Guangzhou, the Governor's Mansion of Guangzhou.

What was once a symbol of power in the two countries has now become the headquarters of the occupation forces, where ministers from Britain, France, the United States, and Russia and representatives of the military of Britain, France, and the United States meet to discuss the next steps.

Although the Allied forces had captured Canton, they were annoyed by the Qing government's slow response to the new treaty proposals.

After some discussion, everyone decided to lead the fleet north to further force the Qing government to agree to their terms.

According to the decision of everyone, they will continue to put pressure on the Qing government when they go north, so they decided to attack Shanghai by the way, this proposal is the new American Commissioner for Asia, Lev Weilian, because the Americans have always hated Li Weiguo for destroying the American Asian fleet, that time Chiguo slapped the Americans in the face, but unfortunately the US government at that time was not able to go on an expedition, so it has not been able to take revenge. Now it is just right to cooperate with Britain and France to form a coalition army, and the first to eradicate Li Weiguo and wash away the shame of the United States.

Most people agreed, because Shanghai under Li Weiguo was very prosperous, especially the AIIB, and the information obtained from the inside showed that the AIIB had at least 600 tons of gold and 6,000 tons of silver in its vaults, which made them extremely eager to grab it.

However, the British minister Bao Ling became the only one who opposed the attack on Shanghai, much to everyone's surprise.

"With our current strength, we can't take Shanghai at all, I advise you not to provoke Li Weiguo, he is very powerful!"

The French minister, Bourblon, snorted coldly and said, "Bao Ling, did you take the wrong medicine today?" I remember that you were the most desperate person to attack Shanghai and seize the AIIB, why do you want to oppose it now? ”

Bao Lingzheng said: "That's right, I don't want to seize the AIIB all the time, but I'm very calm, we only have more than 30 warships and 20,000 coalition troops now, while Li Weiguo has more than 100 warships and 100,000 Shanghai troops." If we start a war with Li Weiguo, we must be the ones who lose! ”

Pruston, the Governor of Singapore and the Commander of the Far East Fleet of the Royal Navy, sneered: "Bao Ling, what's wrong with you, how can Li Weiguo be the opponent of our British Imperial Army?" I remember you weren't so timid before! ”

Seeing that Pruss was so light on the enemy, Bao Ling hurriedly reminded: "Your Excellency the Governor, you just came here and didn't know the situation, Li Weiguo's Shanghai army is completely different from the previous Qing army, the Shanghai army is completely trained in the way of our Western countries, and it is equipped with our most advanced Western firearms. Especially the East China Sea Fleet, more than a hundred warships were sold to them by our Imperial Navy. It was once the most advanced warship of the Empire, and you must not underestimate the enemy! ”

Preston frowned, this Bao Ling couldn't speak at all, so he couldn't get off the stage.

The American Commissioner on the side, Lev Weilian, didn't want Bao Ling to convince Prus, so he hurriedly interjected: "Your Excellency Bao Ling said that it was once the most advanced warship, since it is in the past, it is naturally not the opponent of the British Empire, in my eyes, the British Empire is invincible." Is that right, Lord Governor of Prussia? ”

When Pruss heard Lie Weilian's words, he immediately felt very useful, and nodded: "That's right, even if Li Weiguo's Shanghai army is a little stronger than the Qing army we have seen. Nor is it a match for our British Empire. ”

Bao Ling suddenly became anxious and said, "Your Excellency Governor, please don't be impulsive, our current military strength can't capture Shanghai at all." Once defeated, then all our previous efforts will be lost! ”

Lev Weilian immediately added fuel to the fire and said, "Your Excellency Bao Ling, you don't believe in the ability of Governor Pruss so much? Or did you take the benefits of Li Weiguo? ”

Really. When Lie Weilian said this, Preston couldn't come to the stage now, his face turned pale, and he shouted: "Bao Ling, now I announce that I will dismiss you from the privilege of being the minister to China!" ”

Bao Ling was stunned for a moment, and then said angrily: "Why did you remove me from my position?" I am loyal to the British Empire, I have never done anything to be sorry for the country, you are only the Governor of Singapore, and you have no right to remove me from office. ”

Pruss was also dizzy, and shouted angrily: "I have obtained permission from the House of Lords before I come, and if necessary, I can take full charge of all things in the Far East, including your dismissal. ”

Bao Ling was silent, he knew very well how powerful the British House of Lords was, all of them were members of the aristocracy, and they were the hereditary places of the nobility, controlling everything in the entire British Empire. The Prus in front of him was from a noble family, and this time he came to the Far East to gild, and then he could enter the House of Lords when he returned home.

In the face of this kind of person, Bao Ling was disappointed, he knew that he could not sway the will of Prus, and a war with Li Weiguo was inevitable, and he only hoped for a miracle.

"Very good, since you are bent on going your own way, then I won't say more, good luck to you, it's best not to lose too badly!"

Leaving this sentence, Bao Ling immediately left in a negative mood and never looked back.

Bao Ling left, and no one objected, so Britain, France, and the United States formed a joint fleet to be responsible for military operations, and the Russian minister Ignatiev was responsible for spying on intelligence.

On February 3, 1858, the combined fleet of Britain, France and the United States went north, with a total of 37 warships, including 28 warships of the British Royal Navy and 9,000 British marines; five warships of the French Navy, two thousand marines; The U.S. Navy had four warships, 2,000 marines, and a large number of laborers captured from Guangzhou to be responsible for the logistics and supply of the coalition forces.

As soon as the British, French, and American forces left Guangzhou, the news reached Li Weiguo's ears.

Both the British and French concessions received news that the allied forces were preparing to attack the capital of the Qing Empire in the north and attack Shanghai by the way, so the legations in the British Concession and the French Concession took action one after another, organized troops, and prepared to cooperate with the coalition forces.

When the news spread, the whole Shanghai was shaken and the people were panicked.

Those ordinary people who had experienced the first Opium War were immediately panicked and prepared to flee one after another, while the refugees who had moved to Shanghai from the provinces south of the Yangtze River had just had a stable life and work, and they did not want to abandon it, and they were terrified all day long.

Only Li Weiguo is still calm, he has been preparing for this day for several years, maybe he is waiting for this day to come.

Zhuang Jiuxia came in with a few pieces of information and said to Li Weiguo: "My lord, the British Concession and the French Concession are distributing guns and ammunition to foreigners in the concession, and the scale is already tens of thousands!" ”

"It's just a rabble!" Li Weiguo snorted coldly and ordered: "Order the fourth town of the Shanghai Army to immediately surround the British Concession and the French Concession." Lift the threat of the concession, and if there is resistance, kill it! ”

"Yes!" Zhuang Jiuxia called a personal soldier to announce the order, and then said to Li Weiguo: "My lord, there is news from the inside of the British Legation that Bao Ling has been dismissed, and he was removed from his post because he opposed the attack on Shanghai by the British, French, and American forces. At present, people from the British legation are contacting the foreign shareholders of the AIIB to ask them to sell their shares as soon as possible. At the same time, we ordered those foreigners who were working for us in the Jiangwan Industrial Zone to collect our information and respond to them when it was critical. ”

Li Weiguo suddenly breathed a sigh of relief and said: "Bao Ling, this guy has finally stepped down, this bastard doesn't calculate me much on weekdays." It's a good thing that he's stepping down. As for the shareholders of the AIIB, let them sell their shares, which is exactly what I want, we eat them all and kick the foreigners out of the AIIB completely. However, Jiangwan Industrial Zone is my foundation, and I can't afford to lose it, so I quickly sent an order to Fu Xuexian and asked him to start cleaning up foreigners, which has been going on for a few years. The role of foreigners has become smaller and smaller, and our people can be completely self-reliant. ”

"Yes!" Zhuang Jiuxia received the order again, and after instructing his own soldiers to do it, he continued: "There is one more thing. Russian Minister Ignatiev wants to see you, and the S.H.I.E.L.D. intelligence says that the Russians are accomplices of Britain, France and the United States, and his words cannot be trusted! ”

Li Weiguo smiled, he knew too well this interesting story of modern history. The Qing government is like a stupid X. Every time a foreign power invaded, they would trust the other powers to intervene, and they would retreat and be unprepared. And the funniest thing is that the Qing army's deployment was truthfully told to the mediating country, and as a result, the armies of the great powers suddenly attacked under the guise of mediation, and the Qing army was defeated, and finally ceded the land and paid compensation. The next time there is an invasion by foreign powers, the Qing court believes that those so-called mediator countries will make people calculate and make people cheat again and again, and become the most stupid court in the history of the world, so that the sons and daughters of China in later generations will not be able to raise their heads when they mention this period of history, and they will feel ashamed.

Now Li Weiguo naturally does not believe the mediation of the Russian minister's bullshit, he naturally guesses that the mediation of the Russians is fake, and it is true to cover the invasion of Shanghai by the British, French, and American forces.

"Nope! Blow him away! ”

"Yes!"

Zhuang Jiuxia was about to carry out the order, but Li Weiguo suddenly had a flash of inspiration, and hurriedly stopped him and said, "Slow! ”

"My lord, what else do you command?"

"If the Russian minister comes, give me a good hospitality, I want to see him!"

Li Weiguo paused, and added: "Call Zhang Xiaoliu over!" ”

After a while, Zhang Xiaoliu hurried over.

After several years of night school training at Danfu University, Zhang Xiaoliu's cultural class has reached the middle school water bottle, although he is still a little unworthy of the name as the commander of the first army of the Shanghai Army (the first town and the second town under his jurisdiction), but the value is loyalty, Li Weiguo can rest assured.

Zhang Xiaoliu rushed in, respectfully saluted Li Weiguo, and asked, "Young master, are you looking for me?" ”

Li Weiguo nodded and said, "Give you a task, the Russian minister will come soon, you go down for me to make arrangements, we have to put on a play for the Russian minister!" ”

Zhang Xiaoliu was stunned for a moment, and asked rhetorically: "Acting?" What kind of play? Foreigners also like to listen to operas? ”

Li Weiguo rolled his eyes, nine out of ten people in his era hated opera the most, and he usually collapsed when he heard Peking Opera and opera, especially one of Li Weiguo's wives and two prospective wives, the three women liked to find an opera troupe to sing in Yuyuan Garden, and the tortured Li Weiguo was going crazy.

"It's not singing! Have you ever heard the book in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms where Zhou Yu invited Jiang Gan to cross the river? ”

"Listen to it often!" Zhang Xiaoliu likes to listen to books and watch dramas the most, and suddenly came to his senses, and continued: "Speaking of storytelling, Cao Cao sent Jiang Gan across the river to spy on Zhou Yu's military situation, but Zhou Yu planned and let Jiang Gan spread the news falsely, causing Cao Cao to suffer heavy casualties!" ”

"That's right! It's good that you know! Li Weiguo suddenly smiled and said: "When the Russian minister comes, it is to spy on our military situation, you find some militia to temporarily serve as the elite of the Shanghai army, and then prepare our military deployment map from three years ago and put it in a conspicuous position in the staff headquarters, and mark the location of our army's defense, ordnance, and military rations prominently!" ”

"It's just for the Russian minister to remember at a glance, right? I get it! Zhang Xiaoliu nodded hurriedly, understanding what Li Weiguo meant.

Li Weiguo nodded and said, "Go ahead, do something like it, don't let people see the flaws!" ”

Zhang Xiaoliu immediately patted his chest and promised, and then hurriedly went down to prepare.

In the afternoon, Russian Minister Ignatiev came to see Li Weiguo and was warmly greeted by Li Weiguo.

Gongs and drums were beaten at the door, and firecrackers rang out in unison. Ignatiev was very puzzled, and he didn't know what Li Weiguo was doing.

Soon, Li Weiguo personally came out to greet him and explained: "This is the highest ceremony for our Chinese to welcome friends, Your Excellency Ignatiev!" ”

Li Weiguo deliberately lowered his posture with an expression of stammering Ignatiev.

At first, Ignatiev couldn't stand it, Li Weiguo was so enthusiastic that he was a little overwhelmed by the enthusiasm, and he almost told Li Weiguo that he was here to spy on the military, but in the end reason prevailed over emotion.

"Master Li. We in Russia have always thanked you for helping us when we needed it most, and for these three years, thanks to the large number of excellent muskets and artillery you have provided us, we have not been defeated by the damned British and French, and I convey to you my sincere greetings and thanks on behalf of His Majesty the Tsar! ”

The Crimean War appeared to be a defeat for Russia, but in fact the two sides were just a draw, and Russia only returned the invaded land to Turkey, not defeat in the eyes of the Russians.

Li Weiguo naturally didn't care which of them won or lost, knowing that the Russians had a good face. That's just the way to say that.

"Your Excellency Ignatiev, you are polite, please greet His Majesty the Tsar on my behalf!"

The two exchanged pleasantries and came to the reception room.

Ignatiev went straight to the point and said: "I came this time for the sake of our great friendship. I'm going to tell you a big secret. ”

Li Weiguo came to the right point, and hurriedly asked: "I don't know what the secret is, but you actually came to tell me in person?" ”

"Master Li, you're in a big deal!" Ignatiev first scared Li Weiguo. Then he said solemnly: "I just got the news that Britain, France, and the United States have formed a joint fleet and are preparing to attack Shanghai. They're so strong that I'm afraid you're going to lose, so I'm going to warn you in advance! ”

Li Weiguo pretended to be surprised, then stood up nervously, paced back and forth, and said: "Thank you, Your Excellency Ignatiev, how can I beat them now?" What can I do? What can I do? ”

Seeing that Li Weiguo was like an ant in a hot pot, Ignatiev sneered in his heart, so he said: "Isn't your Shanghai army very strong? You have 100,000 infantry and an East China Sea Fleet of hundreds of warships, don't worry! ”

You know a lot!

Li Weiguo's eyes tightened, and he immediately pretended to smile bitterly: "Your Excellency Ignatiev, you don't know, although I have 100,000 infantry, it is a pity that the elite lost all the elite in the war three years ago, and now the recruit training is less than three years, how can it be compared with the elite infantry like Britain and France, who have been on the battlefield for a long time and have been trained for at least ten years?" Besides, although the East China Sea Fleet of the Navy has more than 100 advanced warships, it is a pity that the training is insufficient, you know that the warships used to be used by our country's navy were all hard-sailed warships, and now our sailors use British soft-sail warships, which are not used to it at all, and they are not proficient in it until now, how can they confront the world's number one naval power such as Britain and France? ”

Ignatiev nodded, in his eyes, a powerful musket team, its soldiers need a lot of time to train, the infantry training time of Britain and France in Europe and other countries is more than ten years before it can be considered elite, and even the Russian infantry has to be trained for at least seven or eight years before it can get rid of the title of recruit egg, so he believes that Li Weiguo's Shanghai infantry cannot defeat the infantry of Britain, France and the United States.

Similarly, Ignatiev also knew the strength of the British and French navies, and even less thought that Li Weiguo's East China Sea Fleet could compete.

"You don't need to panic, we Russia are your friends, and we will never allow Britain, France and the United States to bully you!" Ignatiev suddenly said what he meant: "That's good, I will find a way to help you mediate, I hope you can solve the problem peacefully!" ”

"Then thank you, Your Excellency Ignatiev!" Li Weiguo immediately said gratefully: "If the war can be avoided, I will definitely thank Your Excellency even more!" ”

Ignatiev was very proud when he saw Li Weiguo's expression, but he still had a purpose, so he said: "I hope Master Li can tell me your military strength!" Don't doubt me for asking, because only when I know your true strength, can I know how to mediate with Britain, France and the United States, you know, both sides of the negotiation have a bottom line, I only know your strength, in order to grasp your bottom line, will not let you suffer! ”

Li Weiguo sneered in his heart, and opened his eyes and said nonsense, when Lao Tzu is the central government of the Qing court, those fools will let you fool around, do you believe your nonsense?

Holding back the hatred in his heart, Li Weiguo hurriedly said: "Of course I believe in you, please follow me!" ”

Subsequently, Li Weiguo took Ignatiev to the conference room of the General Staff, along the way Ignatiev paid attention to the performance of the Shanghai soldiers, and saw that the Shanghai soldiers were frightened when they heard that they were going to fight, and he sneered in his heart.

Entering the general staff, Zhang Xiaoliu and others were discussing on the map how to resist the invasion of the British, French, and American coalition forces, Ignatiev heard the various coping strategies drawn up by Zhang Xiaoliu and others, like a child, and he sneered again in his heart, such an officer does not understand what modern warfare is, and he can't defeat the British, French, and American coalition forces.

At this time, Ignatiev suddenly saw the military map on the table, his eyes suddenly lit up, as a minister, his memory must be very good, he quickly memorized the deployment of the Shanghai army, the location of the arsenal, and the granary on the map, thinking that this time to exchange this information to Britain, France and the United States, he will definitely be able to get huge benefits.

Ignatiev stayed with Li Weiguo for more than two hours, got the information he wanted to know, and then took his leave and left.

Looking at Ignatiev's back, Li Weiguo and Zhang Xiaoliu glanced at each other, and they couldn't help laughing. (To be continued......)