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Among the three people who took the initiative to find him, McHuatuo was the highest, a serious British consul in Shanghai, and the other two, although they belonged to two countries, were at best a flag-waving follower.

Fortunately, he had been a follower to the French Minister to China, Bourblon, for many years, and he was more or less a public official, but the American Howard was just an ordinary American businessman before, and this time it was the American consul in Shanghai who temporarily gave him the status of consular charge d'affaires in order to make up the numbers.

Although it seems to be a bit child's play, but this is also no way, who let the ministers and consuls who have a little power in China now, either still be detained and tortured in Beijing, or lost their traces in the previous explosion of the Anglo-French combined fleet, or they dare not rent out the world, so they can only send these relatively unimportant people to talk to Li Yongji first, and it can only be said that they have not been in contact with each other, and there is still a certain amount of distrust.

In fact, the Qing Dynasty was still in a state of war with Britain and France at this time, and this state has not been lifted yet, but both sides are unable to help each other for the time being, especially Britain and France, and the destruction of the Anglo-French combined fleet has only been a month, and they have not recovered from this matter, so that the relationship with the Qing Dynasty has dragged on so unclearly.

Although the relationship between everyone is not clear at present, anyone with a discerning eye knows that it is impossible for Britain and France to engage in another large-scale punitive intervention operation in the short term, but they still have to do their best to rescue the envoys who were arrested and sent to Beijing after the last Dagukou defense war; The Qing Dynasty was also unable to further expel the foreigners and reclaim the concessions, especially since the Russians were still eyeing the north and constantly jumping up and down as mediators. There are signs of military intervention. Anyway, keep going like this. It's not good for everyone, so it's imperative to talk about peace.

Of course. The premise of peace talks is that everyone has a normal IQ, and if one side is not sober and wants to continue fighting, then the negotiations cannot proceed.

At present, it seems that Britain and France have normal IQs, but the Manchus seem to be a little unconscious, stimulated by the recent series of victories, especially the victory in the last battle of Dagukou, and still do not understand who is strong and who is weak.

These three foreigners are all people who hold their own identities. In addition, they seemed to have something to ask for, so after Mai Huatuo and the others sat down, they did not continue to dwell on the previous unpleasantness, nor did they say too many words of praise, such as being young and promising, but directly talked to Li Yongji about the topic, which was also in line with their usual style.

"What? Do you want to express your sincerity to the court about peace? After listening to their request, Li Yongji was a little surprised, "Of course it's a good thing to talk about peace." But it's not my business, why are you talking to me? If you want to talk, you have to find someone else, right? ”

"No way, we've talked to a lot of people, but your local officials refuse to negotiate with us. In other words, as long as it involves the issue of peace talks, they will all shirk it all. McVado shook his head. It may be that the unexpected sinking of our combined fleet has irritated your court and made your emperor think ...... Belch. He's still strong, so he's not only rejecting our previous sincerity. And we don't let the officials negotiate with us. Seriously, if it weren't for the frequent changes in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's army recently, and the strength of your imperial court's army here, maybe your imperial court would have sent troops to Shanghai to make trouble for us. ”

"Personally, I really hope to help you." Li Yongji spread his hands, "But I'm just a pure commander with troops, no matter how to lead troops to fight, I don't have the right to talk to the court about peace talks, so you found the wrong person, I really can't help." ”

Hearing Li Yongji say this, Mai Huatuo and the others looked at each other, and then nodded to each other, as if they had expected this, and then Mai Huatuo said to Li Yongji again: "Okay, this matter may be that we are abrupt, so let's talk about the second thing." I know you've been approaching a lot of our businessmen lately for a large-scale business partnership to trade all sorts of household goods, luxury goods, and even pure silver for our gold and diamonds, right? ”

"That's right." Li Yongji said with a smile, "I can provide a lot of exquisite jewelry and jewelry here, and I can also provide a lot of high-end perfumes, high-end shampoos, high-end soaps and other daily toiletries, in addition to small combs, small mirrors and the like, and a lot of exquisite tableware, I believe that foreigners will like it." I have vigorously promoted trade between the two sides for the sake of everyone's good-neighborliness. ”

"Well, I've seen all of these things, and they're really exquisite, no worse than your silk and porcelain." Mai Huatuo nodded, "I heard that you still have a large number of Mithril products and Alimei clay products here?" ”

"Huh?" Li Yongji was stunned for a moment, but soon understood that the other party was talking about stainless steel products and aluminum products. Mithril seems to be the English word that has been passed down by itself, and as for Alimei mud, isn't that the English transliteration of aluminum?

Thinking of this, Li Yongji nodded: "Yes, that's right, I can indeed provide a large number of Mithril products and Alimei clay products, which is also one of the large-scale business cooperation projects that will be launched with you." ”

"That's right, Alimei mud is enough, we won't interfere with this normal business practice, but that kind of Mithril product, if I'm right, should be a high-quality steel that has been treated with a new process." "Can you sell us this technology, our British Empire is willing to pay a high price." ”

"So do we, France!" Ge Shiqi also hurriedly followed, "Guaranteed to bid higher than the British!" ”

"We in the United States are also very interested." When Howard said this, he didn't say anything else, and seemed to know that his rights were limited, just to show an attitude.

Seeing that the other party pinched himself first, Li Yongji smiled and simply relieved them: "I'm sorry, I don't count this when I say it." I'm sure you've guessed it, we're just a middleman, and we're not the real manufacturer, so in terms of technology transfer. We don't count. ”

"Then can you tell each other for us, as long as you are willing to talk. The conditions are easy to say. Mai Huatuo said immediately.

"Okay, I'll tell you when I have the chance." Li Yongji smiled and nodded. "But it's hard to say whether it will be successful or not, so don't get your hopes up too much."

Everyone heard that Li Yongji's words were clearly refusal, in their unique Chinese subtle way.

With two requests rejected in a row, Mai Huatuo seemed to be a little disappointed, but this was expected, it didn't matter if it could be the best or not, after all, these two requests were just things to throw bricks and stones. The real purpose has not yet been revealed, so they are not too frustrated.

"It's a shame...... Then, then, our request may be even more difficult for you. ”

Speaking of this, Mai Huatuo paused deliberately and looked at Li Yongji fixedly, hoping to see the expression on his face, but unfortunately Li Yongji looked uninterested, and continued to drink his orange juice through a straw slowly.

Look at the glass of bright orange juice and the long, clear glass. There was also ice cubes floating on the orange juice, Mai Huatuo swallowed unnaturally and quietly, and then quickly glanced at the surrounding environment, and sighed secretly in his heart. This little guy is really rich, and he can really enjoy it.

"Ahem." It seemed that it was useless to continue selling Guanzi, and Mai Huatuo, who cleared his throat, continued. "That's right, we hope you can stop continuing your offensive against the Taipings. We will also send people to consult with the Taiping army to get them to stop attacking your territory. In this way, everyone takes the existing control area as the boundary, peaceful coexistence, and non-aggression against each other, what do you think? ”

"Huh? What does that mean? Li Yongji was really taken aback this time.

"It means that we, Britain and France, have decided to support the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom." McVado smiled.

"Sure enough." Li Yongji was silent on the surface, but he was calculating quickly in his heart.

This guy is a British consul, and it is impossible to joke casually on this occasion, especially in this kind of thing. That is, did these powers really turn to support the Taiping Army? No longer support the Manchu court? Really? In that case, history will be completely messed up!

But when you think about it, it's quite possible.

After all, in the history books of another time and space, the great powers finally supported the Manchu Qing for the sake of interests, because the Qing government could give more benefits to the foreign powers, and because both sides had the will and need to cooperate.

The premise of Sino-foreign cooperation in that time and space was that after the Anglo-French alliance completely defeated the Qing court, entered the city of Beijing, burned the Old Summer Palace, signed the "Beijing Treaty" and a series of new unequal treaties with the Qing court, and got what they wanted, after the death of Emperor Xianfeng and the killing of conservative ministers, they did they communicate with the newly appointed Westernists. The signing of the cooperation agreement, in short, was a very tortuous process, and without the above experiences, it would have been absolutely impossible for the Qing court to cooperate with the foreigners.

But now that the combined fleet of the British and French forces has been secretly destroyed by itself, and it is no longer able to carry out armed intervention in China in the short term, it is naturally impossible to talk about the "Beijing Treaty", and even if it has been signed before, it may no longer be counted in the future.

At the same time, the victory in the defense of Dagukou commanded by Seng Lingqin and the annihilation of the avenging Anglo-French combined fleet at sea also made Emperor Xianfeng, who was not completely defeated, but victorious, gain more confidence and began to become more confident.

Since then, the strength of Su Shun and others, the conservative forces in the center, have become stronger and stronger, and the voice of being tough on foreigners has occupied the mainstream, and it has been strictly forbidden to open any kind of negotiations with foreigners, and they look tough to the end, which has led to a complete deadlock in the negotiations.

Then, under such a situation where talks cannot be reached and cannot be fought, it is reasonable to support China's opposition armed forces, the Taiping Army, add blockage to the government army and the Qing court, and even take advantage of the fire. If you really want to say it, even in the history of another time and space, it seems that foreign powers were the first to contact the Taiping Army, for example, Burbulon once went to Tianjing and met Hong Xiuquan, but it was because of Hong Xiuquan's arrogance and strict ignorance that the opportunity for cooperation was buried.

In history, the Qing court colluded with foreigners to fight the Taiping Army, which was called the Sino-foreign joint suppression, and now the foreigners want to collude with the Taiping Army to fight the Qing court, so what is this? Chinese and foreign joint anti-Qing Dynasty?

It's messy, it's all messy, it seems that due to its own chaos, the butterfly effect is getting bigger and bigger, and the history that I have just been familiar with for a long time has been unrecognizable, and I'm afraid that I can't copy the history of another world in the future, at most I can only learn one or two.

Thinking of this, Li Yongji asked again: "So, what do you ...... What kind of support will the Taiping Army have? ”

"At present, we only intend to support the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in terms of weapons and the training of military personnel." It was the Frenchman Ge Shiqi who answered, and he seemed to be unable to bear it, so he jumped out in time to brush up his feelings, "At the same time, we also plan to form a volunteer army to help the righteous forces of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom against the tyranny of the Manchus." At present, there are two volunteers, one in Shanghai and one in Ningbo. Among them, the volunteers in Shanghai are mainly British, and the volunteers in Ningbo are mainly French. ”

"Oh, that's right." Li Yongji nodded noncommittally.

"Ahem." Seemingly dissatisfied with the other party's big mouth, Mai Huatuo quickly said at this time, "That's right, we are indeed doing this, and we will expand our support for the Taiping Army in the future depending on the change of the situation." In addition, it should be noted that once you attack the Taipings, our garrison in Shanghai will intervene, and our combined British and French fleets will also blockade the Yangtze River port and the coastal areas of your territory, prevent any outside goods from flowing into your territory, and prevent our merchants from engaging in any trade with you.

In other words, if you insist on continuing to fight against the Taiping Army, you will be against our British and French, and if nothing else, at least your trade with us will not be able to continue, which will be a great pity. ”

"That's right!" The Frenchman himself answered again, "If you do not oppose the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and at the same time cut off all ties with the Qing court, or even raise an army to revolt, then we will give you greater support." To tell you the truth, I have only just received the news that our French and British governments are very disappointed in your court, and although they are still trying to negotiate with them, they are not really hopeful.

However, for the time being, we do not want to send troops to intervene again, because it will exacerbate the misunderstanding between the two countries, so we have decided to fully support the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's just anti-Qing actions. During this period, anyone who obstructs this righteous action is our enemy and will inevitably be sanctioned by us. Of course, we believe that Master Li is a smart person and will definitely not do such a thankless thing, and I believe that you will definitely make a wiser decision.

That is to say, if you don't oppose the Qing Dynasty and don't fight the Taiping Army, but just maintain your neutrality, we will allow you to carry out normal trade with us, and if you oppose the Qing Dynasty, we will give you greater support, but if you attack the Taiping Army in a dizzy mind, then we can only fight against you to the end. (To be continued......)