Wu Jianzhang saw that Lin Zhe was talking about business as soon as he came up, and he also swallowed some polite words prepared in advance back into his stomach, but slightly organized the language and said:

"Although Lord Futai is asking us to do this together, this matter should naturally be dominated by Lord Lin, if the Lord has any doctrine, the lower officials will do everything!"

After saying this, Wu Jianzhang did not stop talking: "It's just that Lord Lin has not been in Shanghai for a long time, and I am afraid that he is not very familiar with this customs matter, so the lower officials will show off one or two to explain the customs matter to the adults!" ”

"Jianghai Customs has always been the main source of taxes in Jiangsu, since the opening of Shanghai port is even more like it, in order to tax foreign businessmen, is to set up Jianghai North Pass directly in the concession, and last month the thief rebellion, not only Jianghai old pass fell into the hands of thieves, even the Jianghai North Pass in the concession also fell into the hands of thieves, and then the foreigners from the river ships transferred back to the concession, drove away these thieves but also occupied the pass, and announced that the "Interim Regulations on Tax Declaration" by the British and American leaders in advance on behalf of the collection, because Shanghai fell into the hands of thieves, And the lower officials were also trapped in the army of thieves, and there was no way to arrange tax collection, so they were forced to agree to the matter. ”

"Later, the lower official tried to take over the Jianghai Beiguan from the foreigners, but the official seal was lost, and the foreigners did not recognize it, and later the lower officials borrowed the official seal of the Changzhou Governor of Grain and Commerce, announcing that the taxation should be as usual, and the British consul continued to collect the tax, but the British consul did not comply!"

"A few days ago, the lower official sent a note to the British consul to hand over the tax they collected last month, but it was also refused!"

Wu Jianzhang did not talk a lot of nonsense, but simply talked about the affairs of Jianghai Beiguan in the past month or so.

"In this way, these foreigners continue to use the "Interim Regulations on Tax Declaration" to collect taxes on their behalf?" Lin Zhe naturally heard most of these things, but because they were all hearsay, it was not accurate, and now listening to Wu Jianzhang, it can be regarded as confirming that what he knew some time ago is true.

"In that case, let's start with this "Interim Regulations on Tax Declarations"!" Lin Zhe said what he thought.

Wu Jianzhang said: "Lord Lin already has a good way? ”

Lin Zhe said: "I can't talk about what a good way, since they are still standing in Jianghai Beiguan, then we will directly set up a card on the river to collect taxes, and at the same time announce that the "Interim Regulations on Tax Declaration" will be invalid!" ”

The most important thing now is not to take back the Jianghai Beiguan Yamen from the hands of foreigners, it is just a building, and it has no actual value, and the most important thing now is to get the right to collect taxes back first.

As long as the "Provisional Regulations on Tax Declaration" is declared invalid, even if the British oppose it, they will not find any reason to oppose it.

Now that the Little Knife Society has been destroyed, the biggest excuses of the foreigners are 'protecting Jianghai Beiguan' and 'China's inability to collect taxes on its own', and without these excuses, it is impossible for them to continue to control the power to collect taxes.

"As long as you take back the power to collect taxes first, it will be logical to take back the Jianghaibei Pass Yamen later!"

"Oh, how, exactly?" Wu Jianzhang knew very well that in Xu Naizhao's instructions, this matter was mainly based on Lin Zhe, and he Wu Jianzhang was just an assistant.

And dealing with foreigners is not an easy task, if you are not careful, it is easy to get into a commotion, Wu Jianzhang saw that Lin Zhe was willing to take the initiative to take this matter, he was naturally happy to see it.

Lin Zhe said: "Lord Wu, don't you have a warship under your hands, so we will transfer a few ships out, and we will directly set up a customs office on the river!" ”

Anyway, they are all taxes, and it is not said that they have to set up customs and collect taxes at the Jianghaibei Pass Yamen on land, and they can also set up cards to collect taxes directly on ships on the river.

As long as the tax can be received, then the name of the tax collection will also come back, forcing Britain and the United States to admit that the provisional regulations on tax declaration are invalid, as long as this regulation is abolished, then the subsequent recovery of Jianghai Beiguan will also be a chapter.

Hearing Lin Zhe say this, Wu Jianzhang was worried: "What if those foreign businessmen don't pay taxes?" ”

Lin Zhe stood up at this time: "Then I will send troops directly into the concession and directly recapture Jianghai Beiguan!" ”

Hearing Lin Zhe say this, Wu Jianzhang was stunned!

This Lin Zhe also looks like a hairy young man, he directly sent troops into the concession, in case of a direct armed conflict with the foreigners, I am afraid that something uncontrollable will happen at that time, once the matter is big and attracts the anger of the foreigners, does he still want his official hat?

Unlike Wu Jianzhang, who was full of fear in his heart, Lin Zhe did not have any psychological pressure to send troops into the concession.

You must know that it is only 1853, and the current British Concession in Shanghai is not the independent kingdom that later generations are familiar with.

According to the regulations of the Shanghai Concession signed in the early years and some regulations that were successively supplemented by Su Songtai's military preparations, there are basically these main contents in this concession, that is, the British have the right to lease land on this land.

However, this kind of land lease is an ordinary commercial transaction behavior of the people, not an official act, and the government only demarcates an area, saying that the British can only rent land in this place, and the price of the leased land is unified, not that the government directly rents the land to them, and this is very important for sovereignty.

In addition, there are two very important points, that is, foreigners are allowed to build necessary municipal facilities, and for this purpose, they are apportioned to foreign merchants. The other is that only the British were allowed to fly the national flag in the concession, and the foreigners of other countries were not allowed to fly the national flag.

The former point was taken advantage of by the British, who set up a so-called Wharf Management Committee, and began to levy taxes in the concession for municipal construction, and in some way obtained part of the administrative power within the concession, although this administrative power was quite limited at present.

The Concession Bureau (i.e., The Municipal Council, literally translated as the Municipal Council) was not established until 1854, when the Anglo-American Concession Statute of Shanghai was signed, and the administrative powers of the concession authorities were clarified.

And now, in accordance with the many treaties signed in the past, China has not lost the administrative right of the concession!

As for the fact that only the British flag is allowed to be hoisted, it has to be said to be a failure, because this move turned the concession from a semi-public residence into a residence exclusive to the British, and because of this incident, it caused a series of troubles, and the French and Americans immediately demanded the opening of their own residence, resulting in the emergence of the American Concession and the French Concession in history.

Only by a detailed understanding of the 'Shanghai Concession Charter' and a series of other treaties and regulations that have been signed, then it will be found that China still has the right to administer the British Concession in Shanghai and the power to garrison troops, and the foreigners have only obtained the necessary right of residence and a very small amount of administrative power.

This can be seen from the fact that Jianghai Beiguan is located in the concession.

Therefore, if Lin Zhe directly led the army into the concession and took over the Jianghai Beiguan Yamen, there would be no legal problems.

But the problem is that the foreigners are unwilling, you have all driven the army in, those foreigners must be panicked, and they will immediately send a large number of soldiers from the warships anchored on the river to go ashore, and if you don't do it well, you will fight.

And with the wretched nature of the court in these years, once the fight starts, regardless of who is right and who is wrong, and who wins and who loses, the first thing must be to severely punish Lin Zhe, the party, and then kneel and lick the foreign adults to pay compensation and tear the soil.

In the Qing Dynasty, regardless of whether it was the center of the imperial court or the local officials, they were all baggy, and every time they were beaten a few times along the coast, they all shrank, and when they saw people landing on the shore and marching more than 100 kilometers into Beijing, it was all like killing the whole family.

I don't want to think about China's more than 10 million square kilometers of land, even if the entire coast is lost, but you will not surrender if you live or die, how can these foreigners endure you?

If it doesn't work in one year, it will take two years, if it doesn't work in two years, it will take five years, and if it doesn't work in five years, it will take ten years, no matter whether it is Napoleon or Victoria or Meiji, you have to kneel!

Jiang Guangtou understands this reason, it doesn't matter if you lose the war, it doesn't matter if you lose most of China, but Lao Tzu just won't surrender!

In view of the group of eggless goods in the court, it must be a lot of trouble to directly cause military conflicts, but Lin Zhe also knows that these foreigners are essentially businessmen, greedy businessmen, and this kind of retreat will only make them more rampant, it's okay to endure it, but you have to show your muscles when necessary, and you have to let these foreigners know!

He, Lin Zhe, was different from all the Qing court officials they had met in the past!

The next day, Lin Zhe and Wu Jianzhang issued a note to the British and American consuls in the concession to officially abolish the "Interim Regulations on Tax Declaration".

Then Lin Zhe directly sent soldiers to board Wu Jianzhang's ships, and took the officials and tax collectors of the Jiang Customs to sail to Jiangxin.

Officially collect taxes under the banner of Jiangbei Customs!

On the same day, they stopped a merchant ship of Jardine Matheson and collected taxes, creating a fait accompli.

On the same day, the British, American, and French consuls sent a joint message saying that they were willing to negotiate with Chinese officials on the place of residence and customs and taxation in order to resolve the misunderstanding.

Lin Zhe knew that this was not because the British had given in, but because they wanted to get more benefits through this negotiation, but Lin Zhe also wanted to talk face-to-face with the British and American consuls in these concessions.

In general, it is necessary to figure out what they want specifically, and then they can formulate a strategy in the future, and they can't talk about it and directly lead troops into the concession, and if they can't talk, it's not too late to take radical measures!

The next day, Lin Zhe and Wu Jianzhang went out of the city together and had their first face-to-face contact with the consuls of Britain, the United States and France in a manor outside the north gate.

When Lin Zhe walked into the main hall that was used as a conference room, he saw several blonde and blue-eyed foreigners already waiting, all of them wearing formal dresses.

Soon Wu Jianzhang became a translator from it, introducing Lin Zhe to those foreigners in proficient English, and casually introducing those foreigners to Lin Zhe in Chinese.

The red-haired, slightly older, bearded foreigner in the center is named 'McLene', who is the U.S. consul in China. The middle-aged man next to him was the British consul in China, Bourling, and the French consul in China, Bourblon.

These three people are the highest diplomatic representatives of various countries in China, and they usually conduct various negotiations with Chinese officials, and because China does not have a special foreign ministry, it is not directly involved in the central government when handling these foreign affairs, but usually by local officials.

In the past, these diplomatic affairs were handled by Su Songtai, the superintendent of Jianghaiguan Dao, and Wu Jianzhang!

And today, there is one more Lin Zhe.

After a brief introduction, the two sides sat down together, and then the Englishman led by Bao Ling directly spoke: "General Lin, I hope that you can do your best to end the customs on the river, there are many merchant ships in the center of the river, and many of your ships have gambled on the waterway, and Yan zhòng has affected the entry and exit of merchant ships!" ”

Lin Zhe listened, and without waiting for Wu Jianzhang's translation, he just said directly: "It's not impossible to withdraw the customs, as long as you can return to the Yamen of Jianghai Beiguan to work, this temporary checkpoint will naturally be withdrawn!" ”

At this time, the Frenchman Bourblon on the side spoke: "Since the existing place of residence is overcrowded, I wonder if it is possible to let our merchants follow the example of British merchants and choose another place to live and trade!" ”