Zeng Guofan still remembers how much panic this ironclad ship caused to the people of Tianjin when it appeared in the port of Dagukou. In order not to irritate the Chinese people www.biquge.info he asked the French ships to move outside the mouth, but the French felt that the purpose of intimidation had been achieved, so they retreated to the open sea with great face. This time, the ceremony of presenting credentials was also held at sea.

Soon, the two warships exchanged salutes and anchored side by side, Zeng Guofan, despite his old age and illness, and Chonghou personally boarded the "Normandy" in a small boat, and the French held a solemn welcome ceremony on the deck, and all the officers lined up with swords to welcome the arrival of this "most respected servant of the Chinese emperor".

After exchanging eulogies and greetings between Zeng Guofan and the French Emperor's envoy, Maurière, Zeng Guofan informed the French envoy of the results of the thorough investigation of the "Tianjin Teaching Case" and the results of the Chinese side's handling, and presented the letter of state (in fact, a letter of apology written in the name and tone of the Tongzhi Emperor), which Maurier accepted and conveyed Napoleon III's views on the incident. Maurière showed Tsang the dismissal and arrest warrants issued by the French government, as well as the recall notice of former Prime Minister Montauban, who had always taken a strong stance on the issue of teaching plans, and presented a handwritten letter from Napoleon III to the Tongzhi Emperor. After learning that the French government had dismissed the prime minister for this reason, Zeng Guofan and Chonghou were overjoyed.

They understand, of course, that when the news spreads, the conservatives and gossip officials in the DPRK and China, as well as the literati in the private sector, will see this as a huge diplomatic victory for China.

At this time, Zeng Guofan did not know that this "Tianjin Teaching Plan", which had a great impact on his reputation in his later years, could be solved in such a way, thanks to Lin Yizhe's secret promoter.

In 1869, foreigners in Tianjin built the church and nursery church of Notre Dame Victoria on the site of a ruined temple. Since Chinese rarely send orphans to the foreigner-run institution, foreign nuns devised a scheme to pay a bonus to each adopted child, thus encouraging Chinese child traffickers to abduct children. This bonus rule, as well as the high mortality rate (because the nuns were particularly willing to baptize sick and dying children), inevitably aroused suspicion among the uninformed Chinese population. Rumors spread widely that foreigners were performing magic on children in their compounds, cutting off their limbs and gouging out their hearts and eyes for medicine.

In April and May 1870, there were many cases of missing and kidnapping of children in Tianjin. At the beginning of June, when the weather was hot and the epidemic was epidemic, 30 to 40 orphans in the nursery fell ill and died, and hundreds of people went to the cemetery every day to watch and dig up the bodies of the children. As a result, rumors began to circulate that foreign nuns were using the Nursery as a child, but in fact kidnapped and killed Chinese children for medicinal purposes.

On June 20, Wu Lanzhen, a bandit who had been abducted by residents and taken to the government's office, was implicated in the confession of the parishioner Wang San and the Wanghailou Catholic Church. As a result, the people were inflamed, the gentry rallied, the academy was suspended, and anti-Westernism sentiment was high. In the early morning of June 21, Liu Jie, the magistrate of Tianjin, took the prisoner Wu Lanzhen to the church to confront him, and found that there was no Wang Sanqi in the church, and there was no fence for the mat shed offered by Wu Lanzhen.

Fr. Xie Evangel and the Minister of International Trade Chonghou discussed the aftermath of the Nursery. However, at that time, thousands of "patriotic" people who did not know the truth had surrounded the church, and the church personnel and the onlookers had quarrels, causing bricks to throw bricks and fight each other. The arrogant and aggressive French consul in Tianjin, Feng Daye, asked Chonghou to send troops to suppress it, but did not get a satisfactory result. On the way to the church, Feng Daye actually shot and wounded the attendants of the county magistrate in the process of arguing with Liu Jie, the magistrate, and the people attacked Feng Daye and his entourage in anger, killing Feng Daye's secretary (Feng Daye himself was saved by the French sailors who had received the news in advance and fled to the warship), and then killed 10 nuns, 2 priests, 2 other French consulate personnel, 2 French nationals, 3 Russian nationals and more than 30 Chinese believers, and burned down the Wanghailou Catholic Church, the Church of Mercy, the French Consulate next to the church, and four other Christian churches run by local Anglo-American missionaries. The sabotage lasted 3 hours. On June 24, foreign warships arrived in Tianjin, and the ministers of the seven countries, led by France, jointly protested to the Prime Minister Yamen, demanding compensation for the losses and punishment of the murderers.

The Qing court appointed Zeng Guofan, the governor of Zhili, to thoroughly investigate and deal with the case. Zeng Guofan found the situation far more tricky than he expected. The French chargé d'affaires demanded the execution of the most xenophobic general, General Chen Guorui, as well as the prefect and county governor of Tianjin, while conservative Chinese officials and scholars clamored against any concessions or appeasement. In this emergency, Tsang showed extraordinary integrity and courage. Rather than seeking stability to pander to public sentiment, he risked politics to put forward an impartial opinion that the case must be cleared up, and he persuaded the Qing court to first compensate Britain, the United States, and Russia so that they would not be involved in the French case. Tsang immediately went to the Crèche to check with the children directly, and found out that they were not abducted, but sent by their families of their own free will.

In order to resolve this dispute, Zeng Guofan, according to Lin Yizhe's suggestion, proposed to remove the prefect and county of Tianjin; The French side was compensated 200,000 taels of silver in advance, and 10 people who were the first perpetrator were beheaded. At the same time, Zeng Guofan believed that the French consul Feng Daye shot and provoked the people first, which was a major fault and should be punished reciprocatingly. The French side resolutely rejected such an outcome, and the negotiations reached an impasse for a time. The French minister threatened to sever diplomatic relations under the flag and did not hesitate to start a war with China. The conservatives and "patriots" in the DPRK and China also unanimously condemned Zeng Guofan's weakness and demanded that Zeng Guofan forcefully refuse the demands of the French side, and Zeng Guofan was in a dilemma for a while.

Fortunately, because of the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in Europe, the news of the defeat of the French army on the battlefield was accurately reported to Zeng Guofan by Lin Yizhe, who knew that France could not start a war with China at this time, so he suggested that Zeng Guofan delay first to see what happened. Zeng Guofan listened to Lin Yizhe's advice, and his health was really not good, so he played the "drag" card.

Of course, Zeng Guofan did not know that Lin Yizhe not only changed the outcome of the Franco-Prussian War through a series of "dark box operations", but also won the gratitude and trust of the French Emperor Napoleon III. Napoleon III specially appointed Riyige to act as a messenger between him and Lin Yizhe, after the French army won a great victory in the port of Kiel, Lin Yizhe timely explained to Napoleon III the truth of the Tianjin case and the adverse impact on Sino-French relations, Napoleon III then ordered the dismissal of Feng Daye consul and escorted back to France for trial, in view of the fact that the perpetrators were all dead (except for the first 10 who were beheaded in prison on the day of their arrest, the rest of the perpetrators died of illness in the prison, "after being imprisoned for a long time, they all died in prison") Napoleon III instructed the French envoy to accept the Chinese side's conditions of disposition - compensation of 200,000 taels of silver, Zhang Guangzao, the prefect of Tianjin, and Liu Jie, the prefect of Tianjin, and Liu Jie, the prefect of the county, and magnanimously declared: "France is not interested in the execution of a few of the perpetrators, but wants lasting peace and order." For this reason, Napoleon III sent a special envoy to China on a warship to present his credentials. So there was the scene that just happened.

This exchange of credentials at sea has become a sign of the successful resolution of this crisis, which almost wiped out the goodwill and cooperation between China and foreign countries over the past 10 years.

After sending off the French envoy, the first thing Zeng Guofan did when he returned to the shore was to report the news that "the legal lord punished the culprit and made peace" to the center.

When the news broke, conservative officials in Beijing celebrated and praised Zeng Guofan's handling of the incident, and even the bachelor Wu Ren, who had mocked Zeng Guofan's weakness, wrote to the imperial court asking for praise for Zeng Guofan, and the Hunan Hall in Beijing also removed the handwritten couplets that adorned the walls and reframed them, and erected a stone inscription to commemorate this so-called major victory.

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"Zeng Wenzheng's Official Book Manuscript": Fu Li Hongzhang:

“…… The Tianjin case was successfully handled, and the power of Kunyu was also, and there was still the responsibility of being too soft, and the French minister was still talking, and he was suspected of abiding by the order and did not go out, which was his deep indignation. Han Quan and others are trying to adjust the camp for self-efficacy, but they are honest and truthful, and they may not be able to destroy the iron ship of the law, and the law master has shown reconciliation, and there is no need to do more than to investigate the accusations. ”

“…… The boatmen of the river are strong and sharp, and they are also fast, so they come to show that there are no ships in the Beiyang, and the news is difficult to understand, so they keep this ship. Although this ship is not in the Chinese mainland, the first generation, but compared with the law of the ironclad ship, the enemy is also difficult to fight, deeply worried, the former Kunyu gave the "French Division Ship Chart", the view is quite experienced, the attached book is given to the table, I hope to have a benefit......"

"Zeng Wenzhenggong's Manuscript": Fulin Yizhe:

“…… In handling the Tianjin case this time, the outside world was ashamed to discuss it, and the gods of guilt were not supported by the Taiwan side, and the key points were pointed out, and the danger was turned into a disaster, and the consequences were almost unimaginable. It has been rumored that Chen Zhen (Chen Guorui) should not stay in Yangjun and take the matter as a warning. ”

"Confessing that he was blind in his left eye, he was severely suffering from sore throat and swollen feet, and the medicine was difficult to work. After the conclusion of the Zijin case, the swelling and pain gradually decreased within the day, and there seemed to be a turnaround. …… Hearing that the transformation of the 'Wannian Qing' is about to be completed, I am overjoyed. Your side has been the responsibility of the world, and you want to rely on great talents to resist insults, no matter what kind of armament, but there is a need, there is no reason to refuse. This time, after receiving the letter of the French envoy, you can see its ironclad ship, the battle of Wenxi'er, and the destruction of the ship by the French sailor is only a few moments, which is really the power of such ironclad ships. Considering that this ship is second-class in foreign countries and a giant in China, there is no one in charge of the Chinese division and ship at present, so those who shout for war with the law are not ill-intentioned, but ignorant and stubborn...... Wen Wan Nuyan edited the "Chart of Foreign Divisions and Ships", eating and sleeping were reduced, stealing that this book could not be completed in a day, and you should not overwork, so you should ...... instructed"

――――Dividing Line――――

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