As the negotiation time went by, more and more doubts came out, because according to Rong Hong's observation, the other side seemed to be deliberately delaying time, especially the British and French envoys, and the delay has become more and more obvious.

In other words, although the negotiations were between Britain, France and Russia against the Chinese Empire, only the Russian envoys were aggressive, and the British and French envoys were playing soy sauce and mud on the side, which really looked like a little mediation.

Although the British and French envoys were united and muddy, the Russian envoys were very tough, and even many times the British and French envoys directly choked with the Russians, and really planned to rise up for the Chinese Empire. This attitude of disagreement among the great powers is puzzling in any way.

Soon, when the negotiations entered the sixth day, the British and French envoys suddenly approached Wang Tao and proposed to visit His Majesty the Emperor in secret.

However, Li Yongji didn't have the time to pay attention to them now, just at this moment, Li Yongji himself had secretly arrived at the front line in Nanjing, and he was going to clean up the Taiping army first, of course, these things would not be explicitly told to the British and French negotiating envoys, so he only said that the emperor was very busy and angry, and he didn't see anything.

If it was a normal situation, in the face of such a tough refusal, the British and French envoys would have left angrily, but the strange thing is that these two people actually found Prime Minister Li Yongchang again.

This time, Li Yongchang couldn't refuse, and besides, he also wanted to know what they thought, so he agreed to have a secret meeting.

It was this secret meeting that allowed Li Yongchang to obtain more information, and when he conveyed this information to Li Yongji through the radio chat activity, Li Yongji suddenly realized that he had a clear understanding of this move of Britain, France and Russia with the help of Zhang Xinda's information.

"I'll just say it." Li Yongji, who had figured it out, breathed a sigh of relief, "How could the three countries of Britain, France and Russia come together so easily and join forces to interfere with me so quickly." It turned out that it was just limited interference, and I just wanted to make some money. ”

It turns out that if the word Britain, France and Russia are put aside this time, and simply regarded as a Sino-Russian conflict, then things will be easy to understand.

In fact, in essence, this negotiation was led by Russia, and the parties involved were also Russia, and then Britain and France saw that it was cheap, and began to provoke both sides, hoping that China and Russia would fight. Then Britain and France can take advantage of this.

As for the problem of China, or the problem of the Chinese Empire, of course, Britain and France are also very unhappy, especially since the Chinese Empire has always overtraded them, and this trend is still increasing, and they have mastered the technologies they covet, such as heroine, aspirin, stainless steel technology, etc.

That is to say, the British and French powers have long wanted to do something to the Chinese Empire, but there is no suitable excuse for these two countries. Second, I don't have the strength to do it myself for the time being, so I want to borrow the hands of the Russians to make some benefits in the middle.

For example, this time, although it was Britain and France who worked with the Russians against China. But on the surface, Britain and France are on the side of neutral mediators, but in reality, once the negotiations break down. Britain and France will not send troops against China, at most they will lend money to Russia and arm the Russians. And sent ships to transport the Russians to China, so that the Russians could deal with the Chinese Empire.

In fact, the reason why Britain, France and Russia wanted to threaten the nascent Chinese Empire was also related to Li Yongji's strong sense of secrecy, his rise too fast, and his pretending to be too low-key.

Don't look at what has happened so much recently, even Beijing has been defeated, but in fact, the rise of the elite army has only been a year, and the destruction of the Anglo-French combined fleet has been even shorter, only more than four months.

In an era when cable telegraphs were just developing, radio was just emerging, and the Suez Canal and the Panama Canal were not open, the speed of information transmission was quite slow.

In other words, although the envoys of Britain, France, and the United States in China all felt the strangeness and strength of the elite army, it would take at least a month and a half for them to pass on the news back, and it would take another two months for the high-level officials of Britain and France to make a decision before sending back letters.

According to this time, the joint intervention of Britain, France, and Russia in China was a decision that had been discussed by the top leaders of the three countries a long time ago, and it was not only because Li Yongji killed the Qing Dynasty, even if there was no Sino-Russian conflict, there would be other excuses, and the Sino-Russian conflict in the Tianjin area was just a better excuse for the Russians.

Why would they want to interfere with the elite military regime? The essence is nothing more than the word profit.

That's right, this is the era of the great powers, and the great powers have a trait, that is, they can't afford to be profitable early, and they are very sensitive to power, on the contrary, the so-called geopolitical affairs are still in their infancy, so this intervention is not what Li Yongji thought at the beginning, but to contain the rise of China in advance.

On the contrary, the top leaders of Britain, France, and Russia are limited by traditional thinking, and have never looked at China in their eyes, thinking that it is still a backward place, and even if Li Yongji's elite army rises a little too fast, it is just that the Americans are behind it.

It is precisely because of this consideration that the US government did not intervene in this operation, not because they are worried about offending their country's hidden families, that is, those forces that secretly provide support to Li Yongji, that is, the fundamental reason!

It should be said that this shows that Li Yongji's previous strategy of bluffing people was successful, after all, the troops that Li Yongji showed to Britain, France and Russia before were all American-style equipment, whether it was a Sharps rifle or a Colt revolver, because they were all modern imitations, with obvious American flavor, these things Chinese could not distinguish, but foreigners could see the difference at a glance.

It's like the same Mini rifle, but the French gun is still the same as the English gun at a glance.

The Sharps rifle, in this era, is actually a niche commodity, with excellent performance, but it is expensive, and the maintenance is complicated, and it is easy to have problems, and few powers will really equip their regular armies with this kind of weapon, because the cost performance is too low, too cost-effective.

Therefore, when the high-level leaders of the British, French and other powers heard that the Jingwu Army was all hunting with Sharps rifles, they found a few officers to understand it a little, and they thought that the Americans had found the wronged leader, but they looked down on the Jingwu Army even more, and felt that the Jingwu Army had been deceived so badly that it had taken a detour.

After saving this thought, the idea that they wanted to make a fortune in China and the territory of the elite army reappeared, not because they thought that China had risen and would become a member of the great powers. and made an impact on the world.

In other words, what stifles the rise of China and the like, it is just Li Yongji's own brain supplement before, the real situation is that people don't take you seriously at all, and they think you are easy to bully. The reason why Britain and France did not take action directly was that their strength was not enough for the time being, and they were worried that the United States would make trouble.

However, the previous differential treatment of the elite army, especially the unwelcome approach to Russia, made Russia very angry, and Russia's finances have been very bad recently. Therefore, the idea of hoping to find a benefit in China is especially strict.

The previous Russian envoy Nikolai once talked to Prince Gong? Talking about the "Sino-Russian Beijing Treaty" is a product of this kind of thinking, but Russia's appetite is very large, not only to find trouble with the Qing Dynasty, but also to find trouble with the elite army, so it began to prepare early in the morning, and has long planned to send troops.

It's just that Russia is not financially good after all, and it is not cost-effective to go by land, so they want to go by sea and land. Only then did they find their rivals, Britain and France, and wanted to borrow their ships to go to China.

Of course, Russia did not have a fleet, although Crimea fought badly. But Russia still has its own fleet, but it is an attitude to borrow the ships of Britain and France, otherwise, its own fleet will go out. It's not good to cause unnecessary misunderstandings.

If you look at it this way, even if the negotiations between China and Russia break down this time, Russia will send troops to intervene. Britain and France will only provide ships and weapons, and will not directly send troops or declare war on China, which means that the actual enemy of the Chinese Empire is only Russia.

In addition, if Russia wants to come and intervene, it will not work without half a year, because even if the Russian soldiers set off now, in the era when there was no Suez Canal, they could only take the Cape of Good Hope, and if they want to reach China along the way, it will take at least five months, plus the preparation time, it is not necessary to think about it without half a year.

In other words, in fact, the Russians are not very determined to fight again, after all, Russia now has many enemies, especially Turkey, which has been very restless recently, and its finances are also very poor, and it does not have the strength to intervene on a large scale.

However, Britain was very interested in this, and the main force in provoking the war was the British, and the French were the ones who followed when they saw the benefits.

You must know that once China and Russia go to war, Russia will increase loans with Britain and France, and China will inevitably have more demand for Britain and France.

Although the British and French high-level officials both want the Russians to fight with the Chinese once, weaken China and Russia at the same time, and gain benefits in both countries, it is because the high-level leaders of the two countries are arrogant, do not understand the elite armed forces, and do not understand the Chinese Empire, but this does not mean that McHuatuo and these people do not understand anything.

Although the British envoy Mai Huatuo did not know the true details of the Jingwu Army and the real power of the weapons of the Jingwu Army, he knew that this was not a bully only by virtue of the vast population base of the Chinese Empire and the people's fanaticism for Li Yongji.

Moreover, Li Yongji was a young and excessively aggressive person, and the Chinese Empire was a nascent regime, which showed that this regime was not easy to provoke, and it was completely thankless to oppose such a government, so they really hoped to avoid a sword and a soldier, so as not to damage the interests of Britain and France.

It is for these reasons that the British and French envoys are really mediating, they have actually violated the will of the British and French governments, and they sincerely hope that the Chinese Empire will not fight with the Russians.

And their secret visit this time was also to sincerely persuade the Chinese Empire to make some concessions, and they promised that they would make the Russians give up some harsh conditions, such as the indemnity can be reduced, and the concession can not be obtained, but aspirin and hippoline technology must be handed over, because this is something that their three countries covet.

As if to show their sincerity, they even said that the Russians had not yet begun to mobilize, and that Britain and France were not ready.

Although the original intention of these two envoys was to tell Li Yongchang that there was still room for redemption, and they also sincerely wanted to promote good-neighborliness and friendship between China and Russia, so that everyone could continue to be friends happily and avoid fighting with swords, but they gave Li Yongji an important piece of news -- that is, Russia's intervention would not reach China in the short term, and it would take at least five months to send troops from now on.

The reason is very simple, Russia does not have much strength in the Far East, and if it wants to interfere with the Chinese Empire, it can only transfer troops from Europe, and the distance will be far great.

Either way, it's good news. At the very least, Li Yongji was given more time to prepare.

"Don't say five months, just give me three months, and when the new unit is trained, I will not be afraid of anyone's interference." Li Yongji took the phone and said to Li Yongchang, "So, you don't have to be too anxious, just do your thing with peace of mind, and wait for me to finish dealing with this side of the matter, and then go back to prepare for letting go." ”

"But it's a lot of financial pressure." Li Yongchang said. "Your Majesty, according to your plan, both the Wehrmacht and the National Guard are on state finances, that is, from me, but we don't have much money on hand right now. Moreover, you also have to establish an emergency mobilization mechanism, that is, you can mobilize three million troops at the necessary time, which also requires money. ”

"How. It's not what you said, our finances are very good, how can we have no money? Li Yongji said with a smile.

"Our finances are good, and we are doing it on the scale we used to do. It means that we don't raise soldiers, but if we also want to raise soldiers, or raise so many, it will not be enough. ”

"That's right. I'll show you a way, you can issue Treasury bonds. Li Yongji said, "You issue treasury bonds." With the country's customs tax as collateral, there must be interest, and the interest can be lower for the time being, but there must be. Then, you sell it to the public, so that I can subscribe for a part, and then you will solve the temporary financial problem? ”

"You mean, let's borrow money from you in the name of the state?"

"It's not just me, I can also borrow money from other big investors selling treasury bonds. The so-called treasury bonds are state debts, and the state's credit is used as collateral, and ordinary people still recognize them, and moreover, you must vigorously publicize them, saying that buying treasury bonds is patriotic, and you absolutely do not worry about selling them. Li Yongji smiled, "Don't worry, you can ask a few people who understand foreign affairs, they must all understand, even if others don't buy it, won't there be me." ”

"But ......"

"Don't do it, that's it." Li Yongji said, "Also, your five major ministries are too few, only the five ministries, finance, education, foreign affairs, national defense, and personnel can be done, at least the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Construction, the Ministry of Communications, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, and the General Administration of Anti-Corruption." ”

"Your Majesty, as for the matter of the form of government, we are still only a draft, and it has not yet been finalized. However, we also have the departments of health construction and the like you just mentioned, but they are all second-level department-level units, which are respectively under the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Education, and the Ministry of National Defense. ”

"How can it be high, health, construction, agriculture and so on, no matter how high it is." Li Yongji said, "That's it, you first revise according to what I said, and when I go back, we will discuss the political reform in detail, and the tax reform will also be reformed again, but don't mess around for the time being, these things can't be rushed." In addition, you should also think about the official hierarchy and discuss it with you when you go back. ”

"Yes, Your Majesty, Weichen will do his best to ensure the completion of His Majesty's entrustment."

"Hey, you, everything is good, that's what you want...... Forget it, that's fine, just do it. ”

"Then, Your Majesty, negotiate with the Russians, you see......"

"Keep talking, keep procrastinating." Li Yongji smiled, "If we can delay one more day, one more day to delay, we will have one more day to prepare, no need to worry." ”

"Understood, Weichen will go and rearrange it."

"Good!" After Li Yongji finished speaking, he quickly hung up the phone, and then looked down at the map on the table, and as far as the eye could see, it was Nanjing City drawn with a red pen in the middle!

"Zhang Wei, what do you think of the city defense situation in Nanjing?"

"Yes, Your Majesty." Hearing Li Yongji's question, Zhang Wei, who had been standing obediently next to him, immediately spoke, "Nanjing's city defense is very complicated, I don't know which aspect you are asking?" ”

"For example, how many soldiers and horses are there in Nanjing City, whether the resistance is resolute or not, and so on." Li Yongji glanced up at him, "You don't even know this, do you?" ”

"How so." Zhang Wei immediately lowered his head, "Back to Your Majesty, as far as Weichen knows, there are currently 80,000 soldiers and horses in Nanjing City, half of which are Chen Yucheng's elite, but they are very capable of playing, and the others are miscellaneous cards, so there is nothing to be afraid of." In addition, there are about 100,000 people in Nanjing City, but these people do not have much strength, once the city is broken, these people should not cause any harm to us. ”

"That's all?"

"This ...... Yes, that's all. Zhang Wei lowered his head again.

"So, you haven't done any more homework these days except for firing every day?"

"This ...... Panic! Zhang Wei suddenly knelt down and kowtowed, "Please calm your anger." Your body matters. As for the unfavorable things in Weichen's battle, he doesn't want to have any shirk, and is willing to accept any punishment. ”

"Hey, you, you, let me say hello." Li Yongji shook his head, "Get up and speak first...... Don't come with me, let you get up! ”

"Minister...... Compliance. Zhang Wei finally stood up again, but he still lowered his head and stood up in a proper manner, not daring to stare at Li Yongji directly.

This is the change in status that brings about a change in interpersonal relationships, and Li Yongji doesn't want to say anything about it. It's useless to talk too much anyway.

"You are a very important minister I value, and your ability is obvious to all." Li Yongji first affirmed the other party's ability, and then said, "Of course, you also have selfish intentions, it doesn't matter if you are selfish, who doesn't have selfish intentions, but your private messages must not conflict with our cause, and they must be within the rules I set." You've made mistakes before. It's okay, but you can't be too cautious just because you've made mistakes, right?

In your strength, it's been so long. Can't you break through a small Chaoyang Gate? Even if the mortar is limited and can't blow up the city gates, you won't think of another way? Could it be that with good guys, you won't play the same set as your ancestors? Nothing else will. Wouldn't the explosives pack be blasted? Explosives packs won't work, and tunnels won't either? It's really not possible to suppress the ground firepower while directly attacking the city with a ladder. At worst, you can at least send out some scouts and find out more accurate news, but what have you done? ”

"Minister, minister is guilty......" Zhang Wei immediately knelt on the ground again.

"Are you guilty? Tell me where you are guilty, tell me. Li Yongji said.

"This ...... Ministers should not delay the warplane. Zhang Wei bowed his head and said, "Ministers should not condone their subordinates, should not steal merit for selfishness, and should not ......"

"Okay, okay, don't talk about it, it's all false." Li Yongji waved his hand, "You shouldn't be wrong, you shouldn't be self-righteous and smart." With your status, with your qualifications, with your abilities, as long as you are obedient and obedient, how can I treat you badly? Do you think I am such a merciless person? Are you in such a hurry to form a gang? ”

"Majesty!" Zhang Wei suddenly howled and cried, "Your Majesty, Minister, Weichen, Weichen is ashamed, ashamed, ashamed, woo woo." ”

"Okay, don't cry, a big man, what are you crying about." Li Yongji stared at Zhang Wei and said, "Tomorrow, I will give you another chance, a chance for you to prove your worth!" ”

After a pause, Li Yongji said in a deep voice: "Tomorrow, I will let you be the vanguard, only give you the strength of one regiment, and you must take Chaoyangmen for me with one charge!" Of course, I won't let you rush in vain, I'll provide you with heavy artillery cover, and my fleet will also come over to help attack the water gate and contain the enemy's forces. At the same time, my airship unit will also provide you with help and cover. In short, with me supporting you in the back, if you can't take Chaoyangmen, hum, I don't think you can do this position, let Xian as soon as possible! ”

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Zhang Wei suddenly said loudly, "Weichen will definitely charge forward tomorrow and swear to take Chaoyang Gate!" ”

"Then you don't have to charge in person, you are a general, not a junior officer, I just need you to take Chaoyangmen, I don't care how you take it." Li Yongji said, "Let me tell you, there are two bad habits that I hate most about my subordinates, the first is self-righteousness, and the second is useless!" Self-righteous and useless guys, you don't need to stay in a high position, get out of here as soon as possible, you know what I mean! ”

"Yes, Your Majesty." Zhang Wei kowtowed three more times, and then replied, "Wechen understands, Wechen must save my body, keep in mind His Majesty's entrustment, and be a loyal and useful person." ”

"It's best if you understand." Li Yongji nodded, then continued to look at the map, and then smashed his fist on Nanjing's location, "Hmph, Hong Xiuquan, Hong Xiuquan, I originally wanted to let you go for a while and play the united front, since you don't know how to lift, then it's no wonder to me!" (To be continued......)