Wu Chaoyue put the main direction of strategic expansion in Yungui like a stupid fork, so that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the Manchu court felt ecstatic at the same time, especially the Manchu court, which knew that Yungui was fine, and it was even more Jubilant in the Manchu Dynasty. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

But there were also people in the Manchu court who understood, at least Cixi said in the court: "If the ministers think that it is a stupid move for Wu thieves to take Yungui to the west, then you are very wrong." In fact, the mourning family would prefer to see Wu surpass the rebel to go south to Guangxi, or north to Henan! ”

"If the Wu thief goes south to Guangxi, the long-haired thief will be furious, because the long-haired incident occurred in Guangxi, there are a large number of fellow clans in Guangxi, and they have already entered Guangdong, and they have long regarded Guangxi as their bag, and will never allow the Wu thief to completely annex Guangxi."

"If the Wu thief goes north to Henan, then the Wu thief army will inevitably have a conflict of interest with the long-haired twist bandit in Henan. But the Wu thief neither went north nor south, but chose to go west to Yungui, and the Qing court wanted to count on the Wu thief to turn his face and fight with Changmao, and fight for a lose-lose situation, which is as difficult as ascending to the sky! ”

There are also Devil Zi Liu, who also thinks that Wu Chaoyue's strategic choice is not a good thing for the Manchu court, and expresses his opinion: "The Empress Dowager of the West is reasonable, Wu thief chose to go west to Yungui, and the Qing court certainly avoided a two-front battle, and could fully deal with the threat of long hair." However, for Changmao, it is also equivalent to one less worry, and he can concentrate his forces to go north to fight against the Qing Dynasty. In this way, the person who can really reap the benefits in the future is Wu Chaoyue, who seems to have taken a stupid move. ”

Although he was worried about Wu Chaoyue's westward expansion strategy, in any case, it was always a good thing that Wu Chaoyue did not help the Taiping army to fight northward, at least the Manchu court could draw some troops from the Yellow River defense line to the east to help the Shandong Qing army resist the Taiping army's Northern Expedition. At the same time, he also won valuable time to carry out the evil plan of borrowing teachers to help suppress it, and use the hands of Western powers to exterminate the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and Wu Chaoyue.

However, it is a pity that the plan of borrowing teachers to help suppress is far more difficult and complicated than the Manchu court imagined, especially on the issue of winning the current world hegemon Britain to send troops to participate in the war.

After the end of the Second Opium War in history, because the Taiping Army's negotiations with the British Consul in Shanghai, Mai Huatuo, broke down, and because Hong Xiuquan forced the British diplomat Pasha Li to kneel to him, the British army did accept the request of the Manchu court to send troops to participate in the war, helping the Qing army to inflict heavy losses on the Taiping Army many times, and also helping the Qing army to recover a large area of land, including Hangzhou. However, in Britain, there were still huge voices of opposition to the war, especially the British House of Representatives, which strongly protested against the British army's help in the Qing army's brutal massacre of the Taiping army, and finally forced British Prime Minister Báss to adopt a new policy of neutrality in 1864, but the Taiping army had been fatally attacked at that time, and the defeat was irreparable, and the British re-adopted neutrality policy did not help the Taiping army.

This is still the case in the original history, and at this historical level where the Manchu diplomatic power was shamelessly stolen by Wu Chaoyue, it was naturally not so easy for the Manchu court to seek British troops to help suppress it. First of all, whether the regime of a coup group is legal enough for Wen Xiang to be very troubled -- Wu Chaoyue, in his capacity as the foreign minister of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, submitted a note to the British minister in China early on, openly declaring that the coup group was illegal and that he had established the provisional government of the Qing Dynasty.

It was not even so easy to get Britain to send troops to deal with the Taiping army, and the Taiping army, which had learned from Wu Chaoyue, constantly adjusted its foreign policy, acquiesced in the British sales of opium in the controlled areas, and openly allowed the British to dump all kinds of industrial products in the controlled areas, which basically satisfied the appetite of the British, and the British naturally did not want to risk losing a huge market and going to war with the Taiping army.

There is a more critical point, the Taiping army is stronger than in history, but the Manchu court is far weaker than in history, the British army is destined to pay a greater price for helping the Manchu court to exterminate the Taiping army, and the British who have played the continental balance policy for hundreds of years will naturally not be stupid enough to easily agree to take the fire for the Manchu court.

But fortunately, Wen Xiang also has a hole card that can make unlimited concessions to the British, in order to get the British to send troops, Wen Xiang not only promised to lease and cede more land, open more ports, but also promised to pay the British 10 million taels of silver.

"Mr. Bao Ling, the Empress Dowager of the Two Palaces of our country solemnly promises that as long as your country sends troops to help our country exterminate the Taiping Army and Wu Chaoyue's two rebel forces, then our country will immediately pay five million taels of silver to your country, and after success, we will pay another five million taels of silver. Well, you can't refuse such a condition, right? ”

Faced with Wen Xiang's full expectation, Lao Bao Ling could only smile helplessly and said: "Dear Mr. Wen Xiang, although your sincerity is very tempting, I can only regret to tell you that if you can't do it, our British government will never agree to send troops to fight Mr. Wu Chaoyue's army." ”

"Why?" Wen Xiang asked vigilantly, "Could it be that Wu Chaoyue promised to give you more silver?" ”

"He didn't give us any money, he just gave us hope." Lao Bao Ling took out a newspaper and handed it to Wen Xiang, and said: "Take a look, this is the evaluation given to Wu Chaoyue by the most influential "Times" in the United Kingdom, and now our domestic public opinion in Britain is all on Wu Chaoyue's side, if our British army goes to war with Mr. Wu Chaoyue's army, first of all, our British public opinion circle will not agree." ”

Confused, he took the newspaper handed by Lao Baoling, although Wen Xiang didn't know a word of English in the newspaper, Wen Xiang still saw at a glance that on the front page of this newspaper, it was an ugly photo of Wu Chaoyue standing on a steam gunboat in a suit. Wen Xiang was taken aback and hurriedly asked, "When did Wu Chaoyue the traitor appear in your newspaper?" Why are you still dressed like this? ”

"It was taken in Hubei by Mr. Bao Bell, a reporter from The Times, and in the background is the Hubei warship Luo Weilin, named after us British." Old Bao Ling shrugged his shoulders and said, "Ask your translator to read it to you, and then you will understand why Mr. Wu Chaoyue is so popular in our UK." ”

According to Lao Baoling's instructions, Wen Xiang hurriedly asked the translator he hired at a high price to recite the contents, and because of the length and time, we can roughly know the main content of this report.

"Mr. Governor Wu is undoubtedly the person who knows and respects Western countries the most in the Qing Kingdom, and can even be said to be the Asian who knows the most to communicate with the West, he is not only familiar with our culture and history, but also knows and respects our system and constitution, and greatly appreciates our earliest constitutional monarchy in Britain, which is the most suitable constitutional system for our country, and also greatly appreciates the great achievements of our Queen Victoria in establishing the empire on which the sun never sets, and has more than once toasted to the health of our Queen of England."

"Governor Wu is very welcoming and respectful to Westerners, in the Qing country, which is generally stupid and hostile to the West, only in the territory under the jurisdiction of Governor Wu, we Westerners can really get the opportunity to trade, travel and proselytize freely, whenever we Westerners encounter a cultural conflict between the East and the West in the land of Hubei under his jurisdiction, Governor Wu will usually personally or send his subordinates who are familiar with the West to come forward and patiently explain the reasons to both sides of the conflict, resolve the conflict, and make us Westerners understand the reasons for the misunderstanding of the locals, It also lets the locals know that our actions are just out of Western habits and do not contain any malicious intent. ”

"There are only three students in the entire Qing Kingdom who have gone to Western countries to receive education, and they are all fellow villagers of Governor Wu, and they were able to go to the West to receive more education because of financial support from Governor Wu's grandfather. Governor Wu's grandfather, Mr. Ken Chang Wu, also spoke English and knew us very well in the West, and two of the three international students had become Governor Wu's subordinates, and the other Mr. Kuan Huang graduated from the University of Edinburgh in England with a doctorate and is still working as a doctor in England, but he was also invited by Governor Wu to return to the Qing Kingdom to serve Governor Wu. ”

"Governor Wu's astonishing decision to name one of his army's steam paddle steamers after us English, and to receive this special honor, the English name is William Lockhart, and the Chinese name is Luo Weilin, who is a missionary of our London Church, and has gained the respect of Governor Wu for establishing a charitable hospital in the Qing Kingdom, and has also asked Governor Wu to obtain his consent to name the ship after his Chinese name, Luo Weilin. The missionaries in France, the United States, and other Western countries in China were jealous of this, but they all felt that this was a great advance for the Western church in Asia, and they were equally honored. ”

"Governor Wu also has a very deep understanding and understanding of the world economy, knowing that we, like the United States, are currently facing an economic crisis, and that our British steel industry is facing the problem of production stagnation, which in turn affects our financial industry. Governor Wu believed that this was the cause of overproduction, and was very willing to help our British economy get out of trouble, and he proposed a solution to build a large number of railways in the Qing country, and import a large number of rails and trains to our Britain, so that our British steel industry could get a lot of orders and funds, and also help our British workers get more jobs. ”

"In Daye County, Hubei Province, under the jurisdiction of Governor Wu, the construction of the first railway of the Qing State is under construction, using all the rails produced by our Britain. At the same time, Governor Wu also planned to build a Sichuan-Han railway with a total length of about 1,300 miles, to connect the two provinces of Hubei and Sichuan, and the rails used were also prepared to be purchased from our Britain. In terms of funding, Governor Wu also drew up a detailed plan to raise funds, part of which would be raised by Governor Wu's Governor's Office, part of which would be issued to the private sector, and part of which would be borrowed from our British banks. ”

"Governor Wu also requests that we, the Times, extend a cordial invitation to British businessmen to invest in his territory and to participate in various industries such as mining, railways, textiles, and finance, and that Governor Wu is willing to provide us with preferential land taxation and guarantee sufficient workers."

"Mr. Wenxiang, do you know?"

Lao Bao Ling interrupted the translator's recitation, and said with a wry smile to Wen Xiang: "After this report was published in The Times, I received twenty-three letters of protest, all from our British steelmakers, protesting that I had not notified them of their participation in the tender for Mr. Wu's railway, and asked me to provide all the information about Mr. Wu's railway construction plan. And none of our British bankers did not inquire about Wu Chaoyue's loan plan, and all wanted to lend money to Wu Chaoyue to build the railway. Under such circumstances, how dare I agree to let the British army go to war with Mr. Wu Chaoyue's army? ”

"Why not? I don't understand that. Wen Xiang, who had already heard it dizzily, shook his head, not understanding the reason.

"It's very simple, if I start a war with Mr. Wu Chaoyue at this time, then I will offend the steelmen and bankers of all England, as well as our church in England."

Lao Bao Ling shrugged his shoulders again, spread his hands and said: "The steel they produce now cannot be sold, and the idle funds dare not be invested at will, of course, I hope that Mr. Wu Chaoyue's more than 1,400-mile-long railway can start construction as soon as possible to help them solve these problems." At this time, Wu Chaoyue and I started a war, which is equivalent to beating their money bags, how could they agree? ”

"And." Lao Bao Ling added: "Because of this report, not only our British businessmen and people are now full of favor and interest in Mr. Wu Chaoyue, but even our Queen Victoria of England has asked me to provide all the information about Mr. Wu Chaoyue, and entrusted me to express my gratitude to Mr. Wu Chaoyue for his blessings to her. ”

"Wu surpasses that traitor, bless your Queen of England?" Wen Xiang was a little dumbfounded.

"Isn't it clearly written in The Times?" Lao Bao Ling replied: "When Wu Chaoyue communicates with us British, every time he clinks glasses, he toasts to the health of our Queen of England, and Her Royal Highness Queen Victoria is of course very happy to accept this blessing from the East. ”

"Traitor!" Wen Xiang gritted his teeth, and then asked, "Mr. Bao Ling, don't you dare to lend us troops to exterminate Wu Chaoyue's rebels because of this newspaper?" ”

"Dear Mr. Wenxiang, you don't know too much about the influence of The Times in our Britain." Lao Bao Ling said with a wry smile: "And even more unfortunate, you **** also offended Mr. Bao Bell, a reporter of the Times, so that he also published an article condemning your barbaric acts of trampling on public international law, introducing the process of him and British and French diplomats being abused and killed by you, and said that if it were not for Mr. Wu Chaoyue's envoy to stop it in time, you would almost have killed Mr. Bourblon, the French minister to China." That article also caused a great repercussion in our country, and many newspapers not only severely condemned you, but even directly suggested that the British government overthrow your regime and help Wu Chaoyue become the ruler of the Qing Kingdom. ”

Wen Xiang still couldn't believe the influence of the Times, so he simply asked Lao Bao Ling what conditions he needed to send troops to help the Qing army kill Wu Chaoyue, and Lao Bao Ling replied: "I can only promise to send a letter to the country and ask our British government to discuss this matter." ”

"But Mr. Wenxiang, you'd better not expect too much, count the time, the news of Wu Chaoyue's formation of the provisional government of the Qing State should have reached the United Kingdom, if I guessed correctly, the bastards on Fleet Street should have been about to go crazy, scrambling to report the news on the front page, encouraging our British government to send troops to help Wu Chaoyue become the ruler of the Qing State."

Unfortunately, at the same time in Britain, the group of reporters and editors in London's Fleet Street, who relied on playing with their pens to eat, were indeed vying to publish editorials on the front page of their own newspapers like chickens, encouraging the British government to provide military and economic help to Wu Chaoyue, so that Wu Chaoyue could get rid of the Manchu court that bullied their peers as soon as possible and establish a new Chinese regime.

Spring in the Far East! Good news for British entrepreneurs! The Governor of Qing Wu announced the formation of a legitimate provisional regime! -- This is the headline on the front page of The Times.

Say goodbye to the damn bankrupt unemployed! The doors of Asia's largest market have opened to us in the UK! -- The Daily Telegraph has always been fond of sensationalism.

British opportunity, we have the hope of getting a second India! The Manchester Guardian is both rational and romantic.

There is no longer any need to put up with the stupidity of the Qing court, our friend is about to become the leader of the Qing state. -- The Sunday Times is the headline.

For the benefit of the British, we must help Governor Wu. -- The Observer's readers were mainly middle- and upper-class intellectuals in Britain, and they were also passionate about politics.

We can't let other countries take the lead, Governor Wu is our ally! -- The "Clarion Newspaper" was anxious about Britain's urgency, and was very worried that France, the United States, and other Western powers would preemptively pull Wu Chaoyue away.

Governor Wu's mysterious lover! It turned out to be his teacher's daughter! -- If there had been a "Sun" newspaper at that time, eighty percent of them would have been such a headline, and a photo of Zeng Jijing would have been attached.

In such a public opinion environment, it is indeed difficult for the British government to decide not to recognize the provisional government formed by Wu Chaoyue, and the British House of Representatives and the House of Commons are also full of calls for the government to help Wu Chaoyue achieve victory, and even Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom specially summoned Prime Minister Palmerston to discuss this matter. Although Palmerston wanted to ride on the wall and watch the wind and observe for a while, he could not withstand the strong pressure from all sides, and finally decided to immediately send a huge delegation to China to discuss the alliance with Wu Chaoyue, and the alliance conditions prepared for Wu Chaoyue were relatively relaxed.

Not only the British government, but also not only the British public opinion circles, but in fact, the entire Western public opinion circles, because of the influence of the "Times", are very inclined to support the recognition of the provisional government formed by Wu Chaoyue, forcing Western countries to either hastily send representatives or authorize ministers to China, vying to establish diplomatic contacts with Wu Chaoyue and bargaining, striving to rely on Wu Chaoyue to completely open up the Chinese market and obtain dumping sites for industrial products and sources of industrial raw materials, and at the same time, they have also declared neutrality in the Chinese civil war. Rejected the Manchu court's request to borrow troops to go to war against Wu Chao.

Only the domestic reaction of Tsarist Russia was relatively cold, because it was found that Wu Chaoyue was pulling Britain and France to force his country to return Sakhalin Island, and Wu Chaoyue was generally not well impressed in Tsarist Russia, and he was more willing to help the Manchu court, which was easy to bully, kill Wu Chaoyue. However, the chain reaction was that after the Prussian minister in Russia spied on this news, he immediately sent a letter to China, suggesting that Prince Wilhelm, the regent of Prussia, take the lead in recognizing the provisional government formed by Wu Chaoyue, provide military assistance to Wu Chaoyue, and obtain the Chinese market and Oriental interests by virtue of this, and also take the opportunity to use the eastern power to contain and weaken Tsarist Russia, create an opportunity for Prussia to unify Germany, and reduce external pressure.

By the way, this Prussian minister was called Bismarck.

The topic turned back to the East, and after Wen Xiang reported the news that he had borrowed troops from the great powers to deal with Wu Chaoyue, almost all of them were rejected in the capital, Cixi and Guizi Liu and others scolded Wu Chaoyue for shameless betrayal, but also quickly made a new decision, asking Wen Xiang to change his strategy and only borrow troops from the Western powers to deal with the Taiping army, preparing to first pull the armies of the great powers into the Chinese civil war, and then slowly find ways to provoke the armed conflict between the Wu army and the Western powers.