When Li Yongchang left Yonghua Palace and went outside to have a conversation with the intellectuals who were reading on the bus, Emperor Li Yongji originally wanted to take a nap, but he heard the news that Rong Hong asked to see him.

Yung Wing is now the foreign secretary of the State Department, overseeing the country's foreign affairs, and he will soon lead a large business delegation to the United States to congratulate Mr. Lincoln on his new ascension to the United States for a friendly visit to deepen Sino-American friendship and promote trade between the two sides.

Of course, what he didn't know was that there were many secret agents of Li Yongji in the delegation, and they went to the United States with them in order to implement Li Yongji's strategy and intervene in the layout of the American civil war for Li Yongji in advance, but these things cannot be told to Rong Hong.

No matter what, Rong Hong is a person that Li Yongji values very much, so Li Yongji also attaches great importance to his request, not to mention his meaning, this request seems to involve some very important and private matters.

Soon, Rong Hong went to the study of the Qingxin Hall under the guidance of the female official, and after a routine salute, the two sides quickly entered the topic.

"陛xià." Rong Hong looked at Jiajia who was standing next to Li Yongji, and stopped talking, "Actually, the things that Weichen is going to talk about this time are a little special, can you ......?"

"Oh?" Li Yongji instantly understood that he wanted to talk to him alone. Originally, Li Yongji wanted to say that she was his personal maid and didn't have to scruples, but after thinking about it, the other party might be a little uncomfortable with such a woman staying here, so he nodded to Jiajia, "You wait outside now." ”

"Yes, Your Majesty." Jiajia didn't ask anything, nodded to Li Yongji, and quietly withdrew. After going out, I closed the door of the study.

In fact, the reason why Jiajia is so relieved and not worried about Li Yongji's safety is also due to many reasons.

First of all, Rong Hong had carefully searched his body before coming in to make sure that there were no weapons, and Li Yongji was also wearing civilian clothes, but he had a Walter PPK pistol hidden in his arms.

Secondly, what outsiders don't know is that Li Yongji is still in the development period. It's a fourteen-year-old boy, but his strength is amazing, more than the strength of ordinary adults, and he usually has learned some basic martial arts, at least it's no problem to deal with Rong Hong.

In the end, outside the study are two Ouchi guards selected from the guard battalion, and if something goes wrong, they will rush in, so there is absolutely no problem in terms of security.

Of course. The most important thing is that Li Yongji has always liked to have private space, hates to be rigid about everything, and he has many mysterious places. often disappears alone for a period of time, and then a bunch of strange things come out, so after a long time, Jiajia, who is a personal maid, gets used to his eccentricity. The only way to do this is to do a good job of defense work on a larger scale.

For example, in Yonghua Palace, not only are there cameras and infrared alarm devices everywhere, but all personnel have to go through more than three generations of detailed inventory. Everyone here, even if it is an ordinary maid sweeping the floor, Jiajia knows it, and they all brush their faces through the scanner, and then Jiajia personally enters it into the computer, his mobile phone is also carried with him, and there is a LAN wireless network throughout the palace.

Therefore, Yonghua Palace seems to be open, but in fact, the monitoring is very tight, once someone you don't know approaches at will, it will be discovered immediately, and then the outermost inner guards will rush to the scene to arrest the suspect as soon as possible under the command of the central monitoring room, and the palace maid guards inside will also protect the key points everywhere for the first time, close the doors everywhere, and ensure that the other party does not have any chance to assassinate the emperor.

In short, the entire Yonghua Palace has long been modernized, and with the assassination methods of the nineteenth century, it is impossible to get close to the emperor without being detected unless he transforms into a Saiyan.

After Jiajia came out of the study, Li Yongji smiled and pointed to the guest chair opposite his desk: "Okay, now it's just you and me, come and sit down and say, you stand like this, I have to tilt my head, I'm not used to it." ”

"This ......" Rong Hong looked at the guest chair, and then at Li Yongji, who was sitting on the boss's chair opposite and looking at him with a smile, finally took a deep breath, and then made a standard ninety-degree bow, "Yes, Your Majesty, Weichen obeys the order." ”

After speaking, Rong Hong strode to the guest chair and did it gently, but his butt was actually only a little next to him, which showed that he didn't look at the watch so chic, in fact, he was still uneasy in his heart.

It is also said that no matter how amiable Li Yongji is, he is also the emperor, and no matter how foreign Rong Hong is, he is still Chinese in his bones, and as long as he is Chinese, if he faces the emperor alone, he will always be a little uncomfortable.

"Drink some tea first, moisten your throat, and then talk." Li Yongji smiled and picked up the teapot and quilt on the table, poured a cup of tea for himself, and then sent the cup of hot tea to Rong Hong, "Then, drink it, this is made by the emperor himself, taste the difference." ”

"This ...... Xie Majesty xià gave tea. Rong Hong stood up cautiously, took the hot tea with both hands, and carefully took a sip, "It's fragrant, good tea!" ”

"The authentic Wuyi Mountain big red robe, the new shoots picked from the mother tree, can it be bad." Li Yongji smiled, poured another cup of tea for himself, took a sip, and then put it down gently, then nodded to Rong Hong, "Okay, now you can say, um, sit down and say." ”

"Yes." Rong Hong arched his hand and sat down again, and then suddenly found that he was not as nervous as he was at the beginning, and it seemed that after the previous action of drinking tea, it was much smoother.

This made Rong Hong sigh, the emperor deserves to be the emperor, look, although he is young, his grasp of people's hearts is simply terrifying.

In fact, Rong Hong is thinking too much, Li Yongji is just making a mistake with modern thinking, and it is not interesting to drink tea alone, so he found someone to drink tea, not really to make the other party dispel his nervousness through guò's behavior, as for the objective effect, it can only be said to be a coincidence.

"陛xià." Rong Hong, who calmed down, said, "Wei Chen's request to see him this time is actually for the matter of the British Minister Wei Tuma. ”

"Wittoma?" Li Yongji thought for a while, "Is it the new British Minister Plenipotentiary to our country?" ”

"Yes." Rong Hong said, "It's this person." ”

"Oh, it's him." Li Yongji nodded.

This Wei Tuma came to China as early as 1842, was a famous sinologist, and also made a set of Chinese pinyin by himself. Named Weituma Pinyin, it is convenient for foreigners to learn Chinese, and it is also a capable person.

After 1854, because the Qing government could not effectively control the customs in Shanghai, he became the chief of the Shanghai Customs and Excise Department, and fully grasped the customs affairs of Shanghai, even at the end of 1859, after Li Yongji sent people to take over the Shanghai Customs, in order not to irritate the British, to obtain the huge market and resources of the British Empire. He has not been removed from his position, and he is still jointly controlled by China, Britain, France and the United States.

It can be said that it is precisely because the customs is under the joint management of the four countries that the customs revenue of the newly established Chinese Imperial Government is so low, in fact, it is deliberately not going through the customs.

Compared to the young McHuato, Wittoma is a real old fritter and a man who is wholeheartedly profitable for the British, so he is relatively more difficult to deal with.

This person has excellent qualifications and abilities, and he has the deepest understanding of China. So in the end, he could become the first British minister plenipotentiary to the Chinese Empire, instead of McHuatuo, which was expected by Li Yongji.

As for Mewarda, he became an ordinary counsellor consul after negotiations. Power is a far cry from Wittoma.

"That's right, just the day before yesterday, Mr. Wittoma came to me in the hope of getting me through. Let your Majesty arrange a private meeting for him. Rong Hong said, "He said that he had a very important mention yì, a mention that was related to the great interests of both China and Britain. ”

"Want to see me? Am I so easy to see? Missing. Li Yongji pouted.

"This. I've said it too. Rong Hong said, "I told him that because you helped Russia deal with us, His Majesty was very angry, so he didn't want to see him, but he also said that they also had a hard time helping Russia, and he wanted to explain it to you, and he also said that in fact, they were obviously helping Russia against us, but in fact they were helping us against Russia." ”

"Obviously helping Russia deal with us, but actually helping us deal with Russia?" Li Yongji smiled, "That's kind of interesting, did he really say that?" ”

"That's what he said." Rong Hong said, "But if I asked again, he wouldn't say more, saying that these things were too confidential and could only be said when I met His Majesty." ”

"That's right." Li Yongji touched his chin, "Where is this Weituma now?" ”

"Just waiting outside the palace." Rong Hong said, "I brought him with me, but he couldn't get in, so he ......."

"Alright then, announce him to the palace immediately." Li Yongji smiled, "I want to see what new tricks he can come up with." ”

Soon, Wei Tuoma entered Li Yongji's study under the leadership of a court lady wearing a black suit jacket and a white shirt, and carefully retouched by modern cosmetics.

As soon as he entered, Wei Tuma bowed slightly to Li Yongji, who was sitting behind the desk, and nodded: "Honorable Emperor, it is my honor to meet you, I hope we can have a pleasant meeting." ”

"I think so too." Li Yongji nodded, didn't get up, and pointed to the chair that Rong Hong had sat on just now, "There is a chair here, come and sit, I've always been more casual, if there's anything, let's sit down and talk." ”

"It's better to be respectful than to obey." Wei Tuma smiled and nodded, then walked over in a few steps and sat down on the chair, much more comfortable than Rong Hong before.

As for Rong Hong, he went to another room to wait earlier, because this Wei Tuma had said that he was going to have a private meeting with His Majesty the Emperor, so it was inconvenient for him to do so.

After Wei Tuma sat down, the beautiful female officer in modern professional clothes did not leave, but became a waiter, and began to make tea for the two of them silently, and when he was done, he stood quietly to the side, bowed his head slightly, and crossed his hands in front of him at the same time.

"Ah, what a good tea." Wei Tuoma, who took a sip, nodded in admiration, and then looked at the beautiful female official who was standing aside and did not speak, "Oh, your female officials are also quite beautiful, Your Majesty, I really envy you." ”

"Just say it if you have anything to say, I'm actually very busy, and I don't like to go around the bend very much." Li Yongji said directly, "I heard, do you have a new mention to tell me?" It's to help us deal with Russia, isn't it? ”

"That's right, Your Majesty." Seeing Li Yongji's attitude, Wei Tuoma no longer took it seriously, and said his meaning directly.

He began by explaining, explaining why they were going to help Russia, and what they really were going to do.

According to him, the British government also attaches great importance to Li Yongji. Originally, he didn't want to help Russia, but France had agreed to help Russia put pressure on China, and even if Britain did not agree, France could help Russia achieve troop projection, so out of helplessness, Britain agreed to help Russia.

However, Britain's agreement to help Russia shows that in fact, they want to secretly help China and help China defeat Russia.

Rhetoric against him. Li Yongji was somewhat convinced, because this was also in line with the geopolitical situation at that time.

If you think about it, Britain and France have just fought a Crimean War with Russia, and the two sides are still at odds with each other, so it is said that Britain cannot help Russia deal with China, because then it would conflict with Britain's interests in China.

Because at this moment, there are actually only two powers that can really influence China. One is the British Empire, and the other is Russia.

As for other countries, like France, there was still a bit of power. However, since the collapse of the Anglo-French combined fleet, France has been somewhat nervous even on the side of Indochina, that is, Vietnam, let alone interfering with China.

There is also an American. The United States is powerless, at least the country does not have the strength to interfere with China, as for whether others are secretly colluding with Li Yongji. If there is any secret agreement, it is difficult to say.

Normally, France may still help Russia to fight China, but Britain will definitely not, because once Russia takes the Manchu Qing as a protectorate, or obtains a large amount of war reparations, then it will quickly recover its vitality.

Originally, Britain wanted to suppress Russia, but France had agreed to help Russia, which made Britain a little difficult to support on its own, because France is now the period of Napoleon III's rule, in fact, it is also a very awesome era, at least very rich, and Russia has no money, but there are people, if the two of them join forces to interfere with China, it is difficult for Britain to oppose it.

In the end, Prince Albert of Britain came up with an idea, that is, to get involved in it, but obviously to help Russia, but secretly to help China, that is, Li Yongji, who is still a warlord, so that they can fight the Russians for a longer time and bleed more to Russia.

The original intention of the British was to delay the Russian dispatch of troops, and within this time, they would first sell the arms stored in India to China in advance.

That's right, the British idea was to fight a time difference, and then use the method of weapon support to strengthen the strength of the elite army, so that they could fight the Russians for a longer time and let the Russians bleed.

As for the final outcome, in fact, the British are not optimistic about Li Yongji's warlord, they think that even if the so-called elite army is powerful, it is still incomparable with the European powers, and it will still fail in the end.

The previous situation of the Jingwu army destroying the Russian Cossack intervention army, that cannot be used as a reference, after all, the information is very vague, because Russia itself did not tell the truth, saying that it only lost one or two hundred people, and the Jingwu army did not announce the actual results to the outside world, so Britain and France only knew that the Jingwu army won, but they did not know what happened and what the battle loss ratio was.

That's right, when Britain, France and Russia made this decision to strengthen intervention, Li Yongji had not yet claimed the founding of the country, and in 1860, although the cable telegraph had appeared, Siemens had not yet laid submarine cables on a large scale, at least there were no submarine cables between China and Britain, and cable telegraphs could not be used, and intelligence transmission relied on fast sailing ships, so the transmission of information was delayed.

If it is a normal situation, it is nothing, but Li Yongji is playing modern time, which has always been fast-paced, and a lot of situations can be changed in a month, and the result is that when the great powers come up with a countermeasure, China here has already changed to a new world.

It is precisely because of this that the envoys of the great powers in various places have great power, and they can make decisions on the spot, that is, they can change some of the above small policies at the opportunity, but the big plans cannot be changed, such as the interference of Britain, France and Russia in China, and Wittoma cannot change it, he can only change some small details.

"I understand." After listening to what Wei Tuoma said, Li Yongji nodded, "You mean that you have hoarded a batch of arms and materials in Hong Kong, which can be sold to us cheaply, and then give me a guarantee that once we can't defeat the Russians, you can ask the British for help, and the British guarantee the legitimacy of our Chinese imperial regime, and promise not to let the Russians gain an inch, at least not let the Russians enter Suzhou, isn't that so?" ”

"That's right." Wittoma smiled and nodded, "Our batch of munitions, although not new, are all new Mini rifles, and there are quite a few six-pounder guns, which can arm at least 20,000 people.

In addition, we can sell you our latest Armstrong naval guns, and we can also send someone to help you set up a coastal defense battery at Wusongkou with these naval guns.

As long as you have this batch of munitions, plus our batteries armed with the new heavy artillery of the British Empire, you should have no problem dealing with the Russians. So, I think you'll be interested in that, but of course, you have to make a quick decision, and if you put it off, it's not going to be easy. ”

"Sounds good, but what do I have to pay for it?" Li Yongji said with a smile.

"It's simple, four conditions." "First, the recipe for aspirin and herokines, and the recipe for Mithril and the recipe for Ali Mei Clay (aluminum) will also be handed over to us. The recipe must be complete and effective.

Second, we agree to the five principles you told Consul McHuatuo at the beginning, except for the provisions of the Taiping Army, and we are willing to formally sign an agreement with you to formalize the agreement, so that it is convenient for everyone.

Thirdly, in order to facilitate our trade, I hope that you will open the port of Haizhou and the port of Tianjin, and allow us British to set up concessions in those two cities, so as to facilitate mutual contact.

Finally, I would like you to agree to our establishment of an embassy in Suzhou, and for us to have a British ambassador here, in order to facilitate communication, avoid misunderstandings, and at the same time, if necessary, also help you to avoid the threat of Russian forces.

You see, our conditions are actually not harsh, all for your sake, I believe that the wisdom is as clear as you, don't you say? ”

"Hey." Li Yongji sighed, "That's it, I'm quite looking forward to it, I thought you could make something more amazing, but it seems that this is the case after all, overestimating your IQ." ”

"Majesty?" Wei Tuma looked at Li Yongji strangely, "What did you mean by what you just said...... Are you not satisfied with my conditions? ”

"Of course not." Li Yongji smiled faintly, "I will not agree to these conditions you mentioned, except for continuing to maintain normal trade with you."

Also, as for the Russians, you can sue them when you go back, and if you are not afraid of death, send as many troops as you can, I'll wait.

As for you British and French, let's put it this way, your merchant ships can do business with me under our surveillance and guidance, but if they sail into our territorial waters without permission, or try to help the Russians land on our country, it will be an undeclared war against us, and if they are sunk, don't blame me for not saying hello in advance. (To be continued......)