Li Xiucheng did not intercept the main force of the Wu army in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, but preferred to attack Shanghai first, strictly speaking, this choice was by no means wrong.

First of all, as of the time of making this decision, Li Xiucheng has not received the news that the main force of the Wu army has attacked Poyang Lake, but the good news that Shi Dakai has rushed to the forefront of Hukou to personally preside over the deployment has reached Hangzhou, out of trust in the ability and ability of his old boss Shi Dakai, Li Xiucheng dared not to rush to reinforce the battlefield in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, and took the main force to fight Shanghai first.

The second reason is the most important, Shanghai is too rich, during the war, all the rich merchants and landlords in the Jiangnan area who have a little money rushed to Shanghai, sharpened their heads and drilled into the Shanghai concession, and also brought almost all the gold, silver, soft and rare treasures that could be carried to Shanghai, and it is no exaggeration to say that more than half of the wealth in Jiangsu and Zhejiang has been piled up in Shanghai! With such a huge fortune, it would be a crime to miss it! Even if Li Xiucheng can agree, those Taiping soldiers under Li Xiucheng's command will not agree!

In addition, by taking Shanghai, you can also get the largest foreign trade terminal in China at present, a lot of tariff revenue, and at the same time, you can also pull out the big nail of the Wu Army in Shanghai, which has been stuck in the rear of the Taiping Army for many years, and completely cut off the connection between the main force of the Wu Army and overseas countries.

By the way, Li Xiucheng's choice to attack Shanghai first also received an effect, that is, it greatly boosted the morale of the Taiping Army -- when Li Xiucheng's decision to enter Shanghai first was officially promulgated, the Taiping Army's battalions and departments almost immediately resounded with earth-shattering cheers, and none of the generals and soldiers were not smiling, gearing up to go to Shanghai to make a big profit, and their morale rose to the highest point.

"Hit Shanghai! Chung Wang Chitose wants to fight Shanghai first! Rich! We're going rich! ”

While inspecting the preparations for the departure of the army, hearing the constant cheers coming from the camp of the Liberian army, and seeing the beaming faces of the officers and men of the Liberian army, Li Xiucheng was of course both happy and proud in his heart, and he was also full of confidence in winning the anointed land of Shanghai in one fell swoop. However, just when Li Xiucheng was longing for it in his heart, his own soldiers came to Li Xiucheng at an inopportune time, presented an official document to Li Xiucheng, and said: "Yuzhong Wang Chitose, Jin Tianyi sent a message from Ningbo, our Heavenly Army detained two foreigner cargo ships in Ningbo that were suspected of having something to do with the little demon, please ask for instructions on how to deal with it." ”

"A foreign ship that has something to do with the Transcendence Demon? What kind of foreign ships of that country? Li Xiucheng asked casually.

"Hui Zhong Wang, it seems to be called Sweden." The soldier replied recalled.

"Sweden? What kind of foreign country is that? How come you've never heard of it? The self-taught Li Xiucheng was confused, and he was even more curious to quickly open the official document sent by Fan Ruzeng, the Ningbo guard of the Taiping Army, to take a closer look at the specific situation of the matter.

The situation is not complicated, that is, more than a day ago, two sailing ocean cargo ships flying the Swedish flag passed through Ningbo in the north, and happened to meet the steam gunboats of the Taiping Army on the sea. Because a Swedish ship had never been to Ningbo, and the Taiping Army had not signed a treaty of trade and navigation with Sweden, the British captain of the Seven Rees, Morris, ordered to stop the two Swedish ships to interrogate the origins, and found that the two Swedish cargo ships were hired by a pair of Swedish businessmen and fathers to transport a batch of machinery and equipment from Sweden to East Asia, preparing to open a factory in Hubei Province.

Since he was going to the capital of Hubei Province, Morris naturally immediately suspected that the two Swedish ships were likely to be related to Wu Chaoyue, so he forced the two sail-powered Swedish cargo ships to dock at the Ningbo wharf for inspection, but only found some light weapons for self-defense and all kinds of strange equipment on the ship, and at the same time, the Swedish businessmen who hired the two ocean-going cargo ships also protested desperately, demanding that the Taiping Army immediately and unconditionally release the ships and people, and Fan Ruzeng, who led the army to guard Ningbo, did not dare to make decisions on his own, so he had to send a letter to Li Xiucheng for advice.

Ignorant of the situation in Sweden, Li Xiucheng had no choice but to send someone to send Bai Qiwen, the captain of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's foreign gun team, to ask Bai Qiwen about the specific situation in Sweden, and Bai Qiwen replied in a big way: "I don't know much about the situation in Sweden, I only know that he also had a colony in North America before, which was robbed by the Dutch. Colonies on other continents have also been lost, and in the past few years, the slave trade has been banned, and are no longer traded, probably because they don't want to develop on other continents anymore. ”

Of course, Li Xiucheng was not concerned about Sweden's history and national policy, but quickly asked: "Is this country big?" Can the army fight? ”

"Is it big?" Bai Qiwen recalled the world map very much before replying: "It's not small, the land area is the size of Britain and France, and I really don't know too well whether the army can fight it, but I know that this country defeated Napoleon I together with other European countries during the anti-French alliance, and also took the opportunity to annex Norway." ”

"Defeated Napoleon I?"

Li Xiucheng, who has often dealt with the French in the past few years, really knows Napoleon, and also knows that the current French emperor is also called Napoleon, and he is the nephew of Napoleon I. ”

When Li Xiucheng hesitated, Bai Qiwen was already curious to ask Li Xiucheng about the reason for inquiring about the situation in Sweden, Li Xiucheng did not hide the truth, and asked Bai Qiwen about the response by the way, Bai Qiwen persuaded: "Li, since there are no arms and weapons on those two Swedish ships, let them leave, there is no reason to detain and confiscate foreign ships and carry goods, it is a pirate act that will be condemned by the international community, and the Swedish government will definitely protest, and maybe it may lead to an armed conflict." ”

Li Xiucheng, who is known as Li Hongzhang of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in history, nodded, and personally wrote a book on the spot, ordering Fan Ruzeng to immediately and unconditionally release the ship and release the people, and at the same time asked Fan Ruzeng to clearly tell the two Swedish cargo ships that the Yangtze River channel had been blocked because of the war, and tried his best to persuade the two Swedish ships to return to Hong Kong.

- Of course, there is no way to persuade him to go back, Li Xiucheng has done his duty, and at the same time, the leaders of the Taiping Army who currently control all the dangers of the Yangtze River waterway are not Li Xiucheng's subordinates, and what really happened has nothing to do with Li Xiucheng.

In the end, after Li Xiucheng sent someone to send the handwritten warrant to Ningbo by clipper, Bai Qiwen, who stayed to discuss with Li Xiucheng about the plan to enter Shanghai, suddenly remembered something, and hurriedly asked: "Li, I forgot to ask you, what kind of machinery and equipment are on those two Swedish ships?" ”

"Fan Ruzeng's letter didn't go into detail, only said that he had never seen several foreign machines." Li Xiucheng replied casually.

"You should ask." Bai Qiwen was a little regretful and said: "If it is some important industrial equipment, you should buy it at a higher price and use it yourself, the industry in your control area is too weak." ”

I don't know what kind of opportunity I am facing, Li Xiucheng just moved his mind a little and chose to shake his head, and said: "Let's talk about it later, when Shanghai is conquered and there is enough military spending, no matter what kind of foreign machine it is, as long as we can use it in heaven, we will buy it, I want to be like a monster, I can make my own foreign guns and cannons, and I can also build my own steamships." ”

…………

Thanks to the blessing of the flow of the Qiantang River, it was only on the morning of the next day that Li Xiucheng's handwritten warrant was sent to Ningbo by clipper, and Fan Ruzeng, the Ningbo guard general of the Taiping Army, did not dare to slack off after receiving the order, and quickly summoned the owner of the two Swedish cargo ships and his son, telling them that the father and son could leave with the goods and ships, and at the same time clearly told the father and son that the Yangtze River channel had been blocked and cut off because of the war, and persuaded the father and son of the cargo to return to Hong Kong with the ship and cargo first, and then go to the capital of Hubei Province after the war was over.

"Mr. General, thank you very much for your kind reminder." The old cargo owner shook his head and said to Fan Ruzeng through an interpreter in English: "But we sailed more than 30,000 kilometers from Sweden to Qingguo, and we don't want to go back another kilometer." ”

"Mr. General, in fact, when we left Hong Kong, we already knew about the re-expansion of the Qing civil war." The young son of the owner also said in English: "I have discussed with my father that we are going to go first to the public concession in Shanghai, and then to find a way to go to Hubei, where my dear brother has been waiting for us for a long time. ”

Seeing that persuasion was useless, Fan Ruzeng didn't insist, just nodded and said, "Okay, Mr. Yang, you go to Shanghai, be careful and safe, there is also a war there." Oh, by the way, I forgot to ask Mr. Yang your name, what do you call it? ”

"Mr. General, my name is Emmanuel Nobel." The old owner replied in English, and then pointed to his younger son, and said, "He is my youngest son, and his name is Emile Nobel." ”

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