"Procrastination?" Ye Mingchen muttered and repeated.

"Exactly, dragging, to drag the foreigners to convince them, not to avoid them, if you turn a blind eye, I'm afraid it will anger the foreigners, if it happens again like the previous British siege of Guangzhou, I'm afraid," Guo Songtao stopped talking, but Ye Mingchen's heart was bright, if this happened again, I am afraid that his barony title will not be guaranteed, and the top of his head and the crane supplement on his body will also be lost.

Although Ye Mingchen is a little roundabout, he is not stupid in the end, "The matter of the foreigner's negotiation will be handed over to Bochen." ”

"Where do you dare to be an official," Guo Songtao pretended to shirk, "There is a big handsome presiding, where is the turn to get the boy, the alternate platform, to do foreign affairs." ”

"Why should Bochen be too humble, the emperor has given you the opportunity to take care of foreign affairs, and the old man can just take a breath and unload this thousand catties of burden, don't shirk it, when you get started, the old man will also give the emperor a fold, and always have power and responsibility."

"Thank you for cultivating!" Guo Songtao hit the snake with the stick, and hurriedly got up and made a big salute.

Palmerston looked at himself at the floor-to-ceiling mirror made of huge South African dark wood, the dark red velvet bow around his neck was not very right, Palmerston raised his hand to straighten the bow and tuxedo, the weather in London in May was capricious, and now it was drizzling, and the yellow roses planted in the pottery pots under the window lattices were wet, and the rain and dew were slightly spitting, which was extremely moving, and Palmerston was very excited today, at 2:30 p.m., he was going to the House of Commons to participate in a debate, as an eloquent Palmerston, It's more refreshing than Congo coffee and Earl Grey.

The door of the living room next to it opened silently, and a middle-aged man with dark brown curly hair entered. The middle-aged man bowed respectfully to Palmers, "Your Excellency, the carriage is ready. ”

"Well done, John," Palmerston praised his squire with great interest, and took a calfskin document bag from John's hand, "the materials are in the bag?" ”

"Yes, Your Excellency."

"Okay, then to hell with the old Whig men in the House of Commons," Palmerston seemed to win. Picked up the cane leaning against the edge of the fireplace. Striding out of the Prime Minister's Mansion in Downing Street, the maid had already set up a silk umbrella at the door, and Palmerston thought of something, and turned his head to ask the attendant who followed him out. "John. You remember when I was in Lord Charles's cabinet. I was the Foreign Secretary, do you remember? When I first gave a speech in the House of Commons, what was the sentence that everyone cheered for? ”

"Your Excellency, Prime Minister. I remember, of course, that you said that the diplomat's protocol is useful, but a well-armed heavy gunboat is a good defender of peace. ”

“Wonderful！ That's it, now that I've been the prime minister for so many years," Palmerston proudly looked at the house in front of him that all British politicians wanted to enter, although it was not a new house, but the occupants were undoubtedly not the elite of the elite, Palmerston pressed a bowler hat, got into the carriage, and greeted the attendant who was still standing at the door, "Come on, John, go to the House of Commons together, and follow me to create glory again!" ”

"Till death, Prime Minister."

The groom waved his whip, and the two white horses drove the carriage quickly and steadily into the distance.

"The interests of countries cannot be reconciled!"

Palmerston stood on the table of the speaker in the House of Commons, his eyes were firm, and he threw out this sentence at the beginning.

"Ladies and gentlemen, everyone knows that thousands of miles away in Guangzhou, our country's ship, the Yarrow, was treated rudely by the Chinese government, not only the sailors and crew members were seized, but even the fluttering rice flag on the Yarrow was torn to pieces and trampled under the feet of the ugly, pig-tailed Chinese soldiers! Not only that, but the Governor of Canton of China refused to apologize for the matter, and such a humiliation was unbearable for the British Empire and Her Majesty, including the Queen! ”

There was a lot of discussion at the council table, and a middle-aged member with red hair and a big belly did not speak, but just watched Palmerston's incisive performance with cold eyes.

"It's time for us to punish China for its rudeness! There are no eternal friends between nations and nations, only eternal interests, and for the sake of the inviolability of the legitimate right of the merchants of our country, and for the light of our British Empire to be sprinkled on that land of ignorance, I, Lord Palmerston, hereby implore the members of the House of Commons to agree to the Cabinet to grant power to the Cabinet to wage war against the Qing State! ”

Several older Whigs rose up to question, but they were all refuted by Palmerston, and many of them looked at the red-haired, big-bellied middle-aged councillor sitting in the first row, the red-haired councillor cleared his throat and stood up, and the Speaker, who was sitting on the high platform, frowned, but also spoke: "This house now allows Charles, Mr. Baron Wellington to speak." ”

"Your Excellency, Prime Minister," the red-haired Charles stood up and gracefully saluted the two of them, "I have something to say below,"

Palmerston was about to speak, but Charles said to himself, "I think it is very unwise to go to war against China at this time, of course, from the perspective of war, China is now besieging the rebellion in the south with all its might, and once our fleet and land forces of the British Empire arrive in China, of course, they will be invincible and invincible - no, no, no, I don't want to emphasize this," Charles put on his glasses, did not look at the Prime Minister who was glaring at him, and looked down at his own manuscript. One of the things I want to tell you is that of course there is no question of affection between nations, and of course I would like to say that our British Empire has excellent business, and I am here to tell you some data responsibly. ”

Charles waved a stack of papers in his hand, and his sharp eyes scanned under his glasses, "Since 1855, the arms trade between us and China has increased from 2 million pounds at the beginning to 8 million pounds last year," several parliamentarians who were not very clear about the arms trade exclaimed, "This year is only May, according to the data from Ningbo, a city on the southeast coast of China, the transaction volume has reached 4 million pounds, it can be seen that under normal circumstances, In 1857, this year, the transaction volume will definitely exceed 10 million pounds, what a large number! The arms deal with China can not only digest the old and backward arms of our arms dealers that cannot be disposed of in the warehouse, but also promote the employment of no less than 1,000 people and solve the problem of food and clothing for 5,000 families. (To be continued......)