Foreign relations have always been a major problem for the Manchu court in the middle and late 19th century, but there are exceptions, just when the Manchu Military Aircraft Department headed by Devil Zi 6 was still troubled by the problem of difficulty in satisfying the huge appetite of polar bears, Wen Xiang, the Manchu military aircraft minister who had been staying in Hong Kong, suddenly sent an urgent report by clipper, putting a very rare and important diplomatic opportunity in front of Devil 6 and others. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

On the surface, this opportunity seemed very fatal, Wen Xiang obtained accurate information, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom purchased from the British nine steam gunboats are already on the way to Hong Kong, and this fleet of four medium-sized steam gunboats and five small steam gunboats once smoothly handed over to the Taiping army, then the Qing army will not only be able to directly compete with the Taiping army sailors on the water, but the Shandong defense line that has been painstakingly built will also be in fact scrapped, and the Taiping army sailors can follow the example of the British and French forces at any time to go north from the sea and attack Tianjin Zhili.

However, the Manchu court still had a chance, and accurate information from Wen Xiang showed that the Taiping army only paid half of the cost as a deposit when purchasing this fleet, and the remaining half was to be paid when the fleet and supporting equipment were handed over. - This means that the Taiping Army has not officially bought this fleet yet, and the deal may be stranded and broken.

In addition, Wen Xiang also miraculously spied on an important piece of information - the British side played tricks in the deal and privately increased the price, once the Taiping army could not accept it, not only could the deal not be reached, but the Taiping army and the British side might turn against each other and force the British army to the side of the Manchu court.

When Hong Renji signed the contract for the purchase of the fleet with British diplomats on behalf of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, he clearly stated that each medium-sized steamer ship would hire 30 naval soldiers from the British army, 10 from each small steamboat, and the rest of the sailors would be all from the Taiping Army, and the British side would be responsible for training.

However, I don't know if it was intentional on the part of the British side, or if there was a problem in that link, the British Navy Colonel Schonard Aspen, who had participated in the two Opium Wars, actually directly hired 800 retired soldiers of the British Navy to completely control this fleet, and was ready to ask the Taiping Army to pay the military expenses in full, and Aspen commanded this fleet, and the affairs of the fleet were completely decided by Aspen, and Aspen only accepted Yang Xiuqing's orders to participate in the battle, and did not accept the legal constraints of the Taiping Army.

To put it simply, the Taiping Army paid for this fleet, and the Taiping Army also paid for the British soldiers on the ship and was responsible for maintenance and repair, and spent money to buy ammunition and weapons out of their pockets, but the control of this fleet was still that of the British Aspen.

While providing this important information, Wen Xiang naturally had to suggest that the Manchu court take this opportunity to meddle in this deal that the Taiping army would most likely not agree to, and make appropriate concessions to buy this fleet, which not only strengthened the Manchu army, but also took the opportunity to drive a wedge between the British and the Taiping army, prompting the two to go to war against each other, so that the Manchu court could reap the benefits.

With such important news, of course, Devil Six immediately pulled everyone from the Military Aircraft Department to Ci'an and Cixi to report and discuss countermeasures together. As a result, after carefully watching Wen Xiang's recital, Ci'an and Cixi were pleasantly surprised, and hurriedly asked together: "Sixth Prince, who is this Englishman Li Tai who provides Wen Xiang with news?" Is what he told Wen Xiang reliable? ”

"Back to the Queen Mother, Wen Xiang has reported on this Li Taitai's situation before." Devil Ziliu replied respectfully: "This Li Tai's father was the first British consul in Guangzhou, he went to Daqing with his father when he was ten years old, grew up in Daqing, is an authentic Daqing Tong, and is currently serving as a commercial counselor in the Governor's Yamen of the British Governor of Hong Kong, Bao Ling, and can access some British secrets, so the information he provides should be reliable." ”

"And." Devil Six hurriedly added: "Wen Xiang also said before that Bao Ling originally planned to let this Li Tai be the first consul of the British in Jiangning, but later something happened, and he failed to take office smoothly. According to this calculation, he should have participated in the purchase of a ship from the British, so the information he provided is nine times out of ten true. ”

After carefully looking at Wen Xiang's recital, he saw that the total price of the Taiping army's purchase of the fleet from the British was 870,000 taels of silver, Ci'an and Cixi discussed it a little, and Cixi quickly nodded and said: "Very good, just leave this matter to Wen Xiang, as long as he can buy this fleet, even if he spends a little more silver and gives us a little more money, we will admit it." ”

"But there is one thing, this fleet must be under the command of our generals of the Great Qing Dynasty." Ci'an added: "Also, the sailors on the ship must also be mostly soldiers of our Qing Dynasty, and this must be clearly explained to Wen Xiang, and no concessions can be made." ”

The devil six and the others respectfully sang the promise, and Gui Liang also said very excitedly: "It would be great if we could really buy this fleet, then not only will we be separated from the care of Longhair and foreigners, but we will no longer need to be afraid of Wu Thief and Longhair's steamer, and we can even use this fleet to directly attack Daye and destroy Wu Thief's firearms bureau and iron factory, so that he will not be able to produce his own artillery!" ”

Cixi, Ci'an and the others nodded one after another, and at the end, Cixi added another sentence and said: "Tell Wenxiang that you can send more silver to this Li Tai, as long as Li Taitai can help us stir up the deal between Huang Changmao and the British, we can give him another 10,000 taels of silver afterwards!" ”

…………

The coup group in the capital was a little overjoyed, Cixi and Guizi Liu and others probably never dreamed that only a day later, Wu Chaoyue, who was in Hubei, also received the news, and the content of the message was almost identical, and he was also instigated to join the trade competition of this fleet.

This news was sent by Wu Chaoyue's father Wu Xiaoping, who had returned to Hong Kong from Hunan to preside over the family affairs, and it was also leaked to Wu Xiaoping by Li Taitai, the secretary of Lao Baoling, and at the same time, Li Taitai also strongly instigated to intervene in the purchase of this fleet, which might be returned by the Taiping Army, and expressed his willingness to be this intermediary. And Wu Xiaoping, the cheap father, also clearly told Wu Chaoyue that if Wu Chaoyue really needed this fleet, then he would immediately try to prepare cash, even if he sold some assets, he would also buy this fleet.

Contrary to the reaction of the coup clique, Wu Chaoyue almost without thinking dismissed the idea of buying the fleet by chance, which would surely anger Yang Xiuqing, who would not only make it difficult for the fleet to reach Hubei with the Taiping army controlling the lower Yangtze waterway, but could even lead to another war between the Taiping army and the Wu army. At the same time, Wu Chaoyue was also full of suspicion about this matter, and was very suspicious of the reason for the temporary increase in the size of the British, and even suspected that the Manchu court was playing tricks from it.

"It's strange, although the British are domineering, but the contracts signed in black and white are generally talkative? This time, the British took the wrong medicine, how could they do so desperately and force Yang Xiuqing to be such a wronged leader? ”

In doubt, Wu Chaoyue, for the sake of caution, still sent Huang Sheng to contact the British Minister in Hubei to understand the situation, but the reply given by Prous was that he did not know the details, saying that the deal was negotiated between Pashali and Hong Renji, and Pashali did not come to Hubei afterwards, and returned directly to the UK to report on his work, so Pruth did not know much about this deal.

But Huang Sheng did not run in vain, when Prouss introduced the situation to Huang Sheng, he also said that he clearly remembered that when Prussian and the Taiping Army reached this deal, Li Tai was also an important member of the British diplomatic delegation, and it was very likely that he participated in the trade negotiations, so Prouss also suggested that Wu Jun find Li Tai to understand the specific situation.

Although this matter has nothing to do with Wu Jun, Wu Chaoyue can stay out of it, but considering that if this deal breaks down, it may lead to the Taiping Army and the British turning face, which will then affect the smooth communication between the self-controlled areas and the British. Therefore, Wu Chaoyue still had a snack, and when the Western-style talents were very sufficient, he decided to send individuals to Nanjing and Hong Kong to understand the situation, and help the Taiping Army and the British side temporarily maintain friendly relations as much as possible, and continue to isolate the Manchu court.

To Wu Chaoyue's surprise, Guo Songtao, who had just presided over the first imperial examination in the territory controlled by Wu Jun for Wu Chaoyue, rushed to do this mission, even if Wu Chaoyue clearly told him that this mission was not important, and he had no intention of snapping up this fleet. Guo Songtao also insisted on going, saying that he wanted to see Hong Kong, the Chinese city that is currently most deeply influenced by Western civilization, and also wanted to take the opportunity to visit Nanjing, the capital of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

Considering that Guo Songtao went north twice and tied his head to the waistband of his trousers to do things for himself, Wu Chaoyue did not refuse, nodded and handed over this beauty to Guo Songtao, and then Wu Chaoyue advised: "Remember two points, the first is that after arriving in Nanjing, you have to find Hong Renji first to understand the situation, he is easier to communicate, don't go directly to Yang Xiuqing, that violent temper is a little bit, maybe there will be something wrong immediately." ”

"Understood. And second? Guo Songtao nodded and asked.

"The second point is to pay attention to the interference of the chaotic party in the capital." Wu Chaoyue instructed again: "The news from Hong Kong, Wen Xiang, the puppet military minister of the rebellious party in Beijing, has been staying in Hong Kong during this time, and is lobbying the Western powers to support them in a war with us and the Taiping Army. ”

"What if the rebels in the capital really do this?" Guo Songtao hurriedly asked again.

"Do whatever it takes to disrupt their business!" Wu Chaoyue replied: "In the case of not offending the British, you can use whatever method you use, if the funds are insufficient, go to my father to find a way." ”

Guo Songtao agreed, hurriedly arranged the preparations for the trip, and then even avoided the passing of the resignation, and directly boarded the ship bound for Nanjing. As a result, it was also after Guo Songtao left, Wu Chaoyue learned from Zhao Liewen that Gong Cheng, a madman who refused to be his accomplice and lackey, learned the situation from Guo Songtao, and was cheeky and forced to get on Guo Songtao's ship, and pestered Guo Songtao to live a good life of spending his own money to travel at public expense.

"Whatever he wants, anyway, he can speak English and understand diplomacy, maybe he can help Guo Songtao, and it's not a waste of my money."

After lamenting a sentence, Wu Chaoyue, who had been wronged, could only knock out his teeth and swallow blood, put this matter behind, and focused his attention on the most important anti-Qing war at present.

At present, the battle situation of the Wu army looks quite good, and on the Jiangxi side, although Xiao Qijiang, the acting governor of Jiangxi of the Wu army, suddenly fell ill and was unable to personally preside over the affairs of the southern expedition, forcing Wu Chaoyue to appoint Wang Guo as the commander-in-chief of the former enemy in southern Jiangxi. However, Wang Guocai's performance made Wu Chaoyue a little surprised, with Bi Jinke, Xiao Qinggao and other generals still still beat the Qing army in southern Jiangxi to parry, without any power to fight back, quickly captured Ruizhou, Linjiang and Yuanzhou, entered the hinterland of Ji'an Province, and repelled the Qing army in Guangxi from the north to reinforce, and it should only be a matter of time before the entire territory of southern Jiangxi is recovered.

On the Yunnan-Guizhou side, after breaking through the main force of the Guizhou Zhangma thief army, the Wu army has re-dredged up the connection with Yunnan, and at the same time, the Sichuan Wu army also successfully persuaded the Zhaotong Mansion in Yunnan to surrender, and the two armies entered Yunnan together, successfully forcing Wu Zhenqi, the governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, who was surrounded by enemies on all sides, to surrender and join forces with the Wu army to kill the Yungui thief army.

On the northern front, after Nie Shicheng's army captured Luoyang Mansion in a surprise attack, he not only gritted his teeth and gained a firm foothold in Luoyang, but also restrained the two main forces of the Qing army in Henan and Shanxi in one fell swoop, successfully disrupting the Manchu court's strategic wishful thinking of comprehensive defense and recuperation, forcing the Manchu court to give priority to supporting the two main waste forces of Henan and Shanxi under the condition of serious shortage of money and food, and could not fully expand the Shandong New Army, which posed the greatest threat to the Wu army.

Needless to say, the eastern front is calm, Yang Xiuqing, who has become more and more trusting with Wu Chaoyue, in order to avoid friction, also took the initiative to transfer Wei Jun, who has a deep hatred with Wu Chaoyue, to the Anhui battlefield, and asked Wei Jun to find Weng Xin's father and son's troubles, and let the more obedient Lin Qirong be responsible for preventing Wu Jun. And Wu Chaoyue also reciprocated, and also transferred Liu Kun's army, which posed a huge threat to the Taiping army, back to Hubei Province to rest and recuperate, acting as his own strategic mobile force, and replacing it with Bao Chao's army to guard Jiujiang.

It's just that the situation looks gratifying, Wu Chaoyue's suffering is only known to him, and he can't talk to anyone, there are countless hidden dangers inside, as long as the battle situation is slightly unfavorable, the Manchu civil and military officials who are forced to join the Wu army may defect at any time; Once the internal problems of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom suddenly broke out, the Taiping Army would definitely fall apart immediately, and Wu Chaoyue would not only have to deal with the pressure of the Manchu court alone, but also have to be on guard against the unrestrained Taiping warlords suddenly turning their faces and stabbing themselves in the back.

The economic and diplomatic aspects are also not optimistic, in terms of economy, although the Wu army controls the Jianghan Plain and the Dongting Lake Plain, the two grain-producing areas, and the grain can ensure self-sufficiency, but after all, Hunan and Hubei are far less rich than the southeast coast, and they are forced to provoke the two big burdens of Yunnan and Guizhou in the case of Sichuan has not yet digested and realized, and the military expenditure of the Wu army has long begun to approach the bottom limit of what it can bear, and the issue of forced taxation has also been put in front of Wu Chaoyue, although Wu Chaoyue refuses, but he must not consider issuing war bonds. Borrowing money from the people to fight wars.

In terms of diplomacy, Wu Chaoyue only succeeded in winning over the Western powers to basically maintain neutrality, but so far no Western powers have publicly recognized the legitimacy of the Hubei Provisional Government established by Wu Chaoyue (it was too late for Prussia), which led to Wu Chaoyue not only being unable to borrow money and loans from the Western powers, but also having to always guard against the Western powers being bought by the Manchu court and sending troops to help the Manchu court deal with him.

The most important thing is the industrial aspect, only half a year after the official start of the army, the Wu army consumed nearly half of the inventory of munitions, although the Daye industrial base has long been fully mobilized and started work in full force, but limited by productivity and technical equipment, the weapons and ammunition produced are still unable to ensure the supply of the needs of the front line. Before the arms ordered from the Western powers were sent to Hubei, Wu Chaoyue could still only rely on the output of Daye, the only industrial base, to fight, and could not quickly deal a fatal blow to the Manchu court, and reluctantly watched the Manchu court survive in the north and gradually recover.

"At this time, if I follow the example of the Taiping Army and send a lone army into Shanxi to completely disrupt the last supply of money and grain for the Manchu court, then even if I don't have the strength to kill the Manchu court for the time being, I will take advantage of it."

Wu Chaoyue pondered this plan more than once, but considering the coming winter and the lessons of the Taiping Army's Northern Expeditionary Army, Wu Chaoyue dispelled this idea again - except for Nie Shicheng, a real person, there was really no one in the Wu army who could be as crazy and unswerving as Li Kaifang and Ji Wenyuan, and dared to fight under the city of Tianjin with a lone army.

However, this idea is also very tempting, as long as Shanxi is messed up, the last money and grain bags of the Manchu court can be destroyed, and even directly cause the complete collapse of the Manchu court's finances, so even if he knows that it is too risky, Wu Chaoyue still ponders this plan again and again, and even considers taking the initiative to contact the Twist Army and borrow the way to sabotage the Twist Army, which is good at guerrillas. It turned out to be a coincidence, just at this time, Liu Kunyi, who had just withdrawn to the Hubei provincial capital with the headquarters of the Zhuang Zi Battalion not long ago to rest, suddenly came to ask for a meeting and took the initiative to mention the matter to Wu Chaoyue.

"Marshal, since the army of the Nie Shicheng brothers has contained the main force of the rebellious army in Shanxi, why don't we send an army north, cross the Yellow River and enter Shanxi, and open up our Shanxi control territory? Also knock out the money and grain tax revenue of the rebellious party in Shanxi? ”

"Is that easy? After our army crossed the Yellow River and marched north, how could ammunition, food, and grass be replenished? Winter is coming soon, how to solve the problem of winter clothing? Our soldiers are mainly southerners, and if they don't have enough warm clothes, how can they survive the cold winter in the north? ”

"Dashuai, the last general has always admired you, but this time I really dare not agree with your words. After our army crossed the Yellow River, it had to face the problems of climate and logistical supply, but Changmao was mainly from Guangxi, and still did not enter the city of Tianjin, almost directly attacking Beijing? Without winter clothes, we can buy requisitioned on the spot, and without ammunition, we can supply on the spot, is it difficult to dig the foundation of the old house and boil the nitrate? Could it be that after our army entered Shanxi, the enemy was a chaotic army armed with foreign guns and cannons, and our brothers would not have fought without foreign guns and artillery? ”

Hearing Liu Kunyi's voice, Wu Chaoyue asked with some confusion: "What?" Yanzhuang, do you want to fight Shanxi? ”

"Yes." Liu Kunyi nodded calmly and said: "Since joining your command, although you have always treated the last general's Zhuangzi camp as a descendant, the last general has not been able to make any decent contributions for you, and it is really ashamed of you, and it is really idle." ”

When Wu Chaoyue was carefully calculating, Liu Kunyi suddenly knelt down on one knee to Wu Chaoyue, hugged his fists and said: "Dashuai, let the last general go, the last general is willing to make a military order, only take the Zhuangzi battalion of the headquarters to the north, and within ten days after arriving in Luoyang, if the last general can't break through the Yellow River defense line of the chaotic party army and enter Shanxi, the last general is willing to lead the army!" ”

After staring at Liu Kunyi's expression for a long time, he saw that he looked excited and nervous, and his desire to fight was very eager, and considering that he did not have his own ammunition supply, it was not difficult for Liu Kunyi to restrain even if he was alone-this is also an important advantage for Wu Chaoyue's royal majesty, Wu Chaoyue nodded and said: "You can go, but you don't have to make any military orders, and you don't have to blindly go deep alone like the long-haired Northern Expedition, and you have to fight in an orderly manner." It is best to first lay down the Yuncheng Salt Pond, cut off the salt of the whole of Shanxi, and also cut off the salt tax of the rebel party in Shanxi. ”