Wen Han, Bourblon and others took a small boat and went to Nanjing under the guidance of the Han army's sailors, and along the way Wen Han kept accusing the Han army of 'rude behavior' and threatening to sue in front of Li Yunzhong.

Tang Zhengcai hurriedly came to the upper study and reported in front of Li Yunzhong: "This morning, the foreigner warship suddenly sailed into the river cordon, and the defenders repeatedly waved flags and signaled them to retreat, but the foreigners turned a blind eye, and the defenders of the fort had no choice but to order the artillery to be fired. ”

Hearing that the defenders shelled the foreign ships, Li Yunzhong was stunned, he didn't think that there was such a kind of character in the Han army, and he was more than one step better than Li Xiucheng, Li Chunfa and others!

At the beginning, the First Army was threatened by the foreigners, so it did not dare to attack Shanghai, and the commander of this battery took the lead in ordering the artillery, and the foreigners did not dare to fight back!

"What's the name of the battery commander?" Li Yunzhong became interested in this bold regiment leader.

Tang Zhengcai sighed secretly, thinking that the emperor was going to ask for guilt, and argued: "This person's name is Xiong Siyuan, and he robbed the arms purchased by the Hunan army a few months ago, and made a contribution to the Han Dynasty, and Weichen asked the emperor to spare his life. ”

Looking at Tang Zhengcai's sincere and terrified appearance, Li Yunzhong was a little funny: "Who said that I wanted to kill him, it is really rare for a general to be able to shoot at foreigners at this time, I still have to reuse this kind of character, how can I kill him?" ”

Tang Zhengcai was pleasantly surprised, excited that his subordinates had escaped, and thanked: "The emperor is wise, Xiong Siyuan is blessed by misfortune, and it is his blessing to be appreciated by the emperor." ”

The attendant came in and reported: "Your Majesty, several Western ministers ask to see you." ”

"Xuan" Li Yunzhong said to Tang Zhengcai: "You go down first, and appease the brothers below." ”

Wen Han was indignant, feeling that the Han army's cannon fire had made him lose face in front of Perry. As soon as he entered, he shouted inquiringly: "Your Majesty, your soldiers are really too rude. They opened fire on our warship, for which we lost three valiant sailors. A gunboat has been hit on the railing, you have to give us an explanation, otherwise our countries will not give up. ”

Li Yunzhong looked at the menacing foreigner and asked, "How do you want me to explain to you?" ”

Wen Han thought that Li Yunzhong was soft, and replied proudly: "Kill the personnel who fired the cannon, compensate 1 million silver dollars, open all cities in the Han Kingdom, and allow Britain, France, and the United States to explore minerals and build railways." ”

I saw the foreigner and the lion open his mouth. Li Yunzhong interrupted: "No need to say any more, I will not agree, as far as I know, it is you who ignore the flag of the defenders and continue to move forward, I haven't asked you what you want, but you have beaten me upside down, do you think I am Daoguang and Xianfeng?" You have to apologize to me, or don't blame me for not being merciful. ”

Bourblon is not confident enough. He asked in a trembling voice: "Your Majesty, Honorable Emperor, aren't you afraid that our country will know about this?" If it causes a war, it is not something we can control. ”

Li Yunzhong was full of confidence and replied, "I forgot to tell you." I have been following the situation in Europe, and no less than you know, that you think there is a country that will send a large army to the Far East. ”

Mai Lian replied, "You injured an American warship. ”

Li Yunzhong said with a smile: "The United States is not peaceful. The South is sharpening its knives, and I've read the novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin" too. It is indeed touching and heartfelt, you Americans still have the kung fu to care about the Far East? ”

Perry stepped forward and bowed to Li Yunzhong. Wen Yan said: "Your Majesty, this time it was a complete misunderstanding, we didn't see the flag on the fort, so the defenders opened fire, and our army did not return fire, so that both sides forgot about this unpleasant experience, I came to the Far East this time on the orders of Mr. President." ”

Li Yunzhong said with a smile: "That's right, you Westerners can't understand the flag language of the East, and I don't care, why would your American president send you to the Far East?" ”

Seeing the amiable atmosphere, Perry introduced himself, "My name is Matthew. Perry, the commander of the U.S. East India Fleet, has come to conclude a commercial contract with His Majesty on the orders of the President. ”

The attendant took the letter and presented it to Li Yunzhong.

Li Yunzhong read it roughly and replied: "I have to discuss these treaties carefully with the minister, and I will give you an answer tomorrow." ”

Perry bowed and said, "In that case, please allow me to take my leave." ”

Seeing Li Yunzhong smiling and nodding, Perry left the palace with the embarrassed Wen Han and the others and returned to the consulate in Nanjing.

Wenyuan Pavilion

Li Yunzhong summarized the purpose of the Americans' visit as follows: "The plundering activities of Britain and France in the Han Kingdom to compete for the sphere of power have directly threatened the interests of the United States of America in China. Once the Han Kingdom was partitioned and became a colony of dumped goods by various countries, the trade of the United States of America with China would inevitably be excluded, not to mention that they wanted to develop further. ”

Meng Sheng looked at the treaty brought by Perry and asked, "Dare to ask the emperor, what is the opening of the door mentioned above?" Does the United States want to compete with Britain for its interests? ”

It seems that they can't understand it in professional terms, Li Yunzhong said in the vernacular: "In recent years, our Han Dynasty has prospered in business, industry has developed rapidly, and the purchasing power of the common people has greatly improved. Therefore, foreigners feel that it is profitable, and they ship their domestic goods to Han, or directly build factories in Han, as Britain and France did.

But now the problem is that British and French businessmen ostracized Americans and did not welcome them in order to make more money, and the United States proposed an open door policy to eliminate these problems. ”

Meng Sheng said angrily: "Isn't this taking our big man for a fool? It is not a good idea to give Britain a benefit, and at the same time to France and the United States. ”

Hu Yihuang and others also understood, and made a voice of echoing, isn't this just letting the big man be the wronged leader?

Li Yunzhong smiled with satisfaction: "Today, the foreigners demonstrated outside the city, and there was no intention of intimidation, they didn't expect that the defenders of the Han army would dare to open fire, and stealing chickens would not lead to rice." ”

opened artillery to bombard the foreigner gunboat, which made Lu Jianying have a good impression of Xiong Siyuan, so he wanted to protect him: "A soldier like Xiong Siyuan is a model for the Han army, whether the emperor wants to promote him and let Xiong Siyuan continue to serve the emperor." ”

"I've already promoted him to the rank of officer." Li Yunzhong returned to the topic, and continued: "The United States has bad intentions, do you think I should agree to them?" ”

Although Chang Dachun hated foreigners, he had to admit that their ships were strong and their guns were sharp, and now the Han was not an opponent, and he worried: "If we refuse, will the foreigners be annoyed and angry, and send warships to attack Nanjing like they did more than ten years ago?" ”

Li Yunzhong is also not sure, the Han Navy Division is weak, and the warships ordered from the foreigners are still in production, and the most powerful warships in the Navy Division are only those red sailing ships, which can only carry twenty or thirty cannons, and any first-class battleship of the foreigners has hundreds of guns, and the Han Navy Division is just sending them to death.

Seeing that the emperor was silent, Chang Dachun was contradictory, the emperor quickly came to know the soldiers, and he was proficient in foreign affairs, and even the emperor didn't know the bottom of his heart, it seems that the foreigners would really attack Nanjing.

Lu Jianying sighed: "Could it be that the great China can't build warships?" How can you let foreigners be presumptuous in the Han Kingdom at will! ”

Li Yunzhong's face was gloomy, and he asked rhetorically: "Do you know what I am doing to support industry?" In fact, foreigners' warships can also be built by my Han. ”

Chang Dachun had already heard the emperor's explanation, and immediately replied: "The emperor wants businessmen to compete with foreigners. ”

Lu Jianying asked, "Why doesn't the emperor build such a warship!" If the Han had a warship that could house hundreds of cannons, how could the foreigners dare to be presumptuous! ”

"You know one but you don't know the other." Li Yunzhong explained: "In fact, the powerful warships of foreigners are all in their own country, such as the Valmy, which was built in France four years ago, which is full of huge cannons, and there are no living people in a radius of three feet after one shot. Li Yunzhong didn't know how to describe the power of cannons with a caliber of more than 150mm.

Li Yunzhong remembered the Nanjing City Wall and added: "For example, the Nanjing City Wall will be collapsed in less than half an hour, and Nanjing will be in ruins a day later." ”

Lu Jianying asked in a trembling voice: "How many such warships are there for foreigners, can I build them?" ”

Li Yunzhong thought for a while, shook his head with a wry smile: "Foreigners are divided into hundreds of countries, among which Britain and France are the most powerful, Britain can send fifty warships to China to participate in the war, and the Han will go bankrupt if it builds ten warships." ”

Lu Jianying sat down dejectedly, and then remembered that the construction of a battleship costs silver, and asked unwillingly: "Then you can only agree to the terms of foreigners?" ”

Li Yunzhong picked up the original of the treaty and replied: "There are some unequal clauses on it, I will not agree to it, tomorrow I will organize a delegation, composed of Lin Daji, Shangshu of the Ministry of War, Shangshu Mengsheng of the Ministry of Households, and others to participate in the negotiations with foreigners, I would rather go to war than sign a treaty that humiliates the country!" ”

"The Emperor's Wisdom"

Mai Lian, who returned to the consulate, had no scruples, and complained to Wen Han: "It's all a bad idea you came up with, you keep saying that the Han army won't open fire, what is the result?" If General Perry hadn't given the order to retreat in time, maybe our lives would have been in danger! ”

Wen Han waved his hands and retorted: "The Han army and the Qing army are not the same, I mean officials, I shouldn't treat the Han army and the Qing army together, but you also agreed with this decision at the time, how can you blame me now?" ”

Perry looked at the noisy minister with a headache and shouted, "Hey, gentlemen, you are mistaken, I should be the one who complains, can you stop this senseless quarrel?" ”

"Well, listen to you." Bourblon and the others each found a seat and sat down.

Wen Han pretended to be unintentional and asked, "Honorable general, do you have any other purpose for coming to the Far East this time?" ”

Merlin nodded to Perry. (To be continued......)

PS: Fainted, the back is still being renovated, knock knock......