For Li Hongzhang's problem, the Empress Dowager of the Two Palaces really doesn't care, the current Li Hongzhang is just a general who has just come out of the Hunan army, although his Huai army has a betrayal of Liu Mingchuan, but its defeat of the Taiping Army Li Xiucheng is an indisputable fact. This made Prince Gong see Li Hongzhang's ability. Under his intention to guarantee it, Li Hongzhang was only removed from his post as governor of Jiangsu, and still led the Huai army to make meritorious contributions. After that, Zeng Guofan, the marshal of the Hunan army, sent a report to Yi for Li Hongzhang's intercession? In his hands, he strengthened his idea that Li Hongzhang was useful.

When Emperor Xianfeng, the Manchu Qing Dynasty had the idea of buying steamship warships from Britain and France, but the second ** war put all this on hold, and the empress dowager of the two palaces was not very concerned about buying warships. Although I have the intention, I have never found a suitable excuse.

Now that the Jiangnan Navy Division had been completely destroyed, he gave him a good excuse, and he immediately made an appointment with the Englishman Hurd, the Chinese customs officer, to ask him to restart the plan to purchase warships.

At the same time, the British Minister to China, Sir Bruce, presented his credentials to Prince Gong, asking the Qing Dynasty to give a satisfactory account of what had happened in Shanghai. For the losses of the British in Shanghai, Sir Bruce demanded compensation from the Qing Dynasty.

For Sir Bruce's unreasonable demands, Prince Gong? On behalf of the Manchu government, he sternly refused.

Sir Bruce was furious and personally came to Prince Gong's palace to look for Yi? Debate.

"Prince Gong, your people forcibly dismantled our factory, robbed our engineers, and confiscated our wealth, and your Qing Dynasty must give us an explanation for this matter, otherwise the warships of the British Empire will appear in the port of Tianjin tomorrow." Sir Bruce roared angrily.

Prince Gong's heart was full of anger, but he suppressed his anger and said in a deep voice: "Sir Bruce, what is the situation in Shanghai, this king knows, the one who attacked and occupied Shanghai City is obviously a branch of the Taiping army, why do they want our Qing Dynasty to bear the black pot for the sin of our Qing Dynasty army, this matter is absolutely impossible." ”

"Humph! Then Liu Mingchuan is an official of your Qing Dynasty? Our soldiers and merchants can testify that it was none other than your Qing Dynasty official Liu Mingchuan who led people to loot our factories and rob us of our wealth. Sir Bruce said with a sneer.

"Liu Mingchuan betrayed the Qing Dynasty, and the king has ordered him to be punished by the nine clans, and at the same time the whole country is wanted. The king has sent people to investigate this matter with all his might, and he will definitely find out the details of the rebel army, and will give a satisfactory explanation to the British side. Prince Gong said with an ugly face.

"Humph! How much time are you going to spend to find out? Sir Bruce said with a sneer.

When he received the battle report from General Stevery, he naturally understood how big the matter was, and the loss of weapons and equipment was enough to arm nearly half of the British army in the Far East, which was a huge amount of material even in the British Empire. And for the loss of these materials, not only General Stevili is responsible, but also himself, who recommended him to be the commander of the coalition forces, may not escape responsibility. And if this matter can be pushed to the Manchus, they can give an account to the higher-ups, and with their brother Count Ergin operating in the homeland, it may not be impossible to keep their current position.

Prince Gong couldn't answer, after all, Shanghai was too far away from the capital, even if he sent someone to investigate, he wouldn't have a month to figure it out, and the foreigners wouldn't give this time at all.

"Sir Bruce, this king knows what you think, but the Qing Dynasty also has its own dignity, and it will not accept the matter of carrying the black pot no matter what. We need to investigate this matter, and you British Empire can come and investigate it together. China and Britain should put aside their disputes and put an end to the Taiping rebellion first. ”

"Humph! The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is the rebel army of your Qing Dynasty, and it has nothing to do with us British, and the prince will not think that our British Empire will sacrifice the precious lives of soldiers to serve the Qing Dynasty for free! Sir Bruce said with a sneer. For the Manchu officials, they were not only disdainful but also disdainful, especially the arrogant performance of the Manchu court, which made them ridicule constantly.

"This king has reported to the emperor and the queen mother of the two palaces that the Qing Dynasty will allocate millions of silver to purchase warships from Western countries, and this matter has been handed over to Hurd, the tax collector of your country in the Qing Dynasty, I think the minister should also know about this matter." Prince Gong said in a deep voice.

"Millions of silver? How many warships did the Qing Dynasty want to buy? Bruce's face changed. He knew exactly how weak the sailors of the Qing Dynasty were, and it was natural for him to want to buy advanced warships from the West. However, it is undoubtedly a fool's dream to build a modern navy just for a million taels of silver. Not to mention anything else, the cost of each of Britain's current main warships is more than 500,000 taels of silver, not including the advanced artillery on the warships. And will the British offer it to the Qing Dynasty at the original price? It's impossible to think about.

"We are ready to buy ten advanced ships!" Prince Gong said in a deep voice.

"One million taels of silver can only buy ten small-class warships, although it can't fight against the warships of our British Empire, but it is enough in the Far East!" Sir Bruce said with a sneer.

"Sir Bruce, even if you are the British Minister to China, if you keep talking to the king in this way, the king will protest against your country." Prince Gong said angrily. This person is too much, although the British Empire is much more powerful than the Qing Dynasty, but the Qing Dynasty is the Heavenly Empire after all, and Prince Gong, as the regent of the Qing Dynasty, is also arrogant.

Sir Bruus's face changed, and he sneered and said, "Since the prince is so tough, then let's see!" ”

With that, Sir Bruce brushed his sleeves away.

Prince Gong has a headache! I am not good at negotiating, and foreigners are so stubborn, I am afraid that some will talk about it when the time comes.

Sure enough, after Sir Bruce went back, he sent a post to the Queen Mother of the Two Palaces, impeaching Prince Gong, so that the Queen Mother of the Two Palaces called Prince Gong to the palace and scolded him.

After that, the two sides began to negotiate, the Qing Dynasty lost its toughness, continued to make concessions, and after half a month of negotiations, the two sides finally signed the Sino-British "Shanghai Treaty"

The treaty stipulated that the Qing Dynasty hired the British ** team to exterminate the Taiping Army, and all military expenditures were borne by the Qing Dynasty, and at the same time, the Qing Dynasty expanded the area of the Shanghai Concession to further reduce the tariffs on British goods, and at the same time, allowed British merchant ships to enter and leave the Yangtze River at will. At the same time, the Manchu government paid 1 million taels of silver to buy ten small-class steamers from the British, and these ten steamships were drawn from the active warships of the British Empire.

Through the Sino-British Treaty of Shanghai, which should not have existed in history, the British doubled their concession in Shanghai, occupying half of the entire city. At the same time, the opening of the Yangtze River waterway gave the British the opportunity to drive straight into the hinterland of the south of the Yangtze River. One million taels of silver bought ten British steamers in active service, and bought old warships at the price of new ships, this business was a big profit for the British, and the Qing Dynasty once again acted as the wronged leader of the foreigners.