On the afternoon of 20 July, three British, French, and American warships came to the sea at the mouth of the Tamsui River, and from a distance, they saw three coast guard ships lined up in a single column to stop in front. {

The three warships of the ghost beast entered the middle section of the Taiwan Strait, and the radar set up by the crossing team at the signal station in Huwei captured the ship's signal in time.

Because Wang Tiezhu went to Ryukyu and Japan with four steam carriers of the Navy, the Executive Committee attached great importance to the visit of the British, French, and American warships, and in order to prevent possible provocations by the ghost warships, the Executive Committee made Shui Wuxian prepare for battle at the Huwei Fort, and sent Jiang Li to lead the coast guard to intercept them.

"Listen to the ship opposite, the Ming Empire Maritime Guard warns, you have broken into the waters of the Qing Empire, please stop the ship immediately for inspection, if there is disobedience, it will be regarded as a violation of the Ming Empire's maritime borders, and all the consequences are your own responsibility!"

Hearing the shouts of the coast guard ship, Bao Ling, who was standing on the slipway of the "Hermes", snorted coldly, "It's so arrogant, let us stop the ship for inspection!" ”

"Shoot him!"

The captain of the "Hermes" and the commander of the formation, Ste Deling, immediately suggested. The warships of the British Empire have always been swaggering and unscrupulous, and how can they be subject to any inspection.

"Sir Bao Ling, we are here for an inspection visit." Translator Mai Huatuo hurriedly said, "That's the Huwei Fort over there, so we'd better not make any extraneous branches." ”

Ci Deling glanced at the fort in the distance, and said nonchalantly, "The fort is still three nautical miles away, and the Ming Empire definitely doesn't have a cannon so far away." ”

As soon as he finished speaking, he heard a loud "boom", followed by the sound of water splashing, and a cannonball fell on the sea not far away.

Ci Deling Tie blushed, "Ring the alarm bell and prepare to fight!" ”

"Admiral, we're here for peace talks." Bao Ling immediately stopped it, "The Ming Empire did not want to use force when it fired cannonballs, they indicated the scope of territorial waters." ”

Bao Ling had already seen through the binoculars that there was nothing unusual about the Ming Coast Guard ships, only the smoke of gunpowder rose from the Huwei Fort, and the cannon of the Huwei Fort could hit four nautical miles, which made him secretly surprised.

At this time, many European countries "determine the extent to which control over the sea is exercised by the actual power that the coastal state has on shore." That is, the range of shore artillery is used as the control range of the sea area.

Bao Lingxin said that the Ming army had a condescending artillery in front of the ship and behind the artillery, and they really wanted to fight with them, and the French "Cassini" and the American "Sesquehana" would only hide from the sidelines and watch the excitement, and the "Hermes" would never be able to please it alone.

This shell from the Huwei Fort made Bao Ling sober up a lot. He felt that the Ming regime was more like a powerful opponent than the Manchurians.

"I hope that this Ming Empire will not be as stupid and arrogant as the Taiping Army and the Manchu people." Bao Ling took a deep breath at the oncoming sea breeze.

In the international relations of this era, the great powers only recognize their fists. Although Bao Ling calls himself a pacifist, he will not talk about human rights and equality with those weak and poor countries, but will only talk about equality with opponents of equal strength.

Seeing that the "Hermes" and other ships slowly stopped, Jiang Li, who was sitting on the No. 1 Haijing boat, breathed a sigh of relief. He ordered the two ships behind him to pay attention to the lookout and observe, and he himself led the ship directly to the "Hermes".

After confirming the identities of Bao Ling, Bourblon, Mai Lian and others, the coast guard ship guided the "Hermes" and other ships into the mouth of the Tamsui River and anchored at the anchorage.

Jointly dispatched by the British, French, and American ministers, Mai Huatuo went ashore in a small boat and sent a Chinese copy of the Treaty of Nanjing to the Ming Dynasty.

That night, at the telephone conference of the Executive Committee of the Crossing Regiment, Qian Shuiting reported the situation to everyone, "Looking at this posture, Britain, France and the United States want to force us to abide by the "Nanjing Treaty" on the condition of recognizing the Ming Dynasty. ”

"Old Qian, you are still in charge of this negotiation, and I will show up again when the talks are over." Bai Baoxiang said with a smile, "According to historical experience, the United States at this time believed in the Monroe Doctrine, was at ease the boss of the Americas, and did not like to interfere in external affairs. As long as there is normal trade with the United States, they are very well settled. As for France, that's also quite simple. As long as they can disgust the UK, they will definitely not hesitate~~"

"Comrade Bai Baoxiang, I have a proposal." Lin Youde interjected, "Our working committee once made a set of aluminum crowns and royal scepters, and they were also inlaid with dozens of carats of large zircon, if you take this as a gift to Napoleon III~~"

"Great idea! For today's Westerners, this is definitely an incomparably precious crown and scepter. The executive committee members immediately coaxed.

Bai Baoxiang praised, "Okay, that's it!" Finally, there is the United Kingdom, which belongs to n0.1 in this plane, so it is also the most troublesome country. Judging from the information, Bao Ling is versatile, but he belongs to the nerd type, with a tendon in his head, and his whole purpose in China is to 'enter the city' and 'repair the contract'. ”

Lin Youde smiled, "We will definitely make this nerd's head bleed." ”

Bai Baoxiang hurriedly added, "This is a matter for the future, and we need to accumulate strength at present, so we must try not to annoy the UK as much as possible." ”

Qian Shuiting laughed, "Bao Ling is versatile, and we are not bad, so I will play Tai Chi with him at the negotiation table." ”

"Qian Shoufu, do you need help?" Yun Lan volunteered and said, "Our Taoyuan is close to Taipei, why don't you let me quarrel with Bao Ling." ”

"Forget it, your Taoyuan experience hasn't been sorted out yet, and the new supply and marketing cooperatives have to hurry up and produce results!" Bai Baoxiang paused, "Duke, it's better for you to help, and use all those monitoring methods." ”

When Huwei was building a large number of buildings, Jinyiwei sent people to install a lot of monitoring equipment, such as commercial halls, cafes and other public places, and the business offices of Britain, France and the United States were full of bugs.

"No problem!" Wang Xie Tang said very simply, "I will bring all the newcomers I have just cultivated, and I will give them a 24-hour all-round monitoring package." ”

Wang Xie Tang has been staying on Sheliao Island during this time, busy training the emerging blood of Jinyiwei.

On the morning of the 21st, under the guidance of the guide ship sent by the Ming Dynasty, the "Hermes", "Gasini", and "Thesquehana" entered the Tamsui River in turn.

Amid the salute, the three warships slowly sailed into Huwei Port and docked at the port of the oil tanker.

Honglu Temple Zhengqing Shao Bei and the business representatives of Britain, France and the United States have long been waiting on the dock.

After the welcoming ceremony, the carriage took the envoys of the three countries to their respective commercial offices.

More than 200 meters north of the oil truck port wharf is Datun Mountain, and the infrastructure construction group has built more than a dozen two-story small western-style buildings at the foot of Datun Mountain. Business offices in the UK, France and the US are located in one of them.

"Sir, although our office has only been open for more than ten days, the trade turnover with the Ming regime has exceeded 400,000 pounds." Wen Ji Situo excitedly told Bao Ling that Daming placed an order for 10,000 tons of iron ingots alone.

Due to the economic crisis in the United Kingdom, one of the main tasks of British embassies and consulates abroad is to find a market for the surplus products in the United Kingdom.

"Great!" Bao Ling couldn't help but smile. After the excitement, Bao Ling asked one of the questions he was most concerned about, "With so many British goods entering the Taiwan market, how will the tariffs be calculated?" How did you negotiate the customs tariff? ”

Wen Jisi showed an embarrassed expression, "Daming insists on tariff autonomy and insists that it is an independent, free and civilized country. Shao said, 'If Britain must insist, as a reciprocal, Daming is willing to negotiate with Britain on each other's tariffs!' ”

As he spoke, Wen Jisi took off a thick document handed to Bao Ling, "Look, this is their tariff rules. ”

At the same time, the eavesdropping device in the corner of the room constantly emitted faint radio waves, transmitting the conversation to a secret room in the Red Hair City in real time, and a brocade guard quickly recorded the content of the conversation.

The recorded wiretapping report was quickly sent to an office desk, and a pair of fat hands picked up the report and flipped through it slightly, "Ha! Tariff~~"

At noon, Qian Shuiting held a reception in Hongmao City to welcome the British, French, and American envoys to visit Huwei on behalf of the Ming government.

This was originally the base camp of the Lin Dejia Infrastructure Corps, and after the initial results of the construction of Huwei, it was transformed into the yamen of the Huwei District Government.

In the afternoon, the consuls of Britain, France, and the United States, accompanied by Shao Bei, the head of the Daming Honglu Temple, and Zhen Yanguang, the mayor of Huwei District, visited the Huwei Free Port.

A freighter unloaded its cargo and immediately left Pier No. 1 and sailed into the anchorage under the command of the dock dispatcher.

"Please hurry up and get into the berth at Pier 1, and the Marlbourgh get ready." The loudspeaker on the pier was directed at the anchorage and was broadcast three times in Chinese and French.

The Frigate, which was laden with cargo, was waiting outside the port for a long time, and when it saw that there was a vacancy on the dock, it immediately slowly approached.

As early as when the cargo on the ship is at anchor, there are port personnel on board to count and register the materials, arrange the order of berthing and unloading, and arrange warehousing and other matters to enter the port.

As the whistle blew, the long arm of the steam crane slowly reached the cargo ship, and a huge iron hook hung from the long arm. Soon the iron hook lifted a large mesh bag, and the net bag pocket contained the slow goods.

The crane commander wore a hard hat, whistled and waved red and green flags, directing the crane long arm to move over the pier.

A flatbed truck had already stopped on the railroad tracks of the dock, and the long arm of the crane slowly stretched out above the first flatbed truck, and the net bag was placed firmly on the flatbed.

It has only been more than a month since the Ming army took Huwei, and it has only been more than ten days since the port was opened, and all kinds of merchant ships have already flocked to it, but the operation of the wharf seems to be in an orderly manner.

They casually found a few merchants who had made a customs declaration to communicate. All of these businessmen expressed considerable satisfaction with the efficient and clean operation of the Huwei Free Port.

Then, Bao Ling, Burbulon, Mai Lian and others visited the newly built Taipei streetscape, the liberation camp, and the health center.

In the health center, Bao Ling and others saw that the consultation rooms and wards were clean and bright, and the smell of medicinal water was still emanated, and the female doctors and nurses in white uniforms shuttled among the wounded and sick, taking care of them with perseverance, perseverance, and meticulousness.

Hearing that the wounded and sick here were all prisoners of the Qing army, Burbulon suddenly sighed, "God! Compared to our Crimean field hospital, this is simply paradise, and the prisoners can also enjoy such excellent medical care. ”

Although Burblon did not personally visit the battlefield in Crimea, he learned a lot about it from newspapers in Europe and the United States.

"It seems that we have found a kind of people in the Far East, a civilized country like us." McLene nodded in agreement, "Although he still looks like a baby now, maybe it won't be long before he becomes a giant." ”

Bao Ling listened quietly and did not make a sound. He was surprised from the bottom of his heart, the Ming Dynasty who returned from overseas was engaged in a revolution, a bourgeois revolution, and there was no difference between Prussia and Austria in the midst of change.