The Bund is lined up one after another, the roads are wide, the small buildings on Zhongwang Street and the tiled buildings combining Chinese and Western styles are close to each other, but Shanghai has begun to see prosperity at this time.

The knife will occupy the county seat of Shanghai, and the acting Jiangsu inspector will mobilize elites to camp on the outskirts of the city to refuse, plus the township brave regiment training, no less than 20,000 people, it can really be said that the camp is facing each other, and the flag covers the sky.

The United States, Britain and France even organized a foreign gun team to protect the safety of the concession, Ye Zhao and others got off the ship, and several foreigners with loaded guns came to investigate, when Rui Si arrogantly told them that this was the Qing Dynasty's mission, they didn't understand, but they just saw Ye Zhao's entourage wearing armor, so they drove the guns to catch up.

"Huh", several Goshha steel knives unsheathed and confronted foreign soldiers.

There was a middle-aged Chinese who ran before and after the foreigners, who seemed to be a Chinese employee serving the Concession Road and Wharf Committee, wearing a stiff-necked tuxedo, but with a braid on the back of his head, but he said to Rui Si with his nostrils facing the sky: "Lord Yang said, no matter what your identity is, you are not allowed to enter the concession, and we treat the Qing Kingdom and the rebels equally and remain neutral!" Are you chinchas? Take a detour to the south gate to your camp on the outskirts of the city! ”

Ye Zhao sighed softly in his heart, most of the braids on the heads of Chinese people are used to it, even if they look down on their motherland after coming into contact with the West, it has nothing to do with braids and Manchuria.

There was a crisp sound of "pop", and the braid in the dress covered his face and stepped back again and again, looking at Rui Si with a stunned face.

Pumped him a big-eared scraper, but Rui Si still didn't give up, and scolded: "Little bastard, blind your eyes!" I don't ask who the master is, and I will die! "After living in Jingshi for a long time, how can a few barbarians be looked at by Fourth Master Rui?

Seeing that Rui Si went over to chase and fight the "Qing Annihilation", he was stopped by the foreigners, and he was about to start fighting because of the inconvenience of communication, but Rui Si didn't care about the musket on his chest, and he felt that he didn't dare to act rudely to the entourage of the prince of the Great Qing Dynasty with a few guts.

Ye Zhao couldn't cry or laugh, hurriedly walked a few steps, and said aloud to the foreigners in English: "Everyone, I am an official of the Qing Dynasty, and I also understand the neutral attitude of various countries, but I am here to negotiate with the envoys of Britain, France and the United States this time. Thank you, please let me know. ”

The foreign soldiers looked at Ye Zhao in a daze, Rui Si, the old master and others also looked at him in surprise, no one could have imagined when the little prince would speak a barbarian language.

Several foreign soldiers chattered and discussed for a while, one went to report the news, and the rest still looked at this group of arrogant Chinese with rifles and vigilance.

Ten minutes later, a luxurious carriage sped up, and from under the carriage jumped a tall, fat white man, in his forties, with gray-brown eyes that seemed to be born with a bit of cunning.

He looked at Ye Zhao and his party with a little suspicion, strode over, took off his hat and saluted, and said in stiff Chinese: "Hello, the consul of the Kingdom of Great Britain is Ali Guo, where are you from?" ”

I think I heard that there were people who claimed to be Qing officials who could speak English, which alarmed the consul.

Ye Zhao smiled and took two steps, but said in English: "Hello, Lord Consul, I am an official sent by Yanjing to deal with customs affairs, Aixin Jueluo Jingxiang. "I haven't used English for a long time, and at first it was still stiff, but gradually I became fluent.

Ali Guo looked at Ye Zhao in surprise, he had never been in contact with the officials of the Great Qing Kingdom who could speak English, let alone the officials of the Great Qing Dynasty, the entire Qing Dynasty people, there were only a few compradors and students of the church school who were active in the treaty ports could still speak a few words of English, and it was inevitable that the local accent was entrained, how could the words be so clear? I started to hear letters from people, and I thought it was an exaggeration.

"Your Excellency, I am going to set up my line in the concession area, and this does not violate the principle of strict neutrality of your country, right? Because I am not a military attaché, but a diplomatic envoy who has come to negotiate customs affairs with your country. Moreover, according to the "Treaty of Nanjing," the "Five-Port Trade Charter," and the "Five-Port Trade Aftermath Clause," the concession is the land leased by China to your country, and your country has no right to expel officials who have taken refuge in the concession. ”

Ye Zhao's face was serious, but Ali Guo's mind was a little confused, because he had a very bad impression of the high-ranking officials of this decadent empire, they were all so arrogant and arrogant, and they never acted according to the rules.

Let's just say that Ye Mingchen, the governor of Liangguang, completely ignored the envoys of various countries. For example, since the French minister Bourblon, who was appointed consul in Canton last year, has been waiting in Macao for more than ten months, repeatedly asking for a visit, but he still does not know which way the governor's yamen is open; Another example is the chargé d'affaires of the United States, who was not received during his two four-year terms; U.S. Minister Marshali took office in Guangzhou last year and asked to meet with Ye Mingchen, the governor of Liangguang. The reply of the Governor is always, saying that there are all opportunities, and when there is leisure, when the auspicious is selected, we will meet each other. More than a year has passed, and it seems that there is no auspicious celebration in the Governor's yellow calendar.

The envoys of various countries were helpless and depressed about the officials of this empire, and they hated it even more when they chatted, but Aliguo never imagined that a young official from the capital of the empire would suddenly take the initiative to contact him, and he could speak fluent English.

How can it be? How could there be such young people in the ignorant and backward bureaucracy of the Great Qing Dynasty?

You must know that the Qing Dynasty has long treated the treaties signed ten years ago as waste paper, and the local officials have never heard of the contents of the treaties signed between the central government and other countries. The emperor of the Great Qing Dynasty was the first to take the lead in not abiding by the agreement, not to mention the officials at all levels below, saying that the treaty port of Guangzhou City, ten years have passed, and merchants from all countries are still not allowed to enter the city. Those who occasionally sneaked into the city of Guangzhou were almost always insulted or even beaten by the people of the Qing Dynasty, and their lives were not guaranteed at all.

But suddenly such a young official appeared, and he actually mentioned several treaties signed many years ago for the first time, and used these treaties to refute himself. If his identity as a chaplain is real, although he may have a strong opponent in the diplomatic negotiations with the Qing Dynasty, it is undoubtedly a good thing, because at least there is finally a Qing official who is no longer so unreasonable as the object of communication.

It's just that the identity of this young official is suspicious!

Suspicion is suspicion, how old-fashioned Ah Liguo is, smiled and nodded: "Lord Jingxiang, please rest assured, I will do my best to help your lord arrange the affairs of the office." "Monitor them first, confirm your identity and then take countermeasures.

……

In this way, a garden-like bungalow on Zhongwang Road became the minister's line.

After the gang settled down, Ye Zhao instructed a Goshha to go out of the city with an edict covering the seal of the Great Seal of the Customs, go to the South Gate Military Camp to give an order, and ask Wu Jianzhang, a Taoist member of Susong Taidao and the superintendent of Jiang Customs, to speak to him.

He also decreed that the envoys of the Western countries should avoid any visit until they met with the Daotai, and if anyone came to visit, they would only say that they would meet with the consuls of various countries after the Chincha-sama met with the local officials.

Glass cover, kerosene lamp, when he arrived in the concession, Ye Zhao also followed the customs, used Western gadgets, and opened a room on the second floor of the small building as a study, but Ye Zhao was stunned, the tea was already cold, and he didn't realize it.

Emperor Xianfeng said it easily, but Ye Zhao knew that this errand was an impossible task from beginning to end, and the Western countries finally had the opportunity to get the tariff rights in their hands, how could they let it go lightly?

However, it is ridiculous to think about it, according to the records of later historical records, at the beginning of the establishment of the committee of Britain, France and the United States to actually control the affairs of the Shanghai Customs, the taxes collected were much higher than those in the original period when the Qing officials were in charge of affairs.

It is precisely because the silver money confiscated after the foreigners took control of the customs has increased, so that Yiliang, the governor of Liangjiang, Su Song, Taidaotai, Wu Jianzhang, etc., who later betrayed the interests of the customs, can be vague when they go on the fold, and few people in the Great Qing Kingdom really understand how "humiliating the national body" this kind of thing is according to international practice, and Emperor Xianfeng did not investigate it deeply. The customs power was taken away by others in such a daze, and then I realized that there were many people, but at that time, the Qing Kingdom had already been bullied, and then I wanted to take back the customs power? That's a lot of hard work.

But now that the ball was kicked into his hands, Ye Zhao couldn't help but sigh, this errand is difficult to do.

It is also impossible to maintain the state of the customs before the knife will be raised, and it can only try to maximize the interests and do its best.

The biggest problem is how to fool Emperor Xianfeng and the tough ministers of Jingshi, this matter is not handled well, and it is broken by someone, and a hat of "befriending barbarians" is deducted, then it will become Han Annihilation, and if you change someone else, the sin is more exaggerated, if you are applauded by the people of Ling Chi in Yanjing City, maybe you will pick your meat to eat.

It's such a frustrating time.

How to start and how difficult is it to open up the wisdom of the people?

Ye Zhao couldn't help but sigh again.

The wick jumped suddenly, Ye Zhao suddenly saw a slender figure on the curtain, ahh

"Matchmaker? When did it come? Ye Zhao asked with a smile.

Su Hongniang has been here for a while, but she was surprised to find that the little pervert was frowning and pondering things, and after standing for a while, the little pervert didn't notice her.

But hearing Ye Zhao call himself "Matchmaker", and he looked very affectionate, Su Hongniang was really helpless, she didn't seem to make any sense in front of this guy, and she was shameless to the extreme, but he seemed to have a big reason.

Su Hongniang also had a headache about the current relationship between the two, and was inexplicably entangled by this guy for engaging in a mandarin league with him, but he said that he wanted to hand over his body to him and opened his mouth first, but how did it end now?

I had already arrived in Shanghai, and I should have resigned immediately, but now I have said goodbye, and it seems that I owe a great favor to others, after all, after saying goodbye today, there may not be goodbye.

"Can you see Childe's real name?" I can't tell who people are, don't they? Although they traveled all the way, the Heaven and Earth Congregation were cautious, how could they mix with this group of Qing Demons?

Ye Zhao smiled: "Ye Zhao is my real name. ”

Su Hongniang's staring eyes stared at him for a moment, but she didn't say anything more.

Ye Zhao straightened his face and asked, "Matchmaker, what do you think of the situation in Shanghai?" ”

Su Hongniang sighed softly: "I'm afraid that there is more than one bad luck, the lonely city of Shanghai, surrounded by the heavy soldiers of the Qing demons, and the Taiping army is too busy to take care of itself, how can you expect the king of heaven to come to the rescue?" ”

Speaking of the situation of the Little Knife Society, Su Hongniang's mood became heavy, the Little Knife Society, the Triad Society, the Heaven and Earth Society, etc., are actually all in the same vein as Hongmen, but because of the different regional leaders, they are just called differently, so there is a saying that Hongmen is one family in the world. The Little Knife Club is mostly the Heaven and Earth Congregation in Suning, Guangdong, Fujian and other halls, and the leader Liu Lichuan is originally the speaker of the Hong Kong Hall of the Heaven and Earth Association, and Su Hongniang is the same brother.

Ye Zhao pondered and said slowly: "That's it, in a few days, I'll find a channel to infiltrate Shanghai City, you can write a letter, send someone to meet Liu Lichuan, and persuade him to break through to Tianjing." As for him, he hopes to join forces with the Taiping Army to become bigger, and he can't help but take the affairs of the world lightly! You want someone to tell him how important Shanghai's status is, and if it can be connected with the territory of the bandits, won't the Qing Dynasty be in danger? Even if the Great Qing Kingdom is full of strength, it will attack Shanghai first, and then turn its head to deal with Changmao. ”

Ye Zhao didn't care about who won and who lost on both sides, but thinking that a year later, the county seat of Shanghai was breached, and the Qing army's humiliation and abuse of the knife congregation and the female soldiers, he couldn't bear it after all.

Su Hongniang was thinking about her brother's leg injury, otherwise she would simply go into Shanghai County with her brother to help Liu Lichuan, but it was not easy to talk to Ye Zhao, and she said goodbye suddenly, as if she was not trustworthy.

didn't expect Ye Zhao to say such a thing, Su Hongniang looked at him in surprise, she really didn't know which side this little slippery head was, and what kind of calculation she had in her heart.

"I'm afraid, I'm only afraid that the Qing army will besiege the city, and it will be difficult to fly with wings, right?" Su Hongniang frowned.

Ye Zhao smiled slightly: "Don't worry, I have my own way, but ah, I have to wait and see, don't rush, take your time, I can always save our mother's family safe." ”

Mother's family? Su Hongniang didn't care, just nodded silently, staring at Ye Zhao deeply, but her heart became more and more confused.