the Manchus exchanged Shanghai for British support, and for the Manchus, this may be another good deal, lease Shanghai to the British, the British will continue to hand over the most important tariffs here to the Qing court, not to mention, also provide huge loans, and send sailors to help fight the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, anyway, you can't win the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Shanghai is always the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and they won the battle, Even if it was handed over to the British, the Qing Dynasty would have nothing to lose, and it would also get a huge amount of loans and objective customs revenues in the future, so why not.

Britain intervened here, the Ming could not sit idly by, and had begun to compete with the British for the Ming shipping industry of the Yangtze River shipping, which may die prematurely, which is an interest that cannot be lost.

So Chen Zhiting urgently met with Zhu Jinglun, and after the two discussed for a whole day, they decided to take the lead and fight for control of Shanghai with Britain before the transaction between Britain and the Manchu Qing Dynasty was completed.

If the Manchus promised to hand over this place to the Ming Dynasty, it would be easy for the Ming Dynasty to take down here, if they didn't agree, the Ming Dynasty would not be able to attack Shanghai, I believe that Shanghai, which was guarded by 10,000 elites, would not be so easy to be captured, and it would not be able to be defeated at that time, to see if the British would go on their own.

And if Shanghai is not played, it is also a pressure on the British, telling them that if Shanghai is not handed over to the Ming Dynasty to manage, then no one will want to get here, which is also a bargaining chip.

Chen Zhiting's new request made Bai Gui extremely angry, so he didn't talk about it directly.

Three days later, he came again, this time with the British, who said that they would not accept any change in the status quo in Shanghai, and that Britain would defend its legitimate rights in the Yangtze River valley.

The attitude of the British made it even more conclusive that they had made a secret deal with the Manchus.

Daming began to pull Britain to talk, coercion and inducement, and told all parties that the purpose of Daming's control of Shanghai was not to harm the interests of any party, but to better protect the safety of mountains and seas, and to improve Shanghai's investment environment. The growth rate of local commerce has been greatly improved, ranking in the forefront of all ports in the Manchu Qing Dynasty.

But the Manchus just didn't agree, and the British just didn't agree.

After several rounds of negotiations, the three parties reluctantly reached an agreement to restore Shanghai to the status quo before the occupation by the Taipings, and in the future, if either of the three parties did not agree, it could not change the status quo in Shanghai, and as for the ruling power of Shanghai, there was no dispute that it belonged to the Qing government.

For the British proposal, the Ming was a little surprised, thinking that the British made concessions, the Ming just did not want the British to monopolize Shanghai, and other powers were not willing to accept a Shanghai that was completely controlled by the British, as long as the British did not control here, the Ming could also not control here, and used the concession to compete with the British concession on an equal footing, and did not believe that the competition could not be compared with the British.

Therefore, the Ming thought that Britain had made concessions, and Britain also saw that the Ming Dynasty had made concessions, and the Manchus got what they thought should be their own, and the three parties happily signed the agreement.

Later, the Ming Dynasty learned that there was a big oolong, and the British did not try to seize the whole of Shanghai from the Manchu Qing Dynasty, for them, it was enough to do business concessions, and what the British got from the Qing government was the railway.

A railway that starts from India, passes through Burma, enters Yunnan, China, and then crosses the whole of South China to Shanghai.

The ambition of the British Empire, their intention to connect China and India, the two most populous countries in the world, to connect the East Asian continent and the South Asian subcontinent together, they say that this is a railway that will determine the future pattern of Asia, and they call it -

Great Asia Railway!