Britain and France combined a total of 80 million taels of reparations, but this so-called indemnity is just a sky-high asking price, and the final repayment is still unknown, but to pay reparations to two defeated countries by one victorious country? The amount of the claim is so large that whoever hears the amount of compensation is extremely shocked, knowing that the defeat in 1840 only paid 21 million taels, and now that he has won, he has lost even more?

Lin Haijiang surprisingly did not react at all to the proposed treaty and the amount of indemnity revealed by Britain and France, because these terms were for the Qing Dynasty and the Imperial Court, not for Lin Haijiang, and it was impossible for him to worry about the state affairs of the Qing Dynasty.

The Chinese nation has never lacked blood surnames, from the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period to the Han and Tang Dynasties, the Chinese nation has never lacked the courage to rebel against foreign races, but in the three hundred years of the Qing Dynasty's rule, the people have been enslaved too deeply by the Confucianism that has changed its essence, and have lost their blood surnames and courage.

The essence of the common people is kind, as long as there is a bite of food to eat, they can still live, they will not take risks to expose the pole, the only way for the Qing government axe to pass on the reparation crisis is to follow the previous first Opium War reparations, increase the domestic tax.

In Lin Haijiang's view, only a war of foreign invasion can truly inspire a nation's blood surname and inspire a nation's determination to fight hard at the moment of life and death.

In the Defu Building, which is 100 meters away from the two platforms, the entire second floor is covered by the Yamen of the Admiral of the Nanyang Navy, and it is Ye Mingchen and Lin Haijiang and other officials who sit in the middle of it, a total of more than a dozen people, but Bai Gui, the governor of Guangzhou, has an absent-minded expression.

"Lord Lin, which one are you playing today? Set up such a place overnight, is this a deliberate attempt to disgrace foreigners? Ye Mingchen took a sip of tea and asked with a smile.

Lin Haijiang smiled slightly: "Wouldn't it be too cheap just to lose face, these beasts, if it weren't for the fact that my sailors and soldiers were united in one heart and one mind, fighting to the death!" At present, the city of Guangzhou has already been overturned by foreign hairs, and even the capital may have let this group of beasts rob it. ”

Lin Haijiang paused, looked around with a finger in his hand, and said: "Lord Ye, you see, these foreign hairs are arrogant, and they regard my people of Huaxia as inferior, and now that they are defeated, they still want us to pay compensation and cede land?" What makes sense? How much is the total annual tax of the imperial court? We can't afford to lose 80 million taels even if we fold half of 40 million taels, if this really sets a precedent, then Houyang Maozi is attacking, and their battleships and artillery are all made by us! ”

The more Lin Haijiang spoke, the more excited he became, and he almost slapped the table, and the officials of the Nanyang Navy Division on the side nodded their heads in agreement, while the officials here in Guangzhou all stared at Ye Mingchen and Bai Gui one by one.

The people present are very clear that at present, the silver and ordnance and food of the Nanyang Navy Division to buy the battleship have to be found by Lin Haijiang, the admiral, and after the victory, the imperial court is unkind and weak, and this Admiral Lin is dissatisfied with the stomach and resentment, so it is strange that the imperial court has no silver, how much silver, and how much is ready to be paid, it seems that everything has to wait for the decision of the imperial court's ministers, after all, this is a major matter of the state, and everything needs to be asked for a will, not something that the local governor can handle.

Lin Haijiang looked around, bowed to everyone and said: "Brother today, I want to ask you to testify, speaking of which, everyone is also coming through hardships together, this foreign hair is too deceitful, and I have beaten them badly enough, this will be regarded as a thorn in my eye and a thorn in the flesh, and I want to get rid of me quickly, Lin has a matter, I hope you will be righteous!" ”

Seeing this, Ye Mingchen couldn't help laughing and said: "Lord Lin is serious, you Nanyang Navy Master ship is strong, and foreigners can't run away when they meet you?" ”

Bai Gui also squinted his eyes and said: "This official is old, this time he was frightened by the military disaster again, and he has already given the court a rule, I originally wanted to share the hardships with you, but now I don't see it, I am ashamed of the old man!" Shame on you! ”

Ye Mingchen looked at Bai Gui in great surprise, such an important thing Bai Gui didn't reveal the slightest wind? Ye Mingchen instantly thought of the meaning of the four big words that Bai Gui showed him some time ago.

There shouldn't be anyone in the court who thinks that they are Lin Haijiang's backstage, right? For such a long time, the court has not rewarded or punished, is it waiting for the resignation of himself and others? This battle is over, and the imperial court should also start looking for a replacement for the dead ghosts, and the imperial court should not think that changing the governor of Liangguang can coerce and solve the Nanyang Naval Division, right?

Ye Mingchen glanced at Bai Gui, who had a natural expression, and then looked at the high-spirited Lin Haijiang, and sighed bitterly in his heart.

Lin Haijiang looked around and sighed, and said with helplessness on his face: "Since this official took over as the Admiral of the Guangdong Naval Division, he has also served as the Admiral of the Nanyang Naval Division, controlling the naval divisions of the two places, and asking himself if he has not lost his morality, although some people in the court are dissatisfied with the Governor's dissatisfaction with not selling opium and not selling people, but it cannot be used as an excuse and reason for the dismissal of the Governor, if so, the Governor will definitely not accept it!" ”

Zhang Zheng, Gao Qi, Wang Faren and others on the side suddenly roared angrily: "We only recognize Lin Dudu, and we will cut him into several pieces to feed Wang Ba when we don't know anything." ”

Ye Mingchen and his colleagues waited until then to suddenly realize that Lin Haijiang was a demonstration, if the court did not handle it properly, there would be trouble between the two Guangzhous, Ye Mingchen glanced at Bai Gui, and still made a decision in his heart.

Think about the Nanyang Naval Division built by Lin Haijiang with his own strength, defeating the British and French forces outside Gyeonggi and completely annihilating the foreign fleet at sea, what a great feat? Even if you want to cut power, you have to do it gradually, at least not fast for ten years, not slow for twenty years.

The previous time in Guangzhou, the British army defeated the French army, but the imperial court inexplicably stopped the errand of the commander of the Nanyang Naval Division, which has become a lesson from the past.

No one knew what Lin Haijiang was thinking at this time, but he knew that under the pressure of Britain and France, the cowardly and incompetent Xianfeng didn't care what great achievements you had, and the immediate stakes were what he valued the most. If the Qing Dynasty wins the negotiations, he will have nothing to do with Lin Haijiang. But once the British and French forced and lost the negotiations, Xianfeng would immediately replace Lin Haijiang, and then he would return to the right track, China would still be the weak country that everyone was bullying and the Manchu regime would fall apart in a few decades.

hurriedly came to the late Qing Dynasty, but only stirred up a small splash, which was obviously not what Lin Haijiang expected. At this time, he had to think of all kinds of back roads, and now even if Xianfeng wanted to kill him, it would probably be difficult to achieve it, but Lin Haijiang still tried his best to stand on the moral height.

After a long time, Ye Mingchen said slowly: "If the imperial court really has this intention, this official will be safe and sound, Lord Lin doesn't have to worry too much, you are a meritorious minister of the imperial court, and the saint will never be unkind." ”

Ye Mingchen suddenly changed his tone and diverted the topic: "But Lord Lin, what is the purpose of setting up the stage today?" Shouldn't you want to sing a song about Sanjiangyuan? ”

Lin Haijiang smiled slightly and said: "Sanjiangyuan is too impatient, I don't like it, I have to wait for Lord Bai to be sent away to discuss!" My Lin family father and son are loyal to the court and the emperor, but they are always framed and persecuted by villains, just to save their lives. ”

Ye Mingchen was equivalent to getting Lin Haijiang's guarantee in disguise, and he began to secretly plan for himself in his heart, at present, the only capable soldiers in Liangguang are Lin Haijiang's Nanyang Naval Division, everything is already very clear, and it is useless to talk about it.

At this moment, pawn hawkers, merchants, beggars, turtle bustards, and all the people in Guangzhou who can vacate the space are basically here, all kinds of people, no matter how high or low, even those ladies who usually say that the gate does not go out and the door does not enter, also take a sedan chair to rent a private room in a teahouse nearby to see this rare liveliness, and look at the captives on the big platform with a monocular that has been passed from the West, and giggle like a silver bell from time to time.

And in the crowd, there are many small traders selling things, Li Hongji sweet fruit, not sweet and no money!

Zhang Shilang's pig's head meat, ten flavors!

Cool ice! Cool ice! Five big sons in a bowl!

"We have two important people to wait." Lin Haijiang had just finished speaking with a mysterious expression, when there was a sound of hurried footsteps at the stairs, looking at Wang Dongxu, who was leading the team, Lin Haijiang smiled slightly and said, "Say Cao Ying, Cao Ying will arrive." Your Excellency Rousseff and the Earl, you have come just in time, and the Commander is looking for you. ”

As soon as Dalhousie went up to the second floor, he asked with an angry and anxious expression: "What is the matter with those soldiers, are you going to hang them?" Damn you, you can't do that, they are soldiers of the British Empire, protected by imperial law, and they have consular jurisdiction in the Qing country. ”

Lin Haijiang said angrily in English with a straight face: "Hang them? Who told His Excellency the Earl this stupid news? I'm holding the biggest auction ever held in the Qing Dynasty! ”

After Lin Haijiang finished speaking, he repeated it in Chinese like Ye Mingchen and others, and everyone was also confused, the auction? Do we have this thing in the Qing Dynasty?

"Since there is a great dispute over how to return the captives, and your country has proposed a huge amount of reparations, we have no choice but to auction off the captives to raise money, and the price of the captives depends entirely on the market, and the auction will be held at seven o'clock sharp, and each captive will be auctioned."

"You are the greatest insult to our two countries, Admiral Lin, if you really plan to do this, the coalition fleet will bombard the city of Guangzhou." Dumont. Rosseph said angrily.

"I heard that all countries in the West have caught black slaves from Africa and sold them, strong black slaves have a high price, and the smarter ones can be trained to become housekeepers, this batch of captives is too difficult to deal with, and the court will blame them if they are released casually, so I will learn the rules of your country to auction these people, the highest price will win, Your Excellency the Earl, think you can call the shots, among the tens of thousands of people below, but there are countless rich businessmen, all want to buy a few foreign slaves for fun, you know, this is the first class novelty in the Qing Dynasty. So the official thought that if the auction went well, he would leave a few thousand to pull them to Yanjing City, and those princes would like it very much. ”

When Lin Haijiang said Xingtou, he had the idea that he would buy dozens of them to pretend to be a style, ignoring the face of Dalhousie Tieqing in front of him.

"Your Excellency, the auction is about to begin, and I have an interpreter downstairs for you and Your Excellency Roselleph, so that you can also participate in the auction, if you are willing to participate in it, of course."

Lin Haijiang looked at Dalhousie and Dumont. Rousseff walked downstairs without saying a word, and downstairs, Dumont. Ruseff asked, "Are we really going to participate in the auction?" ”

Dalhousie gave him a blank look and said curiously, "Do you want to watch the soldiers of the empire become slaves of these Eastern pigs?" Even if a soldier falls into their hands, Her Majesty the Empress will not spare me, and I will become a sinner of the Empire, and you, I am afraid, will not end much better than me. ”

When the Anglo-French coalition attacked Guangzhou last year, the 5,000 British troops and a small number of French troops were captured, and although Britain and France took advantage of them at the negotiating table, on the ground in Guangzhou, these imperial soldiers were still auctioned as goods, but the auction was conducted privately, and the ordinary people had no way of knowing, and even the imperial soldiers who came to pick up the prisoners did not know that these compatriots were actually bought.

Through some secret channels, Dalhousie also knew the inside story, and knew that the auction was Lin Haijiang's idea, but he didn't expect to dare to repeat the old tricks, or in front of tens of thousands of people. When this kind of thing reached the ears of Her Majesty, I am afraid that she would be even more furious than the defeat of the expeditionary fleet.

Dumont. Rousseff shuddered for a moment, and asked cautiously: "But what about the money, even if each soldier costs ten taels of silver, the British prisoners are one hundred thousand taels, and our prisoners are forty or fifty thousand taels." ”

"Borrow, borrow from Miles, the larger the number, the more sure we are."

"That vampire Miles, the interest he wants is not low, at this juncture, he will definitely take the opportunity to raise the interest rate, and besides, we ask for so much money at one time, and he is willing to borrow?"

"Then tell him, use a warship as collateral, don't be reluctant, the value of those soldiers and officers and the dignity of the empire are far more important than a warship, and you don't forget, there are several generals among the captives, and the anger of their supporters is even more terrible than Her Majesty the Empress. Miles is a smart man, he will promise to use the warship as collateral, but even if we can't pay it, he doesn't dare to really take the warship, a small businessman, who dares to do so, we promise him the benefit of knighthood, and it is too late for him to be grateful. ”

When the bell rang outside, Lin Haijiang stood at the window and smiled slightly.

"Ladies and gentlemen, more than ten years ago, Britain and the Qing Dynasty signed the Treaty of Nanjing, and the Qing Dynasty paid 21 million silver dollars. Today, let's let them spit out one by one. ”

21,000,000 silver dollars! What is this concept? It is already equivalent to one-fifth of the annual tax revenue of the Qing Dynasty, and 21 million silver dollars can be auctioned off with just more than 10,000 captives?

Even Ye Mingchen, who has great trust in Lin Haijiang, feels unbelievable, even if he mobilizes the sailors now to rob the three warships docked in the port, it is not worth 8 million. The last time the five or six thousand foreigners were captured, in the end, each of them only sold an average of thirty or forty taels.

In the center of a large platform, someone has moved a high table similar to a Western lecture stage, and a middle-aged man in a long robe stands behind the high table, revealing half of his upper body.

Zhang Dewu, the famous shopkeeper of Longxiang pawnshop in Guangzhou City, has now become a temporary auctioneer, it is said that this is the name of the West, and he doesn't care what it is called.

On the lower side of both sides of the platform, there is a person standing every ten meters, all of whom choose the loud voice, you must know that there are tens of thousands of people, Zhang Dewu is speaking on the stage, and no one can even hear the nearest audience.

"Ladies and gentlemen, in Xia Zhang Dewu, at the invitation of Admiral Lin, the sailor of Nanyang, dared to preside over this auction. If there is anything wrong with this statement, everyone present can go to Lord Lin, and the consequences will not be responsible. ”

There was a lot of laughter at the bottom, who dared to go to Admiral Lin for trouble, wasn't that purely uncomfortable?

"This so-called auction is to put a piece of goods on the table, and you will bid on it, and the highest price will win, and the rules are very simple." After briefly explaining the rules of the auction, Zhang Dewu continued: "As for this goods, I think everyone has seen it, that is, these foreign hairs on the table are from distant England and France. Everyone also knows that a few days ago, it was these damn brutes who wanted to capture the city of Guangzhou, kill our people, and rob our family property. The emperor was merciful and let them go, but I didn't expect to come to attack my Qing Dynasty again today, which is really unbearable! ”

Hearing the cheers of the crowd outside, Ye Mingchen couldn't help but feel proud, and said in his heart that Lin Haijiang's affairs were really decent.

For officials, some are wealthy, and some are famous.

Like Ye Mingchen, he often has subordinates who are filial, and he is not greedy for money, so he can be self-sufficient. has been an official for half a lifetime, nothing more than trying to get a good reputation as a parent official, but how easy is it to be a good official who is loved by the people, the Qing Dynasty has been more than 200 years, how many officials have really made the people call good? You can count it on your fingers. And Lin Haijiang's move is exactly what he wants, how can he not be happy.

On the stage, Zhang Dewu said that his eyebrows were flying, and he was extremely comfortable, and the most proud moment in his life was probably now, talking in front of tens of thousands of people, and Admiral Lin could give him such an opportunity.

"This foreign hair, it looks like an uncivilized barbarian, but it also eats cooked food that is burned by fire, but it is still bloody meat, have you ever seen a wild man? I saw it once in the lower Sichuan, the raw meat that the savage eats grows so strong, and the foreign hairy man eats half-cooked meat, although the brain melon seeds are not very bright like the savage, but the victory lies in the strong physique, knows human language, and works to be a top man. The shopkeeper, look at what you said, you bought this foreigner to go back, to be a doorman or something, others into your house, and thought that you came to the mansion of some first-class princes and nobles, this has a lot of face, if you don't have to be this auctioneer, otherwise you have to buy yourself a few back to carry a sedan chair. ”

At this time, someone shouted at the bottom: "Shopkeeper Zhang, I have talked so much, what about this price, we can't afford it if it's too expensive." ”

Zhang Dewu said with a smile: "This rare thing, if you have a convenient pocket cloth, don't join in this fun, the price is low and it is not for foreigners to see jokes, and the auction of foreigners is only once, and there will be no next time." We are rich in the Qing Dynasty, and there are many rich people, how can these tens of thousands of captives be enough, you, I hope that the next time Lord Lin wins the battle, and then captures tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands, the price is ready to be lowered for you. ”

"Lord Lin, you threw all the faces of foreign hair into the toilet." An official is not worried, this is completely offended by the foreigners, and even the possibility of reconciliation is gone.

"It's okay, offending once is death, offending twice is also death, let the people also see, our courage as officials, not any foreigner can bully us."

Lin Haijiang thought that he had completely offended Britain and France, after all, he was an official of the Qing State, and the emperor was also responsible, so the possibility of reconciliation between the two countries was very small. If he doesn't reconcile, he Lin Haijiang can have a way to live in the Qing Kingdom, and if he is reconciled, he will be a scapegoat to be slaughtered.

"A bunch of stupid pigs from the East, wait for the Empire's fleet to arrive, and make you pay dearly for what you have done today." Dalhousie was so angry that he gradually calmed down.

Zhang Dewu knocked on the small hammer in his hand and said loudly: "The first auction item, a British soldier of the inferior rank, with a strong physique, five feet three inches tall, weighing one hundred and fifty catties, with a reserve price of one hundred taels and unlimited bidding. ”

Bang!

The pipe in Dalhousie's hand fell abruptly to the ground. Ruseff looked at each other dumbfounded.

(To be continued)