Lin Yizhe saw off Refuli and Baohai and others, and was walking back, but saw the British minister Wei Tuma and several people coming towards him. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

The 57-year-old is of medium height, with a thin face, long eyebrows and a high nose, a pair of eyes like a falcon, a bare chin, but two thick beards on the temples, and his face is usually flat, which will make people feel intimidated when they look at it.

As his appearance suggests, Wittoma can be said to be a very strong person. Born in 1818, he studied at Cambridge University, joined the British Army in 1838, and participated in the First Opium War in 1841 with the British invasion of China. He served as Counsellor of the British Embassy in China and British Minister in China. In 1843, he worked as a translator for the British colonial authorities in Hong Kong. He was discharged from the army in 1847 and served as the Chinese deputy envoy to the British Commercial Supervision Office in China. In 1853 he was appointed British Vice-Consul in Shanghai. In 1854, after Britain, France and the United States gained control of Shanghai Customs, he was appointed as the first foreign tax department of Shanghai Customs, and resigned the following year. In 1855, he was appointed Chinese envoy to the Chinese Legation in China. In 1858, he served as an interpreter for the British Plenipotentiary Ergin, and participated in the signing of the Sino-British Treaty of Tientsin and the Treaty of Peking. In 1861 he was appointed Counsellor of the British Embassy in China, and in 1871 he was promoted to Minister in China. When dealing with foreign affairs, Wittoma fully embodied the arrogance and arrogance of the British Empire, and all the officials on the Chinese side who dealt with him did not have a very good impression of him.

However, as the Chinese expert who invented the "Weituma Pinyin", Weituma still made a certain contribution to promoting cultural exchanges between China and the United Kingdom. Although he had already learned the news from the British minister to Japan, Ergin, probably out of jealousy of the close Sino-French relations, he did not inform the Chinese side in time, but after the outbreak of the war, he did not choose to support Japan, but adopted a bystander attitude, and when the Japanese side asked Britain for help, Wittoma made it clear that he did not support Japan's strategy through Taiwan. Of course, he also said that if Japan develops towards Korea, Britain will definitely support it.

Wei Toma noticed that Lin Yizhe was sending off the French minister, and a strange light flashed in his eyes unconsciously.

"Hello! Mr. Wittoma. Lin Yizhe noticed the strangeness in Wei Tuma's eyes, but on the surface, he still greeted him in English with a smile on his face.

"Hello! Forest! Wittoma smiled and nodded.

Lin Yizhe suddenly noticed that the big curly-haired translator Margaret Margaret that he often carried with him was missing from Wei Tuma's side, remembered something, and asked with a deliberate smile, "Your translator, Mr. Margaret, has not come back yet?" ”

Hearing Lin Yizhe's question, Wei Tuma's heart couldn't help but chuckle, he smiled, and replied: "Mr. Margaret likes to travel very much, this time he plans to go to Yunnan to 'travel' for a while, maybe he is already on his way back." Wei Tuma felt that Lin Yizhe's expression was a little unusual when he looked at Ma Jiali, and knew that he was suspicious because of Ma Jiali's matter, so he immediately explained without waiting for Lin Yizhe to ask, and emphasized that the purpose of Ma Jiali's trip to Yunnan was to "travel".

Hearing Wei Tuma vigorously emphasize that Margaret's trip to Yunnan was a "travel", Lin Yizhe couldn't help but sneer in his heart.

As a time-traveler who is familiar with history, Lin Yizhe certainly knows what Margaret is going to do in Yunnan!

After the failure of the **** perpetrators in Yunnan, the British colonial authorities in India and Burma immediately initiated the organization of a new pathfinder team to once again explore the land traffic between Yunnan and Burma from Mandalay. They also demanded that the British Minister in China send an official who was fluent in Chinese and familiar with the situation in China to Burma to accompany the pathfinder into China. As a result, the British embassy in Beijing asked Prime Minister Yamen for passports for "three or four officials" who had "traveled" from Burma to the Yunnan border; Although Prime Minister Yamen strongly said that the border areas were not quiet, he still agreed to the embassy's request. Wittoma then chose Margaret as his interpreter to meet the British Pathfinder in Yunnan, which was led by H.A. Browne.

After obtaining the passport, Margaret set out from Shanghai, passed through Hankow, Hunan, Guizhou, and Yunnan, and after several months, arrived at Bhamo on January 17, 1875, joining Bai Lang and others, who had arrived in Bhamo via Mandalay two days earlier. In early February, the pathfinder team left Bamo and headed for the Chinese border. The "Travel" signboard was not just "three or four officials", but was "escorted" by heavily armed soldiers sent by India in addition to the official officials, and the whole team was actually an army of nearly 200 people. After a long period of war, the residents of the Yunnan border areas naturally had great doubts about this British invasion team. On February 21, when the British expedition entered the Manyun area, it was stopped by the local military and civilians, and the arrogant Margaret shot and killed a Chinese, only to be attacked by the Chinese soldiers and civilians, and was killed along with several accompanying Chinese. The killing of Margaret and the blocking of Bai Lang and others are generally referred to as the "Margaret Incident", the "Yunnan Incident" or the so-called "Dian Case".

Britain should first blame itself for Margaret's death, because if it had not been for its attempt to invade Yunnan by opening up the Yunnan-Burma trade route, this incident would never have happened. But Britain wants to use this incident to blackmail China. Because China's "coastal defense" and "blockade defense" at that time were both troublesome, Britain deliberately took the opportunity to expand the Margaret incident, and Margaret was killed and Bai Lang and others returned to Bamo, which temporarily frustrated Britain's plan to explore land transportation between Yunnan and Burma. Upon learning of the preliminary report of the incident, the British Foreign Secretary Derby instructed Wittoma to ask the Qing Government to conduct a detailed investigation, and instructed him to "bear in mind the purpose of the Indian Government in sending Colonel Brown to Yunnan to lead the expedition to Yunnan" in planning further steps to be taken. Subsequently, Wittoma formally made a specific request to the Prime Minister's Yamen. These demands formed the basis of the British blackmail under the pretext of the Dian case, and over the course of a year and a half of negotiations that followed, Wittoma sought to fulfill these extensive demands for aggression against China. He used all means of coercion to constantly expand and concretize the demands.

From the very beginning of his negotiations with the Qing government over the Margaret incident, he used force and intimidation. He had previously played a mediating role in the negotiations between China and Spain on the issue of "Cuban Chinese workers" together with the envoys of some countries, but at this time, as a means of coercing China, Premier Yamen immediately told Wei Tuma that he would promptly notify the Yunnan authorities to conduct an investigation. The edict even ordered Cen Yuying, the governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, to "quickly investigate and investigate this case". As for the six unreasonable demands of the British side, the Qing government categorically rejected them at first. Emphasizing the need to obtain passports so that the British could send personnel to Yunnan to observe the trial and then send people from India to Yunnan to investigate, he threatened to sever diplomatic relations with China if he did not obtain them. The Qing government had to back down and issue passports in full, and Britain gained the right to intervene in the investigation and trial of cases involving British nationals in the interior.

After receiving the passport he had requested, he left Beijing for Shanghai on 3 April under the pretext that he "still had to go to Shanghai in person so that he could send personnel" to Yunnan. His aims: on the one hand, to take advantage of Shanghai's communication facilities (at that time, only Shanghai could telegraph to London) to offer his own government as soon as possible a plan to implement the demands of aggression against China, and on the other hand, he was ready to invite Bai Lang to China to personally report to him about the circumstances of the Dian case. The Qing government ordered Li Hanzhang, the governor of Huguang, to investigate the Dian case as the minister of the Qin Mission. At this time, Wei Tuma did not send people to Yunnan, but ordered the counselor Gwene to go to Hubei to meet Li Hanzhang. Li Hanzhang said in the conversation that he was ordered to investigate only the killing of Margaret and not the obstruction of Bai Lang, and this statement became a pretext for the British invaders to "prove" that the Qing government was not sincere in settling the Dian case once and for all. Wittoma seized on this excuse and took the plot of the Dian case that he had compiled after his meeting with Bai Lang and left north from Shanghai at the end of July in an attempt to threaten the Qing government again. Also in early May, he stressed to the British Government: "No matter what we say and do, the Chinese Government will never be the first to start hostilities." This is tantamount to saying that Britain can intimidate in every possible way, and the Qing government will not resolutely resist. This estimation dominated the entire activity of Wittoma in the Dian case.

Before coming to Tianjin, Wei Toma sent Mei Huili, the Chinese secretary, to Beijing to question Li Hanzhang's mission. After he arrived in Tianjin in early August, he wantonly slandered Premier Yamen in front of Li Hongzhang, saying that "we must first change a few people from the General Administration." He expressed his willingness to negotiate with Li Hongzhang, and then made various demands in Tianjin, including: the removal of the centicard at the treaty port; opening more commercial ports in the mainland; The Qing government was responsible for escorting Gwenne to the border of Yunnan and even to Bamo, and India was also responsible for escorting people when they sent people to Yunnan; sent "first-class and second-grade real officers" to the UK to apologize for the Dian case; On his way to Britain, the envoy was to pass through India and discuss with the Indian authorities the measures for trade between Yunnan and Burma; The imperial court should issue a decree to reprimand Cen Yuying and others for failing to supervise the Dian case; The edicts on the dispatch of envoys and the reprimand of Cen Yu-ying must be clearly issued and published in the "Beijing Daily"; In these edicts, the word "Britain" must be written whenever it is encountered, and "if it is not written, it will be a contempt for Britain", etc., greatly expanding the content of the six articles proposed in March. These demands were first and foremost aimed at expanding the actual interests of Britain in China, and in order to achieve this goal, Wittoma tried his best to attack the prestige of the Qing government and the feudal system. Wei Tuoma claimed to have mastered the detailed materials of the Dian case, and in the negotiations with Li Hongzhang, he repeatedly threatened to withdraw the envoys, break off diplomatic relations, and use force, and insisted that all his conditions be met.

In more than half a year of coercion against China, Wittoma has always left aside the envoys of other countries. In the course of the negotiations on the Dian case, Britain was alienated from other European and American invaders in diplomacy with China, and the British government considered uniting with Japan to hold China hostage. In order to prevent the occurrence of troubles in the southwestern border, the Qing government had no choice but to agree to the British conditions of "bereavement, compensation, punishment of the culprits, sending an envoy to apologize, and opening additional ports" for the later "Yantai Treaty."

And Wittoma also became a great hero of Britain because of the conclusion of the "Yantai Treaty"!

But now, the Yantai Treaty can never be seen!

Thinking that he dug a big pit for him early in order to deal with Wei Tuma, Lin Yizhe couldn't help but laugh secretly.

"The pit has been dug and is waiting for you to jump in!"

"On behalf of Her Majesty the Queen and our Government, I have just presented my credentials to Minister Guo Songtao of your country, expressing my deep condolences on the passing of His Majesty the Great Emperor." Wei Tuma didn't know what Lin Yizhe said in his heart, but told him the purpose of this trip.

"Thank you very much for your Majesty the Queen and your Government's condolences." Lin Yizhe said politely to him.

"By the way, during my visit to your country, I proposed to Her Majesty the Queen not to organize any form of exploration into the uncivilized areas of our country and not to seek new trade routes until a new trade agreement had been concluded between the two countries. Her Majesty has made promises to me. Lin Yizhe quietly brought the topic back to Margaret, "I would like to draw the attention of Mr. Wei Tuma, and it is best to remind Mr. Margaret not to carry out so-called expeditions in the name of 'travel'. ”

"Her Majesty's assurances are the strongest restraint on our conduct. I assure you, Mr. Lin, that will never happen. Hearing the warning in Lin Yizhe's words, Wei Toma immediately replied with an oath, "I assure you that Mr. Margaret went to Yunnan only for a tour without any other purpose, and there were only three or four people with him, all of whom had applied for passports from the government of your country. It's just a small traveling party, and it's not capable of expeditionary activities. ”

Hearing Wei Tuma's assurance, Lin Yizhe couldn't help but laugh in his heart.

Mr. Wittoma, you are so good at talking nonsense!

Of course, Lin Yizhe knew that the team led by Bai Lang, who set off from India, had 15 surveyors alone! And they were guarded by 150 heavily armed British soldiers!

"Then, I sincerely wish Mr. Margaret a pleasant travel!" Lin Yizhe said quietly.

He knew he would never see Margaret again.

And Wittoma won't stay in China for long!

"Thank you." Wittoma bowed slightly, and then took his leave. Lin Yizhe watched the swaggering Wei Tuma and his party go away, and a subtle sneer appeared on the corner of his mouth.

After finishing a day's work, Lin Yizhe returned to his apartment in Xianliang Temple, and his trusted servant Lin Fu stepped forward and whispered to him: "Master, Second Manager Li sent someone over to talk about it, saying that the matter, Manager Liu has already handed over the words according to the meaning of the adult, and the Queen Mother has already settled on it." ”

Lin Yizhe nodded, "The big thing is decided!" ”

At about the same time, in the Changchun Palace in the Forbidden City, the Empress Dowager Cixi was talking to Prince Gong about Lin Yizhe's request for Liu Chengyin to secretly pass on to the Empress Dowager Cixi's way to keep the empress's child.

"Sixth Master, this matter is settled, and you don't have to excuse yourself." The Empress Dowager Cixi glanced at Liu Chengyin, who was standing aside, and said to Prince Gong Yixin with a smile, "If the emperor blesses and gives birth to a boy, the sixth master will have a successor." ”

"Minions...... Thank you for the grace of the Queen Mother! Prince Gong burst into tears for a while, left his seat and prostrate on the ground, and said in a trembling voice.

"The sixth master doesn't need to be polite, just get up quickly." The Empress Dowager Cixi said, "Liu Chengyin, help the sixth master up." ”

Liu Chengyin responded, hurriedly stepped forward, and helped Prince Gong up.

"Don't let the news leak out of this." The Empress Dowager Cixi looked at Prince Gong, who was grateful, and reminded him, "The sixth master knows the stakes here, so I won't nag about it." ”

"Slaves understand! Please rest assured! The matter ...... It's rotting in the minister's stomach! Prince Gong said in fear.

"That's the end of it for now." The Empress Dowager Cixi looked at the palace maids and eunuchs waiting outside the warm pavilion, and said to Prince Gong, "Lin Yizhe asked for the establishment of a naval yamen to oversee the affairs of the national navy, what do you think about this?" ”

"Back to the Queen Mother's words, Lin Yizhe is very good at this." Prince Gong was unaware that the Empress Dowager Cixi turned the topic to the navy, and couldn't help but be stunned, but his brain reacted quickly, and he immediately replied, "In order to unify the navy and defend the war, the western country has a naval yamen, although the coastal provinces of our country have naval divisions, but they are each in one place, and they cannot be united in battle. ”

"The sixth master said well." The Empress Dowager Cixi listened to Prince Gong's words, and her eyes flashed with approval.

She already knew from Prince Gong's answer that Prince Gong had no chance of becoming "Dolgon's second"!

"The danger of this feudal town is the most worrying. Lin Yizhe can think like this, it is really a public heart, out of sincerity, worthy of being the queen of Lin Wenzhong. Lin Yizhe has been in the shipping administration for a long time, and he has seen wars with Japan, so he is most familiar with maritime affairs, so it is better to let Lin Yizhe assist in coastal defense affairs after the establishment of the Maritime Affairs Administration. Of course, Prince Gong understood the Empress Dowager Cixi's intentions, and appropriately praised Lin Yizhe a few words, which was not only equivalent to sponsoring Lin Yizhe, but also indirectly expressed his heart to the Empress Dowager Cixi.

"That's what the sixth master said." The Empress Dowager Cixi nodded and said, "However, although Lin Yizhe is familiar with shipping administration and maritime affairs, after all, his qualifications are still shallow, I am afraid that he will not be able to control the field, and the Maritime Administration is in charge of the national coastal defense, and it needs to be controlled by important ministers, so this naval yamen, I plan to ask the seventh master to come to the town, how does the sixth master feel?" ”

"The Queen Mother! The minions also feel that the naval yamen must be in charge of the alcohol king! Prince Gong hurriedly said.

Of course, he understood what the Empress Dowager Cixi's intention was for Prince Alcohol to sit in the navy yamen.